Alexandra Stan

Alexandra Ioana Stan (born 10 June 1989 in Constanța) is a Romanian singer. Her career began in 2009 when native music producers Marcel Prodan and Andrei Nemirschi heard her singing at a Karaoke bar and proposed her a contract with their own management, Maan Studio. She subsequently released her debut recording "Lollipop (Param Pam Pam)" in late 2009. The song and its video were met with bad reviews, being criticised for their eroticism. Her next single, "Mr. Saxobeat", was composed by Marcel Prodan and Andrei Nemirschi, the duo that discovered her at the Mamaia Music Festival. It became her worldwide breakthrough hit, selling 1,000,000 copies in less than a year. The single went to number one in a total of nine countries and reached the top ten in over thirty countries, such as New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Australia. It became a top-thirty hit in Canada and the United States. She released her debut album in August 2011, entitled Saxobeats, which reached the top thirty album charts in several European countries, including Germany, Austria and Finland. The record spawns her next single "Get Back (ASAP)", which gained success in several more countries, notably in Romania, Finland and France.

Unlocked (Alexandra Stan album)

Unlocked is the sophomore studio album recorded by Romanian recording artist Alexandra Stan. It was made available for digital download on 27 August 2014 through Victor Entertainment as a follow-up to her internationally successful album, Saxobeats (2011). Stan collaborated with several record producers on this album, including Andreas Schuller, Sebastian Jacome, Chrishan Prince, Erik Lidbom and Gabriel Huiban. She also took part at the FonoCamp 2013, the first international songwriting camp held in Romania, where she further worked on material featured on this album. Unlocked premiered following a violent incident between Stan and her former manager, Marcel Prodan, which caused Stan's hiatus in 2013. The incident was based on Stan's asking for her revenues.

The music of Unlocked draws from the EDM and dance-pop styles of her previous material, while also incorporating different forms of instrumentation from her previous releases, such as Bhangra and Caucasian music in "Kiss Me Goodbye" and "Give Me Your Everything", respectively. Lyrically, the album approaches themes such as issuance, retrieval and a new beginning, while also speaking about Stan's ups and downs with her unidentified boyfriend. The record received generally positive reviews from music critics, with them praising its material for being "catchy" and "infectious". Unlocked also drew comparisons to the works of Britney Spears, Rihanna and Sia. Adictivoz pointed out Stan's noticeable "dose of sensitivity" and "passion" throughout the record.

-stan

The suffix -stan (Persian: ـستان‎‎ -stān) is Persian for "place of" or "country". It appears in the names of many regions, especially in Central and South Asia, but also in the Caucasus and Russia; areas where significant amounts of Persian culture were spread or adopted. The suffix is also used more generally, as in Persian and Urdu rigestân (ریگستان) "place of sand, desert", Pakistan "land of the pure", Hindustan "land of the Hindus", golestan (گلستان) "place of flowers, garden", etc.

Etymology and cognates

The suffix, originally an independent noun, but evolving into a suffix by virtue of appearing frequently as the last part in nominal compounds, is of Indo-Iranian and ultimately Indo-European origin: It is cognate with Sanskrit sthā́na (Devanagari: स्थान [st̪ʰaːna]), meaning "the act of standing", from which many further meanings derive, including "place, location", and ultimately descends from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sthāna-.

The Proto-Indo-European root from which this noun is derived is *steh₂- (older reconstruction *stā-) "to stand" (or "to stand up, to step (somewhere), to position (oneself)"), which is also the source of English to stand, Latin stāre, and Ancient Greek histamai (ἵσταμαι), all meaning "to stand" and Russian стан (stan, meaning "settlement" or "semi-permanent camp"). In Polish and Ukrainian, stan means "state" or "condition", while in Serbo-Croatian it translates as "apartment" (a Slovenian word "stanovanje" means apartment or other closed space of living is an obvious derivative of stan) in its modern usage, while its original meaning was "habitat". In Czech and Slovak, it means "tent" or, in military terms, "headquarters". Also in Germanic languages, the root can be found in Stand ("place, location"), and in Stadt (German), stad/sted (Dutch/Scandinavian), stêd (West Frisian) and stead (English), all meaning either "place" or "city". The suffix -stan is analogous to the suffix -land, present in many country and location names.

Stan!

Stan! (born Steven Brown on 16 October 1964 in Brooklyn, New York City, United States) is an American author, cartoonist, and game designer. He is sometimes credited as Stan Brown.

Biography

Brown was born and grew up on Long Island and attended Binghamton University. Brown began publishing fiction, cartoons, and games professionally in 1982, usually under the pen name "Stan!." He is the author of numerous short stories, novels, roleplaying products, comics and cartoons. He has served as a graphic designer and line editor for West End Games; an editor and game designer for TSR, Inc.; and an author, senior game designer, and creative director for Wizards of the Coast, Inc. He has also been the creative content manager at Upper Deck Entertainment.

In 2007, R. Hyrum Savage formed a subsidiary of his OtherWorld Creations with Brown called Super Genius Games. He has also worked as the creative content manager for Upper Deck Entertainment, and the creative vice president for The Game Mechanics, Inc. Brown is the Creative Director for Super Genius Games. He co-founded The Game Mechanics with JD Wiker, Marc Schmalz, and Rich Redman.

Stan (fan)

A stan is an avid fan and supporter of a celebrity, franchise, or group, often a rock/pop musician. The object of the stan's affection is often called their fave. Based on the song "Stan" by American rapper Eminem, the term has frequently been used to describe artist devotees whose fanaticism matches the severity of the obsessive character named Stan in the 2000 Eminem song. The word has been described as a portmanteau of "stalker" and "fan".

Behavior

A website known as "Stan Wars" or "stanipedia" sprouted up to host discussions and flame wars between rival fanbases. In a response to stan culture, David Monger, an amateur cartoonist developed a web series on YouTube titled The Nekci Menij Show. The show strives to satirize public perceptions of female pop stars, simultaneously parodying it. The series features numerous pop stars including Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera, Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Katy Perry, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Kesha, Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez, Lana Del Rey, Rihanna, and Adele. The series employs an artistic style reminiscent of the Dolan Duck Internet meme.