Raymond-Alain Thietart

 Raymond Alain Thietart is a French business school professor. He is the author of eight books on strategy and management and over a hundred articles in the same field. His research and teaching focus on organization theory and strategic management.
Biography.
Education.
Raymond Alain Thietart graduated in electrical engineering from Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Lyon (1967) and is also an alumnus of Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (1969). He received his PhD from Columbia University in 1974.
Professional career.
Raymond-Alain Thietart is Distinguished Professor of Management at ESSEC Business School (Paris-Singapore) since 2007 and a Fellow of the Academy of Management. In the past, he has been a Professor of Management at the Universities of Caen Normandie (1979-1981), Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense (1981-1984, 1985-1988) and Paris Dauphine (1988-2007). He has also been a visiting Professor at the Sloan School of Management at MIT (1984-1985), and an Affiliate Professor at the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (1978-1982).
Raymond Thietart is a part of the generation of French research professors in Management trained in the US in the early 70s through the funding support of FNEGE (Fondation Nationale pour l’Enseignement de la Gestion des Entreprises) and the Ford Foundation as part of its "European Doctoral Fellows in Management Education". On his return from the USA, where he was a Ford Foundation Fellow and Fulbright Scholar, he devoted a large part of his academic activities to the training of young researchers in Management.He has supervised 35 dissertations and research qualification theses. He has also coordinated doctoral training in several educational institutions, including the one in "Marketing and Strategy" of Université Paris-Dauphine (1988-2007) and the PhD program of ESSEC (2007-2012). Furthermore, he has organized seminars and workshops on doctoral research in France at CEFAG (European Centre for Advanced Training in Management), which he ran from 2001 to 2004 and in Brussels, with Igor Ansoff , within the EIASM (European Institute of Advanced Studies in Management). Alongside his activities of training young scientists, his scientific activities bring together the organization, dissemination and creation of knowledge.
In the area of knowledge organization, he has served in the Council of TIMS (The Institute of Management Science), from 1986 to 1988 (now INFORMS), one of the largest international associations in the field of Management Science . In 1993, he co-founded, with Michel Berry and Jean-Claude Thoenig, the Paris School of Management, a think tank organization, of which he was a vice president until 2000. In 2001, he was elected as the President of AIMS, an association of French-speaking researchers in strategy and management.
In the field of dissemination of knowledge, he actively participates in the editorial boards of journals :Organization Science (where he was Senior Editor from 1994 to 1998), the Strategic Management Journal (where he has been involved in since its creation in 1980) and the Revue Française de Gestion (where he was part of the Editorial Board till 2015). In addition, he has been sitting on the boards of Entreprises et Histoire, Long Range Planning, the Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences, Strategic Organization, Journal of Strategy and Management, Harvard-L’Expansion and M@n@gement. M@n@gement is the first open -access electronic journal in management research, founded by Bernard Forgues, V. Perret and Sandra Charreire. Professor Thietart helped developing the journal in 1997 (along with William H. Starbuck and Andrew Pettigrew who were part of the first "advisory board"). Finally, he also ran a book series for McGraw-Hill in the area of strategy and management.
With respect to knowledge creation, Raymond Alain Thietart has contributed to the study of complex dynamic systems (Human Dynamics, chaotic organizational processes, strategy dynamics ), forms of effective strategies according to their context (life cycle, decline, diversification ), strategic decision making process (decision analyses, mixed strategy, role of chance and determinism in strategic decision making, inter-relational dynamics, role of information), management of organisations( managers, mutual organisation, management of innovation, outsourcing, strategy and structure), research methods.
Academic contributions.
Complex dynamic systems.
Human dynamics.
In 1971, while working on his PhD thesis at Columbia University, under the supervision of Martin K. Starr (for modeling), William H. Newman(for management) and Noel Tichy (for individual behavior), Professor Thietart proposed a ‘human model’ in the professional work context. His work extended that of the System Dynamics Group at MIT founded in the early sixties by Jay W. Forrester. His model was based on the general theory of systems and the simulation programs were written in DYNAMO (programming language). His model of human-system is made of five subsystems in interaction. The subsystems are 1 / the motivation subsystem, 2 / the satisfaction subsystem, 3 / the learning subsystem 4 / the decision subsystem and, 5 / the performance subsystem. Each of these sub-systems is composed of multiple loops of action and feedback. The simulation is performed in a work context in which man is subjected to various types of control. Although richer and more complex than previous representations of individual behavior, ‘the man’ of Thietart nevertheless remains a determined man, as recalled by Jacques Lesourne in the preface of the book “la dynamique de l’homme au travail” published in 1977. Though not followed extensively, the book has nevertheless been an important contribution to the scientific representation of man in a work context.
Chaotic organization.
According to Thietart and Forgues, organizational processes (decision-making, innovation, crisis) are potentially chaotic. It is the coupling of stabilizing forces (control, planning, and structure) and destabilizing forces (individual initiative, innovation, risk taking) that produces under certain conditions, chaos in organizations. Chaos, in their writings is not a metaphorical term, but is grounded in mathematics. Also, replication of successful practices of the past is, at best, ineffective for the future. Finally, similar behaviors should be observed at different levels (scales) of the organization. Forces in play are functional to the extent that the destabilizing ones push the organization towards change and prepare it for an unknown future. Forces that push the organization towards order help in making sense of organized action. The challenge of management then lies in finding a balance between these opposing forces. Managerial recommendations of this research underscore the need to proceed step by step in the face of unpredictability, to encourage experimentation that renders the organization ready when the future reveals itself and to rely on dialectic methods to question current organizational practices.
Strategic dynamics.
In this line of research, Professor Thietart addresses a central strategic question: namely, can leaders choose the timing of their strategic action? He challenges the idea that the time for strategic action and consequently its dynamics is controlled by the "strategist". On the basis of an in-depth study of a company over a period of forty two years, Thietart shows that although the "strategist" (the agent) is partly responsible for the dynamics, over time, strategy and its evolution of strategy are to a large extent self-organized, anchored in the past and impacted by chance. His results challenge the idea that strategic action and particularly its temporal nature could be attributed to the deliberate choice of the leader. He shows that the evolution of the strategy is the result of a complex combination of will, chance, determinism and self-organization. In his conclusion, he suggests that with the exception of periods of great stability, the strategist has little direct control over when to act. The strategist may choose the content of his/her strategy and the sequence of actions but not when to act. It is through the organization of his/her actions that he/she might have an influence on the overall dynamics of the strategy. The greater the degree of organization of the strategist’s actions, the greater is the stability of the strategy dynamics. An intermediate degree of organization, meanwhile, favors the phenomena of emergence while the lack of organization leads to disorder.
Strategic movements.
Life cycle.
The idea that appropriate company strategies depend on where a company is in its life cycle is not recent. However, Thietart and Vivas show that previous research on this idea is fragmented and prescriptive. To remedy this, they evaluated the relative effectiveness of different strategies for more than 1100 activities depending on the phase of their life cycle (growth, maturity, and decline). They show that successful strategies at these different phases differ and depend on the pursued objective (long or short term). Their research supports the idea that a good match between internal capacity and competitive environment is required.
Outsourcing.
Thietart and Jain address two important issues in outsourcing: 1 / decision to make or buy, 2 / competitive dynamics between companies and its impact on the outsourcing decision. With respect to the first issue, they show that a company’s strategic capability changes the threshold at which an outsourcing decision is made. Due to the specific capabilities of some companies, the boundary between governance by the market and that of the hierarchy is changed. They suggest this as a way to seamlessly integrate the theories of Resource-based view and Transaction cost. For the second issue, they explore the competitive dynamic between companies and its impact on outsourcing decisions. Through a computer simulation of competing companies, they show that outsourcing implemented by a company influences the relative performance of other companies, thereby initiating a succession (a cascade) of outsourcing decisions.
Decline and revitalization.
According to Thietart, corporate decline is not inevitable. A company can, even in a declining situation, continue to create value. He shows that the strategies for declining industries and their revitalization are based on the aimed objective (growth or profit). They are also based on an adequate balance between strategic positioning of the company and its competitive environment. He stresses that the traditional measures of downsizing are not the only solutions. Companies must instead rely on their unique abilities to adopt a differentiated positioning that meets the constraints of their environment and therein rests on a good strategy.
Strategic decision making.
Chance, choice, inevitability.
Thietart and De Rond claim that the belief in freedom of strategic choice is necessary because to motivate choice, one must believe that choice makes a difference. However, there is a chance that questioning the scope of that choice may open up new possibilities for future actions. Strategic choice is not enough to drive strategy. Choice, like chance is a contributing, but not the only factor that drives strategy. A determining causal context is needed to interpret and leverage results offered by random occurrences. So, strategy is to be made of choice, chance and inevitability induced by external and internal constraints to which it is subject.
Strategic Mix.
Thietart suggests that strategy formation does not originate from a rational, logical and deductive approach only. Strategy formation is the product of several processes -rational, organizational and political - that interact according to their respective strengths. The conventional approaches of strategic planning focus on a rational process. However, there is also an organizational process that relies on the means and resources that are mobilized. Finally, there is a political process that forces organizational actors pursuing different objectives to negotiate. The result is a "mix" of different approaches, without which the best strategy on paper will have a short life and will never be implemented.
Inter-relational dynamics.
Thietart and Bergadaà propose a process of strategy formation through a digitized and decentralized network, the objective of which is to facilitate strategic decision making and its implementation. The process is based on the dynamic interaction between actors linked by a network of computers through which they communicate and collectively build a strategy. The process not only takes advantage of structured approaches to strategic decision making, but also underscores the natural communication processes that exist within organizations. It also uses conflict as a source of creativity while seeking consensus to facilitate future implementation of strategy. Finally, it allows everyone to act according to their perceived role.
Strategic Information.
Under the assumption that information on the competitive environment is crucial, Thietart and Vivas focus on an often neglected resource for acquiring this information - vendors and sales people who are in contact with customers Their focus is built on the fact that more than any other feature, it is the speed of communication which makes the difference between a missed and a seized opportunity. Based on a sample of sales persons of a large industrial company, Thietart and Vivas emphasize trust, training and participation in communicating adequate information. . Vendors and sales people are uniquely positioned between the company and its environment and they constitute an effective communication channel. They stress the importance of using these too often untapped human resources as a source of strategic information.
Management of organizations.
Management.
Thietart defines management as "A set of intentions (planning)-transformed into action by a bureaucracy (the organization), its actors (activation) and regulated by a control system (control).” He further adds that, "A manager [...] must implement the technical, financial and human resources to accomplish its task and achieve the objectives of [the organization]". For him there are not 5 functions—as posited by Henri Fayol—but four: planning, organization, activation, control, which puts him in the Anglo-Saxon tradition.
Managers and Shareholders.
Thietart, studying the tension between the interests of shareholders and those of managers, shows how to achieve a balance between managers and controlling shareholders. As part of the theories of agency and transaction cost economics, he highlights, in a longitudinal study of more than sixty years of a major French company in the IT sector, the link between types of control and ownership structure.
Mutual Organization.
For Thietart and Koenig one of the challenges of strategic alliances between firms is their management. They highlight patterns of behavior observed in successful alliances and compare them to the patterns of behaviour of alliances facing major management problems. They do so in the context of y co-operation over time between firms in the European aeronautics sector. They find an original form of successful cooperation which they call ‘mutual organization’. Airbus and ESRO (European Space Research Organization) cooperation at its inception is a perfect illustration of this form of cooperation.
Innovation Management.
In this field, Thietart has explored two topics. The first study with Horwitch focuses on the identification of links that should exist between "high tech" activities. This is to address the problem of interdependence or independence of activities and to determine when an activity must be tightly controlled or should be left autonomous. The research is based on the study of two hundred fifty high-tech activities. The second study, with Xuereb, deals with cognitive processes: bureaucratic, strategic, and organizational that a firm implements to manage the complexity and uncertainty inherent to innovation projects. These processes, they say, are intended to draw boundaries to a complex system that would allow actors within the system to operate rationally. The research is based on the analyses of about twenty innovation processes and two hundred innovative projects.
Strategy and Management.
One of the conditions for strategy to succeed, according to Thietart and Horovitz, is its proper alignment with the management system that supports it. In a study of fifty diversified and non-diversified businesses, they highlight the necessary link between diversification strategies and management systems. Management systems are defined as being composed of the organization, planning, control and activation ("staffing" and "directing").
Research methods.
Inter-disciplinary approaches.
“Méthodes de Recherche en Management” (Doing Management Research, in its English adaptation) is a book on research methods. It is the result of a collaboration between Thietart (acting as coordinator) and a score of doctoral students, all of whom went ahead to hold academic positions in universities in France and abroad. The project started from the premise that doing management research does not imply following a linear trajectory but rather a trajectory that incorporated feedback between an intuition, exploration and implementation. Drawing on the expertise of each author, but through a collective process of self-criticism, the book aims to help the reader/researcher facing a problem with the methodological tools they may need.
Historical Approaches.
Thietart and Marmonier advocate better interaction between historical research methods and management research. They show how rigorous historical method can contribute significantly to the study of the management processes. They also suggest that history as a memory of organizations could prove to be a rich source of data to better understand organizations evolution.


