Production.

Recording and music.

Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor announced in 2007 that the band had completed its contractual obligations to its record label, Interscope Records, and would no longer be working with the company. He also revealed that the band would likely distribute its next album independently, possibly in a fashion similar to Saul Williams' 2007 album "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!", which Reznor produced.  Following the Performance 2007 Tour in support of the band's previous album "Year Zero" (2007), Reznor set out to make a record "with very little forethought". "Ghosts I–IV" originated from an experiment: "The rules were as follows: 10 weeks, no clear agenda, no overthinking, everything driven by impulse. Whatever happens during that time gets released as... something." Reznor explained, "I've been considering and wanting to make this kind of record for years, but by its very nature it wouldn't have made sense until this point".  The core creative team behind the project was Reznor, Atticus Ross, and Alan Moulder. Live-band member Alessandro Cortini and studio musicians Adrian Belew and Brian Viglione also contributed instrumental performances on select tracks. Reznor described the band's early intentions for the project as "an experiment", and explained the group's process: "When we started working with the music, we would generally start with a sort of visual reference that we had imagined: a place, or a setting, or a situation. And then attempt to describe that with sound and texture and melody. And treat it, in a sense, as if it were a soundtrack."  The musicians created the album tracks through improvisation and experimentation. As a result, the initial plan to release a single EP of the material expanded to include the increasing amount of material. Viglione contributed percussion to tracks 19 and 22. He stated that Reznor's instructions to him were to "build a drumkit. Piece together any stuff that you want to bang on; rent what you want to rent. Have fun and... be creative—See where your mind and your ideas take you." Viglione's makeshift drum kit included a 50-gallon trash can, a pair of water cooler jugs, and a cookie tray with a chain across it. Alessandro Cortini is credited on a total of ten tracks from "Ghosts" for his contributions on guitar, bass guitar, dulcimer, and electronics. Cortini was brought onto the project two weeks into the process, and his involvement evolved from "first recording some extra parts to some tracks" and eventually into "a collaboration on [the] tracks noted in the booklet". Adrian Belew was also brought on for select instrumental contributions, but as the project evolved Reznor expanded Belew's involvement and shared writing credit with him on two tracks.  "Ghosts I–IV" is an almost entirely instrumental album, with only a few tracks containing sampled vocals. Reznor described the album's sound as "the result of working from a very visual perspective—dressing imagined locations and scenarios with sound and texture; a soundtrack for daydreams." PopMatters' review of the album compared its musical style to that of Brian Eno and Robert Fripp, ultimately categorizing it as "dark ambient". The review went on to describe the music as "a tonal painting, a collection of moods and not all of these moods are good ones." NPR compared the album to the music of Erik Satie and Brian Eno. "Rolling Stone also" compared the album to the work of Brian Eno, specifically the album's sound to the instrumentals of "Another Green World" (1975) and the rhythm collages of "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" (1981). Robert Christgau also compared the album to the work of Brian Eno, summarizing "Ghosts"<nowiki>'</nowiki> sound as "mental wallpaper".  "Ghosts I–IV" features a wide assortment of musical instruments, including piano, guitar, bass, synthesizer, marimba, tambourine, banjo, dulcimer, and xylophone, many of which were sampled and distorted electronically. Percussion instruments, contributed primarily by Brian Viglione, were constructed largely out of found objects and household items.

Artwork.

Rob Sheridan acted as the album's art director, in collaboration with Artist in Residence. Sheridan was also art director for the previous two Nine Inch Nails studio albums, "With Teeth" (2005) and "Year Zero". Since "Ghosts" was released in a variety of versions, some of the versions feature somewhat differing (or additional) album art and related artwork. A 40-page PDF comes with each version of the album and contains a photograph for each of the 36 tracks. These photographs are also embedded into the ID3 tags of every downloadable track.

Release.

"Ghosts I–IV" was released online on March 2, 2008, on the official Nine Inch Nails website in a number of different formats at various price points. The only prior advertisement or notice of the release was a post by Reznor two weeks prior on the site saying "2 weeks!" "Ghosts" was the first album released by Reznor's independent label The Null Corporation. Retail copies of the album were distributed by RED Distribution on April 8 on CD and vinyl formats, and May 1 for the "Deluxe" and "Ultra-Deluxe" editions. The smallest "Ghosts" package contains the first nine tracks, available for free online from either the official Nine Inch Nails website or officially from various BitTorrent trackers, including The Pirate Bay. The entire album was also made available for download directly from the band for US$5. Physical copies of the album were available for pre-sale online, with immediate access to the digital version. A two-disc version includes two audio CDs and a 16-page booklet for $10. A "Deluxe Edition" is available for $75 and includes two audio CDs, a data-DVD containing multitrack files of the album, a Blu-ray Disc with the album in high-definition stereo and accompanying slide show, and a 48-page hardcover book with photographs. A $300 "Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition" included everything in the "Deluxe" edition, as well as a 4-LP 180 gram vinyl set in a fabric slipcase, and two exclusive limited edition Giclée prints, unique to each copy. These were limited to 2,500 pieces, each copy numbered and signed by Trent Reznor. Reznor described the limited edition release as "the most luxurious physical package we've ever created." Finally, the album was also released on 4-LP 130 gram vinyl, set in a double gate fold package, for $39.  The album is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license, in effect allowing anyone to use or rework the material for any non-profit purpose, as long as credit is provided and the resulting work is released under a similar license. Reznor explained this move by saying "It's a stance we're taking that we feel is appropriate [...] with digital technology, and outdated copyright laws, and all the nonsense that's going on these days". Jim Guerinot, then manager of Nine Inch Nails, explained the unconventional release of the album as "[not] a reaction to what doesn’t exist today. [...] it’s more just like, 'Hey, in a vacuum I can do whatever I want to do.'" The digital-release of the album reportedly required an extensive overhaul of the Nine Inch Nails website in order for the site to cope with the influx of traffic, online-payments, and customer service needs of releasing the album. These upgrades cost Reznor approximately $20,000 to implement. Despite these measures, upon the release of "Ghosts" the site crashed, and additional servers were necessary to handle the traffic.  Reznor wrote in 2008 that "more volumes of "Ghosts" are likely to appear in the future." In a 2009 interview with Trent Vanegas, he repeated his intention to make another "Ghosts" album in the near future. Portions of the album were used as the soundtrack to the 2014 documentary film "Citizenfour". The song "34 Ghosts IV" was sampled by music producer YoungKio for a beat subsequently used on the 2018 Lil Nas X song "Old Town Road". As a result, Reznor and Ross were given writing credits for the song. It reached number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 in April 2019 and stayed there for a record-breaking nineteen consecutive weeks. The song also earned both Reznor and Ross a Country Music Association Awards nomination for Musical Event of the Year.

Film festival.

Nearly two weeks after the release of the album, Reznor organized and announced a user-created "film festival" as an accompaniment to the album, hosted at the official Nine Inch Nails YouTube channel. It was revealed that the album was stripped of much artwork and song titles to provide a blank canvas for the project. Reznor explained that the endeavor was not meant as a contest, but as "an experiment in collaboration and a chance for us to interact beyond the typical one-way artist-to-fan relationship." Over 2,000 video submissions were posted and over 13,000 members joined the festival group, which started in March 2008.

Live performances.

"Ghosts I–IV" material was implemented into Nine Inch Nails live performances typically as a distinct section of instrumental songs midway through the show. "Ghosts" material was performed in this manner primarily as part of the "Lights in the Sky" tour in 2008, immediately after the album's release. During these segments the music was largely acoustic, as opposed to the electric instrumentation of other Nine Inch Nails live sets. The "Ghosts" segment included instrumentation from a marimba, harmonium, glockenspiel, double bass, banjo and various homemade percussion instruments. The "Ghosts" section was later scrapped for the "NINJA" and "Wave Goodbye" tours, as Reznor felt the instrumental songs did not fit with the set lists.

Critical reception.

Critical response to "Ghosts I–IV" was generally favorable, with an average rating of 69/100 based on 12 reviews on Metacritic. Seth Colter Walls of "Newsweek" described the album as "the kind of absorbing musical experience that the surviving ranks of know-it-all record-store clerks would be pushing on customers, if only they could offer it for sale." "IGN" gave the album a rating of 8.7 out of 10 and wrote, "The music is so engrossing and encompassing that time ceases to be a factor—at least until the music finally stops." "PopMatters" gave the album an 8 out of 10 and described the album as "36 tracks, but no songs", and went on to call it "dark, brooding [...] haunting." "Pitchfork" criticized the album by saying "nearly every one of the untitled instrumental sketches here feels emaciated and half-finished", and gave the work a 5.0 out of 10.0. "Blender" also criticized the album, summarizing the review by saying "Nine Inch Nails return with no label oversight, no boundaries and no tunes." "The Washington Post" stated, "There's too much here. Yet it's the most interesting NIN in years." The review went on to describe each track as "the sonic equivalent of a silver orb hovering in your living room [which then] explodes into a million shiny balls of mercury that splash to the floor before trickling, magnetically, back into a large round mass."  The album's unorthodox distribution methods also garnered the attention of various news agencies, such as "Wired"'s Eliot Van Buskirk, who labeled "Ghosts" as "a remarkably extensive release". Ben Worthen of "The Wall Street Journal" hypothesized that "most business execs [...] could learn a lot from [Reznor's] experiments with online business models." Many news agencies compared the release to Radiohead's 2007 "pay what you want" digital release of "In Rainbows", as well as the similar release of Saul Williams' album "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!" the same year, which Reznor produced. "Rolling Stone"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s review called the album a "a new-media showpiece", while "Tiny Mix Tapes" said "the circumstances surrounding the release are so forward-thinking that they could be considered just as key to appreciating the album as the music itself." Financial website The Motley Fool wrote an article on the album's release titled "Music Industry Gets Nailed Again", forecasting that "Innovators like Nine Inch Nails are paving the way for new media business models that may bypass the middleman while making sure artists "and" fans are happy." In its review of "The Slip", however, PopMatters described "Ghosts I–IV" in retrospect as an "aimless batch of... instrumentals packaged in a brilliant marketing scheme" and said that it was "basically a CD release with a couple of mail-order special editions available for the 'true fans'."

Accolades.

"Ghosts" was nominated for two Grammy Awards, under the categories Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the track "34 Ghosts IV", and Best Boxed Set or Limited Edition Package for the "Ultra-Deluxe" edition of the album. These nominations represented the first time music licensed under Creative Commons had been nominated for a Grammy Award. Following the release of "Ghosts" and the similar online release method of the band's follow-up, "The Slip", Reznor was awarded the Webby Artist of the Year Award at the annual Webby Awards in 2009. "Rolling Stone" magazine named Reznor number 46 in its "100 People Who Are Changing America" list, concluding that he has "been more creative than anyone in embracing the post-CD era".

Commercial performance.

The album's initial release on the official Nine Inch Nails website suffered problems as the website was inundated with traffic, and was not fully operational until extra servers were added to handle the influx of downloads. A week after the album's release, the official Nine Inch Nails site reported over 780,000 purchase and download transactions, amassing over $1.6 million in sales. Pre-orders of the $300 "Ultra-Deluxe Limited Edition" sold out in less than 30 hours of its release.  The physical release of the album debuted at number 14 on the US "Billboard" 200 with 26,000 copies sold in its first week. The album also topped "Billboard"s Dance/Electronic Albums chart. It had sold 149,000 copies in the United States by May 2013. Internationally, "Ghosts" peaked at number three in Canada, number 15 in Australia, number 26 in New Zealand, number 58 in Austria, and number 60 in the United Kingdom.  In 2019, Lil Nas X included a sample from "34 Ghosts IV" in his hit song “Old Town Road”, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and held the record for longest charting number one song ever.

Follow-up albums.

The release of "Ghosts I–IV" foreshadowed the following stream of soundtrack albums recorded and labeled by Reznor and Ross, apart from Nine Inch Nails catalogue. The duo's three consecutive collaborations with director David Fincher: "The Social Network" (2010), "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" (2011), and "Gone Girl" (2014), were followed by a collaboration "Before the Flood" (2016), and subsequent scores for "Patriots Day" (2017), "The Vietnam War" (2017), "Mid90s" (2018), "Bird Box" (2018), "Watchmen" (2019), "Waves" (2019), and "Soul" (2020).  On March 26, 2020, as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the band released the previously unannounced "" and "" for free download on the band's website, YouTube channel, and streaming platforms.

Track listing.

Bonus tracks.

Included with the "Deluxe" and "Ultra-Deluxe" releases were two additional bonus tracks, accessible only by reconstructing them from multi-track files provided on the DVD. The second bonus track features musical elements and a similar song structure to "Demon Seed", track 10 from what would be the next Nine Inch Nails release, "The Slip".

Personnel.

Album credits adapted from the liner notes of "Ghosts I–IV":

Ghosts I–IV is the sixth studio album by American industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, released by The Null Corporation on March 2, 2008. It was the band's first independent release following their split from longtime label Interscope Records in 2007. The album's production team included Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor, studio collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder, and instrumental contributions from Alessandro Cortini, Adrian Belew, and Brian Viglione.

Ghosts I-IV je šesté studiové album americké hudební skupiny Nine Inch Nails. Vedle frontmana skupiny Trenta Reznora se na albu podíleli ještě Atticus Ross a Alan Moulder. V různých skladbách pak hráli Alessandro Cortini, Adrian Belew, a Brian Viglione. Album vyšlo v roce 2008 u vydavatelství The Null Corporation.


Early life.

Roday was born in San Antonio, Texas, as James David Rodriguez. He attended Taft High School in San Antonio. His father, Jaime "Jim" Rodriguez, is of Mexican descent, and his mother, Deborah Collins, is of English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Roday's father is a retired Air Force Master Sergeant and used to be the regional catering manager of Taco Cabana.  At New York University's Experimental Theatre Wing, Roday studied theatre and earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts. At the age of 22 he selected the professional name James Roday as there was already another "James Rodriguez" registered in the Screen Actors Guild.

Career.

Roday started his acting career starring in various theatrical productions, including "Three Sisters", "A Respectable Wedding" and "Severity's Mistress". He took on leading roles in "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" and "Extinction" which he produced with his theatre company Red Dog Squadron. He also directed the play "Greedy" and wrote/directed a one-act play "Sustenance." His most recent foray onto the stage was in December 2016, when he starred in the NY production of "White Rabbit Red Rabbit" by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour.  His big screen debut was in the 1999 film, "Coming Soon" alongside Ryan Reynolds and fellow debutant Ashton Kutcher. Other early film credits include: (2003) "Rolling Kansas" and 2005 adaption of "The Dukes Of Hazzard". Behind the scenes, he and writing partners Todd Harthan and James DeMonaco wrote the screenplay for the 2006 film "Skinwalkers". The team also worked on a script for the film adaptation of the video game, "Driver."  Roday's TV credits include starring roles in 2001's "First Years" on NBC's "Miss Match" in 2003. His big break came on July 7, 2006, with the series premiere of USA Network's original series "Psych". Airing following the season premiere of USA's other comedic success, "Monk", it's the highest-rated scripted basic cable TV show premiere of 2006. Psych ran for 8 Seasons until 2014.  After "Psych" ended, Roday starred in various pilots and Indie films, most notably "Pushing Dead" by independent filmmaker Tom E. Brown which accumulated a slew of awards at film festivals all over the country. He began focusing on his work behind the camera as a director, writer, and producer. Roday directed episodes for "Battle Creek", "Rush Hour", "Rosewood", "Blood Drive" and "The Resident" and developed, wrote, and directed the pilots "Shoot The Moon" for USA and "Quest For Truth" for E!.  Roday directed his first feature film, "Gravy," in 2013, written by him and Todd Harthan. He co-wrote (in with Todd Harthan) and directed his second film "Treehouse" as part of Hulu's monthly horror movie anthology "Into The Dark," which aired in March 2019.  In 2017, Roday returned to his most famous role as he starred in and executive produced "". The TV movie, which he also co-wrote with "Psych's" series creator Steve Franks, aired in December 2017. A sequel was officially announced on February 14, 2019. It was filmed in Vancouver in March and April and is set to air in 2020 on NBCUniversal's streaming service Peacock.  Roday is currently starring as Gary Mendez on ABC's dramedy "A Million Little Things." The 2019–2020 Fall Season is the show's 2 season.

Personal life.

Roday is the co-artistic director of the Red Dog Squadron, a Los Angeles theater company he co-founded with Brad Raider. In 2012, Roday and Black Dahlia artistic director Matt Shakman bought the El Centro Theatre and started a long process of renovations with the intent of reopening it under its original name "Circle Theatre." In a newsletter from August 2018, Raider and Roday announced that they had to resell the theatre in early 2018.  Roday dated his "Psych" co-star Maggie Lawson from 2006 to 2013.

James David Rodriguez (born April 4, 1976), known professionally as James Roday, is an American actor, director and screenwriter. He starred on the USA Network series "Psych" as hyper-observant consultant detective and fake psychic Shawn Spencer. He currently stars in "A Million Little Things."

James Roday, rodným jménem James David Rodriguez (* 4. dubna 1976, San Antonio, Texas, Spojené státy americké) je americký herec, režisér a scenárista. Proslavil se rolí Shawna Spencera v seriálu "Agentura Jasno". Od roku 2019 hraje jednu z hlavních rolí v seriálu "A Million Little Things".


Description.

"Utricularia gibba" is an aquatic carnivorous plant that belongs to the genus "Utricularia", or bladderworts. The specific epithet "gibba" is Latin for "hump" or "swelling" – a reference to the inflated base of the lower lip of the corolla. It is a small- to medium-sized aquatic plant that can either be affixed to the substrate in shallow water or free-floating in the water column, however it will likely flower more if supported by a substrate beneath shallow water. It forms mats of criss-crossing, branching, thread-like stolons, each growing to approximately long or longer and 0.2–1 mm thick. What are sometime described as leaves or leaf-like organs – the actual distinction is difficult in the reduced morphology – are numerous and scattered along the length of the stolons and are long with a very short dichotomous branching pattern toward the tip of anywhere from one to eight branches but usually not more than four. The bladder traps take the place of some of these distal branches on the leaf-like structures. The traps are ovoid and are attached to the leaf-like structure by a short stalk; each trap is 1–2.5 mm long and has two primary setiform branched appendages on top and some smaller appendages surrounded the entrance to the trap. The appendages are the trigger that sets the trap off and vacuums the prey that touched it into the bladder to be digested.  Inflorescences are erect and typically emerge from the water to about tall, though in some cases they can be submerged and produce cleistogamous flowers. Inflorescences can produce anywhere from one to twelve flowers but it is unusual to see anything other than two to six flowers per inflorescence. Individual flowers are yellow, often with reddish-brown nerves, and are split into two lips: the upper lip is almost circular and weakly separated into three lobes while the lower lip is slightly smaller, also circular, and has a rounded, bilobed swelling in the center. The spur is narrowly conical or cylindrical and curves down below the flower, varying in length from being just shorter than to noticeably longer than the lower lip. "Utricularia gibba" will flower throughout the year whenever conditions are favorable. Flowers, specifically the corolla, vary in size across this species' large distribution from.  The diploid chromosome number for "U. gibba" is 2n = 28.  "Utricularia gibba" is listed as a weed on the New Zealand National Pest Plant Accord.

