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PASSION TRUMPS PATIENCE AGAIN
True, he was not the choice of billionaire owner Mike Ashley. Instead, Allardyce formed part of the legacy left to the club by the departure of former chairman Freddy Shepherd. As such he was always on shifting sands with Ashley sitting in his black and white replica shirt amid the Geordie faithful, hearing at first hand the pain as each desperate week went by.
The biggest criticism of Allardyce among the fans, few of whom welcomed his arrival, was that he was a long ball merchant. A pragmatic manager. A man who had performed creditably with Bolton via little more than muscle and determination.
But he was not a manager of vision or adventure. Not a man to thrill the Geordie footballing soul as Kevin Keegan had done a decade before.
Those critics were correct. More>>
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Coming Soon: SR to Release E-mail Exchanges ... (Not so fast...)
Update: After reviewing the messages and our options (none good), we've decided not to post the messages. Here's the situation: Of the 50 messages, a few have explicit photos embedded in the message. We can't publish those photos (one shows a toddler's penis). We also have a strong ethical policy against blurring or otherwise manipulating photos.
Some of the messages are completely innocuous. The rest of the messages only refer to attachments. Those attachments are explicit, so we can't publish them.
We've also gone through each message to blur e-mail addresses for privacy reasons.
So, if we don't publish any of the explicit images, and we refuse to blur, crop or otherwise alter them, all we're left with is a bunch of forwarded messages that say things like "take a look at this!"
We decided that did not advance the story in any significant way. More>>
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Inaugural Middle East International Film Festival - Abu Dhabi Black ...
Winner of the Black Pearl for Best Animated Short Film. Other awards announced at the Closing Night Awards Ceremony include the Hayah Film Competition, Variety Middle East Filmmaker of the Year Award, UAE Filmmakers of the Year, and Audience Choice Awards for Best Short Film, Best Fiction and Best Documentary. The Black Pearl trophy (designed by Mohammed Gomaa, with the Grand Jury Prize was hand designed Azza Qubeisi is a handmade sculpture representing the beautiful and rare black pearl originally discovered in the pristine waters of the Abu Dhabi coastline, and a symbol that is an integral part of Abu Dhabi history and culture. The Black Pearl Awards also come with a production grant that will help launch the filmmaker's future projects. The winners were chosen by a jury of the upper echelon of the filmmaking community, and includes for features; Ian Birnie, Director of Film Department of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Elliot Kotek, Editor-in-Chief of Moving Pictures Magazine; Christian Frei, renowned documentary filmmaker; Ann Bernier, veteran film producer; Mohamed Al-Ahmad, head of the National Film Organization in Syria; Naguib Ayad, an executive producer in Tunisia and Claudia Landsberger, media industry executive and film festival consultant. More>>