title: Arthur Mitchell (Dexter)

text: Dexter is conflicted over whether to kill Mitchell or learn how he makes his family life work. Dexter, under the alias of Kyle Butler, befriends Mitchell and soon learns that, unlike Dexter, Mitchell apparently has no problem being himself with his family or expressing affection. He also witnesses Mitchell's strange, unpredictable personality; the same man who murders people with uncommon brutality starts crying when he and Dexter hit a deer, and is appalled at the idea of putting it out of its misery.


title: Arthur Mitchell (Dexter)

text: As Mitchell plans a trip to Tampa to build a house, Dexter concocts a plan to go to a meteorological convention to establish an alibi so he has a reason to be in Tampa as well. Mitchell reluctantly allows Dexter to tag along when Dexter claims he's done something terrible that only Mitchell can help him recover from. Dexter, hoping to redeem his murder of an innocent man, plans to murder the decidedly guilty Mitchell along the way. During their road trip, however, Mitchell pushes Dexter to admit his terrible deed, and Dexter claims to have killed someone in a hunting accident. This admission greatly affects Mitchell, who sees it as a sign of kinship. He takes Dexter to his old home and tells him that when he was 10, he startled his sister while spying on her in the shower; she fell and broke the glass door, slicing her femoral artery and bleeding to death. His mother later committed suicide by leaping off a building, leaving him in the care of his abusive father; Dexter conjectures that Mitchell bludgeoned his father to death, accounting for the third victim.


title: Arthur Mitchell (Dexter)

text: For the remainder of the trip Mitchell exhibits sudden mood swings and irrational behavior. He keeps telling random people about his family members' deaths and stresses the need for confession, to the point that Dexter is actually worried that Mitchell might tell people about Dexter's previously mentioned murder. One morning, Dexter sneaks into Mitchell's room, intent on killing him, only to find him gone. Dexter tracks him to a construction site where Mitchell attempts suicide. Dexter reluctantly stops him, wanting to kill Mitchell himself. Dexter contemplates letting Mitchell fall to his death, but as he is about to let go, workers at the site come to help Dexter save him. Afterward, Mitchell has a newfound zest for life, believing God sent Dexter to save him.


title: Arthur Mitchell (Dexter)

text: As Dexter gets to know Mitchell, he learns that his would-be mentor is not the loving family man he appears to be; Mitchell dominates his wife, beats his son and keeps his daughter virtually imprisoned in her room. During Thanksgiving, Mitchell's son, Jonah, lashes out at his father, destroying his homebuilder's plaques and smashing his sister's urn. In a fit of rage, Mitchell almost strangles Jonah, but Dexter interferes, dragging him into the kitchen. Just as Dexter has Mitchell at his mercy, however, Mitchell's wife and daughter rush in to stop him.


title: Arthur Mitchell (Dexter)

text: Dexter witnesses Mitchell kidnap a child, but is unable to stop him. Eventually Dexter tracks him down as he's about to bury the boy alive in drying concrete. Dexter saves the boy, but Mitchell escapes. After Mitchell learns from a news report that the boy is alive, and that Dexter didn't turn him in, he begins to become suspicious. As he tries to find Dexter he kills a man named Kyle Butler, and ultimately follows Dexter to the Miami Metro Police Department. There, he discovers Dexter's real name.


title: Arthur Mitchell (Dexter)

text: In the last episode of the season, "The Getaway", Dexter subdues Mitchell and prepares to kill him in the room where Mitchell had held the kidnapped child. Mitchell believes Dexter was sent by God to kill him, and claims that he had tried several times to stop killing, but found that he could not change his "path". He predicts a similar fate for Dexter: he tells Dexter "It's already over", the same thing he says to his victims before he kills them. Dexter kills him with a hammer. It is revealed in the final scene of the episode that Mitchell had killed Dexter's wife, Rita (Julie Benz), beforehand, in the bathtub of Dexter's house, and that he left Dexter's son Harrison in her blood, mirroring the childhood trauma that put Dexter on the path to becoming a serial killer.


title: Arthur Mitchell (Dexter)

text: Miami Metro detective Joey Quinn suspects Dexter of killing Rita, and he connects the dots as to the identity of Kyle Butler. Anxious to further his investigation, Quinn requests permission from Captain Maria LaGuerta, but she denies his request and orders him to leave Dexter alone. Undeterred, Quinn finds Jonah Mitchell amidst being relocated into witness protection with the rest of his family, and tries to show him a picture of Dexter so that Jonah can confirm whether or not it is "Kyle Butler". However, one of the FBI convoys manages to intercept Quinn's attempt before he succeeds, and so Quinn's query remains unanswered.


title: Arthur Mitchell (Dexter)

text: In the sixth season, Dexter hears news about the Mitchell family, who are now living in Nebraska: Mitchell's wife, Sally, and daughter, Rebecca, have been murdered in the same way as were Mitchell's victims. Dexter deduces that Jonah is the killer, and hunts him down. At first, Jonah claims his father killed them both, but later gets into a fight with Dexter, seemingly wanting to die by Dexter's hand. Confused, Dexter gets Jonah to confess that Rebecca actually committed suicide because their mother kept blaming the children for Mitchell's capture; upon finding her, Jonah flew into a fit of rage and killed his mother, bludgeoning her in the same manner that his father killed his victims. Dexter tells Jonah to forgive himself, and leaves.


title: Arthur Mitchell (Dexter)

text: Mitchell's actions - particularly murdering Rita - influence the plot of the 2021-2022 limited series "", set 10 years after the end of the original series and roughly 13 years after Mitchell's death. Harrison (Jack Alcott), now a teenager, finds out the truth about his mother's death from a true crime podcast, and begins to remember witnessing his mother's murder. He is particularly disturbed by a memory of Mitchell smiling at him and saying, "Don't worry, Daddy will be home soon." It is implied that seeing his mother's murder traumatized Harrison so badly that he developed homicidal urges such like Dexter's.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: The Fleischer "Superman" cartoons are a series of seventeen animated short films released in Technicolor by Paramount Pictures and based upon the comic book character Superman, making them his first animated appearance.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: They were originally produced by Fleischer Studios, which completed the initial short and eight further cartoons in 1941 and 1942. Production was resumed in May 1942 by Famous Studios, a successor company to Fleischer, which produced eight more cartoons in 1942 and 1943. "Superman" was the final animated series initiated by Fleischer Studios, before Famous Studios officially took over production.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: Although all entries are in the public domain, ancillary rights, such as merchandising contract rights, as well as the original 35mm master elements, are owned today by Warner Bros. Entertainment, which has also owned Superman's publisher, DC Comics, since 1967.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: Only the first nine cartoons were produced by Fleischer Studios; nonetheless, all 17 episodes are collectively known as "the Fleischer Superman cartoons". In 1942, Fleischer Studios was dissolved and reorganized as Famous Studios, which produced the final eight shorts. These cartoons are seen as some of the finest quality (and certainly, the most lavishly budgeted) animated cartoons produced during The Golden Age of American animation. In 1994, the first entry in the series was voted #33 on a list of The 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: By mid-1941, brothers Max and Dave Fleischer were running their own animation studio in Miami, Florida, and had recently finished their first animated feature film, "Gulliver's Travels". The Fleischers were also well into production on their second, "Mr. Bug Goes to Town". Not wanting to risk becoming overworked (which could compromise the quality of each project), the Fleischers were strongly (but quietly) opposed to the idea of committing themselves to another major project when they were approached by their studio's distributor and majority owner since May 1941, Paramount Pictures. Paramount was interested in financially exploiting the phenomenal popularity of the then-new "Superman" comic books, by producing a series of theatrical cartoons based upon the character. The Fleischers, looking for a way to reject the project without "appearing" uncooperative, agreed to do the series—but only at an (intentionally inflated) per-episode-budget number so exorbitantly high that Paramount would have to reject "them", instead. They told Paramount that producing such a conceptually and technically complex series of cartoons would cost about $100,000 per short (or $ per short as of ); this was about four times the typical budget of a six-minute episode of the Fleischers' popular "Popeye the Sailor" cartoons of that period. To the Fleischers' shock, instead of withdrawing its request, Paramount entered into negotiations with them, and got the per-episode budget lowered to $50,000. Now the Fleischers were committed to a project they never wanted to do—with more financial and marketing support than they had ever received for the projects they had done thus far.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: The first cartoon in the series, simply titled "Superman" (a.k.a. "The Mad Scientist"), was released on September 26, 1941, and was nominated for the 1941 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons. It lost to "Lend a Paw", a Pluto cartoon from Walt Disney Productions and RKO Pictures.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: The voice of Superman for the series was initially provided by Bud Collyer, who also performed the lead character's voice during "The Adventures of Superman" radio series. Joan Alexander was the voice of Lois Lane, a role she also portrayed on radio alongside Collyer. Music for the series was composed by Sammy Timberg, the Fleischers' long-time musical collaborator.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: Rotoscoping, the process of tracing animation drawings from live-action footage, was used minimally to lend realism to the character's bodily movements. Many of Superman's actions, however, could not be rotoscoped (such as flying, lifting very large objects, etc.). In these cases, the Fleischers' lead animators—many of whom lacked training in figure drawing—animated "roughly" and depended upon their assistants (usually inexperienced animators but established draftsmen) to keep Superman "on model" during his action sequences.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: The Fleischer cartoons were also responsible for giving Superman perhaps his most singular superpower: flight. When the Fleischers started work on the series, in the comic books, Superman could only "leap" from place to place (hence the classic phrase, "able to leap tall buildings in a single bound"). After seeing the leaping fully animated, however, the Fleischers deemed it "silly looking", and asked permission from Action Comics (later DC Comics) to have him fly instead; the publisher agreed, and Superman was formally given the power of flight thereafter. Previously, he was only shown flying on the cover of "Triumph" #772, in "The Adventure of Superman" radio show and in the comics due to an artist and editorial error in "Superman" #10.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: By the end of 1941, the brothers were no longer able to cooperate with each other, and the studio's co-owner Dave Fleischer had left Florida for California, where he would eventually become the new head of Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems studio. After the Fleischers were removed from the company, Paramount renamed the organization Famous Studios, placing Seymour Kneitel (Max Fleischer's son-in-law), Isadore Sparber, Sam Buchwald, and Dan Gordon in charge of production. The sleek look of the series continued, but there was a noticeable change in the storylines of the later shorts of the series after Famous replaced Fleischer as producer. The first nine cartoons had more of a science fiction aspect to them, as they involved the Man of Steel fighting robots, giant dinosaurs, meteors from outer space, and other perils.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: The later eight cartoons in the series, which were all Famous Studios productions, dealt more with World War II propaganda stories, such as in "Eleventh Hour", which finds Superman going to Japan to commit acts of sabotage in order to reduce the morale of the enemy; meanwhile, an angered Adolf Hitler had a cameo role at the end of "Jungle Drums" after Superman foiled another Nazi plot.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: The first seven cartoons originated the classic opening line which was later adopted by the "Superman" radio series and in the live-action television series a decade later: "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound!" (the radio series also eventually used the cartoon series' theme music). For the final two Fleischer-produced cartoons and the first of the eight Famous Studios-produced cartoons, the opening was changed to "Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to soar higher than any plane!". For the remaining Famous Studios-produced cartoons, the opening line was changed again to "Faster than a streak of lightning! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a roaring hurricane!" For international prints of Superman cartoons starting with "Showdown" the opening line is "Faster than a streak of lightning! More powerful than the pounding surf! Mightier than a roaring hurricane!" This series also featured a slight variation of the now-classic exclamation (also from the radio series): "Up in the sky, look! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Superman!".


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: Famous Studios ended the series after a total of seventeen shorts had been produced, replacing it with a series of shorts based upon Marge's "Little Lulu". The high cost of the series kept it from continuing in the face of budgetary restrictions that were imposed after removing the Fleischers from the studio. The first cartoon had a budget of $50,000 (equivalent to $ in ), and the other sixteen each had a budget of $30,000 (equivalent to $ in ) for each of the eight other Fleischer cartoons and $485,414.68 for each of the eight Famous Studios cartoons, bringing the total cost of the series to $530,000 (equivalent to $ in ). In addition, Paramount cited waning interest in the "Superman" shorts among theater exhibitors as another justification for the series' cancellation.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: The rights to all seventeen cartoons eventually reverted to National Comics, who licensed TV syndication rights to Flamingo Films (distributors of the TV series "Adventures of Superman"). All eventually fell into the public domain, due to National's failure to renew their copyrights; thus, they have been widely distributed on VHS, LaserDisc, and DVD. Nonetheless, Warner Bros., via DC Comics, now owns the original film elements to the cartoons.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: A 1944 Famous Studios "Popeye the Sailor" cartoon entitled "She-Sick Sailors" parodied the Superman cartoons a year after production of the cartoons had ceased. In this cartoon, Popeye's enemy Bluto, who was voiced by the announcer for the Superman radio series, Jackson Beck, dresses up as Superman to fool Olive Oyl, and he challenges Popeye to feats of super-strength that "only Superman" can do. The musical score for "She-Sick Sailors" includes echoes of Sammy Timberg's Fleischer/Famous "Superman" score.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: In a rare move for a competing studio, Leon Schlesinger Productions, producers of "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies" (which were distributed by WB), featured Timberg's Superman theme in "Snafuperman", a 1944 Private Snafu cartoon Schlesinger produced for the U.S. Army.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: Paramount's involvement in the "Superman" franchise did not end with the sale of the cartoons. In 1995, after being sold to Viacom, Paramount's television syndication unit absorbed Viacom Enterprises, and as a result, Paramount now held the TV rights to the third and "Superman" films, along with the "Supergirl" film (which up to that point had been held by Viacom). Full rights to "Superman III" and "Supergirl" are now with WB, but Paramount still has some partial rights to "Superman IV" (as part of the Cannon Films library), and TV distribution is now held (on Paramount's behalf) by Trifecta Entertainment & Media.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: In 1985, DC Comics named Fleischer Studios as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publication "Fifty Who Made DC Great" for its work on the Superman cartoons. The series strongly influenced the creation of the acclaimed animated television series "", as well as the similar-looking "". Comic book artist Alex Ross has also listed the shorts among the inspiration for his take on Superman's look.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: This animated version of Superman was planned to be made as a cameo in the deleted scene "Acme's Funeral" from the 1988 film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: The robot robbery scene from "The Mechanical Monsters" short has been echoed by several later works. In 1980, Japanese animated film writer and director Hayao Miyazaki created an identical robbery with a similarly functioning robot in the last episode of the TV series "Lupin the Third Part II", a robot design he used again in his feature film "Castle in the Sky". The elements of the scene were borrowed again in 1994 for "The Tick vs. Brainchild" (Season 1, Episode 9 of "The Tick"), with the robbery committed by Skippy, a cyborg dog. The 2004 feature-length movie "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" (which Paramount released in several territories, WB also distributed in a few countries) kept the setting in the 1940s, but scaled up the scene from a single robot robbing a jewelry exhibition to an army of gigantic robots stealing city infrastructure. The movie gave a nod to its source following the robbery with the newspaper headline, "Mechanical Monsters Unearth Generators".


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: A 1988 music video for the song "Spy In The House of Love" by Chrysalis Records recording artists Was (Not Was) borrowed footage extensively from Famous' "Secret Agent" short.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: The first "official" home video releases of the series were by Warner Home Video in 1987 and 1988, in a series of VHS and LaserDisc packages called "TV's Best Adventures of Superman". Four volumes were released, where each volume contained 2 selected episodes of the classic 1950s TV series "Adventures of Superman" (one black & white episode and one color episode), plus a selected Max Fleischer "Superman" short (marking the first "official" release of such as Warner holds the original film elements).


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: Among the best reviewed of these various releases was a 1991 VHS set produced by Bosko Video, the somewhat incorrectly titled "The Complete Superman Collection: Golden Anniversary Edition - The Paramount Cartoon Classics of Max & Dave Fleischer" released as two VHS volumes which featured high-quality transfers from 35mm prints. The Bosko Video set was later issued on DVD by Image Entertainment as "The Complete Superman Collection: Diamond Anniversary Edition" in 2000. The Bosko Video release was not associated with DC Comics or their parent company Warner Bros.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: Another DVD was "Superman: The Ultimate Max Fleischer Cartoon Collection" from VCI Entertainment released on May 30, 2006, a month prior to the release of the film "Superman Returns". DVD features included: all 17 animated shorts digitally restored in Dolby Digital 2.0 audio; a bonus cartoon: "Snafuperman" (a 1944 Warner Bros. wartime parody of the Fleischer cartoons, featuring Private Snafu and produced for the U.S. Army); "Behind the Cape" synopses and fun facts with each cartoon; a DVD fold-out booklet with notes on the series; bios of the voice actors, producer Max Fleischer, and Superman; a bonus trailer for the 1948 "Superman" serial with Kirk Alyn; and a recorded audio phone interview with Joan Alexander (the voice of Lois Lane). This release, like the Bosko Video release, was not associated with DC Comics or their parent company Warner Bros.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: A more "official" release from restored and remastered, superior original vault elements was released on DVD on November 28, 2006, as part of Warner Home Video's Superman film re-releases. The first nine cartoons were released as part of the four-disc special edition "Superman: The Movie" set, and the eight remaining cartoons were included on the two-disc special edition "Superman II" set. The entire collected Fleischer / Famous cartoons were included in the box sets "The Christopher Reeve Superman Collection" and "Superman Ultimate Collector's Edition", where both sets also included a 13-minute short documentary on the history of these cartoons, entitled "First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series". This documentary (which was included on the "Superman II" two-disc special edition DVD) features interviews with surviving members, relatives and biographers of the animation and production team, also contemporary animators such as Bruce Timm (""), Paul Dini and Dan Riba ("") who detail the influence these cartoons have had on their own works. Upon this release though, there was controversy by some consumers over why Warner's chose to release these animated shorts amongst the "Superman" films DVD releases instead of packaging them as their own complete individual DVD release.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: In December 2004, Toonami Digital Arsenal made the shorts available for free download in mp4 format on its website. They posted one episode per day with the final episode, "Secret Agent", going live on New Year's Day 2005.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: Another came on July 1, 2008, when Warner Bros. released the shorts on iTunes, via their DC Comics sections. Fourteen of the shorts are available for $1.99 for every two, while the other three are all in one video for the same price.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: On April 7, 2009, yet another release was made, this time a collection of all the cartoons released by Warner Home Video as the first authorized collection from the original masters, titled "Max Fleischer's Superman: 1941-1942" with a suggested price at $26.99; the set included one new special feature in the form of ""The Man, The Myth, Superman"" featurette, along with an old special feature seen in the "Superman II" 2006 DVD release entitled ""First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series"".


