title: Shinobi (series)

text: "Shinobi Legions" was the only Shinobi game developed for Sega Saturn, and the last sidescrolling title in the series until "The Revenge of Shinobi" on the Game Boy Advance. The gameplay is similar to that of "Shinobi III" but with many tweaks. The plot represented a break with the traditional storyline of the previous games, as it focuses on an entirely new character named Sho. "Shinobi Legions" uses live-action cutsequences between each round and digitized live actors in game sequences.


title: Shinobi (series)

text: "Shinobi" debuted in the world of 3D gaming with "Shinobi", only for PlayStation 2. It is the third game in the series to simply be called "Shinobi". The story introduces a new member of Oboro clan called Hotsuma. "Shinobi"s gameplay is based upon a combo system called the tate-system, which produces a very fast and smooth style of play. However, even more so than other Shinobi titles, "Shinobi" is also noted for its extreme difficulty. Whenever Hotsuma dies, the player has to start the level all over again. Although this reboot of the franchise was generally well received by critics and fans alike, some of the bigger complaints waged against the game were for its average graphics, somewhat repetitive gameplay, and (as noted earlier) steep difficulty. Joe Musashi can be unlocked as a playable character after finishing the game.


title: Shinobi (series)

text: The first game of the "Shinobi" series to feature a female lead, "Nightshade" is a continuation of 2002's "Shinobi" with differences to the gameplay. In Japan, the game is known as "Kunoichi", the Japanese term to denote the female equivalent of "Shinobi".


title: Shinobi (series)

text: "Shinobi 3D" was developed by Griptonite Games for the Nintendo 3DS. The game returned to the side-scrolling nature of earlier games and was released in November 2011. It is the twelfth title in the series since the 1987 original arcade games.


title: Shinobi (series)

text: In 1990, Sega released "Alex Kidd in Shinobi World" on Master System, a spoof of the original "Shinobi" game in which Alex Kidd takes the position of Joe Musashi. In the game, Alex Kidd has to rescue his girlfriend, a native of Shinobi World, from an evil ninja named Hanzo. A good ninja fuses into him and gives him his powers. Often related to the series is the handheld "The Revenge of Shinobi" game for Game Boy Advance, however, this game shares only the name and basic premise (ninja action) with other "Shinobi" titles.


title: Shinobi (series)

text: In 2014, Sega and Hakuhodo DY formed the production company Stories International for feature film and TV projects based on their "Shinobi" games. In April 2016, Marc Platt was assigned to produce a live action Shinobi movie through his production banner Marc Platt Productions along with Adam Siegel & Stories President and CEO, Tomoya Suzuki.


title: Torque (film)

text: Torque is a 2004 American action film directed by Joseph Kahn (in his feature film directorial debut), written by Matt Johnson and produced by Neal H. Moritz. The film stars Adam Scott, Martin Henderson, Ice Cube, Monet Mazur, Jaime Pressly, Will Yun Lee, Jay Hernandez, Matt Schulze, Max Beesley, Fredro Starr and Christina Milian. The film tells the story of biker Cary Ford (Martin Henderson) and how he discovers some motorcycles filled with crystal meth, he stows them away. But it turns out that villainous gangster Henry James (Matt Schulze) has plans to recover his drugs. James frames Ford for the murder of Junior (Fredro Starr), the brother of Trey (Ice Cube), who heads the Reapers, a notoriously malicious biker gang. Ford goes on the run in an attempt to clear his name, while the FBI and multiple groups of motorcycle-mounted marauders chase after him.


title: Torque (film)

text: "Torque" was theatrically released on January 16, 2004 in the United States. The film under-performed at the box office, grossing $46.5 million worldwide against production budget of $40 million, and received generally negative reviews with common criticisms regarding the performances, writing and direction, though some critics praised the action sequences. It was nominated for several Taurus Awards for its stunts.


title: Torque (film)

text: The film begins with two cars racing in the middle of the desert. Biker Cary Ford (Martin Henderson) pulls up on his motorcycle and tries to pass them. He finally does so and stops at a diner owned by his ex-girlfriend Shane (Monet Mazur). There are pictures all over the wall of Ford and Shane back when they were together. Ford takes one of the pictures. He then goes back outside and the two street racers who didn't let him pass arrive. The three get into a fight but Ford beats up both of them before letting them go.


title: Torque (film)

text: Next Ford meets up with his two best friends Dalton (Jay Hernandez) and Val (Will Yun Lee) and as they take a ride back to town to a motorcycle party, they encounter a black biker gang called the Reapers, consisting of Trey (Ice Cube) the leader and his brother Junior (Fredro Starr), who threaten Ford after getting into a scuffle with the latter.


title: Torque (film)

text: Ford sees Shane and the two begin conversing, with Shane saying that she is mad that Ford left. A biker gang called the Hellions pulls up which includes Henry James (Matt Schulze) the leader, his girlfriend China (Jaime Pressly) and his right-hand man Luther (Max Beesley). Henry is pissed at Ford for stealing his bikes (which contain drugs) while Ford offers a little pithy comeback in return. Henry gives Ford an ultimatum till sun down to return the bikes.


title: Torque (film)

text: Ford and his friends arrive at a nightclub where tons of biker gangs hang out. The three gangs run into each other and cause a big brawl. A scared Junior runs into the bathroom to find the Hellions there. Junior apologizes to Henry for not being able to pay him back for a botched drug deal (which Trey refused to allow earlier) and begs Henry to give him some time to work it out. Henry refuses and kills Junior by strangling him to death with a bike chain. Ford, Shane and the two friends go back to a motel to spend the night, where Ford and Shane normalize their relationship a bit.


title: Torque (film)

text: At the murder scene where Junior was found dead, two FBI agents, Henderson (Justina Machado) and her partner, Jay McPherson (Adam Scott) show up, assuring Trey that they will take care of the case and find Junior's killer. China becomes a false witness to Junior's death and gives a statement that Cary Ford killed Junior, hearing which a vengeful Trey swears to kill Ford.


title: Torque (film)

text: At a diner Shane sees on the TV that Ford is wanted for Junior's murder. Shane tells Ford and the four leave the diner and hit the road. The Reapers pull up at the diner and a high speed chase ensues with all riding into a forest full of palm trees. Ford tells Shane and the friends to split up. Ford rides out of the forest into a desert drawing Trey, resulting in the chase being led near a passenger train. Ford jumps up onto the train and Trey follows riding on top of the train and going inside the passenger cars. In the struggle, Trey slips and falls in front of the train with his leg getting caught on the tracks. Ford helps him out, gives him his own bike to escape leaving Trey puzzled. Shane, Dalton and Val meet up with Ford and the four find a cave for the night to stay.


title: Torque (film)

text: Ford talks it out with his friends and says that he should call the FBI agents to tell them that he is innocent. Ford calls them and McPherson picks up the phone. He says that he doesn't believe Ford but Henderson does. Next morning the four leave the cave and hitch a ride inside a truck. The truck is stopped by police checkpoint and just before the agents open the back of the truck, Ford and Shane bust out of the truck in a race car with the two friends on their bikes. The four drive onto a highway with the two FBI agents and Trey on their tail.


title: Torque (film)

text: The scene shifts to a highway as Ford jumps out of the car onto Val's bike and tells him to ride with Shane. Trey and the two agents follow. The agents survive a crash where their black Hummer hits a construction pipe. Trey rides his bike into Ford's and the two crash. Holding Trey at gunpoint, Ford explains to Trey that he did not kill Junior. Not wanting to believe him, Trey asks who the real killer is. Ford says that it was Henry and that he set them both up. Willing to take a leap of faith, Trey agrees to partner with Ford as he sets up a meeting with the agents.


title: Torque (film)

text: At Shane's garage, Ford calls Shane and tells her that he wants her, Val and Dalton to come and meet him and Trey there. Subsequently, the two FBI agents bust in and tell Trey and Ford to get down. Henderson asks for an explanation since she believes Ford is innocent and as he tells them, McPherson turns and shoots Henderson, apparently killing her. McPherson reveals himself as Henry's mole in the agency and that he is working with the Hellions after making a deal with him. Henry, China and Luther show up with Dalton and Val in chains and Shane as hostage. Ford says that Henry can take the bikes back but Henry wants to kill Ford and Trey (after admitting to Trey that he had killed Junior).


title: Torque (film)

text: Thereafter, a big fight scene begins with Trey killing Luther by hanging him with a chain and Henry and China leaving the garage. Ford frees Shane while Trey unties Val and Dalton and they leave the garage. Just before they do Henderson (who was wearing a bullet proof vest) blows up the garage killing McPherson. Outside of the garage, China meets up with Shane and the two fight on their bikes. The fight ends with Shane kicking China off her bike and throwing her through a car windshield, killing her.


title: Torque (film)

text: Finally, Ford catches up with Henry on the street in a bike chase. Henry shoots at the gas of Ford's (MTT Turbine Superbike) causing gas to leak from it. Henry's subsequent shots cause the gas trail to light up. Ford soars through the air and lands on top of Henry's bike, the fire catches up to them both causing both bike's to explode throwing Ford in the air and killing Henry. Shane picks him up and they drive back to the garage to find the others. It is also revealed that Henderson survived but is injured.


title: Torque (film)

text: Ford and Shane get back together and decide that the four need a vacation (with Shane suggesting Mexico). Val picks up his girlfriend Nina (Christina Milian) and from a distance we see the five ride off in the desert as the screen fades to black and the credits roll.


title: Torque (film)

text: Dane Cook makes a cameo appearance as a tourist that runs into Henry. Jesse James of West Coast Choppers and Monster Garage makes a cameo appearance in the scene where Ford and Shane are talking inside the tent. Two of his custom choppers are used later in the movie as the bikes Henry James' drugs are stored in. Also, director Joseph Kahn can be spotted as a passenger during a train chase scene. Stuntman turned director Scott Waugh also makes a cameo appearance as the driver of the red Mitsubishi Eclipse. The Peterbilt 281 from Duel makes a cameo appearance chasing a Plymouth Valiant.


