This time around is the franchise that wouldn’t die with another entry: Resident Evil: Afterlife. The fourth entry in this series finds Alice and here friend battling for their lives yet again, and this time it is in 3D. Also out this weekend, Who is Harry Nilsson (And Why is Everybody Talkin’ About Him?) is a star studded documentary about one of the most original songwriters of all time. Everybody knows his songs, but the music he was occasionally on the charts for singing was often written by other people; while his songs were sung by the most famous and well respected vocalists of the last five decades. If you don’t know quite who he is, this film is your chance to learn and be amazed.
Lots of good TV out this week, as we get ready to roll into the fall viewing season. Season 3 of Chuck is their strongest season yet, with more guest stars than ever before; No more Mr. Nice Spy! Season 4 hits the tube on Monday, September 20th. Smallville: The Complete Ninth Season finally is out as well this week, with the season 10 premier for that one on Friday, the 24th of September. Also from CWTV, and also with the new season kicking off on Friday the 24th is Supernatural: The Complete Fifth Season.
The miniseries that may turn into a full TV series, The Phantom is another rendition of this classic comic strip into a live action format. Like many of Sci-Fi’s miniseries (and almost none of their made for TV movies) this one is surprisingly better than you are expecting.
From UK TV a couple of classic Whos: Dr. Who: The King’s Demons with Peter Davison as the Doctor, Anthony Ainley as the Master, and Janet Fielding as Tegan. The other Davison story is Doctor Who: Planet of Fire. From an earlier incarnation, Doctor Who: The Creature from the Pit with Tom Baker and Lalla Ward.
On the animation front, and also from the UK, it’s Shaun the Sheep: Party Animals. This series is from the same team that does Wallace and Gromit, and these little gems use virtually no dialog, telling the story visually. The only real new anime title is My Bride Is a Mermaid: Season 1 Part 2, bringing us the balance of the opening season episodes. Both sets of in-laws are dysfunctional to an extreme degree, besides the fact the non-human family are also Yakuza.
Trailer mashups have been happening more and more frequently lately, and as you might suspect getting better and better. This one is so good that Edgar Wright gave his seal of approval to the Scott Pilgrim/Last Airbender mashup. Someone else did the same thing with The Matrix. The final one is very outrageous; and Expendables/Supertoons mashup. I gotta admit, these do bring a grin.
PAX, the Penny Arcade Expo, happens this weekend in Seattle to counterbalance DragonCon on the East Coast. PAX is a major Gamer Con and festival put together by Penny Arcade (the WebComic), but more than that it is the premiere Nerdcore event each year. Nerdcore artists from all over North America converge on this event, and put on a show that has to be seen to be believed. I need to be there next year.
What is Nerdcore? Just like Steampunk is what happens when Goths discover Brown and the technology to develop it, Nerdcore is what happens when Computer Programmers discover Rap and record a video. These are a few good Nerdcore examples. But first, the explanation; which of Us are Nerds?
Pac-Man Paranoia is the name of the first song, by the Swedish band Bondage Fairies. This Giant Robot Kills follows it, the new MC Lars tune, from a Tweet by MC Frontalot. The next song is Galvanize the Empire; I got the link for that one in a tweet from @_mcchris. And then comes the theme song: Penny Arcade itself, where the lyrics give you the password. If you are a true classic gamer, you will have no problems recognizing the original MMO game, Zork, in the following song (You Might Get Eaten By A Gru).
If you are going to be at DragonCon this weekend, make sure to pick up your Dragon Con App for your iDevice, or for your Android. This is not the first App I have heard of built specifically for a Sci-Fi Con, but I don’t think SkepTrack counts, since it just a specialized App for a specific DragonCon track. And yes, the main App has full browse by track support, as well as the ability to break events out by day, time, people, and more. This may just be the new face of Sci-Fi Cons, and for a full list of all things digital at DragonCon just follow the link. Earlier Con Apps include the famous Tron App from this years SDCC. Also at DragonCon this year, BAR2D2, the droid that gets you drunk. It caries 15 kinds of beer and a variety of fixings, and is programmed to build 5,000 different mixed drinks when you put in your order via laptop; and yes, they are building an app for that so you don’t need the clunky laptop.
I just feel like watching some Anime Music Videos today, so I thought I would share a few good ones with everyone. I particularly liked the use of Code Monkey in an AMV.