title: Tabasco

text: The C.P.A. Carlos Rovirosa International Airport is located just outside Villahermosa. It offers service to various cities in Mexico along with Havana, Cuba and Houston, Texas.


title: MTT assay

text: The MTT assay is a colorimetric assay for assessing cell metabolic activity. NAD(P)H-dependent cellular oxidoreductase enzymes may, under defined conditions, reflect the number of viable cells present. These enzymes are capable of reducing the tetrazolium dye MTT, which is chemically 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide, to its insoluble formazan, which has a purple color. Other closely related tetrazolium dyes including XTT, MTS and the WSTs, are used in conjunction with the intermediate electron acceptor, 1-methoxy phenazine methosulfate (PMS). With WST-1, which is cell-impermeable, reduction occurs outside the cell via plasma membrane electron transport. However, this traditionally assumed explanation is currently contended as proof has also been found of MTT reduction to formazan in lipidic cellular structures without apparent involvement of oxidoreductases.


title: MTT assay

text: Tetrazolium dye assays can also be used to measure cytotoxicity (loss of viable cells) or cytostatic activity (shift from proliferation to quiescence) of potential medicinal agents and toxic materials. MTT assays are usually done in the dark since the MTT reagent is sensitive to light.


title: MTT assay

text: MTT, a yellow tetrazole, is reduced to purple formazan in living cells. A solubilization solution (usually either dimethyl sulfoxide, an acidified ethanol solution, or a solution of the detergent sodium dodecyl sulfate in diluted hydrochloric acid) is added to dissolve the insoluble purple formazan product into a colored solution. The absorbance of this colored solution can be quantified by measuring at a certain wavelength (usually between 500 and 600 nm) by a spectrophotometer. The degree of light absorption is dependent on the degree of formazan concentration accumulated inside the cell and on the cell surface. The greater the formazan concentration, the deeper the purple colour and thus the higher the absorbance.


title: MTT assay

text: XTT (2,3-bis-(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide) has been proposed to replace MTT, yielding higher sensitivity and a higher dynamic range. The formed formazan dye is water-soluble, avoiding a final solubilization step.


title: MTT assay

text: Water-soluble tetrazolium salts are more recent alternatives to MTT: they were developed by introducing positive or negative charges and hydroxy groups to the phenyl ring of the tetrazolium salt, or better with sulfonate groups added directly or indirectly to the phenyl ring.


title: MTT assay

text: MTS (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium), in the presence of phenazine methosulfate (PMS), produces a formazan product that has an absorbance maximum at 490 nm in phosphate-buffered saline. The MTS assay is often described as a 'one-step' MTT assay, which offers the convenience of adding the reagent straight to the cell culture without the intermittent steps required in the MTT assay. However this convenience makes the MTS assay susceptible to colormetric interference as the intermittent steps in the MTT assay remove traces of coloured compounds, whilst these remain in the microtitre plate in the one-step MTS assay. Precautions are needed to ensure accuracy when using this assay and there are strong arguments for confirming MTS results using qualitative observations under a microscope. (This, however, is prudent for all colormetric assays.)


title: MTT assay

text: WSTs (water-soluble tetrazolium salts) are a series of other water-soluble dyes for MTT assays, developed to give different absorption spectra of the formed formazans. WST-1 and in particular WST-8 (2-(2-methoxy-4-nitrophenyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-5-(2,4-disulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium), are advantageous over MTT in that they are reduced outside cells, combined with PMS electron mediator, and yield a water-soluble formazan. Finally, WST assays (1) can be read directly (unlike MTT that needs a solubilization step), (2) give a more effective signal than MTT, and (3) decrease toxicity to cells (unlike cell-permeable MTT, and its insoluble formazan that accumulate inside cells).


title: MTT assay

text: Tetrazolium dye reduction is generally assumed to be dependent on NAD(P)H-dependent oxidoreductase enzymes largely in the cytosolic compartment of the cell. Therefore, reduction of MTT and other tetrazolium dyes depends on the cellular metabolic activity due to NAD(P)H flux. Cells with a low metabolism such as thymocytes and splenocytes reduce very little MTT. In contrast, rapidly dividing cells exhibit high rates of MTT reduction. It is important to keep in mind that assay conditions can alter metabolic activity and thus tetrazolium dye reduction without affecting cell viability. In addition, the mechanism of reduction of tetrazolium dyes, "i.e." intracellular (MTT, MTS) "vs." extracellular (WST-1), will also determine the amount of product. Additionally, proof has been provided as to the spontaneous MTT reduction in lipidic cellular compartments/structures, without enzymatic catalysis involved. Nevertheless, even under this alternative paradigm, MTT assay still assesses the reduction potential of a cell (i.e. availability of reducing compounds to drive cellular energetics). As such, the final cell viability interpretation remains unchanged.


title: MTT assay

text: In studying the viability of cells seeded on 3D fibrous scaffolds, the thickness of the scaffolds may influence the MTT assay results.


title: MTT assay

text: 1. Inoculate cells into 96-well plate at 2,500-5,000 cells/well in 100 µL volume. Incubate overnight at 37°C with 5% CO2 to allow cell adhesion.


title: MTT assay

text: 2. Add MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl-2)-2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide] solution (10 µL) to each well and incubate for 3 h at 37°C with 5% CO2.


title: MTT assay

text: 3. Remove the culture medium and MTT formazan crystals from each well using 100 µL of acidified isopropanol (0.04 N HCl in 70% isopropanol). Gently shake the plate for 1 min and aspirate the contents completely using a multichannel pipettor.


title: MTT assay

text: 4. Transfer the plate to a new 96-well plate containing 100 µL of 0.1 N NaOH per well and gently shake for 15 min on an orbital shaker platform set at low speed (<100 rpm).


title: MTT assay

text: 5. Aspirate the contents of each well completely and transfer 50 µL of the solution from each well to a new 96 well plates.


title: MTT assay

text: 7. The amount of formazan produced is directly proportional to the number of living cells present in the culture and can be used to calculate cell viability. This assay has several advantages over other methods of measuring cell viability including its simplicity, speed, and sensitivity. Additionally, the MTT assay can be easily adapted for high-throughput screening applications.


title: MTT assay

text: The Optical Density (OD) at 550nm will be used to calculate the percentage of viability results using the following equation:


title: The Blue Comet

text: "The Blue Comet" is the 85th and penultimate episode of the HBO television series "The Sopranos", the eighth episode of the second half of the show's sixth season, and the 20th episode of the season overall. Written by series creator and showrunner David Chase and Matthew Weiner, and directed by Alan Taylor, it originally aired in the United States on June 3, 2007, two weeks after the preceding episode.


title: The Blue Comet

text: A.J. recognizes another patient: Rhiannon Flammer, Hernan O'Brien's old girlfriend, who has had "food issues" and depression. After discharge, they continue seeing each other.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Jennifer Melfi is at a dinner party with colleagues, including Elliot Kupferberg. The conversation turns to a recent study claiming criminal sociopaths take advantage of talk therapy. Kupferberg angers and shocks her by revealing that Tony Soprano is her patient. However, she reads the study at home and is convinced of its findings. At his next session, Tony is relaxed; her responses become sarcastic and aggressive. When she says she intends to cease treating him, he is taken aback and hurt: "We're making progress! It's been seven years!" She says, "You don't give a shit about commitments, about what I do." She waits for him to go, then closes the door on him.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Janice tells Tony that, as far as they can tell, Junior's money has run out, and she asks him to contribute, together with her and Bobby, so that he does not have to go into a state institution. Tony scornfully refuses.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Silvio garrotes Soprano soldier Burt Gervasi, who has been negotiating with the New York family. Phil speaks contemptuously to Albie and Butchie about "this pygmy thing over in Jersey". "We decapitate, and do business with whatever's left," he says. "Make it happen." Butchie and Albie meet with their own subordinates and order the murders of Tony, Silvio, and Bobby to be done swiftly in one 24-hour period. The police learn that something is going on, and Agent Harris warns Tony that his life may be in danger.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Tony decides to act first and kill Phil, using the "cousins", the Italian hitmen who performed the hit on Rusty Millio. The order is eventually passed down to Corky Caporale, who makes contact with them. But Phil is in hiding, and they kill the wrong man, the father of Phil's "comare" — and kill his comare, too.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Tony realizes the urgent danger, and orders Silvio to tell everyone in the family to go to their safe house, but it is too late. Almost simultaneously, Bobby is killed in a model railway store and, leaving the Bada Bing together, Silvio and Patsy are intercepted by two Lupertazzi hit men. Silvio is shot several times and severely wounded; the doctors say he may never regain consciousness. Patsy escapes unhurt.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Tony goes home and breaks the news to Carmela. He is going to a safe house; she must go to some other safe place. He goes upstairs to A.J.'s bedroom, where he now spends most of his time. Rhiannon is there and Tony sends her away. A.J. is in bed. Tony tries to explain things gently. When A.J. starts whimpering, he pulls him out of bed and throws him onto the floor.


title: The Blue Comet

text: At night, Tony, Paulie, Carlo, Walden Belfiore and Dante Greco drive to an old suburban safe house. Tony goes upstairs and lies down fully clothed, holding the AR-10 assault rifle that Bobby gave him for his birthday.


title: The Blue Comet

text: "The Blue Comet" marks the final appearances in "The Sopranos" of these main or longtime recurring characters:


title: The Blue Comet

text: The episode's general plot outline was developed collectively by the writing staff of "The Sopranos", which for the second part of the sixth season consisted of showrunner and head writer David Chase, executive producer and co-showrunner


title: The Blue Comet

text: Terence Winter, executive producer Matthew Weiner and supervising producers and writing team Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider.


title: The Blue Comet

text: After the main story had been outlined, the script for "The Blue Comet" was written by Chase and Weiner. It is Chase's 29th writing credit for the series (including story credits) and Weiner's 12th and final. The penultimate episode marks the fifth time Chase and Weiner have collaborated on a "The Sopranos" script, following "The Test Dream" of season five and "Kaisha" (also with Winter), "Soprano Home Movies" (also with Frolov and Schneider) and "Kennedy and Heidi" of season six.


