Queen Band

Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of the late Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), John Deacon (bass guitar), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals). Queen's earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works, incorporating more diverse and innovative styles in their music.

Before joining Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor had been playing together in a band named Smile with bassist Tim Staffell. Freddie Mercury (then known as Farrokh/Freddie Bulsara) was a fan of Smile, and encouraged them to experiment with more elaborate stage and recording techniques after Staffell's departure in 1970. Mercury himself joined the band shortly thereafter, changed the name of the band to "Queen", and adopted his familiar stage name. John Deacon was recruited prior to recording their eponymous debut album (1973). Queen enjoyed success in the UK with their debut and its follow-up, Queen II (1974), but it was the release of Sheer Heart Attack (1974) and A Night at the Opera (1975) that gained the band international success. The latter featured "Bohemian Rhapsody", which stayed at number one in the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks; it charted at number one in several other territories, and gave the band their first top ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100. Their 1977 album, News of the World, contained two of rock's most recognisable anthems, "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions". By the early 1980s, Queen were one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world, and their performance at 1985's Live Aid is regarded as one of the greatest in rock history. In 1991, Mercury died of bronchopneumonia, a complication of AIDS, and Deacon retired in 1997. Since then, May and Taylor have infrequently performed together, including a collaboration with Paul Rodgers under the name Queen + Paul Rodgers which ended in May 2009.

The band have released a total of 18 number one albums, 18 number one singles, and 10 number one DVDs. Estimates of their album sales generally range from 150 million to 300 million albums, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. They received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the British Phonographic Industry in 1990, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.

Early days (1968–1974)

In 1968, guitarist Brian May, a student at London's Imperial College, and bassist Tim Staffell decided to form a band. May placed an advertisement on the college notice board for a "Mitch Mitchell/Ginger Baker type" drummer; Roger Taylor, a young dental student, auditioned and got the job. The group called themselves Smile.^[3]

While attending Ealing Art College, Tim Staffell became friends with Farrokh Bulsara, a fellow student who had assumed the English name of Freddie. Bulsara felt that he and the band had the same tastes and soon became a keen fan of Smile. In late 1970, after Staffell left to join the band Humpy Bong, the remaining Smile members, encouraged by Bulsara, changed their name to "Queen" and continued working together.^[4] When asked about the name, Bulsara explained, "I thought up the name Queen. It's just a name, but it's very regal obviously, and it sounds splendid. It's a stro

Early days (1968–1974)

In 1968, guitarist Brian May, a student at London's Imperial College, and bassist Tim Staffell decided to form a band. May placed an advertisement on the college notice board for a "Mitch Mitchell/Ginger Baker type" drummer; Roger Taylor, a young dental student, auditioned and got the job. The group called themselves Smile.^[3]

While attending Ealing Art College, Tim Staffell became friends with Farrokh Bulsara, a fellow student who had assumed the English name of Freddie. Bulsara felt that he and the band had the same tastes and soon became a keen fan of Smile. In late 1970, after Staffell left to join the band Humpy Bong, the remaining Smile members, encouraged by Bulsara, changed their name to "Queen" and continued working together.^[4] When asked about the name, Bulsara explained, "I thought up the name Queen. It's just a name, but it's very regal obviously, and it sounds splendid. It's a strong name, very universal and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts of interpretations. I was certainly aware of gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it."^[4]

The band had a number of bass players during this period who did not fit with the band's chemistry. It was not until February 1971 that they settled on John Deacon and began to rehearse for their first album. They recorded four of their own songs, "Liar", "Keep Yourself Alive", "The Night Comes Down" and "Jesus", for a demo tape; no record companies were interested.^[5] It was also around this time Freddie changed his surname to "Mercury", inspired by the line "Mother Mercury, look what they've done to me," in the song My Fairy King.^[6] On 2 July 1971, Queen played their first show in the classic line-up of Mercury, May, Deacon and Taylor at a Surrey college outside London.

Grenade

A grenade is any explosive device designed to be thrown by hand. Grenade launchers are firearms designed to fire explosive projectile grenades. There are both grenade launchers that are integrated into other weapons (such as service rifles) and those that are built as individual weapon systems.

Design

schematic of M31 HEAT rifle grenade

Most grenades explode, projecting fragments, i.e., pieces of the casing, serrated wire, or an incendiary material. Some, such as smoke grenades, merely burn, releasing smoke for masking, marking, or signalling. CS riot grenades function the same way. Grenades contain an explosive or chemical filler and have a small opening for a fuse. In modern hand grenades, the fuse is lit by an internal device rather than an external flame. Grenades are not reusable.

Detonation mechanism

Timed fuse

In a timed fuse grenade, the fuse is ignited upon release of the safety lever. Timed fuse grenades are generally preferred to hand-thrown percussion grenades because their fusing mechanisms are safer and more robust than those used in percussion grenades. Air burst grenades are fired from launchers and explode after a preset time corresponding with the distance to the target.

History

Incendiary grenades

Hand grenades filled with Greek fire; surrounded by caltrops. (10th-12th c. National Historical Museum, Athens, Greece)

Incendiary grenades, that use petroleum, appeared in the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, not long after the reign of Leo III (717–741).^[1] Byzantine soldiers learned to use Greek fire, a Byzantine invention of the previous century, which was also in stone and ceramic jars.^[1] Later, glass containers were employed. Byzantine hand grenades from the 10th to 12th centuries are on display in the National Museum at Athens. The use of petroleum for incendiary weapons, or rather variants thereof, spread to Muslim armies in the Near East, where it reached China by the 10th century.^[1] Some medieval petards were small enough to be employed against enemy troops and are sometimes considered to be primitive hand grenades.

Explosive grenades

Earliest known representation of a gun (a fire lance) and a grenade (upper right), Dunhuang, 10th century CE.^[2]

After the invention of gunpowder in China, it was applied to early designs to create the world's first explosive grenades, a prototype of the modern hand grenade.^[3] Explosive grenades first appeared in Europe during the 17th century.

China

In China during the Song Dynasty (960–1279AD), weapons known as Zhen Tian Lei were created when Chinese soldiers packed gunpowder into ceramic or metal containers. In 1044, a military book Wujing Zongyao ("Compilation of Military Classics") described various gunpowder recipes in which one can find, according to Joseph Needham, the prototype of the modern hand grenade.^[3]

The first cast iron bombshells and grenades did not appear in Europe until 1467.^[4] Within a couple centuries of this, the Chinese had discovered the explosive potential of packing hollowed cannonball shells with gunpowder. Written later by Jiao Yu (焦玉) in the mid 14th century book of the Huolongjing (火龙经, "Fire Drake Manual"), this manuscript recorded an earlier Song-era cast iron cannon known as the "flying-cloud thunderclap cannon" (飞云霹雳炮; feiyun pili pao). The manuscript stated that (Needham's modified Wade-Giles spelling):

The shells (pào) are made of cast iron, as large as a bowl and shaped like a ball. Inside they contain half a pound of (shén huǒ, gunpowder). Upon detonation, the sound produced from the device was described as "claps of thunder".

—^[5]

This text of the Huolongjing was also important for the understanding of the Chinese hand grenade in the 14th century, as it provided much more detailed descriptions and even printed illustrations of the grenade bombs used.^[6]

Production of Sidolówka hand grenades in an underground Armia Krajowa facility in Lwów during World War II.

Europe

In 1643, it is possible that "Grenades" were thrown amongst the Welsh at Holt Bridge during the English Civil War. The word "grenade" originated in the Glorious Revolution (1688), where cricket ball-sized iron spheres packed with gunpowder and fitted with slow-burning wicks were first used against the Jacobites in the battles of Killiecrankie and Glen Shiel.^[7] These grenades were not very effective (probably because a direct hit would be necessary for the grenade to have effect) and, as a result, saw little use. However, trench warfare favored the grenade.

Canada

In the book, the Battle for James Bay 1686 (a translation of French soldier Chevalier de Troyes' journal), "grenades" are referred to as part of their inventory. De Troyes' wrote, "In the fire, we lost a canoe, some sacks of corn, and several muskets. Some grenades which were in one of the sacks of corn did not explode although the sack itself was completely burned." ^[8]

Etymology

The word "grenade" is the French word for pomegranate.^[9] Soldiers commented on the similar shape of early grenades and the name entered common usage. Early grenades also had round projectile fragments within it that made it further resemble a pomegranate.

Bruno Mars

Peter Gene Hernández (born October 8, 1985), known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age and performed in various musical venues in his hometown throughout his childhood. He graduated from high school and then moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a musical career. Mars produced songs for other artists, joining production team The Smeezingtons.

Mars had an unsuccessful stint with Motown Records, but then signed with Atlantic Records in 2009. He became recognized as a solo artist after lending his vocals and co-writing the hooks for the songs "Nothin' on You" by B.o.B, and "Billionaire" by Travie McCoy. He also co-wrote the hits "Right Round" by Flo Rida featuring Ke$ha, and "Wavin' Flag" by K'naan. In October 2010, he released his debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans. Anchored by the worldwide number-one singles "Just the Way You Are" and "Grenade", the album peaked at number three on the Billboard 200.^[2] Mars was nominated for seven Grammys at the 53rd Grammy Awards, winning Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Just the Way You Are". His second studio album, Unorthodox Jukebox, was released on December 11, 2012.

Mars' music is noted for displaying a wide variety of styles and influences, and contains elements of many musical genres. He has worked with an assortment of artists from various genres. As a child, he was highly influenced by artists such as Little Richard,^[3] Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson and would often impersonate these artists from a young age. Mars also incorporates reggae and Motown inspired sounds into his work. Worldwide, Mars became the best-selling digital artist in 2011. He had three singles in the top ten, including first place with "Just the Way You Are," which sold 12.5 million copies.^[4] Mars won Best International Male Solo Artist at the 2012 BRIT Awards.^[5] Bruno Mars has sold 6 million albums and 40 million singles worldwide.

Life and career

1985–2003: Early life and musical beginnings

Bruno Mars was born Peter Gene Hernández on October 8, 1985, in Honolulu, Hawaii, and was raised in the Waikiki neighborhood of Honolulu. He is the son of Peter Hernández and Bernadette "Bernie" San Pedro Bayot.^[7][8] His father is of half Puerto Rican and half Jewish (from Hungary and Ukraine) descent, and is originally from Brooklyn, New York.^[9][10] Mars' mother immigrated to Hawaii from the Philippines as a child, and is of Filipino and some Spanish descent.^[9][11][12] His parents met while performing in a show, where his mother was a hula dancer and his father played percussion.^[10] At the age of two, he was nicknamed "Bruno" by his father, because of his resemblance to legendary professional wrestler Bruno Sammartino.^[13][14][15]

Mars was one of six children and came from a musical family who exposed him to a diverse mix of reggae, rock, hip hop, and R&B.^[16][17] In addition to being a dancer, his mother was a singer and his father used his musical ability to perform Little Richard rock n roll music.^[3] Mars' uncle was an Elvis impersonator, and encouraged three-year-old Mars to perform on stage as well. Mars also performed songs by artists such as Michael Jackson, The Isley Brothers, and The Temptations.^[14] At age four, Mars began performing five days a week with his family's band, The Love Notes, in which he became known on the island for his impersonation of Presley.^[18] In 1990, Mars was featured in MidWeek as "Little Elvis", going on to have a cameo in the film Honeymoon in Vegas in 1992.^[14][19]

His time spent impersonating Presley had a major impact on Mars' musical evolution and performing techniques.^[20] He later began playing guitar after drawing inspiration from Jimi Hendrix.^[21] In 2010, he also acknowledged his Hawaiian roots and musical family as an influence, explaining, "Growing up in Hawaii made me the man I am. I used to do a lot of shows in Hawaii with my father's band. Everybody in my family sings, everyone plays instruments...I've just been surrounded by it."^[22] In 2003, shortly after graduating from President Theodore Roosevelt High School at the age of seventeen, Mars moved to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a musical career.^[14][19] He adopted his stage name from the nickname his father gave him, adding "Mars" at the end because "I felt like I didn't have [any] pizzazz, and a lot of girls say I’m out of this world, so I was like I guess I'm from Mars."^[23]

2004–10: Production work and It's Better If You Don't Understand

I’d always been a working musician in Hawaii and never had problems paying rent. And then it’s like, "Now I’m in L.A. and my phone’s getting shut off." That’s when reality hit. I started DJing. It was something silly. I told this person I could DJ because they said they could pay me $75 cash under the table. I didn’t know how to DJ. I lost that job pretty quick.

“

”

– Mars, speaking about his experiences of moving to Los Angeles to pursue a musical career.^[24]

Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Mars signed to Motown Records in 2004, in a deal that "went nowhere".^[25] However, Mars' experience with Motown proved to be beneficial to his career when he met songwriter and producer Philip Lawrence, who was also signed to the label. Mars, Lawrence, and engineer Ari Levine began writing songs together, and formed the production team The Smeezingtons.^[25] In 2006, Lawrence introduced Mars to his future manager at Atlantic Records, Aaron Bay-Schuck.^[26] After hearing him play a couple of songs on the guitar, Bay-Schuck wanted to sign him immediately, but it took about three years for Atlantic records to finally sign Mars to the label.^[26] In the meantime, Bay-Schuck hired Mars and the Smeezingtons to write and produce songs for the label's artists.^[26] According to Bay-Schuck in an interview with HitQuarters, Mars had stated that although his ultimate goal was to be a solo artist, he was willing to write and produce for other artists, both to help improve his songwriting and help him discover the type of artist he ultimately wanted to be.^[26] Bay-Schuck credits this as a period of "self-discovery" that contributed significantly to Mars' later success.^[26]

Before becoming a successful solo artist, Hernandez was an acknowledged music producer, writing songs for Alexandra Burke, Travie McCoy, Adam Levine, Brandy, Sean Kingston, and Flo Rida.^[16][24] He also co-wrote the Sugababes' hit song "Get Sexy" and provided backing vocals on their album Sweet 7.^[27][28] His first musical appearance as a singer was in Far East Movement's second studio album Animal, featured on the track "3D".^[29] He was also featured on pastor and hip hop artist Jaeson Ma's debut single "Love" in August 2009.^[30][31] He reached prominence as a solo artist after being featured on and co-writing B.o.B's "Nothin' on You" and Travie McCoy's "Billionaire"; both songs peaked within the top ten of many charts worldwide.^{[32][33][34][35]} He said of them, "I think those songs weren't meant to be full-sung songs. If I'd sung all of "Nothin' on You", it might've sounded like some '90s R&B." Following this success, Mars released his debut extended play (EP), titled It's Better If You Don't Understand, on May 11, 2010.^[36] The EP peaked at the 99th position on the Billboard 200 and produced one single, "The Other Side", featuring singers Cee Lo Green and B.o.B.^[37][38] Mars collaborated with Green once more in August 2010 by co-writing his single "Fuck You!" He performed a medley of "Nothin' on You" and "Airplanes" with B.o.B and Hayley Williams at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010.^[39]

2010–2012: Doo-Wops & Hooligans

Mars performing in Houston on the Doo-Wops & Hooligans Tour in November 2010.

Bruno Mars' debut album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans, was released digitally on October 4, and saw its physical release on October 5, 2010.^[40][41] The lead single, "Just the Way You Are", was released on July 19, 2010,^[42] and has reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 as well as several other charts worldwide.^[43][44] The music video was released on September 8, 2010.^[45] The second single, "Grenade", was released September 28, 2010, and has also seen successful international chart performance.^[46][47] In the United States, Doo-Wops & Hooligans debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 for the week of October 13, 2010, selling 55,000 copies.^[2] The album also received generally positive reviews from critics. Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt praised Mars for his "instant-access melodies" and "sly snatches of dance-floor swagger", but noted weaknesses in songs deviant from his conventional pop and soul genres.^[48] He opened for Maroon 5 on the fall leg of the Hands All Over Tour starting October 6, 2010 and co-headlined with McCoy on a European tour starting October 18, 2010.^[41]

On September 19, 2010, Mars was arrested in Las Vegas for possession of cocaine.^[49] When talking to a police officer, Mars reportedly stated that what he did was "foolish" and that "he has never used drugs before".^[50][51] Mars pled guilty to felony drug possession, and in return for his plea, he was told that the charges would be erased from his criminal record as long as he stayed out of trouble for a year, paid a $2,000 fine, did 200 hours of community service and completed a drug counseling course.^[52]

On February 13, 2011, Mars won his first Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, having received six nominations; Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Nothin' on You", Record of the Year for "Nothin' on You" and "Fuck You", Song of the Year for "Fuck You", and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical at the 53rd Grammy Awards.

