title: Peter Brock

text: While at the 1983 Australian Grand Prix meeting at Calder Park, sports car racer and 1976 Hardie-Ferodo 1000 winner John Fitzpatrick challenged Brock, that having won everything there was to win in Australia he should try his hand overseas with the 'big boys', meaning Le Mans. After millionaire businessman and racer Bob Jane got involved with sponsorship through his Bob Jane T-Marts, a deal was completed to race a Porsche 956B rented from John Fitzpatrick Racing in 1984. This car was a well-worn 956, chassis number 956-102 previously seen in J. David and Skoal Bandit colours. With regular HDT co-driver Larry Perkins, Brock finished 21st at the 1000 km of Silverstone after spending time in the pits fixing a broken rear suspension. The pair then drove in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Perkins qualified the car 15th with a time of 3:35.340 which was 18.29 seconds slower than the pole winning works Lancia LC2 of Bob Wollek (Brock was 2 seconds slower than Perkins, though his times were set on race tyres while Perkins was given a set of qualifiers). After a good start by Perkins in the hot conditions, Team Australia were running as high as 5th at one stage of the race before retiring after Perkins crashed in the Esses on lap 145 while trying to make up for lost time, which included a lost wheel while Brock was in the car, and a broken rear bolt which caused Perkins to almost spin the Porsche at close to while racing flat out through the kink on the famous Mulsanne Straight. The Team Australia assault on the race, and the fortunes of the other Aussies including 1983 winner Vern Schuppan, Formula One World Champion Alan Jones and Allan Grice, was covered extensively in the Peter Mckay/Barry Naismith book "LeMans The Australian Assault".


title: Peter Brock

text: While in Europe in 1984, Brock was in the unusual situation (for him) of being the second billing in his driver pairing with Perkins. From 1974 until 1977 Larry Perkins had made 11 starts in F1 and, to the large number of European motoring press covering the two World Endurance Championship races, ex-F1 driver Larry 'Larrikins' Perkins was the star driver with Brock seen as nothing more than a saloon car driver. According to Perkins, "The Porsche exercise at Le Mans was great although PB (Brock) struggled with the 'Euro media' because no one knew who he was!"


title: Peter Brock

text: Brock also drove a Vauxhall Magnum with British driver Gerry Marshall to a surprise second place in the 1977 Spa 24 Hours. He also shocked many when he won the 1979 Repco Round Australia Trial driving for the HDT in a 6cyl Holden VB Commodore along with co-drivers Noel Richards and Matthew Philip. The shock came as many in the motoring press regarded Brock as a circuit racer and seemed forgot about his extensive Rally and Rallycross experience with the Dealer Team in the early 1970s. The press saw his inclusion merely as a publicity stunt by Holden and the race organisers in order to generate interest in the race. The Repco was a long-distance endurance rally that drove clockwise around Australia featuring some dirt road sections completely different to the circuit racing where he made his name. The Round Australia Trial was revived in 1995 (sponsored by Brock's long time backer Mobil) with Brock again racing for Holden in a Holden Racing Team prepared VR Commodore. Brock finished 3rd in the trial which was won by teammate (and former Australian Rally Champion) Ed Ordynski.


title: Peter Brock

text: After 1991 when teamed with Perkins Engineering, Brock continued to race in his own privately supported Advantage Racing Commodores in 1992 and 1993, before joining the factory Holden Racing Team in 1994. Brock retired from full-time driving following the 1997 Australian Touring Car season.


title: Peter Brock

text: After his nominal 'retirement' he made two returns to Bathurst. In 2002 he paired with Team Brock lead driver Craig Baird to a 23rd-place finish in the teams Commodore VX, Brock finished 25 laps down due to engine temperature problems. He then returned to the Holden Racing team for the 2004 Bathurst 1000, teaming with Jason Plato in a Commodore VT. The pair failed to finish after Plato was involved in a spectacular accident coming out of Caltex Chase with the Brad Jones Racing Falcon of John Cleland while Cleland was lapping the Commodore (which was limping to the pits with a blown tyre) on lap 29. The clash caused the Falcon to roll and enough damage to the HRT car to be out on the spot with Brock failing to get a drive in his last Bathurst race after Plato had started the car and was due to hand over to Brock a few laps after the crash.


title: Peter Brock

text: Brock also drove a Holden Monaro 427C for Garry Rogers Motorsport (GRM), winning four from four races in what was thought to be a one-off appearance in the support races for the 2003 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. This led to him driving a 2nd Monaro built and run by GRM in the Australian Nations Cup Championship, a GT-type championship for highly modified and exotic road cars in 2003 before setting up his own team for himself and son James in 2004 (with Monaros supplied by GRM). He achieved a tenth Bathurst endurance win in 2003 at the Bathurst 24 Hour, when he won, with Greg Murphy, Jason Bright and Todd Kelly in his GRM Monaro, controversially powered by a 7.0L 427 cui V8 engine rather than the 5.7L Gen III as used by the production Monaro CV8 (the controversy came from no other car in Nations Cup being able to run a different size engine from the production model it was based on. Triple Nations Cup champion Jim Richards labelled the Monaro as a ""Better V8 Supercar"" when it first appeared at the 2002 Bathurst 24 Hour).


title: Peter Brock

text: In 2002, he returned to top-level touring car racing as a team patron with Rod Nash Racing in V8 Supercar Commodore and drove in that year's Bathurst 1000 with the team was renamed 'Team Brock' as a branding exercise. The 'Team Brock' branding exercise was revived for 2003 this time with Paul Weel Racing but this time Brock's role was as a mentor rather than a driver. Frustrated with the lack of control he held over a team bearing his name, Brock and the team parted company at the end of the season.


title: Peter Brock

text: He occasionally competed in various enthusiast-level motorsport events such as the Targa Tasmania with the Monaros he drove actually constructed by Holden Special Vehicles. His smooth on-camera persona and familiarity to older Australians continued to sell products, including Mobil (including a 2000 United States television commercial) and Bridgestone tyres, as the controversy of the Energy Polariser had been largely forgotten.


title: Peter Brock

text: Brock worked with the Victorian authorities promoting the campaign against drink-driving. The most obvious sign of this association was the race car number 05 which related to the 0.05% blood alcohol limit in Victoria, which he utilised constantly from the mid-1970s. Most cars he raced in, regardless of the motor racing division, bore this number, including the car in which he died.


title: Peter Brock

text: Brock began publicly supporting and, eventually, began to fit to all Holden Dealer Team specials a device called the "Energy Polariser" containing crystals and magnets in an epoxy resin that, it was claimed, improved the performance and handling of vehicles through "aligning the molecules". The device was based on the principles of orgone energy pseudoscience. The "Polariser" is being sold once more in an official HDT, Brock tribute upgrade pack.


title: Peter Brock

text: The overwhelming majority of the Australian motoring community regarded the device as pseudoscience, and Brock's promotion of it drove away HDT drivers like John Harvey, Allan Moffat and Larry Perkins. Brock also recommended tyre pressures of 22psi (150kPa) for his polariser-equipped vehicles, a level which many regarded as near-dangerously low. Holden, fearing the consequences of being associated with the device and a resulting breakdown in communications over Brock's plans for new models, cut ties with Brock and set up an alternative racing/modification operation, Holden Special Vehicles. During this period, Brock also became involved in the importation and even the modification of the Lada Samara, a cheap Soviet-built hatchback a world away from the high-performance V8-powered Commodores he was famous for. The Lada deal came at the right time for the Brock organisation as it saved the struggling outfit from potential bankruptcy.


title: Peter Brock

text: After his work with Lada, Brock, during the period 1988–1990 sold around 200 personally modified EA-series Ford Falcons, Fairmont Ghias, Fairlanes and Mavericks through Austech Automotive Developments.


title: Peter Brock

text: Due to his extraordinary success on the racing track Brock became the Australian racing driver with the highest-profile as he undertook several media commitments. When not racing he often appeared on New Zealand television screens as a presenter; hosting motoring shows such as TV3's "Police Stop" (1996–1998) and TVNZ's "Love That Car" (2000). In Australia, Brock hosted a show similar to "Police Stop" known as "Police Camera Action" which was shown on the Seven Network (1996–98).


title: Peter Brock

text: Brock has been the subject of several DVD documentaries—"The Legend" (1997; updated 2004), "Peter Brock - Nine Times a Champion", Holden First Around Australia" (Repco Trial VB Commodore)", 25 Years of HDT Special Vehicles Collectors Edition (2006) and "35 Years on the Mountain" (2005). He was also due to star in a racing film "King of the Mountain" in early 2007.


title: Peter Brock

text: He announced to a packed race track he was forming 'The Peter Brock Foundation', a philanthropic organisation funded by corporate sponsors and donations from the public. Aimed at disadvantaged youth and others experiencing difficulties in Australia. As of 2021 the Foundation still continues operating and has financed many activities and people.


title: Peter Brock

text: As the lead driver for the Holden Dealer Team in a succession of both 6 and 8 cylinder Holden Toranas and later, V8 Commodores Brock became a household name that transcended motor racing as he emerged to be one of the best-known modern Australia and New Zealand racing drivers, spoken of with the same reverence as Formula One World Champions Jack Brabham, Alan Jones and Denny Hulme.


title: Peter Brock

text: His public standing was dented by controversy over his promotion of the "Energy Polariser" and domestic violence allegations levelled by an ex-wife, with calls to keep him out of the Australian Motor Sport Hall of Fame.


title: Peter Brock

text: Several years later, Brock met 1973 Miss Australia pageant winner and Channel Seven weather presenter Michelle Downes. They married in April 1974 and divorced after only one year. In 2006, Downes said Brock assaulted her on a number of occasions, and forced her to have an abortion.


