Kairo

Kairo may refer to:

See also

Pulse (2001 film)

Pulse, known in Japan as Kairo (回路), is a 2001 Japanese horror film directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. The film is based on his novel of the same name. The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. The movie was well-received critically and has a cult following. An American remake, also titled Pulse, debuted in 2006 and spawned two sequels.

Plot

The plot centers on ghosts invading the world of the living via the Internet. It features two parallel story lines.

First Story

The first story involves a young woman named Kudo Michi (Kumiko Aso) who works at a plant sales company. She has recently moved to the city and her main friends are her three colleagues, Sasano Junko, Toshio Yabe and Taguchi. At the start of the film, it appears Taguchi has been missing for some days working on a computer disk. Michi goes to visit his apartment and finds him distracted and aloof; in the middle of their conversation, he casually makes a noose, leaves and hangs himself. Michi and her colleagues inspect the computer disk he left behind and discover it contains an image of Taguchi staring at his own computer monitor, which is displaying an image of Taguchi staring at his computer monitor, creating an endless series of images. In the other monitor on his desk, Michi and her friends discover a ghostly face staring out into Taguchi's room.

Kairo (video game)

Kairo is an indie adventure game, developed and published by Locked Door Puzzle, Richard Perrin's independent studio. Kairo is set in world of minimalist abstract architecture which the player must explore to solve the puzzle contained within.

Gameplay

Kairo is played from first person perspective and has no additional controls beyond the ability to look around and navigate the environment. Interaction comes in the form of pushing objects, standing on switches or the environment reacting to player movement.

Story

There is no dialogue and very little text in the game. The narrative comes entirely through environmental storytelling as the world is filled with clues and hints towards the player's purpose.

Reception

Kairo has received a positive reaction from critics. Eurogamer described the game as "mysterious and elegant and powerfully distinct" and toucharcade said "The world of Kairo is like a playable, explorable tone poem."

Kairo has been selected for exhibition at events including Develop Conference, Notgames Festival, Eurogamer Expo and Penny Arcade Expo.

Anika

Anika may refer to:

See also

Anika (album)

Anika is the debut studio album by British/German recording artist Anika. It was released on November 15, 2010, by Stones Throw Records in the United States and Invada Records in Europe. The three members of the band Beak (Geoff Barrow, Billy Fuller and Matt Williams) produced the album.

Background

Before she began her singing career, Anika was a political journalist who spent her time between Berlin and Bristol, England. She met producer Geoff Barrow (of Portishead), who was looking for a female vocalist to work with his band Beak. Anika joined the band in the studio and recorded nine songs in 12 days with no overdubs.

Critical reception

The album received generally favorable reviews. It earned a collective score of 65 out of 100 from Metacritic. Heather Phares from Allmusic stated, "Though the album is mostly covers, Anika imprints her identity on every track. [...] Anika is a bold, often fearless debut, and even if it’s occasionally an acquired taste, it doesn’t hedge its bets." David Edwards, writing for Drowned in Sound, described the album as an "unhinged record that isn’t easy to look squarely in the eye. But the reward is in the depth and sheer bewilderment of every single creak, croak and crackle." Ben Hogwood of musicOMH commented, "Anika, then, has made an intriguing record, but not one that should be listened to by nervy people in isolation. Full of lyrical and musical contradictions, [...], it isn't exactly rabble rousing - but has a strange allure nonetheless."

Anika (musician)

Anika is a British and German singer-songwriter and political journalist.

Life and career

Before she began her singing career, Anika was a political journalist who spent her time between Berlin and Bristol, England. She met producer Geoff Barrow (of Portishead), who was looking for a female vocalist to work with his band Beak. Anika joined the band in the studio and recorded nine songs, including a cover of Yoko Ono's "Yang Yang" in 12 days with no overdubs. The result, Anika, was released by Barrow's Invada imprint in Europe and by Stones Throw Records in the U.S. and Japan in October 2010.Anika received positive reviews from contemporary critics; according to the music review aggregation of Metacritic, it garnered an average score of 65/100. The album also included covers of "Terry" by Twinkle, "End of the World" by Skeeter Davis, "Masters of War" by Bob Dylan, and "I Go to Sleep" by The Kinks.

Geoff Barrow with editor John Minton directed the promotional music video for Anika's cover of "Yang Yang." The song was later offered as the "Free MP3 of the Day" on Spinner. On her choice to cover the song for her album, Anika explained, "I loved the way the words sounded and as an ex-politics student and political journalist, I thought the song would make a great cover. Yoko Ono is renowned for her political views but I think there was a dark side to the lyrics that the original version had not fully explored. This is where we came in ..."Drowned in Sound included "Yang Yang" on its list Singles of the Year 2010.