On September 16, 2011, Bad Meets Evil released their single, "Lighters", which featured Mars in the song. The song was met with mixed reviews from critics and many criticized Mars for doing this type of song.^[53] On September 22, 2011, it was announced on Mars' website that his new song "It Will Rain" will appear on The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Original Motion Picture Soundtrack which was released on November 8.^[54] On October 30, 2011, Mars gave an exclusive performance of "Runaway Baby" on the results show of The X Factor UK, the same day that Mars received six nominations for a Grammy Award; Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album for Doo-Wops & Hooligans, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance for "Grenade", and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical at the 54th Grammy Awards. During the ceremony, Mars performed "Runaway Baby" but he did not win any awards as Adele won in all the categories he was nominated in and also lost to Paul Epworth for Producer of the Year.

2012–present: Unorthodox Jukebox

Mars has confirmed on Twitter that his work on his second album has begun. On March 22, 2012, it was announced that Mars had signed a worldwide publishing deal with BMG Chrysalis US.^[55] Mars told Billboard that his second album will be called Unorthodox Jukebox and that it was released on December 11, 2012. Mars also announced that the lead single would be called "Locked Out of Heaven", which was released on October 1, 2012. Along with announcing the album title and lead single, Mars announced 9 songs that are supposed to be on the album. They are "Young Girls", "Gorilla", "When I Was Your Man", "Natalie", "Treasure", "Moonshine", "Money Makes Her Smile", "Show Me", and "If I Knew".^[56] He notes that the album will be more musically varied and refuses to "pick a lane", explaining that "I listen to a lot of music, and I want to have the freedom and luxury to walk into a studio and say, 'Today I want to do a hip-hop, R&B, soul or rock record.'"^[56]

Mars hosted and was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live October 20, 2012.^[57] His performance as the host received positive reactions from critics and the public.

Unorthodox Jukebox debuted at #2 on the charts selling 187,000 copies.^[58]

Musical style

Mars performing on November 24, 2010. Mars plays several instruments including piano, guitar, bass and congas.^[59]

Mars' music has been noted for displaying a wide variety of styles and influences, including pop,^[60] rock,^[60] reggae,^[60] R&B,^[61] soul,^[48] and hip hop.^[62] His co-producer Philip Lawrence says, "What people don't know is there's a darker underbelly to Bruno Mars." Mars himself says, "I blame that on me singing to girls back in high school."^[63] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times called him "one of the most versatile and accessible singers in pop, with a light, soul-influenced voice that’s an easy fit in a range of styles, a universal donor."^[64] As a child, his time spent impersonating Elvis Presley had a major impact on his musical evolution; he later reflected: "I watch the best. I'm a big fan of Elvis. I'm a big fan of 1950s Elvis when he would go on stage and scare people because he was a force and girls would go nuts! You can say the same thing for Prince or The Police. It's just guys who know that people are here to see a show, so I watch those guys and I love studying them because I'm a fan."^[20] Mars was initially influenced by R&B artists such as Keith Sweat, Jodeci and R. Kelly, as well as 1950s rock 'n' roll and Motown.^[65] In high school, he began listening to classic rock groups such as The Police, Led Zeppelin, and the Beatles.^[65] All of these genres of music have influenced Mars' musical style; he observed that "It’s not easy to [create] songs with that mixture of rock and soul and hip-hop, and there’s only a handful of them."^[65] Mars also stated that he is a fan of Alicia Keys, Jessie J, Jack White and The Saturdays.^[66]

In addition, Mars claims that his work with other artists influenced his musical style, saying that "'Nothin' on You' had a Motown vibe, 'Billionaire' was a reggae acoustic guitar-driven song, though one of my favorites is the Cee-Lo [Green] song ['Fuck You']. I don't think anyone else could've sung that song. And there's 'Just the Way You Are.' If you know my story, you know I love all different genres of music."^[67] He cites doo-wop as a major influence on his music, referring to the genre as "just straightforward love songs – so charming and simple and romantic."^[67] In addition, Mars states that growing up in Hawaii influenced his music, giving the songs a reggae sound. He explains that "In Hawaii some of the biggest radio stations are reggae. The local bands are heavily influenced by Bob Marley. That music brings people together. It's not urban music or pop music. It's just songs. That's what makes it cross over so well. The song comes first."^[10] Lyrically, many of Mars' songs have been described as "feel-good", carefree, and optimistic,^[68] however, darker subjects are addressed in songs such as "Grenade", "Liquor Store Blues", and "Talking to the Moon", which detail failed relationships and self-destructive behavior.

