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Technorati

Technorati was a search engine and a publisher advertising platform that served as an advertising solution for the thousands of websites in its network. Technorati launched its ad network in 2008, and at one time was one of the largest ad networks reaching more than 100 million unique visitors per month. The name Technorati was a portmanteau of the words technology and literati, which evokes the notion of technological intelligence or intellectualism.

In 2016, Synacor acquired Technorati for $3 million.

The company's core product was previously an Internet search engine for searching blogs. The website stopped indexing blogs and assigning authority scores in May 2014 with the launch of its new website, which is focused on online publishing and advertising. Technorati was founded by Dave Sifry, with its headquarters in San Francisco, California, USA. Kevin Marks was the site's Principal Engineer. Tantek Çelik was the site's Chief Technologist.

The site won the SXSW 2006 awards for Best Technical Achievement and Best of Show. It was nominated for a 2006 Webby Award for Best Practices, but lost to Flickr and Google Maps.

Reception
In February 2006, Debi Jones pointed out that Technorati's "State of the Blogosphere" postings, which then claimed to track 27.7 million blogs, did not take into account MySpace blogs, of which she said that there were 56 million. As a result, she said that the utility of Technorati as a gauge of blog popularity was questionable. However, by March 2006, Aaron Brazell pointed out that Technorati had started tracking MySpace blogs.

In May 2006, Technorati teamed up with the PR agency Edelman. The deal earned a lot of criticism, both on principle and as a result of Edelman's 2006 fake blog scandals. Edelman and Technorati officially ended the deal in December 2006. That month, Oliver Reichenstein pointed out that the so-called "State of the Blogosphere" was more of a PR-tool and money maker for Edelman and Technorati than a reliable source, explaining in particular: a) why Technorati/Edelman's claim that "31% of the blogs are written in Japanese" was "bogus", and b) where the financial profit for the involved parties was in this.

In May 2007, Andrew Orlowski, writing for the tech tabloid The Register, criticized Technorati's May 2007 redesign. He suggested that Technorati had decided to focus more on returning image thumbnails rather than blog results. He also claimed that Technorati never quite worked correctly in the past and that the alleged refocus was "a tacit admission that it's given up on its original mission".

In August 2008, Technorati acquired the online magazine, Blogcritics, for an undisclosed sum of money. As a result, Blogcritic's founders – publisher Eric Olsen and technical director Phillip Winn – became full-time Technorati employees. One of the first collaborative ventures of the two entities was for Blogcritics writers to begin writing descriptions of Technorati tags.

In October 2008, Technorati acquired the online ad agency Adengage. Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra wanted to use the AdEngage platform to expand Technorati Media's offering, starting with an expansion of their advertising business from higher traffic sites. The AdEngage network added a reported 12 billion monthly impression growth to the Technorati Media Network.

In April 2009, Blogcritics underwent a complete site redesign and switched content management systems.

In 2009, Technorati decided to stop indexing blogs and sites in languages other than English in order to focus only on the English-language blogosphere. As a result, thousands of sites in various languages were no longer rated by the Technorati service. In 2014, Technorati stopped indexing blogs altogether, refocusing its efforts on its advertising business.

In 2016, Synacor acquired Technorati for $3 million.

title: Technorati


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Chief marketing officer

A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a global marketing officer or marketing director, or chief brand officer, is a corporate executive responsible for managing marketing activities in an organization. Whilst historically these titles may have signified a legal responsibility, for example at Companies House in the UK, the titles are less strict/formal in the 21st Century and allow companies to acknowledge the evolving and increasingly significant role that marketers can play in an organisation, not least because of the inherent character of successful marketers. The CMO leads brand management, marketing communications (including advertising, promotions and public relations), market research, product marketing, distribution channel management, pricing, customer success, and customer service.

The CMO is a member of the C-suite and typically reports to the chief executive officer. A number of senior vice presidents, vice presidents, directors, and other senior marketing managers responsible for various parts of the marketing strategy may report directly to the CMO.

A study from consulting firm Spencer Stuart in 2021 showed that women made up 47% of CMO positions in 2020, an increase from the 43% reported in 2019. 13% of CMOs had racially or ethnically diverse background in 2020, down from 14% in 2019.

Responsibilities
The day-to-day tasks and responsibilities are often categorically different from one another, due to the fluid nature of the CMO's skill set: language is needed to stitch together all aspects of the company. Thus, in a given day the CMO completes tasks that fall into many different categories:

 * Analytical tasks, such as pricing and market research
 * Creative tasks, such as graphic design, advertising and product, and service promotion
 * Interpersonal tasks, such as coordinating with other company executives in creating alignment on strategy and execution plans

The CMO must quickly react to the changing market conditions and competitive dynamics and must reshape, as needed, the company's strategy and execution plans based on real-time market scenarios. Each of these products comes from a different department, so the CMO must be a nexus of information: it is a highly receptive role, with involvement in departments such as production, information technology, corporate communications, documentation, public relations, law, human resources, and finance. In the 21st century, digitalization and the rise of consumer-centric marketing has changed the role of the CMO. They are now typically finding themselves handling customer-facing technology implementations in addition to the above tasks. One analyst predicted that in the future CMOs will spend more on IT than their counterpart CIOs. According to another analyst firm, few senior-executive positions will be subject to as much change over the next few years as that of the chief marketing officer.

Peers to the CMO include chief human resources officer, chief technology officer, chief financial officer, chief communications officer, chief procurement officer, chief information officer, and general counsel.

Challenges
The CMO is responsible for facilitating growth, sales and marketing strategy. They must work towards objectives such as revenue generation, cost reduction, or risk mitigation. The unpredictable effect of marketing efforts, coupled with the need to drive profits, often leads to a short tenure for most CMOs. Consulting firm Spencer Stuart revealed average CMO tenure in 2020 was 40 months (a little over 3 years), which was the lowest in a decade. This compared with average CEO tenure of 7 years indicates challenge for CMOs to drive long-term growth.

In a CMO mapping study done by Raines, CMOs are losing their influence (73% of Fortune 250 companies have a Global CMO, but only 44% of Global CMOs sit in the C-suite). CMOs don't feel valued (23% of surveyed Fortune 500 CMOs were unsure their CEO understood their job). CMOs don't have clear alignment with their CEOs on key performance metrics (42% of surveyed Fortune 500 CMOs considered "Topline Revenue Growth" a top priority) whereas "topline growth" is typically one of the major priorities for CEOs at any stage of a business.

CMOs see customer loyalty as their top priority in the digital era; their second priority is to design experiences for tablets and mobile apps.

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

title: Chief marketing officer


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The Carpathian Castle

The Carpathian Castle (Le Château des Carpathes) is a novel by Jules Verne first published in 1892. It is possible that Bram Stoker took inspiration from this for his 1897 novel Dracula. Due to castle aspect and local toponymy, it is assumed that Colț Castle in Hunedoara county inspired Jules Verne. Probable inspiration for Verne was his extended stay in Bratislava and the Devín castle in present day Slovakia, where he also wrote his novel The Danube Pilot

Title
The original French title was Le Château des Carpathes and in English there are some alternate titles, such as The Castle of the Carpathians, The Castle in Transylvania, and Rodolphe de Gortz; or the Castle of the Carpathians.

Synopsis
In the village of Werst in the Carpathian Mountains of Transylvania (in the then Austria-Hungary), some mysterious things are occurring and the villagers believe that Chort (the devil) occupies the castle. A visitor to the region, Count Franz de Telek, is intrigued by the stories and decides to go to the castle and investigate. He finds that the owner of the castle is Baron Rodolphe de Gortz, with whom he is acquainted; years earlier, they were rivals for the affections of the celebrated Italian prima donna La Stilla. The Count thought that La Stilla was dead, but he sees her image and hears her voice coming from the castle. It is later revealed that it was only a projected still image accompanying a high-quality phonograph recording.

In the media

 * The 1981 Czechoslovak comedy feature film The Mysterious Castle in the Carpathians is based on this novel.

title: The Carpathian Castle


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Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Stonebridge Golf and Country Club

Stonebridge Golf and Country Club was proposed for deletion. This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was DELETE

A golf related stub. Nothing in article to suggest notability. jni 08:16, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)

 * Delete. Advert feeding in to website, or designed to push Google rankings up. — Bill 17:04, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. Not notable. --Improv 19:14, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete: Advertising. Geogre 13:22, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete, advertsing, notability not established. [[User:Dpbsmith|Dpbsmith (talk)]] 20:49, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like other '/delete' pages is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion or on the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.


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Dracula (1931 English-language film)

Dracula is a 1931 American pre-Code supernatural horror film directed and co-produced by Tod Browning from a screenplay written by Garrett Fort and starring Bela Lugosi in the title role. It is based on the 1924 stage play Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston, which in turn is adapted from the 1897 novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Lugosi portrays Count Dracula, a vampire who emigrates from Transylvania to England and preys upon the blood of living victims, including a young man's fiancée.

Produced and distributed by Universal Pictures, Dracula is the first sound film adaptation of the Stoker novel. Several actors were considered to portray the title character, but Lugosi, who had previously played the role on Broadway, eventually got the part. The film was partially shot on sets at Universal Studios Lot in California, which were reused at night for the filming of Dracula, a concurrently produced Spanish-language version of the story also by Universal.

Dracula was a commercial and critical success upon release, and led to several sequels and spin-offs. It has had a notable influence on popular culture, and Lugosi's portrayal of Dracula established the character as a cultural icon, as well as the archetypal vampire in later works of fiction. In 2000, the film was selected by the United States Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot
Renfield is a solicitor traveling to Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania on a business matter. The local village people fear that vampires inhabit the castle and warn Renfield not to go there. Renfield refuses to stay at the village inn and asks his carriage driver to take him to the Borgo Pass. He is driven to the castle by Dracula's coach, with Dracula disguised as the driver. En route, Renfield sticks his head out the window to ask the driver to slow down but sees the driver has disappeared; a bat leads the horses.

Renfield enters the castle and is welcomed by the charming but eccentric Count, who, unbeknownst to Renfield, is a vampire. They discuss Dracula's intention to lease Carfax Abbey in England, where he intends to travel the next day. Dracula hypnotizes Renfield into opening a window. Renfield faints as a bat appears, and Dracula's three wives close in on him. Dracula waves them away, then attacks Renfield himself.

Aboard the schooner Vesta, Renfield has become a raving lunatic slave to Dracula, who hides in a coffin and feeds on the ship's crew. When the ship reaches England, Renfield is discovered to be the only living person. He is sent to Dr. Seward's sanatorium adjoining Carfax Abbey. Elsewhere, at a London theater, Dracula meets Seward. Seward introduces his daughter Mina, her fiancé John Harker, and a family friend, Lucy Weston. Lucy is fascinated by Dracula. That night, Dracula enters her room and feasts on her blood while she sleeps. She dies the next day after a string of blood transfusions.

