We get a few choices this time, the first of them looks like the most interesting. Transcendence is about a dying scientist who downloads his mind into a computer, with results that are not quite what he expected. This is a tale of one way the Singularity might manifest itself, and not necessarily one of the better ways for that to come about. Since this one has Johnny Depp, I am also expecting it to be the quirkiest selection for the week end. If you are looking for something a little more light-hearted, Antboy is a Danish production about a 12 year old superhero who has just run into his first major bad guy.
In Movies, I have to name The Secret Life of Walter Mitty first, because they truly did an amazing job on the remake of this film. It is one of the few instances where I liked the re-imaged version better than the original, it is just that good. Switch with Andy Lau is a twisty little Secret Agent vs. Smuggler tale tied together with the artistic history of their nation’s culture. This action film is a Chinese equivalent to the Mission Impossible series of movies. Led Zeppelin: Good Times, Bad Times may be the definitive documentary, possibly even surpassing It Might Get Loud for sheer fun; if you are a Zeppelin fan, do not miss it.
Ripper Street: Season 2 and Bletchley Circle: Season 2 are both worthy follow-ups to their original series. They are both period pieces set in interesting UK history slices. I am sure everyone is aware of the near-fantasy Ripper legend, but Bletchley Park was one of the birthplaces of modern cryptography as well as advances in computer science like the world had never seen before. It was there that Alan Turing himself (yes, the inventor of the Turing Test ) made the first attacks on Enigma, the Nazi cipher machine, which shortened WWII by 2 to 4 years, or made it possible for the allies to win at all, depending on who’s analysis you prefer.
In Anime, Nyaruko: Crawling with Love! isn’t exactly the rom-com the title might suggest… or is it? Nyaruko, also known as the Crawling Chaos, has been sent by the Planetary Defense Agency to protect Mahiro from the rampaging demons trying to destroy him. It turns out all of the creatures from H.P.Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos are aliens, and cute girls, and they all seem to like him. Mahiro and his friends fight to survive, learn about love, play intergalactic video games, and might just save the world if everything goes right! Like most of the best anime, you can watch it streaming online before you decide to commit your money to owning it yourself. You would think I would stop mentioning that, since it is true of so many shows of all types these days. But what the heck, including a direct link is never a bad thing.
From the New World is another tale which starts innocently enough but rapidly goes off the rails. This time, it is a thousand years in the future, and Saki and her friends seem to live in a place where you can materialize anything by an act of psychic will, no technology required. But then a long-lost artifact gives the lie to the facade of their world, and they learn about the bloody secret history of how their world came into existence. Now the question is, will they live long enough to save it, for humanity and everyone else?
Berserk: The Golden Age 3: The Advent has Griffith still imprisoned by the Kingdom of Midland and the Band of the Hawk running for their lives when Guts returns to lead them to the rescue. OK, that’s a bit abrupt, but then One Piece Collection 9 continues the tale of Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates as they gather together friends on the quest to make Luffy King of the Pirates. This set runs from episode 206 to 229, but the currently streaming episode is 640 or so, expect a disconnect between them if you watch both media delivery styles. Also be aware Spice and Wolf is being released in a single box set, and Heaven’s Lost Property is as well. If you don’t already have them, they just became a bit more cost effective to acquire.
Going to be in Washington, D.C. in May? Then you might want to attend the second annual The Future Is Here Festival at the Smithsonian on May 16th, 17th and 18th. Some of the speakers will include Patrick Stewart, Brian Greene, Adam Steltzner, George Takei, Stewart Brand, Sara Seager, Kim Stanley Robinson, David Brin, and The Mythbusters… and that’s just on one day! At the higher ticket levels the event also includes priority seating on Saturday night for the national premiere of X-Men: Days of Future Past at the National Museum of American History, and Patrick will be taking questions from the audience afterwards.
One of my favorite fantasy series is Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files, where Harry Dresden is the only person listed in the Chicago Yellow Pages under the profession Wizard, and is a special consultant to the Chicago PD. This is an amazingly good blend of gritty noir detective story and combat sorcery, with an entire cast of characters you would want to have with you in a tight spot… or as far from you as inhumanly possible. There are 16 books in the series so far, 15 novels and a collection of short stories, and a TV series that ran for one season on Sci-Fi (it wasn’t Syfy yet). Oh, yeah, two of the Graphics Novels were original Harry Dresden stories not published in Novel form, kicking us up a few books, and James Marsters reads all the audiobook versions but one. Start yourself off with Storm Front; bet you can’t read just one!
Animated fun this time around with Rio 2, from the folks who brought us the Ice Age series. Our happy blue couple think they are the last of their species, but then others like themselves are spotted in the Amazon. There is nothing for it but to pack up their three kids and go find out who else might have survived, and whether they will end up having a future together. But Blu should have worried more about the past, as he discovers he now has a father in law… and a long lost romantic rival he never knew existed.
Besides the silliness and great characters this production house excels at, I expect they may also throw in a selection of samba driven music to fuel the soundtrack, as they did the first time around. The musical pieces they did in the original film allowed them to showcase some quite complex and well choreographed dance animations that were absolutely amazing to watch, especially in 3D. I look forward to seeing at least one such sequence in the sequel, although I can’t imagine what they could do to top their initial offering.
This week has the release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, the second part of the Tolkien prequel. In TV we get Holliston: The Complete Second Season, a sitcom full of zombies, werewolves, and many other genre favorites. And that’s about it. Everything else I have found is either a re-release, like Familiar of Zero, or an import formatted for another region, like the BBC show Musketeers.