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Parokya ni Edgar

Parokya ni Edgar (lit: Edgar's Parish) is a Filipino band formed in 1993, composed of Chito Miranda (lead vocals), Gab Chee Kee (rhythm guitar, vocals), Buwi Meneses (bass guitar, backing vocals), Darius Semaña (lead guitar, backing vocals), Dindin Moreno (drums, percussion), and Vinci Montaner (backing vocals). The band is known for its original rock novelty songs and often satirical covers of popular songs both foreign and local. The band is adept at playing in various musical genres.

Parokya ni Edgar has been referred to by local media outlets as "The National Band of the Philippines". As of 2005, the band has reportedly sold 600,000 albums in the Philippines for their first eight albums.

Formation and early years
Originally named Comic Relief, the band's initial members were a group of high school students composed of vocalists Chito Miranda, Jeric Estaco, and Vinci Montaner, along with guitarists Mikko Yap and Gab Chee Kee, all hailing from Ateneo de Manila University. They were regulars in after-school jam sessions, before performing an opening number for an Eraserheads concert. This served as their break in the music industry and prompted them to add a drummer and bassist – Ateneo schoolmate Dindin Moreno and Miranda's childhood friend Buwi Meneses, respectively. Around the same time they changed the band's name to Parokya ni Edgar. After high school, Mikko and Jeric withdrew from the band to pursue other interests. Soon after, the remaining band members invited Darius Semaña, Meneses's former bandmate, to take the role of lead guitar.

Name origin
The band name's origin had been a subject of debate among fans as the band members had never given full confirmation. It was not until 2013 that Chito Miranda officially addressed it through a post on their Facebook page. The title "Parokya Ni Edgar" came from a joke a classmate named Bambi Cuna made during one of their high school classes. Sources state that the class subject was Filipino. When the teacher asked Cuna where Jose Rizal's fictional hero, Crisostomo Ibarra (in the novel Noli Me Tangere) was educated, it was said that Cuna made up a daft answer, "sa Parokya ni Edgar". Then-vocalist Jeric Estaco decided on impromptu to introduce the band as "Parokya ni Edgar" in their first live performance. From there, the band name just stuck.

Mainstream
By the late 1990s, PNE became regular performers in Club Dredd, a popular club in Manila at the time. The band slowly gained popularity during the height of the Filipino rock explosion, with the local rock community welcoming the influence of foreign grunge acts such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.

Parokya Ni Edgar won their "Best New Artists Award Winner in the 3rd NU 107 Rock Awards in 1996, the same year, they performed in an awards night since becoming an amateur OPM rock band in pinoy rock history, years later, PNE won 8 times overall in the NU Rock awards until 2003.

Eventually, the late managing director of Universal Records, Bella Dy Tan, signed them as contract artists after witnessing one of their Club Dredd performances.

Soon, their initial recordings "Buloy", "Trip (Siopao Na Special)" and "Lutong Bahay (Cooking Ng Ina Mo)" gained radio airplay. Their first album, Khangkhungkherrnitz (1996) became a triple platinum hit in the Philippines, having sold 120,000 units. The next albums were equal successes - Buruguduystunstugudunstuy (1997) was awarded triple platinum, Jingle Balls Silent Night Holy Cow (1998) with gold, and Gulong Itlog Gulong (1999) with triple platinum. This included the single "Halaga", one of the most popular songs of the band. "Halaga" was such a hit in the country that it further boosted PNE's career, cementing their name in the OPM scene.

In 1999, 2 years after Eraserheads won as Best Southeast Asian Music Video Award Winner for "Ang Huling El Bimbo" in 1997, Parokya won as Best Southeast Asian Music Video Award Moon Man Winner for the music video "Harana" in the MTV Music Video Music Awards 1999 which was held in New York City. Parokya was the second OPM rock band & last MTV Music Video Awards Winner of the Moon Man Trophy after Eraserheads, while in 2001, Kyla won as the last Filipino OPM Performer to win the MTV Award on her entry for the music video "Hanggang Ngayon". The same year, Parokya became popular on television and radio guestings.

After a four-year hiatus, they released their junior studio album Edgar Edgar Musikahan in 2002.

On July 14, 2003, they released the studio album Bigotilyo, with the main single "Mr. Suave". "Mr. Suave" proved to be just as popular as its predecessors and stayed on the music charts for more than a year. The song became so popular in the Philippines that a few commercials and political campaigns borrowed stanzas from it. In the same year of 2003, Parokya celebrated their 10th anniversary with gigs and concerts in various shows nationwide and internationally like Hong Kong, and Canadian provinces such as Alberta, British Columbia, and Ontario. They also toured in the United States specifically in New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, Arizona, and California.

In 2004, the band released Inuman Sessions Vol. 1, PNE's first compilation DVD album celebrating their 11th anniversary. The DVD showcased the band's prerecorded live studio performance of their hit songs to a selected audience. The DVD album was met with commercial success nationwide. They released their 8th studio album, Middle-Aged Juvenile Novelty Pop Rockers in 2010 with the single "Paki-usap Lang (Lasingin Nyo Ako)". The album was met with moderate success in both charts and sales.

In 2011, PNE joined the roster of Tanduay's First Five and RockFest replacing long running Tanduay endorser 6cyclemind.

The following year, PNE released their second compilation DVD album Inuman Sessions Vol. 2 - a follow-up to their Inuman Sessions Vol. 1. Later that same year, Montaner officially left the band on good terms with both the members and crew.

2013 marked PNE's 20th anniversary in the OPM industry. The band launched their 13th album Bente as commemoration, and as this was a milestone, Vinci Montaner temporarily reunited with the band for the album's cover art and signings.

In 2014, PNE was awarded with the MYX Magna Award for their artistic contribution to OPM Rock History & also celebrating their 20th anniversary in the OPM rock scene from the mid 1990s. They are the second OPM rock band to receive this award after Eraserheads in 2009.

All throughout 2015, the band toured selected cities in the United States; they headlined at the Landmark Loews Theater in Jersey City, New Jersey on March 21, 2015. That same year, the band began recording for their next album and contained the tracks "Sing" and "Lagi Mong Tatandaan", the former featuring Rico Blanco. Their 9th studio album and their 14th overall album is entitled Pogi Years Old. The cover album was revealed on September 2, 2016 through their Facebook page and expected to be released by 2016. Former member Vinci Montaner was said to appear on the album as a featured artist. On September 9, 2016, the band held a free surprise show at the Bonifacio Shrine in Manila. The album was released on October 17, 2016 nationwide and on digital format. The band would held an album launch at Eastwood Central Plaza on October 16, 2016. This marks the return of Vinci Montaner, who would join permanently days later.

On November 22, 2017, Parokya was named as the newest celebrity music star inductee in the 2017 Eastwood City Walk of Fame in Eastwood City Mall Quezon City for their influence in Pinoy rock music. Parokya was the third related music group and first OPM rock band to be inducted to the Eastwood City Walk Of Fame.

Parokya Ni Edgar also celebrated their 25th silver anniversary in October 2018 following with more concerts and gigs.

A musical adaptation of Parokya Ni Edgar's discography in cooperation with longest running gag comedy show Bubble Gang entitled Bubble Gang Parokya Na To: A Laugh Story The Musical was recently performed last February 15, 2019 at Waterfront Hotel Cebu City, produced by GMA Kapuso Concerts. This was Parokya's 1st musical stage play and also the 4th OPM music artist overall for musical staging play after Eraserheads "Ang Huling El Bimbo" in 2015, Apo Hiking Society's "Eto Na: Musical nAPO" in 2017, and Aegis's "Rak of Aegis: The Musical" in 2018.

The band also performed for their 25th silver anniversary concert in the U.S. & Canada Tour entitled Parokya 25 Live In The U.S. & Canada in March 2019.

Current Status 2020-present
As of 2020, Parokya is still active with more gigs and is scheduled to release their new single together with the band Kamikazee. The same year, PNE releases a new single, "Pati Pato", with Gloc9 and Shanti Dope, was released in July 2020. PNE had also released a single for Chito's wife Neri; the song "Smile" was released in October 2020 exclusively on Spotify and later on digital platforms like Deezer, Apple iTunes, and YouTube.

In 2021, Parokya's brand new single, "It's Masarap" was released last January 2021, the song was a parody inspired from the longest running noon time variety show, "Eat Bulaga!", plus their official music video was also released on YouTube also the same month. Also in 2021, Parokya released their brand new album called Borbolen, their 10th studio album and also their 15th overall album and for the first time after 5 years since Pogi Years Old released in 2016.

In 2022, Parokya launched their first Vinyl Record for their original release of 1996 album, "Khangkhungkherrnitz" by Universal Records Philippines.

In 2023, PNE celebrated their 30th Year as an OPM Rock Parody Band and dubbed as The Pambansang Banda ng Pilipinas with more new concerts, TV guesting, radio guesting, endorsements and also part of their 30th anniversary of the iconic pinoy parody rock band.

In 2024, Parokya also launched their 1st independent musical stage play was entitled as Buruguduystunstugudunstuy, the recent musical play was inspired from their Parokyas 2nd album and also the casts will be performing the various OPM singers artists was held last April 26, 2024, at the Newport Performing Arts Theater, Newport World Resorts Manila (Formerly Resorts World Manila), the popular comedy musical has officially end their successful show last June 23, 2024.

Activism
Parokya joined PETA's Free Mali campaign in 2013. "Mali has been sentenced to a miserable life of solitary confinement with absolutely nothing to do day after day, year after year", says lead vocalist Chito Miranda. Scientists, politicians, religious leaders, and tens of thousands of other concerned people have joined PETA in calling for Mali to be freed. "We in Parokya ni Edgar do, too. Even if the elephant exhibit at the Manila Zoo were to be doubled or tripled in size, it would still not be adequate to house one elephant, never mind additional ones. While zoos around the world have spent upwards of 2 billion pesos on attempts at more appropriately sized elephant exhibits, more and more zoos have recognized that the needs of these complex and intelligent animals cannot be met in captivity".