title: The Blue Comet

text: The research study that Elliot Kupferberg introduces to Jennifer Melfi, which she later carefully reads and which makes her decide to finally drop Tony Soprano as her patient, is an actual three-volume study called "The Criminal Personality", written by Dr. Samuel Yochelson and Dr. Stanton Samenow, published between 1977 and 1986. David Chase discovered the study when he and some "Sopranos" writers attended a psychiatric conference. Chase further asked forensic psychologist Nancy Duggan to analyze Tony Soprano's mental state and the progress of his psychotherapy with Melfi; Duggan also opined that talk therapy was enabling Melfi's patient to commit crimes and justify his actions for himself. "The Criminal Personality" greatly impressed Chase after he read it and he decided that its introduction in the show would spell the end of Tony and Melfi's psychotherapy story arc in the series. After the airing of the episode, psychotherapists reported an outpouring of questions and concern from their clientele about the ethics of dropping patients unilaterally. Chase also commented about the seeming lack of finality in Tony Soprano's therapy, stating that its depiction was most realistic as psychotherapy most often is marked with moments of progress but is essentially an endless process until one party decides he or she has had enough of it. Lorraine Bracco said she was "upset" at the way her character was written off the show. She said, "I just felt like he wanted me to get rid of Tony. I felt that he did it in a very abrupt way. I don't think that she should have done it that way. I would have liked for it to have been more meaningful. I think she cared for Tony. Even though he was a fuck-up and he was never going to really straighten out. But I think she really cared for him. You don't spend seven years with someone and then discard them. I felt bad about that."


title: The Blue Comet

text: Chase called up Steve Schirripa in January 2007 to inform him about the inclusion of his character Bobby Baccalieri's death in the episode. Schirripa found surprising Chase's way to tell him, as Chase usually took the actors of the show aside at readthrough and told them how their characters would die once it was decided to kill off their characters. Once Chase arrived, Schirripa deduced that his visit was to discuss his character's death, leading Chase to tell him how Bobby would be killed in a train store. After that, Schirripa told Chase about his hopes of having impressed him with his work in the show; Chase assured him he was happy with the work Schirripa did for "The Sopranos".


title: The Blue Comet

text: The cardboard cutout of the character Silvio Dante that appears near the end of the episode in the safehouse was added by the writers as a way to give the character some sort of presence in the scene. The writers created the safehouse as an unoccupied house kept for emergencies and storage of various items, such as the promotional cutout of Silvio for the Bada Bing!.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Peter Bucossi, the stunt coordinator for the show for all six seasons, plays the role of Petey B. in this episode (a character also named after him), one of the Lupertazzi crime family hoodlums. Petey is the driver of "Ray Ray" D'Abaldo's car that attacks Silvio and Patsy when they attempt to flee the Bada Bing!.


title: The Blue Comet

text: "The Blue Comet" was directed by Alan Taylor and photographed by Phil Abraham. Both had worked intermittently on the show in the same capacities since the first season. The penultimate episode marks Taylor's ninth credit as director and Abraham's 47th credit as director of photography; it is the final credit of the series for both. Before filming commenced, David Chase and Taylor held a pre-production director's meeting—called a "tone meeting" by the crew—in which Chase explained how he envisioned the filming of the episode's scenes in great detail and provided directions for Taylor to follow during principal photography.


title: The Blue Comet

text: "The Blue Comet" was filmed in January and February 2007, primarily at the show's usual filming locations: exterior and some interior scenes were filmed on location in New Jersey and New York while the majority of the interior scenes were shot at Silvercup Studios, New York City.


title: The Blue Comet

text: The Soprano residence, meat market Satriale's, strip club Bada Bing! and Italian restaurant Nuovo Vesuvio—four of the most frequently recurring and recognizable backdrops of the series—are all featured prominently in the episode. Bobby Baccalieri's death scene was filmed on February 14 at a train store in Long Island. Despite this, Steven Schirripa still returned for some pick-ups after filming his character's death.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Some scenes were set in environments not typically featured in the series. The gunfire scene that takes place in a model railroading store was filmed on location at a store called Trainland in Lynbrook, New York.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Scenes set at the Averna Social Club, a meeting place for the Lupertazzi family in the context of the series, were filmed at a bar on Manhattan's Mulberry Street, New York City.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Janice and Bobby's residence, formerly owned by Johnny Sack, appears briefly in the episode; the scene was shot on location in North Caldwell, New Jersey.


title: The Blue Comet

text: The editing of "The Blue Comet" was done by William B. Stich in close consultation with Chase. During post-production, Chase selected the music for the episode, using previously recorded and released songs he saw fit for particular scenes and rearranged the filmed scenes into their final order.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Some filmed scenes were cut during editing. One involved the character Burt Gervasi telling Silvio Dante that Gervasi has begun cooperating with the Lupertazzi family, a scene that was meant as a setup for the murder that ended up as the episode's opening.


title: The Blue Comet

text: According to Nielsen ratings, "The Blue Comet" attracted an average of eight million American viewers when first broadcast in the United States on HBO on Sunday June 3, 2007. This was the show's second best ratings for the second part of the sixth season. Only the following week's series finale, which drew 11.9 million viewers, received higher numbers.


title: The Blue Comet

text: "The Blue Comet" received universal acclaim following its original broadcast and has since then frequently been named by critics as one of the best episodes of the series.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Much praise was directed at the episode's pacing and efficient build-up of suspense as well as the execution of the gunfire scenes toward the end of the episode. The episode was also praised for story elements concerning the escalation of the conflict between the rivaling Mafia families of the show and for the conclusion that it brought to the professional and personal relationship between the characters Tony Soprano and Jennifer Melfi.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Tom Biro of television webblog TV Squad was impressed with the episode because of "the way we're beginning to close the door on the lives of some people and get an idea on who will be around at the end and who won't" and because "we're treated to something thrilling not only in story, but visually as well." Biro awarded "The Blue Comet" the site's highest score of 7.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Geoffrey Dunn of "Metro Silicon Valley" stated that "Chase orchestrated the tension to a full crescendo."


title: The Blue Comet

text: Tim Goodman of the "San Francisco Chronicle" wrote "In this penultimate episode (which David Chase co-wrote), you can see the veil of surprise, of artistic feints, red herrings, theory-bating and any other cool narrative device totally vanish. It's as if things snuck up on us. Time is not just running out, it's almost all gone. Action needed to step forth and be counted. And so, true to form historically, the second to last episode had more than it's fair share of Big Moments." Goodman also called Bobby's death scene "priceless" and "Really well done."


title: The Blue Comet

text: Heather Havrilesky of "Salon" wrote "No sad music, no slow motion, no teary funeral, no time for condolences. When the blood-dimmed tide finally rolled in during last night's penultimate "Sopranos" episode, an eerie quiet settled in."


title: The Blue Comet

text: Matt Roush of "TV Guide" gave the episode a favorable review, writing "TV's landmark family crime drama went on a bloody rampage this week, just as we expected might happen in the next-to-last episode. [...] It was a sensational way to get us primed for Sunday's series finale."


title: The Blue Comet

text: Maureen Ryan of the "Chicago Tribune" wrote that "[The] second-to-last episode was certainly a classic" and praised it for its suspenseful storytelling.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Lisa Schwarzbaum of "Entertainment Weekly" offered "The Blue Comet" a favorable estimation, writing "Every moment in this bloody, bullet-riddled penultimate episode is about regular, familiar old ways that have now gone terribly, irreversibly awry. [...] In the last hours of this epic drama, every detail glitters with bitter meaning".


title: The Blue Comet

text: Matt Zoller Seitz of "Slant Magazine" described the episode as "the most atypically typical whack-fest the show has served up in quite some time" and "an orgy of Mafia mayhem". Zoller Seitz also praised the final therapy scene between Tony Soprano and Jennifer Melfi for its depth.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Alan Sepinwall of "The Star Ledger" called the penultimate episode "one of the best—and certainly one of the busiest—episodes in the history of "The Sopranos"," further describing it as "a superb, scary, thrilling episode." He also characterized Bobby's death scene as "a little masterpiece of editing".


title: The Blue Comet

text: Brian Tallerico of UGO called the episode "mind-blowing" and "intense", wrote that "[he] really didn't expect David Chase to take his show out with this much gunfire" and gave it an "A", the site's second-highest score.


title: The Blue Comet

text: Brian Zoromski of IGN awarded the episode a score of 9.1 out of 10, writing "Overall, 'Blue Comet' was a very well done, sometimes shocking, build-up to next week's series finale."


title: The Blue Comet

text: In 2007, Lorraine Bracco was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in "The Blue Comet" but lost to "Grey's Anatomy's" Katherine Heigl at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards. Bracco had previously been nominated three times in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for playing Jennifer Melfi.


title: The Blue Comet

text: In 2008, sound mixers Mathew Price, Kevin Burns and Todd Orr were nominated for a Cinema Audio Society Award in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing – Television.


title: Telenor

text: Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, but focused in Scandinavia and Asia. It has extensive broadband and TV distribution operations in four Nordic countries, and a 10-year-old research and business line for machine-to-machine technology. Telenor owns networks in 8 countries.


title: Telenor

text: Telenor is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and had a market capitalization in November 2015 of kr 225 billion, making it the third largest company listed on the OSE after DNB and Equinor (previously known as Statoil).


title: Telenor

text: Telenor started off in 1855, as a state-operated monopoly provider of telegraph services named Telegrafverket. The first Norwegian planning for a telegraph were launched within the Royal Norwegian Navy in 1848, but by 1852, the plans were public and the Parliament of Norway decided on a plan for constructing a telegraph system throughout the country. Televerket began by connecting Christiania (now Oslo) to Sweden (Norway was at that time in a union with Sweden) as well as Christiania and Drammen. By 1857, the telegraph had reached Bergen on the west coast via Sørlandet on the south coast, and by 1871, it had reached Kirkenes on the far north coast. Cable connections were opened to Denmark in 1867 and to Great Britain in 1869. The telegraph was most important for the merchant marine who now could use the electric telegraph to instantly communicate between different locations, and get a whole new advantage from better logistics.


title: Telenor

text: The first telephone service in Norway was offered in 1878, between Arendal and Tvedestrand, while the first international telephone service between Christiania and Stockholm was offered in 1893. Automation of the telephone system was started in 1920, and completed in 1985. In 1946, the first Telex service was offered, and in 1976, satellite telephone connections to the Norwegian merchant navy, at the time the largest in the world and to oil platforms in the North Sea were made operational. This is the start of Inmarsat Satellite Communication, and formed the first steps to digitalise the telephone network in 1980–1985.


