This is just one of a series of edutainment videos put together by IRrelavent Astronomy staring a ton of Sci-Fi actors; in this episode, Ed Wasser is the robot, while Wil Wheaton is The Professor. This series is presented by the Spitzer Science Center, and you will find a lot of fun videos there.
Terrestrial Human
Another place to watch Anime online is Manga Dot Com. At any given time they have a small selection of truly classic episodes, including titles such as Macross Plus, Gurren Lagann, Dante’s Inferno, and Noein, to name just a few. They also have some feature length films, including Paprika, Dead Leaves, and The Castle of Cagliostro. I particularly like Anime Reloaded, which is a lot like the animated version of MST3K as performed by Saturday Night Live.
I am embarrassed to say I missed a Sci-Fi DVD release this week: Never Let Me Go, the new film based on the book by Kazuo Ishiguro. He also wrote a little story called The Remains of the Day, but this time around we follow the lives of three people over three decades who were brought to life for a single reason: to be spare parts. This first person story about the lives of clones in an alternate timeline is not a happy tale, but it touches the heart in unexpected ways. This is the kind of movie The Island could have been, if it had someone at the helm who understood what being human was about.
The Rose City Steampunk Film Festival takes place in Portland, Oregon’s Clinton Street Theater on the 13th of February, 2011. The event has several feature length films and a boatload of shorts as well as some music videos and a writers panel. The theater is also running the Steampunk thriller Zenith from the 4th through the 10th, they are showing the classic Valley Girl for their Valentine presentation on the 14th, and every Friday night they run REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA, while every Saturday night they run the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I now have a favorite movie theater in yet another town I have never been to.
ZENITH 2011 TRAILER from Surla Films on Vimeo.
J-Rock comes in a variety of forms, many of them going Thumpa Thumpa in a loud voice. Some of them are not quite so intense, like Yuki Kajiura’s Song of Storm and Fire, and her Yume no Tsubasa, which you may recognize from an anime series. Then there is Maaya with a J-Pop song that was never so sweet as this version, even if it isn’t the jazz vocal riffs she is known for. And then an uptempo J-Pop ditty followed by a J-Rock tune by May’N; enjoy!
Yes, this isn’t a joke… this is the first Robot Comedian built so far. Heather Knight built the bot and did the programing, and it was presented as part of a TED Woman event held in Washington, D.C., a month or so back (December of 2010 for those viewing this down the road).
Sanctum is a James Cameron 3D thriller hitting the big screens this weekend. I fully expect the movie to be visually stunning, which is the reason I am mentioning it here, but it is not even close to sci-fi or fantasy. In fact I believe it is based on a true story, and you can find episodes on the National Geographic Channel.