The Loneliest Boy in the World

# The Loneliest Boy in the World

## Abstract

The Loneliest Boy in the World is a 2022 British comedy horror film written by Piers Ashworth, directed by Martin Owen, and starring Max Harwood and Hero Fiennes Tiffin.

## Cast

- Max Harwood as Oliver

- Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Mitch

- Susan Wokoma as Susanne

- Evan Ross as Julius

- Tallulah Haddon as Chloe

- Hammed Animashaun as Elliot

- Jacob Sartorius as Kurt

- Ben Miller as Frank

- Alex Murphy as Doug

- Nicola Roberts as Rachel

- Ashley Benson as Margot

- Zenobia Williams as Mel

- Carol Anne Watts as Oliver's mother

## Production

Principal photography began on 21 February 2021 in Llansteffan and the Crymlyn Burrows area in Wales, and lasted eight weeks.

## Release

The Loneliest Boy in the World had its world premiere at the Popcorn Frights Film Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on 13 August 2022. It was also screened as the opening film of the 2022 edition of Manchester 's Grimmfest film festival on 6 October. The film was released by Well Go USA Entertainment in select theatres in the United States on 14 October 2022, on demand and on digital on 18 October, and on DVD and Blu-ray on 20 December.

## Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 41% based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 4.2/10.

Preston Barta of the Denton Record-Chronicle gave the film a positive review and wrote, "It's a lovable cinematic Frankenstein of '80s movies and television that's peppered with exciting camera tricks and dazzling production design".

Rich Cross of Starburst gave the film a negative review: "The result is a surreal tale that aims to blend the corpse comedy of Weekend at Bernie's with the macabre motifs of a Tim Burton fantasy, but which ends up strangely devoid of life."

Chad Collins of Dread Central awarded the film two stars out of five and wrote, " The Loneliest Boy in the World is a pastel zombie throwback of sitcom terror whose innate wholesomeness can't compensate for the sense that these undead themes have walked a hundred times before."

Sheila O'Malley of RogerEbert.com awarded the film one-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "The film relies too heavily on cliche and hopes the audience won't notice."

Fred Topel of United Press International gave the film a positive review, calling it "a quirky horror comedy. It has plenty of gore and violence for horror hounds, but also a surrealist heart."

Simon Abrams of TheWrap gave the film a negative review and wrote, "The gags in The Loneliest Boy in the World also tend to be so broad and lazy that it's hard to imagine how this movie's retro-bait sensibility will appeal to anyone other than the targets of this poisoned-apple crowdpleaser's toothless criticism."

Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting awarded the film three skulls out of five and wrote, "It's a simple yet charming story that uses the sitcom format to satirize the nuclear family while offering the protagonist a chance for growth through escapism. The cute zombie comedy makes for an on-the-nose means of coping with death".


The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond

# The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond

## Abstract

The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond is a 2008 independent film by director Jodie Markell. It is based on Tennessee Williams ' long-forgotten 1957 screenplay, and stars Bryce Dallas Howard in the leading role of Fisher Willow. The film was released on December 30, 2009, making it the last film to be released in the 2000s.

## Plot

Heiress Fisher Willow reluctantly returns home to Memphis after studying abroad to participate in the tradition of presentation into society at her elderly aunt's request.

Fisher’s father is hated, having intentionally blown up part of his levee, resulting in deaths and property damage to others. Combined with her own inappropriate behavior, no man is willing to escort Fisher to the society parties. Jimmy accepts Fisher's offer to pay him to be her escort for the season. The great grandson of a former governor, Jimmy's family is poor, his father is an alcoholic who temporarily works for Mr. Willow and his mother is in a mental institution. Fisher borrows $10,000 teardrop diamond earrings from her aunt.

At the first society party, Fisher causes a scene when she has the band play jazz music and dances in " flapper " fashion. A woman calls Fisher the murderer’s daughter, and the partygoers laugh at her when she trips down the stairs.

The only other party that Fisher is invited to is hosted by her friend Jules. As he waits for Fisher to pick him up, Jimmy mentions to his father Fisher has been hinting that she wants to be intimate, which could lead to marriage, a permanent job for his father, and better care for his mother.

On the way to the party, Fisher asks Jimmy to pull over. She moves to kiss him, but is embarrassed when he pulls back. Arriving at the party, Fisher becomes frantic when realizing one of the teardrop earrings has fallen out. She then becomes hysterical when Jimmy sees Vinnie, Jules' cousin and his former girlfriend. Fisher demands that Jimmy search the area, then asks him to check his pockets. Entering the party, he demands to be searched to clear his good name.

At the same time, Fisher is called upstairs by her friend's Aunt Addie, bedridden from multiple strokes. Addie says she senses a kindred spirit in her. She points to a bottle on the shelf, asking her to give her all of the pills to die and stop the pain. Fisher agrees, but is interrupted by Vinnie telling her that Jimmy was searched and the earring was not on him. She leaves her remaining earring, promising Addie that when she comes back to get it, she will give her the pills.

Jimmy, angry at Fisher's accusation of theft, tells everyone that she paid him to be her escort, then openly flirts with Vinnie. When the partygoers begin to play a kissing game, Jules gives Fisher the highest card so that she can call Jimmy outside and kiss him, but she hides in the bathroom. She drinks a bottle of medicine containing opium and drinks it. Now in a haze, she tells everyone that she was in a mental institution rather than college. Jimmy then uses his turn to ask Vinnie outside to kiss.

Vinnie takes Jimmy to a car where they have sex. She tells him she had turned down an offer of marriage because she wants him. She then reveals she found the missing teardrop diamond on the ground, knows that Addie has the other, and says that they could run away together with the money. Jimmy tells her that they may be poor, but they still have honor, but she refuses to return it. He goes to find Fisher, who argues that they should leave immediately. As they argue, Vinnie returns the earring to her. Fisher then runs back upstairs and fulfills her assisted-suicide promise to Addie, while Vinnie tells Jimmy that she has no choice but to marry the man that asked her.

On the way home, Fisher asks Jimmy to stop. Standing together, she admits he is the only man she wants. When she reaches up to touch his face, he pulls away again. Heartbroken, Fisher turns to walk away, but Jimmy grabs her hand – a silent agreement to her proposal.

## Cast

- Bryce Dallas Howard as Fisher Willow

- Chris Evans as Jimmy Dobyne

- Ellen Burstyn as Miss Addie

- Ann-Margret as Aunt Cornelia Fisher

- Mamie Gummer as Julie Fenstermaker

- Will Patton as Old Man Dobyne

- Jessica Collins as Vinnie McCorkle

- Susan Blommaert as Addie's Nurse

- Peter Gerety as Mr. Van Hooven

- Marin Ireland as Esmeralda

## Production

Tennessee Williams wrote The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond in 1957; at that time, director Elia Kazan (who previously worked with Williams on A Streetcar Named Desire and Baby Doll) was attached to the project, reuniting with Williams for a third time. Kazan, however, went to work on other projects. Williams was interested in casting Julie Harris in the lead role. He continued to work on the script as late as 1980; it was published after his death.

Jodie Markell recalled how she first became aware of the script: "I had been interested in Tennessee Williams since I was a teenager. I'd read a lot of his work, everything I could find. I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and it really spoke to me. When I was in acting school one of my teachers showed me a collection of his screenplays, and when I read The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond I couldn't believe it had never been made. I really related to the character, Fisher Willow – mostly in her struggle to be heard in a society that keeps those who are more sensitive, more perceptive, more artistic, more romantic, witty – those people, he had an affinity for. He makes us understand them, he makes us see their vulnerabilities."

Markell then sought out the rights to do the film from Williams' estate. She was fairly young, and at the time the estate was extremely tight and not giving the rights to a lot of Williams' work. Markell said, "In time things changed, and the people who were in control of the rights changed, and we kept approaching them every few years with producer Brad Gilbert, who was really great and obtained the rights eventually. Together, we sought out the actors we wanted and the project started to come alive and the financing came together." Markell filmed in CinemaScope to evoke the rich coloration of Williams films of the 1950s, and was at pains not to make a film that was "dusty and overbaked, like so many Williams productions you see these days."

In November 2006, it was announced that Lindsay Lohan was going to play the lead role, but in March 2007, Bryce Dallas Howard was under negotiations for Lohan's role and went on to be cast. However, Markell later stated that the casting of Lohan never happened; that the reported announcement was an error by the press. Howard was her first choice, and later went on to be cast. Shooting for the film began on August 13, 2007 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

## Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 27% based on 41 reviews with an average rating of 4.37 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Stodgy and dispiritingly old-fashioned, Teardrop Diamond proves to be no big loss." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Chronicle writes, "Even though Howard never quite gets it, never quite releases into the role and never quite convinces, she never makes a mistake, either." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote: "It has been filmed in a respectful manner that evokes a touring production of an only moderately successful Broadway play. Understand that, accept it, and the film has its rewards and one performance of great passion."


Górnik Zabrze

# Górnik Zabrze

## Abstract

Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (Polish pronunciation:), is a Polish football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning the second-most Polish Championship titles together with Ruch Chorzów. The club was a dominant force in the 1960s and 1980s. Górnik holds the record for winning the most consecutive Polish Championship titles (5) and Polish Cup titles (5). In addition, the club was 1969–70 Cup Winners' Cup runners-up.

They currently compete in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of the national football league system. The club plays in a white or dark blue-red kit, and is based at the Arena Zabrze. Their main local rival is Ruch Chorzów.

## History

### First years

The club was founded in 1948 after several smaller sports associations – KS Zjednoczenie, KS Pogoń, KS Skra, and KS Concordia – were merged into a single organization, which took the name "Górnik", the Polish word for "Miner", reflecting the fact that Zabrze was an important coal-mining centre.

In 1950 Górnik joined the Opole Silesia regional league. In 1952 the club was promoted to the Polish Second Division. Their first game in the second tier was against Skra Częstochowa, and was witnessed by 20,000 fans, with Górnik winning 5–1. The whole season was very successful and Górnik finished second overall, behind Górnik Wałbrzych.

The club was promoted to the top division in 1955. In their first game in the top flight Górnik beat local rivals Ruch Chorzów 3–1, with 25,000 in attendance; the club finished the season in sixth place.

### First successes

In 1957, just a year after promotion, Górnik won its first championship of Poland. The team, with star, Ernest Pohl, was third in 1958, to regain the crown in 1959 and 1961, together with such players as Stanisław Oślizło and Hubert Kostka. In 1961 Górnik for the first time appeared in European Cups, losing in the first round to Tottenham Hotspur.

### Golden years

The next championship, won in 1963, marked the beginning of an unusual streak of five consecutive titles (1963, 64, 65, 66 and 67), which is a Polish record.

Górnik's biggest success in European football took place in 1970 (even though in Poland the team was second, after Legia Warsaw). In the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, Gornik beat all their opponents – Olympiacos, Rangers, Levski Sofia and AS Roma, reaching the final, which took place in Vienna. There, Manchester City turned out to be the better team, winning 2–1. The following season Górnik would once again play Manchester City, with the 1970 final being repeated this time in the quarter-final.

### Late 1970s and early 1980s

During the mid-1970s Górnik form deteriorated and in late spring of 1978, the team was relegated to the Second Division. However, it returned after one year and in games of 1979–80, Zabrze's side finished sixth. In 1984, after purchasing of a group of talented players (Ryszard Komornicki, Waldemar Matysik, Eugeniusz Cebrat, Andrzej Zgutczyński, Tadeusz Dolny, Andrzej Pałasz), Górnik finished fourth, which was a sign of better times.

### Late 1980s until now

Between 1985 and 1988 Górnik again marked a magnificent streak, with four consecutive championships. Zabrze's side also played versus renowned European powerhouses, such as Bayern Munich, Anderlecht, Hamburger SV, Juventus and Real Madrid.

In 1994 Górnik competed again for the title and with players as Jerzy Brzęczek, Grzegorz Mielcarski, Tomasz Wałdoch, hopes were high. Before the last round of the league the standings at the top were: Legia 47 points and Górnik 45 points. Since the two teams were to face each other in Warsaw, Górnik still had a chance to win the title. However the game ended in a 1–1 tie which gave Legia the crown. Before Legia scored the goal which gave her the title (the score 0–1 would mean the title for Górnik), the referee of the match – Mr Redzinski – sent off one by one 3 players from Górnik's squad, and Górnik had to finished match with only 8 players against 11 players of Legia. It was the last match in Mr Redzinski's career.

In the same year, Górnik played its last so far game in European Cups, losing to Admira Wacker Vienna.

In the spring of 2007 Górnik got a new sponsor – German insurance company Allianz. However, after finishing 16th in the Ekstraklasa in 2008–09, the club was relegated to the Polish First League, the second level of Polish football, during the 2009–10 season. In June 2010, the club earned promotion back to the Ekstraklasa for the 2010–11 season. Since then, Górnik has promoted a number of players to the Poland national team and transferred several players to stronger leagues, including Arkadiusz Milik, Łukasz Skorupski, Szymon Żurkowski and Paweł Bochniewicz.

## Honours

### League

- Ekstraklasa Champions: 1957, 1959, 1961, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88 Runners-up: 1962, 1968–69, 1973–74, 1990–91

- Champions: 1957, 1959, 1961, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88

- Runners-up: 1962, 1968–69, 1973–74, 1990–91

### Cup

- Polish Cup Winners: 1964–65, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72 Runners-up: 1955–56, 1956–57, 1961–62, 1965–66, 1985–86, 1991–92, 2000–01

- Winners: 1964–65, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72

- Runners-up: 1955–56, 1956–57, 1961–62, 1965–66, 1985–86, 1991–92, 2000–01

- Polish League Cup Winners: 1978

- Winners: 1978

- Polish Super Cup Winners: 1988

- Winners: 1988

### Europe

- European Cup Quarter-finalists: 1967–68

- Quarter-finalists: 1967–68

- UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Runners-up: 1969–70

- Runners-up: 1969–70

### Youth teams

- Polish U-19 Championship Champions: 1967, 1989 Runners-up: 1985, 2001, 2011 Third place: 2015

- Champions: 1967, 1989

- Runners-up: 1985, 2001, 2011

- Third place: 2015

- Polish U-17 Championship Champions: 1992, 1996, 2023 Runners-up: 2014

- Champions: 1992, 1996, 2023

- Runners-up: 2014

## Górnik in Europe

### Best results in European competitions

## Current squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

## Notable former players

- Jan Banaś

- Marek Bęben

- Paweł Bochniewicz

- Piotr Brożek

- Jerzy Brzęczek

- Ryszard Cyroń

- Jerzy Gorgoń

- Tomasz Hajto

- Andrzej Iwan

- Piotr Jegor

- Ireneusz Jeleń

- Damian Kądzior

- Ryszard Komornicki

- Dariusz Koseła

- Kamil Kosowski

- Hubert Kostka

- Marek Koźmiński

- Ryszard Kraus

- Rafał Kurzawa

- Marcin Kuźba

- Włodzimierz Lubański

- Arkadiusz Milik

- Kazimierz Moskal

- Andrzej Niedzielan

- Stanisław Oślizło

- Michał Pazdan

- Rafał Pietrzak

- Ernest Pohl

- Michał Probierz

- Grzegorz Sandomierski

- Łukasz Skorupski

- Ryszard Staniek

- Andrzej Szarmach

- Marek Szemoński

- Zygfryd Szołtysik

- Jan Urban

- Tomasz Wałdoch

- Józef Wandzik

- Robert Warzycha

- Mateusz Wieteska

- Przemysław Wiśniewski

- Tomasz Zahorski

- Andrzej Zgutczyński

- Szymon Żurkowski

- Enkeleid Dobi

- Ensar Arifović

- Armin Ćerimagić

- Boris Pandža

- Vladimir Sladojević

- Dimitar Makriev

- Prejuce Nakoulma

- Ivica Križanac

- Anthony van den Hurk

- Sergei Mošnikov

- Richard Jensen

- Valerian Gvilia

- Michał Bemben

- Richmond Boakye

- Giorgos Giakoumakis

- José Kanté

- Adam Örn Arnarson

- Kanji Okunuki

- Mārcis Ošs

- Andrejs Prohorenkovs

- Māris Smirnovs

- Aco Stojkov

- Róbert Jež

- Erik Jirka

- Roman Procházka

- Blaž Vrhovec

- Igor Angulo

- Emil Bergström

- Dickson Choto

- Shingayi Kaondera

## Managers

- Ginter Pawelczyk (1948–49)

- Teodor Meiser (1949)

- Karol Luks (1949–50)

- Gerard Wodarz (1950–54)

- Augustyn Dziwisz (1954–56)

- Paweł Mościński (1956)

- Hubert Skolik (1957)

- Zoltán Opata (1957–58)

- Hubert Skolik (1958–59)

- Janos Steiner (1959)

- Feliks Karolek (1960)

- Vilém Lugr (1960)

- Augustyn Dziwisz (1 July 1960 – 30 June 1962)

- Feliks Karolek (1962)

- Ewald Cebula (1962–63)

- Feliks Karolek (1963)

- Hubert Skolik (1963)

- Feliks Karolek (1964)

- Hubert Skolik (1964)

- Ferenc Farsang (1964–65)

- Władysław Giergiel (1 July 1965 – 30 June 1966)

- Géza Kalocsay (1 July 1966 – 30 June 1969)

- Michał Matyas (1969–70)

- Ferenc Szusza (1970–71)

- A. Brzeżańczyk (1 July 1971 – 30 April 1972)

- Jan Kowalski (1972)

- Gyula Szücs (1972)

- Jan Kowalski (1972–73)

- Teodor Wieczorek (1973–75)

- Andrzej Gajewski (1975–76)

- Józef Trepka (1976)

- Hubert Kostka (30 May 1976 – 5 December 1977)

- Władysław Jan Żmuda (13 December 1977 – 24 May 1980)

- Zdzisław Podedworny (1980–83)

- Hubert Kostka (1 December 1983 – 30 May 1986)

- Lesław Ćmikiewicz (1 June 1986 – 14 October 1986)

- Antoni Piechniczek (15 October 1986 – 30 June 1987)

- Marcin Bochynek (1 July 1987 – 30 June 1989)

- Zdzisław Podedworny (1989)

- Jan Kisiel (1989–90)

- Jan Kowalski (1990–92)

- Janusz Kowalik (1992)

- Alojzy Łysk (1992–93)

- Henryk Apostel (1 July 1993 – 31 December 1993)

- Hubert Kostka (1 January 1994 – 22 May 1994)

- Edward Lorens (23 May 1994 – 2 June 1995)

- Stanisław Oślizło (1995)

- Adam Michalski (1995–96)

- Jan Kowalski (1996)

- Jan Żurek (11 August 1996 – 11 September 1996)

- Piotr Kocąb (1996)

- Henryk Apostel (1 January 1997 – 10 November 1997)

- Jan Kowalski (1997)

- Jan Żurek (1 December 1997 – 15 March 2000)

- Józef Dankowski (int.) (16 March 2000 – 19 March 2000)

- Marcin Bochynek (20 March 2000 – 9 April 2000)

- Mieczysław Broniszewski (10 April 2000 – 16 September 2000)

- Józef Dankowski (17 September 2000 – 7 May 2001)

- Marek Piotrowicz (2001)

- Waldemar Fornalik (10 May 2001 – 31 October 2001)

- Marek Piotrowicz (2 November 2001 – 31 December 2001)

- Waldemar Fornalik (12 January 2002 – 4 April 2004)

- Verner Lička (5 April 2004 – 13 December 2004)

- Edward Lorens (13 December 2004 – 3 February 2005)

- Marek Wleciałowski (7 February 2005 – 31 October 2005)

- Marek Motyka (4 November 2005 – 13 January 2006)

- Ryszard Komornicki (13 January 2006 – 19 April 2006)

- Przemysław Cecherz (int.) (19 April 2006 – 26 April 2006)

- Marek Motyka (26 April 2006 – 12 December 2006)

- Zdzisław Podedworny (2006–07)

- Marek Motyka (13 March 2007 – 20 May 2007)

- Marek Kostrzewa (2007)

- Marek Piotrowicz (2007)

- Ryszard Wieczorek (1 July 2007 – 10 September 2008)

- Marcin Bochynek (int.) (2 September 2008 – 16 September 2008)

- Henryk Kasperczak (16 September 2008 – 3 June 2009)

- Ryszard Komornicki (18 June 2009 – 15 December 2009)

- Adam Nawałka (1 January 2010 – 31 October 2013)

- Bogdan Zając (int.) (1 November 2013 – 10 November 2013)

- Ryszard Wieczorek (12 November 2013 – 9 March 2014)

- Robert Warzycha (12 March 2014 – 30 June 2014)

- Józef Dankowski (1 July 2014 – 30 June 2015)

- Robert Warzycha (1 July 2015 – 13 August 2015)

- Leszek Ojrzyński (13 August 2015 – 3 March 2016)

- Jan Żurek (3 March 2016 – 2 June 2016)

- Marcin Brosz (3 June 2016 – 27 May 2021)

- Jan Urban (27 May 2021 – 15 June 2022)

- Bartosch Gaul (23 June 2022 – 18 March 2023)

- Jan Urban (18 March 2023 – present)

## Supporters and rivalries

Górnik Zabrze is believed to have one of the largest and most loyal fanbases in Poland, especially in the Katowice metropolitan area. In the 2016–17 season, Górnik Zabrze drew the highest average home attendance (10,636) of all second level Polish football clubs. They also drew the highest attendance in their league (20,987). After their comeback to the top flight in 2017, Górnik drew the highest average home attendance in Polish football, surpassing current top teams Lech Poznań and Legia Warsaw, with most league games being sold-out.

Górnik holds a long-standing rivalry with Upper Silesian side Ruch Chorzów, known as the Great Silesian Derby. Other main rivals are Piast Gliwice, Polonia Bytom, Legia Warsaw and Zagłębie Sosnowiec.

Torcida Zabrze is named after the ultras of Torcida Split, with whom they have friendly relations; together they are called United Torcida. They have also friendly relations with fans of ROW Rybnik, Wisłoka Dębica, GKS Katowice and German club Schalke 04; the latter in past used to be a rival. Fans of Concordia Knurów, Naprzód Rydłutowy, Slavia Ruda Śląska and Czarni Pyskowice are also Górnik fan-clubs.


The Lost Daughter (film)

# The Lost Daughter (film)

## Abstract

The Lost Daughter is a 2021 psychological drama film written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal (in her feature directorial debut), based on the 2006 novel by Elena Ferrante. The film stars Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Dagmara Domińczyk, Jack Farthing, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Peter Sarsgaard, and Ed Harris. Colman also served as an executive producer.

The Lost Daughter had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2021, where Gyllenhaal won the Golden Osella Award for Best Screenplay, and began a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 17, 2021, prior to streaming on December 31, 2021, by Netflix. The film was acclaimed by critics, and at the 94th Academy Awards received three nominations: Best Actress (Colman), Best Supporting Actress (Buckley), and Best Adapted Screenplay.

## Plot

While on holiday in Greece, middle-aged university professor and noted translator, Leda Caruso, meets Nina, a young mother, after Nina's three-year-old daughter Elena goes momentarily missing on the beach. Leda finds Elena and returns her to Nina, who expresses her growing exhaustion and unhappiness.

Elena is upset after she loses her favorite doll, which Leda has secretly taken. In flashbacks, it's shown that Leda also struggled with being a young mother to her two daughters, Bianca and Martha, often losing her patience and becoming withdrawn from her family.

One evening, Leda has dinner with Lyle, her holiday apartment's caretaker, who sees that she has the doll but doesn't comment on it, nor does he tell Nina. Leda later discovers Nina is having an affair with Will, who works at the beach bar, and Nina explains that her husband Toni is very controlling. The search for Elena's doll continues, with Nina even putting up flyers offering a reward for its return.

At a market, Leda buys Nina a hatpin to help hold her sunhat in place. When Nina asks Leda about her daughters, Leda becomes emotional; she reveals that she had abandoned them for three years after she became too overwhelmed, leaving them with her now ex-husband, during which time she had an affair with a fellow professor. She admits that being away from her daughters felt "amazing", and she only went back to them when she genuinely missed them. Nina learns that Leda knows about her and Will, and he later asks Leda if they can borrow her apartment to have sex.

The next day when Nina arrives at Leda's to get the apartment keys, Leda admits to being a selfish and "unnatural" mother and warns that Nina's depression will never go. She then gives Nina Elena's doll, confessing that she took it and that she was "just playing". Nina reacts angrily by stabbing Leda in the stomach with the hatpin before leaving. That night, Leda packs her bags and leaves the resort, but drives her car off the road due to her injuries; she soon collapses on the shoreline.

The next morning, Leda awakens and calls Bianca, who happens to be with Martha. They express their relief to hear from their mother, from whom they had not heard in several days. Leda says she is fine and then looks down to discover an orange in her hands; she peels the orange skin off "like a snake", the way she had done for her daughters when they were little.

## Cast

- Olivia Colman as Leda Caruso Jessie Buckley as young Leda

- Jessie Buckley as young Leda

- Dakota Johnson as Nina

- Ed Harris as Lyle

- Dagmara Domińczyk as Callisto "Callie"

- Paul Mescal as Will

- Robyn Elwell as Bianca Ellie James as older Bianca (voice)

- Ellie James as older Bianca (voice)

- Ellie Blake as Martha Isabelle Della-Porta as older Martha (voice)

- Isabelle Della-Porta as older Martha (voice)

- Peter Sarsgaard as Professor Hardy

- Jack Farthing as Joe

- Oliver Jackson-Cohen as Toni

- Athena Martin as Elena

- Panos Koronis as Vassili

- Alba Rohrwacher as Female Hiker

- Nikos Poursanidis as Male Hiker

- Alexandros Mylonas as Professor Cole

- Konstantinos Samaa as Rough Boy

## Production

Maggie Gyllenhaal acquired the film rights to the Elena Ferrante novel in October 2018, and wrote and directed the adaptation. The lead character, Leda, says that she is named for the woman in the W. B. Yeats poem " Leda and the Swan ", which Yeats based on the Leda story of Greek mythology.

In February 2020, Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Dakota Johnson and Peter Sarsgaard were cast in the film. In August, Paul Mescal was added, and in October 2020, Oliver Jackson-Cohen was cast as well, with Ed Harris, Dagmara Domińczyk, Jack Farthing and Alba Rohrwacher joining in November.

Principal photography was filmed in Spetses, Greece from 28 September to 31 October 2020.

## Release

The Lost Daughter had its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2021. In August 2021, Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film in the United States and several other countries, adding more markets, including the United Kingdom, in October. The film screened at film festivals in the Telluride, Hamptons, London, Lyon Metropolis, Mill Valley, Montclair, New York, San Diego (closing night), Zurich, and Whistler Film Festival. It was released in the United States on December 17, 2021, in a limited release prior to streaming on Netflix on December 31, 2021.

## Reception

At its opening night world premiere, the movie received a four-minute standing ovation from Venice Film Festival attendees in the Sala Grande.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 94 % based on 232 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "A strikingly assured debut for writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter unites a brilliant cast in service of a daringly ambitious story." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100, based on reviews from 51 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Still, no matter how flat The Lost Daughter can sometimes seem, there's always something to hold our attention. The movie is never great, but it's never exactly dull. There's always a reason to stick around for the next scene."

Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times wrote: "Equal parts troubling and affecting, Leda epitomizes a type of woman whose needs are rarely addressed in American mainstream movies. We can dislike her, but we are never permitted to revile her." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune wrote Gyllenhaal "keeps a close eye on what brings out the best in a scene, and in a story worth telling, with morally imperfect, fully dimensional, persistently human characters."

Alissa Wilkinson of Vox wrote "The movie captures the spirit of the novel well. It's suspenseful, but it's not a thriller; there are elements of obsession and eroticism, but they never quite go where you expect. The end is deeply ambiguous, neither punishing nor condoning its characters' behavior. It simply asks us to sit with them — to pay them the respect of attention, and learn something about ourselves in the process."


Am I Racist?

# Am I Racist?

## Abstract

Am I Racist? is a 2024 American documentary comedy film starring conservative political commentator Matt Walsh that criticizes the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) movement. It is directed by Justin Folk for The Daily Wire.

The film follows Walsh as he goes undercover as a "bumbling DEI trainee" attending anti-racism workshops and interviewing experts and others.

The production cost $3 million. The film was released on September 13, 2024.

## Plot

The film has been described as a mockumentary in the style of Borat.

Matt Walsh finds himself in a coffee shop reminiscing about the prevalence of racism in society. He decides to embark on a journey to find out whether or not he is racist. After being ousted from a support group focused on " white guilt ", Walsh decides to take on a persona similar to that of the gender studies professor he interviewed in What is a Woman. He goes on to receive a DEI certification, and assumes the identity of a "DEI expert".

Subsequently, he begins his quest to "do the work" that started off his journey. Among other things, Walsh convinces passersby to sign a petition to rename the Washington Monument the " George Floyd Monument", raise the structure by 30%, and repaint it black. He also goes to a biker bar, hoping to expose the racism of white "hillbillies", and interviews black Americans who tell him that the solution to racism is to "love one another".

The show culminates in Walsh, now an experienced anti-racist activist, hosting an anti-racist workshop called the "Do the Work Workshop" where he tells white people that they are inherently racist, demonstrates speaking out against racism by condemning his uncle Frank for a racist joke he had made twenty years ago, and encourages self flagellation as a solution to white guilt. The show ends with Walsh having a change of heart and ending the workshop, stating publicly that the whole thing is a scam. In the final scene, Walsh imagines himself sharing his findings with the world before sitting down for coffee with his uncle Frank.

## Release

The film released September 13, 2024 in the United States and Canada. It is the first theatrically released film by The Daily Wire.

## Reception

### Critical response

Variety said the film is "either hilarious or offensive, depending on which side of the MAGA fence you sit on". Walsh wrote on X on the opening weekend that no "mainstream film critics" had yet reviewed the film.

As of September 15, the film has an audience score of 99% with over 500 verified reviews on the review aggregator website, Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it an average five out of five stars.

### Box office

Am I Racist? made $1.96 million on its opening day, including Thursday night previews, and made $4.7 million from 1,517 theaters in its opening weekend. It was "the top debut of 2024 so far for a doc and the third biggest of the past decade", according to The Hollywood Reporter.


Power series

# Power series

## Abstract

In mathematics, a power series (in one variable) is an infinite series of the form ∑ n = 0 ∞ a n (x − c) n = a 0 + a 1 (x − c) + a 2 (x − c) 2 + … {\displaystyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }a_{n}\left(x-c\right)^{n}=a_{0}+a_{1}(x-c)+a_{2}(x-c)^{2}+\dots } where a represents the coefficient of the n th term and c is a constant. Power series are useful in mathematical analysis, where they arise as Taylor series of infinitely differentiable functions. In fact, Borel's theorem implies that every power series is the Taylor series of some smooth function.

In many situations, c (the center of the series) is equal to zero, for instance when considering a Maclaurin series. In such cases, the power series takes the simpler form ∑ n = 0 ∞ a n x n = a 0 + a 1 x + a 2 x 2 + …. {\displaystyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }a_{n}x^{n}=a_{0}+a_{1}x+a_{2}x^{2}+\dots.}

Beyond their role in mathematical analysis, power series also occur in combinatorics as generating functions (a kind of formal power series) and in electronic engineering (under the name of the Z-transform). The familiar decimal notation for real numbers can also be viewed as an example of a power series, with integer coefficients, but with the argument x fixed at 1 ⁄ 10. In number theory, the concept of p -adic numbers is also closely related to that of a power series.

## Examples

### Polynomial

A polynomial of degree d can be expressed as a power series around any center c, where all terms of degree higher than d have a zero coefficient. For instance, the polynomial f (x) = x 2 + 2 x + 3 {\textstyle f(x)=x^{2}+2x+3} can be written as a power series around the center c = 0 {\textstyle c=0} as f (x) = 3 + 2 x + 1 x 2 + 0 x 3 + 0 x 4 + ⋯ {\displaystyle f(x)=3+2x+1x^{2}+0x^{3}+0x^{4}+\cdots } or around the center c = 1 {\textstyle c=1} as f (x) = 6 + 4 (x − 1) + 1 (x − 1) 2 + 0 (x − 1) 3 + 0 (x − 1) 4 + ⋯ {\displaystyle f(x)=6+4(x-1)+1(x-1)^{2}+0(x-1)^{3}+0(x-1)^{4}+\cdots }

This is because of the Taylor series expansion of f(x) around x = 1 {\textstyle x=1} is

f (x) = f (1) + f ′ (1) 1 ! (x − 1) + f ″ (1) 2 ! (x − 1) 2 + f ‴ (1) 3 ! (x − 1) 3 + ⋯, {\displaystyle f(x)=f(1)+{\frac {f'(1)}{1!}}(x-1)+{\frac {f''(1)}{2!}}(x-1)^{2}+{\frac {f'''(1)}{3!}}(x-1)^{3}+\cdots,}

as f (x = 1) = 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 {\textstyle f(x=1)=1+2+3=6} and the non-zero derivatives are f ′ (x) = 2 x + 2 {\textstyle f'(x)=2x+2}, so f ′ (1) = 4 {\textstyle f'(1)=4} and f ″ (x) = 2 {\textstyle f''(x)=2}, a constant.

Or indeed the expansion is possible around any other center c. One can view power series as being like "polynomials of infinite degree", although power series are not polynomials.

