Grinning, glaring and hurling epithets to the friends and family members of the people he killed in a violent rampage across Brooklyn and Manhattan last winter, Maksim Gelman turned what was to be a predictable life sentencing into one final perverse spectacle.
The defenders of the salary structure have privately said that an executive like Kantarian has raised the profile of the United States Open, has helped raise attendance and has been behind the increase in TV ratings through such changes as the prime-time women's final, a spectacle that has been in place for three years.
The Rhinemaidens are the first and the last characters seen in the four-opera cycle, appearing both in the opening scene of Das Rheingold, and in the final climactic spectacle of Götterdämmerung, when they rise from the Rhine waters to reclaim the ring from Brünnhilde's ashes.
If neither the men's nor the women's final produced the spectacle that would have been hoped for, then that is often the way.
When Jade Goody, a 27-year-old Briton who travelled from unpromising origins to stardom via reality television, found out earlier this year that her ovarian cancer was terminal, she sold the spectacle of her final days to the highest bidder, for her sons' sake.
For the 48,000 neutrals here the Twenty20 World Cup final delivered a wonderful spectacle: a taut, fluctuating contest that was enthralling.
Because of YouTube, "Sports Center and the sheer wonder of the spectacle, the final game, Saturday's, will be remembered for Griffin's slam over the 7-foot-1 Timofey Mozgov.
Messiaen preferred to describe the final work as a "spectacle" rather than an opera.
19 October – Third presidential debate; Las Vegas The third and final debate is a wild spectacle.
