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He then learns that many of the team's baseballs have ended up in Mr. Mertle's junkyard over the sandlot's back fence, which is protected by a giant dog known as "The Beast", who had allegedly eaten a kid foolish enough to enter it. One day, when Benny hits the hide off of the team's last ball, Smalls substitutes one from his stepfather's prized collection. When this ball is also lost over the fence, Smalls reveals that the ball is special. To the team's horror, they learn the ball has Babe Ruth's autograph, making it valuable--something Smalls didn't know when he took it. The team constructs a progressively complex series of machines to recover it remotely, but each attempt ends in failure and the ball itself grows increasingly damaged due to attention from the Beast.
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While Smalls prepares to face certain discipline from his stepfather for the loss of the signed baseball, Benny has a dream where Babe Ruth encourages him to follow his heart. Inspired by his idol, Benny climbs the fence the next day, resolving to retrieve the ball himself, but he is confronted by the Beast, a large English Mastiff. After recovering the ball, he leads the Beast on a lengthy chase around the neighborhood, which ends with the sandlot fence's collapse, which pins the dog. Overcoming their fear of the dog, Smalls and Benny free the Beast and return the dog to its owner, Mr. Mertle, who reveals that he wasn't the kind of person the team thought he was. Understanding Smalls' predicament with the now-damaged ball, Mr. Mertle reveals himself as a retired Negro League baseball player who knew Babe Ruth personally, and offers him another baseball signed by the entire 1927 Yankees team, including Ruth. Smalls presents the baseball signed by the Murderers' Row to his stepfather,
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who is impressed by the replacement but still angry that he stole the first ball. Smalls doesn't feel too bad when Bill only grounds him for a week, instead of the rest of his life, and things work out between the two.
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The sandlot kids continue playing baseball over the summers, joined by the Beast, now known by his real name of Hercules, as the team's mascot.
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The kids eventually grow up. Yeah-Yeah is shipped off to military school, Bertram gets really into the 60's and is never seen again, Timmy and Tommy become an architect and a contractor, Squints marries Wendy the lifeguard, has 9 kids with her and becomes the owner of the town's drugstore, Ham becomes a professional wrestler known as "The Great Hambino", Kenny goes on to play Triple-A (baseball) but doesn't make it to the major leagues and Benny is revealed to have become a star MLB player (earning the nickname "The Jet"), while Smalls has become a sports announcer. The movie ends with Benny running fast, stealing home plate and winning the pennant for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The crowd cheers. Benny looks up at Smalls in the announcer box and gives him the thumbs up and Smalls gives Kenny the thumbs up, too. Smalls smiles and looks at the photo on the wall of him and the gang standing in the Sandlot together.
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FBI trainee Clarice Starling is pulled from her training at the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia by Jack Crawford of the Bureau's Behavioral Science Unit. He assigns her to interview Hannibal Lecter, a former psychiatrist and incarcerated cannibalistic serial killer, whose insight might prove useful in the pursuit of a serial killer nicknamed "Buffalo Bill", who skins his female victims' corpses.
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Starling travels to the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, where she is led by Frederick Chilton to Lecter's solitary quarters. Although initially pleasant and courteous, Lecter grows impatient with Starling's attempts at "dissecting" him and rebuffs her. As she is leaving, one of the prisoners flicks semen at her. Lecter, who considers this act "unspeakably ugly", calls Starling back and tells her to seek out an old patient of his. This leads her to a storage shed where she discovers a man's severed head with a sphinx moth lodged in its throat. She returns to Lecter, who tells her that the man is linked to Buffalo Bill. He offers to profile Buffalo Bill on the condition that he be transferred away from Chilton, whom he detests.
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Buffalo Bill abducts a U.S. Senator's daughter, Catherine Martin. Crawford authorizes Starling to offer Lecter a fake deal promising a prison transfer if he provides information that helps them find Buffalo Bill and rescue Catherine. Instead, Lecter demands a quid pro quo from Starling, offering clues about Buffalo Bill in exchange for personal information. Starling tells Lecter about the murder of her father when she was ten years old. Chilton secretly records the conversation and reveals Starling's deceit before offering Lecter a deal of Chilton's own making. Lecter agrees and is flown to Memphis, Tennessee, where he verbally torments Senator Ruth Martin and gives her misleading information on Buffalo Bill, including the name "Louis Friend".
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Starling notices that "Louis Friend" is an anagram of "iron sulfide" — fool's gold. She visits Lecter, who is now being held in a cage-like cell in a Tennessee courthouse, and asks for the truth. Lecter tells her that all the information she needs is contained in the case file. Rather than give her the real name, he insists that they continue their quid pro quo and she recounts a traumatic childhood incident where she was awakened by the sound of spring lambs being slaughtered on a relative's farm in Montana. Starling admits that she still sometimes wakes thinking she can hear lambs screaming, and Lecter speculates that she is motivated to save Catherine in the hope that it will end the nightmares. Lecter gives her back the case files on Buffalo Bill after their conversation is interrupted by Chilton and the police, who escort her from the building. Later that evening, Lecter kills his guards, escapes from his cell and disappears.
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Starling analyzes Lecter's annotations to the case files and realizes that Buffalo Bill knew his first victim personally. Starling travels to the victim's hometown and discovers that Buffalo Bill was a tailor, with dresses and dress patterns identical to the patches of skin removed from each of his victims. She telephones Crawford to inform him that Buffalo Bill is trying to fashion a "woman suit" of real skin, but Crawford is already en route to make an arrest, having cross-referenced Lecter's notes with hospital archives and finding a man named Jame Gumb, who once applied unsuccessfully for a sex-change operation. Starling continues interviewing friends of Buffalo Bill's first victim in Ohio while Crawford leads an F.B.I. tactical team to Gumb's address in Illinois. The house in Illinois is empty, and Starling is led to the house of "Jack Gordon", who she realizes is actually Jame Gumb, again by finding a sphinx moth. She pursues him into his multi-room basement, where she discovers
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that Catherine is still alive, but trapped in a dry well. After turning off the basement lights, Gumb stalks Starling in the dark with night-vision goggles, but gives his position away when he cocks his revolver. Starling reacts just in time and fires all of her rounds at Gumb, killing him.
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Some time later, at her FBI Academy graduation party, Starling receives a phone call from Lecter, who is at an airport in Bimini. He assures her that he does not plan to pursue her and asks her to return the favor, which she says she cannot do. Lecter then hangs up the phone, saying that he is "having an old friend for dinner", and starts following a newly arrived Chilton before disappearing into the crowd.
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The film opens with on-screen text stating: "A true story". It is August 1941, and Nazi Einsatz-Gruppen (task forces) are sweeping through Eastern Europe, systematically killing Jews. Among the survivors not killed or restricted to ghettoes are the Polish Jewish Bielski brothers: Tuvia (Daniel Craig), Zus (Liev Schreiber), Asael (Jamie Bell) and Aron (George MacKay). Their parents are dead, slain by the local police under orders from the occupying Germans. The brothers flee to the Naliboki Forest, vowing to avenge their parents.