title: Telenor

text: Televerket opened its first manual mobile telephone system in 1966, being replaced with the automatic NMT system in 1981, and the enhanced NMT-900 in 1986. Norway was the first country in to get an automatic mobile telephone system. The digital GSM system came into use in 1993. The third generation of mobile technology with UMTS system began full operation 2004. The Opera web browser was created in 1994 by Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner and Geir Ivarsøy during their tenure at Telenor, and Opera Software was established in 1995, when they went on to continue development of their browser. Telenor and Huawei conducted a successful test of 5G with 70 Gbit/s Speeds in Lab environment.


title: Telenor

text: The corporation changed its name to Televerket in 1969. In 1994, then the Norwegian Telecom was established as a public corporation. The telecom sector in Norway, was deregulated in stages between 1994 and 1998. An attempt to merge Telenor with its counterpart in Sweden, Telia, failed in 1999, while both still were owned by their respective governments. On 4 December, 2000, the company was partially privatised and listed on Oslo Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. The privatisation gave the company in new capital, with the Government of Norway owning 77.7% of the company. As of 2014, the Norwegian government holds 53.97% of the Telenor shares directly and another 4.66% through the Pension Fund.


title: Telenor

text: In the second half of the 1990s, Telenor began mobile operations in other countries: Russia (1994), Bangladesh, Greece, Ireland, Germany and Austria (1997), Ukraine (1998), Malaysia (1999), Denmark and Thailand (2000), Hungary (2002), Montenegro (2004), Pakistan (2004), Slovakia, Czech Republic, Serbia (2006), Myanmar (2014). Operations in Greece, Ireland and Germany were sold in 1999/2000, and profits were re-invested in emerging markets. In October 2005, Telenor acquired Vodafone Sweden, changing the name to Telenor in April 2006.


title: Telenor

text: Grameenphone was the first Telenor venture in the Asian telecom market and is now the largest mobile operator in Bangladesh, Telenor holds 55.8 per cent of the company. Grameenphone started trading its shares on the stock exchanges in Dhaka and Chittagong on 16 November 2009. The success of Grammeenphone lead to an increased focus on Asia, with successful entries into Malaysia, Thailand Pakistan, and Myanmar. Telenor also entered India, but had to withdraw from that market in 2017, with substantial losses.


title: Telenor

text: In March 2018, Telenor sold its business in Southeast Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, Montenegro and Serbia) to the PPF Group, for a sum of 2.8 billion euros in order to focus more on Asia and the Nordic market.


title: Telenor

text: On 21 June 2021, Axiata, Telenor and Digi agree to a potential merger of Celcom and Digi to create a stronger telco in Malaysia, which if approved will be completed by the end of 2022. This come after advanced discussions two months earlier. The deal was approved by both Celcom and Digi shareholders on 18 November 2022. The merged company is named CelcomDigi. At completion, Axiata and Telenor will hold equal ownership of 33.1% each in the newly merged company. The merger was completed on 30 November 2022 and the company began its operation the next day.


title: Telenor

text: On 22 November 2021, Telenor and Charoen Pokphand Group, officially announced they have agreed to explore a USD 8.6 billion merger plan between Thailand’s second and third largest telecom operators (by subscribers), True Corporation (TRUE) and Total Access Communication (DTAC) – the proposed merger is subject to regulatory approvals. The merger was "acknowledged" by the regulator NBTC at a meeting on October 20, 2022. It is rumoured that the company will be named True-D and will be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand on 1 February 2023.


title: Telenor

text: Telenor offers a full range of telecommunication services in the Nordic countries, including mobile and fixed telephony, Internet access and as well as cable TV access and content. Telenor still remains the largest actor in Norway despite competition from Telia and others.


title: Telenor

text: The group holds a prominent position in the Scandinavian Broadband and TV market, both with regard to the number of subscribers and to the extent of coverage. The TV distribution is branded Allente. Telenor is also a prominent actor in Asia with operations in five different Asian countries.


title: Telenor

text: At year-end 2021, Telenor held controlling interests in mobile operations in Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Thailand, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Pakistan. The Myanmar operation was announced sold in 2021, and the transaction completed in March 2022.


title: Telenor

text: Telenor Maritime Radio is responsible for the infrastructure for maritime radio communication in Norway, and also includes five staffed coast radio stations whose primary purpose is to monitor the maritime radio traffic (over e.g. VHF and MF bands) and to assist marine vessels in distress.


title: Telenor

text: Telenor Research is Telenor's corporate unit for research. The unit conducts research and delivers research based advice on topics such as market, technology, data analytics, innovation and organization. Telenor Research provides research based analysis and strategic recommendations to the Telenor Group, as well as to the individual Business Units across Telenor markets. Telenor Research's mission is to create business value for Telenor through applied research.


title: Telenor

text: Telenor started exploring the M2M potentials in 2000, when Telenor R&D established a project both aimed at technology, services and business models. This was further spurred when Telenor acquired the Swedish mobile company Europolitan, which contained parts of Vodafone's research capabilities in the area. As a result, two separate companies have been established: Telenor Connexion in Stockholm, Sweden (aiming higher up in the M2M value chain), and Telenor Objects (aiming further down in the value chain). The initiative has resulted in a substantial market share of Europe's fast-growing M2M market and is being used by Nissan in Europe to connect its customers' Electric Cars.


title: Telenor

text: Telenor's wholly owned subsidiary Canal Digital is a leading TV content distributor in the Nordic region with about 2.7 million customers in 2011. On 13 April, 2021, the merger of Canal Digital and Viasat in Allente was completed.


title: Telenor

text: Telenor also operates the national terrestrial broadcast network in Norway, through its subsidiary Norkring.


title: Telenor

text: Thor is a family of satellites owned by Telenor. On 11 February, 2008, the THOR 5 satellite was launched into geostationary orbit. The launch was provided by International Launch Services using a Proton-M launch vehicle built by Khrunichev Space Center. Telenor operates three satellites from its satellite control centre at Fornebu (THOR5, THOR6 & THOR7)


title: Telenor

text: Telenor has sold a number of divisions after its privatisation, including Bravida, the former installation division and Findexa, now part of Eniro that is responsible for telephone directories. The browser vendor Opera Software originated in Telenor's R&D department. Telenor formerly provided a range of services related to satellite communication, including voice, television and data before its Telenor Satellite Services division was purchased by Vizada in 2007.


title: Telenor

text: Telenor has also previously been active in a number of international markets as a mobile phone network operator:


"The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1935), by Walter Benjamin, is an essay of cultural criticism which proposes and explains that mechanical reproduction devalues the "aura" (uniqueness) of an "objet d'art". That in the age of mechanical reproduction and the absence of traditional and ritualistic value, the production of art would be inherently based upon the praxis of politics. Written during the Nazi régime (1933–1945) in Germany, Benjamin's essay presents a theory of art that is "useful for the formulation of revolutionary demands in the politics of art" in a mass-culture society.


title: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

text: The subject and themes of Benjamin's essay: the "aura" of a work of art; the artistic authenticity of the artefact; its cultural authority; and the aestheticization of politics for the production of art, became resources for research in the fields of art history and architectural theory, cultural studies and media theory.


text: The original essay, "The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility", was published in three editions: (i) the German edition, "Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit", in 1935; (ii) the French edition, "L'œuvre d'art à l'époque de sa reproduction mécanisée", in 1936; and (iii) the German revised edition in 1939, from which derive the contemporary English translations of the essay titled "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction".


text: In "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1935) Walter Benjamin presents the thematic basis for a theory of art by quoting the essay "The Conquest of Ubiquity" (1928), by Paul Valéry, to establish how works of art created and developed in past eras are different from contemporary works of art; that the understanding and treatment of art and of artistic technique must progressively develop in order to understand a work of art in the context of the modern time.


text: In the Preface, Benjamin presents Marxist analyses of the organisation of a capitalist society and establishes the place of the arts in the public sphere and in the private sphere. He then explains the socio-economic conditions to extrapolate developments that further the economic exploitation of the proletariat, whence arise the social conditions that would abolish capitalism. Benjamin explains that the reproduction of art is not an exclusively modern human activity, citing examples such as artists manually copying the work of a master artist. Benjamin reviews the historical and technological developments of the means for the mechanical reproduction of art, and their effects upon society's valuation of a work of art. These developments include the industrial arts of the foundry and the stamp mill in Ancient Greece; and the modern arts of woodcut relief-printing, engraving, etching, lithography, and photography, all of which are techniques of mass production that permit greater accuracy in reproducing a work of art.


text: The "aura" of a work of art derives from authenticity (uniqueness) and locale (physical and cultural); Benjamin explains that "even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: Its presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be" located. He writes that the "sphere of [artistic] authenticity is outside the technical [sphere]" of mechanised reproduction. Therefore, the original work of art is an "objet d'art" independent of the mechanically accurate reproduction; yet, by changing the cultural context of where the artwork is located, the existence of the mechanical copy diminishes the aesthetic value of the original work of art. In that way, the "aura"the unique aesthetic authority of a work of artis absent from the mechanically produced copy.


text: Regarding the social functions of an artefact, Benjamin said that "Works of art are received and valued on different planes. Two polar types stand out; with one, the accent is on the cult value; with the other, on the exhibition value of the work. Artistic production begins with ceremonial objects destined to serve in a cult. One may assume that what mattered was their existence, not their being on view." The cult value of religious art is that "certain statues of gods are accessible only to the priest in the cella; certain madonnas remain covered nearly all year round; certain sculptures on medieval cathedrals are invisible to the spectator on ground level." In practice, the diminished cult value of a religious artefact (an icon no longer venerated) increases the artefact's exhibition value as art created for the spectators' appreciation, because "it is easier to exhibit a portrait bust, that can be sent here and there [to museums], than to exhibit the statue of a divinity that has its fixed place in the interior of a temple."


