April 9, 2012
Yo-yo dieting, also known as ‘weight cycling,’ is a term coined by Kelly D. Brownell, Ph.D., at Yale University. In this process, the dieter is initially successful in the pursuit of weight loss but is unsuccessful in maintaining the loss long-term and begins to gain the weight back. The dieter then seeks to lose the regained weight, and the cycle begins again.
The reasons for yo-yo dieting are varied but often include embarking upon a hypocaloric diet that was initially too extreme. At first the dieter may experience elation at the thought of their rejection of food. Over time, however, the limits imposed by such extreme diets cause effects such as depression or fatigue that make the diet impossible to sustain. Ultimately, the dieter reverts to their old eating habits, now with the added emotional effects of failing to lose weight by restrictive diet. Such an emotional state leads many people to eating more than they would have before dieting, causing them to rapidly regain weight.
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April 9, 2012
Tarsem Singh Dhandwar (b. 1961), known professionally as Tarsem, is an Indian film director. He began his career directing music videos, including those of ‘Hold On’ by En Vogue, ‘Sweet Lullaby’ by Deep Forest, and R.E.M.’s smash hit ‘Losing My Religion,’ the latter of which won Best Video of the Year at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. He has directed dozens of commercials for brands such as Nike and Coca-Cola.
Tarsem’s feature film directorial debut was ‘The Cell’ (2000), starring Jennifer Lopez. His second film, ‘The Fall,’ debuted at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and was released theatrically in the United States in 2008. His third film was 2011’s ‘Immortals.’ He directed an adaptation of the Brothers Grimm story of Snow White, called ‘Mirror Mirror’ in 2012.
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April 9, 2012
‘On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft’ by Stephen King, published in 2000, is a memoir of the prolific author’s experiences as a writer, and also serves as a guide book for those who choose to enter the craft. The first section of the book is an Autobiography mainly about King’s early exposure to writing, and his childhood attempts at writing. King talks about his early attempts to get published, and his first novel ‘Carrie.’ He also talks about his fame as a writer, and what it took to get there. This includes his relationship with his wife, the death of his mother and his history of drug and alcohol abuse.
The second section is practical advice on writing, including tips on grammar and ideas about developing plot and character. King himself describes it as a guide for how ‘a competent writer can become a good one.’ This includes his beliefs that a writer should edit out unnecessary details and avoid the use of unnecessary adverbs. He also uses quotes from other books and authors to illustrate his points. The third section is also autobiographical, in which he discusses the 1999 automobile accident in which he was struck by a vehicle while walking down an isolated country road. He describes serious injuries, his painful recovery and his struggle to start writing again.
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April 7, 2012
Geoffrey Barrow (b. 1971) is an English producer, composer, disc jockey, and is the instrumentalist for the band Portishead. Portishead—formed in 1991—was named after the small town near Bristol where Barrow grew up. On his intentions in forming Portishead, he has stated, ‘I just wanted to make interesting music, proper songs with a proper life span and a decent place in people’s record collections.’ After being involved in many local rock bands, playing drums and DJing in hip hop groups, Barrow got his first job at the Coach House Studios as a tape operator soon after it opened in 1989.
In 1991, while he was assisting on Massive Attack’s breakthrough album ‘Blue Lines,’ the band allowed him spare studio time to get his own ideas on tape. A few years later, when the Portishead project had been assembled, the group came back to record ‘Sour Times’ in that same studio. At the dawn of the ’90s, Barrow was making a name for himself as a remixer, working with such artists as Primal Scream, Paul Weller, Gabrielle, and Depeche Mode. In addition, Barrow had produced a track for Tricky and written songs for Neneh Cherry.
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April 6, 2012
Squidward Tentacles is a fictional character on the television cartoon series ‘SpongeBob SquarePants.’ He is voiced by Rodger Bumpass. Squidward appears in 270 episodes of the series, second only to SpongeBob’s 305. Unlike most characters in the series, Squidward is generally grumpy, tactless, short-tempered, sarcastic, and narcissistic. He dislikes many things, including his consistently annoying neighbors SpongeBob and Patrick, his job at the Krusty Krab, and is constantly aloof towards the citizens of Bikini Bottom. He is very open about his dissatisfaction with his job, and has frequently displayed unprofessional behavior such as sleeping at his counter, failing to clean his workplace, and reading art magazines instead of attending to customers.
Squidward enjoys playing his clarinet (at an elementary level with frequent missed notes and poor intonation, though Squidward considers himself a brilliant musical prodigy), modern dance, abstract art, relaxing, public radio, select television programs, and just about anything else that he considers ‘fancy.’ He does not like anyone, except his mother. Although Squidward likes to consider himself as above the mundane and often immature activities of his peers, he has constantly exhibited an unhealthy obsession with and dedication to such activities when exposed to them.
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April 6, 2012
Artists and repertoire (A&R) is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label; every activity involving artists to the point of album release is generally considered under the purview of, and responsibility of, A&R. The A&R division is responsible for discovering new recording artists and bringing them to the record company.
They are expected to understand the current tastes of the market and to be able to find artists that will be commercially successful. For this reason, A&R people are often young and many are musicians, music journalists or record producers. An A&R executive is authorized to offer a record contract, often in the form of a ‘deal memo’: a short informal document that establishes a business relationship between the recording artist and the record company. The actual contract negotiations will typically be carried out by rival entertainment lawyers hired by the musician’s manager and the record company.
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April 6, 2012
The Troubadour is a nightclub located in West Hollywood, founded in 1957 by Doug Weston. It was a major center for folk music in the 1960s, and subsequently for singer-songwriters and rock.
The Troubadour played an important role in the careers of Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, Hoyt Axton, the Eagles, The Byrds, Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, Carole King, Bonnie Raitt, J.D. Souther, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, Buffalo Springfield and other prominent and successful performers, who played performances there establishing their future fame. Continue reading →
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April 6, 2012
Clinamen [klyn-ah-mun] is the Latin name Roman philosopher Lucretius gave to the unpredictable swerve of atoms, in order to defend the atomistic doctrine of ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus. According to Lucretius, the unpredictable swerve occurs ‘at no fixed place or time’:
‘When atoms move straight down through the void by their own weight, they deflect a bit in space at a quite uncertain time and in uncertain places, just enough that you could say that their motion has changed. But if they were not in the habit of swerving, they would all fall straight down through the depths of the void, like drops of rain, and no collision would occur, nor would any blow be produced among the atoms. In that case, nature would never have produced anything.’ Continue reading →
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April 6, 2012
‘Minnie the Moocher‘ is a jazz song first recorded in 1931 by Cab Calloway and His Orchestra, famous for its nonsensical ad libbed (‘scat’) lyrics. In performances, Calloway would have the audience participate by repeating each scat phrase in a form of call and response. Eventually Calloway’s phrases would become so long and complex that the audience would laugh at their own failed attempts to repeat them. The song is based both musically and lyrically on Frankie ‘Half-Pint’ Jaxon’s 1927 ‘Willie the Weeper’ (Bette Davis sings this version in ‘The Cabin in the Cotton’).
The lyrics are heavily laden with drug references. The character ‘Smokey’ is described as ‘cokey’ meaning a user of cocaine; the phrase ‘kicking the gong around’ was a slang reference to smoking opium. It was followed two years later by Lonnie Johnson’s ‘Winnie the Wailer.’ Continue reading →
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April 6, 2012
Bromo-DragonFLY is a psychedelic hallucinogenic drug related to phenethylamine (a chemical found in chocolate, which like amphetamine, causes the release of norepinephrine and dopamine in the brain). It is considered an extremely potent hallucinogen, only slightly less potent than LSD, with a normal dose in the region of 200 μg to 800 μg, and it has an extremely long duration (up to several days).
It is explicitly illegal only in Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, although it may be considered a controlled substance analogue under US and Australian drug laws. The compound was first synthesized in the lab of American pharmacologist David E. Nichols in 1998. As with the earlier and less potent dihydrofuran series of compounds nicknamed FLY, Bromo-DragonFLY was named after its superficial structural resemblance to a dragonfly. Continue reading →
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April 6, 2012
Erowid is an online library of information about psychoactive plants and chemicals and other topics on altered states of consciousness such as meditation and lucid dreaming. It provides information about legal and illegal substances, including their desired and adverse effects. The site is organized by substance, ranging from well-known substances like alcohol, to obscure ones such as Bromo-DragonFLY (a hallacuinogen only slightly less potent than LSD, but which lasts for several days).
The information on the site is gathered from diverse sources including published literature, experts in related fields, and the experiences of the general public. Erowid acts as a publisher of new information as well as a library for the collection of documents and images published elsewhere. Continue reading →
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April 4, 2012
Gun fu, a portmanteau of ‘gun’ and ‘kung fu,’ is the style of sophisticated close-quarters gunplay seen in Hong Kong action cinema and in Western films influenced by it. It often resembles a martial arts battle played out with firearms instead of traditional weapons. It may also be described by other terms such as ‘bullet ballet,’ ‘gun kata,’ or ‘gymnastic gunplay.’
The focus of gun fu is both style and the usage of firearms in ways that they were not designed to be used. Shooting a gun from each hand, shots from behind the back, as well as the use of guns as melee weapons are all common. Other moves can involve shotguns, Uzis, rocket launchers, and just about anything else that can be worked into a cinematic shot. It is often mixed with hand-to-hand combat maneuvers. Gun fu has become a staple factor in modern action films due to its visually appealing nature (regardless of its actual practicality in a real-life combat situation). This is a contrast to American action movies of the 1980s which focused more on heavy weaponry and outright brute-force in firearm-based combat. Continue reading →
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