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They encounter other Jewish escapees hiding in the forest, and the brothers take them under their protection and leadership. Over the next year, they shelter a growing number of refugees, raiding local farms for food and supplies and moving their camp whenever they are discovered by the collaborating police. Tuvia kills the local Auxiliary Police chief responsible for his parents' deaths, and the brothers stage raids on the Germans and their collaborators. However, Jewish casualties cause Tuvia to reconsider this approach because of the resulting risk to the hiding Jews. A long-time sibling rivalry between the two eldest brothers, Tuvia and Zus, fuels a disagreement between them about their future: as winter approaches, Zus elects to leave his brothers and the camp and join a local company of Soviet partisans, while his older brother Tuvia remains with the camp as their leader. An arrangement is made between the two groups in which the Soviet partisans agree to protect the Jewish camp
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in exchange for supplies.
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After a winter of sickness, starvation, attempted betrayal, and constant hiding, the camp learns that the Germans are about to attack them in force. The Soviets refuse to help them, and they evacuate the camp as German dive-bombers strike. A delaying force stays behind, led by Asael, to slow down the German ground troops. The defense does not last long; only Asael and a camp member named Sofiya survive to rejoin the rest of the group, who, at the edge of the forest, are confronted with a seemingly impassable marsh. They cross the marsh with only one casualty, but are immediately attacked by a German platoon supported by a Panzer III infantry tank. Just as all seems lost, the Germans are assaulted from the rear by a partisan force led by Zus, which has apparently deserted the Soviet retreat to rejoin the group.
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As the survivors escape into the forest, the film ends as on-screen text states that they lived in the forest for another two years, building a hospital, a nursery and a school, and ultimately growing to a total of 1,200 Jews. Original photographs of the real-life characters are shown, including Tuvia in his Polish Army uniform, and their ultimate fates are shared: Asael joined the Soviet Army and was soon killed in action, never getting to see the child he fathered; and Tuvia, Zus and Aron survived the war and emigrated to America to form a successful trucking firm in New York City. The epilogue also states that the Bielski brothers never sought recognition for what they did, and that the descendants of the people they saved now number in the tens of thousands.
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The eponymous heroine, Isabel Thorne, is a young woman, half British, half Italian, who works for the Italian Secret Service. She has been commissioned to bring about the signing of a secret contract, in the capital of the enemy, by representatives of all countries involved, both European and American. Her brother, an inventor, has devised a secret weapon by which missiles can be fired from submarines (see also depth charge) which will, it is hoped, secure military domination over the rest of the world. Members of the U.S. Secret Service, who have been alerted, are assigned to prevent the signing of this "Latin compact" and bring to justice those involved who have no diplomatic immunity. One young representative named Grimm, however, although absolutely loyal to his government, falls in love with the beautiful foreign agent, Thorne.
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In the end Thorne, who reciprocates her admirer's love, becomes estranged from her employer, the Italian government, because she does not want Grimm, who has been captured by the conspirators and knows all their secrets, to be murdered. Stripped of all her power and possessions, she unites with him at the end of the novel, no longer elusive. A trivial novel in its time, Elusive Isabel is now in the public domain.
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The play begins in front of the palace of Thebes, with Dionysus telling the story of his origin and his reasons for visiting the city. Dionysus explains that he was born prematurely, when Hera made Zeus send down a lightning bolt, killing the pregnant Semele and causing the birth. Some in Thebes, he notes, don’t believe this story. In fact, Semele’s sisters — Autonoe, Agave, and Ino – claim it is a lie intended to cover up the fact that Semele became pregnant by some mortal; they say Zeus' lightning was a punishment for the lie. Dionysus reveals that he has driven the women of the city mad, including his three aunts, and has led them into the mountains to observe his ritual festivities. He explains that while he is appearing, at the moment, disguised as a mortal, he will vindicate his mother by appearing before all of Thebes as a god, the son of Zeus, and establishing his permanent cult of followers.
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Dionysus exits to go into the mountains, and the chorus enters. They dance and sing, celebrating Dionysus and adding details of his birth and the Dionysian rites. Then Tiresias, the blind and elderly seer, appears. He knocks on the palace doors and calls for Cadmus, the founder and former king of Thebes. The two venerable old men are planning to join the revelry in the mountains when Cadmus’ grandson Pentheus, the current king, enters. Disgusted to find the two old men in festival dress, he scolds them and orders his soldiers to arrest anyone engaging in Dionysian worship. He wants the "foreigner", whom he doesn't recognize as Dionysus in disguise, to be captured. Pentheus intends to have him stoned to death.
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The guards soon return with Dionysus himself. His hands are bound, and he is disguised as a priest and the leader of the Asian Maenads. Pentheus questions him, his words showing both his skepticism and his interest in the Dionysian rites. Dionysus' answers keep the meaning hidden, only hinting at the truth Pentheus cannot see. Infuriated, Pentheus has him taken away in chains and locked up in his stable, where the guards attach the other end of their prisoner's chains to the hooves of an angry bull. Dionysus, being a god and powerful, breaks free and creates more havoc, razing the palace with an earthquake and fire. Dionysus is confronting Pentheus, when a herdsman arrives from the top of Mount Cithaeron, where he had been herding his grazing cattle. He reports that he found women on the mountain behaving strangely. First, some were sleeping quietly, or drinking wine while listening to flute music. Some were going into the woods "in pursuit of love". Some women were putting snakes in
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their hair, some were suckling wild wolves and gazelles. Some caused water, wine or milk to spring up from the ground. One woman had honey oozing from her thyrsus. The herdsmen and the shepherds made a plan to capture one particular celebrant, Pentheus' mother. But when they jumped out of hiding to grab her, the tables were turned, and the women pursued the men. The men escaped, but their cattle were not so fortunate, as the women fell upon the animals, ripping them to shreds with their bare hands. The women carried on, plundering two villages that were further down the mountain, stealing bronze, iron and even babies. When villagers attempted to fight back, the women drove them off using only their ceremonial staffs of fennel. They then returned to the mountain top and washed up, as snakes licked them clean.
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Dionysus, still in disguise, persuades Pentheus to forgo his plan to defeat and massacre the women with an armed force. He says it would first be better to spy on them, while disguised as a female Maenad to avoid detection. Dionysus dresses Pentheus as a woman, giving him a thyrsus and fawn skins, and leads him out of the house. At this point, Pentheus appears not wholly sane, as he thinks he sees two suns in the sky, and believes he now has the strength to rip up mountains with his bare hands. He has also begun to see through Dionysus' mortal disguise, perceiving horns coming out of the god's head. They exit.
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A messenger arrives to report that once they reached Mount Cithaeron, Pentheus wanted to climb an evergreen tree to get a better view and the stranger used divine power to bend down the tall tree and place the king in its highest branches. Then Dionysus, revealing himself, called out to his followers and pointed out the man in the tree. This drove the Maenads wild. Led by Agave, his mother, they forced the trapped Pentheus down from the tree top, ripped off his limbs, his head, and tore his body into pieces.
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After the messenger has relayed this news, Agave arrives, carrying her son's head. In her possessed state, she believes it is the head of a mountain lion. She proudly displays it to her father, Cadmus, and is confused when he does not delight in her trophy, and his face instead contorts in horror. Agave then calls out for Pentheus to come marvel at her feat, and nail the head above her door so she can show it to all of Thebes. But Dionysus' possession begins to wear off, and Cadmus forces her to recognize what she's done. As the play ends, the corpse of Pentheus is reassembled, as well as is possible, the royal family is devastated and destroyed. Agave and her sisters are sent into exile, and Dionysus decrees that Cadmus and his wife Harmonia will be turned into snakes and lead a barbarian horde to plunder the cities of Hellas.
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Barry Egan is a single man who owns a company that markets themed toilet plungers and other novelty items. He has seven overbearing sisters who ridicule and emotionally abuse him regularly and leads a lonely life punctuated by fits of rage and anguish. In the span of one morning, he witnesses an inexplicable car accident, picks up an abandoned harmonium from the street, and encounters Lena Leonard, a coworker of his sister's, Lena having orchestrated this meeting after seeing him in a family picture belonging to his sister Elizabeth.
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Coping with his loneliness, Barry calls a phone-sex line, but the operator attempts to extort money and sends her four henchmen, who are brothers, to collect. This complicates his budding relationship with Lena, as well as his plan to exploit a loophole in a Healthy Choice promotion and amass a million frequent flyer miles by buying large quantities of pudding. After Lena leaves for Hawaii on a business trip, Barry decides to follow her. He arrives and calls one of his manipulative sisters to learn where Lena is staying. When his sister starts abusing him again, Barry snaps and demands she give him the information, which she does. Lena is overjoyed to see Barry, and they later have sex. At first, Barry explains that he is in Hawaii on a business trip by coincidence, but he soon admits that he came only for her. The romance develops further, and Barry finally feels some relief from the emotional isolation he has endured.
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After they return home, the four brothers ram their car into Barry's, leaving Lena mildly injured. With his new-found freedom from loneliness in jeopardy, a surprisingly aggressive and poised Barry adeptly fights off all four of the goons in a matter of seconds, using a tire iron as a weapon. Suspecting that Lena will leave him if she finds out about the phone-sex fiasco, Barry leaves Lena at the hospital and tries to end the harassment by calling the phone-sex line back and speaking to the "supervisor", who turns out to be Dean Trumbell, who is also the owner of a mattress store. Barry travels to the mattress store in Provo, Utah, to confront Dean face to face. Dean, at first trying to intimidate Barry, finds Barry much more intimidating and Barry compels Dean to leave him alone.
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Barry decides to tell Lena about his phone-sex episode and begs her for forgiveness, pledging his loyalty and to use his frequent-flier miles to accompany her on all future business trips. She readily agrees, and they embrace happily. Lena approaches Barry in his office while he plays the harmonium. She puts her arms around him and says, "So, here we go."
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Worms are found in many places, from the forest floor to mountains, and in many locations around the world. Though they are considered terrestrial animals, they are really semi-aquatic, like other annelids; they die quickly in air but survive for months in water. Though inactive during the day, they sometimes come out of their burrows at night. They are eaten by thrushes and other birds in large numbers because they lie close to the surface. They have well developed muscular, nervous, circulatory and digestive systems, the latter being quite unique. Though eyeless, they respond to the intensity and duration of light. They also slowly respond to temperature. They have no hearing, but are sensitive to vibrations. Their sense of smell is feeble, but they are able to find their preferred foods. Omnivorous animals, they swallow much earth and extract food from it. Worms live chiefly on half decayed leaves, partially digested by a pancreatic solution before ingestion. This extra-stomachal
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digestion is not unlike that which Darwin had previously described as occurring in Insectivorous Plants. The structure and physiology of the calciferous glands of earthworms are described. Many hypotheses had been advanced for their function; Darwin believed them to be primarily for excretion and secondarily a digestion aid.
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Thin leaves are seized with the mouth, while thick ones are dragged by creating a vacuum. Leaves and stones are used to plug up the burrow. This may deter predators, keep out water and/or keep out chilled air (the latter is Darwin's preferred function). Leaves are dragged in mostly by the tips, which is the easiest way of doing it, but when the base is narrower the worms change behaviour. They drag pine needle clusters in by the base. Petioles are used to plug up burrows, and for food. Worms drag experimental triangles of paper by the apex most of the time, and do not rely on trial and error. Worms excavate burrows by consuming material or, preferably, pushing it away. They mainly consume soil for nutrients. They are found down to six or more feet, especially in extreme conditions. Burrows are lined, which serve several functions, and terminate in a chamber lined with stones or seeds. Worms are found all over the planet, some on isolated islands; how they got there is a mystery.
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Darwin draws on correspondence with people from around the world such as Fritz M端ller in Brazil.
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The amount of earth brought to the surface by worms can be estimated by the rate at which objects on the surface are buried and by weighing the earth brought up in a given time. Information from farmers on marl, cinders etc. sinking into the ground allowed Darwin to make calculations. He conducted a 29-year experiment on chalk at a field near his house. Objects of all sorts "work themselves downards" as farmers say. Large stones sink because worms fill up any hollows with castings, then eject them beyond the perimeter and the ground around them starts to rise. He visited Stonehenge and found some outer stones partly buried, the turf sloping up to meet them (see figure 7). Darwin weighed castings and had friends do so in other countries. He also weighed castings per unit area per year, then worked out how thick a layer castings would make, compared with rates of sinking. Additionally, he worked out casting weight per worm per year.
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Worms have preserved many ancient objects under the ground. Darwin describes an ancient Roman villa in Abinger, Surrey. Worms have penetrated the concrete walls and even mortar. Similar subsidence occurred at Beaulieu Abbey, Hampshire, with worms penetrating gaps between the tiles. His sons Francis and Horace visited Chedworth Roman Villa in Gloucestershire, while William reported on Brading Roman Villa, Isle of Wight. Darwin goes into some detail on the well preserved ruins of Silchester Roman Town, Hampshire, with the help of the Rev. J. G. Joyce. Finally he discusses the case of the Viroconium Roman town ruins at Wroxeter, Shropshire, with the help of Dr. H. Johnson, who made observations including depth of vegetable mould. He concludes that both worms and other causes, such as dust deposition and washing down of soil, have buried such ruins.
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Denudation (removal of matter to a lower level) is caused mainly by air and water movement. Humic acids generated by worms disintegrate rock; their burrowing behaviour speeds this up. But as the soil layer thickens, this process is slowed down. Worms swallow hard objects (e.g. stones) to aid digestion, which causes attrition to such objects. This has geological significance, especially for the smaller particles which otherwise are eroded very slowly.
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Rain causes castings to move down an incline; Darwin worked out the weight moving a certain distance in a given time. Some also roll down, and collect in drains etc., or get blown. There is a greater effect on casting movement in the tropics, because of increased rain. The finest earth is washed away. Ledges on hillsides, formerly believed to be caused by grazing mammals, are partly due to casting accumulations. High winds, especially gales, are almost as effective as the slope/rain in moving castings. Crowns and furrows of formerly ploughed lands slowly vanish when under pasture, due to worms, but more slowly when there is no incline. Fine earth is washed down from slopes, making a shallow layer. Dissolving of chalk supplies new earth.