Renfield is obsessed with eating flies and spiders. Polymath doctor Professor Van Helsing analyzes his blood and discovers his obsession. He starts talking about vampires, and that afternoon, Renfield begs Seward to send him away, claiming his nightly cries may disturb Mina's dreams. When Dracula calls Renfield through the medium of a wolf howling, Renfield is disturbed by Van Helsing showing him wolfsbane, which Van Helsing says is used for protection from vampires.

Dracula visits Mina, asleep in her bedroom, and bites her. The next evening, he enters for a visit, and Van Helsing and Harker notice that he does not have a mirror reflection. When Van Helsing reveals this to Dracula, he smashes the mirror and leaves. Van Helsing deduces that Dracula is the vampire behind the recent tragedies.

Mina leaves her room and runs to Dracula in the garden, where he attacks her. The maid finds her. Harker wants to take Mina to London for safety but is convinced to leave her with Van Helsing. Van Helsing orders Nurse Briggs to take care of Mina when she sleeps and not to remove the wreath of wolfsbane from her neck.

Renfield escapes from his cell and listens to the men discussing vampires. Before he is taken back to his cell, Renfield relates to them how Dracula convinced Renfield to allow him to enter the sanatorium by promising him thousands of rats full of blood and life. Dracula enters the Seward parlor and talks with Van Helsing. He states that Mina now belongs to him and warns Van Helsing to return to his home country. Van Helsing swears to excavate Carfax Abbey and destroy Dracula. Dracula attempts to hypnotize Van Helsing, but the latter's resolve proves stronger. As Dracula lunges at Van Helsing, he draws a crucifix from his coat, forcing Dracula to retreat.

Harker visits Mina on a terrace, and she speaks of how much she loves "nights and fogs". A bat flies above them and squeaks to Mina. She then attacks Harker, but Van Helsing and Seward save him. Mina confesses what Dracula has done to her and tells Harker their love is finished.

Dracula hypnotizes Briggs into removing the wolfsbane from Mina's neck and opening the windows. Van Helsing and Harker see Renfield heading for Carfax Abbey. Arriving there, they see Dracula with Mina. When Harker shouts to Mina, Dracula thinks Renfield has betrayed him by leading them there and kills him. Dracula is hunted by Van Helsing and Harker, who know that Dracula is forced to sleep in his coffin during daylight, and the sun is rising. Van Helsing prepares a makeshift wooden stake from Dracula's coffin lid while Harker searches for Mina. Van Helsing impales Dracula through the heart, killing him, and Mina returns to normal.

Cast

 * Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula
 * Helen Chandler as Mina Seward
 * David Manners as John Harker
 * Dwight Frye as Renfield
 * Edward Van Sloan as Van Helsing
 * Herbert Bunston as Dr. Seward
 * Frances Dade as Lucy Weston
 * Joan Standing as Nurse Briggs (in an error on the opening credits, she is misidentified as "Maid")
 * Charles K. Gerrard as Martin
 * Halliwell Hobbes as Hawkins

The following individuals appear in uncredited roles: director and co-producer Tod Browning as the off-screen voice of the harbormaster; Carla Laemmle, a cousin of producer Carl Laemmle Jr., who appears at the start of the film as a woman in the coach carrying Renfield; and Geraldine Dvorak, Cornelia Thaw, and Dorothy Tree as Dracula's brides.

Background
Bram Stoker's novel had already been filmed without permission as Nosferatu in 1922 by German Expressionist filmmaker F. W. Murnau. Stoker's widow sued for plagiarism and copyright infringement, and the courts decided in her favor, essentially ordering that all prints of Nosferatu be destroyed. Enthusiastic young Hollywood producer Carl Laemmle Jr. also saw the box office potential in Stoker's gothic chiller, and he legally acquired the novel's film rights. Initially, he wanted Dracula to be a spectacle on a scale with the lavish silent films The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925).

Universal Pictures paid $40,000 for all rights to the novel and the stage plays, so they would have the exclusive rights to the Dracula character. Universal also brought Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Louis Bromfield to pen the script to fit this grand scale vision. Bromfield tried to reconcile novel and the stage play and in his draft suggested that Dracula should be two people—ghoulish old man at the beginning of the film, who by traveling to London and feeding on blood gets rejuvenated into drawing-room Dracula of the theater. Jonathan Harker was supposed to travel to Transylvania in the opening scenes of the film. As in the stage play, Dracula was supposed to kiss Mina passionately on the lips. Those things never made it into movie, either because they were considered too expensive, were replaced by rewritten scenes, or were deemed too risky. Bromfield was soon replaced with Garrett Fort. Fort turned to the stage play. Already a huge hit on Broadway, the Deane/Balderston Dracula play would end up becoming the blueprint as the production gained momentum. The screenwriters also carefully studied the silent, unauthorized version, F. W. Murnau's Nosferatu, for inspiration. Lifted directly from a nearly identical scene in Nosferatu that does not appear in Stoker's novel, was the early scene at the Count's castle when Renfield accidentally pricks his finger on a paper clip and it starts to bleed. Dracula creeps toward him with glee, only to be repelled when the crucifix falls in front of the bleeding finger.

Production
The film was originally intended for Conrad Veidt, who had just appeared in Universal's The Man Who Laughs (1928) and The Last Performance (1929). When Veidt returned to Germany fearing his English was not good enough for talkies Universal looked to Lon Chaney, star of the studio's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Although at the time Chaney was under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and had already decided a remake of The Unholy Three (1930) would be his first sound film. After his sudden death casting the title role proved problematic. Initially Laemmle was not at all interested in Lugosi, in spite of good reviews for his stage portrayal. Laemmle instead considered more established screen actors, with John Wray, fresh from his success in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) being announced as cast in the role. Both Ian Keith and William Courtenay would be subsequently mentioned in the press of the time, with other actors considered including Paul Lukas, Paul Muni, Chester Morris and Joseph Schildkraut. Lugosi had played the role on Broadway, and to his good fortune, happened to be in Los Angeles with a touring company of the play when the film was being cast. Against the tide of studio opinion, Lugosi lobbied hard and ultimately won the executives over, thanks in part to him accepting a paltry $500 per week salary for seven weeks of work, amounting to $3,500. Lew Ayres was hired to play Jonathan Harker, only to be replaced with Robert Ames because of a filming conflict. Ames was himself replaced with David Manners following news reports of his messy divorce.

On September 29, 1930, Dracula began shooting at Universal City on a $355,050 budget on a 36-day schedule. Tod Browning shot scenes of Dracula's Castle and Borgo Pass all the first week of production. According to numerous accounts, the production is alleged to have been a mostly disorganized affair, with the usually meticulous Tod Browning leaving cinematographer Karl Freund to take over during much of the shoot, making Freund something of an uncredited director on the film.

Manners recalled about the filming: "I can still see Lugosi, parading up and down the stage, posing in front of a full-length mirror, throwing his cape over his shoulder and shouting, 'I am Dracula!' He was mysterious and never really said anything to the other members of the cast except good morning when he arrived and good night when he left. He was polite, but always distant". Lugosi struck Manners as a vain, eccentric performer: "I never thought he was acting, but being the odd man he was". Edward Van Sloan, who played Van Helsing on Broadway stage opposite Lugosi, reprised his role on screen. The actor wondered why the film version reduced the large mirror used in the play to the small cigarette box with a mirrored lid. Despite Van Helsing becoming one of his most famous screen roles Van Sloan did not think much about the film – in a letter to his nephew he once wrote: "That reminds me of your failure to see the Dracula film on TV. How lucky you were.... What must it be like today...! Overplayed — over-written — altogether lousy". Bernard Jukes, who played the role of Renfield in the play on Broadway and during the 1928 tour, wanted that part in the film, but it went to Dwight Frye instead.

Tod Browning remembered actress Helen Chandler from the 1928 Broadway play The Silent House and based on that maiden performance chose her for Mina, the heroine, who becomes mistress to Bela Lugosi's Count Dracula. Her salary was $750 per week, making her the highest paid member of the cast. At the time of the filming she already battled severe alcoholism. She was known to laugh at Lugosi's mirror ritual at the shooting at times. Like some of her co-stars, despite this role becoming her most famous one, she did not care much about it: "It would be an awful fate, for instance, to go around being a pale little girl in a trance with her arms outstretched as in Dracula, all the rest of my screen career!"

The peasants at the beginning are praying in Hungarian, and the signs in the village are also in Hungarian. That is because many Hungarians live near Borgo Pass in Transylvania, since Transylvania used to be part of the Kingdom of Hungary in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. By the time the film was made, Transylvania had been part of the Kingdom of Romania since the end of World War I in 1918.

The scenes of crew members on the ship struggling in the violent storm were lifted from a Universal silent film, The Storm Breaker. Photographed at silent film projection speed, this accounts for the jerky, sped-up appearance of the footage when projected at 24 frames per second sound film speed and cobbled together with new footage of Dracula and Renfield. Jack Foley himself was the Foley artist who produced the sound effects. The picture was completed for a total cost of $341,191.20, which was under the original estimate of $355,050.

Before the film was even released, Lugosi worried that it would cause him to be type cast. He reportedly rejected an offer to reprise his role as Dracula in another stage tour of the play, stating: "No! Not at any price. When I'm through with this picture I hope to never hear of Dracula again. I cannot stand it...I do not intend that it shall possess me".

Cinematic process
The film's histrionics from the stage play are also reflected in its special effects, which are limited to fog, lighting, and large flexible bats. Dracula's transition from bat to person is always done off-camera. The film also employs extended periods of silence and character close-ups for dramatic effect, and employs two expository intertitles and a closeup of a newspaper article to advance the story, a seeming holdover from silent films; a point made by online film critic James Berardinelli is that the actors' performance style seems to belong to the silent era. Director Tod Browning had a reputation as a silent film director, having made them since 1915, including ten horror blockbusters with Lon Chaney including The Unknown (1927), but he never felt completely at ease with sound films. He only directed six more films over an eight-year period, the best known being the notorious Freaks, a horror film with Olga Baclanova and a cast of actual carnival freaks that was pulled from distribution immediately but is a cult favorite today. Browning directed his last film in 1939.

Music
Owing to the costs of adding an original musical score to a film's soundtrack, no score had ever been composed specifically for the film. The music heard during the opening credits, an excerpt from Act II of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, was later re-used for another Universal horror film, The Mummy (1932). During the theater scene where Dracula meets Dr. Seward, Harker, Mina, and Lucy, the end of the overture to Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg can also be heard as well as the dark opening of Schubert's "Unfinished Symphony" in B minor.

1998 score
In 1998, composer Philip Glass was commissioned to compose a musical score for the film. The score was performed by the Kronos Quartet under the direction of Michael Reisman, Glass's usual conductor.

