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A calaca (, a colloquial Mexican Spanish name for skeleton) is a figure of a skull or skeleton (usually human) commonly used for decoration during the Mexican Day of the Dead festival, although they are made all year round. Description Tracing their origins from Mayan imagery, calacas are frequently shown with marigold flowers and foliage. As with other aspects of the Day of the Dead festival, calacas are generally depicted as joyous rather than mournful figures. They are often shown wearing festive clothing, dancing, and playing musical instruments to indicate a happy afterlife. This draws on the Mexican belief that no dead soul likes to be thought of sadly, and that death should be a joyous occasion. This goes back to Aztec beliefs, one of the few calaca to remain after the Spanish conquest. Calacas used in the festival include carved skull masks worn by revelers, small figures made out of carved wood or fired clay, and sweet treats in the form of skulls or skeletons. Calacas ...
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Coraline (film)
''Coraline'' is a 2009 American stop-motion animated dark fantasy horror film written and directed by Henry Selick and based on Neil Gaiman's novella of the same name. Produced by Laika as the studio's first feature film, it features the voice talents of Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Keith David, John Hodgman, Robert Bailey Jr., and Ian McShane. The film tells the story of its titular character discovering an idealized parallel universe behind a secret door in her new home, unaware that it contains a dark and sinister secret. Just as Gaiman was finishing his novella in 2002, he met Selick and invited him to make a film adaptation, as Gaiman was a fan of Selick's ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' and ''James and the Giant Peach''. When Selick thought that a direct adaptation would lead to "maybe a 47-minute movie", the screenplay had some expansions, like the introduction of Wybie, who was not present in the original novel. Selick invited Japanes ...
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Santa Muerte
''Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte'' (; Spanish for Our Lady of Holy Death), often shortened to Santa Muerte, is a cult image, female deity, and folk saint in folk Catholicism and Religion in Mexico, Mexican Modern Paganism, Neopaganism. A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees. Despite condemnation by leaders of the Catholic Church, and more recently Evangelicalism, evangelical movements, her Cult (religious practice), following has become increasingly prominent since the turn of the 21st century. Originally appearing as a male figure, Santa Muerte now generally appears as a skeletal female figure, clad in a long robe and holding one or more objects, usually a scythe and a globe. Her robe can be of any color, as more specific images of the figure vary widely from devotee to devotee and according to the rite being performed or the petition being made. The following of Santa Muerte began in Mexico ...
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La Calavera Catrina
''La Calavera Catrina ''("Dapper Skull") or ''Catrina'' ''La Calavera Garbancera'' ("Elegant Skull") is a 1910–1913 zinc etching by the Mexican printmaker, cartoon illustrator and lithographer José Guadalupe Posada. Originally a satirization of an upper class woman of the Porfiriato, the character of ''La Catrina'' has become an icon of the Mexican Day of the Dead (Spanish: ). Cultural importance The original leaflet was named "La Calavera Garbancera" by Posada, describing a person who was ashamed of their Native origins and dressed imitating the French style while wearing lots of makeup to make their skin look whiter. While the original work by Posada introduced the character, the popularity of La Calavera, as well as her name, is derived from a work by artist Diego Rivera in his 1947 completed mural '' Sueño de una Tarde Dominical en la Alameda Central'' ("Dream of a Sunday afternoon along Central Alameda"). Rivera's mural was painted between the years 1946 and 194 ...
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Coco (folklore)
The Coco or Coca (also known as the Cucuy, Cuco, Cuca, Cucu or Cucuí) is a mythical ghost-like monster, equivalent to the bogeyman, found in many Hispanophone and Lusophone countries. It can also be considered an Iberian version of a bugbear as it is a commonly used figure of speech representing an irrational or exaggerated fear. The Cucuy is a male being while Cuca is a female version of the mythical monster. The "monster" will come to the house of disobedient children and make them "disappear". Names and etymology The myth of the ''Coco'', or ''Cucuy'', originated in northern Portugal and Galicia. According to the Real Academia Española, the word ''coco'' derives from the Galician and Portuguese ''côco'' , which means "coconut". The word ''coco'' is used in colloquial speech to refer to the human head in Spanish. ''Coco'' also means "skull". The word ''cocuruto'' in Portuguese means "the crown of the head" or "the highest place" and with the same etymology in Galicia, ''cro ...
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Calavera
A calavera (Spanish language, Spanish – for "skull") is a representation of a human skull. The term is most often applied to edible or decorative skulls made (usually by hand) from either sugar (called Alfeñiques) or clay, used in the Mexican celebration of the Day of the Dead ( es, Día de Muertos) and the Roman Catholic holiday All Souls' Day. ''Calavera'' can also refer to any artistic representations of skulls, such as the lithographs of José Guadalupe Posada. The most widely known ''calaveras'' are created with cane sugar and are decorated with items such as colored foil, icing, beads, and feathers. They range in multiple colors. Traditional methods for producing ''calaveras'' have been in use since the 1630s. The skulls are created either for children or as offerings to be placed on altars known as ''ofrendas'' ("offerings") for ''Día de Muertos'', which has roots in the Aztec, Mayan people, Mayan, and Toltec cultural celebration of the "Day of the Dead". The traditi ...
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The Adventures Of Manny Rivera
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pron ...
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Monster High
Monster High is an American multimedia-supported fashion doll franchise created by toy designer Garrett Sander and launched by Mattel in 2010. Aimed at children aged 7 to 14, the franchise features characters inspired by monster movies, sci-fi horror, thriller fiction, folklore, myths and popular culture, centering around the adventures of the teenage children of monsters and other mythical creatures attending a high school of the same name. Though the fashion dolls were the main focus of the franchise, a 2D-animated web series and 15 animated TV specials/films were released to accompany them, as well as video games, a series of young adult novels written by Lisi Harrison and other forms of merchandise. The franchise quickly became very popular among children and was extremely successful in terms of earnings for Mattel; it was worth $1 billion in its 3rd year of existence with more than $500 million in sales annually, and was the second best-selling doll brand in North Americ ...
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Grim Fandango
''Grim Fandango'' is a 1998 adventure game directed by Tim Schafer and developed and published by LucasArts for Microsoft Windows. It is the first adventure game by LucasArts to use 3D computer graphics overlaid on pre-rendered static backgrounds. As with other LucasArts adventure games, the player must converse with characters and examine, collect, and use objects to solve puzzles. ''Grim Fandango'' is set in the Land of the Dead, through which recently departed souls, represented as ''calaca''-like figures, travel before they reach their final destination. The story follows travel agent Manuel "Manny" Calavera as he attempts to save new arrival Mercedes "Meche" Colomar, a virtuous soul, on her journey. The game combines elements of the Aztec afterlife with ''film noir'' style, with influences including '' The Maltese Falcon'', '' On the Waterfront'' and ''Casablanca''. ''Grim Fandango'' received praise for its art design and direction. It was selected for several awards and i ...
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Tim Schafer
Timothy John Schafer (born July 26, 1967) is an American video game designer. He founded Double Fine Productions in July 2000, after having spent over a decade at LucasArts. Schafer is best known as the designer of critically acclaimed games '' Full Throttle'', ''Grim Fandango'', ''Psychonauts'', ''Brütal Legend'' and ''Broken Age'', co-designer of ''Day of the Tentacle'', and assistant designer on ''The Secret of Monkey Island'' and '' Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge''. He is well known in the video game industry for his storytelling and comedic writing style, and has been given both a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Game Developers Choice Awards, and a BAFTA Fellowship for his contributions to the industry. Career College and LucasArts (1989–2000) Tim Schafer was born on July 26, 1967 in Sonoma, California, the youngest of five children. His father was a doctor and his mother was a nurse. While studying computer science at UC Berkeley, Schafer became interested in wr ...
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Guacamelee!
''Guacamelee!'' is a Metroidvania action platforming video game developed and published by DrinkBox Studios, initially launched in April 2013 for platforms PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita and was later ported to Microsoft Windows in August and to OS X and Linux in February 2014. An enhanced edition entitled ''Super Turbo Championship Edition'' was released for Wii U, Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Xbox 360 in July 2014 and later on the Nintendo Switch in October 2018. The game draws its inspiration from traditional Mexican culture and folklore. A sequel, ''Guacamelee! 2'', which includes four player co-operative gameplay, was released on August 21, 2018. Gameplay ''Guacamelee!'' is a hybrid 2D Metroidvania style action platform and brawler. Players control the luchador Juan and explore an open, non-linear world to complete the central story objectives while collecting necessary character upgrades and battling enemies. Coins collected from defeated enemies are used t ...
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LittleBigPlanet
''LittleBigPlanet'' (stylized as ''LittleBIGPlanet''; abbreviated ''LBP'') is a puzzle platform video game series created and produced by British developer Media Molecule and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Most games in the series put a strong emphasis on user-generated content and are based on the series' tagline "Play, Create, Share". The tagline represents the three core elements of the series: playing alone or with others locally (on the same console) or online, creating new content using the in-game creation tools, and sharing creations and discoveries online with other players. Tarsier Studios, Fireproof Games and Supermassive Games also contribute to the development of the PlayStation 3 games, creating in-game assets ( DLC) including costumes, backgrounds, objects, and stickers. Some of these assets will also provide the player more tools and gadgets to use in the level editor. The series comprises six games across five gaming platforms. The series was laun ...
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