Remember a month or two back when the short animation Pixels was all over the web? Now it apparently is going to become a become a feature length movie according to Geeks of Doom.
Get ready for the Steampunk World’s Fair in Piscataway, NJ. This is the largest Steampunk convention in the world to date, with discussions, debates, workshops, demonstrations, readings, parties, contests, games, and parades to satisfy all of your Steampunk needs. The list of performers alone exceeds anything else I have ever seen listed; this one is a monster!
Demi-Con is a generic Sci-Fi con that has strong readercon roots, baseed in Des Moines, IA, and the motto Everything Is Better With Pirates; whats not to love? LepreCon 36 in Mesa, AZ, is a Relaxacon, meaning a readercon that is comfortable enough with itself to be laid back, even for the pros.
The Anime Central con happens May 14th to the 16th in Rosemont, IL, and if you are serious about your Cosplay you know you can not miss this one. If you win the main Cosplay competition at this event, you are guaranteed a spot on the Yume Cosplay Prize competition! That takes place in October, and will have the winners of all the regional contests battling it out to see which luck Cosplay Couple gets the matching set of all expense paid round trip tickets to Tokyo for a week, to include VIP tickets to the Tokyo Anime Fair.
In Media cons, there is a Twilight Creation event in Vancouver, CA, and for Comic-Cons, the Motor City Comic Con is a bit deceptive. That is because it has a lot of media talent as guests, around 40 of them listed including some noticeably famous names.
And yes, there are many more cons remaining unmentioned for this weekend, but this should give you a tasty place to get started…
Frank Frazetta died yesterday at the age of 82. One of the most amazing artists I know, he pretty much defined barbarian fantasy art. If you don’t recognize the name, go to his home page and check his galleries, where you will discover you have known his art all your life. It is sad to think he is no longer with us, and there will be no new works from his hand.
In the theaters this weekend the best new film looks to be Robin Hood, the gazillionth time someone has converted the story to a video format. With folks like Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and Ridley Scott involved, this version might just be something special.
If you are anywhere near Oregon, you might want to make some time to see Wild Space A Go Go, a rather silly sounding retro 60s multidimensional outer space musical comedy and sex farce. While not actually a movie what with the live human beings on the stage and all, it certainly sounds like a lot of fun.
For those with a leaning to fantasy based thrillers, there are a few good movies this week. Legion tells the story of one heavily armed angel out to save the life of a single human being, doing battle against the hoards of evil. While Daybreakers tells the story of R&D time traveling Vampires out to save the human race as a whole. With an all star cast and a soundtrack that includes compositions by Kate Bush, Daybreakers is the one I am bringing home this week before the others.
In the imported live action movie category, Legend Of The Tsunami Warrior from Thailand has an impressive array of talent and resources. It successfully blends fantasy, action and romance into a thrilling tale of the four sided race to retrieve sunken treasure and control a weapon of mass destruction. With Princesses, Pirates, and Paupers all going for the finish line you might be able to catch your breath every so often, but not frequently.
A twisted little variation on the classic theme is Malice in Wonderland, this one from the UK. You need a warped sense of humor to fully appreciate this movie, but it does look like a lot of fun.
Samurai Harem: Asu No Yoichi Complete Collection also looks to have a serious humor component, as well as being the first Anime for today’s post. A typical coming of age story involving a clueless martial arts teenage master and an assortment of heavily armed homicidal young women who take offense at his lack of social graces.
A release of Xenosaga DVD Complete Series – Viridian Collection puts this series into a low cost package for the first time, so if you haven’t already grabbed it, now is you chance. While this anime series was based on a game of the same name, it has interesting characters using giant robots in outer space to fight aliens, so whats not to like?
This one is a bit different, a fantasy classic in the making based on the Ramayana called Sita Sings the Blues. It blends the original epic tale with the creators own experiences and commentary supplied by an assortment of Indonesian Shadow Puppets to present a wonderful little story. I am glad to see there is now an official DVD release, assuming Nina Paley, the person who brought this into existence, is getting a fair percentage of the take. She originally released this under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License last year, giving it to the world. She did set up a way to Donate your approval to the movie (I contributed; did you?), but I suspect a lot more folks would be willing to support the project when they get their own physical copy for their permanent collection. More information is available here.
Google ran some non-intuitive tests of its Google Chrome browser speeds versus real world events. Unless you have Ghod’s Own Internet Connection and a state of the art computer built next week, your mileage may vary. But still, this is more than a bit impressive. Also, be aware that Futurama is about to kick into its new season in a few weeks. I for one am thrilled the wait is almost over.