"Branch Wars" is the tenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's sixty-third episode overall. Written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Joss Whedon,^[1] the episode originally aired in the United States on November 1, 2007 on NBC. The episode marks the return of season three regular Rashida Jones, who plays Jim's former girlfriend Karen, now Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin Utica.^[2]

Karen tries to "poach" Stanley from Dunder Mifflin Scranton, and Stanley informs the branch that he is leaving. In revenge, Michael and Dwight trick Jim into traveling to the company's Utica branch, where the group attempts to play a prank on Karen. Back at the office, Pam, Oscar, and Toby try to hold a club meeting, with disastrous results.^[2]

Plot[link]

Karen Filippelli (Jones) attempts to lure Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) away from Scranton by offering him a pay raise. Regional Manager Michael Scott (Steve Carell), believing that Karen is doing this to get back at Assistant Regional Manager Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) for "dumping" her, decides to retaliate. Michael and salesman Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) trick Jim into joining them on a trip to Utica to prank Karen’s branch. After a failed attempt to steal the branch's industrial copier, the group is discovered by Karen, who chastises them in her office. Privately, she mocks Jim for devising such an elaborate ruse to see her. Jim’s attempts to deflect the issue are unsuccessful, letting slip that he and Pam are happily dating. The group returns to Scranton, where Michael bids Stanley farewell. Stanley decides to stay in Scranton, revealing that his threat was a bluff to get a raise.

Meanwhile, Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer), Oscar Martinez (Oscar Nunez), and Toby Flenderson (Paul Lieberstein) form a "Finer Things Club", discussing literature, music, and the arts. Their meetings are regularly disrupted by other employees, particularly Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), whose desperate efforts to join prove unsuccessful. Pam invites Jim to join the club but regrets the move when, during the discussion of Angela's Ashes, Jim merely speaks in an Irish brogue and reveals that he hasn’t actually read the book.

Production[link]

"Branch Wars" was the second Office episode directed by Joss Whedon, the creator of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly.^[3] Whedon had previously directed the third season episode "Business School".^[3] The episode was the seventh Office episode written by Mindy Kaling, who also acts for the show as customer service representative Kelly Kapoor.^[4] "Branch Wars" marked the return of Karen Filippelli, who was a regular as a member of the Dunder Mifflin Stamford branch, and later Dunder Mifflin Scranton in the third season. Her last previous appearance was the fourth season premiere Fun Run, although she only appeared in one scene. Utica salesman Ben Nugent, although not appearing on screen, is heard via a telephone conference and shares the same name as Kaling's former real-life boyfriend, Benjamin Nugent.^[5]

Reception[link]

"Branch Wars" received a 5.0/7 in the Nielsen ratings, meaning that five percent of households were tuned in at any given moment and seven percent of all televisions in use at the time were tuned in to the program. The episode was watched by 8.39 million viewers and achieved a 4.5/11 in the ages 18–49 demographic.^[6] Mindy Kaling's writing in the episode was nominated for "Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series" in the 2008 NAACP Image Awards.^[7]

Oscar Dahl, a senior writer for BuddyTV, gave the episode a favorable review and stated that "Tonight's Office was possibly the funniest of the season."^[8] Christine Fenno of Entertainment Weekly stated that "... 'Branch Wars', penned by Mindy Kaling, didn't measure up to the brilliance of last week's episode ('Local Ad') but served up plenty of laughs."^[9] Travis Fickett of IGN stated that "This episode feels like it comes in two halves, one that works and one that doesn't so much " when referring to the trip to Utica, and "The Finer Things Club", respectively, but later pointed out that "Despite being a somewhat bumpy ride, the episode has a fair number of big laughs." Fickett particularly enjoyed Jim's character in the episode, and his actions and reactions to the situation that he became involved in.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

• "Branch Wars" at NBC.com
• "Branch Wars" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Branch Wars" at TV.com

Theodore Lockard Thomas (born 1920) is an American chemical engineer and attorney who wrote more than 50 science fiction short stories, published between the early 1950s to the late 1970s. He also collaborated on two novels with Kate Wilhelm, as well as producing stories under the pseudonyms of Leonard Lockard and Cogswell Thomas, and has been nominated for a Nebula award and a Hugo Award.

Bibliography[link]

Collaborations with Kate Wilhelm[link]

• The Clone (1965, expanded from his 1959 short story of the same name)
• The Year of the Cloud (1970)

Short stories[link]

• "The Far Look", in Astounding, August 1956
• "Ceramic Incident", in Astounding, October 1956
• "The Innocents’ Refuge", in Science Fiction Stories, May 1957
• "Satellite Passage", in If, Dec 1958, and available in The Best of the Best Part One
• "Day of Succession", in Astounding, August 1959
• "The Clone", in Fantastic, Dec 1959
• "December 28th", in Playboy, Dec 1959
• "The Intruder", in Fantasy and Science Fiction, Feb 1961
• "Test", in Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1962
• "The Lonely Man", in Galaxy, April 1963
• "The Ice Ages", in Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1965
• "Science Springboard, The: Smog", article in Fantasy and Science Fiction, Jan 1966
• "The Doctor", in Orbit 2, 1967
• "The Weather on the Sun", in Orbit 8, 1970 (Also available in The Science Fictional Solar System)
• "Early Bird (Cogswell)", in Astounding, 1973 (Also available in The John W Campbell Memorial Anthology)
• Ker-Plop, in Asimov's Science Fiction, 1979
• "The Splice", in Fantasy and Science Fiction, March 1981

As Cogswell Thomas[link]

• "Paradise Regained", in Saving Worlds, 1973

As Leonard Lockard[link]

• "The Lagging Profession" (1961)
• "Improbable Profession" (1952), in Astounding, September 1952 (co-written with Charles L. Harness)

External links[link]

• Theodore L. Thomas Short Story Guide
• Discussion of Thomas and the accuracy of his predictions
• Theodore L. Thomas at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Immortal Technique
Immortal Technique performing in March 2010.
Background information
Birth name	Felipe Andres Coronel
Born	(1978-02-19) February 19, 1978 (age 34) Lima, Lima Province, Peru[1]
Origin	Harlem, New York, United States
Genres	East Coast hip hop, alternative hip hop, political hip hop, Underground Hip Hop, Hardcore Hip Hop
Occupations	Rapper
Years active	2000–present
Labels	Viper Records
Associated acts	Akir, Diabolic, Lowkey, Chino XL, DJ Green Lantern, La Coka Nostra, Jean Grae, Rockin' Squat, Mos Def, Dead Prez, Ras Kass, Krs-One, Pumpkinhead, Reppin MG
Website	myspace.com/immortaltechnique

Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper of Afro-Peruvian descent as well as an urban activist. He was born in Lima, Peru and raised in Harlem, New York.^[2] Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics. The views expressed in his lyrics are largely commentary on issues such as class struggle, poverty, religion, government and institutional racism.

Immortal Technique has voiced a desire to retain control over his production,^[3] and has stated in his music that record companies, not artists themselves, profit the most from mass production and marketing of music. He claimed in an interview to have sold close to 200,000 copies of his three official releases.^[4]

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Coronel is African-Peruvian and was born in 1978 in a military hospital in Lima.^[1] His family emigrated in 1980 to Harlem.^[5] During his teenage years he was arrested multiple times due in part to what he has said was "selfish and childish" behavior. He attended Hunter College High School on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Shortly after enrolling in Pennsylvania State University, he was arrested and charged with assault-related offenses due to his involvement in an altercation between fellow students, the charges stemming from this incident led to him being incarcerated for a year.^[1][6] After being paroled, he took political science classes at Baruch College in New York City for two semesters at the behest of his father, who allowed Coronel to live with him on the condition that he go to school.^[7] Honing his rapping skills in jail, and unable to find decent wage-paying employment after his release, Coronel began selling his music on the streets of New York while battling with MCs whenever the opportunity arose.^[8][9][10] This, coupled with his victories in numerous freestyle rap competitions of the New York underground hip hop scene such as Rocksteady Anniversary, Braggin Rites and others, led to his reputation as a ferocious Battle MC.^[11]

Revolutionary Vol.1 and Vol.2[link]

In 2001, Immortal Technique released his first album Revolutionary Vol. 1 without the help of a record label or distribution, instead using money earned from his rap battle triumphs^[11]. He also battled but lost to Posta Boy in 106 & Park's Freestyle Friday. Revolutionary Vol. 1 also contained the underground classic Dance With The Devil. In November 2002, he was listed by The Source in its "Unsigned Hype" column, highlighting artists that are not signed to a record label. The following year, in September 2003, he received the coveted "Hip Hop Quotable" in The Source for a song entitled "Industrial Revolution" from his second album. Immortal Technique is the only rapper in history to have a "Hip Hop Quotable" while being unsigned.^[11] He released his second album Revolutionary Vol. 2 in 2003. In 2004, Viper Records and, in 2005, Babygrande Records re-released Immortal Technique's debut, Revolutionary Vol. 1, to make it available to a wider audience. "Point of No Return" from Revolutionary Vol 2 was used as the entrance theme for Rashad Evans during the UFC 88 Main Event between Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans.

