title: Socialism in one country

text: Another quote by Lenin further expounded on his ideas in his article titled "On Cooperation", where he wrote: Indeed, the power of the state over all large-scale means of production, political power in the hands of the proletariat, the alliance of this proletariat with the many millions of small and very small peasants, the assured proletarian leadership of the peasantry, etc. — is this not all that is necessary to build a complete socialist society out of cooperatives, out of cooperatives alone, which we formerly ridiculed as huckstering and which from a certain aspect we have the right to treat as such now, under NEP? Is this not all that is necessary to build a complete socialist society? It is still not the building of socialist society, but it is all that is necessary and sufficient for it.


title: Socialism in one country

text: Opponents of this interpretation, notably Leon Trotsky, have contended that the Lenin quotes adduced in support of socialism on one country are taken out of context. They argue that in the 1915 article "On the Slogan for a United States of Europe" the expression "triumph of socialism [...] possible in [...] a single capitalist country" in context refers only to the initial establishment of a proletarian political and economic regime and not to the eventual construction of a complete socialist society which would take generations. As for the quote from the 1923 article "On Cooperation", Trotsky maintains that the passage speaking of "necessary and sufficient" prerequisites for the transition to socialism is concerned only with the "socio-organisational" and political prerequisites, but not with the "material-productive" and cultural ones which Russia still lacked.


title: Socialism in one country

text: Stalin presented the theory of socialism in one country as a further development of Leninism based on Lenin's aforementioned quotations. In his 14 February 1938 article titled "Response to Comrade Ivanov", formulated as an answer to a question of a "comrade Ivanov" mailed to "Pravda" newspaper, Stalin splits the question in two parts. The first side of the question is in terms of the internal relations within the Soviet Union, whether it is possible to construct the socialist society by defeating the local bourgeoisie and fostering the union of workers and peasants.


title: Socialism in one country

text: Stalin quotes Lenin that "we have all that is necessary for the building of a complete socialist society" and claims that the socialist society has for the most part been indeed constructed. The second side of the question is in terms of external relations and whether the victory of the socialism is "final", i.e. whether capitalism cannot possibly be restored. Here, Stalin cites Lenin that the final victory is possible only on the international scale and only with the help of the workers of other countries.


title: Socialism in one country

text: Marxist writer Isaac Deutscher traces Stalin's socialism in one country policy to the publication of "The Foundations of Leninism" which emphasized the policy of isolationism and economic development in opposition to Trotsky's policy of permanent revolution.


title: Socialism in one country

text: Opponents of socialism in one country point out that on the question of socialist construction in a single country, Friedrich Engels wrote that:


title: Socialism in one country

text: "Per contra", exponents of socialism in one country point out that Marx and Engels in 1848 in their "Communist Manifesto" wrote that:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word "is" in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase "was not being" in the sentence "It was not being co-operative." The word "copula" derives from the Latin noun for a "link" or "tie" that connects two different things.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: A copula is often a verb or a verb-like word, though this is not universally the case. A verb that is a copula is sometimes called a copulative or copular verb. In English primary education grammar courses, a copula is often called a linking verb. In other languages, copulas show more resemblances to pronouns, as in Classical Chinese and Guarani, or may take the form of suffixes attached to a noun, as in Korean, Beja, and Inuit languages.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Most languages have one main copula, although some (like Spanish, Portuguese and Thai) have more than one, while others have none. In the case of English, this is the verb "to be". While the term "copula" is generally used to refer to such principal verbs, it may also be used for a wider group of verbs with similar potential functions (like "become", "get", "feel" and "seem" in English); alternatively, these might be distinguished as "semi-copulas" or "pseudo-copulas".


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The principal use of a copula is to link the subject of a clause to a subject complement. A copular verb is often considered to be part of the predicate, the remainder being called a predicative expression. A simple clause containing a copula is illustrated below:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In that sentence, the noun phrase "the book" is the subject, the verb "is" serves as the copula, and the prepositional phrase "on the table" is the predicative expression. The whole expression "is on the table" may (in some theories of grammar) be called a predicate or a verb phrase.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The predicative expression accompanying the copula, also known as the complement of the copula, may take any of several possible forms: it may be a noun or noun phrase, an adjective or adjective phrase, a prepositional phrase (as above) or an adverb or another adverbial phrase expressing time or location. Examples are given below (with the copula in bold and the predicative expression in italics):


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The three components (subject, copula and predicative expression) do not necessarily appear in that order: their positioning depends on the rules for word order applicable to the language in question. In English (an SVO language), the ordering given above is the normal one, but certain variation is possible:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: It is also possible, in certain circumstances, for one (or even two) of the three components to be absent:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Inverse copular constructions, in which the positions of the predicative expression and the subject are reversed, are found in various languages. They have been the subject of much theoretical analysis, particularly in regard to the difficulty of maintaining, in the case of such sentences, the usual division into a subject noun phrase and a predicate verb phrase.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Another issue is verb agreement when both subject and predicative expression are noun phrases (and differ in number or person): in English, the copula typically agrees with the syntactical subject even if it is not logically (i.e. semantically) the subject, as in "the cause of the riot is" (not "are") "these pictures of the wall". Compare Italian ; notice the use of the plural to agree with plural "these photos" rather than with singular "the cause". In instances where an English syntactical subject comprises a prepositional object that is pluralized, however, the prepositional object agrees with the predicative expression, e.g. "What kind "of birds are" those?"


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The definition and scope of the concept of a copula is not necessarily precise in any language. As noted above, though the concept of the copula in English is most strongly associated with the verb "to be", there are many other verbs that can be used in a copular sense as well.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Predicates formed using a copula may express identity: that the two noun phrases (subject and complement) have the same referent or express an identical concept:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Some languages use different copulas, or different syntax, to denote a permanent, essential characteristic of something versus a temporary state. For examples, see the sections on the Romance languages, Slavic languages and Irish.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In many languages the principal copula is a verb, like English "(to) be", German , Mixtec , Touareg "emous", etc. It may inflect for grammatical categories like tense, aspect and mood, like other verbs in the language. Being a very commonly used verb, it is likely that the copula has irregular inflected forms; in English, the verb "be" has a number of highly irregular (suppletive) forms and has more different inflected forms than any other English verb ("am", "is", "are", "was", "were", etc.; see English verbs for details).


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Other copulas show more resemblances to pronouns. That is the case for Classical Chinese and Guarani, for instance. In highly synthetic languages, copulas are often suffixes, attached to a noun, but they may still behave otherwise like ordinary verbs: in Inuit languages.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In some other languages, like Beja and Ket, the copula takes the form of suffixes that attach to a noun but are distinct from the person agreement markers used on predicative verbs. This phenomenon is known as "nonverbal person agreement" (or "nonverbal subject agreement"), and the relevant markers are always established as deriving from cliticized independent pronouns.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The English verb "to be" is also used as an auxiliary verb, especially for expressing passive voice (together with the past participle) or expressing progressive aspect (together with the present participle):


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Other languages' copulas have additional uses as auxiliaries. For example, French can be used to express passive voice similarly to English "be"; both French and German are used to express the perfect forms of certain verbs (formerly English "be" was also):


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The auxiliary functions of these verbs derived from their copular function, and could be interpreted as special cases of the copular function (with the verbal forms it precedes being considered adjectival).


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Another auxiliary usage in English is (together with the "to"-infinitive) to denote an obligatory action or expected occurrence: "I am to serve you;" "The manager is to resign." This can be put also into past tense: "We were to leave at 9." For forms like "if I was/were to come," see English conditional sentences. (Note that, by certain criteria, the English copula "be" may always be considered an auxiliary verb; see Diagnostics for identifying auxiliary verbs in English.)


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The English "to be" and its equivalents in certain other languages also have a non-copular use as an existential verb, meaning "to exist." This use is illustrated in the following sentences: "I want only to be, and that is enough"; "I think therefore I am"; "To be or not to be, that is the question." In these cases, the verb itself expresses a predicate (that of existence), rather than linking to a predicative expression as it does when used as a copula. In ontology it is sometimes suggested that the "is" of existence is reducible to the "is" of property attribution or class membership; to be, Aristotle held, is to be "something". However, Abelard in his "Dialectica" made a "reductio ad absurdum" argument against the idea that the copula can express existence.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Similar examples can be found in many other languages; for example, the French and Latin equivalents of "I think therefore I am" are and , where and are the equivalents of English "am," normally used as copulas. However, other languages prefer a different verb for existential use, as in the Spanish version (where the verb "to exist" is used rather than the copula or ‘to be’).


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Another type of existential usage is in clauses of the "there is…" or "there are…" type. Languages differ in the way they express such meanings; some of them use the copular verb, possibly with an expletive pronoun like the English "there", while other languages use different verbs and constructions, like the French (which uses parts of the verb ‘to have,’ not the copula) or the Swedish (the passive voice of the verb for "to find"). For details, see existential clause.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Relying on a unified theory of copular sentences, it has been proposed that the English "there"-sentences are subtypes of inverse copular constructions.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In some languages, copula omission occurs within a particular grammatical context. For example, speakers of Russian, Indonesian, Turkish, Hungarian, Arabic, Hebrew, Geʽez and Quechuan languages consistently drop the copula in present tense: Russian: , ‘I (am a) person;’ Indonesian: ‘I (am) a human;’ Turkish: ‘s/he (is a) human;’ Hungarian: ‘s/he (is) a human;’ Arabic: أنا إنسان, ‘I (am a) human;’ Hebrew: אני אדם, "ʔani ʔadam" "I (am a) human;" Geʽez: አነ ብእሲ/ብእሲ አነ "ʔana bəʔəsi" / "bəʔəsi ʔana" "I (am a) man" / "(a) man I (am)"; Southern Quechua: "payqa runam" "s/he (is) a human." The usage is known generically as the zero copula. Note that in other tenses (sometimes in forms other than third person singular), the copula usually reappears.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Such poetic copula dropping is more pronounced in some languages other than English, like the Romance languages.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In informal speech of English, the copula may also be dropped in general sentences, as in "She a nurse." It is a feature of African-American Vernacular English, but is also used by a variety of other English speakers in informal contexts. An example is the sentence "I saw twelve men, each a soldier."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Ancient Greek, when an adjective precedes a noun with an article, the copula is understood: , "the house is large," can be written , "large the house (is)."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Quechua (Southern Quechua used for the examples), zero copula is restricted to present tense in third person singular ("kan"): "Payqa runam"  — "(s)he is a human;" but: "(paykuna) runakunam kanku" "(they) are human."ap


