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The Milpitas Monster (alternately known as The Mutant Beast) is a 1976 independent monster movie directed by Robert L. Burrill. |
When a landfill is overfull, and pollution reaches its maximum, a monster is born. Made from garbage, and bearing a resemblance to a giant fly, the Milpitas Monster has an uncontrollable desire to consume large quantities of garbage cans. Some high school students find out about the monster and attempt to destroy it. |
"The Milpitas Monster" premiered in Milpitas, California on May 21, 1976. |
"The Milpitas Monster" was largely ignored by mainstream critics upon its release. |
Jeffrey Frentzen of "Cinefantastique" wrote in his review of the film, "Despite its inverse homages glorifying the grade-Z monster flicks, "The Miptas Monster" is still more than just another lousy horror show." However, also noted the film's inherent charm, calling it "An offbeat, welcome diversion". |
Joseph Ziemba from "Bleeding Skull" gave the film a negative review, writing, "Crude effects, both visually and audibly, walk hand-in-hand with people just hanging out and being themselves. Boredom sets in…then disappears…then sets in again. Beyond all of that, "Milpitas" is an earnest portrait of an entire community having good clean fun in Smalltown, USA during the mid-1970s." |
= = = Wilburgstetten = = = |
Wilburgstetten is a municipality in the district of Ansbach in Bavaria in Germany. |
= = = Mathieu Martinez = = = |
Mathieu Martinez (born May 26, 1982) is a French Nordic combined skier who has competed since 2002. He finished sixth in the 4 x 5 km team event at the 2007 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Sapporo and earned his best individual finish of 18th in the 7.5 km sprint at the 2003 in Val di Fiemme. |
Martinez has a total of seven individual victories from 2001 to 2005, all in various World Cup B events. His best individual World Cup finish was eighth in a 7.5 km sprint event in Finland in 2002. |
= = = Windelsbach = = = |
Windelsbach is a municipality in the district of Ansbach in Bavaria in Germany. |
= = = Samukawa Shrine = = = |
The origins of Samukawa Shrine are unknown. Unverifiable shrine legend states that it was founded during the reign of Emperor Yūryaku (418-479). The main kami of Samukawa Shrine is the Samukawa Daimyojin, an amalgamation of the male and the female . Both were local "kami". |
The earliest written records indicate that the shrine was rebuilt in the year 727, and its name also appears in the "Shoku Nihon Kōki" entry for the year 846. |
Samukawa was designated as the chief Shinto shrine ("ichinomiya") for the former Sagami province. |
From 1871 through 1946, Sumakawa was officially designated one of the , meaning that it stood in the mid-range of ranked, nationally significant shrines. |
The main festival of the shrine is held annually on September 20, and features "yabusame" performances. During the Setsubun festival in February, illuminated paper figures are hung from the main gate in a style similar to that of the Nebuta in Aomori Prefecture. |
Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York City has a "Mikoshi" donated by Samukawa Shrine. |
= = = Wittelshofen = = = |
Wittelshofen is a municipality in the district of Ansbach in Bavaria in Germany. |
The municipality is located near the delta of the Sulzach into the Wörnitz at the foot of the Hesselberg mountains. The municipality is divided into the following parts: |
The neighbour municipalities are (starting in the north clockwise): |
The place is mentioned for the first time in 1274 as "Witelshoven". |
The coat of arms of Wittelshofen shows a lily on a blue background. Over it is a black-silver quartering. The lily was the coat of arms symbol of Gumbert in Ansbach. The blue background in represents the confluence of the Sulzach and the Wörnitz. |
In 1716, there were already 30 Jewish families in Wittelshofen. The Jewish population reached its peak about 1809/10 with 282 persons. Afterwards the number went throughout and drift constantly back (1910 42, 1933 17 Jewish inhabitants). At least 18 Jews from Wittelshofen were killed in concentration camps between 1941 and 1945. |
In the old centre of Wittelshofen stands the Martinskirche. At the edge of the settlement area, which is because of the mountain-slope, kath. the holy cross church stands. Illenschwang with its former military church, Obermichelbach with its Michaelskirche and Untermichelbach with its pc. Leonard geweihten church invite to staying. A Kleinod is the Dühren lying in a pictorial side valley of the Sulzach. Its pc. Michaelskirchlein saves Fresken from that 14th and 15th centuries, which only 1985 were discovered and partly opened. |
= = = Khaydhar ibn Kawus al-Afshin = = = |