title: Peter Brock

text: Brock next entered into a relationship with Beverly "Bev" McIntosh, the wife of a member of his motor racing team. After two failed marriages Brock was hesitant to marry McIntosh and although the couple never married, Peter always called Bev his "wife", and she changed her surname to Brock by deed poll. They had two children together, Robert and Alexandra. Her oldest, James, is Bev's son from a previous marriage. Bev wrote Peter's biography herself in 2004 after finding most potential authors had incorrect preconceived notions about him. She also expressed a desire to show his human side, to encourage others that they, too, can achieve their goals. "Even Allan Moffat said it's okay for him—it's us mortals that have the problem," she said. Bev described Brock as an imperfect but never violent man.


title: Peter Brock

text: Brock split with Bev in May 2005 after 28 years together. Alexandra gave birth to their grandson Oliver on 28 June 2006, two months before Brock's death. According to Bev, Brock was not an entirely faithful partner. She has described in a book her eventual tiring in the early 1990s of his relationships with "one too many secretaries".


title: Peter Brock

text: After splitting with Bev, Peter began a relationship with Julie Bamford, whom he had met through his former partner Bev some 20 years previously. Subsequently, Bamford's estranged husband Ron McCurdy, who had once been a close friend of Brock's, assaulted Brock during a chance meeting outside the Peter Brock Foundation's office.


title: Peter Brock

text: Brock, who lived hard in his early years, changed his lifestyle considerably after the failed 1984 Le Mans attempt left him physically and emotionally drained.


title: Peter Brock

text: After his return from Le Mans, Brock began to consult Melbourne-based chiropractor Eric Dowker. He gave up alcohol and cigarettes and became a vegetarian, 5 years after that he became a vegan. Eventually he returned to being a vegetarian.


title: Peter Brock

text: On 8 September 2006, while driving in the "Targa West '06" rally, Brock was 3 kilometres from the finish of the second stage of the race at Gidgegannup, about 40 km from Perth, Western Australia, when he skidded off a downhill left-hand bend on Clenton Road for over 50 metres in his 2001 Daytona Sportscar and hit a tree sideways, in the driver's door. The 61-year-old Brock died within a couple of minutes of the impact. His co-driver, Mick Hone, was taken to hospital in a serious but stable condition. Video footage of the crash (provided by a fan and the in-car camera) was reviewed by Western Australian police to help determine the cause of the crash. Coroner Alastair Hope decided that his death was caused by high speed and that no coronial inquest would be held. The video has never been released to the public.


title: Peter Brock

text: Brock's children accepted the offer of a Victorian state funeral, with former partner Bev telling ABC Radio:


title: Peter Brock

text: The editor of "Wheels Magazine", Ged Bulmer, said that Brock would be remembered for his nine victories at Bathurst, for "He had a long and very successful career there, he was the 'King of the Mountain' as he came to be known."


title: Peter Brock

text: Brock was farewelled with a state funeral at Melbourne's St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral, on 19 September 2006. A permanent memorial was placed at Peter Brock's "home" raceway, Sandown Raceway, on 22 September.


title: Peter Brock

text: Brock left three wills and a complex estate. The court battle between his family members was protracted and took over three years to complete.


title: Peter Brock

text: In honour of his achievements and in recognition of his contribution to Australian motorsport, the Bathurst 1000 winner's trophy now carries his name. The Peter Brock Trophy was first incorporated for the 2006 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. The race was won by Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup driving a Ford BA Falcon. Lowndes had long been regarded as Brock's protégé, and was a teammate of Brock in 1996. Lowndes and Whincup would go on to win three Bathurst 1000s in succession, matching the feat that Brock achieved twice.


title: Peter Brock

text: Next to the site of his most famous motor racing achievements at Mount Panorama, a memorial statue was built adjacent to the National Motor Racing Museum in Bathurst. Unveiled in 2008, the statue features Brock standing on his 1984 Bathurst-winning Holden VK Commodore. Two roads in Sydney have been named Peter Brock Drive: in Oran Park as part of the housing development that replaced Oran Park Raceway, and in Eastern Creek, near Sydney Motorsport Park.


title: Peter Brock

text: A two-part television miniseries entitled "Brock" was aired on Network Ten in October 2016, with Matthew Le Nevez playing the title character. However, the miniseries received criticism for trivialising and titillating his life.


title: Peter Brock

text: In addition to his racing championships, Brock's efforts to society have been recognised in various ways:


title: Peter Brock

text: Peter Brock won the Bathurst 500/1000 a record 9 times including winning the 1979 Bathurst 1000 by a record margin of 6 laps (still the race record as of 2017).


title: Peter Brock

text: As he did at Bathurst, Brock won the Sandown Endurance race a record nine times during his career, including seven wins in a row from 1975 to 1981. He also finished on the podium in 1990 (2nd) and 1996 (3rd).


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: The New Avengers is a secret agent action television series produced during 1976 and 1977. It is a sequel to the 1960s series "The Avengers" and was developed by original series producers Albert Fennell and Brian Clemens.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: The series was produced by The Avengers (Film and TV) Enterprises Ltd for the ITV network, cost £125,000 per episode to produce at Pinewood Studios, and was seen in 120 countries.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: A joint United Kingdom-France-Canada production, the series picks up the adventures of John Steed (again played by Patrick Macnee) as he and his team of "Avengers" fight evil plots and world domination. Whereas in the original series Steed had almost always been partnered with a woman, in the new series he had two partners: Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt), a top agent, crack marksman and trained martial artist, and Purdey (Joanna Lumley), a former trainee with The Royal Ballet (to which she ascribed the high-kicking skills she frequently used in the series) who was an amalgam of many of the best talents from Steed's female partners in "The Avengers".


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: As he did for most of the original "Avengers" series, John Steed is once again acting without a direct superior—in many ways his character takes on the duties of "Mother" from the Tara King era of that series. Steed is seen to be the mentor to Mike Gambit and Purdey, taking on a paternal role towards them (especially in the episode "Hostage"). Gambit is the athletic action hero, while Purdey incorporates the wit and fighting skills of her predecessors. The verbal interplay between Gambit and Purdey, with her humorously keeping his romantic advances at bay, harks back to the Steed/Cathy Gale era of "The Avengers".


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: One reason for the addition of Gambit was the question of whether Macnee, aged 53 when the series began production, could handle the potential stuntwork and action scenes. Macnee was able to increase his role's visibility as the series progressed, losing weight to improve his athleticism and "keep up" with his new partners.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: The first series featured several episodes using science fiction themes similar to those of the classic "Emma Peel" "Avengers" era. The new trio had to deal with suspended animation ("The Eagle's Nest"), biological warfare ("The Midas Touch"), robotics ("The Last of The Cybernauts?"), mind transfer ("Three-Handed Game") and even a giant rat ("Gnaws", a title patterned after the hit movie "Jaws"). Second series episodes featured science fiction elements, such as the artificially-intelligent super-computer of "Complex", the Russian soldiers revived from suspended animation in "K is for Kill", the submersible Russian community in "Forward Base" and the superhumans of "The Gladiators". Other episodes of that season dealt with more realistic plots.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: "The Avengers" and "The New Avengers" scriptwriter Dennis Spooner said that at the end of its run "The Avengers" had gone as far as it could in terms of parody. For this reason, producer Brian Clemens intentionally aimed for real stories and straight, Len Deighton-type spy stories in "The New Avengers". Spooner explained that "it's no good saying 'I don't like "The New Avengers" so much, because it wasn't like the old show'-because it never could have been. We did everything – we did the kitchen sink! – and there was no way of going back on it". When reminded of his "The New Avengers" script "Gnaws", Spooner admitted that "well, yes, towards the end we relaxed a bit!" Some of the storylines used in the series were recycled from earlier scripts penned by Clemens or Spooner from other series. "Medium Rare" was based on the episode "Murder in Mind" of the British series "Thriller", and "Gnaws" was based on the "Thunderbirds" story "Attack of the Alligators!"


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: An attempt to get Diana Rigg to appear as Emma Peel in the new series was unsuccessful, although old footage of her on the phone from two 1960s episodes of "The Avengers" ("The Winged Avenger" and "The Hidden Tiger") were used to allow the character to make a cameo appearance in the episode "K Is For Kill Part One: The Tiger Awakes": Sue Lloyd provided the voice of Mrs Peel for these sequences. Ian Hendry, who in the early 1960s had played Steed's original partner, David Keel, also guest-starred in one episode, "To Catch A Rat", playing a different role. "Obsession" features two of the stars of the Brian Clemens/Albert Fennell British crime-fighting action series "The Professionals": Martin Shaw and Lewis Collins.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: Two series totalling 26 episodes were produced, which were aired on CBS in the United States, CTV in Canada, ITV in Britain, RTÉ in Ireland, ABC in Australia, TF1 in France, TVE1 in Spain and in syndication elsewhere.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: Laurie Johnson, who had composed the theme used from 1965 onward for the original "Avengers" series, returned to compose a new, updated theme for the revival, although it begins with the same fanfare as the original.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: In order to complete the planned 26 episodes, finance was sought from other sources. Production company Nielsen Ferns came on board but was understandably keen to promote its home country, so the final four stories, titled The New Avengers in Canada on the caption card preceding each episode, saw the action move to Toronto, Ontario (with scenes for the episode "Forward Base" shot at Ward's Island). Brian Clemens was by this time heavily committed to working on "The Professionals" for LWT, and control of the series passed to a largely local crew. The results attracted heavy criticism both from fans and from Clemens himself.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: The financial problems continued and plans for a third series were abandoned. Subsequently, however, strong sales to many countries—notably CBS in the United States—saw two attempts to revive the show (in 1979 and 1980), though co-financing arrangements proved impossible to agree upon.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: Brian Clemens was invited to write a pilot for Quinn Martin's QM Productions. Entitled "Escapade", the pilot episode was broadcast on CBS in 1978, and starred Granville Van Dusen and Morgan Fairchild as Joshua and Suzy – Gambit and Purdey equivalents. It was not picked up as a series.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: In 1994, Joanna Lumley and Gareth Hunt publicised the launch of the series on domestic videocassette. Sales were stronger than expected, prompting Brian Clemens to consider reuniting the two actors in a "spin-off" series. Although both were keen to participate and a script was written, plans stalled at an early stage for undisclosed reasons.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: In 1995/6, the series was picked up by the BBC for a repeat run (Joanna Lumley subsequently claimed that this is the only screening for which she received repeat fees). At the time, French company Canal Plus held transmission prints for the series, but upon delivery the BBC considered that those for several early episodes were not of "broadcast quality". As a result, the final four episodes were actually the first to be screened, whilst better prints of the others were made up. Nevertheless, notable variations in picture and audio quality across the series remain, and it awaits genuine remastering from the original 35 mm negatives/interpositives.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: The series began a repeat run on BBC Four on 13 November 2008. This was the first time the series had been networked since its screening by the BBC in 1995. UK channel ITV4 started broadcasting the first series in January 2013.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: The series was re-run sequentially on ITV4 in September 2014, starting with "The Eagle's Nest". As with other series such as "The Professionals" and "Batman", episodes were shown in the evening slot and then repeated the morning after.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: In July 2018, UK freeview channel True Entertainment began a re-run of the entire series. Previously they had also shown the original "Avengers". On 4 January 2021 True Entertainment's replacement channel Sony Channel began a repeat showing of "The New Avengers" beginning with series 1, episode 1, "The Eagle's Nest" (whilst the rights to show the original "Avengers" TV series in 2021 are with ITV).


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: All prints of the final four episodes of series 2 begin with a sting of the theme tune over a cue card, which reads "The New Avengers in Canada."


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: "K Is for Kill" is titled "The Dragon Awakes" ("Der Drache erwacht") in Germany and "The Long Sleep" ("Le Long Sommeil") in France.


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: "The New Avengers" spawned a series of novels based on episode scripts. Only three were published in the US:


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: Two hardback annuals of "The New Avengers" were also published in the UK, containing self-contained comics strip adventures, short fiction and features:


title: The New Avengers (TV series)

text: The complete series is available on DVD in both the UK and North America. A&E Home Video, under license from StudioCanal International released the Region 1 editions of series 1 in 2003 and series 2 in 2004, while Optimum/Studio Canal released both series as a single set in 2006.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: The story introduces many elements that are commonly found in later games in the series, such as corporatocracies and mech robots known as "Armored Cores". The game takes place in a future Earth that has been wiped out by a cataclysm and forced humanity underground, a theme which would continue until "Armored Core 4".


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: Gameplay involves controlling Armored Cores in combat scenarios against other Cores and vehicles. Cores are highly modular, allowing players a great deal of customization over them, such as swapping out different leg units to gain speed advantages. As players complete more missions, they gain credits to purchase different items and parts for their Core.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: The game was favorably received by critics, who were especially impressed with its customization and multiplayer.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: In single-player, players choose missions to engage enemies and earn credits. Within missions, the player navigates levels built on different kinds of terrain, ranging from desert bases to space stations. Levels are extremely open, forcing the player to look around for enemies that can appear from all directions. Like many shooters, the primary weapon types available for use are guns, rocket launchers, lasers, missiles, and swords which can be customized at will based on player purchases. Ammunition and repair costs are deducted from mission rewards, and mission failure still penalizes the player with these deductions. The player is responsible for purchasing their weapons and AC parts, and must use the money they earn from missions to that end.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: As the player progresses through missions, the pay increases, but choosing specific missions can lock others down, creating a branching path through the story that can be noticeably different on subsequent play sessions.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: The vast majority of Earth's population is wiped out by a cataclysmic war known as the "Great Destruction". The harsh conditions that result force the few remaining survivors to live underground for fifty years, during which time corporations come to power. The two largest corporations, Chrome and Murakumo Millennium, constantly battle each other for supremacy, causing significant strife among the populace. However, the competition provides endless opportunities for mercenaries called Ravens, who exist independently of the corporations. The player is a Raven and pilots an Armored Core, powerful mecha robots that fight for the highest bidder.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: The robot designs were created by renowned mecha designer Shōji Kawamori. Kawamori was approached before the PlayStation's launch and during this time, the concept of a player-designed modular mecha was one of the game's only set ideas. Kawamori thought that too much player freedom would hinder the team's ability to form a unique visual identity for the game, so he proposed the concept of "armored cores," a system in which the modularity revolved around changes around a core block containing the cockpit, engine, and joint connectors for the limbs and so on. FromSoftware adopted this as the official concept for the mecha and the name of the game.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: "Armored Core" was initially released in Japan for the Sony PlayStation on July 10, 1997. FromSoftware partnered with Sony Computer Entertainment and released a North American version on October 25 the same year, while a European version was released on June 1, 1998.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: As a part of Sony's PSone Classics banner, "Armored Core" was re-released in Japan for the PlayStation 3 (and later the PlayStation Vita) on July 26, 2007. In North America, the game was re-released on March 24, 2015 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation Vita.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: "Armored Core" became a title for the Japanese release of the PlayStation Classic on December 3, 2018. The game has not been released on PlayStation Classic consoles in other regions.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: Reviewers praised the gameplay of "Armored Core", highlighting the depth of customization options afforded to the player. "Game Revolution"s Nebojsa Radakovic wrote, "A ballpark figure for possible combinations is in the very high millions," and added, "The variety of weapons is also a definite plus." "GameSpot"s Joe Fielder similarly praised the depth of options available, stating, "Almost as charming as the gameplay are the upgradable options for the mech". Kraig Kujawa of "Electronic Gaming Monthly" felt the amount of customization was the best aspect of the game. "GamePro" attested that "robot mechanics will have a great time shopping through the detailed onscreen catalogs and fine-tuning their killing machines."


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: The local multiplayer was positively received, with Radakovic calling it "a sure-fire recipe for intense death matches for the fate of the universe." Adam Douglas from "IGN" agreed, referring to the multiplayer as "The real meat of the game". "Next Generation" noted the immense size and great variety of the multiplayer arenas.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: A common complaint from reviewers was that the speed of turning is too slow. "IGN", "Next Generation", and "GamePro" all commented on this, with Douglas describing it as his "only complaint".


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: Radakovic praised the graphics, writing they were "excellent with a high attention to detail." "AllGame"s Shawn Sackenheim agreed with this, describing, "Crisp texture maps with little pixelation and distortion carry visuals to a new level." "Next Generation" had a different outlook, stating, "while crisp, [they] do lean a little to the bland side". Fielder wrote, "Its graphics ... are fitting and workable."


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: Reviewers both praised and criticized the soundtrack, which was described as being fitting and lacking depending on the source. "Game Informer"s consensus was that, "All the sounds are appropriate and the soundtrack is as thumping as it can get." Radakovic disagreed, writing, "there is little to no background music in the game; so mostly all you hear is the sound of gunfire and metallic footsteps." "GamePro" commented, "The effects are the stars of the audio show with great blasts and clanking metal body parts. The fusion music tries hard but quickly gets repetitive."


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: "Armored Core"s story was criticized as unoriginal and underdeveloped, while some reviewers also commented on the length of the campaign. "Game Informer's" Andy McNamara stated, "If you're looking for something with plot, you aren't going to find it here". Douglas felt that the missions were "pretty straightforward". Radakovic wrote that the developers "don’t get an award for plot originality" and mentioned that he felt the campaign was too short, saying, "50 missions may sound like a lot, but they can go by pretty quickly if you know what you’re doing." However, most critics felt that the inclusion of a story campaign with sophisticated missions put "Armored Core" a cut above its contemporary "", which contains only small-scale mech vs. mech fights. Kujawa even found that the increasing difficulty of the missions can force the player to adapt their play style as well as upgrading their mech.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: The game held a 75% on the review aggregation website GameRankings at the time of its 2019 closure, based on eight reviews.


title: Armored Core (video game)

text: "Armored Core" is the first entry in a mech game series of the same name, and spawned many sequels, including "" and "". The making of "Armored Core" solidified FromSoftware's development skills, and in July 1999, they released the multiplayer action game "Frame Gride" for the Sega Dreamcast. The company's focus would shift from RPGs to mech games due in part to the success of the "Armored Core" series. In 2002, FromSoftware released the mech action game "" for the Xbox. In 2004, they released another Xbox title, "Metal Wolf Chaos." In 2005, FromSoftware would start to produce a series of licensed games based on the various anime properties under the banner "Another Century's Episode".


title: Ann Fleming

text: Ann Geraldine Mary Fleming (, 19 June 1913 – 12 July 1981), previously known as Lady O'Neill and Viscountess Rothermere, was a British socialite. She married firstly Lord O'Neill, secondly Lord Rothermere, and finally the writer Ian Fleming. She also had affairs with the Labour Party politicians Hugh Gaitskell and Roy Jenkins.


title: Ann Fleming

text: Fleming was born to Frances Lucy Tennant (1887–1925) and Captain Guy Lawrence Charteris (1886–1967) in Westminster, London on 19 June 1913. She was the eldest daughter and her grandfather was Hugo Charteris, 11th Earl of Wemyss. Her grandmother was Mary Constance Wyndham, who had her own hedonistic past, having been one of The Souls.


title: Ann Fleming

text: Her sister was Laura Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough and her brother was the novelist Hugo Charteris.


title: Ann Fleming

text: She was educated by governesses after an unsuccessful term at Cheltenham Ladies' College. She had a good understanding of literature but her future was to be a debutante and she quickly married Shane O'Neill, 3rd Baron O'Neill who was both an aristocrat and a financier in 1932. She had two children before beginning an affair with the influential Esmond Cecil Harmsworth in 1936.


title: Ann Fleming

text: Harmsworth was the heir to Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, who owned the "Daily Mail". Her husband went to war and Ann appeared with Harmsworth as well as having an affair with Ian Fleming, then a stockbroker, who became an assistant to the Director of Naval Intelligence. In 1940, Harmsworth became Lord Rothermere. Her husband was killed in action in 1944 and she married Lord Rothermere in 1945.


