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Something to Watch: DVD’s

We have three interesting movies this week, two of them silly. The serious one is Wrath of the Titans, which I didn’t see in theaters because the first one took itself too seriously, and I didn’t need any more of that. I still don’t. I also didn’t see Mirror, Mirror, not so much because it looked too silly (you can never have too much silly in my book) but because I had to work that weekend. Before I decide whether to add it to the permanent collection I will catch it on streamy or HBO or somewhere equivalent. The third one isn’t genre: David Tennant’s The Decoy Bride was made for two and a half million pounds and earned $524 its opening weekend in the US. In part this was because it only showed up on a single screen that weekend, but even later on it wasn’t in that many theaters. Let’s face it, the only reason I will be watching it is because David is in it, and he made a wonderful Doctor. OK, and the trailer looked like silly fun, too.

Notice how I didn’t even mention Sector 7? Even the Korean audiences didn’t go to that one, a bit of a surprise as his earlier work The Host won such critical acclaim around the world.

No genre TV shows this week, but I will mention Casablanca: The Complete Series if only because it has Scatman Crothers as Sam, and one of the tracks he sings is the theme for the show. And yes, the original 1942 movie is where the phrase Play It Again, Sam came from.

Anime has a brand new release this week. Towanoquon: the Complete Collection tells the story of gifted mutant children born with special powers. Government cyborgs are hunting them down to kill them, while a rebel group with their own powers are saving them to train them to use their gifts to defend themselves. Don’t let the fact that the complete series is only 6 episodes fool you, because each episode is 50 minutes long, giving them a full 300 minutes to tell the story.

Monsters Rampage Cardiff

A few of the monsters escaped from the Doctor Who Experience, recently relocated to Cardiff, and were wandering the streets harassing the passers by. I got to visit the exhibition in London this past October, I can’t wait to go back and learn what new goodies they deployed for the new installation. Obviously I will have to wait at least a little bit, since it doesn’t open there until July 20th…

Let’s Go To Mars!

It turns out that NASA’s Mars Explorer Program still has a shot at getting a manned mission to the Red Planet! Which means I was wrong when was afraid we had gone totally third world, abandoning our future in space for a few bucks in local pork barrel projects used to line some politicians pockets. But I wasn’t completely wrong; if you want the future of humanity to include some Americans colonizing our new homes in space (and not just the Chinese and their other western pacific rim culture allies) you need to make your voices heard. From now until July first, go to the Mars Forum, register as a forum member (it’s free), read through the entries, and make your voice heard. There are some great ideas there, some flames, and some irrelevant commentary, like every forum you have ever been to. But this time the stakes may just be the future of the human race for the next half million years; wouldn’t you want your children and grandchildren to have a shot at being part of it?

Food as Art: Bento

While I may be all about everything Sci-Fi and Otaku, I am wearing one of these human bodies and do have to fuel it like everyone else. But there is no reason that shouldn’t be fun, creative, and sometimes silly, and for that I find Bento and Sushi are the best ways to go. The first example here is the simplest I could find that totally gets the concept across; how to use those tiny sausages to make cute stuff for your bento box, including octopi. The second gives you a simple way to create Panda Themed Rice Balls, and when combined with the first video gives you a great introduction to bento box basics. The third looks at the use of egg molds to add that kaiwaii touch to lunch. The fourth is an example of creating a cute bear from fish patties and other stuff, although since I don’t like fish I make mine from potato pancake fixings.

The fifth is rather more ambitious; making a Sushi Panda Roll. Please note that even though the execution of this last entry takes a lot more time to get right, all of these are ways to bring a bit of extra enjoyment and entertainment to a meal. There are tons more ways to create good bento, and the overall balance of the box isn’t even mentioned here, but once you start down this path you will want to share your lunches just to watch others reactions to your creations. If you have kids this is also a great way to get Parent of the Year nominations from their friends, as they gain all kinds of recognition on the school grounds. The final video is just to give you a hint of what is possible, and inspire you to create your own; there are no limits! And for those worried about non edible items in a lunch, I promise food coloring on rice paper is both edible and non-toxic.

RI Channel

Yes, the Royal Institute has a great web site with a ton of great resources there, including a lot of video footage of various talks and lectures. They are currently featuring the 1977 Christmas Lecture, which that year was given by Carl Sagan on the topic of the Planets. The quality of the copy on the RI website is much better than the one I could embed here, so you should watch the entire thing from that site.