text: The mechanical reproduction of a work of art voids its cult value, because removal from a fixed, private space (a temple) and placement in mobile, public space (a museum) allows exhibiting the art to many spectators. Further explaining the transition from cult value to exhibition value, Benjamin said that in "the photographic image, exhibition value, for the first time, shows its superiority to cult value." In emphasising exhibition value, "the work of art becomes a creation with entirely new functions," which "later may be recognized as incidental" to the original purpose for which the artist created the "Objet d'art".


text: As a medium of artistic production, the cinema (moving pictures) does not create cult value for the motion picture, itself, because "the audience's identification with the actor is really an identification with the camera. Consequently, the audience takes the position of the camera; its approach is that of testing. This is not the approach to which cult values may be exposed." Therefore, "the film makes the cult value recede into the background, not only by putting the public in the position of the critic, but also by the fact that, at the movies, this [critical] position requires no attention."


text: The social value of a work of art changes as a society change their value systems; thus the changes in artistic styles and in the cultural tastes of the public follow "the manner in which human sense-perception is organized [and] the [artistic] medium in which it is accomplished, [which are] determined not only by Nature, but by historical circumstances, as well." Despite the socio-cultural effects of mass-produced, reproduction-art upon the "aura" of the original work of art, Benjamin said that "the uniqueness of a work of art is inseparable from its being embedded in the fabric of tradition," which separates the original work of art from the reproduction. That the ritualization of the mechanical reproduction of art also emancipated "the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual," thereby increasing the social value of exhibiting works of art, which practice progressed from the private sphere of life, the owner's enjoyment of the aesthetics of the artefacts (usually High Art), to the public sphere of life, wherein the public enjoy the same aesthetics in an art gallery.


text: In the late-twentieth-century television program "Ways of Seeing" (1972), John Berger proceeded from and developed the themes of "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" (1935), to explain the contemporary representations of social class and racial caste inherent to the politics and production of art. That in transforming a work of art into a commodity, the modern means of artistic production and of artistic reproduction have destroyed the aesthetic, cultural, and political authority of art: "For the first time ever, images of art have become ephemeral, ubiquitous, insubstantial, available, valueless, free," because they are commercial products that lack the "aura" of authenticity of the original "objet d'art".


title: Sree Vishnu

text: Sree Vishnu (born Rudraraju Vishnuvardhan; 29 February 1984) is an Indian actor who works in Telugu films. After appearing in minor roles, Vishnu got his breakthrough with "Prema Ishq Kaadhal" (2013). He later starred in films such as "Second Hand" (2013), "Appatlo Okadundevadu" (2016), "Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi" (2017), "Mental Madhilo" (2017), "Brochevarevarura" (2019), and "Raja Raja Chora" (2021). In 2018, he was nominated for SIIMA Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film "Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi" (2017).


title: Sree Vishnu

text: Sree Vishnu was born in Antarvedipalem of East Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh. He graduated in Bachelor of Business Management (Honors) from Gandhi Institute of Technology and Management, Visakhapatnam. He worked as a web designer in Hyderabad till 2006, after which he quit to pursue a career in the film industry and started as an assistant director.


title: Sree Vishnu

text: While in college he was a member of the theatre group. He also played for the under-19 Andhra cricket team. Vishnu is a friend of fellow actor Nara Rohit and has collaborated with him in several films.


title: Sree Vishnu

text: Vishnu acted in several short films. One of them, "Bewarse" directed by Pavan Sadineni, became popular on YouTube. His first film roles were minor ones in "Baanam" and "Solo". In 2013, he was approached by Pavan Sadineni, for a lead role in the film "Prema Ishq Kaadhal". In 2014, he acted in Nara Rohit's "Prathinidhi" as a home minister's son. In a review of "Second Hand" (2013) by "The Times of India", the reviewer wrote that "Vishnu sparkles with his dialogue delivery".


title: Reservation against Cancellation

text: A Reservation Against Cancellation (RAC) is a type of ticket that can be sold for travel on the Indian Railways. Although it ensures certainty of travel, it does not guarantee a berth. A berth will be allocated to the ticket who reserves an RAC ticket if passengers who already have a confirmed ticket do not board before the train departure or get their confirmed ticket cancelled.


title: Reservation against Cancellation

text: Generally, RAC/WL tickets will have two numbers - RAC8/RAC2, WL20/WL15, WL12/RAC2, etc. The first number shows the status of the ticket at the time of booking. The second number after the slash (/) shows the current status of the ticket. So, RAC8/RAC2 means that when the ticket is purchased, it was the 8th such ticket under RAC category, which has moved 6 places after 6 cancellations. It can be assumed that it was the 8th ticket in the queue and is now the 2nd. So having a RAC ticket means that it is possible to travel without confirmed berth allocation.


title: Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

text: Apollo : A Space Age Childhood is a 2022 American adult animated coming of age drama film set during the events preceding the Apollo 11 Moon landing, loosely based on the childhood of writer, director, and producer Richard Linklater. It presents a fictional tale of a fourth-grader who becomes the first person to land on the Moon and stars Glen Powell, Jack Black, Zachary Levi and Josh Wiggins.


title: Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

text: "Apollo : A Space Age Childhood" premiered at South by Southwest on March 13, 2022, and was released in select theaters on March 24, 2022, before premiering on Netflix on April 1. It received positive reviews, with praise for its writing, visuals, and nostalgic feel.


title: Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

text: The film tells the story of the first Moon landing in the summer of 1969 from two interwoven perspectives. It captures both the astronaut and mission control view of the triumphant moment, and the lesser-seen bottom up perspective of what it was like from an excited kid's perspective, living near NASA but mostly watching it on TV like hundreds of millions of others. It's ultimately both an exacting re-creation of this special moment in history and a kid's fantasy about being plucked from his average life in suburbia to secretly train for a covert mission to the Moon.


title: Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

text: Richard Linklater originally got the idea for the film in 2004. In February 2018, it was announced Richard Linklater would direct the film from a screenplay he wrote. In July 2020, it was announced Glen Powell, Jack Black, Zachary Levi, Josh Wiggins, Milo Coy, Lee Eddy, Bill Wise, Natalie L'Amoreaux, Jessica Brynn Cohen, Sam Chipman and Danielle Guilbot had joined the cast of the film, with Netflix distributing.


title: Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

text: Richard Linklater was planning to create the film in live action but instead decided to go with an animation style influenced by Saturday morning cartoons because of the playful nature of animation. Home movies created in Houston, Texas during the 1960s were used for research, some were also included in the film.


title: Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

text: Principal photography began in February 2020 at Robert Rodriguez's Troublemaker Studios in Austin, Texas, and wrapped in March 2020. Linklater spent much of the time editing the film during the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

text: Parts of the filming were done in front of the largest green screen in Texas, and everything the characters did not interact with or touch was animated in post-production. Parts of the film, which were shot in live-action, were animated during post-production using a technique similar to the rotoscoping used in Linklater's "Waking Life" (2001) and "A Scanner Darkly" (2006).


title: Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

text: "Apollo : A Space Age Childhood" premiered as a headliner at the 2022 South by Southwest film festival on March 13, 2022. When the official trailer was released, the release date was announced for April 1, 2022, which is when it premiered on Netflix. The film was screened in select theaters on March 24, 2022.


title: Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood

text: Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 91% of 133 sampled critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 8/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "The sweetly nostalgic "Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood" finds Richard Linklater reusing visual and thematic ingredients in a deeply personal, freshly inspired way." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews."


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: The Sapienza University of Rome (), also called simply Sapienza or the University of Rome, and formally the Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a public research university located in Rome, Italy. It is one of the largest European universities by enrollments and one of the oldest in history, founded in 1303. The university is one of the most prestigious Italian universities and in the world, commonly ranking first in national rankings and in Southern Europe. In 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022 it ranked first in the world for classics and ancient history.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: Most of the Italian ruling class studied at the Sapienza. The Sapienza has educated numerous notable alumni, including many Nobel laureates, Presidents of the European Parliament and European Commissioners, heads of several nations, notable religious figures, scientists and astronauts. In September 2018, it was included in the top 100 of the QS World University Rankings Graduate Employability Ranking and on 2022 it was ranked best Italian University according to ARWU.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: The Sapienza University of Rome was founded in 1303 with the Papal bull "In Supremae praeminentia Dignitatis", issued on 20 April 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII, as a "Studium" for ecclesiastical studies more under his control than the universities of Bologna and Padua, making it the first pontifical university.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: In 1431 Pope Eugene IV completely reorganized the studium with the bull "In supremae", in which he granted masters and students alike the broadest possible privileges and decreed that the university should include the four schools of Law, Medicine, Philosophy and Theology. He introduced a new tax on wine to raise funds for the university; the money was used to buy a palace which later housed the Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza church.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: However, the university's days of splendour came to an end during the sack of Rome in 1527, when the studium was closed, some of the professors having been killed and others dispersed. Pope Paul III restored the university shortly after his election to the pontificate in 1534.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: In the 1650s the university became known as Sapienza, meaning wisdom, a title it retains. In 1703, with his private funds, Pope Clement XI purchased some land on the Janiculum, where he created a botanical garden, which soon became the most celebrated in Europe through the labours of the Trionfetti brothers. The first complete history of the Sapienza University was written in 1803–1806 by Filippo Maria Renazzi.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: University students were newly animated during the 19th-century Italian revival. In 1870, "La Sapienza" stopped being the papal university and became the university of the capital of Italy. In 1935 the new university campus, planned by Marcello Piacentini, was completed.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: On 15 January 2008 the Vatican cancelled a planned visit to La Sapienza University by Pope Benedict XVI who was to speak at the university ceremony launching the 2008 academic year due to protests by some students and professors. The title of the speech would have been 'The Truth Makes Us Good and Goodness is Truth'. Some students and professors protested in reaction to a 1990 speech that Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) gave in which he, in their opinion, endorsed the actions of the church against Galileo in 1633.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: Sapienza University has many campuses in Rome, but its main campus is the "Città Universitaria" (University city), which covers near the Roma Tiburtina Station. The university has satellite campuses outside Rome, the main one of which is in Latina.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: In 2011 a project was launched to build a campus with residence halls near Pietralata station, in collaboration with the Lazio region. To cope with the ever-increasing number of applicants, the Rector also approved a new plan to expand the "Città Universitaria", reallocate offices and enlarge faculties, as well as create new campuses for hosting local and foreign students.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: The Alessandrina University Library ("Biblioteca Universitaria Alessandrina"), built in 1667 by Pope Alexander VII, is the main library housing 1.5 million volumes; it has some important collections including "collezione ciceroniana" and "Fondo Festa".


