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World Space Party: Yuri’s Night!

Tonight is Yuri’s Night, the anniversary of the first human to make it into space and live to tell about it! Named after Yuri Gagarin, who took his epic ride on April 12th, 1961, this date is now used to celebrate all aspects of humanities continuing efforts to leave this gravity well. That first link will get you details to 183 events in 44 countries on 7 continents, so there will be something going on near you (unless you live way out to sea, in Antarctica, or along the full length of the former Siberia/Alaska land bridge and the lands it tied together). And even if you live in those places, or just don’t feel like driving, there are 9 Online Parties so you can celebrate with your friends at the Second Life International Space Flight Museum or Second Life Frontier Spaceport, the Foundation for Space Development at Mach30, and at Area 52, Outlands for you WoW folks (message HumanityPlus in-game for details, that event is on the 17th).

If you are a bit more serious than that, go for the Constellation Apps platform party, if you have the application development enviro installed, or hit NASA’s Third Rock Radio to listen to it all come down, or watch on SpaceVidcast online or on Roku. There are a lot more; find the one that works for you and join us in celebrating mankind’s attempt to escape this cosmic trap, and survive through the ensuing millennium.

Tomoyasu Hotei

I love the mix you can get sometimes between modern and traditional music, when the right people are involved. In this case it is heavy metal guitar and Taiko Drums, with the guitar played by Tomoyasu Hotei. The first song is Battle Without Honor or Humanity, the second is Devil’s Sugar, and the setting is live in front of a famous Buddhist temple. If they sound familiar, there is a good reason. The first track alone has appeared in the movies Shin Jinginaki Tatakai (where it originally was used), and then in Kill Bill, Hotel for Dogs, Shrek the Third, Transformers, and Team America: World Police. If you don’t see many movies, it was used in the games Dance Dance Revolution and Gran Turismo HD, as well as a number of TV shows and radio programs.

Taiko Drums are traditional Japanese instruments used in temples and festivals, and often played in groups. Taiko actually means “wide drum” or “great drum” in Nihongo, so calling them Taiko Drums is a bit redundant, but that is the usual English usage. The third track is a traditional Taiko performance and trust me when I say the recording did not capture the depth of sound those drums are producing, nor could your speakers reproduce it. One of the most moving episodes in the 2011 season of J-Melo was their broadcast of the live performance by the surviving members of the Fukushima Taiko competitive team. If you don’t have J-Melo available from your cable company or satellite provider, you can watch it and the rest of the programming online from NHK World; just check their schedule to see when your shows will be on.

Hugo Nominee Shortlist posted

The short list for this year’s 2012 Hugo Awards was posted online this weekend, and includes a ton of great authors and programs. But I have to say, as much as I am excited about books from my favorite authors, it is the authors I don’t know about who made the list that excites me more. There are really good stories out there that I have never read, and most of those authors will have still more stories I might enjoy that I never would have known were there if not for these awards. And, of course, it is not just the written word that is being celebrated here. The category Best Graphic Story brings images to add a dimension to the storytelling, but I am so long out of touch with that field that I don’t recognize a single title or artist. Again, something new and interesting to explore. But then I hit Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, and I have seen every one of them, and would be really hard pressed to choose a single one as best; although I suspect I would lean to either Hugo or Captain America. And on Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form, three of the five are from last year’s Doctor Who season. The awards will be handed out at Worldcon as always, which this year is the ChiCon, AKA Chicago 7, the 70th Worldcon convention.

UPDATE: If you want to read the novels online, all have now been released to the public, and Worlds Without End has the links. And congrats on their two nominations to the great team at SF-Signal, who will probably have links to all the nominees that can be read online in any category fairly soon now.

Something to Do: Movies

Lockout hits the big screens this weekend. Written and directed by Luc Besson, who obviously loved Escape From New York, since this is pretty much the same story except it takes place in an orbital prison. This one looks like good mindless fun from the guy who brought us things like The Fifth Element and Angel-A.

Something to Watch: DVDs

The Darkest Hour has five teens in Moscow when alien invaders take over the Earth, and they spend the movie trying to survive. It is not a bad little film, but I think they made a mistake when they opened it in theaters on Christmas day, as it was not exactly holiday fare.

A rather amusing family oriented TV miniseries this time is The Witches of Oz, where best selling author Dorothy Gale discovers the stories she has been writing are based on suppressed childhood memories, and Oz is real.

The other TV choices are all older programs now available for the first time, starting with Night Gallery: Season Three. Joining Rod Serling in Season 3 were Vincent Price, Mickey Rooney, Sally Fields, Sandra Dee, Bill Bixby, and Leonard Nimoy, amongst others. Logan’s Run: The Complete Series ran on TV for the 1977/1978 season and also comes out this week.

Finally, Dark Shadows: Fan Favorites pulls all the way back to the 1960s for its episodes. Dark Shadows ran for five years, but as a soap opera it ran every weekday during that time, so it had over a thousand episodes. Besides being the first TV series to focus on the emotional needs of Vampires, Werewolves, and Witches, it was also one of the few shows of its time to include time travel and alternate universes as regular plot devices in its ongoing story arc. Every one of those details is represented in this small collection.

In western animation, Marvel Knight’s Astonishing X-Men: Dangerous becomes available this week, the second release in the series.

The new release in Anime is Naruto Shippuden: DVD box set 10, which I am not going to bother to describe, on the theory that if you liked the series enough to watch the previous 9 box sets you probably already know the story thus far.

The other anime releases this week are consolidations or Blue Ray or just plain re-releases. Oh! Edo Rocket – Complete Series is a consolidation, previously available in a box set per season, now with both seasons in a single box. Infinite Stratos is a re-release, except it also includes the OVA Infinite Stratos Encore, a short sequel, together for the first time.