Blu

Blu or BLU may refer to:

Blu (Monica's Gang)

Blu (Bidu) is a character in the Brazilian comic strip Monica's Gang, created in 1959. He was the first character created by Maurício de Sousa, along with his owner Franklin (Franjinha). The character appears in the logo and is the mascot of Mauricio de Sousa Produções, the company founded by Sousa to release his works.

Blu is the only character who appears in two different kinds of stories. In one, he is a normal dog, owned by Franklin, who fears taking baths (but is invariably forced to take them by Franklin), does anything in exchange for a bone, and plays around with the other dogs from the neighborhood. In the other type of stories, he is a director-actor of his own stories, is highly personified (walking with two feet behind the sets, and walking like a normal dog when acting), and is famous for the strips in which he talks to objects, especially the rock called Mrs. Stone.

History

Mauricio says he based both Blu and Franklin on himself and Cuíca, the dog he had when he was a child. His first appearance was in 1959 in the comic strip "Bidu e Franjinha" published in the newspaper Folha da Manhã. His first stories had as protagonist the kid Franklin (the Blu's owner) and his friends Bucky, Jeremiah, Manezinho and Hummer. In 1960 through a partnership with the publisher Editora Outubro, Mauricio de Sousa collaborated making stories of his characters to children's magazine Zás Trás, while in the same year he created an own magazine for Blu and Franklin, titled Bidu by the publisher Editora Continental. But his comic was canceled in the same year with only 8 issues.

Blu (rapper)

Johnson Barnes (born April 15, 1983), better known by his stage name Blu, is an American West Coast rapper and producer from Los Angeles, California. Following the success of his 2007 debut album, Below the Heavens, Blu was named HipHopDX's "Rookie of the Year". Since then, Blu has released six full-length albums. In September 2011, he released the album Open, his 4th solo project. His fifth solo studio album Good to Be Home was released on May 20, 2014 by Nature Sounds.

Early life

Johnson Barnes was born on April 15, 1983 in San Pedro, California. Raised by his mother and stepfather who was a pastor, Barnes was highly influenced by gospel and Christian rap when he was growing up. However, Barnes' was also influenced by gangsta rap that he received from his father, contributing to his delivery of conscious yet raw lyrics. In his early days in the music business, Johnson worked as a hype man for underground rap and soul artists such as Slum Village, Steve Spacek, Platinum Pied Pipers, and Emanon. However, taking influence from Common, Barnes began turning from freestyle rhyming to crafting songs. In an interview with HipHopDx, Barnes talks about what it was like to listen to Common's 1994 song "I Used to Love H.E.R.": "When I heard it, it really changed my life. I felt like I had heard Hip Hop for the first time. It made me change my content and my whole approach. It made me serious about writing and wanting to say something." Blu is also close friends with singer Miguel, who also lived in San Pedro.

Malibu

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Roger Joseph Manning, Jr.

Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. (born May 27, 1966) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and founding member of bands Jellyfish, Imperial Drag, The Moog Cookbook, and TV Eyes. He has also spent several years as an integral member of Beck's backing band, and made contributions to several recordings by the band Air. He is currently the session keyboardist for rock supergroup Angels & Airwaves. He is known for his distinctive style of playing various analog and digital synthesizers. Electronica, power pop, psychedelia and jazz are his primary genres although he also does session work with a number of artists as well as commercial and soundtrack music. As well as providing session work, he used to work frequently with producer Jerry Finn, through whom he was credited as keyboardist on a number of recordings with pop-punk band Blink-182.

In early 2006, Manning released his long-awaited first solo album in Japan only. That album, Solid State Warrior, was subsequently issued in the U.S. under a different title The Land of Pure Imagination, along with an altered song content. In March 2008, Manning released his second solo album in Japan only. That album, Catnip Dynamite, was eventually released in the U.S. on February 3, 2009. The U.S. release contains three bonus tracks that were recorded during a live performance at Fujifest in Japan. Roger is also credited with playing keyboards on several 2004-2009 works by singer Morrissey.

Malibu (film)

Malibu is a 1983 television film, based on a novel by William Murray. Featuring Kim Novak, Susan Dey, Troy Donahue and James Coburn, the all star miniseries involves a young couple from Milwaukee, who move into the fabled, high-society Malibu beach community, and become involved with the lives of the various people living in the community.

Cast