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Odd Thomas trailer; in theaters next week!

This is more about the author and his books than the movie; perhaps I should call it Something To Read? I have been waiting for a decade or so for them to turn Dean Koontz’s wonderful character Odd Thomas into a movie, and I have heard about them doing so for the last few years. It has finally gotten beyond the rumor stage; a week from Friday, this one hits the big screen! The delay was caused by some legal issues between film making partners which should never have gotten in the way. From the trailer it looks like they have built the perfect film version of the first book in the series, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they pull the box office numbers necessary to allow them to continue cranking out the entire collection of stories for our viewing enjoyment!

Have you read the Odd Thomas books or graphic novels? Oddy is a short order cook working the breakfast crowd at the grill, because that simple job allows him to zen out and let his mind come up with the proper solutions to help the various dead who appear to him. They don’t speak to him, for the dead do not talk. But they do make him aware of what their problems are, so he can help them. Most often they are looking for Justice, to have their killer stopped so they can not kill others. Sometimes they just need to be reassured they will be remembered, or that their mother knows how much they loved her, or maybe they just need that final ball to fetch. Odd Thomas has been seeing the dead since he was a child, and he is finally beginning to figure out how he can best serve them.

Dean R Koontz is a unique writer because his genre is horror, and his message is about how beautiful the world is, and how wonderful most of the people in it are, and most of all how full of hope and love even the most terrifying situation is. I never liked horror until I started reading this author. Actually, I still don’t like horror, but when the story carries this strong a message about how the world is right and good when good people stand up against evil, how could I not like it? The other series Dean does that impresses the hell out of me is his Frankenstein set, where Victor is trying to reduce people to slaves/robots, and not just a couple of folks, but entire cities and states. Meanwhile, the first Monster he created is still alive a few hundred years later, has learned the trick of quantum teleportation from the Dali Lama, and is out to save humanity from him with the help of some New Orleans cops, a sentient cancer tumor, and the 10th clone of Victor’s first wife. Trust me when I say Dean will always take you on a fun ride with lots of surprising stops along the way and will always leave you grinning ear to ear when you finally get to your destination.

3 Minute Futures: Build Your Own!

This Flash Fiction contest is 3 Minute Futures, and they are looking for someone to write a short, powerful story. The world renowned science fiction author Kim Stanley Robinson will select the winner, and Star Trek actress Gates McFadden will direct the To the Best of Our Knowledge productions into a finished radio play, with the help of LA’s Ensemble Studio Theatre. The competition runs until March 1st, 2014, be sure to Submit Your Entry before then! Thanks to Boing Boing for the heads up on that one… and just how many of you actually remember Gerald McBoingBoing, the namesake for that site?

Something to Watch: DVDs, 11Feb14

In movies, Ender’s Game was one of the rare films that is true to the book it is based on; both versions are telling exactly the same story. With an excellent cast, powerful performances, and amazing special effects, it is definitely worth joining anyone’s permanent collection. I don’t remember seeing The Adventurer: The Curse of the Midas Box in theaters near me, but it is now coming to disc. It was meant to be the first in a series of YA Steampunk stories based in the Victorian Era’s British Empire, but it did not get good reviews or much in the way of box office revenues, so I suspect it will be the last, instead.

In TV, Sherlock: Season Three continues the brilliant series driven by Steven Moffat. I am seriously waiting for season 4 next year. The Returned is a twisty little series about a group of people who came home to learn that they had died years ago, and when the currently living start dying off it becomes obvious something has followed them back. It isn’t quite a remake of the TV show Les Revenants, but it lives in the same zip code. Doctor Who: The Moonbase is one of the lost stories, available only in partial video episodes, audio drama, or picture book form. It is one of the Patrick Troughton tales for which they have now used animation to restore, so you can watch all four episodes. Not as good as they did for Enemy Of The World or The Web Of Fear, where they actually recovered the original video footage to restore, but a step closer to getting the whole story the way it was meant to be experienced.

In Anime, Kamisama Kiss is about a ordinary young girl who suddenly became a god at the touch of a stranger’s lips. As she struggles to get her new realm under control, she realizes that life may be worth going for, after all. MM! is about a masochist named Sado who joins a club to seek help with his emotional problems. The clubs president may or may not be a god, but certainly wields some interesting powers, and some of the other members include a girl terrified of men and a nurse who forces all her patients to cosplay. The other club members are a bit strange, even by this groups reckoning. Finally, Strike Witches: Season 2 S.A.V.E Edition gives you the girls who were airplanes continuing to defend the home planet from alien invasion during WWII, at a very affordable price. The Funimation home page seems to be saying Season One S.A.V.E edition on BR/DVD is also about to come out, but since I already own it I have to believe they mean they will be re-releasing it. Or maybe the blurb is for a different country.

Something to Do: Movies, 25Dec13

One of the movies hitting the big screen this week is a remake of the classic 47 Ronin. While I am not sure how Keanu Reeves ended up starring in a Japanese Historical Epic Chushingura, it looks like a good addition to a true story that has been done as kabuki, bunraku, stage plays, films, novels, and television shows, not once, but many times each. The historical incident at the core of this tale took place in 1700’s Japan, and it is probably the single best known and most often retold story in Nihongo (that’s Japanese to you and me). The other choice this week is also a remake of an old film (get some new ideas, Hollywood!), The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which looks like they may have done justice to the James Thurber story. Even though there isn’t anything original out this week, it looks like they have done a world class job on each of them, so I will have to be in the theater for both.