Of the project, Glass said: "The film is considered a classic. I felt the score needed to evoke the feeling of the world of the 19th century — for that reason I decided a string quartet would be the most evocative and effective. I wanted to stay away from the obvious effects associated with horror films. With [the Kronos Quartet] we were able to add depth to the emotional layers of the film".

The film, with this new score, was released by Universal Studios in 1999 in the VHS format. Universal's DVD releases allow the viewer to choose between the unscored soundtrack or the Glass score. The soundtrack, Dracula, was released by Nonesuch Records in 1999. Glass and the Kronos Quartet performed live during showings of the film in 1999, 2000. 2012 and 2017.

Release
Dracula was a big gamble for a major Hollywood studio to undertake. In spite of the literary credentials of the source material, it was uncertain if an American audience was prepared for a serious full length supernatural chiller. Though American audiences had been exposed to other chillers before, such as The Cat and the Canary (1927), this was a horror story with no comic relief or trick ending that downplayed the supernatural. Despite this, Dracula proved to be a box office success.

When the film finally premiered at the Roxy Theatre in New York City on February 12, 1931 (released two days later throughout the U.S.), newspapers reported that members of the audiences fainted in shock at the horror on screen. This publicity, shrewdly orchestrated by the film studio, helped ensure people came to see the film, if for no other reason than curiosity. Within 48 hours of its opening at New York's Roxy Theatre, it had sold 50,000 tickets, building a momentum that culminated in a $700,000 profit, the largest of Universal's 1931 releases.

Critical reception
The film was generally well received by critics upon its release. Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times called it "the best of the many mystery films", characterizing Browning's direction as "imaginative" and Helen Chandler's performance as "excellent". Variety praised the film for its "remarkably effective background of creepy atmosphere" and wrote: "It is difficult to think of anybody who could quite match the performance in the vampire part of Bela Lugosi, even to the faint flavor of foreign speech that fits so neatly". Film Daily declared the film "a fine melodrama" and remarked that Lugosi had created "one of the most unique and powerful roles of the screen". Time called it "an exciting melodrama, not as good as it ought to be but a cut above the ordinary trapdoor-and-winding-sheet type of mystery film". John Mosher of The New Yorker wrote a negative review, remarking that "there is no real illusion in the picture" and "this whole vampire business falls pretty flat". The Chicago Tribune did not think the film was as scary as the stage version, calling its framework "too obvious" and "its attempts to frighten too evident", but still concluded that it was "quite a satisfactory thriller".

Censorship
The film was originally released with a running time of 85 minutes; when it was reissued in 1936, the Production Code was enforced. For that reissue, two scenes are known to have been censored:
 * The most significant deletion was an epilogue which played only during the film's initial run. In a scene similar to the prolog from Frankenstein, and also featuring Universal stalwart Edward Van Sloan, he reappeared in a "curtain speech" and informed the audience: "Just a moment, ladies and gentlemen! A word before you go. We hope the memories of Dracula and Renfield won't give you bad dreams, so just a word of reassurance. When you get home tonight and the lights have been turned out and you are afraid to look behind the curtains—and you dread to see a face appear at the window—why, just pull yourself together and remember that after all, there are such things as vampires!" This epilogue was removed out of fear of encouraging a belief in the supernatural. This scene was briefly shown in the "Road to Dracula" documentary, but it may be unusable and can not be restored.
 * Audio of Dracula's off-camera "death groans" at the end of the film were shortened by partial muting, as were Renfield's screams as he is killed; these pieces of soundtrack were later restored by MCA-Universal for its LaserDisc and subsequent DVD releases (with the exception of the 2004 multi-film "Legacy Collection" edition).

Alternate versions
In the early days of sound films, it was common for Hollywood studios to produce "Foreign Language Versions" of their films using the same sets, costumes and so on. While Browning filmed during the day, at night George Melford was using the sets to make the Spanish-language version Drácula, starring Carlos Villarías as Conde Drácula. Long thought lost, a print of Drácula was discovered in the 1970s, of which large sections had rotted away. In the early 1990s, a good copy was found in Cuba. The film was preserved in the US National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

A third, silent, version of the film was also released. In 1931, some theaters had not yet been wired for sound, and during this transition period many studios released alternative silent versions with intertitles.

Retrospective assessments
In 1999, film critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four out of four stars, praising Lugosi's performance and Freund's cinematography. He noted the film's lasting influence, and included it in his list of "Great Movies". Angie Errigo of Empire gave the film four out of five stars, commending Lugosi's performance as "the [Dracula] against which all others are measured", and writing that the film "is stagey and creaky, but it also has wonderful, unforgettable moments". John Oliver of the British Film Institute credited the film with establishing the "popular on-screen image of the vampire" and wrote that "the cinematic horror genre was born with the release of Dracula". He concluded that although he feels the film becomes almost "overly stage bound in its middle section, the virtues of its star performance and general visual style outweigh any such deficits".

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 94% based on 48 reviews, with an average rating of 7.86/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Bela Lugosi's timeless portrayal of Dracula in this creepy and atmospheric 1931 film has set the standard for major vampiric roles since".

Sequels and influence
After the commercial and critical success of Dracula, Universal released Frankenstein (1931) later that same year. Universal in particular would become the forefront of early horror cinema, with a canon of films including The Mummy (1932), The Invisible Man (1933), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and The Wolf Man (1941).

Five years after the original release, Universal released Dracula's Daughter (1936), a direct sequel that starts immediately after the end of the first film. A second sequel, Son of Dracula (1943), starring Lon Chaney Jr., followed another seven years later. The Count returned to life in three more Universal films of the mid-1940s: House of Frankenstein (1944); House of Dracula (1945); and the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948).

Universal would only cast Lugosi as Dracula in one more film, the aforesaid Abbott and Costello vehicle, giving the role to John Carradine for the mid-1940s "monster rally" films, although Carradine admittedly more closely resembled Stoker's physical description from the book. Many of the familiar images of Dracula are from stills of the older Lugosi made during the filming of the 1948 comedy, so there remain two confusingly distinct incarnations of Lugosi as Dracula, seventeen years apart in age.

As Lugosi played a vampire in three other movies during his career (Mark of the Vampire (1935), The Return of the Vampire (1943), and Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952)), this contributed to the public misconception that he portrayed Dracula on film many times, although the other vampire roles had him playing Dracula in all but name.

Director Chris McKay referenced Dracula in his film Renfield (2023), a film referred to by the director as a "quasi-sequel" to the original 1931 film. The film features Nicolas Cage as Count Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as Renfield compositing them into the background in place of Lugosi and Frye.

Since its release, Dracula has become widely regarded as a classic of the era and of its genre. In 2000, it was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was also ranked 79th on Bravo's countdown of The 100 Scariest Movie Moments.

However, Dracula would ultimately become a role which would prove to be both a blessing and a curse. Despite his earlier stage successes in a variety of roles, from the moment Lugosi donned the cape on screen, it would forever see him typecast as the Count.

Browning would go on to direct Lugosi once more in another vampire thriller, Mark of the Vampire, a 1935 remake of Browning's lost silent film London After Midnight (1927) starring Lon Chaney.

Also, the film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
 * 2001: AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #85
 * 2003: AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains:
 * Count Dracula – #33 Villain
 * 2005: AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes:
 * Count Dracula: "Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make." – #83

Influence on other notable Draculas
The actors who followed in Lugosi's shoes in playing Dracula, and who achieved significant fame in that role, had different attitudes to Lugosi's portrayal.

Christopher Lee, who played Dracula in a series of Hammer movies, said: "Anyhow, about the Lugosi Dracula. I was so disappointed. I absolutely had been wanting to see it for a long, long time. There are aspects of it, for instance, that I considered ridiculous. Dracula is played too nice at the beginning. Practically no menace in the character .. There is no shock or fright in it. Lugosi's hands too ... He held them out stiffly... making him look like a puppet. His smile was not always sinister, either". While thinking that Lugosi was in his younger days a wonderful looking man, who had tremendous presence and personality, Lee also thought that Lugosi "was not the right man to play Dracula from the point of view of nationality. Because Transylvania is in Romania and he was a Hungarian from the town of Lugos, hence his name". At the time that Bram Stoker wrote the novel, however, Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. In addition to this, Lugoj, the town from which Lugosi came from, is located in what can be considered Transylvania.

Gary Oldman, who played Dracula in Francis Ford Coppola's adaptation, considered Lugosi to be his favorite Dracula and said about his performance: "He was really on to something: the way he moved, the way he sounded". Oldman based his Dracula voice on Lugosi's voice.

Posters
The film's poster campaign was overseen by Universal advertising art director Karoly Grosz, who also illustrated the "insert" poster himself. Original posters from the 1931 release are scarce and highly valuable to collectors. In 2009, actor Nicolas Cage auctioned off his collection of vintage film posters, which included an original "StyleF" one sheet that sold for $310,700; as of March 2012, it stood as the sixth-highest price for a film poster. In summer 2017, Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett loaned his rare "StyleC" poster to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts for an exhibition on horror film posters. In December that same year, an extremely rare "StyleA" poster—one of only two known copies—sold at auction for $525,000, setting a new world record for the most expensive film poster.

Iconography
This film, and the 1920s stage play by Deane and Balderston, contributed much of Dracula's popular iconography, much of which vastly differs from Stoker's novel. In the novel and in the German silent film Nosferatu (1922), Dracula's appearance is repulsive; Lugosi portrays the Count as a handsome, charming nobleman. The Deane-Balderston play and this film also introduced the now iconic images of Dracula entering his victims' bedrooms through French doors/windows, wrapping his satin-lined cape around victims, and more emphasis on Dracula transforming into a bat. In the Stoker novel, he variously transformed into a bat or a wolf, a mist or "elemental dust".

The now classic Dracula line, "I never drink ... wine", is original to this film. It did not appear in Stoker's novel or the original production of the play. When the play was revived on Broadway in 1977 starring Frank Langella, the line was added to the script.

Home media
Between the 1960s and 1970s, Castle Films released an abridged version of Dracula on 8 mm film. In the 1980s, MCA Home Video released Dracula on Betamax, VHS, and Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED). In the 1990s, MCA/Universal Home Video released Dracula on VHS as part of the "Universal Monsters Classic Collection", a series of releases of Universal Classic Monsters films. The film was also released on LaserDisc.

In 1999, Universal released Dracula on VHS and DVD as part of the "Classic Monster Collection". In 2004, Universal released Dracula: The Legacy Collection on DVD as part of the "Universal Legacy Collection". This two-disc release includes both Dracula and the Spanish-language Dracula, as well as Dracula's Daughter, Son of Dracula, and House of Dracula.

