Jürgen Rijkers (born February 13, 1967), better known by his stage name DJ Jurgen, is a Dutch DJ, remixer and producer. He was the co-creator of Alice Deejay, and their biggest hit, Better Off Alone, was credited to “DJ Jurgen presents Alice Deejay.” As a solo artist, he also had an international hit with Higher and Higher, which peaked at #34 on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart in 2000. Currently, Jurgen hosts the morning show on Wild FM.
47 Ronin is a 2013 American fantasy action film directed by Carl Rinsch in his directorial debut. Written by Chris Morgan and Hossein Amini from a story conceived by Morgan and Walter Hamada, the film is a work of Chūshingura (“The Treasury of Loyal Retainers”); a fictionalized account of the forty-seven rōnin, a real-life group of masterless samurai under daimyō Asano Naganori in 18th-century Japan who avenged Naganori’s death by battling his rival Kira Yoshinaka. Starring Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tadanobu Asano, Rinko Kikuchi and Ko Shibasaki, the film bears little resemblance to its historical basis compared to previous adaptations, and instead serves as a stylized interpretation set “in a world of witches and giants.”
Produced by H2F Entertainment, Mid Atlantic Films, Moving Picture Company, Stuber Productions and Relativity Media and distributed by Universal Pictures, 47 Ronin premiered in Japan on December 6, 2013 before being released theatrically in the United States on December 25, 2013 in both 3D and 2D formats. Upon its release, 47 Ronin received generally negative reviews from critics and grossed $151 million against its production budget of $175–225 million, becoming one of the biggest box office bombs in history and leaving Universal in the red for 2013. Variety listed 47 Ronin as one of “Hollywood’s biggest box office bombs of 2013.”
A standalone sequel, Blade of the 47 Ronin, was released on October 25, 2022 on Netflix.
Men in Black: The Album is the soundtrack to the film Men in Black. It was released on July 1, 1997, distributed by Columbia Records and featured production from some of music’s top producers, such as Poke & Tone, Jermaine Dupri and The Ummah.
The album was a huge success, spending two consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard 200, as well as peaking at #2 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and #3 on the Canadian Albums Chart. The RIAA certified the album 3× Platinum for shipments of over 3,000,000 copies in the United States.
Four singles were released from the album, Will Smith’s Men in Black and Just Cruisin, Nas’s Escobar ’97 and Jermaine Dupri and Snoop Dogg’s We Just Wanna Party with You. Except for the title song and the two Danny Elfman cues, none of the tracks on the album are in the film.
This soundtrack also marked the debuts of then-unknowns Alicia Keys and Destiny’s Child.
Meccano was founded in Liverpool by Frank Hornby in 1901 and was to become one of Britain’s most important toy-makers in the 20th Century.
Initially called ‘Mechanics Made Easy’, the early pre-World War I construction sets (known as ‘outfits’) were made of simple, unpainted steel strips, followed by a nickel-plated version in 1908, which could be constructed into a variety of models.
By 1910, after a name change to the more snappy Meccano, Hornby’s system was well-established and toy shops were able to offer a range of seven kits.
Starting at a modest three shillings and sixpence, sets went up to a princely six guineas – a month’s wages for many working-class folk. Components became more sophisticated too, with angle girders and polished brass wheels in addition to the nickel-plated strips.
The guiding principle behind Meccano was that a boy would progress from one set to the next by purchasing ‘accessory outfits’. Thus, a boy who started with Set No. 3 could then buy Set No. 3A – which converted his set into a No. 4, and so on.
It is a system that has remained unchanged throughout Meccano’s hundred-plus-year history.
In 1926 the first sets in red and green were produced. During the 1930s the range of outfits was extended to include car and aeroplane sets. From 1934 to 1940 the early type red and green finish was replaced by blue and gold.
The quality of Meccano construction outfits was very high and care was taken to include all the necessary tools and equipment in each set.
Up and down the British Isles, boys gathered in ‘Meccano clubs’ constructing vast models of awesome complexity. We’re talking major erections, like models of Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope.
While ‘strip down and rebuild’ universality was one of Meccano’s main selling points, some of the constructions were so magnificent that many boys wanted to keep and show off the models they’d made. Those who chose to display rather than dismantle could find plenty of accessories with which to customise their creations.