Ḥaydar ibn Kāwūs (), better known by his hereditary title of al-Afshīn (), was a senior general of Iranian descent at the court of the Abbasid caliphs and a vassal prince of Oshrusana. He played a leading role in the campaigns of Caliph al-Mu'tasim, and was responsible for the suppression of the rebellion of Babak Khorramdin and for his battlefield victory over the Byzantine emperor Theophilos during the Amorium campaign. Eventually he was suspected of disloyalty and was arrested, tried and then executed in June 841. |
Afshin is a hereditary title of Oshrusana princes at the time of the Muslim conquest of Persia. The term is an Arabic form of the Middle Persian Pishin and Avestan Pisinah, a proper name of uncertain etymology. Minorsky suggests that the title Afshin was of Sogdian origin. |
At the time of the first Arab invasion of Transoxiana (including Oshrusana) under Qutayba ibn Muslim (94-5 AH/712-14 CE), Ushrusana was inhabited by Iranians, who were ruled by their own princes who bore the traditional title of Afshin. |
Afshin is generally considered an Iranian, and although two classical sources (and some modern authors) have called him a Turk. He came from an Iranian cultural region and was not usually considered Turkish. The confusion comes from the fact that the term “Turk” was used loosely by Arab writers of the time to denote the new troops of the caliph despite the inclusion among them of some elements of Iranian origin, including Ferghana and Oshrusana. |
His background has been stated to be Sogdian (an Eastern Iranian people). |
According to Yaqubi, during the reign of the third Abbasid caliph Al-Mahdi (775-85), Afshin of Oshrusana was mentioned among several Iranian and Turkish rulers of Transoxania and the Central Asian steppes who submitted nominally to him. But it was not until Harun al-Rashid's reign in 794-95 that al-Fadl ibn Yahya al-Barmaki led an expedition into Transoxania and received the submission of Afshin Kharākana, the ruling Akin. Further expeditions were sent to Oshrusana by Al-Ma'mun when he was governor in Merv and later after he had become caliph. Kawus ibn Kharakhuruh, the son of the Afshin Karākana, withdrew his allegiance from the Arabs. However, shortly after Ma'mun arrived in Baghdad from the east (817-18 or 819-20), a power struggle and dissension broke out among the reigning family of Oshrusana. |
According to most of the sources, al-Ma'mun's heir, Al-Mu'tasim seconded high-ranking officers to serve under him and ordered exceptionally large salaries, expense allowances, and rations for him. In 831-833, Afshin suppressed uprisings throughout Egypt. On 2 June 832 Afshin succeeded in taking Bima in Egypt. The town surrendered to Afshin following his advice that al-Ma'mun promised safe conduct. |
In 835, Caliph al-Mu'tasim appointed Afshin as governor of Adharbayjan to fight against Babak Khorramdin, leader of anti-Islamic neo-Mazdakite Persian movement of the Khurramites. |
After a fierce resistance by Babak's army, Afshin eventually defeated it and captured Babak's castle of Bazz in August 837. Ya'qubi (Tarikh II, 579) records Afshin freeing 7,600 Arab prisoners from this fortress and he destroyed the castle. The Khurramite leader went into hiding under the protection of a local Christian prince Sahl ibn-Sunbat who later turned him into Afshin. In return for Afshin's achievements, the caliph rewarded him with the governorship of Sind in addition to that of Armenia and Adharbayjan. |
In 838, al-Mu'tasim decided to launch a major punitive expedition against Byzantium, aiming to capture the two major Byzantine cities of central Asia Minor, Ancyra and Amorium. The latter was probably the largest city in Asia Minor at the time, as well as the birthplace of the reigning Amorian dynasty and consequently of particular symbolic importance; according to the chronicles, al-Mu'tasim's soldiers painted the word "Amorium" on their shields and banners. A vast army was gathered at Tarsus (80,000 men according to Treadgold), which was then divided into two main forces. Afshin was placed in command of the northern force, that would invade the Armeniac theme from the region of Melitene, joining up with the forces of the city's emir, Omar al-Aqta. The southern, main force, under the Caliph himself, would pass through the Cilician Gates into Cappadocia and head to Ancyra. After the city was taken, the Arab armies would join and march to Amorium. Afshin's force included, according to Skylitzes, the entire Arab army of Armenia, and numbered 20,000 (Haldon) to 30,000 men (Treadgold), among whom were some 10,000 Turkish horse-archers. |
