Stronger with Each Tear

Stronger with Each Tear (stylized as STRONGER withEach Tear) is the ninth studio album from American R&B and soul singer Mary J. Blige. The album was released in the US on December 21, 2009, under Blige's own imprint, Matriarch Records.

Internationally it was released December 18, 2009, in Australia and Germany, December 21 in France, December 23 in Japan, and on February 2, 2010, in Korea with further international releases (in some cases re-releases) in March, April and May 2010. With this album, Blige achieved a record of nine albums to have debuted at the top of the US R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Background

Blige started working on her ninth album while she toured with Robin Thicke in 2008. In an interview with Rap-Up magazine she said:

The album was initially titled Stronger after the song, "Stronger" which Blige recorded and released as the lead single from the soundtrack Music Inspired by More Than a Game from the LeBron James' documentary More Than a Game. However Rap-Up later revealed that the album had been re-titled Stronger with Each Tear.

Hitomi

Hitomi Furuya (古谷 仁美, Furuya Hitomi, born January 26, 1976), known mononymously as hitomi, is a Japanese singer-songwriter. She began her career as model, but after meeting Tetsuya Komuro he began managing her career as a pop singer. In 1998 she left the "Komuro Family" and started working with other musicians and producers, oriented to other musical genres such as pop rock, and more recently to electropop.

Biography

Early life

Born Hitomi Furuya (古谷 仁美, Furuya Hitomi) in Tochigi, Japan, Hitomi's family relocated to Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture when she was a child. Consequently, Hitomi always identified herself as a girl from Kanagawa. hitomi was an enthusiastic athlete throughout her childhood, playing baseball, soccer, and basketball, as well as an avid reader of manga. When hitomi was 16 years old, she was spotted and approached by a scout from a modelling agency. Hitomi signed a short modelling contract and began appearing in magazines while she was still in high school.

In 1993, then 17 years old, Furuya was spotted by eminent Avex music producer Tetsuya Komuro at an audition. Komuro signed Furuya to Avex, put Furuya through vocal training, and decided that she should use an all-lowercase 'hitomi' as her stage name. The following year, in November 1994, hitomi released her debut single, "Let's Play Winter", through Avex Trax, to which she wrote the lyrics. Since then, Hitomi has been the lyricist for almost all of her songs.

I Am (Yo Gotti album)

I Am is the fourth studio album by American hip hop recording artist Yo Gotti. The album was released on November 19, 2013, by Epic and CMG. The album features guest appearances from T.I., Ne-Yo, Wale, Rich Homie Quan, J. Cole, Jeezy, Meek Mill, and YG, among others. The album was supported by the singles "Act Right" featuring YG and Jeezy, which peaked at number 100 on the Billboard Hot 100, "King Shit" featuring T.I., "Cold Blood" featuring J. Cole, and "I Know" featuring Rich Homie Quan.

Background

On May 28, 2013, Yo Gotti announced that his sixth studio album would be titled I Am. In July 2013, it was announced that the album would be released on November 19, 2013. On August 22, 2013, he announced the I Am Tour Dates, a tour in promotion of I Am which ran from September 14, 2013, until November 19, 2013, with supporting acts including YG, Zed Zilla, Shy Glizzy and Cash Out. On September 2, 2013, Yo Gotti released the mixtape Nov 19th: The Mixtape in promotion for the album.

The International (golf)

The International (styled as The INTERNATIONAL) was a professional golf tournament in Colorado on the PGA Tour. It was played for 21 seasons, from 1986 to 2006, at the Castle Pines Golf Club at Castle Pines Village in Castle Rock, south of Denver. It had the distinction of being one of two PGA Tour events not conducted at traditional stroke play, the only other exception is the match play event, the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. The International was the only tournament to use the Modified Stableford scoring system, enacted because of the significant elevation of the venue, which averages 6,300 feet (1,920 m) above sea level.

Beginning in 2007, The International was scheduled to change dates to be played during the first full weekend of July (July 5-8, 2007 and July 4-7, 2008), midway between the U.S. Open and the British Open. Tournament officials hoped this new date would draw even more top-ranked players, such as Tiger Woods, as it would no longer be contested the week before (or after) a major championship (PGA Championship). Even with the change in dates, both tournament founder Jack Vickers and the Castle Pines GC membership were apparently not happy with the overall direction the PGA Tour was taking.

The International (Dota 2)

The International (TI) is an annual electronic sports Dota 2 championship tournament hosted by Valve Corporation, the game's developer. Sixteen teams are given invitations to compete in the tournament. The first tournament took place in Cologne, Germany at Gamescom from August 17–21, 2011 and was held shortly after the reveal of Dota 2, with a total prize pot of $1.6 million and a grand prize of one million dollars. The second International took place from August 31–September 2, 2012 at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Washington and retained the same $1.6 million prize structure. For the third International, again at Benaroya Hall, Valve introduced an interactive, digital "compendium" which fans could purchase to follow the event and contribute to the prize pool; TI3 spanned August 7–11, 2013 and reached a $2.8 million prize pool with $1.2 million added from compendium purchases. The fourth International, this time held at the larger Seattle venue KeyArena from July 18–21, 2014 and continued the practice of compendium sales and ultimately broke records for having the largest prize pool in eSports history, with a total of $10.9 million.

The International 2014

The International 2014 was the fourth annual edition of The International, an electronic sports Dota 2 championship tournament, which took place at the KeyArena Center in Seattle, Washington. Hosted by Valve Corporation, the tournament began on July 8 with the Playoffs phase and closed on July 21 with the Grand Final. The 2014 edition of The International featured nineteen Dota 2 professional gaming teams that competed for a Grand Prize of over US$5.0 million. Overall, US$10.93 million were awarded at the event, making it the largest electronic sports event by prize money to date.

The championship used a double-elimination tournament. The current format puts teams against each other on a best-of-three basis, with winners and losers moving onto two brackets (Upper and Lower) for the knockout stage. The Grand Final was decided on a best-of-five match.

All previously-winning teams were invited to the event. Defending champions Alliance were eliminated on Phase Two of the Playoffs, while 2011 and 2012 winners Natus Vincere and Invictus Gaming were eliminated during the Lower Bracket's Round One. The tournament was broadcast on streaming platform Twitch.tv as well as ESPN3. ESPN2 broadcast a preview of the Grand Final, which was disputed between Chinese teams ViCi Gaming and NewBee. The latter won 3-1, becoming the second Chinese team to win the tournament after Invictus Gaming. It was the first Grand Final that was between two teams from Asia, as well as the first time Natus Vincere was not a participant.