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Māori, the zero copula can be used in predicative expressions and with continuous verbs (many of which take a copulative verb in many Indo-European languages) — "He nui te whare", literally "a big the house," "the house (is) big;" "I te tēpu te pukapuka", literally "at (past locative particle) the table the book," "the book (was) on the table;" "Nō Ingarangi ia", literally "from England (s)he," "(s)he (is) from England," "Kei te kai au", literally "at the (act of) eating I," "I (am) eating."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Alternatively, in many cases, the particle "ko" can be used as a copulative (though not all instances of "ko" are used as thus, like all other Maori particles, "ko" has multiple purposes): "Ko nui te whare" "The house is big;" "Ko te pukapuka kei te tēpu" "It is the book (that is) on the table;" "Ko au kei te kai" "It is me eating."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: However, when expressing identity or class membership, "ko" must be used: "Ko tēnei tāku pukapuka" "This is my book;" "Ko Ōtautahi he tāone i Te Waipounamu" "Christchurch is a city in the South Island (of New Zealand);" "Ko koe tōku hoa" "You are my friend."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: When expressing identity, "ko" can be placed on either object in the clause without changing the meaning ("ko tēnei tāku pukapuka" is the same as "ko tāku pukapuka tēnei") but not on both ("ko tēnei ko tāku pukapuka" would be equivalent to saying "it is this, it is my book" in English).


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Hungarian, zero copula is restricted to present tense in third person singular and plural: "Ő ember"/"Ők emberek" — "s/he is a human"/"they are humans;" but: "(én) ember vagyok" "I am a human," "(te) ember vagy" "you are a human," "mi emberek vagyunk" "we are humans," "(ti) emberek vagytok" "you (all) are humans." The copula also reappears for stating locations: "az emberek a házban vannak", "the people are in the house," and for stating time: "hat óra van", "it is six o'clock." However, the copula may be omitted in colloquial language: "hat óra (van)", "it is six o'clock."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Hungarian uses copula "lenni" for expressing location: "Itt van Róbert" "Bob is here," but it is omitted in the third person present tense for attribution or identity statements: "Róbert öreg" "Bob is old;" "ők éhesek" "They are hungry;" "Kati nyelvtudós" "Cathy is a linguist" (but "Róbert öreg volt" "Bob was old," "éhesek voltak" "They were hungry," "Kati nyelvtudós volt" "Cathy was a linguist).


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Turkish, both the third person singular and the third person plural copulas are omittable. "Ali burada" and "Ali buradadır both mean "Ali is here," and "Onlar aç" and "Onlar açlar both mean "They are hungry." Both of the sentences are acceptable and grammatically correct, but sentences with the copula are more formal.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The Turkish first person singular copula suffix is omitted when introducing oneself. "Bora ben" (I am Bora) is grammatically correct, but "Bora benim" (same sentence with the copula) is not for an introduction (but is grammatically correct in other cases).


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Further restrictions may apply before omission is permitted. For example, in the Irish language, "is", the present tense of the copula, may be omitted when the predicate is a noun. "Ba", the past/conditional, cannot be deleted. If the present copula is omitted, the pronoun (e.g., "é, í, iad") preceding the noun is omitted as well.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Sometimes, the term "copula" is taken to include not only a language's equivalent(s) to the verb "be" but also other verbs or forms that serve to link a subject to a predicative expression (while adding semantic content of their own). For example, English verbs like "become", "get", "feel", "look", "taste", "smell", and "seem" can have this function, as in the following sentences (the predicative expression, the complement of the verb, is in italics):


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Some verbs have rarer, secondary uses as copular verbs, like the verb "fall" in sentences like "The zebra fell victim to the lion."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: These extra copulas are sometimes called "semi-copulas" or "pseudo-copulas." For a list of common verbs of this type in English, see List of English copulae.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Indo-European languages, the words meaning "to be" are sometimes similar to each other. Due to the high frequency of their use, their inflection retains a considerable degree of similarity in some cases. Thus, for example, the English form "is" is a cognate of German "ist", Latin "est", Persian "ast" and Russian "<nowiki>jest'</nowiki>", even though the Germanic, Italic, Iranian and Slavic language groups split at least 3000 years ago. The origins of the copulas of most Indo-European languages can be traced back to four Proto-Indo-European stems: "*es-" ("*hes-"), "*sta-" ("*steh-"), "*wes-" and "*bhu-" ("*bʰuH-").


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The English copular verb "be" has eight forms (more than any other English verb): "be", "am", "is", "are", "being", "was", "were", "been". Additional archaic forms include "art", "wast", "wert", and occasionally "beest" (as a subjunctive). For more details see English verbs. For the etymology of the various forms, see Indo-European copula.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The main uses of the copula in English are described in the above sections. The possibility of copula omission is mentioned under .


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: A particular construction found in English (particularly in speech) is the use of two successive copulas when only one appears necessary, as in "My point is, is that...". The acceptability of this construction is a disputed matter in English prescriptive grammar.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The simple English copula "be" may on occasion be substituted by other verbs with near identical meanings.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Persian, the verb "to be" can either take the form of "ast" (cognate to English "is") or "budan" (cognate to "be").


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu), the copula होना ɦonɑ ہونا can be put into four grammatical aspects (simple, habitual, perfective, and progressive) and each of those four aspects can be put into five grammatical moods (indicative, presumptive, subjunctive, contrafactual, and imperative). Some example sentences using the simple aspect are shown below:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Besides the verb होना honā (to be), there are three other verbs which can also be used as the copula, they are रहना rêhnā (to stay), जाना jānā (to go), and आना ānā (to come). The following table shows the conjugations of the copula होना honā in the five grammatical moods in the simple aspect. The transliteration scheme used is ISO 15919.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Copulas in the Romance languages usually consist of two different verbs that can be translated as "to be," the main one from the Latin "esse" (via Vulgar Latin "essere"; "esse" deriving from "*es-"), often referenced as "sum" (another of the Latin verb's principal parts) and a secondary one from "stare" (from "*sta-"), often referenced as "sto". The resulting distinction in the modern forms is found in all the Iberian Romance languages, and to a lesser extent Italian, but not in French or Romanian. The difference is that the first usually refers to essential characteristics, while the second refers to states and situations, e.g., "Bob is old" versus "Bob is well." A similar division is found in the non-Romance Basque language (viz. "egon" and "izan"). (Note that the English words just used, "essential" and "state," are also cognate with the Latin infinitives "esse" and "stare". The word "stay" also comes from Latin stare, through Middle French "estai", stem of Old French "ester".) In Spanish and Portuguese, the high degree of verbal inflection, plus the existence of two copulas ("ser" and "estar"), means that there are 105 (Spanish) and 110 (Portuguese) separate forms to express the copula, compared to eight in English and one in Chinese.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In some cases, the verb itself changes the meaning of the adjective/sentence. The following examples are from Portuguese:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Some Slavic languages make a distinction between essence and state (similar to that discussed in the above section on the Romance languages), by putting a predicative expression denoting a state into the instrumental case, and essential characteristics are in the nominative. This can apply with other copula verbs as well: the verbs for "become" are normally used with the instrumental case.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: As noted above under , Russian and other East Slavic languages generally omit the copula in the present tense.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Irish and Scottish Gaelic, there are two copulas, and the syntax is also changed when one is distinguishing between states or situations and essential characteristics.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Describing the subject's state or situation typically uses the normal VSO ordering with the verb "bí". The copula "is" is used to state essential characteristics or equivalences.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The pronoun used with the copula is different from the normal pronoun. For a masculine singular noun, "é" is used (for "he" or "it"), as opposed to the normal pronoun "sé"; for a feminine singular noun, "í" is used (for "she" or "it"), as opposed to normal pronoun "sí"; for plural nouns, "iad" is used (for "they" or "those"), as opposed to the normal pronoun "siad".


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: To describe being in a state, condition, place, or act, the verb "to be" is used: "Tá mé ag rith." "I am running."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The North Levantine Arabic dialect, spoken in Syria and Lebanon, has a negative copula formed by and a suffixed pronoun.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Chichewa, a Bantu language spoken mainly in Malawi, a very similar distinction exists between permanent and temporary states as in Spanish and Portuguese, but only in the present tense. For a permanent state, in the 3rd person, the copula used in the present tense is "ndi" (negative "sí"):