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Darwin writes in the conclusion that worms "have played a more important part in the history of the world than most persons would at first suppose." They are important for many reasons, including their role in decomposition of rocks, gradual denudation of the land, preservation of archaeological remains, and improving soil conditions for plant growth. Despite their rudimentary sense organs, they show complex, flexible behaviour.
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Career criminals Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) and his crew; Chris Shiherlis, Michael Cheritto, and Trejo, hire Waingro to help them rob $1.6 million in bearer bonds from an armored car. During the heist, Waingro impulsively kills a guard, infuritating McCauley. As the team attempts to kill Waingro, he escapes. McCauley's fence, Nate, suggests he sell the stolen bonds back to their original owner, money launderer Roger Van Zant. Van Zant agrees, but instructs his men to ambush McCauley at the meeting. McCauley survives the ambush and vows revenge against Van Zant.
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LAPD Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino), working with Sergeant Drucker and Detectives Sammy Casals, Mike Bosko and Danny Schwartz, investigate the heist and identify McCauley's crew as the perpetrators. They discover their next target to be a precious metals depository. The unit stakes out the depository and observe the crime in progress, but inadvertently alert McCauley to their presence. McCauley abandons the burglary. Hanna, dissatisfied with the lack of evidence, lets McCauley's crew escape. Despite the increased police surveillance, McCauley's crew agrees to one last brazen bank robbery worth $12 million to secure their financial futures. Waingro approaches Van Zant with information about eliminating McCauley's crew. McCauley starts a relationship with Eady (Amy Brenneman), a designer he meets in a cafe. Hanna moves into a hotel after learning his wife Justine (Diane Venora) is having an affair.
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Hanna pulls over McCauley on the freeway and invites him to coffee. Face-to-face, the aging professionals bond over their personal problems; Hanna's concern for his depressed stepdaughter Lauren and his string of failed marriages due to work, and McCauley's solitary life of a career criminal which, forbidding attachment and requiring mobility, makes his romantic relationships tenuous. Both men reaffirm their commitment to their work and to using lethal force if necessary to stop the other. After coffee, Hanna discovers that McCauley's crew have evaded their surveillance. When Trejo withdraws from the robbery, McCauley recruits ex-convict Donald Breedan (Dennis Haysbert) into the crew. Hanna's unit receives a confidential tip and interrupt McCauley's crew in the middle of their bank robbery. In the ensuing gunfight, several police officers, including Bosko, are killed, while McCauley's crew loses Breedan and Cheritto. Shiherlis is wounded, but escapes with McCauley.
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McCauley leaves Shiherlis with a doctor to treat his wounds. He breaks into Trejo's house to find Trejo near death. Trejo reveals that Waingro alerted Van Zant to their bank robbery, who subsequently informed the police. McCauley finishes off Trejo at his own request, then kills Van Zant at his home. McCauley approaches Eady, who has accepted his criminal activities, with a plan to flee to New Zealand. Hanna orders police surveillance on Waingro and leaks his location to criminal channels, suspecting McCauley will attempt to kill him before leaving town. Shiherlis' estranged wife Charlene is detained in a police safehouse, where Drucker threatens her with criminal charges if she doesn't betray Shiherlis to police. Charlene agrees, but when Shiherlis shows up in disguise, she surreptitiously warns him, allowing Shiherlis to slip through the dragnet.
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Hanna finds Lauren unconscious in his hotel room from a suicide attempt and rushes her to the hospital. McCauley and Eady drive to the airport when he receives word of Waingro's location at a nearby hotel. Initially dismissive, McCauley decides to risk his freedom for revenge. He infiltrates the hotel, pulling a fire alarm to distract security and confronts Waingro before killing him. Moments away from escape, he notices Hanna approaching through the crowds and is forced to abandon Eady for his freedom. Hanna chases McCauley into a field outside the LAX freight terminal. In the cat-and-mouse shootout, McCauley is exposed, and Hanna mortally wounds him. Near death, McCauley offers his hand to Hanna, who takes it, and reverently watches his adversary die.
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The novel begins with an unnamed narrator's arrival in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, from back East and his encounter with an impressively tall and handsome stranger. The stranger proves adept at roping horses, as well as facing down a gambler, Trampas, who calls him a sonofabitch. (At the time, the word was an unacceptable insult in any society, except between joking friends.) The stranger lays a pistol on the table and gently threatens "When you call me that, smile!". Known only as the Virginian, the stranger turns out to be the narrator's escort to Judge Henry's ranch in Sunk Creek, Wyoming. As the two travel the 263 miles to the ranch, the narrator, nicknamed the "tenderfoot" and the Virginian begin to come to know one another as the Tenderfoot slowly begins to understand the nature of life in the West, which is very different from what he expected. This meeting is the beginning of a lifelong friendship and the starting point of the narrator's recounting of key episodes in the life of
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the Virginian.
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The novel revolves around the Virginian and the life he lives. As well as describing the Virginian's conflict with his enemy, Trampas, and his romance with the pretty schoolteacher, Molly Stark Wood, Wister weaves a tale of action, violence, hate, revenge, love, and friendship. In one scene, the Virginian is forced to participate in the hanging of an admitted cattle thief, who had been his close friend. The hanging is represented as a necessary response to the government's corruption and lack of action, but the Virginian feels it to be a horrible duty. He is especially stricken by the bravery with which the thief faces his fate, and the heavy burden that the act places on his heart forms the emotional core of the story.
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A fatal shootout resolves the ongoing conflict with Trampas, after five years of hate. After Trampas shoots first in a duel, The Virginian shoots Trampas (in self defense) and leaves to marry his young bride. The Virginian and Molly ride off together to spend a month in the mountains and then journey back East to Vermont to meet her family. They were received a bit stiffly by the immediate Wood family, but warmly by Molly's great-aunt. The new couple return to Wyoming and the Virginian is made a partner of Judge Henry's ranch. The book ends noting that the Virginian became an important man in the territory with a happy family.
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In 1908 Owen Wister defends the actual Virginian "Charles D Skirden" who at this point is a police officer in Philadelphia, PA. Charles Skirden is accused of murder of John Bradley, a member of the Shamokin Street Gang in November 1908. Bradley is the son of James Bradley and Letitia Gallagher (Daughter of Squire Patrick Gallagher) He is arrested at the family's behest, but Owen Wister and others come to Skirden's aid. Afterwards Charles Skirden, in 1911 takes charge of a game preserve in Long Island.
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While playing the trumpet in a burning room, the protagonist's voice is heard in narration. His story begins with him posing as "Danny Parker", a speed freak addicted to methamphetamine, who hangs out with friends while indulging in drugs. He also moonlights as an informant for two corrupt cops, Gus Morgan (Doug Hutchison) and Al Garcetti (Anthony LaPaglia). He is trying to set up a large meth score with notorious drug dealer Pooh Bear (D'Onofrio), an eccentric psychopath who lost his nose to excessive snorting of "Gak" (meth), while also attempting to set up a sting operation for Morgan and Garcetti. When he returns home, Danny sheds his clothes and his personality, and basks in his past life as trumpet player "Tom Van Allen". He reveals to an abused neighbor named Colette (Deborah Kara Unger) that he was once happily married, only to watch as his wife was gunned down by masked thieves during a stopover at the Salton Sea.