title: Torque (film)

text: The film has been called ""The Fast and the Furious" on Motorcycles", referring to the use of many of the same thematic elements between the two films. The film's director Joseph Kahn said his intention was to make a "piss take" version of the "Fast & Furious" franchise, even though both movies were produced by Neal H. Moritz. However, "Torque" was made by Warner Bros, while "The Fast and the Furious" is made by Universal.


title: Torque (film)

text: "Torque" specifically references "The Fast and the Furious" at one point, taking a line directly from the film. Henderson's character Ford borrows Vin Diesel's line, "I live my life a quarter-mile at a time." To which Shane (Monet Mazur) replies, "That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard."


title: Torque (film)

text: Matt Schulze, who portrayed the film's antagonist, Henry James, also appeared in "The Fast and the Furious", playing Dominic Toretto's childhood friend and member of the truck hijacking team, Vince. Schulze would later reprise his role as Vince in "Fast Five", the fifth installment in the series that transitioned from street racing to an action-packed heist series.


title: Torque (film)

text: Another reference to "The Fast and the Furious" is since "Torque" focused on motorcycles, it does show a street race in the beginning, involving a quarter-mile race between a Mitsubishi Eclipse and an Acura RSX, with the protagonist Cary Ford beating the 2 cars on his Aprilia RSV motorcycle. Also, when Ford rides past the road sign at the start of the film, it spins and reads "cars suck".


title: Torque (film)

text: The film opened at #4 at the U.S. Box office raking in $9,970,557 USD in its first opening weekend. The movie's theatrical run took in a total of $21,215,059 in the United States and worldwide $46,546,197, against a production budget of approximately $40,000,000.


title: Torque (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 22% based on reviews from 116 critics. The site's consensus is that the film is "Silly and noisy ... stylish fun for the MTV crowd." On Metacritic it has a score of 41% based on reviews from 29 critics.


title: Torque (film)

text: A positive review came from Kevin Thomas of L.A. Times who called it "A terrific action picture. Stylish unpretentious fun." Jeremy Wheeler at allmovie.com rated Torque 3 stars out of 5 stating: "Torque is a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart, eliciting so many moments of amped-up and overblown excitement that those with medical conditions (and very serious taste in film) should probably stay ten blocks away... this little slice of joy relishes in being abundantly over-the-top at every explosive turn."


title: Torque (film)

text: The film has since gone on to acquire a cult following among sports-bike racers and enthusiasts, as well as racing film fans. The film has also garnered some appreciation for its over the top stunts, fast pace and stylish action sequences.


title: Torque (film)

text: Torque was nominated for several World Stunt Awards, including Best Specialty Stunt and Best Overall Stunt by a Stunt Man.


title: Allium chinense

text: Allium chinense (also known as Chinese onion, Chinese scallion, glittering chive, Japanese scallion, Kiangsi scallion, and Oriental onion) is an edible species of "Allium", native to China, and cultivated in many other countries. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and garlic.


title: Allium chinense

text: "Allium chinense" is native to China (in Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces). It is naturalized in other parts of Asia as well as in North America.


title: Allium chinense

text: Owing to its very mild and "fresh" taste, "A. chinense" is often pickled and served as a side dish in Japan and Vietnam to balance the stronger flavor of some other component in a meal. For example, in Japanese cuisine, it is eaten as a garnish on Japanese curry.


title: Allium chinense

text: In Japanese, it is known as . Glass bottles of white "rakkyō" bulb pickles are sold in Asian supermarkets in North America.


title: Global Payments

text: Global Payments Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company that provides payment technology and services to merchants, issuers and consumers. In June 2021, the company was named to the Fortune 500. The company processes payments made through credit cards, debit cards and digital and contactless payments.


title: Global Payments

text: Global Payments was founded in 1996 and spun off from National Data Corporation, its former parent company, in 2001. Global Payments has been an independent, publicly-traded company on the New York Stock Exchange having the ticker symbol “GPN” since its spin off.


title: Global Payments

text: In 2009, it paid $75 million for United Card Service, Russia's leading credit card processing company. In 2011, Global Payments's United Card Service bought Alfa-Bank's credit card processing unit. In October 2012, it acquired the smaller Accelerated Payment Technologies for $413 million. In October 2014, it purchased Australian payment processing company Ezidebit for $305 million. In January 2015, it bought Payment Processing (also known as PayPros), a California company, for $420 million.


title: Global Payments

text: In March 2015 Global Payments bought Realex Payments, an Irish-based payments gateway services company for €115 million. On April 25, 2016, Global Payments completed the acquisition of Heartland Payment Systems for $4.3 billion. Both Global Payments and its subsidiary Heartland Payment Systems were among the leading credit card processing companies in 2016, according to Business Insider. Its headquarters moved from Sandy Springs, Georgia to Atlanta, Georgia in 2016.


title: Global Payments

text: In 2017, Global Payments initiated acquiring divisions of Active Networks. In 2018, Global Payments completed acquisition of AdvancedMD. In 2018, Global Payments completed acquisition of Sentral Education.


title: Global Payments

text: On May 28, 2019, Global Payments announced a $21.5 billion merger with TSYS. The merger is expected to trigger a Federal Trade Commission investigation.


title: Global Payments

text: Its largest deal to date would have been the reported merger with FIS (company), estimated around US$70 billion, but which fell apart at the last minute in December 2020. However, it is expected to be revisited in 2022.


title: Global Payments

text: In August 2022, Global Payments entered a definitive agreement to acquire EVO Payments Inc. for nearly $4 billion.


title: Global Payments

text: Global Payments provides payment services directly to merchants and indirectly through other financial organizations. Its technology-enabled services also support integrated payments, e-commerce, and omni-channel services.


title: Global Payments

text: Through Total System Services (TSYS), its issuer processor business, Global Payments helps banks manage credit and debit card portfolios.


title: Global Payments

text: Global Payments operates in more than 100 countries and serves 3.5 million merchants as well as 1,300 financial institutions. The company processes more than 50 billion transactions per year. After merging with TSYS in 2019, Global Payments has nearly 24,000 employees.


title: Global Payments

text: In 2020, 63 percent of the company's revenue was derived from "Merchant Solutions" 26 percent from Issuer Solutions, and 11 percent from the Business and Consumer Solutions segment, which operates as NetSpend. Eighty percent of Global Payments Merchant Solutions revenue was from North America, 15 percent was from Europe, and five percent was from Asia.


title: Global Payments

text: In 2012, a data breach at Global Payments affected 1.5 million credit and debit card numbers. This breach eventually cost the company around $100 million. In 2015, a technical fault with Global Payments's systems led to thousands of British businesses being unable to accept credit card payments on Valentine's Day weekend.


title: MacKenzie Mauzy

text: MacKenzie Grace Mauzy (born October 14, 1988) is an American actress. She played the role of Phoebe Forrester on CBS daytime soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" from 2006 to 2008, and recurred as Abigail on the 2014 ABC television drama series "Forever".


title: MacKenzie Mauzy

text: On June 9, 2012, she married fellow stage actor, and former American Idol contestant, John Arthur Greene. They separated and, later, divorced in 2015.


title: MacKenzie Mauzy

text: Before launching her acting career, Mauzy worked in New York City, Virginia, and North Carolina in stage productions of classic plays such as A Christmas Carol, Snow White and Macbeth. In 1998, Mauzy won the Anna Wentworth Award for "Best Child Actress" for her role as Annie Warbucks in the production of "Annie" at Showtimers Theatre in Roanoke, Virginia.


title: MacKenzie Mauzy

text: She also played Lizzie Spaulding on the CBS soap "Guiding Light" from October 2000 to August 2002. She has also guest starred on CBS's "", "" and NBC's "". She played the role of the rich Phoebe Forrester on CBS soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful" from July 2006 until December 2008, when her character Phoebe was killed off.


title: MacKenzie Mauzy

text: In July 2008, MacKenzie was cast as Ilse in the 1st National Tour of the hit Broadway musical Spring Awakening. MacKenzie turned it down in order to be in the Broadway musical, "A Tale of Two Cities". Mauzy played The Seamstress in the musical, which was executive produced by Barbara Russell and Ron Sharpe. The play, which cost $16 million to produce, closed on November 16, 2009, after 33 previews and 68 regular performances.


title: MacKenzie Mauzy

text: Mauzy joined the Broadway cast of "Next to Normal", temporarily standing by for Jennifer Damiano as Natalie Goodman. She then succeeded Meghann Fahy as the standby for Natalie, with Fahy replacing Jennifer Damiano as the full-time Natalie. Mauzy stayed with the Broadway production (going on at various times) until the Broadway production closed on Sunday, January 16, 2011, after 21 previews and 733 regular performances. She starred in the musical, "White Noise", which is, in part, based on a real life white supremacist pop duo, Prussian Blue. "White Noise" played a limited run at the Royal George theater in Chicago, IL. The play, presented by Whoopi Goldberg, opened on April 9, 2011, and received mixed reviews and audience feedback. It closed ahead of schedule on May 15, 2011. Starting October 26, 2012, Mauzy had a featured role in Michael John LaChiusa's musical Giant at The Public Theater as Claire "Luz" Benedict.


title: MacKenzie Mauzy

text: In 2014, Mauzy she landed a recurring role in the ABC television drama "Forever", playing Abigail, the late wife of the character Henry Morgan (Ioan Gruffudd); Henry was a 200-year-old immortal and he married Abigail after they met during World War 2, with their relationship being portrayed through flashbacks. In that same year, she was featured in the film "Into the Woods" as Rapunzel. In 2016 Mauzy was cast as Linda Kasabian in the Lifetime television film, "Manson's Lost Girls", alongside Jeff Ward, Eden Brolin and Greer Grammer.


