Space Above and Beyond – the sci-fi series you DIDN'T watch

As you probably noticed from some recent gaming posts, I was a big fan of Wing Commander growing up. But the Wing Commander movie was boring at best, and the Wing Commander animated series was busy rewriting backstories of characters I already knew and loved.

For the sci-fi geek in me, the best “space fighter-pilot jock” action for my dollar always came from Space Above and Beyond. This TV series constantly gave you the intensity of being in the cockpit, while developing characters and backstories you come to know intimately: the members of the 58th Squadron. Although planned for five seasons, only the first ever aired and the show was prematurely canceled, just like everything else we Sci-Fi fans enjoy. But those 24 episodes are some of my favorite stories ever told, and you can tell they had some higher hopes planned for the series.

I would highly suggest anyone looking to fill that “Wing Commander” shaped whole in their life while waiting for Squadron 42 should take a look at Space Above and Beyond – The Complete Series. It’s not a game, but it is immersive.

2011 – The Bunny The Bear – If You Don't Have Anything Nice to Say



Are you angry? You will be after you hear this. I was introduced to The Bunny The Bear this week, and wanted to share them with you. They fall in to the genre of post-hardcore, combined with some electronica (or what Wikipedia is calling “Electropop”). Reaching higher and higher up the scale, with a voice similar to Claudio Sanchez of Coheed and Cambria, “The Bear” compliments “The Bunny,” who growls his way through songs unapologetically.

There are songs I like better than the video embedded above for C’est Pas Si Lion, but I think the song does a fantastic job of showcasing how the band is a well constructed self-juxtaposition. The band members are clearly very talented, and wouldn’t have to rely on such a strange gimmick as plastic animal masks, but they stick with it – and it adds to the eerie factor that I think suits the month of October quite well.

Clear the trees / Then you’ll see through to me / I’m rotting on the ocean floor / Where seeds of grass abhor their situation” is sang and screamed in what combines in to a hauntingly elegant song. The band is original in many ways, and although not “my usual” and only something I’ve just discovered, I actually enjoy it quite it a bit, and would encourage readers here to give them a sample and try to broaden your own musical horizons with a little bit of The Bunny The Bear..

2003 – Tokyo Rose – Reinventing a Lost Art

I remember liking this band “back in the day” – and when I was just 19 I had a chance to see them at the Warped Tour. I was blown away by just how much fun the band members looked like they were having. I’d heard a song or two of theirs, but didn’t know just how much I would really enjoy their whole album, at the time. Once I listened to it, beginning to end, I was hooked.

Reinventing a Lost Art was Tokyo Rose’s first “full length” album, and came out when Emo was reaching full force. This is more of the classic “pop-punk” / Post-Hardcore genre we’ve come to appreciate, with some talented vocals over top of quick drums and upbeat guitar riffs. You can’t help but enjoy this album, and they start out the album with a song that gets you in the mood for fun.

Saturday, Everyday, the opening track, begins this chorus with Tokyo Rose’s call for a good time: “So when we rule the world / we’ll put it up to a vote / to make another day / one more like Saturday…” Another track, Weapon of Choice plays off of the old phrase coined by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” “Enclosed is my weapon of choice,” they sing, as they recall writing letters to friends, family, and significant others as the band toured trying to make it.

You might think I want you to buy the 2007 Tokyo Rose album, Promise in Compromise, because I was one of the early pre-orders who got the select honor of finding our names printed inside the sleeve… cool, yes, but if I really ever expect you to listen to that album, I need to get you hooked on the band first. And to do that? We’ve got to start with Reinventing a Lost Art, the album that really sucked me in and made me a fan of Tokyo Rose.