Keith Urban

Keith Lionel Urban (born 26 October 1967) is a New Zealand-born Australian-American singer, songwriter, and record producer. In 1991, he released a self-titled debut album, charting four singles in Australia before moving to the United States the following year. He found work as a session guitarist before starting a band known as The Ranch, which recorded one studio album on Capitol Nashville and charted two singles on the US "Billboard" Hot Country Songs chart.
Still signed to Capitol, Urban made his solo American debut in 1999 with a second eponymous album. Certified platinum in the US by the RIAA, it produced his first number one on the Hot Country Songs chart with "But for the Grace of God". "Somebody Like You", the first single from his second Capitol album "Golden Road" (2002), was named by "Billboard" as the biggest country hit of the 2000s decade. The album's fourth single, "You'll Think of Me", earned him his first Grammy Award. 2004's "Be Here", his third American album became his highest-selling album, being certified 4× Platinum. "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing" was released in 2006, containing "Once in a Lifetime" as well as his second Grammy Award-winning song, "Stupid Boy". A greatest hits package titled "" followed in late 2007. "Defying Gravity" and "Get Closer" were released on 31 March 2009 and 16 November 2010, respectively. In September 2013, he released the album "Fuse", which produced four more number ones on the Country Airplay chart. "" was released in June 2015 as the lead single of his eighth American studio album, "Ripcord". The album later produced the Country Airplay chart number-one hits "Break on Me", "Wasted Time", and "Blue Ain't Your Color", with the latter also becoming Urban's longest-reigning number one on the Hot Country Songs chart, spending 12 weeks atop the chart. His tenth album, "Graffiti U", was released in 2018 and includes the Top 10 hit "Coming Home". His eleventh album "The Speed of Now Part 1" was released in 2020 and includes the global hit "One Too Many" with Pink, in addition to Country Airplay top ten hits "We Were" and "God Whispered Your Name".
Urban has released a total of eleven studio albums (one of which was released only in Australia), as well as one album with The Ranch. He has charted 37 singles on the US Hot Country Songs chart, 18 of which went to number one, counting a duet with Brad Paisley ("Start a Band") and the 2008 single "You Look Good in My Shirt", which he previously recorded on "Golden Road". Those also include his third Grammy Award-winning single "Sweet Thing" from his album "Defying Gravity".
Urban is also known for his role as a coach on the Australian version of the singing competition "The Voice" and as a judge on "American Idol". In October 2013, Urban introduced his own signature line of guitars and accessories.
Early life.
Urban was born on 26 October 1967, in Whangarei, New Zealand. He is the youngest son of Marienne and Robert "Bob" Urbahn. He lived with his parents in Caboolture, Queensland, Australia. His father, who owned a convenience store, put an ad for a guitar teacher in his shop window. Urban took lessons from his teacher, Sue McCarthy, and began entering local competitions, in addition to acting in a local theatre company. Urban has stated that his guitar playing was influenced by two rock players, Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) and Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac).
In 1983, Urban was a contestant on the Australian TV talent show "New Faces". A few years later, he began making inroads into the Australian country music scene, with regular appearances on the Reg Lindsay Country Homestead TV Program, Mike McClellan's Music Program, and various other TV programmes performing duets with local Brisbane girl Jenny Wilson. They won a Golden Guitar award at the Tamworth Country Music Festival. Urban also performed regularly on stage at the Northern Suburbs Country Music Club in Bald Hills, where he was a member. He was in a band called 'Kids Country', which performed during school holidays at various venues and made appearances on the Reg Lindsey show and Conway Country.
Musical career.
1990–1999: Early years.
In 1990, Urban signed with EMI in Australia and released his self-titled debut album. He appeared on the 1990 compilation album "Breaking Ground - New Directions in Country Music", which was nominated for the 1991 ARIA Award for Best Country Album. He toured as a backup act to Slim Dusty between 1993 and 1994. In the mid-1990s, both people recorded a re-worked duet of Dusty's classic "Lights on the Hill". Urban appeared for the first time at the Grand Ole Opry backing Dusty. He also sang backing vocals on INXS's live album "Live Baby Live" (1992).
Urban moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1992. The next year, he appeared in the music video for Alan Jackson's rendition of "Mercury Blues". He and Vernon Rust co-wrote "Jesus Gets Jealous of Santa Claus" on Toby Keith's 1995 album "Christmas to Christmas", 4 Runner's 1996 single "That Was Him (This Is Now)", and "Tangled Up in Love" on the Raybon Brothers' 1997 self-titled album. In 1997, he formed a band known as The Ranch, which included drummer Peter Clarke and bassist Jerry Flowers. The Ranch released one self-titled album for Capitol Records Nashville and charted two singles on the Hot Country Songs charts that year: "Walkin' the Country" and "Just Some Love". Throughout the late 1990s, Urban also played guitar on several other artists' albums, such as Paul Jefferson, Tim Wilson, and Charlie Daniels.
1999–2001: "Keith Urban".
Urban released his self-titled American debut album in 1999 under the production of session pianist Matt Rollings. It was led by the number 18 single "It's a Love Thing", followed by the number four single "Your Everything", which made him the first male New Zealand performer to reach the Top 10 on the US country charts. Its follow-up, "But for the Grace of God", written by Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Gos, became his first number 1 hit on the charts. The last single, "Where the Blacktop Ends", written by Steve Wariner and Allen Shamblin, went to number three. He won the Top New Male Vocalist Award at the 2001 Academy of Country Music Awards and the 2001 Country Music Association's Horizon Award. Allmusic's Thom Jurek described the first and third singles favorably, and praised the instrumental track "Rollercoaster", saying that Urban was "flat picking his Stratocaster like it was another extremity he was born with." He thought that those songs "balance the slick and sometimes too-soft production on the record".
2002–2006: "Golden Road" & "Be Here".
Urban released his second American album "Golden Road" in 2002. Of the 13 songs included on this album, Urban produced seven himself and co-produced the other six with Dann Huff. The album's lead-off single "Somebody Like You" was released in July 2002 and spent six weeks at number one. The second single was the number three hit "Raining on Sunday", which Radney Foster had previously released as a single from his 1998 album "See What You Want to See". The third and fourth singles from the album, "Who Wouldn't Wanna Be Me" and "You'll Think of Me", went to number one, with the latter winning him the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 2005.
On 22 September 2005, Urban's third studio album "Golden Road" was certified triple platinum, for sales of 3 million copies.
In 2002, Urban posed nude for Playgirl. On the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno," he stated that he regrets posing nude despite not showing any full frontal nudity.
Urban performed "Lights on the Hill" for Tamworth's 2004 tribute concert following the death of Australia's Slim Dusty, an artist whom he had both written for and covered.
In 2005, Urban performed in front of European audiences for the first time. In May, Urban supported Bryan Adams on his UK and Ireland tour, which included dates at Earls Court, London, SECC, Glasgow, and The Point, Dublin. On 6 June a UK-only album, "Days Go By," was released. The album contained songs from both "Be Here" and "Golden Road."
"You Look Good in My Shirt" was originally intended to be the fifth single from this album. Instead, Capitol chose to release "Days Go By", the lead-off to his third American album "Be Here". By late 2004, this song became Urban's fifth number one hit on the country chart. Although it was not officially released, "You Look Good in My Shirt" spent one week at number 60 on the country charts in July 2004 and remained a fan favourite. The next single from this album was the #2 "You're My Better Half", followed by the five-week number 1 "Making Memories of Us", which was written by Rodney Crowell and previously recorded by both Tracy Byrd and Crowell's side project The Notorious Cherry Bombs. The next singles from this album were "Better Life" and "Tonight I Wanna Cry". The former, which Urban wrote with Richard Marx, spent six weeks at number 1 and the latter spent three weeks at number 2. After this song, "Live to Love Another Day" spent 14 weeks on the country chart, reaching a peak of number 48, although it was never officially released as a single.
2006–2008: "Love, Pain, & The Whole Crazy Thing" and "Greatest Hits: 18 Kids".
On 21 August 2006, Urban's "Once in a Lifetime" debuted at No. 17, setting what was then a new record for the highest-debuting country single in the 62-year history of the Hot Country Songs chart. Despite the high debut, the song peaked at number 6. Following it was "Stupid Boy", which was co-written by Sarah Buxton, went to number 3, and won him his second Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance in 2007. The album's next two singles, "I Told You So" and "Everybody", respectively peaked at numbers two and five. Urban released his first greatest hits collection "" on 20 November 2007. This compilation contains all of his Top 10 hits, along with two new songs, "Got It Right This Time (The Celebration) and a cover of Steve Forbert's "Romeo's Tune"."
In January 2008, Urban embarked on the "Love, Pain and the Whole Crazy Carnival Ride World Tour" with fellow country singer Carrie Underwood. In early May 2008, Urban debuted a new song at the Grand Ole Opry titled "A New Sunshine". That same month, Urban recorded a new version of "You Look Good in My Shirt" and released it as a single in June of that year. "Over the years it ("You Look Good In My Shirt") has always played like a hit song," Urban said. "That, combined with numerous requests from both fans and radio about why it was never a single, inspired us to get back into the studio and re-record the song." The single was a precursor to the "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy World Tour" concert DVD release in the fall of 2008. Later that year, Urban served as a duet artist for Brad Paisley's single "Start a Band," on which both he and Paisley sang and played guitar. This song was included on Paisley's album "Play" and it went to No. 1 in January 2009.
2008–2010: "Defying Gravity".
Urban announced that the lead single for his fifth studio album would be titled "Sweet Thing". This song became his 10th number one hit. Capitol Records released the album, "Defying Gravity", on 31 March 2009. The second single, "Kiss a Girl", was released in March 2009. Urban performed this song on American Idol, during the season 8 finale, as a duet with eventual winner Kris Allen. "Only You Can Love Me This Way", the third single, went to number one. The fourth single, "'Til Summer Comes Around", went to number three. The fifth and final single "I'm In" is a cover of a song by Radney Foster, taken from the same album as "Raining on Sunday" was. This song was also recorded by The Kinleys, whose version had been a Top 40 single in 2000. Urban's rendition went to number two. Between the two, Urban also made a guest appearance on then-labelmate Emily West's single "Blue Sky," which charted at number 38.
