Arsonists (hip hop group)

Arsonists are an underground hip hop group. Their album, As the World Burns (1999), reached No. 78 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums; its single, "Pyromaniax", reached No. 43 on Billboard's Hot Rap Singles chart.

History

The group was formed with five members in 1993 in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York, as Bushwick Bomb Squad. The main members were Q-Unique, D-Stroy, Freestyle, Swel Boogie and Jise One, although the number of members eventually grew to eight. Q-Unique was a member of New York City's well-known breakdancing crew, the Rock Steady Crew. The group released a single, "The Session", in 1996, which was played on New York radio stations and brought offers from record labels. They signed with the independent label Fondle 'Em Records and changed their name to the Arsonists. They released their first album, As the World Burns, in 1999 on Matador Records, an indie rock label that ventured into hip hop music for the release. The album received critical acclaim, but did not achieve mainstream commercial success; it reached No. 78 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. They appeared on the final album by the digital hardcore band Atari Teenage Riot, 60 Second Wipeout, that year. The group went from five members down to three: Q-Unique, Jise One and Swel Boogie, for their follow-up album, Date of Birth in 2001. With their live performances, the group is known to be very varied in its rap style, drawing on many old school hip hop and east coast hip hop influences. Kansas City's alternative weekly newspaper, The Pitch, described them as "one of the best live bands in hip-hop" in 2001. On 18 August 2011, Arsonists played the first show in 11 years that had all four members on stage at Hip Hop Kemp in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic.

Freestyle (roller coaster)

Freestyle is a stand-up roller coaster operating at Cavallino Matto in Tuscany, Italy. It opened as the park's fifth roller coaster on 18 July 2015. Freestyle originally opened at Canada's Wonderland in 1985 as SkyRider and closed in 2014. Built by TOGO, it was the second stand-up roller coaster from the company following the now-defunct King Cobra, which opened the previous year at Kings Island.

On August 6, 2014, Canada's Wonderland announced that the ride would close permanently on September 1, 2014. The coaster accommodated nearly 23 million guests during its lifespan. In the Fall of 2014, SkyRider was sold, dismantled and relocated overseas to Cavallino Matto. It was reassembled and opened in 2015 as Freestyle.

SkyRider Memories Contest

In August 2014, Canada's Wonderland announced it would be holding a special contest for thrill seekers before the ride's official retirement. The contest was held on Canada's Wonderland official Twitter page under the banner "SkyRiderMemories", where 24 lucky winners were invited to have the final ride on SkyRider before its official closing on September 1, 2014 at 8pm. The winners were also given one of SkyRider's roller coaster wheels to keep as a souvenir.

WCW Mayhem

Mayhem was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) that replaced the promotion's November PPV event World War 3 which was held from 1995 to 1998 and was held in the month of November in 1999 and 2000. It is noted for being the first wrestling pay-per-view named after a video game, rather than the video game named after a pay-per-view. The 1999 match between Bret Hart vs Chris Benoit was featured in the opening credits of the TV Show Malcolm in the Middle. The rights to the event is now owned by the WWE since 2001.

1999

Mayhem 1999 took place on November 21, 1999 from the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

During the WCW World Heavyweight Championship tournament semi-final match between Bret Hart and Sting, The Total Package interfered by attacking Sting with a baseball bat. This led to Hart being announced as the winner via disqualification. Not wanting to win in this manner, Hart demanded the match be restarted, and ultimately forced Sting to submit with the Sharpshooter. Scott Hall was originally supposed to face Rick Steiner for the WCW World Television Championship, but Steiner was too injured to compete. Hall was awarded the title by forfeit and immediately had to defend it against Booker T instead.

Mayhem (band)

Mayhem is a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1984 in Oslo, regarded as one of the pioneers of the Norwegian black metal scene. Mayhem's career has been highly controversial, primarily due to their violent stage performances, the 1991 suicide of vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin ("Dead") and the 1993 murder of guitarist Øystein Aarseth ("Euronymous") by former member Varg Vikernes ("Count Grishnackh"), of Burzum.

The group released a demo and an EP that were highly influential, and amassed a loyal following through sporadic and notorious live performances, attracting further attention through their ties to the string of Norwegian church burnings and the prominent incidents of violence surrounding them. They disbanded after Aarseth's murder, shortly before the release of their debut album, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, regarded as a classic of the black metal genre. Surviving former members Jan Axel Blomberg ("Hellhammer"), Jørn Stubberud ("Necrobutcher") and Sven Erik Kristiansen ("Maniac") reformed two years later with Rune Eriksen ("Blasphemer") replacing Aarseth. Attila Csihar and Krister Dreyer ("Morfeus") have since replaced Kristiansen and Eriksen, respectively.

Law & Order (season 4)

The fourth season of Law & Order aired on NBC between September 15, 1993, and May 25, 1994. This is the final season to feature Michael Moriarty as Ben Stone. It is also the first season to include a shorter opening sequence and theme (at 46 seconds), which would be used for the remainder of the series' run. Season four was released on DVD December 6, 2005.

Cast

There were two cast changes from season 3:

This was the first time women played any of the Law and Order 's six major characters: both roles would continue to be occupied by women, with Merkerson remaining in the role of Van Buren, throughout the remainder of the series. It was also the first time in Law and Order's history that two major cast changes were made simultaneously; the next such double change would not happen until the beginning of season 17.