In mid-June 838, Afshin crossed the Anti-Taurus Mountains and encamped at the fort of Dazimon, between Amaseia and Tokate, a strategically important location which the Byzantines also used as a forward staging area. A few days later, on 19 June, the vanguard of the main Abbasid army also invaded Byzantine territory, followed two days after by the Caliph with the main body. Emperor Theophilos chose to confront Afshin first, since although his army was smaller, it threatened to cut off his supply lines. On 21 July, the imperial army came into view of the Arab force, and encamped on the hill of Anzen south of Dazimon. In the ensuing Battle of Anzen, the Byzantine army attacked at dawn, and initially made good progress, but noon Afshin launched his Turkish horse-archers in a ferocious counter-attack which stymied the Byzantine advance and allowed the Arab forces to regroup. At the same time, Theophilos decided to lead reinforcements to one of his wings, and his sudden absence disquieted his troops, thinking he had been killed. The Byzantine army collapsed, with some units breaking and fleeing disorderly, while others were apparently able to retreat in good order. Theophilos himself barely escaped the battle with his guard, and was surrounded by Afshin's men on a low hill. Afshin sent for catapults to be brought up to batter the Byzantine position, but the Byzantines managed to break through the Arab lines and the Emperor escaped. |
The caliph's vanguard under Ashinas reached Ancyra, which had been abandoned by its inhabitants, on 26 July. Afshin arrived there a few days later, and united with the main Abbasid army, which now turned south towards Amorium. Afshin commanded the rear guard, while Ashinas was once again in front, and the caliph in the middle. Looting the countryside as they advanced, they arrived before Amorium seven days after their departure from Ancyra, and began their siege of the city on 1 August. |
The city's fortifications were strong, with a wide moat and a thick wall protected by 44 towers, according to the contemporary geographer Ibn Khordadbeh, and the caliph assigned each of his generals to a stretch of the walls. Both besiegers and besieged had many siege engines, and for three days both sides exchanged missile fire while Arab sappers tried to undermine the walls. According to Arab accounts, an Arab prisoner who had converted to Christianity defected back to the caliph, and informed him about a place in the wall which had been badly damaged by heavy rainfall and only hastily and superficially repaired due to the city commander's negligence. As a result, the Arabs concentrated their efforts on this section. The defenders tried to protect the wall by hanging wooden beams to absorb the shock, but they splintered, and after two days a breach was made. The Arabs now launched repeated attacks on the breach, with Afshin, Ashinas, and Itakh taking turns in leading their men in attack, but the defenders held firm. In the event, the city fell by treachery in mid-August, when the Byzantine officer commanding the breach tried to open up separate negotiations with al-Mu'tasim, and the Abbasids used the lull in order to launch a surprise attack. |
Despite his successes, Afshin's star began to decline, apparently as a result of his jealousy towards `Abdallah bin Taher, the governor of Khorasan who Afshin apparently regarded as an upstart and a rival for power in Transoxania. Afshin had begun intriguing with Mazyar, a Karenid prince and "ispahbadh" of Tabaristan in the Caspian region. Afshin allegedly encouraged Mazyar in secret, in the hope that `Abdallāh bin Tāher would be deprived of his governorship allowing Afšīn to take over the governorship. Mazyar's rebellion was quashed in 839 and Afshin's position became increasingly difficult, which caused Afshin to fall from favour. His situation was made worse by the finding of correspondence between him and Mazyar. Further, the Khurasanian governor, Abdallah ibn Tahir, alleged that he had intercepted some of Babak's wealth Afshin had obtained in the earlier campaign and was seeking to transfer secretly to Afshin's lands in Oshrusana. When Mazyar arrived in Samarra, Afshin was arrested. |
Mazyar participated in the interrogation of the former general, asserting that Afshin had conspired with him. Others present raised additional questions concerning the sincerity of Afshin's conversion to Islam from Zoroastrianism. He said "There is no God but God!" to Al Wathiq. Afshin had answers to all the allegations. He claimed that Zoroastrian artefacts and books in his possession were family heirlooms from before he had become Muslim. He explained that when he punished a pair of Muslim fanatics destroying idols in Ushrusanah he was exercising reasonable leadership aimed at maintaining the harmony of his religiously diverse territory. He told his detractors that the formulaic address his people used in writing to him in Persian as "lord of lords", was simply a tradition and did not invalidate his personal belief in one God. |
All such replies were unsuccessful. Al-Mu'tasim had a special prison built for Afshin. It was known as "The Pearl" and was in the shape of a minaret. There he spent the final nine months of his life and there he died in May–June 841. |
