This time the images are not computer generated creations, but actual photographs of space. This is an astrophotography contest held by Ciel et Espace Photos in France, and I hope they do it every year. This is their very first year, and the competition is called the Photo Nightscape Awards, or PNA for short. They had a Pro and Amature category, as well as Junior categories for several age ranges, and the images are spectacular. You can catch a glimpse in the video below, but you want to go to the Winners Page and see the full resolution versions for yourself. Many thanks to the folks at Universe Today for the heads up on this one.
Terrestrial Human
I wish I had permission to post the winner’s images here, because they created some amazing places. You will have to visit E-On Stoftware’s 3D Environment Competition Winners 2014 to see them, but they are worth your time to check out. They were all created using VUE Infinite, the professional environment creation software suite from E-On. When I say professional, I am not kidding; check out their 2013 customer showcase video below to see just how many times you watched their product in a movie that year. But while their top of the line software is a bit pricy they have a full range of VUE 3D creation products including versions that range from VUE Pioneer priced at FREE up to versions priced to $500 for those of us not trying to create a feature film. And even the free version comes with full support including an active community, also priced at free.
They have now finished the GGO (Gun Gal Online) story arc in season 2 of Sword Art Online and are about to roll out the next one, Caliber. They did the same thing in season 1, where the first story arc was a Clear-the-Levels dungeon quest, and the second one was a Save the Princess game. While I think they could have actually broken them into 4 separate segments, they chose to do them in groups of two. I am really enjoying the Anime, almost as much as I enjoyed the books by Reki Kawahara they are based on. The other set of books he created, sharing that same universe and also turned into an anime series, is Accel World, which I am also enjoying watching. If you haven’t seen them yet, take some time to check them out; I think you will enjoy them.
The one that looks the most interesting to me this week is The Book of Life, an animated presentation about being torn between fulfilling the expectations of your family and following your heart. I also find the animation style itself to be conductive to telling this particular story, and can’t wait to see how it all fits together. The other film worth checking out is Men, Women & Children, a story about how the internet has totally changed how we all deal with each other, and grow closer (or farther) together/apart.
In movies, X-Men: Days of Future Past was the best film of the franchise so far, and I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet. The other feature length offering is the recent Mr. Peabody and Sherman, the heartwarming story of a dog and his boy, and a rather abused time machine that may spell the end of the world.
To take full advantage of the film release, they are also making available The Complete Mr. Peabody & Sherman Collection, 450 minutes comprising all 91 of the original episodes. One of the more interesting shows to come along recently is Penny Dreadful: The Complete First Season, a rather twisted new take on some old stories and characters, including Dorian Grey, Frankenstein, and Dracula, all in a single story. If you need still more Victorian Gothic Fantasy, Dracula: Season One also comes out this week; enjoy it while you can, it didn’t get a season 2. And the final TV release for this round is Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion, bringing us back to the realm of animation.
In Anime, A Certain Magical Index II: Part One will be hitting the shelves, as will Holy Knight, a twisted tale of a Vampire Slayer and the Vampire that wants to have his baby… just before she kills him. There is also Naruto Shippūden: DVD Box20, as well as Naruto Triple Feature, which compiles the movies Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, Legend of the Stone of Gele, and Guardians of the Crescent Moon Kingdom.
In the Strangely Entertaining category we get Kill Me Baby, a story of what may have been the most dangerous childhood ever lived, and Meganebu, a tale of the man who founded the Glasses Club, and got all the guys to join it on the promise of developing working X-Ray spectacles. Finally, there is also a S.A.V.E. version of Princess Jellyfish, making the ultimate nerd-girl a bit more affordable.
This is the first new release from Fungus in 3 years, entitled Dishwasher and Punk, or Punk and Wash depending on who is doing the translating. It just came out this past week, released on Space Shower Music, and this first track sounds pretty good in a Ska kind of way. There are 13 tracks altogether on the disc, so far this is the only one that has been posted online.