Band members

 * Current members
 * Chito Miranda – lead vocals (1993–present)
 * Gab Chee Kee – rhythm guitar, vocals (1993–present)
 * Buwi Meneses – bass guitar, backing vocals (1993–present; currently on hiatus/part-time since 2015)
 * Darius Semaña – lead guitar, occasional backing vocals (1993–present)
 * Dindin Moreno – drums, percussion (1993–present)
 * Vinci Montaner – backing vocals, monologue, vocal ad-libs, occasional percussion (1993–2012, 2016–present; currently on hiatus)

 * Touring and session members
 * Paolo Bernaldo (of Moonstar88) – bass guitar (2015–present)
 * Andrew Panaligan (of iktus) – acoustic guitar, backing vocals (2022–present)

Studio albums

 * Khangkhungkherrnitz (1996)
 * Buruguduystunstugudunstuy (1997)
 * Gulong Itlog Gulong (1999)
 * Edgar, Edgar Musikahan (2002)
 * Bigotilyo (2003)
 * Halina Sa Parokya (2005)
 * Solid (2007)
 * Middle-Aged Juvenile Novelty Pop Rockers (2010)
 * Pogi Years Old (2016)
 * Borbolen (2021)

Christmas albums

 * Jingle Balls Silent Night Holy Cow (1998)

Compilation albums

 * Matira Matibay: PG-13 (Singles 1994-2007) (2007)
 * Bente (2013)

Live albums

 * Inuman Sessions Vol. 1 (2004)
 * Inuman Sessions Vol. 2 (2012)

DVDs

 * Inuman Sessions VOL.1 DVD (2004)
 * Matira Matibay: PG-13 ("Singles 1994-2007") DVD (2007)
 * Inuman Sessions VOL.2 DVD (2012)
 * Bente: Parokya Ni Edgar 20th Anniversary DVD (2013)

Collaborative album appearances

 * Akustic Natin (Universal Records, 2004)
 * Akustic Natin Vol. 2 (Universal Records, 2004)
 * The Best of OPM Acoustic Hits (Universal Records, 2005)
 * The Best of OPM Love Ballads (Universal Records, 2005)
 * Pinoy Ako (Star Music, 2005)
 * OPM Superstars Christmas (Universal Records, 2005)
 * Superbands (Universal Records, 2005)
 * Kami nAPO muna (Universal Records, 2006)
 * OPM Gold Christmas Album (Universal Records, 2006)
 * The Biggest OPM Hits of The Year SUPER (Universal Records, 2006)
 * Bandang Pinoy, Lasang Hotdog (Musiko/Sony BMG Music Philippines, Repackaged 2006)
 * Kami nAPO muna ulit (Universal Records, 2007)
 * Pinoy Biggie Hits Rewind (Star Music, 2007)
 * Level Up: The Album (Star Music, 2007)
 * OPM Platinum Christmas (Universal Records, 2007)
 * Another Biggest OPM Hits of The Year SUPER 2 (Universal Records, 2007)
 * Pinoy Biggie Hits Vol. 3 (Star Music, 2007)
 * Astig...The Biggest Band Hits (Universal Records, 2008)
 * Harana: OPM's Biggest Hits In Guitar (Ivory Music, 2009)
 * I-Star 15: The Best Of Alternative & Rock Songs (Star Music, 2010)
 * OPM All Star Christmas (Universal Records, 2010)
 * A Perfectly Acoustic Experience (PolyEast Records, 2011)
 * Awit Kapuso: Kay Sarap Maging Kapuso (GMA Music, 2012)
 * Super Astig Hits (Universal Records, 2016)

Singles

 * 1996: "Buloy"
 * 1996: "Lutong Bahay (Cooking ng Ina Mo)"
 * 1996: "Tatlong Araw"
 * 1996: "Maniwala Ka Sana"
 * 1997: "Silvertoes"
 * 1997: "Sayang"
 * 1997: "Harana" (originally composed by Eric Yaptangco and sung by former Smokey Mountain singer and incumbent Finance Undersecretary Tony Lambino; also PNE's 1st cover song and was also covered by APO Hiking Society in 2001)
 * 1997: "Sampip" (Parokya's 1st English Rock Song)
 * 1999: "Picha Pie"
 * 1999: "Halaga"
 * 1999: "Inuman Na"
 * 1999: "Oka Tokat" (theme song for the TV series of the same title)
 * 1999: "Wag Mo Na Sana" (originally composed and performed by Frasco as "Oo Na Mahal Na Kung Mahal Kita")
 * 2002: "Swimming Beach"
 * 2002: "Sorry Na"
 * 2002: "This Guy's in Love with You Pare" (a song of Himig Handog 2002)
 * 2002: "Beh! Buti Nga!" (cover of the Hotdog song)
 * 2003: "Mr. Suave"
 * 2003: "The Yes Yes Show"
 * 2003: "Alumni Homecoming"
 * 2004: "Chikinini"
 * 2004: "Your Song (My One and Only You)"
 * 2005: "Kaleidoscope World" (cover of the Francis Magalona song, also featuring Magalona)
 * 2005: "First Day Funk" (commercial ad jingle for Rexona)
 * 2005: "Mang Jose"
 * 2005: "Bagsakan" (featuring Francis M and Gloc-9)
 * 2005: "Para Sa 'Yo"
 * 2005: "Papa Cologne"
 * 2005: "The Ordertaker"
 * 2005: "Gitara"
 * 2006: "Pumapatak ang Ulan" (cover of the APO Hiking Society song)
 * 2007: "American Junk" (featuring Kamikazee) (cover of the APO Hiking Society song)
 * 2007: "Nescafe" (commercial ad jingle for Nescafe)
 * 2007: "Macho"
 * 2007: "Boys Do Falling Love" (cover of the Robin Gibb song)
 * 2007: "Lastikman (Walang Susuko)" (theme song for the TV series of the same title)
 * 2008: "Akala"
 * 2008: "Reunion" (an alternate version was used as a commercial ad jingle for Jollibee with the title "Iisang Sarap")
 * 2010: "I-Bulsarap!" (commercial ad jingle for Mang Tomas All-Around Sarsa)
 * 2010: "Panday Kids" (theme song for the TV series of the same title)
 * 2010: "Pakiusap Lang (Lasingin Nyo Ako)"
 * 2012: "Pangarap Lang Kita" (featuring Happee Sy)
 * 2013: "One Hit Combo" (featuring Gloc-9)
 * 2013: "Ang Parokya" (featuring Gloc-9)
 * 2014: "Salamat Po"
 * 2015: "Sing" (featuring Rico Blanco)
 * 2015: "Lagi Mong Tatandaan"
 * 2016: "Beautiful Girl" (cover of the Jose Mari Chan song)
 * 2017: "Wala Lang Yun"
 * 2018: "Friendzone Mo Mukha Mo"
 * 2020: "Pati Pato" (featuring Gloc-9 & Shanti Dope)
 * 2020: "Smile"
 * 2021: "It's Masarap"
 * 2021: "Borbolen"
 * 2022: "Rosas"
 * 2022: "Wag Ka Na"
 * 2022: "Until Now" (feat. Eunice Jorge of Gracenote)

Parodies and samples
Parokya ni Edgar is also known for parodying songs of famous singers and bands.

 * "Trip" - "Creep" by Radiohead
 * "Alimango" - "Animal" by Pearl Jam
 * "The Crush (Bakit Ang Pangit Pangit Mo?)" - "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash
 * "Papa Cologne" - interpolates "Lança Perfume" by Rita Lee
 * "Picha Pie" - "I Will Survive" by Cake (originally by Gloria Gaynor)
 * "Chikinini" - "Banal Na Aso, Santong Kabayo" by Yano
 * "Nakaw ang Wallet Ko" - "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" by Guns N' Roses (originally by Bob Dylan)
 * "The Ordertaker" - a mashup of "Chop Suey" and "Toxicity" by System of a Down
 * "Macho" - "Macho Man" by Village People
 * "Tange" - "The Popeye Theme"
 * "Celfone Wallet" / "Celfone Celfone Wallet" - from the "Seiko Wallet Jingle" by Bing Rodrigo
 * "Pedro, Basura Man" - "The Popeye Theme"
 * "Bagsakan" - interpolates "Pollux Diving" by Keltscross and the Contra theme song from Base I (Stage 2) and II (Stage 4)
 * "Mang Jose" - Interpolates the lyrics of the opening theme for Daimos and even referenced the mecha anime in its lyrics.
 * "Laging Mong Tatandaan" - interpolates "Pusong Bato" by Aimee Torres
 * "It's Masarap" - interpolates "Eat Bulaga"
 * "Wag Ka Na" - interpolates "Disney's Camp Rock 2"

Music videos

 * Buloy (1996, debut music video)
 * Maniwala Ka Sana (1996)
 * Silvertoes (1997)
 * Harana (1998, 1st Music Video in 16mm & won 2 years later as Best Southeast Asia Music Video in MTV Video Music Awards in New York City in 1999)
 * Halaga (1999, parody dance from Backstreet Boys & Blink-182)
 * Picha Pie (1999, spoofs Ace Ventura & Tekken 3)
 * Inuman Na (1999)
 * Swimming Beach (2002, inspired from Survivor reality TV series)
 * Sorry Na (2002, inspired from Jane Fonda Aerobics Video)
 * This Guy Is In Love With You Pare (2002, a song finalist in Himig Handog P-Pop Love Songs 2002)
 * Chikinini (2003)
 * Mr. Suave (2003, theme song from a comedy movie of the same title)
 * The Yes Yes Show (2003, inspired from a Hip-Hop Music Video)
 * First Day Funk (2005, inspired from Rexona)
 * Mang Jose (2005, inspired from Batman)
 * Para Sa Yo (2005, inspired from PBB Season 1)
 * The Ordertaker (2005, parodied from WWE's The Undertaker)
 * Papa Cologne (2005, inspired from an AXE Deo Cologne and spoofs Player's Cologne for men ad from 1992)
 * Gitara (2005, inspired from a Koreanovela)
 * Bagsakan (2006, inspired from a High School theater)
 * Macho (2007, inspired from Village People)
 * Akala (2007)
 * Pakiusap Lang (2010)
 * Pangarap Lang Kita (2010, 1st music video in HD)
 * One Hit Combo (2010)
 * Ang Parokya (2013, inspired from Nirvana's "You Know You're Right")
 * Salamat Po (2013)
 * Sing (2016)
 * Lagi Mong Tatandaan (2016)
 * Wala Lang Yun (2018, inspired from a big heads effects & also 1st aired on MYX)
 * Friendzone Mo Mukha Mo (2020, Tower Sessions S04E17.1)
 * Pati Pato (2020, inspired from an American Rock Band Linkin Park)
 * It's Masarap (2021, inspired from a long running noontime show "Eat Bulaga")
 * Rosas (2022, 2nd music video in HD)
 * Wag Ka Na (2022, parody of Disney's Camp Rock 2's This Is Our Song)
 * Until Now "feat. Eunice Jorge of Gracenote" (2022, inspired from MTV Unplugged)

Other projects
Parokya ni Edgar band vocalist member Chito Miranda is also an occasional movie actor, starring in his debut movie appearance "Coming Soon" which was released in 2013. Miranda is also an occasional solo artist, having collaborations with Abra, Gloc-9, Maysh Baay of Moonstar88, former Rivermaya frontman Rico Blanco, and Eunice Jorge of Gracenote. Parokya also had collaborations with Francis M and with former Eraserheads frontman Ely Buendia for the single "Hosanna Ngayong Pasko" as part of the band's Christmas album, "Jingle Balls Silent Night Holy Cow" which was released in 1998. Miranda is also a T-shirt brand ambassador endorser of Uniqlo Philippines in 2012 together with former singer-actress Nikki Gil-Albert and other actors and sports personalities. Miranda was also their first solo T-shirt endorser. Miranda has recently endorsed, with wife Neri and his Miggy, for a Bonakid Kids Milk Commercial in 2021. Chito is now also a celebrity bank endorser of an oldest bank in Southeast Asia, Bank of the Philippine Islands Chito is now the recent newest judge in a brand new season of Idol Philippines replacing original judge James Reid and comedian Vice Ganda now replaces Gary V. as the newest judge while original Idol PH judges Asia's songbird TV host and actress Regine Velasquez-Alcasid and commercial jingle singer and TV host Moira Dela Torre will return again also in a recent new season in 2022.

Parokya's backing vocalist Vinci Montaner is also a solo artist and also worked with Pinoy hip hop artist Gloc-9 in 2019. Monataner also covered Jose Mari Chan's iconic signature song, "Beautiful Girl", which was his all-time favorite love song. This cover single becomes a rock ballad cover song and was also part of Parokya's 14th overall album, "Pogi Years Old" released in 2016.

Buwi Meneses is also a commercial endorser for "RJ Guitars" which he had his first solo commercial, playing bass. Meneses is also a former member of the band Franco in 2010, with Franco Reyes. Buwi is also venture into acting aside from playing bass guitar as he also joined as a former contestant of a filipino adaptation of Survivor Philippines Celebrity Doubles Showdown and was formerly Aired on GMA Channel 7 in 2010, but he was lost to Japanese model & actor Akihiro Sato.

Paolo Bernaldo is the band's regular touring and session bassist filling in for long time bassist Buwi Meneses who is currently residing in the US. Meneses still plays in the band in US tours and occasional visits in the Philippines. Bernaldo is also a former member of the band Moonstar88 along with Maysh Baay who also had a duet with Parokya lead singer Chito Miranda.

In popular culture and cultural references

 * In Inuman Na, mascots Balawis (Pinoy version of Alien Movie) & Yosi Kadiri (a former mascot of DOH), The Brownbeat All Stars, Keltscross, The Youth, former Barbies Cradle frontgirl Barbie Almabis-Honasan, former Rivermaya frontman Rico Blanco, the Teeth lead vocalist Glen Jacinto, OPM pop artist Gino Padilla (who samples playing a guitar), and the late comedians Master Showman Kuya Germs and Tado Jimenez are guest in a funny music video released in 1999.
 * The song, "Please Don't Touch My Birdie", is a comedy song that is based around the singer's "birdie" being their best friend and a source for happy moments. Birdie is Filipino slang for a man's penis.
 * In the music video of "Picha Pie", Chito Miranda plays and bassist Buhawi Menses resembling Jin Kazama act in a parody of Tekken 3 as "Chitosan" and "Buhawi" respectively.
 * In Harana Music Video, the late comedian Tado Jimenez plays as a bald guy with a fly on his head beginning in a parody of "Don't Speak" by No Doubt Band.
 * In "Wag Ka Na" Music Video, Parokya Band members with Eunice Jorge of Gracenote Band grilling a marshmallows and hotdogs with a fireplace in a parody of Disney's Camp Rock 2's "This Is Our Song".
 * G Toengi was the first female guest appearance in the music video, "Harana".
 * Parokya was the first OPM rock band inducted to the Eastwood City Walk Of Fame in 2018, its also similar patterned to the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in Hollywood, California, 6 years later in 2024, fellow OPM Rock Bands, The Dawn & Rivermaya band were also did awarded recognized by the Kuya Germs Eastwood Walk Of Fame.
 * Parokya was the second OPM rock band who were awarded as Best International Southeastern Asian Music Artist winner for the music video "Harana" in the MTV Video Music Awards in New York City, New York in 1999, and also 2 years after Eraserheads won their 1st MTV Video Music Awards Best International Southeast Asian Music Artist Winner for the music video "Ang Huling El Bimbo" released in 1997.
 * Parokya was also the second MYX Magna Award Winner in the 9th MYX Music Awards 2014, 5 years after Eraserheads also won the same award category in 2009.
 * Parokya's first music video was, "Buloy" and released in 1996 as a debut single and also a debut album, "Khangkhungkherrnitz".
 * "Buloy" is a true story about a former FEU Student who died of depression in 1996 and also the late Buloy was posthumously appeared in the music video and become an instant Parokya hit.
 * The song "Lutong Bahay (Cooking ng Ina Mo)" is a joke based on a Filipino maternal insult.
 * Parokya's first original English song was "Sampip" in 1997.
 * Parokya was the only OPM rock band does have a parody music videos such as "Picha Pie" (Parodies "Ace Ventura" & "Tekken 3", 1999), "Harana" (Parody of "Don't Speak" by No Doubt Band", "Halaga" (Combined Dance parody of "Backstreet Boys" & "Blink 182", 1999), "Swimming Beach" (Parody of "Survivor USA", 2002), "Sorry Na" (parody of "Jane Fonda Aerobics Workout Video", 2002), "The Yes Yes Show" (parody of a Hip Hop Music Video, 2003), "Mr. Suave" (Parody of an R&B Band, 2003), "Para Sa Yo" (Parody of "Pinoy Big Brother", 2005), "Mang Jose" (Parody of "Batman The Movie", 2005), "The Ordertaker" (Parody of "WWE", 2005), "Papa Cologne" (Parody of "Players Cologne For Men" & "AXE Deo For Men" Commercials, 2005), "Gitara" (Parody of "Koreanovela" TV series, 2005), "Name Fun" (Parody of "Name Game", 2005), "Macho" (Combined Parody of "Village People" & "Hagibis", 2007), "Pangarap Lang Kita" (Inspired by a Chinatown Music Video, 2010), "Ang Parokya" (Inspired by a music video, "You're Know You're Right" by Nirvana, 2013), "Wala Lang Yon" (Parody of a "Big Head Effects", 2016), "Pati Pato" (Parody of Linking Park, 2020), "It's Masarap" (Parody of a longest running noontime comedy variety program, "Eat Bulaga", 2021), "Wag Ka Na" (parody of Disney's Camp Rock 2's This Is Our Song, 2022) & their latest single, "Until Now" (2022, Inspired by MTV Unplugged).
 * Parokya won as Best New Artist in the NU 107 Rock Awards in 1996.
 * Parokya's first commercial endorsement was "Chippy" in 1999, 3 years after Eraserheads also did their endorsement in a "Chippy" commercial in 1995.
 * Parokya frontman Chito Miranda & Former Eraserheads frontman Ely Buendia both duets in a Christmas single, "Hosanna Ngayong Pasko" from Parokyas 1st Christmas Album, "Jingle Balls Silent Night Holy Cow" in 1998.
 * Parokya's first parody cover was "Nakaw Ang Wallet Ko!", a parody cover of "Bob Dylan's Knocking On Heavens Door" which also covered by "Guns N' Roses", the parody cover single was released in 1996.
 * Parokya's first cover OPM song was "Harana" original composed and sung by former Smokey Mountain frontman & former Finance Undersecretary Tony Lambino in 1997.
 * Parokya's first DVD release was Matira Matibay: Parokya's Best 1994–2007.
 * Parokya's first Christmas Album was Jingle Balls, Silent Night, Holy Cow was released in 1998.
 * Parokya's first live album was Inuman Sessions Vol. 1 in 2004 then a follow up 10 years later an Inuman Sessions Vol. 2 was released in 2014.
 * Parokya's first 16mm music video was "Harana" in 1997.
 * Parokya's first HD music video was "Pangarap Lang Kita" in 2010.
 * Parokya's first parody album cover was inspired by a late 60's and early 70's theme.
 * Parokya's first non band music video and also 1st love team music video was "Rosas" with Ronnie Alonte & Loisa Andalio was shot entirely in Marikina City in 2022.
 * Parokya's 1st non band photography album and also their 1st cover logo album was Borbolen, it was released on December 10, 2021.
 * Parokya's first Vinyl album was a 1996 debut album, "Khangkhungkherrnitz" was re-released on February 17, 2022, and also were the 10th OPM rock band members after Juan Dela Cruz Band, Maria Cafra, Anak Bayan Band, Asin Band, The Dawn, Eraserheads, Rivermaya, Kjwan & Itchyworms also released their vinyl albums as well.
 * Parokya is the only OPM rock band that has a free parody version of NBA basketball trading cards inside a cassette tape (1 per random card), inside a CD (complete trading cards and a free limited edition mini 2000 calendar card) "only available on CD" in 1999.
 * Parokya is also the only OPM rock band to have a free coloring book inside the CD, released in 2005.
 * Parokya's first female guest singer in the 2010 album, "Middle-Aged Juvenile Novelty Pop Rockers" was Happee Sy, 2 years later, Yeng Constantino also covered the song in a live album of PNE in 2014.
 * Parokya's first piano single was Panahon Na Naman Ng Harana with former Rivermaya frontman Rico Blanco as plays the piano which the song combines Panahon Na Naman (original composed by Rico Blanco & Original by Rivermaya) and Harana (original composed & sung by former Smokey Mountain Frontman & former Finance Undersecretary Tony Lambino), and it was released in 2016.
 * Parokya was the second OPM rock band for creating their limited T-shirts after Eraserheads, Eraserheads also launched their T-shirt designs in 2012, while Parokya also launched their T-shirt designs around 2014.
 * Parokya's first T-shirt design was a kaldero typed band designed shirt in 2014, their recent was a debut album "Khangkhungkherrnitz"" design was also launched in 2022.
 * Parokya's first parody designed T-shirt was "The Simpsons" designed version in 2020, while their latest design was a Simpson family design shirt now included with former PNE 2nd Frontman Vinci Montaner who played as a Pizza Man mascot (a parody of the Lard Lad Donut Man Mascot Figure) in 2021, recently also in 2021, Parokya had another new batch set of T-shirt designs featuring Japanese Robot Animaes of Mazinger Z, Voltron, Daimos, and their recent robot design shirt was Voltes V. For their 1st anniversary in 2022, Parokya launched their first hoodie jacket shirt with a new design, a parody version of "He-Man". The "He-Man" parody is also now available on the T-shirt version of Parokya Ni Edgar. For their 2nd anniversary in 2023, a new parody version of “Gorillaz Band” designed t shirt version of PNE.

Commercial endorsements

 * AMA Computer University
 * Buddy Crackers
 * Coca-Cola
 * Jollibee
 * KFC Philippines
 * Mang Tomas All Around Sarsa
 * Mitsubishi Adventure SUV
 * Mountain Dew Soda
 * Nescafe Coffee
 * Red Horse Beer
 * Rexona Deodorant
 * San Miguel Beer
 * Tanduay Rum
 * Touch Mobile (TM)

Magazine cover appearances

 * MYX Magazine (2006-2013, 2 times)
 * Banda Song Lyrics Magazine (2000–present, 15 times)
 * Pulp Magazine Philippines (1997–2012, 15 times)
 * Fudge Magazine (2004–2010, 5 times)
 * FWD Magazine (2001, 1 time)

title: Parokya ni Edgar


text:
Superboy (TV series)

Superboy is an American television series based on the fictional DC Comics character Superman's early years as Superboy. The show ran from 1988–1992 in syndication. It was renamed The Adventures of Superboy at the start of the third season.

Season 1
The first season of the series, which began airing in October 1988, focused on Clark Kent / Superboy (John Haymes Newton), his childhood friend and love interest Lana Lang (Stacy Haiduk) and his college roommate T.J. White (Jim Calvert), son of Daily Planet editor Perry White. Scott James Wells played Superboy's nemesis Lex Luthor. Clark's adoptive parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, were portrayed by Stuart Whitman and Salome Jens, respectively.

In an interview with Boys' Life prior to the show's debut, Newton spoke of the importance of overall character development and his focus would both be on Superboy and Clark Kent: "When Clark is not Superboy, he ought to be a well-rounded individual. I think people have gotten tired of seeing the nerdy Clark after four movies".

Thirteen episodes were initially filmed for Season 1, beginning with "Countdown to Nowhere". This episode featured Superboy's first public appearance as he prevents a group of saboteurs from selling a powerful laser weapon developed by the U.S. government to an arms dealer. "Countdown to Nowhere" aired in two versions: an "uncut" version in which the story plays in the present day and a second version in which the main story is introduced as a flashback through two additional scenes with Lana, Clark and T.J. The second version contained some scenes cut from the main story in order to fit the flashback lead-ins into the episode. This episode is the first episode of the series chronologically, but was the fifth one that was aired in most markets. It also appears as the fifth episode on the first season DVD set. The first season's story editor was Fred Freiberger, who also scripted a few episodes.

The first thirteen episodes of Superboy were rather crude compared to later episodes. The producers, not sure whether any additional episodes would be ordered, did their best to save money on the first thirteen. As a result, the special effects are a bit rougher and the episodes have a grittier, real-world feel to them. This brought about more character-oriented stories and stories with more ordinary villains like drug dealers and crime bosses.

After thirteen additional episodes were ordered for the first season, special effects improved and the show took on a more professional look. More fantastic enemies were introduced, such as an unnamed gaseous alien, who could possess the bodies of others in "The Alien Solution", a life-force vampire in "Succubus" and long-time Superman villain Mister Mxyzptlk (guest star Michael J. Pollard) in "Meet Mr. Mxyzptlk".

Superboy's nemesis, Lex Luthor, was introduced in "The Jewel of Techechal" (the first episode broadcast) as Clark's classmate at Shuster University. This version of Luthor was more interested in fixing basketball games and humiliating Superboy than anything else. But the season one finale, "Luthor Unleashed", completely changed his character. This episode adapted Lex Luthor's silver age comic book origin, in which Superboy rescues Lex from a lab accident that causes him to lose all of his hair, becoming the familiar bald villain Superman fans have come to recognize. Luthor blames Superboy for his hair loss and gains a new, more intense hatred for the Boy of Steel. From this point on in the series, Luthor is determined to destroy Superboy, rather than just humiliate him.

Season 2
In the second season, drastic changes took place. The producers of the show were not enamored of Newton's portrayal of Superboy. He was replaced by Gerard Christopher in the lead role. A new direction was made this season with the second season's stories guided by Executive Story Consultants Mark Jones and Cary Bates.

Scott Wells was also replaced as Lex Luthor by Sherman Howard. The change in Luthor's appearance was explained in the second season opener "With This Ring, I Thee Kill". The two-part episode revealed Luthor had plastic surgery to assume the appearance of Warren Eckworth, the wealthy inventor of the "Superboy Gun", which Luthor believed could kill Superboy. The character of T.J. White was written out of the series (he went to work for the Daily Planet) and Andy McCalister, portrayed by Ilan Mitchell-Smith, became Clark's new roommate. Andy was very different from T.J. and was constantly looking to make money with his get-rich-quick schemes. He also flirted with Lana frequently and his advances were always refused, though Lana did consider Andy a friend.

The villains were amped up in the second season, as additional comic book characters were introduced to the series, many of them appearing for the first time in live-action. Metallo (Michael Callan), Bizarro (Barry Meyers) as well as the Yellow Peri (Elizabeth Keifer) appeared in the second season and Mister Mxyzptlk (Pollard) made a return appearance. Gilbert Gottfried appeared in two episodes as a nasty, wisecracking criminal genius named "Nick Knack" who used toys to commit crimes (a reference to the Toyman). Another character was a dhampir who found a way through a serum to gain human abilities such as repelling his craving for blood and gaining a tolerance for sunlight. Thus, he became a friend of both Superboy and Lana but would become villainous if doing without the serum for too long. Philip Michael Thomas also made an appearance as a medieval alchemist who survived into modern times in order to battle a sorcerer spreading plague, and aided Superboy when he was infected by said disease. The episode "Superboy... Rest in Peace" featured guest star Betsy Russell, who was reunited with series star Gerard Christopher for the first time since the two had worked together previously in the 1985 movie Tomboy. Also notable is the guest star appearance of former James Bond actor George Lazenby and Bond girl actress Britt Ekland as aliens disguised as Superboy's Kryptonian father and mother, Jor-El and Lara, in two episodes, "Abandon Earth" and "Escape to Earth".

Season 3
With the third season, the series saw more changes. The show's title officially became The Adventures of Superboy and the setting shifted from Shuster University to The Bureau for Extra-Normal Matters in Capitol City, Florida, where Clark and Lana were interns. The Bureau is depicted as a government agency which investigates paranormal activities and aliens, including Superboy (this format change pre-dates the concept of the television series The X-Files).

Andy McCalister was dropped from the series, though Ilan Mitchell-Smith would make a final guest appearance in the episode "Special Effects", which explained his disappearance by saying that Andy went to intern at a movie studio. The new supporting cast consisted of Clark and Lana's co-worker at the Bureau, Matt Ritter (Peter Jay Fernandez) and the Bureau chief C. Dennis Jackson (Robert Levine).

The tone of the series changed dramatically as darker stories were produced and the overall look of the series took on many characteristics of film noir. A few journalists at the time suggested that this darker look was largely due to the success of Tim Burton's Batman movie from a year prior. Many stories dealt with more mature themes, a change new producer Julia Pistor implemented. In "Rebirth", Superboy is confronted with the possibility that he may have accidentally taken a human life and gives up his Superboy identity in guilt. "Carnival" shows a demonic individual named 'Deville' trying to acquire Superboy's eternal soul by tempting him to give in and kill a man who is implied to be a rapist. "Mindscape" deals with Superboy's deepest fears as an alien life-form brings those fears to life in Superboy's nightmares while simultaneously draining his life energy. "Roads Not Taken" shows the different paths Superboy's life may have taken, as Superboy travels to alternate earths where his life is very different. He meets a version of himself who killed Luthor in a fit of rage and another who has become a despotic ruler of earth. The alternate version of Superboy who took Luthor's life was shown wearing a black leather jacket and sunglasses which bears some resemblance to the Conner Kent version of Superboy as he first appeared in the "Death of Superman" storyline. The third season ended with the two-part episode "The Road to Hell" with former TV Tarzan Ron Ely guest-starring as an adult, retired Man of Steel from an alternate reality.

Season 4
The fourth season maintained the darker look and feel of the third one and was the first in which no major cast changes took place. Noel Neill and Jack Larson made guest appearances in the episode "Paranoia" as employees of the Bureau for Extra-Normal Matters. Neill had originated the role of Lois Lane in the 1948 Superman and 1950 Atom Man vs. Superman film serials and replaced Phyllis Coates in the role in the 1950s Adventures of Superman TV series before originating the role of Lois' mother, Ella/Ellen Lane, in 1978's Superman; Larson co-starred as Jimmy Olsen in Adventures of Superman with Neill. The trend of more mature stories also continued in episodes such as "To Be Human", in which Bizarro becomes human, only to be forced to give up his humanity to save Superboy's life and "Into the Mystery", in which a mystical, ghostly woman, apparently an angel of death, leads Superboy to his dying aunt's bedside. A memorable Luthor tale, "Know Thine Enemy", appeared in this season, featuring Superboy re-living Luthor's tortured memories of childhood via "psychodisk" while Luthor threatened to destroy all life on Earth.

Series end
Although the Superboy series was still popular, the fourth season was to be its last. The finale was to be titled "Obituary for a Superhero" and Superboy was supposed to appear to meet his demise at the hands of Lex Luthor in a cliffhanger ending. The intent of the Salkinds was to make a series of television movies, which would resolve the cliffhanger and see Superboy's return. A series of events that occurred during the fourth season resulted in those plans changing.

