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If you're interested in pronunciation, do check out my Kickstarter! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1410039381/fluent-forever-foreign-language-pronuncia...
[If you're interested in pronunciation, do check out my Kickstarter! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1410039381/fluent-forever-foreign-language-pronunciation-trai ] First Video: http://youtu.be/-e66ByetpDY Second Video (Consonants: Place): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJR1VPzayu0 Third Video (Vowels): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeaghqkLRi8 The third video tutorial on the International Phonetic Alphabet and English Pronunciation. This one covers the English Vowels and vowel characteristics in general - Height, Rounding and Backness, with the eventual goal of helping you learn your target language pronunciation based on better understanding your native language. Some Links: The main website: http://www.towerofbabelfish.com Specific language resources for most of the commonly learned languages: http://www.towerofbabelfish.com/Tower_of_Babelfish.com/Languages.html Anki Deck: http://www.towerofbabelfish.com/cms/?page_id=175 Wiki's article on IPA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet English Phonology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Phonology The Sounds of French (aka "How to learn new vowels"): http://youtu.be/hI2Pso1dDjM Some more vowel charts: French, German, Italian, English RP and GA: http://www.helsinki.fi/speechsciences/projects/vowelcharts/ Russian (compared with German, oddly enough): http://www.tuninst.net/Romabama/Bur-Gramm2/prop-vow/vow-German-Russian.GIF Spanish (and everything else): http://bartus.org/akustyk/vowel_systems.html Czech: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_phonology @TowerBabelfish: https://t.co/QyVhampn
Brewery: www.longtrail.com/ Beer: Limbo Style: IPA ABV: 7.6% Release: Year-Round Rating: 9/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still_Life_%28Opeth...
Brewery: http://www.greenflashbrew.com/ Beer: Road Warrior Style: Imperial Rye IPA ABV: 9% Release: Seasonal Rating: 9.4/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedi...
L'agente arrestato fa parte dell'IPA Iternational Police Association,la più grande organizzazione associativa tra appartenenti alle forze di polizia al mondo...
Birrificio Toccalmatto - Maciste Heroic (Double IPA) 8.5% Brewed by Birrificio Toccalmatto Style: Imperial/Double IPA Fidenza (PR), Italy Serve in Shaker, Snifter Maciste http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maciste The American Double IPA for excellence. Clear, dry, bitter; Strongwoman and arrogant as the hero of a b-movie. Four dry hopping of American hops in amounts unconscious Maciste make one of the most extreme ever conceived IPA on Italian soil. Alcohol in% vol. 8.5 Materie prime: Malti Pils, e Carapils. Luppoli Simcoe, Chinook, Warrior, Amarillo, Centennial. Fermentation : high fermentation, fermentation in the bottle and keg Pairings consigliat i: the perfect accompaniment for flavor intense and concentrated, salami, coppa and prosciutto stagionatissimi, even spicy. Grilled sausages, bbq ribs well glazed, Peking duck or pork rind with lacquer and crunchy, an original combination for meats cooked tradition, precooked, preferably with the support of the notes of a pungent mustard. Sweets made ??with salted caramel. Serving temperature : 8-12 ° C Recommended glass : Pint classic Product Availability : Available all year. Formats : Bottles 0.75 Lt Drums KeyKegs 30 Lt. Casks 4,5 and 9 Gallons for tapping gravity or pump with Dry Hopping (by reservation). Shelf life : 1 year from the date of bottling Birrificio Toccalmatto http://www.birratoccalmatto.it http://www.birratoccalmatto.com/web/?page_id=42 https://www.facebook.com/BirraToccalmatto https://twitter.com/Toccalmatto https://twitter.com/ToccalmattoUK Atlas Brands | The Home Of Craft Beer http://atlas-brands.com https://twitter.com/AtlasBrands http://tipopils.co.uk https://twitter.com/atlas_brandsuk
I woke up this morning to find a challenge posted for me in the Thai language learning group 'Farang Can Learn Thai'. https://www.facebook.com/groups/farangl...
