Allen Ezail Iverson (born June 7, 1975, in Hampton, Virginia[1]) is an American professional basketball player who is on leave from the Philadelphia 76ers for the remainder of the 2009-10 NBA season. The 76ers selected Iverson with the number one pick in the 1996 NBA Draft.[2] He was named the NBA Rookie of the Year in 1996-97 season. Iverson is an eleven-time NBA All-Star which includes winning the All-Star MVP award in 2001 and 2005.

Winning the NBA scoring title during the 1998-99, 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2004-05 seasons, Iverson has become one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history, despite his small (listed at 6 feet, 0 inches) stature, with a career scoring average of 26.7 points per game, being sixth all-time. Iverson was also the NBA Most Valuable Player of the 2000-01 season and led his team to the 2001 NBA Finals the same season.

Iverson represented the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympics, winning the Bronze medal.

Iverson also played for the Denver Nuggets, Detroit Pistons and the Memphis Grizzlies, before returning to Philadelphia for part of the 2009-10 NBA season.

Early life

As a high school junior, Iverson played quarterback for the Bethel High School football team,leading the team to the state championship.

On February 14, 1993, Iverson and several of his friends became involved in an altercation with a group of white teenagers at the Circle Lanes bowling alley in Hampton, Virginia. Iverson’s crowd was raucous and had to be asked to quiet down several times, and eventually a shouting duel began with another group of youths. Shortly thereafter, a huge fight erupted, pitting the white crowd against the blacks. During the fight, Iverson allegedly struck a woman in the head with a chair. He, along with three of his friends who are also African-American, were the only people arrested. Iverson, who was 17 at the time, was convicted as an adult of the felony charge of maiming by mob, a rarely used Virginia statute that was designed to combat lynching.[5] Iverson and his supporters maintained his innocence, claiming that he left the alley as soon as the trouble began. Iverson said, “For me to be in a bowling alley where everybody in the whole place know who I am and be crackin’ people upside the head with chairs and think nothin’ gonna happen? That’s crazy! And what kind of a man would I be to hit a girl in the head with a damn chair? I rather have ‘em say I hit a man with a chair, not no damn woman.”

After Iverson spent four months at Newport News City Farm, a correctional facility in Newport News, Virginia, he was granted clemency by Virginia Governor Douglas Wilder, and the Virginia Court of Appeals overturned the conviction in 1995 for insufficient evidence.

College basketball

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In spring 1994, Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson visited Iverson at Hampton’s Bethel High School.

Iverson said of Thompson, “Coach was like a father figure to me, right off hand…it just clicked… Ninety percent of having a relationship with him is things that occur off-court. He helped me through last year. I didn’t want to come here and just do anything. Any problems that I have, I can go to him and he’ll sit down and listen. It is a lot more than player-coach between us. I don’t think I could have made it through last year without him.” Thompson said of Iverson, “He did all I expected him to do last year. When he didn’t, we sat down and talked.”

At Georgetown, Iverson won two Big East Defensive Player of the Year awards, All Rookie Tournament 1st Team, and a gold medal for his win at the World University Games in Japan in 1995. Iverson led all USA players in scoring and assists, averaging 16.7 points per game and 6.1 assists per game. He ended his college career as the Hoyas’ all-time leader in career scoring average, at 23.0 ppg.

Iverson was the first of just two basketball players, Victor Page being the other, to leave Georgetown early for the NBA under Thompson.
NBA career

After two seasons at Georgetown, Iverson was selected first overall by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1996 NBA Draft. He played with the Sixers for 10 years. During his tenure he was Rookie of the Year, League MVP, 2x All-Star MVP, and led the league in scoring for four years. After his rookie season, during which he led the 76ers in points, assists and minutes, Iverson was named the 1996 NBA Rookie of the Year and was a member of the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

During the offseason, Iverson and his friends were stopped by policemen for speeding late at night and was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon and for possession of marijuana. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced to community service.

After the 1998-1999 season, during which he averaged 26.8 points, earned his first scoring title and was named to his first All NBA first team., Iverson made his first trip to the playoffs. He started all ten playoff games and averaged 44.4 minutes per game despite being hampered by a number of nagging injuries. Iverson led the Sixers to an upset over the Orlando Magic, before losing to the Indiana Pacers in the second round.

Prior to the next season, Iverson signed a six-year, $70 million contract extension.[10] That year, Iverson averaged 28.4 points and again led the 76ers into the playoffs. In the process, Iverson was selected to the Eastern Conference All-Star team for the first time of what would be 11 straight appearances. In the playoffs, Iverson averaged 26.2 points, 4.8 assists, 4 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game, with a high of 40 points in the first round opener at Charlotte on April 22, 2000. Philadelphia advanced past Charlotte, but was eliminated again by Indiana in the second round. That season, he was the only player other than Shaquille O’Neal to receive a NBA Most Valuable Player vote.
MVP season (2000-01)

In the 2000 off-season, the 76ers actively tried to trade Iverson, and had agreed to terms with the Detroit Pistons before Matt Geiger, who was included in the deal, refused to forfeit his $5 million trade kicker.

During the same offseason, Iverson recorded a rap single named 40 Bars. However, after being criticized for its controversial lyrics, he eventually was unable to release it. Going under his moniker, “Jewelz”, the album was alleged to have made derogatory remarks about homosexuals. After criticism from activist groups and NBA Commissioner David Stern, he agreed to change the lyrics, but ultimately never released the album.

That season, Iverson led his team to wins in the first ten games of the season, and was named starter at the 2001 NBA All-Star Game, where he won the game MVP. The Sixers also posted a 56-26 record, the best in the Eastern Conference that season. He also averaged a then-career high 31.1 points, winning his second NBA scoring title in the process. Iverson won the NBA steals title at 2.5 a game. Iverson was named NBA Most Valuable Player, and named to the All NBA First team for his accomplishments.

In the playoffs, Iverson and the Sixers defeated the Indiana Pacers in the first round, before meeting Vince Carter-led Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Semifinals. The series went the full seven games. In the next round, the Sixers defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, also in seven games, to advance to the 2001 NBA Finals against the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers.

Iverson led the Sixers to their first finals since their 1983 championship. In game one of the 2001 NBA Finals, Iverson scored a playoff high 48 points and beat the heavily favored Lakers 107-101. In the game he notably stepped over Tyronn Lue after hitting a crucial shot.Iverson would go on to score 23, 35, 35, 37 in games 2-5, all losing efforts though the Sixers were not swept like many predicted. Iverson enjoyed his most successful season as an individual and as a member of the Sixers during the 2000-01 NBA season. In the 2001-02 season, the Sixers failed to repeat their success. Iverson and others struggled with injury, and despite Iverson averaging a league high 31.4 points per game the Sixers fell to the sixth seed in the 2002 Playoffs, where they fell to the Boston Celtics in the first round.

Iverson began using a basketball sleeve during this season during his recovery from bursitis in his right elbow. Other players, including Carmelo Anthony, and Kobe Bryant,have adopted the sleeves as well, as did fans who wore the sleeve as a fashion statement. Iverson continued wearing his sleeve long after his elbow had healed, leading to speculation among fans[who?] over its purpose. Some fans believed[citation needed] that the sleeve improved Iverson’s shooting ability, while Steven Kotler of Psychology Today suggested that the sleeve may act as a placebo to prevent future injuries.

Relationship with Larry Brown

For most of the early portion of Iverson’s career, his head coach with the Sixers was Larry Brown. Iverson often praised Brown, saying that he would not have achieved so much in the sport without Brown’s guidance.[Need quotation on talk to verify] However, the two frequently clashed; for example, when the 76ers were defeated in the first round of the 2002 NBA Playoffs, Brown criticized Iverson for missing team practices. Iverson responded by saying, “We’re sitting here, I’m supposed to be the franchise player, and we’re in here talking about practice,” and went on a rant that included the word “practice” 14 times.

In the 2002-2003 season, Iverson once again put up stellar scoring numbers (27.6 points per game), was named an NBA All-Star and led the Sixers to the playoffs. This time they were eliminated by the Detroit Pistons in the second round after a 6-game series. Brown left the 76ers in 2003, following the playoff loss. After his departure from the 76ers, both he and Iverson indicated that the two were on good terms and genuinely fond of one another.[Need quotation on talk to verify] Iverson later reunited with Brown when Iverson became a member and co-captain of the 2004 United States Olympic men’s basketball team.
Fallout with Sixers

During the latter part of the 2003-2004 season, Iverson bristled under the disciplinarian approach of the Sixers’ new head coach Chris Ford. This led to a number of contentious incidents, including Iverson being suspended for missing practice, fined for failing to notify Ford that Iverson would not attend a game because he was sick, and refusing to play in game because he felt “insulted” that Ford wanted Iverson to come off the bench as he worked his way back from an injury.

On February 24, 2004, Iverson urinated in a trash can at Bally’s Atlantic City casino in full view of staff and patrons. He was told by casino management not to return.

In 2005, league commissioner David Stern instituted a dress code that required “business casual” attire for players on league or team business, and banned, among other items, t-shirts, jeans, and large jewelry worn over clothes.Iverson criticized the dress code, saying that it “would not change a person’s character regardless of what type of clothing they wore”, and that “associating hip-hop styles of dress with violent crime, drugs, or a bad image is racist.”[cite this quote] Iverson also said that the advertising of many prominent NBA sponsors, such as Nike, Reebok, Puma and Adidas were heavily influenced by hip-hop culture.

The 2005-06 NBA season would be the last full season for Iverson in a Sixers uniform. He averaged a career high 33.0 points per game, but the Sixers missed the playoffs for the second time in three years. He had also begun to clash with coach Jim O’Brien, who was fired after the season.

On December 9, 2005 after the Sixers defeated the Charlotte Bobcats, Iverson paid a late-night visit to the Trump Taj Mahal. After winning a hand at a three-card-stud poker table, Iverson was overpaid $10,000 in chips by a dealer. When the dealer quickly realized the mistake and requested the chips back, Iverson refused and a heated head-turning argument between him and casino staff began. Atlantic City casino regulations reportedly state that when a casino makes a payout mistake in favor of the gambler, he or she must return the money that they did not legitimately win by playing.

Also in 2005, Iverson’s bodyguard Jason Kane was accused of assaulting a man at a Washington DC nightclub after the man, Marlin Godfrey, refused to leave the club’s VIP section so Iverson’s entourage could enter. Godfrey suffered a concussion, a ruptured eardrum, a burst blood vessel in his eye, a torn rotator cuff, cuts and bruises, and emotional injuries. Although Iverson did not touch Godfrey himself, Godfrey sued Iverson for the injuries caused by his bodyguard. In 2007 a jury awarded Godfrey $260,000. The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the verdict in 2009.

On April 18, 2006, Iverson and Chris Webber arrived late to the Sixers’ fan appreciation night and home game finale. Players are expected to report 90 minutes before game time, but both Iverson and Webber arrived around tipoff. Coach Maurice Cheeks notified the media that neither would be playing and general manager Billy King announced that Iverson and Webber would be fined.During the 2006 off-season, trade rumors had Iverson going to Denver, Atlanta, or Boston. None of the deals were completed. Iverson had made it clear that he would like to stay a Sixer.

On November 29, 2006, following a conflict at practice, Iverson stormed out of the gymnasium. That same evening, Iverson missed a corporate sponsor night at Lucky Strike Lanes in Philadelphia. All the 76ers besides Iverson attended this mandatory event. Iverson was fined an undisclosed amount by the 76ers. Iverson claimed he overslept after taking medication for pain related to having two abscessed teeth pulled but it was reported that Iverson told teammates earlier in the day he planned to blow off the event and was simply going to take the fine.

On December 8, 2006, Iverson reportedly demanded a trade from the Sixers (although he would deny that).As a result of the demand and missing practice prior to a matchup against the Washington Wizards, Iverson was told not to play nor attend any further games. During that game, which was televised nationally on ESPN, Sixers Chairman Ed Snider confirmed the trade rumors by stating “We’re going to trade him. At a certain point, you have to come to grips with the fact that it’s not working. He wants out and we’re ready to accommodate him.”
Denver Nuggets
Allen Iverson during his tenure with the Nuggets

On December 19, 2006, the Philadelphia 76ers sent Iverson and forward Ivan McFarlin to the Denver Nuggets for Andre Miller, Joe Smith, and two first-round picks in the 2007 NBA Draft. At the time of the trade, Iverson was the NBA’s number two leading scorer with teammate Carmelo Anthony being number one.
On December 23, 2006, Iverson played his first game for the Nuggets. He had 22 points and 10 assists in a losing effort to the Sacramento Kings.[29] In Iverson’s first year as a Nugget they made the playoffs. They won the first game and lost the next four to the San Antonio Spurs.

