Figure 8 (album)

Figure 8 is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith, and the final album he completed before his death. It was recorded from 1999 to 2000 at numerous studios and released on April 18, 2000 through DreamWorks Records. Preceded by the singles "Happiness" and "Son of Sam", Figure 8 was Smith's second release on a major label.

Background

Figure 8 was recorded at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, Sonora Studios in Los Angeles, Capitol Studios in Hollywood and Abbey Road Studios in London.

The title is thought to be taken from a song by Schoolhouse Rock!; Smith covered this song, but it did not make the final track listing. Regarding the album's title, Smith said this in a May 11, 2000 article in Boston Herald:

Smith described the songs on the album as "more fragmented and dreamlike".

Cover photo

The wall Smith stands in front of in Autumn de Wilde's photograph on the cover of the album exists in Los Angeles, and since his death it has become a memorial to him. It is located at 4334 W. Sunset Boulevard, which is a store by the name of Solutions Audio-Video Repair, just east of the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Fountain Avenue. It has at some stages been covered with written messages containing lyrics and personal messages to Smith, as well as displaying a stencil of Smith in order to mimic the photo on the album cover. It is regularly graffiti-ed over, followed by regular restorations from fans.

Making Mirrors

Making Mirrors is the third studio album by Belgian-Australian artist Gotye. The album was released in Australia on 19 August 2011. In December 2011 it was announced that Making Mirrors was voted Triple J listeners' number-one album of 2011, making Gotye the first artist to win the Triple J album poll twice. It included the hit "Somebody That I Used to Know", which reached and topped charts worldwide. In Poland, after one day of release, the album was certified platinum. The album won the 2013 Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album.

The album was largely recorded at a converted studio at Gotye's parents' farm in the Mornington Peninsula.

History

"Eyes Wide Open" saw Gotye explore new musical territory, with the main bass line from the song recorded on a fence: "I was out there with my old band called The Basics—and Winton is home to this phenomenal thing called the Winton Musical Fence, which is a large fence made out of metal strings stretched between posts and you can pluck it and play it with all sorts of different materials - it makes these amazing bass sounds so I sampled some bits there in 08 and they made it into the first single I put out off the new record called Eyes Wide Open."

Half-life

Half-life (t_1⁄2) is the amount of time required for the amount of something to fall to half its initial value. The term is very commonly used in nuclear physics to describe how quickly unstable atoms undergo radioactive decay, but it is also used more generally for discussing any type of exponential decay.

The original term, dating to Ernest Rutherford's discovery of the principle in 1907, was "half-life period", which was shortened to "half-life" in the early 1950s. Rutherford applied the principle of a radioactive element's half-life to studies of age determination of rocks by measuring the decay period of radium to lead-206.

Half-life is used to describe a quantity undergoing exponential decay, and is constant over the lifetime of the decaying quantity. It is a characteristic unit for the exponential decay equation. The term "half-life" may generically be used to refer to any period of time in which a quantity falls by half, even if the decay is not exponential. The table on the right shows the reduction of a quantity in the number of half-lives elapsed. For a general introduction and description of exponential decay, see exponential decay. For a general introduction and description of non-exponential decay, see rate law. The converse of half-life is doubling time.

Half-Life (video game)

Half-Life (stylized as HλLF-LIFE) is a science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Valve L.L.C., released in 1998 by Sierra Studios for Microsoft Windows. It was Valve L.L.C.'s debut product and the first in the Half-Life series. Players assume the role of Dr. Gordon Freeman, who must fight his way out of a secret research facility after a teleportation experiment goes disastrously wrong, fighting enemies and solving puzzles.

Unlike many other games at the time, Half-Life features no cutscenes; the player has uninterrupted control of Freeman, and the story is told through scripted sequences seen through his eyes. Valve L.L.C. co-founder Gabe Newell said the team had wanted to create an immersive world rather than a "shooting gallery". The game's engine, GoldSrc, is a heavily modified version of the Quake engine licensed from id Software.

Half-Life received acclaim for its graphics, realistic gameplay, and seamless narrative. It won over fifty PC "Game of the Year" awards and is often considered one of the greatest games of all time. It influenced first-person shooters for years after its release; according to IGN, the history of the genre "breaks down pretty cleanly into pre-Half-Life and post-Half-Life eras."

Half-life (disambiguation)

Half-life is a mathematical and scientific description of exponential or gradual decay.

Half-life may also refer to: