An elf is a type of humanlike supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. In medieval Germanic-speaking cultures, elves seem to have been thought of as beings with magical powers and supernatural beauty, ambivalent towards everyday people and capable of either helping or hindering them. However, the details of these beliefs have varied over time and space, have flourished in both pre-Christian and Christian cultures; the word elf is found throughout the Germanic languages and seems to have meant'white being'. Reconstructing the early concept of an elf depends on texts, written by Christians, in Old and Middle English, medieval German, Old Norse; these associate elves variously with the gods of Norse mythology, with causing illness, with magic, with beauty and seduction. After the medieval period, the word elf tended to become less common throughout the Germanic languages, losing out to alternative native terms like Zwerg in German and huldra in Scandinavian languages, to loan-words like fairy.

Still, beliefs in elves persisted in the early modern period in Scotland and Scandinavia, where elves were thought of as magically powerful people living invisibly, alongside everyday human communities. They continued to be associated with sexual threats. For example, a number of early modern ballads in the British Isles and Scandinavia, originating in the medieval period, describe elves attempting to seduce or abduct human characters. With urbanisation and industrialisation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, beliefs in elves declined rapidly. However, from the early modern period onwards, elves started to be prominent in the literature and art of educated elites; these literary elves were imagined as small, impish beings, with William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream being a key development of this idea. In the eighteenth century, German Romanticist writers were influenced by this notion of the elf, reimported the English word elf into the German language. From this Romanticist elite culture came the elves of popular culture that emerged in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The "Christmas elves" of contemporary popular culture are a recent tradition, popularized during the late nineteenth-century in the United States. Elves entered the twentieth-century high fantasy genre in the wake of works published by authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien. Elves remain a prominent feature of fantasy games nowadays. From a scientific viewpoint, elves are not considered objectively real. However, elves have in many places been believed to be real beings. Where enough people have believed in the reality of elves that those beliefs had real effects in the world, they can be understood as part of people's worldview, as a social reality: a thing which, like the exchange value of a dollar bill or the sense of pride stirred up by a national flag, is real because of people's beliefs rather than as an objective reality. Accordingly, beliefs about elves and their social functions have varied over space. In the twenty-first century, fantasy stories about elves have been argued both to reflect and to shape their audiences' understanding of the real world, traditions about Santa Claus and his elves relate to Christmas.

Over time, people have attempted to rationalise beliefs in elves in various ways. Beliefs about elves have their origins before the conversion to Christianity and associated Christianization of north-west Europe. For this reason, belief in elves has, from the Middle Ages through into recent scholarship been labelled "pagan" and a "superstition"; however all surviving textual sources about elves were produced by Christians. Attested beliefs about elves therefore need to be understood as part of Germanic-speakers' Christian culture and not a relic of their pre-Christian religion. Accordingly, investigating the relationship between beliefs in elves and Christian cosmology has been a preoccupation of scholarship about elves both in early times and in modern research. People have taken three main approaches to integrating elves into Christian cosmology, all of which are found across time and space: Identifying elves with the demons of Judaeo-Christian-Mediterranean tradition. For example: In English-language material: in the Royal Prayer Book from c.

900, elf appears as a gloss for "Satan". In the late-fourteenth-century Wife of Bath's Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer equates male elves with incubi. In the early modern Scottish witchcraft trials, witnesses' descriptions of encounters with elves were interpreted by prosecutors as encounters with the Devil. In medieval Scandinavia, Snorri Sturluson wrote in his Prose Edda of ljósálfar and døkkálfar, the ljósálfar living in the heavens and the døkkálfar under the earth; the consensus of modern scholarship is that Snorri's elves are based on angels and demons of Christian cosmology. Elves appear as demonic forces in medieval and early modern English and Scandinavian prayers. Viewing elves as being more or less like people, more or less outside Christian cosmology; the Icelanders who copied the Poetic Edda did not explicitly try to integrate elves into Christian thought. The early modern Scottish people who confessed to enc

Grapes of Wrath is the first studio album by Spear of Destiny, released by Epic Records in 1983. The band's first single was "Flying Scotsman" followed by the second single "The Wheel". All songs written by Kirk BrandonSide one "The Wheel" - 3:10 "Flying Scotsman" - 3:20 "Roof of the World" - 3:02 "Aria" - 4:38 "Solution" - 3:56Side two "The Murder of Love" - 3:12 "The Preacher" - 2:34 "Omen of the Times" - 3:15 "The Man Who Tunes the Drums" - 2:47 "Grapes of Wrath" - 4:44A'Special Cassette Mix' version of the album was released, it comprises: A1 "The Wheel" A2 "Flying Scotsman" A3 "Roof of the World" A4 "Aria" A5 "Solution" B1 "The Preacher" B2 "The Murder of Love" B3 "Omen of the Times" B4 "The Man Who Tunes the Drums" B5 "Grapes of Wrath" Spear of DestinyKirk Brandon - vocals, guitar Stan Stammers - bass guitar Lascelles James - saxophone Chris Bell - drumswith: The Sisters - backing vocals on "Flying Scotsman" and "Roof of the World"TechnicalNick Launay - engineer, mixing Gavin MacKillop - assistant engineer Pierre Boucher - front cover photography

"Peek-a-Boo" is a song by English rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was released in 1988 as Peepshow. Melody Maker described the song as "a brightly unexpected mixture of black steel and pop disturbance" and qualified its genre as "thirties hip hop". "Peek-a-Boo" was rated "Single of the Week" in both Sounds and NME. Sounds wrote that it was a "brave move", "playful and mysterious". NME described it as "Oriental marching band hip hop" with "catchy accordion." They said: "If this nation was served by anything approaching a decent pop radio station, "Peek A Boo" would be a huge hit."PopMatters retrospectively placed it at number 18 on their list "The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the'80s", saying that its instrumentation was "inventive" with "ingenious vocal phasing". Bloc Party praised "Peek-a-Boo" and their singer Kele Okereke said: "It sounded like nothing else on this planet. To me it sounded like the most current but most futuristic bit of guitar-pop music I've heard." The song's peculiar sound is due to its experimental recording, based on a sample.

The song was built on a loop in reverse of a brass part with drums which the group arranged a year before for a cover of John Cale's "Gun". The band selected different parts of that tape when played backwards, editing them and re-recording on top of it, adding a different melody plus accordion, a one-note bass and discordant guitar. Drummer Budgie added another beat. Once the instrumental parts were finished, Siouxsie sang her lyrics over it; the lyric track was further manipulated by Siouxsie's use of a different microphone for each line of the song. It took the band a year to arrive at this result; when composed to be an extra track for 1987's "The Passenger" single, the band realized that the song was too good to be relegated to B-side status and deserved better exposure. "Peek-a-Boo" was the Banshees' most recognisable and popular singles. S. Billboard Hot 100; the song was popular on alternative rock radios and received heavy play on MTV. In September 1988, Billboard magazine premiered a new Modern Rock Tracks chart, which measured radio airplay on US modern rock stations.

In the UK, "Peek-a-Boo" became their fifth Top 20 UK hit. A minor controversy ensued after the single's release, as the lines to the chorus were found to be too similar to the lyrics in the 1938 song "Jeepers Creepers". To remedy the situation and to avoid legal action, the band gave co-songwriting credit on "Peek-a-Boo" to Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer. Rap artist Sir Mix-a-Lot used elements of the song's themes about sex work for a track on his 1989 Seminar; the music video was chosen by The Chart Show to be their "Best Video of the Year" for 1988. "Peek-a-Boo" was covered in 2010 by Australian artist Bertie Blackman. The song was made available as downloadable content for the Rock Band platform on 20 April 2010. List of Billboard number-one alternative singles of the 1980s Music video on Vevo

Blue Juice is a 1995 British film directed by Carl Prechezer and starring Sean Pertwee, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ewan McGregor and Steven Mackintosh. It follows JC as he attempts to reconcile his surfer lifestyle and loser friends with the pressure to grow up from his girlfriend. Blue Juice was set in Cornwall, released in 1995 by FilmFour productions. JC seems to have it. By day he runs a surf school, at night he lies down next to his beautiful girlfriend Chloe, his lifelong dream is to travel the world surfing. However, when old mates arrive from London unannounced it releases tensions which have long been simmering under the surface of JC and Chloe's perfect relationship. Chloe decides to buy the local surfer cafe and settle down, His friends drug-dealer Dean are intent on causing mischief and sucking JC back into surfing a dangerous reef, which he had attempted before injuring his back, it turns out that Dean had a job as a journalist, setting up JC was to get a story. As a requirement for keeping his job, he had to get a big story, preferably with a life or death situation involved.

JC refuses to surf the'boneyard' which prompts Dean to try it himself as he had arranged media coverage, his boss had decided to watch. Dean fails hitting his head when smashed under by a huge wave. JC dives in to rescue Dean and in doing so surfs the'boneyard' therefore saving Dean's life and job at the same time; however Dean's boss gets knocked out by the local guru for his offensive attitude and remarks. JC's friend Terry, having been given drugs by Dean, has radically rethought his life, buys JC's round the world tickets for him and his fiancé. JC uses the money to buy a cafe for him and Chloe, deciding that his relationship with Chloe is more important than impressing his friends. Catherine Zeta-Jones as Chloe Sean Pertwee as J. C. Ewan McGregor as Dean Raymond Steven MacKintosh as Josh Tambini Peter Gunn as Terry Colcott Many of the film's characters are dressed in clothing from the pressure group Surfers against Sewage. Many characters wear the Australian surfwear label Mambo Graphics and Stussy hats.

Wetsuits used in the film and in publicity shots were manufactured by the Cornish Surf brand Gul. Other surf brands seen throughout the film, in the form of stickers or clothing, include Body Glove and Quiksilver. Surfers Against Sewage stickers and posters are used throughout the film, visible in the Aqua Shack scenes and applied to the blue Bedford CF van driven by JC and Chloe for the surf school. Pertwee used toupée tape to hold a sock in place, in the scene where JC appears nude apart from a black sock. "... I came up with this ingenious ploy - wrapping toupée tape on my chap. You won't believe how difficult it is to remove..." In a 1995 interview with FHM, Zeta-Jones recalled the filming of the sock scene. If it was a Stussy one, or something like that, it might have been more interesting."Professional surfer Steve England was a body double for Peter Gunn's character, Terry. To replicate Gunn's look and larger build he had to have his long hair cut and wear two wetsuits with towels packed around his stomach.

A reference is made in the film to the 1960s comic book character the Silver Surfer. On the way to find the rave, JC, Josh and Terry pass a man painted in silver carrying a silver surfboard who waves at them. Terry, under the influence of drugs supplied by Dean copies this by painting himself silver. There are a couple of errors in the story. Early on when the radio DJ says the cows will be coming in for milking it cuts to a herd of Hereford cattle blocking a road. Herefords are farmed for beef not milk. In the scene where Wigan Casino is discussed, the order given of Three before Eight records is wrong; the red and yellow ‘TASTY’ surfboard that Ewan McGregor used in the film, was sold at a film memorabilia auction in 2001 at Sotheby’s in New York, to raise money for children born with Aids in Africa. Blue Juice features an appearance from Jenny Agutter as a retired actress turned hotel proprietor Mary Fenton, famous for playing Guinevere in a fictional television show called "Arthur's Knights".

The film features soul singer Edwin Starr as a soul singer named Ossie Sands. The songs featured. Continuing the Northern Soul theme, an appearance is made by funk DJ Keb Darge, he can be seen dancing in the soul disco at the village hall. In the recording studio scene, the sound engineer is played by Paul Reynolds, whose largest role before Blue Juice was as Christopher Craig, the accomplice of Derek Bentley in the film Let Him Have It. Keith Allen had a small part as Mike, a tabloid newspaper editor, who pays the Ewan McGregor character, for stories about record producer Josh; the role of Shaper, played by Heathcote Williams, was offered to Nigel Terry, best known for his portrayal of King Arthur in the 1981 John Boorman film, Excalibur. Mark Frost, who played Moose, appeared in the 2008 ITV soap opera Echo Beach set on the Cornwall coast and featuring aspects of surf culture. Part of the surfing crew was Cornish girl Andreya Wharry, who features throughout the film but is most prominently seen in the cafe scene where Josh tries to pay for Junior's food with his credit card.

After Blue Juice, Wharry featured as a contestant on the TV show Gladiators, became a world top 10 kite surfer and set the world distance record for kite surfing, traveling from Cornwall to Ireland, in September 2005. Another surfer was played by Martin Dorey, author of The Campervan Cookbook and presenter of the BBC2 series One Man and His Campervan. Chloe and JC's baby is played by Astrid Weguelin, the

Rexford Glacier is a glacier flowing northeast into the head of Wagoner Inlet on the north side of Thurston Island. Named by Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names after Aviation Radioman Phillip W. Rexford, PBM Mariner aircrewman in the Eastern Group of U. S. Navy Operation Highjump, which obtained aerial photographs of this glacier and adjoining coastal areas, 1946-47. List of glaciers in the Antarctic Glaciology Thurston Island – Jones Mountains. 1:500000 Antarctica Sketch Map. US Geological Survey, 1967. Antarctic Digital Database. Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. Since 1993 upgraded and updated; this article incorporates public domain material from the United States Geological Survey document "Rexford Glacier"

Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana or Upward Facing Dog Pose is a back-bending asana in modern yoga as exercise. It is part of the widely-performed Surya Namaskar sequence, though the similar Bhujangasana may be used there instead; the name of the pose is from the Sanskrit ऊर्ध्व Urdhva, "upwards". The pose is one of those introduced by Krishnamacharya in the mid-20th century from Surya Namaskar, not considered to be yoga, taught by his pupils Pattabhi Jois and B. K. S. Iyengar; the pose is entered with an inhalation from a prone position. The legs are stretched out straight, the toes out, the weight of the body is supported on the hands with outstretched arms so the hips are off the ground; the gaze is directed straight upwards, so the neck and back are arched. Twentieth century advocates of some schools of yoga, such as B. K. S. Iyengar, made claims for the effects of yoga on specific organs, without adducing any evidence. Iyengar claimed that this pose "rejuvenates the spine", recommending it for stiff backs, lumbago and slipped discs.

He claimed that it strengthened the spine and gave "elasticity" to the lungs, that it made the blood circulate "properly in the pelvic region", keeping it healthy. Iyengar, B. K. S.. Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika. Unwin Paperbacks. ISBN 978-1855381667. Jain, Andrea. Selling Yoga: from Counterculture to Pop culture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-939024-3. OCLC 878953765. Mehta, Silva. Yoga: The Iyengar Way. Dorling Kindersley. Newcombe, Suzanne. Yoga in Britain: Stretching Spirituality and Educating Yogis. Bristol, England: Equinox Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78179-661-0. Singleton, Mark. Yoga Body: the origins of modern posture practice. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-539534-1. OCLC 318191988