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: For the 1st and 2nd persons the person is shown, as normally with Chichewa verbs, by the appropriate pronominal prefix:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In the future, subjunctive, or conditional tenses, a form of the verb "khala" ("sit/dwell") is used as a copula:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Uniquely, the existence of the copulative verbalizer suffix in the Southern Peruvian Aymaran language variety, Muylaq' Aymara, is evident only in the surfacing of a vowel that would otherwise have been deleted because of the presence of a following suffix, lexically prespecified to suppress it. As the copulative verbalizer has no independent phonetic structure, it is represented by the Greek letter ʋ in the examples used in this entry.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Accordingly, unlike in most other Aymaran variants, whose copulative verbalizer is expressed with a vowel-lengthening component, -":", the presence of the copulative verbalizer in Muylaq' Aymara is often not apparent on the surface at all and is analyzed as existing only meta-linguistically. However, it is also relevant to note that in a verb phrase like "It is old," the noun "thantha" meaning "old" does not require the copulative verbalizer, "thantha-wa" "It is old."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: It is now pertinent to make some observations about the distribution of the copulative verbalizer. The best place to start is with words in which its presence or absence is obvious. When the vowel-suppressing first person simple tense suffix attaches to a verb, the vowel of the immediately preceding suffix is suppressed (in the examples in this subsection, the subscript "c" appears prior to vowel-suppressing suffixes in the interlinear gloss to better distinguish instances of deletion that arise from the presence of a lexically pre-specified suffix from those that arise from other (e.g. phonotactic) motivations). Consider the verb "sara"- which is inflected for the first person simple tense and so, predictably, loses its final root vowel: "sar(a)-t-wa" "I go."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: However, prior to the suffixation of the first person simple suffix -"t" to the same root nominalized with the agentive nominalizer -"iri", the word must be verbalized. The fact that the final vowel of -"iri" below is not suppressed indicates the presence of an intervening segment, the copulative verbalizer: "sar(a)-iri-ʋ-t-wa" "I usually go."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: It is worthwhile to compare of the copulative verbalizer in Muylaq' Aymara as compared to La Paz Aymara, a variant which represents this suffix with vowel lengthening. Consider the near-identical sentences below, both translations of "I have a small house" in which the nominal root "uta-ni" "house-attributive" is verbalized with the copulative verbalizer, but note that the correspondence between the copulative verbalizer in these two variants is not always a strict one-to-one relation.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: As in English, the verb "to be" ("qopna") is irregular in Georgian (a Kartvelian language); different verb roots are employed in different tenses. The roots -"ar"-, -"kn"-, -"qav"-, and -"qop"- (past participle) are used in the present tense, future tense, past tense and the perfective tenses respectively. Examples:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Note that, in the last two examples (perfective and pluperfect), two roots are used in one verb compound. In the perfective tense, the root "qop" (which is the expected root for the perfective tense) is followed by the root "ar", which is the root for the present tense. In the pluperfective tense, again, the root "qop" is followed by the past tense root "qav". This formation is very similar to German (an Indo-European language), where the perfect and the pluperfect are expressed in the following way:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Here, "gewesen" is the past participle of "sein" ("to be") in German. In both examples, as in Georgian, this participle is used together with the present and the past forms of the verb in order to conjugate for the perfect and the pluperfect aspects.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Haitian Creole, a French-based creole language, has three forms of the copula: "se", "ye", and the zero copula, no word at all (the position of which will be indicated with "Ø", just for purposes of illustration).


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Although no textual record exists of Haitian-Creole at its earliest stages of development from French, "se" is derived from French (written "c'est"), which is the normal French contraction of (that, written "ce") and the copula (is, written "est") (a form of the verb "être").


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The derivation of "ye" is less obvious; but we can assume that the French source was ("he/it is," written "il est"), which, in rapidly spoken French, is very commonly pronounced as (typically written "y est").


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The use of a zero copula is unknown in French, and it is thought to be an innovation from the early days when Haitian-Creole was first developing as a Romance-based pidgin. Latin also sometimes used a zero copula.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Which of "se" / "ye" / "Ø" is used in any given copula clause depends on complex syntactic factors that we can superficially summarize in the following four rules:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: 1. Use "Ø" (i.e., no word at all) in declarative sentences where the complement is an adjective phrase, prepositional phrase, or adverb phrase:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: 2. Use "se" when the complement is a noun phrase. But note that, whereas other verbs come "after" any tense/mood/aspect particles (like "pa" to mark negation, or "te" to explicitly mark past tense, or "ap" to mark progressive aspect), "se" comes "before" any such particles:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: 4. Finally, use the other copula form "ye" in situations where the sentence's syntax leaves the copula at the end of a phrase:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The Japanese copula (most often translated into English as an inflected form of "to be") has many forms. E.g., The form "da" is used predicatively, "na" - attributively, "de" - adverbially or as a connector, and "desu" - predicatively or as a politeness indicator.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: "desu" is the polite form of the copula. Thus, many sentences like the ones below are almost identical in meaning and differ only in the speaker's politeness to the addressee and in nuance of how assured the person is of their statement.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: A predicate in Japanese is expressed by the predicative form of a verb, the predicative form of an adjective or noun + the predicative form of a copula.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The copula is subject to dialectal variation throughout Japan, resulting in forms like や "ya" in Kansai and じゃ "ja" in Hiroshima (see map above).


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Japanese also has two verbs corresponding to English "to be": "aru" and "iru". They are not copulas but existential verbs. "Aru" is used for inanimate objects, including plants, whereas "iru" is used for animate things like people, animals, and robots, though there are exceptions to this generalization.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Japanese speakers, when learning English, often drop the auxiliary verbs "be" and "do," incorrectly believing that "be" is a semantically empty copula equivalent to "desu" and "da."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: For sentences with predicate nominatives, the copula "이" (i-) is added to the predicate nominative (with no space in between).


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Some Korean adjectives are derived using the copula. Separating these articles and nominalizing the former part will often result in a sentence with a related, but different meaning. Using the separated sentence in a situation where the un-separated sentence is appropriate is usually acceptable as the listener can decide what the speaker is trying to say using the context.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Chinese, both states and qualities are, in general, expressed with stative verbs (SV) with no need for a copula, e.g., in Chinese, "to be tired" (累 "lèi"), "to be hungry" (饿 "è"), "to be located at" (在 "zài"), "to be stupid" (笨 "bèn") and so forth. A sentence can consist simply of a pronoun and such a verb: for example, 我饿 "wǒ è" ("I am hungry"). Usually, however, verbs expressing qualities are qualified by an adverb (meaning "very," "not," "quite," etc.); when not otherwise qualified, they are often preceded by 很 "hěn", which in other contexts means "very," but in this use often has no particular meaning.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Only sentences with a noun as the complement (e.g., "This is my sister") use the copular verb "to be": . This is used frequently; for example, instead of having a verb meaning "to be Chinese," the usual expression is "to be a Chinese person" (; "I am a Chinese person;" "I am Chinese"). This is sometimes called an equative verb. Another possibility is for the complement to be just a noun modifier (ending in ), the noun being omitted:


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Before the Han Dynasty, the character 是 served as a demonstrative pronoun meaning "this." (This usage survives in some idioms and .) Some linguists believe that 是 developed into a copula because it often appeared, as a repetitive subject, after the subject of a sentence (in classical Chinese we can say, for example: "George W. Bush, "this" president of the United States" meaning "George W. Bush "is" the president of the United States). The character 是 appears to be formed as a compound of characters with the meanings of "early" and "straight."


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Another use of 是 in modern Chinese is in combination with the modifier 的 "de" to mean "yes" or to show agreement. For example: Question: 你的汽车是不是红色的？ "nǐ de qìchē shì bú shì hóngsè de?" "Is your car red or not?"Response: 是的 "shì de" "Is," meaning "Yes," or 不是 "bú shì" "Not is," meaning "No." (A more common way of showing that the person asking the question is correct is by simply saying "right" or "correct," 对 "duì"; the corresponding negative answer is 不对 "bú duì", "not right.")


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: Yet another use of 是 is in the "shì...(de)" construction, which is used to emphasize a particular element of the sentence; see .


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Hokkien 是 "sī" acts as the copula, and 是 is the equivalent in Wu Chinese. Cantonese uses 係 () instead of 是; similarly, Hakka uses 係 "he".


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In Siouan languages like Lakota, in principle almost all words—according to their structure—are verbs. So not only (transitive, intransitive and so-called "stative") verbs but even nouns often behave like verbs and do not need to have copulas.


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: For example, the word "wičháša" refers to a man, and the verb "to-be-a-man" is expressed as "wimáčhaša/winíčhaša/wičháša" (I am/you are/he is a man). Yet there also is a copula "héčha" (to be a ...) that in most cases is used: "wičháša hemáčha/heníčha/héčha" (I am/you are/he is a man).


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In order to express the statement "I am a doctor of profession," one has to say "pezuta wičháša hemáčha". But, in order to express that that person is THE doctor (say, that had been phoned to help), one must use another copula "iyé" (to be the one): "pežúta wičháša (kiŋ) miyé yeló" (medicine-man DEF ART I-am-the-one MALE ASSERT).


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: In order to refer to space (e.g., Robert is in the house), various verbs are used, e.g., "yaŋkÁ" (lit., to sit) for humans, or "háŋ/hé" (to stand upright) for inanimate objects of a certain shape. "Robert is in the house" could be translated as "Robert thimáhel yaŋké (yeló)", whereas "There's one restaurant next to the gas station" translates as "Owótethipi wígli-oínažiŋ kiŋ hél isákhib waŋ hé".


title: Copula (linguistics)

text: The constructed language Lojban has two words that act similar to a copula in natural languages. The clause "me ... me'u" turns whatever follows it into a predicate that means to be (among) what it follows. For example, "me la .bob. (me'u)" means "to be Bob," and "me le ci mensi (me'u)" means "to be one of the three sisters." Another one is "du", which is itself a predicate that means all its arguments are the same thing (equal). One word which is often confused for a copula in Lojban, but isn't one, is "cu". It merely indicates that the word which follows is the main predicate of the sentence. For example, "lo pendo be mi cu zgipre" means "my friend is a musician," but the word "cu" does not correspond to English "is"; instead, the word "zgipre", which is a predicate, corresponds to the entire phrase "is a musician". The word "cu" is used to prevent "lo pendo be mi zgipre", which would mean "the friend-of-me type of musician".


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: Cell-mediated immunity or cellular immunity is an immune response that does not involve antibodies. Rather, cell-mediated immunity is the activation of phagocytes, antigen-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes, and the release of various cytokines in response to an antigen.


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: In the late 19th century Hippocratic tradition medicine system, the immune system was imagined into two branches: humoral immunity, for which the protective function of immunization could be found in the humor (cell-free bodily fluid or serum) and cellular immunity, for which the protective function of immunization was associated with cells. CD4 cells or helper T cells provide protection against different pathogens. Naive T cells, which are immature T cells that have yet to encounter an antigen, are converted into activated effector T cells after encountering antigen-presenting cells (APCs). These APCs, such as macrophages, dendritic cells, and B cells in some circumstances, load antigenic peptides onto the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) of the cell, in turn presenting the peptide to receptors on T cells. The most important of these APCs are highly specialized dendritic cells; conceivably operating solely to ingest and present antigens. Activated effector T cells can be placed into three functioning classes, detecting peptide antigens originating from various types of pathogen: The first class being 1) Cytotoxic T cells, which kill infected target cells by apoptosis without using cytokines, 2) T1 cells, which primarily function to activate macrophages, and 3) T2 cells, which primarily function to stimulate B cells into producing antibodies.


