Usher (surname)

Usher is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Usher (occupation)

An usher is a person who shows people where to sit, especially at a theatre or when attending a wedding. An example of an usher is a person who is friends with the groom who directs people where to sit as they enter the church for a wedding.

Duties

Ushers assist visitors by formally showing the way in a large building or to their appropriate seats. This may coincide with a security role. The word comes from the French huissier, with the same meaning (Latin – ostiarius), ushers were servants or courtiers who showed or ushered visitors in and out of meetings in large houses or palaces.

In the United Kingdom, a variety of titles for courtiers in the Royal Household include the word usher. In England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, from the early sixteenth century until at least the end of the nineteenth century, the term denoted an assistant to a schoolmaster or head-teacher; an under-master, assistant-master. In such use, however, the term is now rare.

At weddings, friends of the groom and bride may be recruited to direct guests at the ceremony, and generally be available for assistance. It is also the term used for a groomsman in British English.

Usher (album)

Usher is the eponymous debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Usher. It was released on August 30, 1994, by LaFace Records. The album debuted at number 167 on the US Billboard 200, while it has reached at number 25 on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.

Reception

Billy Johnson Jr. of Yahoo! Music called the debut album "an enjoyable ride." Anderson Jones of Entertainment Weekly in a less than enthusiastic review of the album called the songs "sophomoric" and "remarkably dull."

Track listing

Chart history

Album

Singles

"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

Personnel

Information taken from Allmusic.

Portal

Portal may refer to:

Computing

Gateways to information

Other

Entertainment

Portal (interactive novel)

Portal is a mix between a computerized novel and an interactive game. It was published for the Amiga in 1986 by Activision, written by Rob Swigart, produced by Brad Fregger, and programmed by Nexa Corporation. Versions for the Commodore 64, Apple II, and DOS were later released. Versions for the Macintosh and Atari ST were announced and developed, but never formally released. A unique game for its time, Portal was one part text-driven adventure (à la Zork or Planetfall) but with a graphical interface. It is unrelated to the game Portal (2007) by Valve Corporation.

Setting

The player, taking on the role of the unnamed astronaut protagonist, returns from a failed 100-year voyage to 61 Cygni to find the Earth devoid of humans. Cars are rusted and covered with moss, the streets are completely barren and everything appears as though the entire human race had just vanished suddenly. The player happens upon a barely functioning computer terminal that is tied into a storytelling mainframe, Homer. Through this interface, the player, assisted by Homer who attempts to weave the information into a coherent narrative, discovers information in order to piece together the occurrences leading to the disappearance of the human race. For instance, spending some time in the Medical Records section may unlock a piece of data in the Science section, and through these links the player can finish the game.

Portal (Australian band)

Portal is an Australian extreme metal band known for its unorthodox fusion of death metal with black metal. The band's hybrid musical style is characterised by heavily distorted guitar riffs, down-tuned rhythms, and vocals ranging from "menacing, echoing" sound effects to guttural grunts. Writing for Popmatters, Adrien Begrand noted that "death metal always pretends to be scary, but [...] it's all rather harmless. That said, however, I make no mistake in saying that the death metal peddled by Australia’s Portal is truly friggin' terrifying". Lead guitarist Horror Illogium has described Portal's intent as "to capture a cinematic horror scope".

Musical style

Portal's main musical influences were Morbid Angel, Beherit, and Immolation. Describing the band's style, Decibel magazine said: "If Morbid Angel and Gorguts had birthed a German Expressionist child, that unholy creature would be Portal." The band has been praised for its "hellish atmosphere" and "distant, obscure" interpretation of extreme metal. Denise Falzon, writing for Exclaim!, described Portal's 2004 EP, The Sweyy, as "extremely raw [...] with heavily distorted guitar riffs that aid in the album's overall chaotic and apocalyptic atmosphere". The band's style has also been described as oriented around "constant dissonance", "sporadic compositions", and "abstract themes". However, lead guitarist Horror Illogium has disputed the view that the band's songwriting lacks structure: "We are indeed making songs, although our structures are unusual. They are constructed with a great deal of artistic, obsessive scrutiny [...] An insane asylum is a structure; our songs can be viewed as structures housing insane elements".