### Geometric series, exponential function and sine

The geometric series formula 1 1 − x = ∑ n = 0 ∞ x n = 1 + x + x 2 + x 3 + ⋯, {\displaystyle {\frac {1}{1-x}}=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }x^{n}=1+x+x^{2}+x^{3}+\cdots,} which is valid for | x | < 1 {\textstyle |x|<1}, is one of the most important examples of a power series, as are the exponential function formula e x = ∑ n = 0 ∞ x n n ! = 1 + x + x 2 2 ! + x 3 3 ! + ⋯, {\displaystyle e^{x}=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {x^{n}}{n!}}=1+x+{\frac {x^{2}}{2!}}+{\frac {x^{3}}{3!}}+\cdots,} and the sine formula sin (x) = ∑ n = 0 ∞ (− 1) n x 2 n + 1 (2 n + 1) ! = x − x 3 3 ! + x 5 5 ! − x 7 7 ! + ⋯, {\displaystyle \sin(x)=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-1)^{n}x^{2n+1}}{(2n+1)!}}=x-{\frac {x^{3}}{3!}}+{\frac {x^{5}}{5!}}-{\frac {x^{7}}{7!}}+\cdots,}

valid for all real x.

These power series are also examples of Taylor series.

### On the set of exponents

Negative powers are not permitted in a power series; for instance, 1 + x − 1 + x − 2 + ⋯ {\textstyle 1+x^{-1}+x^{-2}+\cdots } is not considered a power series (although it is a Laurent series). Similarly, fractional powers such as x 1 2 {\textstyle x^{\frac {1}{2}}} are not permitted (but see Puiseux series). The coefficients a n {\textstyle a_{n}} are not allowed to depend on x {\textstyle x}, thus for instance: sin (x) x + sin (2 x) x 2 + sin (3 x) x 3 + ⋯ {\displaystyle \sin(x)x+\sin(2x)x^{2}+\sin(3x)x^{3}+\cdots } is not a power series.

## Radius of convergence

A power series ∑ n = 0 ∞ a n (x − c) n {\textstyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }a_{n}(x-c)^{n}} is convergent for some values of the variable x, which will always include x = c (as usual, (x − c) 0 {\displaystyle (x-c)^{0}} evaluates as 1 and the sum of the series is thus a 0 {\displaystyle a_{0}} for x = c). The series may diverge for other values of x. If c is not the only point of convergence, then there is always a number r with 0 < r ≤ ∞ such that the series converges whenever | x – c | < r and diverges whenever | x – c | > r. The number r is called the radius of convergence of the power series; in general it is given as r = lim inf n → ∞ | a n | − 1 n {\displaystyle r=\liminf _{n\to \infty }\left|a_{n}\right|^{-{\frac {1}{n}}}} or, equivalently, r − 1 = lim sup n → ∞ | a n | 1 n {\displaystyle r^{-1}=\limsup _{n\to \infty }\left|a_{n}\right|^{\frac {1}{n}}} (this is the Cauchy–Hadamard theorem; see limit superior and limit inferior for an explanation of the notation). The relation r − 1 = lim n → ∞ | a n + 1 a n | {\displaystyle r^{-1}=\lim _{n\to \infty }\left|{a_{n+1} \over a_{n}}\right|} is also satisfied, if this limit exists.

The set of the complex numbers such that | x – c | < r is called the disc of convergence of the series. The series converges absolutely inside its disc of convergence, and converges uniformly on every compact subset of the disc of convergence.

For | x – c | = r, there is no general statement on the convergence of the series. However, Abel's theorem states that if the series is convergent for some value z such that | z – c | = r, then the sum of the series for x = z is the limit of the sum of the series for x = c + t (z – c) where t is a real variable less than 1 that tends to 1.

## Operations on power series

### Addition and subtraction

When two functions f and g are decomposed into power series around the same center c, the power series of the sum or difference of the functions can be obtained by termwise addition and subtraction. That is, if f (x) = ∑ n = 0 ∞ a n (x − c) n {\displaystyle f(x)=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }a_{n}(x-c)^{n}} and g (x) = ∑ n = 0 ∞ b n (x − c) n {\displaystyle g(x)=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }b_{n}(x-c)^{n}} then f (x) ± g (x) = ∑ n = 0 ∞ (a n ± b n) (x − c) n. {\displaystyle f(x)\pm g(x)=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }(a_{n}\pm b_{n})(x-c)^{n}.}

It is not true that if two power series ∑ n = 0 ∞ a n x n {\textstyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }a_{n}x^{n}} and ∑ n = 0 ∞ b n x n {\textstyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }b_{n}x^{n}} have the same radius of convergence, then ∑ n = 0 ∞ (a n + b n) x n {\textstyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }\left(a_{n}+b_{n}\right)x^{n}} also has this radius of convergence. If a n = (− 1) n {\textstyle a_{n}=(-1)^{n}} and b n = (− 1) n + 1 (1 − 1 3 n) {\textstyle b_{n}=(-1)^{n+1}\left(1-{\frac {1}{3^{n}}}\right)}, then both series have the same radius of convergence of 1, but the series ∑ n = 0 ∞ (a n + b n) x n = ∑ n = 0 ∞ (− 1) n 3 n x n {\textstyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }\left(a_{n}+b_{n}\right)x^{n}=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {(-1)^{n}}{3^{n}}}x^{n}} has a radius of convergence of 3.

The sum of two power series will have, at minimum, a radius of convergence of the smaller of the two radii of convergence of the two series (and it may be higher than either, as seen in the example above).

### Multiplication and division

With the same definitions for f (x) {\displaystyle f(x)} and g (x) {\displaystyle g(x)}, the power series of the product and quotient of the functions can be obtained as follows: f (x) g (x) = (∑ n = 0 ∞ a n (x − c) n) (∑ n = 0 ∞ b n (x − c) n) = ∑ i = 0 ∞ ∑ j = 0 ∞ a i b j (x − c) i + j = ∑ n = 0 ∞ (∑ i = 0 n a i b n − i) (x − c) n. {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}f(x)g(x)&=\left(\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }a_{n}(x-c)^{n}\right)\left(\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }b_{n}(x-c)^{n}\right)\\&=\sum _{i=0}^{\infty }\sum _{j=0}^{\infty }a_{i}b_{j}(x-c)^{i+j}\\&=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }\left(\sum _{i=0}^{n}a_{i}b_{n-i}\right)(x-c)^{n}.\end{aligned}}}

The sequence m n = ∑ i = 0 n a i b n − i {\textstyle m_{n}=\sum _{i=0}^{n}a_{i}b_{n-i}} is known as the convolution of the sequences a n {\displaystyle a_{n}} and b n {\displaystyle b_{n}}.

For division, if one defines the sequence d n {\displaystyle d_{n}} by f (x) g (x) = ∑ n = 0 ∞ a n (x − c) n ∑ n = 0 ∞ b n (x − c) n = ∑ n = 0 ∞ d n (x − c) n {\displaystyle {\frac {f(x)}{g(x)}}={\frac {\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }a_{n}(x-c)^{n}}{\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }b_{n}(x-c)^{n}}}=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }d_{n}(x-c)^{n}} then f (x) = (∑ n = 0 ∞ b n (x − c) n) (∑ n = 0 ∞ d n (x − c) n) {\displaystyle f(x)=\left(\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }b_{n}(x-c)^{n}\right)\left(\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }d_{n}(x-c)^{n}\right)} and one can solve recursively for the terms d n {\displaystyle d_{n}} by comparing coefficients.

Solving the corresponding equations yields the formulae based on determinants of certain matrices of the coefficients of f (x) {\displaystyle f(x)} and g (x) {\displaystyle g(x)} d 0 = a 0 b 0 {\displaystyle d_{0}={\frac {a_{0}}{b_{0}}}} d n = 1 b 0 n + 1 | a n b 1 b 2 ⋯ b n a n − 1 b 0 b 1 ⋯ b n − 1 a n − 2 0 b 0 ⋯ b n − 2 ⋮ ⋮ ⋮ ⋱ ⋮ a 0 0 0 ⋯ b 0 | {\displaystyle d_{n}={\frac {1}{b_{0}^{n+1}}}{\begin{vmatrix}a_{n}&b_{1}&b_{2}&\cdots &b_{n}\\a_{n-1}&b_{0}&b_{1}&\cdots &b_{n-1}\\a_{n-2}&0&b_{0}&\cdots &b_{n-2}\\\vdots &\vdots &\vdots &\ddots &\vdots \\a_{0}&0&0&\cdots &b_{0}\end{vmatrix}}}

### Differentiation and integration

Once a function f (x) {\displaystyle f(x)} is given as a power series as above, it is differentiable on the interior of the domain of convergence. It can be differentiated and integrated quite easily, by treating every term separately: f ′ (x) = ∑ n = 1 ∞ a n n (x − c) n − 1 = ∑ n = 0 ∞ a n + 1 (n + 1) (x − c) n, ∫ f (x) d x = ∑ n = 0 ∞ a n (x − c) n + 1 n + 1 + k = ∑ n = 1 ∞ a n − 1 (x − c) n n + k. {\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}f'(x)&=\sum _{n=1}^{\infty }a_{n}n(x-c)^{n-1}=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }a_{n+1}(n+1)(x-c)^{n},\\\int f(x)\,dx&=\sum _{n=0}^{\infty }{\frac {a_{n}(x-c)^{n+1}}{n+1}}+k=\sum _{n=1}^{\infty }{\frac {a_{n-1}(x-c)^{n}}{n}}+k.\end{aligned}}}

Both of these series have the same radius of convergence as the original one.

## Analytic functions

A function f defined on some open subset U of R or C is called analytic if it is locally given by a convergent power series. This means that every a ∈ U has an open neighborhood V ⊆ U, such that there exists a power series with center a that converges to f (x) for every x ∈ V.

Every power series with a positive radius of convergence is analytic on the interior of its region of convergence. All holomorphic functions are complex-analytic. Sums and products of analytic functions are analytic, as are quotients as long as the denominator is non-zero.

If a function is analytic, then it is infinitely differentiable, but in the real case the converse is not generally true. For an analytic function, the coefficients a can be computed as a n = f (n) (c) n ! {\displaystyle a_{n}={\frac {f^{\left(n\right)}\left(c\right)}{n!}}}

where f (n) (c) {\displaystyle f^{(n)}(c)} denotes the n th derivative of f at c, and f (0) (c) = f (c) {\displaystyle f^{(0)}(c)=f(c)}. This means that every analytic function is locally represented by its Taylor series.

The global form of an analytic function is completely determined by its local behavior in the following sense: if f and g are two analytic functions defined on the same connected open set U, and if there exists an element c ∈ U such that f (c) = g (c) for all n ≥ 0, then f (x) = g (x) for all x ∈ U.

If a power series with radius of convergence r is given, one can consider analytic continuations of the series, i.e. analytic functions f which are defined on larger sets than { x | | x − c | < r } and agree with the given power series on this set. The number r is maximal in the following sense: there always exists a complex number x with | x − c | = r such that no analytic continuation of the series can be defined at x.

The power series expansion of the inverse function of an analytic function can be determined using the Lagrange inversion theorem.

### Behavior near the boundary

The sum of a power series with a positive radius of convergence is an analytic function at every point in the interior of the disc of convergence. However, different behavior can occur at points on the boundary of that disc. For example:

- Divergence while the sum extends to an analytic function: ∑ n = 0 ∞ z n {\textstyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }z^{n}} has radius of convergence equal to 1 {\displaystyle 1} and diverges at every point of | z | = 1 {\displaystyle |z|=1}. Nevertheless, the sum in | z | < 1 {\displaystyle |z|<1} is 1 1 − z {\textstyle {\frac {1}{1-z}}}, which is analytic at every point of the plane except for z = 1 {\displaystyle z=1}.

- Convergent at some points divergent at others: ∑ n = 1 ∞ z n n {\textstyle \sum _{n=1}^{\infty }{\frac {z^{n}}{n}}} has radius of convergence 1 {\displaystyle 1}. It converges for z = − 1 {\displaystyle z=-1}, while it diverges for z = 1 {\displaystyle z=1}.

- Absolute convergence at every point of the boundary: ∑ n = 1 ∞ z n n 2 {\textstyle \sum _{n=1}^{\infty }{\frac {z^{n}}{n^{2}}}} has radius of convergence 1 {\displaystyle 1}, while it converges absolutely, and uniformly, at every point of | z | = 1 {\displaystyle |z|=1} due to Weierstrass M-test applied with the hyper-harmonic convergent series ∑ n = 1 ∞ 1 n 2 {\textstyle \sum _{n=1}^{\infty }{\frac {1}{n^{2}}}}.

- Convergent on the closure of the disc of convergence but not continuous sum: Sierpiński gave an example of a power series with radius of convergence 1 {\displaystyle 1}, convergent at all points with | z | = 1 {\displaystyle |z|=1}, but the sum is an unbounded function and, in particular, discontinuous. A sufficient condition for one-sided continuity at a boundary point is given by Abel's theorem.

## Formal power series

In abstract algebra, one attempts to capture the essence of power series without being restricted to the fields of real and complex numbers, and without the need to talk about convergence. This leads to the concept of formal power series, a concept of great utility in algebraic combinatorics.

## Power series in several variables

An extension of the theory is necessary for the purposes of multivariable calculus. A power series is here defined to be an infinite series of the form f (x 1, …, x n) = ∑ j 1, …, j n = 0 ∞ a j 1, …, j n ∏ k = 1 n (x k − c k) j k, {\displaystyle f(x_{1},\dots,x_{n})=\sum _{j_{1},\dots,j_{n}=0}^{\infty }a_{j_{1},\dots,j_{n}}\prod _{k=1}^{n}(x_{k}-c_{k})^{j_{k}},} where j = (j, …, j) is a vector of natural numbers, the coefficients a are usually real or complex numbers, and the center c = (c, …, c) and argument x = (x, …, x) are usually real or complex vectors. The symbol Π {\displaystyle \Pi } is the product symbol, denoting multiplication. In the more convenient multi-index notation this can be written f (x) = ∑ α ∈ N n a α (x − c) α. {\displaystyle f(x)=\sum _{\alpha \in \mathbb {N} ^{n}}a_{\alpha }(x-c)^{\alpha }.} where N {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} } is the set of natural numbers, and so N n {\displaystyle \mathbb {N} ^{n}} is the set of ordered n - tuples of natural numbers.

The theory of such series is trickier than for single-variable series, with more complicated regions of convergence. For instance, the power series ∑ n = 0 ∞ x 1 n x 2 n {\textstyle \sum _{n=0}^{\infty }x_{1}^{n}x_{2}^{n}} is absolutely convergent in the set { (x 1, x 2): | x 1 x 2 | < 1 } {\displaystyle \{(x_{1},x_{2}):|x_{1}x_{2}|<1\}} between two hyperbolas. (This is an example of a log-convex set, in the sense that the set of points (log | x 1 |, log | x 2 |) {\displaystyle (\log |x_{1}|,\log |x_{2}|)}, where (x 1, x 2) {\displaystyle (x_{1},x_{2})} lies in the above region, is a convex set. More generally, one can show that when c=0, the interior of the region of absolute convergence is always a log-convex set in this sense.) On the other hand, in the interior of this region of convergence one may differentiate and integrate under the series sign, just as one may with ordinary power series.

## Order of a power series

Let α be a multi-index for a power series f (x, x, …, x). The order of the power series f is defined to be the least value r {\displaystyle r} such that there is a ≠ 0 with r = | α | = α 1 + α 2 + ⋯ + α n {\displaystyle r=|\alpha |=\alpha _{1}+\alpha _{2}+\cdots +\alpha _{n}}, or ∞ {\displaystyle \infty } if f ≡ 0. In particular, for a power series f (x) in a single variable x, the order of f is the smallest power of x with a nonzero coefficient. This definition readily extends to Laurent series.


Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory

# Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory

## Abstract

The Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory was a German leased territory in Imperial and Early Republican China from 1898 to 1914. Covering an area of 552 km (213 sq mi), it centered on Kiautschou Bay (Jiaozhou Bay) on the southern coast of the Shandong Peninsula. The administrative center was at Tsingtau (Qingdao). It was operated by the East Asia Squadron of the Imperial German Navy. The Russian Empire resented the German move as an infringement on Russian ambitions in the region.

## Background of German expansion in China

Germany was a relative latecomer to the imperialistic scramble for colonies across the globe. A German colony in China was envisioned as a two-fold enterprise: as a coaling station to support a global naval presence, and because it was felt that a German colonial empire would support the economy in the mother country. Densely populated China was viewed as a potential market to be exploited, with thinkers such as Max Weber demanding an active colonial policy from the government. In particular, the opening of China was made a high priority, because it was thought to be the most important non-European market in the world.

However, a global policy (Weltpolitik) without global military influence appeared impracticable, so, assessing that Britain's great strength came from its navy, the Germans began to build one, too. This fleet was supposed to serve German interests during peace through gunboat diplomacy, and in times of war, through commerce raiding, to protect German trade routes and disrupt hostile ones. Imitating Britain, a network of global naval bases was a key requirement for this intention.

Again, intending to directly copy Britain, the acquisition of a harbor in China was, from the start, intended to be a model colony: all installations, the administration, the surrounding infrastructure, and the utilization thereof were to show the Chinese, the German nation itself, and other colonial powers, an effective colonial policy.

## German acquisition of the territory

In 1860, a Prussian expeditionary fleet arrived in Asia and explored the region around Jiaozhou Bay. The following year, the Prussian-Chinese Treaty of Peking was signed. After journeys to China between 1868 and 1871, the geographer Baron Ferdinand von Richthofen recommended the Bay of Jiaozhou as a possible naval base. In 1896, Rear Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz, at that time commander of the East Asian Cruiser Division, examined the area personally, as well as three additional sites in China, for the establishment of a naval base. Rear Admiral Otto von Diederichs replaced Tirpitz in East Asia and focused on Jiaozhou Bay, even though the Berlin admiralty had not formally decided on a base location.

On 1 November 1897, the Big Sword Society murdered two German Roman Catholic priests of the Steyler Mission in Juye County in southern Shandong. This event was known as the " Juye Incident ". Admiral von Diederichs, commander of the cruiser squadron, wired on 7 November 1897, to the admiralty: "May incidents be exploited in pursuit of further goals?" Upon receipt of the Diederichs cable, chancellor Chlodwig von Hohenlohe counseled caution, preferring a diplomatic resolution. However, Kaiser Wilhelm II intervened and the admiralty sent a message for Diederichs to "proceed immediately to Kiautschou with entire squadron..." to which the admiral replied, "will proceed... with greatest energy."

Diederichs, at that moment, only had his division's flagship SMS Kaiser and the light cruiser SMS Prinzess Wilhelm available at anchor in Shanghai. The corvette SMS Arcona was laid up for repairs and the light cruiser SMS Irene in a dockyard at Hong Kong for an engine refit. The shallow draft small cruiser SMS Cormoran, operating independent of the cruiser division, was patrolling the Yangtze. Diederichs weighed anchor, ordered Prinzess Wilhelm to follow next day, and Cormoran to catch up at sea. The three ships arrived off Qingdao after dawn on 13 November 1897, but made no aggressive moves. With his staff and the three captains of his ships aboard, Diederichs landed with his admirals tender at Qingdao's long Zhanqiao Pier to reconnoiter. He determined that his landing force would be vastly outnumbered by Chinese troops, but he had qualitative superiority.

At 06:00, Sunday, 14 November 1897, Cormoran steamed into the inner harbor to provide inshore fire support, if necessary. Kaiser and Prinzess Wilhelm cleared boats to carry an amphibious force of 717 officers, petty officers, and sailors armed with rifles. Diederichs, on horseback, and his column marched toward the Chinese main garrison and artillery battery. A special unit swiftly disabled the Chinese telegraph line and others occupied the outer forts and powder magazines. With speed and effectiveness, Diederichs’ actions had achieved their primary objective by 08.15.

Signalmen restored the telegraph line, and the first messages were received and deciphered. Diederichs was stunned to learn that his orders had been canceled, and that he was to suspend operations at Jiaozhou pending negotiations with the Chinese government. If he had already occupied the village of Qingdao, he was to consider his presence temporary. He responded, thinking the politicians in Berlin had lost their nerve to political or diplomatic complications: "Proclamation already published.... Revocation not possible." After considerable time and uncertainty, the admiralty finally cabled congratulations and the proclamation was to remain in effect; Wilhelm II promoted him to vice admiral.

Admiral von Diederichs consolidated his positions at Jiaozhou Bay. The admiralty dispatched the protected cruiser SMS Kaiserin Augusta from the Mediterranean to Qingdao to further strengthen the naval presence in East Asia. On 26 January 1898, the marines of III. Seebataillon arrived on the liner Darmstadt. Jiaozhou Bay was now secure.

Negotiations with the Chinese government began and on 6 March 1898, the German Empire retreated from outright cession of the area and accepted a leasehold of the bay for 99 years, or until 1997, as the British were soon to do with Hong Kong's New Territories and the French with Guangzhouwan. One month later, the Reichstag ratified the treaty on 8 April 1898. Kiautschou Bay was officially placed under German protection by imperial decree on 27 April and Kapitän zur See Carl Rosendahl was appointed governor. These events ended Admiral von Diederichs' responsibility (but not his interest) in Kiautschou. He wrote that he had "fulfilled purpose in the navy."

As a result of the lease treaty, the Chinese government gave up the exercise of its sovereign rights within the leased territory of approximately 83,000 inhabitants (to which the city of Kiautschou was excluded), as well as in a 50 km wide neutral zone ("neutrales Gebiet"). According to international law, the leased territory ("territoire à bail") remained legally part of China but for the duration of the lease, all sovereign powers were to be exercised by Germany.

Moreover, the treaty included rights for construction of railway lines and mining of local coal deposits. Many parts of Shandong outside of the German leased territory came under German economic influence. Although the lease treaty set limits to the German expansion, it became a starting point for the following cessions of Port Arthur and Dalian to Russia to support Russia's Chinese Eastern Railway interests in Manchuria, of the transfer of Weihaiwei and Liugong Island from Japan to Great Britain, and the cession of Guangzhouwan to support France in southern China and Indochina.