Iverson was fined $25,000 by the NBA for criticizing referee Steve Javie following a game between the Nuggets and Iverson’s former team, the Philadelphia 76ers, played January 2, 2007. During the course of the game, Iverson committed two technical fouls and was ejected from the game. After the game, Iverson said, “I thought I got fouled on that play, and I said I thought that he was calling the game personal I should have known that I couldn’t say anything anyway. It’s been something personal with me and him since I got in the league. This was just the perfect game for him to try and make me look bad.”

Former referee Tim Donaghy supported the claim that Javie had a longstanding of hated for Iverson in his book, Personal Foul: A First-Person Account of the Scandal that Rocked the NBA, which a Florida business group published through a self-publishing arm of Amazon.com[32] after it was dropped by a division of Random House, who cited liability issues after reviewing the manuscript.

In a December 2009 interview with 60 Minutes, Donaghy said he and fellow referees thought the punishment was too light. Before Iverson’s Nuggets played the Utah Jazz on January 6, 2007, Donaghy said he and the two other officials working the game agreed not to give Iverson favorable calls as a way to “teach him a lesson”. Iverson attempted 12 free throws, more than any other player on either team. On 12 drives to the basket, he drew five fouls, three of which Donaghy whistled himself, and did not receive a call on one play in which he was obviously fouled by Utah’s Mehmet Okur.

Iverson returned to Philadelphia on March 19, 2008 to a sell-out crowd and received a standing ovation in a 115-113 loss.
Detroit Pistons

On November 3, 2008, Iverson was dealt from the Denver Nuggets to the Detroit Pistons for guard Chauncey Billups, forward Antonio McDyess and center Cheikh Samb.

Iverson, who had worn a number 3 jersey his entire NBA career, switched to number 1 for the Pistons. The number 3 was being worn by Rodney Stuckey, and although Stuckey stated that he would be willing to give up the number, the NBA ruled that a change in numbers could not take place until after the season.

On April 3, 2009, it was announced by Pistons President of Basketball Operations Joe Dumars that Iverson would not play the remainder of the 2008-09 season. Dumars cited Iverson’s ongoing back injury as the reason for his deactivation, although two days prior Iverson stated publicly that he’d rather retire than be moved to the bench as Piston’s coach Michael Curry had decided.

Memphis Grizzlies

On September 10, 2009, Iverson signed a one-year contract with the Memphis Grizzlies. Iverson stated that “God chose Memphis as the place that I will continue my career,” and that “I feel that they are committed to developing a winner.”

However, Iverson again expressed his displeasure at being a bench player,and left the team on November 7, 2009 for “personal reasons.” On November 16, the Grizzlies announced the team terminated his contract by “mutual agreement”.Iverson played three games for the Grizzlies.

The New York Knicks initially showed interest in signing Iverson, but team president Donnie Walsh announced on November 20 that he would not offer Iverson a contract.
Return to the 76ers
Iverson in December 2009, after his return to the 76ers.

On November 25, 2009, commentator Stephen A. Smith published on his blog a statement attributed to Iverson announcing plans for retirement, which also said, “I feel strongly that I can still compete at the highest level.”

Less than a week later on November 30, Iverson and his representatives met with a Philadelphia 76ers delegation about returning to his former team,[46] and accepted a contract offer two days later. General manager Ed Stefanski declined to go into the terms of the agreement, but an unnamed source told the Associated Press that Iverson agreed to a one-year non-guaranteed contract at the league minimum salary. Iverson would receive a prorated portion of the $1.3 million minimum salary for players with at least 10 years of experience, and the contract would become guaranteed for the remainder of the 2009-10 season if he remained on the roster on January 8, 2010, and with a portion of his salary coming from a league pool, the 76ers would pay Iverson up to around $650,000. Stefanski said the team made the decision to pursue Iverson after starting guard Louis Williams suffered a broken jaw and was expected to miss at least 30 games.

On February 22, 2010, Iverson left the 76ers indefinitely to deal with his 4-year-old daughter, Messiah’s health issues.[49] He had missed five games earlier in February and missed the All-Star Game after he was voted in as starter.[50] On March 2, Stefanski announced Iverson would not return to the 76ers for the rest of the season.

International career
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Iverson was a member of the gold medal winning 1995 World University Games Team that finished 7-0 in Fukuoka, Japan. Part of a team that included future NBA stars Ray Allen, Tim Duncan, Kerry Kittles, Othella Harrington, Austin Croshere and others. Iverson led the USA in scoring, assists and steals averaging 16.7 points, 6.1 assists and 2.9 steals a game, while shooting 56.0 percent from the field overall and 37.5 percent from beyond the 3-point line.

On being selected to playing for USA Basketball in 2003, Iverson said,”It’s a great feeling to be able to represent the USA. It’s an honor. It’s a tribute to all the coaches I’ve had in my life - Coach (Larry) Brown, Coach (John) Thompson and my high school coach, Mike Bailey. I feel good about being able to make a team like this - it’s really one of the great things I’ve done in my life. It makes me feel good about the person my mom raised.”[cite this quote]

Iverson helped the USA to a 10-0 record, the gold medal and a qualifying berth for the 2004 Olympics at the August 20-31 FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Puerto Rico. Started all eight games he played in, and averaged a team second best 14.3 ppg., 3.8 apg., 2.5 rpg., 1.6 spg., while shooting 56.2 percent (41-73 FGs) from the field and 53.6 percent (15-28 3pt FGs) from 3-point and 81.0 percent (17-21 FTs) from the foul line.

In the USA’s 111-71 victory over Canada on August 25, he accounted for an USA Olympic Qualifying single game record 28 points and made a single game record seven 3-pointers. Playing just 23 minutes, he shot 10-for-13 overall, 7-for-8 from 3-point, 1-for-1 from the foul line and added three assists, three steals and one rebound. All seven of his 3-point field goals were made during the final 7:41 of the third quarter.

He finished the tournament ranked overall tied for 10th in scoring, tied for fourth in steals, fifth in 3-point percentage, tied for seventh in assists, and ninth in field goal percentage (.562). Iverson also missed the USA’s final two games because of a sprained right thumb which was suffered in the first half of the August 28 Puerto Rico game. In a game against Puerto Rico, he recorded 9 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the field overall, and added five assists and three rebounds in 26 minutes of action in the USA’s 101-74 exhibition game victory on August 17 in New York, N.Y. He was also named to the 2003 USA Senior National Team on April 29, 2003.

The team’s performance at the Olympic Games, however, would ultimately prove to be a disappointment. During the exhibition period prior to the Games, Iverson and LeBron James were benched for a game for having arrived late at a practice session.[52] The United States’ team had played a dismal game versus Germany, which had failed to qualify for the Olympic competition. Iverson did succeed in keeping the game from going into overtime with a half-court shot in the closing seconds. Despite the win, the team continued to struggle. After losing to the Puerto Rican team during round robin play, they would ultimately claim a bronze medal.

If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.

While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.

Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.

And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!

How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.

How did I get here?

My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.

The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.

That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.

Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.

On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.

The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.

In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.

Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer… and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.

For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report (http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport) regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).

SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.

(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.

Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.

During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.

After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.

Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.

Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.

Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.

By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.

To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.

So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.

When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.

This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.

I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.

As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

Joe Stack (1956-2010)

Amber Evangeline Valletta (born February 2, 1973) is an American model and actress. She is best known for her roles in the movies Hitch, Transporter 2 and Gamer.

Early life

Valletta was born in Phoenix, Arizona. Her mother worked at the post office. Shortly after her birth, her family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma. She attended Booker T. Washington High School. She got her start in the fashion industry when her mother enrolled her in modeling school at the age of fifteen at the Linda Layman Agency.
Career

Valletta has gone on to act in several films, been on the cover of magazines and in advertisements for Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein and Versace and hosted MTV’s House of Style with friend and fellow model Shalom Harlow. Her next movie is The Spy Next Door, starring Jackie Chan, George Lopez, and Billy Ray Cyrus. She plays the mother of a child who accidentally downloads a CIA code from the internet.

Personal life

Valletta is married to Olympic volleyball player Christian “Chip” McCaw with whom she has a daughter. Her second born child, a son named Auden was fathered by a London musician named Russell. Her first marriage, in 1994, was to Hervé Le Bihan. They divorced in 1996.

Valletta also serves as the spokesperson for Oceana’s Seafood Contamination Campaign,where she brings awareness of the dangers of mercury poisoning in various kinds of seafood. The decision to join Oceana’s campaign was prompted by the mercury-poisoning experience of a friend and the fact that she is a mother.

In August 2006, the New York Daily News reported that Valletta completed a stint at The Meadow rehabilitation facility in Wickenburg, Arizona, for stress and non-substance-related issues. Valletta told People magazine, “As was correctly reported earlier this week, my stay at The Meadows had nothing to do with substance abuse or addiction; I am pleased to say I have seven years’ sobriety. But I continue every day to heal and grow as a person”.

In January 2008, she participated in a video for Barack Obama produced by Will.I.Am called “Yes We Can” along with her son Auden, whom she was holding in her arms.

Filmography

* Drop Back Ten (2000) - Mindy Deal
* What Lies Beneath (2000) - Madison Elizabeth Frank
* The Family Man (2000) - Paula
* Perfume (2001) - Blair
* Max Keeble’s Big Move (2001) - Ms. Dingman
* Duplex (2003) - Celine
* Raising Helen (2004) - Martina
* Hitch (2005) - Allegra Cole
* Transporter 2 (2005) - Audrey Billings
* Man About Town (2006) - Brynn Lilly
* Dead Silence (2007) - Ella
* Premonition (2007) - Claire
* My Sexiest Year (2007) - Marina
* The Last Time (2007) - Belisa
* Days of Wrath (2008) - Jane Summers
* Gamer (2009) - Angie
* The Spy Next Door (2010)

Television

* Hysteria - The Def Leppard Story (2001) - Lorelei Shellist
* Lucky (2003) - Sarah
* Rock Me Baby (2004) - Summer
* Punk’d (2005) - Herself
o Originally scheduled to appear on Season 6 Episode 3, but moved to Season 6 Episode 4 due to Terrell Owens suspension.

Nadia Petrova (born June 8, 1982 in Moscow, Russia) is a Russian professional tennis player. Overall, she has won 27 WTA Titles, nine in singles and eighteen in doubles. In singles, Petrova has reached a career high ranking of World No. 3 in May 2006 and has reached the semi-finals of the French Open in 2003 and 2005. In doubles, she won the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in 2004 with Meghann Shaughnessy. As of December 14, 2009, Petrova is ranked World No. 20 in singles and No. 16 in doubles.

Biography

Early life

Petrova was born in Moscow. Her parents were both very athletic - her father Viktor was a leading hammer thrower, while her mother Nadezhda Ilyina won a bronze medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics in the 400 meter relay. Both her parents are still athletics coaches. As a child, Nadia did a lot of travelling around the world with her parents. She eventually settled in Egypt, where she trained with Mohammed Seif and her parents.

Career

Early career

As a junior, Petrova won the 1998 French Open, beating Jelena Dokić in the final. The same year she finished runner-up at the Orange Bowl to Elena Dementieva and she also finished runner-up at the junior 1999 US Open to Lina Krasnoroutskaya. In May 1998, she played her first WTA tournament at the J&S Cup as a wildcard entrant. She also received a wildcard for her home event in Moscow, the Kremlin Cup, where she picked up her first top twenty win over Iva Majoli. By the end of 1999, Petrova had reached the top 100.

In 2000, she reached the third round of the Australian Open and the quarterfinals of the Ericsson Open, beating Julie Halard-Decugis for her first top ten win before losing to Lindsay Davenport. She finished the season at No. 50. She reached the fourth round of both French Open and the US Open in 2001 and her ranking hit a high of No. 38 during the season. However, her 2002 season was marred by injuries causing her ranking to drop out of the top 100.

2003-2006: Top Form

Ranked No. 76 in the world, she reached the semifinals of the French Open, beating former No. 1’s Monica Seles and Jennifer Capriati to reach the semifinals. Later in the year, she reached her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final in Linz, losing to Ai Sugiyama 7-5, 6-4. By the end of the 2003 season, she had reached No. 12.
Nadia Petrova.jpg

Petrova reached her second WTA final at Gold Coast, losing once again to Ai Sugiyama 1-6, 6-1, 6-4. She was upset in the first round of the Australian Open to Anikó Kapros, losing 6-3, 6-3.

