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In Movies this week we get Jupiter Ascending, another tasty sci-fi action romp from the Wachowski’s. We also get the direct to DVD Monsters: Dark Continent, taking place a decade after the original movie. Critics have commented it lacks the originality of its predecessor, and was instead just another war movie.

In TV we have Falling Skies: The Complete Fourth Season, coming out just in time to rewatch it before the 5th and final season starts on June 28th.

In Anime, Fairy Tail: Collection 4 has episodes 73 through 95, originally released as Fairy Tale parts 7 and 8. To put that in perspective Part 15 is about to come out on disc, and the current season is at episode 235. Also this week, Nobunagun is about alien invasion and a girl who can manifest weapons possessed by the spirits of historical figures. This is the complete series, 13 episodes in all.

The Novembers are a Japanese alternative rock band formed in 2005 who have released 8 albums and an assortment of singles and EPs so far. Their sound is unique and complex far beyond what you would expect from so few instruments, reminding me of Pink Floyd or Brian Eno. Their acknowledged musical influences include David Bowie, Einstürzende Neubauten, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Jesus and Mary Chain, L’Arc~en~Ciel, Erik Satie, Stereolab, Nam June Paik, The Flaming Lips, and a host of other truly creative folks. They just released “TOUR Romancé” LIVE AT STUDIO COAST, and I thought this might be a good time to share a few tracks from them. The first one is Romancé, the title track of their current endeavor, the next is Xeno from the same project, the third is their 2014 release Meursault and the last is The Iron Dream from 2013. That was the same year they formed their own music label MERZ (not that you can do anything on that web page without a set of the deeper links), and a year after their music became available on iTunes. These are only a few of the songs they have to offer, if you enjoy any of these continue to explore their collection, you will find a lot more to like.

No, it is not a joke; the new Ulfuls song has Muppets, and it is a treat to watch! They had meant the name of the group to be Soulfulls, indicating the style of music they wanted to go for, but somehow it didn’t work out that way. And because one’s too many (and a hundred ain’t enough) I figured I should include a few more tunes from the band, so I just had to add 2014’s near-Beatles track, 2008’s hit Samurai Soul, and finally another 2014 song One Mind; Enjoy!

The animated short Sun-Knapping was put together at ESMA (Ecole Supérieure des Métiers Artistiques in Montpellier, France) by Martial Fontan, Guillaume Hoffmann, Boris Kaufmann, and Deborah Yver. It was posted to CGBros on April 3rd of this year, and I liked it so much I wanted to share it here. I have to wonder what other projects these talented people might get up to in the coming years; whatever they are, I hope I get to see them.

Something of a trailer with a lot of commentary by the author, this intro video to the TV version of Blake Crouch’s Wayward Pines looks like the show just might be worth watching. It is very Twin Peaks and a bit X-Files, so I look forward to seeing how well Fox and the director tell the quality story embedded in the book. If you missed it when it first aired, you can catch it here.