Movie Review: Robo-G

I saw this on my flight to Germany and was sorely disappointed to see that it's not available in Canada - yet.

Director: Shinobu Yaguchi, 2012

IMDb listing

Pros: humerous, great cast of characters, fun plot

Cons: not available in Canada yet

Three employees of the Kimura Electrical Comany with no robotics experience are ordered to create a robot to display at the upcoming robotics expo.  When their prototype is destroyed a week before the expo, the men decide to hire an actor to play the robot, assuming thir boss will quickly axe the project.  The old man whom they hire does such a good job that their robot becomes famous and they must keep up the charade. 

The humour in this movie could have been clicheed, but feels fresh.  Perhaps it's the addition of Japanese cultural norms, or Mickey Curtis, the old man who plays the robot, or just that there's enough seriousness to the story and limited slapstick.  The audition where a group of people are asked to act like robots was hilarious, as were the engineers introductions at the Robo Expo (where one of them mentions that his job used to be washing machine repair work).

The premise, of something going wrong and hiding that fact, isn't new.  But this movie used it well.  As things start to spiral out of control, they come up with a daring plan.

I was also impressed that the film used several plot threads.  In addition to the main story, there's a side plot involving the old man and his grandkids, a collage student studying robotics and a local reporter looking for a scoop.

If you can find a copy, it's definitely worth a watch.

Singularity & Co. - Save the SciFI!

My husband pointed out a cool kickstarter project to me yesterday.  They've already reached their goal, but there's still time to help support them if you're interested.  Here are the details:

Our Big Idea is a simple one, but we think it’s pretty great. So do some beyond great scifi authors.

We love books.  A lot.  And we love sci-fi books, new and old.  But mostly old.

We’ve seen too many sci-fi books that are out of print, out of circulation, and, worst of all (given the subject matter) unavailable in any digital format. Meaning, as of now, these books may never be seen in the future imagined in their pages. That’s just not right.

So here’s what we’re going to do: Each month we’ll choose one great classic, obscure or otherwise fascinating sci-fi book that’s no longer in print and not available online, track down the copyright holder and/or author (if they’re still around), acquire or otherwise clear the copyright, and publish the title both online and as an e-book, for little or no cost. Our supporters and followers will help us choose which books will be digitally rescued from copyright and publishing limbo via a monthly poll on our website, and we'll share the story behind the story, including with each ebook what we learned about the book, the author and their history along the way.

And while Singularity & Co. promises to keep our mission alive, in perpetuity, throughout the universe, we need your support to get started. This Kickstarter campaign will allow us to rescue our first four neglected works by providing for the following:

* Acquiring and curating the treasures to be found  among many, many paper copies of old, out of print sci-fi books
* Expanding our current website to allow us to display and deliver our sci-fi library - physically as well as electronically - and support voting capabilities for fans to help decide the next titles to be rescued
* Building an open source book scanner (see http://www.diybookscanner.org/ for an example) to aid in turning forgotten paper books into e-books
* Covering costs associated with tracking down rightsholders, authors and/or their estates, as well as clearing or acquiring the electronic publishing rights to our orphaned books
* Spreading the word not only to established fans but also potential supporters who love great books and ideas (may include attending conventions, creating t-shirts, prints and anything else we can think of)
* Covering costs associated with legal work to be done by our attorneys, all of whom are generously contributing their time pro bono (we’re trying to keep our costs as low as possible)

This is part adventure, part detective story, and part story about the intersection of the past and the future.  So as we dig into a particular book, and pull on the various threads that we need to to make sure we can share it without taking something that isn't ours, we end uncovering the story of that book.  That means that as part of each release, we plan on sharing that story, telling you what we learn about the book, it's author, it's history, and the adventure we had bringing it to you.

Rescuing beloved, forgotten, fondly remembered, out-of-print and otherwise lost sci-fi books by bringing them into the digital domain is more than a labor of love - it’s our way of celebrating visions of futures past that shaped the way we live now.  And it’s all in a day’s work for your average, ordinary, time-traveling bookshop. Please help us bring the past and future together - Singularity loves company.

Lockout Movie Trailer

This was already on my list of films to see this year. Looks like quite the thrill ride. :)

* Note the release date has moved to April 13th.