Hardcourt
A hardcourt (or hard court) is a surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. They are typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic material to seal the surface and mark the playing lines, while providing some cushioning. Historically, hardwood surfaces were also in use in indoor settings, similar to an indoor basketball court, but these are now rare.
Tennis
Tennis hard courts are made of synthetic/acrylic layers on top of a concrete or asphalt foundation and can vary in color. These courts tend to play medium-fast to fast because there is little energy absorption by the court, like in grass courts. The ball tends to bounce high and players are able to apply many types of spin during play. Flat balls are favored on hard courts because of the extremely quick play style. Speed of rebound after tennis balls bounce on hard courts is determined by how much sand is in the synthetic/acrylic layer placed on top of the asphalt foundation. More sand will result in a slower bounce due to more friction.
T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)
"T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)" is a song by American rapper will.i.am, featuring vocals from Mick Jagger and Jennifer Lopez. The song was released via the iTunes Store on November 20, 2011, just hours after its debut at the American Music Awards. The music video for the song was released on December 12, 2011. The song was originally released as part as the lead single of will.i.am's fourth studio album, #willpower, but was not included on the album.
Background
will.i.am first announced the song via his Twitter account, before announcing it via various online media. Links to a demo version of the song were made available via Dipdive and Google+. On November 18, Will released the cover art for the single, using it as his Twitter avatar and background. The song was premiered live on November 20, 2011, live at the 2011 American Music Awards at the Nokia Theater. The performance included will.i.am and Lopez performing live, and Jagger performing via video link. The song was made available on iTunes immediately following the AMA performance. The song was produced by Audiobot, Dallas Austin and will.i.am, as well as Jimmy Iovine. will.i.am originally presented the track to Iovine without the featured artists, as a finished work, and was caught off guard by his request to add performers to the song. In response, he threw out Jagger's name among possible collaborators because he thought it would never happen. Iovine ended up producing Jagger's vocals - it was the first time he had produced in decades. Immediately after the AMA performance, will.i.am thanked Fighting Gravity via Twitter. will.i.am also performed the song live at the American Giving Awards on December 10. Neither Lopez nor Jagger appeared.
Hard (TV series)
Hard is a French television series created and produced by Cathy Verney, airing since 9 May 2008 on Canal+ in France, and later internationally. The series focuses on the pornographic movie industry. It is part of the "New Trilogy" collection on Canal+.
Synopsis
After the sudden death of her husband, Sophie discovers through her mother-in-law, that her late husband did not run a successful software company, but instead produced pornographic films, with Soph'X being the legacy.
Bewildered and dismayed, at discovering a world she couldn't conceive of in a thousand years, she hesitates between taking over the company or selling everything to resume her job as a lawyer. To pay the mortgage held by her husband before his death, she has to decide to modernize Soph'X, until a meeting with porn star and pillar of the company, Roy Lapoutre, forces her hand.
Cast
Level (The Raconteurs song)
"Level" is a song from the album Broken Boy Soldiers by The Raconteurs. According to the band's official website, it was released as a U.S. radio single. Sophie Muller directed the live video for this song. The audio was mixed by Kevin Shirley and assisted by Jared Kvitka at Document Room Studios.
The song charted at number seven on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. This made it their highest effort on that chart since "Steady, As She Goes" reached number one. The song, "Salute Your Solution", would reach number four in 2008.
External links
Veterans Stadium
Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium located at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The listed seating capacities in 1971 were 65,358 seats for football, and 56,371 for baseball.
It hosted the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles from 1971 to January 2003 and the National League's Philadelphia Phillies baseball team from 1971 to 2003. The 1976 and 1996 Major League Baseball All-Star Games were held at the venue. The Vet also hosted the annual Army-Navy football game seventeen times: first in 1980, and last in 2001.
In addition to professional baseball and football, the stadium hosted other amateur and professional sports, large entertainment events, and other civic affairs. With the construction of the adjacent Citizens Bank Park, Veterans Stadium was demolished in March 2004, and a parking lot now sits on its former site.
History
Inception, design and construction
As early as 1959, Phillies owner Bob Carpenter proposed building a new ballpark for the Phillies on 72 acres (290,000 m2) adjacent to the Garden State Park Racetrack in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The Phillies' then-home, Connie Mack Stadium, was starting to show its age (it had been built in 1909), had inadequate parking, and was located in a declining neighborhood. Furthermore, in 1959 alcohol sales at sporting events were banned in Pennsylvania but were legal in New Jersey. The proposed ballpark would have seated 45,000 fans, been expandable to 60,000 and would have had 15,000 parking spaces.
Level 257
Level 257 is a contemporary American restaurant located at 2 Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, Illinois. The restaurant and entertainment destination is inspired by Pac-Man and the name refers to the famous kill screen, which occurs when the player reaches the 256th level of the original Pac-Man game, meaning "the next level of dining and entertainment". The restaurant celebrated its soft opening on March 2, 2015, and its grand opening in April 2015.
Style
The restaurant is owned and run by NAMCO USA INC. It sits on 42,000 square feet which was previously used as a warehouse for a Sears department store. In addition, the restaurant also features sixteen boutique bowling lanes, table tennis and social sports, as well as video and board games in the Lost & Found Game Lounge. The interior decor is up-scale modern urban-chic in style and include subtle references to the video game character 257 uses for inspiration, Pac-Man. The menu also features references to well-known video game terms of the 1980s, such as "1-UP", chocolate "power pellets", and "Game Over".
Podcasts:
