Barbie Girl

"Barbie Girl" is a song by the Danish-Norwegian dance-pop group Aqua. It was released in May 1997 as their third single overall, and the first United Kingdom release, it is included on the album Aquarium. The song was written by Søren Rasted, Claus Norreen, René Dif, and Lene Nystrøm, and it was produced by Johnny Jam, Delgado, Rasted, and Norreen. It was written after the group saw an exhibit on kitsch culture.

The song topped the charts worldwide, particularly in European countries such as the UK, where it was a number-one hit for three weeks. It was also on top of the charts in Australia for the same length of time, and debuted and peaked at No. 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on 6 September 1997 and it remains Aqua's biggest hit single in the US to date, and their only one to reach the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. It is Aqua's most popular work. The song became the subject of the controversial lawsuit Mattel v. MCA Records.

Background

The lyrics of the song are about Barbie and Ken, the dolls made by Mattel. Both the song and its music video feature Lene Nystrøm as Barbie and René Dif as Ken. As such, the lyrics drew the ire of Barbie's corporate owners, and a lawsuit was filed by Mattel.

Cốm

Cốm, or green rice, is a dish in Vietnamese cuisine. It is not dyed green, as can be done with pandan, but is immature rice kernels roasted over very low heat then pounded in a mortar and pestle until flattened. Cốm is seasonal dish associated with autumn. It can be eaten plain or with coconut. The taste is slightly sweet with a nutty flavor.

A traditional pastry, bánh cốm (green rice cake) is made using cốm with mung bean filling. Cốm is often offered to worship the ancestors in the Mid Autumn Festival. The green rice can also be used in sweet soup, chè cốm. Cốm is similar to flat green rice of the Khmer people.

References

CM

CM or its variants may refer to:

Computing

Entertainment

Guqin

The guqin (simplified/traditional: 古琴; pinyin: gǔqín; Wade–Giles ku-ch'in; pronounced [kùtɕʰǐn]; literally "ancient stringed instrument") is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted by the quote "a gentleman does not part with his qin or se without good reason," as well as being associated with the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius. It is sometimes referred to by the Chinese as "the father of Chinese music" or "the instrument of the sages". The guqin is not to be confused with the guzheng, another Chinese long zither also without frets, but with moveable bridges under each string.

Traditionally, the instrument was simply referred to as qin (Wade–Giles ch'in) but by the twentieth century the term had come to be applied to many other musical instruments as well: the yangqin hammered dulcimer, the huqin family of bowed string instruments, and the Western piano are examples of this usage. The prefix "gu-" (meaning "ancient") was later added for clarification. Thus, the instrument is called "guqin" today. It can also be called qixianqin (lit. "seven-stringed instrument"). Because Robert Hans van Gulik's famous book about the qin is called The Lore of the Chinese Lute, the guqin is sometimes inaccurately called a lute. Other incorrect classifications, mainly from music compact discs, include "harp" or "table-harp".