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: The 8-disc Blu-ray boxset "The Superman Motion Picture Anthology", released in June 2011, includes all the Max Fleischer cartoons in SD as bonuses on the discs for the two versions of "Superman II". The nine Fleischer Studios cartoons plus the 13-minutes feature "First Flight: The Fleischer Superman Series" are on the "Superman II - Original 1980/81 Theatrical Release" disc and the eight Famous Studios cartoons are on the "Superman II - The 2006 Richard Donner Cut" disc.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: A Blu-ray set containing all the cartoons, called "Max Fleischer's Superman: Collector's Edition" was released on October 30, 2012 by the Gaiam studio. According to Blu-Ray.com and Amazon reviews, it was upscaled from standard definition to HD, and the set's video quality and audio quality were criticized.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: The shorts were available for the first time in true HD on WarnerMedia's DC Universe streaming service. After the service went down in early 2021, they were no longer available. They have yet to reappear on WarnerMedia's flagship streaming service HBO Max.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: As all of these cartoons are now in the public domain, free downloadable links from the Internet Archive have been provided.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: In the "Crisis on Infinite Earths" tie-in comic, the world of those cartoons take place on the Earth-F before being destroyed by the Anti-Monitor.


title: Superman (1940s animated film series)

text: In the pilot episode of "Superman & Lois", Superman dons a costume reminiscent of his suit in the Max Fleischer cartoon during an origin montage, where he saves a young boy from being hit by a falling car, referencing the cover of "Action Comics#1".


title: Yard of ale

text: A yard of ale or yard glass is a very tall beer glass used for drinking around of beer, depending upon the diameter.


title: Yard of ale

text: The glass is approximately long, shaped with a bulb at the bottom, and a widening shaft, which constitutes most of the height.


title: Yard of ale

text: The glass most likely originated in 17th-century England, where the glass was known also as a "long glass", a "Cambridge yard (glass)" and an "ell glass". It is associated by legend with stagecoach drivers, though was mainly used for drinking feats and special toasts.


title: Yard of ale

text: Drinking a yard glass full of beer as quickly as possible is a traditional pub game; the bulb at the bottom of the glass makes it likely that the contestant will be splashed with a sudden rush of beer towards the end of the feat. The fastest drinking of a yard of ale in the "Guinness Book of Records" is 5 seconds.


title: Yard of ale

text: The glass is approximately , shaped with a bulb at the bottom and a widening shaft, which constitutes most of the height. In countries where the metric system is used, the glass may be . Because the glass is so long and in any case does not usually have a stable flat base, it is hung on the wall when not in use.


title: Yard of ale

text: The glass most likely originated in 17th-century England, where the glass was known also as a "long glass", a "Cambridge yard (glass)" and an "ell glass". Such a glass was a testament to the glassblower's skill as much as the drinker's. John Evelyn records in his "Diary" the formal yet festive drinking of a yard of ale toast to James II at Bromley in Kent (now southeast London), 1685.


title: Yard of ale

text: Yard glasses can be found hanging on the walls of some English pubs, and there are a number of pubs named "The Yard of Ale" throughout the country.


title: Yard of ale

text: Drinking a yard glass full of beer is a traditional pub game in the UK. Some ancient colleges at Oxford University have sconcing forfeits. Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke was previously the world record holder for the fastest drinking of a yard of beer, when he downed a sconce pot in eleven seconds as part of a traditional Oxford college penalty.


title: Yard of ale

text: In New Zealand, where it is referred to as a "yardie", drinking a yard glass full of beer is traditionally performed at a 21st birthday by the celebrated person.


title: Petty officer second class

text: Petty officer second class is the fifth enlisted rank in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, just above petty officer third class and below petty officer first class, and is a non-commissioned officer. It is equivalent to the rank of sergeant in the Army and Marine Corps, and staff sergeant in the Air Force.


title: Petty officer second class

text: Similar to petty officer third class, advancement to petty officer second class is dependent on time in service, performance evaluations by superiors, and rate (technical specialty) examinations. The advancement cycle is currently every 6 months. Only a certain number of billets (job openings for this rate) open up biannually and all third-class petty officers compete. The top scorers are chosen for advancement, but only in sufficient quantities to fill the billets available.


title: Petty officer second class

text: Petty officers serve a dual role as both technical experts and as leaders. Unlike the sailors below them, there is no such thing as an "undesignated petty officer." Every petty officer has both a rate (rank) and rating (job, similar to an MOS in other branches). A petty officer's full title is a combination of the two. Thus, a petty officer second class, who has the rating of interior communications electrician would properly be called an interior communications electrician second class. The term petty officer is, then, only used in abstract, the general sense, when referring to a group of petty officers of different ratings, or when the petty officer's rating is unknown. Often, the petty officer is just referred to by the shorthand designation, without using the surname. Thus EM2 Reyes would just be called EM2. A petty officer second class may be generically referred to as PO2 when the sailor's rating is not known, although some prefer to be called simply "Petty Officer (Martinez)." To address a petty officer, one would say, "Petty Officer Meyer", "Meyer", or "Sailor" (the latter two forms being acceptable for use by those equal or greater in rate than the Petty Officer unless in a familiar setting, such as by those who work closely with the Petty Officer). It is uncommon to address a petty officer as simply "Petty Officer", the way one might address an NCO in the Marine Corps as "Sergeant". Also acceptable, but archaic, would be to address a petty officer or chief petty officer of any grade as "Mister Meyer" or "Ms. Meyer". The use of "Ms." or "Mister" is commonly only in reference to junior commissioned officers or warrant officers.


title: Petty officer second class

text: Each rating has an official abbreviation, such as GM for gunner's mate, BU for builder, or BM for boatswain's mate. When combined with the petty officer level, this gives the shorthand for the petty officer's rate, such as IT2 for "information systems technician second class". It is common practice to refer to the petty officer by this shorthand in all but the most formal correspondence (such as printing and inscription on awards). Unlike most rates, the Aircrew survival equipmentman rate uses their former title of parachute rigger for abbreviation and are still referred as PRs and parachute riggers in the military community after undergoing a rating name change in 1986.


title: Petty officer second class

text: The Navy uses promotion points that they call "final multiple score" system, which considers the whole person by calculating a candidate's performance, experience, and knowledge into the individual's final multiple score. To advance a candidate must meet the time in rate eligibility, pass the advancement test, and have a final multiple higher than the minimum required to advance.


title: Petty officer second class

text: Among enlisted sailors, 12 consecutive years of good conduct (categorized as no court-martial convictions and no non-judicial punishments) entitles the sailor to wear a good conduct variation of their rate insignia: the chevrons which are normally red are replaced with gold. The perched eagle remains silver. However, the high year tenure initiative mandates that a petty officer second class may only have 16 years of service. If a PO2 fails to make petty officer first class within that time, the petty officer is involuntarily separated for not meeting advancement requirements. However, this may be waived in the event the sailor holds a critical rate, Navy Enlisted Classification or security clearance.


title: Petty officer second class

text: All U.S. Coast Guard petty officers wear red chevrons and red service stripes, until the rate of chief petty officer, where both chevrons and service stripes are gold.


title: Petty officer second class

text: In the US Navy, all petty officers wear red stripes and chevrons until they reach 12 consecutive years of service with good conduct (as determined by eligibility for the Navy Good Conduct Medal as its criteria).


title: The Big Buddha (Hong Kong)

text: The Big Buddha is a large bronze statue of Buddha, completed in 1993, and located at Ngong Ping, Lantau Island, in Hong Kong. The statue is sited near Po Lin Monastery and symbolises the harmonious relationship between man and nature, people and faith. It is a major centre of Buddhism in Hong Kong, and is also a tourist attraction.


title: The Big Buddha (Hong Kong)

text: The statue's base is a model of the Altar of Heaven or Earthly Mount of Tian Tan, the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. One of the five large Buddha statues in China, it is enthroned on a lotus on top of a three-platform altar. Surrounding it are six smaller bronze statues known as "The Offering of the Six Devas" that are posed offering flowers, incense, lamp, ointment, fruit, and music to the Buddha. These symbolise the Six Perfections of generosity, morality, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom, all of which are necessary for enlightenment.


title: The Big Buddha (Hong Kong)

text: The statue is tall, weighs over , and was constructed from 202 bronze pieces. In addition to the exterior components, there is a strong steel framework inside to support the heavy load. Reputedly the figure can be seen across the bay from as far away as Macau on a clear day. Visitors have to climb 268 steps to reach the Buddha, though the site also features a small winding road for vehicles to provide access for disabled people. The Buddha's right hand is raised, representing the removal of affliction, while the left rests open on his lap in a gesture of generosity. He faces north, which is unique among the great Buddha statues, as all others face south.


title: The Big Buddha (Hong Kong)

text: There are also three floors beneath the statue: the halls of the Universe, of Benevolent Merit and of Remembrance. One of the most renowned features inside is a relic of Gautama Buddha, consisting of some of his alleged cremated remains. Only visitors who purchase an offering for the Buddha are allowed to see the relic, entering to leave it there. There is a huge carved bell inscribed with images of Buddhas in the show room. It was designed to ring every seven minutes, 108 times a day, symbolising the release of 108 kinds of human vexations.


title: The Big Buddha (Hong Kong)

text: The Big Buddha was constructed beginning in 1990, and was finished on 29 December 1993, which the Chinese reckon as the day of the Buddha's enlightenment. When the statue was completed, monks from around the world were invited to the opening ceremony. Distinguished visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and the United States all took part in the proceedings.


title: The Big Buddha (Hong Kong)

text: On 18 October 1999, the Hong Kong Post Office issued a definitive issue of landmark stamps, of which the HK$2.50 value depicts The Big Buddha. On 22 May 2012, it was also featured on the HK$3 value of the Five Festival set, this one celebrating the birth of Sakyamuni Buddha. The MTR corporation has also issued a souvenir ticket featuring a photograph of the statue.


title: The Big Buddha (Hong Kong)

text: Po Lin Monastery and the Buddha are open to the public between 10:00 and 17:30. Access to the outside of the Buddha is free of charge, but there is an admission fee to go inside the Buddha.


title: The Big Buddha (Hong Kong)

text: Visitors can reach the site by bus or taxi, travelling first to Mui Wo (also known as "Silvermine Bay") via ferry from the Outlying Islands piers in Central (pier No. 6) or to Tung Chung station via the MTR, or cable car. Visitors may then travel to and from the Buddha via the following bus routes:


title: Vir Chakra

text: Vir Chakra (pronunciation: ʋiːɾa tʃakɾa) is an Indian wartime military bravery award presented for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy on the battlefield and is third in precedence in wartime gallantry awards and comes after the Param Vir Chakra and Maha Vir Chakra.


