title: Buddhist meditation

text: In the Japanese Rinzai school, "kōan" introspection developed its own formalized style, with a standardized curriculum of "kōans" which must be studies and "passed" in sequence. This process includes standardized questions and answers during a private interview with one's Zen teacher. Kōan-inquiry may be practiced during "zazen" (sitting meditation)", kinhin" (walking meditation), and throughout all the activities of daily life. The goal of the practice is often termed "kensho" (seeing one's true nature). Kōan practice is particularly emphasized in Rinzai, but it also occurs in other schools or branches of Zen depending on the teaching line.


title: Buddhist meditation

text: Tantric Buddhism (Esoteric Buddhism or Mantrayana) refers to various traditions which developed in India from the fifth century onwards and then spread to the Himalayan regions and East Asia. In the Tibetan tradition, it is also known as Vajrayāna, while in China it is known as "Zhenyan" (Ch: 真言, "true word", "mantra"), as well as "Mìjiao" (Esoteric Teaching), "Mìzōng" ("Esoteric Tradition") or "Tángmì" ("Tang Esoterica"). Tantric Buddhism generally includes all of the traditional forms of Mahayana meditation, but its focus is on several unique and special forms of "tantric" or "esoteric" meditation practices, which are seen as faster and more efficacious. These Tantric Buddhist forms are derived from texts called the Buddhist Tantras. To practice these advanced techniques, one is generally required to be initiated into the practice by an esoteric master (Sanskrit: "acarya") or guru (Tib. "lama") in a ritual consecration called "abhiseka" (Tib. "wang").


title: Buddhist meditation

text: In Tibetan Buddhism, the central defining form of Vajrayana meditation is Deity Yoga ("devatayoga"). This involves the recitation of mantras, prayers and visualization of the "yidam" or deity (usually the form of a Buddha or a bodhisattva) along with the associated mandala of the deity's Pure Land. Advanced Deity Yoga involves imagining yourself as the deity and developing "divine pride", the understanding that oneself and the deity are not separate. "Yidam" in Tibetan technically means "tight mind" which suggests that the use of a deity as an object of meditation is intended to create total absorption into the meditative experience. Yidam practice focuses on three essential aspects of deities which, in turn, are the three principal aspects of all being: body, speech and mind. Practitioners meditate on the body of the deity, usually visually themselves becoming that body. Chanting mantra becomes the manifestation of enlightened speech with the meditation ultimately aspiring to become Buddha mind. Most tantric practices incorporate these three aspects sequentially or simultaneously. Deity practice should be differentiated from worship of gods in other religions. One way of describing tantric practice is to understand it as a "strong method" for developing an awareness of the true nature of consciousness.


title: Buddhist meditation

text: Other forms of meditation in Tibetan Buddhism include the Mahamudra and Dzogchen teachings, each taught by the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism respectively. The goal of these is to familiarize oneself with the ultimate nature of mind which underlies all existence, the "Dharmakāya". There are also other practices such as Dream Yoga, Tummo, the yoga of the intermediate state (at death) or "bardo", sexual yoga and "chöd". The shared preliminary practices of Tibetan Buddhism are called "ngöndro", which involves visualization, mantra recitation, and many prostrations.


title: Buddhist meditation

text: Chinese esoteric Buddhism focused on a separate set of tantras than Tibetan Buddhism (such as the "Mahavairocana Tantra" and "Vajrasekhara Sutra"), and thus their practices are drawn from these different sources, though they revolve around similar techniques such as visualization of mandalas, mantra recitation and use of mudras. This also applies for the Japanese Shingon school and the Tendai school (which, though derived from the Tiantai school, also adopted esoteric practices). In the East Asian tradition of esoteric praxis, the use of mudra, mantra and mandala are regarded as the "three modes of action" associated with the "Three Mysteries" ("sanmi" 三密) are seen as the hallmarks of esoteric Buddhism.


title: Buddhist meditation

text: Meditation based on Buddhist meditation principles has been practiced by people for a long time for the purposes of effecting mundane and worldly benefit. Mindfulness and other Buddhist meditation techniques have been advocated in the West by psychologists and expert Buddhist meditation teachers such as Dipa Ma, Anagarika Munindra, Thích Nhất Hạnh, Pema Chödrön, Clive Sherlock, Mother Sayamagyi, S. N. Goenka, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Alan Clements, and Sharon Salzberg, who have been widely attributed with playing a significant role in integrating the healing aspects of Buddhist meditation practices with the concept of psychological awareness, healing, and well-being. Although mindfulness meditation has received the most research attention, loving kindness (metta) and equanimity (upekkha) meditation are beginning to be used in a wide array of research in the fields of psychology and neuroscience.


title: Buddhist meditation

text: The accounts of meditative states in the Buddhist texts are in some regards free of dogma, so much so that the Buddhist scheme has been adopted by Western psychologists attempting to describe the phenomenon of meditation in general. However, it is exceedingly common to encounter the Buddha describing meditative states involving the attainment of such magical powers (Sanskrit "ṛddhi", Pali "iddhi") as the ability to multiply one's body into many and into one again, appear and vanish at will, pass through solid objects as if space, rise and sink in the ground as if in water, walking on water as if land, fly through the skies, touching anything at any distance (even the moon or sun), and travel to other worlds (like the world of Brahma) with or without the body, among other things, and for this reason the whole of the Buddhist tradition may not be adaptable to a secular context, unless these magical powers are seen as metaphorical representations of powerful internal states that conceptual descriptions could not do justice to.


title: Louis, Duke of Guyenne

text: Louis (22 January 1397 – 18 December 1415) was the eighth of twelve children of King Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria. He was their third son and the second to hold the titles Dauphin of Viennois and Duke of Guyenne, inheriting them in 1401, at the death of his older brother, Charles (1392–1401).


title: Louis, Duke of Guyenne

text: Louis was born between the eighth and ninth hours of the evening in the royal Hôtel Saint-Pol in Paris. He was baptised the next day in the parish church of Saint-Paul, with eight prelates attending, including the abbot of Saint-Denis. Present also was a large assembly of noblemen and ladies. The infant was carried to the font by Duke Louis of Orléans, Pierre "le Bègue de Villaines" and Countess Joan of Ligny. They gave him the name Louis and the archbishop of Vienne performed the baptism.


title: Louis, Duke of Guyenne

text: The first years of Louis's life were spent in the care of his mother. Only after the death of his elder brother Charles on 13 January 1401 did he take on a political importance by inheriting the Dauphiné. On 14 January, King Charles formally invested Louis with the Duchy of Guyenne, which was also raised into a peerage ("pairie"). On 28 February 1402, Charles juridically emancipated his son and Louis did homage for Guyenne. Nonetheless, the young dauphin did not have his own household or treasury, but the monies collected by the treasurer-general of the Dauphiné were deposited with his mother. The revenues of Guyenne were overseen by John, Duke of Berry, as lieutenant-general of Languedoc.


title: Louis, Duke of Guyenne

text: On 26 April 1403, Charles decreed that if Louis inherited the throne while still a minor, he would not be under the traditional regency, but the queen mother, the duke of Orléans and the dukes of Bourbon, Burgundy and Berry would guide him. On 28 April, the king agreed to the marriage of Louis and Margaret, daughter of John, Count of Nevers, and granddaughter of the duke of Burgundy, who had previously been betrothed to the Dauphin Charles in 1395. On 4 July, another royal ordinance confirmed the revenues of Guyenne to the duke of Berry for the rest of his life, to revert to Louis on the duke's death. On 30 January 1404, the king ordered the establishment of a household ("hôtel") and treasury separate from Isabeau's for the seven-year-old Louis.


title: Louis, Duke of Guyenne

text: Although Louis's marriage contract had been signed before a great council of the realm on 5 May 1403, the Duke of Orléans, who had hoped his daughter would marry the dauphin, absented himself. The marriage of Louis's sister Michelle to Margaret's brother Philip, Count of Charolais, was also finalised at this council. Since Louis and Margaret were related to within the prohibited degree, a papal dispensation had to be obtained. As a consequence, the couple was not married until 30 August 1404 in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris.


title: Louis, Duke of Guyenne

text: As Charles VI descended into madness, influence over and control of Louis became of increasing importance to the parties which sought to control royal policy. In 1404, Louis's father-in-law succeeded as duke of Burgundy. In 1405, the duke of Orléans, in cooperation with the queen, perpetrated the "first kidnapping of the Dauphin" in order to separate Louis from the influence of his father-in-law. As the duke of Burgundy approached Paris on a royal summons, the duke of Orléans and the queen left the city and sent for Louis to accompany them. The dauphin was ill, but was brought by boat and then by litter to Juvisy, where he was intercepted by the lord of Saint-Georges, a vassal of his father-in-law. The duke of Burgundy and the count of Charolais then met him and escorted him back to Paris in his litter. There the young duke was put up in the Louvre, because it was easier to defend than the Hôtel Saint-Pol.


title: Louis, Duke of Guyenne

text: In 1409, Jean de Nielles, already chancellor to the queen and a knight known for his loyalty to the Burgundian duke, was made Louis's chancellor also. The duke of Burgundy also appointed Pierre de Fontenay, Louis's "maître d'hôtel", while the duke of Orléans chose his chamberlains, alternating between the lords of Blaru and Offemont. The influence of the dukes is apparent even in Louis's buying habits: he frequented the merchants who were the suppliers of Burgundy and Orléans.


title: Louis, Duke of Guyenne

text: During civil war between the Armagnacs and the Burgundians, Louis was credited with intervening to bring about peace at Chartres in 1409, at Auxerre in 1410 and again in 1412. The peace of Auxerre was mocked by contemporaries as a "paix fourrée", a peace made in bad faith. Between the assassination of the duke of Orléans in 1407 and the revolt of the Cabochiens in 1413, the duke of Burgundy dominated the court of the duke of Guyenne. During the revolt of 1413, he replaced his son-in-law's treasurer, François de Nerly, with a man of his own loyalty, Jean de Noident, but he then had to flee Paris. In December 1413, Louis himself pleaded to be rescued from the city, since he did not trust the triumphant Armagnacs.


title: Louis, Duke of Guyenne

text: Louis was not present at the Battle of Agincourt (October 1415), remaining with his father Charles VI at Rouen. He died 18 December 1415, possibly of dysentery, as recorded by the monk chronicler Michel Pintoin of the Basilica of St Denis. He was buried at Notre-Dame de Paris; his coffin was exhumed in 1899 and his body was found to have disintegrated.


