The Piano (soundtrack)

The Piano is the original soundtrack, on the Virgin Records label, of the 1993 Academy Award-winning film The Piano. The original score was composed by Michael Nyman and is his twentieth album release. Despite being called a "soundtrack", this is a partial score re-recording, as Nyman himself also performs the piano on the album (whereas the film version is performed by lead actress Holly Hunter). The music is performed by the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nyman with Michael Nyman Band members John Harle, David Roach and Andrew Findon performing the prominent saxophone work.

The album was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score (but lost to the score of Heaven & Earth) and the BAFTA Award for Best Score (lost to the score of Schindler's List).

The album design and illustration are by Dave McKean.

The main theme is based on a traditional Scottish melody titled "Gloomy Winter's Noo Awa".

Track listing

Note: Track 20 (The Heart Asks Pleasure First/The Promise) was not included on the American release until the remastered version in 2004, but included on the British version in the initial release.

Animals (Pink Floyd album)

Animals is the tenth studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd, released in January 1977. A concept album, it provides a scathing critique of the social-political conditions of late 1970s Britain, and presents a marked change in musical style from their earlier work. Animals was recorded at the band's studio, Britannia Row, in London, but its production was punctuated by the early signs of discord that three years later would culminate in keyboardist Richard Wright leaving the band. The album's cover image, a pig floating between two chimneys on Battersea Power Station, was conceived by bassist and writer Roger Waters, and photographed by long-time collaborators Hipgnosis.

The album was released to generally positive reviews in the United Kingdom, where it reached number 2. It was also a success in the United States, reaching number 3 on the Billboard 200, and although it scored on the American charts for only six months, steady sales have resulted in its certification by the RIAA at four times platinum. The size of the venues on the band's In the Flesh Tour, and an incident in which Waters spat at a fan, prompted him to conceive the band's subsequent album, The Wall.

Animals (Martin Garrix song)

"Animals" is a song by Dutch producer Martin Garrix. It was released as a digital download on 17 June 2013 on iTunes, the song quickly became popular within the EDM culture, leading to Garrix, seventeen at the time, to become the youngest producer to ever have a song reach number one on the electronic music store Beatport. The track was a commercial success, reaching the top ten or topping on a number of electronic music charts, topping singles charts in the United Kingdom and Belgium, and reached #21 on the United States' Billboard Hot 100.

Composition and release

Prior to release, the track gained buzz after being played anonymously with speculation increasing about the author after Dutch record label Spinnin' Records released a clip of the track online only titled "Animals (Teaser)". It started to reach even more speculation after a Vine video featuring Agnes from Despicable Me was posted. The track was, at various times, attributed to other acts like Hardwell, GTA, Sidney Samson and Bassjackers before the actual identity of the producer was revealed.

The Animals

The Animals were a British band of the 1960s, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, during the early part of the decade. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and deep-voiced frontman Eric Burdon, as exemplified by their signature song and transatlantic No.1 hit single, "The House of the Rising Sun", as well as by hits such as "We Gotta Get out of This Place", "It's My Life", "I'm Crying", "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and "I Believe To My Soul." The band balanced tough, rock-edged pop singles against rhythm and blues-oriented album material. They were known in the US as part of the British Invasion.

The Animals underwent numerous personnel changes in the mid-1960s and suffered from poor business management. Under the name Eric Burdon and the Animals, the much-changed act moved to California and achieved commercial success as a psychedelic and hard rock band with hits like "San Franciscan Nights", "When I Was Young" and "Sky Pilot", before disbanding at the end of the decade. Altogether, the group had ten Top Twenty hits in both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100.

Alternative versions of Kitty Pryde

In addition to her mainstream incarnation, Kitty Pryde has had been depicted in other fictional universes.

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse reality, Kitty grows up under harsh circumstances and her nature reflects it. She has short hair, tight clothes, and chain smokes cigarettes. Her parents are killed in the Chicago Cullings, and she is forcibly recruited into Apocalypse's army, but is later rescued by Colossus. Magneto puts Shadowcat under Weapon X's training, hoping to turn her into the X-Men's assassin, and she is given a set of retractable artificial claws around each wrist to better imitate her teacher's fighting style. After the fallout between Colossus and Magneto, Shadowcat sides with Colossus, whom she has married. Instead of leaving the fight against Apocalypse altogether, the couple become the teachers of Generation Next. The two submit their trainees to harsh situations, giving them little comfort despite the fact that Shadowcat is close to the age of her students.

Alfonso Catá

Alfonso Catá (3 October 1937 – 15 September 1990) was a Cuban ballet dancer, choreographer, teacher, and company director, active in the United States, Switzerland, Germany, and France.

Early life and training

Born in Havana, Alfonso Catá was the son of a diplomat in service to the government of Fulgencio Batista, president of Cuba from 1933 to 1959. When Alfonso was a boy, his father was posted to Geneva, Switzerland, and he was educated in private schools there, adding French and English to his native Spanish. Details of his early life are obscure, but he may also have begun his ballet training with Swiss teachers. In any case, when his family moved to the United States about 1950 and settled in New York City, his interest in dance was strong enough to cause him to enroll at the School of American Ballet. There, he was trained in the principles of classical ballet technique developed by George Balanchine, to whom he would remain devoted for the rest of his life.

Performing career

Catalase

Catalase is a common enzyme found in nearly all living organisms exposed to oxygen (such as bacteria, plants, and animals). It catalyzes the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen. It is a very important enzyme in protecting the cell from oxidative damage by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Likewise, catalase has one of the highest turnover numbers of all enzymes; one catalase molecule can convert approximately 5 million molecules of hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen each minute.

Catalase is a tetramer of four polypeptide chains, each over 500 amino acids long. It contains four porphyrin heme (iron) groups that allow the enzyme to react with the hydrogen peroxide. The optimum pH for human catalase is approximately 7, and has a fairly broad maximum (the rate of reaction does not change appreciably at pHs between 6.8 and 7.5). The pH optimum for other catalases varies between 4 and 11 depending on the species. The optimum temperature also varies by species.

History