Did you know...?

[Aberzombie]

Bullet Train is a 2022 American action comedy film directed by David Leitch, based on the 2010 novel by Kōtarō Isaka. Centered around a group of assassins on a Japanese high-speed train who end up in conflict with each other, the film features an ensemble cast consisting of Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Benito A. Martínez Ocasio, and Sandra Bullock.

Principal photography began in Los Angeles in November 2020 and completed in March 2021. Bullet Train premiered in Paris on July 18, 2022, and was theatrically released in the United States on August 5, by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $239 million on a production budget of $86–90M.

[Aberzombie]

Jeremiah Arkham is a supervillain and the head of the Arkham Asylum in DC Comics, created by Alan Grant. Arkham was created in 1992, and slowly "lost his mind" during his time in the Arkham Asylum, the fictional psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane, subsequently becoming the second Black Mask. Though described as a sadist, Arkham seems to believe his intentions are for the benefit of his patients.

[Aberzombie]

Christopher Eugene Chalk is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Lucius Fox in the Fox drama series Gotham and Dick Hallorann in the HBO horror series It: Welcome to Derry. He is also known for co-starring in the HBO political drama series The Newsroom and the HBO historical drama series Perry Mason.

[Aberzombie]

Archibald Charles Manning (born April 27, 2004) is an American college football quarterback for the Texas Longhorns. He is a member of the Manning family of renowned football players.

[Phillip Gastone]

The picture 'The Scream' kind of looks like a dog when looked at a certain way.

[Aberzombie]

Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam were a United States urban contemporary band and one of the first freestyle music groups to emerge from New York City in the 1980s. Cult Jam consisted of vocalist Lisa Lisa, born Lisa Velez, guitarist/bassist Alex "Spanador" Moseley, and drummer/keyboardist Mike Hughes. They were assembled and initially produced by Full Force.

[Aberzombie]

Star Trek: The Animated Series is an American animated science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. It originally aired simply under the title Star Trek, subtitled Created by Gene Roddenberry, on Saturday mornings from September 8, 1973, to October 12, 1974, on NBC, spanning 22 episodes over two seasons. The second series in the Star Trek franchise, it features mostly the same characters as Star Trek: The Original Series. Set in the 23rd century, the series follows the further adventures of the Starship USS Enterprise as it explores the galaxy.

After the cancellation of The Original Series (TOS) in 1969, the live-action show proved popular in syndication and generated significant fan enthusiasm. This resulted in Roddenberry's decision to continue the series in animated form, with the medium allowing for spectacular imagery and non-humanoid aliens the original series could not practically depict. Much of the original cast returned to provide voices for their characters. Series writers David Gerrold and D. C. Fontana characterized The Animated Series as effectively a fourth season of The Original Series. After the conclusion of The Animated Series, the adventures of the characters continued in live-action theatrical films, beginning with the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

The Animated Series was critically acclaimed and was the first Star Trek series to win an Emmy Award when its second season received the 1975 Emmy for Outstanding Entertainment – Children's Series.

[Aberzombie]

Klaus Janson (born January 23, 1952) is an American comics artist, working regularly for Marvel Comics and DC Comics and sporadically for independent companies. While he is best known as an inker, Janson has frequently worked as a penciller and colorist.

[Aberzombie]

The Warlord is a sword and sorcery character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer-artist Mike Grell, he debuted in 1st Issue Special #8 (November 1975). The titular character, Travis Morgan, obtains the name "Warlord" as he fights for the freedom of the people of Skartaris.

[Aberzombie]

William Robert Brown (August 22, 1915 – January 1977) was an American comics artist with an extensive career from the early 1940s through the 1970s. With writers Edmond Hamilton and Gardner Fox, Brown co-created the DC Comics hero Space Ranger, drawing the character's complete run from his debut in the try-out comic Showcase #15 (Aug. 1958) through Mystery in Space #103 (July 1965).

Brown also penciled the DC title Challengers of the Unknown, taking over from Jack Kirby, from 1959 to 1968.

[Aberzombie]

Armand Anthony Assante Jr. (born October 4, 1949) is an American actor. He played mobster John Gotti in the 1996 HBO television film Gotti, Odysseus in the 1997 miniseries adaptation of Homer's The Odyssey, Nietzsche in When Nietzsche Wept, and Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer in 1982's I, the Jury. He has been nominated for two Primetime Emmy Awards (one win for his performance in Gotti), four Golden Globe Awards, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards.

