Barakamon

Handa a professional calligrapher punches a curator of a gallery after his work is criticized. The curator had said that his work was too unoriginal, causing Handa to get angry. Handa’s father sends him off to a small remote village for a ‘retreat’. There he practices to prefect his work, and meets the villagers and interacts with them. The anime is an adaptation of the manga, Handa-kun, by Kinema Citrus, Funimation has licensed the show for streaming.

This is one of my recent favorites since I have been looking for good animes to watch. This anime doesn’t disappoint. It’s very funny and very enjoyable.

Robot and Frank

This science fiction movie is set a short time in the future. Frank is an aging expert burglar and ex-con. He is cantankerous and moody and is having some difficulties taking care of himself due to the onset of mental deterioration and dementia. Since his kids can’t adequately take care of him his son gives him a state of the art robotic companion to help him. The robot is programmed to among other things to provide theraputic care, help set a daily routine, and provide cogitative enhancing activities such as gardening and games. Frank rejects his robotic friend to begin with but soon warms up to it. Frank even finds new cognitive enhancing abilities he and his robot friend can perpetrate.

Terra Nova TV Series

Terra Nova is about one families’ choice to join other colonists and go 85 million years back in time and begin the human race over again. The world they left was dying and the scientists hope is that doing so will create a parallel time stream where the human race does a better job taking care of the Earth. The Shannon family have to try secretly joining the colonists due to the fact they have a third child and the legal limit is two.

I like good science fiction and this is good science fiction. Excellent sets, acting, camara work, effects, and stories. This show has it all. Fox dropped it after the first season but Netflix may pick up their fumble and get a touchdown with a second season!

Cast includes: Jason O’Mara, Shelley Conn, Christine Adams, Allison Miller, Landon Liboiron, Naomi Scott, Rod Hallett, Alana Mansour, Stephen Lang

Available on: Netflix, Amazon

Kinky Boots

Kinky Boots is a British film based on a true story, about the inheritor of a small family-owned shoe factory trying desperately to save the company from an unfortunate demise which would cost the workers their jobs. The boots were as symbol of the struggle to keep the workers in their jobs, and the merging of vanilla society with the less conventional culture of crossdressing.

The company is able to discover a new group of people that they are able to advertise their products towards, and the company is able to stay afloat with their new line of ‘kinky’ boots. They become a very popular company with crossdressers across the world. The company still exists today selling products online. To visit the ‘Kinky Boots’ website please click here.

This is an amazing film and I would suggest it to about anyone. Great fun! There is also a Broadway show based on the companies’ story that is supposed to be fabulous as well as other live performances nationwide.

Cast includes: Joel Edgerton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sarah-Jane Potts, Nick Frost

Available on: Google Play, Amazon, VUDU, Netflix

Legendary (aka Tomb of the Dragon)

A team of cryptid investigators go to China to investigate a video of an unknown creature. The video was taken near a work-site that has missing workers. When they arrive they soon discover that a hunter and his team has been hired to eliminate the threat. With the investigators wanting capture and study the creature alive, and the hunters intending to kill it as a trophy, a violently adversarial relationship begins. It becomes a race to find the creature.

Zeitgeist 2007

Zeitgeist defined: The Zeitgeist is the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought that typifies and influences the culture of a particular period in time. Wikipedia

This is a serious documentary about social, and ecological problems that need to be faced if we are not to turn George Orwell into a profit if we haven’t already.

Lilyhammer Series 1

I have overlooked this for quite a while but I finally decided to give Lilyhammer a try, and I and glad I did. This series was tremendous fun. Very high quality acting, really good story, wonderful scenery.

A New York City mobster(Played by Steven Van Zandt one of the coolest people around click here) is put into witness protection and requests Lilyhammer Norway as his new home because he was so impressed with it watching the Olympics in 1994. The request is granted and he is set up with a new name and residence.

Firefly

If you are looking for an utterly unique show to watch this is it. Firefly had one season the last episode was aired July 2003, but there is a huge following of fans to this day…including me! Fans refer to themselves as Browncoats for the uniform coats worn by the main character during his military service.

An ex-military man buys a small cargo spaceship classified as Firefly class and makes himself captain. The captain is joined by a military veteran he served with, her husband as pilot, a gung-ho badass, and a brilliant mechanic as crewmembers. More folks join as the story progresses and I think every character added makes the show better and none are superfluous. Oh there is also a character who rents one of the two shuttles on the Firefly and that character really gets my attention!

Ebony Buckle

You must hear Ebony Buckle sing.  I heard her sing on the BBC police drama ‘George Gently’ Season 5 episode 2 available on