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: Since the 2011 reform, Sapienza University of Rome has eleven faculties and 65 departments. Today Sapienza, with 140,000 students and 8,000 among academic and technical and administrative staff, is the largest university in Italy. The university has significant research programmes in the fields of engineering, natural sciences, biomedical sciences and humanities.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: As of the 2016 "Academic Ranking of World Universities" (ARWU), Sapienza is positioned within the 151–200 group of universities and among the top 3% of universities in the world.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: In 2016, the Center for World University Rankings ranked the Sapienza University of Rome as the 90th in the world and the top in Italy in its "World University Rankings".


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: According to the QS Graduate Employability Ranking 2020, Sapienza places first amongst Italian universities for the indicator on Alumni Outcomes thanks to the number of university graduates employed in large companies and in managerial positions.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: In 2022, Sapienza University of Rome ranked 177th in the world in "QS World University Rankings". The subject Classics and Ancient history of Sapienza is ranked the 1st in the world by "QS World University Rankings" by subject. As the same ranking, the subject Archaeology ranks the 10th. The subject Physics & Astronomy of Sapienza is ranked 36th, Arts and Humanities is ranked 39th, and Psychology is ranked 70th.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: To cope with the large demand for admission to the university courses, some faculties hold a series of entrance examinations. The entrance test often decides which candidates will have access to the undergraduate course. For some faculties, the entrance test is only a mean through which the administration acknowledges the students' level of preparation. Students that do not pass the test can still enroll in their chosen degree courses but have to pass an additional exam during their first year.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: Among the prominent scholars who have taught at the Sapienza University of Rome are architects Ernesto Basile and Bruno Zevi; chemist Emanuele Paternò; jurists Antonio Salandra, Sabino Cassese and Giuliano Amato; mathematician Vito Volterra; pharmacologist and Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine Daniel Bovet; chemist and Nobel Laureate Giulio Natta; philosophers Luigi Ferri and Augusto Del Noce; physicist and Nobel Laureate in Physics Enrico Fermi; political scientist Roberto Forges Davanzati.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: The university entered into a collaboration with the Bahraini government and established the King Hamad Chair in Interfaith Dialogue and Peaceful co-existence in November 2018. The chair was established for entailing direct funding from the Bahraini government to La Sapienza.


title: Sapienza University of Rome

text: In July 2021 Italian MP Laura Boldrini and chairwoman of the Standing Committee on Human Rights wrote a letter criticizing the collaboration. In her letter, Boldrini stressed the human rights situation in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The letter was a follow-up to a hearing that took place on 14 June 2021, addressing the systematic violation of human rights, the death penalty, and the condition of detention of the prisoners of conscience in the country. Boldrini drew a contrast between the values of Bahrain and that of a democracy, like Italy.


title: Work Later, Drink Now

text: Work Later, Drink Now () is a South Korean web series based on the Kakao Webtoon's "Drinker City Women" by Mikkang, starring Lee Sun-bin, Han Sun-hwa, Jung Eun-ji, and Choi Si-won. The first season aired on TVING from October 22 to November 26, 2021 for 12 episodes. The second season premiered on TVING on December 9, 2022.


title: Work Later, Drink Now

text: The series re-aired on television network tvN from February 3 to 18, 2022, airing every Wednesday and Thursday at 22:30 (KST) for 5 episodes.


title: Work Later, Drink Now

text: "Work Later, Drink Now" tells the story of three women whose belief in life is one drink at the end of the day.


title: Work Later, Drink Now

text: On March 9, 2022, it was confirmed that the series will aired at the Cannes International Series Festival 2022 from April 1–6, 2022.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: Troy Van Leeuwen (born January 5, 1970) is an American musician and record producer. He is best known as a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist in the rock band Queens of the Stone Age, with whom he has recorded four studio albums. Joining the band in 2002, he is the second-longest-serving member of the band, after founding member Josh Homme. Leeuwen is also a member of the supergroup Gone Is Gone and has fronted his own projects, Enemy and Sweethead.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: Originally a member of Failure, Leeuwen joined the alternative rock supergroup A Perfect Circle in 1999, contributing to their first two studio albums, "Mer de Noms" (1999) and "Thirteenth Step" (2003), before joining Queens of the Stone Age to tour in support of their third studio album, "Songs for the Deaf" (2002). Leeuwen has remained in the band ever since, recording four albums with the band to date: "Lullabies to Paralyze" (2005), "Era Vulgaris" (2007), "...Like Clockwork" (2013) and "Villains" (2017).


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: Leeuwen has contributed to several other Queens of the Stone Age-related side-projects, including The Desert Sessions, Mondo Generator, Eagles of Death Metal and The Gutter Twins. In 2016, Leeuwen was a member of Iggy Pop's touring band, supporting his album, "Post Pop Depression" (2016), recorded with his Queens of the Stone Age bandmates Josh Homme and Dean Fertita.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: In 2022, while on a hiatus from Queens of Stone Age activities, Leeuwen became the touring guitarist for the punk band The Damned, filling in for founding member Captain Sensible. In October 2022, he replaced Dave Navarro in the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction for the duration of their tour with the Smashing Pumpkins, with Navarro struggling to recover from long COVID.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: Van Leeuwen has a Dutch surname (he has ancestors from the Netherlands and has described himself as a third-generation American). He became interested in music at an early age and his dad would play early rock and roll records such as Chuck Berry. His first big influence in learning how to play rock came through listening to Led Zeppelin records. Playing drums initially, Van Leeuwen sought to imitate Zeppelin drummer, John Bonham, but later switched to guitar and discovered that he had an aptitude for it. He cites Jimmy Page as a big influence:


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: In the late 1980s, Van Leeuwen played in Jester, a successful southern California band fronted by vocalist Eric Book. Jester released an EP, which is the earliest and most rare recording of a 16-year-old Van Leeuwen. He then played in a small band called Little Boots, with which he recorded a number of demos and played a few shows before the band's breakup. His next band was 60 Cycle, which released their debut "Pretender" in 1995, and their self-titled album the following year. It was during his time in 60 Cycle that Van Leeuwen met Kellii Scott, and the two started working on a project (later to be known as Enemy). Van Leeuwen went on to play in Failure. The band released three records and didn't enjoy any commercial success, but was praised by critics as a talented and almost revolutionary group. It was during a tour with Failure when Van Leeuwen met former Kyuss guitarist Josh Homme, who was presently playing rhythm guitar with The Screaming Trees. After the breakup of Failure, Van Leeuwen became a session musician and recording engineer, working with groups such as Orgy, Crazy Town, Coal Chamber and KoRn.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: It was during his time as a session musician that Van Leeuwen met Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan, who offered him a spot in his and Billy Howerdel's new band, A Perfect Circle. The band played their first show at LA's Viper Club Reception on August 15, 1999. After playing shows in Los Angeles, the band entered the studio to begin work on their debut album, "Mer de Noms". The album was released on May 23, 2000, making it the highest ever debut for a new rock band, selling over 188,000 copies in its first week, and appearing at number four on the "Billboard" 200. Van Leeuwen toured extensively with the band, initially as the opening act for Nine Inch Nails, followed a number of headlining tours around the world. Van Leeuwen recorded guitar parts on only three tracks of A Perfect Circle's second album, "Thirteenth Step", before successfully auditioning for a spot in Josh Homme's Queens of the Stone Age.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: After outperforming Jeordie White and others in the audition, Van Leeuwen was welcomed as the band's second guitarist for their "Songs for the Deaf" tour. Besides playing guitar, Van Leeuwen also performed on lap steel guitar, keyboards, backing vocals and occasionally bass guitar. Due to the band's schedule, Van Leeuwen had only one week to learn 30 songs before the tour began. For the European leg of the album's supporting tour, Dave Grohl left to return to his main band Foo Fighters. He was replaced with former Danzig drummer Joey Castillo. "Songs for the Deaf" was a critical and commercial success, and the singles "No One Knows" and "Go with the Flow" became hits on both radio and MTV. The tour culminated in a number of headline dates in Australia in January 2004.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: Van Leeuwen's first recording with QOTSA was "Lullabies to Paralyze". The band entered the studio with long-time collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Alain Johannes, who replaced Nick Oliveri on the album. Van Leeuwen aimed to fill in some of the gaps in the music where he felt the sound could be expanded through atmospheric and ambient textures made by guitar, lap steel and piano. The album (the title of which is taken from a lyric in "Mosquito Song" from Songs for the Deaf) featured several guest appearances, most notably ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons, who performed backing vocals and lead guitar on "Burn the Witch" and the ZZ Top cover, "Precious and Grace". Despite reportedly turning down an invitation to remain with the band, Mark Lanegan recorded vocals on new tracks, and appeared with the band on the supporting tour when scheduling and his health permitted. The album was leaked onto the internet in February 2005, and was aired by Australian radio on March 3, 2005, as an unsubstantiated 'World Premiere'. The album was then officially released on March 22, 2005, in the US, and debuted as number 5 on the Billboard Music Chart: the greatest initial success of any QOTSA record to date. On November 22, 2005, the band released a live album/DVD set called "Over the Years and Through the Woods", which featured a live concert filmed in London, and bonus features (including rare videos dating from 1998 to 2005).


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: After touring to support the album, the band headed back into the studio in July 2006. A year later, Van Leeuwen reported that the band had written new material that was "still in its infancy", which Homme later suggested might be released as an EP. This matured into their 2007 release "Era Vulgaris", to which Van Leeuwen contributed a significant amount of material.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: Several sites reported that the album would include many guest vocalists, including Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails, Julian Casablancas from The Strokes, Mark Lanegan, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, and wittingly, deceased humorist Erma Bombeck. Josh Homme described the record as "dark, hard, and electrical, sort of like a construction worker". "Era Vulgaris" was completed in early April 2007 and released in June 2007 in the US The tracks "Sick, Sick, Sick" and "3's & 7's" were released as singles in early June. Bassist Michael Shuman (Wires on Fire, Jubilee) and keyboardist Dean Fertita (The Waxwings, The Raconteurs) took over touring duties from Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider respectively.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: Following a subsequent interview with Homme, "The Globe and Mail" reported that the EP "could contain as many as 10 B-sides recorded during the "Era Vulgaris" sessions." It was since reported however that the EP would not be released due to the record label's unwillingness to put out another QOTSA release at this time. In a September issue of NME Magazine, Homme stated that he was going back to make the new QOTSA and Desert Sessions records, along with remastering the 1998 (QOTSA) self-titled album for an early 2009 release. Homme also stated Queens' new album is going to be a "desert orgy in the dark".


