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Things to Watch: DVD’s

The movie release of choice this week is Surrogates, a fun little action/adventure outing starring Bruce Willis as a man who has to avoid wearing his robot body while hunting down a killer.

If you didn’t have a chance to see it in the theaters, RiffTrax LIVE: Plan 9 from Outer Space hits the shelves Tuesday, along with several other RiffTrax titles, including Planet of Dinosaurs and Voodoo Man, as well as several collections of shorts.

Naruto Shippuden releases both Box Set 1 (you can select the regular or special versions) and Volume 5 of the series. These are a somewhat older crew of Ninja’s than the original series gave us. Speaking of Ninja’s, Ikki Tousen Dragon Destiny volume 2 also gets release this week. And the one that looks most interesting to me is the Sands of Destruction Complete Series.

Things to Do: Cons

Chattacon 35 takes place in the historic Chattanooga Choo-Choo Hotel in TN from the 22nd to the 24th. Guests at this ReaderCon include Sherrilyn Kenyon, Timothy Zahn, Jody Lynn Nye and Bill Fawcett.

COSine 2010 is a ReaderCon with GoH L.E.Modesitt Jr., happening from the 22nd to the 24th in Colorado Springs. Another fan-run gathering is ConFusion 2010; it runs from the 22nd to the 25th, and is the annual Science Fiction convention hosted by the Stilyagi Air Force of Ann Arbor.

The main MediaCon this weekend is the Salute to Star Trek in San Francisco from the 22nd to the 24th. Primary GoH’s are William Shatner and Patrick Stewart, but there will be a ton of others there as well.

Further ConFusion takes place in San Jose, CA, from the 21st to the 25th. Now in its 12th year, FurCon is one of the largest anthropomorphic (aka “furry”) conventions in North America.

On the 23rd through the 26th (they are running from Saturday through Tuesday because Tuesday is a national holiday), ArcanaCon XXVIII takes place in Melbourne, Australia. This is primarily a GamerCon, with the emphasis at the RPG end of the spectrum.

For Anime conventions, the SoDak Anime Convention happens from the 23rd to the 25th in Rapid City, South Dakota. Guests include Voice Actors Vic Mignogna and Wendy Powell, and something no anime con should be without: their own in-house roller derby team, the Rushmore Rollerz, who run under a theme song by Florence and the Machine, A Kiss With The Fist.

Things to Watch: DVDs

Of the new movies this week, Gamer is the one I find most interesting; a game in which real people are the game pieces with technology that makes the Running Man game show look friendly. I’m going to take a pass on Pandorum, since it is horror rather than Sci-Fi. Although I am partial to silly horror, like this weeks release of Bikini Frankenstein.

The live action TV series release for this week is Defying Gravity: The Complete First Season. Unless someone else picks it up it is also the complete series, since the network canceled it just as it was getting interesting.

Update: After I posted this, they rescheduled the release of Ponyo to March 2010, the third time the DVD release date was pushed back.

Topping the Anime and the Animation list for Tuesday’s DVD releases will be Ponyo, yet another world-class creation from Hayao Miyazaki and distributed by Disney in this hemisphere. This is from the same group who will be bringing you Alice in Wonderland later this year, another class act. Not, of course, to be confused with the Alice the Sci-Fi Channel just ran, which was also well done.

For Anime TV shows to add to the collection I can recommend Yokuwakaru Gendai Maho, a good new Magical Girl animation. However it turns out, it is off to a great start! Another one worth consideration is Rin: Daughter of Mnemosyne, a six part OVA about an immortal private detective under attack by supernatural enemies. And season one of Linebarrels of Iron is also out Tuesday, a somewhat confused Mecha/Harem/High School action/comedy.

Things to Do: Cons

Sac Anime happens from the 8th to the 10th in Sacramento, CA. The musical guests include The Slants and Voltaire, and there are many more guests in many other categories.


Animé Los Angeles 6 also happens this same weekend. They have some great Guests of Honor and some good events set up for the convention.

For the weekend Media Con, there is the Twighlight Con in Miami, FL. It runs from the 8th to the 10th, and the estrogen levels should be intense.

Things to Watch: DVDs

The latest season of one of my favorite TV shows gets released this Tuesday: Chuck, season 2. If you thought season one was somewhat amusing, brace yourself for the next great sequence! Here is a hint; watch for some world class actors reprising their best roles here, including such masterpieces as Die Hard and The Whole 9 Yards.

In the American Animation collection for the 5th, the prime choice is Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, yet another exquisitely silly cartoon! For Japanese anime, Night Head Genesis the complete collection tells a story of psychic power and rebellion.

Then there is a Japanese Live Action film, called Akiballion: Battlemaids of Akihabara. Hard though it may be to believe, these three women battle the very Forces of Nature to protect the Geek part of town!

Which should get everyone ready for Wake Up Callz, where an evil orbital device does its best to steal Earths dreams.