Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in July 2008 through the merger of Activision, Inc. (the publicly traded parent company of Activision Publishing) and Vivendi Games. Activision Blizzard currently includes five business units: Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, King, Major League Gaming, and Activision Blizzard Studios. Microsoft acquired the company on October 13, 2023.

The company owns and operates additional subsidiary studios, as part of Activision Publishing, including Treyarch, Infinity Ward, High Moon Studios, and Toys for Bob. Among major intellectual properties produced by Activision Blizzard are Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk's, Spyro, Skylanders, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, and Candy Crush Saga. Under Blizzard Entertainment, it invested in esports initiatives around several of its games, most notably Overwatch and Call of Duty. Activision Blizzard's titles have broken a number of release records. , it was the largest game company in the Americas and Europe in terms of revenue and market capitalization.

The company has also been involved in multiple notable controversies, including allegations of infringed patents and unpaid royalties. In late July 2021, it was sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing on allegations of sexual harassment and employee discrimination. The suit triggered an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, multiple workplace walkouts, the resignation or dismissal of several employees, the loss of multiple company event sponsors, and hundreds of workplace harassment allegations.

Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion on January 18, 2022. The acquisition was completed on October 13, 2023, making the company a division of Microsoft Gaming and making Microsoft the third largest gaming company (behind Tencent and Sony).

History

Background and formation (2007–2008)
The original Activision company was founded in 1979, as a third-party developer for games on the Atari Video Computer System. In 1988 the company expanded into non-gaming software and renamed itself Mediagenic. This venture was not successful, incurring heavy losses. In 1991 a group of investors led by Bobby Kotick bought the company. Kotick instituted a large restructuring to reduce debt, including renaming the company back to Activision and moving it to Santa Monica, California. By 1997 the company was profitable again. Kotick spent the next decade expanding Activision's products through acquisitions of around 25 studios. This resulted in Activision publishing several successful series of games, including Tony Hawk's, Call of Duty, and Guitar Hero. However, by around 2006, the popularity of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games started to grow. Such games provide a constant revenue stream to their publishers, rather than only a single purchase, making them a more valuable proposition. None of Activision's subsidiaries had an MMO or the capability to make one quickly. Activision was also facing tougher competition from companies like Electronic Arts, as well as slowdowns in sales of their key game series.

Around 2006, Kotick reached out to Jean-Bernard Lévy, the CEO of the French media conglomerate Vivendi. Vivendi at that time had the games division Vivendi Games, a holding company principally for Sierra Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment. Kotick wanted to get access to Blizzard's World of Warcraft, a successful MMO, and suggested a means to acquire this to Lévy. Lévy instead offered that he would be willing to merge Vivendi Games with Activision, but only if Vivendi kept majority control of the merged company. According to those close to Kotick, Kotick was concerned about this offer as it would force him to cede control of Activision. However, after talking to Blizzard's CEO Mike Morhaime, Kotick recognized that Vivendi would be able to give them inroads into the growing video game market in China.

Kotick proposed the merger to Activision's board, which agreed to it in December 2007. The new company was to be named Activision Blizzard and would retain its central headquarters in California. Bobby Kotick of Activision was announced as the new president and CEO, while René Penisson of Vivendi was appointed chairman. The European Commission permitted the merger to take place in April 2008, approving that there weren't any EU antitrust issues in the merger deal. On July 8, 2008, Activision announced that stockholders had agreed to merge, and the deal closed the next day for an estimated transaction amount of US$18.9 billion.

Vivendi became the combined company's majority shareholder at 54% of outstanding shares, equating to 52% if shares were to be fully diluted. The rest of the shares were held by institutional and private investors, and were to be left open for trading on the NASDAQ stock market for a time under , and subsequently as  (Activision's stock ticker). At this point, Lévy replaced René Penisson as chairman of Activision Blizzard. The merger was completed on July 9. While Blizzard retained its autonomy and corporate leadership in the merger, other Vivendi Games divisions such as Sierra ceased operation. With the merger, Kotick was quoted stating if a Sierra product did not meet Activision's requirements, they "won't likely be retained." Some of these games ultimately were published by other studios, including Ghostbusters: The Video Game, Brütal Legend, The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, and 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand. However, a number of Sierra's games such as Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and Prototype were retained and are now published by Activision.

New titles and sales records (2009–2012)
In early 2010, the independent studio Bungie entered into a 10-year publishing agreement with Activision Blizzard. By the end of 2010, Activision Blizzard was the largest video games publisher in the world. The 2011 release of Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 grossed $400 million in the US and UK alone in its first 24 hours, making it the biggest entertainment launch of all time. It was also the third consecutive year the Call of Duty series broke the biggest launch record; 2010's Call of Duty: Black Ops grossed $360 million on day one; and 2009's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 brought in $310 million. Call of Duty: Black Ops III grossed $550 million in worldwide sales during its opening weekend in 2015, making it the biggest entertainment launch of the year.

In 2011, Activision Blizzard debuted its Skylanders franchise, which led to the press crediting the company with inventing and popularizing a new toys-to-life category. The first release Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure was nominated for two Toy Industry Association awards in 2011: "Game of the Year" and "Innovative Toy of the Year". Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure and its sequels were released for major consoles and PC, and many were released on mobile devices as well.

Split from Vivendi and growth (2013–2014)

On July 25, 2013, Activision Blizzard announced the purchase of 429 million shares from owner Vivendi for $5.83 billion, dropping the shareholder from a 63% stake to 11.8% by the end of the deal in September. At the conclusion of the deal, Vivendi was no longer Activision Blizzard's parent company, and Activision Blizzard became an independent company as a majority of the shares became owned by the public. Bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly retained a 24.4% stake in the company overall. In addition, Kotick remained the president and CEO, with Brian Kelly taking over as chairman. On October 12, 2013, shortly after approval from the Delaware Supreme Court, the company completed the buyback, along the lines of the original plan. Vivendi sold half its remaining stake on May 22, 2014, reducing its ownership to 5.8%. and completely exited two years later.

Activision Blizzard released a new title, Destiny, on September 9, 2014. The game made over $500 million in retail sales on the first day of release, setting a record for the biggest first day launch of a new gaming franchise. On November 5, 2013, the company released Call of Duty: Ghosts, which was written by screenwriter Stephen Gaghan.  On its first release day the game sold $1 billion into retail. In 2014, Activision Blizzard was the fifth largest gaming company by revenue worldwide, with total assets of US$14.746 billion and total equity estimated at US$7.513 billion.

S&P 500 and new divisions (2015–2021)
Activision Blizzard joined the S&P 500 stock index on August 28, 2015, becoming one of only two companies on the list related to gaming, alongside Electronic Arts. The company released the next iteration of the Skylanders franchise in September 2015, which added vehicles to the "toys to life" category. On September 15, 2015, Activision and Bungie released Destiny: The Taken King, the follow-up to the Destiny saga. Two days later, Sony announced that the game broke the record for the most downloaded day-one game in PlayStation history, in terms of both total players and peak online concurrency.

Activision Blizzard  acquired social gaming company King, creator of casual game Candy Crush Saga, for $5.9 billion in November 2015.

In November 2015, Activision Blizzard announced the formation of Activision Blizzard Studios, a film production arm that would produce films and television series based on Activision Blizzard's franchises. The outfit is co-headed by producer Stacey Sher and former The Walt Disney Company executive Nick van Dyk.

In June 2017, Activision Blizzard joined the Fortune 500 becoming the third gaming company in history to make the list after Atari and Electronic Arts.

In its 2018 fiscal year earnings call to shareholders in February 2019, Kotick stated that while the company had seen a record year in revenue, they would be laying off around 775 people or around 8% of their workforce in non-management divisions, "de-prioritizing initiatives that are not meeting expectations and reducing certain non-development and administrative-related costs across the business", according to Kotick. Kotick stated that they plan to put more resources towards their development teams and focus on esports, Battle.net services, and the publisher's core games which include Candy Crush, Call of Duty, Overwatch, Warcraft, Diablo, and Hearthstone. Prior to this, Activision Blizzard and Bungie agreed to terminate their distribution deal with Destiny 2 as it was not bringing in expected revenue for Activision, with Bungie otherwise retaining all rights to Destiny. This transaction allowed Activision Blizzard to report  as part of its 2018 fiscal year filings.

The company announced that Daniel Alegre would replace Coddy Johnson as president of Activision Blizzard effective April 7, 2020, with Johnson transitioning to special advisory role.

During the second quarter of 2020, the company's net revenues from digital channels reached $1.44bn due to the growing demand for online games driven by COVID-19 lockdowns. By January 2021, the company's net value was estimated to be  based on its stock trading price due to the ongoing demand for video games from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia acquired 14.9 million shares of Activision Blizzard, valued at , in February 2021.

In April 2021, Fernando Machado, former Brazilian executive at Burger King, joined the company as chief marketing officer (CMO). The company also announced in April 2021 that Kotick will remain CEO through April 2023, through Kotick agreed to take a 50% cut of his pay, equal to . Kotick will remain eligible to receive annual bonuses, and while he agreed to reduce his target bonus by 50% as well, he potentially can earn up to 200% of his base pay based on the company's performance.

Workplace misconduct lawsuit and acquisition by Microsoft (2021–present)

On July 20, 2021, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a suit alleging sexual harassment, employment discrimination and retaliation on the part of Activision Blizzard. A second lawsuit was filed against the company by its shareholders asserting it falsified knowledge of these problems in their financial statements, though this suit was dismissed due to failure to meet thresholds for claims, The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had also filed suit against Activision-Blizzard from their own investigation of the workplace conditions but the company had settled the same day it was filed, which included setting aside an  relief fund for affected employees.

