This Is How I Made It

# This Is How I Made It

## Abstract

This Is How I Made It is an American reality - documentary television series on MTV. The series premiered on October 13, 2012. The series sheds light on the mountains that various athletes, actors, artists and other celebrities hurdled over in order to become the person they are today.


The Jacket

# The Jacket

## Abstract

The Jacket is a 2005 American science-fiction psychological thriller film directed by John Maybury and starring Adrien Brody, Keira Knightley, Kris Kristofferson and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It is partly based on the 1915 Jack London novel The Star Rover, published in the United Kingdom as The Jacket. Massy Tadjedin wrote the screenplay based on a story by Tom Bleecker and Marc Rocco. The original music score is composed by Brian Eno and the cinematography is by Peter Deming.

The Jacket premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, and was released in theaters in the United States by Warner Independent Pictures on March 4, 2005. It grossed $21.1 million on a budget of $28.5 million and received mixed reviews from critics.

## Plot

After miraculously recovering from an apparently fatal bullet wound to the head, Gulf War veteran Jack Starks returns to Vermont in 1992, suffering from periods of amnesia. While walking, he sees a young girl, Jackie, and her alcoholic mother in despair beside their broken-down truck. Starks and Jackie quickly form a bond; she asks him to give her his dog tags, which he does. He gets the truck started and continues on his way. Shortly after, a man driving along the same highway gives Jack a ride and they get pulled over by a policeman.

The scene changes: Starks is found lying on the deserted roadside near the dead policeman, with a slug from the policeman's gun in his body and the murder weapon nearby. He testifies that someone else was at the scene, but is not believed because of his amnesia, is found not guilty by reason of insanity and incarcerated in a mental institution.

Starks is placed in the care of Dr. Thomas Becker, a psychiatrist, and his staff. In December 1992, Starks is forced to undergo an unauthorized treatment designed by Becker: he is injected with experimental drugs, bound in a straitjacket and placed inside a morgue drawer as a form of sensory deprivation. While in this condition, he is able to travel 15 years into the future and stay there for a short time. He meets an older version of Jackie at a roadside diner where she works. He suspects this happens because Jackie is the only memory he can ever fully hold on to. She does not recognize him, but takes pity on him and offers him shelter for the night. While in her apartment, Starks comes across his own dog tags and confronts her. Jackie, frightened, tells him that he can't be Jack Starks, as he died on New Year's Day in 1993, and asks him to leave. Subsequently, Starks is transported back to the future on several occasions in the course of his treatment and, after earning Jackie's trust, they try to figure out how to make use of the time-traveling so as to remove Jack from the hospital and save his life.

Early on January 1, 1993, knowing that his time is running out, Starks is briefly taken out of the hospital by Dr. Beth Lorenson, who he has finally convinced of his time travel experiences and knowledge of future events. She drives Starks to the childhood home of Jackie and her mother, where he gives the mother a letter he has written, which outlines Jackie's bleak future and warns the mother that she is fated to orphan Jackie when she dies after falling asleep with a lit cigarette in her hand. When he returns to the hospital, Starks experiences a flashback to the head wound he suffered in Iraq, simultaneously slipping on the ice and hitting his head. Bleeding profusely, he convinces two of the more sympathetic doctors to put him into the jacket one last time.

Starks returns to 2007, where he finds that his letter to Jackie's mother has made all the difference. Jackie now has a better life than in the previous version of 2007. She is no longer a waitress, is dressed in a nurse's uniform, and has a noticeably more cheerful outlook. They reprise their first 2007 meeting: she sees Starks standing in the snow and initially drives past him, but backs up when she notices his head wound. She stops and offers to take him to the hospital where she works. While they are in the car, Jackie receives a call from her mother, still alive and well. They drive on, the screen fades to white and we hear Jackie's voice ask, "How much time do we have?", which she has asked him before. As the credits roll, the answer to the question is given by the words of the song " We Have All the Time in the World " sung by Iggy Pop.

## Cast

- Adrien Brody as Jack Starks

- Keira Knightley as Jackie Price Laura Marano as Young Jackie

- Laura Marano as Young Jackie

- Kris Kristofferson as Dr. Thomas Becker

- Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dr. Beth Lorenson

- Kelly Lynch as Jean Price

- Brad Renfro as The Stranger

- Daniel Craig as Rudy Mackenzie

- Steven Mackintosh as Dr. Hopkins

- Brendan Coyle as Damon

- Mackenzie Phillips as Nurse Hardling

- Jason Lewis as Officer Harrison

- Richard Dillane as Captain Medley

- Jonah Lotan and Angel Coulby as Interns

- Paul Birchard as Doctor

- Nigel Whitmey as Lieutenant

- Ian Porter as Major

- Anthony Edridge as Dr. Morgan

- Kerry Shale as Prosecutor

- Angus MacInnes as Judge

- Richard Durden as Dr. Hale

- Tristan Gemmill as Officer Nash

- Colin Stinton as Jury Foreman

- Tara Summers as Nurse Nina

- Angelo Andreou as Babak

- Teresa Gallagher as Nurse Sally

- Anne Kidd as State Representative

- Charneh Demir as Jamite

- Frances Brady-Stewart as Woman with Dog

- Lolly Susi as Nurse

- Garrick Hagon as Defense Lawyer

- Fish as Jimmy Fleisher

## Background

The Jacket shares its title, and the idea of a person experiencing extra-corporeal time-travel while in an intolerably tight straitjacket, with a 1915 novel by Jack London. The novel was published in the United Kingdom as The Jacket and in the United States of America as The Star Rover. Director Maybury has said that the film is "loosely based on a true story that became a Jack London story". The true story is that of Ed Morrell, who told London about San Quentin prison's inhumane use of tight straitjackets.

## Reception

### Box office

The Jacket opened on March 4, 2005, and grossed $2,723,682 (~$ 4.08 million in 2023) on opening weekend, with a peak release of 1,331 theaters in the United States. The film went on to gross $6,303,762 domestically, for a total of $21,126,225 worldwide.

### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 44% of 162 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's consensus reads: " The Jacket is a case of creepy style over substance." On Metacritic, it had a score of 44% based on reviews from 35 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it two out of four stars and wrote: "You can sense an impulse toward a better film, and Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley certainly take it seriously, but the time-travel whiplash effect sets in, and it becomes, as so many time travel movies do, an exercise in early entrances, late exits, futile regrets."


Rainwater harvesting

# Rainwater harvesting

## Abstract

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), aquifer, or a reservoir with percolation, so that it seeps down and restores the ground water. Rainwater harvesting differs from stormwater harvesting as the runoff is typically collected from roofs and other area surfaces for storage and subsequent reuse. Its uses include watering gardens, livestock, irrigation, domestic use with proper treatment, and domestic heating. The harvested water can also be committed to longer-term storage or groundwater recharge.

Rainwater harvesting is one of the simplest and oldest methods of self-supply of water for households, having been used in South Asia and other countries for many thousands of years. Installations can be designed for different scales including households, neighbourhoods and communities and can also be designed to serve institutions such as schools, hospitals and other public facilities.

## Uses

### Domestic use

Rooftop rainwater harvesting is used to provide drinking water, domestic water, water for livestock, water for small irrigation, and a way to replenish groundwater levels.

Kenya has already been successfully harvesting rainwater for toilets, laundry, and irrigation. Since the establishment of the country's 2016 Water Act, Kenya has prioritized the regulation of their agriculture industry. Additionally, areas in Australia use harvested rainwater for cooking and drinking. Studies done by Stout et al researching the feasibility in India found RWH was most beneficial used for small-scale irrigation, which provides income with the sales of produce, and overflow used for groundwater recharge.

### Agriculture

In regards to urban agriculture, rainwater harvesting in urban areas reduces the impact of runoff and flooding. The combination of urban 'green' rooftops with rainwater catchments have been found to reduce building temperatures by more than 1.3 degrees Celsius. Rainwater harvesting in conjunction with urban agriculture would be a viable way to help meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for cleaner and sustainable cities, health and wellbeing, and food and water security (Sustainable Development Goal 6). The technology is available, however, it needs to be remodeled in order to use water more efficiently, especially in an urban setting.

Missions to five Caribbean countries have shown that the capture and storage of rainwater runoff for later use is able to significantly reduce the risk of losing some or all of the year's harvest because of soil or water scarcity. In addition, the risks associated with flooding and soil erosion during high rainfall seasons would decrease. Small farmers, especially those farming on hillsides, could benefit the most from rainwater harvesting because they are able to capture runoff and decrease the effects of soil erosion.

Many countries, especially those with arid environments, use rainwater harvesting as a cheap and reliable source of clean water. To enhance irrigation in arid environments, ridges of soil are constructed to trap and prevent rainwater from running down hills and slopes. Even in periods of low rainfall, enough water is collected for crops to grow. Water can be collected from roofs, dams and ponds can be constructed to hold large quantities of rainwater so that even on days when little to no rainfall occurs, enough is available to irrigate crops.

### Industry

Frankfurt Airport has the biggest rainwater harvesting system in Germany. The system helps save approximately 1 million cubic meters of water per year. The cost of the system was 1.5 million dm (US$63,000) in 1993. This system collects water from the roofs of the new terminal which has an area of 26,800 square meters. The water is collected in the basement of the airport in six tanks with a storage capacity of 100 cubic meters. The water is mainly used for toilet flushing, watering plants and cleaning the air conditioning system.

Rainwater harvesting was adopted at The Velodrome – The London Olympic Park – in order to increase the sustainability of the facility. A 73% decrease in potable water demand by the park was estimated. Despite this, it was deemed that rainwater harvesting was a less efficient use of financial resources to increase sustainability than the park's blackwater recycling program.

## Technologies

Traditionally, stormwater management using detention basins served a single purpose. However, optimized real-time control lets this infrastructure double as a source of rainwater harvesting without compromising the existing detention capacity. This has been used in the EPA headquarters to evacuate stored water prior to storm events, thus reducing wet weather flow while ensuring water availability for later reuse. This has the benefit of increasing water quality released and decreasing the volume of water released during combined sewer overflow events.