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When meeting with Pooh Bear, Danny becomes fearful of Pooh Bear's displays of bizarre homicidal behavior, so he tapes a gun to the bottom of a table. Danny's parents-in-law track him down, believing he has sunk into depression after his wife's death, but he tells them he doesn't want their help. As the deal approaches, it becomes known that Danny is not only working for the police but FBI agents working to take down Morgan and Garcetti, who have committed multiple murders. It is also revealed that they were the men who killed his wife and wounded him as they robbed a drug dealer. Danny had started his own investigation when he found out who Morgan was and delved into the drug underworld to become a believable junkie.
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On the night of the deal, Danny, with the help of his best friend Jimmy (Peter Sarsgaard), leads the FBI to the wrong location. Meanwhile, Danny arrives at Pooh Bear's house. At the dinner table, surrounded by Pooh Bear's armed friends, tensions rise and one of Pooh Bear's men tries to kill Danny, who retrieves the gun he stashed earlier and shoots the rest of the gang. Shot in the chest by Pooh Bear, Danny collapses to the floor.
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Pooh Bear, wounded in the leg, goes to take a shot of meth while mumbling incoherently. Morgan and Garcetti arrive, find the massacre, and Garcetti kills Pooh Bear, whose drug-filled hypo drops to the floor. Garcetti is then killed by Danny, whose life was saved by a bulletproof vest. Morgan is shot twice by Danny, who reveals to Morgan that he knows he murdered his wife. Morgan manages to snatch Danny's gun away, but finds it empty. Danny finds Pooh Bear's syringe on the floor and plunges it into Morgan's neck, then picks up a pistol and briefly contemplates suicide, but then shoots Morgan several times and flees.
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Back in his apartment, he dons his Tom Van Allen identity again, but is shot by Colette's "boyfriend" (Luis Guzman), who is in fact an agent tasked with exacting vengeance for the Mexicali Boys, a leader of whom Danny turned in to the police before the events of the film's present day timeline. Collette says she was forced to betray Danny because her daughter was being held hostage. The room catches fire, and Danny plays one more tune on his trumpet before passing out. He regains consciousness to find that Jimmy has saved him from the fire and taken him to a hospital. After he recovers, he leaves the city, and the identities of Danny and Tom, behind.
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Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) is a middle-aged man who learns that his wife Emily (Julianne Moore) has cheated on him with a co-worker, David Lindhagen (Kevin Bacon), and that she wants a divorce. After moving into his own apartment, Cal goes to a bar night after night, talking loudly about his divorce, until he attracts the attention of a young man named Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling), a womanizer who beds women each night, although a young woman named Hannah (Emma Stone) recently had rejected his advances. Jacob takes pity on Cal, and offers to teach him how to pick up women. Using Jacob's teachings, Cal seduces Kate (Marisa Tomei) at the bar. After this encounter, Cal manages to successfully seduce other women in the bar. He sees Emily again at their son Robbie's (Jonah Bobo) parent-teacher conference. The interaction goes well until they discover that Robbie's teacher is Kate, who reveals to Emily that she and Cal have slept together. Cal then confesses to sleeping with many women. Emily
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leaves in disgust and begins actively dating David. Meanwhile, Hannah, a recent law school graduate, is expecting her boyfriend, Richard (Josh Groban) to propose marriage while they celebrate her passing the bar exam, but he does not, instead, offering her a position at his law firm. Offended and hurt, Hannah returns to the bar where she originally rejected Jacob's advances and kisses Jacob passionately. The two return to Jacob's home to have sex, but end up talking to each other all night and making a connection. Jacob starts a relationship with Hannah, and he becomes distant from Cal.
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At the same time, Robbie makes numerous grand gestures to try to win the heart of his 17-year-old babysitter, Jessica Riley (Analeigh Tipton), who actually has a crush on Cal. On the advice of her classmate Madison (Julianna Guill), she takes naked photos of herself to send to Cal and tucks them away in an envelope inside her dresser drawer. Later, when Emily calls Cal under the guise of needing help with the house's pilot light, Cal decides to try and win her back. Meanwhile, Jacob returns Cal's calls and asks for advice about starting a real relationship and meeting his girlfriend's parents. Jessica's mother, Claire (Beth Littleford), who dislikes Cal, discovers Jessica's naked photos in the dresser drawer and shows them to Jessica's father, Bernie (John Carroll Lynch). Bernie was Cal's best friend before Claire made him end their friendship in the aftermath of the breakup. Bernie rushes to the Weaver residence to confront him about the photos, with Jessica in pursuit. Cal and his
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kids create a makeshift mini golf set in their backyard to remind Emily of their first date. During the gathering, Jacob and Hannah show up at the house, and Hannah is revealed to be Cal and Emily's first daughter. Cal is appalled that Jacob is dating his daughter, and forbids her to see him. At that moment, Bernie shows up and attacks Cal. Jessica arrives and tells her father that Cal knew nothing of the pictures. Then David arrives on the scene to return Emily's sweater from a previous date. Jacob asks David if his name is Lindhagen and when David replies "yes," Jacob punches him in the face for the pain he caused Cal. Cal, Jacob, David, and Bernie then get into a scuffle which is soon broken up by the police. Cal starts spending time at the bar again and receives a visit from Jacob, who confesses that he is in love with Hannah. Cal replies that he is happy that Jacob is a changed man but cannot approve of Jacob and Hannah's relationship, having seen Jacob's former lifestyle. Jacob
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harbors no ill feelings; rather, he respects Cal and praises him for being a great father.
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At Robbie's eighth grade graduation, Robbie is the Salutatorian and gives a pessimistic speech about how he no longer believes in true love and soul-mates. Cal stops him and instead begins to recount his courtship with Emily to the audience, saying that, while he doesn't know if things will work out, he will never give up on Emily. With renewed faith, Robbie reaffirms his love for Jessica, to the audience's applause. After the ceremony, Cal gives Jacob and Hannah his blessing. Jessica gives Robbie an envelope containing the nude photos of herself that were originally meant for Cal to "get him through high school." Cal and Emily have a laugh talking about the events that have transpired the past year, hinting that they might get back together.
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After a monologue delivered by Derek Jacobi, the film opens in 1603, with Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, ordering a desperate search for a trove of manuscripts. Ben Jonson, who has the manuscripts, flees down the streets of London and into the theatre known as The Rose. Hot on his heels, the soldiers who have been sent to arrest Jonson, break down the doors and intentionally set the theatre alight. Successive flashbacks cast us back five and then forty years, as the film evokes the reputed life of Edward de Vere from childhood through to his entanglement in an insurrection, and later on to his deathbed.
