Japan’s first planetary orbiter Akatsuki is now sending back images of Venus from close up, and the folks at the Planetary Society have posted a nicely detailed Akatsuki Mission Status Report on their web site which includes those pictures. Besides telling us about the satellites current status, they also give some information about its mission as the Venus Climate Orbiter and the three cameras that are its primary data gathering instruments. There was also some background on the JAXA planetary orbiter history, of which this mission is the first success, and a translation of their press conference announcing the achievement. While I would personally rather move to Mars, the knowledge we can gain from studying the weather dynamics on Venus will be very useful in better understanding our own.
Terrestrial Human
A recipe has been posted for Liquid Carbonite on the Star Wars web site which reads just like a normal milk shake. But the picture has convinced me I need to add a Han Solo in Carbonite silicone mold to my kitchen collection, and I am certainly looking forward to the new film hitting the big screen next week. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the first one I have been excited about since the original trilogy, so much so that I think I am going to have to spring for the IMAX version.
The Magicians is a new show coming to Syfy on January 25th, and if the show is half as good as the books, it will be on my DVR every week. They have a sneak peek on the website that looks like the first few minutes of the first episode, also looking good. It is based on Lev Grossman’s trilogy of the same name, a set of books praised by a lot of people, including Cory Doctorow, William Gibson, and George R. R. Martin. Let’s face it, any time three of your favorite authors tell you somebody else wrote important books you need to read, you pay attention.
American Hero is about Melvin, a reluctant Superhero who lives to party, until he tries to reconnect with his estranged son. That’s about it for genre this time around; I am thinking this weekend would be a good time to stream and catch up with some of the TV series I watch.
In Movies we get 2 great choices; Ant-Man is another Marvel masterpiece, this time bringing founding Avenger Henry Pym to the forefront, although at the point he has to pass the mantle on. The other selection is the Blue Ray version of Minions (the DVD version came out just before Thanksgiving), one of the very best animated comedy’s of 2015, or perhaps the best. TV also brings us 2 quality choices, The Transporter Refueled for a glimpse of the characters younger days, and Under the Dome: Season 3 for he Steven King fans in the audience.
Anime has Rail Wars – Complete Collection, a great series that balances out the Otaku with the MIT Hacker versions of railroad fandom. Riddle Story of Devil: The Complete Series + OVA has twelve female assassins going to a prestigious boarding school for a competition; to be the one to kill fellow student Haru Ichinose, and win their deepest desire. But the one who gets to her first ends up trying to protect her from the others, making life much more complicated for everyone involved. The Irregular at Magic High School – Yokohama Disturbance Arc brings the third and final piece of that series, and while it is quite good, they should just release the complete series with no concern about money.
Let’s not forget Aura: Koga Maryuin’s Last War, a movie which has one formerly delusional student now in charge of another equally delusional person, both of them trying to find their way out into normalcy. Finally this time around we have Haganai: I don’t have many friends, about the misfits who form the Neighbors Club, because they have no choice, on so many levels.
The band METAFIVE reminds me of David Byrne and Talking Heads more than anyone else ever has. That seems kind of appropriate, since the band was formed around Yellow Magic Orchestra’s Takahashi Yukihiro early in 2014, as those of you who saw his interview earlier this year on J-Melo already know. Don’t think he is carrying the younger members of the band, though; it is a bit of a super-group, with 2 heavy hitter veteran musicians, a singer/songwriter who already had a long list of chart climbers under his belt, and one each famous producer and equally famous DJ. This track is the studio live version of their song Don’t Move, and it is quite impressive. It is also very different than the studio version that will be released on their new album Meta coming out this January 13th. My only regret about the album is I still haven’t heard any of the other 11 songs, unless the few tracks Takahashi played on that J-Melo episode were from it; even if they were, he played by himself, so I have no idea how they would sound with the whole band playing together. Guess I will have to wait until January 13th along with everyone else to find out.