In 2012, Dracula and the Spanish-language Dracula were released on Blu-ray as part of the Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection box set, which also includes a total of nine films from the Universal Classic Monsters series. In September 2013, Dracula received a standalone Blu-ray release that also includes the Spanish-language Dracula. That same year, Dracula was included as part of the six-film Blu-ray set Universal Classic Monsters Collection, which also includes Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man. The following year, Universal released Dracula: Complete Legacy Collection on DVD. This set contains seven films: Dracula, Drácula, Dracula's Daughter, Son of Dracula, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. In 2015, the six-film Universal Classic Monsters Collection was released on DVD. In 2016, Dracula received a Walmart-exclusive Blu-ray release featuring a glow-in-the-dark cover. In September 2017, the film received a Best Buy-exclusive steelbook Blu-ray release with cover artwork by Alex Ross. That same year, the seven-film Complete Legacy Collection was released on Blu-ray.

In August 2018, Dracula, the Spanish-language Dracula, Dracula's Daughter, Son of Dracula, House of Frankenstein, House of Dracula, and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein were included in the Universal Classic Monsters: Complete 30-Film Collection Blu-ray box set. This box set also received a DVD release. Later in October, Dracula and the Spanish-language Dracula were included as part of a limited edition Best Buy-exclusive Blu-ray set titled Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection, which features artwork by Alex Ross. Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released Dracula on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on October 5, 2021.

title: Dracula (1931 English-language film)


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Woma

Woma may refer to:

 * Bernard Woma (1966-2018), Ghanaian musician and gyile player
 * Woma python (Aspidites ramsayi), also known as Ramsay's python and sand python, a species of snake endemic to Australia
 * WomaNews, radical feminist newspaper
 * WOMA, earlier call sign of the radio station WBDK
 * WOMA-LP, earlier call sign of the radio station WLEB-LP

title: Woma


text:
Talk:Momus

Comments
What's with the "retirement" and "shot glasses" and "taxes" parts of the introduction? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.247.153.23 (talk) 16:48, 17 December 2011 (UTC)

There's a reference to "Momus" in the libretto of La Boheme I think. Anyone want to hunt it down? Wetman 08:29, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Merger of Momos
As proposed by Heiko_A, I think that the article Momos should be absorbed into this one, and Momos to redirect here. I started a disscussion on the Momos talk page. Would appreciate any input. --VonWoland 00:40, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Parents
According to "Der Olymp, oder Mythologie der Aegypter, Griechen und Römer" by Prof. A.H. Petiscus (Berlin 1832, 5th Edition), Momos is the son of Morpheus. Sadly, he doesn't mention any sources. 93.215.35.144 (talk) 15:11, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

Revision
The policy of allowing the transfer of articles from the out of copyright 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica was always a mistake, particularly in the case of this article. The EB style does not fit Wikipedia's, being often opinionated and unsupported by references. The language is old-fashioned, while scholarship has moved on in the century or more since those articles were written. In the case of the article on Momus, it was a disgrace even back then, being little more than a largely unconnected list of miscellaneous facts, to which editors here have added since without attempting to draw connections between them. This will explain the reasons for reordering some of the material, while omitting more trivial mentions. As per WP:MISC, not every occurence of the name is significant. Mzilikazi1939 (talk) 09:26, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

The Georgian laughing philosopher
I added a sentence about a writer taking "Momus or the laughing philosopher" as his(?) 1779 nom de plume in Westminster Magazine or the Pantheon of Taste, one of a plethora of literary publications of that era for which we still don't have articles. It was reverted because I had not sufficiently explained its relevance. It might belong better in the comedy section than social satire, though it's a fine line. I don't see it as any less relevant than any of the other examples. Any objections to re-adding it? --Carbon Caryatid (talk) 21:20, 16 January 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, per WP:OFFTOPIC. The article is about the god, not those who assume his name. At the head of the article there are links to others who have used it. You would have to create an article about the writer, not just dump a random fact you've discovered into this one. Sweetpool50 (talk) 21:39, 16 January 2019 (UTC)

title: Talk:Momus


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User:Deus Ex Machina

My name is Dane, and I live in Brisbane, Australia.

User page in development!

title: User:Deus Ex Machina


text:
Hogarth Living Poets

The Hogarth Living Poets were two series of books published by Hogarth Press, under the editorship of Dorothy Wellesley. The editions were limited, and the books are now rare.

First Series (1928-1932)
24 books.

 * 1. Frances Cornford Different Days
 * 2. G. Fitzurse It Was Not Jones
 * 3. Dorothy Wellesley Matrix
 * 5. Ida Affleck Graves The China Cupboard and other poems
 * 9. C. Day-Lewis Transitional Poem
 * 10. William Plomer The Family Tree
 * 11. Vita Sackville-West King's Daughter
 * 14. Edwin Arlington Robinson Cavender's House
 * 17. Dorothy Wellesley editor: A broadcast anthology of modern poetry
 * 21. John Lehmann A Garden Revisited and other poems
 * 22. C. Day-Lewis From Feathers to Iron
 * 24. Michael Roberts editor New Signatures

Second Series (1933-1937)
Five books.

 * 1 C. Day-Lewis The Magnetic Mountain
 * 2. John Lehmann The Noise of History
 * 3. R. C. Trevelyan Beelzebub and other poem

title: Hogarth Living Poets


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Game On (British TV series)

Game On is a British sitcom which ran for three series on BBC2 from 27 February 1995 to 6 February 1998.

The central characters are three childhood friends from Herne Bay in Kent: laddish agoraphobe Matthew Malone (Ben Chaplin in the first series and Neil Stuke in the second and third), man-eater Amanda "Mandy" Wilkins (Samantha Janus) and wimpish Martin Henson (Matthew Cottle). In their twenties, the trio move into and share a flat in Battersea, south-west London, which Matthew bought with his inheritance, and the series follows their lives as flatmates.

Created and written by Andrew Davies and Bernadette Davis, and produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC, Game On was aimed at twenty-somethings, the same age group as the principal cast of the show.

Production
The title, derived from a stock screen term used by 1980s early computer video games to initiate a competitive encounter, was taken from English urban slang speech of the 1990s' lad culture of which the principal character Matthew Malone was an exemplar. It was directed by John Stroud, produced by Sioned Wiliam and the BBC Television Head of Comedy Geoffrey Perkins, and executive produced by Denise O'Donohue on behalf of Hat Trick Productions for the BBC.

After a successful first series, the production suffered somewhat from the loss of its lead player Ben Chaplin, who left the cast unexpectedly after receiving an offer of a film role in Hollywood on the back of his performance in the series. He was replaced for series 2 and 3 by Neil Stuke. (The change of actor was indirectly acknowledged in Stuke's first episode, when the other characters complained about the recasting of a main character in Roseanne and expressed their dislike for TV shows which did this). The first two series were written by Andrew Davies and Bernadette Davis, while Davis wrote the final series alone.

The show's theme tune was "Where I Find My Heaven" by the Gigolo Aunts. The single reached number 29 in the UK singles chart in May 1995 when the series debuted. Among other music included was "Dogs of Lust" by The The, "Nowhere" by Therapy?, "From Despair to Where" by Manic Street Preachers, "Girls & Boys" by Blur, "God! Show Me Magic" by Super Furry Animals, "The View From Here" by Dubstar and Oasis.

A fourth series was considered. Bernadette Davis voiced her desire to focus the next series on the development of Matthew, who due to his flat-bound existence, she began to find increasingly hard to write for; the addition of a "radicalist" new gay or lesbian housemate was also part of her suggestions to add a new element of interest to the series. However, despite a continuity announcer stating over the closing credits of the final episode in a 1999 repeat that the series would return the following year, only one further repeated episode was broadcast the following year, and a fourth series never emerged.

Characters

 * Matthew Norman Malone (Chaplin for the first series, subsequently Stuke) – Matthew is the unemployed owner of the three-bedroomed flat in which the show mostly takes place, and which he hardly ever goes outside of. From Herne Bay and a self-proclaimed ladies' man, the car accident which killed his parents has left him with a significant inheritance - part of which he spent on buying the Battersea flat, which means he does not have to work - but also resulted in a deep fear of the outside world and acute agoraphobia. Although Matt still keeps a surfboard in pristine condition, routinely waxing it, even passing beyond the front door causes a panic attack. He passes the days alone in the flat whilst the others are at work by dressing up, role-playing and spying on the neighbours. Routinely makes up wild and implausible stories about his past and what he has been up to through the day whilst the others have been at work. Loves to use the word "tosser" and the phrase "double hard bastard" and in an ongoing gag throughout the entire series would mock his flatmate Martin for being ginger and force him to make endless cups of tea. Despite describing himself as a "double hard bastard," he secretly enjoys things that could be characterized as "effeminate," such as 1940s "love story" movies and Emmerdale when not watching Reservoir Dogs or Bikini Beach Babes on Safari.
 * Martin Henson (Cottle) – Martin is a passive and meek tangerine-haired bank clerk who lives on his mother's frozen meals. Matthew's oldest "friend" (in truth Matt picked on Martin even at school), Martin's older sister is Claudia, Mandy's best friend, and by extension, although being two years younger than Mandy has known Mandy since they were kids. Martin is still a virgin in the beginning of the series, and although he doesn't remain one, he remains forever unlucky in love, like Mandy. Martin is Matthew's slave, doormat and constant source of entertainment, whom he calls "ginger tosser" whilst screaming for Martin to make cups of tea. Years of passive abuse have left Martin scared of Matt, although he still looks up to him as a "cool guy" and hopes for the day he will go back outside. Although not agoraphobic like Matt, Martin also has no social life outside work, and has made a threadbare trail from his seat to the kettle.
 * Amanda "Mandy" Wilkins (Janus) – Mandy is an ambitious yet underachieving career girl who finds herself going nowhere except to bed with an endless stream of men (Northern by preference). Many of the men she sleeps with, she is not particularly attracted to, and there are hints throughout the series that she is simply addicted to sex (she tries during the second series to abstain from sex entirely). In early episodes there were running gags involving Mandy's history of childhood bedwetting (which did not cease until she was 13). She made out with her science teacher at school, getting him the sack and causing his marriage to break down, and also as a teenager had a child in secret with her boyfriend, Stoat, that she couldn't cope with and gave up for adoption. Despite having an IQ of 139 and earning a degree at University, Mandy is stuck in a cycle of temporary, insignificant secretarial jobs, often with lecherous bosses. She gets into debt far too often and envies her best friend Claudia Henson, who did the same things as Mandy but is now going places.
 * Clare Monaghan (Tracy Keating) – An Irish nurse, Clare is Martin's girlfriend in the second series and then his ex. She meets Martin and initially makes a deal with him to lose her virginity, not knowing that he was also a virgin. They start dating and eventually break up due to Martin's inability to trust her around other men, his almost vegetative state, and irreconcilable life paths - Clare wanted to travel the world while Martin did not. She appears in five episodes of series two, and four episodes of series three. Actress Tracy Keating also makes a further appearance in the final episode as a different character, a woman who Martin pursues because she looks like Clare. Keating plays this part with an English accent.
 * Archie Glenister (Crispin Bonham-Carter) – Mandy's boss, lover and groom-to-be in the third series. Born into a wealthy, upper-class and snobbish family, Archie never really fitted in at home and worried his parents with his disturbing taxidermy obsession, which later also scares Mandy. Despite his privileged background, Archie is a fun-loving, rough-and-tumble guy who spent time in the Royal Marines (unlike Matthew, who merely claims he has). In the final episode Archie is killed in a car crash on the day of his wedding to Mandy.
 * Jason (Mark Powley) – Mandy's friend from college, the one she never had sex with due to him being gay. A psychotherapist, he poses as Mandy's cousin to try to help Matt overcome his agoraphobia. Appears in three consecutive episodes of series two, during which he falls in love with a completely oblivious Matthew.

List of one-off characters

 * Marco (Oliver Haden) – Mandy's Italian tutor, whom she struggles to resist during her short-lived dabble with celibacy. Appears in two consecutive episodes of series two.
 * Stoat (Eddie Marsan) – A criminal, and Mandy's ex-boyfriend from school. Appears in only one episode, during which he takes everybody in the flat hostage and is later revealed to have fathered Mandy's daughter whom she gave up for adoption when she was a teenager.
 * Claudia Henson (Rebecca Lacey) – Martin's older sister, and Mandy's best friend. Although frequently referred to throughout all three series, she actually only appears in one episode of the first series, when she and Mandy go clubbing, and never shares any scenes with Martin.
 * Wally Bazoum - An unseen character, Mr Bazoum is Martin's only other friend except Matthew. Mr Bazoum is a Turkish man who also works at the bank where Martin works. The character is referred to in all series, and spoken to by Matthew who says "he sounds like a complete wanker". Spends a weekend away with Martin in the first series.
 * Dennis and Ursula - Two further unseen characters referenced throughout the show, they are an elderly couple who live in the flat next door. Notably, Martin borrows their rusted, unsightly Nissan to drive Mandy to church on her wedding day.
 * Paul "The Rage" Johnson (David Harewood) - A middleweight boxer whom Mandy dates in Big Wednesday. He is famous, rich, and successful. Matthew feels threatened by him but does not have the nerve to say anything, even when he puts his cold beer on his surfboard.

Reception
The Digital Fix noted that viewing figures for the show were highest during its first series with Ben Chaplin as the lead actor, and the audience for the subsequent series declined sharply when he was replaced by Neil Stuke. The British Comedy Guide noted in its review of Game On that the series was polarizing due to some controversy over some of the politically incorrect dialogue, situations and gags, but also that the series had high viewing figures, building up an even bigger following after its cancellation.

Awards
Game On was nominated for Best Comedy (Programme or Series) at the 1997 BAFTAs, along with Absolutely Fabulous and Father Ted; the category was won by Only Fools and Horses.

DVD releases
All three series of the show are available on DVD. The first series DVD is the only one with any special features, which include Chaplin's best moments as Matthew Malone from the first series and character photo galleries.

title: Game On (British TV series)


text:
User:Whispered gashes

Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. As a new member of Wikipedia, you might like to start by reading the tutorial and introducing yourself at the new users page. Two useful tips are that you can sign your name using four tildes ( ~ ) and you can practice editing by using the Sandbox. You can regularly find new tips on the Community Portal. I look forward to reading your great articles and I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian. If you have any questions, you can ask at the help desk or on my talk page. :-) SWAdair | Talk 08:38, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)

One thing, though -- please don't blank pages, especially talk pages where someone has been left a warning not to vandalize Wikipedia. Those warnings are important. If you would like to experiment, try things out, please use the sandbox. Happy editing! SWAdair | Talk 08:38, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)

title: User:Whispered gashes


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All India Forward Bloc (Subhasist)

All India Forward Bloc (Subhasist), an Indian political party. AIFB(S) is a splinter group of All India Forward Bloc. AIFB(S) is mainly concentrated in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The party was founded in 1963 by Sasivarna Thevar, after a power vacuum led Thevar to try to take control of the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) party in Tamil Nadu. When he failed, he quit to launch the Subhasist Forward Bloc party, a splinter group of the AIFB. The party is mainly concentrated in the states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The Previous general secretary of the party was Late K. Kandasamy. Now Mr. Aveek Roy is National General Secretary.

In the 2003 by-elections in Tamil Nadu, AIFB(S) supported All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).

title: All India Forward Bloc (Subhasist)


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Shane Atkinson

Shane Atkinson, of Christchurch, New Zealand was a major spammer whose details were leaked onto the Internet soon after an article was written about him in the New Zealand Herald. After he was exposed as a spammer in 2003, Shane Atkinson found himself at the receiving end of a barrage of public outrage and proclaimed that he would give up spamming.

Atkinson was tracked down by anti-spam collaborators on the Usenet news.net-admin newsgroups. Before being identified, Atkinson's operation would send up to 100 million messages on a "good day," advertising for penis-enlargement pills. The actual spamming was done by a 15-year-old boy in the United States, who earned US$500 a day doing so. His web sites were hosted on Polish and Pakistani network providers.

His brother Lance has also become well-known and was ordered to pay US$2 million to the United States authorities for his spamming operations in March 2005.

An investigation by the BBC broadcast in December 2007 and January 2008 found Atkinson was still active in spamming. Atkinson's Internet service provider was contacted and explained that he was not sending it from his own account but hiding behind a number of other slave or zombie computers, making identification difficult. Simon Cox of the BBC phoned Atkinson in late 2007 and after confirming his identity told him that there were serious allegations about him. He denied them. His reply was ""Well, it wasn’t me, mate. We have closed all that down years ago.""

Cox put it to him that he was still controlling a network of computers and that he had been sending out spam.

Atkinson replied ""Well I am not controlling any computers, mate. I’m not interested in talking to you, bye.""

Following on Cox's investigation, New Zealand police at the end of 2007 raided four properties in Christchurch and seized 22 computers. They interviewed two men about illegal spamming and in October 2008 the Department of Internal Affairs asked the High Court to impose penalties of NZ$200,000 each for breaching the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act

On Monday, 22 December 2008 Lance Atkinson was fined NZ$100,000 after the Department of Internal Affairs laid charges under the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act. It is understood Atkinson settled out of court. In summing up the judge conceded that the offending started before the act came into force and Atkinson had co-operated with the authorities. Lance now has the dubious honour of being the first person to be fined under the new act. Shane Atkinson and Roland Smits have elected to defend the changes currently before the courts.

title: Shane Atkinson


text:
Talk:Dorothy Wellesley, Duchess of Wellington

Untitled
"Socialite" is a creaky term from yellowed newspaper clippings. And not the best newspapers either. Do people really gag on "aristocrat"? Wetman 08:55, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I'd say you could be each without the other, really. In the UK parlance, being 'in society' would come with the social position, but not if one stayed away from London. Anyway, needs some expansion to make better sense.

Charles Matthews 09:41, 7 Oct 2004 (UTC)


text: User talk:67.40.199.74

title: User talk:67.40.199.74


text:
Pruneyard Shopping Center

The Pruneyard Shopping Center is a 250,000 sqft open-air shopping center located in Campbell, California, at the intersection of Campbell Avenue and Bascom Avenue, just east of State Route 17. It was built in the 1960s as the PruneYard Shopping Center. It includes shops, a DoubleTree by Hilton inn, a movie theater originally built in 1964, and three office towers built in 1970, one of which is the tallest building in the area outside of downtown San Jose.

History
Fred Sahadi developed the PruneYard Shopping Center as part of a mixed-use development on the site of the Brynteson Ranch, which he bought in 1968. It was completed in 1970, designed to be an upscale shopping center. In 2014 Ellis Partners and Fortress Investment Group LLC bought it from Equity Office.

A major renovation and expansion began in 2017. The movie theater, the first business to open in the mall in 1969 as the three-screen United Artists Movie Theater, was renovated at the turn of the 21st century and became Camera 7; it closed in April 2017 and reopened in April 2018 as the Pruneyard Cinemas, with cocktails delivered to patrons' seats and the Cedar Room restaurant in the former location of Boswell's, a 1970s fern bar.

The Pruneyard was bought by Regency Centers in 2019. There are plans to add another office building and more retail.

Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins
In the late 1970s, the mall was involved in a free speech dispute with local high school students that was ultimately decided by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 9, 1980. The Pruneyard case established two important rules in American constitutional law:

 * Under the California Constitution, individuals may peacefully exercise their right to free speech in parts of private shopping centers regularly held open to the public, subject to reasonable regulations adopted by the shopping centers.
 * Under the U.S. Constitution, states can provide their citizens with broader rights in their constitutions than under the federal Constitution, so long as those rights do not infringe on any federal constitutional rights.

title: Pruneyard Shopping Center


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Marvin Santiago

Marvin Santiago (December 26, 1947 – October 6, 2004) was a Puerto Rican salsa singer who became famous all across Latin America during the 1970s. He was also a part-time comedian on Puerto Rican television.

Early life
Santiago was born in the Santurce district of San Juan, Puerto Rico. In his younger years Santiago lived between the Bolívar and Sánchez streets in the Parada 22 area of Santurce. At the age of 13, Santiago and his family moved to the Nemesio Canales public housing project where he was eventually nicknamed "El Grifo de Canales" ("The kinky-haired of Canales") by close friends and fans. Santiago was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at a young age.

During his youth, Santiago would participate in jam sessions in his neighborhood as well as in school. His first professional job as a singer was in 1966 with Roberto Valdés group "Los Trotamundos". En septiembre de 1980 fue detenido y acusado de posesión y tráfico de drogas. La corte le declaró culpable y fue condenado a diez años en la Cárcel Regional de Bayamón. Fue recibido entre vítores por la población penal debido a su gran popularidad. Consiguió permisos para realizar grabaciones y presentaciones, lo que generó polémica entonces. Sus discos "Adentro", "El hijo del pueblo", "El sonero del pueblo" y "Oficial, pero con tremenda pinta" fueron editados en presidio. Al poco tiempo de permanecer impedido de libertad, se convirtió al evangelio. Debido a su buen comportamiento, consiguió rebajas en su pena y logró salir a mediados de 1986. Su voz reunió un buen número de seguidores gracias a sus frases jocosas y pueblerinas. En 1982 estando privado de libertad, es invitado por el Ministerio de Justicia de Venezuela, a traves del III Festival de Teatro Penitenciario a participar con su musica, participacion que se realiza y queda grabada para la historia, que un confinado de Puerto Rico, asiste a un evento internacional a representar a los privados de libertad de su pais a un festival de teatro penitenciario, en el Internado Judicial del Junquito, prision donde se presentaria Marvin Santiago con sus canciones para deleitar a parte de la poblacion penal de Caracas, Venezuela

Rafael Cortijo
Upon a recommendation from conga player Celso Clemente, famed Puerto Rican composer Tite Curet Alonso met Santiago and brought him to an audition for Rafael Cortijo's group. Santiago was hired to sing with Cortijo's group and in three weeks time learned the bands repertoire and started touring with them throughout Dominican Republic, New York City and Chicago. On an impulse, Santiago decided to stay in Chicago. During breaks from Cortijo's group, Santiago played with local bands "Gilberto Y Su Sexteto" & "La Sonora De Felipe Rodríguez".

