The Fame is the debut studio album by American singer Lady Gaga. It was released on August 19, 2008 through Interscope Records. After joining Kon Live Distribution and Cherrytree Records in 2008, Gaga began working on the album with different producers, primarily RedOne, Martin Kierszenbaum and Rob Fusari. Musically, The Fame is a synthpop and dance-pop album that has influences of pop music from the 1980s. Lyrically, the album visualizes Gaga's love of fame in general while also dealing with subjects such as love, sex, money, drugs and sexual identity. Promotion was primarily through The Fame Ball Tour and multiple television appearances. The Fame was included as a bonus disc on the deluxe edition of the extended play, The Fame Monster (2009).
The album received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who commended the album's lyrical content and Gaga's musicianship and vocal ability. The album was a commercial success, topping the charts in different countries worldwide, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Switzerland. In the United States, it peaked at number two on the Billboard 200, while topping the Dance/Electronic Albums chart for 106 non-consecutive weeks. The Fame became the fifth best-selling album of 2009. It has sold 4.6 million copies in the United States as of March 2015 and is the seventh best-selling digital album in history. The album sold 15 million copies worldwide as of November 2010.
Aztek is a fictional character, a superhero in the DC Universe. Based out of the fictional Vanity City, Aztek is the champion of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. The character first appeared in Aztek, The Ultimate Man #1 in August 1996, created by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar. Following the short run series, Aztek appeared in several issues of JLA also written by Morrison.
Uno is raised from childhood by a secret organization named the Q Society to be the champion of the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl to battle their enemy, the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca. He is given a magical suit of armor that bestows many abilities, complementing Uno's peak human mental and physical abilities. After his training is completed, he enters the United States and assumes the identity of recently deceased physician Curt Falconer.
Aztek later joins the Justice League, but resigns when it is revealed that one of the mysterious benefactors of the Q Society is supervillain Lex Luthor. He is later blinded helping the League save the Earth in a battle against the planet-destroying machine Mageddon (apparently the Tezcatlipoca that the cult was referring to all along). Aztek ultimately sacrifices himself to allow Superman the chance to destroy Mageddon/Tezcatlipoca, during the World War III story arc.
Vanity, also known as Vanity Shops, is an American specialty chain of fashion retailers that sells apparel and accessories targeted to fashion-conscious young females, online and in-stores. The company is headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota. The fashion retailer’s clothing items range in size from zero to 17 with pants inseam lengths of up to 37 inches (940 mm).
Emery and Ann Jahnke purchased the Vanity name in 1957 from a Dickinson, ND, dress shop where Ann worked. Vanity was incorporated in 1966 and the first Vanity junior fashion store opened in 1969 in Fargo, North Dakota. The first store was located in Dickinson and occupied 900 square feet (84 m2).
In 1960, the store moved to a 2,000-square-foot (190 m2) location and opened a children’s clothing store in the original location. In 1964, the Jahnkes opened a Vanity store in Grand Forks, ND with one-third of the 3000 square footage dedicated to junior women’s merchandise. The Grand Forks store was so successful, the Jahnkes sold their Dickinson locations and opened Vanity 2 in Grand Forks with 4,000 square feet (370 m2) of space. It was the only junior women’s store in the state at the time.
Arabesqued damasks,
pillows of liquid and clear eyes
shining intense mirrors
of green silvery recesses,
tangled gardens,
emerald water-works,
old crumbled balaustrades
where ivies and ferns
fresco in the wind
spiritual thrills of bluish-green contrasts.
My liquid and clear eyes
grasp and welcome
the bright run-after
of immanent fountains.
My eyes now and ever
dilute in circles
of yellow-ochre water and flora
and vanish off-shore
brushing surfaces
into threads and fibres