At the time of publication, the New York Times Book Review decried the novel as a “bizarrely contrived piece of literature, whose attempt, though valiant, at channeling the epiphanic style of Joyce, and the magical-realism of Garcia Marquez, is ultimately unconvincing”.
John Singer Sargent originally painted Alexander in a standing position holding a landing net but decided the portrait looked too contrived.
Even after the triumph of Henry III of England, Arnold suffered from the malice of his enemies, who contrived that he should be unfairly assessed for the tallages imposed upon the city.
Bill Meredith quipped in the JazzTimes that the album "simply lacks the unbridled improvisation and interplay of his stage shows" and that "the guests are also so numerous that things feel contrived".
The family lived in semi-poverty but contrived to send him to the University of Chicago and then to the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
The Sharp locomotives of the 1840s, particularly the 2-2-2 passenger and 0-4-2 goods, were almost completely Beyer's creations, and while he was careful to ensure that his designs were stout and long lasting, he also contrived to give his designs a distinctive and beautiful external appearance which became a tradition of Sharp locomotives.
Nonetheless, he considers that "Conan the Hero shows Carpenter’s strengths in writing action and detail," noting that "the friendship between Conan and Juma comes across as realistic, unlike certain contrived 'interracial-buddy' movies. ... Their ambience is similar to that between the late Robert B. Parker’s Spenser and Hawk, minus the racial bantering."
Washington wrote an indignant letter to John Jay about this action which was doing mischief by "inducing a belief that the suppression of intelligence at that critical juncture was a wicked trick of policy contrived by an aristocratic junto."
The Ādāb is cast in the parallellistic mode of expression born of the early Khotba and expanded and elaborated in Omayyad hortatory compositions, unembroidered with contrived rhyming of the sort found in later Abbasid prose literature.
In 1455 Jacques Cœur, wherever confined, contrived to escape into Provence.
While operating the studio, he worked with many artists, including Sloan, The Super Friendz, Jale, Thrush Hermit, Buck 65, Wintersleep, Contrived and Holy Fuck.
Just when you thought the plot couldn't be any more contrived, the triteness increases as Lenny and Rut Ru up the ante, culminating in cameos by Jimmy Pop and Jared Hasselhoff of the Bloodhound Gang, Don Vito, Rake Yohn, Compton Ass Terry, The Dudesons, Phil Margera, April Margera, Brandon Novak, Gina Lynn, Jess Margera, Chad I. Ginsburg, Ryan Gee, Joe Frantz!
The Dūrocs (led by fellow San Fran hippie leftover Ron Nagle) and the Ophelias mistakenly believe that weird songs call for wacky performances, resulting in a sort of contrived lunacy that's at odds with Spence's unself-conscious outpourings.
On account of his family relationship with the Miloslavsky family, he miscalculated the strength of the tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna, (September 17 N.S. September 27, 1657 – regent of Russia (1682–1689) – July 3 N.S. July 14, 1704), full sister of Feodor III and third daughter, also, of Tsar Alexei I of Russia by his first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya and became one of her most energetic supporters, but contrived to join the other, and winning, side just before the final catastrophe.
In the Visuddhimagga it is said that Mahākappina was present when she heard the Buddha preach, but the Buddha contrived to make him invisible.
However, contrived sequences can still cause worst-case complexity; David Musser describes a "median-of-3 killer" sequence that allows an attack against that strategy, which was one motivation for his introselect algorithm.
Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, through whose influence the council had been assembled, was absent during the whole of 1416 on a diplomatic mission in France and England; but when he returned to Constance in January 1417, as the open ally of the English king, Hallam as Henry V's trusted representative obtained increased importance, and contrived to emphasise English prestige by delivering the address of welcome to Sigismund.
This performance won O'Shaughnessy the Walter Lawrence Trophy for the fastest century of the season, despite its contrived circumstances, and equalled Percy Fender's 1920 record.
Steven H. Scheuer labelled the film as a "clunky yarn", (Scheuer, 1990: 869), while Mick Martin and Marsha Porter awarded the film their "turkey" rating, and criticised it for its "turgid direction and contrived plot", (Martin and Porter, 1996: 887).