The X Factor Indonesia

The X Factor Indonesia is an Indonesian television music competition to find new singing talent; the winner of which receives a 1 billion rupiah including a recording contract with Sony Music Indonesia. It premiered on December 28, 2012 on RCTI. It is the second franchise to be adapted in Southeast Asia after the Philippines.

As part of the British The X Factor franchise, the show's format has numerous differences from rivals such as Indonesian Idol. The competition is open to both solo artists and groups and has no upper age limit. Each judge is assigned one of four categories—boys between 15 and 23, girls between 15 and 23, individuals 24 and over, or groups (some of which may be formed from rejected soloists after the audition process). Throughout the live shows the judges act as mentors to their category, helping to decide song choices, styling and staging, while judging contestants from the other categories; they also compete to ensure that their act wins the competition, thus making them the winning judge.

History

Although Indonesian Idol went on to become an enormous success and the number 1 show in Indonesia for seven consecutive seasons, the original UK version, Pop Idol did not fare so well. Cowell, who was a judge on Pop Idol, wished to launch a show which he owned the rights to. Pop Idol's first series was massively successful, and while the second series was also successful, the viewers figure for its finale dropped.^[1] Some—including Pop Idol judge Pete Waterman—^[2] considered Michelle McManus an unworthy winner. In 2004, Pop Idol was axed and ITV announced a new show created by former Pop Idol judge Simon Cowell, with no involvement from Idol creator Simon Fuller—The X Factor. Its ratings were average in the first couple of series, but by the sixth series in 2009, ratings were hitting 10 million each week.

In March 2010, RCTI, the broadcaster of Indonesian Idol, signed the deal to launch the Indonesian version of The X Factor.

At first, the X Factor Indonesia is planned as a replacement for Indonesian Idol in 2012, but due to the enormous success of the 7th seasonRCTI and FremantleMedia decided to continue to collaborate on both the X Factor Indonesia and Indonesian Idol with each playing on alternate years. To repeat the success of seventh season of Indonesian Idol, Fabian Dharmawan from RCTI is appointed to be the Executive Producer for RCTI for the first season of the X Factor Indonesia, Head of Entertainment of Fremantle Media, Glenn Sims together with Virgita Ruchiman and Ken Irawati serving as Executive Producers for Fremantle Indonesia.

In August 2012, RCTI began airing short commercials for the program, which displayed the text "Coming Soon in Indonesia". A second promo was shown during that night, featuring One Direction, Agnes Monica, Afgan, Iwan Fals, 3 Diva, Glenn Fredly, SM*SH, Ariel 'NOAH', Ayu Ting Ting, 7 Icons and Tria 'The Changcuters'. This promo started speculation on who would be judges on the X Factor Indonesia.

X Factor premiered in Indonesia on December 28, 2012.

Format and prize

The show is primarily concerned with identifying singing talent, though appearance, personality, stage presence and dance routines are also an important element of many performances. Each judge is assigned one of four categories—either girls between 15 and 24, boys between 15 and 24, individuals 25 and over, or groups (some of which may be formed from rejected soloists after the audition process). Through the live shows, the judges act as mentors to their category, helping to decide song choices, styling and staging, while judging contestants from other categories.

The winner of the competition is awarded a recording contract with Sony Music Indonesia, which would include cash payments totaling 1 billion rupiah. It's the largest guaranteed prize in Indonesian television history.

