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Belgian Court Dismisses Russia's Attempt to Block Yukos Awards Enforcement Proceedings - international litigation blog
Belgian Court Dismisses Russia's Attempt to Block Yukos Awards Enforcement Proceedings
December 21, 2016 In Annulment of arbitral awards, Recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards By Quentin Decleve
Despite the fact that I had initially told myself that I would not write about the Yukos (Yukos) case before 2017, my wish has evaporated after the Brussels Court of First Instance handed down its judgment on the matter earlier than expected (click here, for an analysis of the background of the case).
In short, in its judgment of 9 December 2016, the Brussels Court of First Instance found that Russia's attempt to block the enforcement of Yukos Universal Ltd (YUL)'s award was inadmissible. Unfortunately (for the sake of the debate) the court therefore didn't examine the merits of the case.
As I had reported earlier, the Belgian exequatur of the award rendered in YUL's favour had initially been granted by the Brussels Court of First Instance on 24 June 2015. However, this had been done through an ex parte procedure which did not allow Russia to take part in the proceedings and to make itself heard. Subsequently, Russia filed a third-party opposition against this order for exequatur with the effect that the parties were brought back before the same court for a new hearing and new deliberations.
However, during this new hearing, YUL argued that Russia's third party opposition was inadmissible. In order to substantiate its argument, YUL relied on the fact that the arbitral tribunal had been seated in the Netherlands and therefore a 1925 bilateral convention between Belgium and the Netherlands on (among other things) the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards (the Belgium-Netherlands Convention) applied to the enforcement of the award in Belgium. According to YUL, this Belgium-Netherlands Convention explicitly provided that an order granting exequatur of an arbitral award was only subject to appeal and not to third-party proceedings like the one initiated by Russia.
Against this position, the Russian Federation put forward four arguments. All of those arguments, however, were dismissed by the Brussels Court of First Instance. Although those arguments have already been discussed before, I have briefly summarized them below and will give a short explanation of the Court of First Instance's response.
Firstly, Russia had argued that YUL had explicitly opted to have the arbitral award enforced under Belgian law as it had – in its initial unilateral motion seeking exequatur – opted for an application of Article III of the New York Convention. Thereby, Russia argued that YUL had waived the possibility (under Article VII of the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (the New York Convention)) to invoke the application of the Belgium-Netherland Convention.
The Court of First Instance dismissed this argument and found that the New York Convention did not provide for any exclusive application of either Article III or Article VII of the New York Convention. The Court found on the contrary that both provisions had to be read in relationship with one another. Furthermore, quite logically, the Court of First Instance found that the Belgium-Netherlands Convention preempted the application of Belgian law because of the supremacy of international law.
Secondly, Russia also argued that the Belgium-Netherlands Convention was not applicable to the case at hand because it only applied to cases of a civil and commercial nature while this case was first and foremost a tax and expropriation case.
The Court of First Instance dismissed the argument finding that the issue of admissibility in cases of recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards was different from the issue regarding the merits of the case. While the discussion on the alleged tax and expropriation nature of the case could have been analysed if the merits of the case had been examined, this debate did not apply in the discussions on the admissibility of Russia's third-party opposition.
Thirdly, Russia had argued that the Belgium-Netherlands Convention was only applicable to adversarial proceedings and did not apply to ex parte proceedings as initiated by YUL in 2015. There was, therefore, nothing to prevent Russia from filing a third-party opposition instead of an appeal against the order of 24 June 2015.
The Court of First Instance refused to follow the argument and found that the Belgium-Netherlands Convention only made adversarial proceedings mandatory in cases regarding the recognition of foreign judgments and not in cases regarding the recognition of arbitral awards.
Fourthly and finally, Russia argued that the Belgium-Netherlands Convention had fallen into disuse. Relying on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties as well as case-law from Belgian jurisdictions (which still applied the Belgium-Netherlands Convention), the Court of First Instance ruled that this argument could not be followed as nothing suggested that Belgium had ever attempted to revoke the application of the Belgium-Netherlands Convention in Belgian law. Therefore the Belgium-Netherlands Convention was still fully in force and applicable.
All in all, this judgment is definitely a landmark episode in the enforcement of YUL's award in Belgium. While it remains to be seen which steps will now be taken by Russia, it will be interesting to see the implications that this judgment will have on the other proceedings (pending before another Chamber of the Brussels Court of First Instance) in which Russia is challenging the legality of the seizures conducted by YUL. Stay posted…
In the meantime, let me wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
José Rafael Mata Dona
According to article 1122 of the Belgian Code of Civil Procedure, it is possible to file a third-party opposition against a judgement delivered by a civil court or a criminal court. The Belgian Constitutional Court has recently held the aforementioned provision as incompatible with articles 10 and 11 of the Belgian Constitution in that it pre-empts the opposition of affected third parties against the order of exequatur of an arbitral award (See its decision n° 21/2017 of Feb 16, 2017).
The Tribunal of First Instance of Brussels recently rejected Russia's third-party opposition against the order of exequatur of the Yukos Ltd award granted in 2015. The TFI applied a bilateral convention between Belgium and the Netherlands which explicitly provides that an arbitral award is not subject to third-party proceedings. In this regard the TFI considered article VII of the New York Convention, which provides that the New York Convention "shall not affect the validity of multilateral or bilateral agreements concerning the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards entered into by the Contracting States, nor deprive any interested party of any right".
Would had at that time the admission of Russia's third-party opposition been incompatible with the Belgian Constitution? To be the case, the bilateral convention between Belgium and the Netherlands should have provided for third-party opposition against the exequatur of arbitral awards. It did not. But had it done, it could have been considered as pre-empting the application of the Belgian law.
After the decision of the Constitutional Court, I ask myself the following question:
Could Russia have foreseen the enforcement of an unfavourable award in Belgium? If so, could Russia have been expected to know the bilateral convention between Belgium and the Netherlands?
For your considerations, I transcript below the rationale of the Constitutional Court in its decision.
"B.6.2 Le règlement judiciaire des conflits et la voie de l'arbitrage sont des modes de règlement des litiges distincts qui obéissent à des règles de procédure différentes. En choisissant l'arbitrage, les parties acceptent de soumettre leur litige à des règles de procédure propres, notamment en ce qui concerne les possibilités de recours contre la sentence arbitrale, en pleine connaissance des avantages et des inconvénients qui découlent de ce choix.
B.7.1. En revanche, les tiers à la convention d'arbitrage n'ont pas choisi ce mode de règlement du litige et ne peuvent donc être réputés en avoir accepté les conséquences sur leurs droits. Or, les possibilités pour les tiers au litige de s'opposer à la présomption de vérité attaché à la décision qui met fin à ce litige, présomption qui peut porter atteinte à leurs droits, varient en fonction du choix procédural posé par les parties et sur lequel les tiers n'ont aucune emprise."
That being said, Russia filed the third opposition in Belgium against the order of exequatur of the Yukos Ltd award not because it was not a party to the arbitration, which it obviously was. But because the exequatur was granted to Yukos Ltd in Belgium as a result of a unilateral proceeding.
Quentin Decleve
Thank you José.
Indeed, this judgment by the Belgian Constitutional Court will be the topic of a post that I will publish in the coming days.
However, as you rightly point out, I don't think that this judgment applies to the Yukos case since Russia was not a third party to the arbitration proceedings. In that case, Russia was only a third party to the initial recognition and enforcement proceedings carried out in Belgium.


The rapid decline in the prices of photovoltaic systems is leading to a deployment at a scale where PV generation starts making a significant impact on power systems. The speed of this impact is faster than most in the power industry and even in the PV industry had expected. Integration in power systems is becoming the main barrier to the growth of PV generation in some regions.
At the same time, PV systems can present opportunities to reduce stress and losses in existing grids, and to form the building blocks of new ones.
This working group aims at bridging the gap between the PV and power industries and providing recommendations from a technical perspective on the actions to be taken to enable massive levels of PV generation to be optimally integrated in the power systems. Our work is global in perspective and its main intended audience is the European industry and R&D sector.


