Ratchet

Ratchet may refer to:

Device

Film and television

Music

Other uses

See also

Robots (2005 film)

Robots is a 2005 American computer-animated science fiction comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios for 20th Century Fox, and was released theatrically on March 11, 2005. The story was created by Chris Wedge and William Joyce, a children's book author/illustrator. Originally developing a film version of Joyce's book Santa Calls, Joyce and Wedge then decided to develop an original story about a world of robots. Joyce served as producer and production designer for the film. It features the voices of Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear, Mel Brooks, Amanda Bynes, Drew Carey and Robin Williams. The film received mixed or positive reviews from critics with critics praising the animation and visuals, but criticizing the story and it earned $260.7 million on a $75 million budget.

Plot

In Rivet Town, Herb Copperbottom, a dishwasher at Gunk's Greasy Spoon diner, races through the streets, elated that he is going to be a father. He and his wife, Lydia, after 12 hours of "labor", construct the baby. He is named Rodney, and he becomes a young inventor who dreams of making the world a better place. Rodney idolizes Bigweld, a master inventor and owner of Bigweld Industries. During Rodney's adolescence, he invents a gadget, "Wonderbot", intended to help his father clean the dishes at the restaurant. When Herb's supervisor unexpectedly confronts them, Wonderbot breaks dishes, causing Herb to be put in debt and Rodney to be dismissed. Rodney takes his invention to Robot City to see Bigweld and get a job as an inventor at Bigweld Industries, so that he can help his father pay back his supervisor. His father encourages him and confides that he has always regretted not pursuing his dream of becoming a musician. Rodney arrives in Robot City and meets Fender, a ramshackle robot who takes souvenir photos and sells maps to the stars' homes. After a spectacular but harrowing ride on the crosstown express, Rodney arrives at the gate of Bigweld Industries.

Ratchet (instrument)

A ratchet, also called a noisemaker (or, when used in Judaism, a gragger or grogger (etymologically from Yiddish: גראַגער‎) or ra'ashan (Hebrew: רעשן‎)), is an orchestral musical instrument played by percussionists. Operating on the principle of the ratchet device, a gearwheel and a stiff board is mounted on a handle, which rotates freely.

The player holds the handle and swings the whole mechanism around. The momentum makes the board click against the gearwheel, producing a clicking and rattling noise. A popular design consists of a thick wooden cog wheel attached to a handle and two wooden flanges that alternately hit the teeth of the cog when the handle turns. Alternatively, smaller ratchets are sometimes held still or mounted and the handle turned rapidly by the player. The mounted ratchets allow for greater control of the duration and timing of the sound. This allows the ratchet to be used like a snare drum, placing sustained rolls in precise durations of time. Dynamics are controlled by the rate at which the ratchet is rotated.

Xenosaga

Xenosaga (ゼノサーガ, Zenosāga) is a series of science fiction video games developed by Monolith Soft and published by Bandai Namco. Xenosaga's main story is in the form of a trilogy of PlayStation 2 video games. There have been three spin-off games and an anime adaptation. The Xenosaga series serves as a spiritual successor to the game Xenogears, which was released in 1998 for the PlayStation by Square. The creator of both Xenogears and Xenosaga is Tetsuya Takahashi, who left Square in 1998 along with Hirohide Sugiura. Using funds from Namco, they started MonolithSoft and the Xenosaga project.

The first game in the trilogy, Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht was released in February 2002 in Japan, and in February 2003 in North America. Xenosaga Freaks, a lighthearted game with a playable demo for Episode II, was released in April 2004 in Japan, but was not released elsewhere. Episode II: Jenseits von Gut und Böse was released in June 2004 in Japan and February 2005 in North America. Xenosaga: The Animation, an anime based on Episode I, premiered on TV Asahi in Japan on January 5, 2005. Xenosaga Pied Piper, a three chapter-long cellphone-based game depicting the history of cyborg "Ziggurat 8" 100 years before the start of Episode I, was released in Japan in July 2004. Released on July 6, 2006, Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra is the final title in the Xenosaga series; six episodes were originally projected, but by the time Episode III was released, Namco had already established that it would be the last entry, effectively halving the series. A retelling of the first two episodes titled Xenosaga I & II was released on the Nintendo DS in March 2006 in Japan.

Ether (band)

Ether were an alternative rock band from Blackwood, Caerphilly, Wales formed in 1996. They had a minor UK hit single in 1998 with "Watching You".

History

The successful incarnation of the band was formed in 1996 by Rory Meredith (vocals, guitar), Gareth Driscoll (vocals, bass), and Brett Sawmy (drums), although Meredith had used the name for an earlier band that he formed as a teenager. After a single on the Regal label in 1996 they moved to Parlophone Records, releasing four further singles and the 1998 album Strange. They recorded a second album in 1999, but it was not released due to the band splitting up.

They drew comparisons to groups such as Squeeze and The Beatles.

Meredith later formed the band Sugar Rush with singer-songwriter Katherine Davies, releasing an album Beautiful But Tragic in 2006 on LA based indie label Beverly Martel Music.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Ether (song)

"Ether" is the second track on hip hop artist Nas' 2001 album Stillmatic. The song was a response to Jay-Z's "Takeover", a diss track directed towards Nas and Mobb Deep which appears on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, during the Jay-Z vs. Nas feud. Nas named the song Ether because "I was told a long time ago, ghosts and spirits don't like the fumes from ether, and I just wanted to affect him with my weapon and get to his soul".

Song

Jay-Z, who had surpassed Nas in commercial success since 1998, dismissed him as a has-been on the diss track "Takeover." Nas responds to Jay's claims by rapping, "I got this, locked since Nine-One (1991), I am the truest/ Name a rapper that I ain't influenced." The song contains numerous slurs directed at Jay-Z: "When these streets keep calling, heard it when I was sleep/ That this Gay-Z and Cock-A-Fella Records wanted beef", "Then you got the nerve to say that you're better than Big/ Dick-suckin' lips, why don't you let the late great veteran live", "You a dick-ridin' faggot, you love the attention/ Queens niggas run you niggas, ask Russell Simmons" and "Put it together/ I rock hos; y'all rock fellas."