Rodan (ラドン, Radon) is a daikaiju monster which first appeared as the titular character in Toho's 1956 film Rodan. Though the character started off in its own stand-alone film, Rodan was later featured in the Godzilla franchise.
The Japanese name "Radon" is a contraction of "pteranodon"), and may also have been chosen to suggest radiation. Radon is usually referred to as "Rodan" for English speaking markets; however, in Toho's English dub for Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II, the character is completely referenced as Radon the whole time.
Rodan is classified as a pteranodon in the films. It is occasionally portrayed as a rival and enemy of Godzilla, but is usually depicted as one of Godzilla's allies, much like Anguirus. Rodan and Anguirus both started out as enemies of Godzilla, which may explain the occasional enmity shown between the creatures and Godzilla itself on the rare occasion that they are pitted against one another. In Rodan's debut, two individuals of their kind appeared, who were both siblings.
Rodan, released in Japan as Sora no Daikaijū Radon (空の大怪獣 ラドン, lit. "Radon, Giant Monster of the Sky"), is a 1956 Kaiju film produced by Toho Studios. It was the studio's first Kaiju movie filmed in color (though Toho's first color tokusatsu film, Madame White Snake, was released earlier that year). It is one of a series of "giant monster" movies that found an audience outside Japan, especially in the United States, where it was originally released as Rodan! The Flying Monster!
In the small mining village of Kitamatsu, on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, two miners have gone missing. The two men, Goro and Yoshi, had brawled earlier that day, and after they entered the mine to start their shift, the shaft had quickly flooded. Shigeru Kawamura (Kenji Sahara), a tunneling and safety engineer at the mine, heads below to investigate and makes a gruesome discovery: Yoshi's lacerated corpse. Above ground, a doctor examines Yoshi, and discovers the cause of death to be a series of deep gashes caused by an abnormally sharp object. Some of the miners and their families begin to discuss the possibility of the involvement of Goro, who is still unaccounted for, in the death. Shigeru is personally affected by this incident, since his fiancée Kiyo (Yumi Shirakawa) is also Goro's sister.
A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured arc. Rainbows caused by sunlight always appear in the section of sky directly opposite the sun.
Rainbows can be full circles; however, the average observer sees only an arc formed by illuminated droplets above the ground, and centred on a line from the sun to the observer's eye.
In a primary rainbow, the arc shows red on the outer part and violet on the inner side. This rainbow is caused by light being refracted when entering a droplet of water, then reflected inside on the back of the droplet and refracted again when leaving it.
In a double rainbow, a second arc is seen outside the primary arc, and has the order of its colours reversed, with red on the inner side of the arc.
A rainbow is not located at a specific distance from the observer, but comes from an optical illusion caused by any water droplets viewed from a certain angle relative to a light source. Thus, a rainbow is not an object and cannot be physically approached. Indeed, it is impossible for an observer to see a rainbow from water droplets at any angle other than the customary one of 42 degrees from the direction opposite the light source. Even if an observer sees another observer who seems "under" or "at the end of" a rainbow, the second observer will see a different rainbow—farther off—at the same angle as seen by the first observer.
"Rainbows" (typeset in promotional material as RAINBOWS) is the 13th maxi single by Alice Nine. It was released on August 6, 2008 in three different versions. Each version contains the title track and a B-side, which may include a booklet, a music video, or another bonus track, respectively within the three versions. The single marks a significant change in the band's overall dress style which no longer resembles their original Visual Kei look.
In Japan, the single went straight to #3 on the Oricon daily charts, selling over 3,500 copies on its first day and marking their highest position on a mainstream Japanese music chart to date. On the Oricon weekly charts, it ranked at #6, having sold a total of 15,921 copies during its first week.
The title track was conceptualized by bassist Saga during a period in which the band members were creating songs without an overall motif. An early version of "Rainbows" was chosen out of a total of 17 songs from this period.
Pacific Ocean Blue is the only studio album by American musician Dennis Wilson, drummer and co-founder of the Beach Boys. When released in August 1977, it was warmly received critically, and noted for outselling the Beach Boys' contemporary efforts. Two singles were issued from the album, "River Song" and "You and I", which did not chart.
The album remains a focal point of Wilson's legacy, being referred to as a "lost classic." It has appeared on several "Best-of" lists including Robert Dimery's "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die," and Mojo's "Lost Albums You Must Own" and "70 of the Greatest Albums of the 70s" lists. In 2005, it was ranked #18 in GQ's "The 100 Coolest Albums in the World Right Now!" list.
Wilson intended to record a follow-up, entitled Bambu, but the album was left unfinished at the time of his death in December 1983.
After several attempts, starting in 1970, to realize his own project, some of which made it to the finished album, Wilson recorded the bulk of Pacific Ocean Blue in the months spanning the fall of 1976 to the following spring, at the Beach Boys' own Brother Studios. At the time of recording, Dennis' hard living had begun affecting his looks and more importantly his singing voice, which now delivered grainy and rough, yet still deeply soulful, vocals.