There are five stages to the X Factor Indonesia:

• Stage 1: Producers' auditions (these auditions decide who will sing in front of the judges)
• Stage 2: Judges' auditions
• Stage 3: Bootcamp
• Stage 4: Judges' houses
• Stage 5: Live shows (finals)

Auditions

The show is open to solo artists and vocal groups aged 15 and above. Successful auditionees from the producers audition in front of the judges and live audience wherein the judges must vote to allow the auditionee to proceed to the next round. In that case, at least three judges have to say yes for the auditionee to move on to the next round. There is also online audition which the auditionees can upload their performance on the X Factor Indonesia website and the get the vote from viewers on Youtube. An auditionee with the most voted video will get the chance to meet the judges and awarded cash prize.

Bootcamp and judges' home visits

In the Boot Camp, contestants will have to go through a series of performances to test their "x factor." The number of contestants will then be trimmed down to 26 contestants and will be divided into four categories - Under-26 Boys (6 solo male contestants aged 15–25), Under-26 Girls (7 solo female contestants aged 15–25), Over-26s (8 solo adult contestants over 26 years old) and Groups (5 group contestants).

At the bootcamp, the producers will also reveal which category the judges will be mentoring. The judges then disband for the "judges' home visits" round, where they further reduce their acts on location at a residence with the help of a celebrity guest mentor.

Gala live shows

The finals consist of a series of two gala live shows, with the first featuring the contestants' performances and the second revealing the results of the public voting. Celebrity guest performers will be featured regularly.

Judges and hosts

Anggun is one of the judge in the first season.

Many people were rumored to be in the running to join the judging panel, including Indra Lesmana, Titi DJ, Maia Estianty, Vina Panduwinata, Tompi, Anang Hermansyah, Sherina Munaf, Agnes Monica, Ruth Sahanaya, and Iwan Fals. Eventually, Dewa 19-frontman, musician, songwriter, and record producer Ahmad Dhani, singer, musician, and songwriter Bebi Romeo, pop diva Rossa, and International Diva Anggun were confirmed to join this show as judges. Pop sensational singer Mulan Jameela filled in for Anggun at the auditions while Anggun was performing in her Europe Live Tour Concert. Numerous people were speculated to host the series, including VJ Boy William and Daniel Mananta, host of Indonesian Idol. On November 23, 2012, ex-VJ Robby Purba was announced as host of the show.

Judges' categories and their finalists

In each season, each judge is allocated a category to mentor and chooses a small number of acts to progress to the live shows. This table shows, for each season, which category each judge was allocated and which acts he or she put through to the live shows.

The mentors will find out their categories during the Judges' home visit phase of the competition which will also be the very first appearance by Anggun.

Post X Factor Indonesia

The winner of the X Factor Indonesia is awarded a recording contract from Sony Music Indonesia. A press release on behalf of the show called the recording contract "the biggest guaranteed prize in Indonesia television history".

Media sponsorship

On September 29, 2012, RCTI, SYCOtv and FremantleMedia Asia announced that Cross Mobile will be the official sponsor of the X Factor Indonesia. The sponsorship includes an extensive multi-platform on and off-air marketing partnership. On December 26, Kopi ABC was announced as the second official sponsor of the show. Kopi ABC's sponsorship will also include an extensive multi-platform on and off-air marketing partnership. Indosat Mentari, a product of PT Indosat Tbk which is controlled by PT Infokom Elektrindo (MNC Media), was confirmed as the third official sponsor on December 28. Indosat Mentari's sponsorship of the X Factor Indonesia will also include an extensive multi-platform on and off-air marketing partnership between Indosat and MNC Sky Vision. Oriflame also sponsors the show; they are the official make-up sponsor.

What's Blog?

A blog (a portmanteau of the term web log) is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries ("posts") typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first). Until 2009 blogs were usually the work of a single individual, occasionally of a small group, and often were themed on a single subject. More recently "multi-author blogs" (MABs) have developed, with posts written by large numbers of authors and professionally edited. MABs from newspapers, other media outlets, universities, think tanks, interest groups and similar institutions account for an increasing quantity of blog traffic. The rise of Twitter and other "microblogging" systems helps integrate MABs and single-author blogs into societal newstreams. Blog can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

The emergence and growth of blogs in the late 1990s coincided with the advent of web publishing tools that facilitated the posting of content by non-technical users. (Previously, a knowledge of such technologies as HTML and FTP had been required to publish content on the Web.)