title: Vir Chakra

text: It was established by the President of India on 26 January 1950 (with effect from 15 August 1947). The statutes were amended on 12 January 1952 to readjust the order of wearing as new decorations were established.


title: Vir Chakra

text: It replaced the British Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), Military Cross (MC) and Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Award of the decoration carries with it the right to use Vr.C. as a postnominal abbreviation [note the care to distinguish this abbreviation from that for the Victoria Cross (V.C.)


title: Vir Chakra

text: The medal is 1-3/8 inch circular silver medal. A five pointed star, with the chakra in the centre, and, on this, the domed gilded state emblem. The decoration is named on the rim and suspended from a swiveling straight-bar suspender. The decoration is almost always named and dated on the edge. Around a plain centre, two legends are separated by lotus flowers; with Vir Chakra in Hindi above and in English below. The ribbon is 32 mm, half dark blue and half orange-saffron; dark blue 16 mm, saffron 16 mm.


title: Vir Chakra

text: The award carries with it a cash allowance and, in some cases, a lump sum cash award. This has been a rather controversial issue throughout the life of the decoration. From 1 February 1999, the central government set a monthly stipend of Rs. 850 for recipients of the award. In addition, many states have established individual pension rewards for the recipients of the decoration.


title: Houston (actress)

text: Kimberly Halsey, known professionally as Houston, is an American pornographic actress. She was inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in 2004 and into the XRCO Hall of Fame in 2015. Houston once held the gangbang record by having sex 620 times over the course of 8 hours.


title: Houston (actress)

text: Houston is known for her work in Metro's "" (1999), a movie in which she reportedly had sex with over 620 men without interruption on February 6, 1999. A 1999 "Salon" article about that day described her as "A surgically enhanced cartoon bombshell... [who] looks like the love child of Jessica Rabbit and Bart Simpson."


title: Houston (actress)

text: In 2012, Houston returned to the adult film industry after a ten-year hiatus and performed in her first comeback scene with Keiran Lee for Brazzers in a scene titled "Sex Games".


title: Houston (actress)

text: In 2000, Houston appeared on VH-1's "Porn to Rock" documentary, which chronicled the efforts of various adult industry actors attempting to make the crossover to mainstream careers in various rock and roll endeavors. During the next few years, Houston appeared in cameo roles in various rock/rap videos, notably for bands such as Kottonmouth Kings ("Bump") and Sum 41 ("The Hell Song"). She released her first single, "What Do You Want From Me?" in late 2003 and made a subsequent musical performance at the House of Blues in Los Angeles.


title: Houston (actress)

text: In 1999, Houston was on "The Howard Stern Show" to promote the fact that she was having her labia surgically trimmed to enhance her "look" during close-up video work. In a subsequent online auction, Houston reportedly sold her labia for an estimated $50,000 according to online auction, Erotic Bid.


title: Houston (actress)

text: Houston was also in the 2012 documentary "After Porn Ends", which is about life after being a porn actor. In May 2012, she released her autobiography, "Pretty Enough: The Story of the Gang Bang Queen", co-written with Charles Lupula.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: Evanescence is the third studio album by American rock band Evanescence. It was released on October 7, 2011, by Wind-up Records. The band began writing the album in June 2009. Its release was delayed several times; on February 22, 2010, the band entered the studio with producer Steve Lillywhite but later stopped working with him because he "wasn't the right fit". At the time the album was scheduled for an August or September 2010 release, but Lee later announced that Evanescence had suspended recording to write more material. On April 11, 2011, the band returned to the studio with producer Nick Raskulinecz. It is the second and final studio album to feature guitarist Terry Balsamo who departed from the band in August 2015, also the first album to feature the guitarist Troy McLawhorn, bassist Tim McCord and drummer Will Hunt.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: According to Lee, the band brought influences from Björk, Depeche Mode, Massive Attack, MGMT, and Portishead to the album. "Evanescence" songs contain sounds and influences characteristic of nu metal, hard rock, and symphonic metal. Although the album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised Lee's vocals and its innovative sound, some noted a similarity to the band's older material. "Evanescence" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 chart with 127,000 copies sold in its first week, and topped four other "Billboard" charts; Rock Albums, Digital Albums, Alternative Albums, and Hard Rock Albums. The album was successful worldwide, appearing on the charts of over 20 countries. The band promoted "Evanescence" by premiering songs online on a number of websites and appearing on several television shows.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: The first single from the album, "What You Want", was released on August 9, 2011; "My Heart Is Broken", the album's second single, was released on November 11. "Lost in Paradise" was released internationally as its third single on May 25, 2012, and "The Other Side" was serviced to US modern rock radio stations as a promotional single on June 11. In 2011 the band embarked on the Evanescence Tour, their third worldwide tour, to promote the album with The Pretty Reckless and Fair to Midland.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: After finishing a tour to promote Evanescence's previous album, "The Open Door", Amy Lee said that she "just sort of took off and didn't know what I was going to do next." According to Lee, she was unsure at the time when—or if—Evanescence would continue. After taking a break from music for 18 months, she decided she wanted to work with the band members and it "became more of a group project". Lee admitted to an identity crisis: "[The success with] "Fallen" happened really fast, and it was just go, go, go for a couple years, and we went right into writing and wrote the next record. By the time we finished touring with "The Open Door", I just needed to go, 'Who am I as an adult? During her hiatus, Lee began painting, attended concerts and museums and listened to folk and indie music.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: In a June 2009 post on the Evanescence website, Lee wrote that the band was in the process of writing material for an album planned for release the following year. According to Lee, the music would be an evolution of previous work and "better, stronger, and more interesting". She described "Evanescence" music as epic, dark, big, beautiful and desperate. In a "Spin" interview, Lee called the record "fun", which, according to her, was a "totally new thing" for the band: "When I listen to our old music I see that's where I was in my life at that time. This has been a long trip and parts have been hard. But it's about not taking everything so seriously this time."


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: Writing for the album began in 2009, when Lee wrote an electronic-driven song different from her usual style. She said, "I remember listening to it over and over, just obsessing over it the way I used to obsess over Evanescence music. That was the spark for me – and the spark to go in the electronic direction and bring some of that into what Evanescence is doing." Unlike the band's two previous albums (primarily written by Lee), every band member contributed to the writing process. This marks their last album with Terry Balsamo on lead guitars.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: Evanescence entered the studio on February 22, 2010, to begin recording the album. Sessions took place in MSR Studios, New York. Will Hunt returned as drummer; a second drummer and programmer, Will "Science" Hunt, was brought in to assist with writing but did not join the band. David Campbell, who previously worked with Evanescence on "The Open Door", was brought back to handle string arrangements and the album was scheduled for release by producer Steve Lillywhite. The Roots drummer Questlove contributed to drums on a song titled "You Got a Lot to Learn", but it wasn't included on the final album. Throughout March, Lee previewed two new songs on her Twitter; however, they were not included on the album. Lee said that "industrial" was a better word to describe the sound of the new album, and the band were working on about 16 songs. Lee later said that Lillywhite "wasn't the right fit", adding that the band was experimenting and when they tried to record the songs Lee wrote without the band "it wasn't working." According to Lee, the programming-driven songs written with Lillywhite did not suit Evanescence's sound.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: When the band began recording with Lillywhite, the album was intended for an August or September 2010 release. Recordings were suspended in April that year. Two months later, on June 21, 2010, Lee announced on EvThreads.com that Evanescence had suspended recording to continue work on the album and "get our heads into the right creative space". According to Lee, Wind-up Records was experiencing "uncertain times" which would further delay the album's release. Label president Ed Vetri supported Lee's decision: "One thing we do at Wind-up is, we're patient. I[f] it's not right, it's not coming out. If it takes a year or four years, [we're] going to take the time it needs to write the right record." After visiting the studio several times to see the album's progress, Vetri said that "her core fans will be really happy."


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: When the band parted ways with Lillywhite, he said he was proud of the album he'd produced with them and revealed their label scrapped the material because they thought "it didn't sound like Evanescence."


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: Evanescence re-entered Blackbird Studio in Nashville in early April 2011 with 19 songs and new producer Nick Raskulinecz, who previously produced for Alice in Chains and Foo Fighters. The album was mixed by Randy Staub. After an initial denial by band management, on June 12 Lee confirmed that guitarist Troy McLawhorn had rejoined Evanescence. She also announced that the album would be released on October 4, 2011; the date was later pushed back a week by Wind-up Records. According to Lee, when the band returned to the studio, she wanted the album released as soon as possible because of the long time since Evanescence's last album. The instruments other than pianos were recorded first, followed by the pianos and then by Lee's vocals; she said the demanding songs made her "push" herself vocally. Raskulinecz's production, she said, made "Evanescence" a rock album. Lee appreciated his work, including the producer's willingness to answer her questions and determine when the album would be finished:


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: Nick is an awesome producer. He really helped me get the plan and have confidence in the decisions that we made. For me, I have a lot of ideas and sometimes it just comes down to "OK, everything that I'm doing I have two options!" He's awesome, because as I'm doing these things I'm asking him from the vocal booth or the piano room or whatever, "Which one of these should I do?" He's good at helping me make a quick decision. I really trust his opinion because he makes great records.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: In December 2015, Lee posted a cover of "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing" by Chris Isaak, which she stated was originally intended to appear on the album produced by Lillywhite in 2010. She also further explained that while three songs from the Lillywhite-produced record ultimately made it on to the final album, the record company rejected the original project. Lee said she used her frustration with being forced to start over to write what she called "(Evanescence's) heaviest album."