For the Meccano cruise liner, for instance, toyshops could offer an astonishing array of funnels, all decked out in the colours of P&O, Blue Star, Cunard, Ellerman, Holland-Afrika – or any of 23 other Merchant Navy liveries.
By the time of Frank Hornby’s death in September 1936, Meccano had developed from a one-man business in a tiny home workshop into a huge international company. The Meccano Boy – “so happy, so infectious that all boys love me and smile with sheer joy when they see me” – had become an icon of childhood and his praises were sung by a succession of copywriters.
Production came to a standstill during World War II when the manufacturing of metal toys was banned by the British government and the Meccano factory was turned over to war duties. Products held in stock were sold until 1943 after which the sale of all metal toys was prohibited.
After the war, the production of Meccano slowly returned to normal with the winners of model building competitions now receiving the grand sum of £1,000. But by the late 1950s, other popular toys were providing stiff competition for Meccano.
Lines Brothers – also the manufacturers of Tri-ang Toys – took over Meccano in 1964 and seven years later, ownership switched once again, this time to the Airfix Group. Unfortunately, the recession hit the British toy industry hard in the 1970s, eventually forcing Meccano into receivership in 1979, ending 78 years of Meccano production in Liverpool.
In 1981, Airfix products was purchased by the General Mills Toy Group (USA) who already owned Meccano France. Production was continued at a factory in Calais where Meccano is still made today – with some production also taking place in China.
National Reach as High as You Can Day is a reminder that if you try hard enough, almost anything is possible.
Start working on that big project you never thought you would start.
Try your hand at that thing you thought was impossible; you never know you may succeed. And if you don’t, at least you tried.
Take the day literally and spend some time playing on a trampoline. Or take a ride in a hot air balloon. Or start taking flying lessons.
Tiger is a 1959 song by Fabian Forte, written by Ollie Jones. It was Fabian’s most successful single, reaching #3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts. Tiger was Fabian’s only entry on the Hot R&B Sides chart, where it reached #15.
Albert Johnson (November 2, 1974 – June 20, 2017), better known by his stage name Prodigy, was an American rapper. With Havoc, he was one half of the hip hop duo Mobb Deep.
Prodigy was born on November 2, 1974, in Hempstead, New York, on Long Island. He was raised in LeFrak City in Queens. He had one elder brother, Greg Johnson. He came from a musical family. His grandfather Budd Johnson was a saxophonist who was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1993. His grand-uncle, Keg Johnson, was a trombonist. Both of them are remembered for their contributions to the bebop era of jazz. His mother, Fatima Frances (Collins) Johnson, was a member of The Crystals. His father, Budd Johnson Jr., was a member of a doo-wop music group called The Chanters. His great-great-great-grandfather, William Jefferson White, founded Georgia’s Morehouse College.
While attending the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, he met his future music partner, Havoc. The duo became Poetical Prophets before choosing the name Mobb Deep. Under the alias Lord-T (The Golden Child), the then-16-year-old Johnson landed an uncredited guest appearance on the Boyz n the Hood soundtrack, for his collaborative efforts on the song Too Young by Hi-Five in 1991. In 1993, Mobb Deep released its debut album Juvenile Hell on 4th & B’way/Island/PolyGram Records.
Initially compared to fellow rapper Nas, who took a similar approach lyrically on his Illmatic album from 1994, Mobb Deep released The Infamous in 1995, which was certified Gold by the RIAA within the first two months of its release. 1995 was also the year that Prodigy began to raise his solo profile, by providing a guest appearance on LL Cool J’s controversial I Shot Ya (remix). The song became a minor part of the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry, due to Tupac Shakur believing the song to be a diss referring to his robbery/shooting in Manhattan, New York at Quad Recording Studios – singling out the song’s title (which many assumed was connected to Biggie’s Who Shot Ya?), certain lyrics, and the timing of its release – the year after the shooting incident.
Although the track was stated by Keith Murray to not have any lyrical shots aimed at Tupac, Mobb Deep responded in the following year to Tupac’s Hit Em Up with Drop a Gem on ‘Em, a promotional single from their 1996 album Hell On Earth. Ironically, I Shot Ya does feature a subliminal aim in Prodigy’s verse to Murray, which continued friction that started sometime prior with an interlude from Mobb Deep’s 1995 The Infamous album. The rivalry continued until sometime in 2012, when the two ended it by taking a picture together.
