title: Scania AB

text: In 1971, the CR110 was upgraded and became the CR111. With extended sound-proofing for its time, it was marketed as the "silent bus". The same year, Scania also introduced a new range of longitudally rear-engined coaches known as the CR85 and the CR145. While CR85 had the small 8-litre engine, the CR145 was powered by a 14-litre V8 engine. The coaches were built until 1978, but never sold very well. In 1973, one right-hand drive CR145 prototype was built in Sweden, with the finishing touches done by MCW, but it remained the only one of its kind. The CR111 was replaced by the all-new CR112 in 1978. With its angular design, the CR112 was called a "shoebox". As with the BR112 chassis being renamed the N112, the CR112 was renamed the CN112 in 1984, and it was also launched in an articulated version. A North American version of the CN112 was built in around 250 units between 1984 and 1988. The CK112 was launched as a simple coach or intercity bus in 1986, sharing most of the styling with the CN112. With the launch of the 3-series in 1988, both the CN112 and CK112 were upgraded to CN113 and CK113. The CK113 was replaced by the L113-based CL113 in 1991 with new rectangular headlights, but production ended in 1992. Less than 100 units of the CK112/CK113/CL113 were ever built.


title: Scania AB

text: The MaxCi (CN113CLL), launched in 1992, was Scania's first ever low-entry bus, with a low floor between the front and centre doors, and kneeling to make entering even easier. The bodywork was based on the CN113, but with a lowered window line in the front half, and a new front including the headlights from the CL113. In 1996, the aluminium body OmniCity was launched as Scania's first full low-floor bus, and in 1998 the MaxCi was replaced by the OmniLink, which shared styling with the OmniCity. A step-entrance intercity bus returned with the OmniLine in 2000. In 2007, Scania returned to the complete coach market with the Finnish-built OmniExpress, which in 2011 even replaced the OmniLine, which had gone out of production in 2009.


title: Scania AB

text: Scania's current styling was first seen in 2009, with the launch of the Touring coach, manufactured by Higer Bus in China, and in 2011 the Citywide was launched to replace both the OmniCity and the OmniLink. Scania in India launched their very own Metrolink coach in 2013, built at their plant there. The Interlink was then launched in October 2015 to replace the OmniExpress. The latest addition to Scania's complete bus models is the Fencer range featuring buses to coaches, the F1 single decker bus was launched in May 2021 initially for the UK market and available in diesel and electric drivetrains.


title: Scania AB

text: In addition to supplying chassis for external bodywork, and their own bodyworks, Scania have also collaborated with some bodywork manufacturers to deliver buses through Scania's distribution lines, both on a global base and on smaller markets.


title: Scania AB

text: In 1969, Scania teamed up with MCW to make the Metro-Scania single-decker for the UK market based on the BR110MH, and since 1971 the BR111MH chassis. In 1973, it was replaced by the Metropolitan double-decker, built on the BR111DH chassis. Production ended in 1978, when the BR111 was replaced by the BR112. East Lancashire Coachbuilders (ELC) launched their low-entry MaxCi in 1993, one year after Scania's own left-hand drive version. It was followed by the L113-based European in 1995 until 1996. In 2003, ELC was back with both the OmniDekka double-decker and the OmniTown midibus to complement Scania's own OmniCity.


title: Scania AB

text: Since the mid-1990s, Scania started a long-lasting collaboration with Spanish bus builder Irizar to sell their coaches through Scania's global distribution network. The agreement meant that Scania had exclusive distribution rights for all Irizar coaches in Northern Europe for many years. The most widespread model was the Irizar Century, but later also the Irizar PB was sold as Scania's premium coach.


title: Scania AB

text: In 1985, Scania's Norwegian distributor and the Finnish bus builder Ajokki announced the "Scania Classic", a coach built exclusively for Norway. It was technically based on Ajokki's own Royal coach model, but received its own styling details. In 1990, when Ajokki had become Carrus, the second generation was launched based on the Vector/Regal models. The third generation from 1995 was also available in Sweden and Finland in limited numbers, and the fourth and last generation from 2001 was built with the same bodywork as the Volvo 9700. Volvo, who had bought Carrus in 1998, put the foot down against any further Scanias with this bodywork from 2002, and since then Scania instead put the "Classic" sticker on all Irizar Century sold in Norway for several years. The collaboration also led to some Norway-exclusive intercity buses; the "Scania Cruiser" (Ajokki Victor), "Scania Universal" (Carrus Fifty) and "Scania InterClassic" (Carrus Vega), but neither of these had special styling, nor as successful as the Classic.


title: Scania AB

text: In 2006, Scania and Higer Bus announced the A80, the first coach in the Higer A Series of coaches built on Scania chassis in China. The coaches are generally available in Asia, but the A30 is also available in Europe as an affordable intercity bus or simple coach. Even the A80 is globally available, but under make-up known as the Scania Touring HD, also referred to as the A80T.


title: Scania AB

text: Since 2012, Scania and Belgian bus manufacturer Van Hool offer some of their most luxurious coaches from their TX series on Scania K EB chassis, including the Astronef with theatrical floor, the Astromega double-decker and the Altano. Since 2014, also the Exqui.City BRT concept is available on Scania N UA chassis with CNG-powered engines.


title: Scania AB

text: In addition to bus and truck engines, Scania's industrial and marine engines are used in generator sets and in earthmoving and agricultural machinery, as well as on board ships and pleasure crafts.


title: Scania AB

text: Scania's involvement with internal combustion engine production dates back to 1897, when engineer Gustav Erickson designed the engine for the company's first motor car. Over the subsequent years, Scania has grown to be one of the world's most experienced engine manufacturers, building engines not only for trucks and buses, but also for marine and general industrial applications, which are exported across the globe.


title: Scania AB

text: The table below shows the locations of the current and former production facilities of Scania AB. As Scania is now majority owned by Volkswagen AG, making it part of Volkswagen Group, the table also includes Volkswagen Group references.


title: Scania AB

text: "Notes:" the second column of the table, the 'factory VIN ID code', is indicated in the 11th digit of the vehicles' 17 digit Vehicle Identification Number, and this factory code is only assigned to plants which produce complete vehicles. Component factories which do not produce complete vehicles do not have this factory ID code.


title: Scania AB

text: In 2015 Scania opened its first Asian Plant in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. This plant specialises in bus and coach making.


title: Scania AB

text: In November 2020 Scania bought truck company Nantong Gaokai based in China's eastern city of Rugao to start the plan of vehicles production there.


title: Schweppes

text: Schweppes (, ) is a beverage brand that originated in the Republic of Geneva; it is made, bottled and distributed worldwide by multiple international conglomerates, depending on licensing and region, that manufacture and sell soft drinks. Schweppes was one of the earliest forms of a soft drink, originally being regular soda water created in 1783. Today, various drinks other than soda water bear the Schweppes brand name, including various types of lemonade and ginger ales.


title: Schweppes

text: The company has held the British royal warrant since 1836 and was the official sponsor of Prince Albert's Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, London in 1851.


title: Schweppes

text: In the late 18th century, German-Genevan scientist Johann Jacob Schweppe developed a process to manufacture bottled carbonated mineral water based on the discoveries of English chemist Joseph Priestley. Schweppe founded the Schweppes Company in Geneva in 1783 to sell carbonated water. In 1792, he moved to London to develop the business there. In 1843, Schweppes commercialised Malvern Water at the Holywell Spring in the Malvern Hills, which was to become a favourite of the British Royal Family until parent company Coca-Cola closed the historic plant in 2010 to local outcry.


title: Schweppes

text: In 1969, the Schweppes Company merged with Cadbury to become Cadbury Schweppes. After acquiring many other brands in the ensuing years, the company was split in 2008, with its US beverage unit becoming Keurig Dr Pepper and separated from its global confectionery business (now part of Mondelez International). Keurig Dr Pepper is the current owner of the Schweppes trademark in Canada and United States.


title: Schweppes

text: The Coca-Cola Company owns the Schweppes brand in several territories, including 21 European countries. In a further 22 European countries, the brand is owned by Schweppes International Limited (a subsidiary of Suntory).


title: Schweppes

text: In China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Swire's subsidiary Swire Coca-Cola produces Schweppes branded beverages.


title: Schweppes

text: The Japanese Asahi Group bought Schweppes Australia in 2008 from Cadbury, and owns the trademark in Australia.


title: Schweppes

text: Mainstay Schweppes products include ginger ale (1870), bitter lemon (1957), and tonic water (the first carbonated tonic – 1871).


title: Schweppes

text: During the 1920s and 1930s, the artist William Barribal created a range of posters for Schweppes. In 1945, the advertising agency S.T.Garland Advertising Service Ltd., London coined the word "Schweppervescence", which was first used the following year. Thereafter it was used extensively in advertisements produced by Garlands, who sold copyright of this word to the Schweppes Company for £150 five years later when they relinquished the account.


title: Schweppes

text: An ad campaign in the 1950s and 1960s featured a real-life veteran British naval officer named Commander Whitehead, who described the product's bubbly flavour (effervescence) as evanescence. Comedian Benny Hill also appeared in a series of Schweppes TV commercials in the 1960s.


title: Schweppes

text: Another campaign, voiced by British actor William Franklyn, made use of onomatopoeia in their commercials: "Schhh… You know who." after the sound of the gas escaping as one opens the bottle.


title: Adam Richman

text: Adam Montgomery Richman is an American actor and television host. He has hosted various dining and eating-challenge programs on the Travel Channel and History Channel.


title: Adam Richman

text: Richman, an only child, was born into a Jewish family in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, and raised in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood. He attended "a Solomon Schechter school through eighth grade and then a Talmud Torah high school", ultimately graduating from Midwood High School. He completed his undergraduate degree in international studies at Emory University, and earned a master's degree from the Yale School of Drama. While attending Emory University, Richman was a member of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity.


title: Adam Richman

text: Richman's acting career has included guest roles on "Guiding Light", "All My Children", "", and he portrayed God as a butcher on "Joan of Arcadia" in 2004. In addition to appearing in regional theater productions throughout the United States, he was also seen in several national television commercials.


title: Adam Richman

text: As a self-educated food expert and trained sushi chef, Richman has kept a travel journal that includes every restaurant he has visited since 1995.


