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.

Robot series (Asimov)

The Robot series is a series of 38 short stories and 5 novels by science fiction author Isaac Asimov (1920–1992) featuring positronic robots.

Short stories

Most of Asimov's robot short stories, which he began to write in 1939, are set in the first age of positronic robotics and space exploration. The unique feature of Asimov's robots are the Three Laws of Robotics, hardwired in a robot's positronic brain, with which all robots in his fiction must comply, and which ensure that the robot does not turn against its creators.

The stories were not initially conceived as a set, but rather all feature his positronic robots — indeed, there are some inconsistencies among them, especially between the short stories and the novels. They all, however, share a theme of the interaction of humans, robots, and morality. Some of the short stories found in The Complete Robot and other anthologies appear not to be set in the same universe as the Foundation Universe. "Victory Unintentional" has positronic robots obeying the Three Laws, but also a non-human civilization on Jupiter. "Let's Get Together" features humanoid robots, but from a different future (where the Cold War is still in progress), and with no mention of the Three Laws. The multiple series offers a sense of completeness, because all of its works are interconnected in some way.

Robot (disambiguation)

A robot is a virtual or mechanical artificial agent, usually an electro-mechanical machine.

Robot or Robots may also refer to:

Computing

Film and television

Music

Robots (2005 film)

Robots is a 2005 American computer-animated science fiction comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios for 20th Century Fox, and was released theatrically on March 11, 2005. The story was created by Chris Wedge and William Joyce, a children's book author/illustrator. Originally developing a film version of Joyce's book Santa Calls, Joyce and Wedge then decided to develop an original story about a world of robots. Joyce served as producer and production designer for the film. It features the voices of Ewan McGregor, Halle Berry, Greg Kinnear, Mel Brooks, Amanda Bynes, Drew Carey and Robin Williams. The film received mixed or positive reviews from critics with critics praising the animation and visuals, but criticizing the story and it earned $260.7 million on a $75 million budget.

Plot

In Rivet Town, Herb Copperbottom, a dishwasher at Gunk's Greasy Spoon diner, races through the streets, elated that he is going to be a father. He and his wife, Lydia, after 12 hours of "labor", construct the baby. He is named Rodney, and he becomes a young inventor who dreams of making the world a better place. Rodney idolizes Bigweld, a master inventor and owner of Bigweld Industries. During Rodney's adolescence, he invents a gadget, "Wonderbot", intended to help his father clean the dishes at the restaurant. When Herb's supervisor unexpectedly confronts them, Wonderbot breaks dishes, causing Herb to be put in debt and Rodney to be dismissed. Rodney takes his invention to Robot City to see Bigweld and get a job as an inventor at Bigweld Industries, so that he can help his father pay back his supervisor. His father encourages him and confides that he has always regretted not pursuing his dream of becoming a musician. Rodney arrives in Robot City and meets Fender, a ramshackle robot who takes souvenir photos and sells maps to the stars' homes. After a spectacular but harrowing ride on the crosstown express, Rodney arrives at the gate of Bigweld Industries.