Thrust (science fiction magazine)

Thrust was published from 1973–1991. It started off as a Fanzine by Doug Fratz Steven L. Goldstein at the University of Maryland until 1976. In 1978, Thrust became a trade magazine.

Thrust was a magazine for science fiction fans, offering commentary and criticism of work published within the genre. Nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Fanzine in 1980, it received four other nominations for best semi-prozine in the following years (1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991). As a trade magazine, it expanded rapidly, moving to offset covers. Ultimately the circulation rose to 1,700. Columnists at various times included Ted White, Charles Sheffield, Lou Stathis, John Shirley, Michael Bishop, David Bischoff, Chris Lampton, Darrell Schweitzer and Jeffrey Elliot. Dan Steffan provided art direction for the magazine.

References

Thrust (Transformers)

Thrust is the name of several fictional characters from the Transformers series. The original character was an evil red Decepticon jet, with most of the following character using the name Thrust being a variation on that concept. The biggest exception being the Thrust who appeared in Beast Machines who was an evil Vehicon who turned into a motorcycle.

Transformers: Generation 1

Thrust in the original Transformers toyline is the name of a Decepticon who transforms into a red VTOL jet.

Thrust, Ramjet, and Dirge are part of a team dubbed by Transformers fans as the "Coneheads" for the way their animation models were drawn to make them visually distinct from the original Decepticon jets Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker despite their toys being modifications of the same mold used to create that original trio.

Thrust's personality is that of a braggart who tries to psyche out his opponents with the roar of his engines, but is in fact a coward when it comes to actual battle.

Thrust (video game)

Thrust is a 1986 computer game released on most home computers. The perspective is two dimensional platform-based and the player's aim is to manoeuvre a spaceship by rotating and thrusting, as it flies over a landscape and through caverns. Gameplay of Thrust was heavily inspired by Atari's Gravitar.

Development

The game was programmed by Jeremy Smith (co-author of Exile) and was developed originally on the BBC Micro. Superior Software agreed to publish it as a full price game but they required an Acorn Electron conversion (to release it as a joint BBC/Electron package). While this was being created, it was also ported to other systems beginning with the Commodore 64. All other versions were to be published by Firebird Software at a budget price. The C64 version actually made it to release a couple of months before the BBC/Electron version and became a number one best seller (hence the claim on the BBC/Electron cover).

Gameplay

The aim is to pilot a spacecraft which must pick up a pod using a tractor beam and fly it into space. The ship and pod are subject to gravity and inertia, and being connected by a stiff rod can end up spinning around each other, out of control. Hitting the walls of the cave with either the ship or the pod results in death.

Held (song)

"Held" is a song by Smog, released as his first single from his 1999 album Knock Knock. The original Drag City-release featured the second single "Cold Blooded Old Times" as a b-side.

"Held" is sometimes covered during concerts by American indie rock band Spoon. The song also appeared in the 60 and 30-seconds-versions of a commercial advertising the 2008 Cadillac Escalade.

Track listing

Drag City 7" version

Domino 7" version

CD version

Notes

High (The Blue Nile album)

High is the fourth studio album by Scottish band The Blue Nile, released on 30 August 2004 on Sanctuary Records. A single, "I Would Never", was released one week prior to the album: a second song, "She Saw the World", was made available as a promotional single, but never released officially.

"Soul Boy" had already been recorded by former Spice Girl Melanie C for her album Reason the previous year.

Critical reception

The album received generally favourable reviews, with many critics considering High to be a stronger album than their previous effort Peace at Last. AllMusic said "the Blue Nile have returned with a more balanced album [than Peace at Last] and Buchanan is broken-hearted again, thank the stars. He's been struggling with fatigue and illness and as selfish and inconsiderate as it sounds, it's brought the spark back to his writing... given the time to sink in, the album fits well in their canon."The Guardian believed that with High "the emotional commitment of Peace at Last is combined with the observational detachment of the earlier work... In pop, most people do their best work within five or six years. How extraordinary, then, that after more than two decades of activity, the Blue Nile remain on course, their range expanded, their focus more refined, unshaken in their determination to proceed at their own measured pace."

High (Knut Anders Sørum song)

"High" was the Norwegian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, performed in English by Knut Anders Sørum.

The song is a dramatic ballad, with Sørum expressing his desire to bring an unnamed person "high". The lyrics suggest that this person has been beset by problems, and that Sørum believes he can go some way to curing them.

As Norway had finished the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 in the top 10, the song was pre-qualified for the final. Here, it was performed third, following Austria's Tie Break with "Du bist" and preceding France's Jonatan Cerrada with "À chaque pas". At the close of voting, it had received 3 points, placing 24th (last) in a field of 24, thus requiring Norway to qualify through the semi-final at the next Contest.

The low score, and long wait before Norway scored any points at all, led Australian commentator Des Mangan to jokingly offer money for anyone prepared to vote for the country. Initially, this was "a thousand bucks", later climbing to "ten thousand bucks and my house". Mangan explained during this commentary that he did not want Norway to further extend its unwanted record of failing to record a point on the most occasions.

High (play)

High is a play written by Matthew Lombardo. The story revolves around a nun, Sister Jamison Connelly, who deals with her sordid past and the people around her with her acerbic wit and wisdom. When Sister Jamison agrees to sponsor a gay 19-year-old drug user and hustler in an effort to help him combat his addiction, her own faith is ultimately tested. HIGH explores the universal themes of truth, forgiveness, redemption and human fallibility.

Production history

High had its world premiere in the summer of 2010 at Hartford's TheaterWorks, where director Rob Ruggiero had been a longtime associate artistic director, as well as author Matthew Lombardo, who was born in Hartford and raised in Wethersfield. The show, which had commercial attachments and Broadway ambitions, then traveled to Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park, followed by a run at the Repertory Theater of St. Louis. Kathleen Turner and Evan Jonigkeit played Sister Jamison and Cody Randall, while Michael Berresse portrayed Father Michael Delpapp. Reviews were mostly positive in the out-of-town tryouts.