Greek yogurt or strained yogurt is a kind of yogurt that has been strained enough so that most of the whey has been removed from it, leaving it with a thicker consistency than regular yogurt. It is as sour as regular yogurt and is generally considered to be healthier than regular yogurt, thanks to the lower fat content. It is widely used in the cuisines of many different parts of the world and is not necessarily a Greek specialty. However, although healthier, yogurt, including Greek yogurt, is generally difficult to process food, which makes it necessary to know when to consume it. Eating Greek yogurt at any time of the day, and in immoderate quantities, can lead to health issues, however temporary. To know which the best time to eat Greek yogurt is, read on.
Greek yogurt is definitely a godsend in the mornings, especially in super hectic mornings when you must be on the run but should not skip on the most important meal of the day- breakfast. The traditional oats and yogurt mix get a nice, tart twist with Greek yogurt; because this variety of yogurt is made from full-fat milk, the texture is creamier and fuller, and will definitely keep you feeling full indulgent for a longer period of time. Besides, Greek yogurt is full of the healthy fats and calcium that whole milk contains, not to mention oodles of protein, and all of these make it a great breakfast choice.
In fact, there is no reason why you should limit your Greek yogurt fueled happiness only in the mornings. Mix things up a bit and opt for a heavy lunch cooked with Greek yogurt. We all crave for something a little creamy at lunch, when our energy levels start to dip, along with satiety. Instead of slathering your dish with mayonnaise, tartar, or tahini, opt for the far healthier Greek yogurt instead. It is full of proteins and gives you the healthy fats that are such an essential part of every diet. You will be checking off a number of items on the list of nutritional requirements of the day with a mere cupful of Greek yogurt, and you will be guilt free even after enjoying a frankly indulgent-appearing lunch.
Dairy does not usually sit with us well at night when our digestive processes slow down significantly. But that is not true for Greek yogurt, which is lower in fat content and higher in proteins. As a result, our body finds it easier to process Greek yogurt, and we will not be left with an upset stomach or an acidity-riddled sleep.
Greek yogurt is extremely versatile. Its blank taste makes it the perfect base for all kinds of dishes- sweet, sour, savory, crunchy, and creamy. Whip up a creamy salad with assorted fruits or vegetables, or make a delicious and non-sinful cold pasta. It also makes a great base for lean meats, and can also be used to marinate meats and fishes for a better texture and taste.


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Tag: Michael Richards
10 Finales That Dropped the Ball – Joker Op-Ed
Sometimes a show just can't keep the quality up to the end. A lot of the times shows go downhill for a while after they start running low on ideas, and sometimes they just won't give up and die with dignity. However, even if the writing is on the wall and you're given a year to plan to go out, you can still screw it all up with a bad ending.
For this entry, I am going to make two caveats:
The episode has to be intended as a finale. That means either it's clear the production team knew the show was over, or didn't have reason to believe it was going to keep going. So cliffhangers don't count unless they were made AFTER the show was cancelled. Additionally, if an episode was meant to be the finale, but the network aired it out of order, only the intended finale counts.
If the show was rebooted later, the original finale still counts.
Also, The Sopranos is not going to be on here, because I have a long-running theory that makes me like that finale, and I refuse to debate it right now. If I'm wrong, then… well, it sucks.
But I'm not wrong and the ending is fine.
RUNNER UP: Of Course He's Dead (Two and a Half Men)
The Show: Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen) is a jingle writer who lives a hedonistic lifestyle. His brother, Alan (Jon Cryer), and nephew Jake (Angus T. Jones) move in after Alan's wife leaves him. Eventually, after Charlie dies, his house is bought by billionaire Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), who lets Alan and Jake stay. Eventually Jake leaves and Charlie's unknown biological daughter Jenny (Amber Tamblyn) moves in.
I don't want to assemble cast photos, so I'm just using this one.
The Finale: Alan receives a letter from a lawyer saying that Charlie has millions in unclaimed royalties, but can't find Charlie's death certificate. It turns out that Charlie is actually alive, having been kept prisoner by his crazy stalker Rose (Melanie Lynskey), after she caught him in bed with a goat. Alan, Jake, and Walden start to receive threats and the police tell them that they caught Charlie, but it's actually Christian Slater. Charlie approaches the house, but a piano he ordered crushes him. The camera then shows creator Chuck Lorre, who says "winning!" then is crushed by a second piano.
It's Meta, but not in a good way.
This doesn't make the list because this show had pretty much lost all of its quality when Charlie Sheen left. The writers never figured out what to do with Walden or Jenny, constantly shifting their characters, and it just kind of limped on for four years. Ensemble casts exist on relationships and when you can't keep characters consistent, then the relationships can't be consistent. However, dedicating your finale to throwing a tantrum at Charlie Sheen over him being a d*ck doesn't really age well, particularly since it's been revealed that Sheen's behavior was related to him being diagnosed HIV positive. While the viewers would have understood what was happening at the time, I think anyone that watches this in a decade (if anyone does) probably won't get what the hell happened and it'll just seem like a waste of time.
10) These are the Voyages… (Star Trek: Enterprise)
The Show: This show takes place before any previous Star Trek series, in the 22nd century, aboard the spaceship Enterprise, the first vessel capable of real, effective interstellar exploration by humanity. The crew includes Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), Science Officer T'Pol (Jolene Blalock), Chief Engineer Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer), Tactical Officer Reed (Dominic Keating), Communications Officer Sato (Linda Park), Helmsman Mayweather (Anthony Montgomery), and Medical Officer Dr. Phlox (John Billingsley).
The uniforms somehow are better and worse than other shows.
The Finale: Taking place in the 24th Century, Star Trek: The Next Generation characters William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) are looking for guidance on an issue (the TNG Episode "The Pegasus") and decide to review the decommissioning of the first Enterprise. They interact at points with the Enterprise crew, who are holograms here. Captain Archer is set to give a speech, but gets sidetracked trying to rescue the kidnapped daughter of an ambassador. The kidnappers board the ship and Trip Tucker dies saving Captain Archer. Archer makes his speech and Riker figures out what he's going to do. The last shot is a montage of Star Trek footage and Captains Kirk, Picard, and Archer giving the "where no man has gone before" speech.
Congrats to Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis for making the best and worst lists.
This would probably be higher up if I had ever really liked Enterprise, but it remains the worst Star Trek series in my opinion. The only episodes I really liked were the ones set in the Mirror Universe where humans were the bad guys, because those seemed original and compelling, but most of the series just felt like recycled old ideas with skimpier outfits. What a waste of a Bakula. However, this has to go down as one of the worst finales because it's a finale that doesn't even really feature the characters of the show. Instead, the episode takes place during a different series and everyone from Enterprise appears only by hologram. Moreover, the events in the hologram take place six years after the rest of the series without a compelling reason for doing so and one of the main characters is killed as an afterthought. This episode was so bad that I don't think I've seen a list of the worst Star Trek properties that didn't include it, often at number one. It was so bad that it ended 18 consecutive years of Star Trek being on the air. When you can tank an entire franchise for a while, you earn this spot.
9) Remember the Monsters? (Dexter)
The Show: Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) is a serial killer who targets other serial killers. He uses skills taught to him by his adopted father (James Remar) to avoid detection and eliminate the monsters who evade the law. He spends most of the series hiding it from his sister, Debra (Jennifer Carpenter), only for her to find out what he does in season 7. Also, she's in love with him despite them being raised as siblings, so… that's a thing. Look, there's a reason I tell people to stop watching after season 5.
And that reason is not just the marketing.
The Finale: Dexter is planning on fleeing the country. Debra gets shot by serial killer Oliver Saxon (Darri Ingolfsson) while a hurricane prevents Dexter's flight. Dexter leaves his son Harrison with his girlfriend Hannah and heads to the hospital where he is told Debra will recover. Saxon is captured and Debra tells Dexter to live a happy life, but then suffers a clot and goes into a coma. Dexter then kills Saxon in police custody and pulls Debra off life support. He takes her body and drops it into the ocean as he drives into the hurricane. Later, he's seen working as a lumberjack in Oregon.
Yes, the famously unrecognizable "serial killer with a beard."
I have to admit I've softened towards this over the years, because for a long time I considered it the worst finale ever. It's dropped down the list for two reasons: 1) Jennifer Carpenter's performance as Debra is actually so good it almost single-handedly makes this episode okay. 2) Other shows since (mostly Breaking Bad) have convinced me that giving a bad person a happy ending isn't inherently bad. However, I still think it's a terrible ending to this show. A big part of why is that it missed the tone of the rest of the series, having a somber and sincere quality that the rest of the show never had. That might have worked for a finale, except that all of the sincerity felt crammed in and manufactured, rather than developing naturally. The characters are told that Debra is going to be okay, but their last conversation is still them saying goodbye in a last-rites kind of way. Then she dies anyway, making the previous recovery nothing but a device to keep the audience off-guard, particularly since the clot happens off-screen apropos of nothing. Oh, and as she's dying, she tells him she loves him, which means… she might have been okay if he had left her on the machines? So, Dexter killed her, but it's not really given as much weight as it should. Oh, and then the ending is that he's abandoned his son and girlfriend (who he could find and join) to go be a lumberjack and somehow survived a hurricane, which was just such a cop-out. Also, can someone from Miami Metro get fired for being just the worst investigators on Earth? For what was briefly one of my favorite shows, the mighty fell hard.
8) Into That Good Night (Roseanne)
The Show: Roseanne (the show) focused on the lives of the Conner family: Roseanne (Roseanne Barr), her husband Dan (John Goodman), Roseanne's sister Jackie (Laurie Metcalf), and Dan and Roseanne's kids Becky (Lecy Goranson/Sarah Chalke), Darlene (Sara Gilbert), D.J. (Michael Fishman), and Baby Jerry (Cole and Morgan Roberts). They're a working-class family in the 80s and 90s living in Illinois, and possibly one of the most realistic ones ever put on television.
Still more attractive than the average person, but not as much as most shows.
The Finale: In the 9th season of the show, the Conners win the lottery, suddenly becoming very wealthy, but Dan and Roseanne's marriage has been on the rocks throughout the whole season, culminating in a revelation that he cheated on her. During the finale, after the family welcomes a new grandson from Darlene's marriage, everyone is set to move on with their lives. Then, in the last 10 minutes of the show, Roseanne reveals to the audience that the entire show had just been a book she was writing. Dan was dead from a heart attack, Jackie was gay, and Darlene and Becky were, in fact, married to each-other's husbands. No explanation is given for any of this except that Roseanne thought it was more interesting this way.
I'm not spending money to screenshot the last episode in good quality.
Roseanne had taken a massive dive in the last season due to destroying the thing that most people liked about the show, it's blue-collar realism. The Conners were constantly screwed by normal problems that most sitcoms would just gloss over, like a malfunctioning fridge they can't afford to replace or a light bill late fee that builds up. They lived the way that a lot of America lived. Once they were rich, that stuff all fell away and they stopped being relatable. That was bad enough, but to literally spend the last 10 minutes of the show revealing that everything in the show was fake, even within the reality of the show, was just icing on the crapcake. Roseanne is revealed to be a writer, a profession that stood completely against her character's usual employment in various menial jobs. Dan's dead, meaning that any of their drama in the last season was just Roseanne taking shots at her deceased husband. None of the relationships were real. What's most astonishing is that all of this was just completely unnecessary. When they rebooted the show, they made the decision to just ignore all of this, which was smarter than anything in the finale.
7) Daybreak (Battlestar Galactica – 2004)
The Show: Humans lived on a set of planets known as the Twelve Colonies. The humans created the Cylons, a race of robots, that then rebelled. There was a peace accord, until the Cylons surprise attack and destroy most of humanity and the planets they populated. Only one military ship survives, the Battlestar Galactica, which sets off with the other ships to head to the thirteenth colony, Earth, while being pursued by Cylons. The survivors include Commander William Adama (Edward James Olmos), President Laura Roslin (Mary McDonnell), pilot "Starbuck" Thrace (Katee Sackhoff), pilot "Apollo" Adama (Jamie Barber), and scientist Gaius Baltar (James Callis). There are also Cylon infiltrators known as numbers 6 and 8 (Tricia Helfer and Grace Park)
Symbolism was a thing.
The Finale: Turns out the Cylons got to Earth first, but blew it up. As the group tries to figure out what to do now, the Cylons capture Hera, a human-Cylon hybrid, and are studying how they can reproduce. Admiral Adama orders a rescue. Gaius and Six join the mission, and it's revealed that the two can see each other's "inner visions." It's complicated to explain, but each one has a hallucination of the other that they talk to, and here it's revealed that those are not just hallucinations. The rescue ends with an all-out battle that is ended by Gaius promising to give the Cylons back their lost resurrection ability in order to buy peace. He's told that he sees Angels telling him that both sides are governed by God. However, this ends up failing. The fighting resumes and damage forces Adama to order the ship to jump to anywhere it can. Starbuck uses "All Along the Watchtower" to arrive at our Earth in the distant past. The survivors, and the surviving Cylons, spread out and interbreed with the hominids that populate the planet. Starbuck turns out to be an Angel and disappears. Bob Dylan is implied to be God.
Yes, because interbreeding is just that easy.
Okay, did you read the last four sentences of that summary? Yeah, that's why this whole thing fell apart. The show, which had been a cold and depressing character study and a cautionary tale against the advances of human technology, ends on a happy note because of a literal deus ex machina. To be clear, this show was almost entirely sci-fi for most of its run, and the concept of having everything in the series designed as part of the ineffable plan by God seems to have been pulled out of nowhere. I once lauded the show Quantum Leap for dealing with cancellation by having an ending that said "God did it," but that's because that show's continuity and logic had never made sense. This show had never even approached that level of metaphysics until the last four episodes hinted at it loosely. A lot of people liked the happy ending, but I will stare into the face of Bob Dylan and walk backwards into Hell proclaiming this to be a complete failure of screenwriting.
6) Project: ALF (ALF)
The Show: Gordon Shumway (Paul Fusco) is an Alien Life Form (ALF) from the destroyed planet Melmac. He follows a radio signal to the home of the Tanners: Willie (Max Wright), Kate (Anne Schedeen), Lynn (Andrea Elson), and Brian (Benji Gregory). The Tanners hide ALF from the Alien Task Force that seeks to hunt him down.
How did this show work?
The Finale: In the last episode of the original show's run, ALF is captured by the Alien Task Force. This picks up with ALF in custody under Colonel Milfoil (Martin Sheen) who is going to kill ALF. Two scientists help him escape, but after they are chased by Milfoil, they end up deciding to reveal ALF's existence to the world. This ends up failing, but Milfoil is fired and ALF is declared an ambassador to Earth.
They could afford Martin Sheen, but not a better poster.
The original finale of ALF can't be on here because the show was cancelled unexpectedly and thus ended on a cliffhanger. That's not the fault of any of the writers, particularly since the show was still in the top 40 at the time and had just had a spin-off last two seasons. Even the network later apologized to the crew, saying that they'd screwed up by cancelling it too early. However, since they were given over a year to come up with a way to end the series with this three-part episode (or TV movie), and had 5 years to think about it before that, this was truly disappointing. Except for ALF, none of the Tanners were present in this, and all we hear is that they went to Iceland. As such, a ton of plotlines, including the cliffhanger about ALF leaving the Tanners, were left unresolved. Moreover, this episode made it clear exactly how much of an a**hole ALF actually was, retroactively making the show less cute. It's like if you ended the Muppet Show by having Kermit be revealed as a Soviet Spy. Honestly, the cliffhanger would have been a more dignified way to go out.
5) Chapter 73 (House of Cards)
The Show: Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) is a politician who constantly lies, cheats, steals and murders his way to becoming the President and his wife, Claire (Robin Wright), becomes Vice President. He's assisted by Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly), his Chief of Staff who routinely does Frank's dirty work. Frank typically narrates to the audience his true, cruel thoughts.
Behind every man, there's a woman who would do it better.
The Finale: In Season 6, Claire becomes President following Frank's impeachment and subsequent getting killed off for being a rapist. Claire also takes over Frank's role as narrator. Doug, who stood by Frank loyally, has now flipped to testify to all of Claire's bad acts, but Claire pardons him to gain his silence. In the finale, Claire promises a new level of honesty to America, then creates a new fictional threat so that she can keep her position. Doug is sent in to kill her by some of her rivals, but after he admits he killed Frank, she ends up stabbing him to death and then suffocating him. She turns to the audience and says "No More Pain," mirroring Frank killing a dog in the pilot.
Yes, this seems like a thing the President could do and get away with.
This is mostly on here for how completely unnecessary this finale was. After Kevin Spacey was removed from the show for being a rapist, the show was completely justified in writing him out. Despite that, his character still basically dictated everything over the last season. Claire was constantly saying how she denounced his legacy, but she always kept it alive rather than tossing it to the ashcan of history where it belonged. This finale made it much, much worse, focusing on Frank's last will, which cut Claire out, then revealing Doug to have killed Frank because Frank was hurting his own legacy, then having Claire stab Doug to death in the Oval Office and use one of Frank's own lines, cementing her as now being essentially just Frank all over again. It essentially made Claire a secondary character in a season where she was supposed to be the lead. If you're going to write a character out, write them out, don't let their ghost loom over the entire series.
4) The End (LOST)
The Show: A bunch of people survive a plane crash and end on an island. The island turned out to be filled with mysteries, ranging from a smoke monster that turns out to be the embodiment of evil, to a hatch that requires a code to keep being entered into it, to some polar bears. The show had too many cast members to really list here, with 14 star roles in the first season alone, but among the key ones in this episode are: Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Hurley (Jorge Garcia), Sawyer (Josh Holloway), and Locke/The Man In Black (Terry O'Quinn). It frequently has flashbacks, flashforwards, and flash-sideways. The last season has two parallel timelines, including a new one in which the crash never happened.
So. Many. People.
The Finale: Some of the survivors head to the heart of the island, including Jack who has taken on the role of protector of the island. The Man in Black, who is trying to destroy the island, manages to unstop the source of the island's power, but is killed by Kate. Jack then dies replacing the island's light. In the alternate timeline, everyone suddenly remembers the island, meet up in a church, and then they are revealed to be dead.
And the church is super Unitarian, just to hedge bets.
So, from the beginning of the show, a huge number of fans (myself included) were worried that the series would end with the revelation that everyone was actually dead all along. The creators and the writers all strongly denied that it was anything like that. Instead, it's revealed that, in fact, the events of the island were real, but that the parallel timeline was actually a form of afterlife which is powered by the island, so… I felt like this was cheating. A ton of people were confused by it, a ton more were angered, and I don't think anyone ever thought it was a perfect way to wrap up the series. The island is revealed to be the source of the light that exists inside of every living thing, but also what grants those things a second chance, represented here as an alternate world where everyone is a little bit closer to what they wanted to be. It's not a paradise, it's a purgatory, and then at the end apparently everyone moves on towards the actual afterlife, maybe. If that explanation sounds kind of boring or weird or confusing, then you know why this made this list.
3) Last Forever (How I Met Your Mother)
The Show: In 2030, Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor/Bob Saget) is narrating to his kids the story of how he met their mother (Cristin Milioti). It turns out to be a story involving Ted's best friends from his 20s and 30s: Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel) and his wife Lily (Alyson Hannigan), Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), and Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris).
These people are all in great shape despite living at a bar.
The Finale: After spending a season at the weekend of Barney and Robin's wedding, we find out that Ted's wife is the bass player in their wedding band. While she has met everyone from the group, she has not yet met Ted, until they share an umbrella that they both previously owned. It's then revealed that the mother, Tracy McConnell, passed away in 2024. The kids reveal that the story was clearly about how Ted is still in love with Robin, and encourage him to get back together with her. The show ends with Ted and Robin smiling at each other.
This would have been an amazing last shot.
This one is really a tragedy on two different levels. The show had always prided itself on the fact that they had already filmed the ending when they started the second season, because that meant that the kids, who had since stopped being kids, would still be in the finale at the same age. Unfortunately, they were so dedicated to this that they stuck to it even after their own writing and character development had rendered it a bad idea. Ted and Robin ending up together was a really good idea for a long time, until we spent two seasons building up Barney's and Robin's relationship and then an entire season on their wedding itself, only to have the finale tell us they broke up like 15 minutes later for vague reasons. It also doesn't help that Cristin Milioti was so much more amazing than expected, particularly in the episode dedicated to her history. Everything about her was so perfect for Ted that you wanted to see them happy together. This meant that when the writers stuck with the original ending, it broke up two relationships we were invested in. At the same time, they undid all of Barney's character growth and instead ended with him learning to love by being a father. To Neil Patrick Harris's credit, his performance was so good I almost bought it, but it's still bad writing. The reason why this is so high is because multiple people apparently brought up that this was a bad idea and that they should ditch the original ending, but the show wanted its gimmick more than a solid conclusion.
2) The Finale (Seinfeld)
The Show: It's a show about nothing starring four friends: Jerry Seinfeld (himself), George Costanza (Jason Alexander), Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), and Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards). In general, the series is just about the kind of weird things that happen to the four of them and consists of them talking about it. All four are generally crappy people, but make up for it by being funny. It was created by Larry David and Seinfeld.
Later, everyone would deny hugging Michael Richards.
The Finale: Jerry and George have pitched a series to NBC that resembles Seinfeld called Jerry. The four decide to go to Paris to celebrate before moving to California to work on the show, but a problem on the flight forces them to land in Massachusetts. While they wait for the plane to be fixed, they see a man get carjacked and record it while mocking him. They're then arrested by the police for violating the Good Samaritan statute by not helping. The four are then put on trial and a number of witnesses from throughout the series testify to their bad character. They are ultimately convicted and put in jail.
Because Massachusetts doesn't have bail, apparently.
This one is so high up because Seinfeld was one of the best shows on television and I remember being absolutely pissed off watching the finale. The build-up had been huge. Other shows, including Dharma and Greg, literally had episodes that were based on the assumption that this finale would be amazing. However, I think it completely failed. First off, the set-up was ridiculous. Having the characters get arrested due to an insane law and go to trial immediately was a weird decision. That's not how laws, courts, or even civil rights work. The fact that the prosecutors are then allowed to parade a list of people as bad character witnesses is even weirder, because, again, not how that works. Also, if they had a duty to provide aid to the victim (they didn't), they actually did, because they recorded the face of the carjacker on film. That's more helpful than trying to fight him. Everything about this framing device was stupid. Second, they really just used it to do a glorified clip-show as the finale. That's one of the weakest ways to handle any episode of television, typically reserved for when shows run out of money for an episode, as opposed to the finale of a top-rated show. Third, finally calling out how bad the characters were in such a stupid fashion basically mocked the audience for liking them. If you're flipping the bird on the way out, you've messed up. While Larry David has defended it, Jerry Seinfeld has pretty much stated that they dropped the ball on this one. I concur.
1) The Iron Throne (Game of Thrones)
The Show: I cannot really summarize this. The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros are thrown into a massive war after the death of the king Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy). This ends up massively affecting the Stark family, including Sansa (Sophie Turner), Bran (Isaac Hempstead-Wright), and Arya (Maisie Williams). At the same time, an army of zombie warriors start to descend from the North to destroy the world. Also, the daughter of the previous king, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), hatched three dragons and uses them plus two separate armies to try to come back and retake the throne. Her nephew and lover is Jon Snow (Kit Harington), who is also the adopted brother of the Starks. A lot of people die and there's a lot of nudity. Also, there's Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), who is amazing, and Cersei and Jaime Lannister (Lena Headey and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who suck.
There's only one dragon left at this point, sadly.
The Finale: Daenerys has taken over King's Landing and claimed the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms. Unfortunately, even after the people surrendered, Daenerys kept attacking, destroying a ton of the property and killing hundreds or thousands of people for no reason. When confronted, she insists that she has "liberated" the town and that she now plans to "liberate" the rest of the world. After finally realizing that Daenerys will never stop until she has conquered the world in the name of forcing her version of utopia, and will kill anyone that doesn't submit immediately. Jon kills her and is imprisoned by her troops. Ultimately, he is banished and Bran becomes king.
"I wanted you to penetrate me, but not with a knife."
I realize that this probably will not seem as bad years down the line and that the freshness of the wound is why this feels like the worst finale, but I will say that following: It's impressive to get every character to the end of their arc and still feel terrible. Seriously, every character finishes in the position that they clearly were always going to have, ranging from Bran being the king to Daenerys being dead to Jon being banished, but at the end all of the ways they get there appear to be completely contrived or insane. Rather than having Daenerys's madness be a result of her destiny as a Targaryen and a breaker of chains, it came off as being because Jon didn't want to sleep with her after finding out they're related. Rather than Bran being made king because of his abilities, he's instead made king because "he has the best story," despite Jon literally having resurrected from the dead and Arya having slain an undead king. Everyone gets to close their story in the right place, but it feels so forced that it undermines the rest of the series and its great plotting and character progression. Mostly, though, this whole thing felt completely unnecessary. HBO had the hottest show on the planet and had already stated they would basically give the showrunners carte blanche if they needed more episodes to come to a satisfying conclusion. Instead, the show rushed from the death of the Night King to the finale in only 3 episodes. This isn't just dropping the ball, this is firing the ball straight down out of a cannon so hard that it currently resides in the molten core of the planet.
If you disagree with any of these, let me know. If you have other episodes you think should have made it, put them in the comments or on my Facebook or Twitter.
Posted on July 12, 2020 Categories ReviewsTags 10 Worst Finales, ALF, Alyson Hannigan, Amber Tamblyn, Andrea Elson, Angus T. Jones, Anne Schedeen, Anthony Montgomery, Ashton Kutcher, Battlestar Galactica, Benji Gregory, Bob Saget, Charlie Sheen, Cobie Smulders, Cole Roberts, Connor Trinneer, Cristin Miloti, Dexter, Dominic Keating, Edward James Olmos, Emilia Clarke, Evangeline Lilly, Game of Thrones, Grace Park, House of Cards, How I Met Your Mother, Isaac Hempstead-Wright, James Callis, James Remar, Jamie Barber, Jason Alexander, Jason Segel, Jennifer Carpenter, Jerry Seinfeld, John Billingsley, John Goodman, Jolene Blalock, Jonathan Frakes, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Josh Radnor, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Katee Sackhoff, Kevin Spacey, Kit Harrington, Laurie Metcalf, Lecy Goranson, Lena Headey, Linda Park, LOST, Maisie Williams, Marina Sirtis, Mark Addy, Martin Sheen, Mary McDonnell, Matthew Fox, Max Wright, Melanie Lynskey, Michael C. Hall, Michael Fishman, Michael Kelly, Michael Richards, Morgan Roberts, Neil Patrick Harris, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Paul Fusco, Peter Dinklage, Robin Wright, Roseanne, Roseanne Barr, Sarah Chalke, Seinfeld, Sophie Turner, Star Trek, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Terry O'Quinn, The Sopranos, Tricia Helfer, Two and a Half MenLeave a comment on 10 Finales That Dropped the Ball – Joker Op-Ed
12) The Contest (Seinfeld)
Choking the chicken. Never Never Land tourism. Flogging the dolphin. Beating the meat. Rubbing one out. Rubbing one in. Polishing the pearl. Ménage à moi. Visiting the Bat Cave. Debugging the hard drive. Boxing the Jesuit. Looking for clues with Fred and Daphne. Calling yourself collect and accepting the charges.
I will admit that I made one of those up. Hopefully, you are familiar with at least one of the other ones, and therefore you know what these are euphemisms for. Here's a hint: It rhymes with "faster nation."
It's masturbation, something that this entire episode is about, and yet they manage to never say the word, nor even use a direct euphemism for it. That's half of the fun, honestly; finding out exactly how far these people will go to avoid saying the word, even if it's really just to avoid the censors. Hell, that first paragraph was fun to write just because I had to look up a list of euphemisms. I really had two options in writing this: try to avoid any further references to "praising Lord Palmerston" (or, for the ladies, "Pitt the Younger"), or to make as many bad euphemisms up as I could. Any guesses which I picked?
If you don't get this joke, you're either too old, too young, or a bad person
Seinfeld is supposed to be the "show about nothing," but people, including Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, point out that that statement isn't exactly true. It's a show about where comedians get their material, which, while that's usually just exaggerated everyday occurrences, is still something. But, whether it's about something or nothing, it's still hilarious.
The cast of the show: Jerry Seinfeld (himself), the comedian who usually tries to be the voice of reason; George Costanza (Jason Alexander), the lying, pathetic, cheating, whining best friend; Elaine Benes (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the friendly, somewhat vain at times, impulsive, and often short-tempered ex-girlfriend and friend; and Cosmo Kramer (Michael "Watch Racism Tank My Career" Richards), the wacky neighbor with frequent get-rich-quick schemes.
The episode begins with George telling the gang that his mother caught him "popping the palm puppet" to Glamour magazine, and is now hospitalized from the fall when she fainted. George promptly swears off "taking the dachshund to the vet." The rest of the cast, who are beyond amused at the incident, immediately state that he won't be able to stop "mangling the meat monkey." They end up making a bet between the four of them. Everyone puts in $100 (Elaine has to put in $150, because they believe a woman is less likely to have to "tiptoe through her tulips" than a man), and the last one to "play Liszt's Sonata in B minor on violin" wins the pot.
The Wager commences. Now wash your hands.
Each of the four has something that makes this challenge a lot harder. Kramer is being tempted by an attractive, nudist, exhibitionist woman who lives across from his window. Jerry is dating an attractive virgin named Marla (Jane Leeves), who won't even "play downstairs badminton" (hint: requires two people and 5 of you just checked to see if I spelled badminton right) with him, and also keeps seeing the exhibitionist out of his windows. George, while visiting his mother in the hospital, witnesses a hot nurse sponge bathing another beautiful woman, daily. Elaine, despite the assertion that she would have greater restraint and win easily, finds herself at the gym with the late John F. Kennedy, Jr.
Kramer folds almost immediately. In fact, Kramer comes into Jerry's apartment, shows Jerry the nudist, leaves, and then returns 4 minutes later to say that he is out. With only three left, the audience is shown that the remaining participants are having trouble sleeping. Kramer, meanwhile, dozes peacefully.
Jerry tries to distract himself from "punching big Papa Smurf" by watching Tiny Toons after reconfirming that his girlfriend still wants to keep her virginity. Kramer keeps trying to tempt Jerry with the nudist, but Jerry firmly remains "master of his domain." Despite how that sounds, this actually means he didn't "bang the drum quickly." George keeps visiting his mother, Estelle (Estelle Harris), but ends up being more intrigued with the sponge baths across from her. Elaine keeps trying to find ways to be closer to JFK, Jr., and ends up getting his attention. After being told that he's going to come by Jerry's apartment building, Elaine ends up "practicing stenography," costing her the contest.
Jerry and George are now becoming increasingly irritable. Jerry, however, finally is told by Marla that she thinks the time has come (and so should he), but Jerry blows it (and therefore doesn't) by telling her about the Contest. She leaves in a huff, and, when Elaine goes upstairs to see what happened, Marla ends up meeting JFK, Jr. They then see Kramer across the way with the nudist. Every member of the group is then shown sleeping soundly, except for Marla, who apparently just lost her virginity in a marathon session with Kennedy.
Nobody alive in the early 90s blames her
Okay, so, why does this episode stand out? Partially because, despite the fact that people were allowed to talk about sex on television at this point, most television shows weren't allowed to address "playing pick-up sticks on easy mode." It was a strange, and ridiculous, taboo that this episode managed to highlight. After watching it, you'll have known exactly what the bet was, exactly what everyone was doing, you'll have heard how common it is to "blitzkrieg the Fineland," and yet you'll have noticed that no one ever said anything explicit. As if the word itself was preventing society from acknowledging a very fundamental truth: It's fun to "file your I-come taxes."
America, and much of Western Civilization, has had a long history of wanting to suppress this instinct in people, saying that it cultivates sexual desire, which in turn cultivates immoral behavior, while everyone knows that it's still fun. Because of this, almost all American media is driven by sexuality, while simultaneously telling us that it's wrong to acknowledge it. George's mother even tells him that his behavior is so wrong that he needs to see a psychiatrist. Now, this is a woman who managed to miss all of the other WAY MORE OBJECTIVELY BAD psychological problems that George's actions would indicate, but she thinks he has a serious problem because he was aroused by a magazine.
The feel of this episode has changed a lot in the last twenty years, and I think it's for the better. Sexuality is part of being human, and suppressing that does way more damage than acknowledging it. If you want to teach people to handle it responsibly, you first have to address it honestly.
Sex is fun. That's true. It's also risky on many levels, from emotional to physical. That is also true. "Letting the Care Bear stare" is fun and has almost no risk when it isn't treated like a shameful act. That's also also true. It's better to just be honest about these things, than to confuse the issue by saying "Sex is bad, but also you should really want to have it right now." Nothing manages to point this out better than having an entire episode that shows that you can address the subject without ever actually having to mention it explicitly. The thought process telling the audience what they're discussing is so ingrained that they could fully rely on it in this episode even with the most oblique references, and yet the censors wouldn't have allowed them to talk about it outright.
It's "Go Tuck Yourself In," and you're the one that made it dirty.
The other strength of this episode is the writing. Since they're exploring temptation and restraint within the episode, so much of the dialogue reflects the characters as they struggle to maintain their control over their own desires. At the same time, they're contrasted with Marla the Virgin, who has maintained her virginity into her 30s for no reason aside from her feeling that it's something to take seriously. Ultimately, Marla, who appears to be the most disciplined and restrained loses her virginity to someone she just met, and shows no regret for it. Appropriate.
In a later episode, they revealed that George supposedly won the contest, and then in a later episode he admits he just lied. He broke down before Jerry did. I think it's telling that they kept re-addressing this single, random plot line for years. It's also telling that you can now talk about the subject on television explicitly, rather than saying that someone "gave Dig 'Em a Sugar Smack." This episode pointed out a deeply ingrained hypocrisy in a fun, inventive way, and it paid off.
Please vote on your favorite Euphemism in the comments below.
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Posted on March 15, 2018 August 25, 2018 Categories 100 Greatest EpisodesTags Episode, Episode List, Jane Leeves, Jason Alexander, Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Larry David, Michael Richards, Seinfeld2 Comments on 12) The Contest (Seinfeld)