Generally, check dams are constructed across the streams to enhance the percolation of surface water into the subsoil strata. The water percolation in the water-impounded area of the check dams can be enhanced artificially manyfold by loosening the subsoil strata and ANFO explosives as used in open cast mining. Thus, local aquifers can be recharged quickly using the available surface water fully for use in the dry season.

### System setup

Rainwater harvesting systems can range in complexity, from systems that can be installed with minimal skills, to automated systems that require advanced setup and installation. The basic rainwater harvesting system is more of a plumbing job than a technical job, as all the outlets from the building's terrace are connected through a pipe to an underground tank that stores water. There are common components that are installed in such systems, such as pre-filters (see e.g. vortex filter), drains/gutters, storage containers, and depending on whether the system is pressurized, also pumps, and treatment devices such as UV lights, chlorination devices and post-filtration equipment.

Systems are ideally sized to meet the water demand throughout the dry season since it must be big enough to support daily water consumption. Specifically, the rainfall capturing area such as a building roof must be large enough to maintain an adequate flow of water. The water storage tank size should be large enough to contain the captured water. For low-tech systems, many low-tech methods are used to capture rainwater: rooftop systems, surface water capture, and pumping the rainwater that has already soaked into the ground or captured in reservoirs and storing it in tanks (cisterns).

### Rainwater harvesting by freshwater-flooded forests

Rainwater harvesting is possible by growing freshwater-flooded forests without losing the income from the used, submerged land. The main purpose of the rainwater harvesting is to use the locally available rainwater to meet water requirements throughout the year without the need of huge capital expenditure. This would facilitate the availability of uncontaminated water for domestic, industrial, and irrigation needs.

### Rainwater harvesting by solar power panels

Good quality water resource, closer to populated areas, is becoming scarce and costly for the consumers. In addition to solar and wind energy, rainwater is major renewable resource of any land. Vast areas are being covered by solar PV panels every year in all parts of the world. Solar panels can also be used for harvesting most of the rainwater falling on them and drinking quality water, free from bacteria and suspended matter, can be generated by simple filtration and disinfection processes as rainwater is very low in salinity. Exploitation of rainwater for value-added products like bottled drinking water, makes solar PV power plants profitable even in high rainfall/ cloudy areas by the augmented income from value-added drinking water generation. Recently cost-effective rainwater collection in the already dug wells found to be highly effective in bringing groundwater level up in India.

### Other innovations

The Groasis Waterboxx is an example of low scale technology, in this case to assist planting of trees in arid area. It harvests rainwater and dew.

## Advantages

Rainwater harvesting provides the independent water supply during regional water restrictions, and in developed countries, it is often used to supplement the main supply. It provides water when a drought occurs, can help mitigate flooding of low-lying areas, and reduces demand on wells which may enable groundwater levels to be sustained. Rainwater harvesting increases the availability of water during dry seasons by increasing the levels of dried borewells and wells. Surface water supply is readily available for various purposes thus reducing dependence on underground water. It improves the quality of ground by diluting salinity. It does not cause pollution and is environmentally friendly. It is cost-effective and easily affordable. It also helps in the availability of potable water, as rainwater is substantially free of salinity and other salts. Applications of rainwater harvesting in urban water system provides a substantial benefit for both water supply and wastewater subsystems by reducing the need for clean water in water distribution systems, less generated stormwater in sewer systems, and a reduction in stormwater runoff polluting freshwater bodies.

A large body of work has focused on the development of life cycle assessment and its costing methodologies to assess the level of environmental impacts and money that can be saved by implementing rainwater harvesting systems.

### Independent water supply

Rainwater harvesting provides an independent water supply during water restrictions. In areas where clean water is costly, or difficult to come by, rainwater harvesting is a critical source of clean water. In developed countries, rainwater is often harvested to be used as a supplemental source of water rather than the main source, but the harvesting of rainwater can also decrease a household's water costs or overall usage levels. Rainwater is safe to drink if the consumers do additional treatments before drinking. Boiling water helps to kill germs. Adding another supplement to the system such as a first flush diverter is also a common procedure to avoid contaminants of the water.

### Supplemental in drought

When drought occurs, rainwater harvested in past months can be used. If rain is scarce but also unpredictable, the use of a rainwater harvesting system can be critical to capturing the rain when it does fall. Many countries with arid environments, use rainwater harvesting as a cheap and reliable source of clean water. To enhance irrigation in arid environments, ridges of soil are constructed to trap and prevent rainwater from running downhills. Even in periods of low rainfall, enough water is collected for crops to grow. Water can be collected from roofs and tanks can be constructed to hold large quantities of rainwater.

In addition, rainwater harvesting decreases the demand for water from wells, enabling groundwater levels to be further sustained rather than depleted.

### Life-cycle assessment

Life-cycle assessment is a methodology used to evaluate the environmental impacts of a system from cradle-to-grave of its lifetime. Devkota et al, developed such a methodology for rainwater harvesting, and found that the building design (e.g., dimensions) and function (e.g., educational, residential, etc.) play critical roles in the environmental performance of the system.

To address the functional parameters of rainwater harvesting systems, a new metric was developed – the demand to supply ratio (D/S) – identifying the ideal building design (supply) and function (demand) in regard to the environmental performance of rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing. With the idea that supply of rainwater not only saves the potable water but also saves the stormwater entering the combined sewer network (thereby requiring treatment), the savings in environmental emissions were higher if the buildings are connected to a combined sewer network compared to separate one.

### Cost-effectiveness

Although standard RWH systems can provide a water source to developing regions facing poverty, the average cost for an RWH setup can be costly depending on the type of technology used. Governmental aid and NGOs can assist communities facing poverty by providing the materials and education necessary to develop and maintain RWH setups.

Some studies show that rainwater harvesting is a widely applicable solution for water scarcity and other multiple usages, owing to its cost-effectiveness and eco-friendliness. Constructing new substantial, centralized water supply systems, such as dams, is prone to damage local ecosystems, generates external social costs, and has limited usages, especially in developing countries or impoverished communities. On the other hand, installing rainwater harvesting systems is verified by a number of studies to provide local communities a sustainable water source, accompanied by other various benefits, including protection from flood and control of water runoff, even in poor regions. Rainwater harvesting systems that do not require major construction or periodic maintenance by a professional from outside the community are more friendly to the environment and more likely to benefit the local people for a longer period of time. Thus, rainwater harvesting systems that could be installed and maintained by local people have bigger chances to be accepted and used by more people.

The usage of in-situ technologies can reduce investment costs in rainwater harvesting. In-situ technologies for rainwater harvesting could be a feasible option for rural areas since less material is required to construct them. They can provide a reliable water source that can be utilized to expand agricultural outputs. Above-ground tanks can collect water for domestic use; however, such units can be unaffordable to people in poverty.

## Limitations

Rainwater harvesting is a widely used method of storing rainwater in countries presenting with drought characteristics. Several pieces of research have derived and developed different criteria and techniques to select suitable sites for harvesting rainwater. Some research was identified and selected suitable sites for the potential erection of dams, as well as derived a model builder in ArcMap 10.4.1. The model combined several parameters, such as slope, runoff potential, land cover/use, stream order, soil quality, and hydrology to determine the suitability of the site for harvesting rainwater.

Harvested water from RWH systems can be minimal during below-average precipitation in arid urban regions such as the Middle East. RWH is useful for developing areas as it collects water for irrigation and domestic purposes. However, the gathered water should be adequately filtered to ensure safe drinking.

### Quality of water

Rainwater may need to be analyzed properly, and used in a way appropriate to its safety. In the Gansu province, for example, solar water disinfection is used by boiling harvested rainwater in parabolic solar cookers before being used for drinking. These so-called " appropriate technology " methods provide low-cost disinfection options for treatment of stored rainwater for drinking.

While rainwater itself is a clean source of water, often better than groundwater or water from rivers or lakes, the process of collection and storage often leaves the water polluted and non-potable. Rainwater harvested from roofs can contain human, animal and bird feces, mosses and lichens, windblown dust, particulates from urban pollution, pesticides, and inorganic ions from the sea (Ca, Mg, Na, K, Cl, SO4), and dissolved gases (CO, NO, SO). High levels of pesticide have been found in rainwater in Europe with the highest concentrations occurring in the first rain immediately after a dry spell; the concentration of these and other contaminants are reduced significantly by diverting the initial flow of run-off water to waste. Improved water quality can also be obtained by using a floating draw-off mechanism (rather than from the base of the tank) and by using a series of tanks, withdraw from the last in series. Prefiltration is a common practice used in the industry to keep the system healthy and ensure that the water entering the tank is free of large sediments.

A concept of rainwater harvesting and cleaning it with solar energy for rural household drinking purposes has been developed by Nimbkar Agricultural Research Institute.

Conceptually, a water supply system should match the quality of water with the end-user. However, in most of the developed world, high-quality potable water is used for all end uses. This approach wastes money and energy and imposes unnecessary impacts on the environment. Supplying rainwater that has gone through preliminary filtration measures for non-potable water uses, such as toilet flushing, irrigation, and laundry, may be a significant part of a sustainable water management strategy.

Rainwater cisterns can also act as habitat for pathogen-bearing mosquitoes. As a result, care must be taken to ensure that female mosquitoes can not access the cistern to lay eggs. Larvae eating fish can also be added to the cistern, or it can be chemically treated.

## Country examples

### Canada

Rainwater harvesting is becoming a procedure that many Canadians are incorporating into their daily lives, although data does not give exact figures for implementation. Rainwater can be used for a number of purposes including stormwater reduction, irrigation, laundry and portable toilets. In addition to low costs, rainwater harvesting is useful for landscape irrigation. Many Canadians have started implementing rainwater harvesting systems for use in stormwater reduction, irrigation, laundry, and lavatory plumbing. Provincial and municipal legislation is in place for regulating the rights and uses for captured rainwater. Substantial reform to Canadian law since the mid-2000s has increased the use of this technology in agricultural, industrial, and residential use, but ambiguity remains amongst legislation in many provinces. Bylaws and local municipal codes often regulate rainwater harvesting.

### India

While rainwater harvesting in an urban context has gained traction in recent years, evidence points toward rainwater harvesting in rural India since ancient times.

### United Kingdom

Rainwater harvesting in the United Kingdom is a practice of growing importance. Rainwater harvesting in the UK is both a traditional and reviving technique for collecting water for domestic uses and is generally used for non-hygienic purposes like watering gardens, flushing toilets, and washing clothes. In commercial premises like supermarkets it is used for things like toilet flushing where larger tank systems can be used collecting between 1000 and 7500 litres of water. It is claimed that in the South East of England there is less water available per person than in many Mediterranean countries.

### United States

### Other countries

- Uganda: Rainwater harvesting has been used in Uganda to promote household and community scale water security for many years. Regular maintenance is an ongoing challenge with existing installation and there are many examples of installations that have failed due to poor maintenance. Research has also shown that awareness of RWH and how to access necessary resources to implement RWH is variable across Ugandan society.

- Thailand has the largest fraction of the population in the rural area relying on rainwater harvesting (currently around 40%). Rainwater harvesting was promoted heavily by the government in the 1980s. In the 1990s, after government funding for the collection tanks ran out, the private sector stepped in and provided several million tanks to private households, many of which continue to be used. This is one of the largest examples of self-supply of water worldwide.

- In Bermuda, the law requires all new construction to include rainwater harvesting adequate for the residents.

- New Zealand has plentiful rainfall in the West and South, and rainwater harvesting is the normal practice in many rural areas, using roof water directed by spouting into covered, 1000 litre storage tanks, with the encouragement of most local councils.

- In Sri Lanka, rainwater harvesting has been a popular method of obtaining water for agriculture and for drinking purposes in rural homes. The legislation to promote rainwater harvesting was enacted through the Urban Development Authority (Amendment) Act, No. 36 of 2007. The Lanka Rainwater Harvesting Forum is leading Sri Lanka's initiative. See also: Tank cascade system.

## History

The construction and use of cisterns to store rainwater can be traced back to the Neolithic Age, when waterproof lime plaster cisterns were built in the floors of houses in village locations of the Levant, a large area in Southwest Asia, south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the west, the Arabian Desert in the south, and Mesopotamia in the east. By the late 4000 BC, cisterns were essential elements of emerging water management techniques used in dry-land farming.

Many ancient cisterns have been discovered in some parts of Jerusalem and throughout what is today Israel/Palestine. At the site believed by some to be that of the biblical city of Ai (Khirbet et-Tell), a large cistern dating back to around 2500 BC was discovered that had a capacity of nearly 1,700 m (60,000 cu ft). It was carved out of a solid rock, lined with large stones, and sealed with clay to keep it from leaking.

The Greek island of Crete is also known for its use of large cisterns for rainwater collection and storage during the Minoan period from 2,600 BC–1,100 BC. Four large cisterns have been discovered at Myrtos-Pyrgos, Archanes, and Zakroeach. The cistern found at Myrtos-Pyrgos was found to have a capacity of more than 80 m (2,800 cu ft) and to date back to 1700 BC.

Around 300 BC, farming communities in Balochistan (now located in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran), and Kutch, India, used rainwater harvesting for agriculture and many other uses. Rainwater harvesting was done by Chola kings as well. Rainwater from the Brihadeeswarar temple (located in Balaganapathy Nagar, Thanjavur, India) was collected in Shivaganga tank. During the later Chola period, the Vīrānam tank was built (1011 to 1037 AD) in the Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu to store water for drinking and irrigation purposes. Vīrānam is a 16-km-long tank with a storage capacity of 1,465,000,000 cu ft (41,500,000 m).

Rainwater harvesting was also common in the Roman Empire. While Roman aqueducts are well-known, Roman cisterns were also commonly used and their construction expanded with the Empire. For example, in Pompeii, rooftop water storage was common before the construction of the aqueduct in the 1st century BC. This history continued with the Byzantine Empire; for example, the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul.

Though little known, the town of Venice for centuries depended on rainwater harvesting. The lagoon surrounding Venice is brackish water, which is unsuitable for drinking. Venice's ancient inhabitants established a rainwater collection system based on man-made insulated collection wells. Water percolated down the specially designed stone flooring, and was filtered by a layer of sand, then collected at the bottom of the well. Later, as Venice acquired territories on the mainland, it started to import water by boat from local rivers. Still, the wells remained in use and were especially important in times of war when an enemy could block access to the mainland water.


# Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

## Abstract

The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism schools in the world and the only journalism school in the Ivy League. It offers four graduate degree programs.

The school shares facilities with the Pulitzer Prizes. It directly administers several other prizes, including the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award, honoring excellence in broadcast and digital journalism in the public service. It co-sponsors the National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, and publishes the Columbia Journalism Review.

In addition to offering professional development programs, fellowships and workshops, the school is home to the Tow Center for Digital Journalism, the Brown Institute for Media Innovation, and the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma.

Admission to the school is highly selective and has traditionally drawn an international student body. A Board of Visitors meets periodically to advise the dean's office and support the school's initiatives.

## History

### Pulitzer School of Journalism

In 1892, Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian-born newspaper magnate, offered Columbia University President Seth Low funding to establish the world's first school of journalism. He sought to elevate a profession viewed more often as a common trade learned through an apprenticeship. His idea was for a center of enlightened journalism in pursuit of knowledge as well as skills in the service of democracy. "It will impart knowledge—not for its own sake, but to be used for the public service," Pulitzer wrote in a now landmark, lead essay of the May 1904 issue of the North American Review. The university was resistant to the idea. But Low's successor, Nicholas Murray Butler, was more receptive to the plan.

Pulitzer was set on creating his vision at Columbia and offered it a $2 million gift, one-quarter of which was to be used to establish prizes in journalism and the arts. It took years of negotiations and Pulitzer's death in October 1911 to finalize plans. On September 30, 1912, classes began with 79 undergraduate and postgraduate students, including a dozen women. Veteran journalist Talcott Williams was installed as the school's director. When not attending classes and lectures, students scoured the city for news. Their more advanced classmates were assigned to cover a visit by U.S. President William Howard Taft, a sensational police murder trial and a women's suffrage march. A student from China went undercover to report on a downtown cocaine den. A journalism building was constructed the following year at 2950 Broadway and 116th Street on the western end of the campus. A statue of Thomas Jefferson was installed in June 1914 as a symbol of "free inquiry" exemplified by the debates between him and fellow American founder and Columbia alumnus, Alexander Hamilton, a statute of whom was unveiled directly across campus in front of Hamilton Hall six years earlier.

### First journalism graduate school

In 1935, Dean Carl Ackerman, a 1913 alumnus, led the school's transition to become the first graduate school of journalism in the United States. As the school's reach and reputation spread (due in part to an adjunct faculty of working New York journalists and a tenured full-time faculty that included Pulitzer winners Douglas Southall Freeman and Henry F. Pringle and Life Begins at Forty author Walter B. Pitkin), it began offering coursework in television news and documentary filmmaking in addition to its focus on newspapers and radio. The Maria Moors Cabot Prizes, the oldest international awards in journalism, were founded in 1938, honoring reporting in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Awards for excellence in broadcast journalism moved to the school in 1968. In 1958, the Columbia Journalism Award, the school's highest honor, was established to recognize a person of overarching accomplishment and distinguished service to journalism. Three years later, the school began publishing the Columbia Journalism Review.

After joining the tenured faculty in 1950, veteran United Nations correspondent John Hohenberg became the inaugural administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes in 1954, a secondary appointment that he would hold until 1976. Ackerman was succeeded as dean in 1954 by former Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Edward W. Barrett, who served until 1968. In 1966, the school began awarding the National Magazine Awards in association with the American Society of Magazine Editors. Former CBS News president Fred W. Friendly was appointed the same year to the tenured faculty and enhanced the broadcast journalism program alongside former NBC News correspondent Elie Abel, who served as dean from 1970 to 1979. Abel was succeeded by former Newsweek editor and prominent New York socialite Osborn Elliott (1979–1986), who in turn was succeeded by longtime Bill Moyers collaborator Joan Konner (1988–1996), the school's only female dean to date. By the 1970s, the Reporting and Writing 1 (RW1) course had become the cornerstone of the school's basic curriculum. The Knight‐Bagehot Fellowship was created in 1975 to enrich economics and business journalism. In 1985, the Delacorte Center for Magazine Journalism was founded. While serving as Pulitzer administrator, former The New York Times managing editor Seymour Topping joined the tenured faculty in 1994.

A doctoral program was established in 1998 by communications theorist James W. Carey, who emerged as an "editor of and contributor to many scholarly publications at a time when Columbia was urging journalism professors to do more academic research." In 2005, Nicholas Lemann, two years into his tenure as dean, created a second more specialized master's program leading to a master of arts degree, prompting the hiring of political journalist Thomas B. Edsall and music critic David Hajdu. As a result of industry changes forced by digital media, the school in 2013 erased distinctions between types of media, such as newspaper, broadcast, magazine and new media, as specializations in its master of science curriculum. The Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, dedicated to training select students interested in pursuing careers in investigative journalism, opened in 2006. A year later, the Spencer Fellowship was created to focus on long-form reporting. The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma relocated to Columbia in 2009 to focus on media coverage of trauma, conflict and tragedy. In 2010, the Tow Center for Digital Journalism was created. The Brown Institute for Media Innovation was launched under the aegis of former Bell Labs statistician and data scientist Mark Henry Hansen in 2012.

## Academic programs

The school's ten-month Master of Science (M.S.) program offers aspiring and experienced journalists the opportunity to study the skills, art and ethics of journalism by reporting and writing stories that range from short news pieces to complex narrative features. Some students interested in investigative reporting are selected to study at the Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism, a specialization of the M.S. program. Documentary and data journalism specialization programs are offered as well. The M.S. program is also offered on a part-time basis.

A year-long M.S. program in data journalism teaches the skills for finding, collecting and analyzing data for storytelling, presentation and investigative reporting.

