It’s been a long time coming, but Dollhouse hits the airwaves this Friday. Besides staring Eliza, it will be introduced by another Wheedon veteran, Summer Glau (right after that night’s Terminator episode). My favorite pilot Alan Tudyk will also be on the team in a major roll, and for the opening episode we have the Middleman himself, Matt Keeslar. And let’s not forget Penny from Doctor Horrible, Felicia Day. I am so ready for this show!!!
A new TV show starts on February 15th called Life Online. It’s all about living in the Metaverse, and you can watch the pilot episode now. It covers all the 3D Virtual Worlds, and filming happens later today in Second Life for a segment on the band Space Junky, held at the Amphitheater on Space Junky Island; come be part of the audience and enjoy the music.
Yesterday was Jules Verne’s birthday; he would have been 181 years old, which is kind of scary when you realize his books are still very readable today. If you’re looking for more recent authors words, check out the TOR YouTube page. There you can watch plenty of interviews with great authors, or watch examples of book trailers (video for words, what a concept).
I hit two movies yesterday, and I have to say I was most impressed with Push, which delivered much more than it’s trailer promised. If you haven’t seen it yet, do so today; but don’t bother to bring along friends who are slow on the uptake (like 55% of the reviewers at places like Rotten Tomatoes), because the plot twists and story pace are way too dense and swift for them to keep up. As for the other movie, all I can say is I have been struck by lightning one time… seven seems a bit much to me, but the film itself deserves whatever awards it might gather. For online fun, I recommend you check out the Anime Network Online Player, which is currently running Angelic Layer, Divergence Eve, and Mezzo, amongst others. Or you can hit Crunchy Roll to watch Steel Angel Kurumi and a whole bunch of other popular animes. ADV also has an online Anime viewing site you should enjoy. For gaming fun, the BBC has released a few of its Doctor Who Online Games for play outside of the UK, including the linked K9 game.
I mentioned the New York Comicon yesterday, going on this weekend. Also this weekend is the Broward Anime Festival in Florida, complete with the DOA volleyball competition, and the G-Anime Con in Canada for the French-speaking fans on this continent. If you are anywhere near Austin, you are hopefully at Ikkicon, and enjoyed today’s Anime Music Video (AMV) Contest. Other events at the Con include live music from Last Stop Tokyo, Peelander Z, Kristine Sa and The Slants (we are talking Austin here, of course there is great music), the Anime Poetry Slam, the Dance Contest (fan teams choreographed to their favorite Anime theme songs), the Anime Dating Game (18+), and the Iron Artist competition, as well as a large number of panel discussions with the creators of the various Animes listed. Then there are the instructionals, where you learn how to build your own: Animation 101 (owning 2D or 3D animation software helps, but is not required), the DVD Production Panel, Breaking Into the Music Industry presented by The Slants (again, this is Austin), the Voice Acting Workshop, Cosplay Presentation, Cosplay Props and Materials, and many more. The scary part? All those events happen on the first day! Wish I could be there for the rest of the Con!
The folks at Dark Roasted Blend have posted a very nice article all about Robot Art. There have been some amazing things done in the field, with robot artists from the Bay area to France and everywhere else building future art. If you build future art, specifically digital art in 2D or 3D, still or motion, you still have time to enter you work in the Expose 7 competition. The entry deadline this year is February 23rd for the Ballistic Publishing contest. The CG Society just posted its coverage of the 36th Annual Annie Awards, where Kung Fu Panda swept the field with 10 awards, and their spinoff Secrets of the Furious Five got another 4. They didn’t take all the awards; Avatar: The Last Airbender, Futurama, Robot Chicken, and Wallace & Gromit each took a few home. I was rather ticked Wall-E didn’t get any, as I felt it should have split the main group with the Panda. If you want all the details on the winners, be sure to stop by the Annie Awards Home Page, or you can watch the podcast of the ceremonies. And if you like animation, did you know the NY Comicon is going on this weekend?