Strange New Worlds

"Once upon a time there was no Universe," began the Storyteller. . . ."
First Snow White encounters one of the Little People, then one of the Even Smaller People, and finally one of the Truly Infinitesimal People. And no matter how diligently she searches, the only dwarves she can find are collapsed stars! Clearly, she’s not at home in her well-known Brothers Grimm fairy tale, but instead in a strange new landscape that features quantum behavior, the wavelike properties of particles, and the Uncertainty Principle. She (and we) must have entered, in short, one of the worlds created by Robert Gilmore, the physicist and fabulist who brought us the classic "Alice in Quantumland."

It's the ultimate city, packed with 8 million people and overgrown with skyscrapers. But before this land of glass steel and concrete sprouted, New York City was home to alien worlds and strange creatures stretching back over many millennia. Eight-ton elephant-like mastodons walked down what is today 5th Avenue, and a sea turtle bigger than a compact car swam directly over Midtown Manhattan. The Big Apple still bears the scars of a time when it was obliterated by a titanic glacier, and it sits on the site of a 200-million year old volcanic catastrophe. This is also where some of the world's first dinosaurs walked. And although it enjoys views of the Atlantic Ocean today, New York City was once in the middle of a vast desert continent. No matter the era, it's been the center of the action throughout the history of our planet.

Powhatan tribal people stare in wonder as three ships approach shore… It's a story every schoolchild knows. And, as told by filmmaker Terrence Malick (Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line) in this Extended Version with over 20 minutes of footage unseen in theaters, it's a story you never imagined. Working in part from firsthand histories and adding his extraordinary sense of image and human drama, Malick crafts a spellbinding tale of the Jamestown settlement, of cultures connecting and of deadly consequences when connections fray. Capt. John Smith, Pocahontas, John Rolfe: You know the names. But you could never experience the visceral power of the stories behind those names until now.

Continue the Star Control: Origins story with Earth Rising! Now that humans are a major player on the galactic scene, one question remains: how will they use their influence, and how will their interstellar neighbors feel about it?

The Music of Erika Svanoe (University of New Hampshire Wind Symphony) is the first full album of music by one of the band worlds most impressive new composers. The recording features some of Svanoes best known works, such as Steampunk Suite and The Haunted Carousel, alongside brand new and equally delightful pieces, like Tutued Toucan Can-Can, First Suite Fanfare, and Mary Shelley Meets Frankenstein. Svanoes inventive approach is apparent throughout the album, which also features another of her iPad works (Category 4) and two interactive musical adventure pieces (Band of Heroes and A Journey in Time), presented here using a narrator to tell each story. The whole package is rounded out by Svanoes masterful settings of Four Grainger Songs for soprano and chamber winds.