There is really only one choice this weekend: Oz the Great and Powerful. Based on the Oz books of L. Frank Baum, it is a prequel to the 1939 classic Judy Garland film, telling the story that came before. I am so ready for this one, and will definitely be doing the IMAX 3D showing!
Terrestrial Human
In movies, Wreck-It Ralph was one of my favorite recent animations, well worth watching again and again. Meanwhile, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 brings what is hopefully the conclusion of this series to the small screen.
In TV the Australian Mermaid fantasy series H2O Just Add Water is having all three seasons being released in the US. Likewise the Canadian Steampunk series Murdoch Mysteries is coming out with season 5, and also putting seasons 1 through 4 into a box set.
In Anime, Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc is a feature length OVA alternate history ninja vs. warlord story. Bodacious Space Pirates: Collection 2 brings the second half of the series about a high school girl who inherits a spaceship full of pirates from her father. Finally, Natsume’s Book of Friends rolls out season 3 in a premium edition. It seems Natsume was shunned for his ability to see yokai (spirits and/or monsters), and spent the first two seasons resolving things with the spirit world, in the process of which he gained a family and made friends. Now the spirit world is coming back for him with new problems to be solved.
Глюк’oZa is a band that knows how to blend excellent animation with quality music, and they have built a sci-fi storyline much as Gorillaz have. The name of the band is also the stage name of the lead singer/songwriter/dancer/actress, Gluk’oza’s real name being Natalia Ilinichna Ionova. The stage name means Glucose, or Sugar in Russian, and I pretty much like all her music. These are just a few of her videos, you can see lots more on her web site, and I will no doubt post more of them here another time.
Yep, they are doing Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2, and it could be even sillier than the first one, based on the trailer. It should be out come September, and since they don’t seem to have the website on line yet, I just linked back to the first one.
Science Friday will be covering the impact of Sequestration on science and research tomorrow, but they also have a very fun guest: MC Frontalot. He’s not the only Nerdcore artist, but he is my favorite, and he just came out with a new CD, his 5th. Nerdcore is hip-hop for nerds, about computers, video games, science, and being geeky, so he should fit right in with the Sci-Friday crowd. You can listen to it on your local NPR radio station, download the podcast, or stream it live, check this page for the links to listen, or get the app. Or for the full geek effect, log in to Sci-Friday in Second Life and enjoy it in VR. Don’t forget to visit the MC Frontalot web site for the latest updates and tunes.
Coming up on Thursday the 28th at the Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction at Kansas University, Cory Doctorow will be doing a lecture entitled The Coming War on General Purpose Computing: Every single political issue will end up rehashing the stupid Internet copyright fight. I wish I was anywhere near there so I could attend and hear one of the most innovative and insightful thinkers of the last dozen years give this presentation. If you are nearby, don’t miss it; seating is free, but limited, so you want to get there early. If someone records it and puts in on TED or YouTube, I will post it here, which will at least be better than missing it entirely.
In the meantime, here is a very related presentation he gave back in 2011 that should give you an idea of the subject matter. The Copyright and Intellectual Property questions are very complex, because the solutions to protect one group’s rights would often wipe out every other group’s rights, and what we need is a system that will protect everyone’s rights at once. There is a solution to be found, but not without a lot of work to find common ground and implement a best practices list that actually works for all of us. I appreciate the fact that Doctorow looks at the problem from lots of angles and is not shy about expressing his opinions about all of the components involved with the process.
This stuff is important; it deserves your attention and understanding. Yeah, it may take a bit of time and effort to comprehend but the rewards of getting it right will be amazing for the entire human race. Don’t let the future be determined without taking a moment to find out about the arguments and making your voice heard in favor of the aspects you consider worth fighting for.