The award winning SF Signal posted its final entry on May 5th, one day after Star Wars Day. For the past almost 13 years I have hit the site at least once a week, always finding lots of interesting and exciting science fiction and fantasy articles and links there. If I went for no other reason, I always checked out their regular postings on free science fiction you could read, hear, or watch on line. They have even won some Hugo awards for Best Fanzine and Best Podcast, and I have had them in my Blog Roll for over a decade. But John DeNardo made the announcement last week that they were shutting down new entries because they could no longer devote the amount of time such a site required. It will remain online until at least June so you can still access the 100 Gig of sci-fi interviews and articles, and they are looking into some hosting options that will allow it to stay online at least as a static site. I wish them well on their next endeavors, and am sorry to see them go.
The new J.K. Rowling story, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, moves the Harry Potter universe forward in time by a generation or two, and the latest trailer shows what Magic in 1926 New York might look like. Personally, I am hoping she dives in and does a new entire series with them, but even if it is a one off I will take it and be grateful. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will be on the big screen in November, and I will definitely be in the audience on opening day.
Edgar Rice Burroughs has created some amazing characters, and his most recognized is coming back to the big screen in The Legend Of Tarzan. On July 1st we will get to find out if they are doing this classic story justice, and if they are, we will have a reboot of the entire massive collection of tales, both big and small.
The movie Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is based on Ransom Riggs New York Times best seller debut novel (his previous book being a study of the methods of a Fictional Detective, rather than a fiction itself), and it looks like Tim Burton has set the tone quite nicely for this fantasy. It will be on the big screen on September 30th, and I am looking forward to seeing how they did with it.
Movies include The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2, with a VR short of selected segments of the film also available, fully 3D and formatted for Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear, and others. There is one more release that looks worth watching, the documentary/essay film Dreams Rewired, a look at movies of 100 years ago at the beginning of the Information Age, with Tilda Swinton doing the voice over. On the silly side, we also get Cowboys vs Dinosaurs, a really fun bad movie, and Roboshark from Syfy, about a shark that eats an alien space probe.
This is the Google Cardboard version of that Mockingjay VR:
In Anime, Celestial Method is about a city with a flying saucer parked over it, which began with fear but turned out to just make the place a tourist destination. Then two girls get together, and everything changes again. Date A Live II is the complete 2nd season of the alien invasion rom-com. Durarara!! x 2 (3) is part 3 of season 2 for entirely too much money; you can buy the Japanese import for about $30 less than the US release, in fact. I will just watch it on streaming until they put out a sanely priced edition. We also get the continuation of a couple of favorites, with Fairy Tail: Part 19 bringing episodes 213 through 226 home. Notice that is putting us at about 4 and a half years into the story at one episode per week. Streaming live from Japan this week is episode 278, if you were curious. One Piece: Collection 15 brings episodes 349 through 372 to the shelves, with episode 457 currently streaming. Which means you can buy about 7 years of it, but they are currently finishing up the 9th year.
We have several this week, including Psycho-Pass the Movie in theaters for a limited run on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 15th and 16th. Topping the wide release list is The Divergent Series: Allegiant, where Tris and 4 must escape Chicago, or die trying. The Little Prince is a children’s classic with a core story as true today as it was back then, and very nicely animated in this version. Pee-wee’s Big Holiday and Midnight Special are also available to check out…