They are a little pricy at 1.35 million dollars each baseline (options cost you more), but in the first month they went on sale they took orders for 3,000 of them. Called the Kuratas after their designer, Kogoro Kurata, when you order yours from their web page you can even have it customized with the various weapons systems they offer. They have been out for about a year now, and they do have a disclaimer on their home page that these are sold as works of art, not as combat mechas. Thanks to Rocket News 24 for the heads up on this one.
Science News reports that a team at the University of Glasgow has set up four single pixel detectors and used gear normal to a high school science lab to create 3D images, fully mapping the test object. Why is this important? Because unlike a 20 million pixel camera array, single pixel detectors can operate over a much greater bandwidth than visible and ultraviolet light, so you can also apply it to thing like x-rays and infrared energy. This is going to open up a range of applications not previously available, especially medical imaging and natural resources investigations.
3-D IMAGING MADE SIMPLE from Science News on Vimeo.
This is the Senior Thesis film produced at Ringling College of Art and Design by Dylan Vanwormer and Logan Scelina. Yes, it is a bit silly, but where animation is concerned that is often the point. These kind of things inspire me to plug away at my own animation projects, even though mine never seem to look this good.
There are some moments you want to last forever, and some you don’t even want to live through once. The author of About Time was also a writer on Blackadder, and did a few other RomCom flicks like Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and Love Actually. This appears to be his first venture into SF/F, but it could be quite amusing. The film is due out in November, and will hopefully get an actual web page before then.
The song is from Simple Plan, the song Summer Paradise, featuring the vocal work of Taka from One OK Rock, one of the best Alt Rock bands from Japan. This is one of the more interesting songs since The Lazy Song sung by Bruno Mars and featuring Leonard Nimoy in the video. Come to think of it, it sounds a lot like Summer Paradise. And then, just because I can, a recent track from Rip Slyme, who’s music I can only describe as Punk/Rap/Lounge, however that actually works.
The one that gets my vote this week is Epic, an animated fantasy from the folks who did Ice Age and Rio. They did pretty good on the voice actor department to, with a cast that includes Collin Farrell, Chris O’Dowd, and Beyonce to name a few. If you’re in the mood for something darker, the no budget film No Sanctuary will also be out in at least some theaters.