### Later history

On 15 August 1914, at the outbreak of World War I in Europe, Japan delivered an ultimatum to Germany demanding that it relinquish its control of the disputed territory of Kiautschou. Upon rejection of the ultimatum, Japan declared war on 23 August and the same day, its navy bombarded the German territory. On 7 November 1914, the bay was occupied by Japanese forces. Following resolution of the Shandong Problem, the occupied territory was returned to China on 10 December 1922, but the Japanese again occupied the area from 1937 to 1945, during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

## Language

The local language was the Qingdao dialect of Jiaoliao Mandarin. A German pidgin, known as Kiautschou German pidgin, developed as well.

## Organization and development of the territory

As the territory was not, strictly speaking, a colony but a lease, and because of its importance to the German navy, it was not placed under the supervision of the Imperial Colonial Office (Reichskolonialamt) but instead under that of the Imperial Naval Office (the Reichsmarineamt or RMA).

At the top of the territory stood the governor (all five office holders were senior navy officers), who was directly subordinated to the secretary of state of the RMA, Alfred von Tirpitz. The governor was head of both the military administration (run by the chief of staff and deputy governor), and the civil administration (managed by the Zivilkommissar). Further important functionaries of Kiautschou were the official for the construction of the harbor, and after 1900, the chief justice and the Commissioner for Chinese Affairs. The Gouvernementsrat and, after 1902, the Chinese Committee advised the governor. The departments of finance, construction, education, and medical services were directly subordinated to the governor, because these were crucial with regard to the idea of a model colony.

Germany invested upwards of $100 million in modernizing the territory of Kiautschou. The impoverished fishing village of Tsingtau was laid out with wide streets, solid housing areas, government buildings, electrification throughout, a sewer system, and a safe drinking water supply, a rarity in large parts of Asia at that time and later. The area had the highest density of schools and highest per capita student enrollment in all of China, with primary, secondary, and vocational schools funded by the Berlin treasury and Protestant and Roman Catholic missions.

With the expansion of economic activity and public works, German banks opened branch offices, the Deutsch-Asiatische Bank being the most prominent. The completion of the Tsingtau-Jinan railway in 1910 provided a connection to the Trans-Siberian Railway and thus allowed travel by train from Tsingtau to Berlin.

The territory fully implemented Georgist policy. Its sole source of government revenue was the land value tax of six percent which it levied in its territory. The German colonial empire had previously had economic problems with its African colonies caused by land speculation. One of the main reasons for using the land value tax in Jiaozhou Bay was to eliminate such speculation, which the policy achieved.

After the 1911 Revolution, many wealthy Chinese and politically connected ex-officials settled in the leased territory because of the safe and orderly environment it offered. Sun Yat-sen visited the Tsingtau area and stated in 1912, “... I am impressed. The city is a true model for China’s future.”

## Governors

All governors of the Kiautschou Bay Leased Territory were high-ranking officers of the Imperial German Navy.


Vladan Vićević

# Vladan Vićević

## Abstract

Vladan Vićević (Serbian Cyrillic: Владан Вићевић; born 26 July 1967) is a Serbian-born naturalized Salvadoran football manager and former player.

## Club career

After starting out at Sevojno, Vićević made his Yugoslav Second League debut with Sloboda Užice in 1988. He made over 100 appearances in the second tier of Yugoslav football throughout the next four seasons.

Following the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia, Vićević joined First League of FR Yugoslavia newcomers Bečej in 1992. He helped them to a fourth-place finish in the 1994–95 season, as the club earned a spot in European competitions for the first time in history.

In 1996, Vićević moved abroad to El Salvador to play for Águila under compatriot Milovan Đorić. He returned to Sloboda Užice in 1998 and played in the Second League of FR Yugoslavia for two seasons before retiring.

## International career

Nicknamed El Bicho, Vićević became a Salvadoran citizen in February 1997 and was soon eligible to play for El Salvador. He made his international debut for his adopted country during the tenure of Milovan Đorić in a March 1997 friendly with Guatemala. His final cap came in a 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup match against Jamaica.

In total, Vićević was capped 23 times by El Salvador between 1997 and 1998.

## Managerial career

In July 2005, Vićević was appointed as manager of Águila. He resigned from his position in December 2006. In April 2007, Vićević took charge of Chalatenango. He left the club by mutual consent in February 2008.

In April 2022, Vićević was officially appointed as manager of Sloboda Užice, leading the club to the Serbian League West title and promotion to the Serbian First League.


The Magic Machines

# The Magic Machines

## Abstract

The Magic Machines is a 1969 American short documentary film directed by Bob Curtis about kinetic artist Robert Gilbert. It won an Oscar at the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970 for Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film (awarded to producer Joan Keller Stern) and was nominated for Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject).

## Cast

- Robert Gilbert


2024 Liga Femenina de Básquetbol season

# 2024 Liga Femenina de Básquetbol season

## Abstract

The 2024 Liga Femenina de Básquetbol season, is the 9th season of the top Uruguayan female basketball league, since its establishment in 2016. It started on 13 April 2024 with the regular season.

Malvín is the defending champion, having won the last two editions of the tournament.

## Teams

### New teams

A total of 11 teams contested the league, including 10 from the 2023 season and Tabaré who entered the tournament for the first time.

### Venues and locations

## Torneo Clasificatorio

The Torneo Clasificatorio (Qualifying Tournament) was the first stage of the LFB. The clubs played each other once, and the first six of the table played in the Serie 1. The last six played the Serie 2.

### Results

## Serie 1

The Series 1 is a phase where the top-six teams of the Torneo Clasificatorio define their qualification for the two cups in dispute. The clubs play each other twice, home and away.

### Results

## Serie 2

The Serie 2 is a phase where the last five teams of the Torneo Clasificatorio define the two remaining spots for the Copa de Plata. The clubs play each other twice, home and away.

### League table

### Results

## Copa de Plata

The Copa de Plata (Silver Cup) is a tournament played to order the teams from fifth to eighth place, with one cup in dispute.

Lagomar is the defending champion, having won the last two editions of this tournament.

## Copa de Oro

The Copa de Oro (Gold Cup) is the LFB playoff to determinate the champion of the season.

## Statistical leaders

Source: FUBB


# 2024 Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras season

## Abstract

The 2024 season is the 110th in Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras ' existence. This season Palmeiras participate in the Campeonato Paulista, Supercopa do Brasil, Copa Libertadores, Copa do Brasil and Série A.

## Squad information

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

### Transfers

## Competitions

### Overview

Last updated: 15 September 2024 Source: Competitions

### Campeonato Paulista

Palmeiras was drawn into Group B. The Federação Paulista de Futebol released a "basic" schedule on 7 December 2023. And on 26 December 2023 the full schedule was released.

#### First stage

#### Quarter-final

#### Semi-final

#### Finals

### Copa Libertadores

#### Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 18 March 2024. The full schedule was announced on 19 March 2024.

#### Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 3 June 2024.

### Série A

#### Standings

#### Results by round

#### Matches

The full schedule was announced on 29 February 2024.

### Copa do Brasil

#### Third round

The draw for the third round was held on 17 April 2024. The order of the matches were announced later on the same day.

#### Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 will be held on 18 July 2024. The order of the matches were announced later on the same day.

### Supercopa do Brasil

Palmeiras qualified for the 2024 Supercopa do Brasil by winning the 2023 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A.

## Statistics

### Goalscorers

In italic players who left the team in mid-season.


23XI Racing

# 23XI Racing

## Abstract

23XI Racing (pronounced twenty-three eleven) is an American professional auto racing organization that competes in the NASCAR Cup Series. It is owned and operated by Hall of Fame basketball player Michael Jordan, along with current Joe Gibbs Racing driver and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin. The team name represents a combination of Michael Jordan's No. 23 he wore during most of his NBA career and Denny Hamlin's No. 11 which he has driven his entire career in the Cup series. The organization fields the Nos. 23 and 45 Toyota teams full-time for drivers Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, as well as the No. 50 Toyota team part-time for three other drivers, including Kamui Kobayashi, Corey Heim, and Juan Pablo Montoya. They currently have a technical alliance with JGR.

## History

During the summer of 2020, rumors swirled that Michael Jordan intended on purchasing an ownership stake in Richard Petty Motorsports, who fielded the only black driver in the NASCAR Cup Series, Bubba Wallace. Such claims were repeatedly denied by Jordan's management team.

On September 8, 2021, veteran motorsports executive Steve Lauletta was named team president after serving as the interim president since the team's foundation.

On July 12, 2022, 23XI Racing announced that two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Tyler Reddick signed with the team for the 2024 season. On July 23, 2022, Hamlin announced that starting in 2023, 23XI would have its own pit crews instead of leasing them from Joe Gibbs Racing.

### Car No. 23 history

On September 21, 2020, Jordan and Denny Hamlin announced the formation of a Cup team to begin competition in 2021 with Jordan as majority owner, Hamlin as minority owner, and Wallace, who eleven days prior had announced his departure from Richard Petty Motorsports, as their first official driver. The team bought a guaranteed starting spot in every 2021 race by purchasing a charter from Germain Racing. The team's name, car number and manufacturer were not revealed at the time of the announcement. Hamlin later said that the two had discussed owning a team but that it never came to fruition. On October 22, the team announced its name, 23XI Racing, and would use the number 23 (Jordan's number during his basketball career). On October 30, the team revealed that they will run Toyotas with a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing (whose No. 11 car is driven by Hamlin) and operate out of a shop owned (and formerly used) by Germain Racing. On December 14, 23XI Racing announced that DoorDash, McDonald's, Columbia Sportswear, Dr Pepper, and Root, Inc. will be the sponsors of the No. 23 team in 2021. It was also announced that several crew members of the former Germain operation would join the team as a pit crew. On February 3, it was announced that former Germain driver Ty Dillon (who attempted to make the Daytona 500 with fellow Toyota team Gaunt Brothers Racing) would run the car in the 2021 Busch Clash, as Wallace was not eligible to run the clash.

Wallace finished second in his Duel and finished 17th at the 2021 Daytona 500 after being involved in a last-lap crash. At the Daytona road course he had troubles all day and finished 26th. Wallace struggled out the gate until Phoenix, which was his first strong run of the season. Wallace was running top 15 for most of the day before working his way into the top 10. Following a caution and most of the field pitting, while Wallace stayed out, he restarted first. This move did not work out well for Wallace. Due to him being on old tires and the rest of the field being on new tires, Wallace was quickly cycled out of the first position, dropped back, and wound up making contact with Cole Custer. He ended up finishing 16th. At the 2021 GEICO 500 at Talladega, Wallace had a strong car the entire day. Wallace was running top 10 for a good portion of the day and ended up winning stage 2. This was Wallace's first career stage win. After an overtime restart, Wallace was cycled to the back of the pack and wound up finishing 19th. At Dover, Wallace finished 11th. At Pocono, Wallace finished the first race in 14th, but finished the second race fifth, scoring the team's best finish and their first top-five. He finished third at the 2021 Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona, but he was officially scored with a second-place finish after Chris Buescher was disqualified post-inspection. On September 16, Bootie Barker was named crew chief for the remainder of the season after Wheeler was promoted to Director of Competition. Wallace scored his first career win at the rain-shortened 2021 YellaWood 500 at Talladega, becoming only the second Black driver after Wendell Scott to win a Cup race. Wallace finished the season 21st in points.

Wallace began the 2022 season by finishing in second place at the 2022 Daytona 500. On March 29, 2022, Barker was suspended for four races due to a tire and wheel loss during the 2022 Texas Grand Prix at COTA. Dave Rogers was announced as Wallace's crew chief for Richmond, Martinsville, Bristol, and Talladega. Later in the regular season, Wallace showed strong form, posting four consecutive top-10s at New Hampshire, Pocono, Indianapolis road course, and Michigan.

After failing to make the driver playoffs at Daytona, it was announced that Ty Gibbs would switch to the No. 23 to allow Wallace to compete in the owners championship with the No. 45. At the Texas playoff race, Gibbs veered into Ty Dillon on pit road, nearly sending Dillon towards a NASCAR official and a group of pit crew members; he was subsequently fined US$ 75,000 and the No. 23 was docked 25 owner points. At Phoenix, Daniel Hemric substituted for Gibbs after the death of his father, Coy Gibbs. Hemric finished 17th.

Wallace started the 2023 season with a 20th place finish at the 2023 Daytona 500. He improved his finishes enough to make the playoffs for the first time in his career. Wallace was eliminated from the Round of 12 at the conclusion of the Charlotte Roval race.

During the 2024 season, Wallace was fined US$ 50,000 for intentionally door-slamming Alex Bowman during the cool-down lap after the Chicago street race.

### Car No. 45 history

On August 27, 2021, 23XI Racing announced that Kurt Busch will pilot the No. 45 Toyota Camry in 2022 (With the number 45 being a reference to a jersey number Jordan wore during his baseball career and for 23 games during the 1994–95 NBA season.) His long time sponsor Monster Energy will follow him. Following the end of the 2021 season, 23XI purchased the former StarCom Racing 's charter for US$ 13.5 million, making it the most expensive charter purchase since the implementation of the system in 2016.

Busch began his 2022 season with a 19th place finish at the 2022 Daytona 500. Despite a promising start with top-five finishes at Phoenix and Atlanta, he suffered from poor finishes at COTA, Richmond, Bristol dirt, Dover, and Darlington. However, he rebounded with a win at Kansas. At the Pocono race, Busch was not medically cleared after a crash during qualifying, and subsequently missed the last five races of the regular season. Xfinity Series driver Ty Gibbs substituted Busch for the next six races. He finished 16th at Pocono and 17th at Indianapolis. A 10th place finish at Michigan earned Gibbs his first top-10 finish. The following week at Richmond, Gibbs finished 36th, last due to an engine failure. Gibbs finished 26th at Watkins Glen. On August 25, Busch announced he withdrew his request for a playoff waiver.

Six days later, it was announced that Bubba Wallace would swap rides with Gibbs as the No. 45 entry is still eligible for the owner's championship. Wallace finished ninth at Darlington to open the playoffs. He scored his second career win at Kansas. On October 16, Busch announced he would step away from full-time competition in 2023, with the possibility of running the season on a part-time basis. At Las Vegas, Kyle Larson charged aggressively past Kevin Harvick and Wallace, causing Wallace to scrape the outside wall. Wallace retaliated with a right rear hook on Larson, wrecking both cars down the frontstretch and severely damaging Christopher Bell 's car in the process. During the caution, Wallace engaged in a shoving match with Larson. Wallace was suspended for one race for the incident; John Hunter Nemechek was assigned to drive the No. 45 at Homestead.

On October 15, 2022, 23XI Racing announced that it bought out the remainder of Tyler Reddick 's contract from Richard Childress Racing to replace Kurt Busch in the No. 45 for the 2023 season. Reddick originally signed with 23XI for 2024, but Busch's concussion and subsequent retirement from full-time competition led to this move.

Reddick started the 2023 season with a 39th place DNF at the 2023 Daytona 500. A month later, he scored his first win of the season at COTA in triple overtime. On May 16, NASCAR docked the No. 45 team 10 owner and driver points for unapproved ballasts during inspection prior to qualifying at Darlington. During the playoffs, Reddick won at Kansas to advance to the Round of 12.

Reddick started the 2024 season with a 29th place DNF at the 2024 Daytona 500. He scored his first win of the season at Talladega by overtaking Brad Keselowski on the final stretch after Keselowski spun Michael McDowell and triggered a multi-car crash. He scored his second win of the season at Michigan. Following the Southern 500, Reddick clinched the regular season championship, beating Kyle Larson by just one point.

### Car No. 50/67 history

On January 17, 2023, 23XI announced that Travis Pastrana would attempt to enter the No. 67 Toyota Camry for the 2023 Daytona 500 with sponsorship coming from Black Rifle Coffee Company. On February 14, Pastrana made the entry field by scoring the second fastest lap among the non-chartered teams. He suffered an accident in the qualifying duel and started in the back for the race. Pastrana ended up finishing 11th in the race. On June 7, it was announced that Kamui Kobayashi would make his Cup debut in the No. 67 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, he would end up finishing 33rd in the race after getting caught up in several wrecks.

On March 13, 2024, it was announced that Kobayashi would once again compete in a race for the team, this time at COTA. The car number will race as the No. 50 instead of the No. 67 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of sponsor Mobil 1. The team plans to run the No. 50 for two more races during the season with different drivers.

On May 10, 2024, 23XI Racing announced that Corey Heim would drive the No. 50 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry at Nashville Superspeedway. Heim finished 29th after crashing out in one of five overtimes.

On August 2, 2024, the team announced that Juan Pablo Montoya would make his NASCAR Cup Series return for 23XI at Watkins Glen on September 15th. This will be the 3rd and final start for the No. 50 Mobil 1 entry in 2024. Montoya finished 32nd in his return to stock car racing.


The Penguin (TV series)

# The Penguin (TV series)

## Abstract

The Penguin is an upcoming American crime drama television miniseries created by Lauren LeFranc for HBO. Based on the DC Comics character Penguin, it is a spin-off from the film The Batman (2022) that explores the Penguin's rise to power in Gotham City 's criminal underworld. LeFranc serves as the showrunner of the series, which is produced by DC Studios in association with Warner Bros. Television.

Colin Farrell stars as the Penguin, reprising his role from The Batman, alongside Cristin Milioti and Rhenzy Feliz. Development was underway by September 2021, with LeFranc attached as writer, and Farrell was set to reprise his role later that year. HBO Max ordered the series in March 2022, after The Batman was released. That film's director, Matt Reeves, supervised the writing and was involved in hiring the creative team. Craig Zobel joined to direct the first three episodes in October, with Helen Shaver also directing. Filming began in March 2023 in New York, but was halted in June by the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes. Production resumed in late November and concluded in February 2024. The series moved from HBO Max's successor Max to HBO in July 2024.

The Penguin is scheduled to premiere in the United States on HBO on September 19, 2024, and is set to run for eight episodes until November 10, 2024.

## Premise

Set one week after the events of The Batman (2022), the series explores the rise to power of Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot / Penguin in Gotham City 's criminal underworld.

## Cast and characters

### Main

- Colin Farrell as Oswald "Oz" Cobb / Penguin: The disfigured former chief lieutenant of deceased crime boss Carmine Falcone who is on the rise to becoming a criminal kingpin in his own right. Farrell said the series would further explore the character's strength, awkwardness, and villainy as well as the "heartbroken man inside there" beyond his introduction in The Batman (2022).

- Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone: Carmine's daughter and a psychopathic serial killer who, after being released from Arkham Asylum, fights Oz for control of Gotham's criminal underworld

- Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar: A teenager who befriends Oz and becomes his driver

### Recurring

- Mark Strong as Carmine Falcone. Strong replaces John Turturro, who played the character in The Batman. Falcone appears in several flashbacks.

- Michael Kelly as Johnny Vitti: The underboss of the Falcone crime family

- Shohreh Aghdashloo as Nadia Maroni

- Deirdre O'Connell as Francis Cobb: Oz's mentally disturbed mother

- Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni: A mob boss and drug trafficker whose operation ended following a historic drug bust, in which Carmine was the informant

- James Madio as Milos Grapa: An enforcer for the Falcone family and Carmine's former bodyguard

- Scott Cohen as Luca Falcone

- Michael Zegen as Alberto Falcone: Carmine's son and Sofia's younger brother

- Theo Rossi as Julian Rush: A doctor

- Carmen Ejogo as Eve Karlo

Actors cast in undisclosed roles include François Chau, David H. Holmes, Craig Walker, and Jared Abrahamson.

## Episodes

Helen Shaver also served as a director.

## Production

### Development

By September 2021, HBO Max was in early development on a spin-off series from the film The Batman (2022) focusing on the character Oswald "Oz" Cobblepot / Penguin. The Batman director Matt Reeves had suggested to studio executives that a sequel film could explore the Penguin further, but they wanted to use the idea for a spin-off series instead. Lauren LeFranc was hired to write the series, while Reeves and The Batman producer Dylan Clark were set as executive producers through their respective production companies 6th & Idaho and Dylan Clark Productions. They had previously begun development on another spin-off series focused on the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), but by early March 2022 that series had been put on hold in favor of spin-offs focused on existing comic book characters; of these, the Penguin series was the furthest along in development at that time. The GCPD series was no longer moving forward by July 2024, though some elements were integrated into the Penguin series. Reeves was unsure then whether he would be directing the series, which he said would come before a sequel to The Batman and could tie into that potential second film. Soon after, following The Batman ' s release, the limited series received a straight-to-series order from HBO Max using the working title The Penguin, with LeFranc confirmed to serve as showrunner and executive producer. 6th & Idaho's Daniel Pipski and Adam Kassan were also set as executive producers, along with Rafi Crohn as a co-executive producer. Star Colin Farrell said in July that Reeves would not be directing the series but was providing guidance on the structure of the scripts and was involved in choosing who would direct them. In October, Craig Zobel was hired to direct the first three episodes of the series and to serve as an executive producer.

After James Gunn and Peter Safran became the co-CEOs of DC Studios in November 2022, future projects for Reeves's The Batman shared universe were set to be overseen by that studio. Gunn had contacted Reeves about his projects by then. When announcing the first projects for the new DC franchise the DC Universe (DCU) in January 2023, Gunn said any project that did not fit into the DCU's shared universe would be labeled as " DC Elseworlds " moving forward. This is the same as how DC Comics uses the Elseworlds imprint to mark comic books that are separate from the main continuity. Reeves' Batman shared universe was set to be a part of this label, including The Penguin. Reeves and Clark refer to their shared universe as the "Batman Epic Crime Saga". Bill Carraro was set as an executive producer by the following month. The series consists of eight 60 minute-long episodes, totaling approximately six-to-eight hours of content. Farrell felt this length would provide time to explore Oz's origin story and would allow the series to be "endlessly fun", fascinating, and brutal, as it was intended to have a more mature interpretation; the series was ultimately confirmed to receive a TV-MA rating by the TV Parental Guidelines. In April 2023, the series was officially titled The Penguin and announced to be releasing on the streaming service Max, the successor to HBO Max. In December 2023, Helen Shaver was revealed to also be serving as a director.

### Writing

The series begins one week after the events of The Batman, following the flooding of Gotham City as depicted at the end of the film, which Farrell said made for a "very tricky, very dark story". The series occurs shortly before the events of the film's sequel The Batman – Part II (2026), establishing a "little fabric" of plans that would lead into that film. Farrell said the death of crime boss Carmine Falcone in The Batman had left a power vacuum within Gotham's criminal underworld, resulting in many different forces vying for power. He added the series would be "incredibly violent" and that Oz would face "extraordinary obstacles". Clark said it would show Oz's rise to power and compared the series to Scarface (1983). He added that the series was intended to be a standalone story from The Batman, and would enhance the experience of watching the film. Reeves cited The Long Good Friday (1980) as an additional influence, and said the series was about the American Dream, with Oz being "underestimated... nobody thinks he's capable of doing anything believes in himself with a visceral violence". Sarah Aubrey, the head of originals for HBO Max, said the goal for the series was to explore Oz's life that is rooted in the streets of Gotham and described him as "a hustler and a strategist with his own ambitions".

LeFranc, Erika L. Johnson, Noelle Valdivia, John McCutcheon, Breannah Gibson, Shaye Ogbonna, Nick Towne, and Vladimir Cvetko wrote episodes of the series. LeFranc had written the pilot script by early March 2022. She was then working on the remaining episodes, when the story for the first season had been finished. Farrell read the first episode by mid-October 2022 and called it tasty and unusual, and was excited to further explore the "bang up of Oz" that Reeves envisioned for the character. He was set to read the second and third episodes the following week. The scripts were completed by the start of May 2023.

### Casting

By the time development was revealed to be underway on the series in September 2021, Farrell had been approached about reprising his role as the Penguin from The Batman, but was not contractually obligated to reprise the role. By December, Farrell officially signed on to star in the series and serve as an executive producer on it. He described working with LeFranc as a similarly collaborative experience to working with Reeves on The Batman. In March 2022, Reeves said there was potential for other characters from the film to appear in the series. At the end of October, Cristin Milioti was cast as the female lead Sofia Falcone. In February 2023, Rhenzy Feliz was cast as Victor Aguilar, a lead role which was believed to be a teenager who befriends Cobblepot and becomes his driver. Later that month, Michael Kelly, Shohreh Aghdashloo, and Deirdre O'Connell were respectively cast as Johnny Vitti, Nadia Maroni, and Francis Cobb.

In March 2023, several actors were cast in recurring roles: Clancy Brown as Salvatore Maroni, Michael Zegen as Alberto Falcone, James Madio as Milos Grapa, Scott Cohen as Luca Falcone, and Theo Rossi as Dr. Julian Rush. Maroni was portrayed by an uncredited extra in The Batman. Carmen Ejogo, François Chau, and David H. Holmes were cast in recurring roles in April, with Ejogo playing Eve Karlo, while Craig Walker was revealed to have joined the series by November 2023. In January 2024, Jared Abrahamson was cast in an undisclosed "key" recurring role, and Mark Strong, who portrayed Thaddeus Sivana in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), was revealed in May to be appearing in the series.

Robert Pattinson was reported in February 2023 to be reprising his role as Bruce Wayne / Batman from The Batman in the series, although it was unclear if the character would appear as Batman or not. The following month, Gunn debunked speculation that the rights to prior Batman television series could prevent the Batman character from appearing in this series. Pattinson's appearance was reaffirmed in June 2024, when he was expected to appear in at least one episode. LeFranc said in August that Batman would not appear in the series.

### Design

Farrell said in February 2022 that Mike Marino, the makeup designer for The Batman, would return for the series, and he felt the makeup was subtly perfected more, allowing for him to freely explore beyond his facial features. Helen Huang served as the costume designer, and Kalina Ivanov served as the production designer. Reeves said Harvey Weinstein was an inspiration for the Penguin's appearance.

### Filming

Principal photography began on March 1, 2023, in New York City, using the working title Boss. Darran Tiernan served as the cinematographer for the three episodes directed by Zobel. Soundstage work occurred at Silvercup Studios North in Queens. Filming was set to take place in Westchester County, New York on May 16 when picketers participating in the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike caused production to shut down for the day. After further picketing the following day at the series' sets at a church in Harlem, Manhattan, and at Silvercup North that once again shut down filming, production was paused through May 18. Filming of smaller scenes took place the day after in Brooklyn. In June, production was suspended until after the strike concluded. Filming had been expected to occur over five or six months, and Kelly had one day left of filming to complete before filming was shut down. The writers' strike ended in late September 2023, while the concurrent 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike ended on November 9. At that time, filming on the series was set to resume at the end of the month, and it was considered to be a priority for Warner Bros. Filming resumed on November 27, in the Bronx and took place at Whitestone, Queens the following day. Kelly had completed filming his scenes by January 2024, and filming wrapped on February 17.

### Post-production

Andy Keir is an editor on the series.

### Music

Mick Giacchino, son of The Batman composer Michael Giacchino, composed the score for the series.

## Marketing

The first footage from the series' production was released on April 12, 2023, during the Max Day press event. Anthony D'Alessandro of Deadline Hollywood said the footage had "the look of a dark Sopranos, with Farrell playing a full-on crime boss", while Matt Patches at Polygon also highlighted the Sopranos energy and noted it continued to use the "dark, orange-washed aesthetic" from The Batman. Ryan Scott of /Film said the teaser, which combined the series' footage with behind-the-scenes work, was "shockingly put together" given filming had only recently begun then and that it looked like a "very gritty crime drama". He also noted the teaser billed the series as "the next chapter in The Batman saga". Andy Behbakht for Screen Rant said it would be "fascinating to see how" the series was executed with the Penguin being the lead, given there had not been a previous Batman-related series headlined by a particular villain. New footage was included in a teaser for Max's 2024 content line-up in December 2023.

The first trailer was screened on March 21, 2024, for a world premiere at the Series Mania television festival in Lille, France, and it was released online as a teaser trailer the following day. D'Alessandro noted that the Penguin's "philosophical proclamations and tall tales of yore" in the trailer paid homage to Tony Soprano from The Sopranos, while Aaron Couch of The Hollywood Reporter likened the trailer to "DC's answer to The Sopranos ". Mark Hughes at Forbes also compared the trailer's vibe to that of The Sopranos and Scarface and noted it maintained the noir aesthetic from The Batman. A second trailer was released on June 20, 2024. James Hibberd at The Hollywood Reporter noted it included scenes that directly picked up after the ending of The Batman and that it provided a "much more expansive look" at the characters and setting. D'Alessandro acknowledged that the trailer explored the aftermath of Batman's actions from The Batman and highlighted Milioti's Sofia Falcone as being "front and center" in the trailer, calling her a femme fatale who was "not entirely evil" and compared her to similar characters in Batman media released since Tim Burton 's Batman Returns (1992), which featured Michelle Pfeiffer 's Catwoman in that role. Collider ' s Erick Massoto noted it depicted the Penguin's strategy to become the Gotham crime boss by exploiting the grief of Falcone's family. Meanwhile, Sandy Schaefer of /Film thought Milloti's performance "may just be the show's secret weapon" and agreed it was tonally similar to The Batman. The series was promoted at the Hall H panel during the 2024 San Diego Comic-Con from July 25 to 27. A recreation of the Gotham Ice Truck and Iceberg Lounge were featured, in addition to appearances from the cast and crew alongside the release of the official trailer.

## Release

The Penguin is scheduled to premiere in the United States on HBO on September 19, 2024, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time, and will be re-aired multiple times through September 22. The subsequent seven episodes will then air every Sunday night at that time from September 29 until November 10, 2024. The series will also stream on Max. It was initially planned for a mid-2024 premiere but was delayed due to the dual Hollywood strikes, and was ultimately moved to the September 2024 release date.

In May 2024, when The Penguin was originally set to be released on Max, Sky Group acquired the broadcast rights to the series in selected European countries where Max did not yet operate. The series is set to air day-and-date on Sky Atlantic and Sky's streaming service Now on September 20. In June 2024, after WBD had shifted many of its planned big-budget Max series based on their intellectual properties to instead be HBO originals beginning in 2025, HBO and Max content CEO Casey Bloys said The Penguin was an "obvious fit as an HBO Original" but could not be altered to such because they had already begun the process of licensing it internationally with the Max label. The following month, the series was moved to debut on HBO after the branding was renegotiated.

## Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 46 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Depicting Gotham through bone-breaking punches rather than popping onomatopoeia, The Penguin is a grounded crime saga given gravitas by Colin Farrell and a scene-stealing Cristin Milioti." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Reviewing the show on Sky Atlantic, The London Standard ' s Martin Robinson gave the series five stars. He hailed it as a "rich[] character study, driven by a world-beating 'give him the Emmy now' performance by Colin Farrell". He observed its influence from "1930s Warner Brothers gangster films". Robinson concluded it was "very much an Italian-American gangster Penguin", and compared the title character to Tony Soprano and Vito Corleone. Empire ' s Amon Warmann gave it four stars, writing that its expansion of Reeves's film was "satisfying proof that this more grounded take on the character warranted a full series". He wrote of its foremost purpose as a character study into Oswald, and praised the episode with the character's mother as "the series' most unique, intriguing dynamic". Warmann concluded that it was the "empathy" for the characters, particularly Rhenzy Feliz's Victor, which made the series riveting. For IndieWire ' s Ben Travers, the series was an allegory for Donald Trump, and he noted that the series displayed a "putrid embodiment of ". He admitted it was hampered by being a sequel to The Batman and a prequel to Part II, and assigned it a B-.

In a four star review, NME ' s Jordan Bassett said that Cristin Milioti's character was "quietly menacing", and that LeFranc succeeded in creating a Gotham distinct from Reeves's, one "slightly less rainy and better lit", yet one that retains "the cynicism boiled into the corruption-infested city." They felt disappointed in the show's decreased budget, observing that it hurt the series's set design, and criticized the first episode's "sluggish" pacing. They wrote that the show sees that "the roots of ambition and seething resentment at the world" forge a "compulsive" narrative. Bassett concluded that the show ended up being "more compelling than it perhaps should be", and that "Farrell is as astonishing as ever". MovieWeb ' s Julian Roman declared that "Colin Farrell needs to clear space on the shelf for an Emmy", and hailed his performance as "nothing short of extraordinary." He called the series a "psychologically disturbing gangster epic ", and compared it to Scarface (1932) and King of New York (1990). He praised its "blockbuster" production values, writing that they are "integral to its harsh realism", citing Kalina Ivanov's work in particular. Reiterating on Farrell's performance, he observed that the actor "convincingly portrays a man living with a significant disability, but he's also strong and utterly merciless when needed." Roman assigned the series a 4/5.

In a less-positive review, IGN ' s Erik Adams complained that "Lauren LeFranc and team have taken on more than they can handle", and that its aspects of gnarliness and bloodlust are "never as sensational as the big budget and prestige-TV trappings make them out to be." He praised Farrell's "gift of gab and a wounded soulfulness", which kept the character from being a trope. The Daily Telegraph gave it three out of five stars. Ed Power wrote highly of Farrell's reinvention of the Penguin as "a charismatic mobster straight from a Scorsese movie", and felt his return was impressive. He assessed that the creators have created a "grim psychodrama centred on Cobb's troubled relationship with his mentally ill mother", and said that "the only superpower on display is the producers's ability to take a straightforward story about how Cobb's friendship with Sofia has soured into a deadly rivalry and stretch it into eight hours of often tedious TV." Variety ' s Aramide Tinubu said that the robust narrative makes it a "masterful examination of criminality", and hailed it as "twisted, disturbing and deeply enthralling." She praised Deirdre O'Connell's performance, and wrote that "the juxtaposition of the across the show — including flashbacks from their contrasting childhoods and their reactions to losing or gaining dominance — is among the most compelling aspects of ".