Leipon language

Leipon, or Pityilu, is an Austronesian language spoken on Hauwai, Ndrilo, and Pityilu islands, just off Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.


Alexey Lyapunov

Alexey Andreevich Lyapunov (; 1911–1973) was a Soviet mathematician and an early pioneer of computer science. One of the founders of Soviet cybernetics, Lyapunov was member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and a specialist in the fields of real function theory, mathematical problems of cybernetics, set theory, programming theory, mathematical linguistics, and mathematical biology.
Biography.
Composer Sergei Lyapunov, mathematician Aleksandr Lyapunov, and philologist were close relatives of Alexey Lyapunov.
In 1928, Lyapunov enrolled at Moscow State University to study mathematics, and in 1932 he became a student of Nikolai Luzin. Under his mentorship, Lyapunov began his research in descriptive set theory. He became world-wide known for his theorem on the range of an atomless vector-measure in finite dimensions, now called the Lyapunov Convexity Theorem.
From 1934 until the early 1950s, Lyapunov was on the staff of the Steklov Institute of Mathematics. When Mstislav Keldysh organized the Department of Applied Mathematics (now the M.V. Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics) he suggested Lyapunov to lead its work on programming.
In 1954 A.A. Lyapunov was invited by A.I. Kitov (scientific director of the Computing Center No. 1 of the USSR Ministry of Defense) to this computing center as head of the laboratory. A.A. Lyapunov worked at this military computing center until 1960.
In 1961, Lyapunov moved to the Institute of Mathematics of the Siberian Division of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now the Sobolev Institute of Mathematics), where he founded the department of cybernetics. At Novosibirsk State University, he founded the Department of Theoretical Cybernetics and the Laboratory of Cybernetics at the Institute of Hydrodynamics of the Siberian Division of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now the Lavrentiev Institute of Hydrodynamics) which he led until the end of his life.
In 1964, Lyapunov was elected a member of the USSR Academy of Sciences and joined the Division of Mathematics.
He was awarded the Order of Lenin. In 1996, he was awarded the IEEE Computer Society's Computer Pioneer Award.


Richard R. Baker

Richard Russell Baker (July 9, 1909 - February 10, 1993) was the official pronouncer of the Scripps National Spelling Bee from 1961 to 1980. Baker was at University of Dayton for forty years, and was chairman of the philosophy department from 1964 to 1973.
After Baker retired, spelling bee officials asked Alex Cameron to take Baker's place. Baker died in Dayton, Ohio, on February 10, 1993, at age 83.


Never Stop Singing

Never Stop Singing is a one-hour public television documentary film produced by Peter B Myers about choral music in Minnesota that premiered on Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) on June 7, 2009. The film was produced by Peter Myers and co-produced and edited by Skip Davis between February 2008 and April 2009. The documentary includes video from more than 40 interviews with well-known Minnesota composers, conductors, and singers.
Synopsis.
The film documents through interviews and examples, the work of Minnesota musicians Dominick Argento, Anton Armstrong, Philip Brunelle, David Cherwien, Rene Clausen, Stephen Paulus, Robert Robinson, Kathy Romey, Dale Warland and other composers who share their passion for the choral arts, and includes performance excerpts featuring Cantus, Minnesota Chorale, and Twin Cities Community Gospel Choir, among others.


Hero stone

A hero stone (Naṭukal in Tamil, Virakallu in Kannada) is a memorial commemorating the honorable death of a hero in battle. Erected between the 6th century BC and the 18th century AD, hero stones are found all over India. They often carry inscriptions displaying a variety of adornments, including bas relief panels, frieze, and figures on carved stone. Usually they are in the form of a stone monument and may have an inscription at the bottom with a narrative of the battle. The Earliest and oldest of such memorial Hero stones is found in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is more than 2400 years old that is 4th Century BC. According to the historian Upinder Singh, the largest concentration of such memorial stones is found in the Indian state of Karnataka. About two thousand six hundred and fifty hero stones, the earliest in Karnataka is dated to the 5th century AD. The custom of erecting memorial stones dates back to the Iron Age (400 BC) though a vast majority were erected between the 4th century BC to 13th centuries AD.
Description.
A hero stone was usually divided into three panels, but occasionally, into four or five panels depending on the event. The upper panel depicts the subject worshiping a deity such as a Shiva "linga", the middle panel depicts the hero sometimes seated in a palanquin or a shrine being lifted toward the heavens by "apsaras" (heavenly nymphs), and the lower panels would display battle scenes One of the largest Viragallu, about 12 feet high is found in Betageri, Karnataka.
In Tamil Nadu Department of Archeology found several hundred hero stones that had been erected in the memory of warriors who sacrificed their lives defending their community or region. Those that are carved with inscriptions narrate the act of the hero, the battle, and the name of king who fought the battle. The stones are found alone or in groups, often near an irrigation tank or lake outside a village.
One hero stone dating to the 9th century Pallava King Dantivarman, depicts the hero riding a galloping horse beautifully dressed and carrying a spear.
Another was recovered at Pappapatti in Usilampatti taluk and probably dates from the 18th century. This stone shows a warrior posed heroically, accompanied by his wife who holds a flower. Creating hero stones had been prevalent since the Sangam period dating back 2300 years, and continuing until the Nayaka and post-Nayaka period to about 19th century.
In March 2014, a hero stone dating to the 8th century Pandya country, with an inscription in Tamil "vatteluttu" script was found in Vellalankottai in the Tuticorin district. and another that was installed by a woman in memory of her husband who killed a leopard preying in cattle that strayed into the hamlet.
In 2017, two rare hero stones raised in honor of warrior-women riding to a battle were found, dating back 13th century.
Hero stones were not always made in honor of a persons. The Atakur inscription (also spelt Athakur) is one such hero stone. It is dated to 939 A.D. and includes classical Kannada poetic inscription commemorating the death of the favorite hound of Ganga King Butuga II (the hound died fighting a wild boar).


Bullom languages

The Bullom languages are a small group of Mel languages spoken in Sierra Leone. The languages are:
They are closely related to Kissi.


Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh

Boo to You Too! Winnie the Pooh is a Halloween television special produced by Walt Disney Television Animation with the animation production done at Toon City Animation, Inc. in Manila, Philippines, along with the additional production at Thai Wang Film Productions in Bangkok, Thailand. Based on the Disney television series "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh", originally broadcast on October 25, 1996 on CBS.
Phil Spencer won the 1997 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation for his work on this film.
Synopsis.
On Halloween, Pooh and his friends are eager to go trick-or-treating. Piglet has never gone trick-or-treating, having always been too afraid of the frightening atmosphere of Halloween. After building an imposing mannequin in an attempt to face his fears, he joins his friends in preparation for trick-or-treating. Pooh's attempt to get honey from a bee hive ends in failure, and the bees chase the group into Rabbit's garden, destroying some of his pumpkins. As night falls and a thunderstorm looms, Tigger overzealously speaks of the horrors of Halloween, frightening Piglet enough that he runs home and barricades the door.
Sympathetic to Piglet's fear, Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger decide to avoid the frightening aspects of Halloween and throw Piglet a less frightening "Hallo-wasn't" party instead. When the three costumed friends show up at Piglet's house, he mistakes them for a monster and flees. The trio of friends discover Piglet is missing, and go to search for him in the night. Simultaneously, Piglet goes looking for Pooh and the others, but when he can't find any of his friends, Piglet believes they've all been taken by "Spookables".
Still wearing their costumes, Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger make their way through the increasingly stormy night to find Piglet, but their fears get the best of them. Pooh's costume gets stuck in a tree branch, and the other two struggle to pull him out. Hearing Pooh's cries for help, Piglet happens upon the scene and believes two "Spookables" are attacking his friend. Determined to help his friend, Piglet summons his courage and uses his mannequin to seemingly rescue Pooh. When the mannequin collapses in the midst of the ensuing chaos, the others believe Piglet has vanquished the apparent monster. They commend Piglet for his bravery, and they all go trick-or-treating together.
Movie connections.
"Boo to You Too!" was also featured as a Halloween story in "Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie", during Roo's flashback where the story is retold by Roo.


Ryan Trecartin

Ryan Trecartin (born 1981) is an American artist and filmmaker currently based in Athens, Ohio. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating with a BFA in 2004. Trecartin has since lived and worked in New Orleans, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Miami. His creative partner and long-term collaborator is Lizzie Fitch, an artist that he has been working with since 2000.
In 2006, the "Wall Street Journal" included Trecartin in a selection of ten top emerging US artists including Dash Snow, Rosson Crow, Zane Lewis, and Keegan McHargue. More recently, in 2009, Trecartin was the recipient of the inaugural Jack Wolgin International Competition in the Fine Arts, the world's largest juried individual fine art prize, awarded by Tyler School of Art; he received the New Artist of the Year Award at The First Annual Art Awards hosted by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; and he was awarded a 2009 Pew Fellowship in the Arts.
His work is featured in the Saatchi Gallery collection and has appeared in many museum exhibitions including "The Generational: Younger Than Jesus" at The New Museum in New York City, "Queer Voice" at the ICA in Philadelphia, "Between Two Deaths" at the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, and the 2006 Whitney Biennial, as well as in recent solo exhibitions at The Power Plant in Toronto, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, among others.
Early life.
Ryan Trecartin was born in Webster, Texas, and spent most of his childhood in Ohio. His mother was a homemaker and then a teacher, and his dad was a steelworker. Although he was not exposed to the world of high art until college, Trecartin was interested in performance from a young age. In high school, he would build sets and costumes, write music, and dance and act with his friends.
After graduating from high school, Trecartin "decided to apply to art school because it seemed like a place where people can have creative freedom and easily move between different mediums and cultural discussions." In 2000, Trecartin enrolled in the Rhode Island School of Design, where he met Lizzie Fitch, who would become his longtime collaborator and creative partner. Fitch appears in many of Trecartin's early videos, such as "Wayne's World" (2003).
Work.
Trecartin's first major work, "A Family Finds Entertainment", was finished his senior year of college and first screened at the college's auditorium. The video was posted on his Friendster page and DVD copies were sold. Although there are several versions of this story, one of the DVDs made it to artist Sue de Beer's hands who then showed it to New Museum curator Rachel Greene. In 2006, Trecartin was the youngest artist to present at the Whitney Biennial.
Trecartin's second major work, and his first feature-length film, "I-Be-Area", was finished in 2007 and is in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum collection. It was greeted with a "joyous critical consensus rarely seen in the art world."
Process.
One of the important aspects of Trecartin's work is his emphasis on collaboration as an integral element of creative process. Lizzie Fitch explains that since their early days at Rhode Island School of Design the two of them were always looking for ways to transcend the boundaries of mediums through collaboration. For example, they would try to see how they could create sculptures that worked as other things than sculptures, or "a movie conceived as a movie and as something to be shared socially as a container to hold other artworks." Fitch also remarks that "one of the most striking things about Ryan is how naturally he opens up his rigorous, focused vision to working with others."
Trecartin remarked in an interview with Cindy Sherman that "it's important to me that the traditional director-actor hierarchy disappear into the work." He sees authorship as "a fluid space and collaboration as an inherent, connective reality." Comparisons have been drawn to The Factory, but Trecartin has rejected the similarity, and emphasizes that his work is much more pluralized.
Influences.
Although critics have made various comparisons to other video artists, such as John Waters, Andy Warhol, and Jack Smith (film director), Trecartin has repeatedly stated that fine art was never a major source of inspiration for his work. Randy Kennedy, an art writer for The New York Times, remarked that Trecartin was unaware of the artists he was being compared to when he first heard of them. Per Trecartin: "Contemporary art or artists alone have never been a main catalyst for me to want to make art. I've been more inspired by how language is used—in culture generally, whether in casual conversation or various forms of media—or by music, TV, dance, and movies…I never think about disentangling moments from my cumulative experience of culture that may have influenced me the most… it means more in its blended entirety than it does a series of key experiences or authors."
Reception.
Critics and writers have often struggled to describe Trecartin's work as it straddles the line between multiple mediums, drawing from an eclectic multitude of sources while moving at a frenetic, almost chaotic pace. As Jeffrey Deitch describes, "His art is not about formal self-definition but about an embrace of the connections between different media and between progressive art and popular culture." Deitch goes on to say that Trecartin "has brought a new level of complexity to the question of when life becomes art and art becomes life… He is one of the first artists whose work looks and feels like life today." Howard Halle writes, "the plots are slippery and almost non-narrative, but his style is so original and refreshing that the work could never be called boring. Often, in fact, it's downright thrilling." From Brian Droitcour: "To find another artist who engages a plurality of art forms with simultaneous, equal intensity—all while rethinking what art is and how it touches its audience—you'd have to go back to Wagner."


Josh West

A. Joshua West (born 25 March 1977) is a dual citizen British-American Olympic rower and Earth Sciences professor. He is a two-time World Championship silver medallist, a World Championship bronze medallist, and a four-time Cambridge Blue, and represented Great Britain in the eight at the 2004 Olympic Games, won a bronze medal in the eight in the 2007 World Cup series, and won a bronze medal at the 2007 World Championships in the eight, and won a silver medal in the eight in the 2008 Olympic Games.
Personal life.
West is Jewish and was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States. His mother is American and his father is British. He completed a doctorate at Cambridge in 2005.
Rowing career.
West attended Yale University for his undergraduate degree, majoring in geology and international studies. At Yale, he learned to row under Freshman Coach Justin Moore and Varsity Coach Dave Vogel. He participated in the Varsity Eights version of the Harvard-Yale Boat Race his senior year (1998) but lost to Harvard. As an undergraduate he was a member of the literary society, St. Anthony Hall. He was a 1998 Marshall Scholar.
In 1999, West attended Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge for postgraduate study as a Marshall Scholar, and simultaneously earned a spot in the Blue Boat for The Boat Race against Oxford University. Earning a seat in Cambridge's Blue Boat every year until 2002, West and the "Light Blues" defeated the "Dark Blues" twice in those four years (1999 & 2001). In 2000, West lined up against former Yale teammates Alexander Reid and Eirik Lilledahl, who were the stern pair of the victorious Oxford crew. At , West is the tallest recorded oarsman to participate in The Boat Race. He also twice won May Bumps headships with Caius Boat Club.
Building on his Cambridge successes, West eventually became a member of the British National Rowing Team and won two silver medals (2002 & 2003) with the British Four and one bronze medal (2007) with the British Eight at the World Rowing Championships.
West's most recent success came in the Eight rowing for Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, where the British crew picked up a silver medal in a close finish behind the Canadians.
Academic career.
West is currently an Associate Professor of Earth Sciences and Zinsmeyer Early Career Chair in Marine Studies in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California. His academic focus is on the chemical processes at the Earth's surface, and how they maintain a habitable planet that supports life.


