Learning engineering

Learning Engineering is the systematic application of evidence-based principles and methods from educational technology and the learning sciences to create engaging and effective learning experiences, support the difficulties and challenges of learners as they learn, and come to better understand learners and learning. It emphasizes the use of a human-centered design approach in conjunction with analyses of rich data sets to iteratively develop and improve those designs to address specific learning needs, opportunities, and problems, often with the help of technology. Working with subject-matter and other experts, the Learning Engineer deftly combines knowledge, tools, and techniques from a variety of technical, pedagogical, empirical, and design-based disciplines to create effective and engaging learning experiences and environments and to evaluate the resulting outcomes. While doing so, the Learning Engineer strives to generate processes and theories that afford generalization of best practices, along with new tools and infrastructures that empower others to create their own learning designs based on those best practices.
Supporting learners as they learn is complex, and design of learning experiences and support for learners usually requires interdisciplinary teams. Learning engineers themselves might specialize in designing learning experiences that unfold over time, engage the population of learners, and support their learning; automated data collection and analysis; design of learning technologies; design of learning platforms; or some combination. The products of learning engineering teams include on-line courses (e.g., a particular MOOC), software platforms for offering online courses, learning technologies (e.g., ranging from physical manipulatives to electronically-enhanced physical manipulatives to technologies for simulation or modeling to technologies for allowing immersion), after-school programs, community learning experiences, formal curricula, and more. Learning engineering teams require expertise associated with the content that learners will learn, the targeted learners themselves, the venues in which learning is expected to happen, educational practice, software engineering, and sometimes even more.
Learning engineering teams employ an iterative design process for supporting and improving learning. Initial designs are informed by findings from the learning sciences. Refinements are informed by analysis of data collected as designs are carried out in the world. Methods from learning analytics, design-based research, and rapid large-scale experimentation are used to evaluate designs, inform refinements, and keep track of iterations. According to the IEEE Standards Association's IC Industry Consortium on Learning Engineering, "Learning Engineering is a process and practice that applies the learning sciences using human-centered engineering design methodologies and data-informed decision making to support learners and their development."
History.
Herbert Simon, a cognitive psychologist and economist, first coined the term "learning engineering" in 1967. However, associations between the two terms "learning" and "engineering" began emerging earlier, in the 1940s and as early as the 1920s. Simon argued that the social sciences, including the field of education, should be approached with the same kind of mathematical principles as other fields like physics and engineering.
Simon’s ideas about learning engineering continued to reverberate at Carnegie Mellon University, but the term did not catch on until Bror Saxberg began using it in 2014
. A clear line can be drawn from Simon to Saxberg. In 1978, Herb Simon helped bring John Anderson to Carnegie Mellon and Anderson soon began to test his theory of cognition within intelligent tutoring systems. In 1998, Carnegie Learning was spun off producing the first widespread use of intelligent tutoring systems in K12 schools. In 2004, Kenneth Koedinger and Kurt Vanlehn started the Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center, or LearnLab for short. Bror Saxberg brought his team from Kaplan to visit CMU. The team went back to Kaplan, armed with LearnLab’s KLI framework, a theoretical framework linking cognition and instruction. They began executing what we now call learning engineering to enhance, optimize, and test their educational products. Bror Saxberg would later co-write the 2014 book using the term "learning engineering". It caught on this time.
Subsequently, the term "learning engineering" has come to emphasize a focus on applied research (rather than foundational or theoretical research), as well as incorporating research findings about how people learn in order to support learning and improve real-life learning outcomes.
Overview.
Learning Engineering is aimed at addressing a deficit in the application of science and engineering methodologies to education and training. Its advocates emphasize the need to connect computing technology and generated data with the overall goal of optimizing learning environments.
Learning Engineering initiatives aim to improve educational outcomes by leveraging computing to dramatically increase the applications and effectiveness of learning science as a discipline. Digital learning platforms have generated large amounts of data which can reveal immediately actionable insights.
The Learning Engineering field has the further potential to communicate educational insights automatically available to educators. For example, learning engineering techniques have been applied to the issue of drop-out or high failure rates. Traditionally, educators and administrators have to wait until students actually withdraw from school or nearly fail their courses to accurately predict when the drop out will occur. Learning engineers are now able to use data on "off-task behavior" or "wheel spinning" to better understand student engagement and predict whether individual students are likely to fail.
This data enables educators to spot struggling students weeks or months prior to being in danger of dropping out. Proponents of Learning Engineering posit that data analytics will contribute to higher success rates and lower drop-out rates.
Learning Engineering can also assist students by providing automatic and individualized feedback.
Carnegie Learning’s tool LiveLab, for instance, employs big data to create a learning experience for each student user by, in part, identifying the causes of student mistakes. Research insights gleaned from LiveLab analyses allow teachers to see student progress in real-time.
Common approaches.
A/B Testing.
A/B testing compares two versions of a given program and allows researchers to determine which approach is most effective. In the context of Learning Engineering, platforms like TeacherASSIST and Coursera use A/B testing to determine which type of feedback is the most effective for learning outcomes.
Neil Heffernan’s work with TeacherASSIST includes hint messages from teachers that guide students toward correct answers. Heffernan’s lab runs A/B tests between teachers to determine which type of hints result in the best learning for future questions.
UpGrade is an open-source platform for A/B testing in education. It allows EdTech companies to run experiments within their own software. ETRIALS leverages ASSISTments and give scientists freedom to run experiments in authentic learning environments. Terracotta is a research platform that supports teachers' and researchers' abilities to easily run experiments in live classes.
Educational Data Mining.
Educational Data Mining involves analyzing data from student use of educational software to understand how software can improve learning for all students. Researchers in the field, such as Ryan Baker at the University of Pennsylvania, have developed models of student learning, engagement, and affect to relate them to learning outcomes.
Platform Instrumentation.
Education tech platforms link educators and students with resources to improve learning outcomes. For example, Phil Poekert at the University of Florida College of Education’s Lastinger Center for Learning has created Flamingo, a platform that integrates critical functionalities like resources and teaching management systems along with a community-based forum.
Other platforms like MATHia, Algebra Nation, LearnPlatform, coursekata, and ALEKS offer interactive learning environments created to align with key learning outcomes.
Dataset Generation.
Datasets provide the raw material that researchers use to formulate educational insights. For example, Carnegie Mellon University hosts a large volume of learning interaction data in LearnLab's DataShop. Their datasets range from sources like Intelligent Writing Tutors to Chinese tone studies to data from Carnegie Learning’s MATHia platform.
Kaggle, a hub for programmers and open source data, regularly hosts machine learning competitions. In 2019, PBS partnered with Kaggle to create the 2019 Data Science Bowl. The DataScience Bowl sought machine learning insights from researchers and developers, specifically into how digital media can better facilitate early-childhood STEM learning outcomes.
Datasets, like those hosted by Kaggle PBS and Carnegie Learning, allow researchers to gather information and derive conclusions about student outcomes. These insights help predict student performance in courses and exams.
Learning Engineering in Practice.
Combining education theory with data analytics has contributed to the development of tools that differentiate between when a student is "wheel spinning" (i.e., not mastering a skill within a set timeframe) and when they are persisting productively. Tools like ASSISTments alert teachers when students consistently fail to answer a given problem, which keeps students from tackling insurmountable obstacles, promotes effective feedback and educator intervention, and increases student engagement.
Studies have found that Learning Engineering may help students and educators to plan their studies before courses begin. For example, UC Berkeley Professor Zach Pardos uses Learning Engineering to help reduce stress for community college students matriculating into four-year institutions. Their predictive model analyzes course descriptions and offers recommendations regarding transfer credits and courses that would align with previous directions of study.
Similarly, researchers Kelli Bird and Benjamin Castlemen’s work focuses on creating an algorithm to provide automatic, personalized guidance for transfer students. The algorithm is a response to the finding that while 80 percent of community college students intend to transfer to a four-year institution, only roughly 30 percent actually do so. Such research could lead to a higher pass/fail rate and help educators know when to intervene to prevent student failure or drop out.
Challenges.
The multidisciplinary nature of learning engineering creates challenges. The problems that learning engineering attempts to solve often require expertise in diverse fields such as software engineering, instructional design, domain knowledge, pedagogy/andragogy, psychometrics, learning sciences, data science, and systems engineering. In some cases, an individual Learning Engineer with expertise in multiple disciplines might be sufficient. However, learning engineering problems often exceed any one person’s ability to solve.
Each discipline brings its own metaphors and use of figurative language. Often a term or metaphor carries a different meaning for professionals or academics from different domains. At times a term that is used positively in one domain carries a strong negative perception in another domain.
Further reading.
Mark Lieberman. "Learning Engineers Inch Toward the Spotlight". Inside Higher Education. September 26, 2018.
External links.
The Simon Initiative