Distribution and habitat.

"Utricularia gibba" has a vast geographic range and occurs naturally in the United States (all states except Alaska and the Rocky mountain states), Canada, Central and South America, Spain, Israel, most of Africa, most of Asia including China and Japan, New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania and the North Island of New Zealand. It grows in ponds and lakes or shallow water in ditches, pools, bogs, swamps, and marshes that may be still or slowly flowing. It can sometimes be found growing in deep water but will not flower unless the inflorescences are supported near the surface by living or dead vegetation. The waters in which it grows are typically poor in available phosphorus and nitrogen. It satisfies its nutrient requirements by capturing and digesting small aquatic prey – usually small invertebrates – in its bladder structures. "Utricularia gibba" is typically found growing at lower altitudes but can be found as high as.

Genetic efficiency.

In 2013, the genome of "U. gibba" was sequenced. At only 82 megabases, the genome is exceptionally small for a multicellular plant. Despite its size, the genome accommodates 28,500 genes – more than plants with much larger genomes. The main difference between other plant genomes and that of "U. gibba" is a drastic reduction in non-coding DNA. Only 3% of the plant's DNA is not part of a gene or material that controls those genes, in contrast to human DNA which is 98.5% non-coding. Retrotransposons, which dominate the DNA of most flowering plants, make up just 2.5% of "U. gibba"s DNA. The discovery casts doubt on the idea that repetitive, non-coding DNA, popularly known as junk DNA, is necessary for life. "At least for a plant, junk DNA really is just junk – it's not required", declares study co-author Victor Albert. T. Ryan Gregory who studies the evolution of genome sizes said "The study further challenges simplistic accounts of genome biology that assume functions for most or all DNA sequences, without addressing the enormous variability in genome size among plants and animals."  "Utricularia gibba" and the tomato split from a common ancestor approximately 87 million years ago. Since that time, both plants have experienced episodes of whole genome duplication (WGD) in which the plants' DNA content doubled in size. "Utricularia gibba" experienced at least three cycles of increasing genome size. Since then, it has lost most unneeded DNA, unlike the tomato, and now has a genome only a tenth as long as the tomato's.  Compared to "Arabidopsis", the introns of "Utricularia gibba" are somewhat fewer in number per gene, and conserved "cis"-acting elements of its promoters are compressed. Most critical genes have returned to single copy status. However, the mitochondrial and plastid genomes of "U. gibba" do not appear to be compressed relative to those of other angiosperms. The compression of its nuclear DNA is thought to have occurred via both numerous microdeletions and some large-scale recombinant deletions. It is hypothesized that a "sloppy" recombination process has caused unused material to be deleted over time. The presence of numerous GC-rich sequences throughout the nuclear genome of "U. gibba" is considered to have created a molecular mechanistic bias in favor of deletions, but this does not preclude the presence of a selection pressure to preserve such deletions.  Selection pressures in favor of conserving energy or conserving phosphorus have been suggested to be operative in the reduction of the nuclear genome size of "U. gibba". Trap formation is induced in "U. gibba" by low phosphorus but not low nitrogen, indicating that phosphorus availability is more limiting in its environment. It had also been previously proposed that an increased mutation rate due to greater environmental mutagen exposure could have increased natural selection for loss of unneeded DNA, but no evidence for this was found in the relative mutational diversities of "U. gibba" and "Arabidopsis".  It is possible that the genome duplication events and low-phosphorus environment acted in concert with one another: that the three whole genome duplications that occurred in "U. gibba" enabled the selective pressure of a phosphorus poor environment to reduce total DNA without the deletion of important genes.

Cultivation.

"Utricularia gibba" has the reputation of being one of the easier aquatic bladderworts to grow, often being described as a weed in cultivation. In his 1998 book "", Peter D'Amato advised that successful cultivation could be achieved with "U. gibba" floating in a small cup or bowl, within waterlogged peat, or even among the water-filled trays of other plants. It can also easily be grown in aquaria.

Utricularia gibba, commonly known as the humped or floating bladderwort, is a small, mat-forming species of carnivorous aquatic bladderwort. It is found on all continents except Antarctica.

Bublinatka opomíjená ("Utricularia gibba") je masožravá vodní rostlina z čeledi bublinatkovitých. Roste na všech kontinentech s výjimkou Antarktidy. Vyniká výjimečně malým genomem; při sekvenování její DNA byla nalezena pouhá 3 % nekódující DNA.


Electoral history.

1994 Presidential Elections.

In 1994, the first ever elections for the office of President of Belarus took place. Before the adoption of the state constitution, Belarus had a prime minister, and had ever since breaking away from the Soviet Union. At the time, Vyachaslaw Kyebich was the prime minister. At the end of the first balloting in June 1994, Kyebich was slated to face the other candidate, Alexander Lukashenko.  Presidential elections – first round:  Presidential elections – second round:

1995 Parliamentary Elections.

On 11 April 1995, Parliament rejected three of the four issues to be put to national referendum on the same day as general elections, and President of the Republic Alexander Lukashenko – in office since July 1994 and a firm advocate of the issues – threatened its dissolution. The proposed referenda concerned closer ties with the Russian Federation and the President’s power to dissolve the legislature.  Due especially to the multitude of candidates and the high thresholds required for election, only 18 Deputies were outright victors in the first round of voting and only 101 more (of 432 remaining candidates) in the second on 28 May. The resulting total of 119 fell short of the two-thirds (174) legal quorum which would have allowed the new legislature to sit. Polling for the remaining 141 seats accordingly took place on 29 November, when 865 candidates were in the running. Only 20 Deputies were then returned. On 10 December, runoffs between the two leading candidates were held in the other 121 constituencies; 59 more seats were then filled so that, with an overall total of 198 Deputies definitely chosen, the quorum was finally reached. Due to shortages in the applicable electoral majorities, 62 seats still remained vacant.

1995 Referendum.

The May 14, 1995 Belarus Referendum required the population of Belarus to vote on four issues:  The date of the referendum coincided with the date of the elections to the Parliament. On April 11, 1995, the Parliament considered the questions for the referendum, approved the date, but approved only the question regarding economic integration with Russia. Alexander Lukashenko declared that he would not change his decision and left the Parliament. 19 members of the Parliament from the Belarusian Popular Front decided to carry out a hunger strike within the Parliament building, protesting against the president organizing the referendum despite the parliament's decision. They were beaten and forcibly removed by OMON. The parliamentarians sued the special forces for battery but weren't successful. A conciliatory commission was called upon to resolve the conflict of President vs. Parliament about the referendum, which was eventually decided in the President's favor.  The voter turnout was 4,823,482 citizens or 64.8% of the total electorate (7,445,820). All four proposals were announced as passed. Of three questions, the one relating to national symbols turned out to be the most controversial.  According to many opposition experts, the 1995 referendum was illegal and thus its results have no legal power:  OSCE Parliamentary Assembly stated that the referendum in Belarus has violated international standards of elections. The organization noted governmental control over the media, the government's interference into the voting process, obstacles to the opposition's activities etc. US Department of State also criticized the Belarusian government for this referendum. The Russian State Duma issued a statement supporting the official results of the referendum that promoted the status of Russian language in Belarus.

1996 Referendum.

The 24 November 1996 Belarusian Referendum required the population of Belarus to vote on four issues suggested by President Lukashenko and three suggested by the Supreme Council of Belarus. 6,181,463 citizens took part in the referendum, or 84.14% of the total electorate of 7,346,397.  The Belarusian democratic opposition, human rights organizations and several foreign observers have recorded numerous violations of the legislation regarding organization of the referendum, both during the voting itself and during the campaign before it. The referendum was accompanied by a constitutional crisis, a conflict between president Alexander Lukashenko and the oppositional parliament. There have been mass street protests by the opposition protesting against the referendum and against human rights violations.  The opposition also spoke of rigging of the referendum, and never recognized the results, as well as the results of the previous referendum held in 1995. Alena Skryhan, the deputy head of Communist fraction of the Parliament in 1996 said that the referendum had led to monopolization of all branches of power by president Alexander Lukashenko.

2000 Parliamentary Elections.

In October 2000, parliamentary elections occurred for the first time since the referendum of 1996. According to Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)/ODIHR, these elections failed to meet international standards for democratic elections. Lukashenko announced early in 2001 that presidential elections would be held. Western monitors made charges of nondemocratic practices throughout the election period, including charges vote counting fraud. These charges of irregularities led the OSCE/ODIHR to find that these elections also failed to meet Belarus' OSCE commitments for democratic elections. Although it was considered to be "puppet" parliament of Lukashenko, eventually there appeared dissenting voices, notably the parliamentary group "Respublika" (Valery Frałoŭ, Uładzimier Parfianovič, Siarhiej Skrabiec, Uładzimier Navasiad).

2001 Presidential Elections.

The 2001 Belarusian presidential elections were held on September 9, 2001 with three candidates competing. The incumbent president, Alexander Lukashenko, was one of the candidates running for office. The two candidates that sought to unseat Lukashenko were Vladimir Goncharik and Sergei Gaidukevich. According to the official data, Alexander Lukashenko has won in the first balloting with 75,65% of votes (less than in 1994 when he wasn't in power) against 15,65% for Goncharik. Turnout — 83,86%.