Segmenting-targeting-positioning

In marketing, segmenting, targeting and positioning (STP) is a broad framework that summarizes and simplifies the process of market segmentation. Market segmentation is a process, in which groups of buyers within a market are divided and profiled according to a range of variables, which determine the market characteristics and tendencies. The processes of segmentation, targeting and positioning are parts of a chronological order for market segmentation.
Segmenting.
Segmenting a market has widely been debated over the years as researchers have argued over what variables to consider when dividing the market. Approaches through social, economic and individual factors, such as brand loyalty, have been considered along with the more widely recognized geographic, psychographics, demographic and behavioral variables proposed by Philip Kotler. Segmenting a market therefore, is a process of "organising" the market into groups that a business can gain a competitive advantage in. They must, however, avoid over-fragmenting the market as the diversity can make it difficult to profitably serve the smaller markets. The characteristics marketers are looking for are measurability, accessibility, sustainability and actionability.
There are two approaches to segmenting a market – a discovery approach or an analytic approach. Each approach is appropriate to the type of business and market they are approaching.
An analytic approach is a much more research and data based approach, where two sets of information are derived and used to segment the market. The two approaches give the business an idea for the future profitability of a segment, and the tendencies and behaviours it portrays. The first approach gives them an idea on the future growth of the segment, and whether its investment outcome is worthwhile. This, therefore, will usually be done in advance. The second approach is more based around the observation of the buying behaviours of the segment and is more based around primary research.
The discovery approach is more suited to a market with a limited customer base, and the process of discovering segments is based on interest in the offer or a similar offer the business may be able to provide. Because of this, a discovery-based approach is a much timelier process by which to determine the profitable segments. Both approaches can benefit from elements of the other and, in most situations, work well in unison with each other when determining a profitable and defined segment.
Targeting.
Targeting is a follow on process from segmentation, and is the process of actually determining the select markets and planning the advertising media used to make the segment appealing. Targeting is a changing environment. Traditional targeting practices of advertising through print and other media sources, has made way for a social media presence, leading a much more 'web-connected' focus. Behavioural targeting is a product of this change, and focuses on the optimization of online advertising and data collection to send a message to potential segments. This process is based around the collection of 'cookies', small pieces of information collected by a consumer's browser and sold to businesses to identify potential segments to appeal to. For example, someone consistently accessing photography based searches is likely to have advertisements for camera sales appear, due to the cookie information they deliver showing an interest in this area. Whilst targeting a market, there are three different market coverage choices to consider – undifferentiated, differentiated and niche marketing. Choosing which targeting choice to pursue depends on the product or service being offered. Undifferentiated marketing is the best option to focus on the market as a whole and to promote products that have a wide target segment, whilst differentiated and niche marketing are more specialized and focus on smaller, more selective segments.
Positioning.
Positioning is the final stage in the 'STP' process and focuses on how the customer ultimately views your product or service in comparison to your competitors and is important in gaining a competitive advantage in the market. Therefore, customer perceptions have a huge impact on the brands positioning in the market. There are three types of positioning that are key in positioning the brand to a competitive advantage; these are functional positioning, symbolic positioning, and experiential positioning. Functional Positioning is focused on the aspects of the products or services that can fulfill consumers' needs or desires. Symbolic Positioning is based on the characteristics of the brand that fulfill customers' self-esteem. Experiential positioning is based around the characteristics of the brands that stimulate the sensory or emotional connection with the customers. A combination of the three is key to positioning the brand at a competitive advantage to its immediate competition. Overall, positioning should provide better value than competitors and communicate this differentiation in an effective way to the consumer.
B2C and B2B.
The process described above can be used for both business-to-customer as well as business-to-business marketing. Although most variables used in segmenting the market are based on customer characteristics, business characteristics can be described using the variables which are not depending on the type of buyer. There are however methods for creating a positioning statement for both B2C and B2B segments. One of these methods is by Muhlbacher, Dreher and Gabriel-Ritter (1994).


Zagorje-Trbovlje subdialect

The Zagorje-Trbovlje subdialect ("zagorsko-trboveljski govor") is a Slovene subdialect in the Styrian dialect group. It is a subdialect of the Lower Sava Valley dialect and is spoken in the Central Sava Valley, including the settlements of Zagorje ob Savi, Trbovlje, and Hrastnik.
Phonological and morphological characteristics.
The Zagorje-Trbovlje subdialect has a vowel system characterized by "ie" and "uo"-type diphthongs, like the Lower Carniolan dialects, but unlike these dialects it has stress accent rather than a pitch accent.


Chuck Treece

Chuck Treece (born June 30, 1964) is a session musician and professional skateboarder from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1984 he became famous for being the first African-American skateboarder to be featured on the cover of Thrasher Magazine. His musical credits include starting the 1980s skate punk band McRad, remixing songs for Amy Grant and Sting, playing the bass line on "The River of Dreams" by Billy Joel, filling in on drums at a Pearl Jam concert, and touring with Urge Overkill and Bad Brains. In 2010, he was awarded a Pew Fellowships in the Arts. Chuck currently plays bass in a thrash metal band called ACTiVATE. Treece drummed on the album, "Mass" by Canadian Ska band, Bedouin Soundclash.
Life.
Treece grew up in Newark, Delaware, where he attended John Dickinson High School, but moved to Philadelphia in 1982 because, according to Treece, "I was sick of high-school and I knew I wasn't going to college. I knew I wanted to do music and skate." Between 1982 and 1990, he was a professional skater with endorsements by several , including Santa Cruz Skateboards, Powell-Peralta, and Airwalk sneakers. Treece released two albums with his band McRad, "Absence of Sanity" in the 1980s (rereleased 2001) and "FDR" in 2007. He also played guitar with New York hardcore band Underdog and recorded on their 1989 LP "Vanishing Point". In 1991, he also released a solo album on Caroline Records titled "Dream'n". Most recently, Treece joined producer Chris DiBeneditto at Philadelphonic Studios to record the drum tracks for The Movement's 2008 rock/reggae album "Set Sail". After recording the album, fellow McRad bandmember Gary Jackson took on the role as drummer for The Movement. Treece continues to skate at FDR Skatepark in Philadelphia and works closely with legendary producer Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo. In 2010 Treece joined Philly/NYC punk band Plastic Eaters as their resident drummer. In 2014 Treece continued his Long time musical connection with legendary singer [HR] of the Bad Brains writing and recording new tracks in the studio and performing live shows on Drums with HR and Philly Dub/ Reggae outfit I Yahn I Arkestra notably featuring Treece's childhood Musical mentor, the original Dub Warrior Timi Tanzania. In January 2016 Treece played second guitar in the DC hardcore group Scream at the Black Cat in Washington DC
for a benefit show for area musician Doc Night.


Nali language

Nali is an Austronesian language spoken on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea. The Okro dialect is distinct.


Flor Grammens

Flor(imond) Grammens (born Bellem 13 April 1899: died Deinze, 28 March 1985) was a Belgian politician and Flemish activist. He campaigned for the Belgian and the formalisation of the country's language frontier, establishing legally the dominance of Dutch in the north and French in the south.
Upbringing and early career.
Grammens was the son of a former police adjutant. In 1910 the family, including his father's two daughters, relocated the short distance to Aalter. Grammens attended the (then francophone) in Eeklo. Later, during the First World War, he attended the "Normal school" at Sint-Niklaas, from where he graduated in 1919 with a teaching diploma. He obtained a teaching position in Kortrijk, relocating to nearby Ronse which at this time was still a bilingual town.
He participated actively in the Davidsfonds at this time. This was an organisation dedicated to the promotion of the church, the Dutch language and Flemish identity. A shared concern over the bilingualism in Ronse brought Gramens into contact with like minded Flemish nationalists, notably and with a former chairman of the Davidsfonds called Arthur Boon.
Language activism.
At the request of van Boon, in 1926 Grammens gave a lecture to the Davidsfonds Congress on the subject of the language situation in Ronse and the surrounding district. This turned out to be the first of many lecture appearances that he would make in Flanders.
In 1927 Grammens undertook a walking tour along the full length of Belgium's east-west language frontier, researching the language situations in the places through which he travelled. In 1929 he started setting up local language action groups along the langth of the language frontier, himself leading their discussions. In 1929 and 1930 he again undertook study tours along the length of the language frontier, now accompanied by who at this time was a parliamentary deputy for the Eeklo-Gent region and who would go on to play a leading part in national Belgian politics for more than three decades.
Legislation promoted chiefly by francophone Wallonia had in 1921 replaced a widespread official bilingualism with a public monolingualism linked to place. This was intended to preserve the French language in southern Belgium at a time when migration from the Dutch-speaking north was tending to increase Flemish cultural and linguistic representation in the francophone south. From the Flemish side, Grammens campaigned to make Flanders monolingual, which endorsed the principal that public language use should be determined by where you lived rather than by individual preference. Starting in 1930, he headed up campaigning meetings, concentrating on the places on the Flemish side of the language frontier. His campaigning proved influential, and 1932 saw new legislation affecting language use in education and government, while protecting the status of any minority language used by at least 30% of a local population. A provision in the legislation (which would be revoked effective 1962 by the Eyskens government) provided for a language census every ten years which a municipality could use to mandate a change from French to Dutch (or vice versa) as its official language where there was a shift in the preferred language of the majority of the local population. Language legislation in respect of the courts followed in 1935.
After the 1932 Language Law.
After the 1932 law had been introduced, Grammens introduced the "Taalgrenswacht" a monthly publication intended to inform people about the new arrangements. During the incumbency (between 1936 and 1937) of Interior Minister De Schrijver a commission was established, chaired by another national politician, Limburg born Camille Huysmans, to perform the necessary preparatory work for the official establishment of the language frontier. However, the politicians were focused on tying to secure national economic revival at this time and the Language Law commission's progress was, at best, slow, persuading Grammens to campaign more spectacularly for the timely implementation of the Language Laws.
Grammans favours a direct approach.
From January 1937 Grammens started personally to over-write French language government communications, such as street signs. The first of these ventures took place in Edingen, a Flemish frontier municipality in Hainut Province. Grammens concentrated his campaign on municipalities where the linguistic mix of the population required special provision to be made for minority language speakers representing more than 30% of the total population. These were, in practice, mostly located near to the Franco-Flemish language frontier, and are the municipalities which today are recognised as "", "(Municipalities with language facilities)". In 1937 the Language Law required government communications here such as road signs to be written in both French and Dutch, but at this time the road signs in these places were written only in French, which traditionally had been the language of the ruling class throughout Belgium, but which was the first language of the wider population only in the south.
In the rest of Flanders.
Grammens received both acclaim and active support from Flemish student movements. In February 1937 he switched his concentration to municipalities in the Flemish heartland which had no substantial francophone minority and which therefore, under the provisions of the language law, should be monolingual. In a single night the French language roadside signs in more than 200 municipalities were overpainted. This spectacular demonstration triggered renewed comment in both the national Chamber and the Senate. The actions were in part funded by the "Grammensfonds", an association set up for this purpose in 1938.
These activities continued till 1939, not without results. The overpainting of francophone signs took place in Ghent four times, before the group changed tactics and simply smashed all the offending signs. A week later the town hall adopted the monolingual position (as they had been legally required to do ever since the relevant legislation had been enacted in 1932) and withdrew legal proceedings against the Flemish language activists.
During this period Grammens frequently found himself in court, and even serving brief prison sentences. In January 1938 students stormed the prison in Belgium's oldest town, Tongeren, in an attempt to free Grammens from an incarceration. Another attempt to free him a year later, this time from the prison in Oudenaarde, also failed. On 3 July 1938 several tens of thousands organised supporters demonstrated in Ghent, demanding Grammens' release from the prison there. Many of the students involved in these protests were later themselves prominent in Belgian politics.
Post-war activism.
Grammens spent the immediate post-war years in prison, his war time priorities having led him to be viewed as a collaborator. During the 1958 Universal Exhibition in Brussels, an event in respect of which the French language seemed in many ways preferred overDutch, Grammans protested together with the Flemish Peoples' Movement against the francophone character of the event. Grammens again found himself arrested and convicted on account of his involvement in throwing "bitumen eggs" "(pekeieren)" at the French pavilion.
Later he was involved in founding the Language Action Committee.


