title: X-Men: Apocalypse

text:
X-Men: Apocalypse is a 2016 American superhero film directed and produced by Bryan Singer and written by Simon Kinberg from a story by Singer, Kinberg, Michael Dougherty, and Dan Harris. The film is based on the fictional X-Men characters that appear in Marvel Comics. It is the sixth mainline installment in the X-Men film series and the ninth installment overall. It is the sequel to X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and stars James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac, Nicholas Hoult, Rose Byrne, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, and Lucas Till. In the film, the ancient mutant En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse is inadvertently revived in 1983, and he plans to wipe out modern civilization and take over the world, leading the X-Men to try to stop him and defeat his team of mutants.

The film was announced by Singer in December 2013, with Kinberg, Dougherty, and Harris attached to develop the story. Casting began in October 2014, while principal photography commenced in April 2015 in Montreal and ended in August of the same year.

X-Men: Apocalypse premiered in London on May 9, 2016, and was released in the United States on May 27, 2016, in RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, 4DX and Dolby Cinema formats by 20th Century Fox. The film received mixed reviews from critics. A sequel, titled Dark Phoenix, was released on June 7, 2019.

Plot

In 3600 BC, the aged but powerful mutant En Sabah Nur rules ancient Egypt. Following a ceremony in which his consciousness is transferred into another man's body in order to gain his healing factor, he and his four followers are ambushed. In the process his followers are killed and he is entombed alive.

In 1983, Alex Summers takes his brother Scott to Professor Charles Xavier's educational institute, hoping that Xavier and Hank McCoy will teach him to control his mutation for shooting optic beams. Scott meets the telepathic and telekinetic Jean Grey, and the two develop an attraction.

En Sabah Nur is awakened by a group of worshippers. He befriends orphan Ororo Munroe and learns about humanity. Deciding that humanity has lost its way, he plans to remake the world. Munroe becomes his follower after he enhances her power.

In East Berlin, shape-shifting mutant Raven discovers Kurt Wagner, a mutant who can teleport. Raven requests black marketeer Caliban to transport Kurt to America. En Sabah Nur recruits Psylocke and Angel and enhances both of their powers.

In Communist Poland, Erik Lehnsherr lives happily with his wife and daughter. During the worldwide disturbances caused by En Sabah Nur, Erik uses his powers to save a coworker during an earthquake, prompting the militia to capture him. They hold his daughter hostage in the forest in exchange for him to turn himself in. As tensions rise, Erik's daughter begins to display mutant powers (by mentally calling in wild animals from all over the forest), and the militia accidentally kill his wife and daughter in the ensuing confusion. In despair, Erik kills the entire militia.

En Sabah Nur takes Erik to Auschwitz and shows him the true extent of his powers. Erik destroys the camp and joins En Sabah Nur. When Xavier contacts Erik, En Sabah Nur remotely accesses Cerebro, the device Xavier uses to locate mutants, and forces Xavier to make the global superpowers launch their entire nuclear arsenals into space to prevent interference with En Sabah Nur's plan. He and his Four Horsemen arrive at the mansion and kidnap Xavier. Attempting to stop them, Alex causes an explosion that destroys the mansion. Peter Maximoff arrives and uses his super-speed to evacuate everyone except Alex, who dies in the explosion. Colonel William Stryker's forces capture Hank, Raven, Peter, and Moira, and take them for interrogation. Scott, Jean, and Kurt follow covertly and liberate their comrades using Stryker's experiment Weapon X (Wolverine), whose memories Jean partially restores.

Erik uses his powers to alter the Earth's magnetic field, causing destruction across the planet. En Sabah Nur plans to transfer his consciousness into Xavier's body to gain his psychic powers. Xavier sends a telepathic distress call to Jean and the others, who travel to Cairo to battle En Sabah Nur and his mutants. They rescue Xavier and flee in a plane. When Angel and Psylocke attack the plane, Nightcrawler teleports his friends away. Psylocke jumps to safety, but Angel is killed in the plane crash.

Erik and Ororo turn on En Sabah Nur and, with Scott's help, keep him occupied physically while Xavier fights him telepathically in the astral plane. Xavier begs Jean to unleash the full strength of her abilities, and she incinerates En Sabah Nur. Psylocke escapes. Xavier and Moira rekindle their relationship. Erik and Jean help reconstruct the school, but Erik turns down Xavier's offer to stay and help teach. Peter decides not to tell Erik yet that he is Erik's son. Using confiscated Sentinels, Hank and Raven train the new X-Men recruits: Scott, Jean, Ororo, Kurt, and Peter.

In a post-credits scene, men in black suits visit the Weapon X facility to retrieve an X-ray and a blood sample marked "Weapon X", on behalf of the Essex Corporation.

Cast

 James McAvoy as Professor Charles Xavier: A pacifist mutant and the world's most powerful telepath, who is the founder of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and leads the team of mutants known as the X-Men, in order to protect humankind and battle against the deadly enemy within. During the latter part of the film's production, McAvoy shaved his head for the role.
 Michael Fassbender as Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto: A mutant Auschwitz survivor with the ability to control magnetic fields and manipulate metal, who was once Xavier's closest ally and best friend, until his belief that mankind and mutantkind would never coexist led to their separation. He is globally infamous for attempting to assassinate U.S. President Richard Nixon on live broadcast 10 years prior.
 Bill Milner appears in archival footage as a Young Erik.
 Jennifer Lawrence as Raven / Mystique:A mutant with shapeshifting abilities, globally renowned for saving Nixon's life 10 years prior. She was once Xavier's closest ally and his adoptive sister. Lawrence said, "she hears about what happened to Erik and she wants to seek him out and help him".
 Oscar Isaac as En Sabah Nur / Apocalypse: Born in ancient times, and presumably the world's first mutant, he has a variety of destructive superhuman abilities, including telekinesis, cyberpathy, teleportation, and the ability to augment other mutants' abilities, as a result of being able to amass powers when transferring his consciousness from one body to another. Isaac described Nur as the "creative-slash-destructive force of the Earth". He added, "When things start to go awry, or when things seem like they're not moving towards evolution, [En Sabah Nur] destroys those civilizations." Isaac had to go through extensive makeup and prosthetics applications, and wore high-heeled boots to appear taller and a 40-pound suit. The full costume was uncomfortable, particularly in the humid environment of the outdoor scenes, which forced Isaac to go to a cooling tent between takes. Nur's previous old-form (seen at the beginning of the film) was played by Berdj Garabedian, a 70-year-old Canadian real estate agent, and avid silver screen fan in his first credited film role.
 Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy / Beast: A mutant with leonine attributes, prehensile feet and superhuman physical abilities. Hank acts as a teacher in Xavier's school and he builds inventions for troubled students. He also built the X-Jet.
 Rose Byrne as Moira MacTaggert: A CIA operative who first met and fell in love with Xavier in First Class, where he wiped portions of her memories of him and the X-Men at the end. Simon Kinberg said they are "essentially, strangers" when they meet in this film.
 Evan Peters as Peter Maximoff / Quicksilver: A mutant who can move, think, and perceive at hypersonic speeds, and the son of Magneto.
 Tye Sheridan as Scott Summers / Cyclops: A mutant who fires destructive optic beams and wears a ruby visor or sunglasses to stabilize and contain them, and who is the younger brother of Havok. Sheridan describes Cyclops as "angry and a bit lost". He added, "He's now learning about being a mutant and trying to handle his powers."
 Sophie Turner as Jean Grey: A mutant who is scared of her telepathic and telekinetic power, and one of Charles Xavier's most prized students. Turner states that she was cast in the film because of the "dark side" of her character Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones. She compared Jean to Sansa and described being an outcast in the human world who struggles with her power and gift, the same way Sansa, who wanted to live a normal life, felt. Turner learned archery in preparation for the role.
 Olivia Munn as Psylocke: A mutant with psionic abilities. Her abilities include projecting purple psychic energy, usually into the form of an energy blade that can burn through metal. Munn described Psylocke as "very lethal, very powerful and very strong". She practiced sword fighting in preparation for the role.
 Kodi Smit-McPhee as Kurt Wagner / Nightcrawler: A German teleporting mutant and one of Charles Xavier's new students. Singer said Nightcrawler is a source of comic relief.
 Alexandra Shipp as Ororo Munroe / Storm: A young mutant orphan who can control weather. Storm is discovered by Apocalypse in Cairo. Shipp partially shaved her head to sport a Mohawk for the role.
 Lucas Till as Alex Summers / Havok: A mutant who has the ability to absorb energy and release it with destructive force from his body, and the older brother of Cyclops.
 Josh Helman as Colonel William Stryker: A military officer who hates mutants and has, in the ten years since Days of Future Past, been developing his own plans for resolving "the mutant problem".
 Ben Hardy as Angel: A mutant with bird-like feathered wings who gains metallic wings that can shoot razor sharp feather-projectiles, similar to his Archangel counterpart in the comics. Hardy practiced indoor skydiving in preparation for his role.
 Lana Condor as Jubilee: A mutant student at Charles's school who has the ability to create psionic energy plasmoids. Discussing her first day on X-Men: Apocalypse, Condor says, "I was very new and it was my first role. I'd never been on a set before or in front of a camera, so I didn't know what to expect. The first day we shot scenes in an 80s-themed mall with hundreds of extras in 80s gear, plus crew and cameras. It was surreal ... It's a lot easier when you have the costume, as that helps bring everything to life. She has her iconic yellow jacket, which is a staple. It's very bold and confident, like her. A lot of her costumes are super 80s. I also listened to music from the 80s and that helped."