The Tigris river was used as a dumping ground for his cremated remains. A single location was used for the crucifixion of Afshin, Maziyar, and Babak's corpses. |
After his death Ustrushana was Islamified whereas before he preserved temples from ruin. |
= = = Bestiario del balón = = = |
Bestiario del balón (raw translation: "Ball fable collection") is a Colombian collective football weblog. |
Bestiario del balón started in September 2005. It was inspired on Argentine blog "En una baldosa". |
This blog consists in a recompilation of old and new material about Colombian "bad" footballers and related issues. It also features old press and television reports about Colombian football. |
As of June 2014 Nicolas Samper is the editor of the blog. |
= = = Julius Nufer = = = |
Julius Jeremiah "Jimmie" Nufer (April 7, 1879 – June 25, 1949) was the fifth men's head basketball coach at Purdue University. |
= = = Pedro DeBrito = = = |
Pedro Gomes DeBrito (May 25, 1959 – July 5, 2014) was a retired U.S.-Cape Verdean soccer midfielder. His career took him through multiple U.S. leagues including the North American Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League, American Soccer League and the National Professional Soccer League. He earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1983. |
DeBrito, a native of Cape Verde, moved with his family to Portugal when he was nine. His family then moved to the U.S. when he was fifteen. After high school, he attended the University of Connecticut. He played as a forward on the men's soccer team and finished his four seasons with 43 goals and 59 assists. He holds the school's career assists record and, , is fifth on the career goals list. In 1981, UConn defeated Alabama A&M 2–1 to win the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship. He was a 1980 Honorable Mention and 1981 First Team All American honors. The University of Connecticut inducted DeBrito into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999. He was inducted into the Connecticut Soccer Hall of Fame in the Class of 2000. |
DeBrito was one of 22 college players to be part of the 40-40 club, having both 40 goals and 40 assists in their college career. |
The Tampa Bay Rowdies of the North American Soccer League drafted DeBrito with the first pick in the 1982 NASL College Draft. That year he was the NASL Rookie of the Year as a forward. In 1983, the U.S. Soccer Federation, in coordination with the NASL, entered the U.S. national team, known as Team America, into the NASL as a league franchise. The team drew on U.S. citizens playing in the NASL, Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) and American Soccer League (ASL). DeBrito left the Rowdies and signed with Team America. When Team America finished the 1983 season with a 10–20 record, the worst in the NASL, USSF withdrew the team from the league and DeBrito returned to the Rowdies. However, he did not play for the Rowdies in 1984 as the team traded him to the New York Cosmos on April 26, 1984 for Refik Kozić and cash. While DeBrito played as a forward with the Rowdies and as a midfielder with Team America, the Cosmos used him as an outside back. DeBrito remained with the Cosmos through the 1984 NASL outdoor season. The league collapsed at the end of the season and the Cosmos jumped to MISL for the 1984–1985 season. However, the Cosmos did not last the season and DeBrito signed with the Dallas Sidekicks (MISL) as a free agent on September 10, 1985. On February 13, 1987, DeBrito injured his right knee putting him out for the remainder of the 1986–1987 season. He began the 1987–1988 season with the Sidekicks but the team attempted to trade DeBrito the Tacoma Stars for Godfrey Ingram. When the two teams failed to complete the trade, the Sidekicks released DeBrito due to salary cap considerations nine games into the 1987–1988 season. DeBrito then signed with Wichita Wings as a free agent. Later that season, he broke his right leg. In 1989, DeBrito played for the Albany Capitals of the outdoor American Soccer League. |
DeBrito returned to the Dallas Sidekicks as a free agent in 1990 and remained with the team through 1991. On December 2, 1992, he signed with the Detroit Rockers of the National Professional Soccer League and played with the team until 1994 when he retired from professional soccer. He later spent time in Portugal before returning to the United States and settling in Miami where he continued to play for local recreational soccer teams. |
DeBrito earned his only cap in the U.S. national team's only game in 1983, a 2–0 win over Haiti on April 30, 1983. |
DeBrito's parents were John and Angelina DeBrito. He had five sisters: Vera, Fernanda, Valeriana, Angela, and Maria. His younger brother, John DeBrito, was also a professional soccer player in the 1990s and early 2000s. Pedro was the Boys Varsity Soccer Coach for the Oliver-Wolcott Technical High School in Torrington, CT in 1999 |