title: Adam Richman

text: Richman began as a TV host in 2008, with the Travel Channel show "Man v. Food", which shows Richman visiting various cities and taking part in eating challenges there. Richman's tenure on the show lasted for four seasons, until 2012. (It was revived in 2017 with a new host, Casey Webb.) To maintain his health while taping the show, Richman would exercise twice a day. When the schedule permitted, he would not eat the day before a challenge. He also tried to stay hydrated by drinking a lot of water or club soda and forgoing coffee and soft drinks. For the show's fourth season, it was re-titled "Man v. Food Nation", and Richman did not engage in the eating challenges himself, but rather coached others to do so. He stated at the time that this change was not done because he wanted to avoid eating large amounts of food, but rather in order to keep the show interesting.


title: Adam Richman

text: During his time as a competitive eater, Richman gained a considerable amount of weight and became depressed. After retiring from competitive eating, he lost .


title: Adam Richman

text: Richman wrote the book "America the Edible: A Hungry History from Sea to Dining Sea", which was released on November 9, 2010, by Rodale Publishing.


title: Adam Richman

text: On January 23, 2011, Richman appeared on Food Network's "Iron Chef America" as a judge for a battle with Gruyère as the theme ingredient.


title: Adam Richman

text: Richman hosted Travel Channel's "The Traveler's Guide to Life", which debuted on January 26, 2011, and "Amazing Eats", a spin-off of his popular series "Man v. Food" and "Man v. Food Nation", which premiered on January 11, 2012.


title: Adam Richman

text: Richman also hosted the TV series "Adam Richman's Best Sandwich in America" which premiered June 6, 2012. This 11-episode weekly series documented Richman's "nationwide quest to find the best thing since sliced bread 'on' sliced bread." He ultimately declared the roast-pork sandwich from Tommy DiNic's in Philadelphia's Reading Terminal Market his "Best Sandwich in America".


title: Adam Richman

text: Richman hosted the Travel Channel's "Adam Richman's Fandemonium", which ran for one season in 2013; the series showed him taking part in various fan events around the United States, such as sporting competitions. He hosted the NBC cooking competition show "Food Fighters", which ran for two seasons from 2014 to 2015.


title: Adam Richman

text: In June 2014, Richman posted a photo of his newly svelte physique on Instagram and boasted about his 70-pound weight loss, adding the hashtag "#thinspiration". The post caused controversy because this hashtag was said to be linked to eating disorders. Some Instagram users responded with criticism of the hashtag, and Richman responded to some of them with insults, referring to them as "haters" and telling one to "grab a razor blade & draw a bath". He later apologized, but the Travel Channel postponed Richman's series "Man Finds Food", which was meant to begin airing in July 2014, until April 2015.


title: Adam Richman

text: Also in 2015, Richman was a judge on the British television series "BBQ Champ", hosted by Myleene Klass and broadcast on ITV.


title: Adam Richman

text: Richman is a leading contributor on the History network's "The Food That Built America", which began airing in 2019. In February 2021, he began hosting the History series "Modern Marvels" and the next year began hosting "Adam Eats the 80s".


title: Adam Richman

text: Richman is a fan of the baseball team New York Yankees, soccer teams Tottenham Hotspur and Grimsby Town, and American football team Miami Dolphins (especially their Hall of Fame quarterback, Dan Marino).


title: Adam Richman

text: On June 8, 2014, Richman represented the "Rest of the World" team in the annual Soccer Aid match against England at Old Trafford, Manchester, in a game that combined former professional players and celebrities. Richman was quoted as saying that he lost for the game, and cried when he was asked to take part.


title: Adam Richman

text: In June 2020 Richman became a shareholder in English football club Grimsby Town; he had also previously put money into the club via a fan fundraising scheme called "Operation Promotion".


title: Stephen McKinley Henderson

text: Stephen McKinley Henderson (born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He is known primarily for his work onstage, notably in several of August Wilson's plays. He has made several appearances in film and television, including notable roles in biographical drama "Lincoln" (2012), coming-of-age film "Lady Bird" (2017), science fiction miniseries "Devs" (2020), and Mentat Thufir Hawat in the science fiction film "Dune" (2021).


title: Stephen McKinley Henderson

text: Henderson was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Ruby Naomi and Elihue Henderson. He spent a year at Lincoln University, Missouri and was originally part of Group 1 at the Juilliard School Drama Division before he left. He finished his BFA in Acting at the North Carolina School of the Arts (1972). He later studied at Purdue University where he received his Master of Arts in Theatre (1977). He also spent summer sessions at Rose Bruford College in London and William Esper Studios in New York City.


title: Stephen McKinley Henderson

text: In 2020, Henderson was selected to return to his alma mater, Purdue University, to participate in the "Old Masters Program", an Old Master being a person who has made significant contributions to their field of study and to society. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Henderson's visit was virtual, where he engaged with the Purdue community through an array of interactive platforms including the Old Masters Podcast, personal host calls, virtual classroom talks, and events with student organizations in which he talked about his career and success. 2020 marked the 70th year of the Old Master's program, and was the first hybrid version, with Henderson broadcasting his appearances from his home. When asked by a Purdue Theatre student what advice he would give to current students, Henderson replied "Undergraduates should read broadly. Graduate students should read deeply."


title: Stephen McKinley Henderson

text: Henderson is known mostly for his stage work. He won the 2015 Obie Award for Best Actor for his starring role of Walter "Pops" Washington in the Atlantic Theatre Company and Second Stage productions of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Between Riverside and Crazy". He portrayed Jim Bono in the Broadway revival of August Wilson's "Fences", starring Denzel Washington, for which Henderson received a nomination for a Tony Award as a supporting actor, as well as the Richard Seff Award from Actor's Equity; he reprised the role in Washington's 2016 film adaptation. Also in 2016, Henderson appeared in Kenneth Lonergan's "Manchester by the Sea", starring Casey Affleck and Michelle Williams, playing the boss of Affleck's character. Previously, he appeared as Van Helsing in the Broadway production of "Dracula, the Musical". More recently, he played the role of Father Leviatch in Greta Gerwig's 2017 film "Lady Bird". On Broadway, he has performed in "Drowning Crow", the revival of "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom", and the premiere of "King Hedley II". Henderson is recognized as a veteran performer of August Wilson's oeuvre.


title: Stephen McKinley Henderson

text: His signature August Wilson role is the gossipy Turnbo in "Jitney" for which he won a Drama Desk Award. He had created the role in the 1996 premiere at the Pittsburgh Public Theater, then honed it (as Wilson was honing the script) in other regional theaters before its arrival Off-Broadway in 2000. Though they did not transfer to Broadway, he and the core of the cast took "Jitney" to London where it won the 2002 Olivier Award for best new play. In addition, he appeared in "A Raisin in the Sun" and directed "Zooman and the Sign". With the LAByrinth Theatre Company, he portrayed Pontius Pilate in "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot".


title: Stephen McKinley Henderson

text: His films include his role as Arthur in "Everyday People", White House servant William Slade in Steven Spielberg's film "Lincoln" (2012), Lester in the film "Tower Heist" (2011), Bobo in "A Raisin in the Sun" (1989), Cooper's husband in the TV movie "Marie" (1985), and roles in the films "Keane" (2004), "If You Could Say It in Words" (2008), "Lady Bird" (2017) and "Dune" (2021). In addition to his films, Henderson was a series regular on the FOX series "New Amsterdam," which premiered in early 2008.


title: Stephen McKinley Henderson

text: Television work includes "Law & Order", "", "The Newsroom", "", "Tyler Perry's House of Payne", "Third Watch", "New Amsterdam", "Blue Bloods" and "Devs".


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: Richard O'Sullivan (born 7 May 1944) is an English comedy actor, who is known for his role as Robin Tripp in the 1970s sitcoms "Man About the House" (1973–1976) and "Robin's Nest" (1977–1981) and as the title character in the period family adventure series "Dick Turpin" (1979–1982). He also starred in "Doctor at Large" (1971), "Doctor in Charge" (1972–1973), "Alcock and Gander" (1972), "Me and My Girl" (1984–1988) and "Trouble In Mind" (1991).


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: O'Sullivan was born in 1944, to John and Ellen O'Sullivan (née Fleming) in Chiswick. His early education was at St John the Evangelist's RC Primary School in Brentford, West London . After a family holiday in Ireland as a boy, he returned with a strong Irish accent and was sent to the Corona Theatre School to soften it. He appeared in his first film at the age of eight.


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: O'Sullivan's first film appearance was as an extra playing one of the children singing in the Sunday School sequence of "The Yellow Balloon", filmed in 1952 when he was eight years old and released in 1953. He then played the main character in "The Stranger's Hand", starring Alida Valli and Trevor Howard, in 1953.


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: Possibly his earliest television work was the part he played in the "Sherlock Holmes" episode, "The Unlucky Gambler", broadcast on 18 July 1955. He appeared in the Children's Film Foundation's first serial, "Raiders of the River", also produced in 1955. In the film "It's Great to Be Young" (1956), he appeared alongside John Mills. The following year, he played the title character in a BBC Television five part Sunday serial "Little Lord Fauntleroy" and then with Keith Michell and Belinda Lee in the opulent swashbuckler, "Dangerous Exile", playing Louis XVII, the ten-year-old son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Also during that period, he featured in two episodes of Sapphire Films' "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (1957) alongside Richard Greene, one role being that of Will Dale in the episode "The Challenge of the Black Knight". In the "Sword of Freedom" series (1957), also made by Sapphire, he played Alberto in the episode "Chart of Gold". In an early "Carry On" film, "Carry On Teacher" (1959), he had the small role of student Robin Stevens. Around the same time, he was cast in the role of Pierre van der Mal in an early scene of "The Nun's Story" (also 1959), playing the younger brother of Gabrielle (Audrey Hepburn). Also around that time, he had a leading role in an episode of the Sapphire/ITC series "The Four Just Men" ("The Man with the Golden Touch", 1959), as Neapolitan street urchin Pietro, who foils a robbery.


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: In the early 1960s, O'Sullivan appeared in two Cliff Richard films: "The Young Ones" (1961), and "Wonderful Life" (1964). In the 1963 blockbuster "Cleopatra", he appeared as Pharaoh Ptolemy XIII, the younger brother of the title character played by Elizabeth Taylor.


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: For the remainder of the 1960s, O'Sullivan was a jobbing actor appearing in such TV series as "Dr Syn: the Scarecrow", "Emergency Ward 10", "Redcap", "Danger Man", "No Hiding Place", "Dixon of Dock Green" and "Strange Report" among others, until he was offered the role of Lawrence Bingham in the LWT sitcom "Doctor at Large" (1971), a role which continued in the later "Doctor in Charge" (1972–73). Meanwhile, he also had a main role in the Thames Television comedy "Alcock and Gander" (1972) with Beryl Reid.


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: By then a regular in TV sitcoms, he starred as Robin Tripp, a trainee chef, in the flatshare sitcom "Man About the House" written by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, launched in 1973.


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: In 1975, he starred in the stage comedy "Boeing Boeing", undertaking two record-breaking national tours, alongside two of his "Man About The House" co-stars, Yootha Joyce and Sally Thomsett.


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: When the television series ended in 1976, he continued playing Robin Tripp in the spin-off sitcom "Robin's Nest", in which Robin sets up a bistro with funding from his girlfriend Vicky's father, James Nicholls (Tony Britton). During his run as Robin, he had relationships with two of his co-stars, Sally Thomsett from "Man About the House", and Tessa Wyatt, who played Vicky in "Robin's Nest". From the latter relationship, he had a son, Jamie.


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: "Robin's Nest" was a big success, and was the first UK sitcom to feature an unmarried couple cohabiting. To tie in with the series, O'Sullivan wrote a recipe book called "Man About the Kitchen", which was published in 1980. He also wrote the "Robin's Nest" theme tune, which was arranged by Brian Bennett. During that period, O'Sullivan also appeared in adverts for British Gas.


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: In 1979, he starred in the title role of LWT's drama series "Dick Turpin", which ran until 1982. He then played the widower Simon Harrup in the sitcom "Me and My Girl", broadcast from 1984 to 1988, co-starring Tim Brooke-Taylor and Joan Sanderson, also produced by LWT. He also appeared in a one-off comedy-drama "The Giftie", shown on Channel Four in 1988, in which he and a friend discovered a photocopier at work that could duplicate living copies of themselves, unwisely doing so, and predictably leading to mistaken identities and chaos. In the 1990s, his profile decreased although he was never short of work. His final acting role was in a 1996 one-off satire titled "Holed", with Tony Robinson, about a suburban golf club.


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: O'Sullivan largely retired from public life in 1996. His last appearance on television was as a guest on a 1999 edition of "This Is Your Life" held in honour of his "Doctor..." co-star George Layton. O'Sullivan had himself been the subject of the show in 1974. In 2006, O'Sullivan recorded a commentary for the DVD release of "Carry On Teacher".


title: Richard O'Sullivan

text: He has lived in Brinsworth House, a retirement home for entertainers in Twickenham, since suffering a stroke in 2003.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Robert Bushnell Ryan (November 11, 1909 – July 11, 1973) was an American actor and activist. Known for his portrayals of hardened cops and ruthless villains, Ryan performed for over three decades. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the film noir drama "Crossfire" (1947).


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois, the first child of Mabel Arbutus (née Bushnell), a secretary, and Timothy Aloysius Ryan, who was from a wealthy family who owned a real estate firm. He was of Irish (his paternal grandparents were from Thurles) and English descent. Ryan was raised Catholic and educated at Loyola Academy.


title: Robert Ryan

text: He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1932, where he held the school's heavyweight boxing title for all four years of his attendance, along with lettering in football and track. After graduation, Ryan found employment as a stoker on a ship that traveled to Africa, a WPA worker, a ranch hand in Montana, and other odd jobs.


title: Robert Ryan

text: He returned home in 1936 when his father died, and after a brief stint modeling clothes for a department store, he decided to become an actor.


title: Robert Ryan

text: In 1937 Ryan joined a little theater group in Chicago. The following year he enrolled in the Max Reinhardt Workshop in Hollywood. His role in the 1939 play "Too Many Husbands" brought an offer from Paramount. Although he had done a screen test for them in 1938 and been turned down as "not the right type", the studio offered him a $75 a week contract.


title: Robert Ryan

text: In November 1939, Paramount signed Ryan to a six month contract and announced he would play the lead in "Golden Gloves" (1940)"," citing his boxing experience at Dartmouth. However, after a screen test with "Gloves" director Edward Dmytryk, the lead went to Richard Denning and Ryan was cast in a minor, but important role as a boxing "ringer". He had his first credited role, while making a lasting association with the director in which they would make several films together.


title: Robert Ryan

text: In the same year, Ryan had small parts in "The Ghost Breakers" (1940) and "Queen of the Mob" (1940) as well as small roles in "North West Mounted Police" (1941) and "Texas Rangers Ride Again" (1941). Then Paramount dropped him.


title: Robert Ryan

text: He went to Broadway, where he was cast in a production of Clifford Odets' "Clash by Night" (1941–42), directed by Lee Strasberg and produced by Billy Rose starring Tallulah Bankhead and Lee J. Cobb. It had a run of 49 performances, but was high-profile and led to him being signed to a long-term contract by RKO.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan appeared in "Bombardier" (1943), starring Pat O'Brien, and was fourth-billed in the Fred Astaire musical "The Sky's the Limit" (1943), playing a friend of Astaire. Both films were popular.


title: Robert Ryan

text: He was fourth-billed in "Behind the Rising Sun" (1943), directed by Dmytryk, which was a huge box-office success then third-billed in "The Iron Major" (1943), with O'Brien, and "Gangway for Tomorrow" (1943).


title: Robert Ryan

text: RKO promoted him to star status in "Tender Comrade" (1943), where he was Ginger Rogers' leading man, directed for the third time by Dmytryk. It was a big hit. Also popular was "Marine Raiders" (1944), in which Ryan co-starred again alongside O'Brien.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served as a drill instructor from January 1944 to November 1945 at Camp Pendleton, in Southern California. At Camp Pendleton, he befriended writer and future director Richard Brooks, whose novel "The Brick Foxhole" he greatly admired. He also took up painting.


title: Robert Ryan

text: When Ryan was discharged from the Marine Corps, he returned to RKO. They immediately cast Ryan in the Randolph Scott western, "Trail Street" (1947), which was very popular. However, his next film made with Joan Bennett, "The Woman on the Beach" (1947) directed by Jean Renoir, lost money.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan's breakthrough role was as an anti-Semitic killer in the Dmytryk directed film noir "Crossfire" (1947), co-starring Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, and Gloria Grahame. Based on Brooks' novel, the film was highly successful at the box office, and received several Academy Award nominations including a Best Supporting Actor for Ryan's performance.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan co-starred with Merle Oberon in "Berlin Express" (1948) for director Jacques Tourneur; it was the first movie made in Germany after the end of the second world war. He was reunited with Scott in "Return of the Bad Men" (1948), and with O'Brien in "The Boy with Green Hair" (1948). The latter film was directed by Joseph Losey and produced by Dore Schary, who was head of production at RKO.


title: Robert Ryan

text: MGM borrowed him to make "Act of Violence" (1948) for Fred Zinnemann. He stayed at that studio to make "Caught" (1949) for Max Ophuls with James Mason.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Back at RKO, Ryan had one of his best roles in "The Set-Up" (1949), directed by Robert Wise, as an over-the-hill boxer who is brutally punished for refusing to take a dive. "The Set-Up" was a favorite of Ryan's. He was top billed in "The Woman on Pier 13" (1949), an anti-communist melodrama directed by Robert Stevenson, that was made at the prompting of RKO's new owner, Howard Hughes.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan next appeared in several film noirs: "The Secret Fury" (1950) with Claudette Colbert directed by Mel Ferrer, and "Born to Be Bad" (1950) directed by Nicholas Ray. In 1950, the studio bought "The Miami Story" as a vehicle for him.


title: Robert Ryan

text: He then made the Western "Best of the Badmen" (1951), and costarred with John Wayne in "Flying Leathernecks" (1951), a World War II film directed by Ray. It was announced he was working on an original film story called "The Alpine Slide" about avalanches, but no film resulted.


title: Robert Ryan

text: In 1951, Ryan was reunited with "Crossfire" costar Robert Mitchum in "The Racket", directed by John Cromwell; that same year, Ray again directed him in a film noir, "On Dangerous Ground", with Ida Lupino. Ryan then made the film adaptation of "Clash by Night" (1952) with Barbara Stanwyck and Marilyn Monroe under Fritz Lang's direction. According to film critic David Thomson, "at RKO Ryan created the character of a modern neurotic such as the American screen had not dreamed of before."


title: Robert Ryan

text: His last film at RKO for a number of years was "Beware, My Lovely" (1952) with Lupino, made for her production company.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan went to MGM where he played a villain in Anthony Mann's western "The Naked Spur" (1953), starring James Stewart. The picture was very popular.


title: Robert Ryan

text: He appeared in "City Beneath the Sea" (1953) for Budd Boetticher at Universal, "Inferno" (1953) at MGM, and "Alaska Seas" (1954) at Paramount.


title: Robert Ryan

text: He was the leading man for Shirley Booth in "About Mrs. Leslie" (1954) and Greer Garson in "Her Twelve Men " (1954). The latter was made at MGM, now being run by Dore Schary, RKO's previous studio head, who cast Ryan as the head villain in "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1954).


