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.