A year and a half later, at the end of 1996, Prodigy and Havoc released Hell on Earth, which debuted at #6 on SoundScan. Their next release, Murda Muzik, was heavily bootlegged while still in its demo stage, leaking, onto the streets and over the internet, rough versions of the nearly 30 songs the duo had recorded.
In November 2000, Prodigy released his debut solo album H.N.I.C. His follow up solo album would be released in 2008.
During the next six years, between the releases of his first two solo albums, Prodigy continued to work with Mobb Deep, releasing Infamy in 2001, Amerikaz Nightmare in 2004, and Blood Money in 2006.
During this time, Prodigy had started work on his second solo album, H.N.I.C. Part 2, which was first previewed on his official mixtape The Return of the Mac, and was later released on the independent label Koch Records. The mixtape single, together with the mixtape video, was called Mac 10 Handle. Prodigy then released H.N.I.C. Pt. 2 through Voxonic Inc., a company in which he was an equity holder. In late 2009, Mobb Deep was released from their contract with 50 Cent’s G-Unit label.
During this time, Prodigy was served with a three-year sentence in Mid-State Correctional Facility (a medium-security prison), following a plea agreement stemming from a gun-possession charge. He was officially released on March 7, 2011.
Prodigy was featured in the 2009 documentary Rhyme and Punishment, which documented hip-hop artists who had been incarcerated.
In 2011, Prodigy released a free EP called The Ellsworth Bumpy Johnson EP, his first project after being released from prison.
On April 21, a song titled The Type, with Curren$y, was released on Curren$y’s free album Covert Coup.
In 2011, Prodigy released his autobiography, My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep’s Prodigy.
In 2013, Prodigy released his second collaboration album with the Alchemist, titled Albert Einstein. On April 1, 2014, Mobb Deep released The Infamous Mobb Deep, their eighth studio album. In August 2016, he released an untitled EP of five tracks, in partnership with BitTorrent, an association that Prodigy had been working up for a while. Also in 2013 Prodigy co-wrote the urban crime novel H.N.I.C. with British author Steven Savile. It was published by Akashic / Infamous Books. They also co-wrote a second novel, Ritual, that was released in 2015 by Akashic.
In an interview with Vibe in November 2000, Prodigy spoke about what inspired him to directly address his battle with sickle cell disease in his song You Can Never Feel My Pain, from his debut studio album H.N.I.C. On June 20, 2017, it was reported that Prodigy had died at the Spring Valley Medical Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, while hospitalized for complications related to his sickle-cell anemia. He was performing in the Art of Rap Tour in Las Vegas with Havoc, Ghostface Killah, Onyx, KRS-One, and Ice-T when he was hospitalized. According to a coroner’s report, Prodigy was admitted to Spring Valley Medical Center after suffering a significant medical episode arising from his life-long battle with sickle-cell anemia. Days later, on the morning of June 20, he was found unresponsive by hospital staff. It was reported at the time that Prodigy died from accidental choking. The complaint, which was filed on behalf of the family by the Gage Law Firm, alleges that the Spring Valley hospital breached their duty of care for Prodigy by “failing to maintain a working IV access,” and by “failing to continuously monitor oxygen levels” as ordered by physicians in the hospital, and that those failures led to Prodigy’s death.
Fifty Shades is a series of erotic novels by E. L. James, initially a trilogy consisting of Fifty Shades of Grey (2011), Fifty Shades Darker (2012) and Fifty Shades Freed (2012). The series traces the deepening relationship between college graduate Anastasia Steele and young businessman Christian Grey, who introduces Ana to the world of BDSM.
The author has spoken of her shock at the success of the book: “The explosion of interest has taken me completely by surprise.” James has described the Fifty Shades trilogy as “my midlife crisis, writ large. All my fantasies in there, and that’s it.” She did not start to write until January 2009, as she revealed while still active on FanFiction.Net: “I started writing in January 2009 after I finished reading the Twilight saga, and I haven’t stopped since. I discovered Fan Fiction in August 2009. Since then I have written two fics and plan on doing at least one more. After that … who knows?” In August 2013, sales of the trilogy saw James top the Forbes’ list of the highest-earning authors with earnings of $95 million, which included $5 million for the film rights to Fifty Shades of Grey. In spite of the success, the books have also been largely panned by critics, with the first entry in particular “being ridiculed by virtually every critic who has read it.”
