Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to:
Intro is an American R&B trio from Brooklyn, New York City, New York. The trio consisted of members Jeff Sanders, Clinton "Buddy" Wike and lead singer/songwriter Kenny Greene. Intro released two albums (for Atlantic Records): 1993's Intro and their second album, 1995's New Life. The group had a string of US hits in the 1990s. The hits included the singles "Let Me Be The One", the Stevie Wonder cover "Ribbon in the Sky", "Funny How Time Flies" and their highest charting hit, "Come Inside".
Intro's Kenny Greene died from complications of AIDS in 2001. Intro recently emerged as a quintet consisting of Clinton "Buddy" Wike, Jeff Sanders, Ramon Adams and Eric Pruitt. Adams departed in 2014, with the group back down to its lineup as a trio. They are currently recording a new album to be released in 2015. The group released a new single in 2013 called "I Didn't Sleep With Her" and a new single "Lucky" in October 2014.
Ich Troje ("The Three of Them") is a Polish pop band. Former members are Magdalena Pokora (aka Magda Femme, 1996–2000), Justyna Majkowska (2000–2003), Elli Mücke (2003) and Ania Wisniewska (2003–2010).
Ich Troje was founded in 1996 by songwriter Michał Wiśniewski and composer Jacek Łągwa.
Despite this, the group had five members when taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006, with German rapper O-Jay (Olaf Jeglitza) as the fifth member.
Their music is castigated by critics, and Michal Wisniewski has said himself that he can't actually sing.
Nevertheless, since 2000, Ich Troje has been one of the most successful Polish groups. They have sold more than 1.5 million records since June 2001. For the past two years, Ich Troje have given over 300 concerts. Their songs are typically about love, betrayal and break-ups.
On 25 January 2003, Polish TV viewers chose Ich Troje to represent them in 2003 Eurovision Song Contest by televoting. They performed a song called Keine Grenzen-Żadnych granic, which was sung in three languages: (Polish, German, and Russian). The song finished seventh. A fully German version of the song was recorded as well.
Historically, katana (刀) were one of the traditionally made Japanese swords (日本刀, nihontō) that were used by the samurai of feudal Japan. Modern versions of the katana are sometimes made using non-traditional materials and methods. The katana is characterized by its distinctive appearance: a curved, slender, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands.
The production of swords in Japan is divided into specific time periods:
The first use of "katana" (gatana) as a word to describe a long sword that was different from a tachi occurs as early as the Kamakura Period (1185–1333). These references to "uchigatana" and "tsubagatana" seem to indicate a different style of sword, possibly a less costly sword for lower-ranking warriors. The evolution of the tachi into the katana seems to have started during the early Muromachi period (1337 to 1573). Starting around the year 1400, long swords signed with the "katana" signature were made. This was in response to samurai wearing their tachi in what is now called "katana style" (cutting edge up). Japanese swords are traditionally worn with the signature facing away from the wearer. When a tachi was worn in the style of a katana, with the cutting edge up, the tachi's signature would be facing the wrong way. The fact that swordsmiths started signing swords with a katana signature shows that some samurai of that time period had started wearing their swords in a different manner.
Katana is Japanese for backsword and often refers to uchigatana, especially in English. For a list of fictional katana, see Katanas in fiction. Katana may also refer to:
The Dreamcast (Japanese: ドリームキャスト, Hepburn: Dorīmukyasuto) is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998 in Japan, September 9, 1999 in North America, and October 14, 1999 in Europe. It was the first in the sixth generation of video game consoles, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox. The Dreamcast is Sega's final home console, marking the end of the company's 18 years in the console market.
In contrast to the expensive hardware of the unsuccessful Sega Saturn, the Dreamcast was designed to reduce costs with "off-the-shelf" components, including a Hitachi SH-4 CPU and an NEC PowerVR2 GPU. Released in Japan to a subdued reception, the Dreamcast enjoyed a successful U.S. launch backed by a large marketing campaign, but interest in the system steadily declined as Sony built hype for the upcoming PlayStation 2. Sales did not meet Sega's expectations despite several price cuts, and the company continued to incur significant financial losses. After a change in leadership, Sega discontinued the Dreamcast on March 31, 2001, withdrawing from the console business and restructuring itself as a third-party publisher. 9.13 million Dreamcast units were sold worldwide.