Lolita (term)

Lolita was the nickname of one of the principal characters in Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita. Lolita's actual name was Dolores, with whom the narrator, Humbert Humbert, develops a sexual obsession. In the book itself, "Lolita" is specifically Humbert's nickname for Dolores. Nevertheless, "Lolita" and "loli" has come to be used as a general reference to a seductive or sexually attractive young woman.

In the marketing of pornography, lolita is used to refer to a young girl, frequently one who has only recently reached the age of consent, or appears to be younger than the age of consent.

Etymology & Related Terms

Nymphet

A nymphet is a sexually attractive girl, or young woman. The first recorded use of the term "nymphet", defined by The Century Dictionary as "a little nymph", was by Drayton in Poly-Olbion I. xi. Argt. 171 (1612): "Of the nymphets sporting there In Wyrrall, and in Delamere."

In Lolita, "nymphet" was used to describe the 9- to 14-year-old girls to whom the protagonist is attracted, the archetypal nymphet being the character of Dolores Haze. Nabokov, in the voice of his narrator Humbert, first describes these nymphets in the following passage:

Born to Die (Lana Del Rey album)

Born to Die is the second studio album and major-label debut by American singer and songwriter Lana Del Rey. It was released on January 27, 2012 by Interscope Records, Polydor Records, and Stranger Records. Del Rey collaborated with producers including Patrik Berger, Jeff Bhasker, Chris Braide, Emile Haynie, Justin Parker, Rick Nowels, Robopop, and Al Shux to achieve her desired sound. Their efforts resulted in a primarily baroque pop record, which sees additional influences from alternative hip hop, indie pop and trip hop music.

Contemporary music critics were divided in their opinions of Born to Die; some commended its distinctive production, while its repetitiveness and melodramatic tendencies were a recurring complaint. The record debuted at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 77,000 copies; it was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) after moving one million units. Born to Die reached the peak position on eleven international record charts, and has sold 8.5 million copies worldwide as of May 2015.

Lolita (play)

Lolita is a play adapted by Edward Albee from Vladimir Nabokov's novel of the same name. The troubled production opened on Broadway on March 19, 1981 after 31 previews and closed after only 12 performances.

Frank Rich in his New York Times review wondered why the play even opened after "weeks of delays" as it was "the kind of embarrassment that audiences do not quickly forget or forgive." Rich said the least of its sins were incompetence, being boring, and trashing a literary masterpiece. "What sets Lolita apart from ordinary failures is its abject mean-spiritedness," he wrote. "For all this play's babbling about love, it is rank with indiscriminate – and decidedly unearned – hate."

Ten years earlier, John Barry and Alan Jay Lerner's musical Lolita, My Love was a bomb, closing during tryouts in Boston. (Albee's Lolita also played in Boston before its Broadway launch.) Critics had scored the play, saying that the lack of Nabokov's authorial voice made the musical salacious. Albee put Nabokov on stage in his play, but it did not help.

Relax

Relax may refer to:

Music

Albums

Songs

Film

Computing

See also

Relax (Blank & Jones album)

Relax is the fifth studio album by Trance duo Blank & Jones. It was released in 2003.

Track listing

Relax (2007 Reissue) Soundcolors #SC101, Double CD, Limited Edition, released in 2007.

Track listing

CD1 - Sun

Relax (song)

"Relax" is the debut single by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the United Kingdom by ZTT Records in 1983. The song was later included on the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome (1984).

Although fairly inauspicious upon initial release, "Relax" finally reached number one on the UK singles chart on 24 January 1984, ultimately becoming one of the most controversial and most commercially successful records of the entire decade. The single eventually sold a reported 2 million copies in the UK alone, making it the seventh best-selling single in the UK Singles Chart's history. Following the release of the group's second single, "Two Tribes", "Relax" rallied from a declining UK chart position during June 1984 to climb back up the UK charts and re-attain number-two spot behind "Two Tribes" at number one, representing simultaneous chart success by a single act, unprecedented since the early 1960s.

Upon release in the United States in late 1984, "Relax" repeated its slow UK progress, reaching number 67 upon initial release, but eventually reaching number 10 in March 1985.