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Ryuichi Sakamoto appears in Aho Aho Man (Stupid Stupid Man) a skit from the comedy show "Gottsu Eh Kanzi" from Japan (1999):

Pocky commercials featuring actress Aragaki Yui:

...and here's her official website (in Japanese).

This is a must watch clip for any true Star Trek fanboy, here are two discarded scenes from Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan, that are not on the DVD or ABC versions. It includes a scene where Saavik is revealed to be half-Romulan, and a scene where Kirk introduces Saavik to David Marcus:

It looks like the most powerful radiotelescope yet devised is to be built on the Moon, under plans being put together by NASA for its 2018 lunar mission:

NASA looks to a new frontier by building telescope on the Moon

"The most powerful radiotelescope yet devised is to be built on the Moon, under plans being put together by NASA for its 2018 lunar mission. Mike Griffin, the head of the US space agency, said the construction of a telescope is being “factored into” the mission. A radiotelescope on the Moon would offer astronomers and physicists an unrivalled opportunity to see farther into the cosmos than ever before and in more detail."

This is not-so-clever interview by MTV VJ Mark Goodman with Terry Gilliam on his "new film" Brazil from 1986:

Ah yes the good old 80s when MTV showed music videos and directors made films that weren't remakes. When the film came out I managed to watch it quite a few times as I made it the subject of a term paper for a film class, I knew the film was good but little did I know it would be a future classic.

Here's a cool imge from the upcoming Spiderman 3 film (click on the image to see at full size):

According to an article in Variety, the Japanese snaped up 400,000 Wii units, and stores across the country are reporting first-day sellouts of the new game console. Nintendo plans to release 4 million units worldwide by the end of the year, compared with an expected 2 million units shipped for the PS3.

Now you no longer have to trek out to your local Planetarium! Sega has created the "Homestar Planetarium Pro" which looks pretty nifty to this astronomy fanboy. Here's a video demo:

You can order the Planetarium Pro from kilian-nakamura.com.

Scheduled for March 2007, McFarlane Toys will be bringing out The Simpsons Series 1.

Below: Itchy and Scratchy in the Spay Anything boxed set - yeouch!

My only regret is that we'll have to wait until 2024 to see this (almost 20 years!):

NASA Says It Will Set Up Polar Moon Camp

"NASA announced Monday it will establish an international base camp on one of the moon's poles, permanently staffing it by 2024, four years after astronauts return to the moon. It is a sweeping departure from the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and represents a new phase of space exploration after space shuttles are retired in 2010.

NASA chose a "lunar outpost" over the short expeditions of the '60s. Apollo flights were all around the center of the moon, but NASA decided to go to the moon's poles because they are best for longer-term settlements. And this time NASA is welcoming other nations on its journey."

Below: This painting was used as a visual at an April 1988 Houston-hosted conference titled "Lunar Bases and Space Strategies of the 21st Century."

Sketchfighter 4000 is a cool Mac game that looks like hand drawn doodles of an early video arcade game:

Sketchfighter 4000

"Remember those super-cool space ships you doodled on graph paper in Middle School? Pen strokes furiously waging massive intergalactic battles in History class with the fate of humanity hanging in the balance? Well they have sprung to life in SketchFighter 4000 Alpha!"

If you must own an actual Star Trek prop but missed out on the last high profile auction, here's your chance:

More Trek Props Go On Sale

"Paramount will auction off costumes and props from various incarnations of Star Trek starting Dec. 16 on eBay and It's A Wrap!, another online auction site. Items for sale will include costumes and props from 10 Trek motion pictures and five television series and will include furniture from Star Trek: The Next Generation's U.S.S. Enterprise-D, a Borg alcove and prop Borg, a Starfleet rifle, a Klingon bat'leth bladed weapon and costumes."

Below: Paramount executives inventory the merchandise.

A funny video from Japanese TV on a tour of American anime fans visiting Japan for the Tokyo Anime Fair:

"Tensai! Shimura Dobutsu-en" (aka Genius! Shimura Zoo) is a kids show from Japan in which each episode is focused on the plight of a specific animal. In this episode several baby Panda Bears have moved into Becky's apartment:

So you may ask just who is Becky? Becky is is Rebecca Eri RayVaughan, Born on March 6, 1984, in Kanagawa, she is the daughter of a Japanese mother and an English father. And she most often refers to herself as Bekiko (ベキ子 or 絲子). She got her start the popular children's show Oha-Suta (おはスタ) in 1999 reading out the English names of various Pokémon characters in a section of the show called "Pokémon: The World."

For just $164,000 you can be the envy of all of your friends by wearing this platinum Hello Kitty pendant:

And yes this isn't a photoshop hoax, the above item can be found at this Sanrio page here...

story found via kilian-nakamura.com.

No that headline isn't science fiction or a hoax, it seems that NASA has discovered evidence of water on Mars:

Scientists: Photos suggest recent water on Mars

"New photographs from space suggest that water occasionally flows on the frigid surface of Mars, raising the tantalizing possibility that the red planet is hospitable to life, scientists reported Wednesday. The new images, taken by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor before it lost contact with Earth, do not actually show flowing water. Rather, they show changes in craters that provide the strongest evidence yet that water coursed through them as recently as several years ago, and is perhaps doing so even now.

