The Boy and the Heron In World War II Japan, a boy is guided by an annoying heron into a mysterious alternate reality, to find his father’s new wife and aunt. The heron wasn’t really annoying, except in the first few scenes, where he’s lightly terrorizing and gangstalking Mahito and taking dumps on his windowsill. … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 44
After Earth After an injured Ranger Corps officer and his son survive a crash landing on a depopulated Earth, they must contend with the hostile environment and feral Ursa creatures to survive. There was something incomplete going on here, like M. Night Shyamalan just gave up halfway through directing the thing. I want to invoke … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 43
Noah (2014) The only righteous man on Earth hears from the Creator that He’ll be sending some destruction his way, but there’s something he can do about it. This movie didn’t do well for two reasons. One, because folks wanted The Passion of the Christ, but for Noah, but there was extra-Biblical stuff in there … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 41
I had a much longer post about Amano’s paintings, that involved things with H.R. Giger (they aren’t connected at all, but I made them connected), but I didn’t like how it turned out. It mostly doesn’t matter, anyhow. I would like to post the famous piece Amano made that ended up on some versions of … Terra Branford and Narshe, by Yoshitaka Amano
The Secret of Kells In an isolated monastery in medieval Ireland, and orphan helps prepare for a barbarian Viking invasion, alongside a legendary script illuminator and a mysterious forest fairy. An animated film for children that isn’t from Hollywood, Disney, Netflix, or Studio Ghibli…though it was distributed by GKIDS Films. At first I thought it … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 37
Ghost in the Shell SAC_2045, Season 2 The threat of the posthuman virus and its part in the Sustainable War scenario increases. I had a hard time following the story here, because the animation is way too distracting for me. However, I may have figured out the big reason why Production I.G. went the realistic, … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 36
Demon Slayer: Mugen Train Tanjiro, his sister-turned-demon, and two other companions, meet (big breath) Demon Slayer Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku on a train and encounter, uh, demons. Though it’s an asterisk achievement, Mugen Train was the highest-grossing movie of 2020 because of you-know-what screwing things up. I’m not familiar with the Demon Slayer series at … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 33
Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV Nyx Ulric and the Kingsglaive, the special forces of King Regis, protect the kingdom of Lucis and its crown city, Insomnia, from the attacks and deceptions Emperor Iedolas Aldercapt and his military empire, Niflheim. That’s too many unusual proper names for a one-sentence summary, but whatever, because the movie was damn … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movies and Series Reviews, Part 32
Attack on Titan, Season 1 One of the only kinda-horror series that I can tolerate, and actually enjoy. The setup with the titans is pretty basic and not a lot is spent diving into their lore; most of this first season’s runtime exposes the structure of Paradis’ military and military police. Humanity here is not … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movie and Series Reviews, Part 8
The Minäverse is free on Kindle (for now) Internet friend and fellow author Jill Domschot put up her newest book on Amazon for free, until April 10. Also, my two books are always free over at Smashwords, but go get you some Minäverse first. Predator Helicopter Scene – Long Tall Sally It’s a movie, sure, … Links of Possible Relevance, Part 33
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Some reviews didn’t like this installment because of aliens. Why aliens are so wildly out of the picture, while magic chalices, magic Hindu stones, and magic golden God boxes are just fine, isn’t really explained. Either way, I was glad to finally have some Communists get … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movie and Series Reviews, Part 5
Transcendence A mildly interesting depiction of a human achieving singularity and becoming more or less a really powerful AI, like The Lawnmower Man, though with slightly more realism and considering the practical matters an AI has to accomplish in the real world to make things happen. Might require more than one viewing but it didn’t … Sci-fi and Fantasy Movie and Series Reviews, Part 3
Just when I thought everything in music had already been done, this comes along and drowns that idea in an ocean of wasabi. I want to burrow into their discography and nestle there until Shogun is ported to Xbox One (which will never happen). They have another video where they play atop a stratospheric tower, … A Traditional Japanese Rock Metal Nagasaki Tsunami
Japanese-style public service ads in LA metro Cute, but it feels the novelty could wear off quick. The real reason why network ‘neutrality’ is impossible Interesting technical reasons why this idea is a nightmare. It will cause shortages of service, just like every other time bureaucrats try to make things “fair.” Twitter is done with … Links of Possible Relevance, Part 28
For reference, see Ed’s post here, summarizing ANE (Ancient Near East) feudalist social structure. Noragami is about gods and their work in Japan as they battle phantoms that plague the country’s citizens. The gods are essentially humans in form, with obvious special powers, mostly invisible but can appear to anyone if they decide to. All … Feudalism in Noragami
There’s a pilot ordered for a Nancy Drew series on CBS: Described as a contemporary take on the character from the iconic Nancy Drew book series, the CBS project will center around a diverse, 30-something title character. A more mature version than the classic story, Nancy is now detective for the NYPD where she investigates … At What Point Does Nancy Drew Become Not Nancy Drew?
Bear with me if you’ve never seen Castle in the Sky, or you’ve forgotten it. Some time ago, on Facebook or on some message board had mentioned the odd interest the pirates took in Sheeta’s presence on their ship. If I had a clip of the relevant scenes, I would link them here, but it’s … Castle in the Sky – Sheeta and the Pirates
I rewatched this movie last night on the Crunchyroll channel, but it’s also on Youtube for free in its entirety (see above), in decent quality. It’s worth watching, even if anime isn’t your thing, because it has the sense of a semi-sci-fi movie from a Western producer…but animated. It helps to think of it as … Movie: The Place Promised In Our Early Days
I first heard Melt-Banana when a fellow grocery store warm body lent me their Scratch or Stitch release. It held my interest for a few listens: an album full of layered ray gun guitar effects, fuzz bass pounding, ADHD drumming, insane cat-bark yipyap vocals, song titles bordering on Engrish hilarity. Something that was experimental but … In Which I Bloviate About Melt-Banana
Silence was written by Shusako Endo, who is described by the book’s notes as being Japan’s foremost novelist. This fact brings the total number of Japanese novelists that I’ve read or ever known of to a whopping one. What’s notable about his eminence—an eminence which may still hold true since his death in 1992—is that … Book Review: Silence