Blast Off (ブラストオフ) is a vertical scrolling shooter arcade game that was released by Namco in 1989 only in Japan. It is the sequel to Bosconian, which was released 8 years earlier.

In Blast Off, the player controls a ship, facing the top of the screen, that can move freely while the background scrolls down, bringing enemies in to view. The player may destroy enemies for points.

There are two buttons used. One is used to fire circular lasers, while the second button is used to change the ship's firing pattern. The patterns are:

By holding down the button, the ship will fire more powerful, spherical lasers.

Even though the game is the sequel to Bosconian (which used a synthesized voice saying "Blast off!" at the beginning of every round), Blast Off had more in common gameplay-wise with Namco's own Dragon Spirit than with Bosconian. This is especially noticeable in the 3rd area of every world, where the player's ship becomes enormous. Despite the gameplay differences, the connection with Bosconian was emphasized in the marketing of the game, with the hexagonal space stations from Bosconian appearing in the title of the game cabinet and in Namco's press literature, and also making appearances in the game itself. The game is also worth noting for its use of Engrish phrases, such as "To push start only 1 player button", "Go next", "Congraturations" and "Entry your name".

Penn & Teller (Penn Jillette and Teller) are American illusionists and entertainers who have performed together since the late 1970s, and are known for their numerous stage and television shows. Their current Las Vegas show is an amalgam of illusion and comedy. Penn Jillette is a raconteur; Teller generally does not speak while performing, although his voice can occasionally be heard during their performance. They specialize in gory tricks, exposing frauds, and performing clever pranks. More recently they have become associated with atheism, scientific skepticism, and libertarianism, particularly through their television show Penn & Teller: Bullshit!.

Penn Jillette and Teller were introduced to one another by Weir Chrisimer, and they performed their first show together at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival on 19 August 1975. From the late 1970s through 1981, Penn, Teller, and Chrisimer performed as a trio called "The Asparagus Valley Cultural Society" which played in San Francisco at the Phoenix Theater. This act was sillier and less "edgy" than today's Penn & Teller act.^{[citation needed]} Chrisimer helped to develop some bits that continued, most notably Teller's "Shadows" trick, which involves a single red rose.

Angelus Apatrida is a thrash metal band formed in 2000 in Albacete, Spain.

Angelus Apatrida was formed with a music style much different than what is played today. At the beginning it was a classic heavy metal music / power metal band. Two demos were recorded in this period: Lost in the Realms of Orchinodaemon (2001) and Unknown Human Being (2003). The last one was a change for the band and was recorded with a new style that led Angelus Apatrida to a post-thrash metal style.

With those demos the band started to play live shows supporting other bands like Saratoga and its popularity soon increased. It won a competition of bands and signed its first contract with the label Red Dragon and recorded the song "Danza de la Muerte" for a tribute album for the Spanish classic heavy metal band called Panzer.

The contract with Red Dragon Records was for three albums. The band recorded the first one, called Evil Unleashed in the Korsakov studios in Madrid during the summer of 2004 produced by Kosta Vázquez but it was never released due to problems with the label. Eventually, the band decided to break the contract with Red Dragon and to re-record the album one year later.

Bobby Creekwater (born Antione Rogers) is an American rapper and hip-hop producer from Atlanta, Georgia who is a former member of Shady Records.

Creekwater was born and raised in various parts of Atlanta, Georgia, and its surrounding area. He attended Clark Atlanta University for one year before leaving to pursue his music career. He and Charlie Jangles formed the hip hop duo Jatis, which was signed to Columbia Records and then Loud Records, but Loud was shut down before Jatis could release an album.

As an unsigned artist in 2004, Creekwater appeared with Aasim on the song "Anyway", from P-Money's album Magic City. Creekwater was noticed by Shady Records when label executives heard him rapping on a demo by Aasim. Shady Records president Eminem was more interested in Creekwater than Aasim and, in mid-2005, signed him to his label.

In late 2005, Creekwater released a mixtape, Anthem to the Streets. Newsweek described the recording in positive terms, saying it "delivers drug-peddling tales over the cheeriest possible dance tracks. Sesame Street sings crack rap."

Stanley Benton, better known as Stat Quo, is an American rapper. Benton worked his way to college and attended University of Florida, where he majored in economics and international business in 2000. Benton was contemplating law school, until veteran Southern rapper Scarface encouraged him to rap professionally. After 50 Cent, Stat Quo was the second artist signed to both Shady Records and Aftermath Entertainment and became Dr. Dre and Eminem's newest protégé. Stat Quo was supposed to release his debut album, Statlanta, with Shady/Aftermath but, despite being made three different times, the album was never released by the labels.Statlanta was finally released on 13 July 2010 by Sha Money XL's label Dream Big Ventures.

Stanley Benton was born in Thomasville Heights, a neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia, at Grady Memorial Hospital. In his early life, he lived with his mother and grandmother. Benton started freestyle rapping at around the age of 12. Later, his mother bought him a radio, and he would record himself rapping. In 1997, Benton started taking rap seriously, but continued with his education.