Cause an empty room can be so loud
There’s too many tears to drown them out
So hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
When you love someone
And they break your heart
Don’t give up on love
Have faith restart
Just hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
Cause an empty room can be so loud
There’s too many tears to drown them out
So hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
When you love someone
And they break your heart
Don’t give up on love
Have faith restart
Just hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
]]> http://aylahbzshu26.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/hold-on/feed/ 0 aylahbzshu26 http://aylahbzshu26.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/camp-rock/ http://aylahbzshu26.wordpress.com/2008/09/07/camp-rock/#comments Sun, 07 Sep 2008 10:11:56 +0000 aylahbzshu26 http://aylahbzshu26.wordpress.com/?p=129 ]]>

Camp Rock
Extended Rock Star Edition DVD cover
Directed by	Matthew Diamond
Produced by	Kevin Lafferty Alan Sacks
Written by	Julie Brown Paul Brown Karin Gist Regina Hicks
Starring	Demi Lovato Joe Jonas Meaghan Jette Martin Maria Canals Barrera Alyson Stoner Anna Maria Perez de Tagle Jasmine Richards Jordan Francis Roshon Fegan Aaryn Doyle
Music by	Matthew Gerrard Robbie Nevil Jamie Houston Adam Watts Andy Dodd Antonia Armato Tim James
Cinematography	Dean Cundey
Editing by	Girish Bhargava
Distributed by	Disney Channel
Release date(s)	June 20, 2008
Running time	94 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$15,000,000
Official website
IMDb profile

Camp Rock is a 2008 Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM). The music is written by Julie Brown, Paul Brown, Regina Hicks and Karen Gist. The movie is directed by Matthew Diamond and produced by Alan Sacks.

On January 25, 2008, during the commercials for Minutemen, it was announced that Camp Rock would debut June 20, 2008. Camp Rock was the second DCOM to air on ABC‘s The Wonderful World of Disney after its premiere on Disney Channel, and be available online after its premiere on Disney Channel. The movie stars the Jonas Brothers and introduces Demi Lovato for her first lead role in a film. The film averaged 8.9 million viewers on the night of its premiere, making it the second highest viewed DCOM behind High School Musical 2.^[1]

Plot Summary

Demi Lovato (left) and Joe Jonas (right) in a scene from Camp Rock. They are singing the song “This is Me”.

The movie begins in the home of Connie (Maria Canals Barrera), Steve (Ed Jaunz) and Mitchie Torres (Demi Lovato), an aspiring young musician who is hoping to become a professional singer (Who Will I Be). Mitchie wants to attend the prestigious and expensive Camp Rock, but her parents can’t afford the camp. Mitchie’s mother decides to take her catering business to Camp Rock, and so Mitchie can go if she helps out in the kitchen with her mother.

When Mitchie arrives at camp, she becomes friends with Caitlyn Gellar (Alyson Stoner), Lola Scott (Aaryn Doyle), Barron James (Jordan Francis), and Sander Loyer(Roshon Fegan), and meets the Camp Rock diva, Tess Tyler (Meaghan Jette Martin), the daughter of pop star T.J. Tyler (Jennifer Ricci), and her so called “best friends”, Peggy Warburton (Jasmine Richards) and Ella Shang (Anna Maria Perez de Tagle).

Meanwhile, pop star Shane Gray (Joe Jonas) is dropped off at camp by his bandmates Jason (Kevin Jonas) and Nate (Nick Jonas). Because of his bad attitude and reputation, he is assigned to be in charge of dance classes for one month at Camp Rock. As the limo was driving away Nate tells Shane that they told the press they would be recording with the winner of Final Jam, a concert at the end of the month in which each member at Camp Rock compete against each other. Later that day he’s chased by obsessive fans and hides in the bushes near the mess hall. He hears Mitchie singing one of her songs (This Is Me (Acoustic Version)), though she thinks she is alone. The song reminds Shane of the music that used to inspire him. He is determined to look for the girl singing, but in vain.

At an open mic concert, Mitchie listens to Lola’s performance of the song, (What It Takes) and then bumps into Tess. In a desperate attempt to fit in, Mitchie lies to Tess and says that her mother is the president of Hot Tunes TV China. Tess, Peggy, and Ella are impressed, and invite Mitchie into their cabin. The following morning, Mitchie sneaks out to go help at the kitchen to clean up when Shane arrives. Not wanting to be recognized, Mitchie covers her face in flour. Shane complains to her about not being able to go near his breakfast and says that his manager sent over his food allergy list. Mitchie is openly disappointed in his behavior, and she tells him to try and be nice. Shane ditches his dance class that day, but went the next day teaching hip hop to Start the Party. Later that night, Shane goes to the campfire and listens to Tess’s song, (Too Cool).

Shane and Mitchie see each other again at the lake where he’s writing a song and gets mad when he’s interrupted by Mitchie. She tells him it’s different but she likes the song. Shane is openly happy with Mitchie after this. He writes a song about the girl he heard singing (Gotta Find You), which is really Mitchie, unbeknownst to him. Later, Caitlyn is sent to kitchen duty after a food fight with Tess. In the kitchen, Caitlyn finds out that the cook’s daughter is Mitchie. She threatens to tell everyone, but decides not to when Mitchie stands up for her when she’s in another fight with Tess. Caitlyn reveals to Mitchie that she used to be best friends with Tess, but Tess didn’t like competition and felt that Caitlyn was.

Shane begins to search for the girl with the voice, but he can’t find her. Caitlyn mentioned Shane’s search to Mitchie, but Mitchie doesn’t believe it could be her because quote “he’s never heard me sing”. Eventually, Tess finds out about Mitchie and Shane’s relationship, and she also finds out about Mitchie’s secret. She exposes Mitchie after a surprise concert from Connect 3 (Play My Music). This breaks Shane’s heart, thinking that Mitchie was only friends with Shane Gray the celebrity and that she didn’t mean any of the things she said. Everyone turns against Mitchie because they realized that she lied to everyone at that camp.

Later, Tess overhears Brown talking to Shane and finds out that Shane’s girl is Mitchie, so she tries to prevent Mitchie from singing at the Final Jam so that Shane can’t hear Mitchie sing by placing her precious charm bracelet that her mother gave her, between some of Mitchie’s books in the kitchen to make it look like she stole it. Her scheme works, and Caitlyn and Mitchie are banned from all camp activities until the end of Final Jam.

Right before Final Jam, Tess, Peggy, and Ella rehearse their song. After messing up, Tess criticizes them and Peggy, having had enough, drops out of the group, followed by Ella, who are both re-entering as individuals. At Final Jam, Ella joins Barron and Sander as they perform their song, (Hasta La Vista). Seconds before starting her song, (2 Stars), Tess sees her mother there. She starts out singing her song confidently, but during the middle of her performance, Tess sees her mother talking on her cell phone instead of listening to her daughter’s performance. Hurt, Tess drops out of the competition by nearly falling off the stage to get her mom’s attention and runs off the stage crying.

A last minute addition is performed by Margaret Dupree, or Peggy. After Peggy performs (Here I Am), Tess apologizes to her and Ella, also adding that she had no idea Peggy was so good. As the judges, Shane, Nate, and Jason, are judging, Mitchie performs her song, (This Is Me). Shane hears the song and realizes that Mitchie is the girl, and he sings part of (Gotta Find You) in collaboration with Mitchie’s song. Peggy ends up winning Final Jam, and Tess apologizes to Mitchie and Caitlyn as well, admitting to having told Brown that her bracelet wasn’t stolen after all. Finally, the whole cast sings one song together, We Rock.

In the extended ending edition, which is included in the DVD, it shows that three months later, Caitlyn built a studio in her garage. She invites Mitchie, Tess, Peggy, Ella and Lola and they record one song together (Our Time Is Here).

Cast

The cast of Camp Rock in the “Final Jam” in the movie, performing the song We Rock.

• Mitchie Torres (Demi Lovato) : Main Role
• Shane Gray (Joe Jonas) :
• Nate (Nick Jonas):
• Jason (Kevin Jonas):
• Tess Tyler (Meaghan Jette Martin):
• Caitlyn Gellar (Alyson Stoner):
• Ella (Anna Maria Perez de Tagle):
• Margaret “Peggy Warburton” Dupree (Jasmine Richards):
• Connie Torres (Maria Canals Barrera):
• Barron (Jordan “J-Man” Francis):
• Saunder (Roshon Fegan) :
• Lola Scott (Aaryn Doyle):
• Brown” (Daniel Fathers):
• Dee La Duke (Julie Brown):

Supporting

• Jennifer Ricci as TJ Tyler
• Ed Jaunz as Steve Torres
• Bailey Stocker as Sierra
• Hayley Lochner as Erin
• Judy Kovacks as Lola’s Dancer #1
• Sage Francis as Lola’s Dancer #2
• Angelica Scannura as Girl Singing Shane’s Song
• Nikki Shah as Opera Girl
• Kathryn Ballantine as Girl w/ Folk Voice
• Stefanie Campbell as Gospel Singer #1
• Sherry Anne Campbell as Gospel Singer #2
• Shennel Campbell as Gospel Singer #3
• Jee-Yun Lee as T.V. Reporter
• Laura Thorne as Screaming Girl
• Max Topplin as Boy #1
• Jake Brockman as Boy #2
• Roshan Amendra as Freestyler #1
• Dwayne Gulston as Freestyler #2

Musical Numbers

Main article: Camp Rock (soundtrack)

The soundtrack does not follow the film’s song order.

1. Who Will I Be – Mitchie
2. This Is Me (Acoustic Version) – Mitchie
3. What It Takes – Lola
4. Start the Party – Barron
5. Too Cool ^A – Tess
6. Gotta Find You – Shane
7. Play My Music – Connect 3
8. Hasta La Vista – Barron, Sander and Ella
9. 2 Stars – Tess
10. Here I Am – Peggy
11. This is Me – Mitchie and Shane
12. We Rock – Cast
13. Our Time Is Here ^B – Mitchie, Caitlyn, Peggy, Ella, Lola, and Tess

^BExtended Edition Only ^AMitchie, Ella, and Peggy sing back up in the film

Nielsen ratings

Network	Date	Viewers (in millions)
Disney Channel	June 20, 2008	8.86 [2]
Family	June 20, 2008	0.85
ABC	June 21, 2008	3.47 [2]
ABC Family	June 22, 2008	3.73 [2]

Worldwide Premieres

DVD/Blu-ray release

The DVD and Blu-ray release for the movie, titled Camp Rock: Extended Rock Star Edition, was released on August 19 in the United States, but not until September 26 in Australia. ^[3] It will be released in November in other countries. It will be released on December 1, 2008 in the UK. [1]

Both the DVD and Blu-ray release will contain the following bonus features.

• Extended Ending
• Sing-Along and Karaoke functions
• “How To Be A Rock Star”
• “Jonas Brothers: Real Life Rock Stars”
• “Introducing Demi Lovato“
• “Too Cool: Setting The Stage”
• “Hasta La Vista: From Rehearsal To Final Jam””
• Music videos
• “Camp Memories” – a still gallery

Merchandise

Merchandise of the movie is currently selling at Target, Claires, and Limited Too. They include clothings (such as pajamas, T-shirts, and underwear), bags (tote bags, backpacks, etc), bedding collection, toys, and dolls of the characters. Play Along Toys, so far, has only released dolls of Mitchie and Shane. On May 13, 2008, Disney Press published Camp Rock: the Junior Novel, by Lucy Ruggles, the novelization of the Disney film. It has been released to some Scholastic Book Fairs beforehand already. Target retail stores currently sells “special editions” of the novel. They are hardcover books that include photos.

