Rubber (2010 film)

Rubber is a 2010 French independent dark comedy film about a tire that comes to life and kills people with its psychic powers. It was directed and written by Quentin Dupieux. The film was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010. The film received positive reviews from critics, but it was a box office failure, grossing only US $100,370 on its US $500,000 budget.

Plot

A group of people in a California desert are gathered to watch a "film". A sheriff, Chad (Stephen Spinella), points out that many moments in cinema happen for "no reason", that life is full of this "no reason", and that "this film" (presumably a dual reference to both the "film" to be watched by the assembled group and Rubber itself) is an homage to "no reason".

An accountant (Jack Plotnick) then passes out binoculars to the group and rides off on a bicycle. The spectators then start looking through their binoculars into the distance, waiting for the "film" to start. Throughout the film, this group of people return in order to gauge their reactions to what has taken place so far.

Harem Scarem

Harem Scarem are a Canadian hard rock band from Toronto, Ontario. Harem Scarem achieved popularity in Japan and their native Canada in the early 1990s. The band was active from 1987 to 2008 and again from 2013 after reforming. Throughout their career, they released 13 studio albums, plus numerous live and compilation albums.

History

Early years

Harem Scarem was formed in 1987 by guitarist Pete Lesperance and singer Harry Hess, formerly of Blind Vengeance who had recorded one heavy metal album in the late '80s. The lineup was rounded out by Darren Smith (drums) and Mike Gionet (bass). They recorded a demo CD in 1990, which garnered them attention since most demos at the time were released on cassette tape only. On the strength of this demo, they were signed to Warner Music and recorded their first album. This demo CD, which was sold to fans, is long out of print.

Commercial success

In 1991, Harem Scarem released their self-titled debut album, which charted at No. 68 on the Canadian album chart. The band scored a hit single from the album; "Slowly Slipping Away", which charted at No. 25 on the Canadian single chart. They also managed to chart two minor hits; "Honestly" and "Love Reaction". The following year, Harem Scarem was able to gain some notoriety when 8 songs from their debut album Harem Scarem were predominantly featured in the Canadian teen series Degrassi Junior High, and Degrassi High's farewell TV movie, School's Out.

Baseball field

A baseball field, also called a ball field or a baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term is also used as a metonym for baseball park.

Specifications

The starting point for much of the action on the field is home plate, which is a five-sided slab of whitened rubber, 17 inches square with two of the corners removed so that one edge is 17 inches long, two adjacent sides are 8½ inches and the remaining two sides are 12 inches and set at an angle to make a point. Adjacent to each of the two parallel 8½-inch sides is a batter's box. The point of home plate where the two 12-inch sides meet at right angles is at one corner of a ninety-foot square. The other three corners of the square, in counterclockwise order from home plate, are called first base, second base, and third base. Three canvas bags fifteen inches (38 cm) square mark the three bases. These three bags along with home plate form the four points at the corners of the infield.

All the bases, including home plate, lie entirely within fair territory. Thus, any batted ball that touches those bases must necessarily be in fair territory. While the first and third base bags are placed so that they lie inside the 90 foot square formed by the bases, the second base bag is placed so that its center (unlike first, third and home) coincides exactly with the "point" of the ninety-foot infield square. Thus, although the "points" of the bases are 90 feet apart, the physical distance between each successive pair of base markers is closer to 88 feet.

Records (album)

Records is a compilation album by American rock band Foreigner, released in 1982 to span the band's first four albums through 1981. Along with their sophomore effort, Double Vision, this album is the group's best-selling record. It has been certified 7 x platinum by the RIAA. Some notable hits, such as "Blue Morning, Blue Day" are omitted.

Track listing

All songs by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones, except where noted.

With the exceptions of "Head Games" and the live version of "Hot Blooded," all tracks on this album are the 45 RPM single versions (edited and/or mixed differently from their respective album counterparts).

When this album is bought on iTunes, the track "Hot Blooded" is the studio version of the song, not live.

679 Artists

679 Artists (formally known as Sixsevenine and 679 Recordings) was a Warner Music Group-owned record label based in London, England.

It was started by Nick Worthington who after leaving XL Recordings in 2001, started the company with Warner Music Group, and holds the position of MD and A&R Director. It is named "679" as this was the address of the Pure Groove record shop on Holloway Road.

The label's first release was The Streets' debut, Original Pirate Material (which was named The Observer's best album of the 2000s).

The label progressed with subsequent albums from artists including Death From Above 1979, The Futureheads, Kano, King Creosote and Mystery Jets, and also included the million-selling second Streets album, A Grand Don't Come for Free.

In 2011, it released Plan B's The Defamation of Strickland Banks which has sold over 1 million copies.

The founder of 679 has recently formed a new record label called 37 Adventures.

Former artists

1605 (record label)

1605 (pronounced as sixteen-o-five) is a techno and tech-house record label, founded in 2007 by a Slovenian DJ and producer UMEK. With 140 releases by more than 250 artists 1605 is the biggest label UMEK has founded since Recycled Loops and Consumer Recreation. UMEK started the label to promote tracks from talented artists, regardless of their fame and the strength of previous releases.

Creative concept

The label's creative concept is based on its sound as well as on its visual appearance.

1605's sound relies on UMEK's creative feeling as he acts as A&R manager and decides personally which tracks are signed by the label. Tracks are usually released digitally and sold online in various outlets such as Beatport, iTunes, Trackitdown, Juno and others. The only project, which was released also on a CD, was UMEK's 2010 album Responding to Dynamic.

1605's music can also be heard on the label's podcast and on websites such as Soundcloud and Mixcloud.

The label is also building its recognition by using a distinctive graphic design for artwork (release covers, promo material). Using only artwork in grayscale with occasional yellow tones, all release covers feature parts of vintage pictures from the 1930s Great Depression in the USA and personal drawings by the label's graphic designer.