Mercy (2000 film)

Mercy is a 2000 erotic thriller film directed by Damian Harris and starring Ellen Barkin. The movie was based on a novel written by David L. Lindsey.

Plot

Detective Cathy Palmer (Ellen Barkin) is on the trail of an elusive serial killer. During her investigation she meets Vickie Kittrie (Peta Wilson), who belongs to an exclusive club of women who engage in secret sessions of bondage and S&M. Matters become even more complicated when Palmer finds herself attracted to Kittrie, leading to a brief lesbian encounter. Palmer soon learns that each victim belonged to this club of prominent, sexually experimental women. In order to catch the killer, Catherine must trust Vickie to guide her through the dangerous and illicit underground.

Cast

Mercy (Muse song)

"Mercy" is a song by English rock band Muse from their seventh album, Drones. It was released as the second single from the album on 18 May 2015.

Background

The song is part of a concept album about "the journey of a human, from their abandonment and loss of hope, to their indoctrination by the system to be a human drone, to their eventual defection from their oppressors". On the band's website, writer and singer Matthew Bellamy stated that "[t]he opening line of ‘Mercy’ - Help me I’ve fallen on the inside - is a reference to the protagonist knowing and recognizing that they have lost something, they have lost themselves. This is where they realize they’re being overcome by the dark forces that were introduced in ‘Psycho’."

Song description

In his review of Drones, NME's Mark Beaumont described the song as "infectious electro-rock".Consequence of Sound's Collin Brennan called it an "anthem" reminiscent of "latter-day U2". In similar fashion, Gigwise's Andrew Trendell described the song as a "driving and pulsing piano-led arena power-anthem". Likening it to the music from the band's fourth album Black Holes And Revelations, he called the song a "close cousin to 'Starlight'[...], albeit with a rejuvenated energy and very forward-looking approach".

Dreaming Out Loud (OneRepublic album)

Dreaming Out Loud is the debut studio album by American pop rock band OneRepublic. The album was released on November 20, 2007 by Interscope Records. The album was recorded between 2004 and 2006 and it was produced by Greg Wells, with two songs produced by singer Ryan Tedder, and was engineered and mixed by Joe Zook. The album follows two years of massive success on Myspace; the band had appeared in Myspace Music's Top Artists since early 2006, with over 28 million total song plays counted.

The album was released after the success of a remix version of the lead single "Apologize", which was produced by Timbaland. The song reached number one in many countries, while it peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The following single "Stop and Stare" was also a success, while "Say (All I Need)", "Mercy" and "Come Home" were also released as singles.

The album received generally mixed reviews from music critics. Many critics cited U2, Coldplay, The Fray, Muse and Snow Patrol as the band's influences on the album. Some commended the band for having a "tremendous confidence apparent in the craft of creating pleasing music", but others felt it was an unoriginal album and thought that Tedder continued to make pop rock fare better whenever he was writing for groups other than his own. Many critics noted that it was difficult to distinguish the differences between some tracks. The album reached top ten in many countries, including the Australian Albums Chart, Canadian Albums Chart, German Albums Chart, UK Albums Chart and others. It debuted at number 14 on the Billboard 200 chart. Dreaming Out Loud has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.

Rage (Smith novel)

Rage is a 1987 novel by Wilbur Smith set in the Union of South Africa, immediately following World War II. It starts in 1952 and goes until the late 1960s, touching on the country's declaration of a republic and the subsequent Sharpeville Massacre. The plot centers around Sasha Courtney and black resistance leader Moses Gama.

Smith described it at the time as "the most onerous book I have ever written... and also the biggest book" because of its subject matter.

References

Rage (1972 film)

Rage is a 1972 film starring George C. Scott, Richard Basehart, Martin Sheen and Barnard Hughes. Scott also directed this drama about a sheep rancher who is fatally exposed to a military lab's poison gas.

Nicolas Beauvy is featured as the rancher's doomed son in a cast that also includes Paul Stevens and Stephen Young.

Plot

While on a camping trip, sheep rancher Dan Logan (Scott) and his son are inadvertently exposed to a secret Army nerve gas from a helicopter passing overhead. Both end up in a military hospital in which they are kept apart, unable to contact outsiders, and lied to about their condition by a mysterious major (Sheen), who looks at the incident as little more than an opportunity to study the effectiveness of a nerve gas on humans.

Logan tries to hold someone accountable for their actions, but he and his family physician (Basehart) are stone-walled from every angle by military authorities and by bureaucrats staging a cover up -- with those responsible already well insulated by their positions of power. He is hospitalized and put under observation by the government for symptoms related to exposure to nerve agents, and to record his physiological responses to the toxins.

Rage (trick-taking card game)

Rage is a trick-taking card game marketed by Fundex Games that is based on the game Oh Hell. Players bid to take a particular number of tricks, and are awarded bonus points for doing so. The commercial game differs significantly from the traditional version in the use of a proprietary deck with 6 colored suits and the addition of 6 types of special cards that change gameplay.

Deck

Rage uses a deck made up as follows.

There are thus a total of 110 cards in the deck. Fundex states there are 16 Rage cards (though its itemized list adds up to only the 14 listed here) and so some editions of the game may have additional Rage cards.

Setup

The game can be played by 2 to 6 players. One player is the scorekeeper and uses either the special scoresheet printed in the instructions (it can be photocopied freely) or a piece of plain paper to keep score. The entire deck of cards is shuffled and cut.