December 2013 – Page 3 – Strider’s Web

More Holiday Images

A few more pictures indicative of the season I took while in London. These are some of the lights from the display at Covent Gardens, which was completely transformed from the way it normally looks. The first is one of the entrance ways around the edge of this shopping center that is older than my entire country. You would actually enter through one of the archways to the left and cross through an equivalent archway on the right to get inside the mall area, but I liked the visual effect of looking down the hallway perpendicular to traffic. The second image is inside the main mall, which they filled with giant Christmas ornaments and a couple of disco balls to flash highlights all over them. It was quite impressive.

Xmas Pictures 1: Snowflake Ally

When I was in London a short while ago for the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary I was completely amazed by the holiday lights that city puts together. Not that the concept was anything unusual, since every city does it, but the scale and sense of style seemed quite beyond what I am used to. So, for the next several randomly chosen blog entries, I will do my best to post a picture or 3 here, in the hopes everyone might get a grin out of them.

The first one is your basic snowflake motif, hung in a local ally, not even on a real road. The way things were blocked off, there was never a fear of any vehicle traffic down this byway, and yet it was as festive as could be. The reason I finally got a good picture of it after 200 shots was because it was the ally between me and Trafalgar Square, with the place we stayed at one end of it. Since I passed by it pretty much every time we went outdoors, a few of those shots had to eventually look good, and this one did. Did I mention London was amazing?

Godzilla Rides Again

Or “Gojira”, if your ear is tuned to the east. Yes, they are once more making a Godzilla movie for those of us who speak English. But however you pronounce it, a good time is had by all (at least, those of us not yet thrown over the bridge railing). This version of the film is being made by Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures, and will be distributed by them everywhere but Japan, where Toho distributes all things Godzilla, since they created the franchise.

Something to Do: Movies, 20Dec13

The most interesting film this week has to be Her, a story about a writer who installs a new artificially intelligent operating system designed to meet his every need, and discovers himself drawn into a relationship with it he never expected. Don’t expect explosions and chase scenes, Spike Jonez doesn’t usually do that kind of science fiction; this story is all about intelligence and the heart. We also get Walking with Dinosaurs 3D this time around, quality animation with a story about survival and triumph. This is from 20th Century Fox, with BBC Earth doing the UK airplay, and plays a lot like some of the better classic Disney stories. I think I will probably have to see them both, and I have to say it is nice to have a choice between two stories that have never been told before. It comes complete with a free Augmented Reality App that lets you take photos of your surroundings with dinosaurs in them and a lot more.

Something to Watch: DVDs, 17Dec13

Looks like some excellent selections were held back for last minute shopping opportunities. In movies, Elysium would stand out on its own merits anyways, but it has to be about the only time Jodi Foster got to be the bad guy, at least that I have seen. And even though it doesn’t stand up to District 9, his previous work, for originality (that’s what happens when they hand you a corporate run big budget; too many folks have a vote in what you can and can’t do), Neill Blomkamp still did a quality job within the constraints they saddled him with. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters was a great YA book, and I am pleased to see they didn’t just stop with the first Percy Jackson story; with any luck, they will continue to go through converting all of the books to feature films. The comic-book-to-movie installment of Kick-Ass 2 continued the franchise’s tradition of having over-the-top actors in the adult superhero role, with the underage superheroes being the sane ones. Scary thought, that, but it definitely seems to work for them.

While I only believed The Lone Ranger to be genre within a certain narrow range before this movie came out, Johnny Depp completely changed the dialog for the story. I consider this the best Lone Ranger tale ever, quite the fitting reboot for what has always been an American classic series. And for those wondering why I considered it genre at all, it is twofold. First, you have the whole ghost who walks thing of the Spirit Warrior who can not be killed (not to be confused with The Phantom, that is a whole different Ghost Who Walks). The second reason is the Lone Ranger had a nephew named Dan Reid, who grew up to be a captain of industry, and had a son named Britt Reid, also known as the Green Hornet. The same authors created both series, I always liked the fact that they linked them together that way. Ghost Team One is a comedy horror movie, but after I have said that, I have nothing to add. Except that this one will not be following me home.

We don’t have anything directly genre in TV, but Burn Notice: Season Seven is coming out, as is Burn Notice: The Complete Series. For western animation, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is good silly fun (and it comes with a 3D version).

In Anime, Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero is a cautionary tale of what Happily Ever After might devolve into. Akatsuki has saved the fairy tale kingdom and escaped home with his prize, Miu (daughter of the Demon King); and that’s where their real problems begin. In what one would think would almost be a related series (but isn’t), Blue Exorcist: The Movie has the son of Satan out to eradicate demonic forces the world over. Dad wouldn’t be proud.

Vividred Operation: Complete Collection shows what kind of world will result from a peaceful use of technology to solve the Earth’s energy problems, when that solution is attacked from space, and only a team of 14 year old girls can protect our planet. Like so many other shows, you can watch it on Crunchyroll if you prefer. The Pet Girl of Sakurasou is a twisty little story that leaves us wondering who will wind up on who’s leash, but finding that out is a fun ride. It is hard to describe Di Gi Charat beyond the fact that she is an alien who came to Earth to break into the music industry, but trust me when I say she gets in lots of trouble. Hopefully you will find something interesting in this collection; enjoy!

Tommy Heavenly6

The band is called Tommy Heavenly6, and the first track is called Ruby Eyes, while the second one is Monochrome Rainbow, one of the best Oxymoron titles I have heard in a while. They are doing straight ahead rock and roll, and they sound quite tasty. The singer, Tomoko Kawase, started in 1995 and spun herself off in 3 different genres. She does most of her work as the band The Brilliant Green, an Alt-Rock group, while Tommy Heavenly6 is her punk leaning music and Tommy February6 is where her Synth/Trance offerings live. I love her music, it is amazing.