Rob Masters

I would be deeply remiss if I did not include the inimitable Kate Bush in this series. Her landmark "Cloudbusting" set new standards for music videos, and remains a classic. Although borderline in the SFF stakes, the ide a that  Wilhelm Reich's orgone rainmaker worked is speculative enough for me. And where would the steampunk movement be without the inspirational engineering of the rainmaker? So sit back, and enjoy the bittersweet magic of Kate Bush and Donald Sutherland.

Lorn was having a really bad day. It had started out normally enough - jump in, run radio and spectrographic scans on the highest- probability planet, the usual procedures for a scout checking out a new system. The scans had come back with a good 02/N2 mix, decent hydrographics, and only the usual background noise in RF. There were tags showing chlorophyll based plants - generally a good sign that the ecology was going to be broadly human-compatible. She was checking those results when the targeting alarm went off. Somewhere another ship had lit her up with radar, and the only reason for that would be - there - heat plumes, accelerating fast.  Missiles. And more of them than her little scout ship could hope to deal with. She was too close to the planet to jump, and not fast enough to outrun them. She had one chance.  Using pure brute force, her little ship killed as much of the orbital velocity as it could, and Lorn set the autopilot on a fast r...

Ingredients 1 orange, juiced 60ml light syrup from canned strawberries (or 10ml strawberry cordial syrup) Dash peach bitters Soda water Fresh strawberry Slice of orange Method Add bitters to a large goblet, add orange juice, syrup, and top with soda.  Garnish edge of glass with fruit, add straw, and stir lightly. The sugar from the syrup takes the edge off the juice, but should not be enough to make a sweet drink. The peach bitters bring the other flavours together without overpowering.

It would come to no surprise to anyone who knows us that we are big fans of They Might Be Giants, and that it would be inevitable that they would make an appearance in this series. Here's the animated (comic?) horror movie that is "Damn Good Times", borrowing heavily from the classic "Nosferatu" from 1922. With bonus Wagnerian vampire valkyries. Animation by Divya Srinivasan.

This week we have a steel version of The Great Glass Elevator, fortunately without any Vermicious Knids, thanks for Angie Aparo's "Spaceship".  I do apologise for the quality of this one, but it is the only example I can find.

GoSun are running a giveaway for their solar-electric Fusion oven. Usual rules apply if you use the link below. GoSun Fusion Ultimate Bundle Solar Oven Giveaway #giveaway #win https://kingsumo.com/g/y9vohi/ultimate-gosun-fusion-bundle-giveaway/m5kvldl

A birthday special for Leece today. Thomas Dolby, and "Europa and the Pirate Twins", which features what may be a time-travelling Mr. Dolby. Was this what lead to the events in "She Blinded Me With Science"? Maybe!

M83 with "Claudia Lewis", starring Lily Collins and Israel Broussard. A fun highschool romance featuring a sweet alien girl ('Claudia Lewis') and a couple of very accepting humans.

This week we return to Lindsey Stirling, this time visiting a steampunk Wild West with "Roundtable Rival". A brilliant bit of storytelling, some wonderful costuming and choreography, all rounded out with magnificent acting. Her instrument, incidentally, is a Real Thing - not a prop! It appears to be a Romanian horn-violin (or possibly a Stroh violin).

I am very much a pacifist. I hate the idea of war, and of a military. But. Sometimes they are needed. Less often than they are used, but sometimes it is necessary . For that reason, we should respect those who have served and paid the ultimate price. We must never forget that war is an horrific thing. And we must never forget those who served. For those reasons, even more than ANZAC Day, Remembrance Day and the minute of silence should be respected.

Running late this week, but here is #13. Suzy, by the irrepressible Caravan Palace. Electroswing at its finest, and their wonderful retro-styled robot mascot.

Not so much a music video as a cut of a short film with the music as a soundtrack. This video by Polymath Films is the official video for the smooth synthpop sounds of Swimming's "I Do (Come True)".  Powerfully moving and filled with hope - despite the apparently downbeat ending - this is a masterwork in SpecFic music video production. Here is the full version:

This week let's go to Japan, and an instrumental dance track " 自主制作アニメーション『the TV show』" (2009) , directed by  SUGIMOTO Kousuke and music by MANABE Takayuki . The music is frantic synth - almost chiptune - with an accelerating beat. The video is something special. After a test pattern opening we see a videowall with (presumably) Manabe and Sugimoto at the controls. We then dive into the video stream an see each screen from the wall as videos nested inside each other... until the fourth wall fractures and one of the videos breaks into another. After that, things get complicated, but helpfully colour-coded for your convenience. Featuring tropes from almost every genre of TV, and the chaos caused by the genre boundaries melding, it is a sight to behold. A visit to Sugimoto's site has dozens more of his animations - all quite amazing! https://sugimotokosuke.com/contents/works.html

It is my birthday week, so I'm celebrating with a big one this week. I could not post just one of these, so here is the 2003 album "Discovery" by Daft Punk, animated by Leiji Matsumoto (of Star Blazers/Space Battle Ship Yamato and Captain Harlock fame) into the epic "Interstella 5555 : The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem ". Turning a basic post-disco electronic/house dance album into a concept album is one of the most amazing things I've seen. Taken by itself, Discovery is danceable, but really not that special. Wrapping it up in Matsumoto's signature "enough style, and who needs content" mien was an act of genius. I would argue that his  approach is uniquely suited to music videos - even more so than his more complex works.          Wikipedia has something to say about the ending that I disagree with. [spoilers - highlight to read] Wikipedia: " At the end, it is implied that the whole story was the dream of a young boy, inspi...

Well, the latest scavenger hunt has had the reveals announced, so I can share my entries at last. First - the list: And then my entries, in order (or view them in an album ): All bar one of my entries feature models from the game Wings of Glory - a WW1 dogfighting game.

Indie 'cuddlecore' band Seasons did an album for each season, and this is from 2011's "Winter" and is titled "...of Our Discontent". I'd just like to say that the boyfriend is a complete spleenweasel. Dr Macher is not much better. As a bonus - the Dr Macher's De-Speakering Services ad.

Back to the 80's and Thomas Dolby. Is it SpecFic? It might as well be. So there.

From the surreal to the stupid. This week we have one that just makes the cut, with just enough pantomime intercuts to make up for the bizarre bandclip sections. As for the story? Well... it is not much of one, but, hey, he is the son of man and god and lion, how much more can you ask for? So without further ado, here is Big Dumb Face and "Duke Lion".

There's a whole series of games that are ripe for the picking: Coming Soon! Zork: The Movie! Edit: It seems that back in 2001 the whole series was optioned, but nothing has been done with it.

So, last night the Girls School Cinema ran a Back to the Future marathon. This was great for us, as we had not seen the sequels (shocking, I know). No sooner had we pulled up in the car park , than another car pulled in alongside us. A silver and black car. With the number plate "88MPH". Yep, it was a Delorean. And the owner has had fun kitting it out, as you can see at the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/3ebbKeeg7njWTsRw5

Robyn, David, Aubrey, and Hannah sing a cappella  Last night we went to see Scott Bradley's Post Modern Jukebox for the fourth time. And for the fifth time in Perth, it was a sellout show.  Anyone who has been to one of their performances would not be surprised by this. The tour group conisists of five singers, five musicians, a tap-dancer, and a phenomenal grasp of every musical style known. The greater collective runs to ... it must be nearly a hundred performers. Performing last night were: The irrepressible and multi-talented Aubrey Logan on her first visit to Perth. Possesses a wicked sense of humour, an amazing vocal range, and killer trombone skills. Steaming her way through Taylor Smith's "Bad Blood", and rocking out in full 60's style for The Red Hot Chilli Peppers' "Give it Away". The unstoppable Casey Abrams, on a return visit to Perth (his third, I think), shown on the right with Adam Kubota (bass, bass guitar,...

This week we have a look at a triptych of videos from the Swedish/US band Miike Snow. Telling a tale of alien abduction, involuntary surgery and genetic modification, displacement, and a search for acceptance, this is a surreal and powerful series of videos. Our ... err ... hero has a name, by the way - "Jean Noel". There will be more from Miike Snow in later releases. First up is Paddling Out Followed by The Wave And lastly Pretender

To give you a sense of what to expect from Postmodern Jukebox, here's a sampler... First, the one that started it all for us And you've never heard 'Narf' sound so seductive!

The Postmodern Jukebox tour is coming to Perth again next week (20th September). As we have for the last 4? 5? years, we are going. If you have never been to one, they put on an amazing show where you step into an alternate reality, where today's songs are re-imagined into the styles of yesterday - mostly 20s - 40s themes, but with occasional excursions to other eras. It is always a full-on show, and well worth the price. There are still a few tickets available for the Perth show next Friday - you can get them here:  http://postmodernjukebox.com/tickets/?region=411

50's B movies have always been a rich hunting ground for inspiration for many things. Music videos are no exception. This brings us to the late Brainbug's "Nightmare" from 1996 works the mood perfectly, with distorted camera angles, a mad scientist, and the inevitable twist at the end. Combined with the song's late 90's eurotrance beats and you have a classic video. And Don't Believe It Couldn't Happen!

The deadline for the 26th Photography Scavenger Hunt is tomorrow evening, Perth time. Both Leece and I have successfully completed all ten assigned word this time! Stay tuned for the reveals over the coming weeks.

Looking through my collection in preparation for the coming weeks, I noticed that several of the videos and songs are ones I do not particularly like, and in some cases dislike . Will I be sharing them? Yes. Even a few who appear to carry messages that are problematic, to say the least. Why? So I can talk about why they are problematic, which I cannot do if I don't show them in the first place. I may descend into impolite language in extreme cases. As for the ones that I simply do not like? I'll share them, too, because they might be to someone else's taste. I'll be polite about them, though!

It takes a special amount of guts to make your music video a pastiche of one of the great SpecFic TV series. UK band Altered Images pull it off in style with their video for the 1982 release "See Those Eyes". Adopting the theme of the classic of paranoid specfic, "The Prisoner", the band perform for ... maybe the new number 2 ... it is hard to say. But they do it in classic style, blending the 60's, 70's and 80's into a new visit to The Village.

Some artists embrace genre with a passion, and you will see them appear several times here. Violinist and dancer Lindsey Stirling is one of them. Here is one she did specifically for YouTube's Music Awards. Look forward to some cowboy steampunk, clockwork dancers, and more!

OK, I figure that before I get too far into this SFF Music Video of the Week thing, I'd better set some ground rules. No fan videos - with the proviso that band-adopted fan videos are acceptable. Otherwise I'd be drowning in Eva and BSG clips. The proviso is to allow for things like the Official Video for "Your Head's on Fire" by TMBG being fan-created. The video itself must have at least a passing SFF/SpecFic theme. This will be very  personal choice here, but things that are really  vague I will try to explain my thinking in the selection. SFF themes in the music are nice, but not needed, and an SFF themed song with a band clip (i.e. the band is standing around playing the piece and nothing else happens) is not acceptable. I will accept suggestions. I may add them to my current 80-odd list. This post is the place to do so. I will reply with the fate of your suggestion. No movie promo clips. So, yes "Another Fine Mess" by Fanboy Frenzy has a grea...

This week takes us back to one of the granddaddies of SFF music videos, and Yes' "Owner of a Lonely Heart". Set in a dystopian version of Thatcherite England (yes, it could have been worse), our hero is snatched off the street for reasons unknown, and sentenced to a fate uncertain, and make his escape. Or has it happend at all? A classic song, and a classic SFF theme.

I've been collecting SFF themed music videos for a while. Some heavily so, some only slightly. And a few that are, well, special . Now, I'm going to share them, sometimes with some commentary, often not. First off the rank is the Sliding Doors inspired 'Have We Met Before', by the now disbanded group 'Chairlift'. Enjoy!

Here's my thirteen entries in this round of the hunt. The list of twenty-six words is the same list as the first hunt's list. The difference was this time we had about two and a half months - the last time it was less than a month! You can view the album here:  My Entries  and there's a preview below. Thanks go to my friend E for the loan of the BBC Acorn Electron, and to Leece for modelling for me in several shots, not to mention putting up with me suddenly vanishing to take photos or saying things like "Can you stab the table with this knife?"! Acorn Yellow   Green  Chocolate  Button  Remote  Pencil  Tire  Hamburger  Moon  Knife  Earring  Ice

Final batch of reveals! Results will be next! Donuts! https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-donut-album / Ice! https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-ice-album/ * Remote! https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-remote-album/ * And last of all - Yellow! https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-26-the-yellow-album / * As before, I have an iron in the fire for the ones with an asterisk. What will happen now? Historically there have been a chance for The People (that's everyone, not just the participants) to vote on a Peoples' Choice, and then an announcement of the judging. I'm not sure how it is going to work this time. Stay tuned!

OK, the next batch of amazing images has been announced! I am rather envious of some of these... https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-green-album/   * And I do look forward to having a fraction of the skills shown here https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-quarter-album/ Some real cutting edge work https://scavengerhunt.photography/the-knife-album/  * And then there are so many buttons! https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-button-album/  * As before, ones I have a shot in are marked with a "*".

I've been remiss in posting reveals for several days now, so here's a catch up post... Starting with Underwear -  https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-underwear-album/ Followed by Newspaper -  https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-newspaper-album/ And Tire -  https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-tire-album/  * Then Leaf -  https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-leaf-album/ Next up is Olive -  https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-olive-album/ That lead to Vase -   https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-vase-album/ Which somehow brings us to Earring  -  https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-earring-album/  * And as we're burning though them Fire -  https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-fire-album/ On to the sky and Moon -  https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-moon-album/  * Back down to earth for some C...

After playing with http://www.mottogenerator.com/ for a while, I have concluded that *any* motto is automatically made better(1) by adding "and wind" to it. (1)For humourous values of 'better'.

Reveals 4-6 are now up! We've got the words Whistle, Sponge, and Hamburger. I've got a shot in one of these :) https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-whistle-album/ https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-sponge-album/ https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-hamburger-album/ There continue to be stunning and inspiring works to be seen in all of these.

Leece and I saw this in the semi-finals this morning. Live action Utena, anyone?

I have nothing in either of these - but I'm going to share all 26 over the next couple of weeks, as they get revealed. There are some awesome photographers taking part! https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-z-album/ https://scavengerhunt.photography/round-25-the-xylophone-album/

The first reveals for the 25th Photography Scavenger Hunt are up! Today we have 'Acorn'. https://scavengerhunt.photography/25th-round-the-acorn-album/

I was looking at the ABC's summary of the various Senate parties ( https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-05-10/federal-election-your-guide-to-the-wa-senate-ballot/11080108 ) and I was struck by how balanced the field is. There are the big parties, the minor parties, and the micro parties. There centrist, far left, far right, and plain fruitcake parties. There is something for everyone. But. With all this choice, every Australian voting will have one incredibly difficult decision to make (assuming they don't go for single above-the-line voting). One that is much more difficult than choosing who to vote for. Who to put last? If you are of a right wing bent, do you put the Greens below the Hemp Party? Or Labor? And what about the Pirates? Those of a more leftwards leaning have work out if One Nation is worse or better than Fraser Anning's Conservative National Party, or if the Liberal Party is worse than both. Social progressive folks have it just...

We finally got around to seeing the 2019 Hellboy movie. The one without del Toro and Perlman. Instead we get Neil Marshall and David Harbour. As an added bonus, we also get Lovejoy - I mean Ian McShane - as Prof Broom, and Thomas Haden Church as Lobster Johnson. This is not like the earlier movies - it is much, *much* closer to Mike Mignola's graphic novels in feel, and this is reflected in the R-18 rating. Mike's novels have a very distinctive flow to them, and are meticulously researched. This movie reflects that research and the somewhat odd pacing, which some people may find a little off-putting. The research takes you across a dozen mythologies and legends, and binds  them together to make a magical tapestry of horror and wonder. The pacing leaves you breathless when you are expecting respite, and still gives you a few moments to catch your breath - but  by the time you've realised it, it is too late. Laws of physics are routinely ignored - and the  characters are...

I have one of those cheap powered Pano heads. I also have a Ricoh Theta S (I have a V as well, but that's not what this is about). The Theta S has a composite interval shooting mode, so I set it for 10 second exposures, for several minutes. Then I mounted it on a tripod on top of the Pano head. The head I set for 15° an hour - which approximates the Earth's rotation, and pointed it roughly at the South Celestial Pole. I say roughly, because it is a tricky thing to do right, and this was really just a PoC. The end result has a little streaking, but much less than I would otherwise expect, and much more detail than would otherwise be available. Overall, I'd call it a successful experiment, and I look forward to trying again with better alignment.

Which lead to the creation of this.

Robyn Adele Anderson (best known by me through PMJ) has this wonderful cover of "Blue (Da Ba See)". https://youtu.be/VJvEOPvKdIU

Carmen Sandiego is at it again! This time in Google Earth! Originally shared by Adafruit Industries Catch Carmen Sandiego in Google Earth https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/03/27/catch-carmen-sandiego-in-google-earth/ via The Verge Google has partnered with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to launch The Crown Jewels Caper, the first in a series of Carmen Sandiego games in Google Earth. It plays just like the old Carmen Sandiego PC games you remember: visit different landmarks, talk to the locals, and figure out Sandiego’s next destination from their clues. Though the game is made for promoting the animated Netflix show, it’s still a great collaboration, combining the fun, adventurous aspect of Carmen Sandiego with the immense 3D map resources of Google Earth. The pixel art is charming, though it’s too bad the game is missing sound. I miss the “Fly by night” theme songs from the PC games that played when you’re traveling. See more! https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/03/27/catch-carmen-sandiego-in-goog...

Goes and buys chips and nuts Originally shared by Alicia Smith I'm still here. starts filling punchbowl End of Google Plus party anyone?

#signalflare You can find me here, as well as MeWe. But youme.social just feels better. Originally shared by Jamez Frondeskias Still looking for your new home after Google+ shuts down? So many options out, yet the nearest one that looks and feels like home is YouMe Social. The site is still evolving so new features coming regularly. Some things that aren't acceptable on the site are lovely ladies looking for a faithful loyal man , porn, spam, phishing, hate speech. Oh, did i mention that YouMe Social is freehold? We don't have VCs or other investors breathing down our necks wondering when the site will make money to pay them back. https://www.youme.social ... your future home .. come join the other 1100 Google+ers there already. Check it out and if you like it, stay; if you don't, by deleting your profile, all your content is deleted as well .. but do make sure you download it first. PS. Do save your data on G+ as 1Gb files. The smaller the file, the faster you can upload...

Bin lid full of gravel, torn celery, jar lids, and snapped carrots... Hmmmm. Do you know what happened to him, Sir? Judging by the evidence I can see, he was attacked by an unlicensed Foley artist. How do you know they are unlicensed? All the licensed ones have signatures... Like Wilhelm? Exactly. All of this is generic. You might as well have stock footage of alligators entering a river, or kookaburras laughing in an African jungle. (With many thanks to +Alicia Smith for the rationale for being unlicensed!)

Astrofest2019, Curtin University. Telescope field, and gibbous moon. Shot with a Theta V, edited in Theta+ to create a #tinyplanet and #Snapseed to finish.

In which First Dog on the Moon offers useful opinions... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/22/only-snobs-care-about-apostrophes-some-correct-and-popular-opinions?CMP=share_btn_link https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/mar/22/only-snobs-care-about-apostrophes-some-correct-and-popular-opinions?CMP=share_btn_link

Alicia Smith would agree! Originally shared by Diane Attaway

I am officially gobsmacked. Originally shared by Alicia Smith I did not know this existed. I mean, Bill Oddie's version is the one that resonates...but this tribute is pretty good with the visuals. https://youtu.be/H7ociMW-_hs

Courtesy of Shar Banning, I now know of Caravan Palace... This is one of their tamer videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7lxd7RL1To&feature=share

The 80s reborn in 2009! Originally shared by Andreas Bartels 32! One. More. Month. https://youtu.be/tXtATeQ7GKg

I keep trying to come up with a joke about an haunted apartment block having a body incorprate, but I just can't get the right spirit for it.

Apropos an incident last weekend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmwBLln_VdM&feature=share

Featuring the real Pinky and The Brain! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqMs9WsJg2k&feature=player_embedded

Via Chance Chandler Originally shared by Rahmet Valentín

(Sniff) https://xkcd.com/2111/

Sandra and Woo being particularly pointed today. http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2019/02/14/1059-cargo-cult-chinaware/

#birdinflight The common Welcome Swallow. Seen everywhere, and a right pain to capture in flight. Today I managed it! Go me!