Polaris (convention)
Polaris (formerly Toronto Trek) is an annual science fiction and fantasy convention held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the past and now held in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada.
It began in 1986 as a relaxacon as Toronto Trek Celebration. Two years later, in 1988, Toronto Trek Celebration 2 took place. In 1989 it dropped the word "Celebration" and became simply "Toronto Trek". For its twenty-first convention in 2007, the name was changed to "Polaris". At Polaris 26, held July 5–7, 2012, it was announced Polaris had come to an end and that a new convention would replace Polaris in 2013.
The convention had a focus on media guests from science fiction, fantasy movies and television series and novel authors such as Star Trek, Babylon 5, Stargate, Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Jericho, Lost and Battlestar Galactica. Photo opportunities, autographs and Question & Answer sessions feature the media guest, who sometimes come to other programming and after hours events.
Polaris (short story)
"Polaris" is a short story by H. P. Lovecraft, written in 1918 and first published in the December 1920 issue of the amateur journal The Philosopher. It is noteworthy as the story that introduces Lovecraft's fictional Pnakotic Manuscripts, the first of his arcane tomes.
Inspiration
Critic William Fulwiler writes that "'Polaris' is one of Lovecraft's most autobiographical stories, reflecting his feelings of guilt, frustration, and uselessness during World War I. Like the narrator, Lovecraft was 'denied a warrior's part', for he 'was feeble and given to strange faintings when subjected to stress and hardships'".
Like many Lovecraft stories, "Polaris" was in part inspired by a dream, which he described in a letter: "Several nights ago I had a strange dream of a strange city--a city of many palaces and gilded domes, lying in a hollow betwixt ranges of grey, horrible hills.... I was, as I said, aware of this city visually. I was in it and around it. But certainly I had no corporeal existence."
Polaris (video game)
Polaris is a 1980 fixed shooter arcade game by Taito.
In Polaris, players control a submarine which can only shoot missiles upward. The goal of the player is to destroy all of the planes in each level while avoiding bombs dropped from the aircraft, as well as mines launched by enemy submarines and depth charges dropped from boats that speed by.
Gameplay
Enemies
Ride the Lightning
Ride the Lightning is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica. The album was released on July 27, 1984, by the independent label Megaforce Records. The album was recorded in three weeks with producer Flemming Rasmussen at the Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark. The artwork, based on the band's concept, represents an electric chair in the midst of a thunderstorm. The album title was taken from a passage in Stephen King's novel The Stand. Whilst still rooted in the thrash metal genre, the album showcased the band's musical maturity and lyrical sophistication. This was partially because bassist Cliff Burton introduced the basics of music theory to the rest of the band and because he had more input in the songwriting. The overall recording cost was paid by Metallica's European label Music for Nations because Megaforce was unable to cover it. It was the last album to feature songwriting contribution from former lead guitarist Dave Mustaine.
Escape (Jessop and Palmer book)
Escape is a book by Carolyn Jessop and Laura Palmer. It discusses Jessop's upbringing in the FLDS polygamous community. Her childhood was affected by the sect's suspicion of outsiders, the division that took place in that FLDS in the 1970s and '80s and by the increasing strictness of the sect her family belonged to. She experienced life with a mother who suffered from depression and was violent with her children. She observed conflict between her parents over celebrating Christmas and the effect of her surroundings and the strictness of the sect on her mother's mental condition and on her mother's relationship with her husband. Importantly for later, she observed and learned how to work round her mother's mood swings and how other children reacted to spanking so as to mitigate the violence but she also learned from her grandmother to take great pride in her church's tradition of plural marriage.
Carolyn wanted to go to college and study medicine but when her father went to seek permission for her to go to college, the condition was that she marry Merril Jessop. It was arranged that she marry Jessop in two days, and to prevent her running away, she had to sleep in her parents' bedroom. She wrote, "The idea of sexual or physical contact with a man thirty-two years my senior was terrifying " Merril Jessop already had three other wives.
Escape (Jody Harris and Robert Quine album)
Escape is a studio album by guitarists Jody Harris and Robert Quine, released in 1981 through the label Infidelity.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Jody Harris and Robert Quine.
Personnel
References
External links
Podcasts:
