When I watched the Mocking Jay Part 2 parody trailer the other day it cracked me up, so I dug around the site some more. In the process I found this fun Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron music video parody. I like this groups attitude and style, and hope they will keep creating these. The group I am referring to is Studio C, and hopefully they will keep cranking out these silly parodies.
This weekend is World Maker Faire hosted by NYSCI, the New York Hall of Science. Don’t let the name make you think this is the big one; they call it World Maker Faire to honor the 1964-65 World’s Fair in New York where NYSCI was founded. It is still large, since last year they had 85,000 visitors to the event. These things are a lot of fun, as creative people show off what they have been coming up with and inspire others to make things as well. There are close to a hundred different Maker Faire’s around the world, if you can’t make this one look at the Maker Faire web site and find one near you.
Another great rock band from Japan are the Ulfuls, and they recently posted a new song, Sporty Party, that I really like. See all the athletic gear folks are wearing in this video? They recorded this as the ASICS “training ware” campaign song, which lead me to believe it might be a commercial. When I did a bit of research, it turned out the campaign was to enter a contest in which you had to answer questions on a survey. They will pull the names of 20 folks who entered and give them each a pair of premium Ulfuls live tour tickets, with a choice of venue of either Tokyo or Osaka. The contest started yesterday and runs until September 18th, so if you live near Japan or are traveling there soon and want to enter the contest go to the Sporty Party Campaign web site and fill out your entry. The tour will be recorded as part of their “Ulfuls tour 2015 Bontsubiatsuatsu (Live House ed)” release coming out later this year. The song Sporty Party will be on their new album Bonn Zwi Wai Wai being released on September 9th.
Previous Ulfuls posts: Ulfuls with Muppets, Ulfuls
On the movie front, Chappie is the clear winner. This Robot/AI coming to life tale is engaging on so many layers you won’t ever wonder why it belongs on this list. There were aspects of this production that surprised me, like their choices of gangsta-rap celebrities as core cast members (that would not have been my choice, but then I wasn’t the one telling the story), but the film as a whole had my approval. The other near-genre film this time around, The Lazarus Effect, was just a cheap horror flic as far as I was concerned, and not worth the time it takes to watch it. A non-genre release that was nominated for an Academy Award (best foreign language film) because of its amazingly twisted story was Wild Tales, which certainly is worth the time it takes to watch it, if you can handle how completely off the hook it gets. And then there is the documentary offering: The Wrecking Crew, about the studio musicians who showed up on almost every major recording from the 60s and 70s that is still overplayed today, because they were just that good.
In TV there is only one choice this time around: Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman: Season 5! This show has been one of my favorite programs for quite a few years now, and this season just proves it yet again. Trust me when I say you want to watch this one and see if you don’t also find it both entertaining and educational.
In Anime, there seems to be some confusion about Tokyo Ravens: Season 1 Part 2, which is being released either this week or at the end of the month. Both of the sites I trust to get it right say at the end of the month, but I am going to mention it this week anyways. Whichever it is, this rather dark series will draw you in, and hold your attention. Hard though it may be to believe, Is This a Zombie? of the Dead is a much more lighthearted adventure, with much sillier situations springing up, and it really does come out this week. Finally, Captain Earth: Collection 1 begins to tell the story of yet another teenager who is tasked with saving the world using his special video games skill set. All of these look like fun to me, and I have been enjoying them; I hope you do, as well.
I think they have only mapped out around 50 cities in North America, although it could be even a smaller number than that. But if you ever wanted to play real live PacMan on the streets of Washington, DC, now is your chance, using this link:
If you want to play in one of the other available major cities, go to: Google Maps, and look for the PacMan icon in the lower left corner of the browser window. If you see it, click it, and play the game on the streets of your preferred city. I suspect this is yet another Google implementation that could evaporate as soon it is no longer Aprils Fools Day, but I intend to play it for all it is worth until it expires!
Once more it is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, and I spotted no fewer than 5 people in pirate garb at various points in my wanderings today. I was not dressed for the occasion myself, but I did remember to start every conversation with Arrrggghhh. I am not sure that went over real well on a couple of the conference bridges at work, but too bad.