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Something to Watch: Discs

I couldn’t find many genre Movies or TV shows this week, but there is The Driftless Area, a ghost story in which Anton Yelchin is once more getting closure for the dead, but I saw no indication that he had the name Odd Thomas this time. Stella, played by Zooey Deschanel, saves his life so he can avenge her murder. It is based on the novel of the same name written by Tom Drury.

In Anime, Rage of Bahamut: Genesis has all 12 episodes of a story where a charming rogue, a clueless demon, a disgraced knight, and a tiny zombie are the only ones who can save the world, if they can find a way to work together long enough to pull it off. Even though it was made in 2014, a lot of the footage looks like old school Anime from the 1980s. Space Brothers: Collection 8 brings episodes 88 through 99 of that series, completing the story. One Piece: Season 7 Voyage 6 has episodes 446 through 456 of a story line that shows no indications of every reaching a conclusion. Garo The Animation: Season One Part One has the first dozen episodes of the magical knights vs the evil usurper story.

Kamisama Kiss: Season 2 brings back Nanami the Land Goddess, who is finally getting the hang of the world of gods, demons, and spirits, but maybe not fast enough to save her piece of the world. Earl and Fairy is a romantic fantasy adventure in which a fairy doctor and a count are looking for a magic sword. This one was on TV back in 2008 in Japan, but I have found no indication it was previously released in North America.

Local Connect

Local Connect has a 2nd Mini Album out now called 7RAILS, and the first song here is the first track on that album, Gold. Their first mini-album came out in June of 2015, one of the songs on it was the closing theme for the Anime My Love Story, Where to Find Happiness. The second song here is also from their first release, called Cosmic Loop.

Aurora Details Seen From Space

If you aren’t an Astronaut, you probably haven’t seen the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis from Space. But luckily there are some serious camera fanatics in orbit these days, here is a glimpse of what they have been up to where the Auroras are concerned. If you pay attention, you will also get to see some far ranging lightning strikes from a gods-eye view, so you can take in how a single strike can hit 50 places across a continent at once. Also, here is the link for the full 4K version at YouTube, or you can go directly to NASA for the best possible quality. Visit the NASA TV Gateway to check what is coming up on each of their channels and link directly in. You need at least 13MBps down to watch 4K TV online even if nothing else is trying to use the internet from your house, but most broadband services these days give you 10 times that or better, on the theory that your whole family will be trying to do things at that resolution at the same time.

Breakthrough Starshot!

Using solar sails with a laser driven power system to launch from orbit, and traveling at 20% of the speed of light, tiny little Starships will visit Alpha Centauri. There will be a swarm of postage stamp sized nanocraft sent to our nearest neighbor to look for signs of life and give us more detailed information about the resources available there. If you are asking When will this happen?, they are working on it now, with the goal of launching within a decade or two. The folks involved in Breakthrough Starshot include Steven Hawking, Freeman Dyson, Yuri Milner, Ann Druyan, and a host of others.

Neil Gaiman reads Jabberwocky

The title says the important bit, but it is not the full story. Worldbuilders let people who donated money vote on what would be read. In this instance, the author/reader was Neil Gaiman, and Jabberwocky won the toss (the also-rans included Goodnight Moon, Fox in Socks, and Where the Wild Things Are). Thanks to everyone who contributed, we got this excellent rendition of a master writer reciting a masterpiece. This particular contribution took place back in 2014, but the work continues; be sure to visit Worldbuilders and see if you can’t find a current project worth your own contribution.

Something to Do: Movies

The Huntsman: Winter’s War is the selection this week, as the war between the sister queens continues. I enjoyed the first film in this set, and almost can’t wait to see the new one. I say almost because most of the critics I have read that have seen it are not even close to kind in their commentary. But the trailer looks good and I love the actors involved, so I am going anyways and will make up my own mind once I see it.