title: Ann Fleming

text: The couple entertained and their social circle included the painter Lucian Freud (who painted her portrait), the choreographer Frederick Ashton and the artist Francis Bacon. Meanwhile, Ian Fleming left the navy and became a journalist with "The Sunday Times". He had built Goldeneye on land in Jamaica and he had demanded three-month vacations from his employer to enjoy his holiday home. The two spent three months of every year together in Jamaica. Her new husband thought she was in Jamaica to visit Noël Coward.


title: Ann Fleming

text: In 1951 she was divorced by Lord Rothermere, and the following year she married Fleming. They had one child, Caspar. Ann was pregnant with her son when they married; he was born on 12 August 1952. Anxiety over his forthcoming marriage is said to be the reason that Ian Fleming wrote the first James Bond novel, "Casino Royale". Ann had a £100,000 divorce settlement and Fleming sought additional sources of revenue to add to his salary from "The Sunday Times". The book and its sequels were immediate successes.


title: Ann Fleming

text: The Flemings bought a house in London, where they entertained. They later rebuilt Warneford Place at Sevenhampton, near Swindon, renaming it Sevenhampton Place and moving there in 1963. Her husband was not keen on the socialising, but their houses attracted Evelyn Waugh, Cyril Connolly and Peter Quennell.


title: Ann Fleming

text: Ian died in 1964 and their son Caspar died in London in October 1975 from an overdose of narcotics. Ann Fleming died at Sevenhampton Place on 12 July 1981. Both were buried alongside Ian at the church of St James in Sevenhampton.


title: Maxi Priest

text: Max Alfred "Maxi" Elliott (born 10 June 1961), known by his stage name Maxi Priest, is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with an R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion. He was one of the first international artists to have success in this genre, and one of the most successful reggae fusion acts of all time.


title: Maxi Priest

text: Maxi Priest was born in Lewisham, London, the second youngest of nine siblings. His parents had moved to England from Jamaica to provide more opportunity for their family and he grew up listening to gospel, reggae, R&B, and pop music. He first learned to sing in church, encouraged by his mother, who was a Pentecostal missionary.


title: Maxi Priest

text: Priest grew up listening to Jamaican artists such as Dennis Brown, John Holt, Ken Boothe and Gregory Isaacs as well as singers like Marvin Gaye, Al Green, the Beatles, Phil Collins and Frank Sinatra.


title: Maxi Priest

text: As a teenager, he lifted speaker boxes for the Jah Shaka and Negus Negast sound-systems. He was a founder member of Saxon Studio International, and it was with Saxon that Maxi began performing at neighbourhood youth clubs and house parties.


title: Maxi Priest

text: His music is sometimes closer to R&B and pop than to reggae. His cousin, Jacob Miller, a reggae icon, was the frontman in the popular reggae group Inner Circle.


title: Maxi Priest

text: Two of Priest's sons are also singers; Marvin Priest (born Marvin Cornell Elliott) and Ryan Elliott, who was in the 1990s boy band, Ultimate Kaos.


title: Maxi Priest

text: Priest's musical career began with him singing on the South London reggae soundsystem Saxon Studio International, after which some independent single releases followed. His first major album, "Maxi" (titled "Maxi Priest" in the US and Canada), was released in 1988, and, along with his cover of Cat Stevens' "Wild World", established him as one of the top British reggae singers.


title: Maxi Priest

text: He is one of only two British reggae acts (along with UB40) to have an American "Billboard" number one: "Close to You" in 1990. A duet with Roberta Flack, "Set the Night to Music", reached the American Top Ten in 1991. His duet with Shaggy in 1996, "That Girl", was also a hit in the United States, peaking at number twenty.


title: Maxi Priest

text: In the latter half of his recording career, Priest favoured working alongside other artists, both established and up-and-coming. He has worked with Sly and Robbie, Shaggy, Beres Hammond, Jazzie B, Apache Indian, Roberta Flack, Shurwayne Winchester, Shabba Ranks, Robin Trower, and Lee Ritenour.


title: Maxi Priest

text: It was reported in some newspapers in the Birmingham area, including the "Birmingham Mail" on 13 March 2008, that Priest would be replacing Ali Campbell as the new lead singer of UB40, and that he had recorded a cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" with the band, based on information from "an unnamed source close to the band". Priest had joined UB40 on tour in 2007, culminating in sold-out shows at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull in December. Another local newspaper, the "Express & Star" that had reported that Priest would be the new UB40 frontman, included a statement from band spokesman Gerard Franklyn which contradicted the claim, stating: "Maxi is collaborating with the band to record material but he won't be the new lead singer, that will be Duncan Campbell, the brother of Ali and Robin Campbell. He will only be appearing with them for this new recording."


title: Maxi Priest

text: In 2012, Maxi Priest recorded a cover of Japanese band L'arc~en~Ciel's song "Vivid Colors" for the band's English-language tribute album.


title: Maxi Priest

text: In 2013, Priest recorded a remix version of Hindi song "Kabhi Jo Baadal Barse" originally sung by Arijit Singh. It was remixed by British Indian producer Rishi Rich .


title: Maxi Priest

text: Priest played for non-League football club Southall, his son Marvin's team, in March 2003 when they needed players to fulfil a fixture due to an injury crisis at the club. However, despite coming on as a substitute at the age of 41, he could not stop Southall from losing 3–0 to Feltham.


title: Alec Pierce

text: Alec Pierce (born May 2, 2000) is an American football wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Cincinnati before the Colts drafted him in the 2nd round of the 2022 NFL Draft.


title: Alec Pierce

text: Pierce grew up in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and attended Glenbard West High School, where he played football, volleyball, basketball and ran track. As a senior, he caught 25 passes for 372 yards and five touchdowns with three sacks and four interceptions on defense and was named the Most Valuable Player of the West Suburban Conference Silver Division. Pierce was rated a three-star recruit and committed to play college football at Cincinnati over scholarship offers from 16 other programs.


title: Alec Pierce

text: Pierce played mostly on special teams as a true freshman. He practiced at linebacker ahead of the team's appearance in the Military Bowl but ultimately did not play at that position. As a sophomore Pierce caught 37 passes for a team-high 652 yards and two touchdowns. He missed four games of his junior season due to a knee injury and finished the year with 17 receptions for 315 yards and three touchdowns. As a senior, Pierce caught 52 passes for 884 yards and eight touchdowns and was named second-team All-American Athletic Conference.


title: Alec Pierce

text: Pierce was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the second round with the 53rd overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.


title: Zapier

text: Zapier is a product that allows end users to integrate the web applications they use and automate workflows. The company is fully remote. As of 2021, it connects to more than 4,000 apps, with free and paid plans.


title: Zapier

text: Zapier provides workflows to automate the use of web applications together. It is often described as a translator between web APIs, helping to increase worker productivity by saving time through automation of recurring tasks, and business processes such as lead management. Through an interface in which users can set up workflow rules to determine how its automations function, it orchestrates flow of data between tools and online services that wouldn't otherwise communicate with one another. For example, when a new business lead is added to a Google Sheets spreadsheet, that lead can be automatically entered in Salesforce and assigned to a sales representative. Additional team members can be alerted through Slack and the team lead can receive an email notification when the new lead has been contacted.


title: Zapier

text: Zapier was founded in Columbia, Missouri by Wade Foster, Bryan Helmig, and Mike Knoop, as part of the first Startup Weekend Columbia in 2011. After initially submitting an application for the Winter 2012 funding cycle and being rejected, they then built their initial prototype with 25 apps, and were accepted to Y Combinator startup seed accelerator in the Summer 2012 funding cycle. As a result of the acceptance, the company temporarily relocated to Mountain View, California in Spring 2012. In October of the same year, Zapier received a $1.3 million seed funding round led by global venture investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners, its only venture capital funding to date. Zapier reached profitability in 2014. Sequoia Capital and Steadfast Financial bought shares from some of the company's original investors in January 2021, raising Zapier's valuation to $5 billion. It is one of the highest valued companies to come out of the Y Combinator program, and brought in $140 million in annually recurring revenue as of January 2021.


title: Zapier

text: In March 2017, the company offered a "de-location package", consisting of $10,000 in moving reimbursement to employees who desired to move away from the San Francisco Bay Area. After the announcement, job applications increased by 50%. Zapier has been a fully remote company since it was founded in 2011. As of January 2022, the company employs approximately 500 people in 38 countries.


title: Zapier

text: In 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic spread, Zapier set up a $1 million small business assistance fund for struggling customers. In 2020, Zapier announced National No-Code Day, and launched a no-code competition with a $25,000 cash prize.


title: Zapier

text: In 2020, fintech company Brex announced a partnership with Zapier, allowing easy workflow automation between their products.


title: Zapier

text: In March 2021, the company acquired Makerpad, a no-code education service and community, for an undisclosed amount.


title: Climate of Melbourne

text: Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria and second largest city in Australia, has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification "Cfb") and is well known for its changeable weather conditions. This is mainly due to Melbourne's geographical location. This temperature differential is most pronounced in the spring and summer months and can cause strong cold fronts to form. These cold fronts can be responsible for all sorts of severe weather from gales to severe thunderstorms and hail, minor temperature drops, and heavy rain. The city experiences little humidity in summer, except at the end of hot spells following thunderstorms and rain.


title: Climate of Melbourne

text: The shallow and enclosed Port Phillip Bay is often warmer than the surrounding landmass and the oceanic waters of the Bass Strait, particularly in spring and autumn; this can set up a "bay effect" similar to the lake effect seen in colder regions, where showers are intensified leeward of the bay. Relatively narrow streams of heavy showers can often affect the same places (usually in the southeastern suburbs) for an extended period, while the rest of Melbourne and surrounding suburbs stays dry.


title: Climate of Melbourne

text: Overall, Melbourne is, owing to the rain shadowing by the Otway Ranges, nonetheless drier than average for southern Victoria. Within the city and surrounds, however, rainfall varies widely, from around on the western fringe at Little River to on the eastern fringe at Gembrook. Despite its relative dryness, Melbourne has 139 days of rain per year on the 0.2mm threshold, meaning that its precipitation commonly falls as drizzles or as light showers (which frequently occur in the winter months), rather than heavy downpours (such as those generally experienced in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth).


