If you are looking for something to read, one of the best series ever written is Wild Cards, a Superhero shared-universe where around 40 authors have contributed to the mosaic novels and short stories. It started in 1986, when George R.R. Martin and Melinda M. Snodgrass came up with the concept of Superpowers and horrible mutations and a lot of folks who just plain died when exposed to an Alien Xenovirus. That was meant to rid the Earth of Humans while leaving all our stuff intact so the aliens could take over the planet without destroying it in a war, but it didn’t quite work out the way they had planned. The stories are written by some of the best Science Fiction authors on the planet (there are too many to list, and I didn’t want to leave anyone out, so I gave the link so you could see for yourself), each of whom has created one or more characters. While it is difficult to pick a favorite with so many wonderful characters in the books, if I had to name just one it would be Roger Zelazny’s < href="http://www.wildcardsworld.com/characters/the-sleeper/">Croyd, The Sleeper. 24 books have already been published and there are two more in the pipe, one ready for release. And because that isn’t enough, the long-awaited TV series is finally in production; George can’t be directly involved with that due to his exclusive contract with HBO for Game of Thrones, so Melinda is heading up that project. This is one of the trailers for High Stakes, the 11th book in the series, updated to include mention of the TV series.
There are several excellent choices this week, starting with Passengers, where two people wake from cold sleep 90 years before their starship arrives at their new colony planet. Starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence as the wakees, this may be the best choice for the weekend. We also get Assassin’s Creed, which started life as a game but seems to have translated to the Big Screen just fine. If you prefer something a bit lighter and more inspiring, Sing should be just the animated treat you are looking for.
James Patterson’s bestselling YA book series Maximum Ride made the transition to movie format, but it didn’t play anywhere near me; now I get a chance to see it as they release it to DVD. The animated film Storks may be the best bet this time around, good silly fun from the studio that did The Lego Movie. There are also a couple of documentaries that look interesting, Oasis: Supersonic being about the rise, reign, and implosion of the band, while Hitchcock/Truffaut is all about the 1962 week long meeting those two had when they dissected the film industry.
Anime has an unusual release either this week or next, depending on which web site you believe: Attack on Titan 20 Special Edition w/DVD is a manga/graphic novel that included a DVD with an anime episode not released anywhere else. Owarimonogatari 2 is only 6 episodes long, being the second half of the season, but it does tell the complete Shinobu Mail story arc. Finally Shakugan No Shana S: OVA Series is now available in a S.A.V.E. edition, but considering it only contains four 23 minute episodes being able to pick it up for just under $20 doesn’t seem like much of a deal.
As Christmas gets ever closer you would expect there to be quality new releases, and there are. Suicide Squad was a very pleasant surprise after all the dark DC movies, which I am pretty sure was a direct result of how much fun (and how much money it made) Marvel’s Deadpool generated. Trying to jump on that bandwagon was the best thing any DC movie director ever did, and the results were the first DC movie since the 80s I wanted to watch a second time. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children lived up to the book very well, and I can only hope they go ahead and turn all of the books in that franchise into movies. Morgan is a different story, leaning a bit too close to horror for my tastes.
In Anime, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Heart Throb is season two of this story, and everyone’s relationships continue to undergo changes; not least of which is chuunibyou-plagued Satone, who keeps showing up in the most unexpected places and times. Will her delusions shatter the delicate relationship the other three are forming? In Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace, the Complete Series, a serial killer dispenses justice while the police and investigators race to shut him down, before the copy cat killers take out everyone left standing. The artwork and animation are somewhere between gorgeous and grotesque, the music is interesting, and the plot line is keeping me guessing. If you are a fan of murder mysteries the odds are good you will like this one. This time around we also get One Piece: Season 8 Voyage 5 with episodes 505 through 516, and The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: The Complete Series in a S.A.V.E. edition.
I just watched Moana, and out of it’s short list of animation riggers, a name caught my eye: Kate Kirby-OConnell. One of the hardest jobs on an animation project is to take a 3D Character Model and Rig it, meaning give it a bone structure you can embed inside its flesh and use to animate every aspect of that character. Yes, that bone structure does exactly the same thing as the bones in a human body, giving it a structure for the action to take place on. Emotions and actions being obvious expressions of that process, props and costumes less so but still tied tightly to the rigging. Think about it; if the character moves, but the characters clothing or coffee cup doesn’t, just how believable would that be? Kate created a number of examples of her skill set while in school, as every animator does, and the first one amounts to her Demo Reel, showing off what she can do. I think the others show both that plus her inspiration or perhaps motivation. I loved Moana and the earlier Disney works Kate was involved with, it is nice to learn something about the creators of world-class animations like this.
Kate Kirby-O'Connell Rigging Reel – Summer 2013 from Kate Kirby-OConnell on Vimeo.
Project Faces from Kate Kirby-OConnell on Vimeo.
Jack of All Shapes from Kate Kirby-OConnell on Vimeo.
Building T.rex from Kate Kirby-OConnell on Vimeo.
The second trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy 2 makes me realize just how much I want to see this movie. It should be a serious hoot!