In March 2004, she hit the top ten at No. 9 after reaching the semifinals of the NASDAQ-100 Open. She reached the semifinals at the Bausch & Lomb Championships, beating second-seeded Serena Williams before losing to Lindsay Davenport. After this, her ranking elevated to a career high of No. 7. However, she failed to defend her semifinal points from the 2003 French Open, losing to Marlene Weingärtner in the third round 6-3, 6-2.

At the US Open, she pulled off the biggest win of her career by defeating Justine Henin 6-3, 6-2 in the fourth round. It was Petrova’s first victory over a world No. 1. She lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6, 6-3. She finished the season at No. 12.

Petrova reached the fourth round of the Australian Open, losing to the eventual champion Serena Williams, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. She reached her third career final at the Qatar Total German Open in May, beating Mary Pierce, Amélie Mauresmo and Jelena Janković, before losing to Justine Henin. Her ranking rose to No. 9, where she stayed for the next two years before dropping out in May 2007.

At the French Open, she lost in the semifinals to Henin 6-2, 6-3, but her ranking rose one place to No. 8. A few weeks later at Wimbledon, she reached the quarterfinals before losing to Maria Sharapova 7-6, 6-3. After Wimbledon, she reached five straight quarterfinals at Los Angeles, Toronto, the US Open, Luxembourg, and Filderstadt.

Petrova finally won her first title at the Generali Ladies Linz held in Linz, Austria. She beat Patty Schnyder in the final.

Her successful season meant she qualified for the Sony Ericsson Championships in Los Angeles. She ended 2005 ranked World No. 9, her first top ten Finnish.

At the Australian Open, Petrova was seeded 6th and defeated Sophie Ferguson, Martina Müller, Maria Elena Camerin and Elena Vesnina on her way to her first quarterfinal at the Australian Open. She lost to fourth-seeded Maria Sharapova 7-6(4), 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

At the Qatar Total Open held in Doha, Petrova picked up her first title of the year and second overall by beating second-ranked and top-seeded Amélie Mauresmo 6-3, 7-5 in the final. The victory took her ranking to No. 7. She followed it with a quarterfinal showing at the NASDAQ-100 Open, losing to Mauresmo 6-3, 6-1.

Petrova then began her run that would take her to three titles, winning fifteen straight matches. At the Bausch & Lomb Championships, she defeated Francesca Schiavone in the final to pick up her third title in the past six months. One week later, she won her second straight title and fourth overall at the Family Circle Cup with a victory over Patty Schnyder.

She next entered the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, defeating Justine Henin.[2] With this win, she ascended to her career high of No. 3.

However, Petrova was defeated in the first round of the French Open by Akiko Morigami 6-2, 6-2. This may have been caused by an ankle injury Petrova suffered during training before the tournament. She then withdrew from Wimbledon and did not win a match in the U.S. Open Series, going 0-3. At the US Open, Petrova was upset in the third round by Tatiana Golovin.

At the Stuttgart, Petrova won her first tournament title since the Tier I Qatar Telecom German Open in May 2006. She then continued her return to form by reaching the final of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, losing to Russian Anna Chakvetadze.

At the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid in November 2006. Her lone victory was over top-ranked Amélie Mauresmo 6-2, 6-2. She finished the year at No. 6.
2007-2009: Injuries and Inconsistent Play

At the Australian Open, she reached the third round before falling to Serena Williams, the eventual champion, after holding a 5-3 second set lead.
Nadia Petrova at the 2007 Australian Open.

At the Open Gaz de France in Paris, Petrova picked up her seventh tour title and first of the season by beating Lucie Šafářová. Petrova reached the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, losing to Justine Henin. Petrova then reached the final in Amelia Island, losing to Tatiana Golovin.

She was the eleventh-seeded player at the French Open but lost to Květa Peschke 7-5, 5-7, 6-0. After the loss, she claimed that the low back pain had been bothering her. It was her second consecutive first round loss at the French Open because of injury.

At Wimbledon, Petrova lost to Ana Ivanović 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in the fourth round.

In the 2007 Fed Cup tie against the USA on July 14/15, Petrova played a pivotal role in securing the victory for her team. While losing on the first day against Venus Williams, she won her singles match against Meilen Tu on the second day and then teamed with Elena Vesnina to beat Williams and Lisa Raymond in the decisive doubles rubber.[3]
Petrova won the 2008 Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open beating Natalie Dechy in the final.

At the JPMorgan Chase Open, Petrova reached her third final of the year, losing to Ana Ivanović in straight sets.

At the US Open, Petrova was seeded seventh but lost to Ágnes Szávay 6-4, 6-4. The loss meant that she had not gone past the fourth round of any Grand Slam tournament all year, the first time since 2002.

She finished 2007 ranked No. 14, her lowest year-end ranking in five years.

Petrova started her 2008 season on a two-match losing streak going into the Australian Open, losing in the first round in Gold Coast as the number 2 seed to Tathiana Garbin 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 and in Sydney 7-5, 6-3 to Sybille Bammer. She still managed to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open though as the 14th seed with wins over Nicole Pratt, Anne Kremer and Ekaterina Makarova all in straight sets.. There she played Agnieszka Radwańska of Poland, who beat her 1-6, 7-5, 6-0. Petrova held a 6-1, 3-0 lead and looked on form for an easy victory. In the third set, she won just four points.

At the Open Gaz de France in Paris, Petrova was the defending champion and seeded 5th but lost in the first round to Kateryna Bondarenko 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4. Petrova retired in her first-round match at the 2008 Qatar Total Open against Anabel Medina Garrigues due to an upset stomach while trailing 2-6, 2-1.

At Dubai, she lost 6-4, 6-4 to Katarina Srebotnik.

Petrova’s injuries continued to strike at her when she was forced to retire in the second round of Miami with a right quad strain while trailing 2-1 in the first set against Zheng Jie.

At the 2008 German Open in Berlin, Petrova returned to action as the 16th seed and defeated Katarina Srebotnik 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(2) in the first round before losing in the second round to Maria Kirilenko 6-3, 6-3. Petrova was once again defeated by Kirilenko in the first round of Rome, but this time in three sets, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.

At her final warm-up tournament in Istanbul, Nadia was seeded third and got past Lilia Osterloh 6-1, 6-2 in the first round and Marta Domachowska 6-2, 6-2 in the second round. She lost to Akgul Amanmuradova 7-6(0), 1-6, 6-4 in the quarter-finals.

These losses put Petrova in poor stead going into the French Open. As the twenty-fifth seed, she beat Aravane Rezaï and Alisa Kleybanova in straight sets before being thrashed by Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-1.

Petrova’s grass season began at Eastbourne, where she reached her first final of the year showing good form. She was beaten in a close match by Pole Agnieszka Radwańska 6-4, 6-7(11), 6-4.

At Wimbledon, Petrova was the number 21 seed and was on the right track after wins over Olga Govortsova 6-4, 6-4 and Mara Santangelo 6-4, 7-5. Petrova then pulled off an excellent win over the in-form teenager and 16th seed Victoria Azarenka 7-6(11), 7-6(4) in the third round. In the fourth round she faced unseeded Alla Kudrayatseva who just came off a win over 3rd seed Maria Sharapova; Petrova won 6-1, 6-4 to reach her second quarterfinal at Wimbledon. This was also the first time that Petrova had reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 2006 Australian Open. She lost a cracker two and a half hour marathon match against the fifth seed Elena Dementieva 6-1, 6-7(6), 6-3. Petrova rallied from 6-1, 5-2 down and saved match points throughout the second set but eventually lost the match in the third set. Her ranking improved to World No. 17 after the tournament.

Bouncing back from a first-round defeat at Stanford to Dominika Cibulková, Petrova reached the quarterfinals at Los Angeles, defeating 5th seed Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 7-5 en route before losing to Jelena Jankovic 7-5, 6-4. At Montreal, she again suffered a surprise defeat to Cibulková in the third round, this time losing 7-6(2), 6-2.

Nadia then played in Cincinnati, as she did not gain entry into the Olympics because she was not in the top four ranked Russian players at the time. After easy wins over Galina Voskoboeva, Julie Ditty and Lilia Osterloh, Petrova once again found herself up against Maria Kirilenko for a place in the final. This time though, Petrova was victorious, coming back from a set down to win 1-6, 6-2, 6-1. Petrova then thrashed Nathalie Dechy 6-2, 6-1 in the final to win her first title of the year and the eighth of her career.

Nadia Petrova at the 2008 U.S. Open

Petrova was in good form heading into the final Grand Slam Tournament of the year at the US Open. Petrova was seeded 19th and beat Olivia Sanchez 6-2, 6-4 in the first round and Hsieh Su-wei 6-4, 6-2 in round two. Petrova was ousted 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 by the 16th seed Flavia Pennetta in the third round.

Petrova bounced back to good form at the 2008 Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic. Seeded 4th, Nadia defeated fifth seed Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 6-3 in the quarter-finals but she lost in the semi-finals to second seed and eventual champion Patty Schnyder 7-5, 6-1.

At the 2008 Toray Pan Pacific Open, Petrova was unseeded but beat two top-ten players, Ana Ivanovic, the second seed 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 in the second round and Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3, 6-0 to reach the semifinals, where she lost 6-1, 6-0 to Dinara Safina, the eventual champion. At Stuttgart, she reached her third final of the season, after an impressive run, beating Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, Patty Schnyder, Li Na and Victoria Azarenka in straight sets but failed to win the title, this time losing to Jelena Jankovic, the World No. 2 6-4, 6-3. Despite not winning the title, Petrova’s ranking moved back into the top 15 to World No. 14 as a result of reaching the final.

Petrova was a quarter-finalist at her home event, the 2008 Kremlin Cup in Moscow, beating teenager Caroline Wozniacki before losing to compatriot and third seed Elena Dementieva 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(6). She was also a quarter-finalist at the Linz, losing 6-3, 6-2 to Radwanska.

At her final tournament of the season in Quebec City, she won her second title of the year beating lucky loser Angela Haynes 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals and Bethanie Mattek-Sands 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the final. This title also secured her status as the second alternate for the WTA Tour Championships should a player withdraw. This scenario did indeed happen, and Petrova came in replacing Serena Williams. She lost her only match to Dementieva 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Petrova finished the 2008 season ranked World No. 11.

Petrova started 2009 playing at the 2009 Medibank International Sydney where she was seeded seventh. She lost in the first round to Alize Cornet 6-2, 6-4. Petrova was seeded tenth at the Australian Open in Melbourne. She lost to seventh-seeded Vera Zvonareva in the fourth round 7-5, 6-4. However, this caused her ranking to move back into the top ten for the first time since early 2007 to World No. 10. She later reached World No. 9.

Petrova did not play in the Indian Wells, a Premier Mandatory event due to injury. In Miami Nadia entered as the no. 9 seed, but lost to world no. 54 Ekaterina Makarova in the third round, 7-5, 6-1.

Petrova next headed to Ponte Vedra Beach as the top seed where she defeated Olga Govortsova, Madison Keys (who had just won her first ever main draw match) and Alona Bondarenko. She fell in the semi final to eventual finalist Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2. Petrova fell in the second round at Charleston to Melinda Czink in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. At the 2009 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgard, Petrova was seeded sixth but lost in the second round to Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-2. She next went to the Rome Masters as the number eight seed where she had a first round bye before defeating giant killer Carla Suarez Navarro. In the third round Petrova was ousted by Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-4, 6-7 (5) 6-4.

Nadia Petrova at the 2009 French Open.

Petrova was seeded eleventh at the 2009 French Open in Paris where she reached the semi-finals in 2003 and 2005. She defeated Lauren Embree in the first round 6-1, 6-2. She lost in the second round to world no. 102 Maria Sharapova by 6-2, 1-6, 8-6.

At the 2009 AEGON International, Petrova was seeded seventh and defeated Ana Ivanovic in the first round in three sets 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 where she came back from a double break down in the final set to win. However, she was defeated in the second round by fellow Russian Vera Dushevina 7-5, 0-1 where she was forced to retire due to a lower back injury after taking the first set.

Petrova’s next tournament was Wimbledon, the third grand slam of the year where she was the tenth seed. She beat Anastasiya Yakimova in the first round 6-1. 6-1. Petrova won her second round match against Shahar Peer 6-3, 6-2. She then came from a set down to beat Gisela Dulko 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Petrova lost to #8 Victoria Azarenka, in three sets, in the fourth round.

Petrova began her 2009 US Open Series campaign at Stanford where she was seeded 5th. After defeating her doubles partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands in three sets in the first round, Petrova lost again to Sharapova 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour. In Los Angeles, she was also seeded 5th but lost to 10th seed Flavia Pennetta 6-3, 6-3 in the third round. Petrova then headed to Cincinnati where she was the defending champion and the tenth seed. She was unable to defend her title, losing in the first round to Alona Bondarenko 6-2, 6-3. This caused her ranking to slip out of the top ten to World No.12. Petrova next played in Toronto as the tenth seed where her poor form continued as she fell again to Maria Sharapova in the first round. Continuing her campaign on the 2009 US Open Series, she then received a wildcard as the 4th seed at the New Haven but again lost to compatriot Anna Chakvetadze in the first round.

Her next tournament was the final Grandslam of the year, the 2009 US Open. Petrova was the thirteenth seed and defeated Katarina Srebotnik and Julie Coin in the first and second round in straight sets. Petrova then got past World No. 22 Zheng Jie, 6-4, 6-1. Petrova was defeated in the fourth round by unseeded American Melanie Oudin 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-3. However, her ranking improved one spot higher to World No. 12.

Petrova then headed to Quebec to defend her title at the 2009 Bell Challenge. Petrova was the top seed and advanced to the quarterfinals with wins over Carly Gullickson and Madison Brengle in straight sets. Here, Petrova faced 5th seed Melinda Czink and was a set down when she was forced to retire due to a viral illness. Czink would go on to win the title. However, Nadia quickly returned to action in Tokyo as the number 13 seed but continued a dismal season, losing in the second round to Magdaléna Rybáriková 6-2, 6-2. She slipped to World No. 17 as a result of this bad form.

Nadia then participated at China Open, a Premier Mandatory tournament, where she was the thirteenth seed. She beat her compatriot Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 in the first round and World No. 24 Daniela Hantuchova 6-1, 2-6, 7-5 in the second round. She played one of her best matches in 2009 by beating Serena Williams in a thriller three sets match, by 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5), in the third round despite the fact that Williams was just about to snitch back the World No. 1 ranking from Dinara Safina the following week due to the Russian’s second round loss. Petrova then survived another three setter against Peng Shuai (who earlier beat Jelena Jankovic and Maria Sharapova) in the quarterfinals. This was only Petrova’s second semi-final of the year but she lost to the reigning French Open Champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova, by 6-1, 6-3.

Petrova then competed at Kremlin Cup as the fifth seed. She defeated Yana Buchina 6-2, 6-0 in the first round but fell to Alona Bondarenko in the second round.

Petrova finished her poor year with a 30-21 singles record and she finished the year ranked World No. 20. It was by far her worst year on tour as she captured no titles for the first time since 2004. Her highlights of the year are reaching the semi-finals in Ponte Vedra Beach and Beijing and reaching the quaterfinals in Quebec City.

2010

Petrova’s started her year at the Brisbane International in Australia. After drawing comeback queen Justine Henin as the number two seed, Petrova lost in a close 5-7, 5-7 match. She then competed in the Medibank International Sydney but lost again in the opening round to 39 year-old Kimiko Date-Krumm 3-6, 7-5, 4-6.

Seeded 19th at the 2010 Australian Open, Petrova reached the third round by defeating Edina Gallovits 6-3, 6-4 and Kaia Kanepi 6-4, 6-4. In the third round she crushed 15th seed Kim Clijsters in a 52-minute onslaught, winning 6-0, 6-1. She followed that with a 4th round win over 3rd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova with a score of 6-3, 3-6, 6-1. She will face the winner of Justine Henin and Yanina Wickmayer.

Doubles

Petrova has also had success in doubles, reaching a career high of No. 3 in the doubles rankings. She has eighteen doubles titles, eight of them with Meghann Shaughnessy including the prestigious year-ending WTA Tour Championships in 2004, where they beat Cara Black and Rennae Stubbs in the final. She also has victories at the Tier I events in Moscow, Key Biscayne, Berlin, Rome, and Montreal, with all but the Montreal title being with Meghann Shaughnessy and the aforementioned other one being with Martina Navrátilová. In 2002 and 2003, she also reached the finals of three Tier I events with Jelena Dokić.

Sheila Ann Dixon (born December 27, 1953) is an American politician. She was the forty-eighth Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland. When former Mayor Martin O’Malley was sworn in as Governor on January 17, 2007, Dixon, a Democrat, became mayor and served out the remaining year of O’Malley’s term. In November 2007, she was elected mayor in her own right and is currently serving her first term. She is a former member of the Baltimore City Council, the first African-American female to serve as its president, and Baltimore’s first female mayor. She is also Baltimore’s third African-American mayor. Dixon endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president in 2008.

On January 9, 2009, Dixon was indicted on twelve counts, including perjury, theft, and misconduct. The charges stem partly from incidents in which she allegedly misappropriated gift cards intended for the poor.On December 1, 2009, the jury returned a “guilty” verdict on one misdemeanor count of fraudulent misappropriation. Due to the events of the trial, Ms. Dixon will step down on February 4, 2010 and City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake will succeed her per the Maryland State Constitution.

On January 6, 2010, Dixon announced her resignation as Mayor of Baltimore City, effective February 4, 2010. This resignation is part of her plea deal with the State of Maryland, stemming from her recent conviction for fraudulent misappropriation and her upcoming perjury trial. Under the terms of this deal, Mayor Dixon will get probation before judgment in both cases, thereby enabling her to keep her $80,000 pension, and she will not have a criminal record. Mayor Dixon entered an Alford plea and was granted probation before judgment. She also will be required to donate $45,000 to the Bea Gaddy Foundation and to serve 500 hours of community service at Our Daily Bread. In addition, she has agreed to sell gifts she received from developers, including a fur coat and electronics that she purchased with gift cards. She agreed to not seek office in the city of Baltimore or state of Maryland during the term of her probation, which will be two years, and she will not solicit or accept taxpayer money to pay her defense fees.

Biography

Dixon was born and was raised in the Ashburton neighborhood of West Baltimore. Her father, Phillip Dixon, Sr., was a car salesman, and her mother, Winona Dixon, was a community activist, active in her church, political causes, and member of local community groups.
Dixon attended the Baltimore City public schools and is a graduate of Northwestern High School. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Towson University and a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University.

An active member of Bethel A.M.E. Church and former trustee, Dixon continues to serve as a member of the Stewardess Board. She serves on other boards, including the Institute of Human Virology, the Transplant Resource Center, the Urban Health Initiative, the Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, the Living Classrooms Foundation, and the Walters Art Gallery.

Twice divorced, Dixon is raising her two children, Jasmine and Joshua.She is the aunt of professional basketball player Juan Dixon, who led the University of Maryland to the 2002 NCAA championship, and Jermaine Dixon, who currently plays guard for the University of Pittsburgh Men’s Basketball Team. She is a lifelong resident of the City of Baltimore.

Career

Dixon (front, third from left) cuts the parade ribbon at the 2007 Baltimore Greek Independence Day Parade with Congressman John Sarbanes.

Immediately after university, Dixon worked as an elementary school teacher and adult education instructor with the Head Start program. She then worked for 17 years as an international trade specialist with the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development.

In 1986, Dixon was elected to the Baltimore City State Central Committee representing the 40th Legislative District. In 1987, she won a seat on the Baltimore City Council representing the 4th Council District, where she served twelve years. She became the city council president in 1999, the first African-American woman elected to this position.
As Mayor

She “has impressed political pundits with her energetic first three months and her ability to handle crises.”

Under her supervision, Baltimore’s homicide rate has dropped for the first time in the 30 years. [5] In February 2008, the Baltimore City Police reported a sharp decline in homicides in Baltimore. According to police there were 14 murders in the city for the month of January, the lowest monthly total in 30 years.[6] As of April, 2008, there had been a 40% reduction in murders in the city after experiencing a record high in 2007 during Dixon’s first year in office.By April 15, 2008 the number of murders in the city had grown to 54,[8] the lowest total to this time of the year in recent memory, putting the city on pace for 189 murders in 2008. By the end of 2008 the murder count was 234 - a 17% reduction over the previous year.

She also led the effort to pass Baltimore’s smoking ban. She has allocated record funding for campaigns to clean up Baltimore streets and she has expanded funding for affordable housing. While her critics complain that crime has risen in Baltimore during her tenure and that she is not paying enough attention to the issue, her record shows that she has increased police patrols,[10] is cracking down on the possession of illegal guns,and is actively securing federal funds for crime-fighting programs.

Dixon is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition,an organization formed in 2006 and co-chaired by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston mayor Thomas Menino.

The Shoe incident

In 1991 Dixon waved her shoe at white colleagues on the Baltimore City Council and yelled, “You’ve been running things for the last 20 years. Now the shoe is on the other foot.”
This incident led many people including some of her opponents to view her as a divisive person.

Dixon explained her earlier comment by stating that she has “matured” since making the shoe comment and that she now attempts “to communicate better with individuals.”

In her first inaugural address as Mayor, Dixon alluded to what she considers people’s wrong impression of her and stated, “I want you to know that I am much more than a newspaper headline or a sound bite on the evening news.”

Investigation and indictment

On June 17, 2008, investigators from the Office of the State Prosecutor executed a search and seizure warrant at Dixon’s residence in southwest Baltimore. The result of, or purpose for the search was not immediately revealed by investigators. However, several subpoenas were issued to aides, and local reports indicate that the investigation includes a look at gifts, including several fur coats, as well as Dixon’s spending habits. Two of Dixon’s associates, campaign chair Dale Clark, and Mildred Boyer, a businesswoman who had hired Dixon’s sister, pleaded guilty in Spring 2008 to tax charges and are cooperating with prosecutors in the Dixon investigation. The affidavit filed to support a search warrant on the company Doracon was published on the Baltimore Sun’s website on June 23, 2008. The affidavit states that Dixon is being investigated regarding bribery.

On January 9, 2009, Dixon was indicted by a Baltimore Grand Jury on twelve counts, comprising four counts of perjury, two counts of misconduct, three counts of theft, and three counts of fraudulent misappropriations.

Dixon’s trial, originally scheduled for September 8, 2009, was postponed to November 9, 2009.

Trial and Guilty Verdict

In November 2009, Dixon was tried for three counts of felony theft, three counts of misdemeanor embezzlement/misappropriation, and a single count of misconduct of office. The trial began on November 10, 2009. During the trial, two counts (one theft charge and one embezzlement/misappropriation charge) were dropped when prosecutors declined to call a key witness. On December 1, 2009, after seven days of deliberations, the jury returned verdicts on four of the five remaining counts. Dixon was found not guilty of the two felony theft charges, and one count of misconduct of office. She was found guilty on one misdemeanor embezzlement charge relating to her use of over $600 worth of retail store gift cards that were intended to be distributed to needy families. The jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision regarding the final charge of misdemeanor embezzlement.

As the result of being found guilty, Dixon is at risk of being removed from office, and being stripped of her city retirement pension valued at over $80,000 per year for life. Dixon still faces perjury charges, with a trial planned for 2010.

On January 6, 2010, Dixon elected to step down as mayor, effective February 4, 2010, but will maintain her pension.

2007 election

Dixon ran for a full term as mayor in the 2007 election and won the Democratic Party primary in September.Dixon maintained a strong fundraising advantage throughout the campaign. Scores of public officials, unions and newspapers endorsed the Mayor’s campaign. This includes the Baltimore Sun, The Afro-American Newspaper, the AFL-CIO, former Rep. Kweisi Mfume, Minority Contractors Association, SEIU, SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, Gov. O’Malley, Comptroller Peter Franchot, Unite Here, United Auto Workers, and others.

The Baltimore Examiner noted “some observers are suggesting that it may be open and shut.” Morgan State University political science professor C. Vernon Gray confirmed the Examiner’s analysis when he noted, “it’s [Dixon’s] race to lose… she really has done an excellent job of governing despite all the crises she’s had.” Del. Jill Carter , City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell, Jr. and city schools administrator Andrey Bundley were noted as Mayor Dixon’s highest profile challengers.

A major issue during the primary mayoral campaign was crime. By mid-2007, homicides in Baltimore are on pace to surpass 300 for the year, the most since the early years of the O’Malley administration. On June 19th, Mayor Dixon presented her crime plan to 500 Baltimore police officers,but Dixon was attacked by Mitchell and Carter for not doing enough.Dixon’s crime plan departed from previous Mayor Martin O’Malley’s as it stressed community policing and focusing on apprehending the most violent offenders as opposed to zero tolerance.As of June 19th, there were 146 homicides and 340 non-lethal shootings in the city.

According to Johns Hopkins University political scientist Matthew Crenson, “Everybody complains about the homicides, but I think the assumption that many voters make, especially in Baltimore, is that the mayor can’t do a lot to reduce the homicide rate. And maybe Keiffer Mitchell made a mistake to make that the focus of his campaign.”

Endorsements

By the end of July 2007, Dixon’s campaign had been endorsed by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council of the Maryland AFL-CIO collectively as well as several individual union endorsements. Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot was the only state wide elected official to endorse Dixon until an August 13 rally where Governor Martin O’Malley gave his endorsement. Former Congressman Kweisi Mfume also endorsed Dixon at the same event in front of Baltimore’s City Hall.State Delegates Tom Hucker (Montgomery County), Maggie McIntosh, Curt Anderson, Cheryl Glenn, Melvin L. Stukes, Talmadge Branch, Senators Nathaniel J. McFadden and Cathy Pugh and Baltimore City Council members Robert Curran, Bernard “Jack” Young, Ed Reisinger, Stephanie Rawlings Blake and Agnes Welch have endorsed Dixon and were at the rally as well.

Victory

Dixon won the 2007 Baltimore Democratic Mayoral Primary over her closest opponent Keiffer J. Mitchell, Jr. with 63 percent of the total votes; she won against Republican Elbert Henderson in the general election in November.

2007 Primary election results

The final, official results for the Democratic primary, as reported on the city of Baltimore’s election board Web site.

Roman Raymond Polanski (Polish: Roman Rajmund Polański; born 18 August 1933) is a French-born and resident Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Polanski began his career in Poland, and later became a critically acclaimed director of both art house and commercial films.[1] Polanski’s first feature-length film, Knife in the Water (1962), made in Poland, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He has since received five more Oscar nominations, and in 2002 received the Academy Award for Best Director for his film, The Pianist. He has also been the recipient of two Baftas, four Césars, a Golden Globe and the Palme d’Or. He left the People’s Republic of Poland in 1961 to live in France for several years, then moved to Britain, where he collaborated with Gérard Brach on three films, beginning with Repulsion (1965). In 1968 he moved to the United States, immediately cementing his burgeoning directing status with the 1968 groundbreaking Academy Award winning horror film Rosemary’s Baby.

In 1969 his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, was murdered by the Manson Family.[2] He returned to Europe and spent much of his time in Paris and Gstaad, but didn’t make another film until he shot Macbeth (1971) in England. The following year he went to Italy to make What? (1973) and subsequently spent the next five years living near Rome. However, he traveled to Hollywood to direct Chinatown (1974) for Paramount Pictures, with Robert Evans serving as producer. The film was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, and was a critical and box-office success; the script by Robert Towne won for Best Original Screenplay.[3] Polanski’s next film, The Tenant (1976), was shot in France, and completed the “Apartment Trilogy”, following Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby.

In 1977, Polanski visited Los Angeles again to shoot photographs for Vogue magazine and was arrested for the sexual assault of a thirteen-year-old in Los Angeles, and later pled guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.To avoid sentencing, Polanski returned to his home in London, but quickly moved on to France the following day, and has had a U.S. arrest warrant outstanding since then,and an international arrest warrant since 2005.Polanski avoided visits to countries that were likely to extradite him to the United States. Although he owns a house in Switzerland which he visited frequently, in September 2009 Polanski was arrested by Swiss police, at the request of U.S. authorities, when he traveled there to receive a lifetime achievement “Golden Icon Award” from the Zurich Film Festival.The United States formally requested his extradition on October 23, 2009.

Polanski continued to make films such as The Pianist (2002), a World War II-set adaptation of Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman’s autobiography of the same name, which echoed some of Polanski’s earlier life experiences. Like Szpilman, Polanski escaped the ghetto and the concentration camps while family members were killed. The film won three Academy Awards including Best Director, the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or, and seven French César Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. Harrison Ford accepted the awards on his behalf.

Polanski attended the National Film School in Łódź, the third-largest city in Poland.[12] In the 1950s Polanski took up acting, appearing in Andrzej Wajda’s Pokolenie (A Generation) (1954) and in the same year in Silik Sternfeld’s Zaczarowany rower (Enchanted Bicycle or Magical Bicycle). Polanski’s directorial debut was also in 1955 with a short film Rower (Bicycle). Rower is a semi-autobiographical feature film, believed to be lost, which also starred Polanski. It refers to his real-life violent altercation with a notorious Kraków felon, Janusz Dziuba, who arranged to sell Polanski a bike, but instead beat him badly and stole his money. In real life the offender was arrested while fleeing after fracturing Polanski’s skull, and executed for three murders, out of eight prior such assaults, which he had committed.[13] Several other short films made during his study at Łódź gained him considerable recognition, particularly Two Men and a Wardrobe (1958) and When Angels Fall (1959). He graduated in 1959.

Polanski’s first feature-length film, Knife in the Water (1962), was also the first significant Polish film after WWII that did not have a war theme. Scripted by Jerzy Skolimowski, Jakub Goldberg and Polanski, Knife in the Water is about a wealthy, unhappily married couple who decide to take a mysterious hitchhiker with them on a weekend boating excursion. A dark and unsettling work, Polanski’s debut feature subtly evinces a profound pessimism about human relationships with regard to the psychological dynamics and moral consequences of status envy and sexual jealousy. Although not well-received by the People’s Republic of Poland communist regime, Knife in the Water was nevertheless a major commercial success in the West and gave Polanski an international reputation. The film also earned its director his first Academy Award nomination (Best Foreign Language Film, 1963).

Despite his reputation as a major Polish filmmaker, Polanski left then-communist Poland and moved to France, where he had already made two notable short films in 1961: The Fat and the Lean and Mammals. While in France, Polanski contributed one segment (”La rivière de diamants”) to the French-produced omnibus film, Les plus belles escroqueries du monde (English title: The Beautiful Swindlers) in 1964. However, Polanski found that in the early 1960s the French film industry was generally unwilling to support a rising filmmaker whom they viewed as a cultural Pole and not a Frenchman. So he soon left France to find new opportunities and financial backing in England.[citation needed]
Gérard Brach collaborations

Polanski made three feature films in England, based on original scripts written by himself and Gérard Brach, a frequent collaborator. Repulsion (1965) is a psychological horror film focusing on a young Belgian woman named Carol (Catherine Deneuve), who is living in London with her older sister (Yvonne Furneaux). While working as a beautician’s assistant at a salon, Carol is often disturbed by the physical decrepitude of her elderly clients, and throughout the course of the film, she becomes increasingly distressed by sexual advances from the men around her. Her sister departs for a holiday in Italy with a boyfriend, and Carol is left alone in their shared apartment flat. Carol’s disordered mind finally breaks from reality as actual threats of domestic and sexual invasion blend into grotesque paranoid hallucinations, causing her to respond with desperate, deadly acts of violence. The film’s themes, situations, visual motifs, and effects clearly reflect the influence of early surrealist cinema as well as horror movies of the 1950s - particularly Luis Buñuel’s Un chien Andalou, Jean Cocteau’s The Blood of a Poet, Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Diabolique and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho.

Cul-de-Sac (1966) is a bleak nihilist tragicomedy filmed on location in Northumberland. The general tone and the basic premise of the film owes a great deal to Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, along with aspects of Harold Pinter’s The Birthday Party. Indeed, the original title for the film was When Katelbach Comes (named after the actor André Katelbach, who played the role of the master in Polanski’s very Beckettian 1961 short film The Fat and the Lean), and among the cast was Jack MacGowran, a veteran of Beckett’s stage and television work. The film’s setup concerns two gangsters, Dickie and Albie (Lionel Stander and MacGowran), who are on the run after a heist went wrong. The film opens with Dickie pushing their broken-down car along the tidal causeway of Lindisfarne island. It is implied that the shootout which occurred during the heist had left Albie bleeding and paralyzed, and Dickie, who is also wounded but still mobile, now seeks to contact their underworld boss, Katelbach. (Like Beckett’s Godot, Katelbach is frequently alluded to throughout the course of the film, but never actually appears.) As he searches the island, Dickie discovers that the famous medieval castle is inhabited by an eccentric, effeminate and neurotically excitable middle-aged Englishman named George (Donald Pleasence), and his adulterous, nymphomaniacal young French wife, Teresa (Françoise Dorléac, Catherine Deneuve’s older sister). A series of absurd mishaps, both farcical and tragic, ensues when Dickie decides to take the couple hostage in their castle as he waits (in vain) for further instructions from the mysterious Katelbach.

The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) is a parody of vampire films (particularly those made by Hammer Studios) which was filmed using elaborate sets built on sound stages in London with additional location photography in the Alps (particularly Urtijëi, an Italian ski resort in the Dolomites). The plot concerns a buffoonish professor named Abronsius (Jack MacGowran) and his clumsy assistant, Alfred (played by Polanski himself), who are traveling through Transylvania in search of vampires. The two of them arrive in a small village near a vampire-infested castle, which they plan to examine. While taking lodgings at the village tavern, Alfred falls in love with Sarah, the local innkeeper’s daughter (played by Polanski’s future wife, Sharon Tate). Shortly after, Sarah is abducted by the vampires and taken to the castle. The rest of the film concerns Abronsius and Alfred’s madcap efforts to penetrate the castle walls and rescue the girl. The ironic and macabre ending is classic Polanski. The Fearless Vampire Killers was Polanski’s first feature to be photographed in color with the use of Panavision lenses (the aspect ratio is 2.35:1). The film’s striking visual style, with its snow-covered, fairy-tale landscapes, recalls the work of Soviet fantasy filmmakers Aleksandr Ptushko and Alexander Row. Similarly, the richly textured, moonlit-winter-blue color schemes of the village and the snowy valleys evoke the magical, kaleidoscopic paintings of the great Russian-Jewish artist Marc Chagall, who provides the namesake for the innkeeper in the film. The film is also notable in that it features Polanski’s love of winter sports, particularly skiing. In this respect The Fearless Vampire Killers recalls Polanski’s 1961 short film Mammals.
Move to United States

In Rosemary’s Baby: A Retrospective, a featurette on the DVD release of the film, Polanski, Paramount Pictures executive Robert Evans, and production designer Richard Sylbert reminisce at length about the production. Evans recalled William Castle brought him the galley proofs of the novel Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin and asked him to purchase the film rights even before Random House released the publication. The studio head recognized the commercial potential of the project and agreed with the stipulation that Castle, who had a reputation for low-budget horror films, could produce but not direct the film adaptation. Evans admired Polanski’s European films and hoped he could convince him to make his American debut with Rosemary’s Baby (1968). He knew Polanski was a ski buff who was anxious to make a film with the sport as its basis, so he sent him the script for Downhill Racer with the galleys for Rosemary. Polanski read the book non-stop through the night and called Evans the following morning to tell him he thought it was the more interesting project, and would like the opportunity to write as well as direct it. His first Hollywood film established his reputation as a major commercial filmmaker and both the novel and movie became commercial successes. A horror-thriller set in the trendy Manhattan apartment building “The Dakota”, the story is about Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), an innocent young housewife, originally from Omaha, who is impregnated by the devil after her narcissistic and ambitious actor husband, Guy (John Cassavetes), who offers her womb to a coven of local satanists, in exchange for stardom. Much of the film concerns Rosemary’s suspicions and her increasingly successful attempts to uncover the truth of what is going on. Polanski’s screenplay adaptation earned him a second Academy Award nomination. In April 1969, Polanski’s friend and collaborator, the composer Krzysztof Komeda, died from head injuries sustained from a skiing accident, though other accounts of the cause of his death exist. After the short Two Men and a Wardrobe, he scored all of Polanski’s feature films (with the exception of Repulsion), and is probably best known in the US for his final collaboration with the director: the haunting soundtrack to Rosemary’s Baby.

After making his next two films in Europe, Polanski returned to Hollywood in 1973 to make Chinatown for Paramount Pictures, with Robert Evans serving as producer. The film was nominated for a total of 11 Academy Awards; stars Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway both received Oscar nominations for their roles, and the script by Robert Towne won for Best Original Screenplay.A private detective, Jake Gittes (Nicholson), is hired to investigate a case of suspected adultery, but instead winds up uncovering a nefarious cabal of corrupt public officials and crooked businessmen who are secretly defrauding city hall and local taxpayers by undermining the publicly owned water supply as a means to facilitate a vast land grab in the San Fernando Valley. As the detective finds out, the ringleader of the conspiracy is responsible for the libel and murder of the city’s water commissioner as well as an incestuous rape. Polanski appears in a cameo role as a hoodlum who slices Nicholson’s nose with a knife in a failed attempt to scare him off the case. A major critical and box-office success from the time of its premiere in the summer of 1974, Chinatown has been considered by some to be Polanski’s greatest achievement as a filmmaker.
Return to Europe

Polanski’s first feature following Sharon Tate’s murder was a bleak and violent film version of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971). Jon Finch and Francesca Annis appeared in the lead roles. He adapted Shakespeare’s original text into a screenplay with the British theater critic Kenneth Tynan, and gained financing for the project through his friendship with Victor Lownes, who was an executive for Playboy magazine in London at the time. Polanski wanted to make the film in the play’s actual historical setting of Scotland, but while scouting for locations there he could find no suitable sites that were still unmarked by telephone poles and other such modern installations. He eventually chose to shoot in an area of Britain which would provide him with a much more convincing medieval landscape complete with picturesque Norman castles: the rugged environs of Snowdonia National Park, North Wales. The production took six months to complete and exceeded its initial budget by at least $500,000 mostly because of weather problems (it rained frequently during the location filming in Wales) as well as Polanski’s insistence on shooting multiple takes of several technically challenging scenes in these adverse conditions. When the film finally premiered in December 1971, a number of critics were disturbed by its rampant violence as well as the overwhelming nightmarish atmosphere and unredeemed nihilism of Polanski’s very modernist interpretation of Shakespeare (influenced by the writings of Polish drama critic and theoretician, Jan Kott). Film critic Pauline Kael commented that the slaughter of Lady Macduff and her household appeared to have been staged in an especially lurid manner that was clearly intended to evoke the Manson killings.

Written by Polanski and previous collaborator Gérard Brach, What? (1973) is a mordant absurdist comedy made in the spirit of Roger Vadim and Terry Southern and loosely based on the themes of Alice in Wonderland and Henry James. The film is a rambling shaggy dog story about the sexual indignities that befall Nancy (Sydne Rome), a winsome young American hippie hitchhiking through Europe. After escaping a farcical rape attempt in the back of a truck, she soon finds herself stranded in the hothouse atmosphere of a remote Italian villa inhabited by a band of decadent, lecherous grotesques - the main trio are played by Marcello Mastrioanni, Hugh Griffith and Polanski himself. What? is also significant in that it is Polanski’s only film to date in which a character breaks the fourth wall. The film was a failure with audiences and critics, although in the years since its release What? has attracted a minor cult following and a modicum of critical notice.

After filming Chinatown (1974) in Los Angeles, Polanski returned to Paris for his next film, The Tenant (1976), which was based on a 1964 novel by Roland Topor, a French writer of Polish-Jewish origin. In addition to directing the film, Polanski also played the lead role of Trelkovsky, a timid Polish immigrant living in Paris who seems to be possessed by the personality of a young woman who committed suicide by jumping out of the window from her apartment - the very apartment that Trelkovsky now occupies. Many have noted the similarities with Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby, and together with these two earlier works, The Tenant can be seen as the third installment in a loose trilogy of films called the “Apartment Trilogy” that explore the themes of social alienation and psychic and emotional breakdown. For The Tenant, Ingmar Bergman’s regular cinematographer, Sven Nykvist, served as cameraman, and actors such as Isabelle Adjani, Shelley Winters, Melvyn Douglas and Jo Van Fleet appeared in supporting roles. French composer Philippe Sarde scored The Tenant and two future Polanski films, Tess and Pirates. In his autobiography, Polanski wrote: “I had a great admiration for American institutions and regarded the United States as the only truly democratic country in the world.”

Unwilling to work in the United States after 1978 for fear of jail, Polanski continued to work in Europe. He dedicated his next film, Tess (1979), to the memory of his late wife, Sharon Tate. According to the director, after spending time with him in London in the summer of 1969, Tate left a copy of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles on Polanski’s nightstand, along with a note suggesting that it would make a good film. Tess was Polanski’s first film since his 1977 arrest in Los Angeles, and because of the American-British extradition treaty, Tess was shot in the north of France instead of Hardy’s Dorset and Wiltshire; a replica of Stonehenge was constructed at Morienval for the final scene. Nastassja Kinski (with whom Polanski had been romantically involved) appeared in the title role opposite Peter Firth and Leigh Lawson. The film became the most expensive made in France up to that time, causing producer Claude Berri considerable anxiety when there was difficulty finding a North American distributor for the picture, which was nearly three hours long. Matters were also complicated when cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth died in the middle of production and had to be replaced by Ghislain Cloquet. Tess was eventually released in North America by Columbia Pictures, which had also distributed Polanski’s earlier Macbeth. Ultimately, Tess proved a financial success and was well-received by both critics and the public. For Tess, Polanski won French César Awards for Best Picture and Best Director and received his fourth Academy Award nomination (and his second nomination for Best Director). The film received three Oscars: best cinematography, best art direction and best costume design. In addition, Tess was nominated for best picture (Polanski’s second film to be nominated) and best original score.

Nearly seven years passed before Polanski completed his next film, Pirates (1986), a lavish period piece starring Walter Matthau, which the director intended as an homage to the beloved Errol Flynn swashbucklers of his childhood. Pirates was followed by Frantic (1988), starring Harrison Ford and the actress/model Emmanuelle Seigner. She would go on to star in two more of his films, Bitter Moon (1992) and The Ninth Gate (1999).

Later work and honours
Polanski at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival

In 1997, Polanski directed a stage version of his 1967 film The Fearless Vampire Killers, a musical, which debuted on October 4, 1997 in Vienna as Tanz der Vampire (Dance of the Vampires), the German title of the film version. After closing in Vienna, the show had successful runs in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Berlin, and Budapest. On 11 March 1998, Polanski was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

In 2002 Polanski released The Pianist, a World War II-set adaptation of the autobiography of the same name by Jewish-Polish musician Władysław Szpilman, whose experiences have similarities with Polanski’s own (Polanski, like Szpilman, escaped the ghetto and the concentration camps, while family members did not). In May 2002, the film won the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) award at the Cannes Film Festival,as well as Césars for Best Film and Best Director, and later the 2002 Academy Award for Directing. Polanski did not attend the Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood because he would have been arrested once he set foot in the United States. After the announcement of the “Best Director Award”, Polanski received a standing ovation from most of those present in the theater. In 2004, he received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

During late 2004, Polanski shot a new film adaptation of the Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist, based on Ronald Harwood’s screenplay. The shooting took place at the Barrandov Studios in Prague, Czech Republic and starred Barney Clark (as Oliver Twist), Harry Eden (as the Artful Dodger), Ben Kingsley (as Fagin) and Edward Hardwicke (as Mr. Brownlow). The director also gathered some collaborators from The Pianist: Ronald Harwood (screenplay), as noted, Allan Starski (production designer) and Pawel Edelman (director of photography). Polanski is known for making cameo appearances in his movies and others, the latest was a cameo in Rush Hour 3 (2007) as a French police official. An attempt to adapt Robert Harris’ Pompeii was abandoned in 2009.

In September 2009 Polanski was awarded a lifetime achievement “Golden Icon Award” by the Zurich Film Festival,which he was travelling to receive when he was arrested on 26 September.

Prior to his September 2009 arrest in Switzerland, Polanski was directing an adaptation of Harris’ The Ghost, a novel about a writer who stumbles upon a secret while ghosting the autobiography of a former British prime minister. It will star Ewan McGregor as the writer and Pierce Brosnan as the prime minister. Filming takes place in Germany. The Ghost is being co-produced as of February 2009 by the Babelsberg Studios.

Personal life

Early life

Polanski was born as Rajmund Roman Thierry Polański in Paris, France, the son of Bula[20](née Katz-Przedborska) and Ryszard Polański(né Liebling), a painter and plastics manufacturer.His mother had a daughter, Annette, by her previous husband. Annette managed to survive Auschwitz, where her mother died, and left Poland forever for France.His father was nominally Jewish and his Russian-born mother had been raised in the faith of her own Polish Roman Catholic mother. His mother’s father was Jewish, but not observant.[23][24] Ryszard Liebling had changed his surname to Polański in early 1932. The Polański family moved back to the Polish city of Kraków in 1936,and were living there when the World War II began with the invasion of Poland. Neither of Roman Polanski’s parents was religious. Kraków was soon occupied by the German forces. Nazi racial and religious purity laws made the Polańskis targets of persecution and forced them into the Kraków Ghetto, along with thousands of the city’s Jews.

His father survived the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp in Austria, but his mother perished at Auschwitz. Polański himself escaped the Kraków Ghetto in 1943 and survived the war using the name Romek Wilk with the help of some Polish Roman Catholic families.As a Jewish child in hiding, he behaved outwardly as a Roman Catholic, although he was never baptized as such.After the war he was reunited with his father and moved back to Kraków, now part of the Communist People’s Republic of Poland. Roman Polanski’s father married Wanda Zajączkowska, but Roman disliked his stepmother, which further estranged father and son, who had never been able to establish an intimate relationship. Ryszard Polański died of cancer in 1984.
Relationships

Polanski’s first wife, Barbara Lass (née Kwiatkowska), was a Polish actress who also starred in Polanski’s 1959 When Angels Fall.The couple were married in 1959 and divorced in 1961.
Martin Ransohoff introduced Polanski and rising actress Sharon Tate shortly before filming The Fearless Vampire Killers, and during the production the two of them began dating.On 20 January 1968, Polanski married Sharon Tate in London.In his autobiography, Polanski described his brief time with Tate as the best years of his life. This marriage ended with the death of Tate in the Manson murders, leaving Polanski devastated.

In 1976, Polanski started a romantic relationship with Nastassja Kinski, when she was 15 years old and he was 43 years old. In 1979, their relationship ended at the completion of filming Polanski’s Oscar nominated “Tess”, in which Kinski had played the lead role.

In 1989 Polanski and Emmanuelle Seigner married. They have two children, daughter Morgane and son Elvis.

Sharon Tate’s murder

Sharon Tate, Polanski’s second wife, in Eye of the Devil (1967)
Main article: Sharon Tate#Death and aftermath

In 1969, Polanski’s wife Sharon Tate, who was eight and a half months pregnant, was murdered (along with four others) at the Polanski/Tate residence in Los Angeles by followers of Charles Manson. Polanski had been at his house in London at the time of the murders and immediately traveled to Los Angeles, where he was questioned by police. As there were no suspects in the case, police checked on the past history of Polanski and Tate to try to determine a motive. After a period of months, Manson and his “family” were arrested on unrelated charges, which revealed evidence of what came to be known as the Tate-LaBianca murders. Polanski returned to Europe shortly after the killers were arrested.

Polanski later stated that he gave away all his possessions, as everything reminded him of Tate and was too painful for him. Polanski has declared his absence on the night of the murders from his home in Beverly Hills to be his greatest regret.[39] In his autobiography, Polanski wrote, “Sharon’s death is the only watershed in my life that really matters”, and commented that her murder changed his personality from a “boundless, untroubled sea of expectations and optimism” to one of “ingrained pessimism … eternal dissatisfaction with life”.

Sexual assault case

In March 1977, while on assignment for Vogue Hommes International to take pictures of adolescent girls, Polanski was arrested for the sexual assault of Samantha Geimer, a thirteen-year-old girl hired for the photographic shoot.She testified that Polanski gave her a combination of champagne and quaaludes, a sedative drug and muscle relaxant, and despite repeated protests and being asked to stop, he performed oral sex, intercourse and sodomy upon her.In Roman, his 1984 autobiography, he insists the underage sex in the 1977 case was consensual although The Observer notes, “the victim’s description has always suggested otherwise”.A grand jury charged him with rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, lewd and lascivious act upon a child under fourteen, and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor.At his arraignment Polanski pleaded not guilty to all charges.In an effort to preserve her anonymity, Geimer’s attorney arranged a plea bargain which Polanski accepted, and, under the terms, five of the initial charges were to be dismissed. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of engaging in unlawful sexual intercourse, a charge which is synonymous under Californian law with statutory rape.The judge received a probation report and psychiatric evaluation, both indicating that Polanski should not serve jail time,and in response the film maker was ordered to ninety days in prison in order to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. He was released after forty-two days.Despite expectations and recommendations that he would receive only probation at sentencing, the judge “suggested to Polanski’s attorneys” that more jail time and possible deportation were in order.Upon learning of the judge’s plans Polanski fled to France in February 1978 hours before he was to be formally sentenced.As a French citizen, he has been protected from extradition and has mostly lived in France, avoiding countries likely to extradite him.Because he fled prior to sentencing, all six of the original charges remain pending.