title: 2030 Commonwealth Games

text: The 2030 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXIV Commonwealth Games, will be held in 2030 for members of the Commonwealth. 2030 will mark the centenary of the Games, first held as the British Empire Games, which has been held under various names (British Empire and Commonwealth Games, British Commonwealth Games and finally Commonwealth Games) on a quadrennial basis ever since, save for the Games cancelled due to World War II.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: Jake Anthony Kumerow (born February 17, 1992) is an American football wide receiver for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Illinois and UW–Whitewater, and was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent in 2015. He has also been a member of the New England Patriots, Green Bay Packers, and New Orleans Saints.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: Kumerow originally attended Illinois. He caught 3 passes for 15 yards with the Illini. He then transferred to NCAA Division III school Wisconsin–Whitewater Warhawks. Kumerow finished with 158 receptions for 2648 yards and 36 touchdowns for the Warhawks.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: Kumerow signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent on May 8, 2015. He was released on September 5, 2015, and was signed to the practice squad the next day, where he spent his entire rookie season. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Bengals on January 11, 2016.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: Kumerow was released by the Bengals on September 3, 2016, and was signed to the practice squad during the next day. He was promoted to the active roster on December 27, 2016.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: On August 9, 2017, Kumerow was waived/injured by the Bengals after suffering an ankle injury and was placed on injured reserve. He was released on September 22, 2017 with an injury settlement.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: On October 26, 2017, Kumerow was signed to the New England Patriots' practice squad. He was released on November 9, 2017.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: On December 26, 2017, Kumerow was signed to the Green Bay Packers' practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract with the Packers on January 2, 2018.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: On September 3, 2018, Kumerow was placed on injured reserve. He was activated off injured reserve on December 1, 2018 and made his NFL debut the following day, in a week 13 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. He also recorded his first career reception, an 11-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers, during that game. On December 23, he scored his first NFL touchdown on a 49-yard reception against the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: On April 25, 2020, the Packers re-signed Kumerow as an exclusive-rights free agent, which kept him under contract for Green Bay for another year. He was released during final roster cuts on September 5, 2020, shortly after Rodgers had publicly praised his play. As a result, Kumerow's release was later reported as a tipping point for Rodgers, who had developed a rapport with the receiver and was upset with Packers management over his departure.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: On September 8, 2020, Kumerow was signed to the practice squad of the Buffalo Bills. He was elevated to the active roster on November 7, November 14, and November 28 for the team's weeks 9, 10, and 12 games against the Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Chargers, and reverted to the practice squad after each game. He was promoted to the active roster on December 2, 2020. Kumerow caught a touchdown pass from Josh Allen against the Denver Broncos in week 15, helping convert a second and goal from the 22-yard line. He was waived on December 24, 2020 with starter John Brown returning from injured reserve.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: On December 25, 2020, Kumerow was claimed off waivers by the New Orleans Saints. He was waived on January 9, 2021. On January 13, 2021, Kumerow re-signed with the Saints practice squad. He was released on January 18.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: On January 26, 2021, Kumerow signed a reserve/futures contract with the Buffalo Bills. In the 2021 preseason, Bills quarterback Josh Allen joked that Kumerow was his favorite wide receiver, because his only regular season catch for the Bills was for a touchdown.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: On March 10, 2022, Kumerow signed a one-year contract extension with the Bills. He was placed on injured reserve on November 17.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: Kumerow is the son of former Miami Dolphins linebacker Eric Kumerow. He is also the nephew of former Dolphins defensive end John Bosa, and a cousin to Joey Bosa and Nick Bosa. His sister Cortney was an All-American basketball player at UW-Whitewater, and their youngest brother Derek also played football at Whitewater. He is also the great-grandson of Chicago mob boss Tony Accardo.


title: Jake Kumerow

text: Kumerow earned the nickname “Touchdown Jesus” originally in the preseason for the Packers due to his long hair and thick beard.


title: Victoria Newman

text: Victoria Newman is a fictional character from "The Young and the Restless", an American soap opera on the CBS network. Created by William J. Bell, she is currently portrayed by Amelia Heinle. Victoria was born onscreen in 1982 and was portrayed by child actress Ashley Nicole Millan for her first eight years. Having been rapidly aged to a teenager, Victoria returned to the soap opera and was portrayed by Heather Tom. Tom portrayed the character into her early adult years and remained in the role for thirteen years. Due to creative differences, Tom left the soap opera in 2003 and Heinle, who debuted as Victoria on March 21, 2005, was cast in the role.


title: Victoria Newman

text: The daughter of businessman Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), Victoria was described as "the teenager from hell" during her early years, and as an adult she was written as a ruthless character. Her storylines have involved romances with older men, family conflicts, and difficult pregnancies. Victoria is the third member of the Newman family to appear in the program and was joined later by her younger siblings. Her early romances included long-standing relationships with Ryan McNeil (Scott Reeves) and Cole Howard (J. Eddie Peck). Upon her second return to the show she had relationships with J.T. Hellstrom (Thad Luckinbill) and Billy Abbott (Jason Thompson). Victoria has three children: Reed Hellstrom (Tristan Lake Leabu) by J.T., Johnny Abbott, Billy's son whom she adopted as her own, and Katie Newman.


title: Victoria Newman

text: Tom won the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series twice for her portrayal of Victoria, and received nominations for eight other Emmy awards. Critics praised Tom's portrayal of the character, though her marriages at an early age were criticized. Heinle's portrayal later won her the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2014 and 2015.


title: Victoria Newman

text: Between 1982 and 1990, Victoria was portrayed by child actress Ashley Nicole Millan. After Millan left the series, Victoria was rapidly aged to become a teenager, and Heather Tom assumed the role on December 12, 1990. In 1997, Tom took a nearly eight-month leave of absence from the role, departing on February 21 and returning on October 2. During Tom's absence, Sarah Aldrich was cast as her temporary replacement, appearing from April 2 to July 17, 1997.


title: Victoria Newman

text: In 1999, Carrie Genzel was in talks to replace Tom, who was experiencing "touch-and-go" contract negotiations. However, Tom signed another three-year deal with the soap opera and said she was "very excited" about her continuation. In September 2003, Tom's spokesman announced that she would leave the show because of "creative differences" with executive producer David Shaughnessy. Speaking of her departure, Shaughnessy said that it was "tough" to see her go and that "they would miss her tremendously". Tom made her final appearance as Victoria on December 17, 2003, and she later said that she left the role because "things weren't going in her best interests".


title: Victoria Newman

text: The soap opera's producers intended Victoria to return in January 2004 but auditions failed to find a suitable replacement for Tom. Amelia Heinle was later cast in the role and made her first appearance on March 21, 2005. Rachel Kimsey also auditioned for the role and Heinle had auditioned for Mackenzie Browning; Kimsey was given Mackenzie and Heinle was given Victoria. Heinle has stated on many occasions that she had "serious doubts" about taking over Tom's role. In 2013, she recalled on what intimidated her about Tom, saying: "Heather is pure backbone, and that's probably what intimidated me about following in her footsteps because that's not me naturally." In 2008, she took maternity leave and was off-screen for weeks.<ref name="Heinle/Luckinbill Interview"></ref> In March 2011, Heinle announced that she had signed a new contract which would secure her in the role for an unspecified period. In November 2013, it was announced that Heinle had signed another contract to continue her portrayal of Victoria for an additional two years.


title: Victoria Newman

text: According to SoapNet, Victoria is "ruthless in the board room" and "nobody's damsel in distress". The soap opera's official website describes the character as having "displayed both her father's headstrong qualities and her mother's tendency to be impulsive". While the character was a teenager, Kelly O'Sullivan of the "New York Daily News" called her "the teen from hell". Heather Tom said that Victoria had Victor's strength and the manipulative skills of her former-alcoholic mother Nikki. Of the character's determination, Tom said that "Victoria knows disappointment, yet she gets her way most of the time" and "she goes after what she wants, and wins". During Victoria's divorce from Cole Howard (J. Eddie Peck), "The Orlando Sentinel" said that Victoria's behavior was "pig-faced".


title: Victoria Newman

text: Victoria has her first romance with Ryan McNeil, which ends when he leaves her for Nina Webster (Tricia Cast). The series' creator William J. Bell said that Victoria knew Nina still loved Ryan and suspected that the marriage would not last, and that "in Victoria's mind, the threat is still there". She is then married to Cole Howard for four years but they begin to have marital problems after Cole's affair with Ashley Abbott (Shari Shattuck). Tom said that being married on a soap opera is "short lived" and that she knew Cole and Victoria would eventually face difficulties, which she found challenging to act. While pregnant with Cole's child, Victoria has a relationship with Neil Winters (Kristoff St. John) and plans to raise the child with him, but her daughter Eve Howard dies shortly after birth and she and Neil separate. After being raped by an insane man, Victoria reunites with Ryan and they plan to marry before he is shot dead by his ex-wife, Tricia Dennison (Sabryn Genet). Victoria also has brief relationships with Diego Guittierez (Greg Vaughan) and Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc).


title: Victoria Newman

text: A decade after her marriage to Cole, Victoria marries Brad Carlton (Don Diamont); their marriage ends after Brad has an affair. She then becomes pregnant with J.T. Hellstrom's (Thad Luckinbill) child and during her pregnancy becomes comatose. Heinle believed Victoria and J.T. would "stay together for a while before they wreck it". After it was announced that Luckinbill was leaving the soap opera, Victoria and J.T. drift apart and eventually divorce. Victoria next begins a relationship with Billy Abbott that their feuding families are against; Heinle described Billy as "the forbidden fruit" and compared their romance to "Romeo and Juliet". They later marry in a 1950s-styled screen wedding; her wedding dress was inspired by a gown worn by Audrey Hepburn in the film "Funny Face". Actress Elinor Donahue was cast to portray the judge that officiates their wedding, as former co-head writer Scott Hamner felt that Donahue could help them achieve the sense of a "retro-fantasy of better, simpler times". After their wedding, Billy illegally purchases a baby girl for Victoria. Heinle felt this plot was a good way to add conflict drama to the soap opera.<ref name="Heinle/Miller Interview"></ref> The couple lose custody of the child, Billy leaves Genoa City and Victoria divorces him, but her father hides Billy from his family. The pair are later reunited in a New York airport bar. Hamner noted that Victoria would be "absolutely furious" at her father for what he had done: "[There is a] potential for a huge rift between father and daughter, and there will be some consequences for Victor with his relationship with Victoria in light of all that he's done to keep her apart from the man she loves."<ref name="Victoria/Billy Reunite"></ref> He also stated that the "impact of those secrets coming to light was going to be very serious in Billy and Victoria's ability to move forward together".


title: Victoria Newman

text: In 1990, eight-year-old Victoria becomes upset that her mother Nikki Newman (Melody Thomas Scott) has married Jack Abbott (Peter Bergman), even after he saves her from drowning in a swimming pool. When she continues to misbehave, her parents send her to boarding school in Switzerland. The following year, Victoria returns as a moody teenager who is working in the mailroom at her father's company, Newman Enterprises, and becoming smitten with Ryan McNeil (Scott Reeves), who is older than her. Victor offers Ryan money to leave town but he and Victoria elope. Their marriage ends when Ryan leaves her for Nina Webster (Tricia Cast) in 1993. Victoria then falls in love with Cole Howard (J. Eddie Peck) and they marry the following year, but their marriage is quickly annulled when it is believed by their parents that they are half-siblings, as Victor is believed to be Cole's father. When this is proved untrue they wed again; this marriage breaks down four years later when in 1998 Cole has sex with Ashley Abbott (Shari Shattuck/Eileen Davidson), her former stepmother. Victoria becomes pregnant with Cole's child and chooses to raise it with Neil Winters (Kristoff St. John). Her baby girl, Eve Howard, dies a few days after birth and Victoria ends her union with Neil. Victoria briefly tries and fails to win Cole back from Ashley. In 1999, Victoria meets Gary Dawson (Ricky Paull Goldin) and they begin dating, though she soon discovers that he is stalking her and ends the relationship. Enraged, Gary kidnaps Victoria in a tree house and she is raped. She takes months to recover. She and Ryan then reunite and plan to remarry, but on their wedding day in November 2001 Ryan's ex-wife Tricia Dennison shoots and kills him, leaving Victoria devastated. She then has a brief relationship with Diego Guittierez (Diego Serrano/Greg Vaughan) in 2002, and afterward dates Michael Baldwin (Christian LeBlanc). The following year, some of Victor's crimes come to light and Victoria leaves town when these and other family problems overwhelm her. She moves to Florence, Italy, where she studies Art History.


title: Victoria Newman

text: In 2005, Victoria returns to Genoa City after Jack makes her a job offer to run Jabot. She tries to resume her relationship with Michael, only to discover he has married Lauren Fenmore (Tracey E. Bregman). She then begins dating her father's business rival Brad Carlton (Don Diamont) and in 2006 they marry, much to Victor's disapproval. Victoria becomes pregnant with Brad's child but miscarries. Their marriage ends in 2007 when Victoria discovers that Brad had an affair with Sharon Newman (Sharon Case), her former sister in law, before their wedding. During her marriage she forms a friendship with J.T. Hellstrom (Thad Luckinbill) and they have sex twice, resulting in a pregnancy of unknown paternity. J.T. is revealed as the father, and during her pregnancy Victoria is hit by falling rockscaused by an explosionwhich leaves her comatose. She recovers and gives birth to a son, Reed Hellstrom (Max Page), and she marries J.T. in February 2008. After J.T. kisses his ex-girlfriend Colleen the following year, Victoria has an affair with Deacon Sharpe (Sean Kanan), complicating their marriage, which ends in 2010 after J.T. becomes intimate with Mackenzie Browning (Clementine Ford).


title: Victoria Newman

text: Victoria then begins a secret romance with Billy Abbott. She and Billy marry while intoxicated in Jamaica, but the marriage is declared invalid and they remarry. During the ceremony, Victor has Victoria arrested in an attempt to stop the wedding. J.T. gains full custody of Reed and moves to Washington, DC with his new wife Mackenzie for her job. Victoria and her siblings pursue a lawsuit against Victor to gain control of a cosmetics line. After Victoria miscarries a child with Billy, he illegally pays $2,000,000 for a child, whom they name Lucy in January 2011. Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford) gains custody of Lucy and Billy leaves town without disclosing his whereabouts to his wife. Victoria later pursues divorce proceedings in Billy's long absence. After their divorce, Victoria and Billy's mother, Jill Fenmore, try unsuccessfully to locate Billy whose daughter, Delia Abbott has Leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. The pair find each other in a New York airport bar, reunite, and remarry in December 2011. As they return home from their honeymoon, Chelsea Lawson (Melissa Claire Egan) arrives, announcing she is pregnant with Billy's child. Chelsea barters with Billy demanding 3 million dollars. She later gives birth to a boy, Johnny, but gives Billy full custody of their son. Victoria decides to stay in her marriage to Billy and help him raise the child. Later, Victoria returns to Newman Enterprises to try and save it from Sharon's destruction. While on business in Miami in November 2012, she is kidnapped by Eddie G. (Blake Gibbons), who demands that Billy repay a gambling debt as a ransom. Eddie is shot and killed in front of her, and she is finally rescued by her brother Nick, and recovers. Billy later relapses in his gambling addiction, and the couple briefly separate. However, Victoria again decides to reconcile with Billy and continue their marriage. In October 2013, Billy's daughter Delia is struck and killed by Adam in a hit and run accident. Billy embarks on an affair with a woman in his grief support group, Kelly Andrews (Cady McClain). Meanwhile, Victoria grows close with Stitch Rayburn (Sean Carrigan). Victoria files for legal separation after Billy's affair is exposed, and she ends up sleeping with Stitch. Victoria then finds out she is pregnant but is unsure of the child's paternity. The child, named Katherine Rose after Victoria's late godmother Katherine Chancellor (Jeanne Cooper), later turned out to be Billy's, but Victoria decides to continue her relationship with Stitch regardless. However, Victoria and Stitch's relationship comes to an end soon thereafter when Stitch develops feelings for Victoria's half-sister, Abby (Melissa Ordway). Victoria and Billy end up reuniting again, much to Victor's chagrin.


title: Victoria Newman

text: Connie Passalacqua of the "Herald Journal" compared Victoria's scheme to reunite her parents in 1991 to the plot of the 1961 film "The Parent Trap". She wrote, "[w]hat makes Victoria a true terror teen? We venture that it may be the supernatural soap aging by which she aged from 5 to 15 last fall." "Fort Worth Star-Telegram" criticized Victoria's early romances, saying: "[s]he's divorced, rich and hates sex. And now she wants her husband back. As soap operas go, Victoria Newman's plight ... is standard daytime fare. But Victoria has one characteristic that many of her counterparts don't—she is only 17." A syndicated article that appeared in "The Fort Oglethorpe Press" described Ryan McNeil's attempts to seduce Victoria as "a path that's fraught with peril and which forces the good-natured actor to search hard for inspiration". SoapNet said it was "no surprise" Victoria has a history of "messy relationships" given her parents' history. Lilana Novakovich of the "Toronto Star" said that Heather Tom made Victoria become "one of her favorite characters" on the soap upon her debut in 1991. "The Austin American-Statesman" said that Tom was "always a pleasure to watch".


title: Victoria Newman

text: Dan J. Kroll of the website SoapCentral wrote that the process to find a replacement for Tom was an "exhaustive search". Amelia Heinle, who critics praised for her portrayal of Victoria, has been listed on the "Top 5 Actresses" poll of "CBS Soaps in Depth" for over eight consecutive weeks. Her relationship with Billy has garnered a significant fan following, allowing them to lead "CBS Soaps in Depth"s "Top 10 Couples" poll for over six consecutive weeks. Elinor Donahue, who portrayed the judge that marries Victoria and Billy, said she thought their "retro wedding" was "adorable" and "extremely well written and not overdone". Zap2it placed Victoria and Billy at number four of their "10 Best Soap Couples of 2011". Jamey Giddens of Zap2it said Victoria and Billy are "so scrumptious together", and that "it's so nice to have some reason to say something kind about "The Young and the Restless" for a change". Giddens also said that he "adores this pairing that he was so prepared to hate". Sara Bibel of Xfinity wrote of their relationship: "Billy (Billy Miller) and Victoria (Amelia Heinle), who have already had three weddings in the year and a half that they have been together, actually seem rational. They should change the wedding vows in the G.C. from "until death to us part," to "until one of us changes our mind." However, Bibel was later unfavorable of the couple attempting to have a child less than six months after marrying.


title: Victoria Newman

text: In 2011, during a storyline that saw Victoria and her siblings sue their father for control of a cosmetics line, Bibel wrote: "Victoria, whose true motivation was to get her hands on Beauty of Nature so she could become its CEO, got a rude awakening when Nick told her in no uncertain terms that he had no interest in trading the settlement money for the company. I think the second stage of the battle will be the Newman siblings squabbling over the money a la King Lear, assuming the show actually allows Victor to lose for more than a few episodes." Soon after, Bibel said that Victoria had been "whiny" and found the character's mother Nikki's storyline "far more interesting". That same year, Giddens wrote that a blogger from "The Washington Post" compared Victoria to Rupert Murdoch, saying: "[a] partial nod must go to the soap opera "The Young and the Restless", whose character Victoria Newman was arrested on her wedding day for allegedly bribing a foreign dignitary. Television and Murdoch and ’round-the-clock FCPA conjectureit's a welcome publicity storm for the FCPA bar."


title: Victoria Newman

text: In 2013, Bibel criticized the soap opera when Victoria "decided to give up a corporate career to become a children’s book author", writing: "From the time she was SORASED into a teen, Victoria’s ambition was to run Newman Enterprises. She was the child who inherited Victor’s (Eric Braeden) business acumen. He, being a male chauvinist, always viewed the more family oriented Nick as his heir apparent. Her struggle to get her father’s recognition is what fueled her." She also stated that while watching the series, there was "the sense that women could, if that was what interested them, be power players". Of Victoria's choice to leave Newman Enterprises, Bibel wrote: "For Victoria, it came across as giving up Peggy Olsen’s life for Betty Draper’s. I was also peeved by her telling her mother that she didn't have the first idea of how to become an author. She ran a major cosmetics company. She should have a hundred contacts in publishing, and the confidence and skills to figure out what she doesn't know. I got to thinking about all of the ways that, over the past few months, the women of Genoa City have been, to use the lingo of "Leaning In", the most popular non-fiction book in the country right now, leaning out." Tommy Garrett of Highlight Hollywood blamed head writer Josh Griffith for turning the character into a "hard-nosed unforgiving socialite".


title: Victoria Newman

text: Heather Tom won two Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series for her portrayal of Victoria in 1993 and 1999, and received eight other nominations for the same award. She also won a Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Leading Younger Actress in 1997, and was nominated for two other awards.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: A fife is a small, high-pitched, transverse aerophone, that is similar to the piccolo. The fife originated in medieval Europe and is often used in fife and drum corps, military units, and marching bands. Someone who plays the fife is called a fifer. The word "fife" comes from the German , meaning pipe, which comes from the Latin word .


title: Fife (instrument)

text: The fife is a diatonically tuned instrument commonly consisting of a tube with 6 finger holes and an embouchure hole that produces sound when blown across. Modern versions of the fife are chromatic, having 10 or 11 finger holes that allow any note to be played. On a 10-hole fife, the index, middle and ring fingers of both hands remain in the same positions as on the 6-hole fife, while both thumbs and both pinkies are used to play accidentals. An 11-hole fife has holes positioned similarly but adds a second hole under the right middle finger.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Fifes are made primarily of wood, such as blackwood, grenadilla, rosewood, mopane, pink ivory, cocobolo, boxwood, maple, or persimmon. Some fifes are entirely made of metal or plastic.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Military and marching fifes have metal reinforcing bands, called ferrules, around the ends to protect them from damage. A fife used in less strenuous conditions may have a lathe-turned, knob-like decoration at the ends for protection. Modern fifes may have two- or three-piece constructions, and may incorporate a sliding tuning joint made of metal or cork.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Fifes are most commonly used in Fife and Drum Corps, but can also be found in folk music, particularly Celtic music. Some Caribbean music makes use of fifes, which are usually made from bamboo.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: These conventions are specific to transposing instruments. By contrast, non-transposing instruments use another convention. For example, although the trombone and the tuba each produce a B when played at their lowest harmonic position with the slide not extended or with no valves depressed, respectively, the trombone's music parts are not transposed, and the tuba's music parts are transposed only across octaves, such that the note sounded by a tuba bears the same name as the note read by the tubist.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: A convention specific to some fife music and contradictory to the standard is for fife music to be written in the key of D regardless of the key in which the fife in question sounds. The general effect is to define sounded notes in terms of scale degree, as with a movable-do system, and then to express any pitch having a given scale degree in the context of a given musical piece, regardless of that pitch's absolute value, in terms of a staff position defined as corresponding to that scale degree. The more specific effect is to treat fife subtypes sounding in different keys as comparable to transposing-instrument subtypes (e.g., of clarinet) sounding in those keys except that the tonic of the key in which a given fife sounds is set as corresponding to D rather than C, such that the written key signature for fife music played in a given concert key would have two fewer sharps or two more flats than would the written key signature used in music written for other transposing-instrument subtypes sounding in the same key.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Like the Irish flute and the tin whistle, the ancient fife is a six-hole simple system flute. These flutes are unable to play all chromatic pitches, while many of the chromatic pitches which they can play are grossly out of tune. Because of these restrictions on available notes, the common six-hole fife is for practical purposes capable of playing only in the written keys of D (concert B) major, G (concert E) major, A (concert F) major, and those keys’ relative minors.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: An experienced fife player can play three full octaves, although the fingering patterns necessary for playing in the third octave can be daunting to a beginner. Marching bands typically play only in the second and third octave since these are the loudest and most penetrating.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: In medieval Europe, the fife was used in some folk music traditions to accompany dancing by all social classes.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: The fife was one of the most important musical instruments in the United States' Colonial period, even more widespread than the violin or piano. The fife can still be heard in some Appalachian folk music, playing lively dance tunes. American slaves adopted fifes in their musical traditions, which derived from African music. The tradition developed into fife and drum blues, a genre that continued throughout the 20th century but has since died out. One of the most famous artists in the tradition was Othar Turner, a musician from Mississippi, who played blues on homemade cane fifes.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: There remains an active and enthusiastic group, primarily in the northeastern United States, that continues to play fife and drum music in a folk tradition that has gone on since the American Civil War. The center of this activity is in eastern Connecticut. There is a loose federation of corps, though not a governing body, called The Company of Fifers and Drummers, which maintains a headquarters and museum in Ivoryton, Connecticut.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Fife alone, or fife and drum, is also used in numerous European countries, especially in the South of France (Occitania): Languedoc and the county of Nice; in Switzerland (notably Basel); and in Northern Ireland, where it is often accompanied by the lambeg drum.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Modern players of Celtic music, folk music, old-timey music, and folk-rock include fifing in their arrangements of tunes and songs.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: In the rural lands of northeast Brazil, people use a bamboo fife named Brazilian fife (in Brazil it is called or just ). This fife is a mix of Native American flute traditions with European fife traditions. The groups that use this instrument utilize only flute and percussive elements in their music, in a profusion of Native American, African and European traditions.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: When played in its upper register, the fife is loud and piercing, yet also extremely small and portable. According to some reports, a band of fifes and drums can be heard up to away over artillery fire. Because of these qualities, European armies from the Renaissance on found it useful for signaling on the battlefield. Armies from Switzerland and southern Germany are known to have used the fife () as early as the 15th century. Swiss and German mercenaries were hired by monarchs throughout Western Europe, and they spread the practice of military fifing. The fife was a standard instrument in European infantries by the 16th century.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: During the 17th and 18th centuries, the protocols of the fifes and drums became intricately associated with infantry regiments only. They were never used as signaling instruments by the cavalry or artillery, which used trumpets, kettle drums or both. Each company in an infantry regiment was assigned two fifers and two drummers. When the battalion (5 companies) or regiment (10 companies) was formed up on parade or for movement en masse, these musicians would be detached from the companies to form a "band". This is how the term "band" first came to refer to a group of musicians. In their individual companies, the signaling duties included orders to fire, retreat, advance, and so forth. By the 18th century, the military use of the fife was regulated by armies throughout Europe and its colonies. The rank of Fife Major was introduced, a noncommissioned officer responsible for the regiment's fifers, just as a Drum Major was responsible for the drummers. Books of military regulations included standard fife calls to be used in battle or at camp. During the American Revolutionary War, the British and Americans used the so-called "Scotch" and "English Duties", specified melodies associated with various military duties. American martial music was influenced by that of the British military throughout the late 18th and early 19th centuries.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: By the early 19th century, warfare was changing and fifes were no longer practical as combat signaling devices, being gradually replaced by the infantry bugle. They were still used as signaling (as opposed to musical) instruments by American units during the Civil War, but were gradually phased out by the 1880s. A similar evolution occurred in the British Army. The US Marines were the last American units to drop fifers from their rolls. However, the British have an unbroken tradition of using fife and drum corps attached to their regiments, with whom they still parade regularly. Germany also continued an unbroken tradition of fife and drum corps until the end of World War II. They were integral to the regular German Army, Air Force and Navy, and not merely part of the Hitler Youth and the Nazi Party organizations. Bands of fifes and drums were regularly at the head of regimental parades and ceremonies of the infantry regiments, military schools and naval and air bases. The tradition of fifes and drums, through, even carried on even in the Cold War, as both the West German Bundeswehr and the East German National People's Army formed dedicated sections.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Today the fife's military legacy can still be seen in marching bands, for example in English, Welsh and Irish military units and in the pipes and drums of Scottish regiments. There are fife and drum corps in Switzerland, and the United States "Old Guard" has a ceremonial one. British fife and drum bands play at ceremonies such as the Trooping of the Colour. Amateur historical reenactment groups and dedicated civil bands sometimes feature fife and drum corps sporting period military costumes from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War or the American Civil War.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Military fife and drum bands can be heard in Germany, where they are part of the Bundeswehr. The Bundeswehr Staff Band Berlin and the Bundeswehr Band Bonn have fifes and drums assigned, as do the bands attached to the Bundeswehr Military Music Service in the German Army, German Navy and the Luftwaffe.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: The Chilean Army and Chilean Navy have dedicated fife, drum and bugle bands attached to the main military bands. They are seen especially at the annual parades on May 21 and September 18 and 19. This tradition is now adopted by various Chilean elementary and secondary schools and colleges, both public and private, which frequently appear at public events.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: The Russian Army places fifes and drums at the front of major military parades such as those on Red Square in Moscow. In Argentina, only the military band of the Regiment of Patricians has fifers, in accordance with an 1809 military regulation of the Viceroy of Buenos Aires, which allowed every militia unit in Buenos Aires to have a drummer and two fifers. The Spanish Royal Guard also has fifers, who wear the 18th-19th century uniforms of the , and the Spanish Army's 1st King's Immemorial Infantry Regiment of AHQ also has a dedicated fife and drum unit.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: The modern era of fifing in the United States began in about 1880, with the popularizing of civilian fife and drum corps in a musical tradition that has come to be known as Ancient fife and drum (or simply Ancient). The rise of these corps led to a demand for fifes that were superior in intonation and better suited for group playing than those used during the Civil War. This call was answered by the Cloos Company of Brooklyn, New York, and their Crosby Model fife. These fifes were one piece, cylindrical bore instruments with six irregularly sized and placed tone-holes. Compared to fifes made before this time, Cloos fifes were easier to play, better tuned, and produced a much louder sound.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: After the death of Cloos Company founder George Cloos in 1910, the company continued to make fifes under the aegis of his son Frederick until it was bought out by Penzel-Mueller in 1946. Penzel-Mueller continued to make Cloos fifes for another six years after the buyout.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: In 1958, a new model fife designed by fifer John McDonagh was manufactured in Germany. This model was used by the three corps affiliated with him: the New York Regimentals Fife and Drum Band, St. Benedict's Jr. Fife and Drum Corps, and St. Anselm's Jr. Fife and Drum Corps. All were located in the Bronx, New York. These fifes were not otherwise available to the public. In 1960, a second generation of model evolved, specifically labeled the McDonagh Model and made by Roy Seaman, a music repairman whom John met in Manhattan. This model quickly came into popularity. These fifes were mass-produced for sale to the entire fife and drum community. They were two-piece instruments with a dual conical bore – the foot joint tapered down from the joint to about an inch before terminus, where the bore cone reversed itself and opened up again slightly. They used the popular flute and piccolo designs of the 1830s, where "cone" flutes were the rage and most common. The cone flutes had fallen out of favor to the cylindrical flutes designed by Boehm, though fifes and piccolos remained popular among folk music performers.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: As would be expected, these fifes were notably more internally in tune than most previous fifes, since the designs of the 1830s fell from favor, and had the added value of being tunable with each other (by sliding the joint or the head cork). In addition, they gave the player greater dynamic control and could be played even louder than traditional fifes, the result of the lower cone in the bore. At first, only six hole (Model J) fifes were made, but by 1962, McDonagh designed and Seaman manufactured a 10-hole (Model L). Two of the holes were used by the right hand middle finger – covering only one of the two produced F. Some players found this quite difficult, so eventually (c. 1970s), an 11-hole model was introduced, the Model M, with both the original double right hand middle finger holes holes and an right hand thumb hole to choose from for the F. These were actually ideas derived from several makers of the days of the 19th century, including Giorgi, even though there was no need for F in traditional fife music.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Around this time, Roy Seaman had been deeply involved in the making of piccolos under his name, the body style of which resembled the McDonagh Model fife. Roy decided to retire from actively manufacturing fifes and sold the operation of making McDonagh fifes to an apprentice, Larry Trout. Operating on his own, Trout soon chose to mark the fife with his own fish symbol, which replaced the script mark of Roy Seaman's name. In time, the quality of the instrument eventually suffered and other models of fifes began to emerge in the United States.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: McDonagh was involved with fife and drum activities for many years. That began to change by 1988 when John began to meet with some former fifing colleagues and newer players. John also renewed his collaborative friendship with Roy Seaman, who was now living in Arizona.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: In 1997, John McDonagh, along with a newly formed fife study group, decided that the time had come to make changes to the original 1962 ten-hole fife. A new manufacturer, Wilson Woods, with oversight from Roy Seaman once again, produced the new fife, designated the Regimental Model. Along with this new fife, a number of fingering changes were suggested to take full advantage of the improved design. For a number of years, both Larry Trout and Wilson Woods made McDonagh fifes jointly – Trout the fish-marked familiar McDonagh Model and Wilson the Regimental Model. Eventually, both men discontinued making fifes as of 2003.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Most recently, The Cooperman Company, founded by Patrick H Cooperman, took over the manufacture of McDonagh fifes. Cooperman had ventured himself into the concert-fifemaking world in about 1985 with his own version of a two-piece fife, as well as an acoustically correct one-piece version, through the assistance of a few key players. Though the fifes played and sold well, they had not reached the popularity of the McDonagh.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: The early 1990s saw the emergence of the Healy Flute Company as a major player in the manufacture of fifes. Founder Skip Healy is a champion fife player and well known Irish flute player from Rhode Island. His fifes are two-piece, six or ten hole instruments with a Boehm style bore (cylindrical foot and truncated parabolic head) and large tone holes. Custom "Swiss Cheese" models feature even larger tone holes, to produce a stronger and more mellow tone when played in the lowest octave. Tuning is even further refined than on the McDonagh. Healy fifes also offer more dynamic control than the McDonagh models.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Simultaneously with the emergence of the McDonagh fife, a maker named Ed Ferrary assumed the mantle of the now-defunct Cloos company, producing traditional 6-hole cylindrical fifes. For those who continue to play traditional fifes, the Ferrary became the fife of choice. After Mr. Ferrary's death, his tooling and equipment were purchased for Ed Bednarz of Warehouse Point, Connecticut, who markets his fifes through outside sellers, including fellow Lancraft fifer Ed Boyle of Philadelphia and the well-known Ancient sutler, Leo Brennan of Madison, Connecticut. Bednarz brands his fifes with the name "Model F". In October 2000, another Connecticut maker, Ron Peeler, established Peeler Fifes in Moodus, Connecticut, producing a Ferrarry-style instrument as well as several other, more historically-oriented models copied from original early instruments.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: The Cooperman Fife and Drum was founded in 1961. Cooperman fifes were based on the Cloos tradition, with variations intended to improve intonation. In 1975, Patrick Cooperman opened his full-time workshop in Centerbrook, Connecticut, making traditional fifes, drums and drumsticks. The Cooperman Company has remained in operation under the control of other family members since Patrick's death in 1995, and in 2006 combined its Connecticut and Vermont operations under one roof in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Now known as the Cooperman Company, Cooperman continues to make student fifes in plastic and domestic hardwoods, as well as the original Cooperman model one piece fife in exotic woods.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Other manufacturers of Ancient fifes include Ralph Sweet of Enfield, Connecticut's Sweetheart Flute Company, whose Cloos model fifes most closely resemble the original instrument. After Ralph Sweet's death, his flute shop was taken over by Joseph Morneault, and is now known as Musique Morneaux. Ralph Sweet's son, Walt D. Sweet, has also established his own manufactory, Walt Sweet Flutes.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Plastic instruments referred to as "fifes" are available from Yamaha and Angel, but these are not true fifes and are more closely related to the piccolo. They are in the key of C and include a left-hand thumb hole used to play middle C. Books are published on playing this instrument through Just Flutes and Choral Seas Press.