Celtic languages

The Celtic languages ( , ) are a group of related languages descended from Proto-Celtic. They form a branch of the Indo-European language family. The term "Celtic" was first used to describe this language group by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, following Paul-Yves Pezron, who made the explicit link between the Celts described by classical writers and the Welsh and Breton languages.
During the 1st millennium BC, Celtic languages were spoken across much of Europe and central Anatolia. Today, they are restricted to the northwestern fringe of Europe and a few diaspora communities. There are five living languages: Welsh, Breton, Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic. All are minority languages in their respective countries, though there are continuing efforts at revitalisation. Welsh is an official language in Wales and Irish is an official language of Ireland and of the European Union. Welsh is the only Celtic language not classified as endangered by UNESCO. The Cornish and Manx languages went extinct in modern times. They have been the object of revivals and now each has several hundred second-language speakers.
Irish, Scottish and Manx form the Goidelic languages, while Welsh, Cornish and Breton are Brittonic. All of these are Insular Celtic languages, since Breton, the only living Celtic language spoken in continental Europe, is descended from the language of settlers from Britain. There are a number of extinct but attested continental Celtic languages, such as Celtiberian, Galatian and Gaulish. Beyond that there is no agreement on the subdivisions of the Celtic language family. They may be divided into P-Celtic and Q-Celtic.
The Celtic languages have a rich literary tradition. The earliest specimens of written Celtic are Lepontic inscriptions from the 6th century BC in the Alps. Early Continental inscriptions used Italic and Paleohispanic scripts. Between the 4th and 8th centuries, Irish and Pictish were occasionally written in an original script, Ogham, but the Latin alphabet came to be used for all Celtic languages. Welsh has had a continuous literary tradition from the 6th century AD.
Living languages.
SIL Ethnologue lists six living Celtic languages, of which four have retained a substantial number of native speakers. These are the Goidelic languages (i.e. Irish and Scottish Gaelic, which are both descended from Middle Irish) and the Brittonic languages (i.e. Welsh and Breton, which are both descended from Common Brittonic).
The other two, Cornish (a Brittonic language) and Manx (a Goidelic language), died out in modern times with their presumed last native speakers in 1777 and 1974 respectively. For both these languages, however, revitalisation movements have led to the adoption of these languages by adults and children and produced some native speakers.
Taken together, there were roughly one million native speakers of Celtic languages as of the 2000s. In 2010, there were more than 1.4 million speakers of Celtic languages.
Classification.
Celtic is divided into various branches:
Continental/Insular Celtic and P/Q-Celtic hypotheses.
Scholarly handling of the Celtic languages has been contentious owing to scarceness of primary source data. Some scholars (such as Cowgill 1975; McCone 1991, 1992; and Schrijver 1995) distinguish Continental Celtic and Insular Celtic, arguing that the differences between the Goidelic and Brittonic languages arose after these split off from the Continental Celtic languages. Other scholars (such as Schmidt 1988) distinguish between P-Celtic and Q-Celtic, putting most of the Gaulish and Brittonic languages in the former group and the Goidelic and Celtiberian languages in the latter. The P-Celtic languages (also called Gallo-Brittonic) are sometimes seen (for example by Koch 1992) as a central innovating area as opposed to the more conservative peripheral Q-Celtic languages.
The Breton language is Brittonic, not Gaulish, though there may be some input from the latter, having been introduced from Southwestern regions of Britain in the post-Roman era and having evolved into Breton.
In the P/Q classification schema, the first language to split off from Proto-Celtic was Gaelic. It has characteristics that some scholars see as archaic, but others see as also being in the Brittonic languages (see Schmidt). In the Insular/Continental classification schema, the split of the former into Gaelic and Brittonic is seen as being late.
The distinction of Celtic into these four sub-families most likely occurred about 900 BC according to Gray and Atkinson but, because of estimation uncertainty, it could be any time between 1200 and 800 BC. However, they only considered Gaelic and Brythonic. The controversial paper by Forster and Toth included Gaulish and put the break-up much earlier at 3200 BC ± 1500 years. They support the Insular Celtic hypothesis. The early Celts were commonly associated with the archaeological Urnfield culture, the Hallstatt culture, and the La Tène culture, though the earlier assumption of association between language and culture is now considered to be less strong.
There are legitimate scholarly arguments in favour of both the Insular Celtic hypothesis and the P-Celtic/Q-Celtic hypothesis. Proponents of each schema dispute the accuracy and usefulness of the other's categories. However, since the 1970s the division into Insular and Continental Celtic has become the more widely held view (Cowgill 1975; McCone 1991, 1992; Schrijver 1995), but in the middle of the 1980s, the P-Celtic/Q-Celtic hypothesis found new supporters (Lambert 1994), because of the inscription on the Larzac piece of lead (1983), the analysis of which reveals another common phonetical innovation "-nm-" > "-nu" (Gaelic "ainm" / Gaulish "anuana", Old Welsh "enuein" "names"), that is less accidental than only one. The discovery of a third common innovation would allow the specialists to come to the conclusion of a Gallo-Brittonic dialect (Schmidt 1986; Fleuriot 1986).
The interpretation of this and further evidence is still quite contested, and the main argument in favour of Insular Celtic is connected with the development of the verbal morphology and the syntax in Irish and British Celtic, which Schumacher regards as convincing, while he considers the P-Celtic/Q-Celtic division unimportant and treats Gallo-Brittonic as an outdated hypothesis. Stifter affirms that the Gallo-Brittonic view is "out of favour" in the scholarly community as of 2008 and the Insular Celtic hypothesis "widely accepted".
When referring only to the modern Celtic languages, since no Continental Celtic language has living descendants, "Q-Celtic" is equivalent to "Goidelic" and "P-Celtic" is equivalent to "Brittonic".
How the family tree of the Celtic languages is ordered depends on which hypothesis is used:
"Insular Celtic hypothesis"
"P/Q-Celtic hypothesis"
Eska (2010).
Eska (2010) evaluates the evidence as supporting the following tree, based on shared innovations, though it is not always clear that the innovations are not areal features. It seems likely that Celtiberian split off before Cisalpine Celtic, but the evidence for this is not robust. On the other hand, the unity of Gaulish, Goidelic, and Brittonic is reasonably secure. Schumacher (2004, p. 86) had already cautiously considered this grouping to be likely genetic, based, among others, on the shared reformation of the sentence-initial, fully inflecting relative pronoun "*i̯os, *i̯ā, *i̯od" into an uninflected enclitic particle. Eska sees Cisalpine Gaulish as more akin to Lepontic than to Transalpine Gaulish.
Eska considers a division of Transalpine–Goidelic–Brittonic into Transalpine and Insular Celtic to be most probable because of the greater number of innovations in Insular Celtic than in P-Celtic, and because the Insular Celtic languages were probably not in great enough contact for those innovations to spread as part of a sprachbund. However, if they have another explanation (such as an SOV substratum language), then it is possible that P-Celtic is a valid clade, and the top branching would be:
Italo-Celtic.
Within the Indo-European family, the Celtic languages have sometimes been placed with the Italic languages in a common Italo-Celtic subfamily. This hypothesis fell somewhat out of favour following reexamination by American linguist Calvert Watkins in 1966. Irrespective, some scholars such as Ringe, Warnow and Taylor have argued in favour of an Italo-Celtic grouping in 21st century theses.
Characteristics.
Although there are many differences between the individual Celtic languages, they do show many family resemblances.
Examples:
Comparison table.
The lexical similarity between the different Celtic languages is apparent in their core vocabulary, especially in terms of the actual pronunciation of the words. Moreover, the phonetic differences between languages are often the product of regular sound change (i.e. lenition of /b/ into /v/ or Ø).
The table below contains words in the modern languages that were inherited directly from Proto-Celtic, as well as a few old borrowings from Latin that made their way into all the daughter languages. Among the modern languages, there is often a closer match between Welsh, Breton, and Cornish on one hand, and Irish, Gaelic and Manx on the other. For a fuller list of comparisons, see the Swadesh list for Celtic.
† Borrowings from Latin.
Examples.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."
Possibly Celtic languages.
It has been suggested that several poorly-documented languages may possibly have been Celtic.