Urban's 2009 Escape Together tour, supporting the "Defying Gravity" album, featured many big-name opening acts, such as Taylor Swift, Sugarland, and Jason Aldean. On 27 June 2009, Urban filmed a video for the song, "Only You Can Love Me This Way", at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa.
In 2009, Urban was also a judge for the 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.
2010–2012: "Get Closer".
In May 2010, Urban entered the studio to begin work on a new album. The recording process was documented in a blog on his official website. At the beginning of September, it was announced that the album would be titled "Get Closer" and would be released on 16 November. "Put You in a Song" was released as its first single on 13 September. It went to number 2, followed by "Without You", "Long Hot Summer", and "You Gonna Fly", all of which went to number one. Urban wrote, "Put You in a Song" with Sarah Buxton and Jedd Hughes, and "Long Hot Summer" with Richard Marx. Preston Brust and Chris Lucas, who constitute the LoCash Cowboys, co-wrote "You Gonna Fly" with Jaren Johnston, then-member of the group American Bang. After "You Gonna Fly" fell from the charts, Urban released "For You", which was featured as the theme song of the 2012 action film "Act of Valor" and appeared on the film's . The song peaked at number six on the country charts.
On 10 April 2012, Urban was invited to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry by Vince Gill at the third annual We're All for the Hall benefit concert which Urban organized. He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on 21 April 2012.
Urban plays guitar on Tim McGraw's early-2013 single "Highway Don't Care", which also features a guest vocal from Taylor Swift. This song is the third single from McGraw's album "Two Lanes of Freedom".
2013–2015: "Fuse".
On 13 May 2013, Urban released the single "Little Bit of Everything", produced by Nathan Chapman. It was the first single from his eighth studio album, "Fuse", which was released on 10 September 2013. The official music video for "Little Bit Of Everything" debuted on VEVO on 25 July 2013. Unlike his previous albums, Urban co-produced with 10 other producers on this album. The album's second single, "We Were Us", is a duet with Miranda Lambert. It reached number one on the Country Airplay chart in December 2013. The third single, "Cop Car", was released in January 2014. A fourth single, "Somewhere in My Car" was released in June 2014. A fifth single, a duet with Eric Church, "Raise 'Em Up," was released to country radio on 26 January 2015. It reached number 1 on Country Airplay in May 2015.
2015–2017: "Ripcord".
In June 2015, Urban released "", as the lead single to his eighth American studio album, "Ripcord". In October 2015, Urban teased a new song called "Break on Me"; it was released to the public on 23 October. It reached number one on the Country Airplay chart.
On 22 September 2015, Urban celebrated the 10th anniversary of his third studio album "Golden Road" being certified triple platinum, for sales of 3 million copies of his record. "Wasted Time" was released as the album's third single and it went on to reach the number one spot on the Country Airplay chart. "Blue Ain't Your Color" was released as the album's fourth single and became a huge hit for Urban. It topped the Hot Country Songs chart as well as the Country Airplay Chart, spending 12 weeks at number one on the former chart. "The Fighter", a duet with Carrie Underwood, was released as the fifth single from the album.
In 2016, Urban was selected as one of 30 artists to perform on "Forever Country," a medley of "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "On the Road Again", and "I Will Always Love You" which celebrates 50 years of the CMA Awards.
2017–2018: "Graffiti U".
On 8 November 2017, Urban released a new song titled "Female", which has been described as "an empowerment anthem partially inspired by the Harvey Weinstein scandal." Urban said that the song, "[a]s a husband and a father of two young girls...It affects me in a lot of ways. And as a son -- my mother is alive," he added. "It just speaks to all of the females in my life, particularly. For a guy who grew up with no sisters in a house of boys, it's incredible how now I'm surrounded by girls. But not only in my house; I employ a huge amount of women in my team. The song just hit me for so many reasons." Kidman provided background vocals on the song. The song would serve as the lead single for Urban's tenth studio album.
It was announced that Urban's tenth studio album would be titled "Graffiti U" and that a world tour in support of it would begin in summer 2018.
On 19 January, the Ed Sheeran co-written song "Parallel Line" was released as a single in Australia and the United Kingdom. On 21 March, Urban released the album's second single "Coming Home", a heavily pop-influenced, upbeat song featuring a duet with pop singer Julia Michaels. This song also features a revamped version of the opening riff of Merle Haggard's hit "Mama Tried" throughout it and with his family's blessing, Haggard even received a posthumous credit for writing the song. Coming Home reached number one on the Mediabase Country Chart on 5 August 2018. As well as Julia Michaels, the album also features duets with Lindsay Ell, Shy Carter, and Kassi Ashton. Never Comin’ Down was released to radio as the fourth single in August 2018.
2019–present: "The Speed of Now Part 1".
On 16 May 2019, Keith Urban released a brand new single, "We Were", a reflective mid-tempo ode to mischievous youth. "I like the idea that life just happens. At some point, whether in the moment or not, you just gotta go with it", he said. The track was co-written by Eric Church.
On 24 November 2019, Urban played the halftime show at the Canadian Football League's Grey Cup championship in Calgary.
On 27 February 2020, Urban released the single, "God Whispered Your Name" to country radio. The track was co-written by Contemporary Christian artist Chris August. On 24 April, Urban released the promotional single, "Polaroid".
In May 2020, Keith Urban hosted a drive-in concert for medical workers. His latest gig was mostly just him and two other musicians playing on a flatbed truck in front of about 125 cars. Urban played at the Stardust Drive-In movie theatre, about 60 km east of Nashville, Tennessee, for a crowd of more than 200 medical workers from Vanderbilt Health.
Later in May 2020, Urban announced his eleventh studio album, "The Speed of Now Part 1", would be released on 18 September 2020. In July 2020, Urban released another promotional single, "Superman".
In the week prior to the album's release, Urban hosted the rescheduled 55th Academy of Country Music Awards and premiered the third single off the album, "One Too Many" with Pink, which would become Urban's first Top 10 all-genre song in his homeland of Australia.
In December 2020, Urban was listed at number 29 in "Rolling Stone Australia's "50 Greatest Australian Artists of All Time"" issue.
He is a featured artist on Taylor Swift's track "That's When" from "Fearless (Taylor's Version)", Swift's first re-recorded studio album, which was released on April 9, 2021. "That's When" is one of six "from the Vault" tracks that did not make the 2008 album.
Television and film appearances.
"The Voice".
On 23 November 2011, Urban was confirmed as one of the four vocal coaches in the Australian version of the reality singing competition alongside Seal, Joel Madden and Delta Goodrem. "The Voice". On 14 September 2012, Urban released a statement that he would not be signing back on for season two. On December 15, 2020 it was announced that Urban would return to The Voice Australia season 10 for his second season alongside Jessica Mauboy, Guy Sebastian and Rita Ora. Last serving on the panel during Season 1.
"American Idol".
The Fox Broadcasting Company officially announced on 16 September 2012 that Urban would replace Steven Tyler as a judge in season 12 of "American Idol" alongside Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj. On 1 August 2013, it was officially confirmed that Urban would return as a judge for season 13. He was joined by former judge Jennifer Lopez and newest judge Harry Connick Jr.. On 23 June 2014, Fox announced that Urban would return to the judging panel for season 14. Urban returned to judge the 15th season of "American Idol" in 2016.
"Slim and I".
Urban features in the 2020 Australian documentary film "Slim and I", directed by Kriv Stenders, talking about the influence on his life of acclaimed Australian country music husband-and-wife duo Slim Dusty and Joy McKean. The film features interviews and covers of McKean songs by acclaimed contemporary artists including Urban (Lights on the Hill), Missy Higgins, Paul Kelly, and Troy Cassar-Daley.
Signature guitar line.
In October 2013, during a concert in Tampa, Florida, Urban announced he would sell 'signature' guitars and accessories through Home Shopping Network (HSN). HSN offered the guitar packages twice in six months, resulting in 42,000 sales.
A portion of the proceeds benefit The Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation and the Grammy Foundation.
Personal life.
While living in Nashville, Urban frequently used cocaine. After reaching a personal low point in 1998, he became determined to stop using the drug and checked into Cumberland Heights, a treatment centre in Nashville.
Urban met Australian actress Nicole Kidman at "G'Day LA", a Hollywood event promoting Australia, in January 2005, and they began dating six months later. They married on 25 June 2006 at the Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel in the grounds of St Patrick's Estate, Manly, in Sydney.
On 19 October 2006, Urban checked into the Betty Ford Center in California. On 20 October, he issued a statement saying: "I deeply regret the hurt this has caused Nicole and the ones who love and support me. One can never let one's guard down on recovery, and I'm afraid that I have." On 18 January 2007, Urban announced his completion of rehab and his plans to go on tour to promote his album, "Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing".
On 2 February 2007, Urban filed a lawsuit against a New Jersey painter by the same name, who has a website called KeithUrban.com. The singer wanted to acquire the rights to the URL. The painter counter-sued. The lawsuit was settled in the painter's favour.
On 1 October 2007, Urban skidded off his motorbike when a paparazzo followed him near his home in Sydney. He was not hurt. In a statement released by his publicists, Urban said that the incident was "the result of one person's desire to do his job and my desire to maintain my privacy". Urban said that he tried to avoid an oncoming car and dropped his bike. He said the photographer came to his assistance without taking photos.
On 7 January 2008, Kidman said she and Urban were expecting their first child together. Kidman's publicist said, "the couple are thrilled and cannot wait". Kidman gave birth to a daughter in 2008 in Nashville, Tennessee. On his website, Urban said:
"Earlier this morning Nic gave birth to our beautiful baby girl, Sunday Rose Kidman Urban. We want to thank everybody that has kept us in their thoughts and prayers. We feel very, very blessed and grateful that we can share this joy with all of my loving fans today."
In 2010, Urban and Kidman had a second daughter, Faith Margaret Kidman Urban, by surrogate at Nashville's Centennial Women's Hospital.
Urban is a citizen of New Zealand, his place of birth, as well as a citizen of both Australia and the United States.
Tours.
Headlining tours
Co-headlining
Supporting tours
Awards and honours.
In addition the aforementioned, Urban has won 12 Golden Guitar Awards at the Country Music Awards of Australia