DeBrito was critically injured in an automobile accident in Miami, Florida, on July 3, 2014, and died as a result of those injuries on July 5, 2014. He was on his way to work as a manager of the Drew Estate Cigar Company when the car he was driving hit a tree in the median. |
= = = Matsutarō Kawaguchi = = = |
Kawaguchi was born in the plebeian Asakusa district of Tokyo into an impoverished family. He was forced to leave home at the age of 14 to seek employment. He started to write in his spare time, while working at various jobs, which included working in a pawn shop, as a tailor, a policeman and as a postman at one point in his life. He came to be acquainted with author Kubota Mantaro, who encouraged him in his literary efforts. |
Kawaguchi was arrested in Kamakura, Kanagawa in 1933, along with fellow literati Kume Masao and Satomi Ton for illegal card gambling. |
In 1935, Kawaguchi won the first Naoki Prize for a short story titled "Tsuruhachi Tsurujirō". He followed this with a serialized novel, "Aizen Katsura", a melodramatic love story involving a nurse and a doctor, which ran from 1936-1938. The story became a tremendously popular bestseller and gained him considerable fame. It was later made into a movie starring Kinuyo Tanaka and Ken Uehara, and was the basis of numerous television series. |
After World War II, Kawaguchi resumed his literary activity, publishing plays and novels. He won the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for his novel "Shigurejaya Oriku", a nostalgic series of episodes involving a prostitute who rose to become a brothel owner. |
Many of Kawaguchi's novels were adapted to film, and he was long associated with Daiei Motion Picture Company. In 1965, he became a member of the Japan Academy of the Arts. He was awarded the Order of Culture by the Japanese government in 1973. His wife was the movie actress Aiko Mimasu. |
Kawaguchi won the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for his novel "Shigurejaya Oriku", a nostalgic series of episodes involving a farm girl, sold to a brothel, who rose to become owner of a famous Tokyo teahouse. The story was eventually translated into English by Royall Tyler. |
= = = Wilford Leach = = = |
Carson Wilford Leach (August 26, 1929 – June 18, 1988) was a Tony Award-winning American theatre director, set designer, film director, screenwriter, and professor. |
Leach was born in Petersburg, Virginia on August 26, 1929. A performance of "Pygmalion" he saw as a teenager inspired him to work in theatre. After graduating from the College of William & Mary in 1953, Leach went on to earn both a master's degree and a doctorate from the University of Illinois. Leach began teaching at Sarah Lawrence College in 1958. He also taught at the Yale School of Drama during the years 1978 and 1979. |
After moving to New York City, Leach became the artistic director of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club for much of the 1970s. At La MaMa, he frequently collaborated with John Braswell. They directed the ETC Company, a resident company of La MaMa, in a repertory that included adaptations of "Carmilla", "Demon", "The Only Jealousy of Emer", "Renard", and "Gertrude", a musical about the title character based loosely on Gertrude Stein. |
Leach also directed works for Joseph Papp's Public Theater and the New York Shakespeare Festival, where he directed a production of "The Pirates of Penzance" in 1980 with Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, Rex Smith, and Patricia Routledge. The production transferred to Broadway with the same cast in January 1981, with Estelle Parsons replacing Routledge. Leach won a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical for the Broadway production in 1981. Leach directed a film version of "The Pirates of Penzance" in 1983 with the same cast, with Angela Lansbury replacing Parsons. |
Leach's additional theatre directing credits include two projects that originated at the Public and then transferred to Broadway: "The Human Comedy" (1984) and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" (1986), for which he won his second Tony Award. |
While teaching at Sarah Lawrence, Leach met then-students Brian De Palma and Cynthia Munroe. In collaboration with De Palma and Munroe, he produced, directed, and wrote the screenplay for the 1969 film "The Wedding Party", whose cast included a young Robert De Niro and Jill Clayburgh. He also directed the films "All's Well That Ends Well" (1978) with Frances Conroy for television and a straight-to-video version of "Coriolanus" (1979) with Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman. |
The protagonist of Brian De Palma's film "Phantom of the Paradise" (1974), Winslow Leach, is named after Wilford Leach. |