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: In a June 2011 "Kerrang!" interview, Lee said that the album would be self-titled and was "about the band; it's more of a band record." Lee explained that the concept "to me is about falling back in love with this thing, with Evanescence, with what I've obsessed over for a decade, longer than that." There were originally many album-title ideas, but Lee said that as the project became more collaborative "it just felt like this is who we are, it's a band. And to have that feeling in the music where the band is so pumped up, it was just the only title that felt right. It's about falling back in love with this thing in a major way." In an MTV News interview, she said that 16 songs had been recorded but not all would be included on the album. It was later decided to release two versions of the album: a deluxe edition with all 16 songs and a standard edition with 12.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: "Evanescence" cover artwork was introduced on the band's website on August 30, 2011. It is their first album cover which does not feature Lee. In an interview, she discussed the cover: "Well, both of our other records are me on the cover, and I think it's cool to have that photo, you know, that people can look at and go, 'OK, that's who that is.' But I feel like, by now, they know who we are, and I wanted something really different. I didn't feel like we had to put a photo on the cover, I wanted it to be more mysterious and more about Evanescence itself, not just me." The cover, black with vapor behind the band's name, is a play on the meaning of "evanescence" ("to dissipate like vapor").


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: During the Steve Lillywhite sessions, Lee described the album as a "rainbow of sounds" with heavy, stripped-out songs. According to Lee, it had electro influences and a lot of drum programming fused with live drums, citing Taiko drums. As for the lyrical theme, she said the songs were about what she was going through at the time, and there were moments of "Hey, I'm over it and I'm good" and others of fun sarcasm, saying "everything's not the most dramatic thing in the world." She also added that there were songs that would get "really, really deep." The album's themes were unknown worlds, the ocean's abyss, life within dreams, strength, detachment, love and liars. During the later sessions with Nick Raskulincecz, she discussed two of the album's themes: brokenness ("Brokenness has become a little bit of theme, without necessarily offering a solution") and oceans. In a later MTV interview, Lee mentioned other themes: "the quest for freedom, and then there's songs that are just about falling in love". She said that Evanescence used new and vintage instruments (such as a harp, synthesizers and the Moog Taurus Pedal) and recorded the ballads "Secret Door" and "My Heart Is Broken". In a "Kerrang!" interview, Lee said she was inspired by her life and personal relationships.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: According to Lee, the album was fun but not in a "poppy way" and the band enjoyed its recording. She was inspired by her relationship with Evanescence's fans: "I can really hear myself singing about my relationship with Evanescence and with the fans. There's always one big relationship on a record that I sing about the most. I feel like my big relationship on this album [is] with Evanescence itself, and with the fans. I think lyrically you're hearing a lot about a relationship, a struggle with a relationship or love in a relationship, and mostly I'm singing about that."


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: For the album, the band was influenced by artists such as Björk, Depeche Mode, Massive Attack, MGMT, and Portishead. Lewis Corner of the Digital Spy website noted that rumbling guitars and dainty strings were present on most of the album's songs: "Amy Lee declares over roaring guitars and classical strings, reinforcing their medieval influences as opposed to the electronic sound they've been purporting."


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: This marks the first Evanescence recording since their 1998 self titled demo to not feature backing choruses, which were introduced until the Origin demo album in 2000.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: Lee shares writing credits with other members of the band on 11 of the standard-edition album's 12 songs. "Evanescence" first track and lead single, "What You Want", was described as one of the band's most unusual songs with heavy guitar melodies, loud drums and a freedom theme. Opening with drums and a synchronized synthesizer, Lee sings "Do what you, what you want / If you have a dream for better / Do what you, what you want / 'Til you don't want it anymore" before the song's rhythmic, guitar-driven beat. Lyrically, the song explores a relationship which is not working out, despite present love. "Made of Stone", one of the album's oldest songs, has heavy-metal influences. "The Change" (originally entitled "Purple"), which begins gently and grows more insistent, has been compared to "Digital Bath" by the American alternative metal band Deftones. The fourth track (and second single), "My Heart Is Broken", is a ballad written for harp and recorded with a piano. It begins with the piano and Lee's vocals, evolving into rhythmic guitars and strings. In the chorus Lee sings, "I will never find a way to heal my soul/ And I will wander 'til the end of time/ Torn away from you/ My heart is broken".


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: The fifth track, "The Other Side", has churning, chunky guitars, a double-bass drum and Lee's "ethereal, widescreen" vocals with elements of R&B. Lyrically, the song's theme is death. "Erase This", formerly titled "Vanilla", was noted by Mary Ouellette of Loudwire as an "uptempo rocker" similar to "What You Want" which would sound better played live rather than through earphones. "Lost in Paradise" is a symphonic rock ballad which begins with piano, strings and Lee's unlayered vocals before adding the band for the song's climax; its lyrics reflect Lee's past struggles, apologizing to her fans for the band's five-year absence. The song's musical structure was compared to "Jóga", by the Icelandic recording artist Björk. "Sick" has a loose, lazy melody and a chanted chorus; one of the first songs written for the album, it "set[s] a heavy direction for the rest of the record." "End of the Dream" begins "full bore with chunky guitar, then falls into a brooding grove with piano underpinning Lee's unmistakable vocals." In the chorus, Lee sings "Follow your heart 'til it bleeds," evincing the track's "seize the day" message. Lee said about the song, "It's about understanding that this life isn't forever, and how you have to live it, embrace even the pain, before it's all over. As much as it hurts, it just means you're alive. So don't be so afraid to get hurt that you miss out on living." "Oceans" begins with a big, low synth and a vocal before the band joins in. According to Lee, "It's big and lush. We've been having a lot of fun playing that one especially." "Never Go Back" (originally called "Orange") examines "loss from the perspective of someone losing someone in a tragedy". Lee said that the song, with the lyrics "It's all gone, the only world I've ever known", was inspired by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. "Swimming Home" is an electro-pop song with grinding guitars and a "weeping" piano.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: "Evanescence" was first released in snippets, with portions of "What You Want", "The Other Side" and "Lost in Paradise" previewed on MTV News on July 11, 13 and 15 respectively. Several songs were made available online, including "The Other Side", which premiered on September 21 at Hot Topic; "My Heart Is Broken" on September 27, and "End of the Dream" on "Spin" on October 4. All songs became available on "Spin" on October 7. A Renholdër remix of "Made of Stone" appears on the soundtrack and in the closing credits of the film "", and a Photek remix of "New Way to Bleed" is on "The Avengers" soundtrack "".


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: On August 8, Evanescence appeared on "MTV First: Evanescence" to introduce the album's first single, "What You Want", with a live performance and an extended interview. Lee went to Toronto's Liberty Studios on August 22 to preview five mastered songs from the new album ("What You Want", "The Change", "The Other Side", "My Heart Is Broken" and "Lost in Paradise") to a selected audience of 30. Evanescence appeared at the Rock in Rio festival on October 2, 2011, performing "What You Want", "Made of Stone", "The Change", "The Other Side", "My Heart Is Broken", "Sick" and several songs from their previous two albums. Before "Evanescence" US release, Lee appeared on the "Billboard" website on October 11 to promote the album. The band appeared on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" on October 15, performing "What You Want" and "Going Under". On December 12, Evanescence appeared at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert, where they performed "Lost in Paradise" and 2003's "Bring Me to Life". On February 1, 2012, the band performed "My Heart Is Broken" on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", and two days later they played "Made of Stone" and "The Other Side" on "Conan".


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: Evanescence began their tour to promote the album with a concert at War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee, on August 17, 2011. This was followed by performances at Rock on the Range in Winnipeg on August 20, Rock in Rio on October 2 and at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in Puerto Rico on October 6. The band began the first US leg of their tour on October 10 in Oakland, California, and finished it in New York City. Evanescence then played several concerts in the United Kingdom, beginning at London's Hammersmith Apollo on November 4 and finishing the leg on November 13 at the O2 Academy Birmingham. Supported by The Pretty Reckless, Fair to Midland and Rival Sons, the tour's set list included songs from Evanescence's three albums. Lee said, "We're definitely focusing mainly on the new material. We're really excited about that music the most – obviously it's the newest – but of course we'll be playing some from both of our other albums too. I guess I'd say in general, our show's on the heavy-energy side, so we'll be running around singing a lot of fast songs."


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: The Evanescence Tour continued in 2012 with concerts in the United States, Asia and Europe, including Lisboa V in Portugal and Rock am Ring in Germany. Their South American tour began on October 4 in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and the band returned to the UK for four shows in November. Evanescence also played on the Carnival of Madness tour with Halestorm, Cavo, New Medicine and Chevelle. That tour began on July 31, 2012, at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, Illinois and ended on September 2 at the Outer Harbor in Buffalo, New York.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: "What You Want", the album's first single, was released digitally on August 9, 2011. The song's lyrics are about freedom, one of "Evanescence" themes. It debuted at number one on the UK Rock Chart, making Evanescence the artist with the most number-one singles on the chart in 2011. "What You Want" peaked at numbers 68 and 72 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart, respectively. Its video, filmed in a Brooklyn, New York warehouse on July 30, 2011 with the band performing the song live, was directed by Meiert Avis and released on September 13.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: "My Heart Is Broken" was distributed to hot, modern and adult-contemporary radio stations on October 31, 2011 and to pop stations the following day as the album's first mainstream single. Its video was released in January 2012, and the song was distributed to alternative and modern-rock stations on February 13. The next mainstream single, "Lost in Paradise", was released internationally on May 25. Its video, released on February 14, 2013, focuses on Evanescence's tour with footage of the band performing the song filmed by fans around the world. "The Other Side" was a promotional single which was distributed to modern-rock stations on June 11 and alternative stations the following day. Although a lyric video was uploaded to the band's YouTube channel on August 30, 2012, Lee said that no other video would be made for the song.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: "Evanescence" has received mostly positive reviews from music critics. Metacritic assigned an average score of 63 to the album based on nine reviews, indicating a generally favorable reception. Before its release the album appeared on several lists, including "Spin"s "26 Fall Albums That Matter Most", "Entertainment Weekly"s "Fall Albums We Can't Wait to Hear" and "Rolling Stone"s "Fall Music Preview: The Season's Hottest Albums". Steve Beebee of "Kerrang!" gave the album five stars out of five, calling it "easily their most cohesive and confident work" and their "best album to date". According to Rick Florino of Artistdirect, "Evanescence" was "their best album to date and a new classic" and "[they] manage to experiment while staying unshakably infectious. That's not an easy feat, and few acts manage to do that."


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised Raskulinecz's production, Lee's vocals and the "fair share of crossover hooks", adding that the band sounded "less tortured tonally even if it remains quite dramatic." "Entertainment Weekly" Kyle Anderson said, "When uses baroque orchestral accoutrements to wage an air assault on her demons ... she's more than just the token girl in the pit." Lewis Corner of Digital Spy gave the album four stars out of five, saying that the band's trademark sound was present on the album "and truth be told, we wouldn't want it any other way." Mark Lepage of the "Montreal Gazette" praised the album, calling it "one rolling, chugging, plangent epic." According to Chad Grischow of IGN, "Evanescence" is a "great album that delivers the familiar while keeping an eye on the future." Rob Williams of the "Winnipeg Free Press" described the album as gothic nu metal and hard rock, with dramatic orchestration which makes everything sound "big and alive": "With so many extra bells and whistles, despair has never sounded so epic." Marc Hirsh of "The Boston Globe" wrote that the album captures "each party elevating the other far above where their proclivities would get them on their own."


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: According to Nick Catucci of "Rolling Stone", "Evanescence" is primarily a "syrupy mix of piano, guitar and strings" which is not as "saucy" as the band's older material. Chris Willman of Reuters wrote, "Every interchangeable tune on the new album also sounds designed to play over the end credits of an action blockbuster that takes itself too seriously". Theon Weber of "Spin" gave the album a mixed review; rather than holding back too much, Weber wrote, Lee did not do enough to restrain her performance: "Evanescence gets lost in the cavernous spaces carved out by their unsecret weapon." Edna Gundersen of "USA Today" criticized Raskulineczs production and the album's electronics: "Tempered, emotional wail enhances the hypnotic medieval magic of signature Evanescence tunes. Some electronics slip into the mix, but the band's rock essence and penchant for weepy strings remain prominent, as does its flair for conveying wretched despair." Although "PopMatters" Dane Prokofiev criticized the album's eponymous title as a new-band strategy, he praised the "noticeable increase in the prominence of choir singing, tinkling piano motifs, and the silky sound of string instruments" with the caveat that the additional deluxe-edition songs were superior to those on the standard edition. He also noted a turn in the band's sound to match that of symphonic metal. Steven Hyden of "The A.V. Club" called the album "narcissistic", "corny" and "irredeemably stupid".


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: "Evanescence" debuted at number one on the "Billboard" 200 with first-week sales of 127,000 copies, becoming the band's second album to debut atop the chart. The first week's sales were lower than those for "Evanescence" previous album, "The Open Door", which sold 447,000 copies in its first week. The album fell to number four the following week, selling over 40,000 copies. "Evanescence" also topped the Digital Albums, Top Rock Albums, Alternative Albums, and Hard Rock Albums charts in the United States, and was 2011's 141st best-selling album in that country. , "Evanescence" had sold 421,000 copies in the US. On December 9, 2020, the album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of over 500,000 units.


title: Evanescence (Evanescence album)

text: The album sold more than 2,000 copies on its first day of sales in the United Kingdom and debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart with 26,221 copies sold in its first week. It was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on August 22, 2014, denoting shipments in excess of 100,000 copies. The album entered the Canadian Albums Chart at number two, selling 9,000 copies in its first week. On January 12, 2012, the album was certified gold by Music Canada for shipments of over 40,000 units in Canada. "Evanescence" debuted and peaked at number five in Australia, was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of over 35,000 copies.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: Shaun Edward Marsh (born 9 July 1983) is an Australian cricketer who plays for the Western Australia cricket team in Australian domestic cricket and has represented Australia in all three formats. Nicknamed SOS ("Son of Swampy"), he is a left-handed top-order batsman.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: Marsh is the first son of Geoff Marsh and elder brother of Mitchell Marsh, both of whom have played for the Australian national side.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: Marsh is married to Channel 7 journalist Rebecca O'Donovan, now Rebecca Marsh. They have three children. His brother-in-law is animator and internet personality Ross O'Donovan. He attended Wesley College in South Perth.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: Off the field, Marsh has suffered from occasional lapses of discipline. In November 2007, he was suspended for two matches by the WACA for drinking alcohol to excess with teammate Luke Pomersbach.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: In October 2012, during the Champions League Twenty20 tournament in South Africa, Marsh was dropped from the Scorchers last game, along with brother Mitchell, after a night of partying to celebrate Mitchell's 21st birthday.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: In 2017, Marsh had an eye test, which showed he was short-sighted, a condition with which he had been batting and fielding for a considerable time. He started wearing contact lenses. This caused surprise in the cricket community, for whom Test match contracts normally include sight tests as a routine requirement.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: Marsh and his younger brother Mitchell attended Wesley College in Perth where they excelled in cricket. In 1998, Shaun set the record, which was broken ten years later, for the highest average (210) in the Public Schools Association's Darlot Cup cricket competition.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: After representing Western Australia at Under 17 and Under 19 level, Marsh represented Australia at both the 1999–2000 and 2001–02 ICC Under-19 World Cups. In the 1999–2000 tournament, held in Sri Lanka, he was the second highest run scorer for Australia behind Shane Watson, and other notable teammates included played alongside Michael Clarke, Nathan Hauritz and Mitchell Johnson. At the 2001–02 tournament in New Zealand, which Australia won, he scored the fourth most runs for the tournament, with the captain of the Australian side, Cameron White being the leading run scorer.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: During this time, Marsh made his first-class cricket debut in 2000–01, against South Australia at the WACA Ground in March 2001. He played as a middle order batsman, and played the final three games of the season, before continuing to represent both the Australian Under 19 side and the Australian Cricket Academy throughout 2001 in the lead-up to the World Cup in New Zealand in January to February 2002.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: In October 2002, Marsh was named to play for Western Australia against the touring English XI in a two-day practice match (not classified as first-class) prior to the 2002–03 Ashes. Marsh top scored in the match as he made 92 runs against an English bowling attack consisting of Matthew Hoggard, Stephen Harmison, Andy Caddick and Ashley Giles. He was not selected for the three-day match held soon after, but was selected to make his List A debut for the Warriors in an ING Cup match against South Australian Redbacks in November 2002. He went on to play nine ING Cup games and three Pura Cup during the 2002–03 season and he made his maiden first-class hundred against a NSW side featuring Steve and Mark Waugh in 2003.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: Over the next few years, he cemented his position in the Warriors middle order, averaging over 35 in first class cricket in 2004–05 and 2005–06. He was named in the Australia-A side for a mid-year tournament in Cairns in July 2006. After a relatively poor 2006–07 season, he returned to top form in 2007–08 in all forms of the game. In first-class cricket, he made his highest career score of 166 not out (as part of a 268 run 4th-wicket partnership with Luke Pomersbach and averaged over 60 runs per completed innings. In the 2007–08 Ford Ranger Cup 50-over competition, Marsh made his debut century and was the Warriors' top run scorer. In Twenty20 cricket, he was the competition's leading run scorer with the highest average and the highest individual score.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: Partway through the 2007–08 season, with the retirement of Justin Langer and the move of Chris Rogers to the Victorian Bushrangers, Marsh switched batting positions to become an opening batsman like his father Geoff. At the end of the season, he was named the Lawrie Sawle Medallist for being the best player in the Western Australian state cricket team for the 2007–08 season. He was highly sought after for the Big Bash League due to being regarded as one of the top domestic Twenty20 players in the world. He ultimately chose to stay in WA and play for the Perth Scorchers. After missing the first game due to a troublesome back, which played up in the recent Australian tour of South Africa, he played in the second match against the Melbourne Renegades and made 99* stating his case to join the Test team for the Boxing Day Test against India and missed the next few games.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: In October 2012, compounding a lean run of form, Marsh was dropped from the Perth Scorchers, and subsequently the Western Australian team, following an off-field indiscretion during the Champions League Twenty20 tournament in South Africa.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: A frank discussion with former teammate and new Western Australian coach Justin Langer helped Marsh regain his confidence and eventually his place in the state team:


title: Shaun Marsh

text: He laid down the laws for me. It was a good chat. I knew exactly where I stood with him, and I went away with a new belief, in terms of where I wanted to head. It gave me a lot of confidence to know that if I went back and scored runs in grade cricket and 2nd XI, I could get back into the team straight away.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: Marsh has excelled in the Twenty20 format of cricket, and during the 2012–13 Big Bash League, he scored five half-centuries in nine innings, ending the tournament as the leading run scorer, and helping the Scorchers reach the final.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: He carried this form upon his return to the Western Australian state team. Against Queensland, he scored 155 not out in the one-day game, and backed it up with 84 in the second innings of a come-from-behind victory at the Gabba.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: In 2019, he signed with Glamorgan ahead of the 2019 County Championship in England. In October 2020, in the third round of matches in the 2020–21 Sheffield Shield season, Marsh scored his 30th century in first-class cricket.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: Good form with the Western Warriors was rewarded with a contract in the 2008 Indian Premier League, where he opened the batting for the Kings XI Punjab. Despite missing the opening four games of the tournament, Marsh scored the most runs in the league stage of tournament, including a century in the final league stage match against the Rajasthan Royals. He received the orange cap for scoring most runs in the 2008 IPL tournament. Shaun Marsh was chosen in the inaugural IPL dream team chosen by the cricketing website Cricinfo along with cricket superstars Sanath Jayasuriya, Kumar Sangakkara, Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne as well as other young talents like Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir and Yusuf Pathan. Marsh played for Kings XI Punjab since the start of the Indian Premier League and became one of the most vital players for the team.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: His excellent form during the 2007–08 season led to Marsh being given a Cricket Australia Contract and being called up to the Australian Cricket tour of the West Indies.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: He made his debut for Australia in June 2008 in a Twenty20 game against the West Indies alongside fellow West Australian debutant, Luke Ronchi. Opening the batting with Ronchi, they compiled an opening partnership of 57 runs from the first 6 overs, with Marsh being dismissed soon after for 29 runs from 22 balls, including two sixes and a four. He made a memorable One Day International debut a few days later, top scoring for the match with 81 runs from 97 balls and winning the Man of the Match award. With the recent retirements of two of Australia's longest-serving ODI opening batsmen in Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden, Marsh was able to claim one of the opening batsmen positions for the 2008–09 season. In the South African tour of Australia, Marsh performed well in the opening two ODI matches, top-scoring in both matches and winning the Man of the Match award in the second game. He has scored more than 50 in five of his 10 matches, and scored his first century in the 5th ODI against India at Hyderabad on 5 November 2009.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: Marsh was included in the Test cricket squad for Australia's tour of India in 2008, but was not selected for a match.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: On 21 January 2011, in an ODI match against England at Hobart, Marsh scored his second ODI century (110) in a record ninth-wicket partnership with Doug Bollinger. Australia went on to win the match by 46 runs, and Marsh was named Player of the Match.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: In July 2011, Marsh was selected for the Australian Test Squad for the tour to Sri Lanka and was presented with the baggy green by his father. Marsh made his maiden Test century on debut against Sri Lanka on 8 September 2011, and became the 19th Australian to score a century on Test debut. He scored 141 and shared a 258-run 4th wicket partnership with Michael Hussey, who scored 142. He played one Test in Australia's following tour of South Africa, before missing three Tests with a back injury. He played all four Tests in Australia's 2011–12 home series against India, but performed poorly, scoring only 17 runs at an average of 2.67, including three ducks. After continuing to show poor form at domestic level afterwards, he was dropped from the Test team.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: Marsh did not return to the Test team until 2014, and from 2014 until 2016 was a fringe player who has filled in for an injured top-order batsman on several occasions. His first recall was in February 2014 as a replacement for Shane Watson in the first Test of Australia's 2013–14 tour of South Africa; he scored 148 runs in his first innings, but was dropped after getting a pair in the second Test. He was recalled to the line-up in December 2014 for the home series against India after captain Michael Clarke tore his hamstring, and scored 254 runs at 42.33 in three Tests. He played both Tests in the 2015 tour of the West Indies after Chris Rogers withdrew with concussion, scoring 112 runs at 37.33. He toured with the Australian team throughout the subsequent 2015 Ashes series, playing well in tour matches but failing (with scores of 0 and 2) in the sole Test for which he was selected. He played two home Tests in 2015–16, one against New Zealand and one against the West Indies after Usman Khawaja suffered a hamstring injury, and in the match against the West Indies scored 182, the highest score of his career to date.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: After three years on the fringe, Marsh was recalled as a first choice opening batsman in the final Test of Australia's tour of Sri Lanka. Australia's batsmen had struggled in the Sri Lankan conditions throughout the three-Test series, which Australia lost 3–0, but Marsh showed an aptitude and scored a century (130) in his return innings. He held his place for the first home Test of the 2016–17 Australian summer against South Africa, before being sidelined for the rest of the series with a broken finger.


title: Shaun Marsh

text: In April 2019, he was named in Australia's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. However, ahead of Australia's final group-stage match, Marsh was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a fractured forearm. Peter Handscomb was named as his replacement.


title: Sydney Kings

text: The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the Sydney Supersonics in October 1987. They were the first team to win three consecutive championships in the NBL and currently sit third alongside the Adelaide 36ers and New Zealand Breakers (four each) for championships won, behind Melbourne United (six) and the Perth Wildcats (ten). The Kings play their home games at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney Olympic Park.


title: Sydney Kings

text: The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the Sydney Supersonics in October 1987. The team adopted the purple-and-gold colours traditionally linked with the most winning team in the NBA during the 1980s, the Los Angeles Lakers.


title: Sydney Kings

text: Before the merger, no Sydney-based teams had ever made the final four in NBL competition. That changed in 1989, when the Kings finished fifth with a 15–9 record and advanced to the semi-finals with a 2–1 win over the Melbourne Tigers. After splitting their first two games in the semi-finals, the Kings were humiliated by the Canberra Cannons 142–82 in the series-deciding third game.


title: Sydney Kings

text: Sydney made the playoffs in 1990, losing in the first round to the Brisbane Bullets. In 1992, led by imports Dwayne McClain (who was named to the All-NBL First Team) and Ken McClary (ranked 5th in the league in rebounds), the Kings finished second on the ladder. This time they advanced to the semi-finals and were beaten by the Tigers, who would eventually lose to the South-East Melbourne Magic in the championship series.


title: Sydney Kings

text: Over the next few years the Kings, despite the rich pockets of private owner Mike Wrublewski, earned a reputation for being chronic under-achievers. The team featured high-profile players like Leon Trimmingham, Mario Donaldson, Dean Uthoff and Phil Smyth during the mid-90s but they failed to make the playoffs in 1993 or 1995, and were eliminated in the first round in 1994 and 1996. The team soon received the nickname of 'The Violet Crumbles', a popular chocolate sold in purple wrapper; the joke being that the team was wrapped in purple and shattered under pressure. 'The Cardiac Kids' was another tag, for the team's frequency in getting involved in close, thrilling games.


title: Sydney Kings

text: After their 1996 elimination, the Kings would not make the NBL playoffs again until 2001, when they made it to the first round before being eliminated by the Townsville Crocodiles. Australian Olympic team guard Shane Heal was recruited to lead the team, and he finished second in the league in scoring average, behind Olympic teammate Andrew Gaze. Heal finished third in scoring average in the 2001–02 season, but the Kings again failed to make the playoffs.


title: Sydney Kings

text: For the 2002–03 season, Heal was joined by talented imports Chris Williams and Kavossy Franklin. The team also welcomed the NBL's all-time leader in coaching victories, Brian Goorjian. The Kings finished on top of the ladder with a 22–8 record, and swept the Perth Wildcats 2–0 in the grand final series to claim their first-ever championship.


title: Sydney Kings

text: With Goorjian able to implement his defensive tactics which were so successful with the Spectres, Magic and Titans in Melbourne, there seemed to be no stopping the Kings, who were able to recruit quality imports like 2002–03 league MVP Chris Williams. In addition, many Victorian groomed players who had previously played for Goorijan such as Jason Smith and Bradley Sheridan followed him north to Sydney.


title: Sydney Kings

text: Heal retired after the 2002–03 season, and C. J. Bruton was recruited to take his place, Jason Smith was signed after returning to the NBL after playing in Europe but unfortunately was injured 13 games into the season and was replaced by import Chris Carrawell. The Kings started the 2003–04 season with 10 successive wins, and would eventually win their second championship after their best-of-five grand final series with crosstown rivals West Sydney Razorbacks went down to the deciding fifth game. Kings player Matt Nielsen would win the regular season and finals MVP in 2003–04 before leaving to play overseas.


title: Sydney Kings

text: The Kings again performed strongly in the 2004–05 season despite a disastrous early game against Townsville which saw C. J. Bruton out for weeks with an elbow injury, and a season ending torn ACL for rookie of the year candidate Luke Kendall. The Kings managed without their starting backcourt until Bruton came back and they signed import big man Rolan Roberts. Arguably stronger than before the Kings finished on top of the ladder and crushed the Wollongong Hawks in three straight games to become the first team in Australian league history to win three consecutive championships. Jason Smith was named the NBL Finals Most Valuable Player.


title: Sydney Kings

text: In the 2005–06 season, the Kings again finished atop the ladder and made it to the grand final. Import centre Rolan Roberts suffered a torn pectoral muscle imitating a Vince Carter dunk during the All Star dunk competition and was replaced by Sedric Webber. In the finals they were swept 3–0 by the Chris Anstey led Melbourne Tigers.


title: Sydney Kings

text: The club was then purchased in 2006 for $2 million by the chairman of fuel technology company Firepower International, Tim Johnston. Johnston later sold a part share in 2007 to 31-year-old Dorry Kordahi, CEO and owner of DKM.


title: Sydney Kings

text: On 24 March 2008, coach Brian Goorjian quit the club after a mutual agreement, and on 12 June 2008, the NBL terminated the Sydney team's licence as Firepower collapsed and the Kings were unable to pay player salaries.


title: Sydney Kings

text: Under a revised management structure and ownership, the Sydney Kings relaunched for the 2010–11 NBL season, returning to the league after a two-year absence. However, despite big-named additions such as Julian Khazzouh, Ben Madgen and Luke Martin, the Kings in their first season back finished in last place on the ladder with an 8–20 record.


title: Sydney Kings

text: Due to the 2011 NBA Lockout, Australia's highest profile basketballer, former Milwaukee Bucks centre Andrew Bogut, was looking to play in the NBL during the 2011–12 season. He was linked with the Adelaide 36ers, the Gold Coast Blaze and the Kings, whom Bogut had supported when growing up in Australia. Sydney was favored to secure his services and Bogut ultimately chose to make his NBL debut with the Kings. However, the insurance to cover his remaining US$39 million contract with the Bucks couldn't be resolved, leaving the Kings and the NBL without the services of Australia's highest profile player. It was expected that Bogut's signing would see an increase in Kings membership and league attendances. Despite not being able to play, Bogut later expressed interest in joining the Kings' coaching staff during the lockout to help the club. This ultimately did not happen either.


title: Sydney Kings

text: The Kings continued to struggle over the ensuing six years, qualifying just once (2012–13) for the playoffs in their eight seasons since returning to the league, and finishing with a losing record in the regular season in each of their eight seasons. In November 2015, the club played their 800th game in franchise history. Australian basketball icon Andrew Gaze was named head coach of the team on a three-year deal starting with the 2016–17 season. The team recruited big names Kevin Lisch, Brad Newley and Aleks Marić plus imports Greg Whittington and Michael Bryson for the 2016–17 season; however after starting the season with five wins in their opening six games, the Kings won just eight of their remaining 22 games and missed the playoffs.


title: Sydney Kings

text: Before the 2017–18 season, the team recruited imports Perry Ellis and Travis Leslie plus small forward Todd Blanchfield; however fared no better, losing 16 of their first 21 games as Lisch suffered a calf injury that would force him to miss most of the regular season. Late in the campaign the club brought in 2016–17 NBL MVP Jerome Randle and big man Jeremy Tyler. Randle led the team to six wins in their final seven games and was named to the All-NBL Second Team, but the Kings missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.


title: Sydney Kings

text: The 2018–19 season was the Kings' 30th anniversary season in the NBL. On 24 April 2018, the Kings announced the signing of Australian basketball icon, Andrew Bogut. In that same offseason, the Kings became the first beneficiary of the NBL's new Next Stars program, which offers a professional option immediately out of secondary school to Americans (who are currently barred from the NBA draft until one year after graduation), as well as Australians and New Zealanders considering U.S. college basketball. Under the program, the team signed American Brian Bowen. After a 18–10 record across the 2018–19 season, the club recorded their first finals appearance since 2013 however lost 2–0 to Melbourne United in the semi-finals.


title: Sydney Kings

text: After Andrew Gaze left the club under a mutual agreement, Will Weaver was signed as the new head coach. In Weaver's first season with the club, the Kings were minor champions for the first time in over a decade and made it through to the grand final series, however after three games the Kings indicated they did not wish to proceed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and forfeited the series to the Perth Wildcats.


title: Sydney Kings

text: In the 2021–22 season, the Kings won 13 straight games, equalling the second longest winning streak in franchise history set between the end of the 2003 season and the beginning of 2004. Sydney would go on to sweep both the Illawarra Hawks and Tasmania Jack Jumpers en route to the franchise's 4th NBL championship.


title: Sydney Kings

text: The Sydney Kings' first home venue was the State Sports Centre located at Homebush Bay. After playing at the 5,006-seat venue in 1988 and 1989, the Kings then moved into Sydney's largest indoor venue, the 12,500-seat Sydney Entertainment Centre in 1990. The SEC, known for Kings games as "The Kingdome", would be the Kings' home until the team moved back to Homebush Bay in 1999 and into the new, 18,200-capacity Sydney Superdome which had been built as the main basketball and gymnastics venue for the 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney.


title: Sydney Kings

text: Despite attracting an NBL record 17,143 crowd for their opening-round game in the 1999/2000 season against the Canberra Cannons (played as a double header with the West Sydney Razorbacks playing the Brisbane Bullets), the Kings' time at the Superdome only lasted three years. After the club went into voluntary administration following the 2001–02 season and was then purchased by a new investment group, the franchise decided to move back to the Entertainment Centre in 2002, citing falling attendances and the high cost of playing their games at the NBA-size venue. It was also speculated at the time that the core of the Kings fan base came from the eastern and northern suburbs of Sydney and that fans were not enthused about having to travel to Homebush Bay for games.


title: Sydney Kings

text: The Kings moved back to the Entertainment Centre in 2002, where they remained until 2015, though they were forced to move one game in the 2012–13 NBL season to the State Sports Centre due to a pre-booked event taking priority at the Entertainment Centre. At its closing in 2015, the SEC had a basketball capacity of 10,517 (with curtains blocking off seats behind the basket to reduce capacity) giving the Kings the second-largest capacity venue in the NBL behind the 14,846-seat Perth Arena, though as the SEC was opened in 1983 it also gave the Kings the league's oldest venue.


title: Sydney Kings

text: The Kings moved back to Homebush Bay midway through the 2015–16 season due to the SEC being demolished to make way for an apartment complex and convention centre. On 13 March 2016, the Kings came under new management and were subsequently moved back to the Superdome (Qudos Bank Arena) for the 2016–17 season. During the regular season, the Kings curtained off the upper deck of the Qudos Bank Arena (depending on ticket demand), leaving capacity at approximately 9,000. In the final home game of the 2016–17 season, the Kings drew 11,005 fans to their game against Melbourne United – at the time, the second largest home crowd in franchise history.


title: Sydney Kings

text: In a game against the Illawarra Hawks on 17 November 2019, the Kings set the all-time NBL single game attendance record with 17,514 at Qudos Bank Arena.


title: Sydney Kings

text: In the 2019–20 season alone, six of the top ten home crowds in franchise history attended games at Qudos Bank Arena.


title: Sydney Kings

text: The Kings averaged 10,012 fans per home game in the 2019–20 NBL season – the largest per-game average at home in franchise history and became the first Sydney Kings team to ever average more than 10,000 fans per home game. The total home fan attendance for the season was 140,168 – the largest in franchise history and nearly 20,000 fans more than the previous record set in 1994.


title: Sydney Kings

text: In Game Three of the 2022 NBL Grand Final series against the Tasmania Jack Jumpers at Qudos Bank Arena, the team attracted a crowd of 16,149 – the biggest playoff crowd in NBL history and the third-largest crowd overall in NBL history.


title: Sydney Kings

text: On 10 October 2013, the Sydney Kings announced their best team from the first 25 years of the club at their 2013–14 Season Launch at the Australian Museum. Three-time championship winner with the Kings Brian Goorjian was named head coach of the 25th Anniversary Team, while Jason Smith was bestowed the honour as captain of the team.


title: Sydney Kings

text: The club honours players, coaches and administrators who have made a significant contribution to the club during its existence in the competition. These are signified with banners that are hung at the stage end of Qudos Bank Arena.


title: Sydney Kings

text: Currently the Wall of Legends stands at 13, with the most recent inductions being made at halftime of the Kings vs Melbourne United match on 28 January 2018.


title: Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram

text: Varadharaja Perumal Temple, also called Hastagiri and Attiyuran, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Vishnu located in the city of Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India. It is one of the Divya Desams, the 108 temples of Vishnu believed to have been visited by the 12 poet saints, or the Alvars. It is located in a suburb of Kanchipuram known as the Vishnu Kanchi that is a home for many famous Vishnu temples. One of the greatest Hindu scholars of Vaishnava Vishishtadvaita philosophy, Ramanuja, is believed to have resided in this temple.


title: Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram

text: The temple along with Ekambareswarar Temple and Kamakshi Amman Temple in Kanchipuram is popularly known as "Mumurtivasam" (abode of trio), while Srirangam is referred to as: 'Koil' (meaning: "temple") and Tirupati as: 'Malai' (Meaning: "hill"). Among the Divya Desams, Kanchipuram Varadharaja Perumal temple is known as: 'Perumal Koil'. This is one of the most sacred places for Vaishnavites. The fourth of the Divya Desams that completes this series is Melukote,—which is known as Thirunarayanapuram. Vaishnavites believe that visiting all four places without a break will guarantee one a place in "paramapadam".


title: Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram

text: There is a temple of Varadharajaswamy in Kurmai of Palamaner mandal in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, called the Kurma Varadharaja Swamy Temple.


title: Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram

text: According to Hindu legend, Saraswati cursed the king of celestial deities, Indra, to become an elephant and roam around the place. He was relieved of the curse with the divine power of Vishnu, who appeared as the mount, Hastagiri. "Hastagiri" indicates a mount/hill in the form of elephant. Indra, the king of the devas, is believed to have installed the silver and golden lizards in the temple, who were the witness of the ordeal, after being released from the curse of the goddess Saraswati. Brahma performed a "yagna" here, the site of which was about to be washed away by the fast flowing river Vegavati (Saraswati in the form of river), known today as the Palar River. The temple deity, Vishnu, laid himself flat to stay the flow and the "yagna" was successfully performed. Vishnu emerged with brilliance of thousand Suns as Varadharajaswamy inside the athi tree, and stayed here permanently until he was submerged in nearby tank since the deity came from yagna done by Brahma (Historically speaking, his placement may have been due to fear of invasion by the Delhi Sultanate). As is the case with the association of South Indian temples with a sacred tree, a name of the temple, Attigiri, is derived from the a"tti" tree (fig), considered sacred to Vaishnavas as well as other Hindus. The present stone deity found inside the temple is from a nearby Narashima temple. The deity is called Devaraja Perumal, whose worship is equated to the Adi Athi Varadharaja Perumal i.e. two gods residing in one presiding idol.


title: Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram

text: According to a Hindu legend, Brahma, the Hindu god of creation, separated with his wife Saraswati over a misunderstanding. He performed the ashvamedha sacrifice, seeking boons from Vishnu. Vishnu was pleased by the devotion, and came out from under the earth as a boar, making Saraswati unite with Brahma. Another legend states that the disciples of the sage Gautama were cursed to become lizards. They resided in the temple, and were relieved of the curse by the divine grace of Vishnu. There is a panel in the temple where the two lizards are depicted in the roof of the temple.


title: Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram

text: Thirukkachi Nambigal (also known as Kanchi Purnar) was an ardent devotee of this temple. He used to bring flowers everyday from Poovirundhavalli, where he maintained a garden. He performed the rituals of the "Aalavatta Kaingariyam", waving to produce breeze with the help of a hand fan. It is believed that Vardharaja used to converse with him, while he was performing the ritual.


title: Varadharaja Perumal Temple, Kanchipuram

text: Nambi also composed the Devarajaashtakam (a Sanskrit poem of 8 verses) for the presiding deity. Ramanuja, an influential Vaishnava preceptor, is regarded to have received answers to his six questions from Varadharaja. through Thirukkachi Nambigal.