Sequel

A sequel to Camp Rock is planned. Disney is pending the script that’s in development due to the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato‘s busy schedule.^[4] Auditions for extras began in July 2008 and the movie will be filmed at Camp Wanakita in Haliburton, Ontario and Kilcoo Camp in Minden, Ontario where the first movie was also filmed.^[5] The cast are expected to begin filming again in late spring or summer 2009.^[4]

Gary Marsh, the president of the Disney Channel World, confirmed in the New York Daily News that a script is already being written for Camp Rock 2.^[6]

Alan Baltes, the publisher of the Acting Info blog, is reporting that the movie’s release date for Camp Rock 2 has been tentatively set for June 7, 2009. Pre-production for Disney Channel’s Camp Rock 2 will likely get underway shortly, now that Camp Rock has aired. Actual filming would not begin until early 2009. Demi Lovato is also set to return. Also returning are Meaghan Jette Martin, Alyson Stoner, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, Jasmine Richards, Maria Canals Barrera, Joe Jonas, Nick Jonas, Kevin Jonas, Jordan Francis and Aaryn Doyle. Daniel Fathers, Julie Brown, and Roshon Fegan have not been set to return as of yet. ^[7]

According to Hollywood Reporter, all the principal cast are expected to return,^[4] with a special appearance by Frankie Jonas.^[8]

Participants of sport stacking upstack and downstack cups in pre-determined sequences, competing against the clock or another player. Sequences are usually pyramids of three, six, or ten cups. Proponents of the sport say participants learn teamwork, cooperation, ambidexterity and hand-eye coordination.

Tournaments are governed by the World Sport Stacking Association. In 2004, the WSSA changed the activity’s name from cup stacking to sport stacking in an attempt to give it “immediate identification as a competitive sport.”

Cups

Sport stacking can only be done with specially designed cups, made to prevent sticking to one another. Made of durable plastic, the cups have three holes in the bottom to allow air to pass through quickly when stacking the cups together, and are designed with eight ribs reinforcing a ledge inside to keep the cups separate when nested, so they can be quickly separated from each other when stacking. The official company for WSSA-approved cups is Speed Stacks[1]. The WSSA only allows Speed Stacks to be used in competitions.

Special training cups called “Super Stacks” are also available. These heavier cups are made of metal and are to be used directly before competitions. The added weight is supposed to make the regular cups feel lighter, allowing the stacker to stack faster in competition.

There are also Mini Speed Stacks which are an inch tall, for a more challenging stack and for when full size cups won’t fit in a given practice space.

Rules

There are three main types of stacks in competition. All stacks can be made from left-to-right or right-to-left (individual preference), but the same direction must be maintained for both “up stacking” (setting the cups into pyramids) and “down stacking” (unstacking the pyramids and returning them to their nested position). Don’t slam them, but let them slide. If you knock down a cup, you must downstack back to where you were, fix it, then you can upstack the cups again.

3 – 3 – 3

Uses 9 cups. Cups start in three nested stacks of 3. The stacker must create three pyramids of 3 cups each and then down stack the cups back into nested stacks of 3 in the order that they were upstacked.

3 – 6 – 3

Uses 12 cups. The stacker must create three pyramids made up of three cups on the left, six cups in the center, and three cups on the right (3-6-3), then down stack the cups in the order that they were upstacked into their original position. Also used as the first transition of the Cycle Stack.

1 – 10 – 1

Uses 12 cups. The stacker begins with a single downstacked pile. He/she must take two cups off the top, turn one upside-down (stacker’s choice), then upstack the remaining ten. The stacker must then tap the opposite sides of the single cups and take down the ten stack into a downstacked 3-6-3. This stack is only used competitively as the third transition of the Cycle Stack

Cycle stack

The most complicated stack is called the Cycle Stack. It involves a sequence which includes, in order: a 3-6-3 stack, a 6-6 stack, and a 1-10-1 stack, finishing in a down stacked 3-6-3.

Competition

Most sport stacking competitions are geared toward children, with divisions by year for ages 12 and under. For older stackers, the divisions are by age groups: 13-14, 15-18, 19-24 (Collegiate), 25-34, 35-44, 45-59 (Masters 1-3), 60+ (Senior). There are also divisions for “Special Stackers” (disabled people).

In team relay, four/5-person teams compete head-to-head in a best-of-three-race match. In doubles, two stackers stand side-by-side to complete the stack, with one Stacker using only his or her right hand while the other using only his or her left.

2008 WSSA World Sport Stacking Championships

• Cycle Champion: Steven Purugganan, 10, time 6.21 sec, New World Record
• 3-6-3 Champion: Steven Purugganan, 10, time 2.36 sec
• 3-3-3 Champion: Steven Purugganan, 10, time 1.86 sec, New World Record^[4][5]
• Doubles Cycle: Timo Reuhl & David Wolf, time 7.65 sec, New World Record
• Timed 3-6-3 Relay: TeaM2 Germany, time 13.19 sec, New World Record

World records

The WSSA has set the following protocol for the setting of world records.:

1. Must use WSSA approved sport stacking cups. (Speed Stacks)
2. Must use a StackMat and Tournament Display.
3. Must be video taped for review and verification purposes.
4. Must use 3 Judges (one designated Head Judge) to judge each try. After each try the 3 Judges confer. The Head Judge will then designate with a color-coded card the outcome of that try. (Green-Clean Run, Yellow-Try in Question (Immediate Video Review) and Red–Scratch).

A finals Judge may not be a family member or the Sport Stacking Instructor of the Stacker.

WSSA’s website recognizes the advantage stopwatch-timing allowed stackers before the 2003 introduction of the stackmat, but asserts that records set before 2003 are still recognized until they are broken.

On 25 November 2006, Emily Fox’s 4-year world record was beaten by Robin Stangenberg with a time of 7.41 seconds^[6]. Then on April 15, 2007, David Wolf of Germany set the new world record of 7.25 seconds, at the 2007 World Sport Stacking Championships in Denver. Then the world record was broken by Steve Purugganan with a 7.23 in Attica, New York [2] Just weeks after this, David Wolf got the record back and did a 7.15s in Germany in November 2007.

In February 2008, Timo Ruehl made history by stacking the first ever sub seven cycle at a sanctioned tournament, 6.80. On February 16, Steven Purugganan took all three world records getting a 1.96 in the 3-3-3, a 2.38 in the 3-6-3, and a 6.65 in the cycle. Steven, with his brother Andrew also took the doubles world record, 7.84. On April 6, during the 2008 World Championships in Denver, Steven Purugganan broke two of these records. These are his current world records :

• 3-3-3 : 1.86 sec
• 3-6-3 : 2.34 sec
• Cycle : 6.21 sec

同一个世界同一个梦想 (One World, One Dream)
The “Dancing Beijing” emblem, depicting
a Chinese seal inscribed with the
character “Jīng” (京, from the name of the
host city) in the form of a dancing figure. Host city Beijing, China Nations participating 204 NOCs (See below) Athletes participating 11,028 ^[1] Events 302 in 28 sports Opening ceremony August 8 Closing ceremony August 24 Officially opened by President Hu Jintao Athlete’s Oath Zhang Yining Judge’s Oath Huang Liping Olympic Torch Li Ning Stadium Beijing National Stadium

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event which is being celebrated in Beijing, People’s Republic of China from August 8 (with football (soccer) starting on August 6) to August 24, 2008 and followed by the 2008 Summer Paralympics from September 6 to September 17. 10,500 athletes are expected to compete in 302 events in 28 sports, one event more than was on the schedule of the 2004 games.^[2] The 2008 Beijing Olympics will also mark the third time that Olympic events will have been held in the territories of two different National Olympic Committees (NOC), with the equestrian events to be held in Hong Kong.

The Olympic games were awarded to Beijing after an exhaustive ballot of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on July 13, 2001. The official logo of the games, titled “Dancing Beijing,” features a stylised calligraphic character jīng (京, meaning capital), referencing the host city. The mascots of Beijing 2008 are the five Fuwa, each representing both a colour of the Olympic rings and a symbol of Chinese culture. The Olympic slogan, One World, One Dream, calls upon the world to unite in the Olympic spirit. Several new NOCs have also been recognised by the IOC.

The Chinese government has promoted the games to highlight China’s emergence on the world stage and has invested heavily in new facilities and transportation systems.^[3][4] A total of 37 venues will be used to host the events including 12 newly constructed venues. Earlier in 2007, former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch had said that he believes that the Beijing games will be “the best in Olympic history,”^[5] and despite controversies that have marred the image of the Chinese Olympics, current president Jacques Rogge asserts that the IOC has “absolutely no regrets” in choosing Beijing to host the 2008 games.^[6]

Bid

2008 Summer Olympics bidding results
City	NOC	Round 1	Round 2
Beijing	China	44	56
Toronto	Canada	20	22
Paris	France	15	18
Istanbul	Turkey	17	9
Osaka	Japan	6	—

Main articles: 2008 Summer Olympics bids and Beijing 2008 Olympic bid

Beijing was elected the host city on July 13, 2001, during the 112th IOC Session in Moscow, beating Toronto, Paris, Istanbul, and Osaka. Prior to the session, five other cities (Bangkok, Cairo, Havana, Kuala Lumpur, and Seville) submitted bids to the IOC but failed to make the short list in 2000. After the first round of voting, Beijing held a significant lead over the other four candidates. Osaka received only six votes and was eliminated. In the second round, Beijing was supported by an absolute majority of voters, eliminating the need for subsequent rounds.^[7]

After winning the bid, Li Lanqing, the vice premier of China, declared “The winning of the 2008 Olympic bid is an example of the international recognition of China’s social stability, economic progress and the healthy life of the Chinese people.” Previously, Beijing had bid to host the 2000 Summer Olympics. It led the voting over the first three rounds, but ultimately lost to Sydney in the final round in 1993.

Development and preparation

Venues

2008 Summer Olympics
Bid Process (Beijing bid) Venues Marketing Concerns Torch Relay (route) Opening Ceremony (flag bearers) Medal count Highlights Closing Ceremony
IOC · COC · SF&OCHK · BOCOG

Main articles: 2008 Summer Olympics venues and Olympic Green

By May 2007, construction of all 31 Beijing-based Olympic Games venues had begun.^[8] The Chinese government is also investing in the renovation and construction of 6 venues outside Beijing as well as 59 training centres. Its largest architectural pieces will be the Beijing National Stadium, Beijing National Indoor Stadium, Beijing National Aquatics Centre, Olympic Green Convention Centre, Olympic Green, and Beijing Wukesong Culture & Sports Center. Almost 85% of the construction budget for the six main venues is being funded by US$2.1 billion (RMB¥17.4 billion) in corporate bids and tenders. Investments are expected from corporations seeking ownership rights after the 2008 Summer Olympics. Some venues will be owned and governed by the State General Administration of Sports, which will use them after the Olympics as facilities for all future national sports teams and events. The 2008 Beijing Olympics are officially the most expensive games in history with a total of $40.9 billion spent between 2001 and 2007 on infrastructure, energy, transportation and water supply projects. ^[9]

Some events will be held outside Beijing, namely football (in Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Tianjin), sailing (in Qingdao), and equestrian (in Hong Kong, because of “uncertainties of equine diseases and major difficulties in establishing a disease-free zone”).^[10]

Beijing National Stadium

Main article: Beijing National Stadium

The Beijing National Stadium.

The centrepiece of the 2008 Summer Olympics will be the Beijing National Stadium, nicknamed the “Bird nest” because of its nest-like skeletal structure.^[11] Construction of the venue began on December 24, 2003. The Guangdong Olympic Stadium was originally planned, constructed, and completed in 2001 for the Games, but a decision was made to construct a new stadium in Beijing.^{[clarify][12]} Government officials engaged architects worldwide in a design competition. A Swiss firm, Herzog & de Meuron Architekten AG, collaborated with China Architecture Design & Research Group to win the competition. The stadium features a lattice-like concrete skeleton forming the stadium bowl and will have a seating capacity of over 90,000 people during the Olympics. Architects originally described the overall design as resembling a bird nest with an immense ocular—an opening with a retractable roof over the stadium. However, in 2004, the idea of retractable roof was abandoned for economic and safety reasons. The Beijing National Stadium will be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as the athletics events and soccer finals. The stadium’s designer Ai Weiwei has since withdrawn his support for China’s Olympic games, saying “he wants nothing to do with them anymore”.^[13][14]

Most recently, the Beijing Olympic Village opened on July 16, 2008 and to the public on July 26, 2008.

Transport

In preparation for the huge rush during the games, Beijing’s subway system underwent a major expansion which increased its capacity to more than twice its previous size. The previous system was composed of 4 lines and 64 stations. An additional 7 lines and more than 80 new stations were constructed, including a direct link to Beijing Capital International Airport. In the airport itself, 11 unmanned trains, each transporting a maximum of 83 passengers, will expedite the movement of people throughout the new terminal building.^[15] Most of them are scheduled to operate from June 30, 2008, one month before the start of the games. In January 2007, the BOCOG announced that the Metro cars will be fitted with video screens showing the latest news and events during the games. Additionally, cellphone signals would be made available, so that people can use their communication devices in the metro stations or underground.^[16] On August 1, Beijing South Railway Station was reopened after two years of construction. The 120-km long Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Rail opened on the same day that connects the new railway station with Olympic co-host city Tianjin with world’s fastest scheduled train service at 350 km/h.^[17]

According to the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China, a new five-level emergency alert system for extreme weather and security threats will be implemented in the airport. This system is designed to ensure smooth and safe transportation for the estimated 3 million domestic and overseas visitors who will flock to Beijing for the games in August 2008.^[18]

On the ground, Beijing is set to designate 38 official public transit routes that will link the Olympic venues. During the games, 2,500 large-size buses and 4,500 minibuses will be operated by a total of 8,000 drivers to transport people across various venues. Prior to the games, public transport will be optimised in order to reduce the existing 110 overlapping routes.^[19]

Athletes, Olympic guests and media will be moved around the city in a fleet of 5,000 Volkswagen “low-emission, low-consumption” vehicles.^[20]

Beijing will be implementing a temporary road space rationing based on plate numbers during the Games in order to significantly improve air quality in the city.^[21] Under the traffic plan made public on June 20, 2008, the rationing will be enforced for two months, between July 20 to September 20, as the Olympics will begin on August 8, and then will be followed by the 2008 Paralympics, from September 6 until 17.^{[22][dead link]} The restrictions will be in placed on alternate days depending on the plates ending in odd or even numbers. This measure is expected to take 45% of the 3.3 million car fleet off the streets. In addition, 300,000 heavy polluting vehicles will be banned from July 1, and the plan also prohibits access to most vehicles coming from outside Beijing. The boosted public transport network is expected to absorb this additional demand, estimated in more than 4 million extra passengers per day.^[23][22]

Marketing

Main article: 2008 Summer Olympics marketing

The 2008 Summer Olympics emblem is known as Dancing Beijing (simplified Chinese: 舞动的北京). The emblem combines a traditional Chinese red seal and a representation of the calligraphic character jīng (京, “national capital”, also the second character of Beijing’s Chinese name) with athletic features. The open arms of the calligraphic word symbolises the invitation of China to the world to share in its culture. IOC president Jacques Rogge was very happy with the emblem, saying, “Your new emblem immediately conveys the awesome beauty and power of China which are embodied in your heritage and your people.”^[24]

The slogan for the 2008 Olympics is “One World, One Dream” (simplified Chinese: 同一个世界 同一个梦想; traditional Chinese: 同一個世界 同一個夢想; pinyin: Tóng Yíge Shìjiè Tóng Yíge Mèngxiǎng.)^[25] The slogan calls upon the whole world to join in the Olympic spirit and build a better future for humanity. It was chosen from over 210,000 entries submitted from around the world.^[11]

The 2008 Olympic Mascots are the five Fuwa (simplified Chinese: 福娃, literally “good luck dolls” initially known as Friendlies in English). The Fuwa consist of five members that incorporate fish, giant panda, fire, Tibetan antelope, and swallow designs. The Fuwa each have as their primary colour, one of the colours of the five Olympic Rings that stand for the five continents. The five Fuwa are named Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini. When the first syllable of each of the five names are said together, the result is the phrase 北京欢迎你 (Běijīng huānyíng nĭ) which means “Beijing welcomes you“.^[26]

Broadcasting

These games will be the first to be produced and broadcast entirely in high definition television, and will likely garner upwards of 4 billion viewers.^[27] In their bid for the Olympic games in 2001, Beijing confirmed to the Olympic Evaluation Commission “that there will be no restrictions on media reporting and movement of journalists up to and including the Olympic Games,”^[28] but according to a report in The New York Times, “these promises have been contradicted by strict visa rules, lengthy application processes and worries about censorship.”^[29]

Online Coverage

The 2008 Olympics will see an extensive array of online coverage. NBC will broadcast the games online on NBCOlympics.com^[96] and also through TVTonic.^[97] In the UK, bbc.co.uk will contain live coverage and highlights.^[98] In territories where online broadcasting rights remained unsold, highlights will be available on YouTube, but they will not be available in countries where the online rights were already sold, such as the U.S.^[99]

Torch relay

2008 Olympic Torch

Main articles: 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay and 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay route

The design of the Olympic Torch is based on traditional scrolls and uses a traditional Chinese design known as the “Propitious Clouds” (祥云). The torch is designed to remain lit in 65 kph (40 mph) winds, and in rain of up to 50 mm (2 in) per hour.

The relay, with the theme Journey of Harmony, is expected to last 130 days and carry the torch 137,000 km (85,000 mi)—the longest distance of any Olympic torch relay since the tradition began at the 1936 Berlin Games.^[100][101] So far, the torch relay has been called a “public relations disaster” for China by The Times^[102], with protests of China’s human rights record, particularly about Tibet.

The relay began March 24, 2008, in Olympia, Greece. From there, it traveled across Greece to Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens, and then to Beijing, arriving on March 31. From Beijing, the torch followed a route passing through every continent except Antarctica. The torch visited cities on the Silk Road, symbolizing ancient links between China and the rest of the world. A total of 21,880 torchbearers have been selected from around the world by various organizations and entities.^[103]

The international portion of the relay was a problematic, month-long world tour that has seen wide-scale protests to China’s human rights abuses and recent crackdown in Tibet. After trouble in London saw several attempts to put out the flame, the following day, the flame was extinguished in Paris .^[104] The American leg in San Francisco on 9 April was altered without prior warning to avoid such scenes, although there were still demonstrations along the original route.^[105] The relay was further delayed and simplified after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake affecting western China.

The flame was carried to the top of Mount Everest^[103] on a 108 km (67 mi) long “highway” scaling the Tibetan side of the mountain especially built for the relay. The $19.7 million blacktop project spanned from Tingri County of Xigazê Prefecture to the Everest Base Camp.^[106] In March 2008, China banned mountaineers from climbing its side of Mount Everest and later persuaded the Nepalese government to close their side as well, officially citing environmental concerns.^[107] It also reflected concerns by the Chinese government that Tibet activists may try to disrupt its plans to carry the Olympic torch up the world’s tallest peak.^[108]

The originally proposed route would have seen the torch carried through Taipei after leaving Vietnam and before heading for Hong Kong. Taiwan authorities, however, objected to this proposal, claiming that this route would make the portion of the relay in Taiwan appear to be part the torch’s domestic journey through China, rather than a leg on the international route.^[109] This dispute as well as demands that the flag of the Republic of China and the National Anthem of the Republic of China be banned along the route^[110] led the Taiwan authorities to reject the proposal that it be part of the relay route, and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait subsequently blamed each other for injecting politics into the event.^[111]

The Games

Opening ceremony

A scene from the opening ceremony.

Main articles: 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony and 2008 Summer Olympics national flag bearers

The 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony was held at the Beijing National Stadium. It began at 8:00 PM or 20:00 China Standard Time (UTC+8) on 8 August 2008.^{[112][113][114]} The number 8 is associated with prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture.^[115] The ceremony was directed by Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and featured a cast of over 15,000 performers, and was dubbed beforehand as “the most spectacular Olympics Opening Ceremony ever produced”. ^[116]

A rich assembly of ancient Chinese art and culture dominated the ceremony. It opened with the beating of Fou drums for the countdown. Subsequently, a giant scroll was unveiled and became the show’s centerpiece. The official song of the 2008 Olympics was performed by Britain’s Sarah Brightman and China’s Liu Huan, and was titled You and Me.^[117]

Former Chinese gymnast Li Ning ignited the cauldron.

The entry parade of the competing athletes was in a different order from previous Olympic ceremonies, because it was not in ordinary alphabetical order of the names of the competing nations but in order (lowest first) of how many strokes are in their Chinese character transcriptions; for example, Australia was near the end because the first character of the Chinese name of Australia (澳大利亚) has 15 strokes.

Reviews of opening ceremony from around the world called it spectacular and devoid of politics. ^[118]

Participating NOCs

Following the Opening Ceremony on August 8, 2008, all but one (Brunei) of the current 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs)^[119] will participate. China and the United States have the largest teams, with 639 and 595 competitors respectively. Several countries are represented at the games by a single athlete.

South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, five time gold medalist at the Athens Paralympics in 2004, has qualified to compete at the Beijing Olympics, thus making history by becoming the first amputee to qualify for the Olympic Games since Olivér Halassy in 1936.^[120][121] Natalia Partyka (who was born without a right forearm) will compete in Table Tennis for Poland.^[122]

Below is a list of the all the participating NOCs (where available, the number of competitors per delegation is indicated in parentheses):

Participation changes

The Marshall Islands and Tuvalu gained National Olympic Committee status in 2006 and 2007 respectively, and are participating in the Games.^{[124][dead link][125][126]}

The states of Serbia and Montenegro, which participated at the 2004 Games jointly as Serbia and Montenegro, are now competing separately. The Montenegrin Olympic Committee was accepted as a new National Olympic Committee in 2007.^[126] IOC has promised to recognise the newly independent Republic of Kosovo, but not in time for the nation to compete in the Olympics.^[127]

North Korea and South Korea held meetings to discuss the possibility of sending a united team to the 2008 Olympics,^[128][129] but the proposal failed, due to disagreements between the two NOCs on the proportion of athletes from the two countries within the team.^[130]

On July 24, 2008, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned Iraq from competing in the 2008 Olympic Summer Games due to “political interference by the government in sports.”^[131][132] On July 29, the IOC reversed its decision and will allow the nation to compete after a pledge by Iraq to ensure “the independence of its national Olympics panel” by instituting fair elections before the end of November. Until then, Iraq’s Olympic Organisation will be run by “an interim committee proposed by its national sports federations and approved by the IOC.”^[133]

Brunei Darussalam were due to take part in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. However, they were disqualified on August 8, having failed to register either of their athletes.^[134] The IOC spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said in a statement that “it is a great shame and very sad for the athletes who lose out because of the decision by their team not to register them. The IOC tried up until the last minute, midday Friday 8 August 2008, the day of the official opening, to have them register, but to no avail.”^[135]

Sports

Medals of the 2008 Summer Olympics: silver (left), gold (center), bronze (right)

The program for the Beijing 2008 Games is quite similar to that of the Athens Games held in 2004. The 2008 Olympics will see the return of 28 sports, and will hold 302 events (165 men’s events, 127 women’s events, and 10 mixed events), one event more in total than in Athens.

Overall 9 new events will be held, which include 2 from the new cycling discipline of BMX. Women will compete in the 3000 m steeplechase for the first time. In addition, marathon swimming events for men and women, over the distance of 10 kilometres, will be added to the swimming discipline. Team events (men and women) in table tennis will replace the doubles events. In fencing, women’s team foil and women’s team sabre will replace men’s team foil and women’s team epee.^{[136][137][138][139]}

The Beijing Organizing Committee have released pictograms of the 35 Olympic disciplines. This set of sport icons is named the beauty of seal characters, due to each pictogram’s likeness to Chinese seal script.^[140]

The following are the sports to be contested at these Games. The number of events to be contested in each sport is indicated in parentheses.

Aquatics Diving (8) Swimming (34) Synchronized swimming (2) Water polo (2) Archery (4) Athletics (47) Badminton (5)

Baseball (1) Basketball (2) Boxing (11) Canoeing (16) Cycling (18) Equestrian (6) Fencing (10) Field hockey (2)

Football (2) Gymnastics (18) Handball (2) Judo (14) Modern pentathlon (2) Rowing (14) Sailing (11) Shooting (15)

Softball (1) Table tennis (4) Taekwondo (8) Tennis (4) Triathlon (2) Volleyball (4) Weightlifting (15) Wrestling (18)

Highlights

Main article: 2008 Summer Olympics highlights

Medal count

Main article: 2008 Summer Olympics medal count

Calendar

In the following calendar for the 2008 Olympic Games, each blue box represents an event competition, such as a qualification round, on that day. The yellow boxes represent days during which medal-awarding finals for a sport are held. Each bullet in these boxes is an event final, the number of bullets per box representing the number of finals that will be contested on that day.^[141]

●

Opening ceremony

Event competitions

●

Event finals

Exhibition gala

●

Closing ceremony

August	6th W	7th T	8th F	9th S	10th S	11th M	12th T	13th W	14th T	15th F	16th S	17th S	18th M	19th T	20th W	21st T	22nd F	23rd S	24th S	Gold medals
Archery					●	●			●	●										4
Athletics										● ●	● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ●	● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ● ●	●	47
Badminton										●	● ●	● ●								5
Baseball																		●		1
Basketball																		●	●	2
Boxing																		● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ●	11
Canoeing							● ●		● ●								● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ●		16
Cycling				●	●			● ●		●	● ● ●	●	● ●	● ● ●		● ●	●	●		18
Diving					●	●	●	●				●		●		●		●		8
Equestrian							● ●		●				●	●		●				6
Fencing				●	●	●	●	● ●	●	●	●	●								10
Field hockey																	●	●		2
Football (soccer)																●		●		2
Gymnastics							●	●	●	●		● ● ● ●	● ● ● ●	● ● ● ●				●	●	18
Handball																		●	●	2
Judo				● ●	● ●	● ●	● ●	● ●	● ●	● ●										14
Modern pentathlon																●	●			2
Rowing											● ● ● ● ● ● ●	● ● ● ● ● ● ●								14
Sailing											● ●	●	● ●	● ●	● ●	● ●				11
Shooting				● ●	● ●	● ●	● ●	●	● ●	●	● ●	●								15
Softball																●				1
Swimming					● ● ● ●	● ● ● ●	● ● ● ●	● ● ● ●	● ● ● ●	● ● ● ●	● ● ● ●	● ● ● ●			●	●				34
Synchronized swimming															●			●		2
Table tennis												●	●				●	●		4
Taekwondo															● ●	● ●	● ●	● ●		8
Tennis											● ●	● ●								4
Triathlon													●	●						2
Volleyball																●	●	●	●	4
Water polo																●			●	2
Weightlifting				●	● ●	● ●	● ●	● ●		● ●	●	●	●	●						15
Wrestling							● ●	● ●	● ● ●		● ●	● ●		● ●	● ●	● ● ●				18
Total gold medals				7	14	13	19	17	17	16	30	34	18	20	11	23	20	31	12	302
Ceremonies			●																●
August	6th W	7th T	8th F	9th S	10th S	11th M	12th T	13th W	14th T	15th F	16th S	17th S	18th M	19th T	20th W	21st T	22nd F	23rd S	24th S

Concerns and controversies

It has been suggested that some of the information in this article’s Criticism or Controversy section(s) be merged into other sections to achieve a more neutral presentation. (Discuss)

The banner reads: “Human Rights Abuse Cannot Co-exist with Beijing Olympics”, picture taken during the opening of the Human Rights Torch Relay event

Main article: Concerns over the 2008 Summer Olympics

A variety of concerns over the games have been expressed by various entities; including allegations that China violated its pledge to allow open media access,^[142] various alleged human rights violations,^{[143][144][145]} air pollution in both the city of Beijing and in neighboring areas,^[146][147] proposed boycotts,^[148][149] warnings of the possibility that the Beijing Olympics could be targeted by terrorist groups,^[150] foiled sabotage attempt, potentially violent disruption from pro-Tibetan protesters,^[151] the banning of ethnic Tibetans from working in Beijing for the duration of the games,^[152] criticisms of policies mandating the electronic surveillance of internationally owned hotels,^{[153][154][155]} displacement of residents,^[156] and ticket adversities.^[157]

Additionally, pro-Tibetan independence proponents have exhibited disdain and protested the games,^[158] human rights activists critical of China’s role in the Darfur conflict have sought policy change,^[159] and Christian advocates have voiced concerns regarding the persecution of Christians in China.^[160][161]

U2 (IPA: /ˌjuːˈtuː/) are a rock band from Dublin, Ireland. The band consists of Bono (vocals and guitar), The Edge (guitar, keyboards and vocals), Adam Clayton (bass guitar) and Larry Mullen, Jr. (drums and percussion).

U2 formed in 1976 when the members were teenagers with limited musical proficiency. By the mid-1980s, however, the band had become a top international act, noted for their anthemic sound, Bono’s impassioned vocals, and The Edge’s textural guitar playing. Their success as a live act was greater than their success at selling records until their 1987 album The Joshua Tree^[1] increased the band’s stature “from heroes to superstars,” according to Rolling Stone.^[2] U2 responded to the dance and alternative rock revolutions, and their own sense of musical stagnation by reinventing themselves with their 1991 album Achtung Baby and the accompanying Zoo TV Tour. Similar experimentation continued for the rest of the 1990s. Since 2000, U2 have pursued a more traditional sound that retains the influence of their musical explorations.

U2 have sold more than 170 million albums worldwide^[3] and have won more Grammy Awards than any other band.^[4] In 2005, the band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone Magazine listed U2 at #22 in their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.^[5] Throughout their career, as a band and as individuals, they have campaigned for human rights and social justice causes, including Amnesty International, the ONE Campaign, and Bono’s DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade in Africa) campaign.

[edit] History

[edit] Formation and early years (1976–1979)

U2 in 1980: (left to right) Clayton, Mullen, Bono, Edge

U2 formed in Dublin on 25 September 1976.^[6] Larry Mullen, Jr., then 14, posted a notice on his secondary school notice board (Mount Temple Comprehensive School) seeking musicians for a new band. Seven teenage boys attended the initial practice in Mullen’s kitchen. It was, as Mullen put it, “‘The Larry Mullen Band’ for about ten minutes, then Bono walked in and blew any chance I had of being in charge.” The group featured Mullen on drums, Paul Hewson (Bono) on lead vocals, Dave Evans (The Edge) and his brother Dik Evans on guitar, Adam Clayton, a friend of the Evans brothers, on bass guitar, and initially Ivan McCormick and Peter Martin, two other friends of Mullen.^[7] Soon after, the group settled on the name “Feedback”, because it was one of the few technical terms they knew.^[8] Martin did not return after the first practice, and McCormick left the group within a few weeks. Most of their material consisted of cover versions, which the band said was not their forte.

We couldn’t believe it. I was completely shocked. We weren’t of an age to go out partying as such but I don’t think anyone slept that night….Really, it was just a great affirmation to win that competition, even though I’ve no idea how good we were or what the competition was really like. But to win at that point was incredibly important for morale and everyone’s belief in the whole project.

— The Edge on winning the CBS competition^[9]

In March 1977, the band changed their name to “The Hype”.^[10] Dik Evans, who was older and by this time at college, was becoming the odd man out. The rest of the band was leaning towards the idea of a four-piece ensemble and he was “phased out” in March 1978. During a farewell concert in the Presbyterian Church Hall in Howth, which featured The Hype playing covers, Dik ceremoniously walked offstage. The remaining four band members completed the concert playing original material as “U2″.^[11] Steve Averill, a punk rock musician and family friend of Clayton’s, had suggested six potential names from which the band chose “U2″ for its ambiguity and open-ended interpretations, and because it was the name that they disliked the least.^[12]

On Saint Patrick’s Day in 1978, U2 won a talent show in Limerick, Ireland. The prize consisted of £500 and funding to record a demo, which was an important milestone and affirmation for the fledgling band.^[11] The band recorded their first demo tape at Keystone Studios, in Harcourt Street, Dublin, in April 1978.^[13] In May, Paul McGuinness, who had earlier been introduced to the band by Hot Press journalist Bill Graham, agreed to be U2′s manager.^[14] U2′s first release, an Ireland-only EP entitled Three, was released in September 1979, and was the band’s first Irish chart success.^[15] In December 1979, U2 performed in London for their first shows outside Ireland, although they failed to get much attention from audiences or critics.^[16] In February 1980, their second single “Another Day” was released on the CBS label, but again only for the Irish market.^[17]

[edit] Boy, October, and War (1980–1983)

Island Records signed U2 in March 1980, and “11 O’Clock Tick Tock” became the band’s first internationally released single that May.^[18] The band’s debut album, the Steve Lillywhite-produced Boy, followed in October, and received generally positive reviews.^[19] Although Bono’s lyrics were unfocused and seemingly improvised, a common theme was the dreams and frustrations of adolescence.^[20] The album included the band’s first United Kingdom hit single, “I Will Follow“. Boy’s release was followed by U2′s first tour of continental Europe and the United States.^[21] Despite being unpolished, these early live performances demonstrated U2′s potential, as critics noted that Bono was a “charismatic” and “passionate” showman.^[22]

The band’s second album, October, was released in 1981 and contained overtly spiritual themes. Bono, The Edge, and Mullen had joined a Christian group in Dublin called the ‘Shalom Fellowship’, which led them to question the relationship between the Christian faith and the rock and roll lifestyle.^[23] The album received mixed reviews and limited radio play. It did not sell well outside of the UK, which put pressure on their contract with Island and focused the band on improvement.^[24]

Resolving the doubts of the October period, U2 released War in 1983.^[25] A record where the band “turned pacifism itself into a crusade,”^[26] War’s sincerity and “rugged” guitar was intentionally at odds with the “cooler” synth-pop of the time.^[27] The album included “Sunday Bloody Sunday,” where Bono had lyrically tried to contrast the events of Bloody Sunday with Easter Sunday.^[28] Rolling Stone magazine wrote that the song showed the band was capable of deep and meaningful songwriting. War was U2′s first album to feature the photography of Anton Corbijn, who remains U2′s principal photographer and has had a major influence on their vision and public image.^[29] U2′s first commercial success, War debuted at number one in the UK, and its first single, “New Year’s Day“, was the band’s first overseas hit.^[30]

On the subsequent War Tour, the band performed to sold-out concerts in mainland Europe and the U.S. The image of Bono waving a white flag during performances of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” became a familiar sight.^[31] U2 recorded the Under a Blood Red Sky live album on this tour and a live video was released, both of which received extensive play on the radio and MTV, expanding the band’s audience and cementing the band’s prowess as a live band.^[32] Their generally unfavourable record deal with Island Records was coming to an end, and in 1984 U2 signed a highly lucrative extension. They negotiated the return of their copyrights (such that they owned the rights to their own songs), an increase in their royalty rate, and a general improvement in terms, at the expense of a larger initial payment.^[33]

In July 2008, U2 announced they were releasing re-mastered versions of “Boy”, “October”, and “War”. “Re-mastered U2 albums released“. RTÉ. Retrieved on 2008-07-18.

[edit] The Unforgettable Fire and Live Aid (1984–1985)

We knew the world was ready to receive the heirs to The Who. All we had to do was to keep doing what we were doing and we would become the biggest band since Led Zeppelin, without a doubt. But something just didn’t feel right. We felt we had more dimension than just the next big anything, we had something unique to offer. The innovation was what would suffer if we went down the standard rock route. We were looking for another feeling.

— Bono on The Unforgettable Fire’s new direction.^[34]

The Unforgettable Fire was released in 1984. Ambient and abstract, it was at the time the band’s most marked change in direction.^[35] The band feared that following the overt rock of the War album and tour, they were in danger of becoming another “shrill”, “sloganeering arena-rock band”.^[36] Thus, experimentation was sought^[37] as Adam Clayton recalls, “We were looking for something that was a bit more serious, more arty.”^[38] The Edge admired the ambient and “weird works” of Brian Eno, who, along with his engineer Daniel Lanois, eventually agreed to produce the record.^[39]

The Unforgettable Fire has a rich and orchestrated sound. Under Lanois’ direction, Larry’s drumming became looser, funkier, and more subtle and Adam’s bass became more subliminal; the rhythm section no longer intruded, but flowed in support of the songs.^[40] Complementing the sonic atmospherics, the album’s lyrics are open to many interpretations, providing what the band called a “very visual feel”.^[35] Bono’s recent immersion in fiction, philosophy, and poetry made him realise that his songwriting responsibilities—about which he had always been reluctant—were a poetic one. Due to a tight recording schedule, however, Bono felt songs like “Bad” and “Pride (In the Name of Love)” were incomplete “sketches”.^[41] “Pride (In the Name of Love)”, about Martin Luther King, was the album’s first single and became the band’s biggest hit at that point, including being their first to enter the U.S. top 40.^[42]

Much of The Unforgettable Fire Tour moved into indoor arenas as U2 began to win their long battle to build their audience.^[44] The complex textures of the new studio-recorded tracks, such as “The Unforgettable Fire” and “Bad”, were problematic to translate to live performance.^[35] One solution was programmed sequencers, which the band had previously been reluctant to use, but are now used in the majority of the band’s performances.^[35] Songs on the album had been criticised as being “unfinished”, “fuzzy”, and “unfocused”, but were better received by critics when played on stage.^[45]

U2′s performance at Live Aid was a turning point in their career.

U2 participated in the Live Aid concert for Ethiopian famine relief at Wembley Stadium in July 1985.^[46] U2′s performance was considered one of the show’s most memorable and was a turning point in the band’s career.^[47] During the song “Bad”, Bono leapt down off the stage to embrace and dance with a fan, showing a television audience of millions the personal connection that Bono could make with audiences.^[48] In 1985, Rolling Stone magazine called U2 the “Band of the 80s,” saying that “for a growing number of rock-and-roll fans, U2 have become the band that matters most, maybe even the only band that matters.”^[49]

[edit] The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum (1986–1989)

Motivated by friendships with Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Keith Richards, the band looked back to the roots of rock music, and Bono focused on his skills as a song and lyric writer.^[50] Realising “that U2 had no tradition”, the band explored American blues, country, and gospel music.^[51] For their fifth album, the band wanted to build on The Unforgettable Fire’s atmospherics, but instead of its out-of-focus tracks, they sought a harder-hitting sound within the strict discipline of conventional song structures.^[52] U2 interrupted their 1986 album sessions to serve as a headline act on Amnesty International’s A Conspiracy of Hope tour, but rather than be a distraction, the tour added extra intensity and power to their new music.^[53] In his 1986 travels to San Salvador and Nicaragua, Bono saw the distress of peasants bullied in internal conflicts subject to American political intervention. This first-hand experience later became a central influence on the new music. The band wanted music with a sense of location, a ‘cinematic’ quality; the album’s music and lyrics draw on imagery created by American writers whose works the band had been reading.^[54]

The wild beauty, cultural richness, spiritual vacancy and ferocious violence of America are explored to compelling effect in virtually every aspect of The Joshua Tree—in the title and the cover art, the blues and country borrowings evident in the music…Indeed, Bono says that “dismantling the mythology of America” is an important part of The Joshua Tree’s artistic objective.

— Rolling Stone^[55]

The Joshua Tree^[56] was released in March 1987. The album juxtaposes antipathy towards America against the band’s deep fascination with the country, its open spaces, freedom, and what it stands for.^[57] It became the fastest-selling album in British chart history, and was number one for nine weeks in the United States.^[58] It won U2 their first two Grammy Awards.^[59] The album’s first two singles, the ‘rock & roll bolero “With or Without You“^[36] and the rhythmic gospel “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For“, quickly went to number one in the U.S. U2 became the fourth rock band to be featured on the cover of Time magazine,^[60] which declared U2 “Rock’s Hottest Ticket”.^[61] The album brought U2 a new level of success and is cited by Rolling Stone as one of rock’s greatest.^[62] The Joshua Tree Tour was the first during which the band played numerous stadium shows alongside smaller arena shows.^[63]

The documentary Rattle and Hum featured footage recorded from The Joshua Tree Tour, and the accompanying double album of the same name included nine studio tracks and six live U2 performances. Released in record stores and cinemas in October 1988, the album and film were intended as a tribute to American music.^[64] The film included tracks recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis and tracks performed with Bob Dylan and B. B. King. Despite a positive reception from fans, Rattle and Hum received mixed reviews from both film and music critics;^[65] one Rolling Stone editor spoke of the album’s “excitement”, another described it as “bombastic and misguided”.^[66] The film’s director, Phil Joanou, described it as “an overly pretentious look at U2″.^[67] Most of the album’s new material was played on 1989′s Lovetown Tour, which primarily consisted of shows in Australia and Europe. With a sense of musical stagnation, Bono announced at an end-of-decade concert that U2 had come to the end of an era and had to “…go away and just dream it all up again”.^[68]

[edit] Achtung Baby, Zoo TV, and Zooropa (1990–1993)

Buzzwords on this record were trashy, throwaway, dark, sexy, and industrial (all good) and earnest, polite, sweet, righteous, rockist and linear (all bad). It was good if a song took you on a journey or made you think your hifi was broken, bad if it reminded you of recording studios or U2…Berlin became a conceptual backdrop for the record. The Berlin of the Thirties—decadent, sexual and dark—resonating against the Berlin of the Nineties—reborn, chaotic and optimistic…

— Brian Eno on the recording of Achtung Baby^[69]

In November 1991, U2 released their seventh studio album, Achtung Baby. Stung by criticism of Rattle and Hum, the band made a calculated change in musical and thematic direction, their most dramatic since The Unforgettable Fire.^[70] Sonically, Achtung Baby incorporated dance, industrial, and alternative rock influences of the time and the band referred to the album as the sound of “four men chopping down the Joshua Tree”.^[71] Thematically, it was a more inward-looking and personal record; it was darker, yet at times more flippant, than the band’s previous work. Commercially and critically, it has been one of the band’s most successful albums and a crucial part of the band’s early 1990s reinvention.^[72] Like The Joshua Tree, it is cited by Rolling Stone as one of rock’s greatest.^[62]

The band initially worked on Achtung Baby in East Berlin, seeking inspiration and renewal on the eve of German reunification. Daniel Lanois produced the album with assistance from Brian Eno.^[73] In the Berlin sessions, conflict arose within the band over the quality of material and musical direction. While Adam and Larry preferred a sound similar to U2′s previous work, Bono and The Edge were inspired by alternative and European dance music and advocated a change. Weeks of slow progress, arguments, and tension subsided when the band rallied around a chord progression The Edge had written, creating the song “One“.^[74]

The Zoo TV Tour of 1992–1993 was a multimedia event, and showcased an extravagant but intentionally bewildering array of hundreds of video screens, upside-down flying Trabant cars, mock transmission towers, satellite TV links, subliminal text messages, and Bono’s over-the-top stage characters such as “The Fly”, “Mirror-Ball Man”, and “(Mister) MacPhisto”. The extravagant shows were intentionally in contrast to the austere staging of previous U2 tours, and mocked the excesses of rock and roll by appearing to embrace these very excesses. The shows were, in part, U2′s way to represent the pervasive nature of cable television and its blurring of news, entertainment, and home shopping.^[76] Prank phone calls were made to President Bush, the United Nations, and others. Live satellite uplinks to war-torn Sarajevo caused controversy.^[77]

The Zoo TV stage

Quickly recorded and released during a break in the Zoo TV tour in mid-1993, the Zooropa album continued many of the themes from Achtung Baby and the Zoo TV tour. Initially intended as an EP, the band expanded Zooropa into a full-length LP album. It was an even greater departure from the style of their earlier recordings, incorporating techno influences and other electronic effects.^[78] In keeping with this intentional departure from their previous style, Bono stepped down from the mic for the final track on Zooropa, and invited Johnny Cash to perform “The Wanderer“.

Most of the songs were played at least once during the 1993 leg of the tour, which extended through Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan; half the album’s tracks became fixtures in the set.^[79]

[edit] Passengers, Pop, and PopMart (1995–1998)

In 1995, U2 released an experimental album called Original Soundtracks 1. Brian Eno, producer of three previous U2 albums, contributed as a full partner, including writing and performing. For this reason, and due to the record’s highly experimental nature, the band chose to release it under the moniker “Passengers” to distinguish it from U2′s conventional albums. It was commercially unnoticed by U2 standards and it received generally poor reviews. However, the single “Miss Sarajevo” featuring Luciano Pavarotti, and which Bono cites as one of his favourite U2 songs,^[80] was a hit.

The giant screen from the PopMart Tour stage

It’s not enough to write a great lyric; it’s not enough to have a good idea or a great hook, lots of things have to come together and then you have to have the ability to discipline and screen. We should give this album to a re-mixer, go back to what was originally intended, so that ‘Mofo’ is on top of the stickiest groove with a proper plastic attack, ‘Do You Feel Loved’ is done as a liquid bass line hook that carries the intimacies whispered on top of it, ‘If God Will Send His Angels’ should be diamonds and pearls.

— Bono on Pop^[81]

On 1997′s Pop, U2 continued experimenting; Tape loops, programming, rhythm sequencing, and sampling provided much of the album with heavy, funky dance rhythms.^[82] Released in March, the album debuted at number one in 35 countries, and drew mainly positive reviews.^[83] Rolling Stone, for example, stated that U2 had “defied the odds and made some of the greatest music of their lives.”^[84] Others felt that the album was a major disappointment and sales were poor compared to previous U2 releases.^[85] The band was hurried into completing the album in time for the impending pre-booked tour, and Bono admitted that the album “didn’t communicate the way it was intended to”.^[86]

The subsequent tour, PopMart, commenced in April 1997. Like Zoo TV, it featured advertising influences and was intended to send a sarcastic message to those accusing U2 of commercialism. The stage included a 100-foot (30 m) tall golden yellow arch (reminiscent of the McDonald’s logo), a 150-foot (46 m) long video screen, and a 40-foot (12 m) tall mirrorball lemon. U2′s “big shtick” failed, however, to satisfy many who were seemingly confused by the band’s new kitsch image and elaborate sets.^[87] The late delivery of Pop meant rehearsal time was severely reduced, and performances in early shows suffered.^[88] A highlight of the tour was a concert in Sarajevo where U2 were the first major group to perform following the Bosnian War.^[89] Larry Mullen, Jr. described the concert as “an experience I will never forget for the rest of my life, and if I had to spend 20 years in the band just to play that show, and have done that, I think it would have been worthwhile.”^[90] One month following the conclusion of the PopMart Tour, U2 appeared on the 200th episode of The Simpsons, “Trash of the Titans,” in which Homer Simpson disrupted the band on stage during a PopMart concert.^[91]

[edit] “Reapplying to be the best band in the world” (2000–present)

All That You Can’t Leave Behind is easy to relate to, full of solid songs that appeal to a wide audience with its clear notions of family, friendship, love, death, and re-birth. More Lanois than Eno on first impression, the sounds on this album come from a band that has digested the music it started to consume while making Rattle and Hum. This time they are neither imitating or paying tribute. This time it’s soul music, not music about soul.

— Caroline van Oosten de Boer^[92]

Following the comparatively poor reception of Pop, U2 declared on a number of occasions that they were “reapplying for the job … [of] the best band in the world”.^[93] Since 2000, the band has pursued a more traditional sound while maintaining influences from their previous musical explorations.^[94] All That You Can’t Leave Behind was released in October 2000 and reunited the band with producers Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. The album was considered by many of those not won over by the band’s 1990s experimentation as a return to grace;^[95] Rolling Stone called it U2′s “third masterpiece” alongside The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby.^[96] The album debuted at number one in 22 countries^[97] and its world-wide hit single, “Beautiful Day” earned three Grammy Awards. The album’s other singles, “Walk On“, “Elevation“, and “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get out Of” also won Grammy Awards.

U2 perform at Super Bowl XXXVI Halftime Show, 3 February 2002

For the Elevation Tour, U2 performed in a scaled-down setting, returning to arenas after nearly a decade of stadium productions. A heart-shaped stage and ramp permitted greater proximity to the audience. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the new album gained added resonance.^[98] In October, U2 performed a series of sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In later interviews, Bono and the Edge called these New York City shows among their most memorable and emotional performances.^[99] In early 2002, U2 performed during halftime of Super Bowl XXXVI.^[100]

The band’s next studio album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, was released on 22 November 2004. Sonically, the band was looking for harder-hitting rock than All That You Can’t Leave Behind. Thematically, Bono states that “A lot of the songs are paeans to naiveté, a rejection of knowingness.”^[101] The first single, “Vertigo,” was featured on a widely-aired television commercial for the Apple iPod, in conjunction with the release of a special edition U2 iPod and an iTunes U2 box set. The album debuted at number one in the U.S. where first week sales doubled that of All That You Can’t Leave Behind and set a record for the band.^[102] Claiming it as a contender as one of U2′s three best albums, Bono said, “There are no weak songs. But as an album, the whole isn’t greater than the sum of its parts, and it fucking annoys me.”^[101] Using a similar setup and stage design as the previous tour, the Vertigo Tour featured a set list that varied more across dates than any U2 tour since the Lovetown Tour, and included songs not played since the early 1980s. Like the Elevation Tour, the Vertigo Tour was a commercial success.^[103] The album and its singles won Grammy Awards in all eight categories in which U2 were nominated. In 2005, Bruce Springsteen inducted U2 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.^[104]

In August 2006, the band transferred some of its operations to The Netherlands two months after Ireland capped its artists’ tax exemption at €250,000.^[105] Since 2006, the band have been writing and recording new material, initially with Rick Rubin, and more recently with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. A new album is planned to be released in October 2008.^[106] The album has been described as “hand-played but it’s also electro.”^[107] Bono has been quoted as saying that the sessions show a real departure from the themes of the last two albums, with “trance influences”.^[108] and Lanois has said the album will push the limits of the sound arena much like Achtung Baby years earlier. A 3-D concert film, U2 3D, filmed at nine concerts during the Vertigo Tour, was released on January 23, 2008. On March 31, 2008, it was confirmed that U2 signed a 12 year deal with Live Nation worth an estimated $100 million (£50 million). ^[109] The deal includes Live Nation controlling the band’s merchandise, sponsoring and their official website.

[edit] Musical style

Since their inception, U2 have developed and maintained a distinctly recognisable sound, with emphasis on melodic instrumentals and expressive, larger-than-life vocals.^[110] This approach is rooted partly in the early influence of record producer Steve Lillywhite at a time when the band was not known for musical proficiency.^[111] The Edge has consistently used a rhythmic echo and a signature delay^[112] to craft his guitar work, coupled with an Irish-influenced drone played against his syncopated melodies^[113] that ultimately yields a well-defined ambient, chiming sound. Bono has nurtured his falsetto operatic voice^[114] and has exhibited a notable lyrical bent towards social, political, and personal subject matter while maintaining a grandiose scale in his songwriting. In addition, the Edge has described U2 as a fundamentally live band.^[113]

Despite these broad consistencies, U2 have introduced new elements into their musical repertoire with each new album. U2′s early sound was influenced by bands such as Television and Joy Division, and has been described as containing a “sense of exhilaration” that resulted from The Edge’s “radiant chords” and Bono’s “ardent vocals”.^[115] U2′s sound began with post-punk roots and minimalistic and uncomplicated instrumentals heard on Boy and October, but evolved through War to include aspects of rock anthem, funk, and dance rhythms to become more versatile and aggressive.^[116] The two albums were labeled “muscular and assertive” by Rolling Stone,^[36] influenced in large part by Lillywhite’s producing. The Unforgettable Fire, which began with the Edge playing more keyboards than guitars, as well as follow-up The Joshua Tree, had Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois at the production helm. With their influence, both albums achieved a “diverse texture”.^[36] The songs from The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum placed more emphasis on Lanois-inspired rhythm as they mixed distinct and varied styles of gospel and blues music, which stemmed from the band’s burgeoning fascination with America’s culture, people and places. In the 1990s, U2 reinvented themselves as they began using synthesizers, distortion, and electronic beats derived from alternative music, dance music, and hip-hop on Achtung Baby,^[117] Zooropa and Pop.^[118] The 2000s had U2 returning to a stripped-down sound, with less use of synthesizers and effects and a more traditional rhythm.

[edit] Lyrics and themes

Social and political commentary, often embellished with Christian religious and spiritual imagery,^[119] are a major aspect of U2′s lyrical content. Songs like “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “Mothers of the Disappeared” were motivated by current events of the time. The former was written concerning the troubles in Northern Ireland^[120] while the latter described the plight of the mothers of kidnapped Argentinians that opposed the country’s coup d’état in 1976.

Bono’s personal conflicts and turmoil related to family colour songs like “Mofo“, “Tomorrow” and “Kite“. An emotional yearning or pleading is another frequent conveyance,^[110] in tracks such as “Yahweh“,^[121] “Peace on Earth” and “Please“. The investigation of loss and anguish coupled with hopefulness and resiliency, which is central to The Joshua Tree,^[36] has motivated much of U2′s songwriting and music. Some of this lyrical ideation has been amplified by Bono and the band’s personal experiences during their youth in Ireland, as well as Bono’s campaigning and activism later in his life. U2 have used tours such as Zoo TV and PopMart to caricature social trends such as media overload and consumerism, respectively.^[118]

While the band and its fans often affirm the political nature of their music, U2′s lyrics and music have been criticized as apolitical because of their vagueness and “fuzzy imagery”, and a lack of any specific references to actual people or characters.^[122]

[edit] Influences

The band cites The Who,^[123] The Clash,^[124] Ramones,^[125] The Beatles,^[126] Joy Division,^[127] Siouxsie & the Banshees^[128] and Patti Smith^[129] as influences. Other musicians and bands such as Snow Patrol, ^[130] The Fray,^[131] OneRepublic,^[132] Coldplay,^[133] The Academy Is…,^[134] The Killers, Your Vegas^[135] and Angels & Airwaves^[136] have in turn been influenced by the work of U2. Cover versions of U2 songs have been made by performers such as Our Lady Peace, Mary J. Blige, Johnny Cash, The Chimes, Joe Cocker, Pearl Jam, James Blunt, tobyMac, Darlene Zschech, Pet Shop Boys, Ignite, The Smashing Pumpkins, Keane, Pillar, Utada Hikaru, Dream Theater, Sepultura, Saul Williams, The Living End, The Upper Room and The Bravery. U2 have also worked and/or had influential relationships with artists including Green Day, Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen, B.B. King, Luciano Pavarotti,^[137] Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Wim Wenders, R.E.M., Salman Rushdie, and Anton Corbijn.

[edit] Campaigning and activism

Bono with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil

Since the early 1980s, the members of U2—as a band and individually—have collaborated with other musicians, artists, celebrities, and politicians to address issues concerning poverty, disease, and social injustice.

In 1984, Bono and Adam Clayton participated in Band Aid to raise money for Ethiopian famine relief. The initiative produced the hit charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?“, which would be the first among several collaborations between U2 and Bob Geldof. In July 1985, U2 played Live Aid, a follow-up to Band Aid’s efforts. Bono and his wife Ali, invited by World Vision, later visited Ethiopia where they witnessed the famine first hand. Bono would later say this laid the groundwork for his Africa campaigning and some of his songwriting.^[138]

In 1986, U2 participated in the A Conspiracy of Hope tour in support of Amnesty International and in Self Aid for unemployment in Ireland. The same year, Bono and Ali Hewson also visited Nicaragua and El Salvador at the invitation of the Sanctuary movement, and saw the effects of the El Salvador Civil War. These 1986 events greatly influenced The Joshua Tree album, which was being recorded at the time.

In 1992, the band participated in the “Stop Sellafield” concert with Greenpeace during their Zoo TV tour.^[139] Events in Sarajevo during the Bosnian war inspired the song “Miss Sarajevo“, which premiered at a September 1995 Pavarotti and Friends show, and which Bono and the Edge performed at War Child.^[140] A promise made in 1993 was kept when the band played in Sarajevo as part of 1997′s PopMart Tour.^[141] In 1998, they performed in Belfast days prior to the vote on the Good Friday Agreement, bringing Irish political leaders David Trimble and John Hume on stage to promote the agreement.^[142] Later that year, all proceeds from the release of the “Sweetest Thing” single went towards supporting the Chernobyl Children’s Project.

In 2001, the band dedicated “Walk On” to Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.^[143] In late 2003, Bono and the Edge participated in the South Africa HIV/AIDS awareness 46664 series of concerts hosted by Nelson Mandela. The band played 2005′s Live 8 concert in London. The band and manager Paul McGuinness were awarded Amnesty International‘s Ambassador of Conscience Award for their work in promoting human rights.^[144]

Since 2000, Bono’s campaigning has included Jubilee 2000 with Bob Geldof, Muhammad Ali, and others to promote the cancellation of third world debt during the Great Jubilee. In January 2002, Bono co-founded the multinational NGO, DATA, with the aim of improving the social, political, and financial state of Africa. He continued his campaigns for debt and HIV/AIDS relief into June 2002 by making high-profile visits to Africa.^[145]

Product Red, a 2006 for-profit brand seeking to raise money for the Global Fund, was founded, in part, by Bono. The ONE Campaign, the US counterpart of Make Poverty History, has been shaped by his efforts and vision. Bono has also teamed up with Yahoo! to promote the ONE Campaign, which Yahoo! has helped to re-develop.

In late 2005, following Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, The Edge helped introduce Music Rising, an initiative to raise funds for musicians who lost their instruments in the storm-ravaged Gulf Coast.^[146] In 2006, U2 collaborated with punk rock band Green Day to record a cover version of the song “The Saints Are Coming” by The Skids to benefit Music Rising.^[147]

U2 and Bono’s social activism have not been without its critics however. Several authors and activists who publish in politically left journals such as CounterPunch have decried Bono’s support of political figures such as Paul Wolfowitz,^[148] as well as his “essential paternalism”.^[149] Other news sources have more generally questioned the efficacy of Bono’s campaign to relieve debt and provide assistance to Africa, with 20/20 declaring that “foreign aid often just makes politicians rich—but leaves their people poor”.^[150]

[edit] Other projects

The members of U2 have undertaken a number of side projects, sometimes in collaboration with some of their bandmates. In 1985, Bono recorded the song “In a Lifetime” with the Irish band Clannad. The Edge recorded a solo soundtrack album for the film Captive in 1986,^[151] which included a vocal performance by Sinéad O’Connor that predates her own debut album by a year. Bono and The Edge wrote the song “She’s A Mystery To Me” for Roy Orbison, which was featured on his 1989 album Mystery Girl.^[152]. In 1990, Larry Mullen co-wrote and produced a song for the Irish International soccer team in Italia ´90, called “put em under pressure”, which topped the Irish charts. Together with The Edge, Bono wrote the song “Goldeneye” for the 1995 James Bond film GoldenEye, which was performed by Tina Turner.^[153] Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen, Jr. did a rework of the title track of the movie Mission: Impossible in 1996.^[154] Bono loaned his voice to “Joy” on Mick Jagger‘s 2001 album Goddess in the Doorway.^[155] Bono also recorded a spare, nearly spoken-word version of Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah” for the “Tower of Song” compilation in 1995.

