Merry Chrismas, all! A present for your ears; Chu’s Day rocking out with All I Want For Christmas Is You.
The music just gets better with each new track they release, and this time is no different. We start off with Leo Imai doing Bird Of Paradise, posted on November 17th, and recorded on November 9th at Fever, Tokyo. Next we have the official METAFIVE Musical Chairs track, posted on November 9th, and I couldn’t help but include Maisie’s Avenue yet again, one of my favorite tracks of 2016, or perhaps even my favorite. This is my new favorite group from Japan, assembled around Yukihiro Takahashi of Yellow Magic Orchestra fame, you should listen to everything they have recorded.
I am so ready for this film, having waited what seems like a couple of decades for Blade Runner 2049. Based on a story by Philip K. Dick, if it is even half as good as the original film, it will be amazing.
If you are looking for something to read, one of the best series ever written is Wild Cards, a Superhero shared-universe where around 40 authors have contributed to the mosaic novels and short stories. It started in 1986, when George R.R. Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass came up with the concept of Superpowers and horrible mutations and a lot of folks who just plain died when exposed to an Alien Xenovirus. That was meant to rid the Earth of Humans while leaving all our stuff intact so the aliens could take over the planet without destroying it in a war, but it didn’t quite work out the way they had planned. The stories are written by some of the best Science Fiction authors on the planet (there are too many to list, and I didn’t want to leave anyone out, so I gave the link so you could see for yourself), each of whom has created one or more characters. While it is difficult to pick a favorite with so many wonderful characters in the books, if I had to name just one it would be Roger Zelazny’s < href="http://www.wildcardsworld.com/characters/the-sleeper/">Croyd, The Sleeper. 24 books have already been published and there are two more in the pipe, one ready for release. And because that isn’t enough, the long-awaited TV series is finally in production; George can’t be directly involved with that due to his exclusive contract with HBO for Game of Thrones, so Melinda is heading up that project. This is one of the trailers for High Stakes, the 11th book in the series, updated to include mention of the TV series.
Studio Ghibli is in hibernation for the moment, largely shut down although Hayao Miyazaki has said he plans to do another feature length film, this time a documentary about making the animation Boro the Caterpillar. But a bunch of former Studio Ghibli talent have gathered together under the brand new banner of Studio Ponoc, and have released the first teaser trailer for their first animation, Mary and the Witch’s Flower. Producers, directors, animators and writers of some of the most iconic animations of the last 40 years have placed their bet that people will want to continue watching what they can do. I certainly look forward to when this one makes it to the theaters next year, and we find out if they retain the magic touch they developed at Studio Ghibli. For a more detailed look at the new studio and project, watch the Tokyosaurus video after the trailer.
Netflix is posting a 2 hour Sense8 Christmas Special which will begin airing on December 23rd, J. Michael Straczynski’s story of another kind of telepathic evolution. I was also happy to hear the story will continue May 5th, 2017, with 10 new episodes. Since the trailer was posted I wanted to include it here as well.