KGB

The KGB, an initialism for Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (Russian: Комите́т госуда́рственной безопа́сности (КГБ); IPA: [kəmʲɪˈtʲɛt ɡəsʊˈdarstʲvʲɪnnəj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ], translated in English as Committee for State Security), was the main security agency for the Soviet Union from 1954 until its break-up in 1991. Formed in 1954, as a direct successor of such preceding agencies as the Cheka, NKGB, and MGB, the committee was attached to the Council of Ministers. It was the chief government agency of "union-republican jurisdiction", acting as internal security, intelligence, and secret police. Similar agencies were instated in each of the republics of the Soviet Union aside from Russia and consisted of many ministries, state committees, and state commissions.

The KGB was a military service and was governed by army laws and regulations, similar to the Soviet Army or MVD Internal Troops. While most of the KGB archives remain classified, two online documentary sources are available. Its main functions were foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, operative-investigatory activities, guarding the State Border of the USSR, guarding the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government, organization and ensuring of government communications as well as combating nationalism, dissent, and anti-Soviet activities.

Baracuda (rapper)

Graham Troyer (born February 24, 1983), better known by his stage name Baracuda (formerly Baracuda72), is an underground hip hop artist from Guelph, Ontario, currently based in Toronto. Baracuda was an original member of the Plague Language collective founded by Noah23 and Orphan. Beginning in 2001 he collaborated with Noah23 under the name Bourgeois Cyborgs. They released one self-titled album in 2008. The duo broke up in 2012 and Baracuda is no longer affiliated with Plague Language.

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Mixtapes

State Security Committee of the Republic of Belarus

The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian: Камітэт дзяржаўнай бяспекі, КДБ; translit. Kamitet Dziaržaǔnaj Biaspieki, KDB, Russian: Комитет государственной безопасности, КГБ; translit. Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti, KGB) is the national intelligence agency of Belarus. Along with its counterparts in Transnistria and South Ossetia, it is one of the few intelligence agencies that kept the Russian name "KGB" after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, albeit it is lost in translation when written in Belarusian (becoming KDB rather than KGB). (The "Special Riot Police," however, are still called OMON.)

It is the Belarusian successor organization to the KGB of the Soviet Union. Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, who founded the Cheka – the original Bolshevik intelligence police – was born in what is now Belarus and remains a national hero.

It is governed by the law About State Security Bodies of the Republic of Belarus.

Darkman

Darkman is a 1990 American superhero action film directed and co-written by Sam Raimi. It is based on a short story Raimi wrote that paid homage to Universal's horror films of the 1930s. The film stars Liam Neeson as Peyton Westlake, a scientist who is attacked and left for dead by a ruthless mobster, Robert Durant (played by Larry Drake), after his girlfriend, an attorney (Frances McDormand), runs afoul of a corrupt developer (Colin Friels).

Unable to secure the rights to either The Shadow or Batman, Raimi decided to create his own superhero and struck a deal with Universal Studios to make his first Hollywood studio film. He was subjected to a grueling screenwriting process and equally difficult post-production battle with the studio.

The design and creation of the makeup effects required to turn Liam Neeson into Darkman were the handiwork of makeup effects artist Tony Gardner, who also cameos in the film as the Lizard Man in the carnival Freak Show sequence.

Darkman was generally well received by critics and performed well at the box office, grossing almost $49 million worldwide, well above its $16 million budget. This financial success spawned two direct-to-video sequels, The Return of Durant (1994) and Die Darkman Die (1996), as well as comic books, video games, and action figures. Over the years, Darkman has become regarded as a cult film.

Darkman (video game)

Darkman was developed by Ocean Software (Painting By Numbers on the NES version) and published by Ocean Software in 1991. It was released for the ZX Spectrum, NES, Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64. It was also ported to the Game Boy and Atari ST. The game's plot is loosely based on the film of the same name.

In this side-scrolling platformer, the player controls Darkman, a superhero who can jump, kick and punch, as well as swing from a rope during action sequences between levels. In each level, Darkman disguises himself as the boss of the level, whom he must defeat before the time limit elapses. Tying into the plot of the film, Darkman wears masks of various gangsters who are responsible for his disfigurement, but his disguise dissolves after being exposed to sunlight for too long. The character changes into a different member of the evil gang in each level, taking on their attack moves as well as their face.

In-between levels, Darkman must photograph his quarry before he can make a mask of them. These scenes involve moving the cursor to take a picture of the gangster. The better the photo accuracy, the more time Darkman is granted to complete the subsequent level. The final level is the most faithful to the film, and takes place on a skyscraper under construction.

Darkman (character)

Darkman (real name Peyton Westlake) is a title character and the protagonist of the 1990 superhero film Darkman and its sequels, Darkman II: The Return of Durant and Darkman III: Die Darkman Die. The character originated in a short story written by the film's director, Sam Raimi, titled "The Darkman," and is based on the Universal Pictures' movie monsters while retaining traits of the DC Comics WWII disfigured hero the Unknown Soldier. He was portrayed by Liam Neeson in the original film and Arnold Vosloo in the sequels.

Fictional character biography

In the third film and the un-aired television pilot, his biography is slightly retconned, but the character's canonical history is as such: Peyton Westlake was a mild-mannered and brilliant scientist working on a synthetic "skin" capable of aiding burn victims. He had a good relationship with district attorney Julie Hastings, who indirectly caused his injuries by telling corrupt developer Louis Strack, Jr. that he could not build his "city of the future" without a permission document from Westlake's laboratory. At this, Strack hired sadistic mobster Robert G. Durant to get the document and in the process, Durant and his gang brutally disfigured Westlake, killed his assistant and destroyed his lab.