Anna Elizabeth Dickinson

Anna Elizabeth Dickinson (October 28, 1842October 22, 1932) was an American orator and lecturer. An advocate for the abolition of slavery and for women's rights, Dickinson was the first woman to give a political address before the United States Congress. A gifted speaker at a very young age, she aided the Republican Party in the hard-fought 1863 elections and significantly influenced the distribution of political power in the Union just prior to the Civil War. Dickinson was the first white woman on record to summit Colorado's Gray's Peak, Lincoln Peak, and Elbert Peak (on a mule), and she was the second to summit Pike's Peak.
Early life.
Dickinson was born on October 28, 1842 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Quakers and abolitionists, John and Mary Edmondson Dickinson. Her Edmondson and Dickinson ancestors immigrated to the United States from England and with other Quakers settled at Tred Avon, or Third Haven, near Easton, Maryland in about the 1660s. She had three older brothers—John, Edwin, and Samuel—and an older sister, Susan. The family home was on the Underground Railroad.
Dickinson's father died in 1844 when she was two years old after giving a speech against slavery. Left in poverty, Mary opened a school in their home and took in boarders to support the family. Dickinson was educated at Friends Select School of Philadelphia and for a short time, until age 15, at Westtown School. A hardworking student, she spent any money she earned on books, having acquired an interest in literary classics from her mother. At the age of 14, she converted to the Methodist Church, and remained active in the church throughout her life.
Career.
Early years.
"The Liberator", a newspaper owned by abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, published an essay on February 22, 1856 about the abuse received by an abolitionist schoolteacher in Kentucky. She was not yet 14.
She went to work at the age of 15, about 1857, as a copyist. In 1859 and 1860, she was a teacher in Berks County, Pennsylvania,
during which time she lived with the John and Elizabeth Longstreth family in Bristol, Pennsylvania. In May 1861, she obtained a clerkship for the United States Mint; she was one of the mint's first female employees. Dickinson was removed in December of that year for saying that General George McClellan poor performance at Battle of Ball's Bluff amounted to treason at a public meeting.
Lecturer.
She had gradually become widely known as an eloquent and persuasive public speaker, one of the first of her sex to mount the platform to discuss the burning questions of the hour. Unlike other Americans, Quakers encouraged women to speak in public. She toured the country on behalf of the Sanitary Commission. Encouraged to speak by Lucretia Mott and Dr. Hannah Longshore, she gave impassioned speeches on abolition, reconstruction, women's rights, and temperance. Her success led the way for future women speakers.
She spoke publicly first in 1857 when she addressed a man who derided women at a Progressive Friends meeting. After that, she spoke regularly about temperance and abolition. In 1860, she spoke in Philadelphia at the Friends of Progress meeting at Clarkson Hall about "The Rights and Wrongs of Women" and then she addressed the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society in the fall of that year. She gave her first major speech, a two-hour discussion of "The Rights and Wrongs of Women", on February 27, 1861 in Philadelphia. Lucretia Mott, who delivered abolitionist speeches for decades in Quaker meetinghouses, provided leadership to sell 800 tickets for the Concert Hall event. Mott arranged for a lecture tour, sponsored by the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, for the 19-year-old, who quickly became a popular speaker. The series of speeches helped lead the Emancipation movement.
Having heard her speak, Garrison arranged for her to speak in 1862 in the Palmer Fraternity Course of lectures at the Boston Music Hall. Named "The Girl Orator" by Garrison, she spoke about "The National Crisis". She visited hospitals and camps during the war to speak to the soldiers. In 1862, she visited soldiers wounded in the war, and then gave a lecture about "Hospital Life" in New England.
During the 1863 United States Senate elections, with the deepening of the Civil War, Dickinson campaigned for several pro-Union Republican candidates in New York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Connecticut to audiences that included people who did not support the war. She spoke eloquently and powerfully in support of the Radical Republican's anti-slavery platform and for the preservation of the Union. She spoke to coal miners in Pennsylvania soon after draft riots in the area and converted men who had not previously supported abolition. Dickinson was named the "Civil War's Joan of Arc" for her promotion of the Union. She was ardent in her condemnation of the Copperheads and other Democrats. She was interviewed in 1863 by Whitelaw Reid, who was a supporter and often wrote about her speaking engagements in the "New York Tribune".
When she spoke at Cooper Institute in New York City, more that 5,000 people attended the event. It was reported that she "could hold her audience spellbound for as much as two hours. She gave the impression of being under some magical control." She earned a standing ovation in 1864 for an impassioned speech on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. In attendance were President Abraham Lincoln and civic and military leaders. Invited by Republican leaders, she was the first woman to speak to Congress.
After the Civil War, she remained one of the nation's most celebrated lyceum speakers for nearly a decade. She made as much as $20,000 () a year, making a speech every other day on average, and gave most of her earnings away to charity, friends, and relatives. She also maintained a townhouse in Philadelphia, with expensive personal possessions, for her mother and sister.
She spoke about reconstruction, African-American's rights, women's right and other issues, like venereal disease in "Between Us Be Truth", and polygamy in her speech "Whited Sepulchers" in Utah. Although she called for women's rights, she was not a speaker for the suffrage movement. Some of her well-received post-war lectures include "For Yourself" and "Platform and Stage" and she frequently spoke about Joan of Arc.
As audiences preferred to be entertained rather than lectured on serious subjects, and after she campaigned for Horace Greeley, a Democratic presidential candidate in 1872, her career as a lecturer declined. In 1873, she and her manager, James Redpath, disagreed and parted company. By 1875, she was unable to support herself by speaking engagements alone. She gave a speech for Republicans for the 1888 presidential election in many states, during which she called Grover Cleveland the "hangman of Buffalo" and vigorously waved a bloody shirt. Due to the performance, they stopped booking her for speaking engagements. Newspapers questioned her sanity. The Republicans filed a breach of contract suit in 1891 and she was never hired by the party again.
Mountaineering.
As her popularity as a lecturer waned, she was invited to Colorado by Ralph Meeker. She arrived in Colorado in 1873. Over the course of three weeks she climbed Pikes Peak, Mount Lincoln, Grays Peak, Mount Elbert, often using horses or mules. She joined the Hayden survey for a climb of Longs Peak. Dickinson had hoped the publicity would revive her career. Boulder County News reported the at the time scandalous detail that Dickinson had worn trousers for the ascent. Dickinson was the first white woman on record to summit Colorado's Gray's Peak, Lincoln Peak, and Elbert Peak (on a mule), and she was the second to summit Pike's Peak. She was the third white woman on record to climb Colorado’s Longs Peak, in 1873, and was certainly the first well-known woman to do so.
Author and actress.
As another means of support, she began writing. She published the novel "What Answer?" (1868), that tackled negative viewpoints about interracial marriage. It is considered her most radical work. She argued for technical training for workers, better treatment of prisoners, assistance for the poor, and compulsory education for all children in "A Paying Investment, a Plea for Education" (1876). Dickinson wrote "A Ragged Register of People, Places and Opinions" in 1879.
Her plays included "The Crown of Thorns" (1876), in which she played the role of Anne Boleyn and the play and her acting was unfavorably received in New York. She appeared in the title role of "Mary Tudor" (1878). Her plays included "Aurelian" (1878) and "An American Girl" (1880), which was successfully acted by Fanny Davenport. She performed as Hamlet on Broadway, but she did not have critical success as an actress.
Personal life.
She was a friend of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Quaker lecturers Lucretia Mott and Susan B. Anthony. In her letters, Anthony sometimes addressed Dickinson as "Chickie Dickie". Benjamin F. Butler, a Civil War general and a politician, pursued her romantically. He remained her friend, a legal advisor, and source of money over many years. Unpublished correspondence from a woman named Ida appears to show at least one intimate episode with another woman during her life, referencing Dickinson "tempting [Ida] to kiss her sweet mouth," which historian Lillian Faderman included in her history of lesbian life in America.
In 1870, she was the wage-earner and head of the household of her mother, older sister Susan, and a servant. In 1883, she moved to West Pittston, Pennsylvania to live with her sister. Over the next years, her health began to fail as she aged and due to many years of poverty. On May 12, 1889, her 95-year-old mother Mary died in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. She was said to have been an invalid for years and cared for by her daughters, writer Susan and lecturer Anna. Mary's only living son, Rev. John Dickinson, was a professor of Geology at the University of California at the time.
Dickinson began to exhibit signs of paranoia in 1891 and she was committed against her will to a hospital for the insane, the Danville State Hospital for the Insane, by her sister Susan Dickinson. She was transferred to a private hospital in Goshen, New York, under the care of Dr. Seward and with support of her friends, due at least in part to newspapers having reported false information about her care. Dickinson, who was taken to Danville in February 1891, stayed at the Interpines sanitarium and was giving lectures by late August that year. She filed suits against the newspapers who claimed she was insane and the people who had her committed. After protracted legal battles, she won the case of illegal kidnapping and three libel suits in 1898. She lost many supporters and friends due to her antagonistic behavior.
Sometime after she was released from Danville, she lived in Goshen, New York with George and Sallie Ackley, and continued to do so for more than forty years. Dickinson and Sallie Ackley were lovers, according to correspondence between Dickinson and Sallie Ackley and interviews with George Ackley and his sisters. George also said she was a heavy drinker.
When Sallie died, she left $7,000 to Dickinson, with the understanding that upon her death, the remainder would be left to George. Dickinson died in 1932 of cerebral apoplexy. Since she did not leave a will, the remaining $6,000 inheritance went to her distant cousin, rather than to George. Dickinson is buried at Slate Hill Cemetery in Goshen, near George and Sallie's headstone.