Revolutionary Vol.3 and The Middle Passage[link]

Immortal Technique (left) at the Roskilde Festival, 2006.

Between 2005 and 2007 Immortal Technique began working on The Middle Passage and The 3rd World, the two albums that would serve a follow up to Revolutionary Vol. 2 and complete the series. He was also featured on several movie soundtracks and video game soundtracks, all the while touring relentlessly and becoming heavily involved in visiting prisons to speak to youth and working with immigrant rights activists and raising tens of thousands of dollars for children’s hospitals overseas. He invested his money not in items that are usually associated with fame but rather in large pieces of farmland in Latin America. He created a writing grant program for high school students as well.^[12]

The Martyr[link]

In October 2011 Immortal Technique released The Martyr, a free compilation album of previously unreleased material and new tracks. ^[13]

Collaborations[link]

The summer of 2005 saw the release of "Bin Laden", a vinyl single 12" featuring Mos Def and DJ Green Lantern. The single also contained a remix of the song featured Chuck D of Public Enemy and KRS-One. In early 2006, the song "Impeach the President", featuring Dead Prez and Saigon turned up in the mixtape "Alive on Arrival" DJ Green Lantern. This is a simple version of The Honeydrippers, 1973, in which Immortal Technique urged fans to organize a vote of censure against George W. Bush. In April 2009, a new song leaked on the internet named "Democratie Fasciste (Article 4)" by Brazilian-French rapper Rockin' Squat which featured Immortal Technique. The official release of the song and Rockin' Squat's album Confessions D'un Enfant Du Siècle Volume 2 was on May 12, 2009. The instrumental from the song was sampled from Wendy Rene's "After Laughter". The song expresses the inequalities of the Third World and revolutionary events throughout history against tyranny and oppression. The song contains lyrics in English (Immortal Technique), French (Rockin' Squat) and brief shout outs in Spanish (Immortal Technique). This song is Immortal Technique's first official international collaboration.^[14] In early 2009, it was announced that there would be a collaboration between Technique and UK underground artist Lowkey, on a single called "Voices of the Voiceless". On September 11, 2009, a "snippet" of the song was released on YouTube.^[15] The preview was released ahead of its September 21 launch on iTunes, as part of a web-campaign that included updates, promotion and links on forums, E-Magazines and several social networking sites. The song's lyrics cover a broad range of issues that are familiar to listeners of both artists – racism, world revolution, war, socialism, government control, rape, famine, colonialism, Classism, self-determination and the war in Iraq.^[16]

Charitable work[link]

Immortal Technique performing in March 2010.

In June 2008, Immortal Technique partnered with Omeid International, a Non–Profit Human Rights Organization, to lend his support. He dubbed the work as "The Green Light Project". With the profits of The 3rd World album, Immortal Technique traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan to help Omeid build an orphanage without any corporate or external funding. The orphanage, having been successfully established, currently houses over 20 orphaned children from Kabul.^[17]

Films[link]

[edit] The (R)evolution of Immortal Technique

A documentary about Immortal Technique was released in September 2011 and premiered at the Harlem Film Festival.^[18]

[edit] This Revolution

Immortal Technique appeared as himself in a docudrama film entitled This Revolution, which was recorded during the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York. The tape contains the protests surrounding the convention in the form of a documentary. It also featured Viper Records affiliates Akir and producer SouthPaw in roles.

Since then Immortal Technique has taken control of Viper Records and has signed a distribution deal with Babygrande Records / E1 Entertainment to vent to their next album. SouthPaw has managed to establish himself as A&R of Viper Records.

Discography[link]

Studio Albums[link]

Compilation Albums[link]

• 2011: The Martyr

Singles[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Find more about Immortal Technique on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons
	Quotations from Wikiquote

• Official website
• Immortal Technique on Twitter
• Immortal Technique on Myspace
• Immortal Technique at Allmusic
• Immortal Technique at MTV
• Immortal Technique at AllRovi
• Immortal Technique at the Internet Movie Database