Grand Theft Simpsons

Shown above is a level from the upcoming The Simpsons Game which is based on Grand Theft Auto. I love the fact that instead of just doing a lame port that EA is using the medium of video games to make fun of other video games.

Want to be an Astronaut?

This sort of job would be fanboy dream come true for me:

A chance to really shoot for the stars
NASA looking to hire 10 to 15 new astronauts

“NASA posted a hiring notice for new astronauts Tuesday, seeking for the first time in almost 30 years men and women to fly aboard spacecraft other than the shuttle. The pilots, scientists, engineers and educators that NASA recruits will train primarily for three- to six-month missions aboard the international space station. However, some could be among those who stroll on the surface of the moon as part of NASA’s plan to return human explorers to the lunar surface by 2020 aboard the shuttle fleet’s successor spacecraft.

“Yes, I think it’s quite likely,” said Ellen Ochoa, who supervises NASA’s astronaut corps as the director of flight crew operations at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. The space agency’s help-wanted notice for 10 to 15 new space fliers was posted Tuesday on www.usajobs.com, the federal government’s employment Web site.”

The End

Check out this amazing set of classic film “the end” titles at Flickr.

Found via Neatorama and SwissMiss.

My Favorite Anime Pirate: Captain Harlock

To honor o’ Talk Like a Pirate Day I reckoned that I ortin’ ta write about me favorite anime shipmate, which be Space Sea dog Captain Harlock! Harlock (which be also known as Herlock) be th’ first anime series that I watched in Japanese wi’ subtitles in th’ late 70s. Prior t’ that me introduction t’ anime be through dubbed shows like Star Blazers like Speed Racer, but I be lucky as local UHF station called WNJU had a block o’ Japanese programmin’ ever’ weekend. E’en tho ‘t be science fiction, Harlock be a very odd mix o’ spacecraft an’ steampunk design. Needless t’ say I be hooked, in a pre-VCR era I made ‘t a point t’ catch ever’ episode, an’ ‘t be thanks in part t’ that space shipmate that I still love anime today.

Apollo Era Space Suit Replicas

So your a NASA fanboy and you have a spare $10,000 and you need the perfect Apollo era space suit replica, where do you go? Well the website you gotta check out is SpaceToys.com, not only do they have a full line of space suits, but they also sell full scale replicas of various spacecraft like the Apollo Lunar Module and the Mercury Capsule. So who buys this sort of thing? It’s mostly museums and science centers. Although if you’re a fanboy on a lower budget they have tons of other cool items like wall murals, autographed pictures, and a nice selection of model kits.

Found via LinkFilter.

Alex Ross Does Justice to DC

I was going through the current offerings by DC Comics, and it was one lame cover after another! Pretty much everything had that generic look to it until I stumbled on the above cover art for “Justice Society of America #11” by the talented illustrator Alex Ross. I admit that I’ve seen his work before, but i didn’t put a name with a face and style until I saw a promotional video that was done when Ross did some amazing illustrations for the classic anime series Gatchaman.

Ross blew me away because I had grown up on Star Blazers (Space Cruiser Yamato) and although I know that Japanese version of Battle of the Planets (Gatchaman) was cool I just couldn’t get into the very dated 70s look of the show and the lack of cool spacecraft that Yamato was jammed with. But when I discovered what Ross did with the Gatchaman characters I was blown away:

Read more…

Dead in the Now

Seattle based illustrator Corey Sutherland Lewis (also known as The Rey) is showing off a fun looking zombie comic preview on his Live Journal site:

“First two pages of an 8-page movie-trailer-esque preview of the comic– it’s called DEAD IN THE NOW. I’m making the preview for an online comic site, for possible serialization of the whole shabang. I’ll let you all know when the full teaser is up for the world to enjoy.”

…I love the look of what he has so far, I hope he’ll do more with it!

Found via Heidi MacDonald.

An Experimental Tezuka Film from 1962

Before Astro Boy went on the air in 1963 (although it was a well known manga before that), Osamu Tezuka made the above experimental animated film Male in 1962.

The film was made in a hurry to meet the exhibition date and is a Tezuka take on the novel Wagahai wa Neko de Aru (“I am a Cat”) by the Japanese author Natsume Soseki. The novel was written in 1905-1906 (about a hundred years ago!) and is a satire on Japanese society in the time of the Meiji Emperor. In the novel a cat observes his master’s ordinary life, however Tezuka’s twist in the film is that his cat observes an extremely odd situation in which a man kills the woman he loves and then waits for the police to come.

Although Tezuka would go on to experience success with his more commercial work he did continue to make a few more very well done experimental shorts including my favorites Broken Down Film and Jumping.

Confessions of a Blabbermouth

I took a look at the free preview (shown above) and I have to say that Confessions of a Blabbermouth looks like a cool comic in my book:

“When Tasha’s mom brings home an annoying hack novelist boyfriend, Jed, and his deadpan daughter, her dysfunctional family is headed for a complete mental meltdown. But Tasha has her blog, BLABBERMOUTH, as the ultimate weapon — and she’s not afraid to use it. Especially when she starts to suspect that the obnoxious Jed has a guilty secret that goes far beyond his bad prose.”

The artwork is by Aaron Alexovich and the story is by Mike Carey and Louise Carey – and cooler yet is that Louise is Mike’s 15-year-old daughter! I also have to admit the idea of having a blog as central plot device is always a good way to get notice in another blog…

Found via ComicsSnob.