On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced that it would be acquiring Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in an all-cash deal, or approximately $95 per share. Activision Blizzard's stock price jumped nearly 40% that day in pre-market trading. The deal would make Microsoft the third-largest gaming company in the world and the largest headquartered in the Americas, behind Chinese company Tencent and the Japanese conglomerate Sony. Activision Blizzard's shareholders approved of the acquisition near-unanimously in April 2022. While the deal has been approved by several countries ahead of the planned October 18, 2023, deal closure, including the European Union and China, both the United States' Federal Trade Commission and the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority have challenged the merger as anticompetitive and have initiated legal procedures in their respective countries. To resolve these issues, Microsoft agreed to give rights to cloud gaming of Activision Blizzard's games to Ubisoft, which was cleared by regulators. The acquisition was completed on October 13, 2023. As part of the acquisition deal, Kotick announced his resignation as CEO the same day, along with other high level executives, though Kotick will remain onboard through the end of 2023 to help with the transition.

Corporate structure
Activision Blizzard is divided into three key business segments:
 Activision Publishing, which handles the development, production, and distribution of video games from its subsidiary studios. It also houses the Call of Duty League.
 Blizzard Entertainment, which handles the development, production, and distribution of Blizzard's games. It also maintains Battle.net, organizes BlizzCon, and houses the company's esports activities including MLG and the Overwatch League.
 King, which handles the development and distribution of its mobile games.

There are also two non-reporting segments within Activision Blizzard. Activision Blizzard Studios oversees the production of film and television entertainment based on the company's properties. Activision Blizzard Distribution provides logistical support for Activision Blizzard's distribution within Europe.

Esports initiatives
Activision Blizzard owns the Call of Duty and StarCraft franchises, both of which have been popular as esports. On October 21, 2015, Activision Blizzard announced the upcoming establishment of a new e-sports division. Named Activision Blizzard Media Networks, the division is led by sports executive Steve Bornstein and Major League Gaming (MLG) co-founder Mike Sepso, with assets from the acquisition of the now defunct IGN Pro League. Bornstein was appointed the new division's chairman. On December 31, 2015, it was reported that "substantially all" of Major League Gaming's assets would be acquired by Activision Blizzard. The New York Times reported that the acquisition was intended to bolster Activision Blizzard's push into e-sports, as well as its plan to develop an e-sports cable channel. Reports indicated that MLG would be shuttered and that the majority of the purchase price would go towards paying off the company's debt. Activision Blizzard acquired MLG on January 4, 2016 for $46 million.

In November 2016, Blizzard Entertainment, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, announced the launch of Overwatch League,  a professional video gaming league. The league's first season began during the second half of 2017 with 12 teams. The league's structure is based on traditional sports structures, including recruiting traditional sports executives as team owners, such as Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, and Jeff Wilpon, COO of the New York Mets.

The inaugural Overwatch Grand Finals was played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in July 2018 and attracted 10.8 million viewers worldwide. The league hopes to have 18 teams competing during the second season in 2019, with the ultimate goal of 28 teams across the world.

In 2018, Activision Blizzard signed a multi-year deal with The Walt Disney Company to stream Overwatch League games on both ESPN and Disney XD cable channels. The company also secured an exclusive multi-year deal with Google to stream all subsequent Activision Blizzard esports events, including Call of Duty and Overwatch events, through YouTube, and to use Google's cloud services for its game hosting infrastructure; this came after a prior two-year deal with Twitch for the Overwatch League had concluded. The deal with YouTube was estimated to be valued at , double what it had with Twitch.

Call of Duty Endowment

Since 2009, when Kotick launched Call of Duty Endowment (CODE), over 50,000 veterans have been placed in high-quality jobs. In 2013 CODE started the "Seal of Distinction" program, which recognizes non-profit organizations that are successful in placing veterans in good jobs. Winners receive a $30,000 grant to use in their veteran job placement activities. The goal of CODE is to help 100,000 US and UK veterans find high-quality jobs by 2024. The endowment helps soldiers transition to civilian careers after their military service by funding nonprofit organizations and raising awareness of the value veterans bring to the workplace.

Products
 List of Activision video games
 List of Blizzard Entertainment games

Other legal disputes

Worlds, Inc.
Worlds, Inc. was issued several United States patents around 2009 related to "System and method for enabling users to interact in a virtual space", which generally described a method of server/client communications for multiplayer video games, where players would communicate through avatars. In early 2009, Worlds, Inc. stated its intent to challenge publishers and developers of MMOs, naming Activision as one of its intended targets. Worlds, Inc. had already challenged NCSoft for its MMOs in 2008. The companies ultimately settled out of court by 2010.

Worlds, Inc. launched its formal lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, including both Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Publishing, in March 2012, stating that Call of Duty and World of Warcraft infringed on their patents. Activision Publishing filed a separate patent infringement lawsuit in October 2013, asserting that Worlds, Inc. was using two Activision-owned patents in its Worlds Player software, but this suit was dismissed with prejudice by June 2014.

In Worlds, Inc. case against Activision, the judge issued a summary judgement in Activision's favor, as they had demonstrated that Worlds, Inc. had demonstrated the technologies of their patents in their client programs AlphaWorld and World Chat, released before the 1995 priority date, though this was related to filing irregularities that were subsequently corrected by the Patent Office. Activision did not challenge the updated patents through an inter partes review (IPR), and subsequently after a statutory one-year waiting period, Worlds, Inc. filed a subsequently lawsuit against Activision, asserting Call of Duty: Ghosts violated their resolved patents. Later, Worlds, Inc. stated the intent to add Bungie to the lawsuit contending that Destiny also fell afoul of their patents. Bungie subsequently filed three IPRs with the Patent Office for each of the three Worlds, Inc. patents at the core of the lawsuit.  While Bungie initially won its IPR ruling at the USPTO, on appeal in September 2018,  Worlds, Inc. won a ruling questioning whether Bungie had legal standing to file its IPRs.

The new Worlds, Inc. case against Activision Blizzard was heard on October 3, 2014. With Bungie's IPRs pending at the Patent Office, the judge put the trial on hold pending the outcome of the IPRs. Worlds, Inc. challenged the IPRs at the Patent Office, as they did not include Activision as an interested party, a requirement that would have been necessary given the publisher/developer relationship between Activision and Bungie. The Patent Office did not accept this argument, and subsequently agreed with the Bungie IPRs that portions of Worlds, Inc. patents were invalid. Worlds, Inc. appealed to the Federal Circuit Appeals Court, challenging the validity of the IPRs due to the lack of Activision's involvement. The Federal Circuit court ruled in favor of Worlds, Inc. in September 2018, invalidating the Patent Office's decision. Worlds, Inc.'s case presently remains at the Patent Office stage, which is re-reviewing the IPRs in consideration of the Federal Circuit's ruling.  The lawsuit was dismissed in 2021, when a US district court ruled that "Worlds' patents were abstract ideas that were not sufficiently transformative to be legally patentable."

Infinity Ward
In early 2010, Activision fired Vince Zampella and Jason West, two of the founders of its studio Infinity Ward, on the basis of "breaches of contract and insubordination"; the move caused several other Infinity Ward staff to resign. Zampella and West created a new studio, Respawn Entertainment, with help from Electronic Arts' partner program, hiring the majority of those that departed Infinity Ward in their wake.

Zampella and West filed a lawsuit in April 2010 against Activision, claiming unpaid royalties on the studio's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Activision filed a countersuit against the two, accusing the pair of being "self-serving schemers". Activision later sought to add Electronic Arts to their suit, discovering that Zampella and West had been in discussions with them while still working for Activision, and further added claims against Zampella and West that the two had not returned all material related to Call of Duty while they were working at Respawn. A separate lawsuit was filed against Activision in April 2010 by several current and former members of Infinity Ward on the same basis of lack of unpaid royalties.

All parties came to an undisclosed settlement to end all suits by May 2012. Electronic Arts and Activision had settled separately on Activision's charges of poaching employees, while the suits between Activision, Zampella, West, and the Infinity Ward employee group were settled by the end of May 2012. All settlements were made for undisclosed amounts.

See also
 Lists of video game companies
 List of video game publishers

Notes

References

External links

2008 establishments in California
American companies established in 2008
Companies based in Santa Monica, California
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
Former Vivendi subsidiaries
Holding companies established in 2008
Holding companies of the United States
Video game companies established in 2008
Video game companies of the United States
Video game development companies
Video game publishers
2023 mergers and acquisitions
Microsoft acquisitions
Microsoft subsidiaries

Activision Blizzard


is a Japanese lighting designer. From 1965 to 1967 she worked at lighting-design offices in Finland and Germany. Returning to Japan in 1968, she established the Ishii Motoko Design Office.

One of her major projects was the design for the lighting at Expo '75 in Okinawa. However, the rise in energy costs due to the energy crisis proved to be a problem.

Beginning in the 1980s, she produced the designs for a number of major projects. Three big events for which she was responsible for the lighting were Expo '85 in Tsukuba, the light-up festival of Yokohama, and Japan Flora 2000. She designed lighting for the cities of Osaka, Hakodate, Himeji and Kurashiki, and for the gasshō-zukuri village at Shirakawa.

Her 1989 redesign of the lighting for Tokyo Tower brought international attention. She won the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America Prize for the Light Fantasy Electricity Pavilion at the International Garden and Greenery Exposition (Osaka, 1990) and again for the Rainbow Bridge (1994).

Other major projects include Osaka and Himeji Castles; the Akashi Straits and the Yokohama Bay Bridges; the Heisei Building at the Tokyo National Museum; the Gifu World Fresh Water Aquarium; the station building of Tokyo Station; Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, and Ebisu Garden Place.

In 2009, she designed the lighting of Elisabeth Bridge in Budapest, Hungary. The project was financed half by the Budapest City Council and half by Japanese individuals and companies as a gift in memoriam the 140th anniversary of establishing diplomatic links between the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy and Japan, and the 50th anniversary of re-establishing diplomatic links between Japan and Hungary .

Trivia
Motoko's father Teizo Takeuchi was a member of the Japan national team for the 1936 Summer Olympics football competition in Berlin.

References

Sources
This article incorporates material from 石井幹子 (Ishii Motoko) in the Japanese Wikipedia, retrieved December 30, 2007.