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: In another ideology, the innate immune system and the adaptive immune system each comprise both humoral and cell-mediated components.


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: Cell-mediated immunity is directed primarily at microbes that survive in phagocytes and microbes that infect non-phagocytic cells. It is most effective in removing virus-infected cells, but also participates in defending against fungi, protozoans, cancers, and intracellular bacteria. It also plays a major role in transplant rejection.


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: Type 1 immunity is directed primarily at viruses, bacteria, and protozoa and is responsible for activating macrophages, turning them into potent effector cells. This is achieved by the secretion of interferon gamma and TNF.


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: A third category called T helper 17 cells (T17) were also discovered which are named after their secretion of Interleukin 17.


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: Similarly to CD4 T cells, a third category called T17 were discovered that also secretes Interleukin 17.


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: All type 1 cells begin their development from the common lymphoid progenitor (CLp) which then differentiates to become the common innate lymphoid progenitor (CILp) and the t-cell progenitor (Tp) through the process of lymphopoiesis.


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: Common innate lymphoid progenitors may then be differentiated into a natural killer progenitor (NKp) or a common helper like innate lymphoid progenitor (CHILp). NKp cells may then be induced to differentiate into natural killer cells by IL-15. CHILp cells may be induced to differentiate into ILC1 cells by IL-15, into ILC2 cells by IL-7 or ILC3 cells by IL-7 as well.


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: T-cell progenitors may differentiate into naïve CD8 cells or naïve CD4 cells. Naïve CD8 cells may then further differentiate into T1 cells upon IL-12 exposure, [IL-4] can induce the differentiation into T2 cells and IL-1 or IL-23 can induce the differentiation into T17 cells. Naïve CD4 cells may differentiate into T1 cells upon IL-12 exposure, T2 upon IL-4 exposure or T17 upon IL-1 or IL-23 exposure.


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: Type 1 immunity makes use of the type 1 subset for each of these cell types. By secreting interferon gamma and TNF, T1, T1, and group 1 ILCS activate macrophages, converting them to potent effector cells. It provides defense against intracellular bacteria, protozoa, and viruses. It is also responsible for inflammation and autoimmunity with diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease all being implicated in type 1 immunity. Type 1 immunity consists of these cells:


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: It has been found in both mice and humans that the signature cytokines for these cells is interferon gamma and lymphotoxin alpha. The main cytokine for differentiation into T1 cells is IL-12 which is produced by dendritic cells in response to the activation of pattern recognition receptors. T-bet is a distinctive transcription factor of T1 cells. T1 cells are also characterized by the expression of chemokine receptors which allow their movement to sites of inflammation. The main chemokine receptors on these cells are CXCR3A and CCR5. Epithelial cells and keratinocytes are able to recruit T1 cells to sights of infection by releasing the chemokines CXCL9, CXCL10 and CXCL11 in response to interferon gamma. Additionally, interferon gamma secreted by these cells seems to be important in downregulating tight junctions in the epithelial barrier.


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: These cells generally produce interferon gamma. Interferon gamma and IL-12 promote differentiation toward T1 cells. T-bet activation is required for both interferon gamma and cytolytic potential. CCR5 and CXCR3 are the main chemokine receptors for this cell.


title: Cell-mediated immunity

text: Groups 1 ILCs are defined to include ILCs expressing the transcription factor T-bet and were originally thought to only include natural killer cells. Recently, there have been a large amount of NKp46 cells that express certain master [transcription factor]s that allow them to be designated as a dinstinct lineage of natural killer cells termed ILC1s. ILC1s are characterized by the ability to produce interferon gamma, TNF, GM-CSF and IL-2 in response to cytokine stimulation but have low or no cytotoxic ability.


title: China Girl (song)

text: "China Girl" is a song written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie during their years in Berlin, first appearing on Pop's debut solo album "The Idiot" (1977). The song became more widely known when it was re-recorded by Bowie, who released it as the second single from his most commercially successful album, "Let's Dance" (1983). The UK single release of Bowie's version reached No. 2 for one week on 14 June 1983, while the US release reached No. 10.


title: China Girl (song)

text: Paul Trynka, the author of the David Bowie biography, "Starman", explains the song was inspired by Iggy Pop's infatuation with Kuelan Nguyen, a Vietnamese woman, as a metaphor for his Stooges career.


title: China Girl (song)

text: As for production, the original recording that appeared on "The Idiot" is raw and unpolished compared to Bowie's hit remake in 1983.


title: China Girl (song)

text: Nile Rodgers, the producer of David Bowie's 1983 version of the song, offered his own interpretation of the lyrics: "I figured China Girl was about doing drugs ... because China is China White which is heroin, girl is cocaine. I thought it was a song about speedballing. I thought, in the drug community in New York, coke is girl, and heroin is boy. So then I proceeded to do this arrangement which was ultra pop. Because I thought that, being David Bowie, he would appreciate the irony of doing something so pop about something so taboo. And what was really cool was that he said 'I love that!'."


title: China Girl (song)

text: The music video, featuring New Zealand model Geeling Ng, was directed by David Mallet and shot mainly in the Chinatown district of Sydney, Australia. Along with his previous single's video for "Let's Dance" with the critique of racism in Australia, Bowie described the video as a "very simple, very direct" statement against racism. The video consciously parodies Asian female stereotypes. It depicts a hypermasculine protagonist in an interracial romance. The original video release includes the two lying naked in the surf (a reference to the film "From Here to Eternity"). Unedited versions were banned from New Zealand and some other countries at the time. The uncensored version was issued on the 1984 "Video EP" issued by Sony on Betamax, VHS, and LaserDisc. Versions of the video included on subsequent video and DVD compilations (including EMI/Virgin's "Best of Bowie") are censored to remove the nudity. The original video went on to win an MTV video award for Best Male Video.


title: China Girl (song)

text: BBC Online reviewer David Quantick acknowledged the effect of Nile Rodgers's production on the song, arguing that "nobody but Rodgers could have taken a song like 'China Girl', with its paranoid references to 'visions of swastikas', and turned it into a sweet, romantic hit single." The success of Bowie's cover reportedly led to Pop gaining financial stability via his co-writer residuals. "Cash Box" said that it provided "a nice balance to the controlled frenzy of" Bowie's previous single "Let's Dance" with its "softer vocals and minimal instrumentation" and also said that the song is "neatly [framed]" by "an oriental-style riff."


title: China Girl (song)

text: The song was regularly included in Bowie's live shows for the rest of the 1980s and appeared on concert videos in 1983 and 1988 – "Serious Moonlight" and "Glass Spider", respectively. It was rehearsed for Bowie's appearance at the 1985 London Live Aid concert but was dropped due to time constraints, along with the songs "Fascination" and "Five Years". Additional live versions of the song appear on 2009's release of a 1999 performance for "VH1 Storytellers", on a 2010 release, entitled "A Reality Tour", recorded at Bowie's November 2003 concerts in Dublin, Ireland, and on 2018's "Glastonbury 2000", recorded at the Glastonbury Festival in June 2000.


title: Changmin

text: Shim Chang-min (; born February 18, 1988), also known by his stage name Max Changmin () or simply as Max, is a South Korean singer, songwriter, actor, and a member of the pop duo TVXQ. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Changmin was scouted by an SM Entertainment talent agent when he was fourteen years old. He made his debut as TVXQ's youngest member in December 2003.


title: Changmin

text: Fluent in both Korean and Japanese, Changmin has achieved commercial success throughout Asia as the main vocalist of TVXQ. He has also starred in several dramas.


title: Changmin

text: Changmin was born and raised in Seoul, South Korea to a Buddhist family. He has two younger sisters and both of his parents are teachers. When he was fourteen years old, a talent scout from S.M. Entertainment spotted Changmin while he was singing and playing badminton at the same time during gym class. The scout suggested that he audition for S.M., but Changmin had no interest in becoming a singer. His mother, wanting a chance to meet BoA, urged Changmin to attend the casting auditions anyway. Three days after auditioning, S.M. called Changmin in for a second audition, which he passed. After winning the Best Singer and Best Artist award at S.M.'s 6th Annual Youth Best Contest, Changmin signed with the company.


title: Changmin

text: The final lineup of TVXQ consisted of Changmin, U-Know Yunho, Kim Jae-joong, Park Yoo-chun, and Kim Jun-su. The group officially debuted on December 26, 2003, during a BoA and Britney Spears showcase. They performed their debut single "Hug", which became a hit in South Korea. TVXQ has been releasing number one albums in Korea since their second studio album "Rising Sun" (2005), which was also the album that gave the group their first Daesang (대상), or Grand Award, at the Mnet KM Music Festival. Their fourth Korean album "Mirotic" (2008) was the Album of the Year at the 2008 Mnet KM Music Festival and the 2008 Golden Disc Awards. The album features the group's most well-known and bestselling single, "Mirotic."


title: Changmin

text: In 2005, TVXQ made their Japanese debut with the single "Stay with Me Tonight," debuting at number 37 on the Oricon Singles Chart. They grabbed their first number one single in Japan with "Purple Line" (2008). Their fourth Japanese album "The Secret Code" spawned two platinum-selling singles "Dōshite Kimi o Suki ni Natte Shimattandarō?" and Share the World" (2009), a theme song for the anime "One Piece".


title: Changmin

text: TVXQ was plunged into legal turmoil when members Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu filed an injunction against their agency in July 2009. This led to their much-publicized departure from the group in 2010. A year later, Changmin and Yunho returned as a duo, releasing albums in both Korean and Japanese. As a duo, TVXQ set sales records and concert attendance records in Japan, becoming the country's bestselling and highest-grossing foreign music act.


title: Changmin

text: In 2014, Changmin joined the ballad group S.M. the Ballad, initially formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2010. On the group's 2nd album "Breath", he sang the Japanese version of the title track "Breath" with f(x)'s Krystal Jung.


title: Changmin

text: Changmin released his first Japanese solo mini album "Close to You" on November 18, 2015, one day before his enlistment. The lead single is a ballad titled "Into the Water", among six other tracks. Bundled with a DVD that includes a music video and behind-the-scenes footage, "Close to You" was a limited release and was only made available for purchase to members of TVXQ's Japanese fanclub, "Bigeast".


title: Changmin

text: On March 13, 2020, it was reported that the TVXQ member was preparing to release a solo album. A source from SM Entertainment confirmed the news and stated, "Changmin is currently working hard, with the goal of releasing his solo album in April."


title: Changmin

text: On March 23, 2020, SM Entertainment announced that Changmin would be releasing his debut mini album "Chocolate" on April 6. The mini-album consists of six songs of varying genres—including the title track "Chocolate" and features a collaboration with Korean singer Chungha.


title: Changmin

text: Although Changmin had previously released solo songs in the past, through TVXQ's albums, contributions to soundtracks and as well as a Japanese solo mini-album, "Chocolate" marked Changmin's official solo debut in Korea after debuting in the band more than 16 years ago. Fellow member Yunho also released his first solo mini-album "True Colors" the previous year.


title: Changmin

text: Changmin made his acting debut alongside TVXQ in the miniseries "Vacation", which had a special premiere and screening at the main auditorium of Yonsei University. He also participated in a number of episodes of "Banjun Drama", a popular mini series that aired on SBS network.


title: Changmin

text: In 2010, Changmin had a guest role in the action thriller series "", playing a NIS explosives specialist.


title: Changmin

text: In 2011, Changmin took on his first lead role in the romantic comedy drama "Paradise Ranch" opposite Lee Yeon-hee. He also dubbed his own voice for the Japanese release of "Paradise Ranch".


title: Changmin

text: In 2012, Changmin made his big-screen debut in the Japanese film "Fly With the Gold" based on the novel by Takamura Kaoru. He plays Momo, a North Korean spy disguised as an engineering student. He has been praised for his fluent Osaka dialect in the film by director Izutsu Kazuyuki. Changmin was nominated for the Newcomer Award at the prestigious 37th annual Hochi Film Awards in Japan, becoming the first Korean artist to be nominated. On January 21, 2013, it was announced that Changmin had won the Newcomer of the Year award at the 36th Japanese Academy Award.


title: Changmin

text: In 2013, Changmin became a co-host alongside Kang Ho-dong for the KBS variety show "Moonlight Prince". This was Changmin's first stint as a regular host. Following the end of the show in March, Changmin joined the cast of sports variety show "Cool Kiz On The Block" as a cast member and left in 2014.


title: Changmin

text: In 2014, Changmin starred in Mnet's four-episode miniseries "Mimi". He next starred in the historical fantasy drama The "Scholar Who Walks The Night" as Crown Prince Lee Yoon.


title: Changmin

text: Changmin is known for his high tenor register, particularly his screams and high notes. He is also active as a lyricist, and has written for several of the band's music, including 2007's "Evergreen" ("Only Love"), the Korean version of "Love in the Ice" ("Mirotic"), "Confession" ("Keep Your Head Down"), and "I Swear" ("Catch Me").


title: Changmin

text: Changmin has also written for other groups and artists; such as "Sleepless Night", a track in SHINee's third album "Chapter 2. Why So Serious? – The Misconceptions of Me"; and "Ace", the title track of Taemin's album "Ace"; as well as "My Thoughts, Your Memories", a track on Kyuhyun's album "At Gwanghwamun".


title: Changmin

text: Besides his native Korean, Changmin is fluent in Japanese. Changmin graduated from Gaepo High School in 2006 and was accepted into Kyung Hee University in 2009, majoring in postmodern music. In 2011, he pursued a second degree in Film and Arts at Konkuk University. He went on to pursue a master's degree at Inha University. He is also interested in becoming a professional photographer and is a student of photographer Kim Young-joon.


title: Changmin

text: The singer originally had planned to marry his non-celebrity girlfriend on September 5, 2020, but the wedding was later postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. The couple subsequently married in a private ceremony on October 25, 2020. His wife gave birth to their first son on October 17, 2022.


title: Changmin

text: In January 2008, Changmin volunteered with his father in the cleanup of the beaches in Taean, South Korea following the nation's worst oil spill in history. His trip to Taean was intended to be done secretly during a short break from his activities with TVXQ during the new year and was only made known to the media and public when another volunteer posted his sighting on a fan site. The incident was later confirmed by TVXQ's agent.


title: Changmin

text: On July 7, 2015, Changmin applied for the Military Police to fulfill his compulsory national service. He was inducted into the Republic of Korea Armed Forces as a conscripted policeman on November 19, 2015. Changmin received five weeks of basic training at the Chungnam Nonsan Military Training Camp and was the leader of his squad. He was honorably discharged from service on August 18, 2017.


title: Louise Brown

text: Louise Joy Brown (born 25 July 1978) is an English woman who was the first human to have been born after conception by "in vitro" fertilisation experiment (IVF). Her birth, following a procedure pioneered in Britain, has been lauded among "the most remarkable medical breakthroughs of the 20th Century".


title: Louise Brown

text: Louise Joy Brown was born at Oldham General Hospital, Lancashire, by planned Caesarean section performed by registrar John Webster. She weighed 5 pounds, 12 ounces (2.608 kg) at birth. Her parents, Lesley and John Brown, had been trying to conceive naturally for nine years, but Lesley faced complications of blocked fallopian tubes.


title: Louise Brown

text: On 10 November 1977, Lesley Brown underwent a procedure, later to become known as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), developed by Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards and Jean Purdy. Purdy was the first to see her embryonic cells dividing. Edwards, as the only surviving partner, was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Medicine for this work. In March 2022 a plaque was installed on Royal Oldham Hospital to record the importance of Sister Muriel Harris and Jean Purdy to the work.


title: Louise Brown

text: Although the media referred to Brown as a "test tube baby", her conception actually took place in a Petri dish. Her younger sister, Natalie Brown, was also conceived through IVF four years later, and became the world's 40th child after conception by IVF. In May 1999, Natalie was the first human born after conception by IVF to give birth herself—without IVF.


title: Louise Brown

text: In 2004, Brown married nightclub doorman Wesley Mullinder. Dr. Edwards attended their wedding. Their first son, conceived naturally, was born on 20 December 2006.


title: Louise Brown

text: Brown's father died in 2006. Her mother died on 6 June 2012 in Bristol Royal Infirmary at the age of 64 due to complications from a gallbladder infection.


title: Louise Brown

text: Although the Browns knew the procedure was experimental, the doctors did not tell them that no case had yet resulted in a baby. This has raised questions of informed consent.


title: Louise Brown

text: In 1978, when asked for his reaction to Brown's birth, the patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Albino Luciani (later Pope John Paul I), expressed concerns about the possibility that artificial insemination could lead to women being used as "baby factories", but also refused to condemn the parents of the child, noting they simply wanted to have a baby.


title: Igor (film)

text: Igor is a 2008 computer-animated horror comedy film directed by Tony Leondis from a screenplay by Chris McKenna. "Igor", developed and produced by Max Howard with the California-based Exodus Film Group, was the first feature-length animated film to be financed with private equity. The animation was completed at France's Sparx Animation Studios and a facility in Vietnam. It was distributed in North America by MGM Distribution Co. and internationally by The Weinstein Company. It is MGM's first fully computer-animated film as well as the studio's first animated film in twelve years following 1996's "All Dogs Go to Heaven 2".


title: Igor (film)

text: "Igor" features the voices of John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Sean Hayes, Jay Leno, Eddie Izzard, Jennifer Coolidge, Arsenio Hall, John Cleese, Molly Shannon, and Christian Slater. Conceived by McKenna as a twisting of evil scientist film tropes, "Igor" features Cusack as the titular Igor, who lives in the kingdom of Malaria where others of his kind serve as assistants to evil scientists. In trying to achieve his dream to become an evil scientist, Igor accidentally creates a sweet female monster named Eva.


title: Igor (film)

text: "Igor"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s first teaser trailer premiered at the 2008 New York Comic-Con before being released online on May 7, 2008. Promoted with a video game, toys, books, comic books, and fast-food tie-ins, "Igor" premiered at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre on September 13, 2008, before starting its American nationwide theatrical run five days later. The film received mixed reviews from film critics and grossed $30.7 million worldwide on a $25 million budget. "Igor" garnered a cult following and received an Annie Award nomination for Valérie Hadida's character design.


title: Igor (film)

text: The Kingdom of Malaria was once a peaceful land of farmers until its environment was devastated by a mysterious storm that never ended and killed all of its plantations, thus driving its inhabitants into poverty. In response to this calamity, Malaria's ruler King Malbert initiates a plan to save the country by having the kingdom's best and most wicked scientists create various doomsday devices and blackmail the rest of the world into paying them by threatening to unleash these devices upon the world. As a result, Malaria becomes a dark country where evil reigns supreme. There is also an annual Evil Science Fair that takes place in an arena known as the Kiliseum, where the inventions fight one another while being broadcast to the rest of the planet. Also, while evil scientists are treated as celebrities, citizens with hunchbacks are treated as second-class, usually referred to by the derogatory name "Igor", and are often employed as lowly minions for these scientists.


title: Igor (film)

text: One Igor, however, is a talented inventor and smarter than most of Malaria's scientists who aspires to be an evil scientist himself. Among his inventions are his friends Scamper, a re-animated, immortal and suicidal rabbit, and Brain, an unintelligent robot with a human brain transplanted into a life support jar. Unfortunately, he must keep his talent a secret out of fear of being sent to the "Igor Recycling Plant", especially from his master, the incompetent Dr. Glockenstein. Meanwhile, another evil scientist named Dr. Schadenfreude becomes immensely popular due to winning several Evil Science Fairs in a row. In truth, he always steals the prize-winner from another scientist before the fair with help of his shape-shifting girlfriend, Jaclyn, and desires to overthrow King Malbert and rule Malaria as its new king.