Alexander and Ilya Salkind had been connected with the Superman franchise since they struck a licensing agreement with Warner Communications, the parent company of both Warner Bros. and DC Comics, in the 1970s. This enabled the father-son tandem to produce any project they so desired with several Superman related properties, and they took advantage of this by producing three films starring Christopher Reeve as Superman. While the first and second films were critical and financial successes, the third, released in 1983, was not. After the failure of Superman III, the Salkinds tried the next year to refresh the series with a film based on Supergirl, which was made without Warner Bros.' involvement and also flopped. Following this, Alexander and Ilya sold off their Superman film license to The Cannon Group, which produced Superman IV: The Quest for Peace in 1987; the film was an even bigger commercial failure than the Salkinds' previous two outings and resulted in The Cannon Group's dissolution, which gave the film rights to the Superman franchise back to the Salkinds. Despite this, Alexander and Ilya had decided to move in a different direction and try to develop a property for television syndication.

This eventually led to the Superboy-based television series, which was made in spite of a recent shift in the Superman canon. In 1986, DC Comics hired John Byrne away from rival Marvel to come up with a revamp of the Superman series. Byrne's move resulted in a significant overhaul of Superman's backstory, which removed quite a bit of his previous history including his time as Superboy. Thus, the comic strips and the television series would be set in two different universes. It did not stop either the Salkinds from continuing with their project, or DC from having a stake in production, and thus Superboy premiered in syndication the fall of 1988. Although Warner Bros. did have a stake in production, being DC's parent company, the Salkinds did not choose Warner's domestic distribution unit to fulfill that purpose; instead, that role went to Viacom.

As Superboy continued into 1991, higher ups at DC had begun to conceive a new, more modern Superman series based on the new canon established by Byrne. DC President Jenette Kahn began work with Warner Bros. executives Deborah Joy LeVine and Les Moonves on what was to become Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, which was eventually picked up by ABC. Although the new series was not slated to make its debut until the fall of 1993, a full year after the final regular episode of Superboy would have aired, Warner Bros. contacted Alexander and Ilya shortly after Lois & Clark had been sold to ABC and informed them that they were reclaiming all of the Salkinds' Superman-related licenses.

The decision forced the writers of Superboy to come up with a definitive finale to close out the fourth season, since Warner Bros.' decision meant that the planned series of telefilms would have to adapted. "Obituary for a Superhero" would also have to be rewritten, as the episode could no longer serve its intended purpose as it was; the rewritten version aired on April 26, 1992. The final episode, titled "Rites of Passage", aired in two parts on May 10 and 17, 1992, and featured a story where Clark faced the potential of losing his superpowers and never becoming Superman.

Afterward, Alexander and Ilya decided to challenge Warner Bros. in court over the termination of their licensing agreement, eventually reaching a settlement in 2005. As per the terms of the settlement, Warner Bros. retained all of the rights to the past and future Superman franchise television series and films with the exception of Superman IV, which at the time had its rights owned by Paramount Pictures through its acquisition of the assets of the now-defunct Cannon Group (those rights have since passed to Warner Bros.). As far as Superboy was concerned, the Salkinds and Warner Bros. agreed to divide the ownership of the series three ways. As of 2023, those rights are shared between Ilya Salkind, StudioCanal, Paramount Global, and Warner Bros.; in the former two instances, Ilya inherited Alexander's stake in the production after he died in 1997, while StudioCanal purchased the Salkinds' production company following its dissolution. In the latter two, Paramount Global's distribution arm, CBS Media Ventures, holds the rights to distribute reruns of Superboy in the United States while Warner Bros. holds international distribution rights as well as worldwide home video distribution rights.

Main

 * John Haymes Newton (season 1) and Gerard Christopher (season 2–4) as Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superboy
 * Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang
 * Ilan Mitchell-Smith (season 2; guest: season 3) as Andy McCalister
 * Jim Calvert (season 1) as Trevor Jenkins "T.J." White
 * Peter Jay Fernandez (season 3–4) as Matt Ritter
 * Robert Levine (season 3–4) as C. Dennis Jackson

Recurring

 * Scott James Wells (season 1) and Sherman Howard (season 2–4) as Lex Luthor
 * George Chakiris (season 1–2) as Professor Peterson
 * Zevi Wolmark (season 3–4) as Christopher Grimes

Guest

 * George Lazenby as Jor-El
 * Britt Ekland as Lara
 * Stuart Whitman as Jonathan Kent
 * Salome Jens as Martha Kent
 * Barry Meyers as Bizarro
 * Michael Callan as Roger Corben / Metallo
 * Michael J. Pollard as Mister Mxyzptlk
 * Denise Gossett as Lena Luthor
 * Jennifer Hawkins as young Lena Luthor
 * Gilbert Gottfried as Nick Knack
 * Peggy O'Neal as Death / Azrael / Wife
 * Michael Manno as Leo
 * Roger Pretto as Lt. Zeke Harris
 * Tracy Roberts as Darla
 * Philip Michael Thomas as Brimstone

Production
The Superboy series was brought to the screen by executive producers Ilya and Alexander Salkind, the producers of the first three Superman films and the 1984 Supergirl film. This series and the release of the 1988 Superman animated series on CBS coincided with the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Superman character that year. Ironically, the series came about a year after DC Comics had "erased" the character of Superboy from their continuity in the Man of Steel reboot by John Byrne. Nevertheless, the show went on in October 1988 with John Haymes Newton playing the lead role of Clark Kent / Superboy, along with Stacy Haiduk as love interest Lana Lang and Jim Calvert as Clark's college roommate T.J. White. In the Philippines, the series premiered on People's Television Network on September 4, 1989.

Superboy was the first weekly TV series to be produced at the then new Disney/MGM Studios. For the second season onward, the series moved several miles up Interstate 4 to Universal Studios Florida, the largest motion picture and television-sound facility outside Hollywood, where it was then showcased as that studio's first weekly television product.

At first, much of the action centered around stories that Clark and T.J. reported on for the college newspaper, the Shuster Herald. All the exterior scenes shot at "Shuster University" are actually filmed on the main campus of the University of Central Florida. Siegelville, however, was depicted as a coastal city, as evidenced by imagery of both the new and old Sunshine Skyway Bridges (Interstate 275) in St. Petersburg, Florida in the opening credits.

Superboy was scripted by many actual comic-book writers. Superman editors Mike Carlin and Andrew Helfer penned several episodes, such as "The Alien Solution", its sequel "Revenge of the Alien" and "The Bride of Bizarro". Other comic book writers that contributed to the series include Denny O'Neil, Cary Bates, J. M. DeMatteis and Mark Evanier.

Clark Kent/Superboy attends the Siegel School of Journalism at Shuster University in Shusterville, Florida – names which reference Superman's creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Comic book tie-in
DC Comics published a tie-in comic book series during the TV show's run, launching the comic during the TV series' second season. Superboy (Volume 2) is different from any other Superman or Superboy titles in that it is set in the continuity of the Superboy television series, as opposed to the regular DC Universe. Its intent was to explore some of the unseen tales and events that the TV series could not. The series originally carried the cover title Superboy: The Comic Book with issue #1 having a photo cover with the show's stars Gerard Christopher and Stacy Haiduk (dated Feb. 1990), although the title in the indicia was simply Superboy. After issue #11, the series changed its cover title to The Adventures of Superboy as the TV series itself had changed titles starting with season three, and the change was reflected in the comic book's indicia beginning with #18. The series was published monthly until it went bi-monthly for its final three issues, remained in publication for 22 issues to the end of 1991 (cover dated Feb. 1992), and a concluding one issue special in 1992.

Bootleg VHS and DVDs
Some time after the series' cancellation, there was a dispute over what rights to the character the Salkinds actually owned. For a time this prevented any official home video release of the series. Between 1992 and 2006 the only way to see Superboy in the United States was by ordering bootleg VHS and DVD copies of the series sold on eBay and other websites. The audio and video quality of these copies varied.

In 1999, Gerard Christopher began offering three VHS tapes of the series created from his personal master tapes (Christopher has masters of all of the episodes he starred in, Seasons 2–4). Each video tape featured four episodes (which were selected episodes from Seasons 3 and 4) and was sold on his website for a price of $25–$30 US. A fourth VHS video tape was released by Christopher in 2002. Christopher not only sold these video tapes on his website by mail order, but also sold them at personal appearances when attending various comic book conventions and shows. He had offered other Superboy merchandise for sale, such as autographed photos and episode scripts. All merchandise from Christopher was also autographed.

In response to overwhelming fan demand, from a private email sent by Christopher (only to the fans who had previously ordered merchandise from his website), he decided to offer all Superboy episodes on DVD, offering a complete Season 2 set on DVD in early June 2004 and planned to sell complete sets of Seasons 3 and 4 in the future. The Adventures of Superboy: Season 2 Episodes DVD set consisted of three discs (in DVD-R format), was produced by Christopher himself, and sold for a price of $159.00 US (due to their past loyalty fans who had previously ordered merchandise from Christopher's website were able to pre-purchase the Season 2 DVD set at the reduced price of $129.00 US for a limited time before June 30, 2004 as this offer was by invitation only). The latter two seasons were planned to be sold at a reduced cost. Tapes and DVDs sold by Christopher were the best quality copies of the series available, since they were made from master tapes, rather than from off-air recordings like all other bootleg copies.

When Warner Home Video announced the official release of Season 1, Christopher announced that his self-produced DVD sets would no longer be available on his website in 2005, with the planned DVD releases for Seasons 3 and 4 cancelled.

Aftermath of the first legal battle
In an interview for the webpage supermanhomepage.com, Salkind revealed that the legal battle between the three companies involved in the series' production (Viacom, Warner Bros. and the Salkinds) was the reason the show was not re-run on television or released to home video. This dispute was settled circa 2005, allowing the series to be released on DVD.

The Complete First Season
The DVD set includes a behind-the-scenes featurette with new interviews with first-season Clark Kent/Superboy actor John Haymes Newton, actors Stacy Haiduk and James Calvert, creative/executive producer Ilya Salkind as well as director David Nutter. The DVD also features the screen test of John Haymes Newton and audio commentaries by Ilya Salkind and Newton on two key episodes ("Revenge of the Alien" Part 2 and "Meet Mr. Mxyzptlk"). The DVD was released in advance of the film Superman Returns.

The Complete Second Season
After a $6 1/2$-year gap, Warner Bros. released the complete second season of Superboy on DVD via its Warner Archive Collection on December 11, 2012. This is a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the US, as well as Amazon.com through their CreateSpace service, which ships globally.

The Complete Third Season
Warner Bros. released the complete third season of Superboy on July 16, 2013, via MOD, through Warner Archive, as well as Amazon.com through their CreateSpace service, which ships globally.