External links
Motoko Ishii Lighting Design
東京タワー : 企画・連載 : 東京23区 : 地域 : YOMIURI ONLINE(読売新聞) (Tokyo Tower in Yomiuri Online) Retrieved April 18, 2008

1938 births
Living people
Japanese designers
Lighting engineers
Persons of Cultural Merit

Motoko Ishii


"Summertown" is the collaborative studio album by Australian singer songwriter Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier. It was released in August 2004 via Another Intercrops Production. It is Conway's sixth studio album.

A music video for "Something's Right" was released in 2004 to promote the album.

Background and release
Upon release, Conway and Zygier said; "We started talking about songs we liked from a pre-electronic era; artists like Simon & Garfunkel, The Mammas and the Pappas, Jimmy Webb, James Taylor & Carole King all came up in our conversations along with many others. We didn't want to recreate them but we wanted to evoke that spirit, that approach to song-craft; beautifully realised verses, choruses and bridges that seem to have always belonged together even before they came into being. Also a certain gentleness and warmth that we hadn't explored seemed like the path that was beckoning. We've been angst, brittle, pissed off and depressed, let's give peace a chance." adding "We expressly wanted to make an acoustic record and upright bass was the obvious route to take."

Critical reception
Kathy Macabe from Daily Telegraph said; "Blessed with an angelic voice, deft at lyrical wordplay and armed with a seemingly inexhaustive melody well, Conway – and partner Zygier – create songs which become best friends for life. You can hear the influence of her Patsy Cline tribute shows lingering in "One Chance", while "Accidents Happen In The Home" recalls Martha Davis. Beautifully played, you can hear every single note and the care taken to let the songs breathe."
Annette Basile from Rolling Stone Australia said; "There are two potentially scary aspects about Summertown. Firstly, Deb Conway wants to be "mature"; and secondly, it's incredibly ambitious to aim to write songs as perfect as those of Carole King, James Taylor et al. But these fears are unfounded. Apart from the odd uneasy moment, Summertown is magical." adding "Conway and Zygier create upbeat gems, dramatic ballad, lullabies and pop with country music being an almost unconscious influence."
Barry Divola from Who Magazine said; "Conway's storytelling ability has developed to a point where she's not afraid to tackle the big old genres" adding " I've ploughed through many, many albums by female singer-songwriters of late that are either overly flowery or cloyingly self-obsessed, so it's pleasant to hear Conway tiptoeing a fairly steady line between heartbreak and infatuation with barely a hiccup."

Track listing
 "Stay On Track"
 "Accidents Happen In The Home"
 "Any Fool"
 "Try To Save Your Song"
 "Something's Right"
 "Sunday Morning" (featuring Toni Collette)
 "One Chance"
 "Sleepwalker"
 "I Love You But"
 "It Doesn't Work That Way" (with Paul Kelly)
 "Heartache"
 "Here And Now"

 all tracks written by Conway and Zygier.

Credits
 Backing Vocals – Kim Wheeler
 Musicians -  Deborah Conway, Willy Zygier, Gerry Hale, James Black, Shannon Birchall
 Additional musicians: Dave Williams, Toni Collette, Paul Kelly, Kim Wheeler, Michael Barker

References

2004 albums
Deborah Conway albums

Summertown (album)


Erwin Julius Busta (April 12, 1905 – December 27, 1982) was an Austrian SS-Hauptscharführer and concentration camp functionary. During World War II Busta was also closely associated with the German V-weapons program; serving on the SS staff at the Peenemünde Army Research Center and the V-2 rocket production facility at Mittelwerk. He was convicted of war crimes by a West German court in 1970.

Early life and Nazi involvement
Erwin Busta was born in the city of Leoben, Austria (then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire) on April 12, 1905, and originally worked as a mason and carpenter. He joined both the Austrian Nazi Party and the Sturmabteilung (SA) in 1928 and became a member of the Schutzstaffel (SS)  in 1930. In July, 1933 the Nazi Party was officially banned in Austria by the government of Engelbert Dollfuss. Busta moved to Augsburg, Germany shortly afterward where he became a member of the Austrian Legion, a paramilitary group composed of pro-Nazi Austrian expatriates. He underwent military and  police-training and, in 1934, was recruited into the newly established SS-Totenkopfverbände.

Busta initially served as a guard at the Esterwegen concentration camp and would later go on to work in various capacities at Dachau and Sachsenhausen. In the summer of 1943 Busta was transferred to the Peenemünde Army Research Center, the main research and testing site for Germany's V-weapons program. This location was also home to a small concentration camp whose inmates (mostly Soviet and Polish POWs) were employed as slave-laborers. During his time at Peenemünde, Busta worked as a Lagerführer (camp leader) of the camp's central warehouse; supervising the prisoner-laborers as they performed various tasks ranging from construction work to the actual production of V-2 ballistic missiles.

Mittelbau-Dora
Following the bombing of Peenemünde by the RAF in August, 1943 the entire V-weapons program was relocated by the German government to the Nordhausen-area of central Germany. This transition included much of the former staff of Peenemünde, Busta among them. Production of the V-2's was reestablished at Mittelwerk, a massive armaments facility housed in an elaborate tunnel system in the Kohnstein. Here again, slave-labor was utilized to assemble the rockets. The tunnels at Mittelwerk were staffed by thousands of prisoner-laborers drawn from the inmate population of the nearby Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. Their work was overseen by both German civilian contractors and the SS.

Beginning in the autumn of 1943 Busta was employed in both areas of the camp; working as a Blockführer (block leader) in Dora while also serving as the chief SS warden at Mittelwerk. Busta was a much-feared figure among the prisoner-laborers in the tunnels and developed a reputation for harshness and brutality. Busta was known to have inmates suspected of sabotage shot or hanged by the SS on a regular basis. In March, 1945 Busta oversaw the mass-hanging of several dozen Russian prisoners who had attempted to escape. When Dora and Mittelwerk were evacuated in April, 1945 Busta commanded a transport of hundreds of prisoners to the Ebensee concentration camp in his native Austria.

Post-war
After the end of World War II in May, 1945 Busta lived under an alias and moved regularly between Germany and Austria. He was thus able to avoid appearing as a defendant at the 1947 Dora war crimes trial. He settled permanently in West Germany in 1952 and resumed using his real name. In November 1967, he was one of three former SS staff members of Mittelbau-Dora indicted for war crimes by the district court of Essen. Busta entered a plea of not guilty to the charges that he had mistreated and murdered prisoners during his time at Mittelwerk. Busta was found guilty and sentenced to 8 years and a half years in prison on May 8, 1970. However, he never served his sentence owing to reasons of ill-health. Busta died in Munich on 27. December 1982.

References

1905 births
1982 deaths
SS non-commissioned officers
Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp personnel
Dachau concentration camp personnel
Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel
Austrian Nazis convicted of war crimes
Austrian expatriates in Germany
People from Leoben
People from the Duchy of Styria
Sturmabteilung personnel
V-weapons people

Erwin Busta


The Humu (Coalsack) is the name of a dark patch in the milkyway, close the constellation of Crux (southern cross). It is so named, because it has the shape of a triggerfish, humu.

In the myth of the both Maʻafu, humu was a fresh water fish, caught by the two boys, and later together with a toloa and the twin themselves placed into the sky.

Even when not in the sky Humu and Toloa are still good friends as in the following trite:
 Humu and Toloa
 plant their plantain
 plant plant then overgrown with bush.
 A Fiji dog runs along
 being welcomed with a shot
 missed in the leg
 but hit in the liver
 It then let out
 its loud cry.

Humu (langi)/en


Panmure is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate in the southern suburbs of the city of Auckland, from 1984 to 1996. In the four parliamentary terms of its existence, it was first represented by Bob Tizard of the Labour Party, and then by his daughter Judith Tizard.

Population centres
The 1981 census had shown that the North Island had experienced further population growth, and three additional general seats were created through the 1983 electoral redistribution, bringing the total number of electorates to 95. The South Island had, for the first time, experienced a population loss, but its number of general electorates was fixed at 25 since the 1967 electoral redistribution. More of the South Island population was moving to Christchurch, and two electorates were abolished, while two electorates were recreated. In the North Island, six electorates were newly created (including Panmure), three electorates were recreated, and six electorates were abolished. These changes came into effect with the .

History
Panmure was a safe electorate for the Labour Party. It was first held by Bob Tizard, who had first been elected in  in  and who had since  represented the  electorate. Bob Tizard retired at the  and was succeeded by his daughter, Judith Tizard. At the , she had stood in the  electorate, where she got close to unseating National's Doug Graham.

When the Panmure electorate was abolished in 1996, Judith Tizard stood instead in .

Members of Parliament
Key

Election results

1993 election

1990 election

1987 election

1984 election

Notes

References

Historical electorates of New Zealand
Politics of the Auckland Region
1984 establishments in New Zealand
1996 disestablishments in New Zealand

Panmure (New Zealand electorate)


Stepan Maximovich Petrichenko (; 1892 – June 2, 1947) was a Russian revolutionary, an anarcho-syndicalist politician, the head of the self-styled "Soviet Republic of Soldiers and Fortress-Builders of Nargen" and in 1921, de facto leader of the Kronstadt Commune, and the leader of the revolutionary committee which led the Kronstadt rebellion of 1921.

Life

Early years

Stepan Maximovich Petrichenko was born in 1892 in the village of Nikitenka in the Zhizdrinsky Uyezd of Kaluga Governorate to a family of peasants. Two years after his birth, his family moved to Alexandrovsk (Yekaterinoslav Governorate), where Stepan graduated from city school and joined the local ironworks as a metalworker.
In 1913 Petrichenko was called up for military service with the Russian navy, where he was assigned to the Russian battleship Petropavlovsk, part of the Baltic Fleet.

Soviet republic of sailors and builders

During the 1917 February Revolution in Russia, Petrichenko had been based with a unit of Russian fleet at the small Estonian island of Naissaar (Nargen) in the Tallinn Bay. In December 1917, Petrichenko and 81 Russian sailors proclaimed the "Soviet Republic of Soldiers and Fortress-Builders of Nargen" on the island. They organized a local military mini-government which, without much resistance from the island's two hundred indigenous civilian residents, ruled over the island for about two months, until the capture of the nearby Estonian capital city Tallinn (Reval) by the forces of the German Empire on February 26, 1918. The red and black flag of the anarcho-communists was lowered, and its "government" retreated onto the ships of the Soviet Baltic Fleet, heading for Helsinki (Helsingfors), and from there to Kronstadt. Three years later,  Petrichenko led the Kronstadt uprising against the new Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia.

Kronstadt rebellion

After the rebellion was exterminated by Trotsky, he fled over the ice to Finland, where he continued his agitation against the Bolsheviks.

Emigrant

Petrichenko remained in exile in Finland for almost 25 years, where his regard from fellow rebels remained high.

He blocked further emigration to Helsinki, instead sending Kronstadt "volunteers" to Soviet Karelia to organize an uprising. He called on Kronstadters to not obey the order of General Wrangel, and refuse inclusion in the White Army. When an amnesty was declared for the ordinary participants in the uprising, by the decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Petrichenko did not put obstacles in the way of those who wanted to return to their homeland and decided to ask for permission to return himself. Soon, the police chief of Vyborg received a denunciation of the "vile plot" of Petrichenko, as a result of which, on May 21, 1922, he was arrested and spent several months in prison.

Agent
In 1922, Petrichenko went to Riga and visited the embassy of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. There he was recruited by the State Political Directorate and became an agent of the Red Army Intelligence Agency in Finland. In August 1927, Petrichenko again arrived in Riga and at the Soviet embassy filed an application addressed to Mikhail Kalinin with a request to return to Soviet citizenship. In 1927, Petrichenko traveled through Latvia to the USSR. Returning to Finland, he got a job at a pulp mill in Kemi, where he worked until 1931. He was eventually fired from the factory and moved to live in Helsinki. In 1937, he announced his refusal to cooperate with Soviet intelligence, but then again agreed to continue working with them. He stayed in Finland for years, until he came into conflict with the Finnish government over his support of Soviet groups during the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1940. In 1941, Petrichenko was arrested by the Finnish authorities.

Arrest and death
On September 25, 1944, on the basis of an armistice agreement between the USSR, Great Britain and Finland, Petrichenko was released, and on April 21, 1945, he was again arrested and sent to the USSR, as part of a group of persons known as the "", a list of political enemies and alleged military collaborators compiled by Soviet members of Allied Commission. The investigation into Petrichenko was transferred from the police to the NKVD where it was examined without the presence of the prosecution or the defense. The verdict passed on November 17, 1945, read:

Stepan Petrichenko died on June 2, 1947, during his transfer from the Solikamsk labor camp to the Vladimir Central Prison.

Work
  () (bibrec); English: The truth about the Kronstadt events

References

External links
 The Truth about Kronstadt
 Kronstadt 1921
 "Den russiske revolution i farver" – En kritisk anmeldelse
 Kronstadt: Mentiras anarquistas
 Kronstadt rebellion
 Kronstadt Uprising
 Trotskyist account

Bibliography

1892 births
1947 deaths
People from Zhizdrinsky Uyezd
Russian anarchists
Anarcho-syndicalists
Soviet dissidents
Russian emigrants to Finland
People extradited to the Soviet Union
Soviet anarchists
Russian revolutionaries
People of the Russian Revolution
Soviet people who died in prison custody
Prisoners who died in Soviet detention
People extradited from Finland

Stepan Petrichenko


Damages is an American legal thriller television series created by writing and production trio Daniel Zelman, Glenn Kessler, and Todd A. Kessler. It premiered on July 24, 2007, on FX and aired for three seasons before moving to the DirecTV channel Audience Network in 2010, airing for two further seasons, and concluding in 2012.

The plot revolves around the brilliant, ruthless lawyer Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and her newest protégée, recent law school graduate Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne). Each season features a major case that Hewes and her firm take on, while also examining a chapter of the complex relationship between Ellen and Patty. The first two seasons center on the law firm Hewes & Associates in New York City, while later seasons focus more on Patty and Ellen's relationship and Ellen's attempts to distance herself from Hewes & Associates, both personally and professionally.

The series is known for its depiction of season-long cases, from the point of view of both the law firm and an opponent. It is also noted for the technical merit of its writing, including its effective use of plot twists and non-linear narrative. It has received critical acclaim and various award nominations, with Close and Željko Ivanek winning Primetime Emmy Awards for their performances. Other established actors in the cast include Ted Danson, Tate Donovan, William Hurt, Marcia Gay Harden, Timothy Olyphant, Martin Short, Lily Tomlin, John Goodman, Ryan Phillippe, Dylan Baker, Janet McTeer, and John Hannah.

Plot

Series overview

Season one

The regular cast consists of Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, Ted Danson, Tate Donovan, Željko Ivanek and Noah Bean.

A young woman, Ellen Parsons, is found running through the streets half-naked and covered in blood. During the ensuing police investigation, her fiancé, David, is found in the couple's apartment, bludgeoned to death, and Ellen is arrested.

Six months earlier, Ellen, a newly minted lawyer, is being courted for prestigious jobs. She turns down an offer to work with the defense attorney Hollis Nye (Philip Bosco). Ultimately, she chooses a job at Hewes & Associates, headed by notorious lawyer Patty Hewes. When Nye finds out about this, he warns Ellen of the dangers of working for Patty and asks her to sign his business card. Ellen later notices he wrote, "I was warned," above her signature.

Ellen becomes engrossed in a major case that Hewes & Associates is pursuing. Patty has been retained in a class action lawsuit by the former employees of billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). In a case reminiscent of the Enron scandal, Frobisher is accused of insider trading and lying to his employees about his company's health, even as he unloaded hundreds of millions of his own stock, depriving his employees of their retirement funds and benefits. Early in the season, Patty shows she is willing to go to extreme, unethical, and illegal lengths to win her case. As the season progresses, Ellen becomes increasingly involved in the case and in Patty's tradecraft.

Ellen deduces that one reason she was hired was her personal connection to the case; her fiancé's sister turns out to be an important witness.  Throughout much of the season, Ellen skirts the edges of unethical behavior, and she eventually crosses that line. As Ellen becomes increasingly devoted to the case, her relationship with her fiancé, David, becomes strained. The situation worsens when Patty betrays his sister. Eventually, Ellen and David tire of Patty, and Ellen publicly leaves Hewes & Associates. Nevertheless, she maintains an interest in the case and soon becomes personally and professionally embroiled in it again.

Throughout the first season, the series plays with time. Instead of unfolding in the present and showing flashbacks of the past, the main narrative unfolds several months in the past and is interspersed with flashes of events that are taking place in the present. These flashes gradually reveal that Ellen's fiancé, David, has been murdered and that Ellen, while staying at Patty's apartment, appears to have been attacked.

By the finale of the first season, the past-tense main narrative of the show has caught up with the flashes of the present, and most of the questions raised by those flashes have been resolved. The murder charges against Ellen are dropped. The identities of David's murderer and Ellen's attacker are revealed to the audience, and the Frobisher case is resolved.  As a result, Frobisher gives two billion dollars of his personal fortune to the employees, in exchange for a guarantee that no criminal charges will be filed against him. He is later shot and left for dead by a former employee, whom he had double-crossed earlier by manipulating him for information.

Season two

Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, and Tate Donovan return as regulars in the second season of the series.  Season one recurring star Anastasia Griffith became a regular, while season one regular Ted Danson returned for five episodes. William Hurt, Timothy Olyphant and Marcia Gay Harden also joined the regular cast, while John Doman guest starred.

Once naive young attorney Ellen Parsons talks to an unknown person off-screen. Suddenly, she pulls out a gun before pulling the trigger twice.

Six months earlier, an old acquaintance of Patty's, scientist Daniel Purcell (William Hurt), convinces Patty to take a case involving a conspiracy between Purcell's scientific firm and a huge energy corporation, Ultima National Resources (UNR). Patty's initial refusal to assist Purcell is understood better when it is revealed that Purcell is the father of Patty's son, Michael, a relationship she abused to win a case during Michael's childhood. Currently, Purcell is having an affair with Patty's opponent in the courtroom, Claire Maddox (Marcia Gay Harden), the attorney of UNR's CEO. On a similar note, a partner in UNR, Dave Pell (Clarke Peters), conspires against her with Patty's husband, Phil, while Phil is also having an extramarital affair. When Phil's affair is anonymously leaked to the press (found to be by Patty), Patty kicks him out of their apartment. Ellen, still believing Patty had tried to have her killed, deals with her past by attending group grief counseling sessions and working with the FBI to bring Patty down. Patty's partner Tom Shayes, whose wife is pregnant with a son, continues to be in the dark on certain issues regarding cases. Eventually, Ellen uses Tom to further the FBI investigation, causing him to get fired in the process.

Similar to the first season, the majority of the narrative is past tense, with glimpses of the present. This season gradually reveals it is Patty that Ellen held at gunpoint, attempting to force the truth out of her. Several minutes after Ellen fires the gun, Patty is found bleeding in the elevator.

In the season finale, Ellen convinces Patty to bribe the judge to accept evidence that would otherwise be inadmissible, in a setup to incriminate Patty. At the same time, Patty makes a deal with Pell to call off the FBI and hand over the data proving UNR is using toxic chemicals. In return, Patty will drop the energy trading angle of the case. She also sets up Ellen to take the fall for bribing the judge. Ellen, meanwhile, procures a handgun. After destroying the FBI cameras in the room by shooting them, Ellen confronts Patty about her actions from season one, leaving to bribe the judge after Patty confesses that she was responsible for the attempted murder of Ellen. Soon thereafter, Patty is found bleeding in the elevator.  Here, it is revealed that before her confrontation with Ellen, Patty was stabbed by Fin Garrity.  When Ellen bribes the judge, her FBI handler arrests both her and the judge. As they leave, Federal Marshals arrest the corrupt agent Ellen was assisting, freeing Ellen.

One month later, Patty is recovering at home, Tom is returning to Patty's firm, and Ellen has a new job offer. Patty says Ellen will return.

Season three

Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, and Tate Donovan returned as regulars for the third season. Season 1 regular Ted Danson returned for five episodes. Martin Short and Campbell Scott joined the cast. Lily Tomlin and Keith Carradine special guest starred.

Patty is the victim of a car crash. The other car belongs to Tom Shayes, who is found dead in a dumpster. Ellen is implicated in Tom's murder because her blood-stained purse is found in the hands of a homeless man near the dumpster. When a detective questions Ellen, they discuss what the homeless man said, and the detective asks whether Ellen and Tom were romantically involved. Ellen replies, "We were starting a law firm together".

Six months earlier, Patty Hewes is tackling a new case. Appointed a trustee by the US government, she is tasked to recover billions of dollars lost to the largest investment fraud in Wall Street history: a fraudulent Ponzi scheme run by Louis Tobin (Len Cariou), a Bernie Madoff-type. Patty believes Tobin has hidden the money and that members of his family, specifically his loyal son Joe (Campbell Scott) and daughter Carol, secretive wife Marilyn (Lily Tomlin), and trusted attorney and family friend Leonard Winstone (Martin Short) know much more than they claim. Tom has a personal involvement because he invested in the Tobin fund and lost his savings and those of his parents and in-laws, which makes his work on the case a conflict of interest. Ellen, meanwhile, has stayed true to her promise not to return to Patty's firm and has avoided contact for the past year that she has been working at the District Attorney's office. Ellen runs into Tom, and she mentions she is having trouble cracking a drug case. Soon afterward, Ellen's case is suddenly resolved under suspicious circumstances, and she receives a package from Hewes & Associates containing an expensive Chanel bag from Patty (the same bloodstained bag that ends up in the hands of the homeless man). Believing Hewes & Associates is more capable than the D.A. to bring about restitution for the victims, Ellen begins to secretly cooperate with Patty and Tom, and they all get drawn into the Tobin family's world of deceit.

Patty and Ellen's bond resurfaces as they work on the case together. Throughout the third season, Ellen tries to prove that she can get to and manipulate Patty, which Patty figures out through Ellen's manipulation of her replacement at Hewes & Associates: a young, ambitious lawyer named Alex.

Ellen and Patty each deal with family crises. Patty learns her son, Michael, and his girlfriend Jill, who is at least 15 years his senior, are expecting a baby. At the end of the season, Jill finds herself in custody for having sex with a minor and about to lose her freedom and custody of the baby. Toward the end of the season, it is revealed that the car that hit Patty was driven by Michael, who was enraged by Patty's having Jill arrested. Meanwhile, Ellen's sister is arrested on a drug charge. Also revealed is an old and painful secret Patty has been keeping for years, about her daughter, Julia. Through memories and dreams Patty repeatedly sees herself, highly pregnant, walking up to a ranch with horses and a man she briefly talks to. He asks what she's doing so far away from her home in her condition, and Patty replies her doctor said she'd be okay. However, the doctor actually told Patty she must stay in bed and avoid any physical activity, or else the baby will die. Following Tom's funeral, Patty indirectly admits to Ellen that she brought on a miscarriage so she could go to New York and accept an important job offer, thus beginning her climb to the top of the legal profession. Ellen then asks, "Is it worth it?" Patty does not reply, and Ellen leaves.

Season four

Glenn Close and Rose Byrne returned as regulars for the fourth season. John Goodman and Dylan Baker joined the cast. Chris Messina guest starred.

The fourth season opens to reveal Ellen's new job at another law firm (the same firm she was offered a position at in season one). Ending Ellen's search for a career-defining case, she begins researching and gathering witnesses for a wrongful-death suit against private military contractor Howard T. Erickson (John Goodman), who heads the "HighStar" security company. Erickson made his fortune supplying the U.S. government with security forces in Afghanistan and is protected by his connections within the highest echelons of power in Washington, D.C. During a high school reunion, Ellen enlists her old friend Chris Sánchez (Chris Messina), a HighStar employee, as her key witness. Unfortunately, the law firm Ellen works for, fearful of repercussions, rejects the case, forcing Ellen to seek resources for the case elsewhere. After Patty sees Ellen harassed by a supporter of HighStar while she and Ellen have lunch together, she offers Ellen everything necessary to file the case. As the case unfolds, Jerry Boorman (Dylan Baker), an opportunist deeply tied to Erickson and the CIA, works all angles to prevent the case from progressing, fearful that his true involvement in the wrongful-deaths will be discovered.

Once the case is clearly resolved, Ellen and Patty meet in Manhattan in a spot overlooked by the Statue of Liberty. Ellen is angry because Patty put Chris in danger by continuing the case despite her protest. In response, Patty offers Ellen her hand claiming that they "can do great things together". Ellen refuses and says goodbye.

Season five

Glenn Close and Rose Byrne returned as regulars for the fifth and final season. Ryan Phillippe joined the main cast. Chris Messina, Jenna Elfman, Janet McTeer and John Hannah guest starred.

After four seasons of manipulation and deceit that cross professional and personal lines, season five sets the stage for the final showdown between Patty and Ellen. In a storyline inspired by the vicissitudes of the whistleblower website WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, Channing McClaren (Ryan Phillippe) is a computer expert and the iconoclastic founder of a website, McClarenTruth.org, devoted to government and corporate transparency. It is shown, in the premiere, that Ellen and Patty are set to go head to head in a case over the death of Ms. Walling (seen to have been attacked by two anonymous people), as Patty claims that McClaren murdered her, as well as stealing personal information and posting it on his site.

The final season opens with Patty walking into her office to see her granddaughter sitting at her desk drawing. Patty says to her, "Get out of Mommy's chair."  The girl responds, "You're not my mommy." When Patty approaches the desk, Ellen appears in place of the girl, saying, "I love you, Mommy." The end of the season premiere depicts Patty being questioned by the police about Ellen's disappearance.  Ellen is shown in an alley, unconscious and bleeding.  While this case is occurring, Michael organizes a custody case over Catherine, with Ellen agreeing to testify against Patty after the McClaren case was over.  Also, in Ellen's personal life, her mother has left her father after he threw something at her and she was scared.  She lived in Ellen's apartment for a while before moving into her own apartment, only to move back in with Ellen.

The McClaren case continues, with both Ellen and Patty being contacted by a hacker named Samurai Seven.  He sold information to both of them about the involvement of Princefield in Naomi's death.  However, only Patty receives this information and then Samurai Seven is found dead in a burnt-out car.  In court, Ellen suspects that Patty has a personal relationship with the judge, which seems to be confirmed when Patty receives a personal call from him. However, once Ellen has raised attention to this and removed the judge from the case, Patty reveals that it was all a setup, and that she and the judge disliked each other.  When Ellen finds out that Patty has received the Princefield information, she tells the new judge and Patty is forced to give Ellen the information, losing her leverage on the case.

When questioning Naomi's daughter, Patty finds out that Naomi and McClaren possibly had a sexual relationship and so Patty goes to the media and accuses McClaren of rape.  This results in both Ellen and Patty being given a gag order.  Soon after, McClaren offers Naomi's daughter a settlement and she wants to take it.  Ellen and Patty team up to give false evidence so that the settlement is rejected and the case continues.  Ellen and Patty are both given a chance to ask questions of an expert in the data breach but have to travel to him.  Once the interview is over, Ellen finds out that her flight is cancelled and Patty invites her onto her private flight, which has been delayed.  While waiting in the airport, Ellen and Patty discuss the attempted murder of Ellen and the confession that Patty made.  Patty says that the accusation was false and that the confession was a lie because she was at gunpoint.

Rutger Simon is revealed to be the one who intentionally leaked Naomi Walling's personal e-mails, hoping to implicate McClaren as the leaker so he can take control of McClarentruth.org. Simon convinces Patty Hewes to become an investor in the site when he takes over in exchange for his testimony against Channing McClaren, Helmut Torben, and Bennett Herreshoff.  Patty subsequently informs Ellen of her intention to call Simon as a witness for the Plaintiff.  Upon getting this information, Ellen informs Torben (McClarenTruth.org's primary benefactor) of Simon's intention to testify against Channing McClaren and the possibility of Simon implicating both him and Bennett Herreshoff as part of his testimony and suggests having Simon taken out of the picture.  In a meeting with Torben and Herreshoff, Simon informs them that he intends to testify against Channing McClaren but promises not to implicate either of them in his testimony.

After booking an emergency flight out of the country to Dublin, Simon is killed by hitmen hired by Herreshoff and Torben.  On the day of the trial, shortly before opening arguments, Patty Hewes is informed that Simon has left the country.  Because Simon was Patty's only valuable witness, she drops the lawsuit.  Later, Patty suggests that she intentionally gave Ellen her witness list early to see how Ellen handled the information.  Patty knew Ellen would share the information with Torben, who would have Simon killed, thus proving, in Patty's eyes, that Ellen has become as manipulative as Patty.

Attention then turns to the custody case.  Ellen has the blood that was on the card she had with her the day she was attacked tested and finds out the identity of Patrick (the murderer).  Ellen has her investigator track and find him.  She offers Patrick immunity if he testifies against Patty.  He agrees.  The story has now caught up to the future shown in the premiere and Ellen is seen walking to her office through the alley.  The scene then cuts to Patrick and the investigator in Ellen's office, worried that Ellen is two hours late.  They call the detectives to have Patty arrested.  As the two men search the roof, they discover Ellen unconscious in the alley below.  As they both seem to run down to help her, only the investigator does as Patrick goes back to the office to find Michael, who has just arrived.  As Ellen is being revived, a scan picture is found in her bag, revealing she is pregnant.  Once awake, Ellen goes back to her office to find Michael dead, having been shot by Patrick.  Patty is told about this in a mimed scene.  At the end of the series finale, the final scene takes place "a few years from now" showing Patty entering a shop to find Ellen with her daughter.  In her limo, Patty has a vision of Ellen coming to thank her for everything she has done.  Instead, Ellen walks away, telling her daughter that she knew "that woman" back when she was a lawyer.  Her daughter says Ellen is not a lawyer anymore.  Ellen walks with her daughter and tells her that they're going to visit her dad at the VA (the Department of Veterans Affairs) which means the child's father is Chris Sanchez.  The scene ends with a closeup on Patty's face; she sits with a stoic expression on her face in silence.

Cast and characters

The series details the mentor-protegee relationship between high-stakes attorney Patty Hewes (Glenn Close) and newly graduated attorney Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne). During the first three seasons Tom Shayes (Tate Donovan) acts as Patty's associate, right-hand man and later partner. Michael Nouri stars in the first two seasons as Patty's husband Phil Grey, and makes periodic guest appearances in subsequent seasons due to their characters' separation. Zachary Booth's character recurs throughout the series as Patty's damaged son, Michael Hewes.

The first season mainly focused on a case involving Arthur Frobisher, played by Ted Danson, a man blamed for embezzlement and fraud; Željko Ivanek played his regretful attorney Ray Fiske. Noah Bean starred as David Connor, Ellen's fiancé, with Anastasia Griffith recurring prominently as Katie Connor, David's sister and the key witness in the Frobisher case (at the end of the first season Bean and Ivanek leave the main cast with the death of their characters, but still serve as occasional guest stars with their characters appearing in flashbacks). Notable recurring characters during the first season were played by Peter Facinelli, Philip Bosco, and Peter Riegert.

The second season found Patty and her firm inadvertently thrown into a massive case against the billion dollar-worth energy corporation Ultima National Resources (UNR). William Hurt played Daniel Purcell, a mysterious man from Patty's past who initiates the case and puts it in Patty's hands. John Doman played Walter Kendrick (in a billed recurring role), the primary antagonist of the season as the CEO of UNR, while Marcia Gay Harden joined the cast as UNR's misinformed but smart and vicious lead counsel Claire Maddox. On the personal front, Anastasia Griffith returned as Ellen's friend Katie Connor, who helps her in taking down Frobisher, while Timothy Olyphant played a man in grief counseling who bonds with Ellen under ambiguous motives. Returning recurring actors in prominent roles were Ted Danson, David Costabile, Tom Aldredge, Mario van Peebles and Glenn Kessler. Notable recurring characters during the second season were played by Clarke Peters, Brett Cullen, Kevin Corrigan and Darrell Hammond.

The third season, inspired by the Bernie Madoff scandal, tracked Patty's aggressive pursuit of bringing down the disgraced Tobin family after they were revealed to be a part of a Ponzi scheme that ripped off millions of citizens. Campbell Scott played Joe Tobin, the shamed but ultimately spoiled and selfish youngest son of the family. Martin Short played the family's longtime trusted lawyer Leonard Winstone who finds his place in this family changes as the Tobins reveal their true colors. Lily Tomlin special guest starred throughout the season as the secretive matriarch Marilyn Tobin, while Len Cariou appeared as the patriarch of the family blamed for all of the fraud and conspiracy. Returning recurring actors in prominent roles were Ted Danson, and also Timothy Olyphant in a single guest appearance. Notable recurring characters during the third season were played by Dominic Chianese, Mädchen Amick, Ben Shenkman, and Keith Carradine. Wallace Shawn also made a notable guest appearance.

The fourth season, the first without Tate Donovan, followed a wrongful-death suit filed against a military contractor over a mysterious incident in a war zone. John Goodman played Howard Erickson, the CEO of the shadowy military contractor who becomes the defendant against Patty and Ellen over the corruption that occurred in the war zone. Dylan Baker played Jerry Boorman, a mysterious figure with secretive ties to the Middle East. Chris Messina played Chris Sanchez, an old high school friend of Ellen's and a decorated soldier suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. Notable recurring characters during the fourth season were played by Derek Webster, Griffin Dunne, Judd Hirsch, Fisher Stevens, and Bailey Chase.

The fifth and final season pitted Patty and Ellen against one another in court, with the case surrounding the suit of the founder of a WikiLeaks type of website, Channing McClaren, played by Ryan Phillippe. Jenna Elfman played Naomi Walling, the investment bank employee whose daughter Rachel (Alexandra Socha) sues McClaren after he releases Naomi's personal information along with the financial records she leaked to him - leading to Naomi's suicide (in reality, she was murdered and the suicide faked). Janet McTeer played Kate Franklin, an old colleague of Patty Hewes who teams up with Ellen. John Hannah played Rutger Simon, the gatekeeper of McClaren's website who is devoted to exposing fraud and corporate misconduct. Returning recurring actors in prominent roles were Judd Hirsch and Chris Messina. Notable recurring characters during the fifth season were played by Victor Garber, M. Emmet Walsh, William Sadler, Gbenga Akinnagbe and Gillian Alexy.

Production

Conception
Creators Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman developed the series as centering on the relationship between a mentor and a protégée: two women in powerful positions. Although the initial story idea did not have the series set in the legal arena, the creators felt the legal world included women who commanded power and influence. The concept was inspired by the creators' interactions with their superiors and with their experiences in the entertainment industry. Todd Kessler addressed how he views gender as playing into the series' narrative saying, "I don't think we look at the story as, this is a great female story... We see the Patty-Ellen relationship as a universal one between anyone who has had a boss and goes into a job thinking that success is working hard and doing what the boss asks and realizing that it's only a small percentage of it." The setting veers away from typical legal dramas, whose storylines are often set inside courtrooms, and instead it describes the characters' lives and interactions outside the courtroom, thereby focusing on the behind-the-scenes power maneuvering and manipulation. Concerning the characters Zelman notes, "We don't look at any of the characters as good or bad or anything like that. What really motivated us to write about this world, first and foremost, was our interest in power dynamics, the dynamics of power in society."

Writing
Each season, established lawyer Patty Hewes takes one major case. But seasons often simultaneously deal with other minor cases and later seasons focus more on Ellen's cases rather than Patty's.

Storylines and inspirations
Season 1 focuses on a class action lawsuit against the fraudulent multi-billionaire CEO of a defunct company; the plot was inspired by various corporate scandals and characters involved in them, most notably the 2001 Enron scandal. Season 2 deals with the energy industry and related environmental issues; the story is influenced by recent and ongoing environmental cases in the United States in the mining industry and by the events of the 2001 California energy crisis. The writers were guided by environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., who shared his experience in the field with various corporations and CEOs. Season 3 is largely based on the 2009 Bernie Madoff scandal. Season 4 describes events based on the Blackwater Security Consulting scandal.

Narrative devices
The series uses nonlinear narrative, employing flashforwards, foreshadowing, and red herring narration techniques. This approach has given the writers flexibility in storytelling. The narrative handles multiple plot lines and has loose ends. Zelman explains, "We know where we're going. We have tent-pole moments that we're building to all the way through to the end, and it's very clear to us where we want to end up. [However], we want to leave room for improvisation..." While the two different time-frames format was initially intended for the first season, in preparation for the second season the producers felt that the nonlinear format had become a signature of the series and decided to continue it for the second season. With the serialized format of the show decreasing the viewership, Todd Kessler contended that the second season would contain stand-alone storylines to make the show more accessible.

Casting
When creators Kesslers and Zelman pitched the show to executives at FX, network president John Landgraf suggested they consider Glenn Close for the main character Patty Hewes. Close had earlier worked on FX's The Shield and had conveyed to the network officials her interest in being cast as a lead in another show, so long as the show was set in New York City. After a three-hour meeting with the creators, Close accepted the role, impressed particularly by the powerful persona of the character "as the head of her own law firm [...] in a male-dominated world". Describing her character, Close said, "Patty is a complicated character... She's not somebody who you can easily characterize. People tend to say she's manipulative and evil, which always makes me laugh, because I think women and power are still problematic, especially in this country. I take that as a compliment."  In preparation for the role, Close met with several female attorneys in New York, including Mary Jo White, Lorna Schofield, and Patricia Hynes.

The creators cast Ted Danson for the part of Arthur Frobisher, a corrupt billionaire CEO, because of his role in The Onion Field (1979). Danson was attracted to the project immediately after learning that Close would be playing the lead role. As part of his preparation, Danson studied the collapse of Enron by watching documentaries such as The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) and meeting CEOs of various Fortune 500 corporations. The producers also suggested that Danson consult Close's acting coach Harold Guskin. Danson was initially hesitant about this suggestion, but found the consultation extremely helpful.

Series cast members Rose Byrne and Tate Donovan, portraying Ellen Parsons and Tom Shayes respectively, secured their parts through auditions. Byrne had been unavailable when she was initially approached because she was shooting the film 28 Weeks Later but auditioned later when the part had not yet been cast. Both Byrne and Donovan prepared for their roles by consulting lawyers and attending court trials. According to producers, the characters of Ellen's fiancé David Connor and his sister Katie were the hardest to cast.

For the first-season cast, Noah Bean, who was cast as David, said he "gave an awful first audition" but managed to get the part when given a second chance while waiting for an elevator. When British actor Anastasia Griffith auditioned for the part of Katie Connor, the producers were hesitant to have a British actor play an American, especially since they already had an Australian (Byrne) playing an American. However, Griffith convinced the producers by speaking in an American accent throughout their follow-up meeting. At the time of casting, Griffith's role was intended only for three episodes, but it was extended after the producers realized the character's success. Željko Ivanek scored the initially very minor role of Ray Fiske through an audition, but as producers watched Ivanek's work in the dailies, they beefed up the role considerably.

For the second-season cast, Marcia Gay Harden was, according to producer Josh Payne, a "no-brainer" for the role of Claire Maddox. They wanted an actress who could hold her own against Close. Harden's casting was also attributable, in part, to the fact that she lived in New York City where Damages shoots. William Hurt and Timothy Olyphant were cast late in the process. The producers debated whether they should go with one actor who created a love triangle involving Patty and Ellen, but they ultimately went with the two separate actors.

For the third-season cast, Lily Tomlin's casting evolved out of her fandom for the show. At an art exhibit she bumped into Damages creator/executive producer Todd A. Kessler and interrogated him for information about upcoming twists on the show. Todd kept her in mind and later cast her as Marilyn Tobin. Dominic Chianese was also cast because of his past relationship with Kessler, as the two worked together on The Sopranos. Martin Short was the last major actor to be cast that season; he too was a Damages fan. Producers were excited to work with Short, though he had very little dramatic work to refer to; he added to the Damages reputation of casting against-type.

For the fourth season cast, producers initially considered actors like Edward Burns and Wentworth Miller for the role of Howard T. Erickson, because they were closer in age/physique to Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater whom the season was based on. John Goodman stressed his availability, and the role was tailored to suit his style. Zelman saw Dylan Baker on stage years ago when Daniel was an apprentice at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. His performance left an impression, and producers had thought about casting him several times before, but the timing didn't work out until Season 4, when he was cast as Jerry Boorman. Chris Messina at his first casting call, refused to play a Republican or a lawyer on the show, because he was repeatedly cast in such roles beforehand. He was awarded the role of PTSD-plagued Chris Sanchez and underwent considerable preparation for the role. He would "stay awake and not sleep...and right before action...drink two Red Bulls". He was also reluctant to join a show so late in its run. The role of Bill Herndon was, as with Ray Fiske or Katie Connor's, conceived as a very minor part but was significantly increased after Judd Hirsch made a good impression.

For the fifth-season cast, Ryan Phillippe initially wasn't overly interested in doing Damages, but on a phone call with producers he changed his mind after being told his character was modeled after Julian Assange, with whom Phillippe was fascinated. Jenna Elfman followed in the steps of other well-known comic actors by playing against-type on Damages as Naomi Walling, the victim in a lawsuit. She enthusiastically signed on for the opportunity to "play the types of scenes I haven't yet had the opportunity to play". Janet McTeer became close friends with Glenn Close while working on the film Albert Nobbs (2011), and Close worked with producers to offer her a key role as Kate Franklin, a recent empty nester returning to law.

Title sequence
The title sequence, set to the song "When I Am Through with You" by The VLA, depicts images of New York City public sculpture, including The Glory of Commerce atop Grand Central Terminal, Civic Fame atop the Manhattan Municipal Building, and Asia in front of the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House. The frieze of the New York County Courthouse is also shown, inscribed with a quote from George Washington, "The true administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good government".

Move to DirecTV
Due to the low ratings and high costs, it was speculated early that Season 3 might be the show's last. However, Sony reached an agreement with DirecTV to share the cost of future seasons with its Audience Network (formerly The 101 Network and originally Freeview). Other outlets were also approached about sharing the cost of a new season. However, no other network opted to pick it up, leaving Audience Network the new broadcaster. The New York Times reported that FX continued to hold a small stake in the show and that "[T]series offers a way for the Audience Network to define itself as a provider of niche entertainment for an educated, upper-middle-class demographic, an experiment it started by picking up the football drama Friday Night Lights from NBC." Glenn Close said she always thought the show was "kind of a tricky fit for FX," further stating, "I think FX was defined by The Shield, which was a testosterone-laden show, and they continue to be a testosterone-laden network. I think we were kind of off-brand for them." Damages made its first premiere on DirecTV on January 5, 2011. Seasons one through three ran until the season 4 premiere on July 13, 2011.

Home media
All five seasons have been released on DVD in regions 1, 2, and 4, while only the first season was originally released on Blu-ray. Mill Creek Entertainment released the complete series on Blu-ray and DVD on February 26, 2019.

Damages is also available on Amazon Prime Video, the iTunes Store, and Disney+.

Reception

Critical response
The first season of Damages received generally positive reviews from critics with the series ranking in the top ten lists of several critics, who include Robert Abele (LA Weekly), Robert Lloyd (Los Angeles Times), and Alessandra Stanley (The New York Times). TV Guide ranked the season one finale (episode #52) on its list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".

Season 2 was met with further critical praise, along with season 3, which Verne Gay (from Newsday) rated A+ and termed it, "Gorgeously acted, written, paced, structured and conceived, it remains one of the best shows on TV--and maybe the most enjoyably addictive." When the series returned for its fourth season in July 2011, after it was saved by DirecTV, Maureen Ryan (of The Huffington Post) reacted positively said "Damages knows what it's about these days. And if you want to see some prime, grade-A acting, well, you could do a lot worse". TV Guides Matt Roush praised the series and stated that "Damages is worth it. And for those without access to DirecTV, worth the wait."

Ratings
The series premiere on July 24, 2007, drew 3.7 million viewers, with total of 5.1 million viewers including re-airing on the same night, becoming the most watched cable television program for the night. However, the viewership declined over the first season, partially due to the story's serialized approach, with the season finale drawing 1.4 million viewers. Regardless of its critical acclaim, Damages seriously suffered in its second season ratings. Season Two premiered with only 1.7 million viewers watching, even with the momentum that was built following its Golden Globe and Emmy wins. Despite the show's low ratings, FX picked up and secured the program for a third season. John Landgraf hoped the show would continue on the air following its third season; after taking into account the encore presentations and "extraordinary" DVR numbers, the ratings appeared to be quite good.

The third-season premiere, which aired on January 25, 2010, only managed to draw in 1.483 million viewers. The third-season finale managed to pull in only 960,000 viewers.

Awards and nominations

Damages won four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, a Casting Society of America Award, and a Satellite Award. Additionally, the series was nominated for a Producers Guild of America Award, a Writers Guild of America Award, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and four Television Critics Association Awards, among others.

For its first season, Damages was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series at the 2008 Primetime Emmy Awards, along with six other nominations. Co-creators Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman were nominated for writing and Allen Coulter for directing the pilot episode ("Get Me a Lawyer"). Glenn Close received a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series, with co-stars Ted Danson and Željko Ivanek nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Close and Ivanek won in their respective categories, with the series also receiving a Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series. The series earned four nominations at the 65th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Television Series – Drama, Close for Best Actress, and Rose Byrne and Ted Danson for their supporting roles. Close won the award in her category.

For its second season, Damages was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy nominations at the 2009 Primetime Emmy Awards, with Glenn Close receiving her second Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. Ted Danson also received another nomination, for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series. Rose Byrne earned her first Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and William Hurt was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. It was also nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series (Todd A. Kessler for "Trust Me") and received its second and final nomination for Outstanding Drama Series. On September 20, 2009, the show won its fourth Emmy Award when Glenn Close won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. The series earned three nominations at the 67th Golden Globe Awards, including Close for Best Actress, and Byrne and William Hurt for their supporting roles.

For its third season, Damages earned its most acting nominations at the 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards.  Along with Glenn Close, Rose Byrne, and Ted Danson returning in their respective categories, featured cast additions Martin Short and Lily Tomlin as newly nominated actors. Short was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series and Tomlin was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. For the first time, Damages was unable to win a major Primetime Emmy despite their success in the nominations, as Glenn Close lost for the first time in her category, losing to Kyra Sedgwick.

For its fourth season, Damages earned a Critics' Choice Television Award nomination for Dylan Baker as Best Guest Performer in a Drama Series, a Screen Actors Guild nomination for Glenn Close for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, and a fourth consecutive Emmy nomination for Glenn Close, in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category.

For its fifth and final season, Glenn Close received her third Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Television Series Drama, after being absent the previous two years.

References

External links

2007 American television series debuts
2012 American television series endings
2000s American crime drama television series
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Audience (TV network) original programming
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Damages (TV series)


The Southeastern Anatolia Region  is a geographical region of Turkey. The  city with most people  in the region is Gaziantep. Other big cities are Şanlıurfa, Diyarbakır, Mardin and Adıyaman.

It is next to the Mediterranean Region to the west, the Eastern Anatolia Region to the north, Syria to the south, and Iraq to the southeast.

Southeastern Anatolia Region


The electromagnetic (EM) spectrum is the range of all possible electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic radiation can be divided into octaves — as sound waves are — adding up to eighty-one octaves. Physicists have studied electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths from thousands of kilometres down to fractions of the size of an atom. It is commonly said that EM waves beyond these limits are uncommon, although this is not known to be true. The short wavelength limit is likely to be the Planck length, and the long-wavelength limit is the size of the universe itself, though in principle the spectrum is infinite.

Radiation of shorter wavelength than about 30 μm is commonly detected by its ability to exceed the ionization energy of atoms. Radiation of longer than 3mm is commonly detected by its ability to induce electrical currents. Radiation between these limits was little used until the 21st century because of the difficulty of detecting it.

Spectra of objects
Nearly all objects in the universe emit, reflect or transmit some light. (Black holes do not.) The distribution of this light along the electromagnetic spectrum (called the spectrum of the object) is determined by what the object is made of. Several types of spectra can be distinguished depending upon the nature of the radiation coming from an object.

Spectroscopy is the branch of physics that observes matter by its emitted or reflected spectra.

References

Other websites

 U.S. Frequency Allocation Chart - Covering the range 3 kHz to 300 GHz (from Department of Commerce)
 Canadian Table of Frequency Allocations  (from Industry Canada)
 UK frequency allocation table (from Ofcom, which inherited the Radiocommunications Agency's duties, pdf format)
 The Science of Spectroscopy  - supported by NASA, includes OpenSpectrum, a Wiki-based learning tool for spectroscopy that anyone can edit
 An EM Spectrum Overview in Flash  by e-builds

Electromagnetism
Electromagnetic radiation

Electromagnetic spectrum


Herbert F. DeSimone (September 5, 1929 – November 27, 2013) was an American lawyer and politician from Rhode Island. He served as the 64th Attorney General of Rhode Island and as President Nixon's Assistant Secretary of Transportation for the Environment and Urban System.

Early life
DeSimone was born in Providence, Rhode Island, the only child of Florie DeSimone and Lena (Capuano) DeSimone. He attended La Salle Academy before graduating from Brown University in 1951. While at Brown, DeSimone played college football and was defensive tackle for the 1949 team that was inducted into the Brown University Hall of Fame.

In 1954, he received his law degree from Columbia University Law School and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar. He began the practice of law in Rhode Island.

Political career
As a Republican, DeSimone served as Attorney General of Rhode Island from 1967-1971. He was the 1970 Republican nominee for Governor of Rhode Island but lost the election to Frank Licht. Shortly after his defeat, President Richard Nixon nominated DeSimone to be assistant secretary of the United States Department of Transportation for Environment and Urban System. He served in that position from 1971 to 1972. In 1972 he ran for Governor of Rhode Island again against Philip W. Noel, and was defeated. He then returned to the private practice of law.

In August 1976, President Gerald Ford nominated DeSimone to succeed Edward William Day as  judge for the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island but United States Senator Edward Kennedy blocked the nomination.

In 1985, DeSimone was appointed Director of the Rhode Island Department of Transportation by Governor Edward D. DiPrete. He also served as Director of the Providence Industrial Development Corporation and General Counsel for the Rhode Island Housing and Finance Corporation.

In 2002 he was awarded the Neil J. Houston Award for contributions to the Criminal Justice systems and Public Interest. He was also awarded Man of the Year by Engineering News Record and Man of the Year by the Italo-American Club of Rhode Island.

DeSimone was a longtime advisor and mentor to Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci. Cianci started his career in DeSimone's Attorney General office, and worked on DeSimone's 1970 and 1972 gubernatorial campaigns. DeSimone was present at Cianci's home the night in March 1983 when Cianci was accused of beating Raymond DeLeo. DeSimone testified in Cianci's trial, in which Cianci pleaded no contest to assault and assault with a dangerous weapon.

Personal life
DeSimone and his wife Sally Reynolds DeSimone had three children: Herbert DeSimone, Douglas DeSimone and  Deborah DeSimone.

DeSimone died in Providence, Rhode Island on November 27, 2013.

References

External links

Herbert F. DeSimone-obituary

1929 births
2013 deaths
20th-century American lawyers
Politicians from Providence, Rhode Island
La Salle Academy alumni
Brown University alumni
Columbia Law School alumni
Rhode Island Republicans
Rhode Island Attorneys General
Rhode Island lawyers
United States Department of Transportation officials
Nixon administration personnel
Burials in Rhode Island

Herbert F. DeSimone


Asso (Ace) is an Italian comedy film, directed by Franco Castellano and Giuseppe Moccia and released in 1981. The film stars Adriano Celentano, Edwige Fenech, Renato Salvatori, Sylva Koscina, Pippo Santonastaso, Gianni Magni and Elisabetta Viviani. It was filmed in Italy.

Plot
Asso, an ace poker player, has just married his long-time love, Silvia, the most coveted woman in his neighborhood. For her sake, he promises to give up poker, but the unexpected arrival of a notorious player in town and his wife's permission push him into one last game, which he wins. But as he tries to return home the following morning, he is apprehended by Sicario, one of his closer acquaintances and a professional assassin who has been hired to do away with Asso himself.

Shot multiple times, Asso dies but returns as a ghost out of worry for leaving his wife behind without any means of supporting herself. Because of their close bond, Silvia can see and hear him, but to anyone else Asso is invisible. After managing to convince his wife that he really is dead, he tries to get her remarried so she will not end up on the streets, and his choice falls on the feeble but rich banker Luigi Morgan. Morgan is of course delighted to win the attention of such a beautiful lady, but this invites the jealousy of Bretella, Asso's rival for Silvia's hand. As it turns out, Bretella had commissioned Sicario to assassinate Asso and now tries to hire him again to finish off Morgan. Shaken by remorse over killing Asso, Sicario refuses and even promises to go to the police, whereupon Bretella kills him and decides to do the job himself.

However, after getting a short leave of absence from Hell, Sicario reveals Bretella's true intentions to Asso, who rushes to Morgan's protection. He cannot prevent Bretella from kidnapping the banker, but by taking Police Commissioner Rinaldi for a forced ride and thus catching the attention of the police, he does manage to prevent Morgan from getting killed and get Bretella arrested. In his desperation, however, Morgan has started praying to his dead wife for salvation, and once rescued, he revokes his courtship of Silvia due to what he perceives to be his wife's grace.

Alone once more (save for Asso's company), Silvia learns of the arrival of a gifted young card player who is a dead look-alike of Asso. Once she falls for him, Asso fades away and goes to Heaven, where God himself invites him to a round of poker and, following Asso's defeat, a rematch in about three thousand years.

Cast
 Adriano Celentano as Asso/unnamed Card Ace/God
 Edwige Fenech as Silvia
 Renato Salvatori as Bretella
 Sylva Koscina as Enrichetta Morgan
 Pippo Santonastaso as Luigi Morgan
 Gianni Magni as Sicario
 Elisabetta Viviani as The Tourist
 Dino Cassio as Commissioner Rinaldi
 Sandro Ghiani as The Cop
 Raffaele di Sipio as The Choreographer
 Gianni Musy as The Speaker
 Gerry Bruno as Ettore Bruno

Reception

Critical response
Based on 606 user votes, IMDb grades the movie at 6.2.

See also
Ghost, a film starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore which employs a similar plot.

References

External links
 Asso at Internet Movie Database

1981 films
1981 comedy films
Italian comedy films
Films directed by Castellano & Pipolo
Films scored by Detto Mariano
Italian ghost films
Films about poker
Films about gambling
1980s Italian films

Asso (film)


Jeffrey Bruce Keener (born January 14, 1959) is a former Major League Baseball player who appeared as a relief pitcher in two seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Baseball career
Drafted from the University of Kentucky in the seventh round of the 1981 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, Keener quickly progressed through the Cardinals Minor League system.

Keener made his Major League debut at the age of 23 on June 8, 1982 at Montreal's Olympic Stadium against the Cardinals National League East rivals, the Montreal Expos. Keener retired all four batters, two of them on strikeouts, en route to a 5-4 Cardinal victory. In a total of 19 appearances during the 1982 season, he compiled an earned run average (ERA) of 1.61, with 25 strikeouts, 22 walks, and a record of 1 win, 1 loss, 0 saves. Keener bats left-handed and throws right-handed.

During the 1983 season, Keener appeared in just four games with the Cardinals, posting an ERA of 8.31. His final appearance, September 27, 1983, marked his final game in the Major Leagues.

Despite his short tenure in the big leagues, Keener is remembered for his unusual submarine delivery, with which he threw pitches with a sidearm/underarm motion, rather than over the shoulder.

After baseball
After his baseball career ended, Keener returned to college, graduating from the University of Kentucky with a bachelor's degree in education, and attaining a master's degree in education from Southern Illinois University Carbondale. In 2003, he became the first baseball player inducted into the Southeastern Illinois College Hall of Fame.

Following his stints as baseball coach and physical education instructor, Keener became the principal of General John A. Logan Elementary School in Murphysboro, Illinois in 2008. After that, he became assistant principal at Murphysboro High School In 2010 and later was named as the principal for Murphysboro Middle School.

Private life
Keener has three children: Jonathon, Karli and Cameron.

Sources

External links
, or Retrosheet, or Pelota Binaria (Venezuelan Winter League)

1959 births
Living people
Arkansas Travelers players
Cardenales de Lara players
American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela
Baseball players from Illinois
Kentucky Wildcats baseball players
Louisville Redbirds players
Major League Baseball pitchers
People from Christian County, Illinois
People from Murphysboro, Illinois
American school principals
St. Louis Cardinals players
University of Kentucky alumni
Peninsula Oilers players

Jeff Keener


Phyllis St. Felix Thaxter (November 20, 1921 – August 14, 2012) was an American stage and movie actress. She was known for playing Superman's mother in the 1978 movie Superman, and as Ellen Lawson in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo.

Early life
Thaxter was born on November 20, in 1921. in Portland, Maine to Sidney Thaxter and to his wife.

Career
She had worked a lot on Broadway since 1940. When Dorothy McGuire went to Hollywood, Phyllis replaced her in the play Claudia. In 1944, she signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Her first movie was with Van Johnson in the wartime movie Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. Thaxter played Joan Alris Ellis, a woman suffering from split personality in the movie Bewitched in 1945. In 1948, she played a cattle owner's daughter alongside Barbara Bel Geddes in Blood on the Moon.

At MGM, she routinely portrayed the ever-patient wife to a number of leading men. She moved to Warner Brothers in the 1950s, but usually played the same type of roles.

Thaxter's career ended for a while after being ill of polio in 1952. She made a comeback on the television series in Rawhide. She would later appear on other television programs such as; Wagon Train, The Twilight Zone, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1978, Thaxter was cast along with Glenn Ford as Ma and Pa Kent in Superman.

Personal life
Thaxter was married to James Thomas Aubrey, Jr. from 1944 until they divorced in 1962. They had a son and a daughter. She was married to Gilbert Lea from 1962 until his death in 2008.

Death
Thaxter died on August 14, 2012 in her home in Longwood, Florida from Alzheimer's disease, aged 90. She had the disease for eight years. She was cremated and her ashes were thrown to the sea.

Movies
 Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)
 Bewitched (1945)
 Week-End at the Waldorf (1945)
 Tenth Avenue Angel (1946)
 The Sea of Grass (1947)
 Living in a Big Way (1947)
 Blood on the Moon (1948)
 Act of Violence (1948)
 No Man of Her Own (1950)
 The Breaking Point (1950)
 Jim Thorpe -- All-American (1951)
 Fort Worth (1951)
 Springfield Rifle (1952)
 Wagon Train (1959)
 Women's Prison (1955)
 The World of Henry Orien (1964)
 The Invaders (TV series), Season 2/21, Episode: "The Peacemaker" (1968)
 Superman (1978)

References

Other websites

Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
Actors from Portland, Maine
American movie actors
American television actors
American stage actors
1919 births
2012 deaths

Phyllis Thaxter