Demon's Crest

Demon's Crest (Japanese: デモンズブレイゾン 魔界村 紋章編, Hepburn: Demonzu Bureizon Makaimura Monshō-hen, "Demon's Blazon: Demon World Village Crest Volume") is a side-scrolling platform video game developed and published by Capcom for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third video game starring Firebrand (an enemy character from the Ghosts 'n Goblins series, known as "Red Arremer" in the Japanese version), following Gargoyle's Quest and Gargoyle's Quest II.

Plot

The game's story revolves around the Crests, six magical stones which preside over their respective elements (Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Time and Heaven). When all crests are combined, the Crest of Infinity will appear, allowing its holder infinite power and the ability to conquer all realms with it. The demons of the Demon Realm have long fought each other for possession of the Crests, five of which have since fallen into the hands of a red demon named Firebrand. Seeking infinite power, Firebrand challenges a Demon Dragon for the Crest of Heaven and is victorious, though badly wounded. In his weakness, a rival demon named Phalanx ambushes Firebrand and takes all the Crests except the Fire Crest which shattered into five shards.

World War Z

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (2006) is an apocalyptic horror novel by Max Brooks. The novel is a collection of individual accounts narrated by an agent of the United Nations Postwar Commission, following the devastating global conflict against the zombie plague. Other passages record a decade-long desperate struggle, as experienced by people of various nationalities. The personal accounts also describe the resulting social, political, religious, and environmental changes.

World War Z is a follow-up to Brooks' "survival manual" The Zombie Survival Guide (2003), but its tone is much more serious. It was inspired by The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two (1984) by Studs Terkel, and by the zombie films of George A. Romero. Brooks used World War Z to comment on government ineptitude and American isolationism, while also examining survivalism and uncertainty. The novel was a commercial hit and was praised by most critics.

Its audiobook version, performed by a full cast including Alan Alda, Mark Hamill, and John Turturro, won an Audie Award in 2007. A film inspired by the novel, directed by Marc Forster and starring Brad Pitt, was released in 2013.

Phalanstère

A phalanstère (or Phalanstery) was a type of building designed for a utopian community and developed in the early 19th century by Charles Fourier. Fourier named these self-contained communities, ideally consisting of 500–2000 people working together for mutual benefit, after the phalanx, the basic military unit in ancient Greece.

The phalanstère structure

Fourier conceived the phalanstère as an organized building designed to integrate urban and rural features.

The structure of the phalanstère was composed of three parts: a central part and two lateral wings. The central part was designed for quiet activities. It included dining rooms, meeting rooms, libraries and studies. A lateral wing was designed for labour and noisy activities, such as carpentry, hammering and forging. It also hosted children because they were considered noisy while playing. The other wing contained a caravansary, with ballrooms and halls for meetings with outsiders who had to pay a fee in order to visit and meet the people of the Phalanx community. This income was thought to sustain the autonomous economy of the phalanstère. The phalanstère also included private apartments and many social halls. A social hall was defined by Fourier as a seristère.

Witness (1985 film)

Witness is a 1985 American crime thriller film directed by Peter Weir and starring Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis. The screenplay by William Kelley, Pamela Wallace, and Earl W. Wallace focuses on a detective protecting a young Amish boy who becomes a target after he witnesses a murder in Philadelphia.

The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won two, for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. It was also nominated for seven BAFTA Awards, winning one for Maurice Jarre's score, and was also nominated for six Golden Globe Awards. William Kelley and Earl W. Wallace won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay and the 1986 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay presented by the Mystery Writers of America.

Plot

Rachel Lapp (McGillis), a young Amish widow, and her 8-year-old son Samuel (Haas) are traveling by train to visit Rachel's sister. Samuel is amazed by the sights in the big city, but at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, he witnesses two men attack and murder a third (Carhart). Detective John Book (Ford) is assigned to the case and he and his partner, Sergeant Elton Carter (Jennings), question Samuel. The victim was an undercover police officer. Samuel is unable to identify the perpetrator from mug shots or a police lineup, but notices a newspaper clipping with a picture of narcotics officer James McFee (Glover) and recognizes him as one of the killers. John remembers that McFee was previously responsible for a drug raid on expensive chemicals used to make amphetamines, but the evidence had mysteriously disappeared.

Witness (religious newspaper)

Witness was the name of an evangelical newspaper established in 1840 by the Scottish geologist and writer, Hugh Miller. He continued to edit the paper at an office on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh until his suicide in December 1856. He was the principal contributor to the publication, averaging over 10,000 words a week.

References

Witness (Dave Douglas album)

Witness is the 18th album by trumpeter Dave Douglas. It was released on the RCA label in 2001 and features performances by Douglas, Chris Speed, Joe Daley, Mark Feldman, Erik Friedlander, Drew Gress, Bryan Carrott, Michael Sarin, Ikue Mori, Joshua Roseman and Yuka Honda with Tom Waits providing vocals on one track.

Reception