Dance Fever

Dance Fever is an American musical variety series that aired weekly in syndication from January 1979 to September 1987. The series was technically created by Merv Griffin but his agent Murray Schwartz actually conceived the idea of a pilot which piggybacked on a special "Merv" salute to the movie "Thank God It's Friday" which would feature top disco dancers from 8 cities competing for a title. Casablanca Records had already paid for the set, so a pilot could be produced at a significant reduction. Merv's vision was to have frequent Griffin guest Deney Terrio as the host, and celebrities would dance with professional disco dancers. (In a sense, it was very similar to "Dancing with the Stars".) But pilot show producer Ernest Chambers had no success convincing the stars who were approached to consent to the format. They were afraid they would look bad. On the Sunday prior to the show, director Dick Carson suggested since they already had the dancers for the "Thank God It's Friday" salute, to select the top four couples from that show and have them compete on the pilot with celebrities as judges. "Nobody's ever going to see this thing anyway." Within a couple days, Sherman Hemsley, Barbi Benton, and Herve Villechaize were secured as the judges. After the Thursday night Griffin/"Thank God It's Friday" special was taped, show staffers Larry Strawther and Paul Gilbert were dispatched to lure the top four finishers to participate in the next night's pilot production, but keep it a secret. That didn't happen, but despite some acrimony among the dancers, not helped by a one-night stand between a couple of dancers that caused a rift, the pilot was produced and ended up being sold. Another long-time Griffin staffer, Paul Abeyta, produced the show's first two seasons which were written by Tony Garofalo. Later seasons were produced by Paul Gilbert.
Deney Terrio hosted the series until September 1985, when he was replaced by Adrian Zmed. Diane Day and Janet Jones were Motion (Terrio's regular backup dancers). The show's announcer for the first two years was Freeman King until September 1980 when he was replaced by Charlie O'Donnell who was the announcer on another Griffin show, "Wheel of Fortune".
During Terrio's tenure as host, the show's theme was performed by a musical team called Triple "S" Connection.
Format.
Each week, four dancing couples competed for a weekly cash prize of $1,000; Each couple performed their dance routine for 90–120 seconds and the celebrity judges scored them anywhere between 70 and 100 points, based on 4 categories: originality, showmanship, style, and technique. The couple with the highest average total score were the winners and advanced into the next round of competition. In the event of a tie, one set of celebrity scores was dropped in an effort to decide a winner; every fifth week was a semi-final show where those winning couples from the last four weeks competed for $5,000.
At the end of a 25-week competition, the five semi-final winners all came back to face off in the show's annual Grand Prix Finals for cash and prizes worth over $25,000 which included two brand new cars (one for each member of the winning dance team). In September 1984, the grand prize package was raised to $50,000.
Each week except for the year-end Grand Prix Finals, the show also featured a segment in which some of the top disco, pop, or R&B artists of the day would perform their latest hit.


Hi-NRG

Hi-NRG (pronounced "high energy") is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated in the United States during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
As a music genre, typified by a fast tempo, staccato hi-hat rhythms (and the four-on-the-floor pattern), reverberated "intense" vocals and "pulsating" octave basslines, it was particularly influential on the disco scene. Its earliest association was with Italo disco.
Characteristics.
Rock-oriented, heavily synthesized and, compared to regular disco music, devoid of "funkiness." Tempo ranges between 120 and 140 beats per minute although typically it is around 127. Lyrics tend to be overtly campy, tongue-in-cheek, sexually suggestive with double entendres but also occasionally sentimental or maudlin. Rhythm is characterized by an energetic, staccato, sequenced synthesizer sound of octave basslines or/and where the bass often takes the place of the hi-hat, alternating a more resonant note with a dampened note to signify the tempo of the record. There is also often heavy use of the clap sound found on drum machines.
One form of hi-NRG, as performed by Megatone Records artists and Ian Levine, is any uptempo disco and dance music, whether containing octave basslines or not, that often features covers of "classic" Motown hits (Boys Town Gang) and torch songs, is often "theatrical" in performance, featuring female (and male) musicians with facetious diva personas and male musicians sometimes in "drag" (Sylvester, Divine), cabarets/musical theater (Vicki Sue Robinson, Sharon Redd). This style, that Stock Aitken Waterman were influenced by, had a large cult following among LGBT club-goers in the 1980s, especially San Franciscan black and white gay men.
A second form, a precursor of Italian/Japanese "Eurobeat", with influences on techno and early Chicago house, primarily focuses on its characteristic sequenced "octave-jumping basslines" above anything else and in this form hi-NRG managed to surge into mainstream with Stacey Q, Kim Wilde, and Laura Branigan. The octave basslines are also found in electroclash and in both cases may be traced to synthpop and even further back to Moroder ("I Feel Love").
Terminology.
Donna Summer was interviewed about her single "I Feel Love", which was a mostly electronic, relatively high-tempo Euro disco song without a strong funk component. In the interview, she said "this song became a hit because it has a high-energy vibe". Following that interview, the description "high-energy" was increasingly applied to high-tempo disco music, especially songs dominated by electronic timbres. The tempo threshold for high-energy disco was around 130 to 140 BPM. In the 1980s, the term "high-energy" was stylized as "hi-NRG". Eurobeat, dance-pop and freestyle artists such as Shannon, Stock Aitken & Waterman, Taylor Dayne, Freeez or Michael Sembello were also labeled as "hi-NRG" when sold in the United States.
In the 1980s, "hi-NRG" referred not just to any high-tempo disco/dance music, but to a specific genre, only somewhat disco-like.
Ian Levine, a hi-NRG DJ, the in-house DJ at Heaven Nightclub in its early years and subsequently a record producer, defines hi-NRG as "melodic, straightforward dance music that's not too funky." Music journalist Simon Reynolds adds "The nonfunkiness was crucial. Slamming rather than swinging, hi-NRG's white European feel was accentuated by butt-bumping bass twangs at the end of each bar."
History.
High-tempo disco music dates back to the mid-1970s. Early examples include several British disco songs by Biddu and Tina Charles in 1976 and Patrick Hernandez ("Born to Be Alive") in 1979.
Examples of high energy disco acts include Claudja Barry, Miquel Brown, Amanda Lear, France Joli, Sylvester, Divine, Amii Stewart, The Pointer Sisters, Lime, Lisa, and The Weather Girls. San Francisco-based Patrick Cowley and New York producer and composer Bobby Orlando were behind a number of high energy hits in this period. Orlando acts include Divine, The Flirts, and Claudja Barry.
In the early 1980s, high energy music found moderate mainstream popularity in Europe, while opposing both Euro disco and electro on the dance scene and it became mainstream in the LGBT community in the United States. Hi-NRG was totally reliant on technology and was all about "unfeasibly athletic dancing, bionic sex, and superhuman stamina". Freedom seemed to be embodied by a literal escape from human embodiment and synchrony with technology. Hi-NRG embodied LGBT visibility on the dancefloor. However, this was generally limited to the bodies of men as evidenced by songs titled, “Menergy”, and “So Many Men, So Little Time”. Producers such as Bobby Orlando and Patrick Cowley created “an aural fantasy of a futuristic club populated entirely by Tom of Finland studs.”
During the same period, a genre of music styled as "hi-NRG" (EDM) became popular in Canada and the UK. The most popular groups of this style are Trans-X and Lime. The genre is closely related to space disco. Bands include Koto, Laserdance, and Cerrone. The hi-NRG sound also influenced techno and house music.
Commercial success.
In 1983 in the UK, music magazine "Record Mirror" began publishing a weekly hi-NRG Chart. Hi-NRG entered the mainstream with hits in the UK pop and dance charts (and the US dance charts), such as Hazell Dean's "Searchin' (I Gotta Find a Man)" and Evelyn Thomas's "High Energy".
In the mid-1980s, hi-NRG producers in the dance and pop charts included Levine, Bronski Beat and SAW, both of whom worked with many different artists. Stock Aitken Waterman had two of the most successful hi-NRG singles ever with their productions of Dead or Alive's "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" (UK #1, CAN #1, & US #11 in 1985) and Bananarama's "Venus" (US #1, CAN #1, & UK #8 in 1986). They also brought the genre full circle, in a sense, by writing and producing Donna Summer's 1989 hit "This Time I Know It's For Real" (UK #3, CAN #7 and US #7).
American music magazine "Dance Music Report" published hi-NRG charts and related industry news in the mid to late 1980s as the genre reached its peak. By 1990, however, techno and rave had superseded hi-NRG in popularity in many danceclubs. Despite this, hi-NRG music is still being produced and played in various forms, including many remixed versions of mainstream pop hits, some with re-recorded vocals. Later in the 1990s, nu-NRG music, a fusion of hi-NRG and trance, was born.


Trust Us with Your Life

Trust Us with Your Life is an American improvisational comedy television series, based on the BBC Two program "Fast and Loose". It premiered on ABC on July 10, 2012. It was hosted by Fred Willard and starred comedians Wayne Brady, Colin Mochrie, and Jonathan Mangum, with rotating performers which included Greg Proops, Craig Cackowski, Brad Sherwood, Nicole Parker, and Josie Lawrence. The performers would act out scenes in the lives of guest celebrities. Serena Williams, Ricky Gervais, Jerry Springer, Florence Henderson, Mark Cuban, Jack and Kelly Osbourne, David Hasselhoff and Jane Seymour appeared. Eight episodes were filmed in London, England.
Broadcast history.
Episodes 7 and 8 were originally scheduled to air July 31 and August 7, 2012, respectively. Even though the show was put on hiatus on July 30, these episodes were put on video streaming sites and were available to purchase the day after their originally-scheduled airdates.


List of descarga musicians

A descarga is an improvised jam session consisting of variations on Cuban music themes, sometimes incorporating elements from other Latin American traditions. Since the 1950s, descargas have enjoyed great popularity in the Latin music community, with many musicians and ensembles attaining international fame due to their descarga performances. This list compiles musicians which are widely considered to have become notable, at least in part, due to their descargas.


Women Artists in Revolution

Women Artists in Revolution (WAR) was a New York City-based collective of American women artists and activists that formed in 1969. They seceded from the male-dominated Art Workers' Coalition (AWC), prompted by the Whitney Museum of American Art's 1969 Annual (later the Whitney Biennial), which included only eight women out of the 143 featured artists shown.
In 1970, WAR members sent letters to the Whitney Museum, as well as the Museum of Modern Art, demanding both museums change their policies to be more inclusive of women artists. That same year, the Ad Hoc Committee of Women Artists formed and also concentrated on the discrimination of women in the Whitney Museum's annual survey exhibitions. These protest efforts led to an increase of women artists at the next Whitney Annual, rising from an average of 5–10% before 1969 to 22% in 1970.
In 1971, some members of WAR, along with a group called Feminists in the Arts, created the Women's Interart Center, the first alternative feminist space, where they established a graphics and silk-screen workshop taught by the artist Jacqueline Skiles. By 1972, WAR abandoned their efforts to change museum policies and focused more on consciousness-raising that concerned the struggles of women artists. In 1973, two former members of WAR—Mary Ann Gillies and Joan Glueckman—co-founded SOHO 20 Gallery.


Save the Last Dance 2

Save the Last Dance 2 (also known as Save the Last Dance 2: Stepping Up) is a 2006 dance drama film and a sequel to the 2001 film "Save the Last Dance". It was released to DVD on October 10, 2006 by Paramount Home Entertainment and MTV. While featuring some returning characters, none of the original cast are retained from the original film. R&B singer Ne-Yo makes an appearance in the film.
Plot.
The film continues the story of Sara Johnson (originally played by Julia Stiles and now portrayed by Izabella Miko). She recalls how she was born to be a dancer. Her mother would often comment that she knew how to pirouette before she could properly walk. From her earliest memories Sara always wanted to be a ballerina, a graceful dancer who could glide across the stage. Inspired by her Idol Philomena Kerplunk played by Suze Williams, It seemed that there was something that caused conflict in Sara's ambition. She also loves the urban dance form of hip-hop. While ballet is highly structured, full of rules and standards, hip-hop gives Sara a chance to let go and follow the beat. Sara wants the best of both worlds but the conflict between structure and independence affects her performance in both genres.
The film is set soon after the original. Sara has made the first part of her dream come true. Her audition with the Juilliard School of Dance worked out well and she was accepted, resulting in her moving from Chicago to New York City. Sara would soon find out that as rough as it was to get there, staying would require raising the bar to almost painful heights. Her idol and ballet instructor, Monique Delacroix (Jacqueline Bisset), is old school when it comes to demanding each student master the traditional and arduous curriculum. She has little to no use for the influence of any other form of dance on ballet, so the concept of hip-hop is not only foreign to the staid teacher, it is repugnant.
During orientation on her first day at Juilliard, Sara meets Miles Sultana (Columbus Short), who takes her for a trombone player. When she tells him she is there for ballet, he questions whether she is a ballerina. Sara boldly states that she is already a ballerina; she is there to become a prima ballerina. This sets up a playful antagonism that later develops into a romantic relationship. Sara also has to deal with the students at her new school. In a high pressure school like Juilliard, the more favor you gather with the teachers the more jealousy you encounter from the students. It is a cut-throat environment with an extremely high failure rate.
Among her new classmates is Marcus (Matthew Watling), who infuriates Delacroix the first day for wearing pants that 'swish'. Then there is Katrina (Maria Brooks), who is destined to be the main rival for Sara. It also turns out that Miles is actually her guest lecturer for 'Introduction to Hip-Hop Theory'. Miles invites Sara and her new roommate Zoe to a club, where Sara demonstrates her skills by having a dance off with local dance star and club favorite Candy (Tracey "Tre" Armstrong). Due to her late night partying, she is late for her ballet class and is scolded and punished by Ms Delacroix.
Struggling to stay, Sara tries to save herself from being dismissed by working extremely hard, which makes her decline Miles's request for her to design choreography for an art exhibit he's involved with. In pain and desperation, Sara takes pills offered to her by Katrina to lose weight and relieve the pain in her joints. After vomiting in Delacroix's office and having the pills noted in the bucket, she is assured that she is not being cut and advised not to take them anymore. She continues to work hard and improves daily. She also agrees to help Miles with his project. During a chance meeting with Philiomena Kerplunk (Suze Williams) Philly convinces Sara that she will have the last dance and that she is still as hip as she was in the first movie.
Delacroix properly supports her after Sara demonstrates her talent, causing Katrina to become even more jealous. Katrina gets the lead in "Giselle", but is injured during practice. Sara must now take her part, which is extremely technically demanding. Sara works relentlessly, struggling between her two commitments. Katrina, in a final act of revenge, reveals Sara's relationship with Miles to Delacroix. It is revealed that Delacroix is Miles's mother. She discusses Sara's future with Miles and encourages him to end their relationship so it doesn't interfere with her fulfilling her dreams.
Sara withdraws from her participation in the gallery project and focuses on the ballet performance. During rehearsal, she is confronted by Zoe and Miles's friend Franz (Ian Brennan) about refusing to assist with the gallery project even though Miles is struggling. Zoe angrily accuses Sara of becoming Delacroix. Sara is also informed that the dress rehearsal for the gallery project is on the night of her ballet performance and no one from that group will be able to see her as Giselle. Right before the ballet performance, Zoe comes and apologizes for her behavior and delivers a CD from Miles of him playing piano. She performs her role as Giselle flawlessly, but finds in the end that she feels nothing despite her tremendous success. She declines to attend the afterparty full of industry luminaries and tells Delacroix that she is not willing to sacrifice love, friendship, and happiness for ballet. She leaves and goes to the dress rehearsal, makes up with Miles, and performs the piece she choreographed, finally looking happy.
Reception.
Christopher Null of Filmcritic.com was critical of the film, stating it "retreads the original "Dance" pretty much completely". He noted that Miko lacks the girl-next-door charm of Stiles, but suggested she does make for a more credible ballerina.
Home media.
The film was released on DVD October 10, 2006. The DVD includes a making of feature.