"This is a squirting gun for water on Mars," said Kenneth Edgett, a scientist at San Diego-based Malin Space Science Systems, which operates a camera on the Global Surveyor. The news excited scientists who hunt for extraterrestrial life. If the finding is confirmed, they say, all the ingredients favorable for life on Mars are in place: liquid water and a stable heat source. In all of its Mars exploration missions, NASA has pursued a "follow the water" strategy to determine if the planet once contained life or could support it now."

It looks like several pulp fiction heroes from yesteryear like Doc Savage and the Shadow are headed to the silver screen:

Exclusive: Sam Raimi's Pulp Fiction

"Several pulp heroes of yesteryear will be brought to life on the big-screen courtesy of none other than Dark Man and Spider-Man filmmaker Sam Raimi. The project would unite a number of famous pulp heroes from Street and Smith Publications, which had once been among the top pulp publishers. Characters that we were informed would be included in the film are Doc Savage, The Shadow and The Avenger, and quite possibly other (or all) major Street and Smith characters."

Below: The December 1941 and the February 1942 issues of Doc Savage.

The new film sort of has a Batman look to it (oh and try to ignore the G4 dorks at he start of this clip):

The Japanese manga Hana-Kimi has been turned into a live action tv show in Taiwan titled 'Hua Yang Shao Nian Shao Nu'.

The manga centers on Mizuki Ashiya, a Japanese girl who lives in the United States. One day, she sees a track and field competition on TV, and becomes attracted to one of the competitors. She begins to idolize the young athlete and eventually transfers to Japan to attend the same school. However there's is a catch, it's an all-boys high school! So she must disguise herself as a boy to enter the school.

Here's a trailer for the Taiwanese drama show:

And here's some artwork of Ashiya Mizuki from the Japanese manga:

This is a very cool online Flash version of the classic run-and-gun game Metal Slug, the only catch is that the instructions are in Chinese! press the middle tab to see the keyboard controls, followed by the second tab to continue, then choose a difficulty level (easy, medium, hard - in that order):

Metal Slug Flash Game

There's a great slideshow of photos of the nighttime Space Shuttle Discovery launch from the New York Times (registration required):

The Night Launching of Discovery

Below: Discovery streaked across the sky above Daytona Beach, Fla., on a mission to rewire the International Space Station.

Tired of that all white Wii? Well now you can add some Wii wallpaper:

Wii Skins

"To show our love for the Wii, we developed exceptional Wii skins, with maximum coverage and a precision fit to avoid huge gaps between panels. Our premium thin materials cover both sides of the console, so it's gorgeous in or out of the stand."

Steven Spielberg is developing as as-yet-unnamed time-travel television series for Fox TV. But the plot looks more like 'Saving Private Ryan' than 'Back to the Future':

Spielberg takes development role in Fox TV projects

"The untitled show will revolve around two young American physicists in WWII who discover a way to pinch time and travel to the future. They wind up hopping between 2007 and the 1940s in order to aid the war effort -- but in the process begin to upset the space-time continuum. Along the way, one of the physicists also enlists a woman in 2007 to help him adjust to culture shock, and the two develop a relationship."

In our previous entry we enjoyed clips from "Tensai! Shimura Dobutsu-en" (aka Genius! Shimura Zoo) a Japanese kids show which features a new animal each episode. In this clip our intrepid host Becky moves in with a new set of Pandas, but instead of good old fashioned Giant Panda cubs in this episode she's hanging out with Red Pandas which look like cute oversized raccoons:

The funny thing is when I last saw some Red Pandas at the Central Park Zoo they were rather shy! I guess Becky knows how to charm 'em.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst Library is hosting an exhibit from December 3, 2006 through January 31, 2007 featuring the art of Hubert Rogers, who painted dozens of covers for Astounding SF from 1939 to 1942 and again from 1947 to 1952:

Hubert Rogers & Astounding Magazine

"Originally from Canada, Rogers found fame as an illustrator in New York. His paintings and drawings appeared in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction at the moment that a group of writers who would become famous and influential around the world began to publish their earliest and most important works. Rogers created both original color paintings which were published on the covers of the magazine and black and white illustrations for the interior pages.

The exhibition will include original oil paintings, sketches and finished pen and ink drawings as well as publisher’s proofs of the color covers for the magazines. Many rare issues of Astounding magazine and other publications will be displayed, as well as books and magazines featuring his inspirational wartime posters and his work as a portraitist."

If you grew up with Star Blazers (Space Cruiser Yamato) you're going to want to own one of these:

1/350 Space Battleship Yamato

"There have been many, many Space Battleship Yamato models – Yamato is, after all, a seminal anime series - but Bandai is really pulling out all the stops for this Yamato extravaganza! This giant 1/350 scale model kit (766mm in length - that's just over 2 1/2 feet long!) helps you relive the experience of watching Yamato, with all of its drama, romance and adventure."

The model itself is amazing, everything works! The wave motion gun lights up and you can even launch a Black Tiger spacefighter from a hidden bay, just check out the video:

Above: The first comic book to feature the Green Lantern, from July 1940.

Green Lantern Creator Nodell Dies at 91

"Martin Nodell, the creator of Green Lantern, the comic book superhero who uses his magical ring to help him fight crime, has died. He was 91. Nodell was looking for a new idea for a comic book in 1940 when he was waiting for a New York subway and saw a train operator waving a lantern displaying a green light, said Maggie Thompson, senior editor of Comics Buyer's Guide.

Nodell imagined a young engineer, Alan Scott, a train crash survivor who discovers in the debris an ancient lantern forged from a green meteor. Scott constructs a ring from the lamp that gives him super powers, and becomes a crime fighter.He brought his drawings and story lines to All-American Publications, which later became a part of National Periodical Publications, the company that was to become DC Comics, Thompson said.

The first Green Lantern appearance came in July 1940, an eight-page story in a comic book also featuring other characters. The character then got his own series, and Nodell drew it until 1947 under the name Mart Dellon. After its cancellation in 1949, the series was reborn in 1959 with a revised story line, and it has been revived several times. Meanwhile, Nodell left the comics field for an advertising career. In the 1960s, he was on a design team that helped develop the Pillsbury Doughboy."

If you're a fan of Gerry Anderson shows like Thunderbirds and the anime show Gatchaman (seen in the States as 'Battle of the Planets') you might get a kick out of Choujin Sentai Jetman (鳥人戦隊ジェットマン, Chōjin Sentai Jettoman) which is an early 90s live action TV show from Japan. The title of the show 'Choujin Sentai Jetman' translates into English as 'Birdman Squadron Jetman'. Jetman was produced by Toei Company and Bandai from 1991 to 1992, yet it has a very 70s vibe to it.

Here's the opening title of the show:

Below: Team Jetman in and out of costume, a Bandai Jetman toy, and the soundtrack CD to the show.

J.J. Abrams confirmed to Variety that work is on track to release a proposed 11th Star Trek movie in 2008. Abrams is producing the movie for Paramount and co-writing it. TrekMovie.com, meanwhile, reported that Abrams and Paramount have added Stratton Leopold to the growing list of executive producers for Star Trek XI. On a slightly related note they also report that CBS is think of doing a new animated Star Trek series as well, but it has yet to get the green light.

Fan made public service announcement parody:

The latest Harry Potter trailer is up for viewing and in this new film there's an on screen kiss and even some Matrixlike flying around on broomsticks:

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Trailer

007's Next Mission Revealed?

"The follow-up to Casino Royale will reportedly be based on the Ian Fleming short story Risico, which appeared in his 1960 book For Your Eyes Only.

"Bosses were so pleased with how well Casino Royale has been received that work has already commenced on Risico at Pinewood Studios," claimed a source for the British tabloid The Sun. "Some of the same characters will crop up again. But one of the main aspects will be to develop Bond's complex personality."

The problem with Risico is that its basic plot and characters was already used for the 1981 film version of For Your Eyes Only. In Fleming's Risico, 007 is sent to Italy to investigate a heroin ring and crosses paths with the likes of Colombo and Kristatos, both of whom were featured in the Roger Moore movie."

Disney is working on a new kids fantasy film called 'A Bridge to Terabithia', and the latest trailer is now out:

A Bridge to Terabithia

The movie has a sort of 'Escape to Witch Mountain' meets 'Lord of the Rings' sort of feeling to it, and seems to feature a giant walking tree creature and ogre thrown n for good measure.

The first official batch of photos are now online for the upcoming film Grind House, which features two feature length films from Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror) and Quentin Tarantino (Death Proof):

First Look: 'Grindhouse'

This is yet another cute and silly Japanese commercial, this one is selling a fermented soybeans product for Takanofoods:

And if you like the commercial you can decorate your computer desktop with wallpaper from here.

Sadly it looks like sake is going down in popularity in the land of the rising sun:

Sake fights for its place as Japan's national drink

"It has a history of over 2,000 years and is as much a part of Japan as sumo wrestling and sushi. But sake, traditional rice wine, is losing popularity at home as more and more people opt for wine, beer, and cocktails. “This is the national alcohol of Japan, but Japanese people won’t drink it,” said Yuzo Kuji, whose family brewery is located deep in the heart of a prime sake-brewing region centred around Morioka, some 462 km north-east of Tokyo.

Sake’s share of Japan’s alcohol market is dropping by nearly 10% a year as drinks like cocktails gain. Now a new generation of sake brewers and sellers is pushing premium brews and innovative campaigns that include marketing to young people and shipping more of the beverage overseas, where consumption is rising. Ironically, the main thrust of the campaigns to reinvigorate sake in its homeland is to show Japanese consumers the popularity of their national drink in places like the US, whose trends young Japanese often seek to emulate."

...well on the upside at least sake is becoming more popular here in the States and I see it around more often now than I did a few years ago, and in fact there is even sake being produced in California!