[Aberzombie]

In the 1988 Christmas movie Die Hard, the fictional Nakatomi Plaza is the headquarters of 20th Century Studios, so the studio could use one of its own buildings and didn't have to hold back on stunts and action sequences. While Jeb Stuart was writing the screenplay, he did a tour of the building, and immediately incorporated some of the locations and objects he found there into his script as set pieces (such as the cart that McClane and Karl end up riding during their fight). The company charged itself rent for the use of the then-unfinished building. Some of the middle floors were occupied by legal and administrative departments, so only empty floors were used for filming. Still, the filming of scenes that involved gunfire had to be postponed until after hours because some of the employees from the active floors started to complain about the noise.

[Aberzombie]

In the 1988 film Willow, the character of the evil General Kael is named after film critic Pauline Kael, who was notorious for giving scathing reviews to popular and acclaimed films, and had never given any film George Lucas directed or produced a positive review. In a (predictably) negative review of the film, Kael admitted to being flattered and amused by the homage.

[Aberzombie]

A Twisted Christmas is the sixth studio album by American heavy metal band Twisted Sister, released on October 17, 2006. The album features classic Christmas songs, performed as heavy metal and glam metal versions, often featuring lyrical changes.

The holiday carol "Oh Come All Ye Faithful", which heavily inspired the band's popular song "We're Not Gonna Take It", is recorded in a style exactly like the Twisted Sister hit. The group's take on the carol has become one of their best-known songs since their 1980s heyday, with Twisted Sister creating a comedic music video involving the band members crashing a holiday celebration in a bickering couple's home.

[Aberzombie]

Fatman is a 2020 American black comedy action film written and directed by Eshom Nelms and Ian Nelms, and starring Mel Gibson, Walton Goggins and Marianne Jean-Baptiste. The film is an unorthodox slant on holiday traditions that follows a jaded, gritty Santa Claus who struggles with ennui, production issues, government interference, and an embittered assassin sent by a vengeful naughty kid.

Filmed in Canada and released worldwide on November 13, 2020, the film received mixed reviews from critics.

[Aberzombie]

The Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 American revisionist Western film set during and after the American Civil War. It was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood (as Josey Wales), with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Bill McKinney, and John Vernon. During the Civil War, Josey Wales is a Missouri farmer turned soldier, who seeks to avenge the death of his family and gains a reputation as a feared gunfighter. At the end of the war, his group surrenders, but is massacred, and Wales becomes an outlaw, pursued by bounty hunters and soldiers.

The film was adapted by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman from author Asa Earl "Forrest" Carter's 1972 novel The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales (republished, as shown in the movie's opening credits, as Gone to Texas). The film was a commercial success, earning $31.8 million against a $3.7 million budget. In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Josey Wales was portrayed by Michael Parks in the film's 1986 sequel, The Return of Josey Wales. His wife Laura Lee was played by Mary Ann Averett in the sequel.

[Aberzombie]

Skræling (Old Norse and Icelandic: skrælingi, plural skrælingjar) is the name the Norse Greenlanders used for the peoples they encountered in North America (Canada and Greenland). In surviving sources, it is first applied to the Thule people, the proto-Inuit group with whom the Norse coexisted in Greenland after about the 13th century. In the sagas, it is also used for the peoples of the region known as Vinland whom the Norse encountered and fought during their expeditions there in the early 11th century.

[Aberzombie]

Pope John II (Latin: Ioannes II; c. 475 – 8 May 535), born Mercurius, was the Bishop of Rome from 2 January 533 to his death on 8 May 535. As a priest at St. Clement's Basilica, he endowed that church with gifts and commissioned stone carvings for it. Mercurius became the first pope to adopt a new papal name upon his elevation to the office. During his pontificate, John II notably removed Bishop Contumeliosus of Riez from his office, convened a council on the readmission of Arian clergy, and approved an edict of emperor Justinian, promulgating doctrine opposed by his predecessor, Pope Hormisdas.

[Aberzombie]

At one point in the film Shin Godzilla, all the TVs in an electronics store are showing the live footage of Godzilla's destruction of Tokyo except one which is playing the anime "Ochibisan" created by Moyoco Anno, who is director Hideaki Anno's wife. This is also a reference to the fact that one of Tokyo's six broadcast TV stations is notoriously reluctant to air breaking news.

[Aberzombie]

The term "near-death experience" was used by John C. Lilly in 1972. The term was popularized in 1975 by the work of psychiatrist Raymond Moody, who used it as an umbrella term for out-of-body experiences (OBEs), the "panoramic life review", the Light, the tunnel, or the border.

[Aberzombie]

The Name of the Rose is a 1986 historical mystery film directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, based on the 1980 novel of the same title by Umberto Eco. Sean Connery stars as the Franciscan friar William of Baskerville, called upon to solve a deadly mystery in a medieval abbey. Christian Slater portrays his young apprentice, Adso of Melk, and F. Murray Abraham his Inquisitor rival, Bernardo Gui. Michael Lonsdale, William Hickey, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., Valentina Vargas, and Ron Perlman play supporting roles.

This English-language film was an international co-production between West German, French, and Italian companies and was filmed in Rome and at the former Eberbach Abbey in the Rheingau. It received mixed to positive reviews from critics and won several awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Sean Connery. Another adaptation was made in 2019 as a television miniseries for RAI.

[Aberzombie]

Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, DL (22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder of The Boy Scouts Association and its first Chief Scout, and founder, with his sister Agnes, of The Girl Guides Association. Baden-Powell wrote Scouting for Boys, which with his previous books – such as his 1884 Reconnaissance and Scouting and his 1899 Aids to Scouting for N.-C.Os and Men, which was intended for the military, and The Scout magazine – helped the rapid growth of the Scout Movement.

Educated at Charterhouse School, Baden-Powell served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa. In 1899, during the Second Boer War in South Africa, Baden-Powell defended the town in the Siege of Mafeking. His books, written for military reconnaissance and scout training, were also read by boys and used by teachers and youth organizations. In August 1907, he held an experimental camp, the Brownsea Island Scout camp to test his ideas for training boys in scouting. He wrote Scouting for Boys, published in 1908 by C. Arthur Pearson Limited, for boy readership. In 1910, Baden-Powell retired from the army and formed The Scout Association.

In 1909, a rally of Scouts was held at The Crystal Palace. Many girls in Scout uniform attended and, in front of the press, a small group told Baden-Powell that they were the "Girl Scouts". In 1910, Baden-Powell and his sister Agnes started The Girl Guides Association. In 1912, Baden-Powell married Olave St Clair Soames. He gave guidance to The Scout Association and Girl Guides Association until retiring in 1937. Baden-Powell lived his last years in Nyeri, Kenya, where he died and was buried in 1941. His grave is a national monument.

[Aberzombie]

Gennady Borisovich "Genndy" Tartakovsky (born January 17, 1970) is a Russian and American animator, screenwriter, film producer, and director. He is best known as the creator of various animated television series on Cartoon Network and Adult Swim, including Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: Clone Wars, Sym-Bionic Titan, Primal, and Unicorn: Warriors Eternal.

For Sony Pictures Animation, he directed the first three films and wrote the fourth film in the Hotel Transylvania series, directed the adult animated film Fixed, and is currently directing another adult animated film for the studio, Black Knight. Additionally, he was a pivotal crew member of The Powerpuff Girls and worked on other series such as 2 Stupid Dogs and Batman: The Animated Series.

Tartakovsky is well known for his unique animation style, including fast-paced action, horror elements and minimal dialogue. Throughout his career, Tartakovsky has won five Emmy Awards, three Annie Awards, one WAC Winner, one OIAF Award, and one Winsor McCay Award, among other nominations for his works.

[Aberzombie]

Three of the actors in the 1998 movie Ronin have played the antagonists in three separate James Bond movies. Sean Bean in GoldenEye (1995), Michael Lonsdale in Moonraker (1979) and Jonathan Pryce in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). These three actors do not appear together in any scenes in this film.

[Aberzombie]

Actor and comedian Rowan Atkinson has a masters degree in Electrical Engineering.

[Aberzombie]

Controller (Basil Sandhurst) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted as an enemy of Iron Man.

Controller first appeared in Iron Man #12 and was created by Archie Goodwin and George Tuska.

[Aberzombie]

Dragon Mountain is a deluxe boxed set adventure published in 1993 for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.

The box includes six poster-sized maps, half of which are tactical displays of village and battlefield settings, while the rest detail the three-levels of the mountain's interior. Six cardstock mini-maps show self-contained sections of the mountain that can be attached to the poster maps at various locations or simply set aside. The new Monstrous Compendium pages showcase several opponents, such as the gnasher and the brain spider.

Book One outlines the search for a map to Dragon Mountain, a plane-shifting construct that appears in a random location every couple of decades, and a magical item that will improve the party's chance of survival once they get inside. The hunt takes the player characters to a variety of sites, such as crypt of dancing wights and a snake-infested swamp. Books Two and Three lead the characters through the city-sized labyrinth of Dragon Mountain, a maze of traps, ambushes, and dead ends. The adventure concludes with a journey through foggy ruins that leads to the home of the dragon.

[Aberzombie]

The Ruins of Undermountain is a boxed set for the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for the second edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The set was written by Ed Greenwood and published by TSR. It featured box cover art by Brom. and was published in 1991.

The set consists of a 128-page booklet titled Campaign Guide to Undermountain, a 32-page booklet titled Undermountain Adventures, 8 double-sided loose-leaf monster statistics pages, 8 double-sided heavy-stock "adventure aid" cards, and 4 color fold-out poster maps.

It uses the same Brom cover art as the box cover itself, with interior art by Karl Waller and cartography by Diesel, Steve Beck, and David Sutherland. This book contains detailed information on the dungeon Undermountain, including non-player characters (such as Halaster Blackcloak) that can be encountered within the dungeons or in the city above it, as well as spells and magic items that can be found. The book also keys the maps to what can be found in various locations and contains expansion guidelines for creating future adventures and deeper parts of the dungeon.

The set provides the "first three levels of the original dungeon of Undermountain, beneath the city of Waterdeep". The entire Ruins of Undermountain is purported to be the "deepest dungeon of them all" with nine levels and fourteen sub-levels. It contains two books describing the Undermountain complex. The larger is the Campaign Guide to Undermountain. It includes Undermountain history and other related information. The second book contains adventures, monster descriptions, maps, and other products.

There are over 350 rooms per level, but not all are detailed: "even with approximately 25 areas of interest on the first level, 26 on the second level and none on the third, a remarkably high percentage of rooms are left completely undetailed".

The Undermountain Adventures booklet describes seven adventures designed to be used within Undermountain, but can be used in any dungeon. The booklet also contains a "Monster Guide" of statblocks and descriptions of monsters not otherwise featured in the boxed set, and a description of the city of Skullport. The booklet has a detached cover, with cover art by Jeff Easley, and maps of some of the encounters on the inside, with cartography by David Sutherland.

The monster sheets detail 11 monsters in the Monstrous Compendium style: elder orb beholder, death kiss beholder-kin, darktentacles, ibrandlin, scaladar, sharn, slithermorph, flying snakes (flying fang and deathfang), steel shadow, and watchghost.

The cards are adventure aids for the Dungeon Master, detailing traps, encounters, treasure, and sundries that can be placed in the midst of adventures.

The maps detail the first three levels of the ruins of Undermountain; level three takes up two of the maps.

[Aberzombie]

Cleavon Jake Little (June 1, 1939 – October 22, 1992) was an American stage, film and television actor. He began his career in the late 1960s on the stage. In 1970, he starred in the Broadway production of Purlie, for which he earned both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award. His first leading television role was that of the irreverent Dr. Jerry Noland on the ABC sitcom Temperatures Rising (1972–1974). While starring in the sitcom, Little appeared in what has become his signature performance, portraying Sheriff Bart in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy film Blazing Saddles.

In the 1980s, Little continued to appear in stage productions, films, and in guest spots on television series. In 1989, he won a Primetime Emmy Award for his appearance on the NBC sitcom Dear John. He later starred in the Fox sitcom True Colors (1991–1992).

[Aberzombie]

Peter Petruski is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Strange Tales #104 (January 1963). Petruski was among the early supervillains introduced during Marvel Comics' Silver Age and is best known by the codenames Paste-Pot Pete and Trapster. A former research chemist based in New York City, Petruski invented an extremely adhesive "multi-polymer" compound, which he employed in a paste gun to pursue a criminal career. Over the course of his publication history, he has been affiliated with several villainous groups, including the Intelligencia and the Frightful Four.

[Aberzombie]

The UL enterprise is a global private safety company headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, composed of three organizations, UL Research Institutes, UL Standards & Engagement and UL Solutions.

Established in 1894, the UL enterprise was founded as the Underwriters' Electrical Bureau (a bureau of the National Board of Fire Underwriters), and was known throughout the 20th century as Underwriters Laboratories. On January 1, 2012, Underwriters Laboratories became the parent company of a for-profit company in the U.S. named UL LLC, a limited liability company, which took over the product testing and certification business. On June 26, 2022, the companies rebranded into three distinct organizations that make up the UL enterprise.

The company is one of several companies approved to perform safety testing by the U.S. federal agency Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA maintains a list of approved testing laboratories, which are known as Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories.

[Ed Reppert]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[Custodian]

I'll get to it, I'll get to it... hold your horses... let me get some sawdust and ammonia...

*grumbles*

[Aberzombie]

Men at Work are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1979. They were best known for breakthrough hits such as "Down Under", "Who Can It Be Now?", "Be Good Johnny", "Overkill", "It's a Mistake", and "High Wire". Its founding member and frontman is Colin Hay, who performs on lead vocals and guitar. After playing as an acoustic duo with Ron Strykert from 1978 to 1979, Hay formed the group with Strykert playing bass guitar with Jerry Speiser on drums. They were soon joined by Greg Ham on flute, saxophone and keyboards, and John Rees on bass guitar, with Strykert switching back to lead guitar. The group was managed by Russell Depeller, a friend of Hay, whom he met at La Trobe University. This line-up achieved national and international success during the early to mid-1980s.

In January 1983, they were the first Australian artists to have a simultaneous No. 1 album and No. 1 single on the United States Billboard charts: Business as Usual (released on 9 November 1981) and "Down Under" (1981), respectively. With the same works, they achieved the distinction of a simultaneous No. 1 album and No. 1 single on the Australian, New Zealand, and United Kingdom charts. Their second album Cargo (2 May 1983) was No. 1 in Australia, No. 2 in New Zealand, No. 3 in the US, and No. 8 in the UK. Their third album Two Hearts (3 April 1985) reached the top 20 in Australia and top 50 in the US.

They won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1983, they were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1994, and they have sold over 30 million albums worldwide. In May 2001, "Down Under" was listed at No. 4 on the APRA Top 30 Australian songs and Business as Usual appeared in the book 100 Best Australian Albums (October 2010).

In 1984, Speiser and Rees were asked to leave the group, leaving Hay, Ham, and Strykert as a trio, accompanied by session musicians. During the recording of the Two Hearts album, Strykert decided to leave. Soon after the 1985 release of Two Hearts, Ham left also, leaving Hay as the sole remaining member. Hay elected to work as a solo artist shortly thereafter in early 1986, and the Men at Work name was retired.

From 1996 until 2002, Hay and Ham revived the name and toured the world as Men at Work (accompanied by new group members). On 19 April 2012, Ham was found dead at his home from an apparent heart attack.

In 2019, Hay once again revived the Men at Work moniker and began touring with another new group of musicians. No other previous Men At Work members are involved in the current revival.

[Aberzombie]

Samuel Marshall Raimi (born October 23, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for writing and directing the Evil Dead trilogy (1981–1992) and directing the Spider-Man trilogy (2002–2007). He also directed Darkman (1990), The Quick and the Dead (1995), A Simple Plan (1998), The Gift (2000), Drag Me to Hell (2009), Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), Multiverse of Madness (2022).

His films are known for their highly dynamic visual style, inspired by comic books and slapstick comedy. He founded the production companies Renaissance Pictures in 1979 and Ghost House Pictures in 2002. Raimi has also produced several successful television series, including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995–1997), its spin-off Xena: Warrior Princess (1995–2001), and Ash vs Evil Dead (2015–2018) starring longtime friend and collaborator Bruce Campbell reprising his role in the Evil Dead franchise.

[Aberzombie]

PCU is a 1994 American comedy film written by Adam Leff and Zak Penn and directed by Hart Bochner about college life at the fictional Port Chester University, and represents "an exaggerated view of contemporary college life". The film is based on the experiences of Leff and Penn at Eclectic Society at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut.

[Aberzombie]

Grosse Pointe Blank is a 1997 American dark comedy film directed by George Armitage and written by Tom Jankiewicz, D. V. DeVincentis, Steve Pink, and John Cusack. Based on a story written by Jankiewicz, it follows a professional assassin who leaves Los Angeles to attend a high school reunion in his hometown of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, where he reconnects with the girlfriend he abandoned on prom night. The film stars Cusack, Minnie Driver, and Dan Aykroyd.