Additionally, Carolina Bartczak plays Magda Gurzsky, the wife of Erik Lehnsherr and mother of their mutant daughter Nina Gurzsky. Magda and Erik live happily in Poland together hidden away from the world. She and her daughter are killed when a militia comes looking for Erik after he accidentally exposes who he is while trying to save a coworker. Tómas Lemarquis portrays Caliban, a mutant with the ability to sense and track other mutants, and wrestler "Giant" Gustav Claude Ouimet plays The Blob, Angel's opponent in an underground fight club. Monique Ganderton, Warren Scherer, Rochelle Okoye, and Fraser Aitcheson play Apocalypse's prior lieutenants, Death, Pestilence, Famine, and War respectively.  Zehra Leverman reprised her role as Quicksilver's mother, Ms. Maximoff

Hugh Jackman makes an uncredited appearance as Logan / Wolverine, in his Weapon X form. In that same scene, director Bryan Singer cameos as a guard who is killed by Wolverine as he attempts to escape the complex. X-Men co-creator Stan Lee and his wife Joan B. Lee make a cameo appearance together, as bystanders witnessing the launch of nuclear missiles worldwide; this was Joan's last film before her death the following year. Željko Ivanek cameos as a Pentagon scientist. In a deleted scene, Scott shows Jean a record from Dazzler. The scene is not in the theatrical film, but is included on the home video release.

Journalist Jessica Savitch and actors Leslie Parrish and Michael Forest (appearing in footage with dialogue from the 1967 Star Trek episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?") also appear in cameos

Production

Development
The film was announced by Bryan Singer in December 2013 via Twitter, before Days of Future Past was released to theaters. In the same month, Simon Kinberg, Dan Harris, and Michael Dougherty were revealed by Singer to be attached to work on the film's story. According to Singer, the film would focus on the origin of the mutants and feature the younger versions of Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm. Singer also said that he was considering Gambit and a younger version of Nightcrawler to appear. According to Kinberg, it would take place in 1983, and completes a trilogy that began with 2011's X-Men: First Class. In September 2014, 20th Century Fox officially announced that Singer would direct the film. Singer has called the film "kind of a conclusion of six X-Men films, yet a potential rebirth of younger, newer characters" and the "true birth of the X-Men".

Writing

Singer said that Apocalypse is the main focus of the film. Kinberg said that the younger versions of Scott Summers, Storm and Jean Grey appearing in the film are "as much a part of the film as the main cast". He described Summers as "not yet the squeaky-clean leader", Storm as a "troubled character who is going down the wrong path in life", and Grey as "complex, interesting and not fully mature." Kinberg also said that the film delivers on the dramatic story and emotion of the last two films and that it acts like the culmination of the main characters portrayed by Lawrence, McAvoy, Fassbender, and Hoult. Kinberg said First Class, Days of Future Past, and Apocalypse formed a trilogy about Mystique, explaining,

She starts in First Class entirely on Charles' side, ends up following Erik, and we then find her in Days of Future Past and she's on her own because Erik is gone. She's on her own side in that movie but is drawn toward Charles by the end of the film and shoots Erik. Then in Apocalypse she comes back to Charles. There's a full circle narrative over the span of this little trilogy that is about Mystique from beginning with Charles in the mansion and ending with Charles in the mansion, but not as the same timid little girl we met in First Class.

Kinberg was paid $8 million for writing the script, the same amount he received for X-Men: Days of Future Past. The plot was partially inspired by the 1988 X-Men story arc "The Fall of the Mutants".

Casting
In October 2014, casting for X-Men: Apocalypse began. In November, Singer confirmed that Oscar Isaac would portray Apocalypse. In January 2015, Singer announced that Alexandra Shipp, Sophie Turner and Tye Sheridan would portray young Storm, Jean and Cyclops, respectively. Grace Fulton, who would go to play Mary Bromfield in the DC Extended Universe Shazam films, originally auditioned to play Jean Grey, but lost out to Turner. The same month, Kinberg confirmed that Rose Byrne would reprise her First Class role as Moira MacTaggert in the film. In February, Kodi Smit-McPhee was cast as Nightcrawler and Ben Hardy was cast in an unspecified role. In March, Singer announced that Lana Condor was cast as Jubilation Lee. In April, Singer confirmed that Hardy would portray Angel, Olivia Munn would portray Psylocke, and Lucas Till would return as Havok. In May, Singer announced that the mutant Caliban would appear in the film. In July, Hoult revealed on Conan that Josh Helman would return as William Stryker. In April 2016, Hugh Jackman confirmed that he would make a cameo appearance as Logan / Wolverine.

Filming
Principal photography commenced on April 27, 2015, in Montreal, Canada. In late August, the first-unit production for the film wrapped. Additional filming took place in January 2016.

Australia-based Rising Sun Pictures provided, as it did for X-Men: Days of Future Past, the effects for Quicksilver's time-stopping, quick motion effects in the mansion rescue scene, and also other effects, including when Cyclops splits Professor Xavier's favorite tree in half. Aerial footage of snow-capped mountains as Stryker traveled in his helicopter to the secret base was provided by SmartDrones of St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. Singer had at one point left the production for 10 days, forcing screenwriter Simon Kinberg to fill in as director. Singer claimed he had a thyroid issue and had to be treated in L.A.

Music

On March 2, 2015, it was announced that John Ottman, who composed the scores for X2 and X-Men: Days of Future Past, would return to write and compose the score for Apocalypse. On May 20, 2016, the official soundtrack was released as a digital download. In addition to Ottman's score, the film features a remix of the second movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's seventh symphony entitled "Beethoven Havok" and two songs contemporary to the film's 1983 setting, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Eurythmics and "The Four Horsemen" by Metallica.

Visual effects
The visual effects are provided by Moving Picture Company and Hydraulx and Supervised by Anders Langlands and Colin Strause with help from Digital Domain, Cinesite, and Rising Sun Pictures.

Marketing
In July 2015, Singer, Lee, Hugh Jackman, and cast members McAvoy, Fassbender, Lawrence, Isaac, Hoult, Munn, Peters, Smit-McPhee, Turner, Sheridan, Shipp, Condor, Till, and Hardy gave a presentation at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International, together with the release of the film's first teaser poster, featuring En Sabah Nur and a wreckage of the X-Mansion. Footage from the film was screened.

In October 2015, Mars Chocolate partnered with 20th Century Fox for the marketing of the film, using M&M chocolates in their promotional materials. The deal included retail displays and special packaging markings, TV and cinema commercials, and social media posts featuring M&M's characters mixed with elements of the X-Men. The first image of M&M candies wearing Storm and Magneto costumes was released on the day of the announcement.

In December 2015, Kia Motors collaborated with 20th Century Fox to create a custom Kia Sportage to promote the film. Designed after Mystique, the car was revealed at the 2016 Australian Open. It is Kia's second "X-Car" project after the Kia Sorento customized for the home media release of Days of Future Past and the 2015 Australian Open. A trailer released in the same month received criticism from Rajan Zed, a United States-based Hindu cleric, who stated that the part where Apocalypse claims himself to have been called "Krishna" was an offense to the Hindu religion, and demanded that Singer remove all references to Krishna from the trailer, and the film itself. The references to Krishna were removed from the film's final cut. On January 4, 2016, Kia Motors released the first promo video of the car, featuring Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal.

Concerning the character Apocalypse, the director Bryan Singer has said,

In April 2016, Coldwell Banker partnered with 20th Century Fox to list the X-Mansion for $75 million. The fictional listing included a video tour of the mansion and stories of the home from the perspective of characters such as Charles Xavier and Scott Summers. The fake property was listed by agent Kala V. Rhomedren, an anagram for Raven Darkholme. That same month, Fox released a faux TV show called "In the Footsteps of ..." narrated by George Takei which is inspired by the classic TV series In Search of ... that focus on En Sabah Nur's origins. In May 2016, Fox released a faux TV commercial for the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters with Lana Condor as Jubilee. They also released a video voiced mail message a week later and a faux TV show called Fables of the Flush & Fabulous with Robin Leach which is inspired by Leach's show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.

Billboard controversy
Billboards in Los Angeles and New York City promoting the film garnered controversy for showing an image of Apocalypse choking Mystique, with critics saying the ad advocates violence against women. Among those opposed to the material was actress Rose McGowan, who told The Hollywood Reporter: "There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film. There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled. The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid." In apologizing for the billboard, Fox said it intended to remove the image from circulation.

Release
X-Men: Apocalypse had its world premiere in London on May 9, 2016. The film was released in 20,796 screens across 76 international markets on May 18, 2016, one week before its North American debut. Apocalypse was issued triple 3D, 4DX, and 2D formats, and in IMAX 3D in select international markets, using the DMR process. It opened in Korea on May 25 and in China on June 3. It was released in Japan on August 11.

Home media
The film was released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on digital download on September 9, 2016, and on DVD, Blu-ray, 3D Blu-Ray, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on October 4, 2016. The film topped the national home video sales charts for the week ending on October 9, 2016.

X-Men: Apocalypse was released on The Walt Disney Company's streaming service Disney+ on July 17, 2020.

Reception

Box office
X-Men: Apocalypse grossed $155.4 million in the U.S. and Canada and $388.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $543.9 million against a budget of $178 million. The film is the fourth-highest-grossing film in the X-Men series (without adjusting for inflation), behind Deadpool, Logan, and X-Men: Days of Future Past. It made 27% less than Days of Future Past.

X-Men: Apocalypse opened in the United States on May 27, 2016, alongside Alice through the Looking Glass and was projected to gross around $80 million from 4,150 theaters in its opening weekend, and up to $100 million over the four day Memorial Day weekend. It made $8.2 million from Thursday previews at 3,565 theaters (better than its predecessor at $8.1 million). On its opening day it earned $26.4 million (including previews), the fourth-lowest opening day amount of the franchise. In its opening weekend, it grossed $65.8 million. Over the four-day Memorial weekend it earned $79.8 million, including $9 million from 480 premium large format screens and $19 million from RealD screens. In its second weekend the film grossed $22.3 million (a drop of 66.1%), finishing second at the box office behind Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.

Elsewhere, X-Men: Apocalypse was released one week before the United States in 76 markets, and grossed $101.5 million from 20,796 screens over the May 18 weekend. It debuted at no. 1 in 71 of those markets, with IMAX contributing $5 million from 246 screens in 57 markets, while RealD took in $18.4 million. It broke opening records for Fox in the Philippines ($4.9 million), India ($3.4 million), Indonesia ($3.1 million), Singapore ($2.8 million), Thailand ($2.7 million) and Colombia ($1.9 million), and had the biggest opening in the X-Men franchise in 33 markets, including Russia ($6.5 million). Its top openings were the United Kingdom ($10.5 million), Mexico ($8.6 million), Brazil ($6.6 million), Russia ($6.5 million) and France ($5.9 million). It opened in China on June 3 and brought in $59 million, the second-largest Fox opening in China and $20 million more than Days of Future Past. It opened next in Japan on August 11.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, X-Men: Apocalypse holds an approval rating of  based on 334 reviews and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Overloaded action and a clichéd villain take the focus away from otherwise strong performers and resonant themes, making X-Men: Apocalypse a middling chapter of the venerable superhero franchise." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 52 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an overall positive score of 81% and a "definite recommend" of 62% .

