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Things to Watch: DVDs

We have two top domestic live action choices this week! The first is Terminator Salvation, and Warner Bros. is holding a online event on December 5th with the director. If you are interested in the history of this kind of event, read all the way to the bottom of this posting to see my latest rant on the topic.

The other big film is Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, which I just missed seeing at the Smithsonian IMAX theater premier event (tickets were WAY tight). It is also being released as a two movie package if you didn’t get the first one already, Night at the Museum/Battle of the Smithsonian.

If there was a live-action speculative fiction TV show released this week, I managed to miss it. Someone will no doubt point it out to me about 15 minutes after I post this.

It is a DVD, and Fantasy, but it is a DVD Game, not a movie: Harry Potter DVD Game: Wizarding World also comes out on Tuesday.

There are several interesting Anime releases this week. For the classics, there is My-Otome Complete Collection: Anime Legends edition. The Anime Legends series are extremely popular programs re-released with an economical pricing structure. Out as a compilation for the first time this week is Chevalier D’Eon – The Complete Series, a beautifully crafted alternate history sequence, but definitely not a lighthearted story.

Hunter X Hunter Box Set, Volume 4 continues the push for Gon and his friends to track down power in the form of treasure, magical beasts, and so forth. The Gunslinger Girl OVA gives some more background on a few of the formerly human characters, and trust me when I say these are children you would NOT want to meet in a dark alley.

‘Rental Magica’ DVD Collection 1 is an assortment of strange magic users out to battle evil, and come from a variety of magical traditions. Most sites claim this was actually released last week, but since I missed the Anime section last week I though I should mention it now.

About the Warner Bros. Special Events. This is something they have started recently (there is another one coming up for the new Harry Potter DVD release), and seems to involve group watching of the DVD together with an internet connection to the meeting software that allows you to type in questions, which the director (or actors or anyone else they involve from the movie production team) can answer verbally.

If you have been in moderated celebrity events in Second Life this decade, Virtual Places Chat in the ’90s, or live Usenet (meaning IRC or Internet Relay Chat) in the 80’s, you have already experienced this. And yes, I know the Usenet example I cited was from the 90’s, it was just the one I had handy courtesy of a recent post on a different topic. I actually have transcripts from moderated IRC sessions with SciFi authors I asked questions of going back as far as 1984 from QNet (the Commodore version of AOL and Compuserve in those days), but I didn’t have a link to any of them to point to. Perhaps this reference work will help, should you need it.

The bandwidth, and therefore the resolution, has just gotten better each decade; text only in ’84 at 300 baud, downstream-only audio in the mid ’90s at 56K, entire 3D virtual worlds with 2-way audio chat and streaming video by the mid 2000’s with 2-way asynchronous broadband. From the description of what they are going to do and how they will be doing it, this application of the event environment appears to be something we had the technology to do by 1998 or so, except for the Hi-Def video. But since the Video is going to be played locally from a DVD player and not streamed over the Net, it does not in any way change the bandwidth requirements.

Things To Do: Cons

Lots of people look forward to holiday weekends because of the extra time you get, and fans are no different than anyone else in that respect. Give a fan an extra day or two, and they will look for a way to celebrate; one of the better celebrations is a good Con, and there are a lot of them this weekend. In fact it looks like this may be the final major weekend of the 2009 convention season, since December looks noticeably more quiet.

In Keokuk, Iowa we have KeoKon, a general readercon, with fan films, filk, Anime, and all the usual guests, costume ball, dealers rooms, etc. This one runs Friday and Saturday only.

ChambanaCon 39 takes place in Springfield, IL, and refers to itself as a RelaxCon. GoH this year is Eric Flint, and again all the usual ReaderCon events. This particular Con does seem to be heavily into Filk, with what looks to be a Con-long Filking room (Con long being Friday through Sunday).

OryCon 31 happens in Portland, OR, with Writer GoH Patricia Briggs, editor GoH Lou Anders, and several others. This ReaderCon has a lot going on.

LosCon 36 has the tag line BUT WAIT… THERE’S MORE!, and that seems to sum this event up. Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes are the writer GoH’s, themes include Dress Like A Pirate Day on Saturday, there is a Steampunk Science Competition… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. You will have to visit the site to see what all is happening at this one.

Steampunk also features in to DarkoverCon in Baltimore, MD. The tracks at this Con are so rich they have built four of them into the web site, and you will find the Steampunk Events in the Alternate Track. Again this is a ReaderCon, built by fans for fans. The Video schedule has some rare gems, including the 2008 remake of The Survivors, based on the 1970’s classic BBC series. They will be showing all 6 hours of season one (yes, they are making a season 2); the original was created by Terry Nation, inventor of the Daleks. Another classic film offering is Mistress of Atlantis/Siren of Atlantis/L’Atlantide (1932); the queen is the Maria of “Metropolis,” Brigette Helm. And there are so many more, and still more tracks.

SorcererCon is somewhere between a ReaderCon and a MediaCon, and takes place in San Jose, California. Their baseline statement is to complex for me to re-quote here, but trust me, this is an event you will want to be a part of if you possibly can.

TardisCon in Chicago (or if you want to be nit-picky, Lombard, IL) looks to lead the pack for this weekends MediaCons. They have a truly impressive collection of talent here, centered around the 8th Doctor TV-Movie, with Paul McGann, Daphne Ashbrook (Dr. Grace Holloway), and Yee Jee Tso (Chang Lee) all taking part. Other media guests include Naoko Mori (Toshiko of Torchwood) and Nicholas Briggs, amongst still others.

Another Fan-run MediaCon this weekend is Star Base Indy located in Indianapolis, which has been running since 1988. It started life as a Trek con (witness Garrett Wang, William Morgan Sheppard, and Deborah Downey as the primary guests), but is now expanding itself to a wider fanbase.

Things to Watch: DVDs

The most important release this week (in my opinion) is Life on Mars Season 2, the UK edition. This one wraps up Sam Tyler’s journey into the past.

Another one to be aware of is Recon 2023, which actually came out on DVD in the US back in August. What makes this one unique is the fact that it only became available in the country it came from this month… go figure!

From the creators of Spy Kids comes Shorts, a silly kids movie that should be fun. The premise is a wishing-stone falls from the sky, and as it gets passed around town things get stranger and stranger. With actors like William H. Macy and James Spader, I think it could work.

A surprising US release this week is Akihabara Deep; the last movie like this I was aware of was called Hackers, and was one of the very first Angelina Jolie movies ever made. I will enjoy watching this import, and doing my best to track down and acquire Bamboo Blade, which isn’t really related beyond coming from the same culture and attitude.

If you are into interesting/strange music, you need to be aware that the Best of Spike Jones DVD is also coming out this week. If you don’t know who that is, I recommend you take some time and learn; you won’t be disappointed.

Things to Do: Cons

To start out this week we have PhilCon 2009, which despite its name happens from November 20th through 22nd, in Cherry Hill, NJ. This is one of the big East Coast events each year, if you are in the neighborhood you should stop by.

The Anime con I will be attending this weekend is Anime USA in Arlington, Virginia. There are a huge number of guests and events, and you can take a look at previous years videos to get an idea of what kind of fun they have in the shadow of the Pentagon. This year kicks off their very first round of having a Host Club for the ladies and a Maid Cafe for the guys, and both come with karaoke variants. FYI, the Gear Masters Ball is Formal Steampunk this year.

The Arkansas Anime Festival (AKA the A2F) also has a Steampunk/Victorian Ball/Dance, but what I really find interesting is they keep having Ani-Raves separate from the Con itself, one a month. Wish someone was doing that around here with J-Rock non-Anime artists also represented; I would be there every time!

Other Anime Cons this weekend include DaishoCon in Stevens Point, WI. Besides all the usual panels and events, they also have Zombie Survival 201, a Cosplay Swimsuit Contest (with a depressingly cautionary warning about the indecent exposure laws), and other silly instructional presentations. In Indiana, Anime Crossroads has great guests and a Cosplay-oriented events schedule. Also this weekend is Another Anime Con in Nashua, NH., and BishieCon in St. Louis, MO.

ZonaCon in Orlando, FL, is running with the tag Where Anime Meets Horror, and leaning to the Zombie side of UnLife. Horror Hound Weekend would have to win my vote for best Media Con this time. I am not a horror fan, but Elvira trumps all other film hosts, and with movies like Black Sheep and Let The Right One In, you know it is going to be twisted enough to be interesting. And then there is the flip side of that con: YuleCon, the Holiday Anime and Gaming Convention in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.

Things to Do: Movies

Just a reminder that tomorrow, 17Nov09, is the last chance for quite a while for anyone to see The Wizard of Oz on the big screen. And it is nice to finally have this classic available on DVD for the small screen (or not so small these days).

It was supposed to be out on July 24th, but Planet 51 finally hits the theaters on Friday. This alien invasion animation looks like it will be a lot of fun, with plenty of humor and the usual world-class animation this team leads you to expect.

The live-action film for this weekend is of course The Twilight Saga: New Moon. If you need to have this one explained to you, nothing I can say could help, but you could try their IMDP page, where you will find new news stories being cranked out at the rate of one every few minutes.

Things to Watch: DVDs and TV

Obviously, the number-one DVD release for this week is Star Trek the reboot. I thought Simon Pegg was brilliant as Scotty, Zachary Quinto likewise for Spock, and Bones was also better than the original. If you have the device, don’t forget to grab the Phaser app for your iToy.

Two other movies may be interesting; Thirst is a Korean Vampire movie from the people who created The Host. And the spoof Vampire Party could be amusing, if a little over the top.

For TV series, both Farscape, the complete series and Farscape Season 4 get re-released this week.

The main Anime release is Evangelion: 1.01 You Are [Not] Alone, the first in the new series of Evangelion animated movies. Also out this week is the Blue Drop: Tenshi-tachi no Gikyoku complete series, and Polyphonica, again the complete series.

On the TV front, the new version of The Prisoner kicks off tonight on AMC; they are also hosting the complete original series for online viewing if you want to catch up before the new one starts.