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The main action takes place five years earlier in 1598, a decade after the defeat of the Spanish Armada, as political intrigue flourishes between the Tudors and the Cecils (father William and son Robert), over the succession to Queen Elizabeth I. In flashbacks, de Vere is portrayed as a prodigious genius, writing at eight or nine years of age (1558/1559) A Midsummer Night's Dream, de Vere acting the role of Puck before the young queen Elizabeth. He is then forced to live in the repressive, puritanical house of William Cecil where, years later, he kills a spying servant lurking behind an arras, much like the death of Polonius in Hamlet. William Cecil uses this murder to blackmail de Vere into a loveless marriage with his daughter, Anne Cecil, compelling him also to renounce literature. De Vere later becomes the Queen's lover, and sires – unknown to him – an illegitimate son; the son is adopted, becoming Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, but his true parentage is hidden from
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all but the Cecils.
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De Vere must struggle against a taboo that would forbid him to write; against his wife's impatience with his literary work as a dishonour to her family; and against the Queen's counsellors. Foremost among these is his father-in-law William Cecil, who believes that theatres are sinful. Cecil's plan to have James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, crowned king is also threatened by the presence of de Vere's and the Queen's child, who would be an alternative contender for the throne, and also of pure Tudor lineage.
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Almost four decades after his private premiere, de Vere visits a public theatre and is deeply impressed by the way spectators can be swayed. The play, written by Jonson, is halted mid-performance by the royal militia because of its allegedly seditious content. Jonson is arrested and imprisoned. Much taken by the propagandistic power of art, de Vere decides to employ his secretly written plays for the promotion of the Earl of Essex's cause (Essex being another of the Queen's illegitimate sons) over the candidate preferred by the Cecils, writing Henry V and, later, Richard III as propaganda designed to foment revolution. He contacts Jonson, who is confined in the Tower of London until de Vere uses his influence to free him, in order to have his play Henry V staged under Jonson's name. Jonson is unhappy about the plan, assuming that the play will be an amateurish effort that will tarnish his name. Jonson does not claim authorship, allowing an unscrupulous young actor, William
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Shakespeare, to step up on stage as author. It is this "drunken oaf" who takes on the role as de Vere's front man, while Jonson becomes de Vere's only confidant in the truth.
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Shakespeare however, having discovered the real author's identity, extorts money from de Vere to build the Globe Theatre, and wangles £400 per year for posturing as a front. After Christopher Marlowe stumbles on the truth that Shakespeare's inexplicable talents hide the genius of another hand, he is found with his throat slit. Jonson later confronts Shakespeare and accuses him of the murder. At the climax, de Vere uses the play Richard III as a thinly veiled attack on the hunchbacked Robert Cecil. The plan is to incite a mob to march against Cecil, and thus weaken his position at court. At the same time, Essex is to march with the Earl of Southampton to the Palace, to promote his own claim to the succession. Meanwhile, de Vere writes Venus and Adonis to remind the Queen of their old love. He hopes to see her again in an atmosphere of renewed intimacy, and to persuade her to dismiss Cecil.
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The plan fails, however, as a jealous Jonson, unaware of de Vere's plan, betrays the plot to Cecil. Jonson soon learns of the plan, but fails to alert Francesco of his betrayal in time, as the mob is massacred by soldiers with muskets and artillery pieces, stopping it from joining Essex. The Queen, swayed by Cecil, thinks that Essex is trying to depose her. Essex and his men are lured into the Palace courtyard, where they are ambushed by soldiers firing muskets from the balconies above. Essex and Southampton surrender honorably. Essex is later executed, but not before screaming "God save the Queen!". Southampton is later released. Robert Cecil then tells a broken de Vere that Elizabeth had other bastard sons – one of whom was de Vere himself. If true, it would mean that de Vere committed incest with his mother. He has a private audience with Elizabeth, at which the Queen agrees to spare Southampton, but insists that de Vere remain anonymous as the true author of "Shakespeare's" works.
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After the Queen's death, James VI succeeds as James I of England, though Cecil's hopes for a more puritanical regime are shattered when James reveals himself to be an avid "theater man". Shakespeare retires on his ill-gotten gains to Stratford to become a businessman, and de Vere dies in 1604, having commended his manuscripts to the care of a repentant Jonson. Cecil, however, still wants the manuscripts destroyed. With the destruction of The Rose, he believes them destroyed, but he later discovers they have survived. Nevertheless, the "truth" remains concealed: that Edward de Vere, not the nearly illiterate Shakespeare, is their real author.
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Cotton Weary, now living in Los Angeles and the host of a nationally syndicated television show, 100% Cotton, is called by Ghostface, who demands the whereabouts of Sidney Prescott, who has gone into hiding ever since the events of the second film three years ago. Cotton refuses to cooperate, and when Ghostface comes to his home, both Cotton and his girlfriend Christine are murdered. Detective Mark Kincaid contacts Gale Weathers to discuss the murders, prompting her to travel to Hollywood, where she finds Dewey Riley working as an adviser on the set of Stab 3, the third film in the film within a film series based on the Ghostface murders. Using a voice changer as a ruse, Ghostface kills Stab 3 actress Sarah Darling.
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Meanwhile, Sidney is now living in a secluded rural house as a crisis counselor for an abused women's hotline, as she is fearful that another killer may strike. Having discovered Sidney's number, the killer begins taunting her by phone, forcing her out of hiding and drawing her to Hollywood. As the remaining Stab 3 cast, along with Dewey and Gale, gather at the home of Jennifer Jolie, Ghostface kills her bodyguard Steven Stone and uses a gas leak to cause an explosion, killing fellow actor Tom Prinze in the process. Martha Meeks, the sister of Sidney's friend Randy, who was attacked and murdered by Ghostface in the previous film, visits Sidney and the others to drop off a videotape that Randy had made before his death, posthumously warning them that the rules of a horror movie franchise in the third and final film do not apply to anyone, and that any of them, including Sidney, could die.
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Dewey, Gale, Jennifer, and the remaining Stab 3 actors, Angelina Tyler and Tyson Fox, attend a birthday party for Stab 3's director Roman Bridger, where Ghostface strikes. Gale discovers Roman's seemingly dead body, with a knife in his chest, in a movie-set coffin in the basement. Angelina, refusing to stick with Gale and Jennifer, wanders off alone before she is murdered. Tyson attempts to fight Ghostface but the killer manages to wound him. Then after a brief chase Ghostface throws him over the balcony killing him. Jennifer tries to escape through a secret passage, but Ghostface finds her and kills her as well. The killer then orders Sidney to the mansion to save Gale and Dewey's lives, as they are being held hostage. When she arrives, Ghostface forces Sidney to remove her firearm, which she does, and Ghostface lures her inside, as Gale and Dewey are bound and gagged. As Sidney is untying Gale and Dewey, Ghostface appears, though Sidney gains the upper hand using a second hidden gun
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to fight off Ghostface. Detective Kincaid shows up but is knocked out by Ghostface.