Aside from musical collaborations, U2 have worked with several authors. American author William S. Burroughs had a guest appearance in U2′s video for “Last Night on Earth” shortly before he died.^[156] His poem “A Thanksgiving Prayer” was used as video footage during the band’s Zoo TV Tour. Other collaborators include William Gibson and Allen Ginsberg.^[157] In early 2000, the band recorded three songs for the The Million Dollar Hotel movie soundtrack, including “The Ground Beneath Her Feet,” which was co-written by Salman Rushdie and motivated by his book of the same name.^[158]

[edit] Discography

Main article: U2 discography

• Boy (1980)
• October (1981)
• War (1983)
• The Unforgettable Fire (1984)
• The Joshua Tree (1987)
• Rattle and Hum (1988)
• Achtung Baby (1991)
• Zooropa (1993)
• Pop (1997)
• All That You Can’t Leave Behind (2000)
• How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)

[edit] Awards

Main article: List of U2 awards

U2 first received Grammy Awards for the The Joshua Tree in 1988, and have won 22 in total since, tying U2 with Stevie Wonder as contemporary artists with the most Grammies.^[4] These include Best Rock Duo or Group, Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Rock Album. The British Phonographic Industry has awarded U2 seven BRIT Awards, five of these being for Best International Group. In Ireland, U2 have won 14 Meteor Awards since the awards began in 2001. Other awards include one AMA, four VMAs, ten Q Awards, two Juno Awards, three NME Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in early 2005.^[104]

Friendster is an Internet social network service. The Friendster site was founded in Mountain View, California, United States by Jonathan Abrams in March 2002^[1] and is privately owned. Friendster is based on the Circle of Friends and Web of Friends techniques for networking individuals in virtual communities and demonstrates the small world phenomenon. It currently has more than 70 million members worldwide^[2] and is mostly used in Asia ^[3][4]. Based on Alexa, Friendster ranked 2nd most visited website in the Philippines and third party friendster-layouts.com, 16th. ^[5] It is estimated that nearly 90 percent of internet users in the Philippines have Friendster accounts. ^[6] David Jones, vice president for global marketing of Friendster, said that “the biggest percentage of users is from the Philippines, clocking in with 39 percent of the site’s traffic.” ^[7]

History

Google offered $30 million to buy Friendster in 2003. Friendster, however, refused the offer.

Friendster was funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Benchmark Capital in October 2003 with a reported valuation of $53 million.

In April 2004, Abrams was removed as Chief Executive Officer and Tim Koogle took over as interim CEO. Koogle previously served as President and CEO at Yahoo!. Koogle was replaced by Scott Sassa in June 2004. left in May 2005 and was replaced by Taek Kwon. Taek Kwon was succeeded by Kent Lindstrom.

[edit] Patent

Based on a June 16, 2003 application, Friendster was awarded a patent in 2006 for a method and apparatus for calculating, displaying and acting upon relationships in a social network. Dubbed the Web of Friends because the method combines the Circle of Friends with the Web of Contacts, the system collects descriptive data about various individuals and allows those individuals to indicate other individuals with whom they have a personal relationship. The descriptive data and the relationship data are integrated and processed to reveal the series of social relationships connecting any two individuals within a social network. The pathways connecting any two individuals can be displayed. Further, the social network itself can be displayed to any number of degrees of separation. A user of the system can determine the optimal relationship path (i.e., contact pathway) to reach desired individuals. A communications tool allows individuals in the system to be introduced (or introduce themselves) and initiate direct communication.

Based on a June 27, 2008 application, Friendster, the 7th largest website in the world and top social network in Asia, announced that its users in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines will soon be able to subscribe to Friendster Text Alerts. When launched, Users are required to register the use of Friendster Text Alerts by entering their mobile number details and selecting which mobile text alerts they wish to receive on their Friendster settings page. Users will then be able to receive text message alerts for friend requests, new messages, comments, bulletins and more or when such activity takes place within their network of friends on Friendster, they will receive an SMS text message on their mobile phone. Users will also be able to respond, share and communicate on Friendster by sending a text message to Friendster to update content on their profile, send messages, and reply to friend requests. This service is not chargeable, but users are still subject to text messaging usage fees of their telephone and wireless service provider. Although no specific dates have been given yet to launch Friendster Text Alerts but it’s understood it could happen in the coming weeks.

[edit] In other languages

Friendster’s Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Malay, and Thai (beta) sites exist as part of its main. [1] A link in the upper right corner toggles you between English to the other languages mentioned above.^[8]

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Jesse McCartney (born April 9, 1987) is an American pop/R&B singer-songwriter and actor.

McCartney initially came to fame in the early 2000s as the youngest member of the boy band Dream Street. He subsequently branched out into a solo career, having appeared on the television series Summerland.

Early life and acting career

McCartney was born in Ardsley, New York,^[1] to Scott and Ginger McCartney. McCartney began performing in local community musicals at the age of seven, before joining the national tour of The King and I at age ten along with Phil of the Future star Ricky Ullman. McCartney moved to Los Angeles to become an actor and singer when he was 11. He later appeared with The Who‘s Roger Daltrey in A Christmas Carol at Madison Square Garden. From 1998–2001, McCartney played Adam Chandler, Jr. on the ABC soap opera All My Children, a role for which he earned a Daytime Emmy nomination. He also later starred in the short-lived series Summerland, which aired on the now-defunct WB network for two seasons.

McCartney co-starred along with Elisabeth Harnois in an independent teenage drama feature film directed by Todd Kessler, Keith, shot during late-2005/early-2006, featuring McCartney in the title role. As of now, no official release date has been announced.

In 2006, McCartney was also featured as the voice of Roxas in the Disney/Square Enix videogame Kingdom Hearts II. In 2007, McCartney appeared as himself on the two Disney Channel television shows Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. In 2008, McCartney was also featured as the voice of Horton Hears A Who!‘s Jojo McDodd.

[edit] Music career

[edit] Early career

In 1999, McCartney joined the American pop boy band Dream Street, and was a member until 2002. Jesse McCartney has described the experience as a good “stepping stone” for his solo career.^[2] The group earned a gold record with their debut CD, and broke up while touring with Aaron Carter. He also seems to have similar ideas as Aaron. Jesse poses the same during his Beautiful Soul cover, it is the same as Carter’s Another Earthquake CD. At fifteen, he began work on a solo career with a local band, featuring musicians Dillon Kondor (guitar), Peter Chema (bass), Katie Spencer (keyboards), Alex Russeku (drums), Karina LaGravinese (background vocals), Sharisse Francisco (background vocals), and under the management of Ginger McCartney and Sherry Goffin Kondor, who co-produced his first album, Beautiful Soul.

McCartney released his first solo EP in July 2003. The album featured three songs: “Beautiful Soul“, “She’s No You” and “Why Don’t You Kiss Her”. In 2004, he performed a duet with Anne Hathaway, “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”, which is featured on the Ella Enchanted soundtrack.

[edit] Beautiful Soul (2004–2006)

His first full-length solo album, Beautiful Soul, which was two years in the making, was released on September 28, 2004. The album featured four songs co-written by McCartney: “That Was Then,” “Get Your Shine On”, “What’s Your Name”, and “She’s No You”, as well as songs written by Desmond Child and Chris Braide. The title song reached #2 on AOL Music and the “Beautiful Soul” music video performed well on MTV‘s Total Request Live, having been voted into the top 10 fifty times, and peaked at #4. The album, having sold over 5 million records, has achieved platinum status.

His first solo tour, also named Beautiful Soul (opened by singer/songwriter and actress Brie Larson), began on May 2, 2005 at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento, California. The United States portion of the tour spanned 56 stops, ending on September 10, 2005 at the Madera District County Fair in Madera, California. Jesse McCartney has also performed at many amusement parks, including Six Flags and Canada’s Wonderland, and has performed “Beautiful Soul” while making guest appearances on several late night talk shows, including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

This tour featured a new band, comprising Dory Lobel (guitar), Zane Carney (guitar), Andre De Santanna (bass), Mitchell Yoshida (keyboards), Karen Teperberg (drums), Margeaux “JoJo” Fernandez (background vocals) and Julie Dickens (background vocals). In the fall of 2005, Jesse McCartney toured Australia, and opened for the Backstreet Boys in Europe, the summer of 2005. His July 9 appearance at Paramount’s Great America in Santa Clara, California was recorded as a live CD and released in November 2005; this was his first concert DVD.^[3]

McCartney at a Bryant Park performance, June 24, 2005

[edit] Right Where You Want Me (2006–2007)

His second album, titled Right Where You Want Me, was released by Hollywood Records on September 19, 2006. The first single and song from the album, is called “Right Where You Want Me“, began receiving radio play on July 11, 2006 and was written by Jesse McCartney, Adam Watts and Andy Dodd; McCartney, who co-wrote all of the songs on the new album, has said that he believes the single takes him in a “new direction musically”^{[cite this quote]}. The second single was “Just So You Know“. The song “Invincible” was written by McCartney in memory of one of his high school friends who had died in 2003 due to drinking and driving. Although as stated by his management that he will not be launching a new tour because of lack of support from his record company, McCartney has done various shows in Italy and also in the United States.

[edit] Departure (2008–present)

After a year and a half, it was confirmed by his management that McCartney has finished recording for his third album, Departure. The first single is called “Leavin’“. The album was released on May 20, 2008 in the United States and Canada. Unlike his debut and sophomore albums, Departure is an R&B album.

McCartney recently did a collaboration with the reggae/hip-hop band Cipes and The People. During this period he co-wrote with OneRepublic‘s Ryan Tedder the #1 hit single “Bleeding Love” for British singer Leona Lewis, the biggest selling UK single of 2007, and a #1 hit in more than 28 countries, including the U.S.. In 2008, McCartney wrote the song “Don’t Leave”, for the American teen sensation and High School Musical alumn, Pop/R&B singer Vanessa Hudgens.

[edit] Philanthropy

In 2004, Jesse McCartney participated in “Come Together Now“,^[4] a charity single to benefit the victims of the 2004 Asian Tsunami and the 2005 Hurricane Katrina. In 2005, McCartney signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock,^[5] a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and free lessons to children in public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on its board of directors as an honorary member. He has donated proceeds of his 2005 tour for disaster relief, recorded radio spots promoting the “Kids For A Drug-Free America” campaign, is a spokesperson for the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and is involved in the charity SPACE, which was co-founded by a childhood friend of his mother’s. McCartney performed at the Hope Rocks concert in 2005 to benefit City of Hope Cancer Center.

[edit] Filmography

• 1998—2001: All My Children as Adam “J.R.” Chandler Jr.
• 2000: Law & Order as Danny Driscoll, (1 episode, Thin Ice)
• 2001: The Pirates of Central Park as Simon Baskin, Main role
• 2002: The Strange Legacy of Cameron Cruz as Cameron Cruz, Cancelled
• 2004—2005: Summerland as Bradin Westerly, Main role
• 2005: Punk’d as Himself (2 episodes, himself and Akon)
• 2005: Pizza as Justin Bridges, Main role
• 2005: The Suite Life of Zack and Cody as Himself (1 episode, Rock Star in the House)
• 2007: Keith as Keith, Main role
• 2007: Alvin and the Chipmunks as the voice of Theodore
• 2007: Hannah Montana as Himself (1 episode, When You Wish You Were the Star)
• 2008: Horton Hears a Who! as JoJo McDodd, voice
• 2008: Unstable Fables: 3 Pigs & a Baby as Lucky (Teenager), voice
• 2008: Tinker Bell as Terence, voice
• 2010: Alvin and the Chipmunks II as the voice of Theodore

[edit] Discography

Main article: Jesse McCartney discography

• 2004: Beautiful Soul
• 2006: Right Where You Want Me
• 2008: Departure

[edit] Awards and nominations

• 1998: Nomination: Grammy Award for Best Children’s Album (for How Sweet It Is as part of the Sugar Beats)
• 2001: Won: Young Artist Award – Best Performance in a Daytime TV Series – Young Actor
• 2001: Nomination: Soap Opera Digest Award – Outstanding Child Actor
• 2001: Nomination: Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series
• 2002: Won: Young Artist Award – Best Performance in a Daytime TV Series – Young Actor
• 2002: Nomination: Daytime Emmy – Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series
• 2005: Won: Teen Choice Awards – Choice Male Artist
• 2005: Won: Teen Choice Awards – Choice Breakout Artist – Male
• 2005: Won: Teen Choice Awards – Choice Crossover Artist
• 2005: Nomination: MTV Video Music Awards – Best Pop Video for “Beautiful Soul”
• 2005: Won: Radio Disney Music Awards – Best Song to Put on Repeat
• 2005: Nomination: American Music Awards – Best New Artist
• 2005: Won: Radio Disney Music Awards – Best Karaoke Song
• 2005: Won: Radio Disney Music Awards – Best Male Singer
• 2006: Won: Kids Choice Awards Award – Favorite Male Singer
• 2006: Won: TRL Awards Italy – Best “Tear” Award
• 2007: Nomination: Kids Choice Awards Award Italy – Best International Artist
• 2007: Nomination: TRL Awards Italy – Best Male Singer
• 2007: Nomination: TRL Awards Italy – Best Video for “Just So You Know”
• 2007: Nomination: Kids Choice Awards Award – Favorite Male Singer
• 2007: Won: Radio Disney Music Awards – Best Male Singer
• 2008: Nomination: Teen Choice Awards – Choice Male Artist