Santiago's first recorded tracks appeared on Rafael Cortijo Y Su Bonche's album "Ahí Na Má! Put It There", released in 1968. Two of the tracks recorded where Santiago provided lead vocals, "Vasos En Colores" and "La Campana Del Lechón", were later recorded by Santiago as a solo artist. Santiago provided background vocals on other tracks from the album.

Roberto Angleró
In 1969 Santiago left Chicago and returned to Puerto Rico where he joined Johnny "El Bravo" López's group and toured with them briefly. On one engagement with López in Coamo, Puerto Rico, Santiago met Roberto Angleró and offered his services as a backup singer if he ever needed one. Soon after that meeting, Angleró needed a background singer and called López to see if he could lend Santiago to do some background vocals for his group and López told Angleró "you can keep him if you want to". Santiago joined Angleró's group and in 1970 recorded an album with them. The album had a minor hit with the track "Chán Con Chán". The track "Salao" from the album was later recorded as "Safa Diablo" by Bobby Valentín's group with Santiago on lead vocals. Another track from the album, "El Pantalón", was later recorded as "El Filo Del Pantalón" by Santiago as a solo artist.

Bobby Valentín
Late in 1970 Bobby Valentín, another type 1 diabetic, hired Santiago as the lead singer of his band after Frankie Hernández left his group. Valentin was one of the original members of the Fania All-Stars, an exclusive Salsa conglomerate of Fania Records musicians that showcased other performers such as Celia Cruz, Rubén Blades, Hector Lavoe, Roberto Roena and many others. Santiago would become an impromptu member of the group, and later a member in his own right.

Santiago's first recording with Valentin's group was the album "Rompecabezas", released in 1971. The songs "Amolador", "Beso Borracho", "Papel De Payaso" & "Vete Pa' llá" were big hits from that album.

Santiago's second recording with Valentin's group was the album "Soy Boricua", released in 1972. Many considered the album a classic and the title track, written by Roberto Angleró, an informal patriotic anthem for Puerto Ricans. The album's title song, and the Curet Alonso written "Pirata De La Mar", became major international hits.

Santiago was part of the band when Valentín played a concert at the Río Piedras State Penitentiary. The concert was recorded and released as two separate albums in 1975. "Préstame Tu Caballo & "Dos Soneros" were the most popular tracks performed by Santiago on the recording.

On Valentín's 1976 album, "Afuera", Santiago had a few hits. Among them "Son Son Chararí" (Written by Angleró) and "El Jíbaro Y La Naturaleza". The latter a nostalgia/protest song with environmental overtones, which featured Fania All-Stars member Barry Rogers in a trombone solo. Valentín was forced to drop Santiago off his band due to Santiago's drug addiction at the time.

Puerto Rico All Stars
Late in 1976, Santiago provided background vocals and was the lead singer for the track "Los Tambores" on Puerto Rico All Stars self-titled first album. Puerto Rico All Stars featured Puerto Rican musicians exclusively and was a rival to NY based Fania All-Stars.

Solo Artist
In 1977 Santiago recorded and released his first solo album "De Los Soneros". Tito Valentín and Wito Morales produced the album. The recording had the hits "Al Revés" & "De Los Soneros".

After that album, Santiago joined Tommy Olivencia's group for about a year and recorded tracks destined to appear on Olivencia's album "Sweat Trumpet Hot "Salsa"". During the recording sessions Olivencia found out that Santiago was still under contract with his previous label and had Simón Pérez re–record Santiago's vocals. Three tracks from those sessions with Santiago's vocals, "Que Dichoso Es", "La Pela" & "Del Montón", later appeared on Santiago's compilation "15 Éxitos De Marvin Santiago" released by TH Records in 1984.

Famous arranger and producer Jorge Millet knew Santiago well and their friendship could be traced back to the late 1960s when they met while both lived in the city of Chicago. Millet was aware of Santiago's potential and as a friend wanted to lend him a helping hand by giving him the opportunity to record as a solo artist. As producer and talent scout for TH Records, Millet was able to provide the arrangements, musicians and artwork for Santiago's debut album with the label. The album, "Fuego A La Jicotea ", was released in 1979. The album was very successful and considered a classic for many music fans. The album's title track, written by Cortijo, was a major hit in Puerto Rico and Venezuela. The song was a thinly-veiled ode to marijuana. Santiago's remake of a song from his days in Cortijo, "Vasos En Colores", was also a major hit from the album and remained in his live repertoire throughout his career. Other hits from the album were  "La Picúa", a veiled homage to the female anatomy, and "El Mangoneo" (a Mozambique very much in the style of Cortijo's "Sorongo").

Santiago's follow-up album, "Caliente Y Explosivo", released in 1980, was another success. It also had Millet as arranger, piano player and musical director. Millet also designed the cover art for this album. The album contained the hits "Al Son De La Lata Baila El Chorizo" (Originally played by Ismael Rivera when he was part of Cortijo Y Su Combo), "El Tiburón De Agua Dulce" (Written by Millet and the longest studio track Santiago ever recorded at just over seven minutes with an amazing piano solo by Millet), "La Buruquena De Doña Inés" & "Esta Noche Sale El Lobo".

Many of the songs in Santiago's solo albums were fast-paced, full of intensity and laden with humor and double entendres. Santiago was a master improviser that used "soneos" (rhyming verses common to Salsa music) with a strong sense of alliteration, consonance and rhythm that was described once by Rubén Blades this way: "(Rhythm-wise) Marvin is capable of fitting a Mack truck into a parking space where a Volkswagen Beetle won't fit." He also used strong Puerto Rican figures of speech and slang that eventually granted him the moniker of "El Sonero del Pueblo".

Drug Arrest And Sentence
In 1980, at the height of his popularity, Santiago was arrested and imprisoned for cocaine possession. He served in prison a little over five out of the ten years he was sentenced due to good behavior. Ruben Blades visited Santiago while in prison something for which Santiago was eternally grateful to Blades.

Shortly after he entered prison, Santiago became a born-again Christian and stopped using drugs. As part of his rehabilitation program, Santiago became the director of a group of prisoners that dedicated their efforts towards drug prevention awareness programs (Confinados En Acción Y Prevención). Santiago went to universities and public schools to give talks about drug prevention.

In July 1981 Millet died from a massive heart attack. Santiago was allowed a prison pass to attend the funeral home where Millet's body rested and pay respects to his friend.

In late 1981, Santiago released the album "Adentro" ("Inside"). The title of the album referred to the fact that Santiago was in prison. The album was recorded live at the Bayamón regional jail and the vocals were later overdubbed in a makeshift studio at the jail. A minor hit from the album was "Auditorio Azul" (Based on the fact that prison uniforms at that facility were blue in color).

In 1982, Santiago was invited and participated on the Third Penitentiary Theater Festival held in Venezuela.

Santiago recorded three more studio albums while serving his sentence. The albums were not received as well as previous albums due to a combination of factors. Among those factors were; arrangements that were not at the same level as the ones provided by Millet produced albums, Santiago's spiritual reawakening and the considerably cleaned up lyrics on his later work, something that his hardcore fans did not approve of, and the surge of merengue groups such as the Puerto Rico-based Conjunto Quisqueya and Freddie Kenton Orchestra, as well as new local talent such as Eddie Santiago, Gilberto Santa Rosa, and Frankie Ruiz who popularized the so-called "Romantic Salsa", which eventually displaced more urban-based subject matter in Salsa songs.

Later life
Santiago played several shows outside prison while he served his sentence. Santiago earned over $100,000 from those presentations. By the time he left prison, the bank account holding the earnings of his presentations while in prison had about $2,500 left. Shortly after Santiago found out, he divorced his wife.

Even though Santiago's fame waned a bit by the time he finished his prison sentence, he was able to keep a busy schedule by touring in Puerto Rico and other Latin American countries.

Santiago also appeared on Puerto Rican TV several times, often as a comedian in Luisito Vigoreaux's produced TV shows.

Santiago rejoined Valentín in 1991 to record new versions of old songs he did with Valentín for a CD commemorating Valentín's 25th anniversary in the music business. Santiago also participated on a concert celebrating Valentín's 25th anniversary, later released on DVD.

Santiago last studio album with Valentín, "Donde Lo Dejamos", was released in 1992. By this release it was noticeable that Santiago's voice was starting to fade and becoming hoarse and raspy due to poor vocal coaching.

In 1999, the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico had a tribute at the Capitol Building to honor Santiago's musical career.

In 2000, Santiago participated on the theater play "El Hospitalillo" at the Carmen Delia Dipiní Theater gathering critical acclaim. In August 2000, Santiago participated in Tommy Olivencia's 40th anniversary celebration as a bandleader at the Tito Puente amphitheater, in San Juan, P.R. The concert was recorded and released on CD the following year.

In July 2001, a few of his musical colleagues organized a tribute concert to Santiago. The concert was held at the Tito Puente amphitheater and some of the performers sharing the stage with Santiago were Vitín Avilés, Carlos "Cano" Estremera, Meñique, Guillo Rivera & Luigi Texidor

In 2002 Santiago joined the all-star roster of singers and musicians that took part of Bobby Valentin's 35th anniversary live concert held at the Río Piedras State Penitentiary. Among the all-star lineup were Rubén Blades, Cheo Feliciano, Pedro Guzmán, Giovanni Hidalgo, Papo Lucca, Roberto Roena & Luigi Texidor. The concert was filmed and released on DVD.

For a few years until early 2003, Santiago shared a popular radio program every Saturday night with JC "El Babalao" Cordero. The program, "Salsa Gorda", featured Salsa music from the 1970s and 1980s.

In March 2004 a tribute concert was held at the Tito Puente amphitheater, in San Juan, P.R. by several musicians to celebrate Santiago's musical career. Among the performers were Luisito Carrión, Oscar D'León, Elías Lopes, Andy Montañez, Luis "Perico" Ortíz & Domingo Quiñones. The concert was filmed and released on CD and DVD.

In May 2004 Santiago was part of the singers and musical colleagues that participated on a tribute concert dedicated to the 45th anniversary of Tommy Olivencia musical career.

Santiago, who adopted Marvin Hagler's "Marvelous" nickname (both because of their common first name and the fact that, at one time, his head was shaved bald like Hagler's), had begun conversations to join a Fania All-Stars comeback as a tribute to Celia Cruz by the summer of 2004, but then, he became severely ill.