The Complete Fourth Season
The fourth season was listed at warnerarchive.com for an October 29, 2013 release date. For a limited time, copies of the DVD set were autographed by series star Gerard Christopher; the non-autographed version becomes available upon exhaustion of the autographed inventory. It is also available from Amazon.com through their CreateSpace service, which ships globally.

Streaming
All four seasons were made available in 2018 for streaming on DC Universe, a paid streaming subscription specializing in DC Comics-related content. As the episodes were shot and edited on film in 4:3 (then transferred to videotape), these episodes are presented in standard definition at their original 4:3 display ratio.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Superboy (TV series)


text:
Bramley, Gauteng

Bramley is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region E of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

History
The suburb is situated on part of an old Witwatersrand farm called Syferfontein. It was established in 1904 and was named after one of the landowners, Edward Bramley.

title: Bramley, Gauteng


text:
Bramley North

Bramley North is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region 3.

title: Bramley North


text:
Bramley Park

Bramley Park is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region 3.

title: Bramley Park


text:
Domenico Tardini

Domenico Tardini (29 February 1888 – 30 July 1961) was a longtime aide to Pope Pius XII in the Secretariat of State. Pope John XXIII named him Cardinal Secretary of State and, in this position the most prominent member of the Roman Curia in Vatican City.

Early life
He attended the Angelo Braschi School and entered the Pontifical Roman Seminary in 1903 from which he graduated with honours in philosophy and theology. 21 September 1912 he was ordained a priest. He accepted a call to teach liturgy and theology at the Roman Seminary and the Collegio Urbano of the Propaganda Fide. In 1923, he was nominated by Pope Pius XI to be general assistant of the Catholic Action movement. In 1925, the Pope nominated him to a second organisation, Società della Gioventù Cattolica Italiana. From 1921 onward, he worked as well in the Congregation of Ordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs where he was named Sustituto in 1929 and Secretary in 1937. With Giovanni Battista Montini, later Pope Paul VI, he was the main assistant to Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII, until 1939.

Secretariat of State
After his election as Pope Pius XII, Pacelli appointed Luigi Maglione as his successor as Cardinal Secretary of State. Maglione did not exercise the influence of his predecessor, who as Pope continued his close relation with Monsignori Giovanni Battista Montini and Tardini. After the death of Maglione in 1944, Pius left the position vacant and named Tardini head of its foreign section and Montini head of the internal section. Tardini and Montini continued serving there until 1952, when Pius XII decided to elevate both of them into the College of Cardinals an honour which both turned down. When Tardini thanked him for not appointing him, Pius XII replied with a smile:
 * "Monsignore mio, you thank me, for not letting me do what I wanted to do. I replied, "Yes Holy Father, I thank you for everything you have done for me, but even more, what you have not done for me. The Pope smiled.

In November 1952, he was named Pro-Secretary of the State for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs by Pope Pius XII, essentially co-serving as functional Secretary of State with Giovanni Battista Montini, who became Pro-Secretary of State for Ordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. In addition they were granted the privilege to wear Episcopal Insignia. Tardini continued in that position until the death of Pius XII.

Tardini loved children and "adopted" the orphans of Villa Nazareth, for whom he organised recognition and assistance. Televised audiences with Pope Pius XII, and visits of Pope John XXIII and high-ranking foreign dignitaries, all arranged by Tardini, facilitated fundraising for the needy children.

Papabile and Cardinal Secretary of State
After the death of Pope Pius on 9 October 1958, Tardini, though not a cardinal and not even a bishop, was prominently mentioned as a possible successor because of his familiarity with and closeness to Pius XII. Instead, Tardini was named Secretary of State by the newly elected Pope John XXIII, filling the previous vacancy. Having declined being made Cardinal by Pius XII in 1953, he accepted the red hat in the consistory of 15 December 1958 with the title of Cardinal-Deacon of S. Apollinare alle Terme Neroniane-Alessandrine. He was ordained as a titular archbishop later that month.

Tardini did not seek the honour of the appointment. On the very night of the election or as the first papal appointment next morning (biographers differ on this) Tardini was asked to see the new Pope John XXIII, who asked him to become his Secretary of State. He went reluctantly:

 * He did not give me any choice. I told the Holy Father, that I would not serve under him, because new policies would need new people. I reminded him that I frequently disagreed with him in the past. I reminded him that I was tired and worn out and that my health was getting worse. I told him about my long cherished ambition of at last giving myself entirely to the orphan boys of Villa Nazareth. It made no difference. The Pope listened to me with kindness and interest but to every point he replied, I understand but I want you to be my Secretary of State. Finally I knelt down and offered him my obedience.

As Secretary of State, Tardini broke the taboo on discussing Vatican finances in October 1959, holding a press conference with Vatican-accredited journalists during a pay dispute with Vatican employees. On 20 January 1959, Pope John summoned Cardinal Tardini to float the idea of an Ecumenical Council. It would involve all bishops of every rite. Tardini's response was positive to the point that the Pope was surprised. John XXIII later referred to this discussion as the decisive moment for his decision to hold an ecumenical council. He assisted in the preparation of the Council giving at times his own interpretation of the forthcoming epochal event. Reportedly, he tried to resign several times for health reasons but was asked to stay on by the disarmingly witty John XXIII.

Tardini died in Rome on 30 July 1961 of a massive heart attack. He was buried in the Carmel at Vetralla. At the first anniversary of his death, Pope John XXIII left the Vatican to pay his respects at his burial site.

Writings

 * Domenico Tardini, Leone XIII, Le glorie de un pontificato, Nel venticinquesimo della morte, Roma 1928
 * Domenico Tardini, Diario inedito (1933–1936) Manoscrito, 1936
 * Domenico Tardini, San Tommaso d’Aquino e la Romanita, 1937
 * Domenico Tardini, Gioachino Belli poeta delle plebe di Roma, 1941
 * Domenico Cardinale Tardini, Pio XII, Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1960

Honours

 * 1935: Grand Officer in the Order of Leopold.

Literature

 * Carlo Felice Casula, Domenico Tardini 1888 – 1961, Edizione Studium Roma, Roma, 1988
 * Peter Hebblethwaite, John XXIII, Pope of the Council, Revised Edition, HarperCollins, London, 1994
 * Pascalina Lehnert, Ich durfte Ihm Dienen, Erinnerungen an Papst Pius XII.,  Naumann, Würzburg, 1984
 * Giulio Nicolini, Il Cardinale Domenico Tardini, Messagero, Padova, ISBN 88-7026-340-1
 * Pio XII, La Allocuzione nel consistorio Segreto del 12 Gennaio 1953 in Pio XII, Discorsi e Radiomessagi di Sua Santita, Vatican City, 1953
 * John F. Pollard, Money and the Rise of the Modern Papacy: Financing the Vatican, 1850–1950, Cambridge University Press, 2005
 * Giancarlo Zizola, L’Utopia di Papa Giovanni Citadelle Editrice, Assisi, 1973
 * Burkhart Schneider, Pius XII, Friede, das Werk der Gerechtigkeit, Musterschmidt, Frankfurt, Göttingen, 1968

title: Domenico Tardini


text:
Bromhof

Bromhof is a mostly residential suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region C of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

Bromhof is bordered by several other suburbs: in the west by Boskruin, in the north by Northwold, in the southeast by Melanshof, and in the east by Strydompark. Also, Bromhof is bordered by the town of Randburg in the northeast.

In the southeastern part of Bromhof, the N1 Western Bypass (having four lanes in each direction) crosses underneath the M6 Metropolitan Route (which is also called Hans Schoeman Street in Bromhof). The N1 runs between north and south, whereas the M6 runs between east and west.

title: Bromhof


text:
Bryanbrink

Bryanbrink is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region B of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

Kensington B forms part of ward 104 of the City of Johannesburg represented by Counselor Mike Woods.

The area forms part of the KenBrink Residents Association which represents the interests of residents living in the suburb.

title: Bryanbrink


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John W. Collins

John ("Jack") William Collins (September 23, 1912 – December 2, 2001) was an American chess master, author, and teacher.

Early life
Collins was born in Newburgh, New York. "His father, John Thomas Collins, was a flutist and piccolo player who was frequently in John Philip Sousa's orchestra. His mother, Carolyn LaSears Collins, was a homemaker." Collins was confined to a wheelchair due to "a birth injury".

When he was in his teens, Collins met Frederick Huhn, the family's 80-year-old German landlord of their home at 69 Hawthorne Street in Brooklyn, NY. Frederick taught Collins how to play chess. From there, Collins started reading chess books, eventually amassing "a library of over six hundred."

The Hawthorne Chess Club
Collins tried to join the Marshall Chess Club, but found the players to be too strong, and the location too far away for him to travel to. Hence, he started teaching "the other boys on the block" and the Hawthorne Chess Club was founded.

Collins wrote to the local newspapers and "obtained the names and addresses of several high-school teams in the metropolitan area." This led to inter-club matches between Collins' team and the high-school teams, mostly played out of Collins' living room.

Eventually Collins founded the Brooklyn Chess League. He later moved to 91 Lenox Road where the club gradually changed from a chess league to a casual meeting place for chess celebrities to meet. Guests and visitors included Irving Chernev, Hermann Helms, and Irving Riskie.

Chess achievements
Collins won the 1943 United States Correspondence Championship, defeating Dr. Erich W. Marchand in a final playoff match. Collins won the 1952 New York State Championship, ahead of Max Pavey, Anthony Santasiere, James Sherwin, and Frank Anderson. He won the Marshall Chess Club championship in 1953 and was soon thereafter ranked number 17 in the country. Collins was a renowned chess teacher.

Teaching and mentorship
There has been a long-held belief that Collins was Fischer's teacher and coach, as well as a teacher and coach for William Lombardy, Robert Byrne, Donald Byrne, Raymond Weinstein, Salvatore Matera, and Lewis Cohen. Some have gone as far as to call Collins "the Yoda of American chess", while others refer to Collins as Fischer's "mentor", not his teacher or coach. Collins himself states he did not teach Bobby Fischer, Robert Byrne, William Lombardy, or Donald Byrne, yet taught Raymond Weinstein, Sal Matera, and Lewis Cohen.