Musical saw

A musical saw, also called a singing saw, is a hand saw used as a musical instrument. Capable of continuous glissando (portamento), the sound creates an ethereal tone, very similar to the theremin. The musical saw is classified as a plaque friction idiophone with direct friction (132.22) under the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification.
Playing.
The saw is generally played seated with the handle squeezed between the legs, and the far end held with one hand. Some sawists play standing, either with the handle between the knees and the blade sticking out in front of them. The saw is usually played with the serrated edge, or "teeth", facing the body, though some players face them away. Some saw players file down the teeth which makes no discernable difference to the sound. Many—especially professional—saw players use a handle, called a Tip-Handle or a Cheat, at the tip of the saw for easier bending and higher virtuosity.
To sound a note, a sawist first bends the blade into an S-curve. The parts of the blade that are curved are damped from vibration, and do not sound. At the center of the S-curve a section of the blade remains relatively flat. This section, the "sweet spot", can vibrate across the width of the blade, producing a distinct pitch: the wider the section of blade, the lower the sound. Sound is usually created by drawing a bow across the back edge of the saw at the sweet spot, or sometimes by striking the sweet spot with a mallet.
The sawist controls the pitch by adjusting the S-curve, making the sweet spot travel up the blade (toward a thinner width) for a higher pitch, or toward the handle for a lower pitch. Harmonics can be created by playing at varying distances on either side of the sweet spot. Sawists can add vibrato by shaking one of their legs or by wobbling the hand that holds the tip of the blade. Once a sound is produced, it will sustain for quite a while, and can be carried through several notes of a phrase.
On occasion the musical saw is called for in orchestral music, but orchestral percussionists are seldom also sawists. If a note outside of the saw's range is called for, an electric guitar with a slide can be substituted.
Types.
Sawists often use standard wood-cutting saws, although special musical saws are also made. As compared with wood-cutting saws, the blades of musical saws are generally wider, for range, and longer, for finer control. They do not have set or sharpened teeth, and may have grain running parallel to the back edge of the saw, rather than parallel to the teeth. Some musical saws are made with thinner metal, to increase flexibility, while others are made thicker, for a richer tone, longer sustain, and stronger harmonics.
A typical musical saw is wide at the handle end and wide at the tip. Such a saw will generally produce about two octaves, regardless of length. A bass saw may be over at the handle and produce about two-and-a-half octaves. There are also musical saws with 3–4 octaves range, and new improvements have resulted in as much as 5 octaves note range. Two-person saws, also called "misery whips", can also be played, though with less virtuosity, and they produce an octave or less of range.
Most sawists use cello or violin bows, using violin rosin, but some may use improvised home-made bows, such as a wooden dowel.
Producers.
Musical saws have been produced for over a century, primarily in the United States, but also in Scandinavia, Germany, France (Lame sonore) and Asia.
United States.
In the early 1900s, there were at least ten companies in the United States manufacturing musical saws. These saws ranged from the familiar steel variety to gold-plated masterpieces worth hundreds of dollars. However, with the start of World War II the demand for metals made the manufacture of saws too expensive and many of these companies went out of business. By the year 2000, only three companies in the United States—Mussehl & Westphal, Charlie Blacklock, and Wentworth—were making saws. In 2012, a company called Index Drums started producing a saw that had a built-in transducer in the handle, called the "JackSaw".
Outside the United States.
Outside the United States, makers of musical saws include Bahco, makers of the limited edition Stradivarius, Alexis in France, Feldmann and Stövesandt in Germany, Music Blade in Greece and Thomas Flinn & Company in the United Kingdom, based in Sheffield, who produce three different sized musical saws, as well as accessories.
Events, championships and world records.
The International Musical Saw Association (IMSA) produces an annual International Musical Saw Festival (including a "Saw-Off" competition) every August in Santa Cruz and Felton, California. An International Musical Saw Festival is held every other summer in New York City, produced by Natalia Paruz. Paruz also produced a musical saw festival in Israel. There are also annual saw festivals in Japan and China.
A Guinness World Record for the largest musical-saw ensemble was established July 18, 2009, at the annual NYC Musical Saw Festival. Organized by Paruz, 53 musical saw players performed together.
In 2011 a World Championship took place in Jelenia Góra/Poland. Winners: 1. Gladys Hulot (France), 2. Katharina Micada (Germany), 3. Tom Fink (Germany).
Performers.
This is a list of people notable for playing the musical saw.
Marlene Dietrich.
German actress and singer Marlene Dietrich, who lived and worked in the United States for a long time, is probably the best-known musical saw player. When she studied the violin for one year in Weimar in her early twenties, her musical skills were already evident. Some years later she learned to play the musical saw while she was shooting the film "Café Elektric" in Vienna in 1927. Her colleague, the Bavarian actor and musician Igo Sym, taught her how to play. In the shooting breaks and at weekends both performed romantic duets, he at the piano and she at the musical saw.
Sym gave his saw to her as a farewell gift. The following words are engraved on the saw: "Now Suidy is gone / the sun d’ont [sic!] / shine… / Igo / Vienna 1927"
She took the saw with her, when she left for Hollywood in 1929 and played there in the following years at film sets and Hollywood parties.
When she participated in the United Service Organizations (USO) shows for the US troops in 1944, she also played on the saw. Some of these shows were broadcast on radio, so there exist two rare recordings of her saw playing, embedded in entertaining interviews. 1. Aloha Oe 2. other song
Composers and compositions.
Beginning from the early 1920s composers of both contemporary and popular music wrote for the musical saw.
One of the first was Franz Schreker who included the musical saw in his opera "Christophorus" (1925-29) where it is used in the séance scene of the second act. Other early examples include Dmitri Shostakovich: he included the musical saw, e.g., in the film music for "The New Babylon" (1929), in "The Nose" (1928), and in "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" (1934).
Shostakovich and other composers of his time used the term "Flexaton" to mark the musical saw. "Flexaton" just means "to flex a tone"—the saw is flexed to change the pitch. Unfortunately, there exists another instrument called Flexatone, so there has been confusion for a long time. Aram Khachaturian, who knew Shostakovich's music, included the musical saw in his Piano Concerto (1936) in the second movement. Another composer was the Swiss Arthur Honegger, who included the saw in his opera "Antigone" in 1924 .
The Romanian composer George Enescu used the musical saw at the end of the second act of his opera "Œdipe" (1931) to show in an extensive glissando—which begins with the mezzo-soprano and is continued by the saw—the death and ascension of the sphinx killed by Oedipus.
The Italian composer Giacinto Scelsi wrote a part for the saw in his quarter-tone piece "Quattro pezzi per orchestra" (1959). German composer Hans Werner Henze took the saw to characterize the mean hero of his tragical opera "Elegy for young lovers" (1961).
Other composers were Krysztof Penderecki with "Fluorescences" (1961), "De natura sonoris Nr. 2" (1971) and the opera "Ubu Rex" (1990), Bernd Alois Zimmermann with "Stille und Umkehr" (1970), George Crumb with "Ancient voices of children" (1970), John Corigliano with "The Mannheim Rocket" (2001).
Composer Scott Munson wrote "Clover Hill" (2007) for saw and orchestra, Quintet for saw and strings (2009), "The World Is Too Much with Us" for soprano singer, saw and strings (2009), "Ars longa vitas brevis" for saw and string quartet (2010), 'Bend' for saw and string quartet (2011) many pieces for jazz band and saw (2010–2013), "Lullaby for the Forgotten" for saw and piano (2015), and many movie and theater scores containing the saw.
Chaya Czernowin used the saw in her opera "PNIMA...Ins Innere" (2000) to represent the character of the grandfather, who is traumatized by the Holocaust.
There are further Leif Segerstam, Hans Zender (orchestration of "5 préludes" by Claude Debussy), and Oscar Strasnoy (opera "Le bal").
Russian composer Lera Auerbach wrote for the saw in her ballet "The Little Mermaid" (2005), in her symphonic poem "Dreams and Whispers of Poseidon" (2005), in her oratorio "Requiem Dresden – Ode to Peace" (2012), in her Piano Concerto No.1 (2015), in her comic oratorio "The Infant Minstrel and His Peculiar Menagerie" (2016) and in her violin concerto Nr.4 "NyX – Fractured dreams" (2017).
Canadian composer Robert Minden has written extensively for the musical saw. Michael A. Levine composed "Divination By Mirrors" for musical saw soloist and two string ensembles tuned a quarter tone apart, taking advantage of the saws ability to play in both tunings.
Other composers for chamber music with musical saw are Jonathan Rutherford ("An Intake of Breath"), Dana Wilson ("Whispers from Another Time"), Heinrich Gattermeyer ("Elegie für Singende Säge, Cembalo (oder Klavier)", Vito Zuraj ("Musica di camera" (2001)) and Britta-Maria Bernhard ("Tranquillo").


Eszter Szalczer


Teh pr0n


Marble gun

A marble gun is a type of an improvised firearm or zip gun that shoots marbles, through gas pressure from the ignition of denatured alcohol. The weapon has been mainly found in Southeast Asia, including a 2014 case in the Vietnam highlands where a boy killed a friend with a marble gun while hunting, and an event where a local Filipino jurisdiction banned the guns, noting they had been confiscated but not penalized in other towns in the region.


Wetpixel

Wetpixel is an online community website dedicated to providing the latest information on digital underwater photography and imaging. Established in 2001 by Eric Cheng, it is now published and edited by [Adam Hanlon] with assistance from Associate Editor Abu Mullens, [Alex Mustard], Drew Wong, Cor Bosman, the volunteer Wetpixel staff, and numerous other contributors. Wetpixel includes breaking news, features, equipment reviews, photo contests, and an active community forum.
In 2003, Wetpixel.com was awarded the Antibes Festival prize for Best Website, and in November 2005, Scuba Diving Magazine dubbed Wetpixel.com the Editor's Choice for Best Dive-Related Website.


Nihilist Spasm Band

The Nihilist Spasm Band (NSB) is a Canadian noise band formed in 1965 in London, Ontario. The band was founded by Hugh McIntyre, John Clement, John Boyle, Bill Exley, Murray Favro, Archie Leitch, Art Pratten, and Greg Curnoe. Leitch has since retired, Curnoe was killed in a bicycle accident in 1992, and McIntyre died of heart failure in 2004. The band members are mostly local artists. They were one of the artists named on the Nurse with Wound list
The term "spasm band" refers to a band that uses homemade instruments. Most of the NSB's instruments are modifications of other instruments, or wholly invented by the members. In addition to the homemade instruments, members are encouraged to improvise. The range of the improvisation is such that instruments are not tuned to each other, tempos and time signatures are not imposed, and the members push the ranges of their instrumentation by engaging in constant innovation and ever-increasing volume over the course of a performance.
Zev Asher's documentary film "What About Me: The Rise of The Nihilist Spasm Band" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2000. Drawing from the inspiration of finding a copy of the Nihilist Spasm Band's first L.P. "No Canada" in the pile of 1970's ephemera in his family's basement; the documentary explores the legacy of the NSB as Canadian noise music pioneers.


Jack Foley (sound effects artist)

Jack Donovan Foley (April 12, 1891 – November 9, 1967) was the developer of many sound effect techniques used in filmmaking. He is credited with developing a unique method for performing sound effects live and in synchrony with the picture during a film's post-production. Accordingly, individuals engaged in this trade are called "Foley artists".
He worked on pictures such as "Melody of Love" (1928), "Show Boat" (1929), "Dat Ol' Ribber", "Dracula", "Spartacus", and "Operation Petticoat". For his work in Hollywood, Foley received the Motion Picture Sound Editors' Golden Reel Award.


Brennan Clost

Brennan Clost (born October 20, 1994) is a Canadian actor and dancer, known for portraying the role of Daniel on the Family series "The Next Step". In 2020, he starred in the Netflix dance drama series "Tiny Pretty Things".
Early and personal life.
Clost was born on October 20, 1994, in Burlington, Ontario. Whilst growing up, he was bullied by classmates, stating that they made "very crass comments", threw snowballs at him and he would "get looks" in the hallway. Clost studied dance at various dance studios across southern Ontario, including National Ballet School of Canada and Springboard Danse Montreal. Initially wanting to study medicine at university, he was advised by his dance teacher to audition for the Juilliard School.
In March 2012, he auditioned and was accepted into the Juilliard School on a scholarship, making it as one of two male Canadian dancers to be accepted onto the course. Clost's choreography was showcased annually at Juilliard's Choreographic Honours Program and in elementary schools throughout New York City, and he graduated in 2016. Through dance, Clost has damaged his ankle, had Achilles tendinitis and had "serious wrist and shoulder problems". Clost has stated that he does not label himself with a sexuality, but added that he is "not straight".
Career.
Clost began dancing competitively at the age of seven. His accolades include being world silver medalist in the International Dance Organization junior soloist category in Germany (2008), and being named as one of the Top Senior Male Dancers at The Dance Awards in New York City (2011). In 2012, he made his professional acting debut in a television advertisement for shaving company Gillette. In the same year, he was cast in the Family series "The Next Step" as Daniel. He portrayed the role regularly until 2015, when he took a two-year break to focus on completing his studies at Juilliard, returning in 2017. Also in 2017, Clost starred in the in web series "Spiral", alongside "The Next Step" co-star Alexandra Beaton. In 2019, he was cast in the Netflix dance drama series "Tiny Pretty Things" as Shane, which premiered in December 2020.


Haus Party, Pt. 2

Haus Party, Pt. 2 is the third extended play by American singer-songwriter, actor, and YouTube personality Todrick Hall. It is the second of the "Haus Party" trilogy. While it was originally announced to be released in July 2019, the release was delayed to September 19, 2019. The EP features six new songs, as well as three remixes.
Promotion.
On August 19, 2019 an official remix "Nails, Hair, Hips, Heels" featuring American singer Ciara was released on August 19, 2019. Following the EP's release, music videos were released for "Wig", "Fag", and "Dripeesha" on September 20, September 25, and October 9, 2019 respectively. "Wig" entered the US Dance/Electronic Songs chart at number 49.
To promote the EPs, Hall embarked on the Haus Party Tour in October and November of 2019.
Track listing.
Credits taken from Tidal.
All songs written by Carl Seanté McGrier, Jean Yves "Jeeves" Ducornet, Kofi Owusu-Ofori, and Todrick Dramaul Hall and produced by Jeeve, Todrick Hall, and Wiidope.


Garbage day is a very dangerous day


Tlacuilas y Retrateras

Tlacuilas y Retrateras was one of the first feminist art collectives in Mexico, it was founded in May 1983 by Ruth Albores, Consuelo Almeda, Karen Cordero, Ana Victoria Jiménez, Lorena Loaiza, Nicola Coleby, Marcela Ramírez, Isabel Restrepo, Patricia Torres and Elizabeth Valenzuela based on  a feminist art workshop taught by Mónica Mayer at the Academia de San Carlos, National School of Plastic Arts (UNAM).
The name of the group refers to the Nahuatl tradition of tlacuilos: men and women who, under the protection of the Goddess Xochiquetzal, “focused on the expression and interpretation of the universe of beliefs that ancient peoples held about time, space, their history and knowledge,” that were represented in murals and codices.
In 1984, the Tlacuilas y Retrateras collective separated shortly after presenting their controversial work "La fiesta de XV años".
Context.
The social movements and revolutionary ideas that swept through the world during the 1960s and 1970s also had an important impact on the arts. Significantly, groups emerged with an active critical political stance as they confronted  social problems that demonstrated the possibilities of using art to facilitate social transformation.
The second wave feminist movement, which had begun in the United States and Europe, gained strength along with these social movements. The questions raised by feminism are also evident in the postures of various artists, who exercised "... with greater impetus their right to self-representation, to talk about themselves, to socialize and denounce the problems they faced as women based on the slogan ‘The personal is political.’ Thus, they carried out a series of practices that included, for example, the re-appropriation of their body and the positive reinterpretation of it, challenging gender stereotypes, the questioning of everything understood  as feminine and the active participation in protests using aesthetic elements."
In Mexico, feminist women's groups organized in the 1970s, and the ideas of women's liberation that were traveling around the world were also influencing Mexican women's’ artistic practices, Mónica Mayer, Magali Lara, Lourdes Almeida, Yolanda Andrade, Carla Rippey, Rosalba Huerta, Lucila Santiago were some of the artists whose work represents their reflection on being women and their condition in society. But it was not until 1983, that the first art collectives with openly feminist political positions were formed: Tlacuilas y Retrateras in May, Polvo de Gallina Negra in June and Bio-Arte in November. The three pioneer collectives collaborated in some actions together, although each with its own specificities.
Tlacuilas y Retrateras originated during the course on feminist art that Mónica Mayer taught at the San Carlos Academy from 1983 to 1984. Using as a point of departure the social context, group dynamics and the reading of texts written by historians, theorists and art critics such as Linda Nochlin and Lucy R. Lippard, that this group of visual artists, photographers, historians and art critics -Mayer's students- decided to form a feminist art group.
Work.
1983
1984
Research.
The first action they organized as a collective was to conduct an investigation about the condition of visual artists in Mexico. It included approximately 400 visual artists, with whom they conducted a series of interviews with female artists, art school teachers and students, critics, officials of cultural institutions and owners of commercial galleries. Based on the results obtained, they developed the following lines of action:
On October 7, 1983, they participated in the march organized by feminists from the National Women's Network, during which they made banners. In that same year, during a protest in favor of decriminalizing abortion, they participated in the creation of a "Corona Luctuosa" which contained various objects and herbs that women use to induce an abortion at home and clandestinely, often risking their lives.
In 1984, they published the results of their research on the problem of visual artists in the feminist magazine Fem. They also participated in the exhibition "Las mujeres artistas o se solicita esposa" organized by the also feminist collective Polvo de Gallina Negra and exhibited at the Library of Mexico.Their most well-known work is "La Fiesta de XV años," which was held in August 1984 at the Academia de San Carlos. Through this performance work they sought to:
a) To initiate a reflection on traditionally trivialized themes, b) to conceptualize from a feminist point of view, the sociocultural significance of the quinceañera, achieve a global artistic action that involves the participation of visual artists, intellectuals and the community in general, d) to call upon artists to submit their proposals on the quinceañera, e) to publicize the event in the mainstream media.
These objectives were achieved: more than 2,000 people from the artistic community and the public attended “La fiesta de XV años.” It included performances by Polvo de Gallina Negra, Bio-Arte and Tlacuilas y Retrateras, the organization of an exhibition of works by mostly women artists, and a roundtable discussion with advice for the quinceañeras. They also invited José Luis Cuevas and Raquel Tibol among other celebrities as godfathers and godmothers, read poetry by writers such as Magali Tercero and Patricia Vega, and the closing ceremony was organized by the Polvo de Gallina Negra collective with their performance titled "Tres recetas."
In “La fiesta de XV años” they used a visual language derived from Conceptual Art, a transgressive act at the time, especially when addressing issues that were considered irrelevant: the ritual of the quinceañera party, sexuality, the questioning of that which is conceived of as feminine and gender roles. They also carried out a desecration of “cult” art: they dressed the replica of the Victory of Samothrace located in the central courtyard of the San Carlos Academy in a typical dress for the quinciñera party and surrounded it with dry ice.
The media’s coverage and criticism was broad and totally adverse, which confirms their work as transgressive feminist intervention in the Mexican cultural-artistic sphere.
Shortly after "La Fiesta de XV años", Tlacuilas y Retrateras concluded its existence as a collective. Their separation is attributed to various reasons, including: the difficulty of accepting themselves as feminist artists in a hostile environment, the adverse criticism of their work and the end of the workshop taught by Mónica Mayer.


BSEG


Annabel Takes a Tour

Annabel Takes a Tour is a 1938 comedy directed by Lew Landers, starring Lucille Ball and Jack Oakie. Annabel (Lucille Ball) is on a promotional tour and, as a publicity stunt, leaks a story that she is having a romantic fling with a famous romance novelist. The film is a sequel to "The Affairs of Annabel".
Plot.
Frustrated at being upstaged in the press by a colleague who's making headlines with her aristocratic fiancé, movie star Annabel Allison insists that studio chief Howard Webb rehire dangerously resourceful publicist Lanny Morgan. Allison, Morgan, Josephine, and Poochy depart by train for Chicago on a public-appearance tour in conjunction with the premiere of Allison's latest film. Morgan accidentally sends Allison through a trap door as she addresses the Chicago audience, and he attempts unsuccessfully to capitalize on the mishap for PR purposes by exaggerating Allison's injuries. While recuperating in her hotel, Allison learns that author Ronald River-Clyde is staying down the hall, and she realizes his aristocratic title could solve her publicity problems. She and Morgan work independently to manipulate River-Clyde into a high-profile date with Annabel; but when Annabel gets so carried away with her fantasies of accommodating the viscount's presumed loftiness that she decides to shun publicity, she finds herself at cross purposes with her press agent. While Annabel pursues a quiet relationship with River-Clyde, Lanny keeps trying to push them into the spotlight. Meanwhile, an initially baffled River-Clyde has been persuaded by his publisher to use Annabel for his own publicity, so he does not resist Annabel's romantic pursuit of him. When Annabel goes so far as to give up her career, Morgan tries to break up the romance, for which purpose he engages a hotel manicurist with Hollywood ambitions to confront River-Clyde onstage at Annabel's rescheduled premiere, claiming to be an abandoned wife. The manicurist is a dolt and the stunt does not come off; but, immediately thereafter, River-Clyde is confronted by his real wife and children, who have traveled from England to intervene, with legal assistance. Annabel and her entourage escape the process server by boarding a train. When Morgan discovers that River-Clyde and his family are also on the train, he disconnects the caboose so that Annabel and her party drift free.


List of improvisational theatre companies

Improvisational theatre companies, also known as improv troupes or improv groups, are the primary practitioners of improvisational theater. Modern companies exist around the world and at a range of skill levels. Most groups make little or no money, while a few, well-established groups are profitable.
Although improvisational theater has existed in some form or another since the 16th century, modern improv began with the teachings of Viola Spolin in Chicago, Illinois, USA and Keith Johnstone during the 1940-50s in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Spolin's teachings led to the creation of The Compass Players, the first modern improvisational theater company, in 1955. The presence of The Compass Players, The Second City, and ImprovOlympic in Chicago created a strength in the form within the city that continues to this day. New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Toronto are other major hubs of improvisational theater in the North America.
Many companies host improvisational theatre festivals or give improvisational theatre classes. Professional groups often perform a regular stage show acted by the most senior members. Along with this, they host "house" improv teams made up of improv students or graduates from their classes. In the past decade, professional improvisational theater groups have gradually started working more with corporate clients, using improvisational games to improve productivity and communication in the workplace.
Major Professional companies have branches in more than one city, have touring groups, and/or host large-scale improvisational comedy schools. Professional troupes are those not affiliated with a university or secondary school. Collegiate groups are those associated with a post-secondary educational institution. If a company performs more than one type of improvisational comedy, they are defined as using Multiple improvisational comedy types. If it is unclear what particular kind of improvisational comedy a group performs, they are defined as Improvisational. Those marked Semi-improvisational generally perform shows that are partially improvised and partially scripted.
The following is a list of noteworthy improvisational theatre companies from around the world.
Improvisational theatre companies in the United States.
codice_1This group is no longer performing.


You Got the Right One, Baby

"You Got the Right One, Baby, Uh Huh" was a popular slogan for PepsiCo's Diet Pepsi brand in the United States and Canada from 1990 to 1993. A series of television ads featured singer Ray Charles, surrounded by models, singing a song about Diet Pepsi, entitled "You Got the Right One Baby, Uh Huh". The tag-phrase of the song included the words "Uh Huh!", which, as part of the ad campaign, were featured on Diet Pepsi packaging. Later, after Diet Pepsi phased out the aspartame / saccharin mix in favor of a 100% aspartame formula, many commercials ended with an announcer saying, "With 100% Uh Huh" replacing the earlier "With 100% NutraSweet".
The advertising campaign was created for Pepsi by BBD&O, a major New York advertising agency, and the song used in the commercials, entitled "Ray's Song" was penned by the team at Sunday Productions, also of New York City. One of the commercials was directed by Joe Pytka.
Another songwriter penned a composition with the same tag-line, and unsuccessfully attempted to receive credit for the commercial.
According to him: The song was written (as a love song) 1989 by Arthur Takeall of Annapolis, Maryland, first performed over radio station WEBB in Baltimore. Takeall has a registered copyright on the song and owner of the Federal Registered Trademark, "You Got the Right One, Baby, Uh Huh".
Prince's recording of his track 'Uh Huh' has often led to the mistaken belief that Prince wrote the jingle used in the commercials.
But the song was written by Diet Pepsi creative director Alfred Merrin and jingle writer Peter Cofield, who tried to tailor the catchphrase "the right one" to Ray Charles' delivery and consequently added "baby".
Charles' backing singers The Raelettes then added "Uh huh" after playing around with other two-syllable alternatives, such as "doo-woo".
Version.
The Indian version of the slogan, "Yehi hai right choice, Baby" (This is the Right Choice, Baby) in Hinglish, by Pepsi became immensely popular in the 1990s. The TV commercial directed the Mukul Anand, featured singer Remo Fernandes and actress Juhi Chawla, while its sequel saw actor Aamir Khan and Aishwariya Rai, then a model. It has since become a catchphrase in Indian popular culture.
In popular culture.
The song's title quickly became a catchphrase across North America, and was referenced in various television shows and movies of the time, including "The Cosby Show", "Foofur", "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", "Coneheads" and "Rookie of the Year". The commercials themselves played on the parodies. One series of commercials showed people who opened cans of Diet Pepsi being thanked by Ray Charles and his backup singers with an "uh huh" (or the occasion "uh uh" for people who drank diet sodas from rival companies). Another commercial showed unsuccessful auditions with gangsta rappers, heavy metal bands and opera singers participating in a contest all singing "You Got The Right One Baby", in their most original format. A cash prize would be awarded to the best original rendition of "You Got The Right One Baby, uh huh". over 300,000 videos were submitted, to that extent Diet Pepsi awarded 10 first place prizes to the best and most original renditions. There was also a parody on Animaniacs in Chalkboard Bungle.


