Thing (The Addams Family)

Thing T. Thing, often referred to as just Thing, is a fictional character in the The Addams Family series. Thing was originally conceived as a whole creature (always seen in the background watching the family) that was too horrible to see in person. The only part of him that was tolerable was his human hand (this can be seen in the 1964 television series. The Addams called him "Thing" because he was something that could not be identified. Thing was changed to a disembodied hand for the 1991 and 1993 Addams Family movies.

In Spain it was called Cosa ("Thing") while in other Spanish-speaking countries it was named Dedos ("Fingers"); in German-speaking countries das eiskalte Händchen ("the little ice-cold hand"); in Portuguese-speaking countries Mãozinha ("Little Hand") or Coisa ("Thing"); and in Italian was called Mano ("Hand"). It was also named "Ting" (An easy word for calling a dog in the Thai language).

Appearances

Thing was the creation of Charles Addams, who drew the Addams Family cartoons in The New Yorker magazine, beginning in the 1930s. He first appeared in Addams's 1954 book Homebodies. One of Addams's cartoons shows the Addams mansion with a sign at the front saying "Beware of the Thing." Additionally, Thing has been in the original television series (1964-66), the revived series The New Addams Family (1998), in the related movies The Addams Family (1991), Addams Family Values (1993) and Addams Family Reunion (1998), and the 1992 animated series.

The Thing!

The Thing! is an American horror comic book published by Charlton Comics that ran 17 issues from 1952 to 1954. Its tagline was "Weird tales of suspense and horror!" After the 17th issue it was cancelled and the series' numbering continued as Blue Beetle vol. 2.

Artist Steve Ditko provided the covers for #12-15 and 17. He also illustrated stories in issues #12-15. The cover of #12 marks this industry notable's first comic-book cover art.

In 2006, Pure Imagination released the trade paperback Steve Ditko's The Thing! that reprinted all of Ditko's stories from this title, and used the cover of #15 for its cover. The back cover shows the covers from The Thing #12, 13 and 14 and Strange Suspense Stories #22. It also included Ditko stories from Charlton's Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #5 and #11, Do You Believe In Nightmares #1, Strange Suspense Stories #36, and Unusual Tales #25.

In 2014, UK publisher PS Artbooks reprinted the entire series in a deluxe two volume hardcover collection.

The Thing (listening device)

The Thing, also known as the Great Seal bug, was one of the first covert listening devices (or "bugs") to use passive techniques to transmit an audio signal. It was concealed inside a gift given by the Soviets to the US Ambassador to Moscow on August 4, 1945. Because it was passive, being energized and activated by electromagnetic energy from an outside source, it is considered a predecessor of RFID technology.

Creation

The Thing was designed by Soviet Russian inventor Léon Theremin, whose best-known invention is the electronic musical instrument the theremin.

The principle used by The Thing, of a resonant cavity microphone, had been patented by Winfield R. Koch of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in 1941. In US patent 2,238,117 he describes the principle of a sound-modulated resonant cavity. High-frequency energy is inductively coupled to the cavity. The resonant frequency is varied by the change in capacitance resulting from the displacement of the acoustic diaphragm.

Toi

Toi or TOI may refer to:

Toi (song)

"Toi" (English translation: "You") was the Luxembourgish entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975, performed in French by Irish singer Geraldine. The entry had a high pedigree, being penned by three authors/composers who had all written/composed previous Eurovision winners. Pierre Cour had been partly responsible for the 1960 winner "Tom Pillibi" and Bill Martin and Phil Coulter had created the 1967 winner "Puppet on a String".

The song is a ballad, with Geraldine telling her lover that "my life doesn't exist without you" and pledging her unending love to him. Geraldine recorded the song in two languages; French and her mother tongue English, the latter as "You".

Another singer with a similar name, Géraldine, represented Switzerland in the 1967 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, finishing last with 'nul points', but as John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History notes, despite the similarity in name, the two singers are unique. This Geraldine later married the song's composer, Phil Coulter.

Tou

King Tou or Toi is the name of a king of Hamath, a city located in Syria. He is only mentioned in 2 Samuel 8:9-10 and 1 Chronicles 18:9-10. According to sources Ugarit Forschungen and Semitica wrote "Leading journals recently wrote on the discovery of eight significant sites in Turkey and northern Syria which revealed the existence of a large Philistine kingdom under the rule of Tai(ta) of Hamath."

Biblical text (KJV)

9 Now when Tou king of Hamath heard how David had smitten all the host of Hadarezer king of Zobah;

10 He sent Joram his son to king David, to enquire of his welfare, and to congratulate him, because he had fought against Hadarezer, and smitten him; (for Hadarezer had war with Tou;) and with him all manner of vessels of gold and silver and brass.

Sources

Wikisource

Analysis

The text tells that King David successfully defeated an enemy of Tou's, Hadarezer, the king of Zobah. To congratulate David (and remind him that he was friendly to David), he sent his son Hadoram as an ambassador and with him a (presumably) large tribute, made mostly up of vessels of gold and silver and brass. David added them to the Temple treasury, after rededicating them.

Weekend (Earth and Fire song)

"Weekend" is a song from 1979 by Dutch band Earth and Fire. It was written by guitarist Gerard Koerts for the album Reality Fills Fantasy.

Earth and Fire version

"Weekend" was released by Earth and Fire as a single in November 1979 and reached the number one spot in the singles charts in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and Portugal.

Track listing

Chart performance

Chips version

Weekend was first covered by the Swedish group Chips on their eponymously titled debut-album. Originally, the version was recorded in 1980, but was only available on the album's first printed issues, as all subsequent releases (now called "Sweets'n Chips") replaced the song with the track "Good Morning". It wasn't until the release of the 1997 Greatest Hits-album "20 bästa låtar" that the song became widely available again. The B-Side on the single was the Instrumental track "Tokyo".

Track listing

Scooter Version

"Weekend" was also covered by German techno group Scooter as "Weekend!". It was released in February 2003 as the first single from their 2003 album The Stadium Techno Experience. The single reached number 2 in the German Media Control Charts and was also a top-10 single in Norway, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden.