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Harry Trailer

The new Harry Potter trailer is just a bit dark, and the last book is broken into two different films, but it still looks like fun to me. So even though we all saw it this weekend in the Theater, here it is again.

In the land of Authors, I have to endorse this review of Ken MacLeod’s Restoration Game, and encourage anyone who hasn’t read MacLeod to get off their ass and buy and read a copy of everything he has ever written. He comes at the world from directions most of us cannot imagine. I would also like to recommend this weeks favorite Steampunk Romance author, Gail Carriger, who managed to create a wonderful milieu and the characters to populate it. If you can’t afford to buy them, hit your local library and read Soulless, Changeless, and Blameless, and see how the stories and series began.

Fun Stuff

I am happy to report that the Google Pacman now is permanently online at that link!

Craving some Steampunk? Allow me to recommend the alternate history series Clockwork Century from author Cherie Priest. Some of the books and stories in this series are up for some serious awards, so it is worth your attention. If you are looking for a Build Your Own project, I was just passed the link to the Gamepunk Woot Shirt design. While it has been forever since I last silk-screened a T-Shirt or poster (yes, another one of those jobs we have all had that doesn’t directly relate to our main goal in life, but that was fun and educational), it has inspired me to start working on creating 3D VRML/2ndLife/Machinema objects based on the Portable Games In A Steampunk World concept. Perhaps you have a design idea? Triple points if your 3D object can actually activate a HUD and run an interactive game within the virtual environment!

I am glad Chuck got renewed for a 4th season, because I love that show. For those who enjoyed the season finale last Monday but were hoping for more music, thanks to the Chicago Tribune you can watch the Jeffster Music Video in its entirety.

 

And one last detail, for the Punk Rocker who needs to remember their roots; Linda, Linda…

Something to Do: Cons

Get ready for the Steampunk World’s Fair in Piscataway, NJ. This is the largest Steampunk convention in the world to date, with discussions, debates, workshops, demonstrations, readings, parties, contests, games, and parades to satisfy all of your Steampunk needs. The list of performers alone exceeds anything else I have ever seen listed; this one is a monster!

Demi-Con is a generic Sci-Fi con that has strong readercon roots, baseed in Des Moines, IA, and the motto Everything Is Better With Pirates; whats not to love? LepreCon 36 in Mesa, AZ, is a Relaxacon, meaning a readercon that is comfortable enough with itself to be laid back, even for the pros.

The Anime Central con happens May 14th to the 16th in Rosemont, IL, and if you are serious about your Cosplay you know you can not miss this one. If you win the main Cosplay competition at this event, you are guaranteed a spot on the Yume Cosplay Prize competition! That takes place in October, and will have the winners of all the regional contests battling it out to see which luck Cosplay Couple gets the matching set of all expense paid round trip tickets to Tokyo for a week, to include VIP tickets to the Tokyo Anime Fair.

In Media cons, there is a Twilight Creation event in Vancouver, CA, and for Comic-Cons, the Motor City Comic Con is a bit deceptive. That is because it has a lot of media talent as guests, around 40 of them listed including some noticeably famous names.

And yes, there are many more cons remaining unmentioned for this weekend, but this should give you a tasty place to get started…

Besson and Brussels

Luc Besson released his new masterpiece Wednesday, Les Aventures Extraordinaires d’Adèle Blanc-Sec, pretty much everywhere in the French speaking parts of Europe, and I really hope there is a Subbed or Dubbed English DVD version scheduled for later. This one looks like pure Steampunk fun, and had its world premiere last week at the BIFFF, also known as the 28th Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival. I should point out, every other movie at that festival is also on my to-be-watched list, and there are a lot of them. I know I posted this trailer a week or 3 back, but here it is again for anyone who missed it…

Something to Do: Cons

KamikazeCon 3 in Houston, Tx, will be the massive anime event of the weekend. This is no great surprise considering it is the town that has created a full third of the English dubs for anime DVDs over the last decade. They have a ton of guests and a events for the gathering; wish I could be there.

SenshiCon, Alaska’s Original Anime Con (their tagline) takes place at the UAA Student Union in Anchorage, Alaska. While their web site seems to be in need of some help, they do have a strong voice actor guest list which seems to be primarily from FUNimation. Another anime convention this weekend is MomoCon, which I would love to tell you about. Unfortunately their web site is a blank black screen when I go to it, but perhaps you will have better luck. As near as I can tell from their source code, the Georgia Tech Anime Con is using a script to gracefully degrade to standard HTML if you don’t have Flash installed, and has a script which hides the standard HTML if you do have Flash; in my browser both scripts seem to be active at the same time, hiding both the Flash and the HTML.

LunaCon 2010 in Rye Brook, NY is a general Sci-Fi Con with author GoH Tanya Huff. They look to have pretty much everything going on, including Dancing in the Gears, the 2nd annual LunaCon Steampunk Ball, and a massive number of Events and Programs scheduled for the festivities, as you can tell by the list of participants. Meanwhile, in Chattanooga, Tn, FantaSciCon is happening, and it gets my vote for the best Con T-Shirt I have seen this decade. It also has a good selection of guests and a lot of fun events.