Anthem

An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short sacred choral work and still more particularly to a specific form of Anglican church music.

Etymology

Anthem is derived from the Greek ἀντίφωνα (antíphōna) via Old English antefn. Both words originally referred to antiphons, a call-and-response style of singing. The adjectival form is "anthemic".

History

Anthems were originally a form of liturgical music. In the Church of England, the rubric appoints them to follow the third collect at morning and evening prayer. Several anthems are included in the British coronation service. The words are selected from Holy Scripture or in some cases from the Liturgy and the music is generally more elaborate and varied than that of psalm or hymn tunes. Being written for a trained choir rather than the congregation, the Anglican anthem is analogous to the motet of the Roman Catholic and Lutheran Churches but represents an essentially English musical form. Anthems may be described as "verse", "full", or "full with verse", depending on whether they are intended for soloists, the full choir, or both.

Anthem (Chess song)

"Anthem" is a song from the concept album and subsequent musical Chess by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. The song describes the feelings of Soviet Russian challenger, Anatoly Sergievsky, when he defects. The song was originally sung by Tommy Körberg on the original concept album]] and as Anatoly in the original West End cast. It was later covered by various artists including Josh Groban on his album Stages and Kerry Ellis.

Plot

Distracted by the loss of Florence's love, Freddie flounders in the chess tournament, leaving himself just one more loss away from losing his title. Florence leaves Freddie, who sends The Arbiter a letter of resignation, resulting in Anatoly's becoming the new world champion. Anatoly immediately defects from the Soviet Union and seeks asylum at the British embassy. Florence, accompanies Anatoly, reflecting on their newfound romance. Walter tips off the press about this scandal. When the mob of reporters ambush Anatoly to ask why he is deserting his country, he tells them in this song that he will never truly leave his country because his land's only borders lie around his heart.

Anthem (Iced Earth song)

"Anthem" is a song by American heavy metal band Iced Earth from their album Dystopia. Since its release it has become one of the most popular tracks of the album. The song "Anthem" was described by vocalist Stu Block as a celebration of "people, the human spirit and life". A shorter version the song was also featured on the extended play 5 Songs which was released on September 19, 2011.

Music video

Produced and directed by Kosch Fabian Film, the music video for "Anthem", was released on January 24, 2012. The video was filmed at the Essigfabrik in Cologne, Germany on December 7, 2011, during the band's Dystopia World Tour. It switches between live scenes and the band on the road which are in filmed in black and white.

Jon Schaffer commented on the video on Century Media Records:

Critical reception

Caj Källmalmm, from Swedish website Hallowed named "Anthem" as one the album's best songs and Chad Bowar from About described it as "appropriately enough, anthemic." Keith Chachkes of Metal Army America also called "Anthem" "a rousing call to arms against hypocrisy and sycophants who seem to be overrunning the world these days."

Van

A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or people. Depending on the type of van it can be bigger or smaller than a truck and SUV, and bigger than an automobile. There is some varying in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, minivans, are commonly used for transporting people from a family. Larger vans with passenger seats are used for institutional purposes, such as transporting students. Larger vans with only front seats are often used for business purposes, to carry goods and equipment. Specially-equipped vans are used by television stations as mobile studios. Postal services and courier companies use large step vans to deliver packages.

Word origin and usage

Van meaning a type of vehicle arose as a contraction of the word caravan. The early records of van as a vehicle in English are in the mid 19th century meaning a covered wagon for transporting goods (earliest reported record 1829). Caravan with the same meaning has records since the 1670s. A caravan, meaning one wagon, had arisen as an extension or corruption of caravan meaning a convoy of multiple wagons.

Mega Man ZX

Mega Man ZX, known in Japan as Rockman ZX (ロックマンゼクス), is a video game developed by Inti Creates and published by Capcom for the Nintendo DS handheld game console. It is the first game in the sixth series of the Mega Man video game franchise. For the first time in the Mega Man series, the game features both a male and a female protagonist. A sequel, entitled Mega Man ZX Advent, was released in 2007.

Plot

Two centuries after the events of Mega Man Zero series, in the year 25XX, humans and Reploids now coexist peacefully. After some time of peace and prosperity; humans, reploids, and the humanoids (cyborgs in the Mega Man ZX universe) of Earth manage to revive some of the former Nations. After which, several incidents of reploids becoming Mavericks. The Mavericks made several areas dangerous. Trading between nations became obstructed, which caused the nations to become divided into utopian cities such as "Innerpeace." These cities became safe havens for peaceful reploids, humans and humanoids. The dangerous Mavericks known as Mechaniloids began to appear in the outlands and threatened the peace. The utopian cities and the outlands were divided into separate Areas and remarkable developments were made due to the efforts of the corporation Slither Inc. Slither Inc. possessed technology unearthed from ruins in the Outlands. Peaceful life in Innerpeace is maintained by using the technology offered by Slither Inc. Still, Maverick attacks occur in the frontier regions, which are more exposed to the enemy. To repel the attacks, the humanoids in these areas developed an organization devoted to the defending their region. This organization is known as the Guardians. The Guardians defend the Outlands and investigate the cause of the Maverick attacks. The original leader of the Guardians disappears during the investigation of an Outlands area.

Van, Turkey

Van (Armenian: Վան; Kurdish: Wan‎; Ottoman Turkish: فان‎) is a city in eastern Turkey's Van Province, located on the eastern shore of Lake Van. The city has a long history as a major urban area. It has been a large city since the first millennium BC, initially as the capital of Urartu in the 9th century BC and later as the center of the Armenian Kingdom of Vaspurakan. It remained an important center of Armenian culture until the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Today, Van has a Kurdish majority and a sizable Turkish minority.

In 2010 the official population figure for Van was 367,419, but many estimates put it much higher with a 1996 estimate stating 500,000 and former Mayor Burhan Yengun is quoted as saying it may be as high as 600,000. The Van Central district stretches over 2,289 square kilometres (884 square miles).

History

Archaeological excavations and surveys carried out in Van province indicate that the history of human settlement in this region goes back at least as far as 5000 BC. The Tilkitepe Mound, which is on the shores of Lake Van and a few kilometres to the south of Van Castle, is the only source of information about the oldest culture of Van.

List of South African slang words

Afrikanerisms

This list of "Afrikanerisms" comprises slang words and phrases influenced by Afrikaans and other African languages. Typical users include people with Afrikaans as their first language but who speak English as a second language; and people living in areas where the population speaks both English and Afrikaans. Many of these terms also occur widely amongst ethnic/native South Africans. These terms do not occur in formal South African English. Fanakalo also refers to when people of non Zulu origin attempt to speak Zulu without the proper pronunciation and throat sounds. Fanakalo in Zulu literally means "same as this" – (fana – same, ka – as, lo – this).