2004 Parliamentary Elections.

In Belarus, while there are political parties that either support or oppose President Lukashenko, the majority of the seats in the National Assembly are filled by those not affiliated with any political parties ("non-partisans"). However, there are three political parties who hold seats in the House of Representatives: the Communist Party of Belarus (8 seats), the Agrarian Party of Belarus (3 seats), and the Liberal Democratic Party of Belarus (1 seat). The other two parties that pledged their support to Lukashenko, the Belarusian Socialist Sporting Party and the Republican Party of Labour and Justice, did not secure any seats in the October 2004 election. Opposition parties, such as the Belarusian People's Front and the United Civil Party of Belarus did not gain any seats. The UCPB and the BPF are some of the parties that comprise the People's Coalition 5 Plus, a group of political parties who oppose Lukashenko. Several organizations, including as the OSCE, declared the election un-free due to opposition parties negative results and the bias of the Belarusian media in favor of the government. However, in constitutional as well as political terms, the House is of marginal importance. At the 2000 election, it took four rounds of voting before all the seats were filled; in the end, 86% of the elected deputies were independents, and the remainder were the representatives of parties traditionally loyal to the president (OSCE, 2000).  The 13–17 October 2004 elections, according to the OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission, fell significantly short of OSCE commitments. Universal principles and constitutionally guaranteed rights of expression, association and assembly were seriously challenged, calling into question the Belarusian authorities’ willingness to respect the concept of political competition on a basis of equal treatment. According to this mission principles of an inclusive democratic process, whereby citizens have the right to seek political office without discrimination, candidates to present their views without obstruction, and voters to learn about them and discuss them freely, were largely ignored. A Council of Europe report describes the danger that politicians risk of being assassinated, summarising an investigation into allegations that the present head of the Belarusian Special Rapid Reaction Unit (SOBR), Dmitri Pavlichenko, assassinated two senior politicians, a businessman and a journalist in 1999.

2004 Referendum.

The October 17, 2004 Belarus Referendum was declared by President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko in his decree #431 on September 7, 2004. The referendum was about the following question:  6,307,395 citizens took part in the referendum, or 90.28% of the total electorate of 6,986,163. 79.42% voted for, 9.90% voted against, the rest of the ballots were declared invalid.  The referendum is considered to having been held in violation of Belarusian Electoral Code, as its Paragraph 112 lists "questions connected with election and dismissal of the President of the Republic of Belarus" among questions prohibited from being brought out to the Republican referendum.

2006 Presidential Election.

The next round of elections took place on March 19, 2006, and this election also included selecting the President. Lukashenko was opposed in the election by Alaksandar Milinkievič, a candidate representing a coalition of oppositional parties. Another opposition candidate, Alaksandar Kazulin of the Social Democrats was detained and beaten by police during protests surrounding the Lukashenko sponsored event, the All Belarusian People's Assembly. This event, among others, have caused for concern that the 2006 elections had irregularities. The President won a landslide victory, over 80% of the vote. It was however deemed unfair by the OSCE.

2008 Parliamentary Election.

Summary of the 28 September 2008 Belarusian House of Representatives election results!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=left|Parties!style="background-color:#E9E9E9" align=right|Seats  The 2008 Belarusian parliamentary election was held in Belarus on 28 September 2008. The 110 seats in the House of Representatives were at stake.  According to the OSCE, the elections were undemocratic and the work of international observers was seriously hindered as the observers were refused access to the facilities where the votes were counted. But according to a CIS election observation mission, the elections in Belarus conformed to international standards.  According to the official results the oppositional parties failed to gain any of the 110 available seats, all of which were given to parties and non-partisan candidates loyal to president Alexander Lukashenko. The Central Election Commission who declared this, its cause of the overwhelming popular fear of mass demonstrations and of the "radical political changes" demanded by the opposition. This declaration was met with immediate anti-governmental demonstrations in the centre of Minsk protesting against electoral fraud. President Lukashenko commented that the opposition in Belarus is financed by foreign countries and is not needed.

2010 Presidential Election.

A presidential election was held in Belarus on 19 December 2010. The election was originally planned for the beginning of 2011. However, the final date was set during an extraordinary session of the Belarusian National Assembly on September 14, 2010.  Of the ten candidates, incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner by the Central Electoral Commission with 79.67% of the votes, though opposition supporters decried the election. The Central Electoral Commission issued results for the election:  The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) called the election "flawed", saying it fell well short of democratic standards. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) recognised the election as legitimate.

Belarus elects on national level a head of state - the president - and a legislature. The president is elected for a five-year term by the people. The National Assembly ("Нацыянальны сход", "Nacyyanal'ny skhod") has two chambers. The House of Representatives ("Палата прадстаўнікоў", "Palata Pradstawnikow") has 110 members elected in single-seat constituencies elected for a four-year term. The Council of the Republic ("Савет рэспублікі", "Saviet Respubliki") has 64 members, 56 members indirectly elected and eight members appointed by the president.

Volby v Bělorusku jsou svobodné, v roce 1994 se však zvolením Alexandra Lukašenka prezidentem vrátil do země autoritářský režim. Voliči volí do dvoukomorového Národního shromáždění 166 poslanců na čtyřleté volební období.


Plot.

The novel is a framed narrative. The framing story concerns an unnamed male narrator spending a winter in Starkfield while in the area on business. He spots a limping, quiet man around the village, who is somehow compelling in his demeanor and carriage. This is Ethan Frome, who is a lifelong resident and a local fixture of the community. Frome is described by the narrator as "the most striking figure in Starkfield", "the ruin of a man" with a "careless powerful look...in spite of a lameness checking each step like the jerk of a chain". Curious, the narrator sets out to learn about him. He learns that Frome's limp arose from having been injured in a "smash-up" twenty-four years before, but further details are not forthcoming, and the narrator fails to learn much more from Frome's fellow townspeople other than that Ethan's attempt at higher education decades before was thwarted by the sudden illness of his father following an injury, forcing his return to the farm to assist his parents, never to leave again. Because people seem not to wish to speak other than in vague and general terms about Frome's past, the narrator's curiosity grows, but he learns little more.  Chance circumstances arise that allow the narrator to hire Frome as his driver for a week. A severe snowstorm during one of their journeys forces Frome to allow the narrator to shelter at his home one night. Just as the two are entering Frome's house, the prologue ends and the framed story begins. The narration switches from the first-person narrator of the prologue to a limited third-person narrator. We then embark on the "first" chapter (Chapter I), which takes place twenty-four years prior.  In Chapter I, Ethan is waiting outside a church dance for Mattie, his wife's cousin, who has for a year lived with Ethan and his sickly wife, Zeena (Zenobia), in order to help out around the house and farm. Mattie is given the occasional night off to entertain herself in town as partial recompense for helping care for the Fromes, and Ethan has the duty of walking her home. It is quickly clear that Ethan has deep feelings for Mattie. Passing the graveyard, he thinks in an intense moment of foreshadowing that, "We'll always go on living here together, and some day she'll lie there beside me." It also becomes clear that Zeena has observed enough to understand that he has these feelings and, understandably, she resents them.  When Zeena leaves for an overnight visit to seek treatment for her various complaints and symptoms in a neighboring town, Ethan is excited to have an evening alone with Mattie. During this evening, the narrator reveals small actions that show that they each have feelings for the other, including a lingering of touching hands on the milk jug, although neither openly declares their love. Mattie makes supper and retrieves from a high shelf Zeena's treasured pickle dish, which Zeena, in a symbol of her stingy nature, never uses, in order to protect it. Mattie uses it to present Ethan with a simple supper, and disaster ensues when the Fromes' cat jumps on the table and knocks it off, shattering it beyond repair. Ethan tries to help by setting the dish's pieces neatly in the cupboard, presenting the false impression of wholeness if not examined closely, with plans to purchase some glue and fix it as soon as he can.  In the morning Ethan's hopes for more private time with Mattie are foiled by the presence of his hired man. Ethan then goes into town to buy glue for the broken pickle dish, and upon his return finds that Zeena has also come home. Zeena retreats upstairs, proclaiming her illness, and refusing supper because she is not hungry. There, she informs Ethan that she plans to send Mattie away and has already hired another girl to replace her, claiming that she needs someone more efficient because her health is failing more rapidly than ever.  Ethan is angry and frustrated to the point of panic by the thought of losing Mattie, and he is also worried for Mattie, who has no other place to go and no way to support herself in the world. He returns to the kitchen and joins Mattie, and tries to eat, but he is distraught and suddenly blurts out Zeena's plans to send Mattie away. Mattie reacts with shock but rapid acceptance, trying to calm Ethan, while Ethan becomes more agitated and begins to insist that he will not let her go. Ethan kisses her. Moments later, they are interrupted by Zeena, who has decided that she is hungry after all. After supper, Zeena discovers the broken pickle dish and is heartbroken and enraged; this betrayal cements her determination to send Mattie away.  Ethan, miserable at the thought of losing Mattie and worried sick about her fate, considers running away with Mattie, but he lacks the money to do so. He feels that he cannot abandon Zeena because he knows that she would neither be able to run the farm nor sell it (the poor quality of the place has been discussed at several points in the story already). Every plan he thinks of is impossible to carry out, and he remains in despair and frantically trying to think of a way to change this one more turn of events against his ability to have a happy life.  The next morning, Zeena describes her specific and imminent plans for sending Mattie on her way. Panicked, Ethan rushes into town to try to get a cash advance from a customer for a load of lumber in order to have the money with which to abscond with Mattie. His plan is unhinged by guilt, however, when his customer's wife expresses compassion, understanding, and empathy for Ethan's lot, which has involved the repeated duty to care for others, first his parents, then his sickly wife. He realizes that, of all people, he cannot cheat this kindly woman and her husband out of money, since she is one of the few people who have ever seemed to have seen or openly acknowledged Ethan's lifelong plight, as well as his honor in fulfilling his duties.  Ethan returns to the farm and picks up Mattie to take her to the train station. They stop at a hill upon which they had once planned to go sledding and decide to sled together as a way of delaying their sad parting, after which they anticipate never seeing each other again. After their first run, Mattie suggests a suicide pact: that they go down again, and steer the sled directly into a tree, so they will never be parted and so that they may spend their last moments together. Ethan first refuses to go through with the plan, but in his despair that mirrors Mattie's, he ultimately agrees, and they get on the sled, clutching each other. On the way down, a vision of Zeena's face startles Ethan into swerving a bit, but he corrects their course, and they crash headlong and at high speed into the elm tree. Ethan regains consciousness after the accident but Mattie lies beside him, "cheeping" in pain like a small wounded animal. Ethan is also injured, and the reader is left to understand that this was the "smash-up" that left Ethan with a permanent limp.  The epilogue returns to the framing story and the first-person narrator point of view of the prologue. The framing story resumes precisely where it left off: just as Frome and his visitor, the narrator, enter the Frome household in the story's present. The narrator hears a complaining female voice, and it is easy to assume that it belongs to the never-happy Zeena, but in the final twist of the story, it emerges that it is in fact Mattie, who now lives with the Fromes due to having been paralyzed in the accident. Her misery over her plight and dependence has embittered and "soured" her, and, with roles reversed, Zeena is now forced to care for her as well as Ethan. Further illustrating the psychosomatic nature of most of Zeena's previous complaints, she has now found the strength through necessity to be the caregiver rather than being the invalid. In an agonizing irony, Ethan and Mattie have gotten their wish to stay together, but in mutual unhappiness and discontent, with Mattie helpless and paralyzed, and with Zeena as a constant presence between the two of them.

Development.

The story of "Ethan Frome" had initially begun as a French-language composition that Wharton had to write while studying the language in Paris, but several years later she took the story up again and transformed it into the novel it now is, basing her sense of New England culture and place on her ten years of living at The Mount, her home in Lenox, Massachusetts. She would read portions of her novel-in-progress each day to her good friend Walter Berry, who was an international lawyer. Wharton likely based the story of Ethan and Mattie's sledding experience on an accident that she had heard about in 1904 in Lenox, Massachusetts. Five people total were involved in the real-life accident, four girls and one boy. They crashed into a lamppost while sledding down Courthouse Hill in Lenox. A girl named Emily Hazel Crosby was killed in the accident. Wharton learned of the accident from one of the girls who survived, Kate Spencer, when the two became friends while both worked at the Lenox Library. Kate Spencer suffered from a hip injury in the accident and also had facial injuries. It is among the few works by Wharton with a rural setting. Wharton found the notion of the tragic sledding crash to be irresistible as a potential extended metaphor for the wrongdoings of a secret love affair.  Lenox is also where Wharton had traveled extensively and had come into contact with at least one of the victims of the accident; victims of the accident are buried in graves nearby Wharton family members. In her introduction to the novel, Wharton talks of the "outcropping granite" of New England, the austerity of its land and the stoicism of its people. The connection between land and people is very much a part of naturalism; the environment is a powerful shaper of man's fate, and the novel dwells insistently on the cruelty of Starkfield's winters.

Reception.

"The New York Times" called "Ethan Frome" "a compelling and haunting story." Edith Wharton was able to write an appealing book and separate it from her other works, where her characters in Ethan Frome are not of the elite upper class. However, the problems that the characters endure are still consistently the same, where the protagonist has to decide whether or not to fulfill their duty or follow their heart. She began writing Ethan Frome in the early 1900s when she was still married. The novel was criticized by Lionel Trilling as lacking in moral or ethical significance. Trilling wrote that the ending is "terrible to contemplate," but that "the mind can do nothing with it, can only endure it."  Jeffrey Lilburn notes that some find "the suffering endured by Wharton's characters is excessive and unjustified," but others see the difficult moral questions addressed and note that it "provides insightful commentary on the American economic and cultural realities that produced and allowed such suffering." Wharton was always careful to label Ethan Frome as a tale rather than a novel. Critics did take note of this when reviewing the book. Elizabeth Ammons compared the work to fairy tales. She found a story that is "as moral as the classic fairy tale" and that functions as a "realistic social criticism." The moral concepts, as described by Ammons, are revealed with all of the brutality of Starkfield's winters. Comparing Mattie Silver and Zeena Frome, Ammons suggests that the Matties will grow as frigid and crippled as the Zeenas, so long as such women remain isolated and dependent. Wharton cripples Mattie, says Lilburn, but has her survive in order to demonstrate the cruelty of the culture surrounding women in that period.

Ethan Frome is a 1911 book by American author Edith Wharton. It is set in the fictitious town of Starkfield, Massachusetts. The novel was adapted into a film, "Ethan Frome", in 1993.

Ethan Frome je román americké spisovatelky Edith Wharton z roku 1911, která je držitelkou Pulitzerovy ceny. Novela byla roku 1993 adaptována do filmové podoby, taktéž s názvem "Ethan Frome".


Play.

Each player starts the game with four pieces:  Each moves as in standard shogi, but is limited to moving one square per turn. If the Chick advances two squares to reach the final rank (the "sky" for the player that started in the forest), it promotes to a Hen ("tokin"), which can move one square any way except diagonally backwards (like the gold general in shogi).  As in shogi, if a Hen is captured, it may only be dropped back into play as a Chick. However, standard restrictions on where one may drop a Chick, such as not being allowed to give immediate checkmate, have two Chicks on a file, or drop the Chick on the final rank, do not apply. A chick dropped on the final rank, however, does not promote (and may make no further moves until it is recaptured).  If the players play the same position three turns in a row, the game is a draw. Unlike in Shogi, perpetual check is also a draw. There are two ways to win the game: capturing ("catching") the opponent's Lion, and advancing one's own Lion into the promotion zone (farthest rank), as long as doing so does not place one's Lion in check.

Theoretical result.

Dōbutsu shōgi has been strongly solved, meaning that the theoretical best move from each reachable position (there are 1,567,925,964 reachable positions in the game) of the game is known. White has a winning strategy from the starting position, although the theoretical win may take up to 78 plies (39 moves on each side). Thus, the game begins in a zugzwang position, in which the side to move (Black in the initial position) is at a disadvantage. By symmetry, the game also begins in a Trébuchet position, a full-point zugzwang position, in which the side to begin movement eventually loses.  All opening moves for Black except capturing White's chick delay loss by 78 moves with perfect play; capturing the White chick delays loss by only 76 moves.  In general, as with their long-ranged counterparts, the giraffe is stronger than the elephant. Like most small variants of shogi, particularly micro shogi and minishogi, having pieces in hand ready to drop is highly advantageous. The game does not lend itself well to handicap play, because a handicap of an elephant or a giraffe results in the handicap taker having a relatively easy forced mate.  The variant of nana shogi shows that it is feasible to have a limited number of long-ranged pieces on such small-sized boards.

Variation.

A 5x6 version with 16 pieces is known as "goro goro dōbutsu shōgi" (ごろごろどうぶつしょうぎ), which is the same as goro goro shogi. On each player's side, it uses 3 chicks (pawns), 2 cats (silvers), 2 dogs (golds), and 1 lion (king). Chick and cat promote to hen and empowered cat, respectively, which then move just like the dog. Promotion zones are the first and last 2 ranks. It has the same restrictions on dropped pieces in shogi including "two pawns" ("nifu") and pawn drop with immediate checkmate ("uchifuzume"). Perpetual check (4 move repetition) is also a draw as in dōbutsu shōgi.  A 9×9 version of this game known as "Dobutsu shogi in the Greenwood" (in Japanese: おおきな森のどうぶつしょうぎ "ōkina mori no dōbutsu shōgi"), which is identical to shogi, has been launched. The game features new pieces and since the board is large, the movements of the Elephant and Giraffe (bishop and rook in shogi) are unlimited.

The pieces are square, like children's blocks, have cartoon figures of the relevant animal rather than kanji to identify them, and often have dots on the sides and corners of the directions the pieces can move. The game has been marketed overseas as "Let's Catch the Lion!"

Dóbucu šógi (, zvířátkové šógi) je varianta japonské hry šógi. Na rozdíl od standardního šógi, všechny kameny chodí o jedno pole směry, které jsou na kamenech vyznačené. Ukončení hry dosáhnete sebráním nepřátelského krále anebo dojdete svým králem na druhou stranu šachovnice - král může vstoupit na poslední pole a vyhrát hru pouze tehdy, když toto pole není druhým hráčem ohroženo. Zvířecí šógi má povyšovací zónu na posledním poli a jediné co se dá povýšit je kuře na slepici - Povyšování je součástí tahu a provádí se vždy na konci tahu jako u velkých šógi. Vkládání je stejné jako u klasických šógi – hráč na tahu si může vybrat, zda táhnout svým kamenem na hrací desce nebo vložit zajatý nepřátelský kámen na hrací plochu jako vlastní kámen. Pravidlo pěšců zde neplatí, můžou tedy být dvě kuřata za sebou a vložením kuřete může vzniknout šachmat. Kuře se může vložit do poslední řady s tím, že zůstane zablokované.


Early life.

Andrew McLean Galloway IV was born in Ayr on 6 June 1985. His mother, Angela, died on 3 November 2012 at the age of 51. He grew up in nearby Prestwick, where he studied at Prestwick Academy. He considered being a professional football player when he was younger. He played for the youth club Prestwick Boys, normally in defensive positions, before concentrating on wrestling; he has named Bret Hart

Professional wrestling career.

Training and debut (2001–2006).

Galloway began training as a wrestler at the Frontier Wrestling Alliance's Academy at the age of 15 after his family moved to England and settled in Portsmouth. In the FWA Academy, while he was trained by the promotion's operator Mark Sloan along with Justin Richards and James Tighe, he also cites the promotion's established wrestlers helping out with training, including Doug Williams, Paul Burchill and Alex Shane.  In 2003, Galloway made his debut for the inaugural show of British Championship Wrestling (BCW), operating in the Greater Glasgow area. While there he honed his wrestling skill further, training under Colin McKay and later Spinner McKenzie and developing the character of "Thee" Drew Galloway, a cocky narcissist. His first match, which took place at February's "No Blood, No Sympathy: Night 1", saw him lose against Stu Natt. He picked up his first win on the second night in a tag team match alongside

Independent circuit (2006–2007).

In November 2006, Galloway teamed with Lionheart in the main event of "Live in East Kilbride" and pinned BCW Heavyweight Champion Highlander who was tagging with Wolfgang. This put him in contention for the title at December's No Blood, No Sympathy IV. The match was booked as an "I Quit" match with Conscience as the special guest referee with Galloway gaining his second BCW Heavyweight Championship. He held the title through most of 2007, with successful defences over Martin Stone, Allan Grogan and Lionheart, before vacating it after he relocated to the United States in September.  After gaining momentum in Scotland, Galloway began wrestling dates across the Republic of Ireland with Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW) continuing to use "Thee" Drew Galloway as his gimmick. With Charles Boddington still in his corner, he competed in three contests during his first appearance on 23 July 2005 for "Whiplash TV". After losing to "SOS" Sheamus O'Shaunessy he found a similar fate against Mad Man Manson, sparking a feud between the two. Despite these two losses, his status abroad meant he was already booked in a Ten-Man Gauntlet match to determine the top contender for

World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE.

Early appearances (2007–2008).

Galloway signed with WWE in late-2007 and made his official WWE debut on edition of 12 October 2007 of "SmackDown!" under the modified ring name of Drew McIntyre. In his debut match, McIntyre, accompanied by his on-screen mentor

Florida Championship Wrestling (2008–2009).

After his short stint on WWE's main roster, McIntyre was moved to WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). He reformed his team with Stu Sanders, now going under the name of The Empire. In April, they took on The Puerto Rican Nightmares (Eric Pérez and Eddie Colón) who won the match and a title shot at the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. Once The Nightmares won the championship, The Empire received two consecutive chances to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship on 6 May. Their first title defence was against McIntyre's old rival Sheamus O'Shaunessy, but his partner "Sterling Jack" Gabriel accidentally hit them and The Empire capitalised to retain their championship. The Empire lost the championship on 17 July to Joe Hennig and Gabe Tuft. On 16 August, The Empire imploded when McIntyre faced Sanders in a singles match which ended in a double countout and their rematch at the end of September ended in a time limit draw. On 7

The Chosen One (2009–2010).

On 28 August 2009, McIntyre re-debuted on the SmackDown brand, disregarding his previous time on WWE television, and established himself as a villain by attacking R-Truth as he entered the ring, using his new double underhook DDT finishing move, the "Scot Drop" (soon renamed the "Future Shock"). McIntyre continued to attack Truth over the following weeks, claiming to be on the show to wrestle not to party like R-Truth. On 18 September, while Charlie Haas was waiting to face R-Truth, McIntyre came to the ring to explain that R-Truth had been injured backstage, and then attacked Haas. On 25 September, WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon introduced McIntyre as a "future world champion" that he

Various storylines (2010–2012).

McIntyre returned two weeks later and was re-instated after being made to beg Long and qualified for the eponymous match at the Money in the Bank PPV by defeating Kofi Kingston. McIntyre then continued his rivalry with Matt Hardy and Hardy's friend Christian. At the same time, "Dashing" Cody Rhodes also took umbrage with Matt Hardy and Christian, leading to an alliance being formed. On 19 September at Night of Champions, McIntyre and Rhodes captured the WWE Tag Team Championship in a five-team tag team turmoil match as the last entrants. This allowed them to appear on both brands.

3MB (2012–2014).

On 21 September episode of "SmackDown", McIntyre and Jinder Mahal interfered in a match between Heath Slater and Brodus Clay by attacking Clay, aligning themselves with Slater. The trio became known as the Three Man Band, or 3MB for short. Due to a wrist injury, McIntyre managed Slater and Mahal in tag matches. McIntyre returned to the ring from injury on 7 December episode of "SmackDown" when 3MB defeated the team of The Usos and Brodus Clay. At, after being guests on "Miz TV" and harassing the Spanish announce team, 3MB challenged The Miz and Alberto Del Rio to find a partner for a six-man tag team match for later that night. Miz would announce their partner to be the Brooklyn Brawler, and would go on to defeat 3MB. The next night on "Raw", 3MB were defeated by The Miz and Del Rio again, this time with Tommy Dreamer as their partner. On 31 December episode of "Raw",

Return to ICW (2014–2017).

Having reverted to using his real name, Galloway made his first post-WWE appearance on 27 July 2014, returning to work for Mark Dallas at Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW) for the first time in seven years and beginning a feud with Jack Jester. On 2 November at ICW's "Fear & Loathing VII" event at The Barrowlands, Galloway defeated Jester in the main event to become a two-time ICW Heavyweight Champion. Galloway made his first defence in Glasgow on 7 December, defeating Kid Fite in the main event of ICW's "Brush Your Goose". Galloway made his first international ICW title defence in Denmark on 20 December in a double championship triple threat match against Danish Pro Wrestling Champion Michael Fynne and Chaos, where he both retained the ICW title and gained the DPW Heavyweight Championship. Galloway competed in his final match of 2014 in a surprise appearance at ICW's "Space Baws 5: Bill Murray Strikes Back" by answering the challenge of Lewis Girvan,

Evolve (2014–2017).

On 8 August 2014, in his first post-WWE match, Galloway debuted for Evolve, defeating Chris Hero for the Evolve Championship. The next day, Galloway defeated Anthony Nese to retain the title. His first loss in Evolve came at "Evolve 33", in a Champion vs Champion match against the DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate champion Ricochet. Galloway continued to defend the Evolve championship stateside against the likes of Caleb Konley, Stevie Richards, Devin Thomas, Jimmy Rave and Victor Sterling at Independent events across the US and Rich Swann on Evolve iPPV at Evolve 34, while also defending the championship internationally in Scotland against Kid Fite, Johnny Moss, Big Damo and Andy Wild, as well as in England, where he retained by pinfall over reigning NWA World Tag Team Champion Davey Boy Smith Jr.  Following multiple international title defences, Galloway renamed his title the "Evolve World Championship" on 9 January 2015. Galloway made his first successful defence as World Champion

Return to the independent circuit (2014–2017).

Following his WWE release, Galloway returned to the Independent circuit. He had some notable successes, even outside of ICW, PWG and Evolve. Wrestling in several different countries, winning titles in Australia, Denmark, Scotland and other regions, while challenging for numerous others. On 30 August 2014, WrestleZone Scotland held their annual "Battle of the Nations" match, which saw Galloway represent Scotland in a winning effort over Andy Wilde, who represented England. The EVOLVE Championship was also contested in this match, with Galloway retaining. In November, Galloway debuted for Tommy Dreamer's House of Hardcore promotion at "HOH VII", where he was defeated by Austin Aries.  On 23 January 2015, Galloway competed in a one-night tournament for the International Wrestling Federation (IWF) World Championship. He defeated Tommaso Ciampa to advance to the finals where he faced Brian Cage, Chris Hero and Uhaa Nation in an elimination four way for the vacant title. Galloway would eliminate Hero by pinfall, but failed to win the title, as he was the last man eliminated following a

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

The Rising (2015–2016).

On 29 January 2015, Galloway made a surprise debut under his real name for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling during the tapings of "Impact Wrestling" as a face in Glasgow, Scotland, coming to the aid of TNA British Boot Camp season 2 competitor Grado and entering a feud with The Beat Down Clan. The following night, Galloway competed in his first official match for TNA, answering the Beat Down Clan's challenge, he defeated Kenny King. On 31 January, Galloway defeated MVP by disqualification, after the Beat Down Clan interfered in the match. On 27 March "Impact Wrestling"

Championship reigns (2016–2017).

On 15 March episode of "Impact Wrestling", Galloway cashed in his Feast or Fired briefcase and defeated Matt Hardy to capture the TNA World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career, thus becoming the first-ever Scottish-born TNA World Heavyweight Champion. This also would make him the first man to successfully cash-in a Feast or Fired briefcase for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. Galloway announced his plan to be ""the first travelling World Champion since Ric Flair"" and touted upcoming independent defences across Europe and the United States. He made his first defence of the title on 29 March episode of "Impact Wrestling", defeating Jeff Hardy to retain the title. On 5 April episode of "Impact Wrestling", Galloway defeated Matt Hardy in a rematch for TNA World Heavyweight Championship. At Sacrifice, Galloway would overcome rib injuries inflicted from having been repeatedly speared by Lashley to retain his title over the Bound for Gold winner Tyrus. On the 17 May episode of "Impact Wrestling", Galloway won a lumberjack match against Lashley, who was at the time the #1 contender, by disqualification after he was dragged from the ring and assaulted by the heel lumberjacks, thusly retaining his championship. Galloway would lose the title to Lashley at Slammiversary, ending his reign at 89

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (2015–2016).

Galloway debuted for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla in August 2015, competing in the Battle of Los Angeles tournament. He was eliminated by eventual finalist "Speedball" Mike Bailey on Night 2 before teaming with Chuck Taylor, Aero Star, Drew Gulak and Trent in a winning ten man tag effort the following night, against Timothy Thatcher, Andrew Everett, Drago, Mark Andrews and Tommaso Ciampa.  Galloway returned to PWG on 2 January 2016, for "Lemmy", where he

Return to WWE.

NXT Champion (2017–2018).

On 1 April 2017, Galloway, once again billed as Drew McIntyre, was shown on-screen sitting in the front row at. It was later confirmed in an exclusive interview with ESPN that he had re-signed with WWE and will perform in its developmental territory NXT. On 12 April episode of "NXT", McIntyre made his NXT re-debut as a face, with new entrance music and displaying mannerisms he had developed on the independent circuit, where he defeated Oney Lorcan. On 19 July episode of "NXT", McIntyre defeated Killian Dain to become the number one contender for the NXT Championship, earning the right to challenge Bobby Roode at. At the event on 19 August, McIntyre

Alliance with Dolph Ziggler and various feuds (2018–2020).

On 16 April 2018, during the Superstar Shake-up, McIntyre returned from injury on "Raw", attacking Titus Worldwide (Titus O'Neil and Apollo Crews) and allying himself with Dolph Ziggler, turning heel in the process. The following week, McIntyre and Ziggler defeated Titus Worldwide. On 18 June episode of "Raw", McIntyre assisted Ziggler in winning the Intercontinental Championship from Seth Rollins. The following week on "Raw", Rollins defeated Ziggler by disqualification in a rematch for the championship following interference from McIntyre, allowing Ziggler to retain the title. After the match, Roman Reigns came out to help Rollins fend off McIntyre and Ziggler. With Rollins set to challenge Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship at Extreme Rules in an Iron Man match, McIntyre faced Rollins on 9 July episode of "Raw" to determine whether or not he would

WWE Champion (2020–present).

At the Royal Rumble on 26 January 2020, McIntyre won the Royal Rumble match by lastly eliminating Roman Reigns, entitling him a championship opportunity at WrestleMania 36. In the match, McIntyre eliminated six other participants, including WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. The following night on "Raw", McIntyre announced that he chose to challenge Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 36, thus turning face in the process. At WrestleMania 36, McIntyre defeated Lesnar to capture the WWE Championship, his first world championship in WWE and become the first-ever British-born world champion in WWE history, as well as WWE's thirty-first Triple Crown champion. McIntyre made his successful title defense against Big Show the following night on "Raw", before moving onto a feud with Seth Rollins, leading to a championship match between the two at Money in the Bank in May, which McIntyre won.

Other media.

McIntyre made his video game debut as a playable character in "WWE SmackDown vs.

Personal life.

Galloway got engaged to American professional wrestler Taryn Terrell in July 2009. They were married in Las Vegas in May 2010. On 24 May 2011, Terrell announced that she and Galloway were divorcing. Galloway married Kaitlyn Frohnapfel on 10 December 2016.  Galloway is a supporter of Scottish football team Rangers FC.

Andrew McLean Galloway IV (born 6 June 1985) is a Scottish professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Drew McIntyre, and is the current WWE Champion in his first reign.

Andrew Galloway (* 6. června 1985) je skotský profesionální zápasník, znám hlavně pod jménem Drew McIntyre, ale i pod jménem Drew Galloway, se kterým působil na Indy scéně. McIntyre nyní pracuje pro společnost WWE.


Life.

Henri Dutilleux was born on 22 January 1916 in Angers, Maine-et-Loire. He was the great-grandson of the painter Constant Dutilleux and grandson of the composer Julien Koszul. He was also a cousin of the mathematician Jean-Louis Koszul. As a young man he studied harmony, counterpoint, and piano with Victor Gallois at the Douai Conservatory before leaving for the Conservatoire de Paris. There, between 1933 and 1938, he attended the classes of Jean and Noël Gallon (harmony and counterpoint, in which he won joint first prize with the cellist Paul Tortelier), Henri Büsser (composition) and Maurice Emmanuel (history of music).  Dutilleux won the Prix de Rome in 1938 for his cantata "L'anneau du roi" but did not complete his entire residency in Rome due to the outbreak of World War II. He worked for a year as a medical orderly in the army and then returned to Paris in 1940, where he worked as a pianist, arranger and music teacher. In 1942, he conducted the choir of the Paris Opera.  Dutilleux worked as Head of Music Production for Radio France from 1945 to 1963. He served as Professor of Composition at the École Normale de Musique de Paris from 1961 to 1970. He was appointed to the staff of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in 1970 and was composer-in-residence at Tanglewood in 1995 and 1998. His students included the French composers Gérard Grisey and Francis Bayer, the Canadian composers Alain Gagnon and Jacques Hétu, the British composer Kenneth Hesketh, and many others. Invited by Walter Fink, he was the 16th composer featured in the annual "Komponistenporträt" of the Rheingau Musik Festival in 2006.  For many years, Dutilleux had a studio on Île Saint-Louis, which was the heart of his existence. He died on 22 May 2013 in Paris, aged 97 and was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery, in the same grave as Geneviève, his wife who pre-deceased him in 2009. His tombstone is made from grey granite and bears the epitaph "Compositeur".

Influences and style.

Dutilleux's music extends the legacies of earlier French composers such as Debussy and Ravel but is also clearly influenced by Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky. Among his favourite pieces, he mentioned Beethoven's late string quartets and Debussy's "Pelléas et Mélisande".  His attitude toward serialism was more ambiguous. While he always paid attention to the developments of contemporary music and incorporated some serialist techniques into his own compositions, he also criticized the more radical and intolerant aspects of the movement: "What I reject is the dogma and the authoritarianism which manifested themselves in that period." As an independent composer, Dutilleux always refused to be associated with any school. Rather, his works merge the traditions of earlier composers and post-World War II innovations and translate them into his own idiosyncratic style.  His music also contains distant echoes of jazz as can be heard in the plucked double bass strings at the very beginning of his First Symphony and his frequent use of syncopated rhythms. His frequent use of Robinson mutes in brass section seems to indicate the influence of big band music. Dutilleux was greatly enamoured of vocalists, especially the jazz singer Sarah Vaughan and the great French chanson singers.  Some of Dutilleux's trademarks include very refined orchestral textures; complex rhythms; a preference for atonality and modality over tonality; the use of pedal points that serve as atonal pitch centers; and "reverse variation," by which a theme is not exposed immediately but rather revealed gradually, appearing in its complete form only after a few partial, tentative expositions. His music also displays a very strong sense of structure and symmetry. This is particularly obvious from an "external" point of view, in the overall organisation of the different movements or the spatial distribution of the various instruments, but is also apparent in the music itself (themes, harmonies and rhythms mirroring, complementing or opposing each other). According to Stuart Jefferies, "A passage may be conceived as a symmetrical shape of notes on paper and only later given musical substance. He loves symmetrical musical figures such as palindromes or fan-shaped phrases..."  Dutilleux's music was often influenced by art and literature, such as the works of Vincent van Gogh, Charles Baudelaire and Marcel Proust. It also shows a concern for the concepts of time and memory, both in its use of quotations (notably from Béla Bartók, Benjamin Britten, and Jehan Alain), and in short interludes that recall material used in earlier movements and/or introduce ideas that will be fully developed later.  A perfectionist with a strong sense of artistic integrity, he allowed only a small number of his works to be published; what he did publish he often repeatedly revised. In his own words:

Compositions.

