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When Gravity Fails
''When Gravity Fails'' is a cyberpunk science fiction novel by American writer George Alec Effinger, published in 1986. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1987 and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1988. The title is taken from "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues", a song by Bob Dylan: "When your gravity fails and negativity don't pull you through". Taking place in a futuristic Middle-Eastern setting, the series reverses some of the usual expectations of a future world order by painting the West in decline while Muslim countries seem to prosper. The book's other main themes are the effects of drug use and alternate personality technologies, as well as the personal interactions and increasing isolation of a flawed protagonist. It is the first book in Effinger's '' Marîd Audran'' series, named after the protagonist, and was followed by '' A Fire in the Sun'' in 1989 and ''The Exile Kiss'' in 1991. Effinger started work on a fourth Audran novel, ''Word of Night'', but d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Alec Effinger
George Alec Effinger (January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002) was an American list of science fiction authors, science fiction author, born in Cleveland, Ohio. Writing career Effinger was a part of the Clarion Workshop, Clarion class of 1970 and had three stories in the first Clarion anthology. His first published story was "The Eight-Thirty to Nine Slot" in ''Fantastic (magazine), Fantastic'' in 1971. During his early period, he also published under a variety of pseudonyms. His first novel, ''What Entropy Means to Me'' (1972), was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel, Nebula Award. He achieved his greatest success with the trilogy of Marîd Audran novels set in a 22nd-century Middle East, with cybernetic implants and modules allowing individuals to change their personalities or bodies. The novels are in fact set in a thinly veiled version of the French Quarter of New Orleans. The three published novels were ''When Gravity Fails'' (1987), ''A Fire in the Sun'' (1989), a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stimulant
Stimulants (also often referred to as psychostimulants or colloquially as uppers) is an overarching term that covers many drugs including those that increase activity of the central nervous system and the body, drugs that are pleasurable and invigorating, or drugs that have Sympathomimetic drug, sympathomimetic effects. Stimulants are widely used throughout the world as prescription medicines as well as without a prescription (either legally or Prohibition (drugs), illicitly) as performance-enhancing substance, performance-enhancing or recreational drug use, recreational drugs. Among narcotics, stimulants produce a noticeable crash or ''Comedown (drugs), comedown'' at the end of their effects. The most frequently prescribed stimulants as of 2013 were lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse), methylphenidate (Ritalin), and amphetamine (Adderall). It was estimated in 2015 that the percentage of the world population that had used cocaine during a year was 0.4%. For the category "amphetamines and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spill
A spill occurs when the contents of something, usually in liquid form, are emptied out onto a surface, person or clothes, often unintentionally. Spill may also refer to: *Oil spill *Chemical spill *Data spill *Leadership spill *Spill (audio), where audio from one source is picked up by a microphone intended for a different source *Variable spilling, a side effect of register allocation *Thin sticks of wood or tightly rolled paper tapers, used for transferring fire, and stored in a spill vase *SPILL – an acronym for St Pancras International Low Level, the Thameslink platforms at St Pancras railway station in London As a proper name *Thomas Spilsbury, soccer player nicknamed ''Spill'' *Spill (band), a British dance duo *Spill.com, a movie review website People with the surname *Daniel Spill (1832–1887), English entrepreneur *Steve Spill (born 1955), American magician Literature *'' Spill. En damroman'', a 2010 Swedish novel by Sigrid Combüchen *'' Spill: Scenes of Black Femin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scott Derrickson
Scott Derrickson (born July 16, 1966) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing the films '' The Exorcism of Emily Rose'' (2005), ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (2008), ''Sinister'' (2012), '' Deliver Us from Evil'' (2014), ''Doctor Strange'' (2016), and ''The Black Phone'' (2021). Early life Derrickson grew up in Denver, Colorado. He graduated from Biola University with a B.A. in Humanities with an emphasis in philosophy and literature and a B.A. in communications with an emphasis in film and theology. He completed his graduate studies at USC School of Cinema-Television. Career Derrickson co-wrote and directed '' The Exorcism of Emily Rose'', which was loosely based on a true story about Anneliese Michel. The film won the 2005 Saturn Award for Best Horror or Thriller Film and in 2006 was named in the Chicago Film Critics Association's list of the "Top 100 Scariest Films Ever Made." Theatrical box office gross for ''The Exorcism of Emily Rose'' was over $1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sinister (film)
''Sinister'' is a 2012 supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson and written by C. Robert Cargill and Derrickson. It stars Ethan Hawke as a struggling true-crime writer whose discovery of videos depicting grisly murders in his new house puts his family in danger. Juliet Rylance, Fred Thompson, James Ransone, Clare Foley, and Michael Hall D'Addario appear in supporting roles. ''Sinister'' was inspired by a nightmare Cargill had after watching the 2002 film '' The Ring''. Principal photography on ''Sinister'' began in Autumn of 2011 in Long Island, NY with a production budget of $3 million. To add to the authenticity of old home movies and snuff films, the Super 8 segments were shot on actual Super 8 cameras and film stock. The film was a co-production between the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The film premiered at the SXSW festival on March 10, 2012. It was released in the United Kingdom on October 5, 2012, and in the United States on October 12. '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westwood Associates
Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westwood Studios when Virgin Games (later Virgin Interactive Entertainment) bought the company in 1992. The company was bought by Electronic Arts alongside Virgin Interactive's North American operations in 1998. In January 2003, it was announced that Westwood, alongside Westwood Pacific (EA Pacific), would be merged into EA Los Angeles. The main studio location closed in March of that year. Westwood is best known for developing video games in the real-time strategy, adventure and role-playing genres. It was listed in ''Guinness World Records'' for selling more than 10 million copies of ''Command & Conquer'' worldwide. History Early history and company name Brett Sperry and Louis Castle met in late 1983 in Las Vegas. Sperry had a background ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Circuit's Edge
''Circuit's Edge'' is a video game developed by Westwood Associates and released by Infocom in 1990. It is based on George Alec Effinger's 1987 novel '' When Gravity Fails''. The game is a hybrid interactive fiction/ role-playing video game; it contains a window of text, a graphic window for depiction of the player's current location, and various menus and mini-windows for character statistics and other game functions. Plot The player assumes the role of Marîd Audran, a private detective. The game is set in "The Budayeen", an entertainment/criminal quarter in an unnamed city somewhere in the Middle East that is based on New Orleans. While running a series of errands/"business deals" for "Saied the Half-Hajj", a friend of Marîd's, Marîd is framed for the murder of a man named Kenji Carter. Although Marîd's influential patron Friedlander Bey clears him with the local police, Bey asks him to look into Carter's death. Doing so leads Marîd deep into the criminal underworld of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mutilation
Mutilation or maiming (from the Latin: ''mutilus'') refers to severe damage to the body that has a ruinous effect on an individual's quality of life. It can also refer to alterations that render something inferior, ugly, dysfunctional, or imperfect. In modern times, the term has an overwhelmingly negative connotation. Terminology In 2019, Michael H. Stone, Gary Brucato, and Ann Burgess proposed formal criteria by which "mutilation" might be systematically distinguished from the act of "dismemberment," as these terms are commonly used interchangeably. They suggested that dismemberment involves "the entire removal, by any means, of a large section of the body of a living or dead person, specifically, the head (also termed decapitation), arms, hands, torso, pelvic area, legs, or feet." Mutilation, by contrast, involves "the removal or irreparable disfigurement, by any means, of some smaller portion of one of those larger sections of a living or dead person. The latter would ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serial Killer
A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three murders, others extend it to four or lessen it to two. Psychological gratification is the usual motive for serial killing, and many serial murders involve sexual contact with the victim. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) states that the motives of serial killers can include anger, thrill-seeking, financial gain, and attention seeking, and killings may be executed as such. The victims may have something in common; for example, demographic profile, appearance, gender or race. Often the FBI will focus on a particular pattern serial killers follow. Based on this pattern, this will give key clues into finding the killer along with their motives. Although a serial killer is a distinct classification that differs from that of a mass mu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is a wide-ranging field concerned with circular causality, such as feedback, in regulatory and purposive systems. Cybernetics is named after an example of circular causal feedback, that of steering a ship, where the helmsperson maintains a steady course in a changing environment by adjusting their steering in continual response to the effect it is observed as having. Cybernetics is concerned with circular causal processes such as steering however they are embodied,Ashby, W. R. (1956). An introduction to cybernetics. London: Chapman & Hall, p. 1. including in ecological, technological, biological, cognitive, and social systems, and in the context of practical activities such as designing, learning, managing, conversation, and the practice of cybernetics itself. Cybernetics' transdisciplinary and "antidisciplinary" character has meant that it intersects with a number of other fields, leading to it having both wide influence and diverse interpretations. Cybernetics ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trans Woman
A trans woman or a transgender woman is a woman who was assigned male at birth. Trans women have a female gender identity, may experience gender dysphoria, and may transition; this process commonly includes hormone replacement therapy and sometimes sex reassignment surgery, which can bring relief and resolve feelings of gender dysphoria. Like cisgender women, trans women may have any sexual orientation. The term ''transgender woman'' is not always interchangeable with ''transsexual woman'', although the terms are often used interchangeably. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that includes different types of gender variant people (including transsexual people). Trans women face significant discrimination in many areas of life, including in employment and access to housing, and face physical and sexual violence and hate crimes, including from partners; in the United States, discrimination is particularly severe towards trans women who are members of a racial minority, who of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