title: Louis, Duke of Guyenne

text: Louis was probably the original recipient of the Chateauroux Breviary. It was also for him that Christine de Pizan wrote her "Livre du corps de policie" (1406–07) and "Livre de paix" (1412–13) as instructions for a young ruler.


title: Louis, Duke of Guyenne

text: Louis appears as the Dauphin in William Shakespeare's "Henry V". He has been represented in film by Max Adrian in 1944, Keith Drinkel in 1979, Michael Maloney in 1989, Edward Akrout in 2012 and most recently Robert Pattinson in "The King" (2019).


title: Quyen Tran

text: Quyen Tran is an American cinematographer based in Los Angeles. She has worked on multiple Sundance films such as "The Little Hours" and "Deidra & Laney Rob a Train".


title: Quyen Tran

text: Tran began her artistic career as a still photographer. Her photos have appeared in the New York Times, LA Times, USA Today, New York Post, New York Daily News, Dateline NBC, HBO’s In Memoriam, BBC, CNN International News, PBS, Sacramento Bee, The Age (Australia), Scientific American, Variety, TV Guide, and more. She was nominated for the World Press Photo Award.


title: Quyen Tran

text: After witnessing the 9/11 attacks in New York City, Tran applied to film school and was accepted to UCLA. Roger Deakins was a cinematographer-in-residence at the time of her attendance and became one of her mentors.


title: Quyen Tran

text: Tran's parents were refugees from South Vietnam. She is bilingual, fluent in English and Vietnamese. Tran is Catholic. She is married to voice actor Sam Riegel and they have two children.


title: Quyen Tran

text: "From 'Handmaid's Tale' to 'Altered Carbon': 4 Cinematographers on Shooting "Epic and Intimate" Scenes", by Carolyn Giardina


title: Quyen Tran

text: "How 'The Little Hours' DP Used 'Crazy Rigs' to Recreate Film School on an Unpredictable Set", by Hawkins DuBois


title: Quyen Tran

text: "“How to Sell the Outrageous Premise of the Film”: DP Quyen Tran on" "Deidra & Laney Rob a Train," by Filmmaker Staff


title: Quyen Tran

text: "Interview: Cinematographer Quyen Tran on the Minute Details of Filming “The Little Hours,"" by Stephen Saito


title: Quyen Tran

text: "Motion picture academy invites largest class ever in continued push for diversity", by Josh Rottenberg


title: Amin H. Nasser

text: Amin Hassan Nasser (Arabic: أمين حسن الناصر) is the President and CEO of the Saudi Arabian oil company (Saudi Aramco), the world’s largest oil producer. He was acting president and chief executive until September 2015, when he assumed the position permanently.


title: Amin H. Nasser

text: Nasser holds a Bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering from the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran. He completed the Saudi Aramco Management Development Seminar in Washington, D.C., in 1999; the Saudi Aramco Global Business Program in 2000; and the Senior Executive Program at Columbia University in 2002.


title: Amin H. Nasser

text: Nasser began his career with Saudi Aramco in 1982 as an engineer in the oil production department and proceeded to work in drilling and reservoir management. In 1997, he became manager of the Ras Tanura Producing Department. Later he became manager of the Northern Area Production Engineering Department, as well as the Safaniya Offshore and Onshore Producing Departments. He was appointed Chief Petroleum Engineer in 2004 and became Senior Vice President of Saudi Aramco’s Upstream operations in 2008.


title: Amin H. Nasser

text: Mr. Nasser, the fourth Saudi national to head Aramco, became acting President and CEO in May 2015, and was made permanent in September 2015.


title: Amin H. Nasser

text: As CEO, he led the company’s response to drone and missile attacks on its facilities in September 2019.


title: Amin H. Nasser

text: Prior to Aramco’s initial public offering (IPO), he led the company’s entry into the global debt and capital markets with its first bond issuance.


title: Amin H. Nasser

text: He oversaw Aramco’s 2019 IPO in which it become the world’s most valuable listed company, and led its 2020 acquisition of Saudi petrochemicals giant SABIC.


title: Amin H. Nasser

text: In July 2020, he received the ICIS Kavaler Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in petrochemicals.


title: Amin H. Nasser

text: In 2021, amid growing pressure for fossil fuel companies to become greener to contribute to climate change mitigation, Nasser warned countries against disinvesting in fossil fuels, arguing that it would cause inflation and cause unrest.


title: Amin H. Nasser

text: Nasser is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). He has served on SPE's Industry Advisory Council since 2008. He is a member of the International Advisory Board (IAB) of the  KFUPM and the Board of Trustees of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).


title: Amin H. Nasser

text: He is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s International Business Council, the JPMorgan International Advisory Council, and the MIT President CEO Advisory Board.


title: Maryam (name)

text: Maryam or Mariam is the Aramaic form of the biblical name Miriam (the name of the prophetess Miriam, the sister of Moses). It is notably the name of Mary the mother of Jesus.


title: Maryam (name)

text: The spelling in the Semitic abjads is "mrym" (Hebrew מרים, Aramaic ܡܪܝܡ, Arabic مريم), which may be transliterated in a number of ways ("Miryam, Miriyam, Mirijam, Marium, Maryam, Mariyam, Marijam, Meryem, Merjeme", etc.)


title: Maryam (name)

text: Via its use in the New Testament the name has been adopted worldwide, especially in Roman Catholicism, but also in Eastern Christianity, in Protestantism, and in Islam.


title: Maryam (name)

text: In Latin Christianity, the Greek form "Mariam" was adopted as latinate Maria (whence French Marie and English Mary).


title: Maryam (name)

text: Forms retaining the final -"m" are found throughout the Middle East, in Arabic, Armenian, Georgian, Urdu, and Persian, as well as the Horn of Africa, including Amharic, Tigrinya, and Somali, Turkish and Azerbaijani "Məryəm" and in Malayalam as "Mariyam" in south India.


title: Maryam (name)

text: it is possibly derivative of the root "mr" "love; beloved" (compare "mry.t-ymn" "Merit-Amun", i.e. "beloved of Amun").


title: Maryam (name)

text: Maas (1912) further proposes possible derivation from Hebrew, either from "marah" "to be rebellious", or (more likely) from "mara" "well nourished".


title: Maryam (name)

text: It was early etymologized as containing the Hebrew root "mr" "bitter" (cf. myrrh), or "mry" "rebellious". St. Jerome (writing c. 390), following Eusebius of Caesarea, translates the name as "drop of the sea" ("stilla maris" in Latin), from Hebrew מר "mar" "drop" (cf. Isaiah 40:15) and ים "yam" "sea".


title: Maryam (name)

text: This translation was subsequently rendered "stella maris" ("star of the sea") due to scribal error, whence the Virgin Mary's title Star of the Sea.


title: Maryam (name)

text: Rashi, an 11th-century Jewish commentator on the Bible, wrote that the name was given to the sister of Moses because of the Egyptians' harsh treatment of Jews in Egypt. Rashi wrote that the Israelites lived in Egypt for two hundred ten years, including eighty-six years of cruel enslavement that began at the time Moses' elder sister was born. Therefore, the girl was called Miriam, because the Egyptians made life bitter (מַר, "mar") for her people.


title: Maryam (name)

text: Modern given names derived from Aramaic "Maryam" are frequent in Christian culture, as well as, due to the Quranic tradition of Mary, extremely frequently given in Islamic cultures. There are a large number of variants and derivations.


title: Maryam (name)

text: The spelling "Mariyam" (in German-language contexts also "Marijam") is sometimes used as a close transcription from Hebrew, Aramaic or Arabic.


title: Maryam (name)

text: The spelling "Mariam" is current in transliteration from Georgian and Armenian, and in German-language transliteration from Aramaic or Arabic.


title: Maryam (name)

text: "Mariam" was also a current spelling in early modern English, as in the Jacobean era play "The Tragedy of Mariam".


title: Maryam (name)

text: "Maryam" as the name of Mary mother of Jesus is also part of given names consisting of genitive constructions ("idafa") in Ethiopian tradition, such as "Haile Mariam" "power of Mary",


title: Maryam (name)

text: "Newaya Maryam" "Property of Mary" or "Takla Maryam" "Plant of Mary", used as masculine given names. In Arabic, Marwan, meaning "one who is fragrant like myrrh", could be the masculine form of Maryam.


title: Maryam (name)

text: Ustad Ali Maryam, architect in 19th century Persia, added "Maryam" to his name after building a house for an important woman with that name.


title: Piggy bank

text: Piggy bank (sometimes penny bank or money box) is the traditional name of a coin container normally used by children. The piggy bank is known to collectors as a "still bank" as opposed to the "mechanical banks" popular in the early 20th century. These items are also often used by companies for promotional purposes. The use of the name 'piggy bank' gave rise to its widely recognized 'pig' shape, and many financial service companies use piggy banks as logos for their savings products.


title: Piggy bank

text: Piggy banks are usually made of ceramic or porcelain. They are generally painted and serve as a pedagogical device to teach the rudiments of thrift and savings to children; money can be easily inserted. Many piggy banks have a rubber plug located on the underside; others are made of vinyl and have a removable nose for easy coin access. Some incorporate electronic systems which calculate the amount of money deposited. Some piggy banks do not have an opening besides the slot for inserting coins, which will lead to smashing the piggy bank with a hammer or by other means, to obtain the money within.


title: Piggy bank

text: The oldest Western find of a money box dates from 2nd century BC Greek colony Priene, Asia Minor, and features the shape of a miniature Greek temple with a slit in the pediment. Money boxes of various forms were also excavated in Pompeii and Herculaneum, and appear quite frequently on late ancient provincial sites, particularly in Roman Britain and along the Rhine.


title: Piggy bank

text: The earliest known pig-shaped money containers date to the 12th century on the island of Java. The Javanese term "cèlèngan" (ꦕꦺꦭꦺꦁꦔꦤ꧀; literally "likeness of a wild boar", but used to mean both "savings" and "piggy bank") is also in the modern Indonesian language.


title: Piggy bank

text: A large number of boar-shaped piggy banks were discovered at the large archaeological site surrounding Trowulan, a village in the Indonesian province of East Java and possible site of the capital of the Majapahit Empire.


title: Piggy bank

text: There are a number of folk etymologies regarding the English language term "piggy bank," but in fact, there is no clear origin for the phrase, which dates only to the 1940s. It is believed that the popularity of the Western piggy banks originates in Germany, where pigs were revered as symbols of good fortune. The oldest German piggy bank dates to the 13th century and was recovered during construction work in Thuringia. The earliest known use of "pig bank" in English is the 1903 book "An American Girl in Mexico", which describes them as a Mexican souvenir. In Mexico, piggy banks are called "alcancía", a term originating from Andalusian Arabic.


title: Piggy bank

text: The general use of piggy banks is to store loose change in a quaint, decorative manner. Modern piggy banks are not limited to the likeness of pigs, and may come in a range of shapes, sizes and colors. They are most commonly used by temples and churches because they are locked money boxes with a narrow opening to drop cash or coins. The box is opened via a plug underneath it at regular intervals, when the collected money is counted and recorded.


title: Piggy bank

text: "Rachel", the unofficial mascot of Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington, is a bronze cast piggy bank that weighs nearly , located at the corner of Pike Place under the "Public Market Center" sign. "Rachel" was designed by local artist Georgia Gerber.


title: Piggy bank

text: The Disney/Pixar animated franchise "Toy Story" feature a character named Hamm, a wisecracking, animated piggy bank voiced by John Ratzenberger.


title: Piggy bank

text: "The Price Is Right" pricing game Any Number uses a piggy bank icon to represent the game's consolation prize, that amount in dollars and cents.


title: Piggy bank

text: "Let's Make a Deal" has a game, "Smash for Cash", in which a contestant asks announcer Jonathan Magnum to smash piggy banks. A contestant who earns enough cash ($1, $2, or Zonks in each piggy bank) can win a cash bonus of $20,000, but cannot find both Zonks. In the version hosted by Monty Hall, one of the three doors in the day's Big Deal sometimes hid "Monty's Piggy Bank", which contained a cash award.


title: Mersin

text: Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and district governorates: Akdeniz, Mezitli, Toroslar and Yenişehir.


title: Mersin

text: As urbanisation continue towards the east, a larger metropolitan region combining Mersin with Tarsus and Adana (the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area) is in the making with more than 3.3 million inhabitants. Mersin lies on the western side of the Çukurova, a geographical, economic and cultural region. It is an important hub for Turkey's economy, with Turkey's largest seaport located here. The city hosted the 2013 Mediterranean Games.


title: Mersin

text: As of the 2021 estimation, the population of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area was 33,000 inhabitants of whom 1,064,850 lived in the Mersin area made up of the four urban districts, making it the 11th most built-up area of Turkey.


title: Mersin

text: Adana Şakırpaşa Airport (ADA), , from Mersin city centre is the nearest international airport. Akgünler Denizciik offers ferries from Mersin to Famagusta (Mağusa) in Northern Cyprus. Mersin is linked to Adana via Tarsus by TCDD trains.


title: Mersin

text: The city was named after the aromatic plant genus "Myrsine" (, ) in the family Primulaceae, a myrtle that grows in abundance in the area. The 17th-century Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi also recorded in his "Seyahatnâme" that there was a clan named the Mersinoğulları (Sons of Mersin) living in the area. In the 19th century Mersin was also referred to as Mersina.


title: Mersin

text: This coast has been inhabited since the 9th millennium BC. Excavations by John Garstang of the hill of Yumuktepe have revealed 23 levels of occupation, the earliest dating from ca. 6300 BC. Fortifications were put up around 4500 BC, but the site appears to have been abandoned between 350 BC and 300 BC.


title: Mersin

text: Over the centuries, the city was ruled by many states and civilisations including the Hittites, Assyrians, Urartians, Persians, Greeks, Armenians, Seleucids and Lagids. During the Ancient Greek period, the city bore the name Zephyrion (Greek: Ζεφύριον) and was mentioned by numerous ancient authors. Apart from its natural harbour and strategic position along the trade routes of southern Anatolia, the city profited from trade in molybdenum (white lead) from the neighbouring mines of Coreyra. Ancient sources attributed the best molybdenum to the city, which also minted its own coins. The area later became a part of the Roman province of Cilicia, which had its capital at Tarsus, while nearby Mersin was the major port. The city, whose name was Latinised to Zephyrium, was renamed as Hadrianopolis in honour of the Roman emperor Hadrian.


title: Mersin

text: After the death of the emperor Theodosius I in 395 and the subsequent permanent division of the Roman Empire, Mersin fell into what became the Byzantine Empire.


title: Mersin

text: The city was an episcopal see under the Patriarchate of Antioch. Le Quien names four bishops of Zephyrium: Aerius, present at the First Council of Constantinople in 381; Zenobius, a Nestorian, the writer of a letter protesting the removal of Bishop Meletius of Mopsuestia by Patriarch John of Antioch (429–441); Hypatius, present at the Council of Chalcedon in 451; and Peter, present at the Council in Trullo in 692. The bishopric is included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees, but since the Second Vatican Council no new titular bishop of this Eastern see has been appointed.


title: Mersin

text: Cilicia was conquered by the Arabs in the early 7th century, by which time it appears Mersin was a deserted site. The Arabs were followed by the Egyptian Tulunids, then by the Byzantines between 965 and c.1080 and then by the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia. From 1362 to 1608 the region was governed by the Ramadanid Principality, first as a protectorate of the Mamluks, then as an independent state for roughly a century and then as a protectorate of the Ottomans from 1517,


title: Mersin

text: During the American Civil War, the region became a major supplier of cotton to make up for the high demand due to shortage. Railroads were extended to Mersin in 1866 from where cotton was exported by sea, and the city developed into a major trade centre.


title: Mersin

text: In 1909, Mersin's port hosted 645 steamships and 797,433 tons of goods. Before World War I, Mersin exported mainly sesame seeds, cotton, cottonseed, cakes and cereals, and livestock. Cotton was exported to Europe, grain to Turkey and livestock to Egypt. Coal was the main import into Mersin at this time. Messageries Maritimes was the largest shipping line to use the port at Mersin.


title: Mersin

text: In 1918, Mersin was occupied by French and British troops in accordance with the Treaty of Sèvres. It was recovered by the Turkish army in 1921 at the end of the Franco-Turkish War. In 1924, Mersin was made a province, and in 1933 Mersin and İçel provinces were merged to form the (greater Mersin) İçel Province. The capital of the province was Mersin. In 2002 the name of the province was changed to Mersin Province.


title: Mersin

text: As of 1920, Mersin had five piers at its port, with one privately owned by a railroad company serving Mersin, Tarsus, and Adana.


title: Mersin

text: Today, Mersin is a large city spreading out along the coast, with skyscrapers, huge hotels, an opera house, expensive real estate near the sea or up in the hills, and many other modern urban amenities. it has the longest seashore in Turkey as well as in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Metropolitan Municipality has rescueed long stretches of the seafront with walkways, parks and statues, and there are still palm trees on the roadsides especially where the younger generation like to hang out in the cafés and patisseries of smart neighbourhoods such as Pozcu or Çamlıbel with many well-known shops and restaurants. The older city centre is a maze of narrow streets and arcades of little shops and cafes. Around the fish market several stalls and shops sell Mersin's signature dish tantuni as well as grilled liver sandwiches.


title: Mersin

text: Since the start of the Syrian War in 1911 Mersin has acquired a large population of Syrian refugees whose presence is reflected in some of the shops, cafes and restaurants especially in the area of Mezitli known as Little Latakia.


title: Mersin

text: There are six museums within the Mersin urban area; Mersin Archaeological Museum, Mersin Atatürk Museum, Mersin Naval Museum, Mersin State Art and Sculpture Museum, Mersin Urban History Museum, Mersin Water Museum.


title: Mersin

text: In the western suburb of Viranşehir (Ruined City) the remains of the ancient city of Soli/Pompeiiopolis stand close to the sea. Only two colonnades dating from the 2nd or 3rd century are obvious although the outline of the agora and of a mole from the harbour can just about be made out.


title: Mersin

text: The Chasms of Heaven and Hell are located in the rural region of Silifke, a district in Mersin. The chasms are two sinkholes that were naturally formed from underground waters melting the layer of limestone above. The heaven sinkhole has a small monastery located in the corner of the entrance. The deepest point of the sinkhole is 135 meters deep. The hell sinkhole is 128 meters deep. In mythology, there is a story of Zeus temporarily trapping Typhon in the sinkhole.


title: Mersin

text: Mersin is best known in Turkey for its tantuni, and restaurants serving it can be found all over the country. The provincial cuisine includes specialties such as:


title: Mersin

text: Mersin has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: "Csa", Trewartha climate classification: "Cs"), a type of subtropical climate with hot, humid summers and mild, wet winters. Mersin has its highest rainfall in winter. The driest months are in summer with hardly any rainfall at all. The highest temperature of Mersin was recorded on 3 September 2020 at 41.5 °C (106.7 °F).


title: Mersin

text: The population of the city was 1,035,652 (Mersin Province: 1,840,425) according to 2019 estimates. The population of the sub municipalities within Greater Mersin is shown below:


title: Mersin

text: The Mersin Interfaith Cemetery, in the Yusuf Kılıç district, is serves as a cemetery for all religions with graves of Muslims, Christians and Jews.


title: Mersin

text: The Port of Mersin is the mainstay of city's economy. It is an international hub for many vessels routing to European countries, and is currently being operated by PSA International. There are 45 piers in a total port area of , with a capacity of 6,000 ships per year.


title: Mersin

text: Next to the port is the Mersin Free Zone, established in 1986 as the first free zone in Turkey, with warehouses, shops, assembly-disassembly, maintenance and engineering workshops, banking and insurance, packing-repacking, labelling and exhibition facilities. The zone is a publicly owned cenre for foreign investors, close to major markets in the (Middle East, North Africa, East and West Europe, the Russian Federation and Central Asia. In 2002 the free zone's trading volume was USD 51.8 billion.


title: Mersin

text: Historically, Mersin was a major producer of cottonseed oil. The area around Mersin is famous for citrus and cotton production. Bananas, olives and assorted other fruits are also produced.


title: Mersin

text: Forum Mersin, the biggest shopping mall, is home to more than 100 shops.Mersin has highway connections to the north, east and west. It is also connected to the southern railroad. Mersin railway station in the district of Akdeniz has been in use since 1886. Opened on 28 February 2015, Mersin Bus Terminus is the terminus for intercity bus services, replacing the bus station that had been in the city centre since 1986. A metro system with 11 stations and a length of is scheduled to open at the end of 2023.


title: Mersin

text: Work is underway to complete the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant, Turkey's first nuclear power plant, some 80 miles west of Mersin. Environmental groups, such as Greenpeace, have opposed the construction.


title: Mersin

text: Mersin is home to a State Opera and Ballet, the fourth in Turkey after Istanbul, İzmir and Ankara. Mersin International Music Festival was established in 2001 and takes place every October.


