Golem

In Jewish folklore, a golem (/ˈɡoʊləm/ GOH-ləm; Hebrew: גולם‎) is an animated anthropomorphic being, magically created entirely from inanimate matter. The word was used to mean an amorphous, unformed material (usually out of stone and clay) in Psalms and medieval writing.

The most famous golem narrative involves Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the late-16th-century rabbi of Prague. There are many tales differing on how the golem was brought to life and afterwards controlled.

History

Etymology

The word golem occurs once in the Bible in Psalm 139:16, which uses the word גלמי (galmi; my golem), meaning "my unshaped form", "raw" material, connoting the unfinished human being before God's eyes. The Mishnah uses the term for an uncultivated person: "Seven characteristics are in an uncultivated person, and seven in a learned one," (שבעה דברים בגולם) (Pirkei Avot 5:6 in the Hebrew text; English translations vary). In Modern Hebrew, golem is used to mean "dumb" or "helpless". Similarly, it is often used today as a metaphor for a brainless lunk or entity who serves man under controlled conditions but is hostile to him under others. "Golem" passed into Yiddish as goylem to mean someone who is clumsy or slow.

Golem (Dungeons & Dragons)

The golem is a fictional class of monster created for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game based upon the Golem of Jewish mythology. The golem first appeared in the original Greyhawk supplement (1975) written by Gary Gygax and Robert J. Kuntz and has since then became one of the most well-known creatures of the Dungeons & Dragons game.

Golems are magical constructs made of inert matter animated by high-level spellcasters through the use of powerful spells during magical rituals. The main aspect differentiating one type of golem from another is the material from which it is built. There are four standard types of golems, from weakest to strongest: flesh golems, clay golems, stone golems and iron golems. The flesh golem is created from human remains, and the others are created from earthen components: clay, stone and iron respectively. Virtually any material can be used to create a golem, and hundreds of different types of such creatures have been described for one edition or another of the game.

The Golem (Gustav Meyrink novel)

The Golem is a novel written by Gustav Meyrink in 1914.

First published in serial form as Der Golem in 1913-14 in the periodical Die weissen Blätter, The Golem was published in book form in 1915 by Kurt Wolff, Leipzig. The Golem was Meyrink's first novel. It became his most popular and successful literary work, and is generally described as the most "accessible" of his full-length novels.

Plot

The novel centers on the life of Athanasius Pernath, a jeweler and art restorer who lives in the ghetto of Prague. But his story is experienced by an anonymous narrator, who, during a visionary dream, assumes Pernath's identity thirty years before. This dream was perhaps induced because he inadvertently swapped his hat with the real (old) Pernath's. While the novel is generally focused on Pernath's own musings and adventures, it also chronicles the lives, the characters, and the interactions of his friends and neighbors. The Golem, though rarely seen, is central to the novel as a representative of the ghetto's own spirit and consciousness, brought to life by the suffering and misery that its inhabitants have endured over the centuries.

Game (disambiguation)

A game is a recreational activity with a set of rules.

Game or games may also refer to:

Animals

In arts and entertainment

Film and television

Music

Games (seaQuest DSV)

"Games" is the fourth episode of the first season of seaQuest DSV. It originally aired on October 3, 1993.

Plot synopsis

The seaQuest evacuates an icy prison whose population consists of a warden and his lone prisoner, the biochemist and war criminal Dr. Rubin Zellar. Zellar is (supposedly) being kept cryogenically frozen during transport, while the warden is shown around the ship and begins to get along with Dr. Westphalen.

Crew members soon discover that the body in the stasis chamber is the warden, who was killed by Dr. Zellar. Zellar is captured easily, but escapes and holds the crew hostage with a biological agent he smuggled aboard. He threatens to release the agent unless Captain Bridger and Commander Ford destroy the UEO headquarters at Pearl Harbor.

Meanwhile, Lucas Wolenczak has been trying to access the UEO's files on Zellar, at the request of Bridger. He discovers that Dr. Westphalen's brother was among the many people murdered by Zellar. Bridger and Ford fire the missiles, but since they had removed the warheads earlier, no damage was done. Before they can arrest Zellar, Westphalen walks in, pointing a weapon at Zellar. After exchanging a few words with Zellar she pulls out a vial filled with a liquid and tells him that he deserves to die in the same way that he killed. She throws it on him, but it turns out the liquid was non-toxic.

Games (Luke Bryan song)

"Games" is a song performed by American bro-country artist Luke Bryan from his seventh extended play Spring Break...Checkin' Out (2015). It written by Bryan and Ashley Gorley. First released to digital retailers on February 24, 2015 as the first promotional single off the EP, the song later received airplay on country radio.

Content

"Games" is a mid-tempo country song about the frustration of people that the narrator cares about "playing games" rather than being upfront about their feelings. The song has been praised by critics such as Bob Paxman at Country Weekly for departing from the "party" theme of Bryan's spring break releases and dealing maturely with the topic.

Commercial reception

Despite not being officially promoted as a radio single by his label, "Games" was the ninth-most-added song on country radio for the week of March 16, 2015. "Games" debuted on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart at number 25 and on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 chart at number 46 for the week of March 14, 2015. It also debuted from unsolicited airplay for the week of March 21, 2015, at number 57 on the US Billboard Country Airplay chart. "Games" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 97 for the week of March 28, 2015. The song has sold 293,000 copies in the US as of August 2015.