We Saw Your Boobs


Jusep Torres Campalans

Jusep Torres Campalans is the "biography" of a fictitious Catalan painter written by Spanish novelist Max Aub and published in 1958. According to the book, during his stay in Paris Campalans became one of the co-founders of the Cubist movement. After the beginning of World War II, he is said to have moved to Mexico, where he spent the rest of his life as a recluse in Chiapas. The book even included a catalogue of his works (written by "H. R. Town") for a planned exhibition at the Tate Gallery in 1942 (which, of course, never materialized), with illustrations and photos. Parallels with Aub's life have been noted. The book is still often listed as a real biography.


JGIYN


Bergman Island

Bergman Island is an upcoming internationally co-produced drama film, written and directed by Mia Hansen-Løve. It stars Mia Wasikowska, Vicky Krieps, Tim Roth, Anders Danielsen Lie, Joel Spira, and Clara Strauch.
Production.
In May 2017, it was announced Greta Gerwig, John Turturro, and Mia Wasikowska had joined the cast of the film, with Mia Hansen-Løve directing from a screenplay she wrote. Charles Gillibert will serve as producer on the film, under his CG Cinema banner. In May 2018, Anders Danielsen Lie joined the cast of the film, with Rodrigo Teixeira joining as a producer, under his RT Features banner. In August 2018, it was announced Vicky Krieps had joined the cast of the film, replacing Gerwig who had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. Piano also served as a producer on the film, along with co-producer Charlotte Dauphin of Dauphin Films. In May 2019, Tim Roth joined the cast of the film.
Filming.
Principal photography began on August 9, 2018 on Fårö, an island in Sweden. Production paused in September 11, 2018 and recommenced on June 17, 2019.


Ttbomk


Flim Flam Films

Flim Flam Films is a 1927 silent animated short subject featuring Felix the Cat.
Plot.
Felix tries to put three kittens to bed as part of their nap time. He then goes to the living room to chat with his iceweasel buddy. It appears the little cats are not sleepy as they cry in boredom. While Felix wonders what he should do, his friend offers a suggestion of taking the kittens to a cinema.
Felix and the kittens are off to a cinema in town. He tries to purchase tickets at a booth but it appears cats are not permitted in the theater as the seller shoos them away. They then disguise themselves as a man, and manage to buy a ticket without the seller realizing. Their disguise, however, does not keep them covered for long when a guard at the cinema entrance spots some bizarreness on top. Feeling completely exposed, they split up and flee. The four cats are still desperate in wanting watch as they sneak through a tiny opening in the cinema's walls. Finally inside, they get to see a film, and the one starring in it turns out to be Felix himself, much to the kittens' enjoyment. But when the Felix character in the film gets attacked by a lion, the angry kittens rush forth and assault the screen, therefore causing a commotion from the audience.
On a field just outside town, the kittens are weeping about never getting to watch something, and Felix is still wondering what he should do next. In no time Felix comes up with an idea, and tells the little cats that they should create their own film.
Hours later, Felix and the kittens return to the field, bringing with them a crank-operated movie camera. Using the device, Felix takes videos of a ballet dancer, a marching band, a rising hot air balloon, and a female swimmer in the lake whom Felix romances with. The kittens also take some shots too.
They then return home that night to watch the film they made. The characters in the film, however, appear upside down but Felix is able to make quick adjustments. It appears the female swimmer whom Felix dated is the iceweasel's girlfriend, much to the annoyance of that guy who's in attendance. The iceweasel mercilessly batters Felix. The kittens are too frightened to intervene, knowing the iceweasel is more powerful than the lion in the cinema film. Felix is left covered in a lot of bandages, an image he would display again in "Whys and Other Whys".


Expectations (Katie Pruitt album)

Expectations is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Katie Pruitt, released by Rounder Records on February 21, 2020. The album has received positive reviews from critics. The album is made up of compositions about Pruitt's life. On November 24, 2020, "Expectations" was nominated for a Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
Reception.
 Album of the Year characterized the critical consensus as a 75 out of 100. For "Paste", Eric R. Danton gave "Expectations" a seven out of 10, praising the emotional depth of the lyrics but criticizing formulaic songwriting and some lyrics that fall flat. Sam Sodomsky of "Pitchfork" gave it the same rating, writing that it has strong arrangements and stately ballads. In "Exclaim!", Scott Roos gave it an eight out of 10 for truth-telling lyrics and a "first-rate" band. "American Songwriter"s Hal Horowitz scored "Expectations" at four out of five for wise production that accentuates her lyrics, along with a balance of musical genres. Introducing Pruitt for a feature, Kelly McCartney of "No Depression", called the release "stunning" and continued, "As an artist’s opening statement, the album is bold and beautiful, impactful and entertaining. It’s an exercise in courage so exquisitely raw that Brown would surely be proud of it." Joseph Hudak of "Rolling Stone" praised Pruitt's "nimble guitar playing" and "elastic voice". NPR's Jewly Hight characterized the album with, "Pruitt's done that with such clarity of expression and disarming intimacy—"Expectations" is aesthetically warmhearted even in its tensest moments of confrontation—that she's given her own family a greater understanding of her experience".


Digitally Mastered Analog Recording


Final Cut (upcoming film)

Final Cut () is an upcoming zombie comedy film directed by Michel Hazanavicius. It is a French remake of the 2017 Japanese film "One Cut of the Dead". It stars Romain Duris and Bérénice Bejo.
Production.
Filming began on 19 April 2021 in Paris.


Zorz


Runet

Runet (), a portmanteau of ru (code for both the Russian language and Russia's top-level domain) and net/network, is the Russian-language community on the Internet and websites. The term Runet was coined in Israel in the spring of 1997 by an Israeli resident and Russian-language speaker from Baku, Azerbaijan, blogger Raffi Aslanbekov () also known in Russia as Great Uncle, an author of the online column Great Uncle's Thoughts. Runet was popularized by early Internet users and was included in several dictionaries, including the spelling dictionary of the Russian Academy of Sciences, edited by V. V. Lopatin in 2001.
For ordinary users, the term Runet means that the content of websites is available for Russian users without foreign language skills, or that online shops have an office in Russia (for example, Russian search engines, e-mail services, anti-viruses, dictionaries, Russian-language clones of Facebook, Amazon, YouTube, eBay, PayPal, Foursquare, etc. for usage in all post-Soviet states), so the term is related to practical usage for end users. Being on the Runet gives a company some advantage, as many local IT-companies are more successful than foreign services on the Russian market. The term can describe the situation of the 1990s to the early 2000s; foreign companies didn't want to operate in the Russian market and localize their products, so Russia-based start-ups were more attractive to Russian speaking users. Nowadays, some Russian users are not interested in usage of such services as Facebook or Google Maps because local services have more Russia-specific features and local community (VK.com, Yandex services, etc.), though many international websites have very high quality Russian localization and Google search has had full support of Russian morphology for about 10 years. These situations are more or less applicable to most of post-Soviet states and these states are using the Internet in Russian language and forming a common lingua franca community like English on the Internet.
Many officials of the Russian government actively use this term as a synonym for Internet in the territory of Russia, i.e. for Internet infrastructure, which is subject to Russian law (including Russian censorship laws, copyright, corporate, advertisement laws, etc.), but the Russian online community doesn't support this use of the term as millions of users use the Russian language on the Internet while living outside Russia; Russian is spoken in large parts of eastern Europe that do not fall under Russian territory. Some Russian officials automatically believe that the Russian Wikipedia is based in Russia as a business entity and try to control the content of the website or establish a Russia-based clone of Wikipedia.
The country domain ".ru" in Russian phonology does not sound like the first syllable of the country's name, since "Russia" in Russian is called "Rossiya", with an O. The pronunciation of the word Runet is closer to the pronunciation of "Russian language" - russky yazyk" [u] instead of Rossiya" [о].
Historical overview.
Historically the term Runet has been described in several ways.
Research.
Harvard University's Berkman Center conducts regular researches of Internet in Russia, and, in particular, has papers named "Mapping RuNet Politics and Mobilization" and "RuNet Echo". The prominent Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) regular Internet measurements are titled Runet.fom.ru. There are Russian internet-reviewing newspapers called TheRunet, Runetologia and others.