WALL-E
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andrew Stanton
Produced by	Jim Morris John Lasseter
Written by	Andrew Stanton Peter Docter Jim Reardon
Starring	Ben Burtt Elissa Knight Sigourney Weaver Jeff Garlin Fred Willard John Ratzenberger Kathy Najimy
Music by	Thomas Newman Peter Gabriel (song)
Editing by	Stephen Schaffer
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	June 27, 2008 (USA) July 18, 2008 (UK) September 18, 2008 (AUS)
Running time	98 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$120,000,000[1]
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

WALL-E (promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E) is a 2008 computer animated-adventure-comedy-science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 27, 2008.^[2] The film follows the romance between two robots in the future. The film is directed by Andrew Stanton, whose previous film, Finding Nemo, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Most of the characters do not have human voices, but communicate with sounds (designed by Ben Burtt) which resemble voices. It is also the first animated feature by Pixar to have several segments featuring live-action characters

[edit] Plot

In the year 2815, Earth is completely devoid of life and covered with trash. Humanity, overrun by consumerism, had previously abandoned the planet 700 years earlier while in the meantime thousands of WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) units converted the garbage into a disposable form. As the Wall-E’s went to work, humanity evacuated Earth and left on the Axiom, an Executive Starliner space cruise ship. The recovery plan fails however, and all but one WALL-E (the protagonist, voiced by Ben Burtt) deactivate. This one remaining WALL-E has developed a personality and stores human knick-knacks in his station, including a sprouting plant that he discovered, and a treasured videotape of the film Hello, Dolly! that gives him notions of emotion, particularly holding hands.

EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator Elissa Knight), a robot from the Axiom sent to find plant life, lands on Earth. After multiple misunderstandings (most of which involve WALL-E being shot at by the trigger happy EVE), WALL-E shows her a plant he has found and put into an old boot. Following her directive, EVE stores the plant inside herself and shuts down. WALL-E goes to great lengths to protect her body, and eventually she is recovered by a spacecraft and flown back to the Axiom. Chasing EVE, WALL-E stows away on the ship. At the Axiom, WALL-E escapes notice by other robots and explores the ship. Consumerism has made humanity lazy and morbidly obese, with every task being automated, including captaining, which is done by the autopilot AUTO (MacInTalk).

WALL-E follows EVE’s body to the captain’s room, where the captain (Jeff Garlin) is to be shown the plant. However, EVE’s body no longer contains the plant; EVE blames WALL-E. The captain assumes EVE has malfunctioned, and sends her to the robot repair room. WALL-E is spotted and also sent to the repair room, where he accidentally liberates all the malfunctioning robots. WALL-E takes EVE’s gun arm and is carried away by the celebrating newly-freed malfunctioning units. EVE chases the other robots and WALL-E to recover her arm but during the process is accidentally labeled as a rogue robot, mistaken for helping lead the other crazed robots. Seeing the chaos WALL-E has caused, EVE tries to send him back to Earth in an escape pod but he refuses to go. While she tries to put WALL-E into the pod, AUTO’s assistant, GO-4, arrives and reveals that he had the plant the whole time and tries to dispose of it in the escape pod. WALL-E becomes trapped in the pod when he tries to recover the plant and he soon discovers it is set to self-destruct. By using a fire extinguisher to propel himself, he escapes with the plant at the last second. Realizing that the plant has been recovered, AUTO once again triggers the alert against WALL-E and EVE “dangerous rogue robots”. EVE brings the plant to the captain; curious to see images of Earth, he projects EVE’s memories and security camera footage from when she shut down, where she sees the lengths that WALL-E went to protect her.

AUTO mutinies and tries to dispose of the plant, and is forced to reveal to the captain that Buy ‘n Large quickly abandoned recolonization plans after realizing that Earth was too toxic to support life; as a result, AUTO is programmed to never return to Earth. However the captain quickly points out that the message was transmitted to the Axiom hundreds of years prior and that the plant he holds is proof enough that the secondary directive no longer holds true. AUTO disregards this fact and sticks to his original orders, locks the captain in his bedroom, electrocutes WALL-E and throws him and the plant into a garbage chute, and deactivates EVE. EVE awakens in the Axiom ‘s disposal facility where gigantic WALL-A (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Axiom-Class) units are compacting garbage and launching it into space. EVE saves WALL-E, whose hardware is heavily damaged and rapidly losing battery power, and realizes that they must return to Earth in order to fix him. They recruit the malfunctioning robots and fight their way back to the main part of the ship. Meanwhile, the captain tricks AUTO into bringing him back into the cockpit. He tells WALL-E and EVE to put the plant on the holodetecter, (a pedestal that rises from the floor). AUTO forces the holodetecter back into the floor and turns the ship on its side, and EVE is forced to save several humans as they slide into a wall. WALL-E uses his body to jam the holodetecter, and EVE places the plant in the holodetecter. The captain shuts down AUTO, and the Axiom jumps to Earth. WALL-E’s crushed and electrocuted body runs out of charge and shuts down.

Once they arrive on Earth, EVE frantically pieces him back together from parts in his home. As WALL-E recharges, he appears to lose the personality he has developed and begins to perform his programmed task. EVE tries to reboot his memory by “kissing” him with a spark and holding his hand. He regains his memories and humanity begins taking care of the Earth.

[edit] Cast

• Ben Burtt as sound technician for voices of WALL-E , M-O, and other robots
• Elissa Knight as EVE (Extraterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator)
• Jeff Garlin as Axiom Captain McCrea
• Fred Willard as Shelby Forthright, BnL CEO, First Live actor in a Pixar Film.
• John Ratzenberger as John
• Kathy Najimy as Mary
• Sigourney Weaver as Ship’s Computer
• MacInTalk as AUTO
• Jim Ward and John Cygan provided additional voices

[edit] Production

Andrew Stanton conceived WALL-E before Toy Story was made:^[3] the idea was, “What if mankind evacuated Earth and forgot to turn off the last remaining robot?”^[4] Pete Docter developed the film for two months in 1995, after Stanton explained the story to him, but he decided to make Monsters, Inc. (2001) instead, as he was unsure of telling a love story.^[5] The idea continued to preoccupy Stanton, because of his love of space opera and personifying inanimate objects. In his vision of the future, “WALL-E is the only one still truly living. And what is the ultimate purpose of living? To love. And WALL-E falls head over heels with a robot named EVE. Now, WALL-E’s feelings aren’t reciprocated because, well, she has no feelings. She’s a robot, cold and clinical. WALL-E is the one who has evolved over time and garnered feelings. So in the end, it’s gonna be WALL-E’s pursuit to win EVE’s heart, and his unique appreciation of life to become mankind’s last hope to rediscover its roots. In short, it’s going to take a robot’s love to help make the world go round.”^[6]

After directing Finding Nemo, Stanton felt they “had really achieved the physics of believing you were really under water, so I said ‘Hey, let’s do that with air.’ Let’s fix our lenses, let’s get the depth of field looking exactly how anamorphic lenses work and do all these tricks that make us have the same kind of dimensionality that we got on Nemo with an object out in the air and on the ground.’”^[3] Producer Jim Morris added that the film was animated so that it would feel “as if there really was a cameraman”.^[7] Dennis Muren was hired to advise Pixar on replicating science fiction films from the 1960s and 1970s, including elements such as 70 mm frames, barrel distortion and lens flare.^[8][9] Scale models were made for Muren, which he used to teach Pixar.^[10]

The design of the robots came about by Stanton telling his designers, “See it as an appliance first, and then read character into it.”^[3] In creating the title character, the animators were inspired by a pair of binoculars and Luxo Jr., the lamp featured in the Pixar logo.^[6] Stanton was playing with a pair of binoculars, which looked happy or sad depending on whether they were upside down or not.^[8] Stanton felt “you don’t need a mouth, you don’t need a nose, you get a whole personality just from [the eyes]“, which meant the audience would feel he is “not just a human in a robot shell”. WALL-E’s body came from the logic of having his body curl up like a turtle and tank treads that would allow him to overcome any terrain. The director also acknowledged he may have been subconsciously influenced by Johnny 5 from the film Short Circuit (which he claims to have only seen once).^[9]

Stanton pitched the story to Ben Burtt who signed on to do the sound design.^[6] There is little traditional dialogue in the film; Stanton joked, “I’m basically making R2-D2: The Movie“, in reference to Burtt’s work on Star Wars. To create dialogue, Burtt took various mechanical sounds, and combined them to resemble dialogue.^[4] For AUTO, Burtt used old Maritime military sounds to express the character’s emotions.^[6] When WALL-E recharges his battery by means of solar energy, he makes the same startup chime as a Macintosh Quadra (or later).^[11] Jeff Garlin voiced a Captain, who is one of the few animated character who speaks in the film.^[12] Fred Willard has a live action role (a first for a Pixar film) as the CEO of Buy n Large.^[13] John Ratzenberger, who has voiced characters in every Pixar film, cameos as a character called John,^[8] while Sigourney Weaver and Kathy Najimy have roles.^[14] Weaver voices an onboard computer: her casting was a nod to the Alien films.^[15] Executive producer John Lasseter said of the film’s lack of dialogue that “the art of animation is about what the character does, not what it says. It all depends on how you tell the story, whether it has a lot of dialogue or not.”^[16]

[edit] Music

Main article: WALL-E (soundtrack)

The WALL-E soundtrack was released on June 24, 2008. It is composed by Thomas Newman, who collaborated with Stanton on Finding Nemo. It also features songs from Peter Gabriel and Michael Crawford.

WALL-E marquee at the El Capitan Theatre, Los Angeles, June 2008.

[edit] Release

The film premiered at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, California on June 23, 2008.^[17] The film was released to the public on June 27, 2008.

[edit] Reception

WALL-E has received near universal acclaim from film critics.^[18] Rotten Tomatoes reported that 96% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based upon a sample of 136 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10.^[19] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 93, based on 35 reviews.^[18] Movie Tab reported an average score of 89.1% from 58 film critics.^[20]

Todd McCarthy of Variety called the film “Pixar’s ninth consecutive wonder”, saying it was imaginative yet straightforward. He said that while the film could be interpreted as tackling a topical, ecologically minded agenda, it did so with a lightness of touch that granted the viewer the ability to accept or ignore the message. Citing WALL-E’s “adroit” borrowing from other works, McCarthy said it pushed the boundaries of animation in managing to balance esoteric ideas with more immediately accessible ones, and that the main difference between the film and other science fiction projects rooted in an apocalypse was its optimism. McCarthy also had praise for Thomas Newman’s musical score and the visuals, for which he cited cinematographer Roger Deakins‘ input as a visual consultant as a possible factor.^[21]

Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter declared that WALL-E surpassed the achievements of Pixar’s previous eight features, saying that the film had the “heart, soul, spirit and romance” of the best silent films. He said that the filmmakers managed to tell a “terrific” ecologically-minded story, through visual and aural ideas which enabled the robotic characters to convey “a rainbow of emotions”. He said the visuals were arguably Pixar’s best and praised the creation of a ruined Earth city and a human spaceship as “fantastically imaginative”. Honeycutt said the film’s definitive stroke of brilliance was in using a mix of archive film footage and computer graphics to trigger WALL-E’s romantic leanings. He praised Burtt’s sound design, saying “If there is such a thing as an aural sleight of hand, this is it.” Honeycutt concluded by saying that despite the film’s acknowledged nods to other works (2001: A Space Odyssey, and moments where robots “run riot” bringing to mind Monsters, Inc.), WALL-E could be Pixar’s most original work to date.^[22]

The film earned a domestic gross of $23,300,000 on its opening day.^[23]