Brewery: http://www.firestonebeer.com/ Beer: Wookey Jack Style: Black Rye IPA ABV: 8.3% Release: Rotating Rating: 9.4/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glow_%26_Behold Buy Local (in Ohio): NO WAY Firestone Walker Wookey Jack Black Rye IPA! "A unique twist on the Cascadian Dark Ale style. Wookey Jack offers true hop aroma to rival most IPAs, with pungent citrus and herbal hop nuances, a hint of peppery rye and earthiness on the nose. Big roasty malt flavors with balanced hop bitterness and spicy rye offer a full and complex texture with a refined bittered finish. A truly different IPA for dark beer fans." Remember if you want to see a particular beer reviewed just leave me a comment. Thanks for watching and enjoy your craft beer. RATING SCALE: 0-0.9: "Drain Pour." Would not want to drink/finish. Terrible taste/aroma. 1-1.9: "Disgusting." A beer that has off flavors/taste and is very hard to drink/finish. 2-2.9: "Awful." Something went wrong. Doesn't represent the style and is hard to drink. 3-3.9: "Very Bad." Not made very well and doesn't meet the standards for the style. 4-4.9: "Bad." No off flavors, but has little to no taste or aroma. BMC products. 5-5.9: "Below Average" Nothing exciting. Has good, but many bad elements. 6-6.9: "Average." Has good flavor/aroma, but something is missing. 7-7.9: "Good." A solid example of the style, but has something minor wrong. 8-8.9: "Great." Something that has a lot of good flavors and aromas and is easy drinking. 9-9.9: "Amazing." Goes above and beyond most beers, nails the style and has great taste/aroma. 10.0: "Mindblowing." Not necessarily perfect, but no improvement needed. Beyond exceptional. A+
Brewery: http://lagunitas.com/ Beer: Maximus IPA Style: Double/Imperial IPA ABV: 8.2% Release: Year Round Rating: 9.3/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rage_Against_the_Machine_%28album%29 Buy Local (in Ohio): http://www.buehlers.com/brunswick-store/ Yet another Lagunitas beer! This time it's a very fresh growler for their DIPA Maximus! Remember if you want to see a particular beer reviewed just leave me a comment. Thanks for watching and enjoy your craft beer. RATING SCALE: 0-0.9: "Drain Pour." Would not want to drink/finish. Terrible taste/aroma. 1-1.9: "Disgusting." A beer that has off flavors/taste and is very hard to drink/finish. 2-2.9: "Awful." Something went wrong. Doesn't represent the style and is hard to drink. 3-3.9: "Very Bad." Not made very well and doesn't meet the standards for the style. 4-4.9: "Bad." No off flavors, but has little to no taste or aroma. BMC products. 5-5.9: "Below Average" Nothing exciting. Has good, but many bad elements. 6-6.9: "Average." Has good flavor/aroma, but something is missing. 7-7.9: "Good." A solid example of the style, but has something minor wrong. 8-8.9: "Great." Something that has a lot of good flavors and aromas and is easy drinking. 9-9.9: "Amazing." Goes above and beyond most beers, nails the style and has great taste/aroma. 10.0: "Mindblowing." Not necessarily perfect, but no improvement needed. Beyond exceptional. A+
Brewery: http://stonebrew.com/ Beer: Go To IPA Style: Session IPA ABV: 4.5% Release: Year-Round Rating: 8.8/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin_%28album%29 Buy Local (in Ohio): http://www.buehlers.com/brunswick-store/ The newest year round release from Stone! "For Stone Go To IPA, we are embracing our hop obsession in a new way, funneling an abundance of lupulin-borne bitterness into a "session" IPA delivering all the fruity, piney character of a much bigger IPA. To accomplish this, we employed "hop bursting," a new technique wherein an irrational amount of hops is added during the final phase of the brewing process to coax out extreme flavors and aromas while also imparting a burst of desirably pleasant bitterness. The result is an Alpha-acid-rich beer that fans can enjoy more of without missing out on the assertive hop character you, like us, crave. So, sit back and go two with your new everyday go-to IPA and bask along with us in the glory of the almighty hop." Code Length: 90 Days after Bottling Remember if you want to see a particular beer reviewed just leave me a comment. Thanks for watching and enjoy your craft beer. RATING SCALE: 0-0.9: "Drain Pour." Would not want to drink/finish. Terrible taste/aroma. 1-1.9: "Disgusting." A beer that has off flavors/taste and is very hard to drink/finish. 2-2.9: "Awful." Something went wrong. Doesn't represent the style and is hard to drink. 3-3.9: "Very Bad." Not made very well and doesn't meet the standards for the style. 4-4.9: "Bad." No off flavors, but has little to no taste or aroma. BMC products. 5-5.9: "Below Average" Nothing exciting. Has good, but many bad elements. 6-6.9: "Average." Has good flavor/aroma, but something is missing. 7-7.9: "Good." A solid example of the style, but has something minor wrong. 8-8.9: "Great." Something that has a lot of good flavors and aromas and is easy drinking. 9-9.9: "Amazing." Goes above and beyond most beers, nails the style and has great taste/aroma. 10.0: "Mindblowing." Not necessarily perfect, but no improvement needed. Beyond exceptional. A+
Brewery: http://fatheadscleveland.com/ Beer: Hop JuJu Style: Double/Imperial IPA ABV: 9% Release: Limited Rating: 10/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.or...
Brewery: http://www.flyingdogales.com/ Beer: The Truth Style: Double/Imperial IPA ABV: 8.7% Release: Year-Round Rating: 8.8/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikip...
Brewery: http://fatheadscleveland.com/ Beer: Sunshine Daydream Style: Session IPA ABV: 4.9% Release: Year-Round Rating: 9.5/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolver_%28Beatles_album%29 Buy Local (in Ohio): http://www.buehlers.com/brunswick-store/ Fat Head's Sunshine Daydream is the latest year-round offering and it's a Session IPA! "As refreshing as wading in a cold stream in the morning sunshine or a walk among the tall trees, this beer has big hop aromas and flavors of citrus, peach, orange and tropical fruit with a nice light malt backbone. Like a sweet coming, never fade away dream... because it's deliciously real. This is a very drinkable session IPA. (Our fans call it an obsession IPA.) Peace, Love & Hoppiness!" Remember if you want to see a particular beer reviewed just leave me a comment. Thanks for watching and enjoy your craft beer. RATING SCALE: 0-0.9: "Drain Pour." Would not want to drink/finish. Terrible taste/aroma. 1-1.9: "Disgusting." A beer that has off flavors/taste and is very hard to drink/finish. 2-2.9: "Awful." Something went wrong. Doesn't represent the style and is hard to drink. 3-3.9: "Very Bad." Not made very well and doesn't meet the standards for the style. 4-4.9: "Bad." No off flavors, but has little to no taste or aroma. BMC products. 5-5.9: "Below Average" Nothing exciting. Has good, but many bad elements. 6-6.9: "Average." Has good flavor/aroma, but something is missing. 7-7.9: "Good." A solid example of the style, but has something minor wrong. 8-8.9: "Great." Something that has a lot of good flavors and aromas and is easy drinking. 9-9.9: "Amazing." Goes above and beyond most beers, nails the style and has great taste/aroma. 10.0: "Mindblowing." Not necessarily perfect, but no improvement needed. Beyond exceptional. A+
Brewery: http://stonebrew.com/ Beer: Unapologetic IPA Style: Imperial/Double IPA ABV: 8.8% Release: Limited Rating: 9.2/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia...
Brewery: http://www.boulevard.com Beer: Double-Wide IPA Style: Imperial/Double IPA ABV: 8.5% Release: Year-Round Rating: 9.2/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couldn%27t_Stand_the_Weather Buy Local (in Ohio): NOT YET D: "Boulevard Double-Wide I.P.A. also travels well, and is right at home in the most exotic ports of call of the Midwest. While this modern-day prairie schooner may not resemble a graceful sailing sloop, our liberal hopping regimen does make her virtually "twister-proof," with toffee and caramel notes balancing out the lingering bitterness." Remember if you want to see a particular beer reviewed just leave me a comment. Thanks for watching and enjoy your craft beer. RATING SCALE: 0-0.9: "Drain Pour." Would not want to drink/finish. Terrible taste/aroma. 1-1.9: "Disgusting." A beer that has off flavors/taste and is very hard to drink/finish. 2-2.9: "Awful." Something went wrong. Doesn't represent the style and is hard to drink. 3-3.9: "Very Bad." Not made very well and doesn't meet the standards for the style. 4-4.9: "Bad." No off flavors, but has little to no taste or aroma. BMC products. 5-5.9: "Below Average" Nothing exciting. Has good, but many bad elements. 6-6.9: "Average." Has good flavor/aroma, but something is missing. 7-7.9: "Good." A solid example of the style, but has something minor wrong. 8-8.9: "Great." Something that has a lot of good flavors and aromas and is easy drinking. 9-9.9: "Amazing." Goes above and beyond most beers, nails the style and has great taste/aroma. 10.0: "Mindblowing." Not necessarily perfect, but no improvement needed. Beyond exceptional. A+
Brewery: http://lagunitas.com/ Beer: NightTime Ale Style: American Black Ale/Black IPA ABV: 8.2% Release: Rotating Rating: 9/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wiki...
In this episode I wear my in-ear binaural microphones as I perform a modest whispered review of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA, eat pizza and explore the sounds of various objects. Apologies for the humming sound, which partly ruins an otherwise good video. I believe it was interference picked up from the microphones and caused by my audio recorder being plugged in, when normally I use batteries to avoid this potential issue. Normally I wouldn't upload a video like this, and I know some may be bothered by it, but I know others won't, which is why I've decided to upload it anyway. I ran it by the wife and she didn't think it was too bad. Plus, it's not like this video is a work of art ;) I promise to do another beer & pizza episode next review to make up for it. Tingle on, E.R. Sound Professionals Master Series In-ear binaural microphones: http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/MS-TFB-2 Become a supporting Patron on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/ephemeralrift Audio from select videos available for download: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/ephemeral-rift/id602599265 CDBaby: http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/EphemeralRift Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/music/artist/Ephemeral_Rift?id=Ajcacdzpga25ziu5brw74oyj7d4 All Video Playlists: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChRV-sCl5Fma4qm_hFpDKBQ/playlists Social Links: Official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ephemeralrift1 Twitter: https://twitter.com/EphemeralRift Instagram: http://instagram.com/e.rift What is ASMR? Why am I whispering? ASMR stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response and is the current (non-scientific) name given to the feeling characterized as a pleasurable tingling sensation felt in the head, scalp, back and other regions of the body in response to visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and/or cognitive stimuli, such as crinkling bags, hand movements, whispering and personal attention. My videos are not only meant to help induce ASMR or "tingles", but also help provide a relaxing, calming and soothing experience for the viewer while helping to relieve their anxiety relief, stress relief, insomnia relief, to help those suffering with PTSD or depression, to serve as a study aid and much more. ASMR on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_sensory_meridian_response
OK. How do I not try something made with hop OIL? O. I. L. Holy mother this is an intense hop experience!! It's hard to get any multi sweetness out of this brew. It burns away in the hop astringency of the finish. Hop lovers, this beer was made for you. 6.2% ABV. Label says 60 IBUs which, to me, means hop bitterness doesn't drive IBUs. If that's the case, what does "International Bittering Units" mean? It's a measurement of alpha acids in beer - which get there from the addition of hops. A more subjective scale, but rating beer on its perceived bitterness is the European Bitterness Units (EBU) which might better guide buyers on beers they would enjoy. Learn more at good 'ol wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_measurement
Brewery: http://www.theflyingmonkeys.ca/ Beer: Smashbomb Atomic IPA Style: IPA ABV: 6% Release: Year-Round Rating: 7.8/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amok_%28Atoms_for_Peace_album%29 Buy Local (in Ohio): http://www.buehlers.com/brunswick-store/ Craft beer from Canada! Flying Monkeys Smashbomb Atomic IPA. "Smashbomb Atomic is a solid IPA that flares with a shockwave of flavour from its vivid Citra hops. Brewed with a strong Crystal malt backbone, this ale radiates with fiery yellow highlights." Remember if you want to see a particular beer reviewed just leave me a comment. Thanks for watching and enjoy your craft beer. RATING SCALE: 0-0.9: "Drain Pour." Would not want to drink/finish. Terrible taste/aroma. 1-1.9: "Disgusting." A beer that has off flavors/taste and is very hard to drink/finish. 2-2.9: "Awful." Something went wrong. Doesn't represent the style and is hard to drink. 3-3.9: "Very Bad." Not made very well and doesn't meet the standards for the style. 4-4.9: "Bad." No off flavors, but has little to no taste or aroma. BMC products. 5-5.9: "Below Average" Nothing exciting. Has good, but many bad elements. 6-6.9: "Average." Has good flavor/aroma, but something is missing. 7-7.9: "Good." A solid example of the style, but has something minor wrong. 8-8.9: "Great." Something that has a lot of good flavors and aromas and is easy drinking. 9-9.9: "Amazing." Goes above and beyond most beers, nails the style and has great taste/aroma. 10.0: "Mindblowing." Not necessarily perfect, but no improvement needed. Beyond exceptional. A+
Brewery: http://stonebrew.com/ Beer: IPA (India Pale Ale) Style: IPA ABV: 6.9% Release: Year-Round Rating: 9.2/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...
Brewery: http://foundersbrewing.com/ Beer: All Day IPA Style: Session IPA ABV: 4.7% Release: Year Round Rating: 8.9/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.org...
Brewery: http://yazoobrew.com/ Beer: Hop Project #74 Style: IPA ABV: 5.7% Release: Year Round Rating: 7.8/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_...
Brewery: http://www.themoabbrewery.com/index.html Beer: Johnny's American IPA Style: IPA ABV: 7% Release: Year Round Rating: 7.4/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hills_%28album%...
Brewery: http://www.pizzaport.com/ Beer: Swami's IPA Style: IPA ABV: 6.8% Release: Year Round Rating: 8.7/10 Music Pairing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Is_an_Astronaut_%28album%29 Buy Local (in Ohio): NOPE Pizza Port Swami's IPA! Remember if you want to see a particular beer reviewed just leave me a comment. Thanks for watching and enjoy your craft beer. RATING SCALE: 0-0.9: "Drain Pour." Would not want to drink/finish. Terrible taste/aroma. 1-1.9: "Disgusting." A beer that has off flavors/taste and is very hard to drink/finish. 2-2.9: "Awful." Something went wrong. Doesn't represent the style and is hard to drink. 3-3.9: "Very Bad." Not made very well and doesn't meet the standards for the style. 4-4.9: "Bad." No off flavors, but has little to no taste or aroma. BMC products. 5-5.9: "Below Average" Nothing exciting. Has good, but many bad elements. 6-6.9: "Average." Has good flavor/aroma, but something is missing. 7-7.9: "Good." A solid example of the style, but has something minor wrong. 8-8.9: "Great." Something that has a lot of good flavors and aromas and is easy drinking. 9-9.9: "Amazing." Goes above and beyond most beers, nails the style and has great taste/aroma. 10.0: "Mindblowing." Not necessarily perfect, but no improvement needed. Beyond exceptional. A+
Or Wi-fi? Or HD live streaming, Wikipedia and the plethora of social media that includes Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and .
Big News Network 2015-04-11Is Wikipedia replacing encyclopaedias written by experts? Not at all, says François Vallotton, a ...
Swissinfo 2015-04-11GrrlScientist ... Adult male amethyst-throated sunangel (Heliangelus amethysticollis) ... Francesco Veronesi/Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 2.0
The Guardian 2015-04-11That celebration will take place on May 9th ... The U. S ... S. voted against it ... As wikipedia puts it: ... [3]" ... S ... -###-.
The People's Voice 2015-04-11... Spieth’s Wikipedia entry on Friday afternoon to add the 2015 Masters to his career achievements.
The Guardian 2015-04-11wikipedia ... Here's a hidden trick to get to the weird part of WIkipedia ... the weird part of WIkipedia.
Business Insider 2015-04-10Wikipedia launched. The first iPod arrived .
Big News Network 2015-04-10I ... For the study, 14 volunteers, seven women and seven men, had to type a Wikipedia article when they were fully alert.
Huffington Post 2015-04-10Yes, "I’m so excited" is right ... P. M, EST. on HBO. Wikipedia.
The Examiner 2015-04-10(Wikipedia) The writer and journalist, Karl Sabbagh, posed an interesting question this month.
GlobalResearch 2015-04-102015 is Alicia Vikander's year ... [Sources: Wikipedia, IMDb] ». - Jonny Black.
IMDb 2015-04-10Wikipedia editing within an edit-a-thon Tools for encoding, analyzing and data mining large bodies ...
noodls 2015-04-10... you can check out their Wikipedia page, and if they have a website you can look at that as well.
The Independent 2015-04-10Wikipedia (i/ˌwɪkɨˈpiːdiə/ or i/ˌwɪkiˈpiːdiə/ WIK-i-PEE-dee-ə) is a free, collaboratively edited and multilingual Internet encyclopedia supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 22 million articles (over 0 million in English alone) have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site, and it has about 100,000 regularly active contributors. As of June 2012, there are editions of Wikipedia in 285 languages. It has become the largest and most popular general reference work on the Internet, ranking sixth globally among all websites on Alexa and having an estimated 365 million readers worldwide. It is estimated that Wikipedia receives 2.7 billion monthly pageviews from the United States alone.
Wikipedia was launched in January 2001 by Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger. Sanger coined the name Wikipedia, which is a portmanteau of wiki (a type of collaborative website, from the Hawaiian word wiki, meaning "quick") and encyclopedia. Wikipedia's departure from the expert-driven style of encyclopedia building and the presence of a large body of unacademic content have received extensive attention in print media. In its 2006 Person of the Year article, Time magazine recognized the rapid growth of online collaboration and interaction by millions of people around the world. It cited Wikipedia as an example, in addition to YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook. Wikipedia has also been praised as a news source because of how quickly articles about recent events appear. Students have been assigned to write Wikipedia articles as an exercise in clearly and succinctly explaining difficult concepts to an uninitiated audience.
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is an alphabetic system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. It was devised by the International Phonetic Association as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language. The IPA is used by foreign language students and teachers, linguists, Speech-Language Pathologists, singers, actors, lexicographers, constructed language creators (conlangers), and translators.
The IPA is designed to represent only those qualities of speech that are distinctive in spoken language: phonemes, intonation, and the separation of words and syllables. To represent additional qualities of speech such as tooth gnashing, lisping, and sounds made with a cleft palate, an extended set of symbols called the Extensions to the IPA may be used.
IPA symbols are composed of one or more elements of two basic types, letters and diacritics. For example, the sound of the English letter ⟨t⟩ may be transcribed in IPA with a single letter, [t], or with a letter plus diacritics, [t̺ʰ], depending on how precise one wishes to be. Often, slashes are used to signal broad or phonemic transcription; thus, /t/ is less specific than, and could refer to, either [t̺ʰ] or [t] depending on the context and language.
Thomas Jacob "Jack" Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American comedian, actor and musician. He makes up one half of the comedy and satirical rock duo Tenacious D. The group has three albums as well as a television series and a film. His acting career is extensive, starring primarily as bumbling, cocky, but internally self-conscious outsiders in comedy films. He was a member of the Frat Pack, a group of comedians who have appeared together in several Hollywood films, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe award. He has also won an MTV Movie Award, and a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Award as well as hosting the 2006, 2008, and 2011 Kids Choice Awards.
Black was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of two satellite engineers, Judith (née Cohen), who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope, and Thomas William Black. His mother is Jewish and his father converted to Judaism (Black attended Hebrew school). On The Tonight Show, he said his surname may have come from the occupational name Blacksmith. Black's parents divorced when he was 10; Black moved to Culver City with his father and frequently visited his mother’s home. As a child, Black appeared in a commercial for the Activision game Pitfall! in 1982, which was later shown during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live and again on The Tonight Show with Conan O' Brien. When Black entered high school, his parents enrolled him at the Poseidon School, a private secondary school engineered specifically for students struggling in the traditional school system. Black also attended the Crossroads School, where he excelled in drama. He later attended UCLA but dropped out during his sophomore year to pursue a career in entertainment, at which point his father discontinued his financial support.[citation needed] Fellow UCLA alumnus Tim Robbins later cast Black in Bob Roberts. He also had recurring roles on the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show.