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: In 2013, QOTSA released ...Like Clockwork, Van Leeuwen's third full album with the band. On the album, Van Leeuwen plays guitar, percussion, twelve-string guitar, twelve-string slide guitar, lap steel, synthesizers, acoustic guitar and provides vocals. The album was the first QOTSA album to reach number one on the "Billboard" 200. It also reached number two on the UK Albums Chart and was nominated for three Grammy Awards, including Best Rock Album.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: In 2001, Van Leeuwen joined the supergroup Revenge of the Triads with Nine Inch Nails keyboardist Charlie Clouser and Snake River Conspiracy bassist/producer Jason Slater. Van Leeuwen, who acted the band's main vocalist, described the band as a mixture of all three of the members influences, and stated that the band did not fit in any specific genre. The band was signed to LMC Records, an independent label distributed by MCA Records, and worked on a debut album before breaking up almost exactly a year later due to problems with LMC not paying the band and the members' losing interest in the project. The album remains unfinished and unreleased.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: In 2005, Van Leeuwen released "Hooray For Dark Matter" with his side project Enemy. The album features bassist Eddie Nappi from the Mark Lanegan Band, and his former bandmate from Failure Kelli Scott on drums (who had replaced Quicksand's Alan Cage). Van Leeuwen describes Enemy as his "big, dumb rock trio", and "a vehicle driven by pure and utter disgust of mediocrity and general frustration with the human condition". During Van Leeuwen's time with A Perfect Circle, Enemy recorded a five track demo in what he called "Guerilla-style recording" at various studios. The band (unusually) offered to be signed by a record label by advertising for the princely sum of $250,000 on eBay. Enemy was ultimately signed by Control Group/TCG, who released their debut album. After joining the Queens of the Stone Age, Van Leeuwen has also contributed music to band members' various side projects: such as The Desert Sessions, Mondo Generator, Eagles of Death Metal, The Gutter Twins and Mark Lanegan's solo album "Bubblegum". After the "Era Vulgaris" tour's end, Van Leeuwen began touring with his current side project, Sweethead.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: In 2016, Van Leeuwen toured with Iggy Pop, Josh Homme, Matt Helders and Matt Sweeney in support of their album "Post Pop Depression". He also formed Gone Is Gone, a supergroup also consisting of Troy Sanders, the singer and bass player from Mastodon, Tony Hajjar, the drummer for At the Drive-In, and Mike Zarin, a multi-instrumentalist who appeared with Van Leeuwen on Sweethead's "Descent To The Surface". An EP will be released in the summer of 2016, and the band is developing a studio album for release later in the year. In 2017, he contributed guitar parts to Chelsea Wolfe's fifth studio album, Hiss Spun.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: In 2022, Van Leeuwen took on touring guitarist duties for The Damned on the US dates of their tour, temporarily replacing Captain Sensible.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: According to Van Leeuwen, Queens of the Stone Age (and Homme in particular) have a "veil of secrecy" regarding their exact setup, in order to maintain a unique guitar sound. However, over time Van Leeuwen eventually disclosed some information regarding his gear. When he first joined the band in 2002 for the "Songs for the Deaf" promotional tour, he leaned toward duplicating Josh Homme's setup, favoring Ampeg guitar combos and specific pedals. All of his guitars were fitted with a variety of Seymour Duncan pickups, most often Customs or JB. During the "Lullabies to Paralyze" period, both Homme and Van Leeuwen favored semi-hollow guitars with P-90 pickups due to their natural resonance. To prohibit "bad feedback", he stuffed pieces of foam into the F-holes of some. On "Era Vulgaris" he switched to Fender Telecasters and Jaguars, recorded through small, cheap amps. His guitars are tuned in standard 440, mostly E, and C, though one-off tunings have appeared on a few songs.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: He is a steady user of Mastery Bridges, utilizing their Offset and Tele models in addition to the Offset Vibrato. Troy has also said that his live rig is considerably different than what he uses during recording, due to the fact that he considers most of his vintage equipment too unreliable for touring. He uses custom gauge Dunlop 11's for standard tuning and 12's for lower tunings. Van Leeuwen uses Silver Hercos .75mm picks, the same picks Jimmy Page uses, and got a signature version of them in early 2017.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: In addition to guitar and lap steel, Troy has also played a Clavia Nord Electro keyboard and later a Moog Little Phattie synthesizer during live performances and recordings. After Nick Oliveri's departure from the band, Troy also played an Epiphone Rivoli bass or a Custom Yamaha SA-bass during several Queens of the Stone Age recordings and the tour following "Lullabies to Paralyze", sharing bass playing duties with Alain Johannes, as well as using a blue 1967 Mosrite Ventures bass in the "Little Sister" video. Following "Era Vulgaris" in which bassist Michael Shuman and keyboardist/guitarist Dean Fertita were hired, Troy went back to being primarily the lead guitarist live—although he also occasionally contributes with synths, lap steel, and back up vocals.


title: Troy Van Leeuwen

text: Van Leeuwen has appeared on a wide range of albums from various bands and performers from many genres.


title: Höðr

text: Höðr ( ; often anglicized as Hod, Hoder, or Hodur) is a god in Norse mythology. The blind son of Odin and Frigg, he is tricked and guided by Loki into shooting a mistletoe arrow which was to slay the otherwise invulnerable Baldr.


title: Höðr

text: According to the "Prose Edda" and the "Poetic Edda", the goddess Frigg, Baldr's mother, made everything in existence swear never to harm Baldr, except for the mistletoe, which she found too unimportant to ask (alternatively, which she found too young to demand an oath from). The gods amused themselves by trying weapons on Baldr and seeing them fail to do any harm. Loki, the mischief-maker, upon finding out about Baldr's one weakness, made a spear from mistletoe, and helped Höðr shoot it at Baldr. In reaction to this, Odin and the giantess Rindr gave birth to Váli, who grew to adulthood within a day and slew Höðr.


title: Höðr

text: The Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus recorded an alternative version of this myth in his "Gesta Danorum". In this version, the mortal hero Høtherus and the demi-god "Balderus" compete for the hand of Nanna. Ultimately, Høtherus slays Balderus.


title: Höðr

text: According to scholar Andy Orchard, the theonym "Hǫðr" can be translated as 'warrior'. Jan de Vries and Vladimir Orel write that is comparable with Old Norse "hǫð" ('war, slaughter'), and related to Old English "heaðu-deór" ('brave, stout in war'), from Proto-Germanic "*haþuz" ('battle'; cf. Old High German "hadu"-, Old Saxon "hathu"-"," Old Frisian "-had", Burgundian *"haþus").


title: Höðr

text: Höðr is not mentioned again until the prelude to Baldr's death is described. All things except the mistletoe (believed to be harmless) have sworn an oath not to harm Baldr, so the Æsir throw missiles at him for sport.


title: Höðr

text: The "Gylfaginning" does not say what happens to Höðr after this. In fact it specifically states that Baldr cannot be avenged, at least not immediately.


title: Höðr

text: It does seem, however, that Höðr ends up in Hel one way or another for the last mention of him in "Gylfaginning" is in the description of the post-Ragnarök world.


title: Höðr

text: None of those kennings, however, are actually found in surviving skaldic poetry. Neither are Snorri's kennings for Váli, which are also of interest in this context.


title: Höðr

text: It is clear from this that Snorri was familiar with the role of Váli as Höðr's slayer, even though he does not relate that myth in the "Gylfaginning" prose. Some scholars have speculated that he found it distasteful, since Höðr is essentially innocent in his version of the story.


title: Höðr

text: Höðr is referred to several times in the Poetic Edda, always in the context of Baldr's death. The following strophes are from "Völuspá".


title: Höðr

text: This account seems to fit well with the information in the Prose Edda, but here the role of Baldr's avenging brother is emphasized.


title: Höðr

text: The poem "Vafþrúðnismál" informs us that the gods who survive Ragnarök are Viðarr, Váli, Móði and Magni with no mention of Höðr and Baldr.


title: Höðr

text: Höðr is not mentioned again by name in the Eddas. He is, however, referred to in "Völuspá in skamma".


title: Höðr

text: The name of Höðr occurs several times in skaldic poetry as a part of warrior-kennings. Thus "Höðr brynju", "Höðr of byrnie", is a warrior and so is "Höðr víga", "Höðr of battle". Some scholars have found the fact that the poets should want to compare warriors with Höðr to be incongruous with Snorri's description of him as a blind god, unable to harm anyone without assistance. It is possible that this indicates that some of the poets were familiar with other myths about Höðr than the one related in "Gylfaginning" – perhaps some where Höðr has a more active role. On the other hand, the names of many gods occur in kennings and the poets might not have been particular in using any god name as a part of a kenning.


title: Höðr

text: In "Gesta Danorum" Hotherus is a human hero of the Danish and Swedish royal lines. He is gifted in swimming, archery, fighting and music and Nanna, daughter of King Gevarus falls in love with him. But at the same time Balderus, son of Othinus, has caught sight of Nanna bathing and fallen violently in love with her. He resolves to slay Hotherus, his rival.


title: Höðr

text: Out hunting, Hotherus is led astray by a mist and meets wood-maidens who control the fortunes of war. They warn him that Balderus has designs on Nanna but also tell him that he shouldn't attack him in battle since he is a demigod. Hotherus goes to consult with King Gevarus and asks him for his daughter. The king replies that he would gladly favour him but that Balderus has already made a like request and he does not want to incur his wrath.


title: Höðr

text: Gevarus tells Hotherus that Balderus is invincible but that he knows of one weapon which can defeat him, a sword kept by Mimingus, the satyr of the woods. Mimingus also has another magical artifact, a bracelet that increases the wealth of its owner. Riding through a region of extraordinary cold in a carriage drawn by reindeer, Hotherus captures the satyr with a clever ruse and forces him to yield his artifacts.


