The London version of the Doctor Who Experience was amazing, and I loved visiting it. But it shut down and moved a while ago, and finally today the Doctor Who Experience Cardiff opens its doors on its new home. Be sure to check it out, it is well worth spending the time to explore.
You still can’t see Continuum here, at least not yet, but there are rumors they are working on a deal for a US network to carry it. In the meantime though, there is another trailer to watch.
One of the modern holy grails in physics is the Higgs Boson, AKA The God Particle, and several weeks ago Cern announced they believed they had finally proven it exists. As in all such advances, some will only go so far as to admit that a Higgs-like particle has been identified, but even if it is not the elusive Higgs itself a major step along the road to understanding how the universe works has been taken. As complex as both the question and the means of answering it are, there is a simple explanation put forward by Assistant Professor Daniel Whiteson of the University of California that anyone can understand. And just to make it easier to follow, this excellent animation was assembled; thanks to Open Culture for the heads up on this one.
The Higgs Boson Explained from PHD Comics on Vimeo.
A Cat Anime done with stop motion wooden dolls from Nekomacitta did a pretty good job of explaining to Japanese children the dangers of a nuclear power plant issue such as the one Fukushima and the surrounding countryside just suffered last year. It is a fairly balanced presentation which cites both the good and bad points of such a power generating system, apparently not driving one to a preordained conclusion but rather letting the audience weigh the options and come to their own conclusions. I say apparently because I have not had the opportunity to watch the entire 20 minute animation so far, but just the outtake presented here. Thanks to The Asahi Shimbon for the heads up on this one.
Obviously The Dark Knight Rises is the movie of choice this weekend, but at select theaters you can also see the Dark Knight Trilogy. Apparently they were pretty impressed by what Marvel pulled off with their marathon leading up to the midnight release of The Avengers, so Warner Bros stole the idea. Batman Begins starts on Thursday evening the 19th at around 6PM with the new film playing at midnight, and the entire run of three movies will take 8 hours and 45 minutes.
There are several tasty movies this week, starting with Lockout. This one is another Luc Besson action adventure film, which seems a lot like Escape from New York done in orbit; escapist action fun all the way (yes, pun intended). Extraterrestrial looks like a lot of silly fun; you wake up with no memory of the one night stand who’s house you are in, to meet her wacky ex-boyfriend and neighbors, only to discover the Earth has been invaded. This one is Spanish with English subtitles, and definitely falls into the comedy category. Also in comedy, The Fairy (Le Fee) tells the tale of a man who searches all over Le Havre for the fairy who granted him two wishes and disappeared, taking his heart with her. This one is French with English subtitles, and is the third in a series of rather surrealistic films, the previous titles being Iceberg and Rumba. Finally, 4:44 Last Day on Earth is an award winning love story on the day the world dies.
We do every bit as good in TV this time around, with Eureka: Season 5 bringing this excellent series to a close… unless there was an announcement at Comic-Con this weekend I missed (please, please, please…). We also get Alphas: Season One, which just gives you time to catch up on it before season 2 starts next Monday. And Sanctuary: The Complete Fourth Season also hits the shelves, with more monster protecting adventure. And for those who like a bit of reality TV with their unreality, Stan Lee’s Superhumans: Season Two is also going to become available.
Anime also has some winners, starting with Fractale: The Complete Series. A boy who geeks out on obsolete electronics saves a girl being chased by dangerous men, and when she later runs away from him she leaves behind a necklace crammed with data. Suddenly he is being chased by both the political group who wants to destroy the technology that drives their world, and the one that wants to save it, for the data he has holds the key to it all.
Meanwhile, The Book of Bantorra: Collection 2 Continues the story of the Armed Librarians and their battles with the religious fanatics who are trying to capture the soul books and use their knowledge to conquer the world. It is a completely different premise than either Library Wars, where the librarians took up arms to defend against political censorship, or Read Or Die, where the Paper Sisters, book addicts of the first order, used their mystical powers to defend the world from the illiterate hoards who wanted to enslave it. Even so there is something of a common theme here, and as someone who has been reading everything I could get my hands on since the age of 7 (yes, I started late, but I have been doing my best to make up for it ever since), I dearly love all three series. And yes, I will be in the theaters to see the new version of Fahrenheit 451 when they release it.
Psychic Squad – Collection 2 rounds out the new releases for the week, but that link will get you little info, since they do not stream to North America. If you caught the first collection, expect more of the same. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Collection 2 compiles the second half of the series (episodes 34 through 64) into a single box set, for a more cost effective package than the original one season at a time release. And finally, Girls Bravo S.A.V.E. edition, which as usual means you can pick up the entire series for less than 20 bucks. Enjoy!