title: Igor (film)

text: One day, Glockenstein is visited by his "girlfriend" Heidi (who is actually Jaclyn in disguise attempting to steal his plans), giving Igor aspirations of romance. After throwing out Heidi, Glockenstein ignores Igor's concerns of using better parts for his latest invention, which is a rocket ship that malfunctions and explodes, taking Glockenstein with it. At this same moment, King Malbert arrives to see Glockenstein and demand that he builds an invention that could defeat Schadenfreude, who Malbert fears will replace him as king due to his popularity. Unable to tell the truth of Glockenstein's death and seizing the opportunity, Igor boldly claims that Glockenstein is creating life, which greatly pleases Malbert, who proclaims that such an invention would make its creator the greatest evil scientist of all time. After the king leaves, Igor reveals to Scamper and Brain his project to create a huge and monstrous being from human remains.


title: Igor (film)

text: With Brain and Scamper's help, he assembles the giant, and adds an "evil bone" that will make it pure evil. It first seems his experiment failed but seconds later, the monster reveals to have come alive and later escapes. They later find the giantess in an orphanage playing with blind orphans. At the same time, Schadenfreude sneaks into Glickenstein's castle to steal his invention, but he not only discovers that Glickenstein is dead, but his Igor had created a living monster, which he believes will be his key to taking the throne.


title: Igor (film)

text: Igor manages to lead the giant back to the castle with flowers that she likes. There, he discovers that the evil bone he gave her was not activated, making the monster sweet, friendly and gentle despite being hideous. Igor attempts to activate the evil bone by commanding the monster to kill a fly, but she instead catches it and sets it outside. Igor tries to convince the monster that she is evil but fails as the gentle giantess misinterpreted it as "Eva", thinking that's the name he gave her. Igor later attempts to brainwash Eva into becoming evil by bringing her to a brainwashing salon. Brain also decides to get his brain cleaned and to watch TV but breaks the remote to his TV, so he takes the remote from Eva's room and, in an attempt to change the channel, inadvertently changes the monster's TV channel from a horror movie marathon to a talk show whose topic of the day is the history of acting. She ends up watching the talk show for several hours and upon leaving the salon, she can speak proper English and aspires to be an actress.


title: Igor (film)

text: Igor then reluctantly takes his creation back to the castle in their car, bemoaning his failures. On the way back to the castle, Schadenfreude chases after Igor in an attempt to steal Eva by using a shrink ray, only to fail and end up shrinking himself. Igor and his friends nearly go over a cliff, but Eva saves them all, showing her appreciation of all life. Brain then brags on about how he changed the channel for Eva's TV, thus admitting that he made her what she is. Upon learning this, Igor attempts to kill Brain with an axe in anger for ruining his monster. When Eva questions this, Scamper sarcastically tells her they're practicing for a play and the monster believes that they're performers. Igor then gets the idea to exhibit Eva at the science fair while lying to her that the fair is an "Annie" audition with a few differences. While helping Eva with the “play”, Igor slowly starts to fall for her, who tries to convince him that its always better to be good than evil, no matter how much more successful evil is.


title: Igor (film)

text: Dr. Schadenfreude takes Igor to his home revealing he knows about Glickenstein's death and Eva, so he offers a compromise, if Igor gives him Eva to overthrow King Malbert he will make Igor Malaria's number one scientist, but Igor refuses forcing Schadenfreude to refute to blackmail. Igor narrowly escapes but is too late to stop Schadenfreude from exposing Igor to the King who sends him to the "Igor Recycling Plant". Schadenfreude tricks Eva into coming with him by having Jaclyn (again disguised as Heidi) pretend to kiss Igor.


title: Igor (film)

text: At the fair, Schadenfreude manipulates Eva into striking him, activating her evil bone and turning her into a mindless killing machine. He unleashes the monster on the Science Fair where she destroys all the Evil Inventions whilst singing a rendition of "Tomorrow". Brain and Scamper help Igor escape from the plant and learn that Malbert had deliberately killed Malaria's crops with a weather ray that created the storm clouds so he could implement his "Evil Inventions" plan, thereby keeping himself in power. Rushing into the arena, Igor tries to reason with the enraged Eva while Brain and Scamper power down the weather ray. Eva roars furiously at Igor until the sunlight begins to shine once again on Malaria, which permanently deactivates her evil bone and returns her to her sweet and gentle self.


title: Igor (film)

text: Igor exposes Malbert's lies to the public, telling them they do not need to be evil. The crowd boos at Malbert for his treachery before the damaged weather ray falls and crushes him to death. Dr. Schadenfreude attempts to take power, but Eva humiliates him. Malaria returns to its sunny peaceful ways with the monarchy dissolved and replaced with a republic with Igor as the president. Schadenfreude is reduced to a pickle salesman and Jaclyn, who's revealed to be a female Igor, loses her shapeshifting ability and becomes a pretzel saleswoman (while starting a relationship with Schadenfreude's Igor) while the annual science fair becomes an annual musical theatre showcase. Igor reveals his plan to build a dog to Eva, with her remarking that they'll just adopt if it doesn't work out. Igor and Eva live happily together as Malaria becomes a better place.


title: Igor (film)

text: While attending the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, Chris McKenna's interest in Transylvania-inspired settings caused him to conceive an evil scientist film like "Frankenstein" (1931) that has all of its common tropes twisted; the hunchback is smart instead of dumb, the scientist's creation is friendly instead of monstrous, the evil scientist isn't intelligent, and the jar brain is stupid. In the 2000s, the increasing amount of cheap technology led smaller, independent companies to produce films in the animation industry; one of them was Exodus, where its film "Igor" was the first feature-length animation to be budgeted entirely with private equity. McKenna pitched his idea to the California-based Exodus Film Group as a three-paper treatment, instead of as a presentation of drawings and concept art usual for pitching animated features; the company accepted and instructed investors worldwide to finance the film. According to Exodus president John D. Eraklis, "We chose it because it was the most original concept that we had come across in years and Chris McKenna is a brilliant writer."


title: Igor (film)

text: The Exodus project was first announced on September 7, 2004, with the involvements of McKenna, executive producer Max Howard, and 50 to 75 animators from the studio ElectroAge revealed. Exodus was developing the film as part of a $50 million fund that also included "The Hero of Color City" and "Amarillo Armadillo"; "Igor" made up a chunk of the fund, being budgeted at $30 million. The original plan was to produce a short film, titled "Igor: Unholy Frijoles", that would get the producers comfortable with making a feature-length film and serve as a launch for a longer version of "Igor" to be released in 2007. The seven-minute short was also going to premiere in festivals before being distributed.


title: Igor (film)

text: In a November 2005 interview, Howard announced that the rigging and voice recording for the short was completed and that storyboards were nearly finished for the animation to start soon; he also shared about the film's content, "This is a slightly edgier picture we're dealing with. We're taking a tongue-in-cheek look at the horror genre, in particular, Frankenstein stories but taken from Igor's point of view. There's sort of an underclass were you're born an Igor and you can only aspire to be an Igor, but, of course, he has greater aspirations than that. It's not supposed to be scary, but there's a gross-out value, which we hope kids will really enjoy. We're not making a soft, preschool property either." In early 2006, in addition to making ways into festivals, DVDs of "Igor: Unholy Frijoles" were being sold by Exodus to those who invested a minimum of $30,000 in the feature film's budget; in documents, Exodus enticed investors by citing a 2004 Dove Foundation study regarding the superior amount of profitability of G-rated films over R-rated motion pictures.


title: Igor (film)

text: On September 22, 2006, it was revealed Tony Leondis would direct the feature. He got onboard due to sharing McKenna's interest in horror films and sardonic sense of humor, in addition to being into film noir and German Expressionism works; Leondis helped the writer in developing the setting's backstory, a more complicated process than McKenna predicted that required collaboration from not just the director but also the actors and producers. Leondis explained, "My goal was to take familiar monster motifs and rearrange them in a surprisingly fun way to evoke the memories that people have of classic monster movies. Something familiar enough to connect to, but at the same time fresh and unexpected so that it became a fun ride – and maybe makes them think a little along the way."


title: Igor (film)

text: As Howard described casting A-list actors for the film, "We sent them the script. Steve Buscemi signed on very early, and he's an 'actor's actor.' Then others signed on... it just took off that way." On March 4, 2005, Slater joined the cast to play the title character in the short film, and Fil Barlow to direct. On July 19, 2005, Buscemi, Cleese, and Leno entered the cast as the characters Scamper, Dr. Glickenstein, and Brian the Brain. Jeremy Piven and Molly Shannon, Leondis' first decision for Eva, were cast for the roles of Dr. Schadenfreude and Eva respectively on October 19, 2006. On January 10, 2007 Jennifer Coolidge joined the cast to play Jaclyn and Heidi, and Leno switched from voicing Brain to King Malbert. On March 28, 2007, John Cusack replaced Slater in the role of Igor, and Hayes joined to voice Brain; the release date was also set for October 24, 2008. Leondis thought Cusack had a "world-weary, but hopeful" tone to his voice perfect for Igor's character arc. On May 11, 2007, Arsenio Hall was revealed to be in the cast. On July 26, 2007, Eddie Izzard replaced Piven for the role of Dr. Schadenfreude. Izzard came up with his own accent for Schadenfreude.


title: Igor (film)

text: "Igor" was produced over the course of two years beginning in November 2006. Due to "Igor"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s inspiration originating from a European nation and being most famous in the continent of Europe, Howard wanted to have a European studio responsible for the animation's aesthetic. He chose Sparx Animation Studios, where its French office did the designs and used $4 million worth of tech for making the film. It was Sparx's first theatrical film, as their previous work were direct-to-video products and television productions such as "Rolie Polie Olie" (1998–2004) and "Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas" (2004). A chunk of the 65 Sparx artists and Leondis previously worked at Walt Disney Animation France, and appreciated the amount of freedom they had when working on "Igor". Leondis explained, "At Disney everything had to be done in the house style, but here they really wanted to push boundaries. I came in and said, 'We're going to do something sumptuous, something sophisticated, something crazy. We're going to mix freaks, skulls and the generally creepy with the architecture of the Liberace museum.'" "Igor" was the last production of Sparx before it shut down its French offices a few months after the film's release.


