The Bazura Project
Encyclopedia
The Bazura Project is a comedy show about the history of cinema, written and presented by Shannon Marinko and Lee Zachariah. It originally ran on Australian community television from 2006 to 2008, and on ABC2
ABC2
ABC2 is a national public television channel in Australia. Launched on 7 March 2005, it is the responsibility of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television division, and is available nationally to digital television viewers in Australia...

 in late 2011.

Guide To Sinema

In early 2011, the ABC commissioned a six-part series for ABC2. The series was subtitled "The Guide To Sinema", with each episode devoted to a different cinematic sin: Violence, Sex, Money, Profanity, Drugs and Fame. The series began on 29 September, airing Thursday nights at 9pm.

The series included appearances from Shaun Micallef
Shaun Micallef
Shaun Patrick Micallef is an Australian actor, comedian and writer. After ten years of working in insurance law as a solicitor in Adelaide, Micallef moved to Melbourne to pursue a full-time comedy career in 1993...

, Kat Stewart
Kat Stewart
Kat Stewart is a Logie Award-winning Australian actress who has made numerous appearances in television series, movies and on-stage.-Career:...

, David Stratton
David Stratton
David James Stratton is an English- Australian film critic and television personality.-Life and career:Born in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England in 1939, Stratton was sent to Hampshire to see out the war years with his grandmother, an avid filmgoer, where he was taken to the local cinemas regularly...

, Tony Martin
Tony Martin (comedian)
Tony Francis Martin is a comedian and writer from Te Kuiti, New Zealand who has had a successful TV, radio, stand-up and film career in Australia.- Career :...

, Francis Greenslade
Francis Greenslade
Francis Greenslade is an Australian comic actor. He and comedic partner Shaun Micallef appeared on the legal comedy Welcher and Welcher, as well as Full Frontal...

, Julia Zemiro
Julia Zemiro
Julia Zemiro is an Australian television presenter, radio host, actor, singer and comedian.- Early life :...

, John Safran
John Safran
John Safran is an Australian documentary maker and radio broadcaster, known for combining humour with explorations into religion and other issues...

, Bryan Dawe
Bryan Dawe
Bryan John Dawe is best known as an Australian writer, comedian and political satirist, but is also known for his work as a songwriter, photographer and social activist....

, Michael Ward, Luke Hemsworth
Luke Hemsworth
Luke Hemsworth is an Australian actor. He played the part of Nathan Tyson in the soap opera Neighbours.Hemsworth was born and raised in Melbourne along with his younger brothers Chris and Liam...

, Abe Forsythe
Abe Forsythe
Abe Forsythe is an Australian film and television actor, director, writer and producer. He is the son of actor and comedian Drew Forsythe.-Career:He first appeared on the TV series The Miraculous Mellops...

, Marc Fennell
Marc Fennell
- Film reviewing :In 2002, Fennell was a winner of the first AFI Young Film Critics Competition. He then became the film critic and reporter for Sydney radio station FBi Radio from 2003-2006....

, Stephanie Bendixsen
Stephanie Bendixsen
Stephanie Bendixsen is an Australian television presenter. She is best known as one of the presenters of the video game review show Good Game where she goes by the nickname "Hex".-Early life:Stephanie was born in Sydney, Australia...

, and Richard Wolstencroft
Richard Wolstencroft
Richard Wolstencroft is an Australian filmmaker, film festival director, former nightclub promoter, writer, cinema critic, cultural and political commentator...

.

On Australian Community TV

The show originally aired on Australian community television stations (Channel 31 Melbourne
Channel 31 Melbourne
C31 Melbourne, formally known as Channel 31 Melbourne , is a public television station in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.-The Channel:Its signal is transmitted from Mt...

, 31 Brisbane, Television Sydney
Television Sydney
TVS, or Television Sydney , is a free-to-air community television station broadcasting in Sydney, Australia.-History:Transmissions officially commenced on analogue UHF channel 31 in February 2006 after three months of technical trials...

 and C31 Adelaide
C31 Adelaide
44 Adelaide is a community television station broadcasting in Adelaide, South Australia on the Channel 31 frequency since 23 April 2004. It was previously known as C31 before it started transmitting in Digital....

) on 7 December 2006. It ran for three seasons, ending on 18 December 2008.

Every episode began with a pre-title sequence in which hosts Shannon Marinko and Lee Zachariah parodied a classic film scene. There would then be a news segment, a feature story (either informational or a comedic sketch), an interview with a key figure movie figure, then reviews of that week's releases.

Opening Sequences

These sequences are not strictly parodies, but rather hosts Shannon and Lee finding themselves in situations that closely resemble famous scenes. Notable openings included the season one finale The Graduate
The Graduate
The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...

 (in which the wedding is attended by all the characters from the previous opening sequences), season two's On the Town
On the Town (film)
On the Town is a 1949 musical film with music by Leonard Bernstein and Roger Edens and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It is an adaptation of the Broadway stage musical of the same name produced in 1944, although many changes in script and score were made from the original stage...

 (in which Marinko and Zachariah "sung" New York, New York with lyrics pertaining to the Melbourne International Film Festival
Melbourne International Film Festival
The Melbourne International Film Festival is an acclaimed annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World....

), the season two finale Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science fiction comedy film and the second installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson...

 (in which they travelled back through time, appearing in that season's previous opening sequences), Plan 9 From Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi...

 (featuring one of the final on-screen appearances of legendary Australian actor Bud Tingwell), Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is an adaptation of the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford and stars Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss Howard and Adam Baldwin. The film follows a platoon of U.S...

 (in which their heads were shaved on-screen), and the series finale Fight Club
Fight Club (film)
Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job...

 (in which, rather than doing a single scene, the entire film was acted out).

Episode 1.01 (7 December 2006)The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological thriller film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear , a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him...



Episode 1.02 (14 December 2006)Clerks
Clerks
Clerks is a 1994 independent comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also appears in the film as Silent Bob. Starring Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks and Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves, it presents a day in the lives of two store clerks and their acquaintances...



Episode 1.03 (21 December 2006)It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....



Episode 1.04 (4 January 2007) – Say Anything

Episode 1.05 (11 January 2007)Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...



Episode 1.06 (18 January 2007)Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a 1998 American drama film directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Johnny Depp as Raoul Duke and Benicio del Toro as Dr. Gonzo. It was adapted from Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 novel of the same name....



Episode 1.07 (25 January 2007)The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects is a 1995 American neo-noir film written by Christopher McQuarrie and directed by Bryan Singer. It stars Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey and Pete Postlethwaite....



Episode 1.08 (1 February 2007)Goodfellas
Goodfellas
Goodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...



Episode 1.09 (8 February 2007)Manhattan
Manhattan (film)
Manhattan is a 1979 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Woody Allen about a twice-divorced 42-year-old comedy writer who dates a 17-year-old girl before eventually falling in love with his best friend's mistress...



Episode 1.10 (15 February 2007)American Psycho
American Psycho (film)
American Psycho is a 2000 cult thriller film directed by Mary Harron based on Bret Easton Ellis's novel of the same name. Though predominantly a psycho thriller, the film also blends elements of horror, satire, and black comedy...



Episode 1.11 (22 February 2007)The Graduate
The Graduate
The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...



Episode 2.01 (7 June 2007)The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live...



Episode 2.02 (14 June 2007)Trainspotting
Trainspotting (film)
Trainspotting is a 1996 British satirical/drama film directed by Danny Boyle based on the novel of the same name by Irvine Welsh. The movie follows a group of heroin addicts in a late 1980s economically depressed area of Edinburgh and their passage through life...



Episode 2.03 (21 June 2007) – Faster Pussycat Kill Kill

Episode 2.04 (28 June 2007)Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a 1986 American teen coming-of-age comedy film written and directed by John Hughes.The film follows high school senior Ferris Bueller , who decides to skip school and spend the day in downtown Chicago...



Episode 2.05 (5 July 2007)Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction (film)
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote its screenplay with Roger Avary. The film is known for its rich, eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references...



Episode 2.06 (12 July 2007)Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko
Donnie Darko is a 2001 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Richard Kelly and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Patrick Swayze, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noah Wyle, Jena Malone, and Mary McDonnell...



Episode 2.07 (19 July 2007) – Adaptation (film)

Episode 2.08 (26 July 2007)The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1987 film)
The Untouchables is a 1987 American crime-drama film directed by Brian De Palma and written by David Mamet. Based on the book The Untouchables, the film stars Kevin Costner as government agent Eliot Ness. It also stars Robert De Niro as gang leader Al Capone and Sean Connery as Irish-American...



Episode 2.09 (2 August 2007)On the Town
On the Town (film)
On the Town is a 1949 musical film with music by Leonard Bernstein and Roger Edens and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green. It is an adaptation of the Broadway stage musical of the same name produced in 1944, although many changes in script and score were made from the original stage...



Episode 2.10 (9 August 2007)Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and newcomer Jon Voight in the title role. Notable smaller roles are filled by Sylvia Miles, John...



Episode 2.11 (16 August 2007)A Clockwork Orange
A Clockwork Orange (film)
A Clockwork Orange is a 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel of the same name. It was written, directed and produced by Stanley Kubrick...



Episode 2.12 (23 August 2007)King Kong
King Kong (1933 film)
King Kong is a Pre-Code 1933 fantasy monster adventure film co-directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, and written by Ruth Rose and James Ashmore Creelman after a story by Cooper and Edgar Wallace. The film tells of a gigantic island-dwelling apeman creature called Kong who dies in...



Episode 2.13 (30 August 2007)Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science fiction comedy film and the second installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson...



Episode 3.01 (9 October 2008) – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Episode 3.02 (16 October 2008)Lolita
Lolita (1962 film)
Lolita is a 1962 comedy-drama film by Stanley Kubrick based on the classic novel of the same title by Vladimir Nabokov. The film stars James Mason as Humbert Humbert, Sue Lyon as Dolores Haze and Shelley Winters as Charlotte Haze with Peter Sellers as Clare Quilty.Due to the MPAA's restrictions at...



Episode 3.03 (23 October 2008)Plan 9 From Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space
Plan 9 from Outer Space is a 1959 science fiction film written and directed by Edward D. Wood, Jr. The film features Gregory Walcott, Mona McKinnon, Tor Johnson and Maila "Vampira" Nurmi...



Episode 3.04 (30 October 2008)On The Waterfront
On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront is a 1954 American drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb and Karl Malden. The soundtrack score was composed by Leonard...



Episode 3.05 (6 November 2008)The Shining
The Shining (film)
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, co-written with novelist Diane Johnson, and starring Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, and Danny Lloyd. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. A writer, Jack Torrance, takes a job as an...



Episode 3.06 (13 November 2008)Singin' in the Rain
Singin' in the Rain
Singin' in the Rain is a 1952 American comedy musical film starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds and directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, with Kelly also providing the choreography...



Episode 3.07 (20 November 2008)Goldfinger
Goldfinger (film)
Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1964, it is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title...



Episode 3.08 (27 November 2008)Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...



Episode 3.09 (4 December 2008)Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...



Episode 3.10 (11 December 2008)Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is an adaptation of the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford and stars Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss Howard and Adam Baldwin. The film follows a platoon of U.S...



Episode 3.11 (18 December 2008)Fight Club
Fight Club (film)
Fight Club is a 1999 American film based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. The film was directed by David Fincher and stars Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter. Norton plays the unnamed protagonist, an "everyman" who is discontented with his white-collar job...


Interviews

People interviewed on the community TV iteration of the show included Richard Wolstencroft
Richard Wolstencroft
Richard Wolstencroft is an Australian filmmaker, film festival director, former nightclub promoter, writer, cinema critic, cultural and political commentator...

, Pete! Ford, George Miller (producer)
George Miller (producer)
George Miller is an Australian film director, screenwriter, producer, and former medical doctor. He is most well known for his work on the Mad Max movies, but has been involved in a wide range of projects, including the Oscar-winning Happy Feet and "Babe" family films.Miller is the older brother...

, Melanie Coombs, Rohan Michael Hoole, Anthony Lucas, Sarah Watt
Sarah Watt
Sarah Ann Watt was an Australian film director.Born in Sydney, Watt completed a Graduate Diploma of Film and Television at the Swinburne School of Film and Television, Melbourne in 1990. Her student film "Catch of the Day" was to reflect the style of future work...

, Chris Noonan
Chris Noonan
Chris Noonan is a Sydney-based Australian filmmaker and actor best known for the pioneering live-action / CG film Babe, for which he received Academy Award nominations as both director and writer.-Biography:...

, Everett De Roche, James Hewison, Jack Sargeant
Jack Sargeant
Jack Sargeant is a writer specialising in cult film, underground film, and independent film, as well as subcultures, true crime, and other aspects of the unusual. In addition he is a film programmer and an academic...

, Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle
Daniel "Danny" Boyle is an English filmmaker and producer. He is best known for his work on films such as Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours, 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Trainspotting. For Slumdog Millionaire, Boyle won numerous awards in 2008, including the Academy Award for Best Director...

, Geoffrey Wright
Geoffrey Wright
Geoffrey Wright is an Australian film director, born in Melbourne in 1959.He gained cult success with the 1992 film Romper Stomper, which starred Russell Crowe. In 1994, he directed the gritty suburban thriller film Metal Skin, starring Ben Mendelsohn, and later directed the teen horror film...

, Pixar
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...

's Jerome Ranft & Paul Topolos, Roger Donaldson
Roger Donaldson
Roger Donaldson is an Australian-born New Zealand film producer, director and writer who has made numerous successful movies. He was a co-founder of the New Zealand Film Commission.-Life and career:...

, Robert Connolly
Robert Connolly
Robert Connolly is a politically conscious film director, producer and screenwriter based in Melbourne, Australia.Connolly is best known as the director and writer of the feature films Balibo, Three Dollars and The Bank, and the producer of the high-profile Australian films Romulus My Father and...

, Sue Maslin, Jonathan King
Jonathan King (film director)
Jonathan King is a film director from New Zealand. He is the son of historian Michael King and brother of author Rachael King.- Biography :...

, Scott Hicks
Scott Hicks
Robert Scott Hicks is a film director from Australia. He is best known as the screenwriter and director of Shine, the Oscar-winning biopic of pianist David Helfgott. Hicks's work has been nominated for an Academy Award as well as winning an Emmy Award.-Personal life:Hicks was born in Uganda, the...

, Rolf de Heer
Rolf de Heer
Rolf de Heer is a Dutch film director, writer and producer living in Australia. De Heer was born in Heemskerk in The Netherlands but migrated to Sydney when he was eight years old. He attended the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney. His company is called Vertigo Productions and...

, Jason Schwartzman
Jason Schwartzman
Jason Francesco Schwartzman is an American actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his roles in the Hollywood films Rushmore, Spun, I Heart Huckabees, Shopgirl, Marie Antoinette, The Darjeeling Limited, Funny People, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World...

, Gillian Armstrong
Gillian Armstrong
Gillian May Armstrong is an award-winning Australian director of feature films and documentaries.- Career :Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Gillian Armstrong grew up in the eastern suburb of Mitcham. She graduated from Swinburne Technical College in 1968 where she studied theatrical costume design and...

, Brian Trenchard-Smith
Brian Trenchard-Smith
Brian Trenchard-Smith is an English film and television director, producer, writer, consultant and actor who is notable for his contributions to the horror and action genre during the 1970s and 1980s in Australia. Most of his work has been in television, and the majority of his films have been...

, David Eggby
David Eggby
David Eggby is a British cinematographer. He was born in 1950 in London, but has lived in Melbourne, Australia since childhood. He received the Cinematographer of the Year and the Golden Tripod from the Australian Cinematographers Society, both for his work on the film Pitch Black...

, Mark Hartley, Steven Berkoff
Steven Berkoff
Steven Berkoff is an English actor, writer and director. Best known for his performance as General Orlov in the James Bond film Octopussy, he is typically cast in villanous roles, such as Lt...

, Leigh Whannell
Leigh Whannell
Leigh Whannell is an Australian screenwriter, producer, and actor, best known for his work on the Saw franchise.-Life and career:...

, Bud Tingwell, Nathan Phillips
Nathan Phillips (actor)
Nathan Scott Phillips is an Australian actor who is currently based in Los Angeles. He is perhaps best known for his role as backpacker Ben Mitchell in Wolf Creek and for his American film debut, Snakes on a Plane, opposite Samuel L...

, Jan Sardi
Jan Sardi
Jan Sardi is an Australian screenwriter. In 1997 he was nominated for a Academy Award for Best Writing , for Shine. He has also written and directed Love's Brother, and adapted The Notebook, based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks....

 and Clara Law
Clara Law
Clara Law is a Hong Kong Second Wave film director, now having relocated to Australia before the 1997 Hong Kong handover....

.

Election 2007: Countdown to a Letdown

In 2007, the crew moved away from movies to apply the Bazura style to the Australian Federal Election. The one hour special aired on the eve of the election, Friday 23 November, and featured a look back at the campaign, an instructional video about whom to vote for, a guide on how to be a politician, and an interview with the Australian Democrats' Laura Chipp. In addition to Marinko and Zachariah, the special was also hosted by Emma Race and Adam Knox.

The Bazura Project presents Saturday Night Cult Movie

Beginning in March 2008, The Bazura Project began introducing Saturday night movies on Channel 31 Melbourne. This ran for three seasons until 2010, and included such classics as the 49th Parallel
49th Parallel (film)
49th Parallel is the third film made by the British writer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It was released in the United States as The Invaders. Despite the title, no scene in the movie is set at the 49th parallel, which forms much of the U.S.-Canadian border...

, Hercules Against the Moon Men and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women
Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women is a science fiction film directed by Peter Bogdanovich. The film is an adapted version of Curtis Harrington's Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet, which in turn is adapted from the Russian 1962 feature Planeta Bur by Pavel Klushantsev...

.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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