title: Climate of Melbourne

text: The city receives only 48.6 clear days annually, making it the cloudiest capital city in Australia, and it has 180 overcast days annually, with 54 more cloudy days than Queenscliff to the south of the city, and 19 more than Mount Buller to the north. In comparison, Brisbane has 42 cloudy days annually, Sydney 134 and Hobart 174. According to the Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Terry Ryan, the excess cloud cover is caused by a meteorological phenomenon known as "anticyclonic gloom", where high-pressure systems in winter to the city's north and west conjure a layer of warm air at a high altitude, which holds moisture from Bass Strait. The cloudiest month in Melbourne is May, with an average of 18 cloudy days, followed by July, June and August, respectively.


title: Climate of Melbourne

text: Melbourne is also prone to isolated convective showers forming when a cold pool crosses the state, especially if there is considerable daytime heating. These showers are often heavy and can contain hails and squalls and significant drops in temperature, but they pass through very quickly at times with a rapid clearing trend to sunny and relatively calm weather and the temperature rising back to what it was before the shower. This often occurs in the space of minutes and can be repeated many times in a day, giving Melbourne a reputation for having "four seasons in one day", a phrase that is part of a local popular culture and familiar to many visitors to the city. Dewpoint temperatures in the summer range from to .


title: Climate of Melbourne

text: Melbourne summers are notable for occasional days of extreme heat, which have increased in frequency since 2005. This occurs when the synoptic pattern is conducive to the transportation of very hot air from central Australia over to the south-east corner of the continent. The inland deserts of Australia are amongst the hottest areas on earth, particularly the inland parts of north-west Australia.


title: Climate of Melbourne

text: Every summer, intense heat builds starting in the Pilbara district of Western Australia around October/November and spreading widely over the tropical and subtropical inland parts of the continent by January. In the summer months, the southern part of the continent straddles the westerly wind belt to the south and the subtropical high-pressure ridge to the north. The intense heat buildup occurs where high pressure is highly dominant in the upper levels of the atmosphere over the tropics and subtropics of Australia in summer allowing for a huge area of stable atmospheric conditions to predominate.


title: Climate of Melbourne

text: On occasion, a strong cold front will develop in summer and bring the westerlies further north than their mean summer position. On these occasions, north-west winds will develop ahead of the cold front's passage and sometimes these can be very strong, even gale force. When this occurs the hot air from the inland is dragged right down over south-east Australia, occasionally even as far as southern Tasmania.


title: Climate of Melbourne

text: As this air mass is carried entirely over the continental land mass it remains unmodified, i.e. it does not pick up additional moisture from a body of water and retains most if not all of its heat. On these occasions, the normally temperate parts of southern Victoria, including Melbourne, can experience the full fury of the desert climate albeit only briefly as the cold front responsible usually passes through relatively quickly afterwards allowing cool southerly winds from the southern ocean to replace the hot desert air. The highest temperature recorded in Melbourne city was , on 7 February 2009.


title: Climate of Melbourne

text: Winters in Melbourne are cool with moderate rainfall. The lowest temperature on record is , on 21 July 1869. On 25 July 1986, snow fell in the city, which caused air traffic delays of up to four hours.


title: Bela G. Lugosi

text: Bela George Lugosi (born January 5, 1938) is an American attorney and the son of actor Béla Lugosi. His legal actions in "Lugosi v. Universal Pictures" led to the creation of the California Celebrities Rights Act. He is often referred to as Bela Lugosi Jr.


title: Bela G. Lugosi

text: Lugosi attended the University of Southern California, where he received his B.S. in 1960 and LL.B. from its School of Law in 1964. He was admitted to the State Bar of California that year.


title: Bela G. Lugosi

text: He practiced for much of his career at Hanna & Morton, a Los Angeles litigation boutique. For several years in the late 1990s and early 2000s, he was an executive at Comedy III Productions, the holding company founded by The Three Stooges. He resigned from the Bar in 2018. In 2022, he was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.


title: Bela G. Lugosi

text: Lugosi met Nancy Beauchamp while students at Dorsey High School, marrying in 1957. The marriage lasted 64 years until her January 2022 death. He has four children, Greg, Jeff, Tim, and daughter Lynne Sparks, and seven grandchildren.


title: Bela G. Lugosi

text: Lugosi has been among those who felt filmmaker Edward D. Wood Jr. exploited his father's stardom, taking advantage of the fading actor when he could not refuse any work. Most documents and interviews with other Wood associates in "Nightmare of Ecstasy" suggest that Wood and Lugosi were friends and that Wood helped Lugosi through the worst days of his depression and drug addiction.


title: Psychophysics

text: Psychophysics quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce. Psychophysics has been described as "the scientific study of the relation between stimulus and sensation" or, more completely, as "the analysis of perceptual processes by studying the effect on a subject's experience or behaviour of systematically varying the properties of a stimulus along one or more physical dimensions".


title: Psychophysics

text: "Psychophysics" also refers to a general class of methods that can be applied to study a perceptual system. Modern applications rely heavily on threshold measurement, ideal observer analysis, and signal detection theory.


title: Psychophysics

text: Psychophysics has widespread and important practical applications. For example, in the study of digital signal processing, psychophysics has informed the development of models and methods of lossy compression. These models explain why humans perceive very little loss of signal quality when audio and video signals are formatted using lossy compression.


title: Psychophysics

text: Many of the classical techniques and theories of psychophysics were formulated in 1860 when Gustav Theodor Fechner in Leipzig published "Elemente der Psychophysik (Elements of Psychophysics)". He coined the term "psychophysics", describing research intended to relate physical stimuli to the contents of consciousness such as sensations "(Empfindungen)". As a physicist and philosopher, Fechner aimed at developing a method that relates matter to the mind, connecting the publicly observable world and a person's privately experienced impression of it. His ideas were inspired by experimental results on the sense of touch and light obtained in the early 1830s by the German physiologist Ernst Heinrich Weber in Leipzig, most notably those on the minimum discernible difference in intensity of stimuli of moderate strength (just noticeable difference; jnd) which Weber had shown to be a constant fraction of the reference intensity, and which Fechner referred to as Weber's law. From this, Fechner derived his well-known logarithmic scale, now known as Fechner scale. Weber's and Fechner's work formed one of the bases of psychology as a science, with Wilhelm Wundt founding the first laboratory for psychological research in Leipzig (Institut für experimentelle Psychologie). Fechner's work systematised the introspectionist approach (psychology as the science of consciousness), that had to contend with the Behaviorist approach in which even verbal responses are as physical as the stimuli.


title: Psychophysics

text: Fechner's work was studied and extended by Charles S. Peirce, who was aided by his student Joseph Jastrow, who soon became a distinguished experimental psychologist in his own right. Peirce and Jastrow largely confirmed Fechner's empirical findings, but not all. In particular, a classic experiment of Peirce and Jastrow rejected Fechner's estimation of a threshold of perception of weights. In their experiment, Peirce and Jastrow in fact invented randomized experiments: They randomly assigned volunteers to a blinded, repeated-measures design to evaluate their ability to discriminate weights. On the basis of their results they argued that the underlying functions were continuous, and that there is no threshold below which a difference in physical magnitude would be undetected. Peirce's experiment inspired other researchers in psychology and education, which developed a research tradition of randomized experiments in laboratories and specialized textbooks in the 1900s.


title: Psychophysics

text: The Peirce–Jastrow experiments were conducted as part of Peirce's application of his pragmaticism program to human perception; other studies considered the perception of light, etc. Jastrow wrote the following summary: "Mr. Peirce’s courses in logic gave me my first real experience of intellectual muscle. Though I promptly took to the laboratory of psychology when that was established by Stanley Hall, it was Peirce who gave me my first training in the handling of a psychological problem, and at the same time stimulated my self-esteem by entrusting me, then fairly innocent of any laboratory habits, with a real bit of research. He borrowed the apparatus for me, which I took to my room, installed at my window, and with which, when conditions of illumination were right, I took the observations. The results were published over our joint names in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences". The demonstration that traces of sensory effect too slight to make any registry in consciousness could none the less influence judgment, may itself have been a persistent motive that induced me years later to undertake a book on "The Subconscious"." This work clearly distinguishes observable cognitive performance from the expression of consciousness.


title: Psychophysics

text: Modern approaches to sensory perception, such as research on vision, hearing, or touch, measure what the perceiver's judgment extracts from the stimulus, often putting aside the question what sensations are being experienced. One leading method is based on signal detection theory, developed for cases of very weak stimuli. However, the subjectivist approach persists among those in the tradition of Stanley Smith Stevens (1906–1973). Stevens revived the idea of a power law suggested by 19th century researchers, in contrast with Fechner's log-linear function (cf. Stevens' power law). He also advocated the assignment of numbers in ratio to the strengths of stimuli, called magnitude estimation. Stevens added techniques such as magnitude production and cross-modality matching. He opposed the assignment of stimulus strengths to points on a line that are labeled in


title: Psychophysics

text: order of strength. Nevertheless, that sort of response has remained popular in applied psychophysics. Such multiple-category layouts are often misnamed Likert scaling after the question items used by Likert to create multi-item psychometric scales, e.g., seven phrases from "strongly agree" through "strongly disagree".


title: Psychophysics

text: Omar Khaleefa has argued that the medieval scientist Alhazen should be considered the founder of psychophysics. Although al-Haytham made many subjective reports regarding vision, there is no evidence that he used quantitative psychophysical techniques and such claims have been rebuffed.


title: Psychophysics

text: Psychophysicists usually employ experimental stimuli that can be objectively measured, such as pure tones varying in intensity, or lights varying in luminance. All the senses have been studied: vision, hearing, touch (including skin and enteric perception), taste, smell and the sense of time. Regardless of the sensory domain, there are three main areas of investigation: absolute thresholds, discrimination thresholds and scaling.