Das Auto


Baden 9 Kreuzer error

The Baden 9 Kreuzer Error is a postage stamp error produced by the historical German state of Baden in 1851.
Baden's first postage stamps were issued on 1 May 1851. The "9 Kreuzer Green" stamp was a color misprint of the 9 Kreuzer denomination that was printed in green instead of pink. The green color was intended for the 6 Kreuzer value, but apparently, the paper sheets were mismatched. Only three cancelled copies and one unused copy of this error are known, but more sheets of paper may have been printed. The cancellations recorded have the numbers "4" for Achern, "41" for Ettenheim, and "106" for Orschweier (today Mahlberg). Two of the known copies are on letters.
Four copies.
The error is one of the greatest philatelic rarities in the world. The 9 Kreuzer error was not discovered until 44 years after the stamp was issued. Two letters initially were in the collection of Baron von Türckheim.
The usual explanation for the occurrence of this error is that the printing plate was accidentally inverted, however, this theory cannot be correct because the stamp was produced in a single printing. It must be assumed that the printer had unintentionally used the wrong plate for the green paper: instead of a "9" he had read a "6".


Samjin Company English Class

Samjin Company English Class () is a 2020 South Korean comedy-drama film written and directed by Lee Jong-pil, starring Go Ah-sung, Esom and Park Hye-su. It was released on October 21, 2020.
Plot.
In 1995, three female employees at Samjin Company who are given the opportunity to be promoted if they score at least 600 points at the TOEIC test enroll in English classes. One day, they notice that their company is involved in illegal business and start investigating.
Production.
Principal photography began in late October 2019.
Reception.
Box office.
The film topped the South Korean box office for six days following its release.


Jean Muir (actress)

Jean Muir (born Jean Muir Fullarton, February 13, 1911 – July 23, 1996) was an American stage and film actress and educator. She was the first performer to be blacklisted after her name appeared in the anti-Communist 1950 pamphlet "Red Channels".
Early years.
An only child, Muir was born in Suffern, New York as Jean Muir Fullarton; her father was a certified public accountant, and her mother was a substitute teacher. She attended the Dwight School in Englewood, New Jersey.
Career.
Muir's Broadway debut came in "The Truth Game" (1930).
She was signed by Warner Bros. in 1933 and made 14 films in her first three years there. She played opposite several famous actors including Warren William, Paul Muni, Richard Barthelmess and Franchot Tone, but she returned to Broadway in 1937 because she was unsatisfied with the roles. She appeared occasionally in films through 1943. She was also one of the candidates for the role of Melanie in "Gone with the Wind".
Muir incurred the disfavor of studio executives because of her involvement in formation of the Screen Actors Guild, her tendency to question the way the film business operated, and her resistance to posing for publicity photographs.
Blacklist.
In 1950 Muir was named as a Communist sympathizer by the notorious pamphlet "Red Channels," and immediately removed from the cast of the television sitcom "The Aldrich Family", in which she had been cast as Mrs. Aldrich. NBC had received between 20 and 30 phone calls protesting her being in the show. General Foods, the sponsor, said that it would not sponsor programs in which "controversial persons" were featured. Though the company later received thousands of calls protesting the decision, it was not reversed.
Muir was the first performer to be deprived of employment because of a listing in "Red Channels".The apparent cause of the accusation was her six-month membership in the Congress of American Women, which federal authorities considered a subversive group.
Later years.
Muir resumed acting in 1958, appearing in an episode of "Matinee Theater" on NBC-TV.
After teaching drama and directing plays at two community centers in New York, Muir moved to Missouri in 1968 and became the Master Acting Teacher at Stephens College, in addition to directing several productions there. She also completed her college degree at Stephens in 1977. Reaching Stephens' mandatory retirement age forced her to stop teaching there, and in 1981 she had a one-year appointment to teach at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.
Personal life.
On December 20, 1940, Muir married entertainment attorney, and later television producer, Henry Jaffe in New York. They had three children.
In the mid-1950s she reportedly suffered from alcoholism and cirrhosis of the liver.
Death.
Muir died in a nursing home in Mesa, Arizona on July 23, 1996.
Recognition.
Muir has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6280 Hollywood Blvd.


PC - The Independent Guide To IBM Computers


NZ Performance Car

NZ Performance Car is a monthly automobile magazine and website, and is the biggest selling automotive and men's lifestyle magazine in New Zealand.
As Parkside Media's second title, it has eclipsed the success of NZ Classic Car. NZ Performance Car has evolved with the times, promoting the import drag racing scene, building the drifting scene and supporting modified car events such as Auto Salon and dB Drag Racing.
Issue 1 of the magazine was bundled free with NZ Classic Car issue 66 (June 1996), and featured a Series 4 Mazda RX-7 on the cover.
Change in focus.
The magazine's focus has evolved from initially covering all high performance cars, including Australian V8s, to Japanese import cars, and more recently import car culture and associated activities (BMX, FMX, interviews with local and international musicians, etc.).
Early issues featured cars such as Holden Toranas alongside Mitsubishi Galant VR4s.
Magazine contents.
Modified car features.
The extent that a car is required to be modified has steadily increased since the first issues. While 300 hp was considered to be a huge amount of power when the magazine started, 300 kW may not even secure a spot as a feature car, unless the rest of the car is outstanding or unusual.
This is not to say that NZ Performance Car solely focuses on power, but power figures are part of a more holistic approach considered when modifying a car.
New car features.
Less common are new car road tests. Recent examples have included the Mazda RX-8, Mini Cooper John Cooper Works (JCW), and BMW 135i.
Cover girls.
Female nudity in association with the magazine has polarised readers. The magazine took an online poll at the end of 2008, the results of which found that more than 80% of readers wanted to keep the cover girl.
Cars were originally graded using a Jane-o-meter (a picture of Jane with a ranking from one to ten). This method was scrapped after car owners became reluctant to have their cars featured in case it received a low mark.
Poster.
Two posters (a double-sided A2) have been included in most issues of the magazine since issue 80.
Event coverage.
Drag racing, drifting, rallying, Super Lap, Japanese Super GT, hillclimbing, touring cars, auto salon, auto shows and club events are covered, as long as the racing includes Japanese cars.
Driver and celebrity interviews.
Local and international drivers have been interviewed such as Ken Block, Rhys Millen, Mike Whiddett, Sébastien Loeb, Linkin Park/Fort Minor and Nathalie Kelly (from Fast n Furious Tokyo Drift),
Regular sections.
Readers' letters, a technical question and answer section, equipment information, CD/DVD/game reviews, and a lifestyle section with clothing and related culture.
Chop shop.
A monthly Photoshop competition is run. An image of a standard car is modified in Photoshop to adopt a certain theme or style, such as hakosuka, rally, etc. In issue 144 readers were invited to Photoshop a Chevrolet Volt into a Pro Import drag racing vehicle.
Growth.
Readership peaked at 336,000 in 2007. To address the fall in readership since then NZ Performance Car was relaunched with perfect binding, a new logo, and a broader focus on the import car culture in issue 132, December 2007
Notable contributors.
Karl Burnett, Ewen Gilmour
Special issues.
Drop! (previous Street Style).
"Drop!" features hardcore modified show cars, auto salon features, and SPL competitions (dB drag racing). The emphasis on Japanese imports is less. Previous featured cars have included a Jaguar, a Buick, a Nash Metropolitan, and several types of minitruck.
Drift Factor.
"Drift Factor" is a drifting special with driver interviews, in-depth profiles on drifting and the cars, and how-tos on starting in drifting.
Raceline (previously Race Style).
Dedicated to circuit racing, rallying, hillclimbing, drifting and drag racing.
Yearbook.
The Yearbook is a round up of the scene and also contains many of the similar features to the magazine.
Posterbook.
A posterbook has been produced yearly since 2005 with 12 A2 posters of cars and/or cover models
Spine art.
For 2008 collecting all the issues created an NZ Performance Car logo when stacked together. This was to highlight the transition to perfect binding.
Website.
NZ Performance Car relaunched its website in July 2007 with a web 2.0 site featuring video, blogs, forums, news, articles, cover girls, event coverage and more.
Users can register to the site, start a blog, upload their own media, and generally interact with the site.
Daily news articles are available weekdays which are additional to magazine content. Full magazine articles are available from previous issues, often including additional photos and information (including videos) that could not be fitted into the magazine.
Some writers run blogs on the website, such as Peter Kelly's Pedeyworld, and a forum is run as a subsite to encourage user interaction.
Users can purchase books and DVDs related to the magazine's content, as well as back issues and subscriptions in the online shop.
Social networking sites.
A Facebook fan page, Bebo page (for NZ Drift Series), and YouTube channel exist.
Games.
NZ Performance Car has produced several online games:
Drift Legends.
Drift Legends is a drifting game which features New Zealand tracks as well as custom tracks. Players can submit their score to a score board
Super Lap Legends.
Super Lap Legends was released to coincide with Super Lap. It features New Zealand racetracks in a time trial format
Midnight Sting.
Midnight Sting is a shoot 'em up whereby players protect their ride from damage in a dark alley.
Britney’s Rehab Run.
Britney's Rehab Run is a shoot 'em up which sees the player attempt to get Britney Spears to rehab past scores of paparazzi.
Mobile.
A free opt-in text club which has more than 23,000 members is utilised to disseminate special offers from sponsors, and promote the magazine, games and events.
NZ Performance Car is also one of the largest suppliers of mobile content (ringtones, screen wallpapers and the like) via Vodafone's network.
NZ Performance Car TV.
NZ Performance Car TV is a free-to-air television program in its eighth series. It has had airtime on TV ONE, TV2, Prime and Sky Sports, often simultaneously which is unique in its genre. Each series consists of 13 episodes. Two series are usually screened per year.
First airing in 2004 the series has evolved to match the changing tastes of the import car scene. Series 8 had a large focus on drifting.
Events.
NZ Drift Series.
The NZ Drift Series is a drifting motorsport series run on New Zealand tracks. It made its debut in 2007 with a professionally run, five-round championship series.
Super Lap.
Parkside Media organised the first Super Lap event at Taupo Motorsport Park in April 2007. Scott Kreyl in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII took the overall win. At the second event at Pukekohe in March 2008 Kreyl successfully defended his title.
The third Super Lap returned to Taupo Motorsport Park in 2008 where Kreyl suffered mechanical problems and failed to place.
New Zealand Bikini Model Search.
Toured throughout in New Zealand in 2007, the NZ Bikini Model Search culminated in a grand final in Auckland.
Import All-Stars.
Every summer, NZ Performance Car organises the biggest import drag racing event of the year at Fram Autolite Dragway, Meremere, Import All-Stars. Guest competitors are invited from Australia to race against New Zealand's quickest imports.
Drag Masters.
Drag Masters, run in 2005, was a V8 vs. import drag racing event held at Fram Autolite Dragway, Meremere.
Performance Car of the Year.
Performance Car of the Year is a competition with 12 performance cars where users text their vote.
Awards.
Cam Leggett, designer since issue 68 has won two awards for Designer of the Year at the MPA Awards in the Special Interest Category in 2007 and 2008.
Controversy.
NZ Performance Car magazine has typically been criticised by groups not in favour of import car culture, or those concerned about 'boy racer' activity.
In June 2008, editorial assistant Peter Kelly organised a meeting in Hamilton to scout for feature cars. News quickly spread via text and over 1000 people descended on The Base. Despite attempts by NZ Performance Car to warn the police, messages went unanswered.