Dutilleux numbered as Op. 1 his Piano Sonata (1946–1948), written for the pianist Geneviève Joy, whom he had married in 1946. He renounced most of the works he composed before it because he did not believe them to be representative of his mature standards, considering many of them to be too derivative to have merit.  After the Piano Sonata, Dutilleux started working on his First Symphony (1951). It consists of four monothematic movements and has a perfectly symmetrical structure: music slowly emerges from silence (first movement—a passacaglia) and builds towards a fast climax (second—a scherzo and moto perpetuo), keeps its momentum (third—"a continuous melodic line that never goes back on itself"), and finally slowly fades out (fourth—a theme and variations).  In 1953, Dutilleux wrote the music for the ballet "Le loup" ("The Wolf").  In his Second Symphony, titled "Le double" (1959), the orchestra is divided into two groups: a small one at the front with instruments taken from the various sections (brass, woodwind, strings and percussion) and a bigger one at the back consisting of the rest of the orchestra. Although this brings to mind the Baroque concerto grosso, the approach is different: in this piece, the smaller ensemble acts as a mirror or ghost of the bigger one, sometimes playing similar or complementary lines, sometimes contrasting ones.  His next work, "Métaboles" for orchestra (1965) explores the idea of metamorphosis, how a series of subtle and gradual changes can radically transform a structure. A different section of the orchestra dominates each of the first four movements before the fifth brings them all together for the finale. As a result, it can be considered as a concerto for orchestra. It quickly achieved celebrity and, following its première by George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, was performed in several North American cities, then in France. "Métaboles" is now one of his most often performed works.  In the 1960s, Dutilleux met Mstislav Rostropovich, who commissioned him to write a cello concerto. Rostropovich premièred the work, titled "Tout un monde lointain..." [A whole distant world], in 1970. It is one of the most important additions to the cello repertoire of the second half of the 20th century and is considered one of the composer's major achievements.  After the cello concerto, Dutilleux turned to chamber music for the first time in more than 20 years and wrote the string quartet "Ainsi la nuit" (1976). It consists of seven movements, some of which are linked by short "parentheses". The function of these parentheses is to recall material that has already been heard and to introduce fragments that will be fully developed later. It is based on a hexachord (C-G-F-G-C-D) which highlights the intervals of fifth and major second. Each movement emphasizes various special effects (pizzicato, glissandi, harmonics, extreme registers, contrasting dynamics...) resulting in a difficult and elaborate work.  He also published various works for piano ("3 Préludes", "Figures de résonances") and "3 strophes sur le nom de Sacher" (1976–1982) for solo cello. The latter work was originally composed on the occasion of Paul Sacher's 70th birthday in 1976, on a request by the Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich to write compositions for cello solo using his name spelt out in musical notes as the theme eS-A-C-H-E-Re ("Es" is E in German, "H" is B in German, and "Re" is D in French; see Sacher hexachord).  He then returned to orchestral works in 1978 with "Timbres, espace, mouvement ou la nuit etoilée", inspired by Vincent van Gogh's "The Starry Night". In this composition, Dutilleux attempted to translate into musical terms the opposition between emptiness and movement conveyed by the painting. The work employs a string section of only lower-register instruments: cellos and double basses, no violins or violas.  In 1985, Isaac Stern premiered "L'arbre des songes" [The Tree of Dreams], a violin concerto that he had commissioned Dutilleux to write. Like its cello counterpart, it is an important addition to the instrument's 20th century repertoire. According to the composer, it is based on a process of continual growth and renewal (hence the title): "All in all the piece grows somewhat like a tree, for the constant multiplication and renewal of its branches is the lyrical essence of the tree. This symbolic image, as well as the notion of a seasonal cycle, inspired my choice of 'L'arbre des songes' as the title of the piece."  Dutilleux later wrote "Mystère de l'instant" (for cymbalum, string orchestra and percussion, 1989), "Les Citations" (for oboe, harpsichord, double bass and percussion, 1991), "The Shadows of Time" (for orchestra and children voices, 1997), "Slava's Fanfare" (for Rostropovich's 70th birthday, 1997) and" Sur le même accord" (for violin and orchestra, 2002 – dedicated to Anne-Sophie Mutter).  In 2003, he completed "Correspondances", a song-cycle for soprano and orchestra inspired by poems and letters by Prithwindra Mukherjee, Rainer Maria Rilke, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and Vincent van Gogh. This work has received a very enthusiastic reception and has been programmed several times since its première.  His last major work was a song-cycle entitled "Le temps l'horloge", written for American soprano Renée Fleming. It consists of four pieces and an instrumental interlude on two poems by Jean Tardieu, one by Robert Desnos and one by Charles Baudelaire. The first three songs were premièred at the Saito Kinen Festival Matsumoto, Japan in September 2007. The American première of this partial version took place in November 2007 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The complete work was unveiled on 7 May 2009 at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.  In 2010, Dutilleux added a third movement to his chamber work "Les citations". The expanded version was premiered at the Festival d’Auvers-sur-Oise.  In 2011, Pascal Gallois transcribed with Dutilleux's approval three of his early vocal works for bassoon and piano: "Regards sur l'Infini" (from the early cycle for voice and piano "Quatre mélodies") and "Deux sonnets de Jean Cassou" (originally for baritone and piano). He played them in a concert at the Hôtel de Lauzun in presence of the composer.  While Dutilleux allowed only a small number of his works to be published, he actually wrote a lot of music but kept only a small fraction of it. Dutilleux talked several times about his projects and expressed the wish to write more chamber music, notably a second string quartet, a piece for clarinet and ensemble, one for solo double bass as well as some additional piano préludes. He long considered composing an opera but abandoned that project because he could not find a libretto that appealed to him.  Those who commissioned works from Dutilleux included Charles Munch (Symphony No. 2 "Le double"), George Szell ("Métaboles"), Mstislav Rostropovich ("Tout un monde lointain..." and "Timbres, espace, mouvement"), Isaac Stern ("L'arbre des songes"), Anne-Sophie Mutter ("Sur le même accord") and Seiji Ozawa ("The Shadows of Time" and "Le temps l'horloge").

Works.

Dutilleux disowned many of the compositions he wrote before his Piano Sonata (1948). They are listed separately under Early works.

Early works.

Dutilleux disowned most of these pieces, written before his Piano Sonata of 1948. Some of them are nonetheless played and recorded regularly, in particular the Sonatine for Flute and Piano.

Stature and tributes.

Following Dutilleux's death, the composer and conductor Laurent Petitgirard paid tribute to him as "one of the very rare contemporary composers" whose music became part of the repertoire in his lifetime, predicting that "[h]is work will remain intensely present after his death".  Several major musicians and conductors championed Dutilleux's works notably Charles Munch, George Szell, Mstislav Rostropovich, the Juilliard String Quartet, Isaac Stern, Paul Sacher, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Simon Rattle, Renee Fleming and Seiji Ozawa.  The conductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen said of his music: "His production is rather small but every note has been weighed with golden scales... It's just perfect – very haunting, very beautiful. There’s some kind of sadness in his music which I find very touching and arresting."  The critic Tom Service, writing for the BBC, said: "Dutilleux's exquisite catalogue of pieces is becoming, rightly, ever more popular with performers and listeners all over the world".  An obituary in "Gramophone" commented that "Dutilleux represented a generation of musicians with roots almost back into the 19th century; certainly his music can be seen in a direct line from that of his great predecessors Debussy and Ravel."  Roger Nichols, in an obituary in "The Guardian", described him as "the outstanding French composer between Messiaen and Boulez", adding that he "achieved a wholly individual synthesis of ear-catching colours and harmonies with formal rigour."  "The Daily Telegraph" said: "Because Dutilleux was a perfectionist and self-critical to a fault, his output was small. He wrote barely a dozen major works in his career, destroyed much of his early music and often revised what he had written. His early work was clearly derivative of Ravel, Debussy and Roussel; but his later music, though influenced by Bartok and Stravinsky, was entirely original and often seemed—in its scale—more German than French."  However, "The Daily Telegraph"’s critic Philip Hensher described Dutilleux as "the Laura Ashley of music; tasteful, unfaultable, but hardly ever daring... Personally," Hensher admitted, "I can’t stick him."  Rob Cowan, the BBC Radio 3 presenter and critic, recalled in June 2013 an interview with Dutilleux in which the composer had told Cowan that his personal favourite among his own works was "Tout un monde lointain"....

Henri Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer active mainly in the second half of the 20th century. His small body of published work, which garnered international acclaim, followed in the tradition of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Albert Roussel and Olivier Messiaen, but in an idiosyncratic style.

Henri Dutilleux (22. ledna 1916 Angers, Francie – 22. května 2013 Paříž, Francie) byl francouzský hudební skladatel. Předtím než se trvale přestěhoval do Paříže, studoval na konzervatoři ve městě Douai. Pro Mstislava Rostropoviče složil například koncert pro violoncello "Tout un monde lointain". Jeho posledním dílem byl cyklus "Le temps l'horloge". V roce 1994 získal ocenění Praemium Imperiale.


Club career.

Born in the Copenhagen-quarter of Valby, Vilfort started playing football as a boy in Skovlunde IF, usually as a striker. He moved to Boldklubben Frem in 1981, appearing in four top division seasons with the club.  After spending the 1985–86 campaign in France with Lille OSC – only one Ligue 1 goal, club finished in tenth position – Vilfort returned to his country and signed for defending champions Brøndby IF, where he would play out the rest of his career as an attacking midfielder; in the 1986–87 European Cup, the first-ever European competition participation for the team, he scored two goals to help them reach the third round.  1991 was an outstanding year for Vilfort: he helped to a semi-final run in the UEFA Cup, appearing in 55 league games the 1991 Danish Superliga and the 1991–92 Danish Superliga combined – the latter had been recently created – and netting nine times, going on to be named both Brøndby's "Player of the Year" and Danish "Player of the Year".  From 1996 to 1998, veteran Vilfort won a further two Danish championships with Brøndby. His contract expired on 1 June 1998 after the last game of the 1997–98 campaign, where he scored the winning goal (a flying header) in a 1–0 win against Odense BK; at the time, only Bjarne Jensen had played more games than him for the club (556), and he would only be overtaken by Per Nielsen more than one decade later. His 78 league goals were second only to Bent Christensen, but he ranked first in overall goals scored for the organization, at 110.  Following his retirement at nearly 36, Vilfort became the head of Brøndby's youth system, where his son Mikkel would also play. The club's home ground, Brøndby Stadium, was nicknamed by its fans "Vilfort Park".

International career.

Vilfort made his debut for Denmark on 5 October 1983, in a 0–1 defeat against Poland for the 1984 Summer Olympics qualification. He played twice for the national team at UEFA Euro 1988, in an eventual group stage exit.  In the Euro 1992 tournament in Sweden, Vilfort was a nuclear unit for the Danes, being one of the few offensive players in the team's otherwise defensive strategy. He played four of five matches in the competition, having to leave training camp to visit his leukemia-stricken 7-year-old daughter whose condition was deteriorating, thus missing the group stage decider against France (2–1 win).  Vilfort was twice sent by his family to rejoin his teammates in time to play, and appeared in the semifinal victory against the Netherlands (scoring in the penalty shootout) and again in the final against Germany for the 2–0 shock triumph; Line Vilfort died shortly after the tournament.  After Denmark missed qualification for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Vilfort represented the nation at Euro 1996. Following the 0–3 group stage loss to Croatia on 16 June, the team was eliminated and the 33-year-old ended his international career to concentrate on Brøndby.

Kim Vilfort (; born 15 November 1962) is a Danish retired footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the head talent scout at Brøndby IF.

Kim Vilfort (* 15. listopadu 1962, Valby, Dánsko) je bývalý dánský fotbalový záložník, který ukončil kariéru v roce 1998 v dánském klubu Brøndby Kodaň. V roce 1991 získal v Dánsku ocenění Fotbalista roku. Celou svou fotbalovou kariéru strávil v Dánsku s výjimkou sezóny 1985/86, kdy působil ve francouzském klubu Lille OSC.