Lombardy says of Collins as a chess teacher and coach: "Jack Collins was not in any way capable of teaching me, the Byrne Brothers, Raymond Weinstein, let alone Bobby Fischer. All had entered his home in friendship and were already superior masters, far past the ability of Collins to impart anything but trivial knowledge...I cannot imagine even today that anyone could consider that Collins had the strength of knowledge to coach the champion that Bobby already was by the time he reached Collins apartment! Somehow the myth of Collins' professional skills persists. Back then because Collins was in a wheelchair, I did not desire to burst his bubble... [but that] with my misplaced sympathy for Collins gone, I attempt to correct and inform."

Books

 * (1975)
 * (1978)
 * Ninth Edition, Edited by Walter Korn and John W. Collins (1957)

title: John W. Collins


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Bryanston (disambiguation)

Bryanston is the name of several places around the world:

 * Bryanston, Dorset, England
 * Bryanston School, Dorset, England
 * Bryanston, Gauteng, part of Sandton, South Africa
 * Bryanston, Ontario, Canada, a hamlet within Middlesex Centre

Bryanston is also an English surname. People with the surname include:

 * Claudette Bryanston, English theatre director

Films

 * Bryanston Films (UK)
 * Bryanston Films

title: Bryanston (disambiguation)


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Ernley Blackwell

Sir Ernley Robertson Hay Blackwell (6 June 1868 – 21 September 1941) was a British lawyer and career civil servant. As chief legal advisor to the Cabinet, Blackwell was involved in the prosecution of Roger Casement, and authorised the circulation of his disputed Black Diaries.

Early life
Blackwell was born on 6 June 1868 in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, the youngest son of Surgeon-Major James Hay Blackwell, H.E.I.C.S., and his wife, Eliza Jane Robertson (a daughter of Andrew Robertson (d. 1868), of the Madras Civil Service, a member of a Scots gentry family; from whom Blackwell derived descent from the Royal Houses of Plantagenet, Bruce, and Stewart ) of 3, Gillespie terrace, St Andrews. Blackwell was educated at Trinity College, Glenalmond, where, as captain of school, he early displayed leadership skills, combining these with sporting prowess, as captain of the 1st XI (Cricket), 1st XV (Rugby), and of the golf team.

Law career
Destined for the legal profession, Blackwell was called to the Bar from the Inner Temple in 1892. Subsequently, he spent his career in Whitehall as a member of the British Civil Service, rising to senior appointments, first as Assistant Secretary at the Home Department from 1906 to 1913, and then as Legal Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from 1913 until his retirement in 1933. He was awarded CB in the 1911 Coronation Honours.

As chief legal advisor to the Cabinet, Blackwell was involved in the prosecution of Roger Casement, and authorised the circulation of his disputed Black Diaries, advising the Cabinet in July 1916: "I see not the slightest objection to hanging Casement and afterwards giving as much publicity to the contents of his diary as decency permits so that at any rate the public in America and elsewhere may know what sort of man they are inclined to make a martyr of. I understand that several members of the Government are inclined to the opinion that it may be inexpedient to execute Casement. I suppose it is feared that in addition to the American question the hanging of Casement may interfere with the Irish settlement.	If Casement had been taken to Dublin a few days later he would of course have been courtmartialled and shot and would have been a 15th martyr.	The shooting of the 14 leaders is said to have given a great impetus to the Sinn Fein movement. I am inclined to think that the rebellion itself and its results have given the impetus and that the situation today would have been much the same whether Pearse, Connolly and the rest had been shot or merely sent to Portland with a confident expectation of amnesty and early release. Casement's value as a martyr is already a good deal discounted. His private character is by this time pretty generally known in London. The 'Daily Express' on three occasions has openly stated that he is a moral degenerate addicted to unmentionable offences and has cited his 'diaries’ in proof."

In 1918, due to worries over the large number of firearms left in private hands following World War I, and the concern that they would be used by "savage or semi-civilised tribesmen in outlying parts of the British Empire" or by an "anarchist or intellectual malcontent of the great cities whose weapons are the bomb and the automatic pistol",  a Committee on Firearms Control was struck with Blackwell as its chairman. The report it issued recommended "stringent regulation" of rifles and small arms as "the number of persons who can urge any reasonable ground for possession of a revolver or pistol is extremely small [and] the danger attending the indiscriminate possession of such weapons is obvious", conclusions which led to the passage of the Firearms Act 1920.

Later life
Following his retirement, Blackwell's continued interest in legal matters was shown by his 1934 appointment as chairman of the statutory committee of Britain's Pharmaceutical Society, to which he had been elected an honorary member in 1928. He exercised that position until 1939. Among other interests, he was a first-class golfer who captained The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews in 1933. He served as the first president of The Civil Service Golfing Society from 1922 until his death. In 1924, the Club instituted The Sir Ernley Blackwell Trophy, which it still awards. He was also a member of the Zoological Society from 1914. His brother, Edward Blackwell, who was also a skilled golfer, placed second in the 1904 Amateur Championship.

Family
Blackwell was married at the age of 69 to Kitty, Lady Blackwell, of 7, Hay Hill, London, W.1, who survived him. There were no children of this union.

Death
Blackwell died at Radlett, Hertfordshire, England on 21 September 1941, aged 73. He was buried in the Blackwell family grave in St Andrews Eastern Cemetery, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland.

title: Ernley Blackwell


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Bittersweet Harmony

Bittersweet Harmony is a 2003 album by Skydiggers. It was their first album of new material since 1997's Desmond's Hip City. (Still Restless: The Lost Tapes, released in 1999, was a release of older material.)

A limited edition advance version of the album was released in 2002. That version had a different cover and did not include the track "All of Our Dreaming".

Track listing
All tracks written by Finlayson/Maize unless otherwise noted.
 * 1) "Anything for You"
 * 2) "Kings"
 * 3) "Fall Apart"
 * 4) "Horseshoe Bay"
 * 5) "Elizabeth Josephine"
 * 6) "Jane's Gone"
 * 7) "Sweet Heartache"
 * 8) "California"
 * 9) "See You Again" (Macleod)
 * 10) "Wherever You Go"
 * 11) "Back Out on the Road"
 * 12) "All of Our Dreaming"
 * 13) "Just Love Again"
 * 14) "Everybody's Girl"

title: Bittersweet Harmony


text: User talk:69.194.151.126

title: User talk:69.194.151.126


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Talk:Bittersweet Harmony

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title: Talk:Bittersweet Harmony


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Mark Perry (musician)

Mark Perry is a British writer and musician, and former fanzine publisher.

Perry was a bank clerk when, inspired by The Ramones, he founded the punk fanzine Sniffin' Glue (And Other Rock 'n' Roll Habits) in 1976. Publication ceased in August 1977 when he founded the band Alternative TV.

Alternative TV
ATV released their first single "Love Lies Limp" as a flexi disc given away free with Sniffin' Glue 12 in 1977. They then released the following singles on Deptford Fun City records: "How Much Longer / You Bastard (1977)", "Life After Life / Life After Dub (1978)" and "Action Time Vision / Another Coke (1978)".

Alex Fergusson left the band due to "musical differences" prior to the band releasing their first album, The Image Has Cracked (1978).

There were two further singles:- "The Force Is Blind" / "Lost in Room" (1979) and "Love Lies Limp" / "Life" (1979) - a posthumous release. They released a further LP:- Vibing Up the Senile Man (1979). Reformed versions of the group (with Perry as the only constant) have released numerous singles, EPs and albums since the early 1990s.

Solo
In 1980, he released a solo LP, Snappy Turns, on the Deptford Fun City label, preceded by the "Whole World's Down on Me" 7", a cover of a Ken Boothe track. Another 7", "You Cry Your Tears", a collaboration with Dennis Burns, was released on the NB label in 1980.

Perry went on to perform with The Good Missionaries, The Reflections, and The Door and the Window. In the 1990s, he was involved with Baby Ice Dog. Alternative TV have played occasional gigs in recent years, both in the United Kingdom and the United States.

title: Mark Perry (musician)


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Bryanston East, Gauteng

Bryanston East is a wealthy, upper class suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is one of the wealthiest suburbs in South Africa. It borders the suburbs of Rivonia, Riverclub, Morningside Manor and Sandton. It is located in Region E of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

title: Bryanston East, Gauteng


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Bryanston West, Gauteng

Bryanston West is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is located in Region B of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality.

title: Bryanston West, Gauteng


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Atmospheric electricity

Atmospheric electricity describes the electrical charges in the Earth's atmosphere (or that of another planet). The movement of charge between the Earth's surface, the atmosphere, and the ionosphere is known as the global atmospheric electrical circuit. Atmospheric electricity is an interdisciplinary topic with a long history, involving concepts from electrostatics, atmospheric physics, meteorology and Earth science.

Thunderstorms act as a giant battery in the atmosphere, charging up the electrosphere to about 400,000 volts with respect to the surface. This sets up an electric field throughout the atmosphere, which decreases with increase in altitude. Atmospheric ions created by cosmic rays and natural radioactivity move in the electric field, so a very small current flows through the atmosphere, even away from thunderstorms. Near the surface of the Earth, the magnitude of the field is on average around 100 V/m, oriented such that it drives positive charges down.

Atmospheric electricity involves both thunderstorms, which create lightning bolts to rapidly discharge huge amounts of atmospheric charge stored in storm clouds, and the continual electrification of the air due to ionization from cosmic rays and natural radioactivity, which ensure that the atmosphere is never quite neutral.

History
Sparks drawn from electrical machines and from Leyden jars suggested to early experimenters Hauksbee, Newton, Wall, Nollet, and Gray that lightning was caused by electric discharges. In 1708, Dr. William Wall was one of the first to observe that spark discharges resembled miniature lightning, after observing the sparks from a charged piece of amber.

Benjamin Franklin's experiments showed that electrical phenomena of the atmosphere were not fundamentally different from those produced in the laboratory, by listing many similarities between electricity and lightning. By 1749, Franklin observed lightning to possess almost all the properties observable in electrical machines.

In July 1750, Franklin hypothesized that electricity could be taken from clouds via a tall metal aerial with a sharp point. Before Franklin could carry out his experiment, in 1752 Thomas-François Dalibard erected a 40 ft iron rod at Marly-la-Ville, near Paris, drawing sparks from a passing cloud. With ground-insulated aerials, an experimenter could bring a grounded lead with an insulated wax handle close to the aerial, and observe a spark discharge from the aerial to the grounding wire. In May 1752, Dalibard affirmed that Franklin's theory was correct.