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Sidney flees and hides in a secret screening room where she encounters Ghostface. He reveals himself as Roman, having faked his death and survived being shot due to a bulletproof vest. Roman admits to being Sidney's half-brother, born to their mother Maureen Prescott when she was an actress in Hollywood. Years ago, he had unsuccessfully tried reuniting with her. Bitter over the rejection, Roman would film all the men she philandered with. He showed Billy Loomis the footage of his father with Maureen, which motivated him to kill her (setting off the events of Scream and Scream 2). However, when he discovered how much fame Sidney got because of those events, Roman snapped and lured Sidney out of hiding.
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Roman then tells Sidney of his plan to frame her for the murders, and brings out John Milton, who was bound and gagged in a closet, killing him in front of Sidney. Sidney angrily tells Roman that all that has happened is because of his actions and that no one is to blame but him, to take responsibility for his consequences, a fight ensues between Sidney and Roman. Roman shoots Sidney in the chest, seemingly killing her. While preparing for Gale and Dewey to arrive, Roman is now surprised to see that Sidney's body disappeared. As he begins to place a call to Sidney's cellphone to locate her, he instead receives an incoming call from her. This distracts him long enough for Sidney to stab Roman in the back, and he falls. As he slowly dies, Sidney shows him that she too was wearing a bulletproof vest. She then plunges Roman's knife into his chest, apparently killing him. Dewey and Gale arrive, Gale surprised that Roman is the killer. Roman suddenly jumps up and tries to attacks them
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again, only for Dewey to kill him with a single gunshot to the head.
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Some time after one morning, Dewey proposes to Gale, and she accepts. Sidney arrives back at her home. Sidney is invited to join Dewey, Gale, and Detective Kincaid to watch a movie. As she goes to join the others, a door behind her opens, but she walks away leaving it as is, finally confident that the murders have ended and she is now safe.
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The setting is contemporaneous with publication: the beginning of the twentieth century. Crawfurd grows up in Kirkcaple, by the North Sea, where he first encounters the antagonist, Laputa, performing a ritual on the beach. Crawfurd's father dies, and he goes to work as a shopkeeper in a place called Blaauwildebeestefontein. Crawfurd comes into contact with a Portuguese man, Henriques, and again with Laputa, and he gradually learns of illegal diamond smuggling and of a planned rising of the native people of the region, including the Zulu people and the Swazi people, led by Laputa. Laputa's skill as a preacher allows him to inspire many tribes across the region to follow him, and he invokes the legend of Prester John and positions himself as the rightful heir and leader who can rise up against colonial rule. Crawfurd learns more about this after meeting Captain Arcoll, who leads the colonialist army and police.
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Using information learnt from having overheard the conversation of Laputa and Henriques, Crawfurd infiltrates the cave where the tribal leaders are gathering and witnesses Laputa commencing the rising, wearing the necklet of Prester John, which legitimises his leadership. Crawfurd is captured, but having managed to relay a message to Captain Arcoll, escapes during an ambush and steals the necklet from the hands of Henriques, who is trying to steal it for himself. After running all night, Crawfurd is climbing a ravine in the escarpment up to the plateau above the berg when he is captured again. But he manages first to hide the necklet, which is made of priceless rubies.
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After being taken to Laputa's new base, Crawfurd escapes immediate punishment by offering Laputa his knowledge of the location of the necklet in exchange for sparing his life. Laputa, who needs the necklet in order to convince his followers, but has not told anyone of its loss, goes alone with Crawfurd to search for the necklet. In the ravine, Crawfurd narrowly escapes once again and steals Laputa's horse to take him to Arcoll's headquarters. With Laputa separated from his army, Arcoll's forces are able to quell the leaderless uprising. Meanwhile, Crawfurd returns to the cave, where he finds the treacherous Henriques dead outside, having been strangled by Laputa. Entering the cave, Crawfurd meets Laputa, who by now knows that all his plans have failed. Laputa destroys a rock bridge giving access to the cave, and then commits suicide by jumping into an underground river chasm.
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Crawfurd makes a daring escape by climbing a cascade up and out of the cave. He rejoins Arcoll and is instrumental in bringing about the disarmament of the native uprising and the subsequent peace. With Arcoll's help he is rewarded with a large portion of the treasure hidden in the cave and eventually returns to Scotland a rich man.
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The "Raffles" stories have two distinct phases. In the first phase, Raffles and Bunny are men-about-town who also commit burglaries. Raffles is a famous gentleman cricketer, a marvellous spin bowler who is often invited to social events that would be out of his reach otherwise. "I was asked about for my cricket", he comments after this period is over. It ends when they are caught and exposed on an ocean voyage while attempting another theft; Raffles dives overboard and is presumed drowned. These stories were collected in The Amateur Cracksman. Other stories set in this period, written after Raffles had been "killed off", were collected in A Thief in the Night.
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The second phase begins some time later when Bunny – having served a prison sentence – is summoned to the house of a rich invalid. This turns out to be Raffles himself, back in England in disguise. Then begins their "professional" period, exiled from Society, in which they are straightforward thieves trying to earn a living while keeping Raffles's identity a secret. They finally volunteer for the Boer War, where Bunny is wounded and Raffles dies in battle after exposing an enemy spy. These stories were originally collected in The Black Mask, although they were subsequently published in one volume with the phase one stories. The last few stories in A Thief in the Night were set during this period as well.
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Like Sherlock Holmes after his disappearance into the Reichenbach Falls, Raffles was never quite the same after his reappearance. The "classic" Raffles elements are all found in the first stories: cricket, high society, West End clubs, Bond Street jewellers – and two men in immaculate evening dress pulling off impossible robberies.
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A Las Vegas magician and wannabe gangster Buddy "Aces" Israel (Jeremy Piven) is hiding out in a Lake Tahoe hotel penthouse with his entourage. His agent, lawyer Morris Mecklen (Curtis Armstrong), discusses a potential immunity deal with FBI Deputy Director Stanley Locke (Andy Garcia). Agents Richard Messner (Ryan Reynolds) and Donald Carruthers (Ray Liotta) learn that ailing Las Vegas mob boss Primo Sparazza (Joseph Ruskin) has issued a bounty on Israel worth $1 million; a mysterious assassin known only as The Swede has sworn that he will bring Israel's heart to Sparazza. A number of assassins also seek the reward, including Lazlo Soot (Tommy Flanagan), who specializes in disguises and impersonations; Sharice Watters (Taraji P. Henson) and Georgia Sykes (Alicia Keys), two hitwomen hired by Sparazza's underboss, Victor "Buzz" Padiche (David Proval); Pasquale Acosta (Nestor Carbonell), a calm torture expert and mercenary; and the psychotic neo-Nazi Tremor brothers, Darwin (Chris Pine),
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Jeeves (Kevin Durand), and Lester (Maury Sterling).
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Locke dispatches Messner and Carruthers to take Israel into custody when the deal is struck. Meanwhile, a team of Las Vegas bail bondsmen, Jack Dupree (Ben Affleck) and his partners, "Pistol" Pete Deeks (Peter Berg) and Hollis Elmore (Martin Henderson), has been hired by the sleazy lawyer who posted Israel's bail, Rupert "Rip" Reed (Jason Bateman), to bring him into custody. The bondsmen are gunned down by the Tremors, but Elmore survives. Messner is dispatched to the murder scene while Carruthers proceeds to Israel. At the same time, each of the assassins gain access to the hotel in their own various ways.
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Carruthers encounters Acosta, disguised as a security officer, in an elevator at the hotel. Carruthers senses something is wrong and both are mortally wounded in a gunfight. Meanwhile, Soot gains access to the penthouse by posing as one of Israel's henchmen. Israel's second-in-command, Sir Ivy (Common), learns that Israel agreed to inform upon Ivy as part of the plea deal and attempts to kill him, but Israel injures Ivy by throwing a playing card at his eye, causing him to shoot his gun wildly around the room. The hotel security team hear the shots and restrain Ivy in riot cuffs in the hallway. Georgia finds Carruthers and Acosta, both riddled with bullets and bleeding to death, in the elevator, but assumes Acosta is Soot. In Los Angeles Locke abruptly withdraws from the deal with Israel and orders that Messner and Carruthers are not told. The Tremor brothers reach the penthouse floor, where they engage in a shootout with the security team and Ivy, who manages to kill Jeeves and
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Lester. Israel, learning of the FBI's new position, attempts suicide by gunshot but passes out before he can.
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Messner arrives at the hotel and sets up a position around Georgia's elevator. Sharice provides cover from another high-rise hotel with a Barrett M82 anti-materiel rifle, outgunning the FBI agents. Acosta, still alive, shoots Georgia, but is shot by Carruthers. Sharice, thinking Georgia is dead, refuses to escape and keeps shooting at the FBI team. Georgia escapes to the penthouse where she stops Darwin Tremor before he can kill Ivy. Darwin Tremor escapes by posing as an FBI agent in stolen clothes, and Messner, distraught over the death of Carruthers, stops Ivy and Georgia on the stairwell, but decides to let them escape. Sharice, after seeing the pair alive and free through her rifle scope, is gunned down by the FBI from behind.
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Locke and a team of FBI agents descend on the penthouse and take Israel to the hospital, while Soot escapes by dressing as a member of hotel security. Acosta, carted away on a gurney, is also shown to be alive. Darwin Tremor nearly escapes, but is gunned down by Hollis Elmore on the casino's parking garage roof.
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Messner arrives at the hospital and learns the truth about the day's events from Locke at gunpoint. It transpires that the mysterious Swede is actually a prominent heart surgeon from the University of Stockholm and that Soot was hired by Sparazza to get Israel's heart so it could be transplanted into the body of Sparazza. Sparazza is further revealed to be Freeman Heller (Mike Falkow), an FBI agent who went undercover and was thought to have been killed by the mob. The FBI had attempted to kill Heller, after they thought his assignment had blurred the lines between being a mobster or an FBI agent. But Heller miraculously survived and ended up taking on the role as Sparazza full-time after his mind snapped. The mobster has agreed to expose the mob's operations in exchange for Israel's heart as he is in fact Sparazza's son, and thus, the most compatible donor.
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Messner, furious over the unnecessary deaths, especially Carruthers', protests and is ordered by Locke to either resign on the spot or return to Washington, D.C., and forget about the case. Realizing that the FBI will never admit what they did, he walks into the emergency room, locks the door and pulls the plug on both men. He then lays his gun and badge on the floor while Locke and his men desperately try to break in.
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Fifty-year-old John Gadsby is alarmed by the decline of his hometown, Branton Hills, and rallies the city's young people to form an "Organization of Youth" to build civic spirit and improve living standards. Gadsby and his youthful army, despite some opposition, transform Branton Hills from a stagnant municipality into a bustling, thriving city. Toward the end of the book the members of Gadsby's organization receive diplomas in honor of their work. Gadsby becomes mayor and helps increase Branton Hills' population from 2,000 to 60,000. The story begins around 1906 and continues through World War I, Prohibition, and President Warren G. Harding's administration. Gadsby is divided into two parts. The first part (about a quarter of the book's total length) is strictly a history of the city of Branton Hills and John Gadsby's place in it. The second part of the book devotes more time to fleshing out the rest of the town's characters.
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The novel is written from the point of view of an anonymous narrator, who continually complains about his poor writing skills and often uses circumlocution. "Now, naturally, in writing such a story as this, with its conditions as laid down in its Introduction, it is not surprising that an occasional "rough spot" in composition is found", the narrator says. "So I trust that a critical public will hold constantly in mind that I am voluntarily avoiding words containing that symbol which is, by far, of most common inclusion in writing our Anglo-Saxon as it is, today".
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The residents of Linnville prided themselves on the lack of tourism and absence of a summer hotel. Never having boarders before, the Liscom family, accepted the Jamesons when they came to town in search for a place to stay. Their arrival caused a great commotion as the Jamesons son, Cobb, saw smoke inside his new temporary residence and proceeded to run outside and yell “Fire!” Word quickly traveled down the street and a crowd formed outside the Liscom's as firemen drenched the entire house. Mrs. Caroline Liscom was furious that her house was soaked with water when the smoke was only caused by her chimney, and as a result was rude to her new boarders. Mrs. Jameson tried to find a new place to live in response to her host's rudeness, but had no such luck and both families were forced to live under the roof for the next several weeks.
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The Jamesons consisted of a mother, a father, two daughters, one son and a grandmother. Mrs. Jameson quickly gave her family a bad reputation at a Linnville annual picnic several days after her arrival. She made an announcement to the village that their unhealthy foods were “poison” and further insults them as she says that their rich pies and cakes causes the insanity and dyspepsia in people of their social class, so they should only eat the health foods she consumes. In attempt to avoid an altercation, the people of Linnville respond as politely as possible and continue on with the picnic as though nothing happened.
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Mrs. Jameson proceeds to insult the women of the village at their next meeting - the Ladies' Sewing Circle. It is at this meeting that the women become aware that Mrs. Jameson is trying to improve the women as she interrupts the meeting to “improve their minds and enlarge their spheres” by reading passages from Robert Browning. The women are not entertained by her reading, but once again are respectful when she is done lecturing them.
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Several weeks later, the Jamesons return to the city for the winter and the next chapter begins their second summer in Linnville. For their second summer, they purchase their own home and farm to run. Mrs. Jameson is clueless as to how a farm should be run, and as a result is the victim of some tricks when purchasing animals for the barn. Besides the barn, there are some other changes Mrs. Jameson has made herself and she tries to impose them on the community, as she did with her health foods the previous summer. First, she stops wearing the fancy city clothes she had worn in the past and begins wearing what she thinks is most practical for a country person to wear. She proceeds to insult and instruct the other women to adopt the same style as her. Some women do follow her, but many do not.
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Mrs. Jameson continues to make bold statements against the traditions of Linnville and paints her house red with dark shutters, while every other house is white with green shutters. She then decides that the town would look better if the houses had ivy growing on them, and plants ivy around everyone's homes, without their permission. It is later discovered this ivy is poison ivy and she has to go back to the houses and remove it all. She tries to change the interiors of people's homes as well by getting rid of framed-coffin plates of deceased loved ones in the parlors, a common décor in the homes of Linnville.