Death
Santiago's diabetes started taking a toll on his health during the 1990s. In October 1996 Santiago had his right leg amputated after having three toes amputated in three separate occasions a few months earlier. He also started having problems with his sight. In November 2002 Santiago suffered two heart attacks followed by a major kidney failure in February 2003. After the kidney failure incident, Santiago had to undergo dialysis treatment. Santiago's name was placed on a waiting list for a kidney transplant but was not able to get a donor. Santiago lost vision from one eye and suffered severe kidney, heart and liver damage on the weeks prior to his death. On the afternoon of October 6, 2004 after many years of health issues, Santiago died at the age of 56 at the San Pablo Hospital in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. His funeral was well attended by the public and music friends, with his brother Billyván playing a Plena tribute to Marvin. He was buried at Lomas Verdes Cemetery in Bayamón, Puerto Rico.

Legacy
In the Villa Palmeras neighborhood in Santurce, there is a square named "Plaza De Los Salseros" honoring the memory of distinguished Salsa music luminaries. In December 2009, a bust (Sculpture) of Santiago and a plaque were added to honor his music legacy. His daughter, Roseann Santiago traveled from Chicago to attend the reveal of his sculpture. Other artists honored in the square are Rafael Cortijo, Héctor Lavoe, Tommy Olivencia, Tito Puente, Ismael Rivera and Pellín Rodríguez.

Santiago left a legacy of songs still heard and popular phrases still in current use in Puerto Rico. One phrase was an affirmation: "¡O-fi-cial!". Another was a stream of references to Puerto Rican towns: "¡Baya-móntate, Barran-quítate, Vega Bájate, Ad-júntate!", roughly translated to "get on, get out of the way, get down, get together!", mentioned along the names of Bayamón, Barranquitas, Vega Baja and Adjuntas. A third one was: "¡Linda Melodía!" (Beautiful Melody!), which he uttered when a musical arrangement was particularly complex or remarkable.

He also used code phrases to refer to drugs: "¡Guayacol, con uña rallá!" was his code phrase for cocaine, and "¡Acetileno!" his reference for heroin. After his religious conversion, however, Marvin affirmed that the only substance in his life from that moment on, besides the insulin he needed daily for his diabetes, was "Cristomicina", a portmanteau of the name of Christ and erythromycin.

title: Marvin Santiago


text:
Thonon-les-Bains

Thonon-les-Bains (Tonon), often simply referred to as Thonon, is a subprefecture of the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Eastern France. In 2018, the commune had a population of 35,241. Thonon-les-Bains is part of a transborder metropolitan area known as Grand Genève. It is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva (Lac Léman, or simply Le Léman).

History
Thonon-les-Bains was the historic capital of Chablais, a province of the old Duchy of Savoy. The Chablais Savoyard is the portion of Chablais in France. Chablais Valaisan and Chablais Vaudois are those portions of Chablais in the adjacent Switzerland cantons Valais and Vaud.(cite: Chablais Wikipedia) The town was the capital of the Dukedom of Chablais.

During the debates on the future of the Duchy of Savoy in 1860, the population was sensitive to the idea of a union of the northern part of the duchy with Switzerland. A petition circulated in this part of the country (Chablais, Faucigny, Northern Genevois), but it collected no more than 13,600 signatures. The duchy was reunited after a plebiscite organised on 22 and 23 April 1860 under Napoleon III, in which 99.8 percent of the Savoyards voting were reported to have answered "yes" to the question "Does Savoy want to be reunited to France?"

Transport
Thonon-les-Bains station has rail connections to Lyon, Évian-les-Bains, Annemasse and Geneva.

Local transport is assured by BUT (Bus urbains thononais). The lines are:
 * Line A: Destination Grangette / Destination Multiplex
 * Line B: Destination Z.I VONGY / Destination Place des arts
 * Line C: Destination Collège Théodore Monod / Place des arts
 * Line D: Destination Collège theodore Monod or Espace Leman / Place des arts
 * Line L: Destination Amphion Village / Place des arts
 * Line P: Destination Marin / Place des arts
 * Line M: Destination La Chavanne / Place des arts
 * Line N: Destination Parking des chateaux / Place des arts

Map of the network: http://www.leman-but.fr/ftp/FR_plan/Plan%202012%202013.pdf

Line H and J are used in Évian-Les-Bains, and not Thonon-Les-Bains.

Main sights

 * Arboretum de Ripaille
 * Château des Guillet-Monthoux
 * Château de Ripaille
 * Château de Sonnaz
 * Château de Thuyset
 * Saint-Hippolyte church (12th century), rebuilt in Savoy Baroque-style during the 17th century
 * Funiculaire de Thonon-les-Bains

Twin towns (sister cities)
Thonon-les-Bains is twinned with:
 * 🇩🇪 Eberbach, Germany
 * 🇺🇸 Mercer Island, United States
 * 🇷🇸 Čačak, Serbia

title: Thonon-les-Bains


text:
User:Dolos~enwiki

Hallo!

de:Benutzer:Dolos

title: User:Dolos~enwiki


text:
Fiel a la Vega (album)

Fiel a la Vega is the first album by the rock en español band Fiel a la Vega, released in 1996. The album is still considered one of the most influential albums in rock en español.

Track listing
All songs written by Tito Auger, except where noted.
 * 1) "Salimos de Aquí" – 6:32
 * 2) "Las Flores de Emilio" (Auger, Ricky Laureano) – 6:11
 * 3) "Mil Canciones" – 4:50
 * 4) "Nada" (Laureano) – 1:45
 * 5) "Los Superhéroes" – 6:49
 * 6) "De Pecho" – 4:00
 * 7) "Un Pueblo Durmiendo" – 6:31
 * 8) "'86" – 7:29
 * 9) "El Wanabí" – 5:08
 * 10) "De Mi Casa y Mi Viento" (Auger, Laureano) – 7:05
 * 11) "Una Plegaria Más" – 6:41

Track information

 * "El Wanabi" was written for the short film Una Noche en Hollywood (One Night in Hollywood) by Edmundo Rodríguez. It was recorded and mixed on March 9, 1996, by Candido Parilla, and mastered at Digital Recording Service. (This is written in the album's liner notes)

Certification
On April 13, 1997, the album was certified gold for selling 50,000 units.

Personnel

 * Tito Auger - lead vocals, rhythm guitar
 * Ricky Laureano - lead guitar, vocals
 * Jorge Arraiza - bass guitar
 * Pedro Arraiza - drums

Additional musicians

 * Hiram Williams - cello ("Una Plegaria Más")
 * Elliud - percussion ("Las Flores de Emilio")
 * Papo Román - percussion ("El Wanabi")

title: Fiel a la Vega (album)


text:
National Liberal Party of Cuba

The National Liberal Party of Cuba (Partido Liberal Nacional de Cuba, PLNC) was a political party of Cuba, founded in 2004 and dissolved in 2014.

History
The party was founded under the name Cuban Liberal Movement (Movimiento Liberal Cubano) in 2004. It changed its name to PLNC in 2007. Party members were often intimidated, arrested, or imprisoned by political police.

On February 20, 2014, it merged with the Democratic Solidarity Party, adopting the name Cuban Liberal Solidarity Party (Partido Solidaridad Liberal Cubano, PSLC).

Ideology
The National Liberal Party of Cuba was a party of liberal ideology, since it defended postulates like nonintervention of the state and absolute economic freedom. The PLNC struggled to end Cuba's socialist system and respect for human rights. It was open to engaging in a dialogue with all pro-democratic forces in Cuba, especially those of liberal descent.

title: National Liberal Party of Cuba


text:
Miss Hong Kong Pageant

The Miss Hong Kong Pageant, or Miss HK (港姐) for short, is an annual beauty pageant organised by local Hong Kong television station, TVB. The pageant was established in 1946, and acquired by TVB in 1973.

The current Miss Hong Kong is Hilary Chong (莊子璇) who was crowned at the 51st Miss Hong Kong 2023 Pageant on August 27 2023.

Recruitment
All participants have to have a Hong Kong ID or be born in Hong Kong (with a valid birth certificate). The age requirement is 17–27 as of 2011, though the upper age was previously up to 25. While there has been other Miss Hong Kong pageants in prior years producing notable titleholders such as Judy Dan (1952), Virginia June Lee (1954), Michelle Mok (1958), Laura da Costa (1967), Mabel Hawkett (1970) and Shirley Yu (1974, contest organized by Miss Pearl of the Orient Company and overlapping with TVB's), the current annual TVB pageant began in 1973. Apart from the top prize winner, first runner-up and second runner-up prizes, the pageant also has other consolation prizes that vary slightly from year to year. Many Miss Hong Kong contestants have gone on to have movie careers as it is quite typical for the top contestants to garner television contracts from TVB.
 * Overseas Recruitment: Applications are available in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, any TVB rental store in the US, Fairchild TV station, Ontario, Richmond, British Columbia, and any TVB rental store in Canada. Delegates have to send in their applications before the deadline. TVB, organisers of the pageant travel to cities in the US and Canada. They include: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Toronto, and Vancouver. TVB would choose a certain amount of delegates to interview and would call them to interview. Besides personal interviews, delegates have to wear swimsuits chosen by themselves and walk around in it. Delegates are chosen and return to Hong Kong in late May to compete.
 * Local Recruitment: Hong Kong. Applications are available in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, United Kingdom, and Europe. Delegates have to send in their applications before the deadline. Weeks later, primary and secondary interviews are conducted. Top interviewed finalists are chosen and they record a reality TV show (like 2006) to choose the deserving semifinalists to compete. They joined the overseas delegates to form the top event finalists.

The pageant is traditionally televised into two events, although this is not always necessarily the case in recent years. First, a preliminary event is held where 12 finalists are selected from a group of candidates, the number of which is usually around 20–25 (with 30 being the maximum). Then a final event is held, culminating in the announcement of the winner and the first and second runners-up from the 12 finalists. In some years, the field is narrowed down to a final 5, from which the runners-up and winner are chosen. Often several contestants dropped out of the pageant before the televised preliminary, thus there would be a candidate with #30 assigned to her, but only 25 or so contestants.

Overseas contestant awards list
Starting from 1991, the Miss Hong Kong pageant greets delegates from overseas. They include Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, and San Francisco. Local contestants coming from Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, London, and more enter at Hong Kong. The overseas delegates wait for the notification of their regional sponsors of TVB and if they are chosen, they fly to Hong Kong to compete. The following is a record of overseas delegates' performance at Miss Hong Kong.