title: Fife (instrument)

text: Historical re-enactors find that the traditional fifes – Ferrary, Model F, Peeler, Cooperman, and Sweet fifes – are much better suited to their historical requirements while simultaneously allowing their fifers to play together without the discordance that can result when using instruments from multiple manufacturers. Those who play competitively usually choose McDonagh or Healy fifes, corresponding with a vaguely geographical delineation (New York, New Jersey and western Connecticut groups are more likely to choose McDonagh fifes while competitors in central-to-eastern Connecticut tend towards the Healys). The notable exception to this "rule" is the fife line of the Yalesville Ancient Fife and Drum Corps, who continue to use the six-hole, straight-bore metal fifes manufactured by Patrick Caccavale in Kensington, Connecticut from 1945 until his death in 1982.


title: Configuration file

text: In computing, configuration files (commonly known simply as config files) are files used to configure the parameters and initial settings for some computer programs. They are used for user applications, server processes and operating system settings.


title: Configuration file

text: Some applications provide tools to create, modify, and verify the syntax of their configuration files; these sometimes have graphical interfaces. For other programs, system administrators may be expected to create and modify files by hand using a text editor, which is possible because many are human-editable plain text files. For server processes and operating-system settings, there is often no standard tool, but operating systems may provide their own graphical interfaces such as YaST or debconf.


title: Configuration file

text: Some computer programs only read their configuration files at startup. Others periodically check the configuration files for changes. Users can instruct some programs to re-read the configuration files and apply the changes to the current process, or indeed to read arbitrary files as a configuration file. There are no definitive standards or strong conventions.


title: Configuration file

text: Across Unix-like operating systems many different configuration-file formats exist, with each application or service potentially having a unique format, but there is a strong tradition of them being in human-editable plain text, and a simple key–value pair format is common. Filename extensions of codice_1, codice_2, codice_3, codice_4 or codice_5 are often used.


title: Configuration file

text: Almost all formats allow comments, in which case, individual settings can be disabled by prepending with the comment character. Often the default configuration files contain extensive internal documentation in the form of comments and man files are also typically used to document the format and options available.


title: Configuration file

text: System-wide software often uses configuration files stored in codice_6, while user applications often use a "dotfile" – a file or directory in the home directory prefixed with a period, which in Unix hides the file or directory from casual listing.


title: Configuration file

text: Some configuration files run a set of commands upon startup. A common convention is for such files to have "codice_7" in their name, typically using the name of the program then an "codice_8" suffix e.g. "codice_9", "codice_10", "codice_11", "codice_12". See run commands for further details.


title: Configuration file

text: By contrast, IBM's AIX uses an Object Data Manager (ODM) database to store much of its system settings.


title: Configuration file

text: MS-DOS itself primarily relied on just one configuration file, codice_13. This was a plain text file with simple key–value pairs (e.g. codice_14) until MS-DOS 6, which introduced an INI-file style format. There was also a standard plain text batch file named codice_15 that ran a series of commands on boot. Both these files were retained up to Windows 98SE, which still ran on top of MS-DOS.


title: Configuration file

text: DOS applications used a wide variety of individual configuration files, most of them binary, proprietary and undocumented - and there were no common conventions or formats.


title: Configuration file

text: The early Microsoft Windows family of operating systems heavily utilized plain-text INI files (from "initialization"). These served as the primary mechanism to configure the operating system and application features. The APIs to read and write from these still exist in Windows, but after 1993, Microsoft began to steer developers away from using INI files and toward storing settings in the Windows Registry, a hierarchical database to store configuration settings, which was introduced that year with Windows NT.


title: Configuration file

text: The Property List is the standard configuration file format in macOS (as well as in iOS, NeXTSTEP, GNUstep and Cocoa applications). It uses the filename extension codice_16.


title: Configuration file

text: IBM's OS/2 uses a binary format, also with a .INI suffix, but this differs from the Windows versions. It contains a list of lists of untyped key–value pairs.


title: Configuration file

text: Two files control system-wide settings: OS2.INI and OS2SYS.INI. Application developers can choose whether to use them or to create a specific file for their applications.


title: Configuration file

text: A number of general-purpose serialization formats exist that can represent complex data structures in an easily stored format, and these are often used as a basis for configuration files, particularly in open-source and platform-neutral software applications and libraries. The specifications describing these formats are routinely made available to the public, thus increasing the availability of parsers and emitters across programming languages.


title: TattleTales (album)

text: TattleTales is the second studio album by American rapper 6ix9ine. It was released on September 4, 2020. "TattleTales" is the follow-up to "Dummy Boy", which was released shortly after 6ix9ine was arrested in November 2018. It features guest appearances from Akon, Nicki Minaj, Smilez, Leftside and DJ Akademiks.


title: TattleTales (album)

text: It is the first album by 6ix9ine since his release from prison following his cooperation with federal agents on a case involving his former fellow gang members of the Nine Trey Bloods. Upon his homecoming from prison, he released his first single of the album, "Gooba", on his birthday on May 8, 2020. His subsequent singles "Trollz", "Yaya" and "Punani" were released afterwards and "Trollz" became a number one hit in the United States.


