Villain

A villain (also known in film and literature as the "antagonist," "baddie", "bad guy", "heavy" or "black hat") is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist (though can be the protagonist), the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters. A female villain is occasionally called a villainess (often to differentiate her from a male villain). Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines villain as "a cruelly malicious person who is involved in or devoted to wickedness or crime; scoundrel; or a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot".

Etymology

Villain comes from the Anglo-French and Old French vilain, which itself descends from the Late Latin word villanus, meaning "farmhand", in the sense of someone who is bound to the soil of a villa, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a plantation in Late Antiquity, in Italy or Gaul. The same etymology produced villein. It referred to a person of less than knightly status and so came to mean a person who was not chivalrous. As a result of many unchivalrous acts, such as treachery or rape, being considered villainous in the modern sense of the word, it became used as a term of abuse and eventually took on its modern meaning. The Germanic word "churl", originally meaning "a non-servile peasant" and denoting the lowest rank of freemen in Saxon society, had gone through a similar degradation, as did the word "boor" which originally meant "farmer".

Greatest hits album

A greatest hits album, sometimes called a "best of" album or a catalog album, is a compilation of songs by a particular artist or band. Most often the track list contains previously released recordings with a high degree of notability. However, to increase the appeal, especially to people who already own the original release, it is common to include remixes and/or alternate takes of popular songs; even new material (previously unreleased). At times a greatest hits compilation is the original release for songs that have themselves been released as a single and charted successfully.

Notable compilations

Madonna's The Immaculate Collection is the best selling greatest hits compilation by a solo artist; all of the songs on it are presented in different versions than the original hit versions. The Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) is the best selling greatest hits compilation by a group and also one of the ten best selling albums in history. Greatest hits albums are typically produced after an artist has had enough successful songs to fill out an album release. Some artists, such as Mariah Carey, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Kenny Rogers, Aerosmith, Kiss, U2, Dolly Parton, Journey, Los Tigres del Norte, Queen, Kylie Minogue and Billy Joel, have released multiple greatest hits albums through their long careers. Some greatest hits albums are released only at the end of the artist or group's career. For example, My Chemical Romance released a greatest hits album after they disbanded. Other artists, like Eminem have released hits albums in the center of their success. He released Curtain Call: The Hits in 2005 and then Shady XV as a compilation album in 2014.

Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, designed to fire bullets in quick succession from an ammunition belt or magazine, typically at a rate of 300 to 1800 rounds per minute. Fully automatic weapons are generally categorized as submachine guns, assault rifles, battle rifles, automatic shotguns, machine guns, or autocannons.

As a class of military firearms, true machine guns are fully automatic weapons designed to be used as support weapons and generally used when attached to a mount or fired from the ground on a bipod or tripod. Light machine guns are small enough to be fired hand-held, but are more effective when fired from a prone position. The difference between machine guns and other categories of weapons is based on caliber, with autocannons using calibers larger than 20 mm, and whether the gun fires conventional bullets, shotgun cartridges, or explosive rounds. Fully automatic guns firing shotgun cartridges are usually called automatic shotguns, and those firing large-caliber explosive rounds are generally considered either autocannons or automatic grenade launchers ("grenade machine guns"). Submachine guns are hand-held automatic weapons for personal defense or short-range combat firing pistol-caliber rounds. In contrast to submachine guns and autocannons, machine guns (like rifles) tend to have a very high ratio of barrel length to caliber (a long barrel for a small caliber); indeed, a true machine gun is essentially a fully automatic rifle, and often the primary criterion for a machine gun as opposed to a battle rifle is the presence of a quick-change barrel, heavyweight barrel, or other cooling system. Battle rifles and assault rifles may be capable of fully automatic fire, but are not designed for sustained fire.

Machine Gun Kelly

George Francis Barnes Jr. (July 18, 1895 – July 18, 1954), better known as "Machine Gun Kelly", was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee, during the prohibition era. He attended Central High School in Memphis. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thompson submachine gun. His most infamous crime was the kidnapping of oil tycoon and businessman Charles F. Urschel in July 1933 for which he, and his gang, collected a $200,000 ransom. Their victim had collected and left considerable evidence that assisted the subsequent FBI investigation that eventually led to Kelly's arrest in Memphis, Tennessee, on September 26, 1933. His crimes also included bootlegging and armed robbery.

Career

During the Prohibition era of the 1920s and 1930s Kelly worked as a bootlegger for himself as well as a colleague. After a short time, and several run-ins with the local Memphis police, he decided to leave town and head west with his girlfriend. To protect his family and escape law enforcement officers, he changed his name to George R. Kelly. He continued to commit smaller crimes and bootlegging. He was arrested in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for smuggling liquor onto an Indian Reservation in 1928 and sentenced to three years at Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas, beginning February 11, 1928. He was reportedly a model inmate and was released early. Shortly thereafter, Kelly married Kathryn Thorne, who purchased Kelly's first machine gun and went to great lengths to familiarize his name within underground crime circles.

Fifth Harmony

Fifth Harmony is an American girl group formed on the second season of the The X Factor USA in July 2012. The group consists of members Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane, Camila Cabello, and Lauren Jauregui. They signed a joint deal with Syco Music, owned by Simon Cowell, and Epic Records, L.A. Reid's record label, after finishing in third place on the show. Since then, they have released an EP and a full-length album.

Following their exit from The X Factor, they released their debut single "Miss Movin' On". Their debut EP, Better Together was released in 2013 with a first week position of number six on the U.S. Billboard 200. The following year, they won the Artist to Watch award at the MTV Video Music Awards. The group released their debut studio album, Reflection in February 2015. It debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, selling 62,000 copies in the first week and was supported by the group's first major headlining tour, The Reflection Tour. The album included the singles "BO$$", "Sledgehammer" and the U.S. triple platinum "Worth It". The latter also became the group's first top 20 single on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached the top 10 in eight countries. Fifth Harmony has emerged as the most successful alumni from the X Factor U.S. franchise.