Navigation and Commerce issue

The Navigation and Commerce issue is a series of key type stamps issued for the colonial territories of France. It was designed by Louis-Eugène Mouchon.
The issue uses a standard design featuring allegorical representations of navigation and commerce. The territory name is imprinted in a rectangular cartouche centered at the bottom of the stamp.
In French colonies, it is the first series of territory-specific postal releases. Adding the territory name helped reduce revenue loss incurred when stamps were purchased in colonies with low-value currencies, then sold or used in colonies with high-valued currencies.
It was first released in 1892, with later releases featuring new color schemes. Dates vary by territory, but by 1900 values start appearing surcharged in red or black ink to use the remaining stocks while colonies then used illustrated stamps.
Forgeries.
Charles Hirschburger, a forger of postage stamps, and successor to master forger François Fournier, made copies of the Navigation and Commerce stamps from the various colonies, including "most denominations". These were produced between 1917 and 1923 and are sometimes called "Fournier" forgeries. They are still extremely common. The forgeries are perforated 13.5 by 14, whereas the genuine ones are 14 by 13.5. There are also details in the designs which distinguish the forgeries. The forgeries were made on sheets of 30 stamps, each having a different colony name in the lower panel. Counterfeit overprints also were made for this series.


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Chef Tony

Anthony Joseph "Chef Tony" Notaro (born November 5, 1954) is an advertising pitchman for cooking and kitchen products, seen primarily on infomercials and home shopping channels.
Biography.
He was born in Brooklyn, New York to first generation Italian-Americans. His informal chef training includes working in his grandmother's Southern Italian restaurant in lower Manhattan. His father sold fresh produce from a horse and wagon and his mother ran a home-based Italian catering business.
At age 16, Notaro began developing his own culinary products after school in a neighborhood pizzeria. At age 18 he became an assistant to a salesman demonstrating kitchen products in a local Brooklyn store. Notaro began demonstrating the Popeil Dial-O-Matic throughout New York City. Eventually chosen as the first person to demonstrate T-Fal cookware in the U.S. He was awarded 2002 best male demonstrator for Miracle Blade III and 2004 Best kitchen product for the Ultimate Chopper by the Electronic Retailers Association. He is a regular guest on the QVC Shopping Channel as well as Ideal World in England.
Products.
He is most noted for selling the patented Miracle Blades and the TastiWave. Tony also endorses the Ultimate Chopper (in an infomercial co-hosted by Jenilee Harrison). He also endorses Smartware bakeware, which is made of non-stick "Temperflex" silicone, SmartLidz, Wonder Cooker, Brown & Crisp, Funnel Cake Kit, and a dozen more products.


The Fourth Estate (film)

The Fourth Estate: A Film of a British Newspaper is a 1940 documentary film directed by Paul Rotha. The film was sponsored by the owners of "The Times", and depicts the preparation and production of a day's edition of the newspaper.
The film is notable for the fact that it went unreleased (apart from a small number of private screenings for the sponsor and critics). The Second World War broke out while it was in production, and the explanation for "The Fourth Estate" having been buried most commonly given by historians of the Documentary Movement is that following the film's completion, the Ministry of Information were reluctant to sanction its release on the grounds that it depicted life in peacetime London, which would no longer be accepted by viewers as realistic. However, Rotha himself claimed that the film's sponsor was reluctant to release "The Fourth Estate" in the belief that it implicitly criticised "The Times" from a leftist perspective, portraying it as the mouthpiece of the establishment.
Another point of interest is that Carl Mayer, the Jewish and prominent Weimar screenwriter, who by this time was living in Britain as an exile from the Nazis, acted as a 'scenario consultant' to the film.
In 2012, the first public screening of the full film was at the University of Leeds using film print from the archive of the British Film Institute (BFI).


Cassie Chadwick

Cassie L. Chadwick (10 October 1857 – 10 October 1907) was the most well-known pseudonym used by Canadian con artist Elizabeth Bigley, who defrauded several American banks out of millions of dollars during the late 1800s and early 1900s by claiming to be an illegitimate daughter and heiress of the Scottish-American industrialist Andrew Carnegie. Newspaper accounts of the time described her as one of the greatest con artists in American history. She pulled off the scam in the Gilded Age of American history, during which time women were not allowed to vote or get loans from the banks, leading some historians to refer to her bank heist as one of the greatest in American history.
Early life.
Chadwick was born Elizabeth Bigley on 10 October 1857 in Eastwood, Ontario. Her parents, Dan and Annie, owned a small farm in Eastwood. She had three sisters: Alice, Mary, and Emily, and a brother, Bill. Her father worked for the Grand Trunk Railway as a section boss and was often away from the homestead. "Betsy", as she was known to her family, was known to daydream and tell fibs as a child. At the age of 14, Chadwick went to Woodstock, Ontario. There she opened a bank account with a dubious letter of inheritance from an "unknown" uncle in England and a small amount of cash. While there, Chadwick passed several worthless cheques to various merchants. In 1870, she was arrested in Woodstock for forgery. She was released due to her age and on the grounds of insanity. Following a three-year absence, Chadwick returned to Eastwood in 1875 to discover that her sister Alice had married Bill York, a carpenter from Cleveland, Ohio and had moved there with him. Chadwick followed her sister to the United States.
Start in the United States.
After a brief stay with her sister and brother-in-law, Chadwick rented the lower floor of a house at 149 Garden Street, Cleveland from a Mrs. Brown. Claiming to be widowed, Chadwick assumed the name Madame Lydia DeVere and set up shop as a clairvoyant with funds from a bank loan on her sister and brother-in-law's furniture. In 1882, as Lydia DeVere, Chadwick married Dr. Wallace S. Springsteen in Cleveland. The couple exchanged vows before a justice of the peace on 21 November. She took the name Mrs. Lydia Springsteen and moved into the doctor's house at 3 Garden Street. A photograph and story of the wedding appeared in "The Plain Dealer" newspaper. The article led Chadwick's sister, Alice York, and various tradespeople to the home of Springsteen to demand payment for debts his wife had accumulated. After Springsteen confirmed the stories about Chadwick's past, he threw her out of the house. Springsteen filed for divorce (which was granted early in 1883) and settled her debts. After the dissolution of her first marriage, Chadwick re-established herself as a clairvoyant. As Madame Marie LaRose, she married John R. Scott, a farmer from Trumbull County, Ohio. She convinced Scott to sign a prenuptial agreement, citing abuse from her first husband. After four years of farm life, Chadwick went to a lawyer in Youngstown and left a sworn statement confessing adultery. She directed her lawyer to file for divorce from Scott.
First U.S. fraud trial.
In 1889 Chadwick was convicted and sentenced to 9½ years in a penitentiary in Toledo for forgery. She was paroled in 1893 and returned to Cleveland.
Chadwick's third husband.
Upon returning to Cleveland in 1893, Chadwick assumed the name Mrs. Cassie Hoover and opened a brothel on the city's west side. At the brothel, she met her next husband, a wealthy widower doctor named Leroy Chadwick. Knowing of the doctor's recent loss, Chadwick played the part of a genteel widow who ran a respectable boarding house for women. When Leroy Chadwick responded that the establishment was a well-known brothel, "Mrs. Hoover" fainted. Once revived, she claimed that she would never run such an establishment. She begged the doctor to immediately take her from the building, lest anyone think she was complicit in its operation.
As Cassie Chadwick.
In 1897 Cassie and Leroy were married. During her time as the wife of the highly respected Dr. Chadwick, it is unclear whether he knew that she had given birth to a son, Emil Hoover. Also, it is unclear whether Dr. Chadwick knew that Emil was in the care of one of the women at the brothel. When charged with forgery, Chadwick identified herself in court records as single with no children. However, in the 1900 United States census (District 97, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County Ohio), she identified herself as Cassie Chadwick, born 3 February 1862 in Pennsylvania. Her son Emil was enumerated as Emil Chadwick, born September 1886 in Canada. Chadwick's spending habits exceeded those of her richer neighbours along Cleveland's Euclid Avenue, then known as "Millionaires' Row". Instead of being welcomed into the exclusive enclave of the Rockefellers, the Hannas, the Hays and the Mathers, Chadwick was thought of as a curious woman who tried in vain to buy the favors of some of the wealthiest families in the nation. When invited to social events, it was only out of obligation to her husband.
The Carnegie con.
Following her marriage in 1897, Chadwick began her largest, most successful con game: that of establishing herself as Andrew Carnegie's daughter. During a visit to New York City, she asked one of her husband's acquaintances, a lawyer named Dillon, to take her to Carnegie's home. In reality, Chadwick visited Carnegie's housekeeper while ostensibly trying to check credentials. When Chadwick came back, she dropped a paper. Dillon took it up and noticed it was a promissory note for $2 million with Carnegie's signature. When Dillon promised to keep Chadwick's secret, she "revealed" that she was Carnegie's illegitimate child. Carnegie was supposedly so wracked with guilt that he showered huge amounts of money on her. Chadwick also claimed that there was $7 million in promissory notes tucked away in her Cleveland home, and she was to inherit $400 million upon Carnegie's death. Dillon arranged a safe deposit box for her document.
The information leaked to the financial markets in northern Ohio, and banks began to offer their services to Chadwick. For the next eight years, she used her fake background to obtain loans that eventually totaled around $2 million (over $50 million in today's currency). Chadwick relied on the assumption that no one would ask Carnegie about an illegitimate daughter for fear of embarrassing him. Since the loans also came with usurious interest rates, the bankers would not admit to granting them. Chadwick forged securities in Carnegie's name for further proof. Bankers assumed that Carnegie would vouch for any debts and that they would be fully repaid once Carnegie died.
Chadwick carried out a lavish lifestyle as a result of her con. She bought diamond necklaces, enough clothes to fill 30 closets, and a gold organ. She became known as "the Queen of Ohio." She claimed to give money to the poor and to the suffrage movement.
In November 1904, Chadwick received a $190,000 loan from Herbert B. Newton, a Brookline, Massachusetts banker. Newton was shocked when he learned of the other loans Chadwick had received, and called his loan in. Chadwick could not pay and the bank sued. At the time, she had accumulated debts over $1 million. It was also discovered that a number of securities being held for her in various banks were worthless. When Carnegie was later asked about her, he denied ever knowing her, and further stated he had not signed a promissory note in more than 30 years. Chadwick fled to New York, but was soon arrested at her apartment at the Hotel Breslin and taken back to Cleveland. When she was arrested, she was wearing a money belt containing over $100,000. Leroy Chadwick and his adult daughter hastily left Cleveland for a European tour when the scandal broke. He filed for divorce before leaving on the tour.
The news sent shock waves through the Cleveland banking community. Citizen's National Bank of Oberlin, which had loaned her $800,000, suffered a massive run that forced it into bankruptcy.
Second U.S. fraud trial.
Andrew Carnegie attended Chadwick's trial, wishing to see the woman who had successfully conned the nation's bankers into believing that she was his heir. Other attendees included members of the Millionaires' Row families from whom she had tried so hard to gain acceptance. The trial was a media circus. On 10 March 1905 a Cleveland court sentenced her to 14 years in prison and a fine of $70,000 for conspiracy to bankrupt the Citizen's National Bank and conspiracy against the government (Citizen's Bank, as a federally chartered bank, was an agent of the federal government).
Prison.
On 1 January 1906, Chadwick was sent to the Ohio State Penitentiary in Columbus. She brought with her trunks of goods for her prison cell, including clothing, photographs, and furniture. The prison warden allowed this due to her celebrity status.
As her health deteriorated, Chadwick began writing explicit instructions for her funeral. She instructed her son Emil to send a portion of her hidden funds to Canada for the purchase of a tombstone for the family plot. Chadwick suffered a "nervous collapse" on 17 September 1907, leaving her blind. "The New York Times" reported on 9 October 1907 that Chadwick was suffering from heart and stomach problems.
Death.
Chadwick died in the Columbus penitentiary 10 October 1907 (aged 50). The funeral service was officiated by Reverend F.W. Thompson. Her interment was 16 October 1907 in the Episcopal Cemetery (present day Woodstock Anglican Cemetery "A" section VanSittart Avenue) in her birthplace of Woodstock.
Fallout.
For a time, the Chadwick Mansion on Euclid Avenue and East 82nd Street became a tourist destination. In the early 1920s, it was torn down for the construction of the Euclid Avenue Temple (now Liberty Hill Baptist Church).
Chadwick's housekeeper, Mary Londraville, took a satchel apparently for Chadwick's son that the receiver wanted as he thought it to have contained valuables.
In popular culture.
A feature film on Chadwick's life, "The Duchess of Criminality", was scheduled to begin shooting in 2020.
Chadwick was the subject of the Canadian TV movie "Love and Larceny" (1985), where the role of Betsy Bigley was played by Jennifer Dale.
In the Canadian TV series "Murdoch Mysteries", Cassie Chadwick was played by Wendy Crewson.


Henry Beston

Henry Beston (June 1, 1888 – April 15, 1968) was an American writer and naturalist, best known as the author of "The Outermost House", written in 1928.
Early life and work.
Born Henry Beston Sheahan, he was born and grew up in Quincy, Massachusetts with his parents, Dr. Joseph Sheahan and Marie Louise (Maurice) Beston Sheahan, and brother George, a doctor. Beston attended Adams Academy in Quincy before earning his B.A. (1909) and M.A. (1911) from Harvard College. While at Harvard, he lived at the historic Parson Capen House in Topsfield, Massachusetts.
In 1912, Beston took up teaching at the University of Lyon. In 1914 he returned to Harvard as an English department assistant. Beston joined the French army in 1915 and served as an ambulance driver. His service in le Bois le Pretre and at the Battle of Verdun was described in his first book, "A Volunteer Poilu". In 1918, Beston became a press representative for the U.S. Navy. Highlights from this period include being the only American correspondent to travel with the British Grand Fleet and to be aboard an American destroyer during combat engagement and sinking. His second book of journalistic work, "Full Speed Ahead", described these experiences.
Following the end of World War I, Beston began writing fairy tales under the name "Henry Beston". In 1919, "The Firelight Fairy Book" was published, followed by "The Starlight Wonder Book" in 1923. During this time, he worked as an editor of "The Living Age", an offshoot of "The Atlantic Monthly". He also met his future wife Elizabeth Coatsworth, a fellow author of children's literature with whom he had two daughters, Margaret and Catherine.[3]:97 They lived at Hingham, Massachusetts, and Chimney Farm in Nobleboro, Maine.[6], during this time.
"The Outermost House".
"The Outermost House", now considered a Cape Cod nature literary classic, was written after Beston spent what he called "a year of life on the Great Beach of Cape Cod". Spiritually shaken by his experiences in World War I, Beston retreated to the outer beach at Eastham in search of peace and solitude.
"Nature is part of our humanity, and without some awareness of that divine mystery, man ceases to be man," Beston wrote.
Beston, who dedicated himself as a "writer/naturalist", is considered one of the fathers of the modern environmental movement, and "The Outermost House" has been called one of the motivating factors behind the establishment of the Cape Cod National Seashore. Author Rachel Carson said that Beston was the only author who ever influenced her writing.
The 20x16 house, dubbed "the Fo'castle" by Beston, was built by Eastham carpenter Harvey Moore in the late spring of 1925. Beston stayed there, on and off, for about two years, leaving the beach occasionally, but was usually on the beach for the many severe storms that struck the Cape in the winter. His house was located two miles south of the Nauset Coast Guard Station, with the Atlantic Ocean near his front door and Nauset Marsh behind him. His only neighbors were the Coast Guardsmen, who patrolled the beach.
"The Outermost House" was published in 1928, and has gone through dozens of printings since then. An audiobook version was released in 2007.
Leaving the Outermost House.
Beston married writer Elizabeth Coatsworth in 1929, and the couple eventually bought a farmhouse called "Chimney Farm" in Nobleboro, Maine. Beston wrote several more books while living in Maine ("Northern Farm" and "Herbs and the Earth" among them), but never again approached the overall acclaim that he achieved in "The Outermost House".
In the 1940s, Beston received honorary doctorates from Bowdoin College, Dartmouth College, and University of Maine and was made honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard. He was also made honorary editor of "National Audubon Magazine". In 1949, a twentieth-anniversary edition of "The Outermost House" was released. Beston also edited an anthology of writings about Maine, "White Pine and Blue Water" (1950).
Beston lectured regularly at Dartmouth College and wrote for publications like "The Atlantic" and Christian Science Monitor throughout the 1950s. He also revised his earlier work in children's literature and published "Henry Beston's Fairy Tales" in 1952. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) in 1954. In 1959, he was the third recipient of the AAAS' Emerson-Thoreau Medal, previously awarded to only Robert Frost and T. S. Eliot.
Beston donated the "Fo'castle" to the Massachusetts Audubon Society in 1959. One of its tenants was a woman from Sharon, Massachusetts named Nan Turner Waldron, who would spend several weeks each year there from 1961 to 1977. Her experiences are chronicled in the book "Journey to Outermost House".
With his health deteriorating, Beston returned to the beach in Eastham one last time on October 11, 1964, when his famous house was dedicated as a National Literary Landmark. Beston died on April 15, 1968, in Nobleboro, Maine, and is buried in a small cemetery at Chimney Farm. Chimney Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
The house was carried away by extreme high tides during a winter hurricane in February 1978. Waldron wrote that thousands still come to the beach each year, wanting to learn more about this man who retreated to the outer beach "in a search for the great truth, and found it in the spirit of man," as his National Literary Landmark dedication plaque read. "Many know the book, some carry it with them," Waldron wrote. "Still they come, pilgrims of a sort- stirred by his sense of wonder but drawn by his vision of hope."


The Football Sack

The Football Sack is an Australian-based media organisation dedicated to association football. Its services include a news and opinion website, a weekly podcast, live text match commentary on Twitter and viral internet videos. The Football Sack rose to prominence after Australian Soccer legend Craig Foster mentioned them on The World Game and have since gone on to win 'Football Podcast of the Year' in the inaugural FFDU Australian Football Media Awards, defeating FourFourTwo (Australia) and The World Game in the process.
Website.
Unlike many football websites, The Football Sack focuses solely on Australian football. The two main leagues it covers is the A-League and the W-League as well as covering the Socceroos and the Matildas. During the A-League off-season The Football Sack also covers various State Leagues including the NSW Premier League, Victorian Premier League, Queensland State League, Brisbane Premier League, South Australian Super League and the Football West State League. It also covers major tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup and the AFC Asian Cup.
Podcast.
The Football Sack Podcast first aired on iTunes on 10 June 2010 with hosts Jack Quigley and Christian Layland. Brought in specifically to cover the 2010 FIFA World Cup the program was popular enough to warrant its continuation for the 2010-11 A-League season, ultimately making it to number one on iTunes for Australian sporting podcasts. The show's popularity was rewarded when it received the award for Football Podcast of the Year at the FFDU Australian Football Media Awards.
At the conclusion of the 2010-11 A-League season the program changed its structure with two new hosts, Matthew Greenlaw and Pete Nowakowski, adding a stronger focus on state league football - in particular the NSW Premier League. As of June 2011, in cooperation with Southern Cross University the original hosts returned and now work in tandem with Greenlaw, Nowakowski and Michal Roucek (who was added to the panel during the season) to record two separate podcasts each week. The Football Sack Podcast is currently ranked 4.5 stars on iTunes.
Awards.
FFDU Australian Football Media Awards
Football New South Wales
Southern Cross University


Mumbrella

Mumbrella is an Australian marketing and media industry news website. It was started in December 2008 by Tim Burrowes, and has since gone on to become a popular source for news, analysis and commentary on the advertising, PR, and media industries.
History.
Founded in 2008 by former UK-based magazine editor Tim Burrowes, Mumbrella sought to fill a gap in the niche market for up to date advertising and media industry news; an area then dominated by weekly industry trade magazines. After beginning his career as a newspaper journalist, Burrowes gained experience writing on the media and marketing industries after he was appointed editor at UK advertising industry magazine "MediaWeek". He later became editor of "B&T Magazine" in Australia, before deciding to create Mumbrella.
Mumbrella was initially designed to primarily be a free weekly email newsletter, with the website simply acting antecedent to it. However, the site quickly became the prime focus after it rapidly gained an audience through its fast reporting on industry news and critical commentary. By 2012, the website was reaching over 200,000 unique readers per month, and turning over $1.5m per year through its various revenue streams.
Mumbrella expanded into the Asian market in 2013 with the launch of Mumbrella Asia. The publication now hosts Asian versions of its successful Mumbrella Awards and Mumbrella360 industry conference. However in December 2019, Mumbrella announced that it would shut down its Asian website as it failed to achieve all three major sources of revenue around advertising, ticket sales and sponsorship, comparatively to its Australian website. In addition, the publication has failed to attract advertising because of its aggressive reporting, which rubbed the feathers of the marketing industry and Singapore government the wrong way.
The business was sold to US-based events company Diversified Communications for a reported AU$8 million at the end of 2017, with a view to expanding the events side of the Mumbrella brand.
The name "Mumbrella" was suggested by a friend after Burrowes described his idea for the site as being about things under the 'media and marketing umbrella', a phrase that the name ultimately became derived from.
Events.
Mumbrella runs a number of industry events to in addition to its website.
Mumbrella360, the leading advertising and media conference in Australia, was launched in 2011. It attracts over 2000 attendees across three days, and through its high ticket price and significant sponsorship deals has become a major income stream for the publication.
Mumbrella runs media and marketing industry awards show the Mumbrella Awards, launched in 2013, an event which draws over 1000 attendees. The site also hosts a number of more specific industry events and professional training classes across Australia.


Sof passuk

The Sof passuk (Hebrew: , "end of verse", also spelled Sof pasuq and other variant English spellings, and sometimes called סלוק silluq) is the cantillation mark that occurs on the last word of every verse in the Tanakh. Some short verses contain only members of the sof passuk group.
The Sof passuk can be preceded by the marks "Mercha", "Tipcha", and "Mercha" in that order, including either all or some of these. However, these Merchas and Tipchas do not necessarily have the same melody as those in the Etnachta group. Altogether, there are five possible arrangements how these can appear.
Melody.
Note that the melody for trope is different in Torah, Haftarah, and Megillot. Different Jewish communities also use different Torah tropes. The following should not be considered an exhaustive list of all possible cantillations.
Basic.
Appears at the end of a verse
Sof Parasha/Sof Hachelek.
Appears at the end of a lilah
In the Ten Commandments.
There is controversy over the use of the Sof Passuk during the reading of the Ten Commandments. There are two versions of the trope sounds for the Ten Commandments, one that divides them into 13 verses, based on the number of Sof Passuk notes, and the other that divides them into ten verses, the actual number of commandments. It is for this reason that not all commandments actually have a sof passuk at the end of their own names.
Other versions.
Sof parasha.
The end of a single reading (aliya) which is chanted in a different melody, thereby giving the sound of finality to the reading. The tune for the end of the aliya can be applied to different verses based on different reading schedules, including the full parasha (on Shabbat during Shacharit in most synagogues), a partial reading (as is read on weekdays, Shabbat Mincha, and the selected readings of various holidays), or the Triennial cycle.
Sof Sefer.
At the conclusion to any "sefer" of the Torah, a special tune is used for the words "Hazak Hazak Venithazek" after the reader finishes the book. These words are recited first by the congregation and then repeated by the reader.


Forest Warrior

Forest Warrior is a 1996 American adventure film starring Chuck Norris and directed by Norris's brother Aaron Norris. The film was released on direct-to-video in the United States on November 5, 1996. The film is perhaps best known since late 2011 as the source of a scene in which Chuck (a ubiquitous Internet meme himself) stops a chainsaw by grabbing it with his bare hand. The scene has been reposted numerous times on YouTube with views totaling several million, as well as made into an animated GIF for use on Internet forums and message boards. Another memorable scene features a logger who air guitars with his chainsaw.
Plot.
The film opens with a campfire story being told by Clovis Madison (Roscoe Lee Browne) to a group of children, about a man named Jebediah McKenna (Chuck Norris) who was killed a century ago in the Tanglewood forest while fighting bandits. McKenna was magically brought back to life and given the power to transform into a bear, wolf, or eagle. Inspired by this tale, the children dub their group the Lords of the Tanglewood, complete with the following pledge: "We ask you to leave it pure as found; For we are to it forever bound."
During the present day, the Tanglewood forest is targeted for harvesting by a logging conglomerate directed by villainous lumber magnate Travis Thorne (Terry Kiser). Most of the small town is against their deforestation, including the kids, who regularly camp out in a treehouse in the woods. During one of their trips, a group of loggers bully the kids, only to get beaten up by McKenna, the legendary shapeshifter, who also happens to be a master of Native American martial arts. The loggers report this to Thorne, who orders the treehouse destroyed. While the kids are gone, the loggers place a bomb in the treehouse, unaware that the Tanglewood Lords' leader - and sole female member - Austene Slaighter (Megan Paul) is still there. McKenna beats up the loggers again, then uses the forest's magic to resurrect Austene just like he had been.
Austene is reunited with her father Arlen (Michael Beck), once the town's deputy sheriff but now its token drunk. Meanwhile, Thorne obtains a permit to continue logging. The Lords of the Tanglewood rally in response to this; they prank the loggers with numerous boobytraps, impeding Thorne's efforts to chop down the forest. They also play rock music on a ghetto-blaster, which causes the loggers to dance around idiotically. Finally, McKenna appears before Thorne and intimidates him by turning into a bear; the terrified villain calls off the deforestation and confesses all of his wrongdoing to the authorities. With their forest saved, the townspeople rebuild the kids' treehouse while Austene sees McKenna's spirit reunited with that of his Native American wife.
Production.
Filming.
The film was shot in Oregon in 56 days from January 14 until March 10, 1996.
Reception.
Critical response.
The film received mixed reviews from critics. Jonathan P wrote on Rotten Tomatoes, "Don't watch this unless you are expecting a film made for children. This is Chuck Norris in his most family friendly movie to date. The plot is absurd and the acting pretty bad but again take it for what it is. I didn't expect a children's movie so was quite disappointed but I would imagine kids will enjoy it well enough".
Doug Walker, aka "The Nostalgia Critic", has called the picture "a must-see for anybody who refuses to believe there are worse roles an actor can get stuck with than that of a corpse (referring to Terry Kiser's deceased title character in "Weekend at Bernie's")."
Accolades.
Young Artist Awards


Leonard Marks

Leonard Harold Marks (b. Mar 5, 1916 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; d. Aug. 11, 2006 Washington, DC) was a director of the United States Information Agency.
He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh. He first worked with the Office of Price Administration, then in 1942 for the Federal Communications Commission before going into the private practice of law in 1946. His firm (Cohn and Marks) specialized in communications law, and Lady Bird Johnson's chain of TV stations were one of his clients.
In 1965 he was named director of the United States Information Agency by President Lyndon Johnson.
In December 1967 Secretary of State Dean Rusk and US President Lyndon Johnson discussed Marks as a possible appointment to the United Nations as US Ambassador.
He was a member of the National Security Council during the Vietnam War. During the Carter administration he was president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Personal life.
He married Dorothy Ames around 1947 and had two sons, Stephen A. Marks and Robert E. Marks. He died of Parkinson's disease.