Geimer sued Polanski in 1988, alleging sexual assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and seduction. In 1993 Polanski agreed to pay her at least $500,000 as part of a civil settlement. Geimer and her lawyers confirmed the settlement was complete.[57][58] In September 2009 Polanski was arrested by Swiss police because of his outstanding U.S. warrant when he entered the country to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zurich Film Festival.[59][60] His initial request for bail was refused noting the “high risk of flight” and his subsequent appeal was rejected by Switzerland’s Federal Criminal Court.[61][62] On November 25, 2009 a Swiss court accepted Roman Polanski’s plea to be freed on $US 4.5 M bail. The court said Polanski could stay at his chalet in the Swiss Alps and that he would be monitored by an electronic tag.
Vanity Fair libel case

In 2004, Polanski sued Vanity Fair magazine in London for libel. A 2002 article in the magazine written by A. E. Hotchner recounted a claim by Lewis H. Lapham, editor of Harper’s, that Polanski had made sexual advances towards a young model as he was traveling to Sharon Tate’s funeral, claiming that he could make her “the next Sharon Tate”. The court permitted Polanski to testify via a video link, after he expressed fears that he might be extradited were he to enter the United Kingdom.The trial started in July 2005 and Polanski made English legal history as the first claimant to give evidence by video link. During the trial, which included the testimony of Mia Farrow and others, it was claimed that the alleged scene at the famous New York City restaurant Elaine’s could not have taken place on the date given, because Polanski only dined at this restaurant three weeks later.Also, the Norwegian model disputed accounts that he had claimed he could make her “the next Sharon Tate,” saying Polanski had never spoken to her at all. In the course of the trial, Polanski did admit to having been unfaithful to Tate during their marriage. Polanski was awarded £50,000 damages by the High Court in London. Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair, responded, “I find it amazing that a man who lives in France can sue a magazine that is published in America in a British courtroom”.

Garry Shandling (born November 29, 1949) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He is best known for his work in It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and The Larry Sanders Show.

Shandling began his career writing for sitcoms such as Sanford and Son, and Welcome Back, Kotter. He made a successful stand-up performance on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and became a frequent guest-host on the show. Shandling was for a time considered to be the leading contender to be Carson’s eventual replacement (other hopefuls were Joan Rivers, David Letterman and David Brenner). In 1986 he created the show It’s Garry Shandling’s Show for the pay cable channel Showtime, which was nominated for four Emmy Awards (including one for Shandling); it lasted until 1990. His second show, “The Larry Sanders Show,” began airing on HBO on 1992, and was a bigger success than his first show. Shandling was nominated for 18 Emmy Awards on the show and won one in 1998 for writing the series finale, along with Peter Tolan.

Through his three decade career, he has been nominated for 19 Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, two Golden Globe Award nominations, 11 CableACE Awards, a BAFTA Award, three American Comedy Awards, two Writers’ Guild of America Award nominations, and two Satellite Award nominations.

Early life and career

Shandling was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Muriel, a pet store proprietor, and Irving Shandling, a print shop owner.[1][2] He grew up in Tucson, Arizona and had an older brother, Barry, who died from cystic fibrosis when Garry was 10. Shandling attended Palo Verde High School. After graduation, he attended the University of Arizona, at first majoring in electrical engineering, but eventually completing a degree in marketing and pursuing a year of post-graduate studies in creative writing.

In 1973, Shandling moved to Los Angeles, California, and made contact with comedian George Carlin after catching one of his shows. He worked at an advertising agency for a time, and then sold a script for the popular NBC sitcom Sanford and Son. Shandling’s script became the November 21, 1975 episode titled “Sanford and the Rising Son,” in which Ah Chew (played by Pat Morita) turned junk-yard owner Fred Sanford’s house into a Japanese restaurant. In addition to “Sanford and Son,” Shandling wrote scripts, for the sitcoms Welcome Back, Kotter and Three’s Company.

In 1977, Shandling was involved in an auto accident in Beverly Hills that left him in critical condition for weeks. He later turned the accident into part of his stand-up comedy act.

Although born into a Jewish family, Shandling has been a practicing Buddhist since the 80’s in association with Thich Nhat Hanh.

Stand-up comedy

In an interview, he said that he became a stand-up comedian because he was frustrated by situation comedy’s formulaic writing. In 1978, Shandling performed his first stand-up routine at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles. His persona was that of an anxiety-ridden, grimacing, guarded, confused man who seemed always on the verge of losing control. After a couple of years on the road, a talent scout from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson caught his act and booked him to appear as a guest host on March 18, 1981. Shandling began substituting for Carson on a regular basis along with Joan Rivers until 1985.

In 1984, he made his first stand-up special, Garry Shandling: Alone in Vegas, for Showtime, followed up by a second televised in 1986, The Garry Shandling Show: 25th Anniversary Special for the same network.[4] A third in 1991, ”Garry Shandling: Stand-Up, was part of the HBO Comedy Hour.

Early career

Shandling began as a television writer in shows such as Sanford and Son, in which he wrote three episodes, one episode of the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, and one episode of The Harvey Korman Show.

It’s Garry Shandling’s Show

Shandling and co-writer Alan Zweibel went on to create the surreal comedy series It’s Garry Shandling’s Show in 1985, which ran 72 episodes on the Showtime cable television network through 1990, with edited reruns playing on the Fox network beginning in 1988.

The series, a popular critical hit, became known for its Brechtian use of what is known in theater as “breaking the fourth wall”, a concept in which characters turn away from the action and comment directly on the proceedings or make asides to the audience. While Groucho Marx was a pioneer of the technique in the 1930s movie Animal Crackers, and television had occasionally broken the fourth wall since at least the 1950s TV series starring Ernie Kovacs and the team of George Burns and Gracie Allen, and sporadically afterward, Shandling’s series employed the idea as a central concept, and influenced such future wall-breaking series as Malcolm In The Middle, The Bernie Mac Show and the UK’s Sean’s Show.

Shandling wrote 15 episodes on the show. The show was nominated for four Emmy awards, one time for Shandling. He won the American Comedy Awards for Funniest Male Performance in a Series, and won four Cable ACE awards, two for Best Comedy Series, and another two for Shandling. It also won a Outstanding Achievement in Comedy in the Television Critics Association Awards.

On October 20, 2009, Shout! Factory released It’s Garry Shandling’s Show: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1. The 16-disc set features extensive bonus features including featurettes, commentaries & outtakes.

The Larry Sanders Show

In 1992, Shandling had another critical and commercial success creating the mock behind-the-scenes talk show sitcom The Larry Sanders Show, which ran 89 episodes through 1998 on the cable network HBO, garnering 56 Emmy Award nominations and three wins. In an interview, he stated that he based the show on his experiences guest hosting the The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

In 1993, NBC offered Shandling $5 million[citation needed] to take over the late-night comedic talk show Late Night when host David Letterman announced his highly publicized move to CBS, but Shandling declined. The Larry Sanders Show later spoofed the network’s efforts to find a Letterman successor, making it appear to be Tom Snyder.

Shandling wrote 38 episodes of the show and directed three in the show’s final season and has been nominated for 18 Emmy Awards for the show; five for acting, seven for writing and six for being co-executive producer with Brad Grey. He only won one Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for the series finale Flip. He has also been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor (Musical or Comedy) in 1994 and 1995. He won two American Comedy Awards for Funniest Male Performance in a Comedy Series, Eight CableACE awards and a BAFTA Award.

It is the most successful show Shandling has created. The show also influenced other shows to use the same concept of The Larry Sanders Show, in which guest stars play (often spoofing) themselves in episodes of the series. These include Entourage, Extras and Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In 2002, TV Guide named The Larry Sanders Show as 38th Greatest Show of All Time. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly ranked the show the 28th Best Show of the past 25 years. It was also included on Time Magazine’s 100 Greatest Shows of All Time.

The first season was released in 2007 along with a Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show which are Shandling’s pick of the best 23 episodes.

Awards and nominations

Shandling has been nominated for nineteen Primetime Emmy Awards through 1988 and 1998 by his two sitcoms, It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and The Larry Sanders Show and has won one time: Outstanding Writing in Comedy Series for the series finale of The Larry Sanders Show. He has received five for acting in The Larry Sanders Show, six for producing The Larry Sanders Show and seven for writing on The Larry Sanders Show and one for writing for It’s Garry Shandling’s Show. Additionally, he has been nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for acting on The Larry Sanders Show. He has also won two British Comedy Awards.

He has also been nominated for seven American Comedy Awards, two for It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and four for The Larry Sanders Show and one for hosting the Primetime Emmy Awards, winning one for It’s Garry Shandling’s Show and three for The Lary Sanders Show, overall of four wins. He has also won eleven CableACE Awards, seven for The Larry Sanders Show and four for It’s Garry Shandling’s Show. He has also won a BAFTA Award for The Larry Sanders Show. Also, he was nominated for two Writers’ Guild of America Award for The Larry Sanders Show.
Lawsuit

In 1998, Shandling became caught up in the sort of real-life Hollywood battle of egos and lawsuits that his show often skewered when he sued his former longtime friend and manager Brad Grey for conflict of interest. Shandling did a similar thing by firing his agent on his show.

Other work

Shandling has appeared occasionally in movies, beginning with a cameo as dental patient Mr. Vertisey in The Night We Never Met. He played supporting roles in the 1994 films Love Affair and Mixed Nuts (a.k.a. Lifesavers), Dr. Dolittle (1998) as the voice of a live-action pigeon, the David Rabe play adaptation Hurlyburly (1998), and Trust the Man. He wrote and starred in director Mike Nichols’ What Planet Are You From? (2000), and co-starred with Warren Beatty and others in Town & Country. Again voicing an animal, Shandling co-starred as Verne the turtle in the computer animated comic strip adaptation Over the Hedge (2006)

Shandling hosted the Grammy Awards from 1990 to 1995, and the Emmy Awards in 2000 and 2004. At the first Emmy hosting job, Shandling cracked up the audience by saying “I auditioned to play the Vice President on The West Wing, but they said ‘No–too Jewish’”, a reference to real-life Vice Presidential candidate Senator Joe Lieberman during the 2000 Presidential campaign.

In 2006, comedian Ricky Gervais interviewed Shandling for a British documentary citing him as a comic influence.The reviews of British TV critics were mixed - one Guardian reviewer described it as “the uneasiest interview ever”,another as Gervais’ most interesting but the general consensus was that it felt “awkward”,a hallmark of both the artists’ comedic styles.

Shandling starred as himself representing Fox Mulder alongside Téa Leoni as Dana Scully in The X-Files season 7 spoof episode “Hollywood A.D.”.

Shandling, along with co-author David Rensin, wrote the book Confessions of a Late Night Talk Show Host: The Autobiography of Larry Sanders written in the voice of his alter ego, Larry Sanders.

In 2008, there were rumors that Shandling will be appearing in the next Iron Man movie, as Senator Stern. The rumors appear to be true and he will be appearing in the film. The trailer officially aired at the 2009 Comic-Con, and the movie will be released in May 2010.

In 2009, Shandling will return to the stand-up circuit.

Shandling (although not participating in the movie itself) went to the premiere of old Larry Sanders Show writer and friend Judd Apatow’s new movie, Funny People.
Personal life

Shandling is unmarried and shares very little about his personal life. He shared an apartment with girlfriend, Playboy model, Linda Doucett from 1987 through 1994. When they broke up, she filed a lawsuit for sexual harrasment. To promote Not Just the Best of The Larry Sanders Show, he appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman, where he explained that he plays a lot of basketball and has just started boxing. He is also one of a few people to attend Farrah Fawcett’s funeral. He has also mentioned on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson that he has a pet snake.
In popular culture

In the Butthole Surfers song “Revolution Part 2,” Gibby Haynes sings a long chorus of Shandling’s name interspersed with those of other famous actors.Haynes said that Shandling was “just one of those people who haunt me.”

Katey Sagal (born January 19, 1954) is an American actress and singer-songwriter, best known for portraying Peggy Bundy on Married… with Children, Cate Hennessy on 8 Simple Rules, Turanga Leela on Futurama and Gemma Teller Morrow on Sons of Anarchy.

Early life

Sagal was born Catherine Louise Sagal in Hollywood, California, to a show business family; she is the daughter of director Boris Sagal, best known for his work on 1960s television dramas, including The Twilight Zone. Her mother, Sara Zwilling, was a producer. Sagal is the older sister of twin actresses Jean and Liz Sagal, best remembered as the Doublemint Twins of the early 1980s, and for their own short-lived sitcom of that era, Double Trouble. Sagal and her siblings grew up in the Mandeville Canyon section of Brentwood, Los Angeles. She studied at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, California.
Career

Sagal began her career working the Hollywood circuit. She appeared in several made for TV movies between 1971 and 1975, including a small role as a receptionist in the Columbo film Candidate for Crime (directed by her father) and in 1973 working as a backing vocalist for various singers, including Bob Dylan and Tanya Tucker.

In 1978, Kiss bassist Gene Simmons asked her to sing background vocals on his self-titled solo album. During this time she was also a member of the rock group The Group With No Name. She also sang backup for Bette Midler, who hired her for her 1979 tour as one of The Harlettes.