title: Igor (film)

text: "Igor"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s first six months with Sparx involved the French facility conceiving the visual style. For the film's 120 characters, 65 locations, and 250 props, Leondis wanted them to be asymmetrical, a decision coming from the film's backstory about a farm land taken over by castles with technology: "I wanted the in-organic shapes to not exactly fit, to be thrust upon our peaceful organic world."


title: Igor (film)

text: In order to achieve both a film noir and an accessible-while-creepy aesthetic, Leondis and the art director he worked with, Olivier Besson, incorporated a fair amount of mist and smoke. Leondis also went for an art style inspired by the fashion works of Vivienne Westwood, where it takes elements from a variety of time periods; he summarized the setting's look as a mixture of the middle ages, the industrial revolution, and "Pop sixties." The visual's lighting and shading took cues from the works of Rembrandt. Other influences Leondis used on the look included Brassaï's use of black-and-white and Mary Blair's color style. Leondis stated regarding the coloring, "Olivier [Besson] would use an unrealistic color like pink for the sky if the emotional moment called for it — and somehow still made it feel like our world."


title: Igor (film)

text: In Howard's words, the animators went for a "puppet sensibility" in the characters' movements and designs, a decision inspired by the 1967 stop motion film "Mad Monster Party?" (1967). McKenna explained, "the most difficult challenge with Igor was going to be portraying him as a hunchback without making him freakish." The titular protagonist of "Igor" wasn't a prisoner per se, but character designer Valérie Hadida nonetheless gave his attire prison sensibilities to symbolize him being jailed in the land he lives in; the back of his "straitjacket" has a prison uniform pattern, and the cuffs on his hands indicate handcuffs. Hadida was later nominated for an Annie Award for Character Design in an Animated Feature Production for her work on "Igor". Two patches of orange are also on Igor's back to suggest hope before Eva enters the world, who is colored a warm yellow to symbolize her adding "hope and light" to the land.


title: Igor (film)

text: The animation of Sparx's designs were outsourced to a facility in Ho Chi Minh City that consisted of 150 animators and only worked in television advertisements. Since none of the Vietnamese animators could speak English, Leondis recorded videotapes of himself doing character movements and the voice actors doing their lines; and the Vietnamese workers would animate the characters with the tapes as references. According to Howard, "It was a real buzz to go out there and see our artwork come to life on their monitors. It's a subtle film, but they got it." "Igor" was computer-animated with Autodesk Maya in less than 18 months.


title: Igor (film)

text: The set up of the tools and workflow for animating the film went on the same six months the designs were being conceived; the Paris office modelled and rigged the characters, and the Vietnamese space modelled the props and sets. A 3D animatic was done in the next four months by six animators and two camera people, with two-and-a-half of those months involving revisions of the animatic. The following six months, 50 of the Vietnamese workers animated the film before it was taken to the Paris office for the lighting and final compositing to be done with Digital Fusion. According to Sparx manager Jean-Philippe Again, each animator completed an average of 0.6 seconds of animation. Rending was done with another Autodesk program, Mental Ray; and the company actually trained Sparx in rendering more efficiently for the first half of production . Since Sparx was in a partnership with HP Inc., hardware by the technology company was used for "Igor".


title: Igor (film)

text: Leondis first met Patrick Doyle, one of his favorite film composers, about "Igor" in October 2007; Leondis showed Doyle the film without music as well as concept drawings, which got the composer "immediately excited." Due to having themes for different types of characters, "Igor"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s score incorporates multiple styles, such as piano concerto for Eva's theme and a tango tinge for Dr. Schadenfreude's dance-y side. Leondis instructed Doyle to give the score a "slightly eastern feel," offering him the works of composers such as Bela Bartok to reference from. The score's Gothic elements were executed through a set of Choir samples. The soundtrack also includes five Louis Prima songs. The soundtrack was released on September 30, 2008, by Varèse Sarabande. "Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield was featured in the film's end credits, but not included on the soundtrack.


title: Igor (film)

text: The Weinstein Company bought the North American rights to "Igor" on February 1, 2006. However, differences towards the artistic vision and release idea of the film between Weinstein and Exodus led Weinstein to sell the North American rights back to Exodus. However, Weinstein was involved in international distribution, and when selling "Igor" at the 2006 Marché du Film before production started, companies from almost every territory bought it; according to Howard, "We pre-sold [the film] to all the former east bloc countries pretty much on the name alone."


title: Igor (film)

text: As of January 13, 2008, the release date was set at October 17, 2008. The Weinstein Company ran an "Igor" panel at the 2008 New York Comic-Con, where, in addition to being an exclusive premiere of the first trailer, McKenna and Leondis presented details about the film. At the panel, Leondis also announced the contest "Be an Igor", where voice actors contributed video recordings of themselves acting like an Igor for their voices to be used for extras; the top-five results were included as extras for the film's DVD.


title: Igor (film)

text: "Igor"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s first poster, made entirely by Leondis, was released by Weinstein on April 23, 2008; and the first trailer premiered online via AniMagTV with a high definition video released on Yahoo! on May 8, 2008. A presentation for "Igor" took place at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, where Harvey Weinstein, McKenna, and Slater attended. On August 28, 2008, Exodus partnered with Marlaria.com and the Against Malaria Foundation for Igor to be a spokesperson for donating to end the Malaria crisis.


title: Igor (film)

text: Exodus planned "Igor" to be a franchise since its inception and made several "Igor" merchandise deals with other companies while the film was in production. On May 11, 2007, Exodus signed a deal with Simon & Schuster to publish seven children's books based on "Igor". Exodus signed another merchandise deal on June 11 with Corgi International, where they would release various products, such as figures, play sets, electronic role-play games, pocket money toys, plush toys, in September 2008. On July 26, Exodus inked a deal with IDW Publishing to produce a set of comic books, a prequel series to Simon & Schuster's "Igor" books. On November 16, 2007, Exodus penned a deal with CKE Restaurants Inc. to have more than 3,000 Carl's Jr. and Hardee's restaurants sell "Igor" toy in Cool Kids Combos. On December 7, 2007, Exodus signed with Interactive Game Group and Legacy Games to develop and publish "Igor" video game adaptations for the Nintendo DS, Wii, personal computer, and wireless.


title: Igor (film)

text: "Igor" had its worldwide premiere on September 13, 2008, at the Grauman's Chinese Theatre, where the "red carpet" was purple instead of its usual color. Howard recalled that "almost everyone turned out for the premiere."


title: Igor (film)

text: Worldwide, "Igor" was released in Taiwan on October 3, 2008; the Philippines on October 8, 2008; Israel and the United Kingdom on October 10, 2008; Greece on October 23, 2008; Malaysia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates on November 20, 2008; Iceland on November 21, 2008; Singapore on December 11, 2008; France on December 17, 2008; Kuwait and Lebanon on January 1, 2009; Australia on January 3, 2009; Oman on January 8, 2009; Bahrain on January 22, 2009; South Africa on January 23, 2009; Russia on February 19, 2009; Belgium and Egypt on April 1, 2009; the Netherlands on April 23, 2009; Mexico on April 24, 2009; Turkey on May 8, 2009; Spain on June 5, 2009; Portugal on July 23, 2009; Peru on August 13, 2009; Brazil on October 9, 2009; Argentina on December 3, 2009; Japan on January 2, 2010; Chile on February 11, 2010; Uruguay on March 26, 2010; Bolivia on September 9, 2010; South Korea on March 10, 2011; Germany on July 10, 2011; and Venezuela on September 9, 2011.


title: Igor (film)

text: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released "Igor" theatrically in the United States on September 19, 2008, to 2,300 theaters, more than "1,200 to 1,500 screens" the producers predicted.


title: Igor (film)

text: According to Gitesh Pandya, "pre-release expectations were low since it is not based on any popular brand name property." However, he projected an opening weekend gross of $8 million due to no competition with other family films and "a marketing push highlighting how Halloween comes early this year thanks to this monster mash." He also suggested the film would drop only modestly in later weeks.


title: Igor (film)

text: In its opening weekend the film grossed $7,803,347, ranking #4 at the box office alongside "Lakeview Terrace", "Burn After Reading" and "My Best Friend's Girl". As of December 2019, "Igor" has the 184th biggest opening weekend in a September month. The film then grossed $19,528,602 domestically and $11,218,902 overseas for a worldwide total of $30,747,504. In the UK, the film opened on 32 screens with a gross of £56,177 for a screen average of £1,756 and placing it at No. 20 in the box office chart. The mainstream release opened on October 17 at 418 screens and made £981,750 with a screen average of £2,348. This placed it at No. 3 for that weekend. The UK total gross is £1,110,859.


title: Igor (film)

text: Noel Murray opined that "Igor" had a difficult time selling tickets due to being "too macabre for young children and too cutesy for hip adult moviegoers," and Adam Quigley reported it was "instantly forgotten following its release."


title: Igor (film)

text: Alex Billington, also covering the trailer, predicted "Igor" might be good thanks to its cast, but may do mediocrely at the box office, citing the performance of "Arthur and the Invisibles", a previous English-language animated film released in 2006 and made in France. "I Watch Stuff" was turned off by the "archetypical Disney-esque jokes and characters" presented in the trailer, also mocking Igor's design as "a hunchbacked David Gest." Peter Sciretta also had little faith in the film's quality due to Weinstein's poor reputation with animated films, but Kryten Syxx wrote that "there's enough [in the trailer] to please horror fans" as well as children, Ryan Parsons suggested that "Igor" "looks charming enough" to compete with bigger productions from Pixar and DreamWorks, and "Cartoon Brew" thought it looked "intriguing" judging by the trailer.


title: Igor (film)

text: According to "Rotten Tomatoes", "critics say the film is something of a Frankenstein's monster, stitching together recycled parts from "Shrek" and "The Nightmare Before Christmas". [...] While the pundits say "Igor" has moments of Tim Burton-esque visual invention, it's a pretty mediocre affair, filled with shopworn pop-culture references and manic action but few laughs; plus, it's probably a bit too dark for the wee ones." The site reports only 39% of 93 professional reviews being "fresh" as of December 2019; while the film holds a "mixed or average" aggregate score of 40/100 on Metacritic based on 19 reviews as of the same time. While "The Age" called "Igor" "a fun time-killer for kids aged tween and up;" "The Austin Chronicle" panned it for being uninspired in all aspects, such as animation, story, and voice acting; and "The New York Post" labeled it as "an excuse for a wearying parade of pop-culture references and voice cameos by celebrities," also calling its influences used more for "desperation than inspiration."


