This week is a fantasy romantic comedy called When In Rome starring Kristen Bell as the skeptical woman who plucks coins tossed into a magical Fountain of Love with rather unexpected results. The cast looks solid and the trailer is funny, so this just might be worth a trip to the theater. For those who hadn’t heard, Avatar is the highest grossing movie EVER, with this weekend’s 36 million dollars putting it over the top.
The movie release of choice this week is Surrogates, a fun little action/adventure outing starring Bruce Willis as a man who has to avoid wearing his robot body while hunting down a killer.
If you didn’t have a chance to see it in the theaters, RiffTrax LIVE: Plan 9 from Outer Space hits the shelves Tuesday, along with several other RiffTrax titles, including Planet of Dinosaurs and Voodoo Man, as well as several collections of shorts.
Naruto Shippuden releases both Box Set 1 (you can select the regular or special versions) and Volume 5 of the series. These are a somewhat older crew of Ninja’s than the original series gave us. Speaking of Ninja’s, Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny volume 2 also gets release this week. And the one that looks most interesting to me is the Sands of Destruction Complete Series.
I wanted to share a few fun videos today, beginning with the worst nightmare a Dalek could ever have: A Cyberman Call Center. The following video attempts to answer the age-old question, do Daleks like waffles? On a related topic, in the 3rd video we get to hear from Talkie Toaster as he asks a similar question of the Red Dwarf crew.
There are a few new TV shows beginning in the US that I wanted to mention. Hopefully you already know about them, but if not this will be timely.
First, there are two programs from the UK. Demons started a few weeks ago on BBC America (if you missed the first few episodes, they are still available on Video On Demand). The politically incorrect chief detective from Life on Mars stars as the American trainer of the teenage heir of the Van Helsing dynasty. Terry Nation, inventor of the Daleks and Blakes 7, also created a series in the ’70s called Survivors, about the handful of people left in England after a biologic disaster. Just like Doctor Who, the series has been revived by the BBC, and rolls out on BBC America on February 13th.
In the US but Brit-related, it seems Fox Broadcasting is once again looking to create locally something Whoish; this time around it is a US pilot for Torchwood. Or almost US; Russel T. Davies would be writing the script (at least for the first one), Julie Gardner and the team from BBC Worldwide would be doing the production, even the surviving original actors could be involved. It sound more like tangential episodes to the series than a remake, which is again much like Fox’s one venture into the world of Doctor Who.
Finally, Caprica kicks off tonight on Syfy. This prequel to Battlestar Galactica has been anticipated for a while, and it is finally here. The VoD Caprica pilot they have been running for the last few weeks ends today; it will be interesting to see if it is the same as the one they broadcast, or different.
Referred to as the iVictrola, this brass and walnut construct bookmarks the 20th century audio technology span. Mount your 21st century iPhone/iPod in the slot and hit play; the 19th century Victrola brass horn picks up the audio output and amplifies it just as the original did, acoustically. While the only production run of this device I know of was put on sale on December 8th, 2009, and was sold out by December 9th, 2009 (I am guessing a Production Run of about a dozen or so, but I have no real way of being sure if that is correct), it is physically simple and can be recreated by anyone from first principles.
Chattacon 35 takes place in the historic Chattanooga Choo-Choo Hotel in TN from the 22nd to the 24th. Guests at this ReaderCon include Sherrilyn Kenyon, Timothy Zahn, Jody Lynn Nye and Bill Fawcett.
COSine 2010 is a ReaderCon with GoH L.E.Modesitt Jr., happening from the 22nd to the 24th in Colorado Springs. Another fan-run gathering is ConFusion 2010; it runs from the 22nd to the 25th, and is the annual Science Fiction convention hosted by the Stilyagi Air Force of Ann Arbor.
The main MediaCon this weekend is the Salute to Star Trek in San Francisco from the 22nd to the 24th. Primary GoH’s are William Shatner and Patrick Stewart, but there will be a ton of others there as well.
Further ConFusion takes place in San Jose, CA, from the 21st to the 25th. Now in its 12th year, FurCon is one of the largest anthropomorphic (aka “furry”) conventions in North America.
On the 23rd through the 26th (they are running from Saturday through Tuesday because Tuesday is a national holiday), ArcanaCon XXVIII takes place in Melbourne, Australia. This is primarily a GamerCon, with the emphasis at the RPG end of the spectrum.
For Anime conventions, the SoDak Anime Convention happens from the 23rd to the 25th in Rapid City, South Dakota. Guests include Voice Actors Vic Mignogna and Wendy Powell, and something no anime con should be without: their own in-house roller derby team, the Rushmore Rollerz, who run under a theme song by Florence and the Machine, A Kiss With The Fist.