Notice that Vancouver has the most Miss Hong Kong winners from the overseas. They had a record of four consecutive winners from 1997 to 2000, and three consecutive winners from 2012 to 2014. In 2012, the top 3 delegates were all from Vancouver. Even though the 2007 pageant had the top 3 all from the US and Canada but Grace Wong and Lorretta Chow travelled to Hong Kong to compete in the pageant, so they are recognised by TVB to be local delegates not overseas delegates. They did however come from the overseas.
 * 1991 – 7. Amy Kwok 郭藹明 (Los Angeles)
 * Winner
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * Miss Humorous Conversation
 * 1991 – 13. Maur Yeung 楊凱斯 (Los Angeles)
 * Miss Congeniality
 * 1992 – 8. Patsy Lau 劉殷伶 (Los Angeles)
 * 1st runner-up
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * 1992 – 14. Carol Lee 李秋林 (Los Angeles)
 * Miss Congeniality
 * 1993 – 20. Christina Lau 劉飛飛 (Los Angeles)
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * 1994 – 18. Dorothy Ng 吳素珊 (Los Angeles)
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * 1995 – 12. Winnie Young 楊婉儀 (San Francisco)
 * Winner
 * Most Standard Figure Award
 * 1997 – 2. Virginia Yung 翁嘉穗 (Vancouver)
 * Winner
 * Miss Photogenic
 * Miss Oriental Charm
 * Miss Cosmopolitan
 * 1997 – 12. Vivian Lee 李明慧 (Vancouver)
 * 1st runner-up
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * 1998 – 20. Anne Heung 向海嵐 (Vancouver)
 * Winner
 * Miss Photogenic
 * Global Beauty Award
 * Miss Hospitality
 * 1998 – 14. Josephine Yan 殷莉 (Los Angeles)
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * 1999 – 12. Sonija Kwok 郭羨妮 (Vancouver)
 * Winner
 * Miss Photogenic
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * Miss Millennium Wisdom
 * 1999 – 15. Cindy Wong 王倩 (Los Angeles)
 * Miss Beautiful Legs
 * 2000 – 11. Vivian Lau 劉慧蘊 (Vancouver)
 * Winner
 * Miss Photogenic
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * Miss Millennium Charm
 * 2000 – 17. Margaret Kan 簡佩堅 (Toronto)
 * First runner-up
 * 2000 – 5. Maree Lau 劉嘉慧 (Sydney)
 * Second runner-up
 * 2002 – 11. Tiffany Lam 林敏俐 (San Francisco)
 * Winner
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * Miss New Generational Beauty
 * 2002 – 20.Cerina Da Graça 嘉碧儀 (Phoenix)
 * Miss Photogenic
 * Breakthrough Natural Skin Award
 * Slimming Beauty Award
 * 2003 – 2. Mandy Cho 曹敏莉 (San Francisco)
 * Winner
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * Miss Swimsuit Charm
 * Diamond Skin Award
 * Perfect Group
 * 2003 – 11. Rabee'a Yeung 楊洛婷 (Vancouver)
 * 1st runner-up
 * Tourism Ambassador Award
 * 2003 – 18. Selena Li 李詩韻 (Toronto)
 * Miss Photogenic
 * Miss Talent
 * 2004 – 1. Queenie Chu 朱慧敏 (Seattle)
 * 1st runner-up
 * Tourism Ambassador Award
 * 2006 – 13. Aimee Chan 陳茵媺 (Toronto)
 * Winner
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * Audience Favourite
 * 2006 – 15. Janet Chow 周家蔚(Toronto)
 * 1st runner-up
 * Miss Photogenic
 * 2007 – 3. Kayi Cheung 張嘉兒 (Vancouver)
 * Winner
 * Miss Vitality Ambassador
 * 2007 – 9. Grace Wong 王君馨 (New York City)
 * 1st runner-up
 * Miss Photogenic
 * Miss International Goodwill.
 * 2007 – 7. Lorretta Chow 周美欣 (Vancouver)
 * 2nd runner-up
 * Most Attractive Legs Award
 * 2008 – 7. Hilda Leung 梁雅琳 (Toronto)
 * Miss Trendy Vision
 * 2009 – 10. Germaine Li 李姿敏 (New York City)
 * 1st runner-up
 * 2009 – 8. Mizuni Hung 熊穎詩 (Vancouver)
 * 2nd runner-up
 * Miss Trendy Vision
 * 2010 – 9. Crystal Li 李雪瑩 (London)
 * Miss Photogenic
 * 2011 – 14. Hymen Chu 朱希敏 (Toronto)
 * 1st runner-up
 * 2011 – 3. Whitney Hui 許亦妮 (London)
 * 2nd runner-up
 * Miss Photogenic
 * 2012 – Carat Cheung 張名雅 (Vancouver)
 * Winner
 * Aviation Ambassador
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * 2012 – Jacqueline Wong 黃心穎 (Vancouver)
 * 1st runner up
 * 2012 – Tracy Chu 朱千雪 (Vancouver)
 * 2nd runner up
 * 2013 – 17. Grace Chan 陳凱琳 (Vancouver)
 * Winner
 * Miss Photogenic
 * 2014 – 15. Veronica Shiu 邵珮詩 (Vancouver)
 * Winner
 * Miss Photogenic
 * Miss Friendship
 * 2016 – 2. Tiffany Lau 劉穎璇 (Los Angeles)
 * 1st Runner up
 * Miss Photogenic
 * 2016 – 7. Bonnie Chan 陳雅思 (Toronto)
 * 2nd Runner up
 * 2017 – 5. Juliette Louie 雷莊𠒇 (Edmonton)
 * Winner
 * Miss Photogenic
 * 2017 – 4. Emily Wong 黃瑋琦 (Miami)
 * 2nd Runner up
 * 2018 – 7. Sara Ting 丁子田 (Chicago)
 * 2nd Runner up
 * 2018 – 8. Claudia Chan 陳靜堯 (Auckland)
 * Miss Friendship
 * 2019 – 6. Blossom Chan 陳熙蕊 (Brisbane)
 * Miss Friendship
 * 2020 – 8. Lisa Tse 謝嘉怡 (Scotland)
 * Winner
 * Miss Photogenic
 * 2022 - 4. Cecca Xu 許子萱 (New York City)
 * 1st Runner Up
 * Miss International Goodwill
 * 2022 - 14.Joey Leung 梁超怡 (Los Angeles)
 * 2nd Runner Up
 * Miss Photogenic

Miss World
In 1989, TVB lost the franchise for Miss World to ATV, and held it back from 1992 to 2015.

Declared as Winner
 * Color key

Ended as runner-up

Ended as one of the finalists or semi-finalists

Miss Universe
In 2001, TVB lost the franchise for Miss Universe.

Declared as Winner
 * Color key

Ended as runner-up

Ended as one of the finalists or semi-finalists

Miss International
In 2015, TVB lost the franchise for Miss International.

Declared as Winner
 * Color key

Ended as runner-up

Ended as one of the finalists or semi-finalists

Miss Chinese International Pageant
Declared as Winner
 * Color key

Ended as runner-up

Ended as one of the finalists or semi-finalists

title: Miss Hong Kong Pageant


text: Category:Finnish writers

title: Category:Finnish writers


text:
Talk:Game On (British TV series)

History
I'm sure I read somewhere that the BBC originally decided not to air the show thinking it was embarrasing and not production quality. They only showed it much later when another show failed to be delivered on time and they were left with a gap in their schedule that Game On fitted and being in a non-peak slot they just used it to fill that hole. Think it may have been an issue TV Zone magazine but can't find anything online. DamienG 09:21, Oct 7, 2004 (UTC)

Christmas
Which one is the christmas episode?

Spurious third series episode "titles"
What actually appears on screen has primacy, and in the case of the third series that is emphatically (all lower case) "episode one," "episode two," etc. The first run Radio Times also did not list any titles, so there is certainly no reason to suspect that what may have appeared in the TV Times was anything other than description-based speculation. I am therefore amending the page accordingly. Nick Cooper (talk) 21:04, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

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Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 08:07, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

title: Talk:Game On (British TV series)


text: User talk:217.40.115.17

title: User talk:217.40.115.17


text:
Bevin

Bevin may refer to:

 * Bevin (name)

Real places

 * Bevin Court, housing project in London
 * Bevin Glacier, Antarctican glacier
 * Bevin House, Victorian mansion on Long Island
 * Mount Bevin, Antarctican mountain

Fictional places

 * Bevin, a neighbourhood of the D'ni caverns in the Myst franchise of computer games

title: Bevin


text:
Cho

Cho or CHO may refer to:

People

 * Chief Happiness Officer
 * Chief Heat Officer

Surnames

 * Cho (Korean surname), one romanization of the common Korean surname 조
 * Zhuo (卓), romanized Cho in Wade–Giles, Chinese surname
 * Cho, a Minnan romanization of the Chinese surname Cao (曹)
 * Chō, the romaji for the uncommon Japanese surname derived from the Chinese Zhang ( Kanji 張)
 * Cho U (born 1980), Taiwanese go player who romanizes his name in the Japanese fashion
 * Chō (born 1957), Japanese actor and voice actor
 * Fujio Cho (born 1937), Japanese chairman
 * Isamu Chō (1895-1945), Japanese lieutenant general

Characters

 * Cho Hakkai, the Japanese name for Zhū Bājiè or "Pigsy", a character in the 16th-century Chinese novel, Journey to the West, by Wu Cheng'en
 * Cho Hakkai (Saiyuki), the same character in the manga and anime series Saiyuki, based on the novel

Given name

 * Cho Ramaswamy (1934-2016), Indian actor and writer
 * Cho, a Burmese given name meaning "sweet" commonly used at the start of a female name and at the end for male names
 * Rich Cho (born 1965), American basketball executive
 * Ba Cho (1893–1947), Burmese newspaper publisher and politician

Characters

 * Cho Chang, a fictional character from the Harry Potter series

Nicknames and stagenames

 * Yūichi Nagashima, a Japanese voice actor who goes by the stage name Chō
 * Callum Hudson-Odoi, abbreviated to CHO, an English professional footballer

Entertainment

 * Center-hand opponent, a term used in the card game bridge: see Glossary of contract bridge terms
 * Cho (rapper) (born 1993), Dutch rapper
 * "Chō" (Shizuka Kudo song), 1996
 * Chō (Tsuki Amano song)

Science and mathematics

 * Chinese hamster ovary cell (CHO cell)
 * CHO, a mnemonic used to teach trigonometry, showing that the cosecant of an angle in a triangle is the ratio of the length of the hypotenuse over the length opposite side
 * cubohemioctahedron, in geometry, is a nonconvex uniform polyhedron
 * -CHO, the chemical symbol for an aldehyde
 * Carbohydrate, referencing the three constituent elements, carbon (C), Hydrogen (H) and Oxygen (O)

Technology

 * Chō, an ancient Japanese unit of length approximately equal to 109.1 meters or 357'11"
 * Chō, also used as a unit of area in Japan approximately 2.449 acres or 0.9917 hectares
 * Nokia's internal codename for the 6681 mobile phone

Codes

 * CHO, the IATA code for Charlottesville–Albemarle Airport in the commonwealth of Virginia, US
 * cho, the ISO 639-2 and -3 code for the Choctaw language as spoken in the US
 * CHO, the National Rail code for Cholsey railway station in the county of Oxfordshire, UK

title: Cho