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan returned to RKO for "Escape to Burma" (1955) with Stanwyck. More widely seen was Sam Fuller's "House of Bamboo" (1955) and Raoul Walsh's "The Tall Men" (1955), both at Fox. By now his fee was reported as $150,000 per film.


title: Robert Ryan

text: He starred in "The Proud Ones" (1956) at Fox, "Back from Eternity" (1956) at RKO, directed by John Farrow. He appeared in "Men in War" (1957) for Anthony Mann, made at Mann's company Security Pictures.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan made his television debut in 1955 as Abraham Lincoln in the "Screen Director's Playhouse" adaptation of Christopher Morley's story "Lincoln's Doctor's Dog." As he explained to reporters, despite financial considerations, Ryan preferred to steer clear of any commitment to a TV series:


title: Robert Ryan

text: The only money in TV is in the series, and I want to stay out of those. Sure, I might make a million or so in a series, but I'd wind up being 'Sidewinder Sam' for the rest of my life.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan remained true to these convictions, appearing in many television series, but always as a guest star. He was in "Screen Directors Playhouse", "Mr. Adams and Eve", "Goodyear Theatre", "Alcoa Theatre", "Playhouse 90" (playing The Great Gatsby), and "Zane Grey Theater".


title: Robert Ryan

text: He continued to star in features, however, including "God's Little Acre" (1958) for Mann and Security Pictures, "Lonelyhearts" (1959) written and produced by Schary, "Day of the Outlaw" (1959) for Security Pictures, and "Odds Against Tomorrow" (1959) for Wise.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan narrated the CBS television documentary series "World War One" that aired from September 1964 to September 1965.


title: Robert Ryan

text: In the summer of 1960 Ryan starred opposite Katharine Hepburn at the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut, playing Antony to Hepburn's Cleopatra.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan remained in high demand throughout the 1960s: he appeared in "Ice Palace" (1960) with Richard Burton; a TV version of "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" directed by John Frankenheimer; "The Canadians" (1961) for Burt Kennedy; played John the Baptist in MGM's Technicolor epic "King of Kings" (1961) for Nicholas Ray; was the villainous Claggart in Peter Ustinov's adaptation of "Billy Budd" (1962) for which he was nominated for a BAFTA.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan returned to Broadway in the musical "Mr. President" (1962–63) by Lindsay and Crouse with music by Irving Berlin and directed by Joshua Logan; it ran for 263 performances.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan continued to appear in TV shows such as "Kraft Suspense Theatre," "Breaking Point", "The Eleventh Hour", "Wagon Train", "The Reporter" and "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre". Ryan's only partial concession to featuring in an entire television series was his role as Narrator in CBS's 26-episode acclaimed documentary homage to "World War One", released in prime-time during the 1964–65 season.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan never appeared in Gene Roddenberry's "", but he was considered for the role of Commodore Matt Decker in the 1967 episode "". Episode author Norman Spinrad had written the script with Ryan in mind to play Commodore Decker, but Ryan had prior commitments. That role went to William Windom.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan could be seen in "The Crooked Road" (1965) and "The Secret Agents" (1965), then the all-star "Battle of the Bulge" (1965) for Phil Yordan and "The Professionals" (1966) for Brooks.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan supported Sid Caesar in "The Busy Body" (1967) and had a key supporting part in "The Dirty Dozen" (1967) for Robert Aldrich and "Hour of the Gun" (1967), playing Ike Clanton for John Sturges.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan went to Europe for "A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die" (1968) and "Anzio" (1969) for Dmytryk. Ryan had the lead in "Captain Nemo and the Underwater City" (1969).


title: Robert Ryan

text: Along with William Holden and Ernest Borgnine, Ryan was goaded by Sam Peckinpah during the making of "The Wild Bunch" (1969). After production in Mexico moved from Parras to Torreón, his request to take a few days off to campaign for Eugene McCarthy during the 1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries was denied by Peckinpah. In his biography "Golden Boy: The Untold Story of William Holden", Bob Thomas wrote, "For ten days, Ryan reported to the set in makeup and costume. He never played a scene. Finally he grabbed Peckinpah by the shirtfront and growled, 'I'll do anything you ask me to do in front of the camera, because I'm a professional. But you open your mouth to me off the set, and I'll knock your teeth in.'"


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan returned to the stage in a revival of "The Front Page". It was one of the earlier productions developed by the Plumstead Playhouse (later the Plumstead Theatre Company), a Long Island-based repertory company founded by Ryan, Martha Scott and Henry Fonda; the following winter, a film of the production (produced jointly by MPC and Plumstead) was broadcast nationally over the upstart Hughes TV Network.


title: Robert Ryan

text: In 1970 Ryan discovered he had inoperable cancer of the lymph glands (he was a heavy smoker). He decided to keep working, and said, "I've had a good shot at life."


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan supported Burt Lancaster in "Lawman" (1971) and Jon Phillip Law in "The Love Machine" (1971). He appeared in "And Hope to Die" (1971) with Jean-Louis Trintignant for René Clément.


title: Robert Ryan

text: In April 1971, Ryan returned to the stage to play James Tyrone in Arvin Brown's critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production of "Long Day's Journey into Night".


title: Robert Ryan

text: He originally refused the lead in "Lolly-Madonna XXX" (1973) with Rod Steiger because he wanted to take his wife to Europe, but she died of cancer in May 1972, and he ended up playing the part. "Something very big is missing and I don't know what to put in its place," he said.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan's final roles included: "The Man Without a Country" (1973), a TV movie for Delbert Mann; "The Outfit" (1973) with Robert Duvall; "Executive Action" (1973) with Lancaster, from a script by Dalton Trumbo; and a version of "The Iceman Cometh" (1973) with Lee Marvin and director Frankenheimer. Ryan, who died before the latter's premiere, won the Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor, the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor (in a tie with Al Pacino, for "Serpico"), and a special award from the National Society of Film Critics. "The Iceman Cometh" and "Executive Action" both were released in November 1973, after Ryan's death.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Though Ryan served in the military, he came to share the pacifist views of his wife Jessica, who was a Quaker.


title: Robert Ryan

text: In the late-1940s, as the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) intensified its anti-Communist attacks on Hollywood, he joined the short-lived Committee for the First Amendment. Throughout the 1950s, he donated money and services to civic and religious organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union, American Friends Service Committee, and United World Federalists. In September 1959, he and Steve Allen became founding co-chairs of The Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy's Hollywood chapter.


title: Robert Ryan

text: By the mid-1960s, Ryan's political activities included efforts to fight racial discrimination. He served in the cultural division of the Committee to Defend Martin Luther King Jr., and helped organize the short-lived Artists Help All Blacks, with Bill Cosby, Robert Culp, Sidney Poitier, and several other actors.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Ryan often spoke about the dichotomy of his personal beliefs and his acting roles. At a screening of "Odds Against Tomorrow", he appeared before the press to discuss "the problems of an actor like me playing the kind of character that in real life he finds totally despicable." Ryan's roles as cynical, prejudiced, violent characters, often ran counter to the causes he embraced. He was a pacifist who starred in war movies, westerns, and violent thrillers. He was an opponent of McCarthyism, but appeared in the anti-communist propaganda film "I Married a Communist", playing a nefarious communist agent. In socially progressive films such as "Crossfire", "Bad Day at Black Rock", "Odds Against Tomorrow" and "Executive Action", he played bigoted villains or conspirators.


title: Robert Ryan

text: On March 11, 1939, he married Jessica Cadwalader. They had three children: Timothy (b. 1946); Cheyney (b. 1948), a research fellow at Oxford University and a professor of philosophy and law at the University of Oregon; and Lisa (b. 1951). They lived in the Dakota at 72nd and Central Park West in Manhattan and eventually sub-let the apartment to John Lennon and Yoko Ono.


title: Robert Ryan

text: In the fall of 1951, the progressive Oakwood School was opened in Jessica and Robert Ryan's backyard in Los Angeles; founded by a small group of parents, created and based on their educational and child-rearing views. Three years later, the parents, including the Ryans, Sidney Harmon, Elizabeth Schappert, Wendy and Ross Cabeen, and Charles and Emilie Haas, bought and built the elementary school campus on Moorpark Street in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Robert and Jessica remained married until her death from cancer in 1972. He died from lung cancer in New York City the following year at the age of 63.


title: Robert Ryan

text: Born to play beautifully tortured, angry souls... Ryan was a familiar movie face for more than two decades in Hollywood's classical years, his studio ups and downs, independent detours and outlier adventures paralleling the arc of American cinema as it went from a national pastime to near collapse. A little prettier and he might have been one of the golden boys of the golden age. But there could be something a touch menacing about his face (something open and sweet too), which bunched as tight as a fist, and his towering height (he stood 6 foot 4) at times loomed like a threat. The rage boiled up in him so quickly. It made him seem dangerous. He was known for his villains, and it was the complexity of these characters, their emotional and psychological kinks, that elevated even his lesser roles. He never achieved the supernova stardom of a Gable or Bogart, and these days Ryan's glower may be more familiar than his name. Yet he was the type of next-level star and B-movie stalwart that helped make old Hollywood great.


title: Kolo Touré

text: Kolo Abib Touré (born 19 March 1981) is an Ivorian professional football coach and former player who is the manager of Championship side Wigan Athletic. He played as a defender for Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool, Celtic and the Ivory Coast national team. He previously served a first team coach at Leicester City as well as a member of the coaching staff for the Ivory Coast national team.


title: Kolo Touré

text: Beginning his career at ASEC Mimosas, Touré moved to Arsenal in 2002, where he made 326 appearances for the club and was a member of the 03–04 'invincibles' side. In 2009, he moved to Manchester City, where he was joined a year later by his younger brother, Yaya Touré, helping City earn its first league title in 44 years. In 2013, Touré was transferred to Liverpool. He is one of the eight players who have won the Premier League with two clubs, having won it with Arsenal and Manchester City. He also won the Scottish Premiership and Scottish League Cup with Celtic. He remains to date the African player with the most Premier League appearances (353 in total).


title: Kolo Touré

text: Touré is the second-most capped player for the Ivory Coast, with 120 appearances from 2000 to 2015. He represented the team at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cup tournaments. Touré also represented the Ivory Coast at seven Africa Cup of Nations tournaments between 2002 and 2015, helping them finish runner-up in 2006 and 2012, while winning in 2015.


title: Kolo Touré

text: Born in Bouaké, Touré joined Premier League team Arsenal from ASEC Mimosas on a long-term contract for a fee of £150,000 on 14 February 2002 after a short trial.


title: Kolo Touré

text: His status as a full international meant Touré was able to secure a British work permit. Touré did not make his debut for the first team until the next season, against Liverpool in the FA Community Shield in August 2002. Initially regarded as a utility player, he started his Arsenal career as a defensive midfielder as well as at right-back. He scored his first Arsenal goal at Stamford Bridge in a 1–1 draw against Chelsea. Arsenal failed to retain the Premiership crown that season, but Touré made a big step in his career nonetheless, winning the FA Cup as an unused substitute in the final.