The school offers several dual-degree programs in collaboration with other schools at Columbia: journalism and computer science, journalism and international affairs, journalism and law, journalism and business, and journalism and religion. The school also offers international dual-degree programs with Sciences Po in Paris, France and the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The smaller and more specialized, nine-month Master of Arts (M.A.) program is for experienced journalists interested in focusing on a particular subject area: politics, science, business and economics or arts and culture. M.A. students work closely with journalism professors and take courses in other academic departments and schools at the university. The program is full-time.

The doctoral program draws upon the resources of Columbia in a multidisciplinary approach to the study of communications. Ph.D. students craft individual courses of study to acquire deep knowledge in an area of concentration through research and coursework in disciplines ranging from history, sociology or religion to business or international affairs.

A six-week graduate-level course on book, magazine, and digital publishing, known as the Columbia Publishing Course, has been offered since 2000, when the program transferred from Radcliffe College.

## The Bronx Beat

The Bronx Beat, established in 1981 and published Mondays, is the weekly student publication of Columbia Journalism School.

## Uptown Radio

Uptown Radio is a weekly news magazine and podcast modeled after NPR's All Things Considered. It is produced by the students of the Radio Workshop, an advanced audio course at Columbia Journalism School. Uptown Radio is the school's longest-running continuous webcast, broadcasting each Thursday at 4 P.M., from February through May, since 1996. Uptown Radio contains original feature reports as well as interviews and newscasts in service of the listeners in New York City and the world beyond.

## Journalism awards

The Columbia Journalism School directly administers the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award, the Maria Moors Cabot Prizes, the John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, the Lukas Prizes, the Oakes Prizes, the Meyer Berger Award, the Paul Tobenkin Memorial Award and the Dart Awards for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma. It also co-sponsors the National Magazine Awards with the American Society of Magazine Editors, which administers the program.

## Accreditation

Columbia Journalism School is accredited by the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

## Faculty

- Daniel Alarcón, assistant professor

- Emily Bell, Leonard Tow Professor of Professional Practice in Journalism

- Helen Benedict, professor

- Nina Berman, professor

- Walt Bogdanich, adjunct professor

- Jelani Cobb, Ira A. Lipman Professor of Journalism, Dean

- Steve Coll, Henry R. Luce Professor of Journalism

- Sheila Coronel, Toni Stabile Professor of Professional Practice in Investigative Journalism

- John Dinges, Godfrey Lowell Cabot Professor Emeritus of Journalism

- Thomas B. Edsall, adjunct professor (not active as of fall 2020)

- Stephen Fried, taught narrative non-fiction magazine writing as adjunct professor

- Samuel G. Freedman, professor

- Howard W. French, professor

- Keith Gessen, George T. Delacorte Assistant Professor of Magazine Journalism

- Ari L. Goldman, professor

- Sig Gissler, adjunct professor; former administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes (not active as of fall 2020)

- Todd Gitlin, professor and chair, PhD program

- David Hajdu, professor

- LynNell Hancock, H. Gordon Garbedian Professor of Journalism

- Mark Henry Hansen, David and Helen Gurley Brown Professor of Journalism

- Richard R. John, professor

- Nicholas Lemann, dean emeritus; Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor of Journalism

- Dale Maharidge, professor

- Sylvia Nasar, John S. and James L. Knight Professor Emerita of Business Journalism

- Victor Navasky, George T. Delacorte, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Professional Practice in Magazine Journalism

- Charles Ornstein, adjunct associate professor

- Michael Schudson, professor

- Choire Sicha, adjunct assistant professor (not active as of fall 2020)

- Katya Soldak, journalist and documentary filmmaker (documentary The Long Breakup, 2020)

- James B. Stewart, Bloomberg Professor of Business Journalism

- Alexander Stille, San Paolo Professor of International Journalism

- Jonathan Weiner, Maxwell M. Geffen Professor of Medical and Scientific Journalism


The Killing of America

# The Killing of America

## Abstract

The Killing of America (Japanese: アメリカン・バイオレンス, Hepburn: Amerikan baiorensu, "American violence") is a 1981 Japanese–American documentary and mondo film directed by Sheldon Renan and Leonard Schrader. The film was premiered in New York City in February 1982 and was shown at the 2013 Fantasia Festival.

## Synopsis

The Killing of America focuses on what the director feels is the decline of the United States. It features interviews from Ed Dorris, a retired sergeant of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, as well as Los Angeles County Coroner Thomas Noguchi. The documentary also shows several interviews with convicted killers such as Sirhan Sirhan as well as footage of murders and news broadcasts. It connects the beginning of America's woes with the assassination of John F. Kennedy and posits that hope of recovery was snuffed out when Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1968 (the film features footage from the Zapruder film and news footage from the night that Robert Kennedy was killed). According to the film the 1960s saw the rise of "sniper" mass murderers who were often white, well-adjusted people that killed people seemingly at random (exemplified in the film by the murders of Charles Whitman). The 1970s saw the rise of what the film calls "sex killers", serial killers such as Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gacy who also raped and sexually abused their victims. A section of the film also analyses the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in 1979, in which a 16-year-old teenager opened fire on a group of children and staff from her window opposite an elementary school in San Diego, injuring 9 people and killing the school's principal and a janitor.

The last part of the film goes over the murder of John Lennon and ends with footage from a Central Park vigil for the slain musician. The narrators' last lines are: "Two people were shot at this Central Park vigil. While you watched this movie, five more of us were murdered; one was the random killing of a stranger."

## Cast

- Chuck Riley as Narrator

- Ed Dorris

- Thomas Noguchi

- Sirhan Sirhan

- Elmer Wayne Henley

- Edmund Kemper

## Release history

The Killing of America was initially released in Japan in September 1981. It made its United States debut in New York City in February 1982 at The Public Theater but did not receive a commercial release in the United States. It did receive a home video release in Britain. The film received a wide release in Japan, where financial backers reportedly pressured Renan to add footage of peace vigils for John Lennon as a way to make the documentary less depressing.

Years later the documentary would receive a 2013 North American release at Fantasia Festival in Canada.

The Killing of America was released on DVD in February 2002 and re-released in October 2016 on Blu-ray.

## Reception

Critical reception for The Killing of America has been mixed. Allmovie gave the film 2 1/2 stars out of 5, remarking that "Rather than an in-depth study of the reasons for and effects of the rising murder rate in the U.S., the director has chosen to emphasize the violence and the need for gun control to help lower the appalling amount of mayhem that distinguishes the U.S. from its European counterparts." In contrast, in the book The Horror Film Mikita Brottman considered the film to be "one of the more thoughtful and fascinating examples of the mondo genre".


Paralititan

# Paralititan

## Abstract

Paralititan (meaning "tidal giant") was a giant titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur genus discovered in coastal deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Bahariya Formation of Egypt. It lived between 99.6 and 93.5 million years ago.

## Discovery

Joshua Smith in 1999 in the Bahariya Oasis rediscovered the Gebel el Dist site where Richard Markgraf in 1912, 1913 and 1914 had excavated fossils for Ernst Stromer. In 2000, an American expedition was mounted to revisit the site. However, apparently Markgraf had already removed all more complete skeletons, leaving only limited remains behind. At a new site, the nearby Gebel Fagga, the expedition succeeded in locating a partial sauropod skeleton. It was identified by Lacovara as a species new to science. It was named and described by Joshua B. Smith, Matthew C. Lamanna, Kenneth J. Lacovara, Peter Dodson, Jennifer R. Smith, Jason Charles Poole, Robert Giegengack and Yousri Attia in 2001 as the type species Paralititan stromeri. The generic name means "Stromer's tidal (Greek para + halos "near sea") titan " or "Stromer's tidal giant", in reference to the "paralic" tidal flats the animal lived on. The specific name honors Ernst Stromer von Reichenbach, a German paleontologist and geologist who first established the presence of dinosaur fossils in this area in 1911. Paralititan represents the first tetrapod reported from the Bahariya Formation since Romer's publication of 1935.

The holotype specimen of Paralititan, CGM 81119, was found in a layer of the Bahariya Formation, dating from the Cenomanian. It consists of a partial skeleton lacking the skull. It is incomplete, apart from bone fragments containing two fused posterior sacral vertebrae, two anterior caudal vertebrae, both incomplete scapulae, two humeri and a metacarpal. The Paralititan type specimen shows evidence of having been scavenged by a carnivorous dinosaur as it was disarticulated within an oval of eight metres length with the various bones being clustered. A Carcharodontosaurus tooth was discovered in between the clusters. The holotype is part of the collection of the Cairo Geological Museum.

The large anterior dorsal vertebra 1912V11164, in 1932 by Stromer referred to an undetermined "Giant Sauropod", was in 2001 tentatively referred to Paralititan.

## Description

Joshua Smith, who informally led the research team that found the dinosaur fossils, told an interviewer, "It was a truly enormous dinosaur by any reckoning."

Little of Paralititan is known, so its exact size is difficult to estimate. However, the limited material, especially the long humeri, suggested that it is one of the most massive dinosaurs ever discovered, with an estimated weight of 59 t (65 short tons). The complete right humerus measured 1.69 meters (5.5 feet) long which at the time of discovery was the longest known in a Cretaceous sauropod; this was surpassed in 2016 with the discovery of Notocolossus which had a 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) humerus. Using Saltasaurus as a guide, Carpenter estimated its length at around 26 m (85 ft) in 2006.

Scott Hartman estimates an animal that is massive, but still smaller than the biggest titanosaurs such as Puertasaurus, Alamosaurus, and Argentinosaurus. In 2010, Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 20+ meters (66+ ft), and its weight at 20 tonnes (24.2 short tons). In 2012 Holtz gave a length of 32 meters (105 feet) and an estimated weight of 65.3–72.5 tonnes (72–80 short tons). In 2016, using equations that estimate body mass based on the circumference of the humerus and femur of quadrupedal animals, it was given an estimated weight of ~ 50 t (55 short tons). In 2019 Gregory S. Paul estimated Paralititan between 30 and 55 tonnes (33–60.6 short tons). In 2020 Molina-Perez and Larramendi estimated the size of the animal at 27 meters (89 feet) and 30 tonnes (33 short tons).

From the formation another sauropod had already been known, Aegyptosaurus. Paralititan differs from Aegyptosaurus in its larger size, the latter genus weighing only fifteen tons, possibly in not having pleurocoels in its front tail vertebrae, and in possessing a relatively longer deltopectoral crest on its humerus.

## Palaeoenvironment

The autochthonous, scavenged skeleton was preserved in tidal flat deposits containing in the form of fossil leaves and root systems, a mangrove vegetation of seed ferns, Weichselia reticulata. The mangrove ecosystem it inhabited was situated along the southern shore of the Tethys Sea. Paralititan is the first dinosaur demonstrated to have inhabited a mangrove habitat. It lived at approximately the same time and place as giant predators Carcharodontosaurus, Spinosaurus, and the sauropod Aegyptosaurus.


The Killing of a Sacred Deer

# The Killing of a Sacred Deer

## Abstract

The Killing Of A Sacred Deer is a 2017 absurdist psychological horror thriller film directed and co-produced by Yorgos Lanthimos, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Efthimis Filippou. It stars Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, Alicia Silverstone, and Bill Camp. It follows a cardiac surgeon who introduces his family to a teenage boy with a connection to his past, after which they mysteriously begin to fall ill.

The film had its world premiere at the 70th Cannes Film Festival on 22 May 2017, where it was awarded Best Screenplay. It was theatrically released in Ireland and the United Kingdom on 3 November 2017, by Curzon Artificial Eye. It grossed $10.7 million worldwide and received positive reviews from critics, who praised Lanthimos' direction, the screenplay, cinematography, and performances of the cast (particularly those of Keoghan, Farrell, and Kidman). At the 15th Irish Film & Television Awards, the film earned four nominations, with Keoghan winning Best Supporting Actor. It was nominated for Best Director, Best Screenwriter, and Best Actor (Farrell) at the 30th European Film Awards, and for Best Supporting Male (Keoghan) and Best Cinematography at the 33rd Independent Spirit Awards.

## Plot

After performing an open heart surgery, Steven Murphy, a cardiothoracic surgeon in Cincinnati, meets 16-year-old Martin Lang, whose father died a few years earlier, in a diner. Steven goes home to his wife Anna and their children Kim and Bob. Steven invites Martin to meet his family, and Martin gets along with everyone, especially Kim. That night, Martin invites Steven to his house for dinner the next day.

At Martin's house, after dinner, Martin goes to bed, leaving Steven alone with his mother. Martin's mother begins flirting with Steven, and he leaves.

Martin visits Steven's office, complaining of chest pain, but tests show nothing wrong. Martin invites Steven over again, saying his mother finds Steven attractive, but Steven refuses. Afterward, Martin's demands for Steven's attention grow increasingly frequent and desperate. Steven is troubled to learn that Martin gave Kim a ride home on his motorcycle.

One morning, Steven's son Bob is unable to move his legs, so Steven and Anna rush him to the hospital, where numerous tests are performed. Martin tells Steven that, to "balance things" for his father, who died while Steven was operating on him, Steven must kill a member of his own family. Otherwise, within a few days, Steven's family will all die after paralysis, an inability to eat, and bleeding from the eyes. Steven has Martin escorted from the hospital. Later, Bob begins refusing to eat, but no cause can be found.

Kim, who has fallen in love with Martin, collapses while singing in the choir and is also hospitalized. She chokes on a piece of apple and is unable to eat too. Kim and Bob are given feeding tubes. Steven tells Anna of his history with Martin. He also admits to drinking before operating on Martin's father. Martin calls Anna and over the phone tells Kim to stand up and walk, which she does. When he hangs up, she collapses again. Anna confronts Martin about forcing her children to suffer. Martin replies it is justice to him since he believes Steven killed his father.

Kim and Bob are sent home. After Anna chastises Steven for his passive way of dealing with the situation, Steven ties Martin up in his basement. He beats Martin and shoots him in the leg, but Martin is not intimidated. Martin bites Steven's arm as well as his own arm. The children argue over whom their father will kill and try to curry his favor. Steven asks the school principal which of his children is "best". (The principal tells Steven that Bob excels in mathematics and sciences and that Kim excels in literature and history, citing her excellent essay on Iphigenia.) But he says it is impossible to point out the best.

Back home, Anna brings the children to see Martin, tends to his wounds, and kisses his feet, but she fails to elicit any sympathy. She then tells Steven that he should kill one of the children, not her, because she can have another child. Kim fails to persuade Martin to heal her so they can run away together and then tells Steven how much she loves her family and offers her life to save theirs. Finally, hopeless, Anna releases Martin.

When Bob begins bleeding from his eyes, which Martin said would happen a few hours before death, Steven places him, Kim, and Anna in a circle, bound with duct tape, and covers their heads. Steven pulls a woolen hat over his face, spins around, and repeatedly fires a rifle. He narrowly misses Kim and Anna, but the third shot kills Bob.

Some time later, Martin, his face still somewhat bruised, enters the diner where he and Steven used to meet. The remaining Murphys are inside and promptly leave. Martin watches as they go. Steven avoids his gaze, Anna shoots him an icy glare, and Kim, who is healed, glances back before walking out of the door.

## Cast

- Colin Farrell as Steven Murphy

- Nicole Kidman as Anna Murphy

- Barry Keoghan as Martin Lang

- Raffey Cassidy as Kimberly "Kim" Murphy

- Sunny Suljic as Robert "Bob" Murphy

- Alicia Silverstone as Martin's Mother

- Bill Camp as Matthew Williams

- Barry Bernson as Dr. Larry Banks

- Herb Caillouet as Ed Thompson (Hospital Director)

- Denise Dal Vera as Mary Williams

- Drew Logan as Principal

- Michael Trester as Elderly Man

- Ming Wang as Doctor (Abdominal)

## Production

The Killing of a Sacred Deer takes its title from part of the story of the ancient Greek tragedy Iphigenia in Aulis by Euripides. On 11 May 2016, it was announced that Farrell was set to star in the film, with Lanthimos directing from a screenplay he wrote alongside Filippou. This was the second collaboration between Lanthimos and Farrell, after 2015's The Lobster. Kidman was cast that June, and Silverstone, Cassidy, Camp, Keoghan, and Suljic joined the project in August. The film was financed by Film4 Productions and New Sparta Films along with the Irish Film Board, and was developed by Element Pictures with support from Film4, while HanWay Films served as worldwide sales agent.

By 23 August 2016, the film had begun principal photography at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. Shooting also took place in the Hyde Park and Northside neighborhoods of the city.

## Release

The Killing of a Sacred Deer premiered at the 70th Cannes Film Festival on 22 May 2017, where it competed for the Palme d'Or and won Best Screenplay. In May 2016, A24 acquired North American distribution rights, and Haut et Court acquired French distribution rights to the film. It was theatrically released in the United States on 20 October 2017, and in Ireland and the United Kingdom on 3 November 2017.

## Reception

### Box office

In North America, The Killing of a Sacred Deer made $114,585 from four theaters in its opening weekend, an average of $28,646 per venue. It opened to £288,105 and finished on £857,615 in the United Kingdom. The film ultimately grossed $2.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $8.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $10.7 million.

### Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 79% of 281 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads: " The Killing of a Sacred Deer continues director Yorgos Lanthimos' stubbornly idiosyncratic streak — and demonstrates again that his is a talent not to be ignored." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing that " The Killing of a Sacred Deer moves with a somnambulist's certainty along its own distinctive spectrum of weird. It's an intriguing, disturbing, amusing twist on something which in many ways could be a conventional horror-thriller from the 1970s or 1980s, or even a bunny-boiler nightmare from the 90s." Mark Kermode of The Observer also gave the film 4 out of 5 stars, describing it as "a typically arch dramatic conundrum, laced with Lanthimos's trademark off-kilter artifice and deadpan humour" and "a Saw movie for the arthouse crowd, an increasingly sickening hunger game driven by an inflexible moral imperative, with a whiff of medical misadventure."

A. O. Scott of The New York Times opined that "Lanthimos is less interested in moral shock therapy or social criticism than in aesthetic estrangement. Sacred Deer feels like a dark, opaque bit of folklore transplanted into an off-kilter modern setting." Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times called the film "a lightly blood-spattered but technically immaculate nightmare of a movie that invites us to cackle alongside its director into the void" and commented, "With a nastiness that seeps into the movie like a slow-acting poison, turns a domestic-medical nightmare into a feverish exercise in style."

The Killing of a Sacred Deer was named "one of the best horror movies of the year" by Joey Keogh of Wicked Horror, who called it "horror in its purest, most distilled form, freed from the shackles of jump scares or exposition." Keogh wrote that Keoghan is the film's "ace card", giving "his best, most self-assured performance to date" as Martin, the "supremely frightening yet weirdly charismatic creation who makes even the act of eating spaghetti seem terrifying." Zhuo-Ning Su of Awards Daily wrote that the film is "less complex than previous work but engrosses and unsettles all the same", adding that it "palpably improves" in its second hour. While praising the cast, particularly Kidman, Su added that Keoghan "shines brightest as the plain but charismatic boy who's somehow not quite right", calling his performance "vivid" and "fully realised".

In a mixed review, Nicholas Bell of ION Cinema wrote that the "mysterious, highly metaphorical" film, which he compared to "something from the Old Testament", "finds the director getting a bit too hung up on his own idiosyncrasies." He also criticized Lanthimos's and Filippou's "overtly precise dialogue", which he felt "straitjacketed" the actors, but he praised director of photography Thimios Bakatakis and the "eerie" score. Bell summarized the film as "interesting, but a bit too ambiguous to remain as uncomfortably off-putting as it hopes".