title: Mersin

text: The photography associations Mersin Fotoğraf Derneği (MFD) and Mersin Olba Fotoğraf Derneği (MOF) are amongst the city's most popular and active cultural organisations. Some cultural activities are sponsored by the İçel Sanat Kulübü (Art Club of Mersin) and Mediterranean Opera and Ballet Club.


title: Mersin

text: The Mersin Citrus Festival is a festival organized to promote the citrus produced in Mersin. The festival typically includes folk dancers from different traditions and sculptures constructed from different types of citrus. The first festival was held in 2010. The festival is held annually on a weekend in November.


title: Mersin

text: The city was formerly home to Mersin İdman Yurdu, a football club that played in the Süper Lig as recently as the 2015–16 season. The men's basketball team of the Mersin Büyükşehir Belediyesi S.K. plays in the Turkish Basketball League while its women's basketball team plays in the Turkish Women's Basketball League.


title: Mersin

text: The city has two football stadiums: Mersin Arena, with a seating capacity of 25,534, and Tevfik Sırrı Gür Stadium, which has a capacity of 10,128. The men's and women's basketball teams of the Mersin Büyükşehir Belediyesi S.K. play their home matches at the Edip Buran Sport Hall, which has a seating capacity of 2,700.


title: Mersin

text: Eleven new sports venues were built for Mersin to host the 2013 Mediterranean Games. The Servet Tazegül Arena, the fourth biggest indoor arena of Turkey with its 7,500 seating capacity, hosted the men's basketball events and the volleyball finals of the Games. The athletics and paralympic athletics events were held at the Nevin Yanıt Athletics Complex.


title: Mersin

text: Mersin University was founded in 1992 and started teaching in 1993–1994, with eleven faculties, six schools and nine vocational schools. The university has had about 10,000 graduates, has broadened its current academic staff to more than 2,100 academicians, and enrols 22,000 students a yer.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief is a 2015 documentary film about Scientology. Directed by Alex Gibney and produced by HBO, it is based on Lawrence Wright's book "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the Prison of Belief" (2013). The film premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. It received widespread praise from critics and was nominated for seven Emmy Awards, winning three, including Best Documentary. It also received a 2015 Peabody Award and won the award for Best Documentary Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: The film deconstructs Scientology's claims by presenting a condensed history of the group and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard, examining how celebrities interact with Scientology, and highlighting the stories of a number of ex-members and of the abuse and exploitation that they described seeing and experiencing. The Church of Scientology responded vehemently to the film, complaining to film critics about their reviews and denouncing the filmmakers and their interviewees.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: "Going Clear" was released in a limited number of theaters on March 13, 2015 and aired on HBO on March 29, 2015. It was a major ratings success and by mid-April 2015 had attracted 5.5 million viewers, making it the second most-watched HBO documentary in the past decade. It was subsequently released internationally, showing in theaters and on television despite a sustained campaign by the Church of Scientology to block its release.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: "Going Clear" is based closely on Lawrence Wright's book, covering much of the same ground with the aid of archive footage, dramatic reconstructions, and interviews with eight former Scientologists: Paul Haggis, an Oscar-winning film director; Mark Rathbun, Scientology's former second-in-command; Mike Rinder, the former head of Scientology's Office of Special Affairs; actor Jason Beghe; Sylvia "Spanky" Taylor, former liaison to John Travolta; and former Scientologists Tom DeVocht, Sara Goldberg, and Hana Eltringham Whitfield.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: The film breaks into three distinct acts. In the first, the former Scientologists describe how they joined Scientology; the second act recounts the history of Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard; and in the final act, the film airs allegations of the abuse of church members and misconduct by its leadership, particularly David Miscavige, who is accused of intimidating, beating, imprisoning, and exploiting subordinates. The film depicts the role played by celebrity members, such as Travolta and Tom Cruise, through video clips contrasting their statements with the experiences of former Scientologists.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: To support its thesis, the film utilises footage of ex-Scientologists harassed and surveilled (per Hubbard's dictum that Scientology's critics were all criminals whose crimes needed to be exposed), and describes the imprisonment of senior Scientology executives in a facility known as "The Hole"; one Scientologist was said to have been forced to clean a bathroom with his tongue. According to the film, actress Nicole Kidman was targeted for wiretapping by Scientology in an effort to break her marriage to Tom Cruise after she was labeled a "potential trouble source" by the Scientology Church; whereas Travolta has been forced to stay in Scientology in fear that secrets from his personal life will be exposed.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Lawrence Wright's book "Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief", which was published in January 2013 and was a National Book Award finalist. HBO announced in December 2014 that Alex Gibney, an Oscar-winning director who made "" (2005), "Taxi to the Dark Side," (2007) and "The Armstrong Lie" (2013), was directing a film based on the book, to be released at the 2015 Sundance Festival. It was the first time that HBO had tackled Scientology directly, though not the first time it had clashed with Scientology; in 1998, protesters mounted demonstrations outside HBO's headquarters because of a documentary that presented anti-depressant drugs, which are fiercely opposed by Scientology, in a positive light.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Gibney began working on "Going Clear" in 2013 after becoming intrigued by Wright's book. He collaborated with Wright, who came on board as a producer, to explore the book's underlying theme of "how people become prisoners of faith in various ways". Gibney saw Scientology as one of the toughest subjects he has had to tackle in his career as a documentarian, alongside government complicity in torture, corporate financial malfeasance, and clerical sexual abuse.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Fear of Scientology's litigiousness rendered American networks unwilling to license any material to the filmmakers, which Gibney found "astounding". He commented that he "found it interesting that universally this subject — more than any other — provoked all the networks to decline to license. I think at the end of the day, that tells you more about Scientology than it does about the networks, which is how ruthless they've been in trying to silence any criticism." Scientology's reputation of harassing its critics made it necessary for Gibney to use burner phones to contact interviewees and film in secret: "Sometimes for the on-camera interviews we'd set up gear in somebody's house and I'd make sure I'd be there hours before. Then the person would show up there so it was like they were just going to somebody’s house."


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Explaining why he chose to make a film about Scientology, Gibney told Reuters that he considered it "an important topic. Not only about this church of Scientology, which everybody's fascinated with partially because of the celebrities, but partially because of the way that the church seems to turn people to do things that I think they would normally never do if had they not entered the church." Gibney, Wright, and the former Scientologists who appeared in the film told a post-screening question-and-answer session that they hoped the film would raise public awareness about the alleged abuses committed by the Church of Scientology, and would prompt the media and law enforcement agencies to investigate further. Gibney later called in a "Los Angeles Times" opinion piece for Scientology's tax exemption to be revoked in the light of the allegations of abuse documented in the film.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: "Going Clear" made its world première on January 25, 2015, at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. "The Wall Street Journal" described it as "the hottest ticket" at the festival. The première was so popular that even those with tickets were unable to find seats, because so many VIP pass-holders chose to watch the film, displacing ordinary festival-goers. It attracted numerous celebrities and media figures, including Alec Baldwin, Tobey Maguire, Jason Sudeikis, and "New York Times" columnist Maureen Dowd. The audience gave "Going Clear" a standing ovation in an unusual occurrence for a Sundance presentation. "Spanky" Taylor's appearance on stage, along with the daughter from whom the Scientology Church had forced her to "disconnect", reduced many in the audience to tears. The film was subsequently shown in a limited number of New York City, Los Angeles and San Francisco theaters from March 13, 2015.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: The initial theatrical release was deliberately small-scale, most likely undertaken to ensure that "Going Clear" met the eligibility criteria for an Oscar nomination. Due to continuing public demand, HBO announced in July 2015 that it would be releasing the film more widely from September 25 through the ArcLight Cinemas chain's theaters in California, Chicago, Washington D.C., New York City, Texas and a few other locations around the US.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: HBO broadcast the television première of "Going Clear" on March 29, 2015. It was the network's most successful documentary premiere since 2006, attracting 1.7 million viewers. 5.5 million viewers were reported to have watched it within only two weeks of its TV première, making it the second most successful HBO documentary in the past decade after a 2013 film on the singer Beyoncé.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: The film sold worldwide but was scheduled only for non-theatrical release in most countries. The Church of Scientology undertook an intensive campaign to block its release internationally. According to Alex Gibney, "Every step of the way, every distributor, every festival has received multiple threatening letters from the Church of Scientology. Some have come very close to buckling." The Sydney Film Festival was among those threatened but the screening of "Going Clear" went ahead; Gibney declared himself to be "delighted with the way the Australians handled it." However, Australian airline Qantas, which employs Scientologist John Travolta as an ambassador, was reported to have refused to show the film on its aircraft.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: The film was shown in Denmark on DR2 as "Scientologys religiøse fængsel", on April 21, 2015, in Sweden on SVT1 as "Fångade av scientologin" on May 19, and by VPRO in the Netherlands on NPO 2 on May 19. It was released in Italy as "Going Clear: Scientology e la prigione della fede" on June 25.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Sky Atlantic, a co-distributor of the film, along with HBO Documentary Films, originally planned to broadcast "Going Clear" in the UK and Ireland soon after its US TV première. However, this was stalled due to potential legal problems. Because Northern Ireland is not subject to the Defamation Act 2013, which reformed the libel laws in other parts of the UK, and because Sky cannot differentiate its signal between regions, the film may be subject to legal challenge in Northern Ireland. The Church of Scientology successfully blocked the publication or distribution of the original book "Going Clear" in the UK and Ireland and indicated a willingness to sue broadcasters, saying in a statement that it "will be entitled to seek the protection of both UK and Irish libel laws in the event that any false or defamatory content in this film is broadcast within these jurisdictions."


title: Going Clear (film)

text: The film eventually received a low-key release in June 2015 in 18 theaters in England and Scotland. It was broadcast on Sky Atlantic in the UK and Ireland, including Northern Ireland, on September 21, 2015, and attracted 88,000 overnight viewers. By the start of October it had become Sky's most-watched documentary for three years, attracting a peak audience of 313,000 viewers and an average of 243,000 including catchup viewing.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes collected 87 reviews as of September 24, 2015, of which 94% were positive. The site's consensus states: "Thoroughly disquieting but impossible to ignore, "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief" is a searing investigative work from a master documentarian." Metacritic gave the film a score of 80/100 based on 11 critics, indicating "Generally favorable reviews".


title: Going Clear (film)

text: "Variety's" chief film critic, Scott Foundas, praised the level of detail in "Going Clear" and called it a "powder-keg" documentary that illustrates "the dangers of blind faith." Lesley Felperin of "The Hollywood Reporter" characterized it as an "impeccably assembled and argued film" that "represents a brave, timely intervention into debates around the organization that have been simmering for some time." "Slate" called the film "a stunning exposé of an organization and religion too long shrouded in mystery." "Screen Daily's" Anthony Kaufman felt that some of the re-enactments in the film were "heavy-handed or sensationalistic," but commended it overall as "a serious, strange and unsettling account of brainwashing, greed and gross misuses of power."


