Tarantula

Tarantulas comprise a group of large and often hairy arachnids belonging to the Theraphosidae family of spiders, of which approximately 900 species have been identified. This article only describes members of Theraphosidae, although some other members of the same suborder are commonly referred to as "tarantulas". Most species of tarantulas are not dangerous to humans, and some species have become popular in the exotic pet trade.

Overview

Like all arthropods, the tarantula is an invertebrate that relies on an exoskeleton for muscular support. Like other Arachnida a tarantula’s body comprises two main parts, the prosoma (or cephalothorax) and the opisthosoma (or abdomen). The prosoma and opisthosoma are connected by the pedicel, or pregenital somite. This waist-like connecting piece is actually part of the prosoma and allows the opisthosoma to move in a wide range of motion relative to the prosoma.

Tarantulas sizes range from as small as a fingernail to as large as a dinner plate when the legs are fully extended. Depending on the species, the body length of tarantulas ranges from 2.5 to 10 centimetres (1 to 4 in), with leg spans of 8–30-centimetre (3–12 in). Leg span is determined by measuring from the tip of the back leg to the tip of the front leg on the opposite side. Some of the largest species of tarantula may weigh over 85 grams (3 oz); the largest of all, the goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi) from Venezuela and Brazil, has been reported to attain a weight of 150 grams (5.3 oz) and a leg-span of up to 30 centimetres (12 in), males being longer and females greater in girth.

Tarantula (Dylan book)

Tarantula is an experimental prose poetry collection by Bob Dylan, written in 1965 and 1966. It employs stream of consciousness writing, somewhat in the style of Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg. One section of the book parodies the Lead Belly song "Black Betty". Reviews of the book liken it to his self-penned liner notes to two of his albums recorded around the same time, Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited.

Dylan would later cite Tarantula as a book he had never fully signed up to write: "Things were running wild at that point. It never was my intention to write a book." He went on to equate the book to John Lennon's nonsensical work In His Own Write, and implied that his former manager Albert Grossman signed up Dylan to write the novel without the singer's full consent.

Although it was to be edited by Dylan and published in 1966, his motorcycle accident in July '66 prevented this. The first 50 copies were printed on A4 paper by the Albion underground press of San Francisco in mid-1965. The type-written pages were bound in yellow paper with a large red tick-like arachnid pictured on the front. Numerous bootleg versions of the book were available on the black market through 1971, when it was officially published to critical scorn. In 2003 Spin magazine did an article called the "Top Five Unintelligible Sentences from Books Written by Rock Stars." Dylan came in first place with this line from Tarantula: "Now's not the time to get silly, so wear your big boots and jump on the garbage clowns." In the early 21st century, Tarantula was re-released in English and translated into French,Spanish,Portuguese, Croatian and Czech.

Tarantula (band)

Tarantula is a Portuguese power metal band established in 1981 and ranked as one of the very first power metal bands, that has played concerts in Portugal and Germany. Members of the band are Jorge Marques (vocals), Paulo Barros (guitar), José Aguiar (bass) and Luís Barros (drums).

Members

Paulo Barros is a Portuguese guitarist, best known for playing with the heavy metal band Tarantula in the 1980s and 1990s in several European countries, along with his brother Luís Barros on the drums.

Paulo Barros solo discography

Discography

Compilations

References

External links

Carrie (song)

"Carrie" is a 1987 hit single and power ballad released by the Swedish hard rock band Europe. It was the third single released internationally from the album The Final Countdown, and it is their highest charting song on the Billboard Hot 100 chart—peaking at #3 (#1 on the Radio and Records chart) during the fall of 1987. The track on the B-side of the 7" single was "Love Chaser".

The song was co-written by vocalist Joey Tempest and keyboardist Mic Michaeli in 1985. An early version of the song that consisted of just keyboards and vocals, was played on a tour in Sweden the same year. The demo version was similar, but the final version that was included on the album The Final Countdown included the whole band playing.

On Europe tours following the band's reunion in 2003, an acoustic version of "Carrie" has been played, with Tempest performing the song on an acoustic guitar. In recent years, however, the band has switched back to the arrangement of the album version. A performance of the acoustic version can be found on the Live from the Dark DVD and a performance of the album version can be found on the Live at Shepherd's Bush, London DVD.

Carrie (novel)

Carrie is an American epistolary novel and author Stephen King's first published novel, released on April 5, 1974, with an approximate first print-run of 30,000 copies. Set primarily in the then-future year of 1979, it revolves around the eponymous Carrietta N. "Carrie" White, a misfit and bullied high school girl who uses her newly discovered telekinetic powers to exact revenge on those who torment her, while in the process causing one of the worst local disasters in American history. King has commented that he finds the work to be "raw" and "with a surprising power to hurt and horrify." It is one of the most frequently banned books in United States schools. Much of the book is written in an epistolary structure, using newspaper clippings, magazine articles, letters, and excerpts from books to tell how Carrie destroyed the fictional town of Chamberlain, Maine while exacting revenge on her sadistic classmates.

Several adaptations of Carrie have been released, including a 1976 feature film, a 1988 Broadway musical, a 1999 feature film sequel, a 2002 television movie, and a 2013 feature film remake. King’s works self-consciously and conspicuously shadow the major European and American Gothic writers and works, echoing and repeating their themes, motifs and rhetoric, drawing (for example) on the American sense of Gothic place and on onomastic and other textual resources.The themes in Carrie represented in every event that happens in the novel. The book is dedicated to King's wife Tabitha: "This is for Tabby, who got me into it – and then bailed me out of it."

Carrie (1976 film)

Carrie is a 1976 American supernatural horror film based on Stephen King's 1974 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Brian De Palma with a screenplay by Lawrence D. Cohen.

The film received two Academy Award nominations, one for Sissy Spacek in the title role and one for Piper Laurie as her abusive mother. The film featured numerous young actors – including Nancy Allen, William Katt, Amy Irving, and John Travolta – whose careers were launched, or escalated, by the film. It also relaunched the screen and television career of Laurie, who had not been active in show business since 1961.

Carrie was the first of more than 100 film and television productions adapted from, or based on, the published works of Stephen King.

Plot

Carrie White (Sissy Spacek), a shy and friendless 17-year-old girl, is the scapegoat and outcast of her school. At home, she is abused by her mentally unstable mother Margaret (Piper Laurie), who is a Christian fundamentalist.

While in the showers after gym class, Carrie unexpectedly experiences her first period and fears she is bleeding to death. The other girls, including Chris Hargensen (Nancy Allen) and Sue Snell (Amy Irving), add to her shame and humiliation by pelting her with tampons and sanitary pads. The gym teacher Miss Collins (Betty Buckley) intervenes and as Carrie becomes more frantic, a light bulb bursts in the showers.