title: Höðr

text: Hearing about Hotherus's artifacts, Gelderus, king of Saxony, equips a fleet to attack him. Gevarus warns Hotherus of this and tells him where to meet Gelderus in battle. When the battle is joined, Hotherus and his men save their missiles while defending themselves against those of the enemy with a testudo formation. With his missiles exhausted, Gelderus is forced to sue for peace. He is treated mercifully by Hotherus and becomes his ally. Hotherus then gains another ally with his eloquent oratory by helping King Helgo of Hålogaland win a bride.


title: Höðr

text: Meanwhile, Balderus enters the country of king Gevarus armed and sues for Nanna. Gevarus tells him to learn Nanna's own mind. Balderus addresses her with cajoling words but is refused. Nanna tells him that because of the great difference in their nature and stature, since he is a demigod, they are not suitable for marriage.


title: Höðr

text: As news of Balderus's efforts reaches Hotherus, he and his allies resolve to attack Balderus. A great naval battle ensues where the gods fight on the side of Balderus. Thoro in particular shatters all opposition with his mighty club. When the battle seems lost, Hotherus manages to hew Thoro's club off at the haft and the gods are forced to retreat. Gelderus perishes in the battle and Hotherus arranges a funeral pyre of vessels for him. After this battle Hotherus finally marries Nanna.


title: Höðr

text: Balderus is not completely defeated and shortly afterwards returns to defeat Hotherus in the field. But Balderus's victory is without fruit for he is still without Nanna. Lovesick, he is harassed by phantoms in Nanna's likeness and his health deteriorates so that he cannot walk but has himself drawn around in a cart.


title: Höðr

text: After a while Hotherus and Balderus have their third battle and again Hotherus is forced to retreat. Weary of life because of his misfortunes, he plans to retire and wanders into the wilderness. In a cave he comes upon the same maidens he had met at the start of his career. Now they tell him that he can defeat Balderus if he gets a taste of some extraordinary food which had been devised to increase the strength of Balderus.


title: Höðr

text: Encouraged by this, Hotherus returns from exile and once again meets Balderus in the field. After a day of inconclusive fighting, he goes out during the night to spy on the enemy. He finds where Balderus's magical food is prepared and plays the lyre for the maidens preparing it. While they don't want to give him the food, they bestow on him a belt and a girdle which secure victory.


title: Höðr

text: Heading back to his camp, Hotherus meets Balderus and plunges his sword into his side. After three days, Balderus dies from his wound. Many years later, Bous, the son of Othinus and Rinda, avenges his brother by killing Hotherus in a duel.


title: Höðr

text: There are also two lesser-known DanishLatin chronicles, the "Chronicon Lethrense" and the "Annales Lundenses", of which the latter is included in the former. These two sources provide a second euhemerized account of Höðr's slaying of Balder.


title: Höðr

text: It relates that Hother was the king of the Saxons, son of Hothbrod, the daughter of Hadding. Hother first slew Othen's (i.e., Odin's) son Balder in battle and then chased Othen and Thor. Finally, Othen's son Both killed Hother. Hother, Balder, Othen, and Thor were incorrectly considered to be gods.


title: Höðr

text: According to the Swedish mythologist and romantic poet Viktor Rydberg, the story of Baldr's death was taken from Húsdrápa, a poem composed by Ulfr Uggason around 990 AD at a feast thrown by the Icelandic Chief Óláfr Höskuldsson to celebrate the finished construction of his new home, Hjarðarholt, the walls of which were filled with symbolic representations of the Baldr myth among others. Rydberg suggested that Höðr was depicted with eyes closed and Loki guiding his aim to indicate that Loki was the true cause of Baldr's death and Höðr was only his "blind tool." Rydberg theorized that the author of the "Gylfaginning" then mistook the description of the symbolic artwork in the Húsdrápa as the actual tale of Baldr's death.


title: Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

text: The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah () was an event that took place during the time of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was a pivotal treaty between Muhammad, representing the state of Medina, and the Qurayshi tribe of Mecca in January 628 (corresponding to Dhu al-Qi'dah, AH 6). It helped to decrease tension between the two cities, affirmed peace for a period of 10 years, and authorised Muhammad's followers to return the following year in a peaceful pilgrimage, later known as The First Pilgrimage.


title: Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

text: Muhammad had a premonition that he entered Mecca and did tawaf around the Ka'bah. His companions in Madinah were delighted when he told them about it. They all revered Mecca and the Kaaba and they learned to do tawaf there. In 628, Muhammad and a group of 1,400 Muslims marched peacefully without arms towards Mecca, in an attempt to perform the Umrah (pilgrimage). They were dressed as pilgrims, and brought sacrificial animals, hoping that the Quraish would honour the Arabian custom of allowing pilgrims to enter the city. The Muslims had left Medina in a state of "ihram", a premeditated spiritual and physical state which restricted their freedom of action and prohibited fighting. This, along with the paucity of arms carried, indicated that the pilgrimage was always intended to be peaceful.


title: Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

text: Muhammad and his followers camped outside of Mecca, and Muhammad met with Meccan emissaries who wished to prevent the pilgrims' entry into Mecca. After negotiations, the two parties decided to resolve the matter through diplomacy rather than warfare, and a treaty was drawn up.


title: Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

text: After the treaty was signed, some of the pilgrims objected to Muhammad giving in on most points to the Quraysh, use the name of Allah and call himself the Messenger of God. That led to Umar questioning points of the treaty. After that he allegedly used to regret that he used to talk to the Prophet in the manner that he had never done before. This was recorded in Sahih Muslim.


title: Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

text: The Treaty is very important in Islam, as it was an indirect recognition of the Islamic state in Medina. The treaty also allowed the Muslims who were still in Mecca to practice Islam publicly. Further, as there was no longer a constant struggle between the Muslims and the polytheists, many people saw Islam in a new light, which led to many more people accepting Islam. In addition, the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah paved the way for the conquering of other tribes, through the use of treaties with the Muslims. The treaty also serves as an example that Islam was not merely spread with the sword as Muhammad had an army that could have attacked Mecca, but Muhammad chose to make a peace treaty. After the polytheists broke the treaty, he marched on Makkah and conquered the polytheists.


title: Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

text: The oath that Muhammad took "under the tree" at al-Hudaybiyyah made him a true ruler over parts of western Arabia. In early Islamic Egypt, having a forefather who had "pledged allegiance under the tree" conferred considerable social prestige.


title: Treaty of Hudaybiyyah

text: A verse of the Quran was revealed about the treaty, which means, "Verily we have granted thee a manifest victory" (Quran 48:1).


title: Les Dawson

text: Leslie Dawson Jr. (2 February 1931 – 10 June 1993) was an English comedian, actor, writer, and presenter, who is best remembered for his deadpan style, curmudgeonly persona and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife.


title: Les Dawson

text: Les Dawson was born at Collyhurst, Manchester, on 2 February 1931, the only child of bricklayer Leslie Dawson, Sr. (2 August 1905 - 10 April 1970) and Julia Nolan (14 January 1908 - 29 September 1957) who was of Irish descent. His first job was in the parcels department of the Manchester Co-op. He worked briefly as a journalist on the "Bury Times".


title: Les Dawson

text: Early in life, Dawson wrote poetry and kept it secret. It was not expected that someone of his working class background would have literary ambitions. In a BBC Television documentary, he spoke of his love for canonical figures in English literature, in particular the 19th-century essayist Charles Lamb, whose florid style influenced Dawson's. He did, moreover, appear with The Nelson Players in Nelson, Lancashire as Mr. Justice Wainwright and Carter, chief clerk to Sir Wilfrid Robarts Q.C. in Agatha Christie's play "Witness for the Prosecution" in December 1956.


title: Les Dawson

text: Dawson claimed in his autobiography that he began entertaining as a pianist in a Parisian brothel. Making a living as a pianist evolved into comedy when he got laughs by playing wrong notes and complaining to the audience. He made his television debut on the talent show "Opportunity Knocks" in 1967 and worked as a comic on British television for the rest of his life.


title: Les Dawson

text: Television series in which he appeared included the panel game "Jokers Wild" (1969–73) hosted by Barry Cryer, "Sez Les" (1969–76) and "Dawson's Weekly" (1975), all for Yorkshire Television. After joining the BBC, his TV projects were "The Dawson Watch" (1979–80), written by Andy Hamilton and Terry Ravenscroft, "The Les Dawson Show" (1978–87), written by Terry Ravenscroft, and the quiz show "Blankety Blank", which he presented from 1984 until its cancellation in 1990. Dawson starred in "Listen to Les" on BBC Radio 2 in the 1970s and 1980s.


title: Les Dawson

text: He made many appearances on BBC Television's variety show, "The Good Old Days" in the 1970s and 1980s. Dawson co-hosted Prince Edward's charity television special "The Grand Knockout Tournament" in 1987. When Richard Wilson turned down the part of Victor Meldrew in the BBC sitcom "One Foot In The Grave", writer David Renwick considered Dawson for the role, but Wilson changed his mind before it was offered.


title: Les Dawson

text: In 1991, Dawson starred in the BBC television production of "Nona", an adaptation of the 1977 play "La Nona" ("Grandma") by Roberto Cossa for the "Performance" series. Performing in drag, he was cast as a 100-year old, compulsive eater in a Buenos Aires household.


title: Les Dawson

text: Dawson was the subject of "This Is Your Life" on two occasions, in December 1971 when Eamonn Andrews surprised him on "Opportunity Knocks", and again 21 years later, in what would be one of his last television appearances, when he was surprised by Michael Aspel on stage at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, at the curtain call of the pantomime "Dick Whittington" in December 1992. His final TV appearance was on the LWT series "Surprise, Surprise" hosted by Cilla Black, in which he sang a comic rendition of "I Got You Babe" with a woman from the audience who wanted to sing with him. The episode was aired shortly after his death.


title: Les Dawson

text: Dawson was a heavy smoker and drinker. When not working he would often drink a bottle of whisky and smoke 50 cigarettes a day. Dawson was initiated into the famous show business fraternity, the Grand Order of Water Rats and served as that order's "King Rat" in 1985.


title: Les Dawson

text: Dawson also wrote novels. He told his second wife, Tracey, "Always remind them – I was a writer too."


title: Les Dawson

text: His characteristic routines featured Roy Barraclough and Dawson as elderly women, Cissie Braithwaite and Ada Shufflebotham. Barraclough's character Cissie had pretensions of refinement and corrected Ada's malapropisms or vulgar expressions. As authentic characters of their day, they spoke some words aloud but mouthed others, particularly those pertaining to bodily functions and sex. The characters were based on those Les Dawson knew in real life. He explained that this mouthing of words (or "mee-mawing") was a habit of Lancashire millworkers communicating over the loud noise of looms, then resorted to in daily life for indelicate subjects. To further portray the reality of northern, working-class women, Cissie and Ada would sit with folded arms, occasionally adjusting their bosoms by a hoist of the forearms. Many Cissie and Ada sketches were written by Terry Ravenscroft. This was also typical of pantomime dame style, an act copied from his hero, Norman Evans and his act "Over the Garden Wall". Les Dawson was portly and often dressed in John Bull costume. He introduced to his BBC television shows a dancing group of fat ladies called the Roly Polys. Dawson's style as a comic was world-weary, lugubrious and earthy.


title: Les Dawson

text: He was a talented pianist but developed a gag in which he played a familiar piece such as Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" and then introduced hideously wrong notes (yet not destroying the tune) without appearing to realise, smiling unctuously and relishing the accuracy and soul of his own performance.


title: Les Dawson

text: Having broken his jaw in a boxing match, he could pull grotesque faces by pulling his jaw over his upper lip. This is described in the first volume of Dawson's autobiography "A Clown Too Many".


title: Les Dawson

text: Dawson was married to his first wife, Margaret, from 25 June 1960 until her death on 15 April 1986 from cancer. They had three children: Julie, Pamela and Stuart.


title: Les Dawson

text: Dawson nearly died in February 1985 from a failing prostate gland, complicated by blood poisoning. On 3 September 1988, he suffered a heart attack in Blackpool and spent nine days in hospital.


title: Les Dawson

text: He married his second wife, Tracy Roper, on 6 May 1989; she was 17 years younger. They had a daughter, Charlotte, who was born on 3 October 1992.


title: Les Dawson

text: He died suddenly, aged 62, in June 1993 from a heart attack during treatment for a heart complaint at St Joseph's Hospital in Manchester.


title: Les Dawson

text: On 23 October 2008, 15 years after his death, a bronze statue by Graham Ibbeson was unveiled by his widow Tracy and daughter Charlotte in the ornamental gardens next to the pier in St Anne's-on-Sea, Lancashire, where Dawson lived for many years.


title: Les Dawson

text: In the "Comedians' Comedian", a three-hour programme on UK's Channel 4 on 1 January 2005, Dawson was 37th in the top 50 comedians of all time, voted by fellow comedians and business insiders.


title: Les Dawson

text: The BBC broadcast, on BBC Two, "The Many Faces of Les Dawson", a retrospective, on Christmas Eve 2011.


title: Les Dawson

text: On 1 June 2013 ITV broadcast "Les Dawson: An Audience with That Never Was". The programme featured a Pepper's ghost projection of Dawson, presenting content for a 1993 edition of "An Audience with..." to be hosted by Dawson but unused due to his death two weeks before recording. The show served as a tribute and featured celebrities including Bruce Forsyth, Cilla Black, Terry Wogan and Ken Dodd. Also among the audience were Dawson's widow Tracy and daughter Charlotte.


title: Les Dawson

text: On 10 February 2014, the BBC reported that Dawson's daughter Charlotte had found a 110-page "unpublished story of love and mystery, titled "An Echo of Shadows", [that] was written under the name Maria Brett-Cooper...".


title: Les Dawson

text: In 2020, Les Dawson's early years in Paris were portrayed in Sky Arts' series "Urban Myths" in the episode "Les Dawson's Parisienne Adventure", with Mark Addy as the older Les and John Bradley as young Les.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: Eagle vs Shark is a 2007 New Zealand romantic comedy film written and directed by Taika Waititi (in his directorial debut) and financed by the New Zealand Film Commission. The film had its world premiere at Sundance in the World Cinema Dramatic section of the festival.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: Lily (Loren Horsley), a shy, wistful girl, is a songwriter when no one is listening. She works at a fast food restaurant and has a crush on Jarrod (Jemaine Clement), a geek who works in a video game store. One day, Jarrod gives Lily an invitation to his "dress as your favourite animal" party to pass along to her workmate Jenny, who throws it away. Lily retrieves it and shows up at the party with her caring and supportive brother Damon.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: The party is sparsely attended with what are apparently teenage and adult customers of Jarrod's store, all dressed extravagantly in animal costumes. Jarrod is impressed with Lily's shark costume as well as her remarkable video game skills. They go to Jarrod's room and he learns Lily's parents both died of heart attacks. He says his brother and mother are dead, too. They kiss and have brief sex.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: The following day, Jarrod invites Lily on a date but fails to turn up. He later comes by Lily's house to apologize, saying he was depressed and needed to be alone. He confides that he plans to confront his high-school bully Eric, but has no car to get to his hometown. Damon agrees to drive Jarrod and Lily there. Along the way, Damon offers them apples, which will become the representation of Jarrod and Lily in several claymation scenes throughout the film.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: Upon arriving, Lily discovers that Jarrod's family is just as bizarre as Jarrod himself. His sister and brother-in-law sell all kinds of questionable products, like make-up kits and jumpsuits. Jarrod's father is a withdrawn man who uses a wheelchair. Jarrod's 9-year-old daughter Vinny, the product of a random sexual encounter who Jarrod sees only occasionally, also lives with Jarrod's family. They don't have room in the house, so Jarrod and Lily have to sleep in a tent in the yard.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: It becomes clear his father's favourite son was Jarrod's brother Gordon, an accomplished athlete. Jarrod spends his time trying to win his dad's affection and training for his impending fight with Eric. Jarrod learns from his friend, computer geek Mason, that Eric will be in town the next day.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: Gordon's equally successful fiancée Tracy comes over, and it seems Jarrod's father also loves her more than Jarrod. Jarrod breaks up with Lily, saying he's too busy with his revenge mission and "too complex" for a relationship. Lily is visibly upset but tries to hide it. Jarrod takes flowers over to Tracy's house and spends the day with her on the beach.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: Lily and Vinny push Jarrod's father around town, coming to a hill. He angrily refuses to go any further and goes home. Lily and Vinny continue up the hill where the little girl reveals that Gordon did not die saving a child from a fire as Jarrod had said, but by committing suicide throwing himself off the cliff. Later, Lily learns Jarrod lied about his mother's death, too.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: At a family dinner, Lily tells a silly joke, making everybody laugh. Jarrod appears jealous. Later, Jarrod's father watches an old tape where Gordon wins a race. Feeling even more alienated, Jarrod falsely announces that he is dating Tracy. Annoyed by Jarrod's behaviour, Lily decides to attend a local party, where she gets drunk and dances with a lot of boys while Jarrod jealously looks on. She spends the night in the bushes, and in the morning Jarrod berates her for making him worry.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: That afternoon, Jarrod, with his family and friends watching, confronts Eric and finds out that Eric has lost the use of his legs. Eric apologises for having been a bully, but Jarrod attacks him anyway. Eric easily overpowers Jarrod, and only relents when Jarrod's father intervenes. Depressed, Jarrod runs off and retreats into himself. Lily follows him and attempts to cheer him up. Then she tells him she is going home the following day, but that it could change. At the bus stop, Jarrod is waiting for her with a bouquet of lilies. They reconcile and journey back on the bus together.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: Waititi wrote the screenplay based on the character of Lily developed by Loren Horsley. The film's script was workshopped at the Sundance Film Festival Director's and Screenwriter's Labs in June 2005.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: The script was sold in August 2005 and given a budget of NZ$1.8 million (US$1.35 million). It was shot entirely in New Zealand, in and around Wellington and Porirua, during 25 days in October and November 2005 with a crew of 35 workers.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: The film is composed mostly of live action, but segments within the film are done in stop motion by Another Planet Ltd., utilizing both props and actors.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: The soundtrack to "Eagle vs Shark" features New Zealand artists The Phoenix Foundation, Age Pryor, The Reduction Agents, and Tessa Rain, along with M. Ward, Devendra Banhart and British group The Stone Roses. Along with a number of songs The Phoenix Foundation wrote the original score for the film. The soundtrack is available through Hollywood Records and Apple's iTunes.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: At Cannes 2006 it was announced that Miramax Films had purchased the North American theatrical rights after watching a five-minute trailer.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: The creators of the film asked art website DeviantArt to hold a competition to come up with a poster for the film. The winning poster, by DeviantArt user 'puggdogg', was printed in "The Onion" newspaper.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: The film received mixed reviews, receiving a rating of 55/100 on Metacritic and a 53% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The critical consensus on Rotten Tomatoes was that while there were "frequent moments of wit and mordant humor, "Eagle vs Shark" needs more to distinguish itself from other precious, "Napoleon Dynamite"-ish comedies' moments." Joe Morgenstern of "The Wall Street Journal" commented that "...'Eagle vs Shark' has its own distinctive style, partly thanks to whimsical little interludes of animation, but mainly because it ties blithe absurdity to a rock bed of emotional truth." Jim Ridley of "The Village Voice" noted the dissimilarity to "Napoleon Dynamite" saying "Napoleon Dynamite looks like Cary Grant next to the hero of this Kiwi quirk-a-thon: a hulking, sullen creep named Jarrod whose goony sulking, petulant selfishness and dweeby videogame obsession somehow work like Spanish fly on mousy burger-flipper Lily."


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: Eagle vs Shark's worldwide gross is $US1,298,037. In the US it opened on 15 June 2007 on three screens (one in New York City, two in Los Angeles) grossing $US20,361 in its opening weekend. This was preceded by a series of free screenings, some with a Q&A with Taika Waititi and Loren Horsley, in certain cities to gain a word of mouth buzz.


title: Eagle vs Shark

text: "Eagle vs Shark" was released 8 January 2008 on DVD. Bonus features include a commentary by director Taika Waititi, outtakes, deleted scenes with optional commentary, and The Phoenix Foundation music video "Going Fishing".