This is a carrot and stick approach -- in which the carrot may be the lure of an exclusive interview, and the stick is the publicists' insistence that you should cover disturbing half-chair half-woman type films as a trade-off to gain access to the cast of a great one.

CNN: Behind the red carpet at Cannes

Similarly, if you only saw one film and it happened to be the fabulous "Waltz with Bashir" you might have a happier memory of Cannes than if it happened to be Michel Gondry's half-woman, half-chair story.

CNN: Behind the red carpet at Cannes

We also observed that the sporran makes an extremely handy man-bag in which to store festival essentials -- Blackberry, press pass, and Zimbabwean amounts of Euros, with which to purchase endless espressos and thereby ensure wakefulness during the most demanding screenings, in which a half-woman, half-chair would represent a relatively conservative plot.

CNN: Behind the red carpet at Cannes

One post is that of president of the European Council, who for a two-and-a-half year term will chair summits and represent national leaders abroad.

ECONOMIST: Ireland and the Lisbon Treaty

Compounding the difficulty of reaching the top level is that now there are scores of full-time, traveling, professional chair umpires who spend half the year hopping from tournament to tournament, though in his first year of professional umpiring, Kaufman says he was on the road for more than 40 weeks.

FORBES: How To Become A Chair Umpire

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Nearly half Venezuela's voters don't want Nicolas Maduro in the presidential chair.

NPR: Chavez Heir Begins 6-Year Term With Weak Mandate

And there's a second way in which it might be changed: half way through the Parliament - so in about June, I assume - the chair and members of the backbench committee will face re-election.

BBC: The year ahead in Parliament

Mr Kille and his collaborators asked half of their volunteers (47 romantically unattached undergraduate students) to sit in a slightly wobbly chair next to a slightly wobbly table while engaged in the task assigned.

ECONOMIST: Psychology: Tall, dark and stable | The