Around June 1752, Franklin reportedly performed his famous kite experiment. The kite experiment was repeated by Romas, who drew from a metallic string sparks 9 ft long, and by Cavallo, who made many important observations on atmospheric electricity. Lemonnier (1752) also reproduced Franklin's experiment with an aerial, but substituted the ground wire with some dust particles (testing attraction). He went on to document the fair weather condition, the clear-day electrification of the atmosphere, and its diurnal variation. Beccaria (1775) confirmed Lemonnier's diurnal variation data and determined that the atmosphere's charge polarity was positive in fair weather. Saussure (1779) recorded data relating to a conductor's induced charge in the atmosphere. Saussure's instrument (which contained two small spheres suspended in parallel with two thin wires) was a precursor to the electrometer. Saussure found that the atmospheric electrification under clear weather conditions had an annual variation, and that it also varied with height. In 1785, Coulomb discovered the electrical conductivity of air. His discovery was contrary to the prevailing thought at the time, that the atmospheric gases were insulators (which they are to some extent, or at least not very good conductors when not ionized). Erman (1804) theorized that the Earth was negatively charged, and Peltier (1842) tested and confirmed Erman's idea.

Several researchers contributed to the growing body of knowledge about atmospheric electrical phenomena. Francis Ronalds began observing the potential gradient and air-earth currents around 1810, including making continuous automated recordings. He resumed his research in the 1840s as the inaugural Honorary Director of the Kew Observatory, where the first extended and comprehensive dataset of electrical and associated meteorological parameters was created. He also supplied his equipment to other facilities around the world with the goal of delineating atmospheric electricity on a global scale. Kelvin's new water dropper collector and divided-ring electrometer were introduced at Kew Observatory in the 1860s, and atmospheric electricity remained a speciality of the observatory until its closure. For high-altitude measurements, kites were once used, and weather balloons or aerostats are still used, to lift experimental equipment into the air. Early experimenters even went aloft themselves in hot-air balloons.

Hoffert (1888) identified individual lightning downward strokes using early cameras. Elster and Geitel, who also worked on thermionic emission, proposed a theory to explain thunderstorms' electrical structure (1885) and, later, discovered atmospheric radioactivity (1899) from the existence of positive and negative ions in the atmosphere. Pockels (1897) estimated lightning current intensity by analyzing lightning flashes in basalt (c. 1900) and studying the left-over magnetic fields caused by lightning. Discoveries about the electrification of the atmosphere via sensitive electrical instruments and ideas on how the Earth's negative charge is maintained were developed mainly in the 20th century, with CTR Wilson playing an important part. Current research on atmospheric electricity focuses mainly on lightning, particularly high-energy particles and transient luminous events, and the role of non-thunderstorm electrical processes in weather and climate.

Description
Atmospheric electricity is always present, and during fine weather away from thunderstorms, the air above the surface of Earth is positively charged, while the Earth's surface charge is negative. This can be understood in terms of a difference of potential between a point of the Earth's surface, and a point somewhere in the air above it. Because the atmospheric electric field is negatively directed in fair weather, the convention is to refer to the potential gradient, which has the opposite sign and is about 100 V/m at the surface, away from thunderstorms. There is a weak conduction current of atmospheric ions moving in the atmospheric electric field, about 2 picoamperes per square meter, and the air is weakly conductive due to the presence of these atmospheric ions.

Variations
Global daily cycles in the atmospheric electric field, with a minimum around 03 UT and peaking roughly 16 hours later, were researched by the Carnegie Institution of Washington in the 20th century. This Carnegie curve variation has been described as "the fundamental electrical heartbeat of the planet".

Even away from thunderstorms, atmospheric electricity can be highly variable, but, generally, the electric field is enhanced in fogs and dust whereas the atmospheric electrical conductivity is diminished.

Links with biology
The atmospheric potential gradient leads to an ion flow from the positively charged atmosphere to the negatively charged earth surface. Over a flat field on a day with clear skies, the atmospheric potential gradient is approximately 120 V/m. Objects protruding these fields, e.g. flowers and trees, can increase the electric field strength to several kilovolts per meter. These near-surface electrostatic forces are detected by organisms such as the bumblebee to navigate to flowers and the spider to initiate dispersal by ballooning. The atmospheric potential gradient is also thought to affect sub-surface electro-chemistry and microbial processes.

On the other hand, swarming insects and birds can be a source of biogenic charge in the atmosphere, likely contributing to a source of electrical variability in the atmosphere.

Near space
The electrosphere layer (from tens of kilometers above the surface of the Earth to the ionosphere) has a high electrical conductivity and is essentially at a constant electric potential. The ionosphere is the inner edge of the magnetosphere and is the part of the atmosphere that is ionized by solar radiation. (Photoionization is a physical process in which a photon is incident on an atom, ion or molecule, resulting in the ejection of one or more electrons.)

Cosmic radiation
The Earth, and almost all living things on it, are constantly bombarded by radiation from outer space. This radiation primarily consists of positively charged ions from protons to iron and larger nuclei derived sources outside the Solar System. This radiation interacts with atoms in the atmosphere to create an air shower of secondary ionising radiation, including X-rays, muons, protons, alpha particles, pions, and electrons. Ionization from this secondary radiation ensures that the atmosphere is weakly conductive, and the slight current flow from these ions over the Earth's surface balances the current flow from thunderstorms. Ions have characteristic parameters such as mobility, lifetime, and generation rate that vary with altitude.

Thunderstorms and lightning
The potential difference between the ionosphere and the Earth is maintained by thunderstorms, with lightning strikes delivering negative charges from the atmosphere to the ground. Collisions between ice and soft hail (graupel) inside cumulonimbus clouds causes separation of positive and negative charges within the cloud, essential for the generation of lightning. How lightning initially forms is still a matter of debate: Scientists have studied root causes ranging from atmospheric perturbations (wind, humidity, and atmospheric pressure) to the impact of solar wind and energetic particles.

An average bolt of lightning carries a negative electric current of 40 kiloamperes (kA) (although some bolts can be up to 120 kA), and transfers a charge of five coulombs and energy of 500 MJ, or enough energy to power a 100-watt lightbulb for just under two months. The voltage depends on the length of the bolt, with the dielectric breakdown of air being three million volts per meter, and lightning bolts often being several hundred meters long. However, lightning leader development is not a simple matter of dielectric breakdown, and the ambient electric fields required for lightning leader propagation can be a few orders of magnitude less than dielectric breakdown strength. Further, the potential gradient inside a well-developed return-stroke channel is on the order of hundreds of volts per meter or less due to intense channel ionization, resulting in a true power output on the order of megawatts per meter for a vigorous return-stroke current of 100 kA.

If the quantity of water that is condensed in and subsequently precipitated from a cloud is known, then the total energy of a thunderstorm can be calculated. In an average thunderstorm, the energy released amounts to about 10,000,000 kilowatt-hours (3.6 joule), which is equivalent to a 20-kiloton nuclear warhead. A large, severe thunderstorm might be 10 to 100 times more energetic.

Corona discharges
St. Elmo's Fire is an electrical phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a coronal discharge originating from a grounded object. Ball lightning is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's Fire, whereas they are separate and distinct phenomena. Although referred to as "fire", St. Elmo's Fire is, in fact, plasma, and is observed, usually during a thunderstorm, at the tops of trees, spires or other tall objects, or on the heads of animals, as a brush or star of light.

Corona is caused by the electric field around the object in question ionizing the air molecules, producing a faint glow easily visible in low-light conditions. Approximately 1,000 – 30,000 volts per centimeter is required to induce St. Elmo's Fire; however, this is dependent on the geometry of the object in question. Sharp points tend to require lower voltage levels to produce the same result because electric fields are more concentrated in areas of high curvature, thus discharges are more intense at the end of pointed objects. St. Elmo's Fire and normal sparks both can appear when high electrical voltage affects a gas. St. Elmo's fire is seen during thunderstorms when the ground below the storm is electrically charged, and there is high voltage in the air between the cloud and the ground. The voltage tears apart the air molecules and the gas begins to glow. The nitrogen and oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere causes St. Elmo's Fire to fluoresce with blue or violet light; this is similar to the mechanism that causes neon signs to glow.

Earth-Ionosphere cavity
The Schumann resonances are a set of spectrum peaks in the extremely low frequency (ELF) portion of the Earth's electromagnetic field spectrum. Schumann resonance is due to the space between the surface of the Earth and the conductive ionosphere acting as a waveguide. The limited dimensions of the earth cause this waveguide to act as a resonant cavity for electromagnetic waves. The cavity is naturally excited by energy from lightning strikes.

Electrical system grounding
Atmospheric charges can cause undesirable, dangerous, and potentially lethal charge potential buildup in suspended electric wire power distribution systems. Bare wires suspended in the air spanning many kilometers and isolated from the ground can collect very large stored charges at high voltage, even when there is no thunderstorm or lightning occurring. This charge will seek to discharge itself through the path of least insulation, which can occur when a person reaches out to activate a power switch or to use an electric device.

To dissipate atmospheric charge buildup, one side of the electrical distribution system is connected to the earth at many points throughout the distribution system, as often as on every support pole. The one earth-connected wire is commonly referred to as the "protective earth", and provides path for the charge potential to dissipate without causing damage, and provides redundancy in case any one of the ground paths is poor due to corrosion or poor ground conductivity. The additional electric grounding wire that carries no power serves a secondary role, providing a high-current short-circuit path to rapidly blow fuses and render a damaged device safe, rather than have an ungrounded device with damaged insulation become "electrically live" via the grid power supply, and hazardous to touch.

Each transformer in an alternating current distribution grid segments the grounding system into a new separate circuit loop. These separate grids must also be grounded on one side to prevent charge buildup within them relative to the rest of the system, and which could cause damage from charge potentials discharging across the transformer coils to the other grounded side of the distribution network.

Other reading

 * Richard E. Orville (ed.), "Atmospheric and Space Electricity". ("Editor's Choice" virtual journal) – "American Geophysical Union". (AGU) Washington, DC 20009-1277 USA
 * Schonland, B. F. J., "Atmospheric Electricity". Methuen and Co., Ltd., London, 1932.
 * MacGorman, Donald R., W. David Rust, D. R. Macgorman, and W. D. Rust, "The Electrical Nature of Storms". Oxford University Press, March 1998. ISBN 0-19-507337-1
 * Volland, H., "Atmospheric Electrodynamics", Springer, Berlin, 1984.

title: Atmospheric electricity