"I plan to be stupid throughout my career," Mr. Mason, 30, said at the event, slumped in a chair wearing jeans and a rumpled gray-striped shirt.
This year's Brits has set the record as the most tweeted about television show in the UK, while the TV audience for the music awards event slumped to its lowest level since 2006.
Can Jessica Ennis handle the moment, shake off her big-event slump and deliver the gold for Britain in the heptathlon?
About an hour into the event, Berry slumped forward onto a keyboard and was helped offstage.
In the men's long jump, with the four-time Olympic champion Carl Lewis and the world record-holder Mike Powell retired, the event has slumped into mediocrity.
The combination of these events caused a slump in industrial production, sent stocks reeling and led to a sharp drop in tourism.
Jason Bedford, manager of financial services at the accounting and consulting firm KPMG in Beijing, acknowledged the risks to banks in the event of a big slump in the property and land prices they hold as collateral for loans.
Still, given the same management and no large-scale intervening events, like a market slump, there's every reason to believe that most closing funds will continue their winning ways, says Russel Kinnel, director of fund research at fund tracker Morningstar.
It could be revived at any time by any one of several events: a banking crisis, another slump, a political backlash or even unwise judicial meddling.
We are quick to generate causal stories for any event brought to our attention: a slump by our favorite athlete, a perceived snub by a colleague, or a larger than average yield of zucchini from our garden.
Some say the late slump is evidence that the event should be curtailed in length, a suggestion that has always been dismissed by fringe director Paul Gudgin.