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text:
Home / Uncategorized / Mabs Cross set to tackle six furlongs at Ascot
Mabs Cross set to tackle six furlongs at Ascot
Mabs Cross is set to tackle six furlongs for the first time in well over a couple of years from the Qipco British Champions Sprint on Saturday.
The mare that was commendable left her first two career starts over the sprint space from the spring of 2017, but was kept to five furlongs since.
The five-year-old has won seven of her 19 career starts – a race where she finished on her appearance.
Mabs Cross will lineup with coach Michael Dods admitting that the prospect of testing requirements is an issue as she steps up in trip, for what could be her swansong on British Champions Day.
The strategy is still to run, as far as I am aware, said the Darlington-based coach.
Weve always wanted to test her over six furlongs, however, that is obviously a stiff six in very soft ground. Its not ideal, but it is the same for everyone and they are doing everything they can to find the assembly on.
She looks well, so I believe well let her take her chance and see how she gets .
The heir apparent to Mabs Cross since the coachs stable star is Dakota Gold, who maintained his fifth success when shooting the Listed Rous Stakes at Ascot out time.
Equianos boy is most likely to round off his effort in next month Stakes.
We have kept him ticking over and the strategy is to visit Doncaster for the Listed race, Dods additional.
Hes in good form, so hopefully hell head there and this may be his last run of the year.
Read more here: http://search.alius.ie/?p=160623


text:
INFOGRAPHIC: who's who in the new Morrison ministry
SPECIAL FEATURE: Take a closer look at the members of Prime Minister Scott Morrison's newly revamped cabinet.
As Prime Minister Scott Morrison's ministry is sworn in today, we're taking a closer look at the members of the newly revamped cabinet.
Some of the faces are new – Stuart Robert, for example, takes over the new portfolio overseeing the National Disability Insurance Scheme. And some of the portfolios have shifted, notably Sussan Ley replacing Melissa Price as environment minister.
We've asked our experts to appraise the performances of the ministers and highlight what could be the key challenges in their new roles.
Bushfires: can ecosystems recover from such dramatic losses of biodiversity?
Scott Morrison's approval ratings crash over bushfires in first 2020 Newspoll
Some say we've seen bushfires worse than this before. But they're ignoring a few key facts
In some cases, ministers hold more than one portfolio. To simplify the policy analysis, we've chosen a key policy area for which they're responsible and asked our experts to analyse those.
Scroll down to infographic, below…
Compiled by Emil Jeyaratnam, Data + Interactives Editor, The Conversation; Justin Bergman, Deputy Editor: Politics + Society, The Conversation, and Shelley Hepworth, Section Editor: Technology, The Conversation.
Tags: politics


text:
Federico Möller de Berg (Montevideo, 1900 - 1991) fue un escultor figurativo uruguayo.

