Penelope
In Homer's Odyssey, Penelope (/pəˈnɛləpiː/ pə-NEL-ə-pee; Greek: Πηνελόπεια, Pēnelópeia, or Πηνελόπη, Pēnelópē) is the intelligent and faithful wife of Odysseus, who keeps her suitors at bay in his long absence and is eventually reunited with him.
Her name has traditionally been associated with marital faithfulness, and so it was with the Greeks and Romans, but some recent feminist readings offer a more ambiguous interpretation. Her character is beyond what was available to most women at the time, and she is considered a match for Odysseus due to her immense strength, warmth and intelligence.
Etymology
The origin of her name is believed by Robert S. P. Beekes to be Pre-Greek and related to pēnelops (πηνέλοψ) or pēnelōps (πηνέλωψ), glossed by Hesychius as "some kind of bird" (today arbitrarily identified with the Eurasian wigeon, to which Linnaeus gave the binomial Anas penelope), where -elōps (-έλωψ) is a common Pre-Greek suffix for predatory animals; however, the semantic relation between the proper name and the gloss is not clear. In folk etymology, Pēnelopē (Πηνελόπη) is usually understood to combine the Greek word pēnē (πήνη), "weft", and ōps (ὤψ), "face", which is considered the most appropriate for a cunning weaver whose motivation is hard to decipher.
Penelope (2006 film)
Penelope is a 2006 fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Mark Palansky which was first released in 2006 and stars Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Peter Dinklage, Richard E. Grant, and Reese Witherspoon.
Plot
Penelope Wilhern (Christina Ricci) is a pretty young woman from a wealthy family with all the qualities to make an excellent match for any other well-bred man of her status. What sets her apart is that she has pig-face disorder.
Generations ago, an embittered and vengeful witch placed a curse by the gypsy on the Wilhern family after their son had an affair with her daughter, one of the Wilhern servants, and, talked out of marrying her by his arrogant and disapproving family, abandoned her and married someone of his own status. The heartbroken and pregnant servant girl then threw herself off a cliff. Furious, the witch then cursed the Wilherns so that the next daughter to be born into the affluent family would have the face of a pig. For five generations, the Wilherns produced only sons, until Penelope was born, stricken with the curse. It is said that the curse can only be lifted if 'one of her own kind' learns to love her, which her parents interpret as meaning that Penelope must marry a man of noble birth.
Penelope (play)
Penelope is a 2010 tragicomedy play written by Irish playwright Enda Walsh. The play concerns the attempts of four men seeking to win over Penelope in the absence of her warrior husband, Odysseus, who has been away for the previous twenty years fighting the Trojan wars.
Plot synopsis
The play opens with the four men, Fitz, Burns, Dunne and Quinn, in an empty swimming pool, going about their daily lives with only Burns seemingly at odds with his environment. There is a blood stain on the wall which we learn was caused by the suicide of a fifth man, Murray, only the day before. Burns attempts to scrub away the blood to no avail. A barbecue stands towards the rear of the pool, it has never been lit and is the source of great curiosity and some fear by the men. In a shared dream they see it lighting heralding their death at the hands of Odysseus. Penelope, separated from the men, stands on a platform above and unseen from the pool. A television screen relays the successive addresses by the men for her perusal in a contemporaneous nod to reality television formats. Each man hopes to win her affections through their monologues. But as the day wears on signs and premonitions of Odysseus’ return grow more ominous and they formulate a plan to work together in order that one of them may succeed in winning Penelope, thus saving the others from Odysseus’ revenge.
The G.G. Shinobi
The G.G. Shinobi (ザ・GG忍) is a side-scrolling action game by Sega released for the Game Gear in 1991. It was the first Shinobi game developed specifically for a portable game platform. The player controls the modern-day ninja Joe Musashi, protagonist of previous Shinobi games, as he goes on a mission to rescue four kidnapped comrades from an enemy, gaining control of the other ninjas (each with different abilities) as the game progresses in a manner inspired by Mega Man. It was followed by The G.G. Shinobi II: The Silent Fury in 1993. The G.G. Shinobi was one of the first Game Gear games available on the 3DS Virtual Console on March 2012.
Plot
Terror and destruction have made their way to Ninja Valley. The Master of the Oboro school of shinobi sends his best students to investigate the suburban areas. They return with news of a powerful dark force that has established a base within Neo City.
The Master knows that only a warrior trained in the arts of ninjutsu can stand against this menace. One by one his greatest pupils enter Neo City to locate and destroy the source of the evil. Ninja Valley has lost contact with each of them. All are believed to be captured.
Shinobi 3D
Shinobi, known in Japan as Shinobi 3D, is a video game developed by Griptonite Games (a division of Foundation 9) and published by Sega as part of the Shinobi series, and was released worldwide in November 2011.
Gameplay
The game is primarily controlled with buttons, but there are minigames that make use of the touch screen. Player controls the protagonist Jiro Musashi in arcade style gameplay; similar to the original 2D games. The game typically plays in a 2D sidescrolling fashion, using 3D graphics.
Plot
The game's story begins in the year 1256, where Jiro Musashi (father of Joe Musashi, the main character from the original Arcade and Sega Genesis Shinobi games) is summoned to defend his home village from the ninja forces of Zeed. After battle, he is sent 800 years into the future, where Zeed now rules with an iron fist. Aided by Sarah, the leader of a local resistance, Jiro continues his battle against Zeed.
Development
The game was first revealed in the May 2011 issue of Nintendo Power. Sega originally planned to release the game in September 2011. However, due to slow 3DS hardware sales, they postponed the game until November of that year.
Shinobi (video game)
Shinobi (Japanese: 忍 -SHINOBI-) is a side-scrolling action game produced by Sega originally released for the arcades in 1987. In Shinobi, the player controls a modern-day ninja named Joe Musashi who goes on a mission to rescue his kidnapped students from a group of terrorists. Shinobi was later adapted by Sega to their Master System game console, followed by licensed conversions for other platforms such as the Nintendo Entertainment System, PC Engine, and various home computers, as well as downloadable emulated versions of the original arcade game for the Wii and Xbox 360. The success of Shinobi inspired the development of various sequels and spin-offs (see the Shinobi series).
Gameplay
The controls of Shinobi consist of an eight way joystick and three action buttons for attacking, jumping and using ninjutsu techniques (also called "ninja magic" in the game). In addition to the standard walk, the player can perform a crouching walk by pressing the joystick diagonally downward. The player can jump to higher or lower floors by pressing the jump button while holding the joystick up or down. The protagonist Joe Musashi's standard weapons are an unlimited supply of shurikens, along with punches and kicks when attacking at close range. Rescuing certain hostages in each stage will grant him an attack upgrade. When powered up, his throwing stars are replaced by a gun that fires large, explosive bullets, and his close-range attack becomes a katana slash. Musashi's ninjutsu techniques can only be used once per stage and will clear the screen of all enemies, or in the case of enemy bosses, greatly damage them. There are three ninjutsu techniques in the game (a thunderstorm, a tornado and a doppelganger attack) that vary depending on the stage, although the effect is the same no matter which technique Musashi uses (only the animation changes).
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