title: Psychophysics

text: A threshold (or limen) is the point of intensity at which the participant can just detect the presence of a stimulus (absolute threshold) or the presence of a difference between two stimuli (difference threshold). Stimuli with intensities below the threshold are considered not detectable (hence: sub-liminal). Stimuli at values close enough to a threshold will often be detectable some proportion of occasions; therefore, a threshold is considered to be the point at which a stimulus, or change in a stimulus, is detected some proportion " p" of occasions.


title: Psychophysics

text: An absolute threshold is the level of intensity of a stimulus at which the subject is able to detect the presence of the stimulus some proportion of the time (a "p" level of 50% is often used). An example of an absolute threshold is the number of hairs on the back of one's hand that must be touched before it can be felt – a participant may be unable to feel a single hair being touched, but may be able to feel two or three as this exceeds the threshold. Absolute threshold is also often referred to as "detection threshold." Several different methods are used for measuring absolute thresholds (as with discrimination thresholds; see below).


title: Psychophysics

text: A difference threshold (or just-noticeable difference, JND) is the magnitude of the smallest difference between two stimuli of differing intensities that the participant is able to detect some proportion of the time (the percentage depending on the kind of task). To test this threshold, several different methods are used. The subject may be asked to adjust one stimulus until it is perceived as the same as the other (method of adjustment), may be asked to describe the direction and magnitude of the difference between two stimuli, or may be asked to decide whether intensities in a pair of stimuli are the same or not (forced choice). The just-noticeable difference (JND) is not a fixed quantity; rather, it depends on how intense the stimuli being measured are and the particular sense being measured. Weber's Law states that the just-noticeable difference of a stimulus is a constant proportion despite variation in intensity.


title: Psychophysics

text: In discrimination experiments, the experimenter seeks to determine at what point the difference between two stimuli, such as two weights or two sounds, is detectable. The subject is presented with one stimulus, for example a weight, and is asked to say whether another weight is heavier or lighter (in some experiments, the subject may also say the two weights are the same). At the point of subjective equality (PSE), the subject perceives the two weights to be the same. The just-noticeable difference, or difference limen (DL), is the magnitude of the difference in stimuli that the subject notices some proportion "p" of the time (50% is usually used for "p" in the comparison task). In addition, a two-alternative forced choice (2-afc) paradigm can be used to assess the point at which performance reduces to chance on a discrimination between two alternatives ("p" will then typically be 75% since "p"=50% corresponds to chance in the 2-afc task).


title: Psychophysics

text: Absolute and difference thresholds are sometimes considered similar in principle because there is always background noise interfering with our ability to detect stimuli.


title: Psychophysics

text: In psychophysics, experiments seek to determine whether the subject can detect a stimulus, identify it, differentiate between it and another stimulus, or describe the magnitude or nature of this difference. Software for psychophysical experimentation is overviewed by Strasburger.


title: Psychophysics

text: Psychophysical experiments have traditionally used three methods for testing subjects' perception in stimulus detection and difference detection experiments: the method of limits, the method of constant stimuli and the method of adjustment.


title: Psychophysics

text: In the ascending method of limits, some property of the stimulus starts out at a level so low that the stimulus could not be detected, then this level is gradually increased until the participant reports that they are aware of it. For example, if the experiment is testing the minimum amplitude of sound that can be detected, the sound begins too quietly to be perceived, and is made gradually louder. In the descending method of limits, this is reversed. In each case, the threshold is considered to be the level of the stimulus property at which the stimuli are just detected.


title: Psychophysics

text: In experiments, the ascending and descending methods are used alternately and the thresholds are averaged. A possible disadvantage of these methods is that the subject may become accustomed to reporting that they perceive a stimulus and may continue reporting the same way even beyond the threshold (the error of habituation). Conversely, the subject may also anticipate that the stimulus is about to become detectable or undetectable and may make a premature judgment (the error of anticipation).


title: Psychophysics

text: To avoid these potential pitfalls, Georg von Békésy introduced the staircase procedure in 1960 in his study of auditory perception. In this method, the sound starts out audible and gets quieter after each of the subject's responses, until the subject does not report hearing it. At that point, the sound is made louder at each step, until the subject reports hearing it, at which point it is made quieter in steps again. This way the experimenter is able to "zero in" on the threshold.


title: Psychophysics

text: Instead of being presented in ascending or descending order, in the method of constant stimuli the levels of a certain property of the stimulus are not related from one trial to the next, but presented randomly. This prevents the subject from being able to predict the level of the next stimulus, and therefore reduces errors of habituation and expectation. For 'absolute thresholds' again the subject reports whether they are able to detect the stimulus. For 'difference thresholds' there has to be a constant comparison stimulus with each of the varied levels.


title: Psychophysics

text: Friedrich Hegelmaier described the method of constant stimuli in an 1852 paper. This method allows for full sampling of the psychometric function, but can result in a lot of trials when several conditions are interleaved.


title: Psychophysics

text: In the method of adjustment, the subject is asked to control the level of the stimulus and to alter it until it is just barely detectable against the background noise, or is the same as the level of another stimulus. The adjustment is repeated many times. This is also called the "method of average error".


title: Psychophysics

text: In this method, the observers themselves control the magnitude of the variable stimulus, beginning with a level that is distinctly greater or lesser than a standard one and vary it until they are satisfied by the subjective equality of the two. The difference between the variable stimuli and the standard one is recorded after each adjustment, and the error is tabulated for a considerable series. At the end, the mean is calculated giving the average error which can be taken as a measure of sensitivity.


title: Psychophysics

text: The classic methods of experimentation are often argued to be inefficient. This is because, in advance of testing, the psychometric threshold is usually unknown and most of the data are collected at points on the psychometric function that provide little information about the parameter of interest, usually the threshold. Adaptive staircase procedures (or the classical method of adjustment) can be used such that the points sampled are clustered around the psychometric threshold. Data points can also be spread in a slightly wider range, if the psychometric function's slope is also of interest. Adaptive methods can thus be optimized for estimating the threshold only, or both threshold "and" slope. Adaptive methods are classified into staircase procedures (see below) and Bayesian, or maximum-likelihood, methods. Staircase methods rely on the previous response only, and are easier to implement. Bayesian methods take the whole set of previous stimulus-response pairs into account and are generally more robust against lapses in attention. Practical examples are found here.


title: Psychophysics

text: Staircases usually begin with a high intensity stimulus, which is easy to detect. The intensity is then reduced until the observer makes a mistake, at which point the staircase 'reverses' and intensity is increased until the observer responds correctly, triggering another reversal. The values for the last of these 'reversals' are then averaged. There are many different types of staircase procedures, using different decision and termination rules. Step-size, up/down rules and the spread of the underlying psychometric function dictate where on the psychometric function they converge. Threshold values obtained from staircases can fluctuate wildly, so care must be taken in their design. Many different staircase algorithms have been modeled and some practical recommendations suggested by Garcia-Perez.


title: Psychophysics

text: One of the more common staircase designs (with fixed-step sizes) is the 1-up-N-down staircase. If the participant makes the correct response N times in a row, the stimulus intensity is reduced by one step size. If the participant makes an incorrect response the stimulus intensity is increased by the one size. A threshold is estimated from the mean midpoint of all runs. This estimate approaches, asymptotically, the correct threshold.


title: Psychophysics

text: Bayesian and maximum-likelihood (ML) adaptive procedures behave, from the observer's perspective, similar to the staircase procedures. The choice of the next intensity level works differently, however: After each observer response, from the set of this and all previous stimulus/response pairs the likelihood is calculated of where the threshold lies. The point of maximum likelihood is then chosen as the best estimate for the threshold, and the next stimulus is presented at that level (since a decision at that level will add the most information). In a Bayesian procedure, a prior likelihood is further included in the calculation. Compared to staircase procedures, Bayesian and ML procedures are more time-consuming to implement but are considered to be more robust. Well-known procedures of this kind are Quest, ML-PEST, and Kontsevich & Tyler's method.


title: Psychophysics

text: In the prototypical case, people are asked to assign numbers in proportion to the magnitude of the stimulus. This psychometric function of the geometric means of their numbers is often a power law with stable, replicable exponent. Although contexts can change the law & exponent, that change too is stable and replicable. Instead of numbers, other sensory or cognitive dimensions can be used to match a stimulus and the method then becomes "magnitude production" or "cross-modality matching". The exponents of those dimensions found in numerical magnitude estimation predict the exponents found in magnitude production. Magnitude estimation generally finds lower exponents for the psychophysical function than multiple-category responses, because of the restricted range of the categorical anchors, such as those used by Likert as items in attitude scales.


title: BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role

text: Best Actress in a Leading Role is a British Academy Film Award presented annually by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding leading performance in a film.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing is a third-person shooter video game based on the James Bond films. It was developed by EA Redwood Shores and published by Electronic Arts under EA Games label for GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. The game features a cast of voice actors including Pierce Brosnan, reprising his film role as MI6 agent James Bond. Other returning actors include Richard Kiel, John Cleese and Judi Dench, as Jaws, Q and M respectively. It is considered as a continuation of "Die Another Day" (2002), featuring Brosnan in his final performance as Bond.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: Development on the game began in 2001. Written by Bruce Feirstein, Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, "Everything or Nothing" centers around Bond dealing with the use of nanotechnology as terrorism. The player controls Bond, and the game includes several driving levels. It is the second Bond game played in third-person after "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1999), and is the first Bond game to feature a two-player cooperative mode.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: "Everything or Nothing" was released in February 2004. It received "generally positive reviews" according to Metacritic.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: The gameplay is a mix of third-person shooting/action sequences and vehicle sequences. In third-person missions, Bond can typically use cover, engage in hand-to-hand combat, use gadgets and perform some context-sensitive actions, while driving sequences primarily involve racing to a specific objective.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: The game is identical across each console, aside from minor graphical and sound differences. The PlayStation 2 version included an online cooperative two-player mode. Electronic Arts retired the game's servers in January 2006.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: Another version of "" was published for the Game Boy Advance and can be linked to the GameCube version via the GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable, providing unique premium content.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: The game opens in Tajikistan, 2004, where MI6 agent James Bond "007" infiltrates a stronghold where an organization sells a stolen Soviet suitcase bomb. Bond triggers a firefight between the two factions making the exchange, using the confusion to steal the device and escape.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: The disappearance of Oxford scientist Dr. Katya Nadanova (Heidi Klum), who oversees a top-secret nanotechnology humanitarian project, leads 007 to a weapons research facility in the Sahara, where he is ordered to rescue Nadanova and prevent the theft of the nanobot prototypes. Destroying the facility, Bond follows the kidnappers onto an armored train where he encounters and dispatches Jaws (using the likeness of Richard Kiel). Bond discovers Nadanova and rescues her before pursuing the terrorist via helicopter through the Valley of the Kings. Bond defeats the terrorist and takes Nadanova to her safehouse, where, after Bond departs, it is revealed that she is working in conjunction with Nikolai Diavolo (Willem Dafoe), a former KGB agent whose mentor and friend was Max Zorin (the primary antagonist of the 1985 film "A View to a Kill"). The two intend to re-purpose the nanobots for far sinister purposes than their original intention of repairing nuclear reactors.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: Upon returning to MI6, M (Judi Dench) informs Bond of the disappearance of another 00 agent, Jack Mason, alias 003, who was last seen investigating a platinum mine in Peru. Bond is sent there to track down Mason's last known contact Serena St. Germaine (Shannon Elizabeth), an American geologist who may have a clue to his whereabouts. Serena takes Bond to a mining complex where he discovers Mason is being tortured by Diavolo. Before succumbing to his wounds, Mason informs Bond that Diavolo intends to move his operations to New Orleans. Bond learns of Nadanova's ties with Diavolo when she captures Serena and throws her out of a helicopter. Bond dives off a cliff to rescue her through the use of Q's (John Cleese) rappel gadget and the two escape Diavolo's mercenaries via tank.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: Searching New Orleans, Bond learns that Diavolo has enlisted a war criminal named Arkady Yayakov to help re-purpose the nanobots. Bond infiltrates a factory owned by Diavolo and uncovers a lead pointing to a local nightclub owned by Yayakov, where he crosses paths with Mya Starling (Mýa), an NSA field operative who is also investigating Diavolo. However, Starling's cover is blown and she is held by Yayakov in a 19th-century graveyard. Bond rescues Starling and dispatches of Yayakov's remaining men.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: 007 tracks Diavolo's operations to an abandoned plantation in Louisiana, where he discovers he has altered Nadanova's nanobots to eat through all metals but platinum, disintegrating everything they come in contact with. Destroying the laboratory and killing Yayakov, Bond finds a tanker of nanobots which is being driven by Jaws to the levees of New Orleans with the intent of flooding the city. Bond destroys the truck before it can reach the levees, and returns to Peru to further investigate Diavolo's platinum mines.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: After winning a rally race hosted by Diavolo, Bond finds he has captured Serena, allowing Diavolo to escape to the mines. After saving Serena, Bond reaches the mines, but is captured by Nadanova. Diavolo explains that he intends to use the nanobots to destroy the Kremlin and use his army of tanks, armored with platinum to make them immune to the nanobots, to control Russia, and then overthrow Europe. Tied in the path of a mining drill, Bond escapes his shackles and flees the mines in a helicopter piloted by Serena.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: Following Diavolo to Moscow, Bond steals one of Diavolo's platinum tanks and uses it to prevent the release of the nanobots in Red Square and heads for a missile silo hidden under the Kremlin. Bond kills Jaws and deactivates the nanotech missiles. Diavolo and Nadanova then pursue Bond with a Soviet fighter jet. Bond destroys the jet and Nadanova is killed, although Diavolo ejects just in time. Diavolo reaches a control tower, reactivating one of the missiles and targeting it at London. Bond destroys the control tower, where Diavolo launches the missile before falling to his death into the silo. Destroying the missile as it launches, Bond prevents the catastrophe and reunites with Serena outside the Kremlin.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: Development on "Everything or Nothing" began in 2001. Early on, writer Bruce Feirstein was brought in to help create the game's storyline. Feirstein had previously written several recent Bond films. Feirstein wrote the game's screenplay, based on a story by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo. "Everything or Nothing" was developed and published by Electronic Arts (EA), which announced the game in May 2003. EA Redwood Shores handled most of the development, while the driving portions were created by a separate EA team based in Canada. The latter team had previously worked on EA's "Need for Speed" series, and "Everything or Nothing" uses a modified version of the game engine used for "" (2000). While previous Bond games included driving levels, "Everything or Nothing" offers a wider variety of vehicles.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: The game's third-person perspective was a change from the first-person view typically used in earlier Bond games. Game producer Scott Bandy said "we figure that to be Bond, you've got to see Bond. We felt that the first-person perspective, although exciting, didn't put Bond's full potential in the hands of the player. Bond's hand-to-hand fighting style, for example, is almost completely absent in a first-person experience. Bond also fights smart, using cover and corners to his advantage, and third-person is a much better place for that kind of gameplay".


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: "Everything or Nothing" is designed to resemble a Bond film. The game features a voice cast of notable actors, some reprising their roles from the films. The cast includes Pierce Brosnan (James Bond), Judi Dench (M), John Cleese (Q), Willem Dafoe (Nikolai Diavolo), Heidi Klum (Katya Nadanova), and Shannon Elizabeth (Serena St. Germaine). The actors also provided their likenesses for the game, including Richard Kiel, reprising his role as Jaws.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: A Cyberware scanning machine was used to replicate the actors' faces, and the development team also referenced hundreds of photos and hours of video to fine-tune their appearances. Motion capture was also used. Japanese actress Misaki Ito portrays Q's assistant, Miss Nagai. Klum is featured on the game's North American cover art, while Ito appears on the Japanese cover. Singer Mýa portrays agent Mya Starling, and also sings the song "Everything or Nothing". The in-game music was composed by composer Sean Callery, with additional music by Jeff Tymoschuk.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: "Everything or Nothing" was originally set for release on November 4, 2003. However, in September of that year, EA delayed the game until early 2004, allowing for more time in development. EA used the delay to polish the game and to add the cooperative multiplayer mode. "Everything or Nothing" was completed on January 30, 2004, and began shipping to U.S. retailers on February 17, with release expected within two days. It was released in the U.K. on February 27, 2004. It was one of the first video games to undergo THX's audio certification process.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: "James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing" received "generally positive" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic. GameSpot called it "a really great game, perhaps the best James Bond game ever made". "GameSpot" later named it the best PlayStation 2 game of February 2004, and it was a runner-up for the publication's annual "Best Game Based on a TV or Film Property" award. IGN also named it the Game of the Month for February 2004. IGN said "EA shakes things up and gives us a fresh new perspective on how good Bond can be." The game achieved Platinum Hits status on the Xbox, selling more than two million copies on the Microsoft's console.


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: However, some critics were not as impressed. UK gaming magazine "Edge" stated that, "It's perhaps because the title benefits from such a high production spend, in fact, that the average design and execution becomes more pronounced."


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: "Maxim" gave it a perfect ten and stated that players can "race through a shitstorm of artillery fire in a Porsche Cayenne Turbo (complete with "Q-cloak" invisibility feature) or missile-firing Triumph Daytona 600." "The Times" gave it all five stars and stated that "the over-the-shoulder style does allow for the seamless integration of glossy scenes to drive on the plot and add a more genuine movie-like feel to the game." "The Cincinnati Enquirer" gave it four-and-a-half stars out of five and called it "An ambitious but successful interactive adventure that blurs the lines between motion pictures and video games." "Entertainment Weekly" wrote, "Action addicts still get their share of mayhem, however, as "EON" delivers some spectacular levels, including a breakneck highway chase on a flamethrower-equipped motorcycle. Her Majesty would definitely approve." "The Village Voice" wrote, "The seamless action—now presented in third person—is spit-shined and ever shifting."


title: James Bond 007: Everything or Nothing

text: In 2008, Anthony Burch of Destructoid compared the game to a "bad Bond film" such as "Tomorrow Never Dies" or "The World Is Not Enough", citing its mix of "ridiculously bombastic car chases, complete lack of subtlety, and clever cinematic presentation". He was critical of the controls and believed that "Everything or Nothing", like previous Bond games, had failed to live up to the success of "GoldenEye" (1997). However, he considered it "halfway decent" when judged on its own. In 2015, Dan Griliopoulos of "TechRadar" ranked it as the second best Bond game of all time, behind "GoldenEye".


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: Ekaterina is a 2014 Russia-1 historical television series starring Marina Aleksandrova as the eventual Russian empress Catherine the Great. The first season tells the story of princess Sophie Friederike Auguste, and her rise to power to become Empress of Russia, following a coup d'état and the assassination of her husband, Peter III. The second season portrays the challenges she faces at home and abroad during the early years of her rule, as she tries to revitalise Russia to become one of the great powers of Europe, and becomes titled "the Great".


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: The first season premiered on November 24, 2014 on Russia-1, and was released on Amazon in 2017 under the title "Ekaterina: The Rise of Catherine the Great". The second season premiered on Russia-1 on February 27, 2017, and was released on Amazon in 2018. The series premiered its third season on October 21, 2019.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: In 1744 in Saint Petersburg, Empress Elizabeth is childless, and she appoints her nephew Peter Fedorovich as the heir to the Russian throne. But he had been born in Prussia and could hardly speak Russian.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: Elizabeth decides to marry him to a princess, intending to take any future son and educate him to become the future emperor. Elizabeth chooses a wife for her nephew, German Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg. Sophia Frederike hopes to find happiness in the distant and foreign land, but she is faced with the intrigues and plots of the Russian Imperial court, the indifference of her husband, and the plans of the Empress. The girl takes the name Catherine Alexeevna (Yekaterina) and works to save herself and her children from danger, as the emperor Peter III desires to send her away from the palace.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: In July 1762, barely six months after becoming emperor, Peter commits the political error of retiring with his Holstein-born courtiers and relatives to Oranienbaum, leaving his wife in Saint Petersburg. On July 8 and 9, the Leib Guard revolts, deposes Peter from power, and proclaims Catherine as the new monarch. The bloodless coup d'état succeeds and Catherine becomes the new empress, and thus the Golden Age of the Russian Empire begins.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: 1768. Catherine has ruled Russia for six years. A dangerous prospect of war with Turkey is looming. At the same time, Catherine is looking for a way to legally marry her longtime favorite Grigory Orlov and legitimize their common son Alexey, to make him heir to the throne in case Pavel Petrovich (the son of Catherine II and Peter III) remains childless.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: However, Orlov’s cheeky and unpredictable behavior, as well as his problems with male health, make the empress abandon her thought of marriage and send her son Alexey abroad. Having thrown Pavel Petrovich into the arms of her maid of honor, Sofia Stepanovna, the Empress makes sure that Pavel Petrovich can have children. Having got rid of Orlov, Catherine falls in love with the guard Grigory Potemkin and finds in Europe a bride for Pavel Petrovich, Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: 1774. The Russo-Turkish war ends with a victory for Russia, which establishes its protectorate over the Crimean Khanate and gets access to the Black and Azov Seas.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: 1776. Pavel Petrovich marries for the second time to the Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, while Catherine marries Potemkin, who in her honor establishes the city of Yekaterinoslav in the south of the empire.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: 1780. Catherine releases the Braunschweig family, children of the Duke Anton Ulrich – the great-grandchildren of Peter The Great's brother, from prison. They sail to Denmark.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: 1782. Catherine opens a statue of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg and sends Pavel Petrovich with his wife and children on a trip to Europe.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: Note: This season takes place between the 11th and 12th episode of the second season, from 1774 to 1776.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: 1774. The rule of the great and mighty Ekaterina is threatened. The Russo-Turkish War continues, draining the Empire's treasury. Numerous pretenders appear with claims to the throne. The Peasants' War is in full swing – a war led by Yemelyan Pugachev, who passed himself off as Peter III. There is danger brewing inside the palace, too: the noblemen want to pass the throne on to her oldest son, Paul. Ekaterina's personal life is troubled. She has lost hope of having a child with Prince Potemkin. She has new love interests, new favorites. But the biggest and most important love of the Empress is Russia itself. Ekaterina has to make decisions that determine the fate of her throne and her empire.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: The prequel tells the story of the Empress Elizabeth, daughter of Peter I, who was all but 16 years old, when her father died and left her to govern her immense empire. For Elizabeth, her throne became a living hell: against her will the young girl was pulled into court intrigues, where she is opposed by notable members of the court such as Andrei Ivanovich Osterman, Aleksandre Danielovich Meshikov, and even her own mother Catherine the First.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: The series has received praise for its acting and costume design, and the first season won Russia's Golden Eagle award for "best television series". A review at Eclectic Pop described it as "a vivid and beautifully crafted series replete with lavish costumes and a stirring musical score". Writing for BroadwayWorld, Robert Kahn described the series as "gloriously filmed" and added: "The story of Catherine's rise to power rivals any contemporary soap opera, as an intricate web of politics, adultery and betrayal unfolds within the Russian court in spectacular fashion."


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: During the broadcast, the series held the top spot for film and television series ratings in Russia, and became one of the most popular TV series in the Russian Federation.


title: Ekaterina (TV series)

text: Season one, with English subtitles and reformatted into ten episodes, was released by Amazon Prime in June 2017. This drama also aired in Pakistan on filmazia, dubbed in Urdu.


title: Folies Bergère

text: The Folies Bergère () is a cabaret music hall, located in Paris, France. Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trévise, with light entertainment including operettas, comic opera, popular songs, and gymnastics. It became the Folies Bergère on 13 September 1872, named after nearby Rue Bergère. The house was at the height of its fame and popularity from the 1890s' "Belle Époque" through the 1920s.


title: Folies Bergère

text: Revues featured extravagant costumes, sets and effects, and often nude women. In 1926, Josephine Baker, an African-American expatriate singer, dancer and entertainer, caused a sensation at the Folies Bergère by dancing in a costume consisting of a skirt made of a string of artificial bananas and little else.


title: Folies Bergère

text: Located at 32 Rue Richer in the 9th Arrondissement, the Folies Bergère was built as an opera house by the architect Plumeret. The métro stations are Cadet and Grands Boulevards.


title: Folies Bergère

text: It opened on 2 May 1869 as the Folies Trévise, with light entertainment including operettas, opéra comique (comic opera), popular songs, and gymnastics. It became the Folies Bergère on 13 September 1872, named after a nearby street, Rue Bergère ("bergère" means "shepherdess").


title: Folies Bergère

text: In 1882, Édouard Manet painted his well-known painting "A Bar at the Folies-Bergère" which depicts a bar-girl, one of the demimondaines, standing before a mirror.


title: Folies Bergère

text: In 1886, Édouard Marchand conceived a new genre of entertainment for the Folies Bergère: the music-hall revue. Women would be the heart of Marchand's concept for the Folies. In the early 1890s, the American dancer Loie Fuller starred at the Folies Bergère. In 1902, illness forced Marchand to leave after 16 years.


title: Folies Bergère

text: In 1918, (1880–1966) made his mark on the revue. His revues featured extravagant costumes, sets and effects, and "small nude women". Derval's small nude women would become the hallmark of the Folies. During his 48 years at the Folies, he launched the careers of many French stars including Maurice Chevalier, Mistinguett, Josephine Baker, Fernandel and many others. In 1926, Josephine Baker, an African-American ex-patriate singer, dancer and entertainer, caused a sensation at the Folies Bergère in a new revue, "La Folie du Jour", in which she danced a number "Fatou" wearing a costume consisting of a skirt made of a string of artificial bananas and little else. Her erotic dancing and near-nude performances were renowned. The Folies Bergère catered to popular taste. Shows featured elaborate costumes; the women's were frequently revealing, practically leaving them naked, and shows often contained a good deal of nudity. Shows also played up the "exoticness" of people and objects from other cultures, obliging the Parisian fascination with the négritude of the 1920s.


title: Folies Bergère

text: In 1926 the facade of the theatre was given a complete make-over by the artist . The facade was redone in Art Deco style, one of the many Parisian theatres of this period using the style.


title: Folies Bergère

text: In 1936, Derval brought Josephine Baker from New York City to lead the revue "En Super Folies". , a young Hungarian arrived from Balassagyarmat, his hometown, designed the poster for "En Super Folies", a show starring Josephine Baker in 1936. This began a long love story between Michel Gyarmathy, Paris, the Folies Bergère and the public of the whole world which lasted 56 years. The funeral of Paul Derval was held on 20 May 1966. He was 86 and had reigned supreme over the most celebrated music hall in the world. His wife Antonia, supported by Michel Gyarmathy, succeeded him. In August 1974, the Folies Antonia Derval passed on the direction of the business to Hélène Martini, the empress of the night (25 years earlier she had been a showgirl in the revues). This new mistress of the house reverted to the original concept to maintain the continued existence of the last music hall which remained faithful to the tradition.


title: Folies Bergère

text: Since 2006, the Folies Bergère has presented some musical productions with Stage Entertainment like "Cabaret" (2006–2008) or "Zorro" (2009–2010).


title: Folies Bergère

text: The Folies Bergère inspired the Ziegfeld Follies in the United States and other similar shows, including a long-standing revue, the Las Vegas Folies Bergere, at the Tropicana Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and the "Teatro Follies" in Mexico.


title: Folies Bergère

text: In the 1930s and '40s the impresario Clifford C. Fischer staged several Folies Bergere productions in the United States. These included the "Folies Bergère of 1939" at the Broadway Theater in New York and the "Folies Bergère of 1944" at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.


title: Folies Bergère

text: The Las Vegas Folies Bergere, which opened in 1959, closed at the end of March 2009 after nearly 50 years in operation.


title: Folies Bergère

text: A recent example is Faceboyz Folliez, a monthly burlesque and variety show at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City.


title: Villefranche-sur-Mer

text: Villefranche-sur-Mer (, ; ; ) is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera and is located south-west of the Principality of Monaco, which is just west of the French-Italian border.


title: Villefranche-sur-Mer

text: Villefranche-sur-Mer is immediately to the east of the city of Nice, along Mont Boron, Mont Alban and Mont Vinaigrier, and south-west of Monaco. The bay ("rade") of Villefranche is one of the deepest natural harbours of any port in the Mediterranean Sea and provides safe anchorage for large ships from easterly winds. Reaching depths of 320 ft (95 m) between the Cape of Nice and Cap Ferrat; it extends to the south to form a 1,700 ft (500 m) abyss known as the undersea Canyon of Villefranche at about one nautical mile off the coastline. The Bay is the place where the American 6th Fleet moors when cruising the Mediterranean Coast.


title: Villefranche-sur-Mer

text: The city limits extend to the hills surrounding the bay climbing from sea level to an altitude of 1,893 ft (577 m), the highest point of Mont-Leuze, reflecting on land the features found offshore. The Basse Corniche runs through Vlllefranche with the Moyenne Corniche above and the Haute Corniche above that entering the farthest reach to the West of the Alpes-Maritimes.


title: Villefranche-sur-Mer

text: The site of what is now Villefranche and surrounding Beaulieu-sur-Mer and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat has been settled since prehistoric times. Celto-ligurian tribes roamed the area and established farming communities on the surrounding hills. The Greeks and later the Romans used the natural harbour as a stop-over en route to the Greek settlements around the Western Mediterranean. After the conquest of Gaul by Julius Caesar, the Romans built an extension of the Via Aurelia (Aurelian Way), which passed through the settlement of Montolivo.