This is the week we get to see the newest installment in the Riddick franchise, and it looks like it will be quite the ride. This is either the 3rd or 4th film in the series, depending on whether you count the animated short that was released direct to DVD. Vin Diesel is still Riddick, with Katey Sackhoff and Karl Urban along for the party this time.
In movies, Studio Ghibli’s From Up on Poppy Hill brings us another Hayao Miyazaki presentation, directed by Goro Miyazaki. It is based on the 1980s Manga of the same name, and like the majority of Studio Ghibli films, it is family friendly. So family friendly in fact they are usually distributed in the US by Disney, although this time they went with GKids. Now You See Me is almost genre, bordering on the fantasy side of life, but you need to bring your brain to this one and pay attention if you want to really understand what is going on. And the winner this week in the Silly Concepts with Bad Production Values category is Sharknado.
The top selection in TV this week is Haven: The Complete 3rd Season as far as I am concerned. The story line just keeps getting more interesting each season, and Audry’s life (whoever she actually is) just keeps getting more twisted. As usual, the timing is impeccable, bringing it out just in time for you to re-watch it before season 4 starts on September 13th. The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Fourth Season finally makes it into senior year, with Elena and company looking for the Vampire Cure. And here I always thought that was a stake through the heart; the new season starts October 3rd. Revolution: The Complete First Season is also out this week, and it also got a second season.
In Anime, I already mentioned From Up On Poppy Hill, but the next quality choice is We Without Wings: Season One has two gangs, a girl with a uniform fetish, a lot of random humor and fan service, and an alternate universe with a medieval civilization for our protagonists to deal with. AKB0048: Season 1 has the classic J-Pop Idol Band defending music in all the planets of the galaxy from anti-music forces. One Piece releases season 5 part 2, bringing us episodes 276 through 287.
The first track is Superfly’s Skipped Beat, a classic little jazz piece. Then comes the Alt-Rock anthem from The Calendar of Happy Days with a track from their new album Feelback View. The third track is a Lo-Fi capture of a live song done by A Flood Of Circle. If you don’t know these bands, I promise you will be glad to get to know them; they have some amazing music to offer.
I was wandering to lunch the other day, when I ran into this in the parking lot. Someone had taken a sports car and added imitation sharks teeth to the grill. While I figured they did it to make the car look tough and cool, the actual effect is more like you just ran into a character from Pixar’s Cars; terminally cute. After he modded his vehicle, I suspect he was surprised at how it turned out.
I don’t believe I have ever heard the Star Wars theme music done in quite this style before, so I had to share it. By Lindsey Stirling & Peter Hollens, this was a YouTube Geek Week flagged item which I somehow missed until now. And then, just because I enjoyed that one so much, I went and checked a few more of Lindsey’s tracks, about Zombies and life after the Apocalypse and other normal stuff. That last one is probably my favorite Imagine Dragons cover ever, or at least so far.
If you fly into Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, pretty soon you will be greeted by a life size Gundam as you land; the footage here is from the Odaiba Gundam, also life size, which has been up and running all summer. The amazing videos are put together by DarwinFish, who has some great gear and a wonderful grasp of time lapse photography techniques. To see more of his work be sure to hit his You Tube portal, and thanks for the heads up on this one go to Crunchyroll.