Trace Thurman gave the film a five-star review in Bloody Disgusting, saying it would be "the most unsettling film you see this year" and giving particular credit to Lanthimos's direction and Bakatakis's cinematography, which he said give the film a "surreal, otherworldly quality". Thurman also praised the cast, writing that Farrell and Kidman "deliver their lines with a stilted coldness that sends chills up the spine", and calling the younger actors "equally impressive, with Keoghan being the standout. He gives an eerie performance that you believe to be that of a psychopath". Also writing for Bloody Disgusting, Benedict Seal gave the film a one-star review, stating that it had "none of the escalating intrigue and tension" of The Gift and The Witch, both released in 2015. Seal added that the film plays out "mechanically" after the reveal in the middle and said the visuals were "striking at times" but became "monotonous and garish", before summing up the film as "the biggest bum note yet from one of the most overrated directors in the art-house world" and "an epic embarrassment".


Wilhelm, German Crown Prince

# Wilhelm, German Crown Prince

## Abstract

Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia (Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst; 6 May 1882 – 20 July 1951) was the eldest child of the last Kaiser, Wilhelm II, German Emperor, and his consort Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, and thus a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, and distant cousin to many British royals, such as Queen Elizabeth II. As Emperor Wilhelm's heir, he was the last Crown Prince of the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, until the abolition of the monarchy.

Wilhelm became crown prince at the age of six in 1888, when his grandfather Frederick III died and his father became emperor. He was crown prince for 30 years until the fall of the empire on 9 November 1918. During World War I, he commanded the 5th Army from 1914 to 1916 and was commander of the Army Group German Crown Prince for the remainder of the war. After his return to Germany in 1923, he fought the Weimar Republic and campaigned for the reintroduction of the monarchy in Germany. After his plans to become president had been blocked by his father, Wilhelm supported Adolf Hitler 's rise to power, but when Wilhelm realised that Hitler had no intention of restoring the monarchy, their relationship cooled. Wilhelm became head of the House of Hohenzollern on 4 June 1941 following the death of his father and held the position until his own death on 20 July 1951.

## Early life

Wilhelm was born on 6 May 1882 as the eldest son of the then Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, and his first wife, Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was born in the Marmorpalais of Potsdam in the Province of Brandenburg, where his parents resided until his father acceded to the throne. When he was born, his great-grandfather Wilhelm I was the German Emperor and his grandfather Crown Prince Frederick was the heir apparent, making Wilhelm third in line to the throne.

His birth sparked an argument between his parents and his grandmother Crown Princess Victoria. Before Wilhelm was born, his grandmother had expected to be asked to help find a nurse, but since her son did everything he could to snub her, the future Wilhelm II asked his aunt Princess Helena to help instead. His mother was hurt and his grandmother, Queen Victoria, who was the younger Wilhelm's great-grandmother, was furious.

Prince Wilhelm would have five younger brothers: Prince Eitel Friedrich, Prince Adalbert, Prince August Wilhelm, Prince Oskar and Prince Joachim and one younger sister: Princess Viktoria Luise. He spent his childhood with his siblings at Marmorpalais and after his father's accession to the throne at the New Palace, also in Potsdam.

In 1888, the Year of the Three Emperors when his great-grandfather and grandfather both died, his father became German Emperor, and six-year-old Wilhelm became the heir apparent to the German and Prussian thrones with the title of Kronprinz. He spent his school days with his brothers at the Prinzenhaus in Plön in his mother's ancestral Schleswig-Holstein.

Wilhelm was a supporter of association football, then a relatively new sport in the country, donating a cup to the German Football Association in 1908 and thereby initiating the Kronprinzenpokal (now Länderpokal), the oldest cup competition in German football. The German club BFC Preussen was also originally named BFC Friedrich Wilhelm in his honour.

In 1914, the kaiser ordered the construction of Schloss Cecilienhof in Potsdam for Prince Wilhelm and his family which angered him. The Schloss was loosely inspired by Bidston Court in Birkenhead, England, resembling a Tudor manor. Completed in 1917, it became the main residence for the Crown Prince for a time.

## World War I

Wilhelm had been active in pushing German expansion, and sought a leading role on the outbreak of war. Despite being only thirty-two and having never commanded a unit larger than a regiment, the German crown prince was named commander of the 5th Army in August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I. However, under the well-established Prussian/ German General Staff model then in use, inexperienced nobles who were afforded commands of large army formations were always provided with (and expected to defer to the advice of) experienced chiefs of staff to assist them in their duties. As emperor, Wilhelm's father instructed the crown prince to defer to the advice of his experienced chief of staff Konstantin Schmidt von Knobelsdorf.

In October 1914 Wilhelm gave his first interview to a foreign correspondent and the first statement to the press made by a German noble since the outbreak of war. He denied promoting military solutions to diplomatic problems, and said this in English:

Undoubtedly this is the most stupid, senseless and unnecessary war of modern times. It is a war not wanted by Germany, I can assure you, but it was forced on us, and the fact that we were so effectually prepared to defend ourselves is now being used as an argument to convince the world that we desired conflict.

From August 1915 onwards, Wilhelm was given the additional role as commander of the Army Group German Crown Prince. In 1916 his troops began the Verdun Offensive, a year-long effort to destroy the French armies that would end in failure. He personally ordered a naval gun to fire the first shot on 21 February 1916, starting the deadly battle. Wilhelm relinquished command of the 5th Army in November of that year, but remained commander of the Army Group German Crown Prince for the rest of the war.

## 1918–34

After the outbreak of the German Revolution in 1918, both Emperor Wilhelm II and the crown prince signed the document of abdication. On 13 November, the former crown prince fled Germany, crossed into the Netherlands at Oudvroenhoven and was later interned on the island of Wieringen (now part of the mainland), near Den Helder. In the autumn of 1921, Gustav Stresemann visited Wilhelm, and the former crown prince voiced an interest in returning to Germany, even as a private citizen. After Stresemann became chancellor in August 1923, Wilhelm was allowed to return after giving assurances that he would not engage in politics. He chose 9 November 1923 for this, which infuriated his father, who had not been informed about the plans of his son and who felt the historic date to be inappropriate.

In June 1926, a referendum on expropriating the former ruling Princes of Germany without compensation failed and as a consequence, the financial situation of the Hohenzollern family improved considerably. A settlement between the state and the family made Cecilienhof property of the state but granted a right of residence to Wilhelm and his wife Cecilie. This was limited in duration to three generations.

Wilhelm broke the promise he had made to Stresemann to stay out of politics. Adolf Hitler visited Wilhelm at Cecilienhof three times, in 1926, in 1933 (on the " Day of Potsdam ") and in 1935. Wilhelm joined Der Stahlhelm, which merged in 1931 into the Harzburg Front, a right-wing organisation of those opposed to the democratic republic.

The former crown prince was reportedly interested in the idea of running for Reichspräsident as the right-wing candidate against Paul von Hindenburg in 1932, until his father (who privately supported Hindenburg) forbade him from acting on the idea. After his plans to become president had been blocked by his father, Wilhelm supported Hitler's rise to power.

## 1934–51

After the murder of his friend Kurt von Schleicher, the former Chancellor, in the Night of the Long Knives (1934), Wilhelm withdrew from all political activities.

When Wilhelm realised that Hitler had no intention of restoring the monarchy, their relationship cooled. Upon his father's death in 1941, Wilhelm succeeded him as head of the House of Hohenzollern, the former German imperial dynasty. He was approached by those in the military and the diplomatic service who wanted to replace Hitler, but Wilhelm turned them down. After the ill-fated assassination attempt on 20 July 1944, Hitler nevertheless had Wilhelm placed under supervision by the Gestapo and had his home at Cecilienhof watched.

In January 1945, Wilhelm left Potsdam for Oberstdorf for a treatment of his gall and liver problems. His wife Cecilie fled in early February 1945 as the Red Army drew closer to Berlin, but they had been living apart for a long time. At the End of World War II in Europe, Wilhelm's home, Cecilienhof, was seized by the Soviets. The palace was subsequently used by the Allied Powers as the venue for the Potsdam Conference.

At the end of the war, Wilhelm was captured by French Moroccan troops in Baad, Austria, and was interned as a (World War I) war criminal. Transferred to Hechingen, Germany, he lived for a short time in Hohenzollern Castle under house arrest before moving to a small five-room house at Fürstenstraße 16 in Hechingen. He died there on 20 July 1951, of a heart attack. Three days later, his opponent in the Battle of Verdun, Marshal Philippe Pétain, died in prison in France.

Wilhelm and his wife are buried at Hohenzollern Castle.

## Family and children

Wilhelm married Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (20 September 1886 – 6 May 1954) in Berlin on 6 June 1905. After their marriage, the couple lived at the Crown Prince's Palace in Berlin during the winter and at the Marmorpalais in Potsdam, later at Cecilienhof in Potsdam. Cecilie was the daughter of Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1851–1897) and his wife, Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia (1860–1922). Their eldest son, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, was killed fighting for the German Army in France in 1940.

Their children were:

- Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1906–1940), who renounced his succession rights in 1933 in order to marry Dorothea von Salviati, and had issue

- Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia (1907–1994); married 1938 Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia and had issue

- Prince Hubertus of Prussia (1909–1950); married 1941 Baroness Maria von Humboldt-Dachroeden, 1943 Princess Magdalena Reuss and had issue

- Prince Frederick of Prussia (1911–1966); married 1945 Lady Brigid Guinness and had issue:

- Princess Alexandrine of Prussia, called "Adini" (1915–1980)

- Princess Cecilie of Prussia (1917–1975); married Clyde Kenneth Harris on 21 June 1949, and had issue

## In literature and popular culture

Wilhelm's reputation as a military commander was satirised by Neil Munro in his Erchie MacPherson story, "Bad News", first published in the Glasgow Evening News on 8th January 1917.

## Honours

- Kingdom of Prussia: Knight of the Black Eagle, 6 May 1892; with Collar Knight of the Royal Crown Order, 1st Class, 6 May 1892 Grand Commander's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, 6 May 1892 Grand Cross of the Red Eagle, with Crown, 12 June 1892 Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Classes Pour le Mérite (military), 22 August 1915; with Oak Leaves, 8 September 1916

- Knight of the Black Eagle, 6 May 1892; with Collar

- Knight of the Royal Crown Order, 1st Class, 6 May 1892

- Grand Commander's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, 6 May 1892

- Grand Cross of the Red Eagle, with Crown, 12 June 1892

- Iron Cross (1914), 2nd and 1st Classes

- Pour le Mérite (military), 22 August 1915; with Oak Leaves, 8 September 1916

- Hohenzollern: Cross of Honour of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, 1st Class with Swords

- Anhalt: Grand Cross of the Order of Albert the Bear, with Swords Friedrich Cross, 1st Class

- Grand Cross of the Order of Albert the Bear, with Swords

- Friedrich Cross, 1st Class

- Baden: Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1900 Grand Cross of the Order of Berthold the First, 1900

- Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1900

- Grand Cross of the Order of Berthold the First, 1900

- Kingdom of Bavaria: Knight of St. Hubert, 1900 Grand Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph

- Knight of St. Hubert, 1900

- Grand Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph

- Duchy of Brunswick: Grand Cross of the Order of Henry the Lion, 1902; with Swords War Merit Cross

- Grand Cross of the Order of Henry the Lion, 1902; with Swords

- War Merit Cross

- Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, with Swords Cross for Merit in War (Saxe-Meiningen)

- Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, with Swords

- Cross for Merit in War (Saxe-Meiningen)

- Free Hanseatic Cities: Hanseatic Crosses

- Hesse and by Rhine: Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 6 May 1900 General Honor Decoration

- Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 6 May 1900

- General Honor Decoration

- Lippe: War Honor Cross for Heroic Deeds War Merit Cross

- War Honor Cross for Heroic Deeds

- War Merit Cross

- Mecklenburg: Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore Military Merit Cross, 1st Class (Schwerin)

- Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore

- Military Merit Cross, 1st Class (Schwerin)

- Oldenburg: Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, with Golden Crown

- Reuss: War Merit Cross

- Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: Grand Cross of the White Falcon, 1896; with Swords

- Kingdom of Saxony: Knight of the Rue Crown, 1900 Commander of the Military Order of St. Henry, 1st Class

- Knight of the Rue Crown, 1900

- Commander of the Military Order of St. Henry, 1st Class

- Württemberg: Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1899 Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order

- Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1899

- Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order

- Austria-Hungary: Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, 1898

- Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold

- Kingdom of Bulgaria: Grand Cross of St. Alexander

- Qing dynasty: Order of the Double Dragon, Class I Grade II

- Denmark: Knight of the Elephant, 6 May 1900

- Greece: Grand Cross of the Redeemer

- Kingdom of Italy: Knight of the Annunciation, 13 April 1896

- Empire of Japan: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, 19 September 1899

- Monaco: Grand Cross of St. Charles, 15 January 1900

- Netherlands: Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion

- Norway: Grand Cross of St. Olav, with Collar, 15 December 1906

- Ottoman Empire: Order of Distinction Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class in Diamonds Order of Glory

- Order of Distinction

- Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class in Diamonds

- Order of Glory

- Persia: Order of the Aqdas, 1st Class

- Kingdom of Portugal: Grand Cross of the Sash of the Two Orders Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword, with Collar

- Grand Cross of the Sash of the Two Orders

- Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword, with Collar

- Kingdom of Romania: Collar of the Order of Carol I Grand Cross of the Crown of Romania

- Collar of the Order of Carol I

- Grand Cross of the Crown of Romania

- Kingdom of Serbia: Grand Cross of the White Eagle

- Siam: Knight of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri

- Spain: Knight of the Golden Fleece, January 1900

- Sweden: Knight of the Seraphim, 27 July 1888

- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland: Stranger Knight Companion of the Garter, 27 January 1901 (expelled in 1915) Recipient of the Royal Victorian Chain, June 1904 (expelled in 1915)

- Stranger Knight Companion of the Garter, 27 January 1901 (expelled in 1915)

- Recipient of the Royal Victorian Chain, June 1904 (expelled in 1915)

- Russian Empire: Knight of St. Andrew Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky Knight of the White Eagle Knight of St. Anna, 1st Class Knight of St. Stanislaus, 1st Class

- Knight of St. Andrew

- Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky

- Knight of the White Eagle

- Knight of St. Anna, 1st Class

- Knight of St. Stanislaus, 1st Class

- During a visit to Russia in January 1903 he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Little Russian Dragoon Regiment No. 40.

## Ancestry


The Last Descent

# The Last Descent

## Abstract

The Last Descent is a 2016 American religious biographical survival drama film co-written and directed by Isaac Halasima, and is his first feature-length film. It is based on the 2009 rescue attempt of John Edward Jones in Nutty Putty Cave, west of Utah Lake. The film was produced by Deep Blue Films, Cocollala Pictures, and Dark Rider Productions and distributed by Excel Entertainment Group. It stars Chadwick Hopson, Alexis Johnson, Landon Henneman, Jyllian Petrie, and Jacob Omer.

## Plot

In 2009, John Jones, a 26-year-old medical student and experienced caver, arrives in Utah for the Thanksgiving weekend with his wife Emily and young daughter Lizzie. They are picked up by John's brother Josh, who tells him that the Nutty Putty Cave has been opened after having been closed before. Emily approves because of John's enthusiasm and he and Josh go to explore the cave. After Emily leaves with Josh's car, the two brothers enter the cave. John makes a decision to split up and explore an un-mapped route. As he goes deeper into the cave, he gets stuck in a small passageway. As he tries to go back and free himself, he falls into an even smaller hole and passes out.

John wakes up upside down in an 18-inch wide hole and realizes he is completely stuck. He manages to alert Josh, who then tries to pull John out himself but is unsuccessful. Josh, at John's behest, reluctantly leaves him to go get help. While alone, John passes out again due to his upside down position.Hours later, he is woken by Susie, a rescue worker. She tells him many rescuers are on the scene and are doing their best to get him out. Susie then climbs back up to the entrance where she meets with an expert who states that if John is in the tunnel for extended periods of time, his body will begin to shut down. Soon another rescuer, Aaron is brought to the scene. He has been involved in past rescues that have ended tragically, and he vows to not leave without rescuing John.

Aaron climbs down and finds John, whose condition is starting to deteriorate. He assures John that everything will be all right, and promises him that he'll get out of the cave. John falls asleep and has a vision of his daughter in a field, but with an older man wearing grey clothing, whom he has seen before in hallucinations, after which he wakes up and suffers a panic attack. Aaron manages to calm him down, but not before John injures himself. John begins to talk to Aaron about his relationship with Emily. His conversation is overshadowed with flashbacks from when he first met Emily to them dating. That night, Josh drives Emily to the entrance of the cave where he convinces the lead rescuers into letting her stay at the entrance.

John's condition continues to worsen as the hours go by. Aaron, Susie and other workers plan to pull John out of the hole by drilling pulleys into the walls and hooking the ropes to his feet. Aaron continues to talk to John, occasionally feeding him Gatorade to keep him hydrated. John continues to tell him about his relationship with Emily, and reveals that when he first proposed to her she declined, and his family did not take to it kindly. He still continued to date her, amid rising tensions between her and his family. A radio is lowered into the cave and John is able to speak with Emily, who reveals she is pregnant. Shortly afterwards, he suffers another panic attack. While talking with Aaron again, they each realize they both served Latter Day Saints missions in Spanish speaking countries. They both sing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" in Spanish.

The drilling is finished and the attempt to pull John out commences. However, as John is starting to get pulled out, one of the drills comes undone, making dirt explode in all directions, and resulting in John falling back in the hole. The workers rescue an injured Aaron, who struggles to get back to the cave, distraught over another failure and the loss of his new friend. Emily mourns at the entrance, and is able to speak with John one last time. Emily talks with him for a minute before John seemingly dies.

Some time later, John suddenly awakens, and to his surprise, has the strength to push himself out of the hole. He calls for Aaron and Susie and finds the pulley ropes. He notices that the injuries he sustained have disappeared. As he finds his way back to the entrance, he finds it deserted and realizes he has died and is now a spirit in the afterlife. Saddened, John goes back to the cave.

In the cave, John encounters another spirit in the form of an infant. As he talks to the baby, he realizes the baby is his soon to be born son. He then reflects on the hallucinations and visions of the boy and man in grey with Emily and Lizzie. He realizes that man was always his son, and tearfully tells the infant to watch over his mother and sister. As he takes the baby from his cradle and exits the cave, the boy is born at a hospital and is placed in Emily's arms, who happily announces that she has named him after John. Epilogue captions state that the cave's entrance has since been sealed, with John's body still inside, and provides a thank-you to the rescuers from the family.

## Cast

- Chadwick Hopson as John Jones, a medical student who gets stuck in an 18-inch wide hole in Nutty Putty Cave.

- Alexis "Lexy" Johnson as Emily Jones, John's wife.

- Landon Henneman as Aaron, a veteran rescue worker who is distraught over past rescues that have ended tragically. He is a composite character of the many workers who conversed with John during the attempted rescue.

- Jyllian Petrie as Susie, one of the rescue workers, also a composite character.

- Jacob Omer as Josh Jones, John's brother.

- Mason D. Davis as Man in Dark, a hallucination John has seen over the course of his life. The man is later revealed to be the spirit of his unborn son.

- Paul Tan as Dr. Doug Murdock, a medical expert who provides information warning the rescuers of John's condition in the cave.

- Mark Webb as Sheriff Hodgson, the leader in the rescuing effort.

- Kendrey Flake as Lizzie, John's young daughter.

## Production

Filming took place entirely in Utah, with exterior shots of the cave at the actual entrance, with the interior holes and twists recreated in a warehouse in West Valley.

## Release

The film had a limited release in Arizona, Utah and Idaho on September 16, 2016.

## Reception

The film had a limited release but received generally positive reviews, with praise for its direction, acting and cinematography, with some criticism for its tone and pacing.


Lomandra cylindrica

# Lomandra cylindrica

## Abstract

Lomandra cylindrica is a species of plant in the Asparagaceae family, first described in 1962 by Alma Theodora Lee.

It is a perennial and is endemic to New South Wales, occurring in the Sydney region in dry sclerophyll forest on sandstone derived soils.

It is sparsely tufted. It flowers in both spring and autumn. The male inflorescence is from 10 to 15 cm and is unbranched or has a few short branches, while the female inflorescence is about 5 cm long and is unbranched.


The Last Seduction

# The Last Seduction

## Abstract

The Last Seduction is a 1994 American neo-noir erotic thriller film directed by John Dahl, featuring Linda Fiorentino, Peter Berg, and Bill Pullman. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment and distributed by October Films. Fiorentino's performance garnered widespread critical acclaim and generated talk of an Oscar nomination, but she was deemed ineligible because the film was shown on HBO before its theatrical release. October Films and ITC Entertainment sued the Academy, but were unable to make Fiorentino eligible for a nomination.

The Last Seduction has gained a cult following over time, and its main character, Bridget Gregory, has been recognized as one of the most iconic femme fatales in film history. In 2019, the British Film Institute included the movie, along with Gone Girl and Death Becomes Her, in a program dedicated to exploring "wickedly compelling female characters on screen." The film was also featured in The Criterion Channel 's Neonoir series in July 2021. A sequel, The Last Seduction II, was released in 1999. However, it featured none of the original cast and starred Joan Severance as Bridget Gregory.

## Plot

Bridget Gregory works as a telemarketing manager in New York City. Her husband, Clay, is a physician who is heavily in debt to a loan shark. He arranges to sell stolen pharmaceutical cocaine to two drug dealers. The transaction becomes tense when the buyers pull a gun, but to Clay's surprise, they eventually pay him $700,000. Clay is left shaken, and upon his return home, he slaps Bridget after she insults him. She then flees their apartment with the cash while he is in the shower.

On her way to Chicago, Bridget stops in Beston, a small town near Buffalo. There she meets Mike Swale, a local man back from a whirlwind marriage in Buffalo that he refuses to talk about. He tries to pick up Bridget, and she proceeds to use him for mere sexual gratification during her stay in town. Adept at word games and mirror writing, and with an imminent return to her hometown in mind, Bridget changes her name to Wendy Kroy (as a reversal of 'New York') and gets a job at the insurance company where, coincidentally, Mike works. Their relationship is strained by her manipulative behavior and the fact that he is falling for her.

When Mike tells her how to find out if a man is cheating on his wife by reading his credit reports, Bridget devises a plan based on selling murders to cheated wives. She suggests they start with Lance Collier, a cheating, wife-beating husband residing in Florida. This proves to be the last straw for Mike, and he leaves her alone in his place after an argument. Meanwhile, the loan shark breaks Clay's thumb for not repaying his loan. Fearing for his health and in dire financial straits, he hires a private detective, Harlan, to retrieve the money from his wife.

Harlan traces Bridget's phone area code, travels to Beston and accosts her at gunpoint right after her argument with Mike. Bridget purposely crashes her car after tricking Harlan into removing his seat belt, resulting in his death. Because Harlan was Black, she uses local racial prejudice to persuade the police to close the case without further investigation. Bridget then resumes her manipulation of Mike and pretends to travel to Florida to kill Collier. Instead, she goes to Buffalo to meet Mike's ex-wife, Trish. Upon returning, Bridget shows Mike the money she stole from Clay, claiming it is her cut of the life insurance payout from the new widow.

Bridget claims to have killed Collier so they can live together, then tries to persuade him that he must also commit a similar murder so they will be even and to prove that he loves her. She tries to talk Mike into killing a tax lawyer in New York who is cheating old ladies out of their homes. At first, he refuses, but later agrees after receiving a letter from Trish saying she is moving to Beston. The letter was forged by Bridget to change his mind.

Mike goes to New York and breaks into the apartment of the supposed attorney, who turns out to be Clay. After Mike handcuffs Clay, Clay realizes what is happening when Mike mentions Bridget's alias, convincing Mike of the truth by showing him a photo of himself and Bridget together. They then hatch a plot to double-cross her. Bridget arrives, and the still-immobilized Clay – who has been clever enough to predict most of Bridget's actions but fails to understand her sociopathy – tries to make amends with her. Instead, she empties a pepper spray bottle down his throat, killing him. She tells a stunned Mike to rape her. When he refuses, she tells him she knows the truth about Trish, who is transgender, and goads him by calling him a homophobic slur. This causes Mike to have rough sex with her.

Unbeknownst to Mike, Bridget has dialed 9-1-1, and she coaxes him into "confessing" to Clay's murder as part of the role-play. Mike is subsequently arrested and jailed for rape and murder, while Bridget escapes with the cash she stole from Clay as well as with his multi-million dollar life insurance policy. Later, after she has started a new and considerably more affluent lifestyle for herself, Bridget calmly destroys the only evidence linking her to Clay's death as she is chauffeur-driven around New York City.

## Cast

- Linda Fiorentino as Bridget Gregory

- Peter Berg as Mike Swale

- Bill Pullman as Clay Gregory

- Bill Nunn as Harlan

- J. T. Walsh as Frank Griffith

- Dean Norris as Shep

- Herb Mitchell as Bob Trotter

## Production

Screenwriter Steve Barancik said he believed the film was originally pitched to ITC Entertainment as a "standard Skinemax " low-budget movie, even though the filmmakers had "an under-the-radar intention to make a good movie." Linda Fiorentino said of accepting the role, "After I read that script, I was in Arizona and I got in a car and drove six hours to get to the meeting because I had never read anything so unique in terms of a female character. And I walked in the meeting with John Dahl, the director, and I said, 'John, you are not allowed to hire anyone but me for this film.' And I wasn't kidding."

ITC Entertainment executives were upset with a scene in which Fiorentino is dressed as a cheerleader and wears suspenders over her breasts. Barancik recalled, "Apparently, a guy from the company who was monitoring things and watching the dailies saw the suspenders over Linda's nipples and shouted out, 'Are we making an art movie ?!' He shut down production and called the principals of the movie on the carpet, and they all had to pledge that they had no artistic pretensions." The scene was cut, and the sexual role-playing theme was lost.

Peter Berg said it was Fiorentino's idea to shoot the chain-link-fence sex scene in that way. "She said, 'John, get a camera,' and she climbed up on me against that fence and told John Dahl to shoot it, and that was the scene. She thought of it, she conceived it, she executed it. It was awesome."

## Reception

The Last Seduction received critical acclaim. It holds a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 51 reviews. The website's consensus reads: "Like Body Heat, The Last Seduction updates film noir techniques for a modern era, imbuing this erotic film with '90s snark." On Metacritic it has a score of 85 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars, highlighting Fiorentino's ability to project her character with dry humor and a freedom from Hollywood conventions typically surrounding a female antagonist. Ebert later ranked the film fifth on his year-end list of 1994's best movies. He wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times:

John Dahl's The Last Seduction knows how much we enjoy seeing a character work boldly outside the rules. It gives us a diabolical, evil woman, and goes the distance with her. We keep waiting for the movie to lose its nerve, and it never does: This woman is bad from beginning to end, she never reforms, she never compromises, and the movie doesn't tack on one of those contrived conclusions where the morals squad comes in and tidies up.

## Year-end lists

- 5th – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

- 6th – Janet Maslin, The New York Times

- 8th – Bob Strauss, Los Angeles Daily News

- 8th – Glenn Lovell, San Jose Mercury News

- 9th – Todd Anthony, Miami New Times

- 10th – Michael Mills, The Palm Beach Post

- Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Eleanor Ringel, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

- Top 10 (listed alphabetically, not ranked) – Jeff Simon, The Buffalo News

- Honorable mention – Michael MacCambridge, Austin American-Statesman

- Honorable mention – Betsy Pickle, Knoxville News-Sentinel

- Honorable mention – William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

## Sources


Paralititan


Arthur Byron

# Arthur Byron

## Abstract

Arthur William Byron (April 3, 1872 – July 16, 1943) was an American actor who played a mixture of British and American roles in films.

## Early years

Born in Brooklyn, Byron was the son of actors Kate Crehan and Oliver Doud Byron. He was a nephew of the stage actress Ada Rehan, his maternal aunt.

## Career

Byron started his theatrical career in February 1889 at the age of 17 with his father's dramatic company. In 1939 he celebrated his 50 years in showbusiness.

He appeared in more than 300 plays and played with stars like Maxine Elliott, Ethel Barrymore, John Gielgud, Katherine Cornell, Maude Adams and Minnie Maddern Fiske.

He was the founder and one-time president of The Actors' Equity Association and he also served as an officer of The Lambs and the Actor's fund of America.

Byron appeared many times at the Lakewood Playhouse in Maine.

## Personal life and death

Byron was married to Kathryn Keyes, and they had two daughters and a son. He died of a heart ailment, from which he suffered for some years, in Hollywood in 1943. He was cremated and his ashes were sent to the Byron summer home in Maine.

## Selected filmography

- Nervy Nat Kisses the Bride (1904, Edison)

- Fast Life (1932) - John D. Jameson

- The Mummy (1932) - Sir Joseph Whemple

- 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932) - Warden Paul Long

- Gabriel Over the White House (1933) - Jasper Brooks - Secretary of State

- The Silk Express (1933) - Conductor Clark

- Private Detective 62 (1933) - Tracey (uncredited)

- The Mayor of Hell (1933) - Judge Gilbert

- College Coach (1933) - Dr. Phillip Sargent

- Two Alone (1934) - Slag

- The House of Rothschild (1934) - Baring

- Stand Up and Cheer! (1934) - John Harly

- Fog Over Frisco (1934) - Everett Bradford

- The Notorious Sophie Lang (1934) - Police Insp. Stone

- The Man with Two Faces (1934) - Dr. Kendall

- That's Gratitude (1934) - Thomas Maxwell

- Marie Galante (1934) - Gen. Gerald Phillips

- The President Vanishes (1934) - President Craig Stanley

- The Secret Bride (1934) - Governor W.H. Vincent

- Shadow of Doubt (1935) - Morgan Bellwood

- The Whole Town's Talking (1935) - Spencer

- The Casino Murder Case (1935) - Richard Kinkaid

- Murder in the Fleet (1935) - Capt. John Winslow

- Oil for the Lamps of China (1935) - No. 1 Boss

- The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936) - Mr. Erickson

- The Prisoner of Zenda (1937) - (scenes deleted) (final film role)