Since 2015 the series has been expanded with a parallel set of novels “as told by Christian:” Grey follows the events of Fifty Shades of Grey but from the perspective of Christian Grey, Darker (2017) and Freed (2021).
However, the literary world slated it, along with members of the BDSM community, who disliked the depiction of BDSM and dominatrixes. Readers and critics are also appalled by the writing style, the phrasing, and the overall cheesiness of the thing. If there ever was some plot to those books, a story, or at least some erotica vibe, they were lost in a see of poorly chosen words.
Gyro is the national food of Greece. Gyro or yupo means “turn.”
Greek gyro is similar to Turkish doner kebab or the Middle Eastern shawarma. While kebabs and shawarma are made of beef or lamb, typical Greek gyro are made of pork or chicken.
ChalkZone is an American animated television series created by Bill Burnett and Larry Huber for Nickelodeon. The series follows Rudy Tabootie, an elementary school student who discovers a box of magic chalk that allows him to draw portals into the ChalkZone, an alternate dimension where everything ever drawn on a blackboard and erased turns to life. Rudy is joined in his adventures by Snap, a wisecracking superhero Rudy once drew with chalk, and Penny Sanchez, Rudy’s academically intellectual classmate and personal friend.
ChalkZone originally premiered as a pilot short on Fred Seibert’s Oh Yeah! Cartoons animated shorts showcase in 1998. The series ran on Nickelodeon from March 22, 2002, to August 23, 2008, with 40 episodes in total. It was produced by Frederator Studios and Nickelodeon Animation Studio.
Rudy Tabootie (voiced by E. G. Daily) is a 10-year-old, fifth-grade boy who loves to draw. Reggie Bullnerd (Candi Milo), the school bully, constantly teases him or gets him into trouble with Mr. Wilter (Robert Cait), Rudy’s grumpy school teacher who strongly dislikes cartoons, especially Rudy’s passion for art. One day while in detention, Rudy discovers a piece of “White Lightnin'” chalk, which allows access to the ChalkZone, a place where everything and everyone that has ever been drawn and erased by chalk takes form as living or is tangible. He soon makes friends with Snap (Candi Milo), a short, blue, humanoid drawing made by Rudy when he was only 8. Snap wears a superhero outfit and is very adventurous and funny. Rudy only lets one other person know about ChalkZone, his best friend Penny Sanchez (speaking voice, Hynden Walch; singing voice, Robbyn Kirmssè), who acts as the genius of the group.
While in ChalkZone, the three are introduced to Cyclops (Rodger Bumpass), the kilt-wearing guardian of the magic chalk mines where Rudy obtains his magic chalk (Rudy later draws a second eye for him and renames him “Biclops”); Queen Rapsheeba (Rosslynn Taylor), ChalkZone’s musical artist whom Snap has a crush on; and Blocky (Candi Milo; Robert Cait), a light green block friend of Snap’s and Rudy’s first-ever drawing. They also face villains such as Skrawl (Jim Cummings), a drawing who blames Rudy for being ugly and wants to destroy him, and the Craniacs (Rob Paulsen), a series of robot drawings obsessed with collecting futuristic devices.
The pilot for the series first aired on December 31, 1999, as part of Nickelodeon’s annual New Year’s Eve block, but due to being delayed by Nickelodeon for executive reasons, the series made its official premiere on March 22, 2002. The 2002 premiere became the highest-rated premiere in Nickelodeon’s history up to that point.
The show aired in reruns on “Nick on CBS” for more than a year from February 1, 2003, to September 11, 2004. In June 2005, following the announcement that the series had been cancelled, the fourth season of the series premiered. Of the season’s 11 episodes, only five would be aired that year before Nickelodeon abruptly halted the broadcast of new episodes. The remaining six episodes would not air until three years later in June and August 2008. The final episode aired on August 23, 2008.