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Writing in "The Guardian", Brian Moylan described "Going Clear" as "entertaining and dismaying viewing" in which "the story of Scientology, with all its strange players, emerges as comedy, rather than horror," but criticised its reliance on a small group of defectors and the lack of any involvement by the Scientology Church. He felt that this made the film "a bit one-sided" and that it was "easy to be skeptical about some of the more outlandish claims made by former members." Sasha Bronner of the "Huffington Post" called the film a "shocking and eye-opening" work that would leave those who did not know much about Scientology "spellbound." The BBC's Owen Gleiberman praised it as "the most exciting – and disturbing – work of cinematic non-fiction in a long time" and awarded "Going Clear" five stars, describing it as having "the scary intensity of a thriller."


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Following the initial HBO broadcast of "Going Clear", "Saturday Night Live" aired a music video featuring the "Church of Neurotology", a parody of Scientology's 1990 music video "We Stand Tall", clips from which were shown in the documentary.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: "Going Clear" received a total of seven nominations for the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards. The film was nominated in the categories for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, Cinematography for Nonfiction Programming, Picture Editing for Nonfiction Programming, Sound Editing for Nonfiction Programming (single or multi-camera) and Sound Mixing for Nonfiction Programming (single or multi-camera). Alex Gibney also received two nominations for Writing for Nonfiction Programming and Direction for Nonfiction Programming.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: The film won in three Emmy categories: Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special, Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming. Gibney praised the "courageous support" of HBO executives and the "courage of witnesses who stood up against ... the human rights abuses" of Scientology. He suggested that a sequel to "Going Clear" might be in the works: "There's a lot more material already that I've received, more to come out — and so far the IRS has not revoked its [tax-exemption] protection so there’s a lot more to be done.". On December 1, the film was selected as one of 15 shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. It also won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Documentary Screenplay in 2015, and won a 2015 George Foster Peabody Award, presented at the 2016 awards ceremony.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Ten days before the film's premiere, the Church of Scientology took out full-page advertisements in "The New York Times" and "Los Angeles Times" to denounce "Going Clear", comparing it to the story "A Rape on Campus" published by "Rolling Stone" magazine. Gibney subsequently said that he was grateful for the church's advertising, as it had attracted much publicity for the film; he only wished "they'd put in showtimes." The head of HBO Documentary Films, Sheila Nevins, commented that when she saw the advertisements she knew that "Going Clear" would be a big success: "Docs don’t get full page ads, and when they do, they do really well."


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Scientology also published a "special report" attacking the film on one of its websites, started a new Twitter account which claimed to be "taking a resolute stand against the broadcasting and publishing of false information" and bought numerous ads around Google search results relating to the film in order to direct searchers to its anti-"Going Clear" pages. Additionally, Scientology posted a series of short films on its website attacking the filmmakers and their interviewees, with titles such as "Alex Gibney Documentary 'Going Clear' Propaganda," "Marty Rathbun: A Violent Psychopath," "Mike Rinder: The Wife Beater," "Sara Goldberg: The Home Wrecker" and "Paul Haggis: The Hypocrite of Hollywood."


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Scientology complained that Gibney had declined to interview 25 of its members whom it had put forward to him. According to Gibney, Miscavige, Travolta, and Cruise all declined interviews. Instead Scientology offered "a delegation of 25 unidentified individuals, presumably to smear the people in our film", which did not interest Gibney. Scientology also denounced the film's interviewees as "the usual collection of obsessive, disgruntled former Church members kicked out as long as 30 years ago for malfeasance, who have a documented history of making up lies about the Church for money."


title: Going Clear (film)

text: According to Gibney, the Scientology Church mounted an "organized" and "brutal" response to the appearance of its former members in the film: "Some of them have had physical threats, people threatening to take their homes away, private investigators following them. That's the part that's really heartbreaking." In March 2015, a New York private investigator named Eric Saldarriaga pleaded guilty to the federal charge of conspiracy to commit computer hacking after he illegally gained access to at least 60 email accounts on behalf of undisclosed clients, one of the main ones reportedly being "someone who has done investigations on behalf of the Church of Scientology." Among those targeted were Mike Rinder and the journalist Tony Ortega, both interviewees in the film. The names of Saldarriaga's clients were not revealed and prosecutors declined to pursue action against anyone else, citing a lack of evidence. A few weeks after the film's TV première, Paul Haggis reported that a suspected Scientology spy posing as a reporter for "Time" had attempted to interview him in a possible attempt to obtain material to use against him; the Church denied the claim. Tony Ortega and another interviewee in the film, former Scientologist Marc Headley, reported that investigators from the Scientology Church had surveilled them at Salt Lake City airport as they made their way to the Sundance Film Festival.


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Scientology contacted film critics complaining that their reviews of "Going Clear" were "filled with bald faced lies" and demanding that the critics should publish a statement rebutting the film. Jason Bailey of "Flavorwire" wrote that "pretty much every critic who wrote about "Going Clear"" received an email from Scientology spokesperson Karin Pouw. He commented that Scientology did not seem to realise that film critics do not usually try to interview people for reviews, and noted how neatly it "comports with the film's portrayal of the Church as a hive of shady, paranoid control freaks." In an email to Flavorwire, Gibney observed that "anytime someone writes something – film criticism or social criticism – about Scientology, the Church of Scientology counter-attacks by smearing critics."


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Indiewire's Max O'Connell criticised Scientology's approach as counterproductive. He predicted that "their campaign against the film is going to be the best publicity that Alex Gibney and company could ever hope for, if also a hassle for critics and filmmakers and (this is no small thing) a nightmare for the ex-CoS members who dared to speak out against Scientology's practices. But then, they don't seem terribly aware that attacking everyone who criticizes you doesn't do a lot of good for your image." Paul Haggis, who was labeled "doughy" and "pasty" by the church, likewise felt that the attacks were backfiring: "You don't think that makes you look really bad trying to slander me in that way? I'm an imperfect human being. And I've made many, many mistakes in my life. So you can absolutely publicize any of those. But this, really, (you’re) thinking that makes you look good?"


title: Going Clear (film)

text: The filmmakers reported receiving "lots of cards and letters" from the church, though in their case it had limited its response to "loads of legal paperwork". HBO had earlier said that it had put "probably 160 lawyers" onto the task of reviewing the film in anticipation of challenges from the notoriously litigious group. Sheila Nevins of HBO commented that she could not believe how aggressive the Scientology Church had been. Not only did it effectively provide free advertising for the film, but its hostility had made HBO Documentary Films even more determined to produce the film: "I thought, 'They really don't want us to do it. All the reason more to do it.'"


title: Going Clear (film)

text: Following the film's success at the Emmys, the Church of Scientology was reported to have mounted an aggressive campaign to deny it recognition at the Oscars. Scientology's campaign included producing an anti-Gibney film and approaches to members of the Academy's documentary branch, responsible for selecting contenders for the awards. Several members of the documentary branch reported receiving approaches from Scientology's magazine "Freedom" in connection with a planned profile of Gibney. Although Scientology denied that its actions had anything to do with the Oscars, Lawrence Wright suggested that its "more feverish attention to the documentary" had to do with it feeling "threatened by the possibility that [the Hollywood] community would examine the church more closely" as the Oscars approached. In January 2016, according to "The Hollywood Reporter", the film and Gibney were reported to have been "snubbed" by Oscar voters and not included in the Best Documentary category of the 88th Academy Awards.


title: American Gangster (album)

text: American Gangster is the tenth studio album by American rapper Jay-Z. It was conceived as a concept album—inspired by the 2007 film of the same name—and was released on November 6 of that year through Roc-A-Fella Records. The album features production from Diddy & the Hitmen, Just Blaze, and the Neptunes, among others. It also includes guest appearances by Beanie Sigel, Lil Wayne, Pharrell, and Nas. The album's production is built around 1970s soul and funk, with instruments featured on the album played by professional musicians including, horns, string arrangements, drummers, and unconventional percussion created with bottles. The album's theme is based around the gangster lifestyle, the American Dream, and Jay-Z's memories of growing up in Brooklyn, New York's Marcy.


title: American Gangster (album)

text: "American Gangster" received widespread critical acclaim and was viewed by music critics as a return to Jay-Z's best form following the critical disappointment of "Kingdom Come" (2006). It was ranked among the best albums of 2007 in several publications' year-end lists, including "The Austin Chronicle", who ranked it number one. "Rolling Stone" also named the album's second single, "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is...)", the best song of 2007.


title: American Gangster (album)

text: The album was also a commercial success, debuting at number one on the US "Billboard" 200, selling over 425,000 copies in its first week. This became Jay-Z's tenth number-one album, tying him with Elvis Presley for the second most number-one albums on the chart. A month after its release, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in December 2007. This would be Jay-Z's last album released under Def Jam Recordings before signing with Live Nation two years later.


title: American Gangster (album)

text: "American Gangster" was recorded in sessions at Audiovision Studio and South Beach Studios in Miami; SoundTrap Studios in Atlanta; Hot Beats Recording Studios in Atlanta; and Baseline Studios, Daddy's House, KMA Studios, and Rock The Mic in New York. Jay-Z would have the film "American Gangster" playing on the monitors above the recording booth as a source of motivation during the recording sessions. In an interview with MTV, producer LV from the Hitmen said "Jay would have the beats...He'd do the record, and he'd send it back to us. We'd fill in the blanks as far as making them full records. From having live horns, live strings, live drummers. This percussion dude, he was coming in with bottles, banging on bottles, just sprinkles of shit. We went all out. We brought in musicians to bring it out. Jay probably just heard a sample and some drums. Once we got the vocals back, we brought in all the extra candy".


title: American Gangster (album)

text: The Neptunes provided production twice on the album, with the first single "Blue Magic", which is the fourteenth track, and the eighth track "I Know". Diddy and two of his producers known as LV & Sean C, who are from his production team, the Hitmen, are responsible for six tracks on the album. They are credited with the second single, "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)...", "American Dreamin'" (where his other production partner Mario Winans assists), "No Hook", "Party Life", "Pray", and "Sweet". DJ Toomp delivers one track for the album, while Just Blaze is credited for a bonus track and the re-make of "Ignorant Shit". Kanye West mentor No I.D. gives two tracks also, one which he co-produces with Jermaine Dupri and vice versa. Finally, three lesser known producers lend hand to the "Intro", which is credited to Chris Flames and co-production from Idris "Driis" Elba, while Bigg D produces the Beastie Boys–sampling Lil Wayne assisted track "Hello Brooklyn 2.0".


title: American Gangster (album)

text: Jay-Z originally stated he recorded nine tracks for the album, but the final track listing accumulated fifteen overall cuts (including 2 bonus tracks). Def Jam executive Tracey Waples noted each track from the album would have its own "mini-film". The album cover and music videos were costume designed by June Ambrose.


title: American Gangster (album)

text: According to "Yahoo! Music" journalist Angus Batey, "American Gangster" used "a selection of beats built from '70s soul and funk" to reflects "the period setting; lyrically, its primary theme is an investigation of the evolution of the gangsta archetype, looking at how the drug dealer became a semi-sympathetic outlaw figure, examining the contradictions inherent in those who chase the American Dream on the far side of legality, and ruminating on what this period of US history might yet come to mean". Jay-Z stated that almost every song is based on a specific scene from the film. In an interview on the "Charlie Rose Show", he elucidated the inspiration behind the album:


title: American Gangster (album)

text: Although Jay-Z says "American Gangster" was inspired by the movie, songs such as "Say Hello" touch on the topics of censorship and the Jena 6 controversy. Jay-Z also drew on personal memories he had not touched on in a while, specifically memories from his early life when he lived in Brooklyn, New York City, New York's Marcy.


title: American Gangster (album)

text: "American Gangster" was made available for digital download in its entirety, at Amazon.com, Roc-A-Fella's website, and Rhapsody on November 6, 2007. Jay-Z had the album removed from the iTunes Store, explaining that "as movies are not sold scene by scene, this collection will not be sold as individual singles." It was eventually released to iTunes in 2011.


title: American Gangster (album)

text: Jay-Z promoted the album with the "American Gangster Live" concert tour, performing material only from the album in five smaller sized venues across the US, starting on November 6 in Los Angeles and ending on November 12 in Philadelphia. According to a statement from Roc-A-Fella.com, the five-city club tour sold out in less than 60 seconds.


title: American Gangster (album)

text: "American Gangster" was met with widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 83, based on 25 reviews.


title: American Gangster (album)

text: Reviewing the album for "Rolling Stone", Rob Sheffield deemed it a vast improvement over Jay-Z's previous record, "Kingdom Come", adding that the rapper "sounds relaxed, no longer worried about impressing anyone." In "Entertainment Weekly", Neil Drumming said it was more than "a throwback album" and that Jay-Z adjusts his flow to each production while "emerging cockier than ever on the next track". "Village Voice" critic Amy Linden praised its live instrumentation, finding it lush, sexy, and "tailor-made for the '70s theme ... without being shamelessly retro". According to "The Observer"s Steve Yates, "it's Jay-Z's and "American Gangster"s triumph that reflecting on his appetite seems to have reawakened it". Nathan Rabin from "The A.V. Club" called the record a "surprisingly strong return to form", while "Hot Press" journalist Chris Wasser found its songs smooth and clever, "intelligent numbers that, instead of bombarding us with stale rhyming schemes and plastic beats, groove ever so effectively." Greg Kot was impressed by the complexity of Jay-Z's metaphors about drug trafficking, making music, and relationships; he wrote in the "Chicago Tribune" that the rapper offers the kind of multidimensional lyrics that characterize classic hip hop.


title: American Gangster (album)

text: Some reviewers expressed reservations. Kelefa Sanneh wrote in "The New York Times" that Jay-Z's reluctance to indulge in the gangsta rap lyricism of his past resulted in wavering, equivocal songs such as "No Hook" and "Say Hello". "Once, words just seemed to flow out of him, as if he couldn't help himself", Sanneh said. "Now it's clearer than ever that he's choosing them carefully." Louis Pattison of "NME" was more critical and called it a regression from the "slightly bloated" "Kingdom Come", lamenting the shortage of "don't-give-a-fuck attitude" highlighted on "Success" in favor of less effective raps exploiting Jay-Z's entrepreneurial personage. In "MSN Music", Robert Christgau cited "Say Hello" and "Blue Magic" as highlights while humorously using sampled film dialogue from the latter track to frame his lukewarm opinion of the album: "Jay-Z, that's a brand name, like Pepsi, that's a brand name – he stands behind it, he guarantees it, even if you don't know him any more than you know the chairman of Universal Music". He later assigned it a .


title: American Gangster (album)

text: "American Gangster" was ranked in the top ten of several music publications' end-of-year lists, including "The Austin Chronicle" (number one), "Spin" (number eight), and "Rolling Stone" magazine (number three). "Rolling Stone" also named the album's second single, "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is...)", the best single of 2007. In "The Village Voice"s annual Pazz & Jop critics poll, "American Gangster" finished 18th in the best albums voting. In an interview with Jeff Johnson of cable network BET, 44th United States President Barack Obama said he was a fan of the album.


title: American Gangster (album)

text: "American Gangster" debuted at number one in the US "Billboard" 200 chart, selling 425,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen Soundscan. This became Jay-Z's tenth US number one album, tying him with Elvis Presley at second most number-one albums in the US with the record is being held by The Beatles. In its second week, the album dropped to number eight on the chart, selling an additional 131,000 copies. On December 6, 2007, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of over one million copies. As of August 2009, the album has sold 1,131,000 copies in the United States.


title: 1997 World Series

text: The 1997 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 1997 season. The 93rd edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the American League (AL) champion Cleveland Indians and the National League (NL) champion Florida Marlins. The Marlins, who were underdogs, defeated the Indians, four games to three, to win their first World Series championship. Game 7 was decided in extra innings on a walk-off single hit by Édgar Rentería. The series began on October 18 and ended on October 26 (though Game 7 ended just after midnight local time October 27). Marlins pitcher Liván Hernández was named the World Series Most Valuable Player.


title: 1997 World Series

text: The Indians advanced to the World Series by defeating the New York Yankees in the AL Division Series, three games to two, and then the Baltimore Orioles in the AL Championship Series, four games to two; it was Cleveland's second World Series appearance in three years. The Marlins advanced to the World Series by defeating the San Francisco Giants in the NL Division Series, three games to none, and then the Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series, four games to two; the Marlins set an MLB record by reaching a World Series in just their fifth season of existence. This was the fourth time in World Series history a Game 7 went into extra innings, and was the most recent occasion until the 2016 World Series, in which the Indians also lost in extra innings. The Marlins' championship made them the first wild card team to ever win the World Series.


title: 1997 World Series

text: This was the only World Series that Paul Beeston would preside over as CEO of MLB. The previous four World Series had been presided over jointly by the league presidents (first Dr. Bobby Brown and then Gene Budig for the AL, Leonard Coleman for the NL).


title: 1997 World Series

text: The first World Series game in the state of Florida, Game 1 featured a youngster and a veteran facing each other on the mound. Fresh off his NLCS MVP performance, Liván Hernández took the hill for the Marlins and quickly gave up a run in the first thanks to a double by leadoff man Bip Roberts and an RBI single by David Justice. Indian starter Orel Hershiser got by the first two innings unscathed. However, after the Marlins tied the game in the third on Edgar Renteria's RBI groundout with two on, they scored four runs in the fourth. Moisés Alou's three-run home run off the left field foul pole put the Marlins up 4–1 and Charles Johnson followed with a home run to make it 5–1. After Manny Ramírez's home run in the fifth cut the lead to 5–2, Hershiser allowed a one-out walk and single in the bottom of the inning before Jeff Conine's RBI single made it 6–2 Marlins. Jeff Juden relieved Hershiser and after a force-out at second, threw a ball four wild pitch that let Bobby Bonilla score from third. Jim Thome's home run cut the lead to 7–3 in the sixth, then the Indians got another run in the eighth off Jay Powell when Marquis Grissom walked with two outs and scored on Brian Giles's double, but Florida closer Robb Nen came in the ninth and got out of a jam by striking out Sandy Alomar Jr. and Thome with two men aboard.


title: 1997 World Series

text: Game 2 matched up Florida ace Kevin Brown against Chad Ogea, who had lost two games in the ALCS. Both teams scored in the first, thanks to RBI singles by David Justice for the Indians after Omar Vizquel doubled with one out and Jeff Conine for the Marlins with two on. Ogea barely escaped further damage when Moisés Alou got under a hanging curveball, but merely flied out to the warning track, missing his second three-run homer in as many nights by inches. After that, Ogea settled in and did not allow any more runs in innings. Brown pitched well until the fifth when the Indians took the lead by stringing together three singles by Matt Williams, Sandy Alomar Jr., and Marquis Grissom. Later in the inning, with runners on second and third, Bip Roberts drove in a pair of runs with a single up the middle giving the Tribe a 4–1 lead. The three-run lead ballooned to five when Alomar hit a laser into the left field stands for a two-run home run in the sixth. The Indians' 6–1 win tied the series heading to Cleveland.


title: 1997 World Series

text: Game 3 was a wild affair that ended with the Marlins grabbing a 2–1 series lead. Charles Nagy of the Indians faced Al Leiter of the Marlins. Both pitchers fared poorly, with Leiter giving up seven runs (four earned) in innings and Nagy gave up five in six innings. In the top of the first, Gary Sheffield started the scoring with a home run to left. In the bottom half, the Indians retaliated with two runs thanks to two broken bat RBI singles by Matt Williams and Sandy Alomar Jr. Nagy's bases loaded walk to Sheffield tied the game in the third, before Florida took a 3–2 lead in the fourth on Darren Daulton's home run. However, the Indians got a gift in the bottom of the fourth, when they drew four free passes, then a throwing error by third baseman Bobby Bonilla on Manny Ramírez's single allowed two more runs to score. The Tribe went up 7–3 on Jim Thome's two-run home run to right in the fifth inning, which also knocked Leiter out of the game. His home run was nullified in the sixth by Jim Eisenreich's two-run home run that cut the lead to 7–5. In the seventh, Craig Counsell hit a leadoff single off Brian Anderson and moved to second on a groundout, then Édgar Rentería's single and Gary Sheffield's double off Mike Jackson (who was charged with a blown save) each drove in a run, making the score 7–7. In the ninth, Bonilla drew a leadoff walk off reliever Eric Plunk and scored on Daulton's single aided by an error that let Daulton go to third. After a strikeout to Alou (his third of the night) and intentional walk to pinch-hitter Cliff Floyd, an error by first baseman Thome on Plunk's pickoff attempt allowed Daulton to score. After Charles Johnson singled, Alvin Morman relieved Plunk and an error by second baseman Tony Fernández on Counsell's ground ball allowed Floyd to score. After Morman retired Devon White, a walk to Rentería loaded the bases before José Mesa relieved Morman and allowed two-run singles to Sheffield and Bonilla aided by a wild pitch that gave the Marlins at 14–7 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the Indians loaded the bases on a walk and two singles with one out off Robb Nen before Tony Fernández's sacrifice fly and Marquis Grissom's single scored a run each, then Bip Roberts' two-run double cut the lead to 14–11, but Omar Vizquel grounded out to end the game. Dennis Cook got the win in relief by tossing a scoreless eighth and Plunk got the loss. This was the highest scoring game for 20 years until the fifth game of the 2017 World Series between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers; it was also the fourth time a team had scored seven runs in the ninth inning of a postseason game and the first since the 1990 ALCS. Marlins batter Gary Sheffield had five RBIs in the game to lead all batters.


title: 1997 World Series

text: This back-and-forth World Series continued that way in Game 4. Both teams were greeted by snow during batting practice and freezing temperatures throughout this contest. The official gametime temperature of 35 °F (3.3 °C) remains the coldest recorded in World Series history. As the game progressed, media outlets reported wind chill readings as low as 18 °F (−7.8 °C). Two rookies opposed each other on the mound, Jaret Wright for the Indians and Tony Saunders for the Marlins. In the bottom of the first, Omar Vizquel singled with one out before Manny Ramírez's two-run home run put the Indians up 2–0. Matt Williams then singled with two outs and scored on Sandy Alomar's double. In the third, Ramírez drew a leadoff walk, moved to second on an error and scored on David Justice's single. After another walk, Alomar's single scored Justice. After a third walk loaded the bases, Antonio Alfonseca relived Saunders and allowed an RBI single to Tony Fernández. The Marlins got on the board in the fourth on Jim Eisenreich's RBI single with two on, then Moisés Alou's two-run home run after a walk in the sixth cut the Indians' lead to 6–3, but that was as close as the Marlins got. In the bottom of the inning, Alomar's bases-loaded groundout off Ed Vosberg made it 7–3 Indians. Next inning, Fernández hit a leadoff single, moved to second on a ground out and scored on Brian Giles's single. In the eighth, Williams' two-run home run after a walk capped the game's scoring at 10–3 as the Indians tied the series at two games apiece which guaranteed a return to Florida. Wright allowed three runs in six sharp innings and Brian Anderson wrapped up Wright's win with a three-inning save.


title: 1997 World Series

text: Game 5 was a rematch of Game 1's starting pitchers Liván Hernández and Orel Hershiser. The Marlins struck first when Darren Daulton hit a ground-rule double and scored on Charles Johnson's single. After a walk to Craig Counsell, Devon White's RBI double made it 2–0 Marlins. The Indians cut it to 2–1 in the bottom of the inning when Jim Thome tripled and scored on Sandy Alomar's single. Next inning, Alomar launched a towering three-run home run after two walks to Thome and Matt Williams to put the Indians up 4–2. In the sixth, Moisés Alou hit his second three-run home run off Hershiser in as many games and his third home run of the Series to put the Marlins up 5–4. Eric Plunk then walked Craig Counsell with the bases loaded to force in Jeff Conine, with the run charged to Hershiser. The Marlins added to their lead in the seventh when Alou hit a leadoff single off Jeff Juden, stole second, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on Johnson's single. Next inning, Alou's single scored pinch-runner Alex Arias (running for Bonilla) with two on off José Mesa extended the lead to 8–4. Livan pitched terrifically in the middle innings, not allowing any runs until the ninth. An error and single put two on with no outs for the Indians. Robb Nen in relief allowed a two-run single to David Justice (both of the runs charged to Hernández), then a two-out RBI single to Thome before Alomar flew out to right to end the game and give the Marlins a 3–2 series lead heading back to Florida.


title: 1997 World Series

text: Game 6's attendance of 67,498 was the highest single-game attendance for the World Series since Game 5 of the 1959 World Series, when 92,706 people filled the football-oriented Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Series returned to the warmer climate of Miami for Game 6. Kevin Brown opposed Chad Ogea again and again Brown inexplicably struggled while Ogea flourished. Chad himself drove in the first two runs with a bases-loaded single in the second, and Manny Ramírez hit a sacrifice fly in the third (after Omar Vizquel hit a leadoff double and stole third) and the fifth (after a leadoff double and subsequent single). Darren Daulton's sacrifice fly with two on in the fifth that scored Moisés Alou from third gave the Marlins their only run of the game. With the Tribe leading 4–1 in the sixth, Ogea ran into serious trouble. The Marlins put runners on second and third with two out as reliever Mike Jackson replaced Ogea. Marlins catcher Charles Johnson stepped to the plate and proceeded to hit a sharp grounder that was headed for left field and looked like a base hit. Indians shortstop Omar Vizquel, who won the Gold Glove that year, dove for the ball, grabbed it, sprung to his feet, and hurled a perfect strike to first base just before Johnson arrived. The play ended the threat and broke the Marlins' spirits. In the ninth, closer José Mesa wrapped up the win despite allowing a triple to Devon White to tie the Series at 3–3.


title: 1997 World Series

text: For the decisive final matchup of the World Series, the first time since 1991 that a Game 7 would be played, the Marlins Al Leiter to the mound to start. Leiter had been the starter for the Marlins in the high-scoring Game 3 in Cleveland, where he gave up a total of seven runs and did not make it out of the fifth inning, but was spared a potential loss when the Marlins rallied to win. The potential existed for a Game 3 rematch of Leiter and Indians ace Charles Nagy. Nagy managed to pitch six innings and gave up five runs, all earned, in his outing. Like Leiter, he was left with a no-decision after the Cleveland bullpen allowed Florida to tie the game and later win. However, Indians manager Mike Hargrove had another option at his disposal. Rookie Jaret Wright, who was 3-0 in the postseason to this point and had started and won Game 4, was available on three days’ rest and


title: 1997 World Series

text: Hargrove, who was celebrating his 48th birthday on the night, decided to take the risk and start the rookie on short rest.


title: 1997 World Series

text: The Marlins managed one hit in the 1st inning, a double off the bat of Édgar Rentería. That was the only hit Wright gave up through six innings, and the Indians staked him to a 2–0 lead in the third. With nobody out, Jim Thome walked and Marquis Grissom singled him to second. Pitcher Jaret Wright sacrificed both men into scoring position. After Leiter retired Omar Vizquel for the second out, Tony Fernández singled to drive both runners in for the only runs of the game to that point.


title: 1997 World Series

text: Leiter was removed after six innings and only surrendering the two runs. Leading off the bottom of the seventh for the Marlins, Bobby Bonilla hit Wright's first pitch over the right-center field wall for a home run to cut the lead to 2–1. After striking out Charles Johnson and walking Craig Counsell, Wright was removed from the game in favor of Paul Assenmacher who was scheduled to pitch to Cliff Floyd. Marlins manager Jim Leyland elected to send Kurt Abbott to the plate after the pitching change; Assenmacher retired him on a fly ball, then got Devon White swinging to end the inning.


title: 1997 World Series

text: In the top of the ninth inning, Cleveland again threatened. After Antonio Alfonseca walked Matt Williams to lead off the inning and Sandy Alomar Jr. reached on a fielder's choice to take Williams off the bases, Félix Heredia gave up a single to Thome which advanced Alomar to third. He was then pulled in favor of closer Robb Nen. Nen induced a groundball from Grissom to Rentería at shortstop, who elected to throw Alomar out at home, thanks in part to a great pick and tag by Johnson. He then got Brian Giles to fly out to end the inning.


title: 1997 World Series

text: The Indians sent closer José Mesa to the mound to try to win the series in the bottom of the ninth inning. Moisés Alou led off with a single, and Bonilla struck out swinging on a 3–2 pitch. Four strikes away from losing the World Series, Johnson lined a 1–2 fastball into right field, moving Alou to third. With runners on 1st and 3rd and one out, Craig Counsell fought off a low, inside fastball from Mesa, lining it into deep right field. Manny Ramírez caught the ball on the warning track for the second out, but Alou easily scored from third on the sacrifice fly to tie the game. Although Mesa retired Jim Eisenreich to send the game to extra innings, his blown save would open him to criticism for years to come.


title: 1997 World Series

text: Nen struck out the side in the top of the 10th inning. In the bottom of the frame, Mesa gave up back-to-back one-out singles, and after striking out John Cangelosi looking on a 3-2 pitch, was replaced by Game 3 starter Nagy, who got Alou to fly out to end the threat. After walking Williams, leading off the top of the 11th inning, Jay Powell retired Cleveland in order thanks to an alert fielder's choice on a sacrifice bunt by Alomar, which Powell fielded and threw out the lead runner at 2nd, followed by a Jim Thome inning-ending double play.


title: 1997 World Series

text: Nagy took to the mound to face Florida in the bottom half of the 11th inning and gave up a single to Bonilla. Gregg Zaun followed by attempting a sacrifice bunt, but he popped out and Bonilla barely made it back to first base. Counsell followed with a slow ground ball to the second base side. Bonilla stopped running for a moment, so as not to touch the ball and be called out for interference. Fernandez, playing behind the baserunner, misplayed the ball and it went into right field. Bonilla rounded second and headed for third.


title: 1997 World Series

text: With runners now on the corners and one out, Nagy put Eisenreich on base with an intentional walk to set up a potential inning ending double play with White coming to bat. On the first pitch of the at-bat, White hit a ground ball to second. Fernandez threw to the plate to force out Bonilla and give the Marlins their second out. The next batter was Rentería, who took the first pitch for a strike.


title: 1997 World Series

text: On Nagy’s next pitch, Rentería hit a hard line drive back up the middle of the infield. The ball hit off Nagy’s glove and rolled into center field, scoring Counsell and winning the game and the series for the Marlins. As Counsell crossed home plate, he leaped into the air raising his arms triumphantly.


title: 1997 World Series

text: After Game 7, the trophy presentation, usually taking place in the winning team's locker room regardless of venue, took place on the field for the first time ever before the crowd of 67,204. It was presided over by then-Chairman of the Executive Committee Bud Selig, who first did the honors in 1995 and would officially become Commissioner of Baseball in 1998. This is now a standard procedure whenever the champions are the home team of the deciding game (the only exception being 1999, when the New York Yankees chose to celebrate in their locker room).


title: 1997 World Series

text: In only their fifth season of existence, the Marlins were the quickest expansion team to reach (and win) the World Series until , when the Arizona Diamondbacks did it in their fourth year.


title: 1997 World Series

text: Liván Hernández was named the Most Valuable Player of the 1997 World Series. Chad Ogea became the first pitcher since Mickey Lolich in 1968 to have at least two hits and two RBIs in a World Series. The Marlins won despite not having Alex Fernandez, their number-two starter, who did not pitch due to a rotator cuff injury.


title: 1997 World Series

text: On October 31, 1997, most of the key contributors of the 1997 Marlins were traded, including Moisés Alou, who was sent to the Houston Astros, and Al Leiter to the New York Mets, in a fire sale so infamous that it has come to synonymize the term in the baseball world. The Marlins also lost Jeff Conine to the Kansas City Royals in free agency and Darren Daulton who retired. World Series MVP hurler Liván Hernández, however, stayed with the team for two more years. The Marlins finished 54–108 in 1998, the worst performance ever by a defending World Series champion. As a result, these Marlins are mockingly referred to as the first "Rent-A-Team" to win the World Series. Midway through the 1998 season, the Marlins would trade Jim Eisenreich, Bobby Bonilla, Gary Sheffield, and Charles Johnson to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Todd Zeile and Mike Piazza. Piazza would be traded shortly after to the Mets in return for prospects, one of which was Preston Wilson.


title: 1997 World Series

text: Jim Leyland, responding to reports that he would retire if the Marlins won the World Series, told NBC during the celebration, "My wife doesn't like me that much. I can't retire." However, he resigned in the wake of their awful performance in 1998. He managed the Colorado Rockies in 1999, then scouted for several years before joining the Detroit Tigers as manager in 2006 and taking them to a World Series runner-up finish in his first season.


title: 1997 World Series

text: Marlins owner H. Wayne Huizenga, who dodged questions about selling the team during the on-field celebration, ultimately sold the team to John W. Henry after the 1998 season. Henry in turn sold it to former Montreal Expos owner Jeffrey Loria in 2001 as part of a deal to purchase the Boston Red Sox. Loria would return the team to a World Series victory in 2003. That season started with only one of the 1997 World Series players left on the roster: pitcher Rick Helling. Helling was traded mid-season to the Texas Rangers. However, the team traded with the Baltimore Orioles for Jeff Conine. Conine would be the only 1997 Marlin to participate in the 2003 World Series victory. The 1997 and 2003 seasons marked the Marlins' only trips to the postseason until 2020, when the Marlins lost the NLDS to the Atlanta Braves.


title: 1997 World Series

text: The failure of José Mesa to save Game 7 ultimately ignited a heated feud with teammate Omar Vizquel. In Vizquel's autobiography, the veteran shortstop called Mesa a "choker." The two men ended their longtime friendship. Mesa later vowed to "...hit him every time" he faced him, and also stated that he wanted to kill Vizquel. Though Mesa did not actually bean Vizquel every time he subsequently faced him, he did hit him with pitches at least twice.


title: 1997 World Series

text: The Indians would go on to win the AL Central three of the following four years, however would not return to the World Series during this time. The core of the 1990s Indians teams would break up in the early 2000s, most notably with Manny Ramirez joining the Boston Red Sox in 2001 and Jim Thome joining the Philadelphia Phillies in 2003. The 1997 Indians failed to end the Cleveland sports curse, which stood at 33 years since the 1964 Cleveland Browns won the city's most recent championship. The Curse would eventually end in 2016, when the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Title, giving the city its first major sports title in 52 years.


title: 1997 World Series

text: The total attendance of 403,627 fans is the second-largest in World Series history. The high attendance is due to the fact that the series went the full seven games and the large seating capacity at Pro Player Stadium. All four games played in Miami had over 67,000 in attendance. This Series only trails the 1959 World Series, which drew 420,784 spectators. That Series had three of its six games played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and drew over 92,000 for each game played at the Coliseum.


title: 1997 World Series

text: This was the first of two times in a five-year stretch where a 7-game World Series ended on a game-winning RBI single. 4 years later, Luis Gonzalez of the Diamondbacks would hit the game-winner to beat the Yankees.


title: 1997 World Series

text: This marked the first time since that NBC televised a World Series in its entirety. In , NBC televised Games 2, 3, and 6, while rival ABC televised Games 1, 4, and 5, having split that series since ABC was promised the strike-cancelled 1994 World Series. Both networks had announced prior to the 1995 season, that they were bailing out what was initially a six-year-long revenue sharing joint venture with Major League Baseball called "The Baseball Network". Starting with the 1996 World Series, Fox and NBC would alternate World Series broadcast rights for the next five seasons, with NBC broadcasting in odd-numbered years and Fox in even-numbered years. This arrangement ended in , when Fox became the exclusive U.S. television network for the World Series (a status it retains through at least 2028).


title: 1997 World Series

text: NBC's West Coast president Don Ohlmeyer disturbed Major League Baseball when he publicly wished the World Series to end in a four-game sweep so that it wouldn't derail NBC's fall entertainment schedule. (Game 5 fell on a Thursday, which had long been the highest rated night on NBC's schedule, if not on all of television.)


title: 1997 World Series

text: Midway through Game 2, "surprise guest" Joe DiMaggio joined NBC's Bob Costas, Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker in the television booth. DiMaggio joked that Morgan was a "Hall of Famer" and Costas a "future Hall of Famer", but he didn't know what to think of when it came to Uecker. The Baseball Hall of Fame would present Uecker with its Ford C. Frick Award several years later. Game 7 turned out to be Bob Uecker's final broadcast for NBC. In 1998, prior to NBC's next scheduled baseball telecast, which would've been the All-Star Game in Denver, Uecker underwent a back operation in which four discs were replaced. Consequently, for the remainder of NBC's contract with Major League Baseball (which as previously mentioned, ran through the 2000 season), Bob Costas and Joe Morgan called the games as a duo.


title: 1997 World Series

text: Also working for NBC's coverage was Jim Gray, who served as field reporter based in the Florida dugout. Meanwhile, Hannah Storm and Keith Olbermann served as hosts of pre-game coverage on NBC, and the first World Series post-game show presented only on cable, on CNBC. Olbermann also served as field reporter in the Cleveland dugout for all games. Storm along with Jim Gray covered the celebration on the field following Game 7. Also following Game 7, Olbermann interviewed Indians manager Mike Hargrove from Cleveland's clubhouse.


title: 1997 World Series

text: This was the last World Series broadcast on CBS Radio, which had covered the World Series consecutively since . ESPN Radio would take over the national radio contract for Major League Baseball the following year. Vin Scully and Jeff Torborg were CBS Radio's announcers for the Series (the latter had once managed the Indians and would later manage the Marlins). This was Scully's eleventh and final World Series call for CBS Radio, and seventh consecutive since he rejoined the network following NBC's 1989 loss of baseball. It was also Scully's 25th and final World Series broadcast overall, including fourteen others he called for NBC and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Torborg would continue to call games for Fox television until the end of the 2000 season, working alongside John Rooney and Chip Caray, when he elected to return to managing and was hired by the Montreal Expos.


title: 1997 World Series

text: Game 7 was the final Major League Baseball game called by longtime Indians Radio Network announcer Herb Score, as he retired at season's end. Score's broadcast partner, Tom Hamilton, would take over as lead announcer and he remains in that position as of the 2021 season. It also marked the final game carried by Indians flagship station WKNR (1220); the broadcast rights would be moved to WTAM for the 1998 season.


title: Greg Garcia (producer)

text: Gregory Thomas Garcia (born April 4, 1970) is an American television director, producer and writer. He is the creator/executive producer of several long-running sitcoms, including "Yes, Dear," "My Name Is Earl" (in which he made seven cameo appearances), "The Guest Book", "Sprung", and "Raising Hope". He has also worked for the series "Family Matters" and as a consulting producer on "Family Guy".


title: Greg Garcia (producer)

text: Garcia was born in Arlington County, Virginia. His parents Tom and Natalie Garcia raised Greg and his older sister Shelley in the Pimmit Hills neighborhood of Fairfax County, Virginia and then North Arlington, Virginia.


title: Greg Garcia (producer)

text: After graduating in 1988 from Yorktown High School (also his mother's alma mater), Garcia attended Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland, where he participated in the Warner Bros. outreach program "Writing for Television" courses, which ultimately opened the door for him as a writer in Hollywood.


title: Greg Garcia (producer)

text: Garcia worked as a board operator and DJ for Tony Kornheiser on "The Tony Kornheiser Show" radio show on WTEM. He was also an intern for the "Don and Mike Show" radio program in Fairfax, Virginia.


title: Greg Garcia (producer)

text: Relocating to work in Hollywood, his early show business work included as an extra on the teen drama TV series "Beverly Hills, 90210" and as a production assistant on "Step by Step". In the mid-1990s, he began writing for sitcoms "On Our Own" and "Family Matters" (the show that spun off "On Our Own"), which led to co-writing the pilot for the short-lived series "Built to Last" with Warren Hutcherson (1997). During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, he worked as a cashier and janitor at a Burger King in Burbank, California.


title: Greg Garcia (producer)

text: Garcia wrote for, created, produced and directed the sitcoms "Raising Hope", "My Name Is Earl" and "Yes, Dear", "Sprung", and The Guest Book. He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for "My Name Is Earl" in 2006.


title: Greg Garcia (producer)

text: Garcia co-wrote the book for the musical "Escape to Margaritaville" featuring the songs of Jimmy Buffett with Mike O'Malley.


title: Greg Garcia (producer)

text: Garcia and his wife Kim have three sons, and they reside in the Los Angeles area. Kim and Greg attended the same college, Frostburg State University.


title: Greg Garcia (producer)

text: Garcia has been incorrectly labeled as a Scientologist, after reports in the "Daily Mirror" were amplified by actor Alec Baldwin. While several cast members on "My Name is Earl" cast were Scientologists, Garcia stated:


title: Greg Garcia (producer)

text: During the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, Garcia worked as a cashier and janitor at a Burger King in Southern California.


title: Rock and Hard Place

text: "Rock and Hard Place" is the third episode of the sixth season of "Better Call Saul", the spin-off television series of "Breaking Bad". It was written and directed by Gordon Smith. The episode aired on April 25, 2022, on AMC and AMC+. In several countries outside the United States and Canada, the episode premiered on Netflix the following day.