Sushi-Rolling Machine

It’s not as good as having your own sushi robot, but this automatic sushi roller from toymaker Bandai Namco is amazing! Here are the instructions thanks to Google translate:

1. The boiled rice tool material is set to the transparent seat part of the substance.

2. The steering wheel is turned round and round.

3. Inserting the paste, when it turns the steering wheel again, the paste keeps being sucked.

4. It is completion! (Size of the kanpyo roled in rice and seaweed is length approximately 9.5cm)

You can buy the machine here, and here is the press release (in Japanese).

Found via TokyoMango.

Galileo Seven Remastered

Just a reminder that the remastered version of the classic Star Trek episode Galileo Seven will be on the air today (check your local station listings).

Nicholas Cage Pimps Pachinko

Shown above is Nicholas Cage in a somewhat silly Japanese pachinko TV commercial. I may date myself but I still associate Cage with the 1983 film Valley Girl which had an amazing new wave soundtrack.

Found via JapanSugoi.

Star Trek Retro Action Figures

These classic Star Trek action figures are made for action! Nope you won’t see a wussy Jean-Luc Picard figurine holding a cup of Earl Gray Tea with his pinky sticking out, nah this set features Kirk with a phaser set to kill and a Klingon pal ready to rumble:

Star Trek Retro Action Figures

“Ah, the 70s. So many things happened which affected Geekdom forever. Perhaps the most important thing to happen was the introduction and proliferation of Mego action figures. There were tons of cool figures to choose from, but the Star Trek figs held a special place in our hearts. And now the great folks at Diamond Select have made wonderful reproductions for a whole new generation of Mego fans.”

Manga Fanboy to be Prime Minister?!

Taro Aso is a cool guy, earlier this year, he oversaw the creation of the International Manga Award to honour non-Japanese cartoonists:

Manga shares gain on leader hopes

“Japanese comic book shops have been the surprise beneficiaries of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s shock exit. Shares in retailers selling the “manga” cartoon strips surged on belief that manga-fan Taro Aso is the leading candidate to replace Mr Abe. Mr Aso, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is a big promoter of manga cartoons abroad.

While the main Tokyo market fell after Mr Abe’s resignation, manga-linked stocks like publisher Broccoli rose. The Nikkei 225 index of the largest Japanese shares fell 0.5% as political uncertainty led investors to drop out of the market until the situation became clearer. But investors pounced on manga publishers and bookshops selling the fantastical cartoon strips.”

Dragon Wars

I don’t know if the film will be as good as the promotional artwork shown above (sort of reminds me of a cross between King Kong and the Towering Inferno) but Dragon Wars will be hitting theaters today. The trailer below looks cute, although I have to admit that the Korean subtitles may make the film seem more interesting than it may actually be:

Read more…

Gogo Yubari & Green Tea Ice Cream

Chiaki Kuriyama is best known to me for her role as Gogo Yubari from the film Kill Bill, but shown above is a recent ad she did for Glico Ice Cream in Japan. The commercial is sweet, but as a fanboy I wish it had some martial arts action!

September 13th, 1999

Between the era of Star Trek re-runs (maybe 1974?) and the dawn of Star Wars (1976) my favorite show in the universe was Space:1999. I must have only been nine years old when the show came out, but man did it make an impression on me for years to come. Every year when it’s September 13th I always think of the first episode which was titled Breakaway.

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Femtroopers

Thanks to Digg I discovered this blog entry on Femtroopers (feminine versions of Star Wars stormtroopers):

Stormtroopers blast through gender barrier

“If you want to check out a very welcome new trend in science fiction fandom (assuming you’re a huge geek), then Google the word “Femtroopers”. This is perhaps the most celebratory development for horny Star Wars fans since Princess Leia became Jabba the Hutt’s barge ho.”

There’s also a nice photo essay on the topic here (don’t worry it’s safe for work).

Ugū!

Shown above is the character Ayu Tsukimiya from the anime series Kanon whose favorite catch phrase is (you guessed it) Ugū!

Star Trek Minimates

Diamond Select Toys is taking pre-orders on the Star Trek Minimates Series 2 Case:

“The second series of Star Trek Minimates, this Classic Star Trek assortment features Battle Damage Kirk & Gorn, “The Cage” Spock & Uhura, Sulu & Chekov and the limited Swashbuckling Sulu!”

…Captain Pike fans will have to order Minimates Series 1.

I Lived on the Moon

I lived on the Moon is an animated short created by Yannick Puig who draws inspiration from Tim Burton and Hayao Miyazaki. Yannick works as an animator in Europe (France and Spain), here is his explanation of the film:

“In ‘I lived on the moon’, a father speaks to his son. He explains how was his life on the moon. A place filled with flying snakes, fireflies and three tailed monkeys. A beautiful place, safe and far away from the human culture. A place for imagination, a place in which you’ll find the entrance only if you open your mind.”

Parade with Fireworks

Shown above are the cover and some interior panels from Parade with Fireworks by Michael Cavallaro. What I like about the book is that it features a film noir feel to the storytelling, yet the artwork has a very colorful illustrational looking style to it. Cavallaro came up with the story as well, and took a page from his own family history:

“These are tales that I grew up hearing from my relatives. The basis of the comic spans decades of my family’s history on their journeys from an Italian countryside lost between two World Wars, to the coal mines of the American south and the factories of the Northeast. Parade is the beginning of these stories.”

…there’s a good hint above for all of you aspiring writers out there, always write about what you know (special thanks to my Mom for always reminding me of that every now and then).

Iron Man: New Official Trailer

This looks silly but fun! I guess we’ll find out in May 2008…

Tex Avery Documentary

Shown above is the first part of a very well done documentary from 1988 on the life and work of animation legend Tex Avery.

Read more…