Biografía

Alumno de la Escuela Industrial, se dirigió hacia la escultura por influencia del escultor argentino Luis Falcini.

Desde 1920 a 1928 vivió en París cursando estudios en la Académie de la Grande Chaumière con Antoine Bourdelle y con Alfred Boucher en la Ecole des Beaux Arts.

Es autor del monumento al Brigadier General Manuel Oribe, y el de José Batlle y Ordóñez frente al Palacio Legislativo, ambos en Montevideo.

También de una estatua de Narciso, instalada en el lago del Parque Rodó de Montevideo, fue realizado en París por encargo directo de la Comuna Montevideana en 1934; y del monumento titulado El esfuerzo, figura de mármol blanco sobre peana de granito gris, inaugurado el año 1932 en la Plazuela «Grito de Ascencio», en el cruce de José Ellauri, Ramón Massini y Luis Lamas, realizado en París con modelo vivo, y entre otros, Atleta, Ofrenda de la Comisión Nacional de Bellas Artes a la UNESCO.

En el campo de la escultura funeraria y religiosa, corresponde citar el relieve que decora el tímpano de la fachada principal de la Iglesia de San Juan Bautista, en el barrio de Pocitos, Montevideo.

Sus obras forman parte también de las colecciones de los Museos Nacional de Artes Plásticas, Municipal de Bellas Artes. y en la Colección Nicolás García Uriburu de la Colección de Pintura y Escultura Nacional en Maldonado.

A lo largo de su dilatada carrera -más de 70 años de dedicación a la escultura- obtuvo un importante conjunto de premios en Salones Nacionales, Municipales y Bienales.

Fue desde 1977 hasta su fallecimiento, Presidente de la Comisión Nacional de Artes Plásticas.

Referencias

Bibliografía
 Estatuaria en el Uruguay: con una noticia sobre el arte de escultura en el Uruguay, Volumen 1 Biblioteca del Palacio Legislativo (ed.) República Oriental del Uruguay, 1980.

Enlaces externos

 Galería Portón de San Pedro: Obras de Federico Moller de Berg

Escultores de Uruguay
Escultores del siglo XX
Escultores de Uruguay en Francia
Nacidos en Montevideo

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text:
Death of actor Roger Carel, great voice of dubbing
Comedian Roger Carel, also a dubbing legend, died on September 11 at the age of 93. Her family didn't release the news until Friday. Actor of theater, television and ...
The actor specializing in dubbing Roger Carel, on the set of the show "Vivement Dimanche", in October 2012. Getty Images / Gamma-Rapho / Serge Benhamou
Text by: Frédéric Charpentier Follow
Comedian Roger Carel, also a dubbing legend, died on September 11 at the age of 93.
Her family didn't release the news until Friday.
An actor in theater, television and cinema, he is first known for having been the voice of Asterix and of so many other characters.
If there is one voice that we will remember,
it's Roger Carel
The common point between many Disney characters like Mickey, Winnie the Pooh, Jiminy Cricket, the snake Kaa in
, the brave Asterix the Gaul of Uderzo and Goscinny and the wise Maestro of the animated series of the 1980s
It's his voice.
The eccentric or zany characters such as Benny Hill, Kermitt the frog, the C3PO robot in the Star Wars saga, the alien Alf from the series of the same name, or the famous detective Hercule Poirot played by David Suchet, it's him as well.
The legend of the cinema Charlie Chaplin would have chosen him himself in 1968 to be "his French voice".
He would have declared "
it is this voice that I would like for The Dictator
", first film spoken by the master of silent cinema,
tells Roger Carel
to LCI.
Even the giant of British cinema Peter Ustinov, who is however used to dub himself in French, asks the actor to replace him when he cannot ensure the dubbing.
But it is not him who made the approach to enter this universe at its beginnings.
A producer notices him during a performance at the theater.
He accepts the proposal.
It doesn't matter to him not to show his image.
After all, his voice is instantly recognizable and the dubbing activity is just one of the many facets of the acting profession.
This does not prevent him from working on other projects, as he demonstrates so well throughout his journey.
More than 60 years of career
For the first adaptations of Asterix
on the radio in the mid-1960s, Roger Carel was spotted and chosen by Uderzo and Goscinny, the creators of the comic strip.
Over time, very strong bonds are forged between them.
Uderzo and Goscinny are two old friends that I have kept for so long, I still have a bond with their children
," he confides on the airwaves of Europe 1 in 2013.
We had almost family ties, we have so much worked on these characters!
Roger Carel at the premiere of the film "Asterix and the Vikings", March 16, 2006. Stephane Cardinale / Corbis via Getty Images
In more than 60 years of career, he multiplies the appearances with about twenty roles in the theater, about thirty on television including
the famous commissioner Guerchard in
Arsène Lupine
, about fifty roles in the cinema, radio dramas and some short films.
He also embraces the music hall alongside Jacqueline Maillan.
In the 1970s, we see him give the answer in the program
, of Maritie and Gilbert Carpentier.
A pledge of spectacle on the small screen which mixes songs, dances and sketches, where the stars of the time rub shoulders.
Roger Carel also works with famous directors and directors such as Robert Hossein, Claude Zidi, Jean Poiret or Michel Serrault.
But it is when he disappears from the screen or from the boards and lends his voice for French adaptations of foreign works or for cartoons that his career explodes.
"Roger Carel.
It sounds good !
Born in 1927, René Bancharel (real name) developed a taste from his teenage years to have fun with his vocal cords.
Originally destined to become a monk then an engineer, he abandoned this path and wanted to make comedy.
It was his aunt who found him an audition with Jean Marchat, a member of the Comédie-Française.
Roger Carel then takes a first step in the world of theater.
There followed lessons during the Bauer-Thérond course, where he learned his skills with Anouk Aimée, Jacques Ciron or even Michel Piccoli, then during the Simon course.
He got his first role in 1949, at the Renaissance theater.
Only one shadow on the board: his name.
This poses a problem for the actor, because it is very often scratched by his teachers or during meetings "in the middle".
It was the actor René Simon, founder of the eponymous course, who found his stage name at the dawn of his career.
We're going to cut Bancharel in two.
Charel, no… Carel.
», He recalls.
At almost 87 years old, he left the studios and retired definitively to Villemomble (in the Paris region), where he had lived for many years.
He played Asterix one last time
in the animated feature
Asterix, the domain of the gods
in 2014. What was his "magic potion" for having such a prolific career?
He confides: "
It was this wonderful job that kept me up wonderfully, I had the chance to play a lot.
Theater, TV, dubbing.
When we have happiness, we age less quickly!
Interactive image: the thousand and one voices of Roger Carel
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Dubbing, an art between good voices
Report France
Dubbing of foreign films in French
Source: rfi
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Asterix, Mickey, Alf ... actor and voice actor Roger Carel died at 93 4 months
Voice of Asterix and Mickey, actor Roger Carel has been silent - France 24
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Actor Roger Carel, voice of Asterix and Mickey, died at 93
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I configured a fabric with two b300, linked each other with one ISL. I was testing to copy a big file. All started fine. But without any apparent raison, the copy from local disk to remote storage via fiber has stopped to progress.
The statistics were cleared yesterday. And because it is a testing fabric, i know i am the only user of the fabric. So these errors were during this copy.
I don't knwo how to update my config to escape this kind of problem. Any help will be appreciated.
Look to me like you have hardware problems. I would first check the cabling.
Do the stats show other high error counts?
No other kind of errors. The portstatsshow command show only er_enc_out and er_bad_os. I used this command on the ports connected from the host to the switch and that one connected from the switch to the storage. The two ports have same kind errors.
If you have two HBAs, trying connecting and zoning the second one on the same fabric. If there are no problems, it could the first HBA that is flaky.
If you have two fabrics, you could try zoning the other HBA on the other fabric to different ports on the storage array. If the switch ports on both paths are showing the same symptoms it could be a firmware or driver problem on the HBAs.
If the problem is physical, it should exist for each copy ?
But i copied several times the same big file without any problem.And some times the copy hang.
I'll make some checks about hardware problem. I have 1 HBA with 2 ports, not two HBA.
I already use multipathing with this card.
OK. So if I understand correctly, you have two ports on an HBA, both connected to one switch and one connection to the storage. You are seeing these same errors on all three ports.
Since ordered sets do not contain data, it has nothing to do with the file itself that is be copied. I would now suspect the HBA driver/firmware/hardware.
Can you do the same tests with another server/HBA?
Do the error counts go up when the copy is successful also?
I'll receive some others server in few days. I'll check with them.
But with this one, when the copy reach the end, i don't have any error.
My host have 1 hba with two ports. The two ports are connected with two switches of the same fabric. ie 1 port connected with switch 1, one port connected with switch 2.
The two RAID controleurs of my storage are also connected to the fabric. Each RAID controleur have hba with 2 ports. So, each RAID controler have one fiber connected to switch 1 and one other fiber to switch 2.
Sorry I wasn't very clear re the error stats. I would note the ordered set error count before copying the file. After each copy, successful or not, re-note the error count. Does it go up each time or only when it fails.
If you are using a Unix server, are there messages (e.g. timeout errors) ion the syslog?


Nose: Forest berries, raisins, honey, hints of leather and polished wood.
Palate: Forest berries, honey, nutmeg, hints of wood and some hard to pin down savoury notes.
Overall: This sherry finish has an unusal savoury quality to it which is not at all unpleasant. The complexity created by this is quite stunning.
Next post: Amrut Herald – An Indo-Germanic Whisky?


Prescription Drug Take Back Event a Success!
On April 29, 2017, The Scott County partnership in cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Scott County Sheriff's Office and Scottsburg Police gave the public an opportunity to help in preventing prescription drug abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous, unused and unwanted prescription drugs. Citizens brought numerous prescription medications and dropped them off for disposal at the drug drop location which was set up at Wal-Mart in Scottsburg Indiana. 72.8 lbs of prescription medications were collected locally and will be disposed of.
There were more than 4,000 community partners at almost 5,200 collection sites nationwide. Over the life of the program, 7.1 million pounds (more than 3,500 tons) of prescription drugs have been removed from medicine cabinets, kitchen drawers, and nightstands by citizens around the country.
"Take back programs offer a safe, simple, and anonymous way to keep dangerous prescription drugs out of the wrong hands and prevent substance abuse," said Chuck Rosenberg, Acting DEA Administrator.
Unused medicines in the home are a problem because the majority of the 6.4 million Americans who abused CPDs in 2015, including the almost 4 million who abused prescription painkillers, say they obtained those drugs from friends and family, including from a home medicine cabinet, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health released last month. Some painkiller abusers move on to heroin: Four out of five new heroin users started with painkillers. Almost 30,000 people—78 a day—died from overdosing on these painkillers or heroin in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In the last two years since new regulations made the disposal of CPDs easier for patients and their caregivers, many law enforcement agencies, pharmacies, hospitals, and clinics have begun continuous collection of these medications.


text:
Turning Point for God
Turning Point for God was founded as the broadcast ministry of Dr. David Jeremiah to deliver the unchanging Word of God to an ever-changing world. Over the years, the phenomenal growth of the English broadcast ministry has enabled David Jeremiah's teaching to be translated into multiple languages, taking the ministry outreach beyond our borders. Today, Turning Point reaches every state in the U.S., covers six continents, and touches people around the globe with the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Turning Point is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization wholly supported by friends of the ministry and not underwritten by any church or organization. Turning Point is grateful for the generosity of two groups who work to ensure its financial stability: Bible Strong Partners and The Jeremiah Legacy Society. Bible Strong Partners make a monthly commitment of support while members of The Jeremiah Legacy Society include Turning Point in their planned giving. These extraordinary individuals make it possible for Dr. Jeremiah to teach the whole counsel of God's Word, not bending to political, financial, or topical trends. Regardless of the level or frequency of giving, Turning Point is grateful for each ministry partner as they promote Bible Strong teaching through their generous giving.
Website: davidjeremiah.org
CEO/President: Dr. David Jeremiah
Chairman: Dr. David Jeremiah
Board size: 10
Founder: Dr. David Jeremiah
Member of ECFA: No
Member of ECFA since:
David Jeremiah's commitment to Bible Strong teaching with an emphasis on content-not causes, current events, or politics-is Turning Point's trademark. Creative vignettes, special musical selections, and seasonal productions supplement his messages, but the purpose of every program is to draw men and women into knowledge of God's Word. Study materials designed to engage participants in the Word of God accompany each broadcast. These innovative resources combined with the unchanging Truth of God's Word continue to fuel the growth of Turning Point's broadcast ministries.
Turning Point's mission is to deliver the unchanging Word of God to an ever-changing world.
The church faith is expressed in that form of doctrine generally held by those known as Baptists, the distinguishing features of which are stated below.
As Baptists, we stand for the supreme authority of the Word of God as the only rule of faith and practice, as opposed to all human traditions.
We stand for the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper as Christ enjoined them upon His followers; the same in number, in act, in order and in symbolic meaning, unchanged and unchangeable 'til He comes again.
As a New Testament Church, we affirm our belief in the individual priesthood of the believer, in the verbal inspiration and authority of the Scriptures; in the Virgin Birth and essential Deity of our Lord; in His atoning death and bodily resurrection; in His ascension into Heaven and promised endowment of the Holy Spirit; in His personal, visible premillennial return and ultimate and undisputed Kingdom and reign.
We stand for a regenerated and spiritual church, holding that only those who have confessed a personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord shall be received into this church or welcomed to its ordinances.
In church policy we believe:
That a Christian Church is a local congregation, under Christ complete in itself, sovereign and independent.
That Christ committed to each church the sole guardianship and control of the ordinances; i.e., preaching the Gospel, baptizing and administering the Lord's Supper.
That all church rights and privileges are limited to the discipline of each local church.
That no semblance of ecclesiastical authority can be exercised except by a local church. The local church alone can elect, commission, and depose its officers, receive discipline and exclude its members.
Does the organization have a statement of faith consistent with historic Christian creeds and is that statement of easily found on its website? Yes 4/4
Does the board have no more than 2 non-independent members? No 0/10
Does the board have at least four independent board members for every non-independent member? No 0/4
Is the organization a member of the ECFA? No 0/9
For the past five years, has the organization been free of any lawsuits or administrative actions filed against it by an employee, client, board member, vendor, donor, or other related party? No 0/4
Are author royalties and speaking engagement fees paid to the organization, and not the individual? No 0/4
Does the organization require its employees to affirm upon hiring the statement of faith of the organization? No 0/4
Is the board chair an independent member of the board? No 0/4
Have there been no public accusations of misdeeds against the organization, founder, CEO, senior pastor, or board members in the past five years? No 0/4
Sector: Radio/ TV Stations
Overall efficiency rating 196 of 1022 6 of 31
Fund acquisition rating 756 of 1025 23 of 31
Resource allocation rating 203 of 1025 7 of 31
Asset utilization rating 39 of 1022 1 of 31
6% 9% 10% 10% 11% 10%
5% 9% 9% 9% 10% 10%
6% 9% 9% 10% 10% 10%
93% 92% 99% 96% 99% 101%
7% 8% 1% 4% 1% -1%
6% 28% 6% 17% 5% -4%
13.64 5.78 2.04 2.59 2.54 2.09
5% 30% 39% 37% 47% 52%
169% 30% 24% 25% 23% 21%
Cash $8,816,133 $3,493,920 $4,118,467 $4,371,822 $5,138,487
Receivables, inventories, prepaids $8,191,246 $10,338,947 $8,897,299 $8,349,806 $8,639,463
Short-term investments $0 $0 $0 $1,072 $184,114
Total current assets $17,007,379 $13,832,867 $13,015,766 $12,722,700 $13,962,064
Long-term investments $0 $450,000 $450,000 $0 $85,000
Fixed assets $8,336,628 $8,616,041 $7,296,399 $7,569,970 $7,891,968
Other long-term assets $2,024,937 $1,845,635 $1,662,427 $1,476,514 $1,288,857
Total long-term assets $10,361,565 $10,911,676 $9,408,826 $9,046,484 $9,265,825
Total assets $27,368,944 $24,744,543 $22,424,592 $21,769,184 $23,227,889
Payables and accrued expenses $2,941,300 $6,793,085 $5,024,429 $5,001,847 $6,677,282
Total current liabilities $2,941,300 $6,793,085 $5,024,429 $5,001,847 $6,677,282
Debt $5,206,959 $2,941,528 $3,317,918 $5,127,685 $5,437,177
Other long-term liabilities $0 $0 $0 $0 $0
Total long-term liabilities $5,206,959 $2,941,528 $3,317,918 $5,127,685 $5,437,177
Total liabilities $8,148,259 $9,734,613 $8,342,347 $10,129,532 $12,114,459
Without donor restrictions $16,447,473 $13,389,144 $12,055,779 $9,000,895 $8,142,447
With donor restrictions $2,773,212 $1,620,786 $2,026,466 $2,638,757 $2,970,983
Net assets $19,220,685 $15,009,930 $14,082,245 $11,639,652 $11,113,430
Total contributions $67,048,216 $60,338,197 $54,645,335 $49,580,304 $49,862,775
Program service revenue $558,352 $1,313,290 $572,270 $232,650 $807,450
Investment income $26,905 $28,605 $14,327 ($82,762) $11,958
Other revenue $2,360,411 $2,360,883 $2,501,465 $2,075,333 $2,000,324
Total other revenue $2,945,668 $3,702,778 $3,088,062 $2,225,221 $2,819,732
Total revenue $69,993,884 $64,040,975 $57,733,397 $51,805,525 $52,682,507
Program services $54,883,303 $54,009,661 $46,594,838 $43,493,117 $45,488,946
Management and general $3,704,132 $3,131,447 $3,360,578 $2,525,159 $2,471,047
Fundraising $6,036,450 $5,972,182 $5,335,388 $5,261,027 $5,217,214
Total expenses $64,623,885 $63,113,290 $55,290,804 $51,279,303 $53,177,207
Surplus (deficit) $5,369,999 $927,685 $2,442,593 $526,222 ($494,700)
Total change in net assets $5,369,999 $927,685 $2,442,593 $526,222 ($494,700)
David M Jeremiah COO/Director $413,069
Paul Joiner Dir. Creative Svcs $262,902
Greg Webster Development Representative $206,322
Brian Cook CFO $196,774
Tom Grothause Dir. Info Technology $173,475
Roger Locke Programmer $171,538
Eric Seaberg Dir. Programming $158,014
Steve Devlin Senior Website Developer $156,678
David P Jeremiah President/CEO/Director & Chairman as of 1/2020 $110,823
Donna M Jeremiah Secretary/Director $81,372
Compensation data as of: 6/30/2020
Turning Point Radio reaches a potential worldwide audience of 480 million people through nearly 2 million annual broadcasts.
Turning Points Magazine and Devotional is delivered to more than 300,000 homes every month.
More than 1 million downloads!
More than 23,000 attendees participated in the Overcomer Tour in 2018, resulting in 127 decisions for Christ!
David Jeremiah's messages are broadcast in 11 languages-and counting!


The McLaren 570GT is designed for practicality and comfort. With its extreme design and breathtaking performance, driving this McLaren 570GT for rent would make for a delightful 2017.
With summer upon us, there are plenty of places in which you can travel with the McLaren 570GT. You can drive this new McLaren 570GT rental for an epic road trip. In truth, the McLaren 570GT has been designed to be more comfortable, especially during a trip. This GT can accommodate extra luggage - the perfect vehicle for traveling with a family. It gets a new fastback roofline. Additionally, the rear window of the car has been updated. Moreover, the heated rear glass hatch will provide you access to the touring deck. Apart from that, the car has fantastic interior materials. The Bowers & Wilkins Audio System is all set to evoke the luxury of the car. It is also designed to deliver pristine sound when driving the McLaren 570GT. Also, this car has lots of carbon fiber, not to mention its advanced technologies like the aluminium tweeters and Rohacell® woofers.
Looking for a luxury rental car on a terrific 2017 McLaren ?
You will have a much better experience if you hire this McLaren 570GT. Equipped with a Twin Turbo Premium Unleaded V-8 3.8 L/232, it could potentially be the vehicle of your dreams. At 3,296 pounds, the 570GT weighs 121 pounds more than the S. By now you know McLaren's offering a 7-speed manual transmission on the new 2017 McLaren 570GT. On the other hand, you will be impressed by its sheer dynamic bandwidth when driven at a scant number of tenths. The car itself comes with optional features and equipment, including the super-lightweight wheel, antilock brakes, seat belts, front and rear anti-roll bars as well as the engine oil cooler. All in all, this 2017 McLaren 570GT is stylish, more comfortable and practical than any other models. So if you are looking for the best car to rent to spend a road trip of a lifetime, look no further than this 570GT.


Myoclonus refers to a quick, involuntary muscle jerk. Hiccups are a form of myoclonus, as are the sudden jerks, or "sleep starts," you may feel just before falling asleep. These forms of myoclonus occur in healthy people and rarely present a problem.
Other forms of myoclonus may occur because of a nervous system (neurological) disorder, such as epilepsy, a metabolic condition, or a reaction to a medication.
Ideally, treating the underlying cause will help control your myoclonus symptoms. If the cause of myoclonus is unknown or can't be specifically treated, then treatment focuses on reducing the effects of myoclonus on your quality of life.
If your myoclonus symptoms become frequent and persistent, talk to your doctor for further evaluation and proper diagnosis and treatment.
Myoclonus may be caused by a variety of underlying problems. Doctors often separate the types of myoclonus based on their causes, which helps determine treatment. Types of myoclonus include the following categories.
Essential myoclonus occurs on its own, usually without other symptoms and without being related to any underlying illness. The cause of essential myoclonus is often unexplained (idiopathic) or, in some cases, hereditary.
This type of myoclonus occurs as part of an epileptic disorder.


text:
Q: Laravel replace QueryDataTable.php from yajra datatable I need to replace the function compileQuerySearch() from the yajra datatable vendor but I can't seems to get it right ...
This is the original function
<?php

namespace Yajra\DataTables;

use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder as EloquentBuilder;
use Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder;
use Illuminate\Database\Query\Expression;
use Illuminate\Support\Str;
use Yajra\DataTables\Utilities\Helper;

class QueryDataTable extends DataTableAbstract
{
    // [...]
    protected function compileQuerySearch($query, $column, $keyword, $boolean = 'or')
    {
        $column = $this->addTablePrefix($query, $column);
        $column = $this->castColumn($column);
        $sql    = $column . ' LIKE ?';

        if ($this->config->isCaseInsensitive()) {
            $sql = 'LOWER(' . $column . ') LIKE ?';
        }

        $query->{$boolean . 'WhereRaw'}($sql, [$this->prepareKeyword($keyword)]);
    }
    // [...]
}

And I need to replace that with this:
<?php

namespace App\Http\yajra; // Changed this line

use Illuminate\Support\Str;
use Illuminate\Database\Query\Builder;
use Yajra\DataTables\Utilities\Helper;
use Yajra\DataTables\DataTableAbstract; // Changed this line
use Illuminate\Database\Query\Expression;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder as EloquentBuilder;

class QueryDataTable extends DataTableAbstract
{
    //[...]
    protected function compileQuerySearch($query, $column, $keyword, $boolean = 'or')
    {
        if ($column!="transaction_date" && $column!="settlement_date"){ // Changed this line
            $column = $this->addTablePrefix($query, $column);
            $column = $this->castColumn($column);
            $sql    = $column . ' LIKE ?';

            if ($this->config->isCaseInsensitive()) {
                $sql = 'LOWER(' . $column . ') LIKE ?';
            }

            $query->{$boolean . 'WhereRaw'}($sql, [$this->prepareKeyword($keyword)]);
        } // Changed this line
    }
    //[...]
}

The original file is located at

\vendor\yajra\laravel-datatables-oracle\src\QueryDataTable.php

My file is located at

\app\Http\yajra\QueryDataTable.php

I tried excluding the file from composer and adding it to the psr-4 like this
"autoload": {
    "exclude-from-classmap": ["vendor/yajra/laravel-datatables-oracle/src/QueryDataTable.php"],
    "psr-4": {
        "App\\": "app/",
        "yajra\\": "app/Http/yajra"
    },
    "classmap": [
        "database/seeds",
        "database/factories"
    ]
},

Then I of course ran composer dump auto-load
But for some reason it always loads the original class discarding my version.
To confirm that, I added a dd("Please crash") on top on my class to see if it loads my version and not the original ... unfortunately it does not crash ... so my class is not the one loaded. (First time I actually want something to crash very badly lol)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This event is now fully booked but if you would like to be added to the waiting list please contact Laura Southerland on laura.southerland@city.ac.uk.
Following from the visit City will host a visit from senior officials from Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Tokyo Metropolitan University. As part of their visit, Yuriko Koike, the first female Governor of Tokyo and Dr. Haruo Shimada, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees have kindly agreed to give a talk.
Dr. Haruo Shimada will speak about the history of mutual co-operation between Japan and the UK and the importance of cooperation between our respective capital cities.
This is an opportunity to hear from and put questions to two prominent leaders from Japan. It is also a chance to learn about some of the emerging educational and employment opportunities in Tokyo.
Prior to being elected to the post, Governor Koike was active in national politics. She was a member of the House of Councillors and the House of Representatives for a total of 24 years from 1992, during which she has held major posts including Minister of the Environment, Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for National Security Affairs, Minister of Defense, and Director of the Committee on Budget of the House of Representatives. As the first woman to serve as the Minister of Defense and the Governor of Tokyo, she is paving the way for women to be more active in society. With a BA in Sociology from Cairo University, she is fluent in English and Arabic, and was a prominent news anchor before entering politics.
Dr. Haruo Shimada, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Tokyo Metropolitan University.
Dr Shimada served nearly 10 years as president at Chiba University of Commerce until September 2016.After completing his graduate studies at Keio University he received his Ph. D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and for forty years was a professor at Keio University. He has been a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and ESSEC, France. He also served as chairman of the Economic Research Center Fujitsu Research Institute from April 2004 to March 2008. He was involved in the formulation of government policy as a special advisor to the Cabinet Office from 2001 to 2006. He is the author of numerous books on the Japanese economy, international relations and labour issues as well as a commentator and essayist for newspapers and popular magazines. He is a frequent TV commentator both in Japan as well as on networks such as CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS and BBC.


2018 brings me into my ninth year of Blogging with well over one thousand posts and nearly one million views. I have enjoyed my journey over the years here on this platform, but the truth is, I feel like the Blog world is in no way near as popular as it was, and over the last few years the reward I get from all the effort of writing posts is very minimal. The interaction I get out of it is pretty much non existent, although I do have one or two people that pop a comment in for me now and again, and for that, I thank you. Now, I am not saying I am going to stop Blogging, or close my page, not at all, as I myself use it regularly to look back on certain things, but I certainly am going to have a bit of a slow down.