title: Kolo Touré

text: At the start of the 2003–04 season, Wenger began using Touré as a central defender alongside Sol Campbell. He formed an effective partnership with Campbell and had a great season during which Arsenal were undefeated in the league, claiming the title. Having previously been a striker or attacking midfielder, he made a reputation for himself as being an attacking defender, although he only scored one goal and had one assist.


title: Kolo Touré

text: Touré was in and out of the Arsenal team during the 2004–05 season, battling for a first team place with the likes of Philippe Senderos and Pascal Cygan to play alongside Sol Campbell in defence. Touré ended the season with a FA Cup winners medal playing 50 times for Arsenal that season and scoring one goal. His only goal of the 2004–05 season came in the 90th minute of Arsenal's UEFA Champions League last 16 round tie against Bayern Munich of Germany. Arsenal lost the game 3–1.


title: Kolo Touré

text: Touré established himself as a permanent fixture in the Arsenal starting XI. In the 2005–06 season, he established a formidable defensive partnership with Senderos. Both centre-backs helped the Arsenal team reach the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final after keeping 10 consecutive clean sheets (a European competition record).


title: Kolo Touré

text: Touré scored his second European goal on 19 April 2006, the winner in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Villarreal CF. It was the final European goal scored at Highbury and the goal that effectively decided the tie (Arsenal won 1–0 on aggregate), to send Arsenal through to their first ever Champions League Final, in Paris, France.


title: Kolo Touré

text: Touré was handed the number 5 shirt for the 2006–07 season, which had been vacant since the departure of Martin Keown. In August 2006, Touré signed a new four-year deal with Arsenal.


title: Kolo Touré

text: Touré was the junior vice-captain in the 2006–07 season after former vice-captain Gilberto Silva and former captain Thierry Henry. He captained Arsenal for the first time on 9 January 2007 during a 6–3 victory over Liverpool in the League Cup. He also led the Gunners out for the final of this competition, having also captained them in the semi-final first leg against Tottenham Hotspur. He became the longest-serving member of the current Arsenal squad following the departures of Jérémie Aliadière, Thierry Henry and Freddie Ljungberg during the summer transfer window in 2007. He also captained Arsenal in a string of games early in the 2007–08 season after captain William Gallas was injured in the game against Blackburn Rovers. He scored a free kick in a match against Bolton Wanderers, where his shot was low and went under two Bolton players and beat Jussi Jääskeläinen. However, during the Africa Cup of Nations, he suffered an injury and looked a bit out of place when he returned and then injured himself again in the Champions League against A.C. Milan when he blocked Alexandre Pato's shot with his leg and was carried off the pitch after treatment. Touré returned to the starting lineup against Middlesbrough on 15 March and scored the equalising goal for Arsenal in the final 10 minutes.


title: Kolo Touré

text: On 13 April 2009, Touré demanded a move away from Arsenal after a reputed bust-up with defensive partner Gallas. He reportedly handed in a transfer request which was later turned down by Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood. However, Touré temporarily reversed his decision and committed to the Gunners at least until the summer.


title: Kolo Touré

text: After much transfer speculation, it was announced on 28 July 2009 that Manchester City had agreed a fee of £14 million for Touré. After he successfully passed a medical in Manchester on 29 July 2009, Touré signed a four-year contract with the club which had the option of extending it to five years. City, who had finished 10th the previous season, had made a number of high-profile signings in preparation for the 2009–10 season, and Touré hoped to help make City a top four team. He was appointed the club captain by Mark Hughes. He scored his first goal for Manchester City in a 2–1 League Cup win over Fulham on 23 September 2009. He scored his first league goal for City against Burnley on 7 November 2009. Manchester City finished the season in fifth position, losing out to Tottenham Hotspur by just three points. On 2 July 2010, Kolo Touré was joined by his brother Yaya at Manchester City following a transfer believed to be worth around £24 million.


title: Kolo Touré

text: At the beginning of the 2010–11 season, Roberto Mancini took away the captain's armband from Touré and gave it to Carlos Tevez. However, he remained part of Mancini's plans and was a first team regular in defence. He was sent off in Manchester City's 2–1 defeat to Everton on 20 December 2010, helping to deny City the chance to top the Premier League table on Christmas. On 15 January 2011, Touré scored the first goal in a 4–3 win for the Citizens which sent them to the top of the league table.


title: Kolo Touré

text: On 3 March 2011, it was revealed that Touré had failed a drug test and had been suspended. The World Anti-Doping Agency imposed a 6-month suspension from football effective 2 March 2011.


title: Kolo Touré

text: In the 2011–12 season, Touré was used as a squad player, making 14 league appearances as Manchester City won a league title for the first time in 44 years.


title: Kolo Touré

text: On 28 May 2013, Liverpool announced that an agreement had been reached in principle to sign Touré on a free transfer from Manchester City. On 2 July he was unveiled as Liverpool's first signing of the window and was handed the number 4 shirt. He signed a two-year contract. On 13 July 2013, he made his debut for Liverpool in a 4–0 win in a preseason friendly over Preston North End. He made his Premier League debut for Liverpool on 17 August 2013 in a 1–0 victory over Stoke City at Anfield. On 2 February 2014, in a match against West Bromwich Albion he made a costly mistake, passing the ball straight to Victor Anichebe, who scored an equaliser. On 12 February 2014, he scored an own-goal in a match against Fulham, which eventually Liverpool won thanks to a late penalty from skipper Steven Gerrard.


title: Kolo Touré

text: On 1 March 2015, he came on as an 83rd-minute substitute against Manchester City, marking the first time he and his brother Yaya, who started the match for City, faced each other in a competitive match.


title: Kolo Touré

text: Touré scored his first Liverpool goal on 14 February 2016, heading in Jordan Henderson's corner kick to confirm a 6–0 win away to bottom side Aston Villa. It was his first goal in any match since January 2011, and he celebrated wildly.


title: Kolo Touré

text: On 24 July 2016, Touré reunited with former manager Brendan Rodgers when he joined Celtic on a one-year contract. He made his debut on 3 August 2016, coming on as a substitute in the second half of Celtic's 2–1 win over FC Astana in a Champions League qualifier. He made 20 appearances as Celtic completed an unbeaten domestic season, winning a treble of League, Cup and League Cup. Touré was not offered a new playing contract at the end of the 2016/17 season.


title: Kolo Touré

text: Touré made his debut for Ivory Coast in April 2000 against Rwanda. He played in all five games for the Ivory Coast as they finished runners up to the hosts in the African Cup of Nations in Egypt in January 2006.


title: Kolo Touré

text: He was named in the 23-man squad taken by coach Henri Michel to the 2006 FIFA World Cup and made his first appearance in a FIFA World Cup on 11 June 2006 in the Ivory Coast's 2–1 loss to Argentina. He has scored three goals for the Ivory Coast to date, two of them headers against Guinea and Gabon one against Japan, a 20-yard shot from outside the penalty area that flew into the top corner of the goal.


title: Kolo Touré

text: Touré was named for the Ivory Coast for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and was the captain in the team's first game vs. Portugal due to Didier Drogba's injury, which kept him benched.


title: Kolo Touré

text: In December 2014, Touré announced his intention to retire from international football after the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. He played his final game in the final of the tournament on 8 February 2015, where Ivory Coast beat Ghana 9–8 on penalties after the game ended 0–0. He took the seventh penalty for Ivory Coast, which he scored. On 15 February 2015, he confirmed his retirement from international duty.


title: Kolo Touré

text: On 9 August 2017, the Ivorian Football Federation appointed Touré as a new member of their coaching staff for the African Nations Championship and under-23 team. He joined Celtic's coaching staff as a technical assistant in September 2017. In February 2019, Brendan Rodgers left Celtic for Leicester City, and Touré also joined Leicester as a first team coach.


title: Kolo Touré

text: On 29 November 2022, Wigan Athletic appointed Touré as first team manager on a three and a half-year deal.


title: Kolo Touré

text: He is the older brother of Ibrahim Touré and Yaya Touré. Ibrahim died of cancer in 2014, aged 28. They also have a sister, Belinda.


title: Kolo Touré

text: Touré is a Muslim and observes fasting during the Islamic month of Ramadan, stating that "It doesn't affect me physically. It makes me stronger. You can do it when you believe so strongly in something. A normal human can be without water for much longer than one day."


title: Kolo Touré

text: Touré is married to Awo. As of 2011, they had a son and a daughter. His son, Yassine, is also pursuing a football career, having signed a two-year scholarship with Leicester City in December 2021.


title: Neil Breen

text: Neil Breen (born November 23, 1958) is an American filmmaker and actor. Since 2005, he has written, directed, independently produced, and starred in five films. Breen's films have garnered a cult following for their low-budget production values, acting, writing, and editing.


title: Neil Breen

text: Neil Breen grew up on the East Coast of the United States, and developed an interest in film and filmmaking at an early age. He studied architecture and initially became a licensed architect in California. He gained a small following after releasing his first film, "Double Down". In the years that followed, Breen continued working as an architect as a means to finance his next film: "I Am Here... Now". This second feature proved to be a breakout hit, reintroducing familiar motifs and garnering Breen "a lot of attention." Since then, he has established a reputation as a cult amateur filmmaker.


title: Neil Breen

text: Breen writes, produces, directs, and stars in each of his own films. The characters he portrays hold advanced and often superhuman abilities and use them in grandiose struggles against corrupt forces and institutions. "Fateful Findings" features Breen as a hacker imbued with supernatural powers by a magical stone he found as a child, who uses his skills to expose government and corporate corruption, while in "Double Down" he plays a rogue government super-agent.


title: Neil Breen

text: In other films, his protagonist is a god-like, messianic, or otherwise chosen figure; "Pass Thru", for example, has Breen playing a messianic entity who arrives from the future to wipe out 300 million "bad people" to usher in a new era of peace. Breen has said that his films have a "sense of social responsibility" and reflect the "mystical or paranormal side of life."


title: Neil Breen

text: Some critics have compared Breen's films to outsider art. On October 3, 2022, Breen had confirmed that filming on his latest project had wrapped via his Twitter account. On December 16, 2022, Breen confirmed the title of his latest project is "Cade - the tortured crossing" [sic].


title: Neil Breen

text: His first feature film, "Double Down", was featured on RedLetterMedia's "Best of the Worst" online series, whilst "Fateful Findings" was covered by RedLetterMedia along with other film critics on YouTube. Since then, Breen's films have been picked up by arthouse theaters and film festivals, including the 2012 "Butt-Numb-A-Thon" and the 2013 Seattle International Film Festival. In "Paste" magazine's 2014 list of the 100 best B movies, Breen's film "I Am Here... Now" was ranked 21st, with the author noting that he thought Breen would one day earn a place in the "terrible movie hall of fame" alongside Ed Wood and Tommy Wiseau. Breen's third film, "Fateful Findings", was compared to Wiseau's "The Room" by the former film's North American distributor Panorama Entertainment. Breen's fifth feature film, "Twisted Pair", was released in October 2018. In March 2019, Breen confirmed that he would be producing a "Twisted Pair" sequel.


The House of Representatives of the Philippines (, Kamara or Kamara de Representantes from the Spanish word "cámara", meaning "chamber") is the lower house of Congress, the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, with the Senate of the Philippines as the upper house. The lower house is usually called Congress, although the term collectively refers to both houses.


title: House of Representatives of the Philippines

text: Members of the House are officially styled as "representative" ("kinatawan") and sometimes informally called "congressmen" or "congresswomen" ("mga kongresista") and are elected to a three-year term. They can be re-elected, but cannot serve more than three consecutive terms except with an interruption of one term like the senate. Around eighty percent of congressmen are district representatives, representing a particular geographical area. The 19th Congress has 253 congressional districts. Party-list representatives are elected through the party-list system which constitutes not more than twenty percent of the total number of representatives.


text: Aside from needing its agreement to every bill in order to be sent for the president's signature to become law, the House of Representatives has power to impeach certain officials and all money bills must originate from the lower house.


text: The House of Representatives is headed by the speaker. The position is currently held by Rep. Martin Romualdez. The speaker of the House is the third in the presidential line of succession, after the vice and senate presidents. The official headquarters of the House of Representatives is at the "Batasang Pambansa" (literally "national legislature") located in Batasan Hills, Quezon City. The building is often simply called "Batasan" and the word has also become a metonym to refer to the House of Representatives.


text: At the beginning of American colonial rule, from March 16, 1900, the sole national legislative body was the Philippine Commission with all members appointed by the President of the United States. Headed by the Governor-General of the Philippines the body exercised all legislative authority given to it by the President and the United States Congress until October 1907 when it was joined by the Philippine Assembly. William Howard Taft was chosen to be the first American civilian Governor-General and the first leader of this Philippine Commission, which subsequently became known as the Taft Commission.


text: The Philippine Bill of 1902, a basic law, or organic act, of the Insular Government, mandated that once certain conditions were met a bicameral, or two-chamber, Philippine Legislature would be created with the previously existing, all-appointed Philippine Commission as the upper house and the Philippine Assembly as the lower house. This bicameral legislature was inaugurated in October 1907. Under the leadership of Speaker Sergio Osmeña and Floor Leader Manuel L. Quezon, the Rules of the 59th United States Congress was substantially adopted as the Rules of the Philippine Legislature. Osmeña and Quezon led the Nacionalista Party, with a platform of independence from the United States, into successive electoral victories against the Progresista Party and later the Democrata Party, which first advocated United States statehood, then opposed immediate independence.


text: It is this body, founded as the Philippine Assembly, that would continue in one form or another, and with a few different names, up until the present day.


text: In 1916, the Jones Act, officially the Philippine Autonomy Act, changed the legislative system. The Philippine Commission was abolished and a new fully elected, bicameral Philippine Legislature consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate was established. The Nacionalistas continued their electoral dominance at this point, although they were split into two factions led by Osmeña and Quezon; the two reconciled in 1924, and controlled the Assembly via a virtual dominant-party system.


text: The legislative system was changed again in 1935. The 1935 Constitution established a unicameral National Assembly. But in 1940, through an amendment to the 1935 Constitution, a bicameral Congress of the Philippines consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate was adopted.


text: Upon the inauguration of the Republic of the Philippines in 1946, Republic Act No. 6 was enacted providing that on the date of the proclamation of the Republic of the Philippines, the existing Congress would be known as the First Congress of the Republic. The "Liberal bloc" of the Nacionalistas permanently split from their ranks, creating the Liberal Party. These two will contest all of the elections in what appeared to be a two-party system. The party of the ruling president wins the elections in the House of Representatives; in cases where the party of the president and the majority of the members of the House of Representatives are different, a sufficient enough number will break away and join the party of the president, thereby ensuring that the president will have control of the House of Representatives.


text: This set up continued until President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law and abolished Congress. He would rule by decree even after the 1973 Constitution abolished the bicameral Congress and created a unicameral "Batasang Pambansa" parliamentary system of government, as parliamentary election would not occur in 1978. Marcos' Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL; New Society Movement) won all of the seats except those from the Central Visayas ushering in an era of KBL dominance, which will continue until the People Power Revolution overthrew Marcos in 1986.


text: The 1987 Constitution restored the presidential system of government together with a bicameral Congress of the Philippines. One deviation from the previous setup was the introduction of the mid-term election; however, the dynamics of the House of Representatives resumed its pre-1972 state, with the party of the president controlling the chamber, although political pluralism ensued that prevented the restoration of the old Nacionalista-Liberal two-party system. Instead, a multi-party system evolved.


text: Corazon Aquino who nominally had no party, supported the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP; Struggle of the Democratic Filipinos). With the victory of Fidel V. Ramos in the 1992 presidential election, many representatives defected to his Lakas-NUCD party; the same would happen with Joseph Estrada's victory in 1998, but he lost support when he was ousted after the 2001 EDSA Revolution that brought his vice president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to power. This also meant the restoration of Lakas-NUCD as the top party in the chamber. The same would happen when Benigno Aquino III won in 2010, which returned the Liberals into power.


text: The presiding officer is the Speaker. Unlike the Senate President, the Speaker usually serves the entire term of Congress, although there had been instances when the Speaker left office due to conflict with the president: examples include Jose de Venecia Jr.'s resignation as speaker in 2008 when his son Joey de Venecia exposed alleged corrupt practices by First Gentleman Mike Arroyo, and Manny Villar's ouster occurred after he allowed the impeachment of President Estrada in 2000.


text: The Philippines uses parallel voting for its lower house elections. For the 2022 elections, there will be 316 seats in the House; 253 of these are district representatives, and 63 are party-list representatives. The number of seats to be disputed may change depending on the creation of new congressional districts.


text: Philippine law mandates that there should be one party-list representative for every four district representatives. District representatives are elected under the plurality voting system from single-member districts. Party-list representatives are elected via the nationwide vote with a 2% election threshold, with a party winning not more than three seats. The party with the most votes usually wins three seats, then the other parties with more than 2% of the vote two seats. At this point, if all of the party-list seats are not filled up, the parties with less than 2% of the vote will win one seat each until all party-list seats are filled up.


text: Political parties competing in the party-list election are barred from participating district elections, and vice versa, unless permitted by the Commission on Elections. Party-lists and political parties participating in the district elections may forge coalition deals with one another.


text: Campaigning for elections from congressional districts seats are decidedly local; the candidates are most likely a part of an election slate that includes candidates for other positions in the locality, and slates may comprise different parties. The political parties contesting the election make no attempt to create a national campaign.


text: Party-list campaigning, on the other hand, is done on a national scale. Parties usually attempt to appeal to a specific demographic. Polling is usually conducted for the party-list election, while pollsters may release polls on specific district races. In district elections, pollsters do not attempt to make forecasts on how many votes a party would achieve, nor the number of seats a party would win; they do attempt to do that in party-list elections, though.


text: The members of the House of Representatives who are also its officers are also "ex officio" members of all of the committees and have a vote.


text: The leadership positions, except for the Secretary General and Sergeant-at-Arms, are currently vacant. The terms of office of the officers elected during the 18th Congress ended on June 30, 2022. On July 25, 2022, the 19th Congress of the Philippines shall elect among themselves their leaders.


text: The speaker is the head of the House of Representatives. He presides over the session; decides on all questions of order, subject to appeal by any member; signs all acts, resolutions, memorials, writs, warrants, and subpoenas issued by or upon order of the House; appoints, suspends, dismisses, or disciplines House personnel; and exercise administrative functions.


text: The speaker is elected by a majority of all the members of the House, including vacant seats. The speaker is traditionally elected at the convening of each congress. Before a speaker is elected, the House's sergeant-at-arms sits as the "Presiding Officer" until a speaker is elected. Compared to the Senate President, the unseating of an incumbent speaker is rarer.


text: There was a position of speaker "pro tempore" for congresses prior the reorganization of the officers of the House of Representatives during the 10th Congress in 1995. The speaker "pro tempore" was the next highest position in the House after the speaker.


text: The position was replaced by deputy speakers in 1995. Originally, there was one Deputy Speaker for each island group of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Then, in 2001 during the 12th Congress, a Deputy Speaker "at large" was created. In the next Congress, another "at large" deputy speakership was created, along with a Deputy Speaker for women. In the 15th Congress starting in 2010, all six deputy speakers are "at large".


text: In the 16th Congress, the deputy speakers represent the chamber at-large. Starting in the 17th Congress, each region is represented by a Deputy Speaker, with additional deputy speakers from the party-list ranks.


text: The deputy speakers perform the speaker's role when the speaker is absent. In case in the resignation of the speaker, the deputy speakers shall elect from among themselves an acting speaker, until a speaker is elected.


text: The majority leader, aside from being the spokesman of the majority party, is to direct the deliberations on the floor. The Majority Leader is also concurrently the Chairman of the Committee on Rules. The majority leader is elected in a party caucus of the ruling majority party.


text: The minority leader is the spokesman of the minority party in the House and is an "ex-officio" member of all standing Committees. The minority leader is elected in party caucus of all Members of the House in the minority party, although by tradition, the losing candidate for speaker is named the minority leader.


text: The secretary general enforces orders and decisions of the House; keeps the Journal of each session; notes all questions of order, among other things. The secretary general presides over the chamber at the first legislative session after an election, and is elected by a majority of the members.


text: As of November 18, 2020, former Batangas Representative Mark L. Mendoza is the Secretary General of the House of Representatives.


text: The Sergeant-at-Arms is responsible for the maintenance of order in the House of Representatives, among other things. Like the Secretary General, the Sergeant-at-Arms is elected by a majority of the members.


text: As of October 12, 2020, retired Police Major General Mao Aplasca is the Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Representatives.


text: The qualifications for membership in the House are expressly stated in Section 6, Art. VI of the 1987 Philippine Constitution as follows:


text: There are two types of congressmen: those who represent geographic districts, and those who represent party-lists. The first-past-the-post (simple plurality voting) method is used to determine who represents each of the 243 geographic districts. The party-list representatives are elected via the party-list system. The party-list representatives should always comprise 20% of the seats.


text: Originally set at 200 in the ordinance of the 1987 constitution, the number of districts has grown to 243. All of the new districts are via created via piecemeal redistricting of the then existing 200 districts, and via the creation of new provinces and cities. The constitution gave Congress to nationally redistrict the country after the release of every census, but this has not been done.


text: The original 200 districts meant that there should have been 50 party-list representatives. However, the constitution did not give the specifics on how party-list congressmen should have been elected. This led to presidents appointing sectoral representatives, which were then approved by the Commission on Appointments; only a handful of sectoral representatives were seated in this way. With the enactment of the Party-List System Act, the first party-list election was in 1998; with the 2% election threshold, a 3-seat cap and tens of parties participating, this led to only about a fraction of the party-list seats being distributed. Eventually, there had been several Supreme Court decisions changing the way the winning seats are distributed, ensuring that all party-list seats are filled up.


text: There were supposed to be 245 congressional districts that were to be disputed in the 2019 election, so there were 61 party-list seats contested in the party-list election. Elections in two of these districts were delayed due to its creation right before campaigning. The Supreme Court ruled that one district be contested in the next (2022) election, then the Commission on Elections applied the court's ruling to the other district, bringing the number of districts to 243, while still keeping the 61 party-list representatives, for a total of 304 seats.


text: Vacancies from representatives elected via districts are dealt with special elections, which may be done if the vacancy occurred less than a year before the next regularly-scheduled election. Special elections are infrequently done; despite several vacancies, the last special election was in 2012. For party-list representatives, the nominee next on the list is asked to replace the outgoing representative; if the nominee agrees, then that person would be sworn in as a member, if the nominee doesn't agree, then the nominee after that person is asked, and the process is repeated. Vacating party-list representatives have always been replaced this way.


text: Eighty percent of representatives shall come from congressional districts, with each district returning one representative. The constitution mandates that every province and every city with a population of 250,000 must have at least one representative. Each legislative district, regardless of population, has one congressman. For provinces that have more than one legislative district, the provincial districts are identical to the corresponding legislative district, with the exclusion of cities that do not vote for provincial officials. If cities are divided into multiple districts for city hall representation purposes, these are also used for congressional representation.


text: The representatives from the districts comprise at most 80% of the members of the House; therefore, for a party to have a majority of seats in the House, the party needs to win a larger majority of district seats. No party since the approval of the 1987 constitution has been able to win a majority of seats, hence coalitions are not uncommon.


text: The party-list system is the name designated for party-list representation. Under the 1987 Constitution, the electorate can vote for certain party-list organizations in order to give voice to significant minorities of society that would otherwise not be adequately represented through geographical district. From 1987 to 1998, party-list representatives were appointed by the President.


text: Since 1998, each voter votes for a single party-list organization. Organizations that garner at least 2% of the total number of votes are awarded one representative for every 2% up to a maximum of three representatives. Thus, there can be at most 50 party-list representatives in Congress, though usually no more than 20 are elected because many organizations do not reach the required 2% minimum number of votes.


text: After the 2007 election, in a controversial decision, the Supreme Court ordered the COMELEC to change how it allocates the party-list seats. Under the new formula only one party will have the maximum 3 seats. It based its decision on a formula contained in the "VFP vs. COMELEC" decision. In 2009, in the "BANAT vs. COMELEC" decision, it was changed anew in which parties with less than 2% of the vote were given seats to fulfill the 20% quota as set forth in the constitution.


text: Aside from determining which party won and allocating the number of seats won per party, another point of contention was whether the nominees should be a member of the marginalized group they are supposed to represent; in the "Ang Bagong Bayani vs. COMELEC" decision, the Supreme Court not only ruled that the nominees should be a member of the marginalized sector, but it also disallowed major political parties from participating in the party-list election. However, on the "BANAT" decision, the court ruled that since the law didn't specify who belongs to a marginalized sector, the court allowed anyone to be a nominee as long as the nominee as a member of the "party" (not necessarily the marginalized group the party is supposed to represent).


text: Prior to the enactment of the Party-list Act, the president, with the advice and consent of the Commission on Appointments, nominated sectoral representatives. These represented various sectors, from labor, peasants, urban poor, the youth, women and cultural communities. Their numbers grew from 15 members in the 8th Congress, to 32 in the 10th Congress.


text: In the Interim Batasang Pambansa, a sectoral election was held to fill up the sectoral seats of parliament.


text: Under the Republic Act No. 6645 or "An Act Prescribing the Manner of Filling a Vacancy in the Congress of the Philippines", if a seat was vacated with at most 18 months prior to an election the House of Representatives could request the Commission on Elections to hold a special election to fill in the vacancy. The law does not specify for a mechanism if the seat was vacated within 18 months prior to an election. The House of Representatives through its Speaker customarily appoints a caretaker or legislative liaison officer to fill in the vacancy. The caretaker cannot vote in the name of the district that is being taken care of.


text: Congress is mandated to reapportion the legislative districts within three years following the return of every census. Since its restoration in 1987, Congress has not passed any general apportionment law, despite the publication of six censuses in 1990, 1995, 2000, 2007, 2010 and 2015. The increase in the number of representative districts since 1987 were mostly due to the creation of new provinces, cities, and piecemeal redistricting of certain provinces and cities.


text: The apportionment of congressional districts is not dependent upon a specially-mandated independent government body, but rather through Republic Acts which are drafted by members of Congress. Therefore, apportionment often can be influenced by political motivations. Incumbent representatives who are not permitted by law to serve after three consecutive terms sometimes resort to dividing their district, or even creating a new province which will be guaranteed a seat, just so that their allies be able to run, while "switching offices" with them. Likewise, politicians whose political fortunes are likely to be jeopardized by any change in district boundaries may delay or even ignore the need for reapportionment.


text: Since 1987, the creation of some new congressional districts have been met with controversy, especially due to incumbent political clans and their allies benefiting from the new district arrangements. Some of these new congressional districts are tied to the creation of a new province, because such an act necessarily entails the creation of a new congressional district.


text: Currently the district with the lowest population is the lone district of Batanes, with only 18,831 inhabitants in 2020. The most populous congressional district, the 1st District of Rizal, has around 69 times more inhabitants. Data below reflect the district boundaries for the 2019 elections, and the population counts from the 2020 census.


text: Because of the lack of a nationwide reapportionment after the publication of every census since the Constitution was promulgated in 1987, faster-growing provinces and cities have become severely underrepresented. Each legislative district is ideally supposed to encompass a population of 250,000.


text: The House of Representatives is modeled after the United States House of Representatives; the two chambers of Congress have roughly equal powers, and every bill or resolution that has to go through both houses needs the consent of both chambers before being passed for the president's signature. Once a bill is defeated in the House of Representatives, it is lost. Once a bill is approved by the House of Representatives on third reading, the bill is passed to the Senate, unless an identical bill has also been passed by the lower house. When a counterpart bill in the Senate is different from the one passed by the House of Representatives, either a bicameral conference committee is created consisting of members from both chambers of Congress to reconcile the differences, or either chamber may instead approve the other chamber's version.


text: Just like most lower houses, money bills, originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may still propose or concur with amendments, same with bills of local application and private bills. The House of Representatives has the sole power to initiate impeachment proceedings, and may impeach an official by a vote of one-third of its members. Once an official is impeached, the Senate tries that official.


text: The Batasang Pambansa Complex (National Legislature) at Quezon City is the seat of the House of Representatives since its restoration in 1987; it took its name from the Batasang Pambansa, the national parliament which convened there from 1978 to 1986.


text: The Philippine Legislature was inaugurated at the Manila Grand Opera House at 1907, then it conducted business at the Ayuntamiento in Intramuros. Governor-General Leonard Wood summoned the 2nd Philippine Legislature at Baguio and convened at The Mansion in Baguio for three weeks. The legislature returned to the Ayutamiento, as the Legislative Building was being constructed; it first convened there on July 26, 1926. The House of Representatives continued to occupy the second floor until 1945 when the area was shelled during the Battle of Manila. The building was damaged beyond repair and Congress convened at the Old Japanese Schoolhouse at Lepanto (modern-day S. H. Loyola) Street, Manila until the Legislative Building can be occupied again in 1949. Congress stayed at the Legislative Building, by now called the Congress Building, until President Marcos shut Congress and ruled by decree starting in 1972.


text: Marcos then oversaw the construction of the new home of parliament at Quezon City, which convened in 1978. The parliament, called the Batasang Pambansa continued to sit there until the passage of the 1986 Freedom Constitution. The House of Representatives inherited the Batasang Pambansa Complex in 1987.


text: The Batasang Pambansa Complex, now officially called the House of Representatives Building Complex, is at the National Government Center, Constitution Hills, Quezon City. Accessible via Commonwealth Avenue, the complex consists of four buildings. The Main Building hosts the session hall; the North and South wings, inaugurated in December 1977, are attached to it. The newest building, the Ramon Mitra, Jr. Building, was completed in 2001. It houses the Legislative Library, the Committee offices, the Reference and Research Bureau, and the Conference Rooms.


text: The members of the House of Representatives, aside from being grouped into political parties, are also grouped into the "majority bloc", "minority bloc" and "independents" (different from the independent in the sense that they are not affiliated into a political party). Originally, members who voted for the winning Speaker belong to the majority and members who voted for the opponent are the minority. The majority and minority bloc are to elect amongst themselves a floor leader. While members are allowed to switch blocs, they must do so in writing. Also, the bloc where they intend to transfer shall accept their application through writing. When the bloc the member ought to transfer refuses to accept the transferring member, or a member does not want to be a member of either bloc, that member becomes an independent member. A member that transfers to a new bloc forfeits one's committee chairmanships and memberships, until the bloc the member transfers to elects the member to committees.


text: The membership in each committee should be in proportion to the size of each bloc, with each bloc deciding who amongst them who will go to each committee, upon a motion by the floor leader concerned to the House of Representatives in plenary. The Speaker, Deputy Speakers, floor leaders, deputy floor leaders and the chairperson of the Committee on Accounts can vote in committees; the committee chairperson can only vote to break a tie.


text: To ensure that the representatives each get their pork barrel, most of them will join the majority bloc, or even to the president's party, as basis of patronage politics (known as the Padrino System locally); thus, the House of Representatives always aligns itself with the party of the sitting president.


title: View Askewniverse

text: The View Askewniverse is a fictional universe created by writer/director Kevin Smith, featured in several films, comics and a television series; it is named for Smith's production company, View Askew Productions. The characters Jay and Silent Bob appear in almost all the View Askewniverse media, and characters from one story often reappear or are referred to in others. Smith often casts the same actors for multiple characters in the universe, sometimes even in the same film; Smith himself portrays the character of Silent Bob.


title: View Askewniverse

text: Smith's recurring characters, settings, and motifs first appeared in his debut film, "Clerks". Since then, the main canon has consisted of nine feature films, in addition to several short films, comic books, and a short-lived animated TV series. The View Askewniverse is centered on the towns of Leonardo, Highlands, and Red Bank, all located in Monmouth County, central New Jersey. "Chasing Amy" also takes place partly in New York City, while "Dogma", "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", and "Jay and Silent Bob Reboot" involve road trips.


title: View Askewniverse

text: The first film in the series of the View Askewniverse, "Clerks" follows a day in the lives of two store clerks, Dante Hicks (Brian O'Halloran) and Randal Graves (Jeff Anderson). Dante is called into work at the Quick Stop convenience store on his day off until the boss can relieve him at noon. As Dante serves a succession of customers, he repeatedly complains that he is "not even supposed to be here today". Randal works at RST Video next door, although he spends almost the entire day relaxing at the Quick Stop. Dante learns he will be working all day, and decides to close the store for brief periods to play hockey on the roof and to attend a memorial service for his ex-girlfriend. An old flame now engaged surprises him with a visit. The two had been talking on the phone for months and after seeing each other again they are keen to reunite and leave their current relationships.


title: View Askewniverse

text: Two young men, Brodie Bruce and T.S. Quint, hang out at a mall after being dumped by their girlfriends, while also trying to avoid the wrath of Shannon Hamilton. The film occurs one day before the events of "Clerks".


title: View Askewniverse

text: A heterosexual man, Holden McNeil, falls in love with a lesbian woman, Alyssa Jones, causing conflict with his homophobic best friend, Banky Edwards, with whom he has created a comic book called "Bluntman and Chronic" based upon their friends Jay and Silent Bob.


title: View Askewniverse

text: The world ends if two angels enter a church in New Jersey and Jesus' last scion, Jay and Silent Bob, and the thirteenth Apostle have to stop them.


title: View Askewniverse

text: Jay and Silent Bob embark on a road-trip to Hollywood to try to stop production of a "Bluntman and Chronic" movie. Within the film, the "Bluntman and Chronic" movie was to be based on the comic made by the protagonists of "Chasing Amy".


title: View Askewniverse

text: Roughly ten years after "Clerks", after an accident destroys the Quick Stop, Dante and Randal are now employed in the fast food industry.


title: View Askewniverse

text: The animated film depicts the events within the "Bluntman and Chronic" comic written by the protagonists of "Chasing Amy", which was to be adapted into a movie in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back". Kevin Smith adapted the script from the "Bluntman and Chronic" comics story he had originally written as a companion piece to the film "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back".


title: View Askewniverse

text: After losing the legal rights to their names over a film reboot of "Bluntman and Chronic", Jay and Silent Bob travel across the United States to try to prevent the reboot from being made.


title: View Askewniverse

text: Following the release of "Clerks II", Smith reported that, for several years after, a script was finished but production was delayed in favor of other projects. By February 2017, he announced via his social media page that development had stopped, and the film would not be made, when Jeff Anderson dropped out of the project.


title: View Askewniverse

text: By September 2019, Smith announced that he had scrapped the previous draft, and had begun working a whole new script for the project. The filmmaker confirmed that many of the creatives from the previous films would return, including Jason Mewes, Jeff Anderson and Brian O'Halloran. The new "Clerks III" would follow Dante and Randal, after surviving a heart attack, making a movie at the store. The plot was initially conceived for a film adaptation of "" titled "". Principal photography began on August 2, 2021, in Red Bank, New Jersey. Filming wrapped on August 31, 2021. The film was released on September 13, 2022, by Lionsgate and Fathom Events.


title: View Askewniverse

text: On March 13, 2015, Kevin Smith confirmed that "Mallrats 2" was being written and was slated to begin shooting in Summer 2016. In April 2015, Smith announced that "Mallrats 2" would be his next film, instead of "Clerks III" as originally intended, and would begin filming in 2015. In January 2020, Smith announced that development on "Mallrats 2" has started up again, under a new title "Twilight of the Mallrats".


title: View Askewniverse

text: In 2018, STX Entertainment announced that their Surreal division was working with Kevin Smith on a VR series that would star Jay and Silent Bob.


title: View Askewniverse

text: Smith often casts the same actors for multiple characters in the universe, sometimes even in the same film. This is most notable in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back", in which several actors play multiple characters from earlier View Askewniverse films.


title: View Askewniverse

text: To date, Smith and Jason Mewes are the only actors to appear in every film as the same characters. Three other actors have appeared in every film, as different characters, Scott Mosier, Walt Flanagan and Brian O'Halloran, with O'Halloran always appearing as a member of the Hicks family (most notably Dante).


title: View Askewniverse

text: A beat 'em up video game titled "Jay and Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch" was funded in April 2016, and has yet to be released. The game began production after being successfully crowdfunded on Fig.


title: View Askewniverse

text: Another beat 'em up video game titled "Jay and Silent Bob: Mall Brawl" released to the backers of Chronic Blunt Punch for free on Steam in 2020. It is available to purchase digitally on Steam, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4. Limited Run Games released a physical edition, with pre-orders becoming available for purchase on April 20, 2021. An NES port was also released shortly after its launch on modern platforms.


title: View Askewniverse

text: Jay and Silent Bob appear as cameo characters in "Randal's Monday", a point-and-click adventure game published by Daedalic Entertainment . Jason Mewes reprises his role as Jay. The main character of the game is named Randal Hicks (a name combining both Randal Graves and Dante Hicks, the protagonists of Clerks), and is voiced by Jeff Anderson, the actor for Randal Graves in the View Askewniverse films. However, the character and plot of the game bear no relation to Clerks or the View Askewniverse.


title: View Askewniverse

text: Following "Clerks," Smith wrote a film called "Busing" for Hollywood Pictures, a now-defunct Disney studio. It was described as ""Clerks" in a restaurant." The film was announced around 1994 and was intended to be part of the View Askewniverse. The film was not made, but the film was featured at the end of "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" as a poster parodying the "Clerks" poster.


title: View Askewniverse

text: A follow-up to "Chasing Amy", Smith wrote a new film set in the View Askewniverse starring the trio from "Amy" that was not a sequel. Smith said "it was kind of porn-bent." Affleck and Adams were interested in doing the project, but plans eventually fell through. Smith's efforts to develop a project about pornography led to the 2008 film, "Zack and Miri Make a Porno". Smith abandoned "Name" in favor of "Dogma".


title: View Askewniverse

text: In late November 2005, Smith responded to talk of a possible sequel to "Dogma" on the ViewAskew.com message boards:


title: View Askewniverse

text: For several years following the cancellation of "", Smith announced plans to make an animated film. He revealed in a commentary on Episode 6 that it would go theatrical (with the hopes to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature), but later made plans to go direct-to-video. The basic plot involved Dante and Randal making a movie about their lives at the Quick Stop, a reference to the production of the original film. In an interview, Kevin Smith expanded on the delays surrounding the film. He stated that when Harvey and Bob Weinstein left Miramax, owned at the time by The Walt Disney Company, the split was not completely amicable. The rights to the "Clerks" television series were still owned by Disney, who as a result were reluctant to work with The Weinstein Company, throwing the future of "Clerks: Sell Out" into question. At the 2007 Cornell Q&A, Smith said due to the Miramax/Weinstein argument "you will see a Jay and Silent Bob cartoon before "Clerks: Sell Out"."


title: Femicide

text: Femicide or feminicide is a hate crime which is broadly defined as "the intentional killing of women or girls because they are female," but definitions of it vary depending on cultural context. In 1976, the feminist author Diana E. H. Russell first defined the term as "the killing of females by males because they are female." Others broaden the meaning of the term by including the killing of females by females. In many Central American countries, where organized crime is a prevalent issue, the term femicide is used in reference to the violent killings of women and girls which are frequently perpetrated by gang members, a crime which is primarily committed in order to stoke fear and compliance among civilians.


title: Femicide

text: Opponents argue that since over 80% of all murder victims are men, the term places too much emphasis on the murder of females. However, a partner is responsible in almost 40% of homicides involving a female victim, compared with the 6% of homicides involving a male victim. In addition, femicide may be underreported.


title: Femicide

text: An alternative term, gendercide, is considered more inclusive. However, some feminists argue that that term perpetuates the taboo of the murder of females, and enables the continual dominance of male structures in society. Feminists also argue that the causes of femicide are often different than those for androcide. Whereas androcide is often linked to street violence, much femicide involves domestic violence and forced abortions.


title: Femicide

text: The term "femicide" was first used in England in 1801 to signify "the killing of a woman". In 1848, the term was published in Wharton's Law Lexicon. Another term used is "feminicide", from the Latin "femina", meaning "female".