title: TattleTales (album)

text: "Gooba" was released on May 8, 2020 as the lead single for the album, following his release from prison due to the COVID-19 pandemic and finishing his sentence in house arrest. The single debuted and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.


title: TattleTales (album)

text: The second single, "Trollz" featuring Nicki Minaj, was released a month after "Gooba" on June 12, 2020. The recording debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, becoming 6ix9ine's first number-one single and Nicki's second, following "Say So" a month earlier. The song would also become the first song to reach number one under an independent label since XXXTentacion's song "Sad!" in 2018.


title: TattleTales (album)

text: The song later became the first number-one single to fall over 30 positions in its second week after its debut atop the Hot 100 chart.


title: TattleTales (album)

text: "Yaya" was released on July 3, 2020 as the third single, where it reached number four on the US Hot Latin Songs Chart and number 99 on the Billboard Hot 100.


title: TattleTales (album)

text: The fourth and final single, "Punani" (censored as P****i), was released on August 3, 2020. It peaked at number seven on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles Chart.


title: TattleTales (album)

text: "TattleTales" debuted at number four on the US "Billboard" 200 with 53,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, becoming the rapper's third top-10 album. The album sold 32,000 copies in physicals and accumulated a total of 32.94 million on-demand streams of the set's tracks in the week ending September 19.


title: Bestseller

text: A bestseller is a book or other media noted for its top selling status, with bestseller lists published by newspapers, magazines, and book store chains. Some lists are broken down into classifications and specialties (novel, nonfiction book, cookbook, etc.). An author may also be referred to as a bestseller if their work often appears in a list. Well-known bestseller lists in the U.S. are published by "Publishers Weekly", "USA Today", "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post". Most of these lists track book sales from national and independent bookstores, as well as sales from major internet retailers such as Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.


title: Bestseller

text: In everyday use, the term "bestseller" is not usually associated with a specified level of sales, and may be used very loosely indeed in publishers' publicity. Books of superior academic value tend not to be bestsellers, although there are exceptions. Lists simply give the highest-selling titles in the category over the stated period. Some books have sold many more copies than current "bestsellers", but over a long period of time.


title: Bestseller

text: Blockbusters for films and chart-toppers in recorded music are similar terms, although, in film and music, these measures generally are related to industry sales figures for attendance, requests, broadcast plays, or units sold.


title: Bestseller

text: Particularly in the case of novels, a large budget and a chain of literary agents, editors, publishers, reviewers, retailers, librarians, and marketing efforts are involved in "making" bestsellers, that is, trying to increase sales.


title: Bestseller

text: Steinberg defined a bestseller as a book for which demand, within a short time of that book's initial publication, vastly exceeds what is then considered to be big sales.


title: Bestseller

text: The term "best seller" is first known to have been recorded in print in 1889 in the Kansas City, Missouri newspaper "The Kansas Times & Star", but the phenomenon of immediate popularity goes back to the early days of mass production of printed books. For earlier books, when the maximum number of copies that would be printed was relatively small, a count of editions is the best way to assess sales. Since effective copyright was slow to take hold, many editions were pirated well into the period of the Enlightenment, and without effective royalty systems in place, authors often saw little, if any, of the revenues for their popular works.


title: Bestseller

text: The earliest highly popular books were nearly all religious, but the Bible, as a large book, remained expensive until the nineteenth century. This tended to keep the numbers printed and sold, low. Unlike today, it was important for a book to be short to be a bestseller, or it would be too expensive to reach a large audience. Very short works such as "Ars moriendi", the "Biblia pauperum", and versions of the "Apocalypse" were published as cheap block-books in large numbers of different editions in several languages in the fifteenth century. These were probably affordable items for most of the minority of literate members of the population. In 16th and 17th century England "Pilgrim's Progress" (1678) and abridged versions of "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" were the most broadly read books. "Robinson Crusoe" (1719) and "The Adventures of Roderick Random" (1748) were early eighteenth century short novels with very large publication numbers, as well as gaining international success.


title: Bestseller

text: "Tristram Shandy", a novel by Laurence Sterne, became a "cult" object in England and throughout Europe, with important cultural consequences among those who could afford to purchase books during the era of its publication. The same could be said of the works of Voltaire, particularly his comedic and philosophically satirical novel, "Candide", which, according to recent research, sold more than 20,000 copies in its first month alone in 1759. Likewise, fellow French Enlightenment author Rousseau, especially his "Julie, ou la nouvelle Héloïse" (1761) and of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's novel, "Die Leiden des jungen Werthers" ("The Sorrows of Young Werther") (1774). As with some modern bestsellers, "Werther" spawned what today would be called a spin-off industry with items such as "Werther eau de cologne" and porcelain puppets depicting the main characters, being sold in large numbers.


title: Bestseller

text: By the time of Byron and Sir Walter Scott, effective copyright laws existed, at least in England, and many authors depended heavily on their income from their large royalties. America remained a zone of piracy until the mid-nineteenth century, a fact of which Charles Dickens and Mark Twain bitterly complained. By the middle of the 19th century, a situation akin to modern publication had emerged, where most bestsellers were written for a popular taste and are now almost entirely forgotten, with odd exceptions such as "East Lynne" (remembered only for the line "Gone, gone, and never called me mother!"), the wildly popular "Uncle Tom's Cabin", and Sherlock Holmes.


title: Bestseller

text: Bestsellers are usually separated into fiction and non-fiction categories. Different list compilers have created a number of other subcategories. "The New York Times" was reported to have started its "Children's Books" section in 2001 just to move the Harry Potter books out of the No. 1, 2, and 3 positions on their fiction chart, which the then three-book series had monopolized for over a year.


title: Bestseller

text: Bestsellers also may be ranked separately for hardcover and paperback editions. Typically, a hardcover edition appears first, followed in months or years by the much less expensive paperback version. Hardcover bestseller status may hasten the paperback release of the same, or slow the release, if hardcover sales are brisk enough. Some lists even have a third category, trade paperback bestsellers.


title: Bestseller

text: In the United Kingdom, a hardcover book could be considered a "bestseller" with sales ranging from 4,000 to 25,000 copies per week, and in Canada, bestsellers are determined according to weekly rankings in the country's national print sales tracking service, BNC SalesData. There are many "bestseller lists" that display anywhere from 10 to 150 titles.


title: Bestseller

text: Bestseller lists may vary widely, depending on the method used for calculating sales. The Indie bestseller lists, for example, use only sales numbers, provided by independently owned (non-chain) bookstores, while "The New York Times" list includes both wholesale and retail sales from a variety of sources. A book that sells well in gift shops and grocery stores may hit a "The New York Times" list without ever appearing on an Indie list. USA Today has only one list, not hardcover/paperback, so that relative sales of these categories cannot be ascertained from it.


title: Bestseller

text: Lists from Amazon.com, the dominant on-line book retailer, are based only on sales from their own Web site, and are updated on an hourly basis. Wholesale sales figures are not factored into Amazon's calculations. Numerous Web sites offer advice for authors about a temporary method to boost their book higher on Amazon's list using carefully timed buying campaigns that take advantage of the frequent adjustments to rankings. For example, faith healing author Zhi Gang Sha has used this method to create a number of #1 bestsellers. The brief sales spike allows authors to tout that their book was an "Amazon.com top 100 seller" in marketing materials for books that actually have relatively low sales. Eventually book buyers may begin to recognize the relative differences among lists and settle upon which lists they will consult to determine their purchases.


title: Bestseller

text: The weight and price of a book may affect its positioning on lists. The Amazon.com list tends to favor hardcover, more expensive books, where the shipping charge is a smaller percentage of the overall purchase price or is sometimes free, and which tend to be more deeply discounted than paperbacks. Inexpensive mass market paperbacks tend to do better on "The New York Times" list than on Amazon's. Indie and "Publishers Weekly" separate mass market paperbacks onto their own list.


title: Bestseller

text: Category structure affects the positioning of a book in other ways. A book that might be buried on the Indie hardcover fiction list could be positioned very well on "The New York Times" hardcover advice list or the "Publishers Weekly" religion hardcover list.


title: Bestseller

text: Bestseller reports from companies such as Amazon.com, which appear to be based strictly on auditable sales to the public, may be at odds with bestseller lists compiled from more casual data, such as "The New York Times" lists' survey of retailers and publishers. The exact method for ranking "The New York Times" bestseller lists is a closely guarded secret.


title: Bestseller

text: This situation suggests a similar one in the area of popular music. In 1991, "Billboard" magazine switched its chart data from manual reports filed by stores, to automated cash register data collected by a service called SoundScan. The conversion saw a dramatic shake-up in chart content from one week to the next.


title: Bestseller

text: Today, many lists come from automated sources. Booksellers may use their POS (point-of-sale) systems to report automatically to Book Sense. Wholesalers such as the giant Ingram Content Group have bestseller calculations similar to Amazon's, but they are available only to subscribing retailers. Barnes & Noble and other large retail chains collect sales data from retail outlets and their Web sites to build their own bestseller lists.


title: Bestseller

text: Nielsen BookScan U.S. is perhaps the most aggressive attempt to produce a completely automatic and trusted set of bestseller lists. They claim to be gathering data directly from cash registers at more than 4,500 retail locations, including independent bookstores, large chains such as Barnes & Noble, Powell's Books, and Borders, and the general retailer Costco. Unlike the consumer-oriented lists, BookScan's data is extremely detailed and quite expensive. Subscriptions to BookScan cost up to $75,000 per year, but it can provide publishers and wholesalers with an accurate picture of book sales with regional and other statistical analyses.


title: Bestseller

text: Ultimately, having a great number of buyers creates a bestseller; however, there is a distinct "making of" process that determines which books have the potential to achieve that status. Not all publishers rely on, nor strive for, bestsellers, as the survival of small presses indicates. Large publishing houses, on the other hand, are like major record labels and film studios, and require consistent high returns to maintain their large overhead. Thus, the stakes are high. It is estimated that 200,000 new books are published each year in the U.S., and less than 1% achieve bestseller status. Along the way, major players act as gatekeepers and enablers, including literary agents, editors, publishing houses, booksellers, and the media (particularly, publishers of book reviews and bestseller lists). While literature awards have a beneficial effect at least on sales of hard covers, their impact is not detectable beyond a benchmark of ca. 800,000 sold copies. The high visibility of an established and best-selling author is paramount in the equation also. In addition to writing the book, an author has to acquire representation and negotiate this publishing chain.


title: Bestseller

text: At least one scientific approach to creating bestsellers has been devised. In 2004, Didier Sornette, a professor of geophysics and a complex systems theorist at UCLA, using Amazon.com sales data, created a mathematical model for predicting bestseller potential based on very early sales results. This information could be used to identify a potential for bestseller status and recommend fine tuned advertising and publicity efforts accordingly. In 1995, the authors of a book called "The Discipline of Market Leaders" colluded to manipulate their book onto the best seller charts. The authors allegedly purchased over 10,000 copies of their own book in small and strategically placed orders at bookstores whose sales are reported to Bookscan. Because of the ancillary benefits of making "The New York Times" Best Seller list (speaking engagements, more book deals, and consulting) the authors felt that buying their own work was an investment that would pay for itself. The book climbed to #8 on the list where it sat for 15 weeks, also peaking at #1 on the "BusinessWeek" best seller list. Since such lists hold the power of cumulative advantage chart success often begets more chart success. And although such efforts are not illegal, they are considered highly unethical by publishers.


title: Bestseller

text: From what is described above, intrinsic properties of books (like style or content) are often ignored or even deemed as irrelevant for their success by consumer psychologists, literary scholars, economists and sociologists alike. The success of novels is instead said to be made by extrinsic factors like literary critics, publishers, media, conformity and other social influences. However, an elaborated model examining over a dozen external variables potentially influencing books sales could only explain less than 40% of differences in sales. Research found intrinsic properties of novels which do influence their success. For example, a smaller disparity between the frequency of emotional words and rational words was predictive for successful novels.


title: Bestseller

text: Bestsellers have gained such great popularity that it has sometimes become fashionable to purchase them. Critics have pointed out that just because a book is purchased doesn't mean it will be read. The rising length of bestsellers may mean that more of them are simply becoming bookshelf decor. In 1985 members of the staff of "The New Republic" placed coupons redeemable for $5 cash inside 70 books that were selling well, and none of them were sent in.


title: Bestseller

text: In April 2013 Penguin Random House was created to become the world's largest publisher. The two major shareholders are Bertelsmann (53%) and Penguin Group (47%) owned by Pearson PLC.


title: Bestseller

text: Other major publishers include Thomson Reuters, Reed Elsevier, Wolters Kluwer, Hachette, McGraw Hill Education, John Wiley and Sons, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan Publishers, and Harlequin Enterprises.


title: Bestseller

text: While the basic dictionary definition of "bestseller" is self-evident, "a popular, top-selling book", the practical cultural definition is somewhat more complex. As consumer bestseller lists generally do not detail specific criteria, such as numbers sold, sales period, sales region, and so forth, a book becomes a bestseller mainly because an "authoritative" source says it is. Calling a book a "top-selling" title is not so impressive as calling it ""The New York Times" bestseller". Although the former phrase is assumed to be derived from sales figures, the latter benefits from the high profile of the particular list. A book that is identified as a "bestseller" greatly improves its chance of selling to a much wider audience. In this way, "bestseller" has taken on its own popular meaning, rather independent of empirical data, by becoming a compromised product category and, in effect, attempting to create a marketing image. For example, a "summer bestseller" is usually determined long before the summer is over, and signals a book's suitability for millions of lounging pool-side readers.


title: Bestseller

text: The use of the marketing phrase, "underground bestseller" further illustrates the independent-from-sales, self-defining aspect of the term. For example, publisher HarperCollins suggested the bestseller potential of "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood: A Novel" by announcing "...four years after her award-winning, underground bestseller, "Little Altars Everywhere"..." in the promotion. The book went on to achieve bestseller status in the 1990s. In reviews of the 2002 film of the same name, the novel's bestseller status was cited routinely, as in "compelling adaptation of Rebecca Wells' bestseller".


title: Bestseller

text: The famous Diogenes Publisher at Zürich (Swiss) started to talk about its own Worstsellers in 2006, and therewith brought a new mode-word into the German speaking European countries.


title: Bestseller

text: Bestsellers play a significant role in the mainstream movie industry. There is a long-standing Hollywood practice of turning bestsellers into feature films. Many, if not the majority, of modern movie "classics" began as bestsellers. On the "Publishers Weekly" fiction bestsellers of the year charts, we find: #1: "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (2003), #3. "Jaws" (1974); #2. "The Exorcist" (1971); #1. "Love Story" (1970); #2. "The Godfather" (1969); among many others. Several of each year's fiction bestsellers ultimately are made into high-profile movies. Being a bestseller novel in the U.S. during the last forty years has guaranteed consideration for a big budget, wide-release movie.


title: Veronica Franco

text: Veronica Franco (1546–1591) was an Italian poet and courtesan in 16th-century Venice. She is known for her notable clientele, feminist advocacy, literary contributions, and philanthropy. Her humanist education and cultural contributions influenced the roles of Courtesans in the late Venetian Renaissance.


title: Veronica Franco

text: In her notable works, "Capitoli in Terze rime and Lettere familiari a diversi ("Familiar Letters to Various People")," Franco uses perceived virtue, reason, and fairness to advise male patricians and other associates. She exercised greater autonomy in her authorship than any other traditional Venetian woman due to her established reputation and influence.


title: Veronica Franco

text: Veronica Franco was born to a family in the "Cittadino" class. She developed her position in Renaissance Venetian society as a "cortigiana onesta (Honest Courtesan)," who were intellectual sex workers that derived their position in society from refinement and cultural prowess. They served in contrast to other sex workers such as "cortigiana di lume or meretrice" ('harlots')"," who were lower-class prostitutes.


title: Veronica Franco

text: Franco received a respectable humanistic education at a young age from her brother's tutor, an unusual opportunity for Venetian women. She continued her education by mixing with learned men, writers, and painters. This granted her access to a Domenico Venier, a patron and advisor to women writers. She was able to use her education to contribute considerably to literary and artistic outlets.


title: Veronica Franco

text: Franco learned additional skills from her mother, Paola Fracassa, who had an interest in finding suitable clients for her, as well as marrying her off. While still in her teens, Franco was briefly married to a mature, wealthy physician named Paolo Panizza. She supported her children along with a household of tutors and servants for most of her life.


title: Veronica Franco

text: In 1565, when she was about 20 years old, Veronica Franco was listed in the "Catalogo de tutte le principal et più honorate cortigiane di Venetia" ("Catalog of all the Principal and most Honored Courtesans of Venice"), which gave the names, addresses, and fees of Venice's most prominent prostitutes; her mother was listed as the person to whom the fee should be paid (her "go-between"). From extant records, we know that, by the time she was 18, Franco had been briefly married and had given birth to her first child; she would eventually have six children, three of whom died in infancy.


title: Veronica Franco

text: She became involved in the 1570s with Domenico Venier's renowned literary salon in Venice, who served as a literary adviser not only to male writers but also to many women poets of the Veneto region.


title: Veronica Franco

text: As one of the "più honorate cortigiane" in a wealthy and cosmopolitan city, Franco lived well for much of her working life, but without the automatic protection accorded to "respectable" women, she had to make her own way. She studied and sought patrons among the learned.


title: Veronica Franco

text: In 1575, during the epidemic of plague that ravaged the city, Franco was forced to leave Venice and lost much of her wealth when her house and possessions were looted. Upon her return in 1577, she defended herself against charges of witchcraft before the Inquisition, a crime commonly lodged against courtesans in those days. The charges were dropped. There is evidence that her connections among the Venetian nobility helped in her acquittal.


title: Veronica Franco

text: Her later life is largely obscure, though surviving records suggest that although she won her freedom, she lost all of her material goods and wealth. Eventually, her last major benefactor died and left her with no financial support. There is little information for her life after 1580. Records suggest that she was less prosperous in her later years and is believed to have died in relative poverty.


title: Veronica Franco

text: In 1575, Franco's first volume of poetry was published, her "Terze rime", containing 18 "capitoli" (verse epistles) by her and 7 by men writing in her praise. That same year saw an outbreak of plague in Venice, one that lasted two years and caused Franco to leave the city and to lose many of her possessions. In 1577, she unsuccessfully proposed to the city council that it should establish a home for poor women, of which she would become the administrator.


title: Veronica Franco

text: In 1580, Franco published her "Lettere familiari a diversi" ("Familiar Letters to Various People") which included 50 letters, as well as two sonnets addressed to King Henry III of France.


title: Veronica Franco

text: Franco's success was not limited to being a coveted courtesan. It was her wittiness and often criticized voice that was immortalized by way of being published that brought forth much recognition. Records indicate that the number of actual publications was limited as they were thought to have been at her own expense or private publications. Her work is known to have been included in an anthology of women poets in the 18th century (1726) that was edited by Luisa Bergalli.


title: Veronica Franco

text: The embodiment of her role in the public realm was made evermore tangible, amongst the literary circles and the Venetian public during her polemic literary battle with Maffio Venier. The poem referenced above "Capitolo 16", "A Challenge To A Poet Who Has Defamed Her –" is believed to have been one of the many directed to Maffio Venier. These poems are Capitolo XIII, XVI, and XXIII of her literary publication, "Terze Rime."


title: Veronica Franco

text: Franco's life was recorded in the 1992 book "The Honest Courtesan", by US author Margaret F. Rosenthal.


title: Veronica Franco

text: Catherine McCormack portrayed Veronica Franco in the 1998 movie "Dangerous Beauty," released as "A Destiny of Her Own" in some countries, based on Rosenthal's book.


title: Veronica Franco

text: In the 2000s Franco prompted scholarly inquiries on "what it meant to be a public woman in Cinquecento Venice". This directly pertained to her duality of both a courtesan and a published poet. Franco is referenced to have been a "living performance of public art—a renowned courtesan whose body was available to a certain exclusive clientele, a published author, and a public presence."