Romancing SaGa

Romancing SaGa (ロマンシング サ・ガ, Romanshingu Sa・Ga) is a role-playing video game originally developed and published by Square as the fourth game of their SaGa series. Initially made available in January 1992 for the Super Famicom, the game was later ported to the WonderSwan Color handheld system in December 2002, with both releases being exclusive to Japanese players. In April 2005, an enhanced remake of the title for the PlayStation 2 called Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song (ロマンシング サガ -ミンストレルソング-, Romanshingu Sa Ga -Minsutoreru Songu-) was released in April 2005 in Japan, and in English for the first time in North America the following October simply under the title Romancing SaGa. The game was designed by Akitoshi Kawazu who had served as head developer for the previous SaGa titles, with fellow series veteran Kenji Ito providing the game's soundtrack. In 2009, the original Super Famicom version was ported to mobile phones and the Wii Virtual Console service in Japan.

Set in the fictional world of Mardias, Romancing SaGa allows players to assume the role of one of eight main characters who must journey across the world to prevent the resurrection of an evil god named Saruin who was sealed away a millennium previous. The original Super Famicom version sold over a million copies worldwide and was voted by readers of Japanese Famitsu magazine as the 53rd greatest game of all time in a 2006 poll. Conversely, the PlayStation 2 remake received largely mixed to average reviews in North America due to the game's high difficulty, steep learning curve, and questionable character designs.

Gray (horse)

Gray or grey is a coat color of horses characterized by progressive silvering of the colored hairs of the coat. Most gray horses have black skin and dark eyes; unlike many depigmentation genes, gray does not affect skin or eye color. Their adult hair coat is white, dappled, or white intermingled with hairs of other colors. Gray horses may be born any base color, depending on other color genes present. White hairs begin to appear at or shortly after birth and become progressively lighter as the horse ages. Graying can occur at different rates—very quickly on one horse and very slowly on another.

Gray horses appear in many breeds, though the color is most commonly seen in breeds descended from Arabian ancestors. Some breeds that have large numbers of gray-colored horses include the Thoroughbred, the Arabian, the American Quarter Horse, the Percheron, the Andalusian, the Welsh pony, and the most famous of all gray horse breeds, the Lipizzaner.

People who are unfamiliar with horses may refer to gray horses as "white." However, a gray horse whose hair coat is completely "white" will still have black skin (except under markings that were white at birth) and dark eyes. This is how to discern a gray horse from a white horse. White horses usually have pink skin and sometimes even have blue eyes. Young horses with hair coats consisting of a mixture of colored and gray or white hairs are sometimes confused with roan. Some horses that carry dilution genes may also be confused with white or gray.

Gray (unit)

The gray (symbol: Gy) is a derived unit of ionizing radiation dose in the International System of Units (SI). It is defined as the absorption of one joule of radiation energy per one kilogram of matter.

It is used as a measure of absorbed dose, specific energy (imparted), and kerma (an acronym for "kinetic energy released per unit mass"). It is a physical quantity, and does not take into account any biological context. Unlike the pre-1971 non-SI roentgen unit of radiation exposure, the gray when used for absorbed dose is defined independently of any target material. However, when measuring kerma the reference target material must be defined explicitly, usually as dry air at standard temperature and pressure.

The equivalent cgs unit, the rad (equivalent to 0.01 Gy), remains common in the United States, though "strongly discouraged" in the style guide for U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology authors.

Etymology

The gray was named after British physicist Louis Harold Gray, a pioneer in the field of X-ray and radium radiation measurement, and their effects on living tissue. It was adopted as part of the International System of Units in 1975.

Ultraman

Ultraman (ウルトラマン, Urutoraman) is a Japanese Tokusatsu television series that first aired in 1966. Ultraman is a follow-up to the television series Ultra Q, though not technically a sequel or spin-off. The show was produced by the Tsuburaya Productions, and was broadcast on Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) from July 17, 1966 to April 9, 1967, with a total of 39 episodes (40, counting the pre-premiere special that aired on July 10, 1966).

Although Ultraman is the first series to feature an Ultra-Crusader, it is actually the second show in the Ultra Series. Ultra Q was the first. In fact, Ultraman opens with the Ultra Q logo exploding into the Ultraman logo. Ultraman became a major pop culture phenomenon in Japan, spawning dozens of sequels, spin-offs, imitators, parodies and remakes.

Series background

Ultraman's central characters were created by Eiji Tsuburaya from Tsuburaya Productions, a pioneer in special effects who was responsible for bringing Godzilla to life in 1954. The show's predecessor was a series called Ultra Q, a black-and-white 28-episode series very much like the original Outer Limits.

Ultraman (band)

Ultraman a punk rock band from St. Louis, Missouri, formed in 1986 with members Tim Jamison (vocals), Rob Wagoner (guitar), John Corcoran (bass), Bob Zuellig (guitar), and Mike Doskocil (drums).

History

Ultraman first released their own 7" EP's (alternately called "the Mr. Yuk 7" and "self-titled") in 1988 after selling demo tapes for over a year. Their second 7" EP "Destroys All Monsters...Kills All Families" was recorded in May 1988, but not released until September of that year. The EP features the same lineup, except Mark Deniszuk replaced Mike Doskocil on drums. During this time, Ultraman played countless shows in St. Louis at notable venues such as Mississippi Nights (the first show played here was with Suicidal Tendencies. They would follow up this show by playing with bands as diverse as the Exploited and Dead Milkmen. Ultraman also frequently played the surrounding Midwestern region, with many shows in Lawrence, Kansas at the famed Outhouse.

Ultraman expanded their Midwestern focus and decided to promote the singles with an east coast tour in July 1988. On this tour, Ultraman played dates in Leonardtown, Maryland with McRad (Chuck Treece’s band while he was also in Underdog), Boston, and NYC at the Pyramid Club. After this tour, singer Tim Jamison sent a copy of the band's single and band t-shirts to Jack at Caroline Records, in the hope of getting the band signed. Jack didn't think they were a fit with the label, but passed along their singles to Nicky Garrett who, at the time, ran the Caroline warehouse and was just starting New Red Archives. New Red Archives had already signed the UK Subs, east coast bands Crucial Youth and Kraut, and was looking for a Midwestern band who had both name recognition and had toured.

Ultraman: The Next

Ultraman: The Next, released in Japan simply as ULTRAMAN (ウルトラマン, Urutoraman), is a 2004 Japanese science fiction tokusatsu film directed by Kazuya Konaka and produced by Tsuburaya Productions. A reimagining of the Ultraman character and franchise, the film was part of the "Ultra N Project", a three-phase experiment aimed to reinvent the franchise for an older audience.

Ultraman: The Next was released in Japan on December 18, 2004 but had its premiere at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on June 25, 2005.

Ultra N Project

Tsuburaya Productions started the "Ultra N Project" in 2004, in an attempt to revitalize the Ultra franchise. The project consisted of a press conference unveiling of Ultraman Noa, the airing of the new Ultra Series Ultraman Nexus, and this movie featuring Ultraman Next. Ultraman Next resembled a lifelike insectoid version of Nexus (with insect-like body armor and organic tissue-like skin underneath). This was the first Ultraman ever to possess this sort of characteristic, a departure from the traditional "clean and shiny" look. BEING GIZA artists provided the theme songs for ULTRAMAN and Ultraman Nexus.