William Shatner is back!
Ok, William Shatner never really left. The man best known for his Role as Captain James T. Kirk, of the Starship Enterprise, is 80 years old and still rocking.
He has a new album out, Seeking Major Tom is space themed collection featuring his return to his cool defining cover of the Elton John/Bernie Taupin hit Rocketman.
The people who helped lay down the tracks, complete with bumpers of actual space radio traffic & cuts from Shatner’s version of Major Tom, is amazing. Johnny Winter, Lyle Lovett, Steve Miller, Brad Paisley and Peter Frampton plus a bunch of others.
It really is a fun album, and Shatner’s unique vocal talents stand out on tracks like Mr. Spaceman, Space Cowboy, and She Blinded Me with Science.
Check it out!
Friday B-Movie Pick: X-Men First Class
If you knew nothing about the X-Men and just wanted to see an action comic book superhero movie, this would have been a decent movie. Of course, they did the standard tossing to the wind of decades of history generated by the X-Men comics. Given that, it was almost painful to watch. Some of the things they did to the Marvel Universe was on par with the fictional soap opera, The Sun Also Sets, making Montana Moorehead the daugther of Maggie.
Friday B-Movie Pick: Cowboys and Aliens
The title pretty much sums the plot. OK, more like Cowboys vs. Aliens. Daniel Crag and Harrison Ford lead the Cowboy (and Indian) forces against the aliens. Both play hard, tough men who have a softer side, that few ever see. Plenty of action, including good special effects. This is a fun action flick that should have done better in the theaters.
Friday B-Movie Pick: 2009 Lost Memories
Good South Korean SciFi action flick. An alternate history story where a small group of Japanese change history so Japan was on the winning side of WWII. A side effect of that was Korea being part of the greater Japanese empire, and not an independent country. A “Korean” investigator working for the Japanese National Police Force stumbles on this secret and goes down that rabbit hole! Good action flick well worth the rental.
Monday Book Pick: Knox’s Irregulars
Knox’s Irregulars by J. Wesley Bush
Nice bit of Military Science Fiction. It has powered armor, drone attacks, high tech aircraft and down and dirty partisan Guerrilla warfare.
Quote of the Day
I will not brew decaf. Decaf is the mind-killer. Decaf brings the little sleep that leads to total oblivion. I will embrace my caffeine. I will brew beverages and let them flow through, and when they are gone, I will remain…alert.
Good April Fools Day Stuff
Think Geek has stepped up to the plate again, with my two personal favorites being:
Star Trek Inflatable Captain’s Chair
Technomancer Digital Wizard Hoodie
Pure geeky crunchy goodness.
Here is the video of the Technomancer hoodie in action. Just because I think it is cool.
Google also hits it out of the park with Gmail Tap.
Monday Book Pick: The Steampunk Detective
The Steampunk Detective by Darrel Pitt
A light hearted hat tip to Sherlock Holmes, with a thinly disgusied WWI vet operating in a Steampunk 1920s. The author includes characters and references from multiple sources of the Holmes era, including Bram Stoker’s Dracula. The detective’s young ward, an orphaned high wire artist, is a references to Bob Kane’s best known character’s first sidekick. There have been a bunch of books lately that float on sea of historical and literary references, ranging from the extremely well done (the Anno Dracula) series, to bizarre shock lit (The Adventures of Ned the Seal). The Steampunk Detective falls somewhere in the middle of that. This book can be read by young teens (or younger), where the other two would not be a good choice for young audience.
Sunday SciFi: New Star Trek: Phase 2 trailer
If you haven’t seen Star Trek Phase 2 yet, check it out!
Sunday SciFi: John Carter
Saw John Carter last night, in 3D on an IMax screen.
Excellent adventure flick by one of the early masters of the genre, Edgar Rice Burroughs. It was based on the first of the John Carter of Mars books, A Princess of Mars. It was written 95 years ago (1917), so it’s in the public domain. You can download it from the Gutenberg site or get the Kindle version for free.
The show was completely sold out and the audience was a mix of young and old, including a lot of families. Glad I saw on the big screen.
Update: Ed Morrissey reviewed John Carter and gave it a thumbs up as well.
John Carter has plenty of surprises and edge-of-the-seat action all the way to the very end. It won’t win a nomination for Best Picture, but as a fun adventure and popcorn movie, it’s terrific and smarter than most, especially this time of year. Don’t be surprised at the end if you’d like another trip to Mars very soon.
John Carter is rated PG-13, with a lot of violence, some of it quite bloody (even if the blood might be another color at times) and very intense. It has no foul language or nudity — a few skimpy outfits for Collins, but nothing one wouldn’t have seen on a Xena: Warrior Princess episode.