A majority are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via GUI widgets on the blogs, and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites. In that sense, blogging can be seen as a form of social networking. Indeed, bloggers do not only produce content to post on their blogs, but also build social relations with their readers and other bloggers.There are high-readership blogs which do not allow comments, such as Daring Fireball.

Many blogs provide commentary on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries; others function more as online brand advertising of a particular individual or company. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability of readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important contribution to the popularity of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (art blogs), photographs (photoblogs), videos (video blogs or "vlogs"), music (MP3 blogs), and audio (podcasts). Microblogging is another type of blogging, featuring very short posts. In education, blogs can be used as instructional resources. These blogs are referred to as edublogs.

As of 16 February 2011, there were over 156 million public blogs in existence. On October 13, 2012, there were around 77 million Tumblr and 56.6 million WordPress blogs in existence worldwide. According to critics and other bloggers, Blogger is the most popular blogging service used today.

Overview

Online diaries have existed since at least 1994. As a community formed, these publications came to be almost exclusively known as online journals. Today they are almost exclusively called blogs, though some differentiate by calling them personal blogs. The running updates of online diarists combined with links inspired the term 'web log' which was eventually contracted to form the word 'blog'.

In online diaries, people write about their day-to-day experiences, social commentary, complaints, poems, prose, illicit thoughts and any content that might be found in a traditional paper diary or journal. They often allow readers to contribute through comments or community posting.

Early history

The first web page in an online-diary format is thought to be Claudio Pinhanez's "Open Diary", which was published at the MIT Media Lab website from 14 November 1994 until 1996.^[1] Other early online diarists include Justin Hall, who began eleven years of personal online diary-writing in 1994,^[2] Carolyn Burke, who started publishing "Carolyn's Diary"^[3] on 3 January 1995, Bryon Sutherland, who announced his diary The Semi-Existence of Bryon in a USENET newsgroup on 19 April 1995,^[4] and David Siegel, who started his journal^[5] on 30 August 1995.

Online diaries soon caught the attention of the media with the publication of the book 24 Hours in Cyberspace (1996) which captured personal profiles of the people involved in early web pages. The earliest book-length scholarly discussion of online diaries is Philippe Lejeune's Cher écran, ("Dear Screen", not yet translated to English).^[6]

The end of 1997 is generally considered the cut-off date for early adopters.^[7]

In 1998, Simon Firth described in Salon magazine^[8] how many early online diarists were abandoning the form. And yet, he said, "While many of the movement's pioneers may be tired and disillusioned, the genre shows plenty of signs of life -- of blossoming, even, into something remarkable: a new literary form that allows writers to connect with readers in an excitingly new way."

Formation of a community

As diarists (sometimes called escribitionists) began to learn from each other, several Webrings formed to connect the various diaries and journals. The most popular Webring was Open Pages, which started in July 1996 and had 537 members as of 20 October 1998. A community website called Diarist.Net was formed and awarded "The Diarist Awards" quarterly from 1999 through 2004. There were a number of lists of diaries and journals by topic, called "'burbs", which allowed people to find sites that had some correlation to each other.^[9]

Mailing lists helped solidify the community. "Collabs" were collaborative projects in which people wrote on given topics and subjects.

Technologies

Some early diaries and journals showcased different emerging internet technologies, including interactive message forums, online stores, RealAudio, RealVideo, live webcams, notify lists, and daily self-photographs.^[10]

Today's diaries and journals may feature podcasts, trackBacks, permalinks, blogrolls and a host of other cutting-edge technologies.

Lifestyle

The formation of diary hosting websites such as Open Diary, Diary-X, Xanga, Femmunity and LiveJournal caused an explosive proliferation of online diaries and journals. Today, interactive online diaries, online journals, personal blogs and group blogs are integrated into the daily lives of many teenagers and college students, with communications between friends playing out online. Even fights may be posted in the diaries, with not-so-veiled insults of each other easily readable by all their friends, enemies, and complete strangers.

Personal opinions on experiences and hobbies are very common in the blog world. Blogs have given the opportunity for people to express their views to a mass audience.

In October 2006, the History Matters campaign, a 2006 joint project by the major heritage organizations in England and Wales, conducted the One Day in History project, asking residents of the UK to write an online diary of what they did on 17 October 2006. The diaries were stored at the British Library from November