Dagar gharana

The Dagar gharana (or Dagar vani) is a tradition of the classical dhrupad genre of Hindustani classical music spanning 20 generations, tracing back to Swami Haridas (15th century), and including Behram Khan of Jaipur (1753-1878). For some generations its members were associated with the courts of Jaipur, Udaipur, and Mewar.
The main feature of the Dagar gharana is sophisticated, subtle, serene and rigorous exposition of alap-jor-jhala, including great attention to microtonal inflection delineating the subtleties of raga often otherwise overlooked or lost.
Until the 20th century, it was exclusively a vocal genre (at least in performance), but since the innovations of Zia Mohiuddin Dagar to the rudra vina, that instrument has found a place in performance, following closely the inflections and style of the vocal technique.
The genre was carried into the 20th century by seven Dagar brothers and cousins: Aminuddin Dagar and Nasir Moinuddin (Senior Dagar Brothers), Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar, Nasir Zaheeruddin and Nasir Fayyazuddin (Junior Dagar Brothers), H. Sayeeduddin Dagar, and the brothers Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and Zia Fariduddin Dagar. Zia Mohiuddin (rudra vina) and Zia Fareeduddin (vocal) were largely responsible for training today's practitioners, the most prominent of whom include Ritwik Sanyal, Pushparaj Koshti, Wasifuddin Dagar, Bahauddin Dagar, Asit Kumar Banerjee, Uday Bhawalkar, and the Gundecha Brothers.


Leonid Kraizmer

Leonid Pavlovich Kraizmer () (29 May, 1912 – 2002) was leading Soviet cybernetician who was active in Leningrad before moving to Akademgorodok, Novosibirsk, Russia.


Dana Andrews

Carver Dana Andrews (January 1, 1909 – December 17, 1992) was an American film actor and a major Hollywood star during the 1940s. He continued acting in less prestigious roles into the 1980s. He is remembered for his roles as a police detective-lieutenant in the film noir "Laura" (1944) and as war veteran Fred Derry in "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946), the latter being the role for which he received the most critical praise.
Early life.
Andrews was born on a farmstead near Collins in southern Mississippi in Covington County, the third of 13 children of Charles Forrest Andrews, a Baptist minister, and his wife, the former Annis Speed. The family subsequently relocated to Huntsville in Walker County, Texas, the birthplace of his younger siblings, including fellow Hollywood actor Steve Forrest.
Andrews attended college at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville and studied business administration in Houston. During 1931, he traveled to Los Angeles, California, to pursue opportunities as a singer. He worked various jobs, such as at a gas station in the nearby community of Van Nuys. To help Andrews study music at night, "The station owners stepped in ... with a deal: $50 a week for full-time study, in exchange for a five-year share of possible later earnings."
Career.
Sam Goldwyn and 20th Century Fox.
In 1938, Andrews was spotted in the play "Oh Evening Star" and Samuel Goldwyn signed the promising actor to a contract, but felt he needed time to develop experience. Andrews continued at the Pasadena Playhouse, working in over 20 productions and proposed to second wife Mary Todd. After twelve months, Goldwyn sold part of Andrews contract to 20th Century Fox where he was put to work on the first of two B pictures; his first role was in "Lucky Cisco Kid" (1940). He was then in "Sailor's Lady" (1940), developed by Goldwyn but released by Fox.
Andrews was loaned to Edward Small to appear in "Kit Carson" (1940), before Goldwyn used him for the first time in a Goldwyn production: William Wyler's "The Westerner" (1940), featuring Gary Cooper.
Andrews had support parts in Fox films "Tobacco Road" (1941), directed by John Ford; "Belle Starr" (1941), with Randolph Scott and Gene Tierney, billed third; and "Swamp Water" (1941), starring Walter Brennan and Walter Huston and directed by Jean Renoir.
His next film for Goldwyn was the Howard Hawks comedy "Ball of Fire" (1941), again teaming with Cooper, where Andrews played a gangster.
Leading man.
Back at Fox, Andrews was given his first lead, in the B-movie "Berlin Correspondent" (1942). He was second lead to Tyrone Power in "Crash Dive" (1943) and then appeared in the 1943 film adaptation of "The Ox-Bow Incident" with Henry Fonda, in a role often cited as one of his best in which he played a lynching victim.
Andrews then went back to Goldwyn for "The North Star" (1943), directed by Lewis Milestone. He worked on a government propaganda film "" (1943), then was used by Goldwyn again in "Up in Arms" (1944), supporting Danny Kaye.
Andrews was reunited with Milestone at Fox for "The Purple Heart" (1944), then was in "Wing and a Prayer" (1944) for Henry Hathaway.
Critical success and Noir.
One of his most famous roles was as an obsessed detective in "Laura" (1944) with Gene Tierney at Fox, directed by Otto Preminger.
He co-featured with Jeanne Crain in the movie musical "State Fair" (1945), a huge hit, and was reunited with Preminger for "Fallen Angel" (1945).
Andrews did another war movie with Milestone, "A Walk in the Sun" (1945), then was loaned to Walter Wanger for a western, "Canyon Passage" (1946), directed by Jacques Tourneur and co-featuring Susan Hayward.
Andrews's second film with William Wyler, also for Goldwyn, was his most successful: "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946), both a popular and a critical success and became the role for which Andrews is best known. Upon release, the topical film about society's problems integrating the homecoming soldiers after World War II outgrossed the longstanding box office success of "Gone with the Wind" (1939)"," in the US and Britain. In 2007, the film ranked No. 37 on AFI's Top 100 Years...100 Movies.
Andrews appeared in "Boomerang!" (1947), directed by Elia Kazan; "Night Song" (1947), at RKO; and "Daisy Kenyon" (1947) for Preminger. In 1947, he was voted the 23rd most popular actor in the U.S.
Andrews starred in the anti-communist "The Iron Curtain" (1948), reuniting him with Gene Tierney, then "Deep Waters" (1948). He made a comedy for Lewis Milestone at Enterprise Pictures, "No Minor Vices" (1948), then traveled to England for "Britannia Mews" (1949).
Andrews filmed at Universal for "Sword in the Desert" (1949), then Goldwyn cast him in "My Foolish Heart" (1949) with Susan Hayward.
He played a brutal police officer in "Where the Sidewalk Ends" (1950), also with Tierney and Preminger. Around this time, alcoholism began to damage Andrews's career, and on two occasions it nearly cost him his life as he drove a car.
"Edge of Doom" (1950), another film for Goldwyn, was a flop. Andrews was then loaned to RKO to make "Sealed Cargo" (1951), in which his brother Steve Forrest has an uncredited role. (In an interview on Turner Classic Movies, Forrest stated "I'd have given my eye teeth to have worked with him.") Back at Fox, Andrews was in "The Frogmen" (1951), then Goldwyn cast him in "I Want You" (1951), an overwrought attempt to repeat the success of "The Best Years of Our Lives", during the cold war era Korean War"."
From 1952 to 1954, Andrews was featured in the radio series, "I Was a Communist for the FBI", about the experiences of Matt Cvetic, an FBI informant who infiltrated the Communist Party of the United States of America.
Career decline.
Andrews's film career struggled in the 1950s. "Assignment: Paris" (1952) was not widely seen. He did "Elephant Walk" (1954) in Ceylon, a film better known for Vivien Leigh's nervous breakdown and replacement by Elizabeth Taylor. "Duel in the Jungle" (1954) was an adventure tale; "Three Hours to Kill" (1954) and "Smoke Signal" (1955) were Westerns; "Strange Lady in Town" (1955) was a Greer Garson vehicle; "Comanche" (1956), another Western.
By the middle 1950s, Andrews was acting almost exclusively in B-movies. However, his acting in two movies for Fritz Lang during 1956, "While The City Sleeps" and "Beyond A Reasonable Doubt", and two for Jacques Tourneur, "Curse of the Demon" (1957) and "The Fearmakers" (1958), are well regarded. Around this time he also appeared in "Spring Reunion" (1957), "Zero Hour!" (1957), and "Enchanted Island" (1958).
In 1952, Andrews toured with his wife, Mary Todd, in "The Glass Menagerie", and in 1958, he replaced Henry Fonda (his former co-star in "The Oxbow Incident" and "Daisy Kenyon") on Broadway in "Two for the Seesaw".
Television.
Andrews began appearing on television on such shows as "Playhouse 90" ("Right Hand Man", "Alas, Babylon"), "General Electric Theatre", "The Barbara Stanwyck Show", "Checkmate", "The DuPont Show of the Week", "The Twilight Zone" ("No Time Like the Past"), "The Dick Powell Theatre", "Alcoa Premiere", "Ben Casey", and "Theatre of Stars".
Andrews continued to make films like "The Crowded Sky" (1960) and "Madison Avenue" (1961). He then went to Broadway for "The Captains and the Kings", which had a short run in 1962.
In 1963, he was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild.
In 1965, Andrews resumed his film work with support roles in "The Satan Bug" and "In Harm's Way". Although he had the lead in films such as "Crack in the World" (1965), "Brainstorm" (1965), and "Town Tamer" (1965), he was increasingly cast in supporting roles: "Berlin, Appointment for the Spies" (1965), "The Loved One" (1965), "Battle of the Bulge" (1965), and "Johnny Reno" (1966). He occasionally played leads in low-budget films like "The Frozen Dead" (1966), "The Cobra" (1967) and "Hot Rods to Hell" (1967), however, by the late 1960s he had evolved into a character actor, as in "The Ten Million Dollar Grab" (1967), "No Diamonds for Ursula" (1967), and "The Devil's Brigade" (1968).
By the end of the decade, Andrews returned to television to play the leading role of college president Tom Boswell on the NBC daytime soap opera "Bright Promise" from its premiere on September 29, 1969, until March 1971.
Later career.
Andrews spent the 1970s in supporting roles of Hollywood films such as "The Failing of Raymond" (1971), "Innocent Bystanders" (1972), "Airport 1975" (1974), "A Shadow in the Streets" (1975), "The First 36 Hours of Dr. Durant" (1975), "Take a Hard Ride" (1975), "The Last Tycoon" (1976), "The Last Hurrah" (1977), and "Good Guys Wear Black" (1978)
He also appeared regularly on TV in such shows as "Ironside", "Get Christie Love!", "Ellery Queen", "The American Girls", "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries", and "The Love Boat".
It was at this time, the 1970s, that Andrews became involved in the real estate business, telling one newspaper reporter, for example, that he owned "a hotel that brings in $200,000 a year."
Andrews's final roles included "Born Again" (1978), "Ike: The War Years" (1979), "The Pilot" (1980), "Falcon Crest" (1982–83) and "Prince Jack" (1985).
Personal life.
Andrews married Janet Murray on December 31, 1932. Murray died in 1935 as result of pneumonia. Their son, David (1933–1964), was a musician and composer who died from a cerebral hemorrhage. On November 17, 1939, Andrews married actress Mary Todd, by whom he had three children: Katharine, Stephen, and Susan. For two decades, the family lived in Toluca Lake, California.
Andrews eventually controlled his alcoholism and worked actively with the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. During 1972, he appeared in a television public service advertisement concerning the subject.
During the last years of his life, Andrews suffered from Alzheimer's disease. He spent his final years living at the John Douglas French Center for Alzheimer's Disease in Los Alamitos, California.
Death.
On December 17, 1992, 15 days before his 84th birthday, Andrews died of congestive heart failure and pneumonia. His wife died in 2003, at the age of 86.


Personalized marketing

Personalized marketing, also known as one-to-one marketing or individual marketing, is a marketing strategy by which companies leverage data analysis and digital technology to deliver individualized messages and product offerings to current or prospective customers. Advancements in data collection methods, analytics, digital electronics, and digital economics, have enabled marketers to deploy more effective real-time and prolonged customer experience personalization tactics.
Beginning in the early 1990s, web developers began tracking HTML calls that their websites were receiving from online visitors. In 2012, the Web Analytics Association (WAA) officially changed its name to the Digital Analytics Association (DAA) in order to accommodate new and developing data streams that exist in addition to the web.
Technology.
Personalized marketing is dependent on many different types of technology for data collection, data classification, data analysis, data transfer, and data scalability. Technology enables marketing professionals to collect first-party data such as gender, age group, location, and income and connect them with third-party data such as click-through rates of online banner ads and social media participation.
Data Management Platforms: A data management platform (DMP) is a centralized computing system for collecting, integrating and managing large sets of structured and unstructured data from disparate sources. Personalized marketing enabled by DMPs, is sold to advertisers with the goal of having consumers receive relevant, timely, engaging, and personalized messaging and advertisements that resonate with their unique needs and wants. Growing number of DMP software options are available including Adobe Systems Audience Manager and Core Audience (Marketing Cloud) to Oracle-acquired BlueKai, Sitecore Experience Platform and X+1
Customer Relationship Management Platforms: Customer relationship management (CRM) is used by companies to manage and analyze customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle to improve business relationships with customers, assist in customer retention and drive sales growth. CRM systems are designed to compile information on customers across different channels (points of contact between the customer and the company) which could include the company's website, live support, direct mail, marketing materials and social media. CRM systems can also give customer-facing staff detailed information on customers' personal information, purchase history, buying preferences and concerns. Most popular enterprise CRM applications are Salesforce.com, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, NetSuite, and Oracle Eloqua.
Beacon Technology: Beacon technology works on Bluetooth low energy (BLE) which is used by a low frequency chip that is found in devices like mobile phones. These chips communicate with multiple Beacon devices to form a network and are used by marketers to better personalize the messaging and mobile ads based on the customer's proximity to their retail outlet.
Strategies.
One-to-one marketing refers to marketing strategies applied directly to a specific consumer. Having knowledge of the consumer's preferences, enables suggesting specific products and promotions to each consumer. One-to-one marketing is based on four main steps in order to fulfill its goals: identify, differentiate, interact, and customize.
Costs and Benefits.
Personalized marketing is used by businesses to engage in personalized pricing which is a form of price discrimination. Personalized marketing is being adopted in one form or another by many different companies because of the benefits it brings for both the businesses and their customers.
Businesses.
Before the Internet, it was difficult for businesses to measure the success of their marketing campaigns. A campaign would be launched, and even if there was a change in revenue, it was nearly impossible to determine what impact the campaign had on the change. Personalized marketing allows businesses to learn more about customers based on demographic, contextual, and behavioral data. This behavioral data, as well as being able to track consumers’ habits, allows firms to better determine what advertising campaigns and marketing efforts are bringing customers in and what demographics they are influencing. This allows firms to drop efforts that are ineffective, as well as put more money into the techniques that are bringing in customers.
Some personalized marketing can also be automated, increasing the efficiency of a business's marketing strategy. For example, an automated email could be sent to a user shortly after an order is placed, giving suggestions for similar items or accessories that may help the customer better use the product he or she ordered, or a mobile app could send a notification about relevant deals to a customer when he or she is close to a store.
Customers.
Consumers face an overwhelming variety and volume of products and services available to purchase. A single retail website can offer thousands of different products, and few have the time or are willing to make the effort to browse through everything retailers have to offer. At the same time, customers expect ease and convenience in their shopping experience. In a recent survey, 74% of consumers said they get frustrated when websites have content, offers, ads, and promotions that have nothing to do with them. Many even expressed that they would leave a site if the marketing on the site was the opposite of their tastes, such as prompts to donate to a political party they dislike, or ads for a dating service when the visitor to the site is married. In addition, the top two reasons customers unsubscribe from marketing emailing lists are 1) they receive too many emails and 2) the content of the emails is not relevant to them.
Personalized marketing helps to bridge the gap between the vastness of what is available and the needs of customers for streamlined shopping experience. By providing a customized experience for customers, frustrations of purchase choices may be avoided. Customers may more quickly find what they are looking for and avoid wasting time scrolling through irrelevant content and products. Consumers have come to expect this sort of user experience that caters to their interests, and companies that have created ultra-customized digital experiences, such as Amazon and Netflix.
Future of Personalized Marketing.
Personalized marketing is gaining headway and has become a point of popular interest with the emergence of relevant and supportive technologies like DMP, geotargeting, and various forms of social media. Now, many people believe it is the inevitable baseline for the future of marketing strategy and for future business success in competitive markets.
Adapt to technology: For personalized marketing to work the way advocates say it will, companies are going to have to adapt to relevant technologies. They will have to get in touch with the new and popular forms of social media, data-gathering platforms, and other technologies that not all current employees and businesses may be familiar with or can afford. Companies that have been able to afford it, have employed machine learning, big data and AI that make personalization automatic.
Restructuring current business models: Adopting a new marketing system tailored to the most relevant technologies will take time and resources to implement. Organized planning, communication and restructuring within businesses will be required to successfully implement personalized marketing. Some companies will have to accept that their current business and marketing models will change radically, and probably often. They will have to reconsider the ways customer data and information circulate within the company and possibly beyond. Company databases will be flooded with expansive personal information – individual's geographic location, potential buyers’ past purchases, etc., and there may be complications regarding how that information is gathered, circulated internally and externally, and used to increase profits.
Legal liabilities: To address concerns about sensitive information being gathered and utilized without obvious consumer consent, liabilities and legalities have to be set and enforced. Privacy is always an issue, in some countries more than others, so companies have to manage any legal hurdles before personalized marketing can be adopted. Specifically, the EU has passed rigid regulation, known as GDPR, that limits what what kind of data marketers can collect on their users, and provide ways in which consumers can suit companies for violation of their privacy. In the US, California has followed suit and passed the CCPA in 2018.
Controversies.
Many people are concerned that companies are using too much personal information to create the personalized marketing used today by businesses.
Use of algorithms.
Data is being generated by algorithms, and the algorithms associate preferences with the user's browsing history or personal profiles. Rather than discovering new facts or perspectives when one searches for news, information, or products, one will be presented with similar or adjoining concepts ("filter bubble"). Some consider this exploitation of existing ideas rather than discovery of new ones. Presenting someone with only personalized content may also exclude other, unrelated news or information that might in fact be useful to the user.
Algorithms may also be manipulated. In February 2015, Coca-Cola ran into trouble over an automated, algorithm-generated bot created for advertising purposes. Gawker’s editorial labs director, Adam Pash, created a Twitter bot @MeinCoke and set it up to tweet lines from "Mein Kampf" and then link to them with Coca-Cola’s campaign #MakeItHappy. The result was that for two hours, Coca-Cola’s Twitter feed was broadcasting big chunks of Adolf Hitler’s text. In November 2014, the New England Patriots were forced to apologize after an automatic, algorithm-generated bot was tricked into tweeting a racial slur from the official team account.
Internet marketing.
Personalized marketing had been most practical in interactive media such as the internet. A web site can track a customer's interests and make suggestions for the future. Many sites help customers make choices by organizing information and prioritizing it based on the individual's liking. In some cases, the product itself can be customized using a configuration system.
The business movement during Web 1.0 leveraged database technology for targeting products, ads, and services to specific users with particular profile attributes. The concept was supported by technologies such as BroadVision, ATG, and BEA. Amazon is a classic example of a company that performs "One to One Marketing" by offering users targeted offers and related products.
Personalization is the term that later followed as a way of describing this evolution in Internet marketing.
Advancements in data collection and IP targeting technology have enabled marketers to deploy one-to-one marketing to individual buildings or homes using an offline to online strategy, matching customers and their devices online simply by obtaining a physical mailing address.
Other marketing.
More recently, personalized marketing, also known as Individual marketing, has become practical for bricks and mortar retailers. The market size, an order of magnitude greater than that of the Internet, demanded a different technological approach now available and in use. Many retailers attract customers to the physical store by offering discounted items which are automatically selected to appeal to the individual recipient. The interactivity occurs through the offer redemptions recorded by the point of sale systems, which can then update each model of the individual shopper. Personalization can be more accurate when based solely upon individual purchasing records because of the simplified and repetitive nature of some bricks and mortar retail purchasing, for example grocery superstores.
Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, in their book on the subject, "The One to One Future", speak of managing customers rather than products, differentiating customers not just products, measuring share of customer not share of market, and developing economies of scope rather than economies of scale. They also describe personalized marketing as a four phase process: identifying potential customers; determining their needs and their lifetime value to the company; interacting with customers so as to learn about them; and customizing products, services, and communications to individual customers.
Some commentators (including Peppers and Rogers) use the term "one-to-one marketing" which has been misunderstood by some. Seldom is there just one individual on either side of the transaction. Buyer decision processes often involve several people, as do the marketer's efforts. However, the excellent metaphor refers to the objective of a single message source (store) "to" the single recipient (household), a technological analogy to a "mom and pop" store on a first-name basis with 10 million customers.
Difficulties.
McKinsey identified 4 problems that prevent companies from implementing large scale personalizations:


Mark Kendall (artist)

Mark Kendall (born 1982) is an American artist and filmmaker. He was a 2014 Guggenheim Fellow, a 2015 MacDowell Colony Fellow, and the recipient of a 2016 Pew Fellowship in the Arts.
Early life and education.
Kendall was born in Minneapolis and raised in the Philadelphia area. He received both his B.A. (2005) and M.A. (2008) from Vanderbilt University, and a Master of Fine Arts from New York's School of Visual Arts (2011). He is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents.
Work.
Kendall's work as a filmmaker blends documentary and fictional techniques, exploring a range of social, political, and cultural issues in unexpected ways that question conventions of value.
In 2011, Kendall was selected by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) for their inaugural “Emerging Visions” Fellowship program at the 2011 New York Film Festival.
His feature directorial debut, "La Camioneta", premiered at the 2012 SXSW Film Festival and marked him as “a name to watch” in "Variety". During its theatrical release, the film was selected by Stephen Holden as a "New York Times" Critics' Pick and named as one of "IndieWire's" “Top Docs of 2013”.
Recognition.
Kendall was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 2014 and the Pew Fellowship in 2016.


Dead Tone

Dead Tone (originally released as 7eventy 5ive) is a 2007 American slasher film directed and written by Brian Hooks and Deon Taylor. It stars Hooks, Antwon Tanner, Cherie Johnson, Rutger Hauer, German Legarreta, Gwendoline Yeo and Aimee Garcia.
Plot.
The film begins with a sleepover of children. They prank call people while playing the game Seventy Five. Meanwhile, their parents are in the other room having drinks. The rules of the game are that you must keep a random person on the line for 75 seconds, and they must believe what you’re saying. As the night goes on, the kids go to bed, and a man whom the kids recently called calls back, before jumping from a closet and attempting to kill one of the kids before the parent jumped in front of him. The killer goes on to killing all the parents in the house with an axe. As the children hide in their bedrooms, the killer opens the closet to discover some of the kids and attempt to murder them before one of the kid’s mother is choked to death by the killer. He then hears police sirens and flees. He is never caught.
Ten years later, Chuck (Josh Hammond) is murdered in his house by an unknown figure. Two detectives, Detective Anne Hastings (Gwendoline Yeo) and Detective John Criton (Rutger Hauer) discover Chuck was one of the children involved in the Waley murders 10 years previously. They begin an investigation and find more of the survivors have been murdered. Meanwhile, Brandon (Jonathan Chase) is throwing a party at his fathers secluded mansion. Brandon invites his ex-girlfriend, Karina (Judy Taylor), so he can try to get back together with her, but she insists that her group of friends also come, including Marcus (Brian Hooks), Roxy (Cherie Johnson), Shawn (Germán Legarreta), Kareem (Antwon Tanner), Scott (Wil Horneff) and Jody (Aimee Garcia).
As the group arrive and the party starts, Brandon and his friend Cal (Austin Basis) show everyone around, revealing that the house is filled with cameras which can be monitored on screens in the monitoring room, due to the house previously being used as a reality show set. After a few hours of partying, Marcus suggests a game of Seventy Five. Various people take part, until one caller murders someone for the group to hear. They all decide to not answer the phone and continue with their night. As the party finishes and most people leave, Karina and Brandon reconcile. Becky (Ellen Woglom) and Julie (Soraya Kelley) stay up partying with two boys. However, the killer soon arrives at the house and decapitates Becky, before killing the boys and Julie. The killer proceeds to decapitate a boy in the hot tub before drowning his girlfriend. Kareem witnesses the murders and rounds up Roxy, Marcus and Anna (Denyce Lawton) to leave. The group split up to warn the others. Marcus and Anna find Jody and Cal, however they are soon attacked by the killer who murders Anna, while the others flee into Brandon and Karina's room. After Kareem and Roxy arrive with an unconscious Scott, who Kareem accidentally knocked out, the group lock themselves in the room. Brandon blames Marcus for the murders, causing a fight to break out.
After a while of waiting, Brandon and Karina leave to retrieve keys for Brandon's car, while Marcus and Kareem search for Shawn. The killer soon attacks Brandon and Karina, and Brandon is eventually axed in the back, killing him. The killer then throws Karina off the balcony, however she survives and runs into the monitor room to hide. Meanwhile, Cal goes outside to try and hot wire a car. As he succeeds, the killer appears and beats him to death, although he does manage to summon help to the house. Marcus and Kareem return to the room only to find it empty, before discovering Roxy has been killed. They find Scott, but are soon attacked. However, Marcus and Kareem manage to overpower the killer and pin them to the ground. As Kareem urges Scott to kill him, he instead murders Kareem. Marcus hides in the monitor room with Karina, watching in horror as Jody and then Shawn are murdered.
Scott soon comes to the monitoring room, with his accomplice (Kyle Turley), who is revealed to be an inmate from the mental hospital they both recently escaped from. He goes on to reveal that he is, in fact, Scott's twin brother, William, and that he murdered Scott before they left for the party. William tells Marcus he blames him for the deaths of his parents all those years ago as he was the one that wanted to play Seventy Five. William then turns on his accomplice, stabbing him, before a fight breaks out between him, Karina and Marcus. Eventually, William stabs Karina to death. While Marcus swings the axe to kill William, Detectives Anne and John arrive and shoot Marcus, believing he is the killer. As Anne and John comfort William, the accomplice rises with an axe and swings it towards the detectives.
Production.
The film was produced by Magic Johnson's production company. Producers, Lisa Diane Washington. Associate Producers, Anita M. Cal and Tony Moore.
Soundtrack.
The soundtrack was composed by Vincent Gillioz and featured songs from Wyclef Jean and Unset.
Release.
The film was shot in May 2005 but remained unreleased for nearly two years. It had its world premiere on 16 May 2007 as part of the Cannes Film Market and its US debut was on July 23, 2007 at the Sacramento Film Festival. The DVD was released on February 9, 2010 from Screen Media.