title: Igor (film)

text: Many criticisms were pointed towards the story, mainly that it was very unclear in messages, form, and age appeal. According to "The New York Times", "Kiddies [...] will be undiverted by the humdrum animation and a palette that mirrors the film's moral and meteorological gloom. Neither will they respond to a script (by Chris McKenna) that seems more focused on tickling movie-savvy adults [...] 'Igor' leaves us unmoved by its vertically challenged hero." "Exclaim!" summarized, " the journey is sloppy and uneven, with technical fouls aplenty. [...] It is difficult to determine what audience might have an appreciation for this, as the material will prove too dark for many youngsters and too insipid for elders." "Slant Magazine" writer Nick Schager concluded that it "feels chintzy and imitative, with kids unlikely to be seriously captivated by its bland hero and viewers over the age of five ultimately apt to relate only to Scamper (Steve Buscemi), an immortal rabbit desperate to commit suicide." "Dark Horizons" writer Garth Franklin wrote that its content was too little in amount for a full-length film. Some reviewers were turned off by its pacing; Franklin noted that its "characters run around in a manic rush and yet there's little 'action' to speak of," while Robert Abele of "Los Angeles Times" wrote the pacing issues came in its editing, camera movements, and line deliveries.


title: Igor (film)

text: Michael Phillips called "Igor" unfunny, "uneven and overstuffed," although highlight the presence of Scamper. The "San Francisco Chronicle" writer Peter Hartlaub opined "the filmmakers waste some clever and subversive writing by cramming everything into a Disneyfied plot filled with misunderstandings and morality speeches." Similarly, "The Globe and Mail" thought its interesting monster movie concept was "thwarted by traditional prejudices." Wrote Kurt Loder, "the picture suffers from a humor deficit. The fact that the jar in which Brain resides is mislabeled "Brian" is not hilarious; nor is a strained butt-scratching gag involving an invisible talk-show host." The story is "innocuous and predictable—a modest do-gooder trying to pretend that its not Cartoonland's most direct attack of the Bush administration," wrote Amy Nicholson. In the opinion of an "IGN" critic, "Writer Chris McKenna [...] has essentially crafted a tale that robs the genre of all of its hallmarks – real monsters, gore, or even just genuinely scary moments – in lieu of a superficially entertaining tome that either borrows heavily from the above predecessors or doesn't have enough creativity not to steal from their iconic landscapes."


title: Igor (film)

text: Mark Demetrius of "Filmink" opined that the film was ruined by cliches, an overwhelming amount of adult jokes, forced humor, and "pathetic" ending. Franklin also panned its "dated" and "forced" pop-culture humor, and Janice Page wrote it "riffs on classic monster-movie cliches mostly by spinning them into newly unfunny cliches." A review from the "Toronto Star" claimed cliches, "movie quotes and Hollywood parodies dictate the action," also stating the kids wouldn't get the references. Schager explained, "Director Anthony Leondis peppers his tale with a host of leaden cinematic references children will almost surely miss, which is just as well since virtually every film-related gag directed at adults feels like a pitiful attempt at knowing cleverness." According to "The Hollywood Reporter", the plot was "undernourished, and the wit erupts only in flashes." "The Orlando Sentinel" dismissed it as "chatty and dull" and "a bit too reliant on innuendo." As "Entertainment Weekly" summarized in their review, "the visuals are a kick; the groan-inducing dialogue isn't," and the hero is "charmless." Even a positive "TV Guide" review thought it didn't work as a children's film due to its adult references and horror film elements.


title: Igor (film)

text: Pete Hammond of "Boxoffice" called "Igor" "first rate" for a low-budget film, while the movie's look was considered by Demetrius to be its best aspect. Some sources thought the film was "all its own" and "fresh" in spite of its influences of Tim Burton films and old-school horror movies, "The Orlando Sentinel" labeling the animation a "credible" rip-off of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" (1993). "The A.V. Club" stated the visuals succeeded in "detail and fluidity" if not for taking "advantage of three-dimensional space." One critic highlighted the film's use of shadow, "not only to strike the pre-requisite mad scientist mood but to enhance the feeling of 3 dimensions. This, coupled with a cinematic eye leaning towards the dramatic, further pulls you into the feature, exposing the creator's love for black and white horror films of years past." The visuals did have its detractors, however. Schager wrote the animation is "at times is vibrant and elaborately eerie, and at others is so stiff, inexpressive and flat." "IGN" thought the animation looked like "a bargain-basement ripoff of better films." Franklin called it too "inconsistent," Hartlaub who opined "the character design leans more toward disturbing than cute," and "Total Film" who was turned off by the "shoddiness" of the art style. The voice cast was heavily praised, being called "stellar," "top-notch," and a "quirky highlight" in reviews. According to one journalist, "this is one cast that consistently had me laughing across the board."


title: Igor (film)

text: Some reviewers found the underlying concepts to be clever, such as a "Wired" review that opined the film had a "clever premise," "outrageous characters, some artsy scenery, and some cool laboratories. "The Sydney Morning Herald" praised it for being unique from most family films due to its cast of improv actors and impertinent horror concept: ""Igor" celebrates a defiantly adolescent and suitably caricatured vision of mortality with the potential to have adults and special young malcontents in stitches." A "Total Film" reviewer called it "a compellingly oddball tale that should eventually find its niche as a minor late-night cult classic for "Nightmare Before Christmas" fans," although called its themes of "suicide and spousal abuse" odd for a family film. Some critics called it one of the rare family flicks to appeal to adults as well as kids. In the words of a "Newsday" character, "the overall tenor of "Igor" is goofily funny — probably a bit sophisticated for kids but certainly good-natured," and "the animated characters possess an unusual depth of emotion." "The A.V. Club" labeled it an "appealing mix of macabre, reference-heavy horror-movie trappings and good-natured positivism," favorably comparing it to Burton's works for being "appealingly manic and cute as well as sick." A five-out-of-five review from "Dread Central" claimed, "The comedic timing is top notch with humor that is 95% mean spirited, often remarkably dark and at times even a little gory." Even a reviewer who found the film's concept conformist, Peter Bradshaw, wrote that it was made up for by its dark tone.


title: Igor (film)

text: The inclusion of Louis Prima songs also garnered divided reactions; while appreciated by some reviewers to the point where one called it "the film's best decision," others found it unfitting with Doyle's score. The soundtrack was ecstatically received by Hartlaub for its mixture of song styles.


title: Igor (film)

text: "Igor" was released to DVD, Blu-ray, and Amazon Prime in the United States and Canada on January 20, 2009, by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment; Wal-mart exclusively sold DVDs with memorabilia, toys, and a book of the film, and Best Buy sold them five-dollars off. The DVD includes deleted scenes, bloopers, and a featurette named "Be An Igor"; and Blu-ray includes those plus an alternate opening and commentary by Leondis, McKenna and Howard. The film ranked fourth in its opening weekend at the DVD sales chart, making $3,509,704 off 175,000 DVD units. As per the latest figures, 596,146 DVD units have been sold, translating to $11,739,919 in revenue. Internationally, the film was issued on Blu-ray in Germany on December 3, 2009 and Mexico in 2014. MGM later included "Igor" in two of its collections: a Blu-ray "Best of Family" collection released on February 4, 2014, and an "MGM 90th Anniversary" DVD set distributed on June 3, 2014.


title: Japanese nationalism

text: In Meiji Japan, nationalist ideology consisted of a blend of native and imported political philosophies, initially developed by the Meiji government to promote national unity and patriotism, first in defense against colonization by Western powers, and later in a struggle to attain equality with the Great Powers. It evolved throughout the Taishō and Shōwa periods, when it was used to justify the formation of an increasingly totalitarian government and overseas expansionism, and it also provided a political and ideological foundation for the actions of the Japanese military in the years leading up to World War II.


title: Japanese nationalism

text: During the final days of the Tokugawa shogunate, the perceived threat of foreign encroachment, especially after the arrival of Commodore Matthew C. Perry and the signing of the Kanagawa Accord, led to increased prominence to the development of nationalist ideologies. Some prominent "daimyō" promoted the concept of "fukko" (a return to the past), while others promoted "ōsei" (the Emperor's supreme authority). The terms were not mutually exclusive, merging into the "sonnō jōi" (revere the emperor, expel the barbarians) concept, which in turn was a major driving force in starting the Meiji Restoration.


title: Japanese nationalism

text: The Meiji Constitution of 1889 defined allegiance to the State as the citizen's highest duty. While the constitution itself contained a mix of political Western practices and traditional Japanese political ideas, government philosophy increasingly centered on promoting social harmony and a sense of the uniqueness of the Japanese people "(kokutai)".


title: Japanese nationalism

text: The extreme disparity in economic and military power between Japan and the Western colonial powers was a great cause for concern for the early Meiji leadership. The motto "Fukoku kyōhei" (enrich the country and strengthen the military) symbolized Meiji period nationalistic policies to provide government support to strengthen strategic industries. Only with a strong economic base could Japan afford to build a strong, modern military along Western lines, and only with a strong economy and military could Japan force a revision of the unequal treaties, such as the Kanagawa Accords. Government policies also laid the basis of later industrialist empires known as the "zaibatsu".


title: Japanese nationalism

text: As a residue of its widespread use in propaganda during the 19th century, military nationalism in Japan was often known as "bushidō" (武士道 "the way of the warrior"). The word, denoting a coherent code of beliefs and doctrines about the proper path of the samurai, or what is called generically 'warrior thought' (武家思想, "buke shisō"), is rarely encountered in Japanese texts before the Meiji era, when the 11 volumes of the "Hagakure" of Yamamoto Tsunetomo, compiled in the years from 1710 to 1716 where the character combination is employed, was finally published.