Sagal returned to television in 1985 in the television series Mary starring Mary Tyler Moore. This led to her being cast as Peggy Bundy on the sitcom Married… with Children (1987-1997). She portrayed the lower-class, sex-starved wife of shoe salesman Al Bundy. During her audition for the role, Sagal brought her own red bouffant wig and with the producers’ approval, the look transitioned into the show. As Peg, she wore the wig, capris-length leggings with a large belt, and high slip-on heels, which were all fashion styles from the 1960s. Sagal’s career focused almost entirely on this series for its 11-year run. Sagal briefly revisited her role of Peg Bundy in Married… with Children, when the sitcom was parodied in the Futurama episode “A Bicyclops Built for Two”.
Sagal on a panel for Futurama at the 2008 Comic Con in San Diego, California.

After the end of Married… with Children, several more television films followed for Sagal, and she was also a featured voice on the children’s cartoon Recess as the voice of Spinelli’s mother. In 1999, Matt Groening cast her as Turanga Leela in his science fiction cartoon comedy Futurama. The show developed a cult following, but was canceled after five seasons. However, airings in syndication on Cartoon Network[2] and Comedy Central.[3] increased the show’s popularity and led Comedy Central to commission a series of Futurama direct-to-DVD films, which the network later rebroadcast as 16 episodes. Sagal reprised her role as Leela in these films, and it has been confirmed that she will voice Leela again in the upcoming 26 episode season due to air in 2010.

Sagal also guest starred as Edna Hyde, Steven Hyde’s mother, in three episodes of That ’70s Show: “Punk Chick” (1999), “Prom Night” (1999), and “The Career Day” (1999). She starred in the short-lived NBC sitcom Tucker in 2000. Sagal was also cast in the Disney Channel movie Smart House, playing a computerized maid that suddenly gets a mind of its own. She wore the same wig for the role as she did for Married… with Children.

Sagal was cast as the wife of John Ritter in the sitcom 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter in 2002. Following Ritter’s death, Sagal carried most of the show (with help from new cast members David Spade and James Garner). Ritter completed only three episodes of the second season of 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, with Sagal introducing each episode. The show was canceled in 2005 after its third season.

In 2005, she made two guest appearances on Lost, one guest appearance on CBS’s Ghost Whisperer and another guest appearance on The Shield. She hosted The Search for the Funniest Mom In America 2 and she had a recurring role as a guest star on Boston Legal.

In 2007, she had a role in the season finale of The Winner as Glen Abbot’s former, and Josh’s current, teacher, with whom Glen has his first sexual experience. She also reprised her role in The Shield for one episode.

In 2008, she appeared in four episodes of Eli Stone as Marci Klein, one of the founding partners of the show’s law firm. She has a starring role as Gemma Teller Morrow on the TV show Sons of Anarchy, created by her husband Kurt Sutter.

In January 2009, Sagal reunited with her TV son David Faustino (Bud Bundy from Married with Children) for an episode of Faustino’s show Star-ving.[6]
Musical career

Sagal is also a songwriter. In 1976, while a member of The Group With No Name, she contributed to the album Moon over Brooklyn. She also performed backing vocals on the self-titled solo album by Gene Simmons as well as background vocals on Olivia Newton-John’s 1985 single “Soul Kiss”. On April 19, 1994, she released her first solo album, Well…. Ten years later, on June 1, 2004, she released her second album, Room.
Personal life

Sagal was married to Freddie Beckmeier (1978-1981) and Jack White (November 26, 1993 - July 24, 2000). In 1991, Sagal discovered she was pregnant. This was unexpected by the directors of Married… with Children, so the pregnancy was written into the storyline of the show. However, in October 1991, she had to have an emergency caesarean section in her seventh month of pregnancy, ending in the stillbirth of a daughter, whom Sagal named Ruby Jean.[7] The pregnancy on the show was then regarded as a “dream”, because it would have been too painful for Sagal to see an infant on set at the time. She had one other early miscarriage around this time as well. She and White eventually had a daughter (Sarah Grace) and a son (Jackson James).

Sagal married Kurt Sutter (a writer, producer, and actor for The Shield) in a private ceremony on October 2, 2004, at their home in Los Feliz, California. They had their first child together, daughter Esme Louise, on January 10, 2007. Esme was carried by a surrogate mother because Sagal was far too old at this point to conceive naturally.

Elisha Ann Cuthbert (born November 30, 1982) is a Canadian actress. Cuthbert is known as the former co-host of the Canadian children’s television series Popular Mechanics for Kids. She had her first lead role in the 2003 feature film Old School and starred the following year in The Girl Next Door. She has also had starring roles in the 2005 House of Wax film and the 2007 horror film Captivity. Her most prominent role is as Kim Bauer in the American action-thriller television series 24.

Early life

Cuthbert was born in Calgary, Canada, the daughter of Patricia, a homemaker, and Kevin, an automotive design engineer.[1] She has two younger siblings, Jonathan and Lee-Ann, and she grew up in Greenfield Park, near Montreal, Quebec. In 2000, she graduated from Centennial Regional High School and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 17 to pursue an acting career.

Early career

When she was nine, Cuthbert started modeling for various lines of children’s clothing and also became a foot model.She made her first televised appearance as an extra in the horror-themed series for children Are You Afraid of the Dark?; she later became a series regular. Cuthbert also co-hosted Popular Mechanics for Kids, which was filmed in Montreal. Her reporting captured the attention of then-First Lady Hillary Clinton, who invited her to visit the White House.

Cuthbert landed her first role in a feature film in the family drama Dancing on the Moon (1997). She appeared in several other Canadian family-themed movies and an airplane thriller, Airspeed. Cuthbert starred in the Canadian television movie Lucky Girl in 2001 and was awarded a Gemini Award for her performance.

Soon after her move to Los Angeles, Cuthbert was cast in the role of Kim Bauer, daughter of federal agent Jack Bauer in the television series 24. She appeared in the show’s first three seasons, but not in its fourth; she guest-starred in only two episodes in the fifth season. She also reprised her role as Kim Bauer in 24: The Game and again guest-starred in five episodes of the seventh season.
2003-2005: Commercial success

Cuthbert auditioned for the role of Mary Jane Watson in the Spider-Man film, but the role went to Kirsten Dunst.[citation needed]

She began her Hollywood film career with small roles in Old School and Love Actually in 2003.

Cuthbert’s next film, The Girl Next Door, cast her in her first lead role as an ex-porn star, Danielle, opposite Emile Hirsch. Cuthbert had initial reservations about taking the part, but was persuaded by director Luke Greenfield into accepting. She researched the role, speaking to actual adult actresses from Wicked Pictures and Vivid Entertainment.Upon its release, the film received comparisons to Risky Business,- although Cuthbert claims her character was not directly based on Rebecca De Mornay’s character. Critics were divided; some praised the film for its boldness, while others, notably Roger Ebert, decried it as gimmicky and exploitative.Ebert wrote that he saw Cuthbert’s character Danielle as “quite the most unpleasant character I have seen in some time.”

In her next big-screen outing, Cuthbert starred with Paris Hilton and Chad Michael Murray in the 2005 remake of the classic horror film House of Wax. Cuthbert, along with the rest of the cast, was made up to look haggard. In one scene, her character was to attempt to open her mouth while her lips were sealed with glue. For the sake of realism, Cuthbert opted for real superglue over prosthetics.Despite her efforts, House of Wax was largely panned, with critics citing a range of flaws. It was called “notable for having some of the most moronic protagonists ever to populate a horror film,” though out of those characters, critics tended to think Cuthbert “fares the best.” Though receiving negative reviews the film was a box office success.Others noted Cuthbert as an “exception,” playing her role “earnestly” and “fine.”

2006-2007: Career transition

At the 24 season finale in 2009.

Cuthbert’s next film project was the indie film The Quiet, which she not only co-starred in but also co-produced and helped finance. She played Nina, a temperamental 17-year-old cheerleader who suffers from sexual abuse. Cuthbert looked to her younger cousin for inspiration as to how to play a teenager.[15] The Quiet, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival and received a limited release in Los Angeles and New York City on August 25, 2006, before expanding regionally on September 1.

Cuthbert appeared in the music video for Weezer’s “Perfect Situation” in early 2006, where she played the group’s fictional original singer who threw a tantrum that led to Rivers Cuomo, the unlikely roadie, becoming the frontman of the band.[16] Cuthbert also had a small role in Paris Hilton’s music video for the song “Nothing In This World”.

In 2007, Cuthbert appeared in the film, Captivity, a thriller centered around a fashion model taunted by a psychopath who has imprisoned her in a cellar,a role for which she was nominated for a Razzie award as “worst actress.”

In He Was a Quiet Man, Cuthbert played Vanessa, a quadriplegic, starring opposite Christian Slater. The film was in limited release in 2007, and it was released on DVD in early 2008.
2008-present: Current and future projects

In 2008, Cuthbert appeared in My Sassy Girl, a remake of a Korean film, starring alongside Jesse Bradford. Her next film is the family comedy The Six Wives of Henry Lefay with actor Tim Allen, in which she plays his daughter. She is one of the stars in the Canadian mini-series Guns, due to premiere sometime in 2009 and has appeared as a guest judge in season two, episode two of Project Runway Canada, where designers were challenged to create a “party dress” for Cuthbert.

Cuthbert reprised her character Kim Bauer in the seventh season of 24.She also was scheduled to star in the CBS drama pilot Ny-Lon, playing a New York literacy teacher/record-store clerk who embarks on a transatlantic romance with a London stockbroker. The project, which was based on a British series starring Rashida Jones and Stephen Moyer, has since been canceled.

Cuthbert is slated to voice Cleo, “the feline daughter of a wealthy kitty litter baron,” in Cat Tale, an animated film set in a civilized world of cats and dogs.

Personal life

Cuthbert, who enjoys painting,is an ice hockey fan and Los Angeles Kings season-ticket holder. In 2005, she maintained a blog on the NHL website, though she did not post for most of the season.She was once involved romantically with then-Los Angeles Kings player Sean Avery,and she is now dating Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames.Her relationship with the latter two hockey players turned into a minor scandal when her ex-boyfriend, Avery, told a Canadian reporter in December 2008, “I’m really happy to be back in Calgary. I love Canada and I just wanted to comment on how it’s become a common thing for guys in the NHL to fall in love with my sloppy seconds, I don’t know what that’s about.” Avery was suspended six games for the remarks,and was not invited to rejoin his team, the Dallas Stars, following his suspension.

Cuthbert regularly secures a place in FHM and Maxim’s annual “hottest women” lists. Her highest ranking was #4 in the 2008 UK Edition of FHM’s 100 Sexiest Women in the World list. She was ranked #14 in 2003, #10 in 2004, #5 in 2005, #22 in 2006, and #10 in 2007. The U.S. Edition ranked her #53 in 2003, #63 in 2004, and #54 in 2006. She was not listed in the U.S. 2005 list. Cuthbert was ranked #10 by AskMen.com readers in the list “Top 99 Women of 2007.” Maxim named her #92 in its 2006 Hot 100 list, #6 in 2008, and #43 in 2009, and the magazine features her in its Girls of Maxim Gallery.[31][32] As of 2006, Cuthbert has stated that she would refuse to be photographed nude in film roles or magazines and uses body doubles whenever necessary, specifying that she would “like to keep some things to herself.

SHE might be considered one of Hollywood’s sexiest stars, but Salma Hayek hates her body.

The actress - who is married to French billionaire François-Henri Pinault - has revealed how she won a “Best Body Award” - but was too embarrassed to accept it.

“I won a ‘Best Body Award’ from Fitness Magazine and I was too embarrassed to accept it,” Salma said. “I actually don’t have a good body, but if everybody thinks so, I guess it means I’m a good actress.

“I have acted the part of the girl who has a very good body. If you know how to dress, there’s some tricks you can pull.”

Salma, 43, also revealed what she’d be doing if she didn’t make a success of her acting career.

“Growing up, I thought about wanting to be a contortionist or maybe a trapeze artist,” she said. “I would have loved to do something gymnastic. I had another fantasy. Have you ever heard of the group ‘Up With People?’ They’re not a circus troupe, but they came to our city in Mexico when I was a kid doing motivational performances and singing songs about the power we have to change things.

“I had a dream of going away with them - just going from town to town and being in their show to help promote world peace. That was my real secret fantasy.”

Hayek - who got wed earlier this year - recently revealed that she’s still struggling to adjust to married life, especially her husband’s traditions.

“Eating oysters for Christmas is a weird one I didn’t know about,” she said. “I had no idea that would be happening. I’m used to turkey. It takes some getting used to.”