Strider's Sci-Fi

This week we get Chappie, the latest tale of evolution and injustice from Neill Blomkamp. This one looks to be a fitting followup to District 9, in the same spirit and filmed in the same area.

In Movies we get The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, which continues to be an excellent translation into film of the books by Suzanne Collins. The third book was broken into two pieces, possibly because the story was too dense, or perhaps in hopes of getting one last payday out of their investment. The other feature film this time around is the Disney animated Tinker Bell and the Legend of the Neverbeast

In TV Outlander: Season One, Volume One brings the book series by Diana Gabaldon to life. The stories merge time travel, romance, mystery, and war to tell a very interesting tale.

Anime has Unbreakable Machine-Doll, where Raishin is studying Machinart, a dangerous blend of magic and technology. There is a competition between the puppeteers that borders on open warfare, and some are not shy about using humans parts as doll components to defeat their opponents. In Outbreak Company Shinichi has been drafted by the government of Japan to be an Otaku Ambassador to a parallel world filled with Elves, Dwarves, Dragons, and other magical creatures who all love anime and gaming. Where exactly do I go to sign up for that job?

Shishamo is an excellent band out of Japan, and their new song I, actually is a fun J-Rock song. I like this band better every time I hear them, and this song is from their new release SHISHAMO2, which will be coming out on March 4th. The one after that is from their 2013 debut album

As you have probably heard by now we lost Leonard Nimoy today. He was an amazing actor, but first and foremost he was Spock.

I had an exhausting day at work today, which started at Midnight and ran until 30 minutes ago. So I am a bit crispy around the edges, and mostly want to relax. So I figured this might be a great day to post about the Nice Jazz Quintet, which is Jean-Louis Bompoint’s band. My guess is this is what he does to relax, since his day job is being a rather well known and respected Director of Photography. They sound like the kind of Jazz you can unwind to, so I am going to do that, and thought it would be nice to share a tune or two here. The first track is Manha De CarnavalL, the second is Blue Lou.

I spoke too soon in Monday’s post about this weekend; I didn’t know then that Snow Girl and The Dark Crystal would be in the theaters this Friday. It is Well Go’s first 3D Theatrical Release, which is a romantic fantasy adventure about the legendary hero Zhong Kui. He was a warrior with mysterious powers who was forced to conquer the realms of Heaven and Hell to save his people and the woman he loves. It is only going to be in a few dozen cities across the country, if you are lucky enough to live in one of them it looks like the big screen would be a great way to see it.

I love the fact that even the folks putting together the Academy Awards realize that animation is a wonderful way to create and share stories that could never be told any other way. Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee created Frozen last year, won a ton of awards, and this year they got to host the Oscar party for all their fellow animators as their reward. I think they approached this with the right style, sharing a small but important slice of each nominees production, and then interviewing them about it, so they could share their vision with the world. This is a wonderful presentation; enjoy!

Not a lot this week; Ejecta looks more like horror than sci-fi. For myself, I am going to hit one of the recent releases I missed the other week.

The best selection this week is the animated Marvel feature Big Hero 6, with a soft robot in an iron suit as one of the 6. The film is a bit of a homage to all things anime, and has a lot more humor than I was expecting. Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer’s Curse is the next direct-to-disc release in the Dragonheart franchise, with Ben Kingsley as the voice of the dragon this time.

In Anime Space Brothers: Collection 1 is literally about two brothers training to be astronauts, and this pack is the first 13 episodes in the series. There are at least 3 more seasons to the story after this first set; Crunchyroll is currently up to episode 99, I believe. Tiger & Bunny: The Rising is a feature film length presentation which has Bunny teamed up with a new partner on Hero TV as they fight to protect the citizens of Stern Build. In Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Yuta has worked hard to get past the belief he has has secret knowledge and hidden powers, but now a neighbor with that same belief system has shown up to drag him back into his delusions… or are they? Diabolik Lovers finds a girl living with six hansom but non-human boys, and she has to work hard to keep them at fangs length.

The new Superfly track is called White Light, released as a single last month. It is the title track of their new digital album, which will be coming out on May 27th.This song is the opening theme for Tales of Zestiria, an RPG for PS3. This short advertising version is the only one I found that can be legally posted, or I would have put the full 4 minutes on the page.