Character design of Final Fantasy

Although each installment of the Final Fantasy series is generally set in a different fictional world with separate storylines, there are several commonalities when it comes to character design, as certain design themes repeat themselves, as well as specific character names and classes. Within the main series, Yoshitaka Amano was the character designer for Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, Final Fantasy IV, Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI, Tetsuya Nomura was the character designer for Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIII, Yoshitaka Amano created and did the concept art for the characters while Toshiyuki Itahana was the final character designer for Final Fantasy IX, and Akihiko Yoshida was the character designer for Final Fantasy XII.

Visual character design

The series has often featured male characters with slightly effeminate characteristics, as well as female characters with slightly tomboyish, but still feminine, characteristics. This trend has generally increased as the series evolved. These characters are usually teenagers, which some critics have interpreted as an effort on the part of the designers to ensure the players identify with them. At the same time, some female characters have been increasingly designed to wear very revealing outfits. Square Enix has stated that a more rugged looking hero had been considered for Final Fantasy XII but had ultimately been scrapped in favor of Vaan, another effeminate protagonist. The developers cited scenaristic reasons and target demographic considerations to explain their choice. For Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix settled on a female main character, described as a "female version of Cloud from FFVII." This aspect of Final Fantasy can also be seen in Sora, the protagonist of Kingdom Hearts, a crossover series featuring Final Fantasy and Disney characters.

Weapon (novel)

Weapon is a 1989 science fiction novel by Robert Mason. The book was Mason's first novel; he had previously written a memoir about his experiences in Vietnam titled Chickenhawk. The book is about an android, designed to kill, which experiences a crisis of conscience and runs away from its government masters to live in a Nicaraguan village.

Plot

The novel describes a new weapon system being developed for the US military, named Solo. A robot, Solo is designed to replace human soldiers in battle. It is humanoid in shape, in order to allow it to use all the military vehicles and equipment human soldiers do. Solo is capable of feats of great speed, strength and endurance.

Most importantly, Solo is governed by a neural network computer which is able to learn and think much as a human brain does. The robot's designer recognises that this could potentially make Solo as unpredictable and difficult to control as any human is; the military therefore insist that Solo be told a carefully edited version of world history and politics in which the United States are in all cases the unambiguously "good guys" and winners of all conflicts - for example Solo is told that the US won a clear victory in the Vietnam War.

Weapons (album)

Weapons is the fifth and final studio album by the Welsh alternative rock band Lostprophets, released through Epic on 2 April 2012. It's the first and only record featuring Luke Johnson on drums, after being with two other drummers previously, Mike Chiplin and Ilan Rubin (the latter of whom features in archive recordings included on the "deluxe edition" of Weapons, as well as the hidden track "Weapon" on all versions of the album).

Just like their third studio album it features Latin on the front, which reads deus velox nex. When translated it reads Gods swift violent death. This has been confirmed by guitarist, Mike Lewis.

Writing and recording history

The band started writing new material after finishing The Betrayed Tour. The album is produced by Ken Andrews at Hollywood. Several songs were debuted before it official release date. "Bring Em' Down" was played live in the warm up shows for the 2011 V Festival, and was aired as the first single from Weapons on Zane Lowe's Hottest Record on 6 February 2012. "We Bring an Arsenal" made its debut on 25 February 2012. The song "Better Off Dead" received its first radio play by BBC Radio 1's Zane Lowe as his "Hottest Record in the World". As of 6 January 2012 it was made available for download from the band's official website.

Murder (People's Republic of China law)

The Chinese Penalty Law, as amended in 1997, provides for a penalty of death, or imprisonment for life or no less than 10 years, for "killing with intent." However, the penalty for "minor killing with intent" is imprisonment for no less than 3 years. In practice, "killing with indignation" (killing someone who is obviously very harmful to the society) and killings committed in excessive defense are considered "minor."

References

The Murder

"The Murder" is a cinematic score written and composed by Bernard Herrmann for the horror-thriller film Psycho (1960) directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The score, its second movement in particular, is well recognized as arguably one of the most famous scores in movie history. It scored for an original orchestra's string section.

Psycho's shower scene

The score was composed for the famous "shower scene", the murder of Janet Leigh's character. Hitchcock originally wanted the sequence (and all motel scenes) to play without music, but Herrmann insisted he try it with the cue he had composed. Afterward, Hitchcock agreed that it vastly intensified the scene, and he nearly doubled Herrmann's salary.

Movements

The score is divided into three main movements:

The first movement of the score is made up of multiple runs, trills, and short, staccato stabs played agitato. While there is no direct melody, the fast-paced runs constantly switch around between the keys of F, F#, C#, and D, with a few sections played in G. A notable feature that Herrmann implemented is the use of alternating eighth-note semitones to create a sense of approaching and imminent danger. John Williams made this technique famous 15 years later in his score for Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975). The movement ends with a high Dbmaj7/Bb chord that crescendoes to an abrupt fermata cutoff.

Murder (United States law)

In the United States of America, the law regarding murder is complex, especially due to the principle of "dual sovereignty" that is part of federalism. In most cases there is a hierarchy of acts, known collectively as homicide, of which first degree murder or felony murder is the most serious, followed by murder, followed by manslaughter which is less serious, and ending finally in justifiable homicide, which is not a crime at all. However, because there are at least 53 relevant jurisdictions, each with its own criminal code, this is a considerable simplification.

Sentencing also varies very widely. "Life imprisonment" is common, but its meaning varies widely with some states' contemplating a full life's confinement until death.

Capital punishment, also called the death penalty, is a legal sentence in 31 states, and also the federal civilian and military legal systems. The United States is unusual in actually performing executions, with 34 states having performed executions since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. The methods of execution have varied but the most common method since 1976 has been lethal injection. In 2014 a total of 35 people were executed, and 3,002 were on death row.