The score was composed by Joe Strummer, formerly of the Clash, and the soundtrack features punk rock, ska, and new wave songs by artists including The Clash, the Specials, and Echo & the Bunnymen. The soundtrack album peaked at number 31 on the Billboard 200 and later prompted a second volume. The film itself received positive reviews from critics and grossed $31 million on a $15 million budget.

[Aberzombie]

Vitruvius (c. 80–70 BC – after c. 15 BC) was a Roman architect and engineer during the 1st century BC, known for his multi-volume work titled De architectura. As the only treatise on architecture to survive from antiquity, it has been regarded since the Renaissance as the first book on architectural theory, as well as a major source on the canon of classical architecture. It is not clear to what extent his contemporaries regarded his book as original or important.

He states that all buildings should have three attributes: firmitas, utilitas, and venustas ("strength", "utility", and "beauty"), principles reflected in much Ancient Roman architecture. His discussion of perfect proportion in architecture and the human body led to the famous Renaissance drawing of the Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci.

Little is known about Vitruvius' life, but by his own description he served as an artilleryman, the third class of arms in the Roman military offices. He probably served as a senior officer of artillery in charge of doctores ballistarum (artillery experts) and libratores who actually operated the machines. As an army engineer he specialized in the construction of ballista and scorpio artillery war machines for sieges. It is possible that Vitruvius served with Julius Caesar's chief engineer Lucius Cornelius Balbus.

Vitruvius' De architectura was well-known and widely copied in the Middle Ages and survives in many dozens of manuscripts, though in 1414 it was "rediscovered" by the Florentine humanist Poggio Bracciolini in the library of Saint Gall Abbey. Leon Battista Alberti published it in his seminal treatise on architecture, De re aedificatoria (c. 1450). The first known Latin printed edition was by Fra Giovanni Sulpitius in Rome in 1486. Translations followed in Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, and several other languages. Though any original illustrations have been lost, the first illustrated edition was published in Venice in 1511 by Fra Giovanni Giocondo, with woodcut illustrations based on descriptions in the text. Bramante, Michelangelo, Palladio, Vignola and earlier architects are known to have studied the work of Vitruvius, and consequently it has had a significant impact on the architecture of many European countries.

[Aberzombie]

Something Wicked This Way Comes is a 1962 dark fantasy novel by Ray Bradbury, and the second book in his Green Town Trilogy. It is about two 13-year-old best friends, Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, and their nightmarish experience with a traveling carnival that comes to their Midwestern home, Green Town, Illinois, on October 24. In dealing with the creepy figures of this carnival, the boys learn how to combat fear. The carnival's leader is the mysterious "Mr. Dark", who seemingly wields the power to grant the townspeople's secret desires. In reality, Dark is a malevolent being who, like the carnival, lives off the life force of those it enslaves. Mr. Dark's presence is countered by that of Will's father, Charles Halloway, the janitor of the town library, who harbors his own secret fear of growing older because he feels he is too old to be Will's father.

The novel combines elements of fantasy and horror, analyzing the conflicting natures of good and evil that exist within all individuals. Unlike many of Bradbury's other novel-length works, such as Dandelion Wine and The Martian Chronicles, which are fix-ups, Something Wicked This Way Comes is a single, full-length narrative.

The title is taken from "By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes", a line said by the witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth.

[Aberzombie]

The Tragedy of Macbeth, often shortened to Macbeth, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatizes the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambitions and power. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy. Scholars believe Macbeth, of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of King James I, contains the most allusions to James, patron of Shakespeare's acting company.

In the play, a brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by his latent ambition and spurred to violence by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. Then, racked with guilt and paranoia, he commits further murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, becoming a tyrannical ruler in the process. The violence perpetrated by the power-hungry couple leads to their insanity and finally to their deaths.

Shakespeare's source for the story is the account of Macbeth, King of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth.

There was a stage superstition that the name of the play should not be spoken, and that it should instead be called "The Scottish Play". The play has attracted some of the most renowned actors to the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comics, and other media.

[David M Mallon]

The name of the American city of Chicago derives from the French chécagou, which is a transcription of the Miami-Illinois (Wabash) Native American word šikaakwa, meaning "skunk."

"Skunk" is derived from an unknown New England Algonquian word cognate with the Abenaki segôgw, originally transcribed into English as segonku.

Both šikaakwa and segôgw are derived from the Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa, meaning "animal that urinates" (from *šek-, "to urinate" and *-a·kw-, "bushy-tailed animal, fox"), making "Chicago" an etymological doublet of "skunk" in English.

[quibblemuch]

David M Mallon wrote:

The name of the American city of Chicago derives from the French chécagou, which is a transcription of the Miami-Illinois (Wabash) Native American word šikaakwa, meaning "skunk."

"Skunk" is derived from an unknown New England Algonquian word cognate with the Abenaki segôgw, originally transcribed into English as segonku.

Both šikaakwa and segôgw are derived from the Proto-Algonquian *šeka·kwa, meaning "animal that urinates" (from *šek-, "to urinate" and *-a·kw-, "bushy-tailed animal, fox"), making "Chicago" an etymological doublet of "skunk" in English.

"We're not worthy! We're not worthy!"

[Aberzombie]

Drew Struzan (March 18, 1947 – October 13, 2025) was an American artist, illustrator, and cover designer. He was known for his more than 150 film posters, which include The Shawshank Redemption, Blade Runner, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, as well as films in the Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Harry Potter, and Star Wars film series. He also painted album covers, collectibles, and book covers.

Struzan was known for his airbrushed one-sheets technique when designing film posters. He began using this process early in his career when he designed posters for B movies. The technique was well received by such film directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, both frequent collaborators.

During his career, he was awarded a Saturn Award in 2002 and an Inkpot Award in 2010. He received several lifetime achievement honors such as the 2014 Saul Bass Award, the 2016 Sergio Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Comic Art Professional Society (CAPS) and was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 2020.

[Aberzombie]

Jethro Tull are a British rock band formed in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1967. Emerging from the 1960s British blues scene, the band soon developed a distinctive progressive rock sound, blending hard rock, English folk music and classical music, while undergoing numerous stylistic shifts throughout its history. The band was founded and has been continuously led by Ian Anderson, its principal composer, lead vocalist and a multi-instrumentalist best known for his flute playing. The group has featured a succession of musicians throughout its history, including significant contributors such as long-time guitarist Martin Barre, bassists Glenn Cornick, Jeffrey Hammond, John Glascock and Dave Pegg; drummers Clive Bunker, Barrie "Barriemore" Barlow and Doane Perry; and keyboardists John Evan, Dee Palmer and Peter-John Vettese.

After gaining attention on the London club circuit, Jethro Tull released their debut album This Was in 1968. After a key lineup change which saw original guitarist Mick Abrahams replaced by Barre, the band achieved their first major success the following year with their folk-influenced second album Stand Up, which reached No. 1 in the UK. One year after the release of the Benefit album, Aqualung (1971) marked the band's international breakthrough and became their most commercially successful album, while subsequent releases such as Thick as a Brick (1972) fully established their progressive rock identity. Throughout the 1970s the band maintained an intense schedule of touring and recording, releasing one studio album every year and expanding their musical scope through concept albums and increasingly complex arrangements. In the late 1970s the band shifted towards folk rock, before a major lineup change led to a period influenced by electronic rock in the early 1980s. The band returned to a hard rock sound with Crest of a Knave (1987), which earned them their only Grammy Award, and explored world music influences in the 1990s. Jethro Tull have sold an estimated 60 million albums worldwide, with 11 gold and 5 platinum albums. They have been described by Rolling Stone as "one of the most commercially successful and eccentric progressive rock bands."

The band ceased studio recording activity in the 2000s, but continued to tour until disbanding in 2011. Following the band's split, Anderson and Barre both pursued separate solo careers, with Anderson's band billed variously as both "Jethro Tull" and "Ian Anderson" solo. From 2017 onward, Anderson revived the Jethro Tull name and returned to releasing new studio albums in the 2020s, presenting the group as a continuation of the band under his sole leadership rather than as a reunion of past lineups.

[Aberzombie]

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, consisting of Anthony Kiedis (vocals), Flea (bass), John Frusciante (guitar), and Chad Smith (drums). Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk, punk rock, hard rock, hip hop, and psychedelic rock, and have influenced genres including funk metal, rap metal, rap rock, and nu metal. With over 120 million records sold worldwide, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of the top-selling bands of all time. They hold the records for most number-one singles on the American Alternative Songs charts (15), most cumulative weeks at number one (91), and most top-ten songs on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart (28). They have won three Grammy Awards, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, and in 2022 received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers were formed in Los Angeles by Kiedis, Flea, the guitarist Hillel Slovak, and the drummer Jack Irons. Due to commitments to other bands, Slovak and Irons did not play on their 1984 self-titled debut album, which instead featured the guitarist Jack Sherman and the drummer Cliff Martinez. Slovak rejoined for their second album, Freaky Styley (1985), and Irons for their third, The Uplift Mofo Party Plan (1987). Irons left after Slovak died of a drug overdose in June 1988.

With Frusciante and Smith, the Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded Mother's Milk (1989) and their first major commercial success, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991). Frusciante was uncomfortable with their newfound popularity and left abruptly on tour in 1992. After a series of temporary guitarists, he was replaced by Dave Navarro. Their next album, One Hot Minute (1995), failed to match the success of Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Frusciante and Kiedis struggled with drug addiction throughout the 1990s.

In 1998, Navarro departed and Frusciante rejoined the band. Their seventh album, Californication (1999), became their biggest commercial success, with 16 million copies sold worldwide. By the Way (2002) and Stadium Arcadium (2006) were also successful; Stadium Arcadium was their first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 chart. Frusciante left again in 2009 to focus on his solo career; he was replaced by Josh Klinghoffer, who appeared on I'm with You (2011) and The Getaway (2016), before Frusciante rejoined in 2019. The Chili Peppers released their 12th and 13th albums, Unlimited Love and Return of the Dream Canteen, in 2022.

[David M Mallon]

The English word gossip, meaning "one who likes to talk about other people's private or personal business; idle conversation; idle talk about someone’s private or personal matters," derives from the Middle godsib, meaning "close friend; companion; confidant." Godsib itself is derived from the Old English godsibb, meaning "sponsor; godparent" (from OE gōd "good," and sibb "relationship").

[David M Mallon]

"Blighty" is a British English slang term for Great Britain, or often specifically England. Though it was used throughout the 1800s in the Indian subcontinent to mean an English or British visitor, it was first used during the Boer War in the specific meaning of homeland for the English or the British. From World War I and afterward, that use of the term became widespread.

The word ultimately derives from the Persian word viletī, (from a regional Hindustani language with the use of b replacing v) meaning 'foreign', which more specifically came to mean 'European', and 'British; English' during the time of the British Raj. The Bengali word biletī is a loan of Indian Persian vilāyatī (ولایاتی), from vilāyat (ولایت) meaning 'Iran' and later 'Europe' or 'Britain', ultimately from Arabic wilāyah (ولاية‎) meaning 'state, province'.

[Aberzombie]

No Escape, released in some countries as Escape from Absolom and Absolom 2022, is a 1994 American science fiction action film directed by Martin Campbell. It stars Ray Liotta, Lance Henriksen, Stuart Wilson, Kevin Dillon, Michael Lerner and Ernie Hudson. It was based on the 1987 novel The Penal Colony by Richard Herley. In a dystopian future, a former Reconnaissance Marine serves life imprisonment on an island inhabited by savage and cannibalistic prisoners.

It was the first film collaboration between the director Martin Campbell and actor Stuart Wilson, who both later worked on The Mask of Zorro and Vertical Limit, released in 1998 and 2000, and the film was also the third collaboration between the producer Gale Anne Hurd and Henriksen, after The Terminator and Aliens, both directed by James Cameron, and released in 1984 and 1986.

[quibblemuch]

On this day in 1985 the mayors of Rome and Carthage signed a peace treaty officially ending the Third Punic War.

(As an aside, by weird chance of life coincidence, I was in Carthage at the time... so when my friends start complaining about being old I tell them: "Pfft. Shut it! I was there when the Punic Wars ended, you juvenis flagellatorlutjanus!")

[Aberzombie]

Ellen Burstyn suffered a permanent spinal injury during filming of The Exorcist. In the scene where she is thrown to the ground by her possessed daughter, a harness connected to a rope was used to jerk her away from the bed. Director William Friedkin didn't think the first attempt looked convincing enough and the scarf Burstyn was wearing had also accidentally covered her face, so he wanted to do another take. Although Burstyn asked the crew not to jerk her away any harder, Friedkin advised them to do just that. Upon the second take, she was pulled so violently and landed so hard that she fractured her coccyx and screamed in pain (you can also see her reaching for her back in reflex). Ironically, Linda Blair's back was also permanently injured in another scene. This was the footage used in the film.