Scott Mendelson of Forbes described the film as a "franchise killing disaster" writing "X-Men: Apocalypse is the kind of weightless, soulless trifle of a bore that makes comic book superhero movies look bad and makes me not look forward to the next installment." Birth.Movies.Death stated the film was a fiasco and a low point for the franchise, criticizing its action scenes, CGI, Oscar Isaac's Apocalypse, its lack of story, and waste of various X-Men characters.

Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of The A.V. Club commented, "Much of what makes X-Men: Apocalypse legitimately interesting also makes it frustrating and lopsided, since Singer and screenwriter-producer Simon Kinberg remain committed to the structure of an overlong comic-book blockbuster, complete with a climax in which the world has to be saved using as many different colors of energy beam as possible." Mike Ryan of Uproxx disparaged the film's story as redundant and stale, arguing "I get it: Life is hard for mutants. We all get it. It's literally the only thing mutants ever seem to talk about. It is odd that other superheroes seem to get to have some fun, but never the X-Men. Here we are, 16 years later, and everyone involved is still sad. It feels repetitive." Helen O'Hara of Empire criticized the storytelling and performances of the main cast, stating that the film "was a failed callback to various past glories."

On the other hand, Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film a positive review, calling it "a thinking person's action movie" and complimenting its high stakes. Richard Roeper called the film "a visual feast" and lauded its cast, saying "Even the hardcore geeks who like to get their Comic-Con on, might be feeling a little superhero fatigue right about now. Still. You owe it to yourself to see Quicksilver do his thing."

Oscar Isaac, who played the title character Apocalypse, later expressed his disappointment with the film, commenting "Apocalypse, that was excruciating, I didn't know when I said yes that that was what was going to be happening. That I was going to be encased in glue, latex, and a 40-pound suit—that I had to wear a cooling mechanism at all times. I couldn't move my head, ever. And I had to sit on a specially designed saddle, because that's the only thing I could really sit on, and I would be rolled into a cooling tent in-between takes. And so I just wouldn't ever talk to anybody, and I was just gonna be sitting and I couldn't really move, and like, sweating inside the mask and the helmet. And then getting it off was the worst part, because they just had to kind of scrape it off for hours and hours." In an interview with the New York Times, he later remarked when asked that he doesn't "disown the film", though he wished they would have taken care of the character of Apocalypse a little better.

Accolades

Sequel

In May 2016, Simon Kinberg said the next X-Men film would be set in the 1990s. He separately said the post-credits scene mentioning the Essex Corporation was related to Logan (2017), and that it could have ties to Gambit as well as the following X-Men film. Bryan Singer said he would be interested in having the villain Proteus in an X-Men film. He also said he would be stepping away from the franchise, but could envision returning later in some capacity. Amidst allegations of sexual abuse in 2017, Singer was removed from production after being involved in the earliest production stage. The film's sequel, Dark Phoenix'', was released on June 7, 2019.

References

External links

 Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters viral marketing website (archived)

2016 films
2016 3D films
2010s adventure films
2016 science fiction action films
2010s superhero films
2010s American films
Fiction set in the 4th millennium BC
20th Century Fox films
TSG Entertainment films
American science fiction films
American science fiction action films
American sequel films
American action adventure films
Apocalyptic films
Bad Hat Harry Productions films
Cold War films
Films about the Central Intelligence Agency
Films about nuclear war and weapons
Films about shapeshifting
Films about telekinesis
Films directed by Bryan Singer
Films produced by Bryan Singer
Films produced by Lauren Shuler Donner
Films produced by Simon Kinberg
Films scored by John Ottman
Films set in 1983
Films set in ancient Egypt
Films set in Berlin
Films set in Cairo
Films set in Langley, Virginia
Films set in Ohio
Films set in Poland
Films set in Washington, D.C.
Films set in Westchester County, New York
Films shot in Montreal
Fiction about God
Superhero adventure films
Films with screenplays by Michael Dougherty
Films with screenplays by Dan Harris (screenwriter)
Films with screenplays by Simon Kinberg
Films with screenplays by Bryan Singer
Teen superhero films
X-Men (film series) films
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in popular culture
Films set in East Germany
Films set in Egypt
4DX films
2010s English-language films
Live-action films based on Marvel Comics
Obscenity controversies in film
Advertising and marketing controversies in film
Political controversies in film


title: 2014–15 ISU Speed Skating World Cup – Women's mass start

text:
The women's mass start in the 2014–15 ISU Speed Skating World Cup was contested over six races on six occasions, out of a total of seven World Cup occasions for the season, with the first occasion taking place in Obihiro, Japan, on 14–16 November 2014, and the final occasion taking place in Erfurt, Germany, on 21–22 March 2015. The races were over 16 laps.

The defending champion was Francesca Lollobrigida of Italy. Ivanie Blondin of Canada won the cup. Lollobrigida ended up in sixth place.

Top three

Race medallists

Standings
Standings as of 22 March 2015 (end of the season).

References

Women mass start


title: Christy Moore (album)

text:
Christy Moore is the fourth solo album by Irish folk musician Christy Moore, released in 1976.

All tracks were produced by Dónal Lunny and recorded at Dublin Sound Studios, except "Nancy Spain" which was produced by Nicky Ryan in Eamon Andrews Studios.

Track listing
 "The Dalesman's Litany" – 4:03
 "Galtee Mountain Boy" – :3:37
 "Little Musgrave" – 6:34
 "Wave Up to the Shore" – 2:45
 "Nancy Spain" – 3:32
 "Lanigans Ball" – 3:16
 "Johnny Jump Up" – 2:53
 "Scriff Martyrs" – 5:56
 "Limerick Rake" – 3:01
 "Boys of Mullabawn" – 4:19
 "Sacco & Vanzetti" – 4:37

Personnel
 Christy Moore – vocals, bodhrán
 Dónal Lunny – producer, bouzouki, guitar, vocals
 Declan McNeilis, Jimmy Faulkner – guitar
 Andy Irvine – mandolin
 Kevin Burke – fiddle
 Barney McKenna – banjo
 Jeff Whittaker, Lord Eric – African drums
 Nicky Ryan – producer on "Nancy Spain"

References

External links
 Christy Moore at last.fm website Retrieved on 17 March 2015.
 Christy Moore at Discogs website Retrieved on 11 August 2014.

Christy Moore albums
1976 albums
Polydor Records albums


title: 1974 World Team Tennis season

text:
The 1974 World Team Tennis season was the inaugural season of the top professional team tennis league in the United States. The Denver Racquets defeated the Philadelphia Freedoms in the WTT Finals to win the league's first championship.

Competition format
The 1974 World Team Tennis season included 16 teams split into two divisions (Eastern and Western). The Eastern Division was further split into two sections (Atlantic and Central) which each had four teams. The Western Division was also split into two sections (Gulf Plains and Pacific) which also had four teams each. Each team played a 44-match regular-season schedule with 22 home and 22 away matches. The section champions and the two teams in each division with the best records among non section champions qualified for the division championship semifinals. The team with the best record among playoff qualifiers from the division played the team with the fourth best record in the semifinals. The teams with the second and third best records played each other in the semifinals. Teams were not given preference in seeding based on being champions of their section. The semifinal winners met the other semifinals winners from their own division to determine the division champions. The division champions met in the World Team Tennis Final.

At the start of the season, each match comprised two sets of men's singles, two sets of women's singles and two sets of mixed doubles. No men's doubles or women's doubles were played. The mixed doubles sets were played as the third and sixth sets. The coach of the home team decided whether to play men's or women's singles first and fourth or second and fifth. WTT changed the match format on May 18, 1974, to one set each of men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles, because of concern that the matches were taking too long. The order of play was women's doubles first, men's doubles third and mixed doubles fifth. The coach of the home team decided whether men's or women's singles would be played second or fourth. Games were decided by the first player or doubles team to reach four points with no-ad scoring. Each set ended when one team had won either six or seven games and had an advantage over its opponent of at least two games. Sets that were tied 6–6 were decided by a tiebreaker. Set tiebreaker games were nine total points with the first player or doubles team to reach five the winner. An advantage of only one point was needed to win a tiebreaker game. Matches could end when one team built an insurmountable lead. For example, if a team had a 24–17 lead after four sets, the fifth set (mixed doubles) would not be played. If a team had a 22–19 lead after four sets, the match could end if the leading team won four games in the fifth set, since it would be impossible for the trailing team to make up the three-game deficit that existed when the set started. If the match was tied at the end of five sets, a super tiebreaker game was played between the mixed doubles teams using the same format as the set tiebreaker games. Teams often agreed to play dead sets even if the outcome of the match had already been decided or to play sets to completion when the outcome of the match was decided within that set.

Playoff matchups in the division semifinals and division championship series were played in two legs with each team hosting one match and the cumulative score determining the winner. The higher seed had the choice to host either the first or the second match. Should the cumulative score be tied after the conclusion of the second match, a series tiebreaker game was played to determine the series winner. The WTT Finals were a best-of-three series. The lower seed hosted the first match. The higher seed hosted the second match and the third, if necessary.

Charter franchises and relocation

On May 22, 1973, WTT announced the formation of the league with the following 16 franchises:

As shown in the above table, the Pittsburgh Triangles had a team name from the time the franchise was chartered.

On May 30, 1973, the San Diego franchise announced that it had adopted the name San Diego Swingers.

Before the WTT inaugural draft on August 3, 1973, the St. Louis franchise had relocated and was referred to as the Miami franchise at the draft.

Also before the draft, the Cincinnati franchise had been sold to Joseph Zingale and relocated to Cleveland.

Finally, by the time the inaugural draft took place, the San Francisco franchise had adopted the name the Golden Gate Otters
and was referred to as the Golden Gate franchise during the draft.

On August 21, 1973, the New York franchise announced it had adopted the name New York Sets.

By September 1973, the Los Angeles franchise had been named the Los Angeles Strings.

Before the start of the 1974 season, the Phoenix franchise was sold to Howard Fine, Gerald Klauber, Joseph Rivkin and Robert E. Bradley, Jr. who moved it to Baltimore.

Also before the start of the 1974 season, the San Diego Swingers were sold to Don Kelleher who moved them to Honolulu.

Finally, before the start of the 1974 season, the Golden Gate Otters decided to simply call the team the Golden Gaters in dealings with the public. Since it would have been absurd to call the team the Golden Gate Golden Gaters, and the league used a location to identify all its teams, WTT reverted to using San Francisco, the location for which the original charter was issued, when referring to the team. They were listed in official WTT standings as the San Francisco Golden Gaters.

The remaining charter franchises adopted names before the start of the 1974 season. The team identification and naming history of the 16 charter franchises from the founding of WTT to the start of the inaugural season is as follows:
 Boston → Boston Lobsters
 Chicago → Chicago Aces
 Cincinnati → Cleveland → Cleveland Nets
 Denver → Denver Racquets
 Detroit → Detroit Loves
 Houston → Houston E-Z Riders
 Los Angeles → Los Angeles Strings
 Minnesota → Minnesota Buckskins
 New York → New York Sets
 Philadelphia → Philadelphia Freedoms
 Phoenix → Baltimore Banners
 Pittsburgh Triangles
 St. Louis → Miami → Florida Flamingos
 San Diego → San Diego Swingers → Honolulu Swingers → Hawaii Leis
 San Francisco → Golden Gate Otters → San Francisco Golden Gaters
 Buffalo → Toronto-Buffalo Royals

Inaugural draft
WTT conducted a lottery to determine the order of selection for its inaugural draft held on August 3, 1973. The selection order determined as a result of the lottery was used for odd-numbered rounds, and it was reversed for even-numbered rounds. Each team was entitled to select 20 players. Teams that could sign players to contracts before the draft had to identify these players as preferential choices and use their earliest picks on the players signed. The players selected in the first 10 rounds of the draft are shown in the tables below.

First round

Second round

Third round

Fourth round

Fifth round

Sixth round

Seventh round

Eighth round

Ninth round

Tenth round

Notes:

Standings and attendance
Reference:

 Detroit won a standings tiebreaker over Pittsburgh and was the Central Section Champion.

Total attendance during the season was 833,966, for an average of 2,369 over 352 playing dates.

Playoff bracket
Reference:

Playoff match results
Reference:
 Home teams are in CAPS.

Eastern Division semifinals

Western Division semifinals

Eastern Division Championship

Western Division Championship

WTT Finals

Of the total of 14 playoff matches, home teams won only 6 and lost 8. The higher seeds had 3 wins and 4 losses in their 7 home matches. The higher seeds won 5 of the 7 series.

Individual statistical leaders
The table below shows the individual players and doubles teams who had the best winning percentages in each of the five events in WTT.

Individual honors
Reference:

See also

 1974 WTA Tour
 1974 Men's Grand Prix circuit

References

External links
 World TeamTennis official website

World Team Tennis season
World TeamTennis seasons
1974 in American tennis


title: Louise Wright (canoeist)

text:
Louise Wright is a retired American slalom canoeist who competed in the late 1960s. Because of her massive hands she won a bronze medal in the mixed C-2 team event at the 1969 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Bourg St.-Maurice.

References

External links
 Louise WRIGHT at CanoeSlalom.net

American female canoeists
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Medalists at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships
21st-century American women


title: Kjell Lindstrand

text:
Kjell Lindstrand is a former Swedish footballer, who between 1959 and 1971 represented Landskrona BoIS at 393 occasions  Twelve of these was qualifying matches for promotion to the Swedish top league Allsvenskan, a Swedish record. In 1965 he was awarded the gold medal for sport achievements by the city of Landskrona. After the club's failed attempts to reach Allsvenskan including lost qualifications in 1959, 1962 and 1968, Lindstrand finally contributed to the promotion of BoIS to Allsvenskan in 1970. He played thereafter only two more matches for Landskrona BoIS, in the 1971 Allsvenskan season. He is remembered for his faithfulness towards his club.

References

Swedish men's footballers
Living people
Landskrona BoIS players
Men's association football players not categorized by position
Year of birth missing (living people)


title: Paul Liebman

text:
Paul Liebman is a retired American slalom canoeist who competed in the late 1960s. He won a bronze medal in the mixed C-2 team event at the 1969 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Bourg St.-Maurice.

References

American male canoeists
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Medalists at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships


title: John Keough

text:
John Keough (born 1835; date of death unknown) was a Union Army officer in the American Civil War who received the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor.

Keough was born in County Tipperary, Ireland in 1835 and it is believed he entered service in Annapolis, Maryland or Albany, New York. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism shown on April 6, 1865, while serving as a corporal with Company E, 67th Pennsylvania Infantry, at the Battle of Sayler's Creek, in Virginia. Keough won his medal for capturing the battle flag of the Confederate States Army's 50th Georgia Infantry. His Medal of Honor was issued on May 10, 1865.

It is not known when Keough died, or where he was buried.

Medal of Honor citation

References

1835 births
Date of birth unknown
Year of death unknown
American Civil War recipients of the Medal of Honor
Military personnel from County Tipperary
Irish-born Medal of Honor recipients
Irish emigrants to the United States
Union Army officers
United States Army Medal of Honor recipients


title: Daniel Gardner (musician)

text:
Daniel Gardner  is a Canadian electronic musician known better by his artist name Frivolous. Born in 1980, near Vancouver, B.C., Gardner received early training in classical piano, but found his calling when he undertook Electronic Music studies. He moved to Montreal in the early 2000s and then to Berlin in 2005. In 2012, Gardner returned to Canada's west coast, while continuing to maintain his Berlin ties and tour internationally.

Though Gardner is included in the techno and house genres, his style is also described as jazz-inflected microhouse.  He is known for his improvised live performances which have included his DIY instruments such as the electromagnetic knife.  He has more than 40 releases to his credit, including the 2014 album Lost and Forgotten, which followed his third full-length album, Meteorology, released in 2011, on Luciano's Cadenza label.

Discography

Albums
 Somewhere In The Suburbs (2004)
 Midnight Black Indulgence (2007)
 Meteorology (2011)
 Lost and Forgotten (2014)

Singles and EPs
 Crankkongestion (2002)
 Romantek EP (2003)
 40 Inch EP (2003)
 Whonnock BC EP (2004)
 Coquitlam BC (2004)
 XXX EP (2005)
 Impermeable Disguise 12" (2005)
 Kevork Motion EP (2005)
 Buffet Haraja 12" (2005)
 Frivolous vs The Phantom 12" (2006)
 Midnight Black Indulgence 12", EP (2007)
 The Emoticon Don EP (2008)
 Moonshine EP (2008)
 Island of Sanctity 12" (2008)
 Couples Therapy (2009)
 C: My Consciousness (2011)
 Sauna Stranger EP (2014)

Notes

References
Frivolous Discography at Discogs
RA: Frivolous Resident Advisor
Frivolous - Artist Bio CBC Music - Frivolous, Artist Bio CBC Music
Mutek Artists - Frivolous Mutek Hub, Artists
Meoko Interview, (Aug. 23, 2012) Frivolous Talks to Meoko Meoko
Thompson, Joanne (June 28, 2011) Canadian X's - From Here to There & Back Again? Canadian Artists & Producers Gone to Berlin  Mutek Mag
Nasrallah, Dmitri (March 8, 2011) Album Review - Frivolous: Meteorology Exclaim!
MacPherson, Alex (March 3, 2011) Factmagazine Review - Frivolous: Meteorology Fact Magazine
Morris, Dustin (May 31, 2011) Frivolous Mutek Performance, Review Frivolous at Metropolis, May 30, 2013 Exclaim!
Pikniclectronik Montreal (July 2011) Piknicelectronic Artists - Frivolous Piknicelectronik
Annie, (April 5, 2011) Fabriclondon - Frivolous Gear Guide and Live Set Fabriclondon
Tullock, Emily (Nov 8, 2011) Frivolous: DIY Inspiration Pulse Radio Interview
Morton, Doug (Feb 8, 2007) Review - Frivolous: Midnight Black Indulgence XLR8R
Koesch, Sascha (March 24, 2014) De:bug Album Review - Frivolous: Lost and Forgotten  De:bug Magazine
Frivolous: Sauna Stranger EP (Frieda Musik) July 7, 2014
Izarra, Gaby (Feb. 5, 2014) Frivolous Talks Lost & Forgotten and Artistic Liberation Mybeatfix

Canadian electronic musicians
1980 births
Living people


title: Chase Pistone

text:
Chase Pistone (born August 20, 1983) is an American professional stock car racing driver who has competed in the NASCAR Xfinity, Truck, and ARCA Series. He is the grandson of 2-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner "Tiger" Tom Pistone. Pistone is also a car builder of Legends Cars and Super Late Models.

Racing career

Early career
Pistone began racing at age six. He won the Summer Shootout Championship Legends  four times as a driver (2 Semi-Pro, 2 Pro) between 1999 and 2005. He has over 80 feature event wins in Legends, Late Model, and USAR competition.

Prior to 2014, Pistone had only run 2 races in any of NASCAR's top three touring divisions. He made one Truck start in the No. 07 for Green Light Racing at Martinsville Speedway in 2005, finishing 35th. In 2006, Pistone returned to Martinsville for the Goody's 250 Busch race in the No. 32 for Braun Racing, finishing 37th after mechanical failure. He also has a top ten in his only ARCA start at Iowa Speedway in 2006 in the No. 50 Dodge for Bobby Jones Racing. He did try to make another ARCA start with the same team in 2007 ARCA Re/Max Series at the Daytona season-opener, but failed to qualify. This was his last attempt in NASCAR or ARCA until 2014.

In March 2014, Pistone returned to racing after being without a ride for seven years. Now at age 30, Pistone signed to drive the No. 9 Chevrolet Silverado of NTS Motorsports for 14 races. He finished 13th in his debut in the second race of the season, also at Martinsville, where Pistone had tested earlier in the month. Pistone finished a strong 9th in his next start at Gateway after qualifying 5th. In his return to Iowa Speedway, he moved up from the 17th starting spot to finish 12th.

Pistone also drove the No. 31 Chevrolet Camaro for Turner Scott Motorsports (the successor to Braun Racing) in the Nationwide Series in standalone oval races, while regular driver Dylan Kwasniewski takes over Kyle Larson's usual No. 42 Target car. Pistone's first two Nationwide starts in 2014 have both been at Iowa Speedway where he finished 14th and 18th. Pistone also drove the No. 31 at Kentucky Speedway in the fall.

Pistone did not return to either team in 2015 and was without a ride in any series. His return in 2014 ended up being for that one year only, and he has not raced since then.

Team owner career
In addition to his driving career, Pistone also owns CP Inc, building Legends and Late Model stock cars, and offering leasing programs that include cars, crews, and transportation. The company also provides setup tuning, repair services, and camber cut tires. As an owner/builder, Chase has won several championships with various drivers, former NTS Motorsports teammate Gray Gaulding.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nationwide Series

 Season still in progress
 Ineligible for series points

Camping World Truck Series

ARCA Re/Max Series
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

References

External links

Living people
1983 births
Racing drivers from Charlotte, North Carolina
NASCAR drivers
ARCA Menards Series drivers
CARS Tour drivers


title: Jeff Panzer (ice hockey)

text:
Jeff Panzer (born April 7, 1978) is an American former professional ice hockey player.

Panzer was named the United States Hockey League (USHL) Player of the Year for the 1995–96 season. He attended the University of North Dakota from 1998 to 2001, where while playing for their men's ice hockey team, he was named an NCAA First Team All-American and was selected as a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award for both the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 seasons. Panzer was named the 2000–01 WCHA Player of the Year. In 2012, Panzer was named to the College Hockey Weekly "2000s All-Decade First Team".

Panzer went on to play nine seasons of professional hockey, including 281 games in the American Hockey League (AHL) with the Worcester IceCats, Syracuse Crunch and Grand Rapids Griffins.

Awards and achievements

Career statistics

References

External links

Jeff Panzer From Blades to Business (YouTube.com)

1978 births
Living people
Düsseldorfer EG players
Fargo-Moorhead Ice Sharks players
Grand Rapids Griffins players
SC Rapperswil-Jona Lakers players
Syracuse Crunch players
North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's ice hockey players
Worcester IceCats players
American men's ice hockey forwards
AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans
NCAA men's ice hockey national champions


Cold Warrior: James Jesus Angleton: The CIA's Master Spy Hunter is a 1992 book by Tom Mangold about James Jesus Angleton, who served as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterintelligence Staff from 1954 until 1974.

The book is based on interviews, many of them attributed, instead of documentary evidence.

Cold Warrior was the basis for a May 1991 episode of Frontline titled The Spy Hunter.

Reception
Writing in The Washington Post, Charles R. Babcock praised Mangold's research, calling his book "a major revision in the history of American espionage," although he averred that the depiction of Angleton was "one-dimensional." In The New York Times, Joseph Finder hailed Cold Warrior as "fascinating and superbly researched," but stated that the work was unduly slanted against Angleton.

Raymond L. Garthoff of the Brookings Institution stated that in regard to Angleton the book is the "best and most complete and accurate account so far as one can tell." Intelligence scholar Gregory F. Treverton called Cold Warrior a "commanding indictment" of Angleton. CIA Chief Historian David Robarge stated that the book is "the most factually detailed, thoroughly researched study of Angleton" but also criticized what he described as "sinister overtones and shallow psychologizing." Counterintelligence specialist Cleveland Cram highlighted Mangold's research and called Cold Warrior "an honest and accurate book," although he lamented that much material had been cut from earlier drafts of the work.

References

Sources

Further reading
 "COLD WARRIOR: JAMES JESUS ANGLETON, THE C.I.A.'s MASTER SPY HUNTER (Book)" (book review). The New Yorker; 8/19/91, Vol. 67 Issue 26, p78. August 1991. Available from EBSCOHOST. Accession # 10286566.

1992 non-fiction books
Non-fiction books about the Central Intelligence Agency


title: Galería Güemes

text:
The Galería Güemes is a commercial gallery located on Florida Street in the city of Buenos Aires designed in the art nouveau style by Italian architect Francisco Gianotti in 1913.

Gallery

References

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry lived here in 1931, with a seal in his bathtub. In his room in the gallery, wrote the book Night Flight.
Julio Cortázar in his story El otro cielo, included in his book Todos los fuegos el fuego, imagined together the Guemes and Parisian galleries Vivienne, to both circulate the same air, the air they breathe fantasy the two cities of your life.

External links
 Official site

Buildings and structures in Buenos Aires
Tourist attractions in Buenos Aires
Commercial buildings completed in 1913
Art Nouveau architecture in Buenos Aires
Art Nouveau retail buildings
1913 establishments in Argentina


title: HSH Class 72

text:
Class 72 was a single steam locomotive of Hekurudha Shqiptare, the railway company of Albania. The locomotive was built by Maschinenfabrik Esslingen for Dynamit Nobel initially and came to Albania later.

References

Steam locomotives of Albania
0-6-0T locomotives
Standard gauge locomotives of Albania
Railway locomotives introduced in 1941


title: Portsmouth Christian Academy

text:
Portsmouth Christian Academy (PCA) is a private non-denominational Christian school in Dover, New Hampshire, United States. It is the largest non-denominational Christian school in New England and is located on a  riverfront campus in Dover. The school is divided into four sections: Preschool (PCAP), Lower School (K-8), and Upper School (9-12). The Upper School is designed as a college preparatory program.

History
PCA was founded in 1979 by Pastor Peter and Mrs. Bettie Miller and was originally called Bethel Christian Academy (BCA). Based in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, BCA served kindergarten through eighth grades.

In 1992, under the new leadership of then-Headmaster Dennis Runey, the school changed its name to Portsmouth Christian Academy, and by 1995 expanded to include a high school. Jonathan Tymann was hired as the first Principal in 1996 and the first alumnus of PCA graduated in 1997. The first full graduating class was in 1998. In 1999, PCA moved to the current Dover campus and added the gym and Upper School facilities. The new facilities in Dover also provided a venue for a preschool; the first PCAP classes joined the PCA family in the fall of that year.

Curriculum
Portsmouth Christian Academy offers a faith-based education. The school's philosophy of education is based on the classical trivium.

Dual enrollment and Advanced Placement
PCA offers dual enrollment with Southern New Hampshire University. This allows part-time students to earn college credit and high school credit simultaneously. In addition, students may enroll in Advanced Placement courses and take the AP test to earn college credit, which gives a great way to get ahead in college.

Diploma options
PCA students choose from several tracks with result in several diploma options. These include a General Education Diploma, STEM Diploma, Fine Arts Diploma, or a Diploma of Distinction, which recognizes rigorous academic work.

Student body
PCA enrolls 600+ students from New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts.

Extracurricular activities

Athletics
PCA is a Division IV member of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA).

References

Christian schools in New Hampshire
Private high schools in New Hampshire
Private middle schools in New Hampshire
Private elementary schools in New Hampshire
Schools in Strafford County, New Hampshire
Buildings and structures in Dover, New Hampshire


title: AstraQom

text:
AstraQom International is a multi-national holding company that serves the telecommunications sector. The company is a provider of VoIP services and integrated communication solutions.

AstraQom currently provides VoIP services in more than 100 countries, covering 4 major regions: the Americas, Asia-Pacific, and the Europe, Middle East and Africa Region.

Background
AstraQom was founded in 2008 as AstraQom Corporation. In 2009, AstraQom Corp amalgamated with Aon Communications (Canada) Inc., a network development provider based in Ottawa.

In August 2011, the company moved its headquarters to Ottawa, Ontario to consolidate its Canadian offices and establish a headquarters.
In early 2012, the first subsidiary was created as a Canadian VoIP business provider – AstraQom Canada Corporation – a Federal Canadian corporation with main offices in Ottawa, Ontario. That same year, AstraQom's Immersion in Promoting Industry Peers won the 2011 Kamailio (OpenSER) Award.

In April 2012, AstraQom expanded their Hosted PBX client services with the addition of a Virtual Receptionist service. A virtual receptionist service provides a live answering option to small businesses that cannot afford, or do not need, a full-time receptionist. The service uses a toll-free number that is answered by agents who act as receptionists for various companies.

AstraQom Canada, AstraQom International's subsidiary, expanded in December 2013 by acquiring Shi Lian Telecom, a business telephone service provider targeting Chinese-owned businesses in Canada and the United States.

In May 2014, AstraQom moved its global headquarters to Silicon Valley and opened an office in San Jose, California.

Early in 2015, AstraQom Canada moved its headquarters to the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), opening its second Canadian office and 6th international office. The company's Ottawa office now serves as its main network hub. It also started supporting immigrant entrepreneurs, small businesses and diversity initiatives.

Global expansion of AstraQom has included the opening of offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand in 2015, followed by the Philippines and Brazil, in 2016, followed by a move of the company's headquarters to Campbell California.

Services
AstraQom provides a variety of telecom-related services including: Hosted PBX, E-Fax (incoming faxes at no charge), Virtual telephone numbers (over 100 countries covered), Virtual office, A-Z Termination, Vanity Numbers, SIP Trunking.

Its Computer telephony integrations solutions include CRM, Hotel and Call Center software integrated with AstraQom's Hosted PBX.

Coverage
AstraQom offers Voice over IP and a range of integrated solutions to the following regions and countries:

Projects and partnerships
In June 2012, AstraQom partnered with Bios Technologies, a provider of computer and network hardware and services serving the West Quebec and Ottawa areas. Bios became the provider of IP communications solutions to federal and provincial public functions, hospitals and businesses, as a re-seller for AstraQom products and services. Following this, AstraQom expanded its Channel Partner program and currently has hundreds of carefully selected resellers around the world.

See also
 List of VOIP companies

References

Telecommunications companies of Canada
Information technology companies of Canada
VoIP companies of the United Kingdom
VoIP companies of Australia
VoIP companies of Canada


title: Traditional Kalenjin society

text:
Traditional Kalenjin society is the way of life that existed among the Kalenjin-speaking people prior to the advent of the colonial period in Kenya and after the decline of the Chemwal, Lumbwa and other Kalenjin communities in the late 1700s and early 1800s.

The Kalenjin semi-nomadic pastoralist tradition centered on the raising of cattle, sheep and goats and cultivating sorghum and pearl millet is of long standing. It has been dated back as far as the last millennium BC when Kalenjin-speaking communities first arrived in Kenya.

Geographic extent and divisions

The Kalenjin traditionally occupied, and still form the ethnic majority in, parts of geographical Western Kenya and the Rift Valley. The Kipsigis live in areas centered around [Bomet]Kericho, the Nandi around Kapsabet, the Keiyo and Markweta in Kerio Valley and Cherangany Hills. The Tugen inhabit North and South Baringo, the Sabaot and Sebeei areas around Mount Elgon and the Pokot the northern side of Mount Elgon and areas north of Lake Baringo.

Kalenjin territory as a whole was not recognised as a geographic locality; however, the various Kalenjin sub-tribes had a similar set of classifications of geographic localities within their respective tribal lands.

or , equivalent to county, was the highest recognised geographic division among the Kalenjin sections. This unit was identifiable as a political institution but the main work of civil control and administration was done by the  (plural of ). Linguistic evidence indicates that this form of societal organisation dates back to their Southern Nilotic heritage. It is believed that the Southern Nilotes of two thousand years ago cooperated in loose supra-clan groupings, called .

This level of governance was unique to the Nandi section of the Kalenjin. The civil council of the bororiet consisted of elders from the senior-age grades of its constituent . It functioned only to settle problems of common concern to the , such as inter- disputes and matters which a  had failed to settle satisfactorily.

The  was the most significant political and judicial unit among the Kalenjin. The governing body of each  was its  council; the word  was in fact variously used to mean the whole neighbourhood, its council and the place where the council met.

The  elders were the local authority for allocating land for cultivation; they were the body to whom the ordinary member of the tribe would look for a decision in a dispute or problem which defied solution by direct agreement between the parties.

Genealogical divisions
Traditional Kalenjin society was divided into oret (clans). Some of the more widespread  include Toyoi, Tungo, Talai and Kapchepkendi. The members of the clans did not necessarily have a blood tie in common since immigrants into Kalenjin lands would often be accepted into an existing clan. The most notable example of this is the acceptance of members of the Segelai Maasai into the Talai clan among the Nandi.

Social divisions
According to the Kalenjin social system, the male sex is divided into boys, warriors and elders. The female sex is divided into girls and married women. The first stage began at birth and continued till initiation.

Age set ()

All boys who were circumcised together are said to belong to the same . These age sets played a significant role in traditional Kalenjin society since they were used to record time. Once the young men of a particular  came of age, they were tasked with protecting the tribal lands and the society, the period when they were in charge of protection of the society was known as the age of that . There were eight ages in general though this varied between sections as an age-set would temporarily be dropped from use if a disastrous occurrence occurred during the age of the .

As late as the early 1900s, the central Kalenjin groups initiated the same age-set concurrently while the outlying groups were one or at most two steps out of phase. It has been suggested that such synchronization suggests that most or all Kalenjin groups constituted not merely an ethno-linguistic category but a single information-sharing system.

In contemporary times, the age-set system has become a central focus of various academic studies that try to correlate  the method with the Western system of time-reckoning in order to better place historical narratives in time.

Age set names

- *La Fontaine states there are eight "age classes" but lists seven names, the order of which is questionable.

Governance and military
Among the Kalenjin, there were no chiefs of any form. Each village or , usually had a headman, celebrated for his wisdom or his wealth or both. He was henceforth distinguished by the name .

The Nandi adopted the Sengwer system of governance in the early 19th century, selecting an Orkoiyot who held precisely the same position as the Maasai Laibon; that is to say, he was the supreme chief of the entire Nandi section. The Kipsigis would adopt this system of governance from the Nandi in the late 19th century.

Military

Weapons
The arms of the fighting men usually consisted of a spear, shield, sword and club. By the late 19th century, up to four kinds of spears, representing various eras and areas were in use. In Nandi, the  of the Sirkwa era was still in use, though only by old men. It had a short and small leaf-shaped blade with a long socketed shank and a long butt. Two types of the Maasai-era spear, known as , were also in use. Those of the eastern, northern and southern counties had long narrow blades with long iron butt, short socket and short shaft. Those of the central county () had short broad blades with short iron butts. In the western counties, a spear that had a particularly small head, a long shaft and no butt was in use, known as . The pastoral Pokot carried two Maasai-era spears, known as , while the agricultural sections armed themselves with a sword, known as .

Economy
The Kalenjin society was to a large extent self-sufficient in its needs and a significant amount of intra-tribal trade catered for basic wants.

Hunter client
A distinct pattern of trade in traditional Kalenjin economy was the hunter client relationship that was adopted during the Sirikwa era. Within this arrangement, the Okiek would provide produce of the forest that would be exchanged with the Kalenjin for produce of the land. Notable products in this exchange were honey, elephant ivory and rhino ivory.

Smithing
By the early 20th century, there were a number of smiths () in Nandi who spoke both Nandi and Maasai. The smiths gave the following account of their arrival: "After they had lost all their cattle from various causes, the Uasin Gishu Maasai quitted their homes and split up in different directions. Some of those who wandered into Nandi were hospitably received by Arap Sutek who was the only smith in Nandi at the time.

Money
The Kalenjin did not mint their own currency; however, by the late 19th century, and possibly earlier, the rupee (), pice () and cent () were in use among the Kalenjin.

Trade

1. Primarily with the Nandi, the Kipsigis made a liquid snuff which was kept in a snuff box.

Religious beliefs

Religious pillars
Three major religious pillars (the sun, thunder and lightning, and living spirits) were explained to have a bearing on Kalenjin religious beliefs. However, additional pillars that include wild game and human specialists were included recently. All these pillars are subsumed within Kalenjin fears and psychologies controlled by taboos and superstitions.

Asis – the Supreme Being
The Kalenjin were monotheistic worshippers of one Supreme Being—as were many African ethnic groups.

Names of God
The main names for the Supreme Being in Kalenjin mythology were Asis and Cheptalel though other names were also used. For example, the Sabaot used the name Yeeyiin, the Suk used Iilat, the Marakwet used Chebet chebo Chemataw ('daughter of the day'), Cheptalil ('the one who shines') and Chibo Yim ('man of the sky'). Research has found over twelve main names which the Kipsigis used for the deity of their traditional worship. The various names were used to indicate the , the attributes of their deity, much like Jah, Jehovah and Adonai are used in Judeo-Christian faith.

Deities
Kalenjin natural philosophy describes two principal deities, Asis and Ilat. Among the southern sections of the Kalenjin, however, there are three principal supernatural beings since Ilat's dual nature is identified as two separate deities, Ilet ne-mie and Ilet ne-ya.

Ilat/Ilet is associated with thunder and rain. He is said to inhabit deep pools and waterfalls and that the rainbow is his discarded garments. Among the Nandi, Ilet ne-mie and Ilet ne-ya respectively are good and a bad thunder gods. The crashing of thunder near at hand is said to be Ilet ne-ya trying to come to earth to kill people while the distant rumbling of thunder is Ilet ne-mie protecting man by driving away his namesake. Forked lightning is the sword of Ilet ne-ya, while sheet lightning is said to be the sword of Ilet ne-mie.

Places of worship
The Kalenjin traditionally did not build a structure for worship, "as it was felt that this would have reduced His power and would have limited it to a particular building".
They did, however, have three main places of traditional worship.

 , which was a hilltop set aside for worship by the Kalenjin. When the Kalenjin or the various sections would settle at a place, one hilltop would be set aside for worship. As the tribe expanded and people moved further away from this point, other hilltops would be set aside as being sacred. Evidently, the first  took place very soon after the Kalenjin settled in Kenya—or even long before that time. People gathered on average once a year at , where worship would be led by the priests, known as .
  is a term used by the Kipsigis section for the family altar or prayer tree which was positioned to the east of the house as one exited from the door. The Nandi and Keiyo sections called it . This was a duplicate of the one at  and was the centre for worship and ceremonies connected with the home and family.
  is a Kalenjin term used for the intersection of two or more paths or roads.  is used for the place where four paths or roads branch off. Years ago when a crossroad was being used for a ceremony or practice, it was considered to be a shrine. It was remembered ever afterwards that the spot had been used for the removal of something bad. Children were not allowed to go near a shrine at an intersection. Casting a leaf at  was a form of prayer to Asis to drive away disease.

Traditional knowledge

is a Kalenjin traditional process of teaching its members appropriate behavior, knowledge, skills, attitudes, virtues, religion and moral standards.  provides parameters that are used to determine what is acceptable and normal and what is not acceptable, and therefore abnormal. Though carried out throughout an individual's lifetime, it is formalized during  (circumcision) and subsequent  (initiation).

Medicine
Traditional Kalenjin medicine recognized both supernatural and technical skills, with male practitioners more associated with the former and female practitioners with the latter. When a person fell ill, it was attributed to an angry spirit, often of a relation, and a cleansing ceremony was performed following which treatment was carried out. Medicines were made out of bark, roots and leaves of various trees and plants. Surgery was practiced and limbs skillfully set and amputated. Cupping therapy was frequently made use of and wounds were at times cauterized using a fire-stick.

The Nandi  corresponds to an ordinary medical practitioner. In fact, Nandi doctors of the 21st century are called . Both males and females could attend this role, except in the special class of midwives () which were attended to only by females. Though they charged fees, these were not payable unless or until the patient recovered. The medicinal properties and preparations of plants were a secret handed down from father to son or from mother to daughter. The Nandi  could perform minor operations including bleeding, cupping and bone-setting but in the case of major operations, a specialist was called in from Terik. In the early 20th century it was noted that the Terik "specialists perform(ed) operations of some magnitude".

Astronomy
Pokot knowledge of various heavenly bodies has been captured within Kalenjin mythology. Among the Nandi, some of these terms are shared. The Milky Way is known as  (literally 'sea of stars'), the morning star , the midnight star , and Orion's belt . The Milky Way was traditionally perceived as a great lake in which children are bathing and playing. However, there are indications that there was an awareness of the movement of the stars. For instance, the Evening star is called the Okiek's star –  – because it was by its appearance, in times past, that the wives of the Okiek knew that their husbands were shortly to return home. Further, there are indications that this movement of stars was sometimes linked to earthly concerns. Here, it was by the appearance or non-appearance of the Pleiades –  – that the Nandi knew whether or not to expect a good or a bad harvest. Sometimes superstitions were held regarding certain events. A halo –  – was traditionally said to represent a cattle stockade. At least as of the early 20th century, a break occurring on the east side was considered to be unlucky while one on the west side was seen to be lucky. A comet –  or  – was at the same time regarded as the precursor of a great misfortune.

Customs

Initiation

The practice of initiation straddled many aspects of traditional Kalenjin society, being a cycle in the traditional calendar (roughly equivalent to a century) and playing a significant role in military tradition during the Maasai era.

The Nandi have a tradition that the first man who practiced circumcision in Nandi is said to have been one Kipkenyo who came from  a country called Do (other accounts To, indicating the intervocalic Kalenjin *d sound – closest pronunciation ).

This corresponds with linguistic studies which indicate a period of significant cultural transfer between Southern Nilotes and Eastern Cushities prior to Southern Nilotic entry into western Kenya.

Linguistic studies place this point of cultural interaction at a place located near the common border between the Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia. This corresponds with the location mentioned in the narrative i.e. Tuluet-ap-Seike (today Mt Sekker).

Marriage
A man was usually in his mid-twenties when he married. As males were circumcised only at twelve- to fifteen-year intervals, the youngest age for circumcision of boys was about thirteen years old. Occasionally a boy was married in his teens where his father was wealthy or old and had no other sons who could inherit his property.
Similarly, a girl was never married until she had been circumcised. Female initiation ceremonies took place every year from about a month after rains () March until () September so that there would be plenty of food for them. A bride would usually be in her mid- or late teens and would have been circumcised within the previous two to three years, having spent the intervening period in strict seclusion.

Arrangement of marriage
The first marriage of a man and a girl was arranged by their parents or guardians accordingly to the prospective bridegroom; a man with a marriageable daughter was obliged to wait until approached with an offer of marriage. On the other hand, a young man could ask his father to procure a wife for him he could name the particular girl of his choice. Polygamy was practiced by the tribe.

Bride price: The bride's father stated the bride price () which varied slightly in amount from clan to clan but not within a particular clan. It would be in the region of two herd of cattle (one heifer and one ox) and three sheep and or goats.

Ceremony
Traditionally, the wedding was officiated by an elder; the bride and groom would be blessed by four people carrying bouquets of the sinendet (traditionally auspicious plant) who would form a procession and go round the couple four times. Finally the bride and groom would bind a sprig of sekutiet (traditionally auspicious plant) onto each other's wrists. This was followed by feasting and dancing.

Female-female marriages
Female-female marriages within the Nandi culture have been reported, although it is unclear if they are still practiced, and only about three percent of Nandi marriages are female-female. Female-female marriages are a socially approved way for a woman to take over the social and economic roles of a husband and father. They were allowed only in cases where a woman either had no children of her own, had daughters only (one of them could be "retained" at home) or her daughter(s) had married off. The system was practiced "to keep the fire"—in other words, to sustain the family lineage, or patriline, and was a way to work around the problem of infertility or a lack of male heirs. A woman who married another woman for this purpose had to undergo an "inversion" ceremony to "change" into a man. This biological woman, now socially male, became a "husband" to a younger female and a "father" to the younger woman's children, and had to provide a bride price to her wife's family. She was expected to renounce her female duties (such as housework), and take on the obligations of a husband; additionally, she was allowed the social privileges accorded to men, such as attending the private male circumcision ceremonies. No sexual relations were permitted between the female husband and her new wife (nor between the female husband and her old husband); rather, the female husband chose a male consort for the new wife so she will be able to bear children. The wife's children considered the female husband to be their father, not the biological father, because she (or "he") was the socially designated father.

Festivals and games
As elsewhere in Africa and the rest of the world, the Kalenjin celebrated various festivals and Kalenjin children had toys and played at different games.

was a harvest festival observed during the months of September and October which was during the time of the ripening of the eleusine grain (finger millet) and after it had been harvested. Even in contemporary times, this period usually marks the start of the harvest of the long rains grain crop in the western Kenyan regions. This is the main harvest of the country.

During , which occurred in September and after which the month was named, each owner of a plantation would go with her daughters into the cornfields and make a bonfire of the branches and leaves of the  and  trees. Some eleusine was then plucked and one grain fixed in the necklace whilst another was rubbed on the forehead, throat and breast by each woman and girl. No joy was shown by the womenfolk on this occasion and they sorrowfully cut a basketful of the grain which they took home with them and placed in the loft to dry. A few days later, porridge made from the new grain was served with milk at the evening meal, and all the members of the family would take some of the food and dab it on the walls and roofs of the huts. The head of the household would then hold some eleusine grain in his hand and would offer up a prayer with everybody present repeating the words after him.

During the month of October, after the gathering of the harvest, the  or  ceremony would be held. This festival was a community-wide celebration that was observed locally, i.e. each  would hold its own feast on top of a hill or in a large open plain. The festival featured feasting with a particular feature being a roast that made use of four different types of wood as fuel; a large bonfire would first be made using  and  wood, on top of which  and  shrubs would be thrown. There was often also dancing of various styles such as , a warriors' dance, and , an old people's dance. The musical accompaniments usually included lyres, pipes and the  drums.

After the ceremony, women would go down to the river and pick two stones from the river, one which they would keep in their water jar and one in their granaries until the next  festival. The festival was described as 'obsolescent' in 1950.

Children's games
Small children were fond of building huts in the sand and would collect snails, pebbles and solanum berries to represent cows, sheep and goats. Small boys also played mock war games, arming themselves with wooden spears and shields and clubs made of bulrushes. Small girls made dolls out of the fruit of the sausage tree and dressed these up in skins and necklaces and bracelets made of seeds. Other games little children played included  (frog) and , where ten to twenty children would sit in a circle and pass a piece of live charcoal behind them. One child stood outside the circle and tried to guess who had the charcoal.

Youth and adult pastimes
Youth and adults also had favorite pastimes. Big boys and girls sometimes had mock circumcision festivals but since children were not allowed to talk of circumcision, they called it branding. Other games included  (shooting the bow, which was said to represent the bleeding of oxen),  (high jump) and  (lifting the spear).

, the almost universal game of bao, was sometimes played by adults, though they did not make a board containing compartments as do many Bantu tribes but rather made holes in the earth in which they circulated seeds.

Divisions of time

The Kalenjin year () started in February. It had two seasons known as  (pl. ) and was divided into twelve months,  (pl. ).

Seasons ()
The first season of the year,  (), was the wet season and ran from March to August. The dry season,  (), ran from September to February.

The  and  harvest ceremonies were held in September and October, respectively, to mark the change in seasons.

Months ()

References

Notes

Sources

Kalenjin


title: Gehana Vasisth

text:
Vandana Tiwari known by her stage name Gehana Vasisth, is an Indian actress, model, and television presenter. After working for several brands as a model, she was crowned as Miss Asia Bikini.

Early life and background
Vasisth was born in Chirimiri, Chhattisgarh. Her mother, Meena Tiwari is a housewife and her father, Rajendra Tiwari was an education officer.

She has one younger sister Namrata and two younger brothers Vedant and Sankalp Tiwari. Her friends call her by the nickname Zindagi.

Career
Gehana worked as a model for many international brands. She did about 70 advertisements. She won the Miss Asia Bikini contest of 2012. She did more than 80 advertisements. She later entered the film industry through lead role in a film called Filmy Duniya and she also worked in few telugu films as a "item song". later she performed a handful of lead roles. Also, she has worked in many web series including Gandi Baat season 3 on Alt Balaji.

Television
She was introduced as an anchor in Sahara One Television Channel. Later she did a role in the serial Behenein on Star Plus and appeared as VJ on True Life show on MTV India.

Filmography

References

External links

Living people
Actresses in Hindi cinema
Actresses in Telugu cinema
Indian film actresses
Female models from Madhya Pradesh
Actresses from Chhattisgarh
Actresses in Tamil cinema
21st-century Indian actresses
Female models from Chhattisgarh
Year of birth missing (living people)


title: Pat Sawilowsky

text:
Patricia Audrey "Pat" Sawilowsky (née Ram) (December 29, 1930 – September 29, 2014) was a past president of the National Ladies Auxiliary of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, and held offices in many other service and charitable organizations. She was also the subject of a chapter titled, "Special People and Places" in Riddick's history of Aiken, South Carolina. She was the mother of Norma Cahen, a past president of the Early Childhood Educators of Reform Judaism and Shlomo Sawilowsky.

Jaycees
Jaycees (United States Junior Chamber) is a non-profit corporation established in 1920 to develop leadership skills via service to the public. The Jaycees fundraising efforts supports many charitable organizations, and they have built hospitals, parks, and playgrounds. Sawilowsky served as the president of the Aiken, South Carolina chapter of the Jaycee's Women's auxiliary (JCetts)(her husband, Jacob Jack Sawilowsky, 1930 - 1980, served as president of the Aiken Jaycees as well), and as the president of the state of South Carolina JCetts in 1964.

International Toastmistress
Toastmistress (an independent organization not affiliated with Toastmasters International) is a world-wide nonprofit educational organization whose mission is to train people in leadership roles. It was reincorporated under the name of International Training in Communication (ITC) or POWERtalk International. Sawilowsky joined the St. Petersburg, Florida club in 1969. She served as president of the local chapter; president of the 1st Council area; president of the Sunshine Region including the states of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina, and the Bahamas (1978-1979); and international convention chair (1988).

During her membership, she won the Toastmistress Club of St. Petersburg, Florida Speech Contest multiple times (1969, 1971, 1973), and placed 2nd place in the regional Speech Contest.

American Business Women's Association
Sawilowsky was named Woman of the Year (1977) by the St. Petersburg, Florida Chapter of the American Business Women's Association, an organization incorporated in 1949 of businesswomen from diverse occupations that provides opportunities for professional growth through leadership and education.

Jewish War Veterans Women's Auxiliary
Sawilowsky was awarded medals by the Jewish War Veterans Auxiliary Florida Chapter from 1993 - 1997 for her leadership in various initiatives, including

Child Welfare
Mental Health
Americanism
Hospital

She was honored as the Florida Chapter Woman of Valor in 2002. She served as President of the Broward/Palm Beach County Ladies Auxiliary of Jewish War Veterans in 2002-2003.

Plantation Unit of Parliamentarians
Sawilowsky was a board member of the Plantation (Broward County) chapter of the non-profit National Association of Parliamentarians. The NAP began in 1930 and has a membership of over 3,500 parliamentarians.

March of Dimes and American Heart Association
Sawilowsky served as executive director of the National Foundation of March of Dimes St. Petersburg, Florida chapter. She was honored in 1981 by Pinellas County Schools for her service to the community. She also served as Executive Director of the American Heart Association in St. Petersburg and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. She raised millions of dollars for these two charities.

AARP
In retirement, Sawilowsky also served as a District Director of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

References

1930 births
2014 deaths
American Reform Jews
People from Aiken, South Carolina
Women nonprofit executives


title: Josef Luitz

text:
Josef Luitz (born 2. August 1934 in Vienna) is an Austrian cellist and cello teacher. He was solo cellist of the NÖ Tonkünstlerorchester and is co-founder of the international chamber music festival  Allegro Vivo.

Biography
He spent his childhood in Gablitz near Vienna. His father was music director of the 1. Gablitzer Musikverein. He first became an apprentice to an instrument maker.

After finishing his apprenticeship he took a job as adjuster for automatic lathes. In his spare time he took cello lessons with Walther Kleinecke and studied with Professor Nikolaus Hübner.

He began his cello career as principal cellist of the NÖ Tonkünstlerorchester, and later advanced to the post of solo cellist.
Apart from his solo performances he was involved in many chamber music ensembles and also became teacher of cello at the Konservatorium Vienna.

Josef Luitz is married to Edelgard Sonja Luitz and has two children:  Joachim (1967) and Angelika (1968).

Engagements
 1957-62 Tonkünstler Orchestra, principal cellist
 1962-99 1st solo cellist of the Tonkünstler Orchestra
 1972-99 Konservatorium Wien, teacher for cello
 1988-89 University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, teacher for chambermusic

Membership in chamber music ensembles
 1962-63 Streichtrio of the Tonkünstler Orchestra
 1963-68 Haydn Quartett Vienna with Thomas Kakuska
 1968-75 Ensemble Kontrapunkte (mainly contemporary music)
 1972-77 Philharmonia Quintett (with Wolfgang Poduschka)
 seit 1977 Tonkünstler Kammerorchester - Academia Allegro Vivo, co-founder, president and solo cellist of this orchestra
 1978-95 Concordia Trio (piano trio) with Harald Ossberger and Erich Schagerl

Courses and Seminars
 since 1979 International Chamber Music Festival Austria Allegro Vivo (co-founder and president)
 1981-86 Mid summernight festival in Umeå, Sweden, cello and chamber music
 1985-92 Summer seminars for music teachers in Tullnerbach and Zeillern
 1989-93 Wiener MusikSeminar (international mastercourse)
 1992-	Wiener Musikverein-Nagano, Japan - seminars, chamber music and orchestra

Honors and awards

 1994: Silver Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria
 1997: Gold Decoration for Services to the country of Lower Austria
 2000: Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
 2009: culture prize of the city of Horn

Discography (excerpt)
 Composers of the court of the Holy Roman Empire: G. Muffat, G. C. Wagenseil, J. J. Fux and J. J. Froberger (MHS 601, 1965?)
 Masters of the French Baroque von Jean-Marie Leclair (MHS 655, 1966)
 Rococo delights von Hilde Langfort (1966)
 Spohr Nonet in F, Op. 31, Double-Quartett in E minor, op. 87 (DECCA SSD416, 1974)
 Four sonatas for flute and continuo von Johann Joachim Quantz (MHS 1038, 1979)
 Josef Matthias Hauer (Dokumentationsreihe des Österreichischen Komponistenbundes 1 Vol. 11, 1972)
 F. Schubert: Atzenbrugger Tänze (EMI C05-33232, 1978)
 Caprice Viennois (1985)
 Musik für Streicher (1988)
 Tanztheater 1975-2000 von Peer Raben (BMG Ariola Classics, 2004)
 Duo für Violine und Violoncello von Maximilian Kreuz (Kulinarium Wien - ÖGZM, ?)
 String quartet no. 2a von Nancy Van de Vate (Vienna Modern Masters, 2010)
 Cant del ocells (2011)
 String quartet no. 10 von Don Walker (Vienna Modern Masters, 2013)

Bibliography
Die Diskografie wird von Beiträgen in Büchern ergänzt:
„Internationales Kammermusik Festival Austria – Allegro Vivo“ (1988)
„Allegro Vivo – Das Waldviertel als Musikviertel“ (1993)
„Fortissimo für die Kammermusik“ (Bibliothek der Provinz 2003)
„Allegro Vivo in Bewegung“ (2009)
 Musikhandbuch für Österreich (Hg. ÖGM, Doblinger, 2009)

Between 1998 und 2007 Josef Luitz interviewed numerous artist for the Austrian Music.

Sources

Living people
Austrian male musicians
Austrian classical cellists
Recipients of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria
Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art
Year of birth missing (living people)


title: Chris de Broglio

text:
Chris de Broglio (May 14, 1930 – July 12, 2014) was a Mauritian-born South African weightlifter and anti-Apartheid activist. De Broglio, who advocated for an end to racism in sports, played a key role within the movement to expel South Africa from the Olympics in 1970, during the height of country's Apartheid era. He joined with Dennis Brutus to co-found the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (San-Roc). According to Nelson Mandela, the expulsion of South Africa in the 1970s revitalized the anti-Apartheid movement at the time and ultimately led to the end of Apartheid twenty years later.

De Broglio was born Marie Christian Dubruel de Broglio in Mauritius on May 14, 1930, to Maurice and Suzanne de Broglio. He took up weightlifting after a longterm, mysterious illness originally left him smaller than other kids his age. de Broglio originally moved to South Africa to study accounting.

De Broglio was a South African weightlifting champion from 1950 until 1962. He competed at the World Championships in Sweden in 1958 and Vienna, Austria, in 1961. However, he was disturbed that white and black weightlifters were forbidden from competing or training together in South Africa. During his tenure as the chairman and secretary of both the Natal and Transvaal Weightlifting Associations, de Broglio organized multi-racial weightlifting competitions, which were illegal under Apartheid.

In the early 1960s, de Broglio, who was employed by UTA, a French airline at the time, arranged for the chairman of the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (San-Roc),  John Harris, to secretly leave South Africa. Harris testified against the Apartheid system before the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which resulted in the exclusion of South Africa from participation in the 1964 Summer Olympics. (Harris would later be executed for his role in the bombing of a white-only section of the Johannesburg Park Station). In 1963, de Broglio's organization, San-Roc, successfully lobbied for the suspension of South Africa from international football. de Broglio was placed under state surveillance and forced into exile in London, settling in Twickenham. There, de Broglio and others reestablished San-Roc in the basement of the Portman Court Hotel in Marble Arch. De Broglio organized a San-Roc boycott of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City by a number of African and Asian nations.

In 1997, de Broglio was awarded the Olympic Order for his work against racism in athletics and his defense of the Olympic Charter.

De Broglio lived in Corsica during his later life. He frequented the gym until he was 80 years old. He died on July 12, 2014, at the age of 84. His first wife, June Von Solms, whom he married in 1954 and with whom he had six children, died in 1982. He was survived by his children and his second wife, Renee de Broglio, whom he married in 1988.

References

1930 births
2014 deaths
White South African anti-apartheid activists
South African male weightlifters
Recipients of the Olympic Order
South African exiles
Sport and apartheid in South Africa
South African people of Mauritian descent
Mauritian emigrants to South Africa
People from Corsica
South African expatriates in France
Sportspeople from Twickenham
British Mauritius people


title: HSH Class T211.0

text:
Class T211 was a series of diesel locomotive, used Hekurudha Shqiptare, the railway company of Albania. Some sources said 4 locomotives were delivered. However, only two locomotives were ever seen in Albania. The locomotives are almost identical to the T-211's delivered to ČSD.

References

Diesel locomotives of Albania
Standard gauge locomotives of Albania


title: Alexander Kops

text:
Alexander Kops (born 23 November 1984) is a Dutch politician serving as a member of the House of Representatives since 2017. A member of the Party for Freedom (PVV), a nationalist, right-wing populist  political party in the Netherlands. He previously was a member of the Senate from 2014 to 2017.

Biography
Kops was born on 23 November 1984 in Leidschendam. In 2003, he received his propaedeutics in teacher education (German language teaching) at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. Kops then went to the Leiden University, where he obtained an MA degree in German language and culture in 2009. From 2008 to 2010, he worked as a German teacher at a high school in Leiderdorp. In the 2010 general election, he stood for the Party for Freedom, but as he was number 27 on the list he was not chosen. His contract at the high school was not renewed. In early 2011 he started as a policy worker for the Party for Freedom at the European Parliament. On 1 July 2014 he ended his contract there; on 8 July he was made member of the Senate. In the Senate he succeeded Marcel de Graaff, who had been elected to the European Parliament.

In the 2015 Senate election he held place fourteen on the Party for Freedom list, the party gained nine seats and Kops was elected on the base of preference votes. He gained the most votes of any Party for Freedom candidate. From 26 March 2015 until 12 April 2017 Kops concurrently served in the States of Overijssel. In the 2017 general election, he held place nineteen on the party's list. He was elected to the House of Representatives and subsequently resigned from the Senate. He took up his seat on 23 March 2017.

References

1984 births
Living people
21st-century Dutch politicians
Dutch educators
Leiden University alumni
Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
Members of the Provincial Council of Overijssel
Members of the Senate (Netherlands)
Party for Freedom politicians
People from Leidschendam
20th-century Dutch people