The Asylum

The Asylum is an American independent film production company and distributor that focuses on producing low-budget, direct-to-video films. The company has produced titles that capitalize on productions by major studios, usually resorting to film titles and scripts very similar to those of current blockbusters in order to lure customers. These titles have been dubbed "mockbusters" by the press. Its titles are distributed by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment, GT Media, and as of 2015, Cinedigm.

History

The Asylum was founded by director David Michael Latt and former Village Roadshow executives David Rimawi and Sherri Strain in 1997. The company focused on producing straight-to-video low-budget films, usually in the horror genre, but were unable to find a market due to competition from major studios, such as Lions Gate Entertainment. In 2005, the company produced a low-budget adaptation of H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, which was released in the same year as Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the same material. Blockbuster Inc. ordered 100,000 copies of The Asylum's adaptation, a significantly larger order than any of the company's previous releases, resulting in Latt and Rimawi reconsidering their business model.

Leah McGrath Goodman

Leah McGrath Goodman is an American author and freelance journalist who has worked in New York and London. She has contributed to publications and agencies such as Fortune,The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, Condé Nast Portfolio, the Associated Press, Forbes and The Guardian. In 2010 McGrath Goodman was the recipient of a Scripps Howard Foundation fellowship in environmental journalism. Her first book The Asylum: The Renegades Who Hijacked the World's Oil Market, about the global oil trading market, was published in 2011. In 2014, a Newsweek cover story where she allegedly uncovered the identity of bitcoin's inventor attracted widespread criticism.

Early life and education

McGrath Goodman was born in Boston, Massachusetts; her parents were a teacher and an artist. She graduated from St. Bonaventure University in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science.

Career

Jersey child abuse investigation

In 2012, UK politician John Hemming tabled an early day motion regarding the withdrawal of McGrath Goodman's UK visa, because she had been prevented from entering the UK after declaring her intentions to investigate allegations of a cover-up regarding the Jersey child abuse investigation, despite having a clean immigration and travel record. In an interview with RT News, McGrath Goodman stated that she was confused as to why she was not allowed entry into the UK and was therefore unable to catch a connecting flight into Jersey. In 2013, the ban was lifted and a new visa granted after a campaign by British politicians and journalists. A major new inquiry into the abuse scandal led by a senior UK judge was also announced.

WMBR

WMBR is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's student-run college radio station, licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, and broadcasting on 88.1 FM. It is all-volunteer and funded by listener donations and MIT funds. Both students and community members can apply for positions, and like many college radio stations, WMBR offers diverse programming.

As of September 2015, the general manager is Jon Beaulieu and the program directors are Jennifer Chen and Ellie Klose.

The station's board of trustees is the Technology Broadcasting Corporation, whose members are appointed by the President of MIT. The officers are: President - Marianna Parker; Vice President - Anne Slinn; Clerk - Todd Glickman; Treasurer - Shawn Mamros.

History

WMBR is the third set of call letters for the station.

The first MIT student broadcasting station first signed on as WMIT on November 25, 1946. It had a "carrier current" AM transmitter located in the Ware entryway of Senior House dormitory and broadcast over power lines at 800, and later 640 kilocycles ("kilocycles per second" being the proper period term for the unit of frequency now called the "kilohertz"). Audible only within a few hundred feet of the dorms, under FCC Part 15 regulations it could and did broadcast commercials and was self-supporting. The station simultaneously provided audio signals of its broadcasts over "dorm line" wires that ran past exterior windows of the MIT dormitories, for residents to connect to their hi-fi gear. An early experiment in stereo broadcasting, in 1960, put one stereo channel on the AM signal and the other on the dorm lines.

Edguy

Edguy is a heavy metal band from Fulda, Germany that was formed in 1992.

Biography

Demos, AFM years (1992-2003)

Edguy was founded in 1992 by 14-year-old students Tobias Sammet, Jens Ludwig, Dominik Storch and Dirk Sauer. The name "Edguy" was an affectionate epithet for their math teacher at the time. In 1994, the band released two demos, Evil Minded and Children of Steel. These tapes were sent to many record labels, all of whom rejected the band, believing they would be unsuccessful in the music business. Undeterred, they self released their ‘unofficial’ debut album, Savage Poetry, in 1995. They signed with AFM Records shortly after, who offered to re-release Savage Poetry with more widespread distribution. The band rejected this proposal in favour of recording a new album, Kingdom of Madness, which was released in 1997, but drummer Dominik Storch left the band shortly after. 1998 saw the release of their second album, Vain Glory Opera, with friend Frank Lindenthal filling in on drums. This album helped expose Edguy to a wider audience, thanks in part to guest appearances from Timo Tolkki (Stratovarius) and Hansi Kürsch (Blind Guardian). The band was joined by new drummer Felix Bohnke and bassist Tobias ‘Eggi’ Exxel later that year, allowing Tobias Sammet to solely focus on vocals (he had previously played bass as well handling vocal duties).