Michael Takeo Magruder

Michael Takeo Magruder (born 1974, USA/UK) is an artist who uses digital technologies to create work that engages with real-time data, virtual worlds and networked mobile devices. His work has appeared at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, UK; Centre Georges Pompidou, in Paris, France; and what is now called the Tokyo Photographic Art Museum in Japan. Magruder's work is included in the Rose Goldsen Archive of New Media Art at Cornell University. In 2010 Magruder represented the UK at Manifesta 8: the European Biennial of Contemporary Art. In 2013-14 he was a Leverhulme Trust artist in residence, which culminated in his solo exhibition, 'De/coding the Apocalypse'. Magruder won the Lumen Prize Immersive Environment Award in 2015 for "A New Jerusalem", which was a work in 'De/coding the Apocalypse'. Magruder was the first runner up in the British Library Labs Competition 2016 and the British Library Labs 2017 Artistic Award Winner. Magruder's solo exhibition currently at the British Library, "Imaginary Cities," employs the digital map archives at the British Library.
Selected works.
"<event>".
"<event>" was commissioned by Turbulence.org in 2004. The work has been described by Jo-Anne Green, as engaging "with media saturation and its subsequent devaluation of information; copyright — who actually owns the information, the event that triggered it, the history it becomes?; is it the ‘truth’?" The source material of the work was "headline news articles parsed from http://news.bbc.co.uk/ between 29.12.2003 and 01.02.2004 from which samples of audio, image, text, and video information were extracted.".
"[FALLUJAH . IRAQ . 31/03/2004]".
The work concerns events that occurred when four American mercenaries were ambushed and shot or beaten to death by Iraqi insurgents. The source material employed in creating the work included censored AP source footage from www.thememoryhole.org and public domain news articles from www.bbc.co.uk. The work was exhibited at FILE: Internacional Electronic Language Festival and in Turbulence Artist Studios. It was selected by Gustav Metzger for EASTinternational 05.
"Encoded Presence [auto-portrait of E. Puente]".
"Encoded Presence" "[auto-portrait of E. Puente]" was one of twenty finalists for the inaugural Noka/Darklight Pocket Movies Challenge in 2005. The work concerned the "re-purposing of the mobile phone from a mundane communication device to a cinematic instrument". "Encoded Presence" "[auto-portrait of E. Puente]" also appeared in Pocket Films: Festival international de films réalisés avec téléphone mobile at the Centre Pompidou in 2007.
"re_collection".
Magruder's work, "re_collection" was included in the December 2005 exhibition at Lumen Eclipse, which is a public media arts gallery located in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The work was recommended to curator Ryan Hovenweep by Helen Thorington and Jo-Anne Green of Turbulence.org. On Magruder's website, he describes how the work consists of a person "recorded without direction utilising only a SVP c500 smartphone as a cinematic device. From the resulting material a single 14 second audio/video stream was extracted and used (with only minor editing/manipulation) as the exclusive source material for the artwork." The exhibition in which the work appeared was reviewed by Cate McQuaid for the Boston Globe. In her comments about "re_collection" she said that Magruder, "cleverly utilizes the hallmarks of his medium to disorient: He pixelates the image, a grassy landscape, into a bright, clunky grid."
"{Transcription}".
"{Transcription}" was first exhibited at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Magruder's website describes the work as "a real-time media installation, specifically created for the [Courtauld] Institute’s back six-level staircase. Consisting of dynamic audio/visual structures intermixed with static wall- drawn elements, the work reflects upon society's data-driven and information-saturated existence through the examination of international news communications". Prof. Gegory Sporton has described the subject of the work in terms of "[t]echnology's role as a gauze through which we view the world".
"PRISM".
Magruder was commissioned by Headlong, a UK-based theatre company, to create PRISM in 2014. The work was a new media installation that reflected on a production by Headlong of a new adaptation created by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan of the novel", Nineteen Eighty-Four", by George Orwell. PRISM is described as reflecting on Edward Snowden and the information about "a portfolio of clandestine mass surveillance programs on a scale reminiscent of George Orwell’s dystopian society of 1984" that he brought to public attention. Headlong also commissioned a second work: "The Nether Realm", which was a living virtual world inspired by the play, "The Nether", by Jennifer Haley.
"A New Jerusalem".
"A New Jerusalem" was first exhibited as part of the De/coding the Apocalypse exhibition at Somerset House in London, England. The work was created by Michael Takeo Magruder with Prof. Edward Adams and Drew Baker and won the Lumen Prize Immersive Environment Award in 2015. The piece is based upon the narrative of the Book of Revelation. In 2018, the work was included in the exhibition "And I Will Take You to Paradise" at Art Museum KUBE, Norway.
"Lamentation for the Forsaken".
"Lamentation for the Forsaken" was commissioned for the exhibition, Stations of the Cross, which took place in Lent, 2016. The work is described as a "new media installation that juxtaposes Christ’s suffering and journey to the cross with the anguish and plight of refugees fleeing the Syrian Civil War". The work was situated in St Stephen Walbrook as one of the fourteen locations across London in which the Stations of the Cross exhibition took place to "tell the story of the Passion in a new way, for people of different faiths". Revd. Jonathan Evens, Priest-in-charge at St Stephen Walbrook, has commented on the synergy of the church with the work in relation to matters such as lamentation and the refugee crisis. Magruder is reported as having stated that "his practice is not in any way a religious endeavor — even with artworks like "Lamentation for the Forsaken" that explicitly reference a Christian narrative". The exhibition transferred to Washington D.C. and New York City in the United States. In the exhibition in New York City, "Lamentation for the Forsaken" was located at "Station Six (Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus) at New York’s Church of the Heavenly Rest on 5th Ave and 90th street". The work was subsequently situated in the Chapel of the Resurrection Christ Church Cranbrook, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA. Prof. Aaron Rosen has described the work as “a lamentation not only for the forsaken Christ, but others who have felt his acute pain of abandonment”.
Selected exhibitions.
(in)Remembrance [11-M].
In 2010, Magruder was commissioned to create (in)Remembrance [11-M] for Manifesta 8: the European Biennial of Contemporary Art. The project was a series of interrelated works that engaged with the train bombings in Madrid, Spain in 2004. (in)Remembrance [11-M] was installed at Museo Regional de Arte Moderno (MURAM) in Cartagena, Spain. In his book, "Aesthetic Journalism:" "How to Inform Without Informing," Alfredo Cramerotti has described how Magruder "undertakes journalistic investigations by sourcing third-person material to build a highly individualized narrative of the facts reported." Magruder has described (in)Remembrance [11-M] as a project more than an exhibition in an art gallery.
Living Data.
'Living Data' was a solo touring exhibition that included works generated from the "vast and ever-changing sea of collective data that underpins our everyday existence," and engaged with the way in which real-time digital technology is generated by and then has an impact on the material world. The exhibition included the following works of art: "Data_cosm"; "Data_plex (babel); Data_plex (economy)"; "Data_Sea; Data Flower (prototype I); Data Storm (prototype I);" and "Data.Record [BBC_2010.08.17@16:26GMT]."
De/coding the Apocalypse.
'De/coding the Apocalypse' was a solo exhibition that concerned the Book of Revelation. The Revd. Jonathan Evens has commented that, "[t]he word 'apocalypse' originally indicated an 'unveiling,' and the exhibition investigates our enduring fascination with this seminal biblical text, updating and investigating its aspects". 'De/coding the Apocalypse' was the culmination of an interdisciplinary collaboration supported by the Cultural Institute at King's College London, which combined Magruder's art practice with academic research in the Department of Theology & Religious Studies at King's College London in partnership with the contemporary art centre, MOSTYN. Magruder collaborated with Professor Ben Quash (Theology, King's College London) and Alfredo Cramerotti, Director of MOSTYN. The exhibition included digital media installations, which used a variety of digital technologies, including mobile devices and computers as well as tangible art composed of physical materials. Michael Takeo Magruder was the Centre for the Critical Study of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements ('CenSAMM') Artist in Residence for the conference, 'Apocalypse in Art: The Creative Unveiling'. During his residency he installed "De/coding the Apocalypse" at the Panacea Museum in Bedford, England.


Kurosagi (film)

 is a film based on the 2006 popular TV series "Kurosagi".
After the finale of the TV series in June, TBS received many questions about whether there would be a new season or a film. TBS decided to shoot a film, beginning in August 2007.
On March 8, 2008, the cast appeared on stage at TOHO Cinemas Roppongi Hills. At the end of the conference, a guard with a suitcase filled with 3,800,000,000 yen (since it was March 8) appeared on stage. Yamashita said he would make another Kurosagi film, shooting it overseas.
The official theme song is "Taiyō no Namida" (). It is performed by NEWS, a 6-member band. Tomohisa Yamashita, who also plays the lead role, is in the band.
Plot.
A young man named Kurosaki had his family destroyed by con artists. When he grows up, he becomes a swindler to avenge his family. He swindles other con artists and returns the money to their victims.


ITU Radio Regulations

The ITU Radio Regulations (short: RR) regulates on law of nations scale radiocommunication services and the utilisation of radio frequencies. It is the supplementation to the Constitution and Convention of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU Constitution and Convention). In line to the ITU Constitution and Convention and the ITU International Telecommunication Regulations (ITR), this ITU Radio Regulations belong to the basic documents of the International Telecommunication Union. The ITU Radio Regulations comprise and regulate the part of the allocated electromagnetic spectrum (also: radio frequency spectrum) from 9 kHz to 275 GHz.
Structure.
The current approved version of the ITU Radio Regulations (addition 2012) is structured as follows:
Volume 1 – Articles
Volume 2 – Appendices
Volume 3 – Resolutions and Recommendations
Volume 4 – ITU-R Recommendations incorporated by reference
Maps to be used in relation to Appendix 27
Definitions.
The "Radio Regulations" define:
The drafting, revision and adoption of the "Radio Regulations" is the responsibility of the World Radiocommunication Conferences (WRCs) of the ITU, meetings of which are typically held every three or four years.
Recent WRCs are:
The most recent published version of the "Radio Regulations", the "Edition of 2016" contains the complete texts of the "Radio Regulations" as adopted and revised by WRC-15, including all articles, appendices, resolutions, and a subset of the recommendations issued by ITU-R (previously known as the CCIR) (those "recommendations" which have a mandatory nature, as a result of being cited in the "Radio Regulations").
The "Edition of 2020", adopted and reviewed by the WRC-19, is scheduled for publication in October 2020.


Old Court Savings and Loans

Old Court Savings and Loan (Old Court Thrift Savings) was a savings and loan association headquartered in Pikesville, Maryland, United States, that failed due to embezzlement by its president Jeffrey Levitt, which led to the failure of the state deposit insurance corporation.
Collapse of state deposit insurance corporation.
In 1962 Maryland established a quasi-public non-profit corporation, the Maryland Savings-Share Insurance Corporation (MSSIC), to insure accounts held in state chartered savings and loan associations. In May 1985, rumors emerged of financial instability at two thrifts, Old Court and Merritt Commercial Savings and Loan. Old Court had recently grown from $86 million in deposits to $839 million in only three years by offering high deposit interest rates, allowing it to make risky loans. Merritt was considered to be at risk as a result of loans made to a failed repo company. The rumours led to depositors questioning whether MSSIC was financially able to guarantee all of the deposits, resulting in a run on all state savings and loan associations. This led to the withdrawal of deposits, the failure of Old Court and the subsequent collapse of MSSIC. To temporarily protect other state savings and loan associations, Governor Harry Hughes issued an executive order limiting withdrawals to $1000 per month. The Maryland General Assembly during two special sessions in 1985 established the Maryland Deposit Insurance Fund (MDIF) to replace the MSSIC.
Conviction of Levitt.
Old Court President Jeffrey Levitt was charged in relation to the failure of the bank, and pleaded guilty to theft and misappropriation of bank funds. He served 6 years in Maryland prison before being released on parole in 1993.
He then moved to Florida and opened a cigar shop.
Subsequent events.
The failure of the state bank insurance systems of Maryland, Ohio, and Arizona presaged the national collapse of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. It also resulted in the Supreme Court case "Tafflin v. Levitt" regarding whether civil claims brought under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act could be heard in state court.


Radio Waikato

Radio Waikato was a radio station in Hamilton on 954 kHz AM. The station was first started in 1971 as New Zealand's third privately owned station, the station originally broadcast on 930AM but moved to 954AM in 1978 after New Zealand's AM band frequency spacing was adjusted from 10 kHz to 9 kHz.
In 1986 Radio Waikato changed to a country music format and was renamed "Country Gold - Waikato 954." In 1988 the station's frequency was sold to Radio Pacific and was then used to broadcast Radio Pacific into the Waikato region with originally local programming but later networked programming from Radio Pacific in Auckland.
Other Radio Waikato.
In 1993 a new station of the same name was started in Hamilton. This station had no connection to the original Radio Waikato and was broadcast on 576AM and 100.0FM. This station closed down in 1994 and the AM frequency was later used by Radio Liberty in the mid-1990s and the FM frequency was later used to broadcast Radio Hauraki between 1995 and 1997.


River City FM (Wanganui)

River City FM was a radio station in Whanganui, New Zealand.
The station was started by Radio New Zealand (which was known as the National Broadcasting Service at the time) in October 1949 broadcasting on 1200AM with the callsign 2XA. The callsign was later changed to 2ZW and the station was rebranded as 2ZW.
In 1978 2ZW moved to 1197AM after New Zealand changed from 10 kHz spacing on the AM band to 9 kHz spacing. 2ZW was rebranded as "River City Radio" in 1988 and "89.6 River City FM" in 1993 after the station began broadcasting on 89.6FM.
In July 1996 the New Zealand Government sold off the commercial arm of Radio New Zealand; the sale included River City FM. The new owner was The Radio Network, a subsidiary of APN News & Media and Clear Channel Communications, which operated as a division of the Australian Radio Network.
In 1998 The Radio Network grouped all their local stations in smaller markets together to form the Community Radio Network. River City FM continued to run a local breakfast show between 6am and 10am but outside breakfast all stations part of the Community Radio Network took network programming from a central studio based in Taupo.
In 2001 the Community Radio Network was discontinued and all stations become part of the Classic Hits FM network, as a result River City FM was rebranded as "Classic Hits 89.6 River City FM". The station continued to run a local breakfast but now outside breakfast all programming originated from the Classic Hits studios in Auckland. At the same time the original 1197AM frequency was replaced with Newstalk ZB.
On April 28, 2014 all stations part of the Classic Hits network were rebranded as The Hits. A networked breakfast presented by Pauline Gillespie and Grant Kareama was introduced to almost all The Hits stations with the former breakfast announcer moved to present a 6-hour show between 9am and 3pm. The local daytime programme is presented by Jesse Archer who can also be heard on The Hits Manawatu.
The current station is located on the corner of Guyton and Campbell Streets, Whanganui.


Sleeping Tapes

Sleeping Tapes is a 2015 spoken word/ambient album by actor Jeff Bridges, with music by Keefus Ciancia.
The album was released by web hosting service Squarespace as part of its 2015 Super Bowl advertising campaign, with all proceeds from album sales going to Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign.
Reception.
Pitchfork gave the album 7.8 out of a possible 10, noting, "Way beyond sleep aids, you get the sense that Bridges would be a hell of a life coach."


Micro Notes - Technical information on Digital Research products


Be Your Way


HBOS Marketing Campaign

In late 2000, UK bank Halifax began a long-running television advertisement campaign featuring staff singing popular songs with the words changed to reflect its financial services products.
Campaign.
The campaign was the brainchild of DLKW Creative Directors Malcolm Green and Gary Betts, who had previously found fame when they launched the Gary Lineker Walkers Crisps campaign. Auditions were held and Halifax employee Howard Brown was selected by Green and Betts to spearhead the new advertising drive for the bank in 2000.
Brown was the first and most frequently featured star of these adverts. His first advert saw him sing "Extra", a song with new lyrics by Malcolm Green, set to the tune of "Sex Bomb" (originally by Mousse T featuring Tom Jones) on Boxing Day 2000. The Adverts topped Adwatch, the first time a bank had managed this feat in the survey's history.
The practice continued following the merger with Bank of Scotland, with Bank of Scotland employees were also allowed to take part, which was fully taken into account In 2002 with the "Somethin' Stupid", which feature Howard and a Bank of Scotland employee.
In 2005, at the height of Brown's popularity he toured the branch network giving Halifax customers the chance to meet him, as part of the "Giving you Extra Tour". That same year, the original advert was ranked the 13th best advertisement of all time by ITV in a top 20 list and in 2009 it was ranked as the 18th best advertisement of the decade in another top 20 ITV list.
In December 2006, Natalie Webster and four other Halifax colleagues Richard Willoughby, Jilly Ellard, Nicola Roberts and Paul Dudley, flew to Johannesburg to film the "Halifax remix" of Aretha Franklin's "Think". The advertisement was first shown in February 2007. Another advertisement featured Thomas Yau from Leeds singing a version of Herman's Hermits "I'm into Something Good". It was first shown in January 2008, though was axed in August 2008.
In 2008 following a review of its creative marketing campaign, company reappointed the then newly merged DLKW and Lowe agency, to revise its advert strategy to make it more serious, As advert styles were too upbeat for the then gloomy economic climate. With the move away from its upbeat singing ads, in April 2008, Howard Brown no longer starred in any more Halifax adverts, instead taking a role in its public relations department. Following the merger the Lloyds Bank, Halfax and Bank of Scotland took different routes for its advertisement.
Animated Version.
In addition to the numerous singing and non singing adverts, between 2002 and 2006 an animated version of Brown also appearing in adverts, voiced by London actor Paul Shearer and created in conjunction with Paris-based animation stars Numéro Six, which used the "Who Gives You Extra?" at the end of each advert. The real Howard Brown has continued to appear in the live-action adverts. Further adverts were Written and art directed by Richard Lovell and Martin Cox at DLKW (London). In an interview with news agency Reuters, Brown said:
Bank of Scotland.
In 2004, the Bank Of Scotland dropped Howard from their versions of the adverts. The Bank of Scotland stated that Scottish customers could not stand him because he was "too in-your face, and particularly annoying". HBOS admitted mistakes have been made in promoting the new image north of the border, as it did not take into account the Bank of Scotland brand nor its heritage. The replacement advertising campaign instead feature Scottish members of staff, although the animated version of Howard were used north of the border.


Alfred Gusenbauer

Alfred Gusenbauer (born 8 February 1960) is an Austrian politician who until 2008 spent his entire professional life as an employee of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) or as a parliamentary representative. He headed the SPÖ from 2000 to 2008, and served as Chancellor of Austria from January 2007 to December 2008. Since then he has pursued a career as a consultant and lecturer, and as a member of supervisory boards of Austrian companies.
Early life and education.
Gusenbauer was born in Sankt Pölten in the state of Lower Austria on 8 February 1960. He was educated at a high school in Wieselburg and studied political science, philosophy and jurisprudence at the University of Vienna, where he obtained a doctorate in political science in 1987. Gusenbauer was federal leader of the SPÖ youth wing, the Socialist Youth (SJ) from 1984 to 1990; vice-president of the International Union of Socialist Youth from 1985 to 1989 and vice-president of the Socialist International in 1989. He was then made a senior research fellow in the economic policy department of the Lower Austria section of the Chamber of Labour from 1990 to 1999.
Chairman of the Social Democratic Party.
In 1991, Gusenbauer was elected SPÖ chairman in Ybbs an der Donau and a member of the Lower Austria party executive following the resignation of SPÖ chairman Viktor Klima. In the same year he was elected to the Bundesrat (the upper house of the Austrian Parliament) as a deputy for Lower Austria. He was a member of the Austrian delegation to the parliamentary meeting of the Council of Europe in 1991 and was chairman of the social committee of the Council of Europe from 1995 to 1998.
In the Bundesrat, Gusenbauer was chairman of the Committee for Development Co-operation from 1996 to 1999. In 2000, he was elected leader of the SPÖ Group in the Bundesrat and also as secretary-general of the SPÖ. Under his leadership in the 2002 elections the SPÖ improved its vote and gained four seats, but failed to defeat the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) government of Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel. Gusenbauer had campaigned on a platform of more social spending and certain tax cuts.
During 2006, the SPÖ was handicapped by its involvement in the "BAWAG scandal" in which directors of the BAWAG, an Austrian bank owned by the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB), were accused of corruption, embezzlement and illicit speculation. The scandal led in March to the resignation of ÖGB head Fritz Verzetnitsch. The SPÖ as a party was not involved in the fraud but Gusenbauer found it politically expedient to exclude ÖGB leaders from the lists of SPÖ candidates, drawing criticism from the ÖGB.
Chancellor of Austria.
After the 2006 elections, the SPÖ was the largest single party but had no absolute majority of the parliamentary seats. A grand coalition between the ÖVP and the SPÖ was considered the most likely outcome. After prolonged negotiations, Gusenbauer became chancellor on 11 January 2007 at the head of an SPÖ-ÖVP coalition.
In July 2007, Gusenbauer led the Austrian delegation to the 119th session of the International Olympic Committee in Guatemala City to present the proposal for Salzburg as host of the 2014 Winter Olympics; the proposal eventually lost against Sochi, whose bid was presented by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
Gusenbauer immediately drew criticism because he abandoned central promises of the SPÖ election campaign, such as those to abolish university tuition fees (it was decided by the SPÖ instead that students should do community service for 60 hours, which resulted in student protests) and to reverse the country's Eurofighter deal. This provoked public criticism even from SPÖ members. Infighting over Gusenbauer's ability to lead his party never subsided from this point onwards. On 16 June 2008, Gusenbauer was replaced as SPÖ chief by his minister of transport Werner Faymann. However, he formally remained chancellor until after the 2008 snap elections that were called in early July 2008 when the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), led by Wilhelm Molterer, left the governing coalition. His time in office was the shortest since World War II.
Post-politics career.
Gusenbauer briefly returned to his old post in the Chamber of Labour but immediately took on paid and unpaid positions in the private and non-profit sectors.
In 2009, Faymann prevented Gusenbauer's candidacy for the office of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy by agreeing to the nomination of Johannes Hahn from his centre-right junior coalition partner ÖVP as Austria's Member of the European Commission.
Corporate boards.
Gusenbauer was made a member of the supervisory board of Alpine Holding, an Austrian construction conglomerate, in July 2009 and resigned from this position effective 1 May 2010, when it was announced that Gusenbauer was to head the supervisory board of Strabag (Austria's leading construction company) on 18 June 2010. At the same time he was to become chairman of the board of trustees of the private foundation established by Strabag's chairman, Hans Peter Haselsteiner.
In an article about Western leaders working for authoritarian regimes, "Associated Press" reported that Gusenbauer works as a consultant to Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev. In September 2013, he became an advisor to Serbian deputy prime minister and leader of the Serbian Progressive Party Aleksandar Vucic. In 2018, reports surfaced claiming that Gusenbauer had met with members of Congress in Washington as part of a 2013 lobbying campaign orchestrated by Paul Manafort on behalf of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
Other positions include:
Non-profit organizations.
From 2008 to 2011, Gusenbauer was the first Leitner Global Fellow at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs in New York.
Other positions include:
Controversy.
In 1984, Gusenbauer, then leader of Austria's Young Socialists, caused controversy in Austria when he knelt and kissed the still-Communist tarmac at Moscow's Domodedovo airport – in mockery of Pope John Paul II.
Paradise Papers.
In November 2017 an investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism cited his name in the list of politicians named in the "Paradise Papers" allegations.
Manafort indictment.
The 2018 February 16 indictment of Paul Manafort unsealed on 23 February as part of the Special Counsel investigation (2017–2019) alleges that foreign politicians hypothesized to be Romano Prodi and Gusenbauer took payments exceeding $2m from Manafort to promote the case of his client, then-president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovich.