In this article pop culture pundit Nick Kent gives us his insights into the growing trend of J-Pop singers who want to sound cyber:
I’ve been noticing a mini-trend in Japanese pop music lately consisting of pretty female singers singing with android sounding vocals rather than natural sounding ones. I can’t help but to think Cher’s 1998 hit single “Believe” makes her the Borg Queen of this phenomenon: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 19, 2009 in Videogames
I’ve always associated Topps with their amazing baseball cards but I had no idea that they ever did anything this clever: In 1983 they had a series of “Video Arcade Gum” which came in individual boxes that were shaped like (you guessed it) video arcade games! I’m surprised that this product never took off because I don’t remember seeing it back in the day. The games they featured included Donkey Kong, Q*bert, Zaxxon, Frogger and Centipede. The quality of these package designs looks great: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 18, 2009 in Star Trek
I haven’t seen this film yet, but I know one thing for certain: J.J. Abrams really knows how to promote a film! I’ve now seen him pushing this film every where from Australia to Wired magazine — and I like the fact that he’s not taking his audience for granted. He seems to understand that this isn’t just about making a film, but rescuing a franchise that could fade away. Of course at the end of the day this film has to be damn good, but the amount of work I see him doing is a good indication. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 18, 2009 in Animation
Once upon a time there were the Flintstones followed by the Jetsons, animated family sitcoms that adults could watch as well as the kids. Then a great dark age followed for many years until the Simpsons brought the genre back in 1989. Since then we’ve seen it all from South Park to Family Guy and frankly the concept is a bit tired at this point. But when you take that and add second rate jokes you get Sit Down, Shut Up. And just in case you think the first video clip that I found was lame, here’s additional proof that this is the must miss show of the season: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 17, 2009 in Japanese TV
Time was not too long ago that Domo was the coolest thing not just for me — but for any self respecting hipster, creative professional or occasional otaku. But alas our favorite razor toothed character who was all but unknown in Japan conquered mainstream America, before you know it every damn yabbo could pick up a t-shirt at Walmart. But fear not as I have discovered a worthy mascot replacement: On-Chan Nendoroid (shown above) was created in 1997 to represent the Hokkaido Television Broadcasting Co. and he sports a pet monster called Guchi. So if you want to be the first kid on your block to own your very own Nendoroid this figurine can be ordered from National Console Support, Inc. By the way here’s Nendoroid in action:Read more…
On November 22, 1963 along with President Kennedy newspapers received their first fatal wound and they’ve been slowly fading ever since. Most people learned of the assassination of JFK via their TV set or radio — and ever since then newspapers have broken less-and-less news each year. Smugly watching this death march has been broadcast and later cable television news. At a certain point the money, power and glamour shifted from print to the small screen and along with that came a certain sense of hubris that we see today. Read more…
These two commercials for the Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek! attraction at Tokyo Disneyland are enjoyable on two levels: First it’s great to see these familiar Pixar characters speaking Japanese, it almost gives them an anime like quality. Next on the first ad above I love the intercuts of the typical Japanese family mirroring the actions of the animated characters. In fact the high quality of the Japanese voice actors almost makes me want to re-watch the film in Japanese with English subtitles just to see what they did. Read more…
Speck and Spock is a conjoined alien created by Lindsey Banker — I really love the sense of humor in her work, I’d love to see these creatures turned into puppets. Her store on Etsy is called Adopt An Alien, and each of Lindsey’s critters comes with a birth certificate: Read more…
American McGee is a legendary game designer whose now has an episode game running at GameTap called Grimm which is set in a twisted fairy tale universe. Normally I hate comic book adaptions of videogames, but what makes this book interesting is that they went the extra step and are having fun with a superheroes universe which is a clever twist. The artwork for this book is by Grant Bond and you can tell that he’s having a good time with the subject matter — this detail from the front cover is a good example: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 14, 2009 in Animation
In this ReelzChannel interview the stars of the new Dragonball film reveal that not only have they been signed up for a sequel — but that there may be two in the works! By the way I’ve never seen actors work so hard in an interview to unsell me on the film, you get the feeling right away that they put no energy into learning their kung fu moves (to be fair showing the strings doesn’t help). And no where in the interview do they even fake having seen the anime series and loving it. But you be the judge! Does this shot look like “the actress” engaging in intense combat or casual jazzercise: Read more…
These Star Wars Kokeshi dolls touched my heart as they perfectly combine the timelessness of Star Wars with the charm of Japanese craftsmanship. For those of you not in the know Kokeshi are traditional dolls from northern Japan — what makes them unique is that they’re made out of wood and always lack arms or legs, and they’re always hand painted. The artist behind these cute goodies is Muluc whose store on Etsy is called temple7e. Shown above is Princess Leia and below is Han Solo: Read more…
Found on Ebay is a delicious collection of “freaks, celebrities, conceptual art, and high concept sellers. plus stuff I was too cheap to buy!” curated by digital archivist olga-saglo. This kitsch themed virtual museum has informal focus on femme icons from the 60s and 70s and what’s interesting is that through dolls you can see how the idea of role model changed in just two decades: Read more…
I just read that Starlog magazine is ceasing print publication, and as a fanboy my heart is broken. Back in the day before the internet it was damn hard for a fanboy to find anything anywhere on science fiction films and TV shows — and riding a wave of Star Trek fandom Starlog magazine filled that gap. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 11, 2009 in Science
It’s funny I’ve been watching the space shuttle for so many years that when I see a design like this it brings me back to my early childhood of watching the Apollo projects — it’s been that long since I’ve seen a spacecraft that was designed to leave Earth’s orbit. NASA is still awaiting the hear from the Obama administration to find out who the next leader of the space program will be, so it’s questionable if Orion will become real (although the administration seems to be motivated to return to the moon thanks to China).
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 10, 2009 in Star Trek
For me the original Star Trek will always be my first fanboy love — and if you feel the same way and want to show it this collection of over 20 different Star Trek Peel and Stick Wall Appliques can be a fun low budget way (only $13!) of showing your appreciation for those who went boldly where no other TV show went before. There are also two additional versions: On that features Captain Kirk and other with Mr. Spock: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 10, 2009 in Comic Books
Yes I’d love to pretend that there was an era when Emily the Strange wasn’t just about the merchandising, but that would be a lie. I first ran into Emily at Virgin Mega Store (sad to think that they’ll be gone) and her image adorned t-shirts, notebooks and other knickknacks — yet it was the sort of brand that was always slightly under the radar, which I think to me was the appeal. If you gave an Emily item as a gift she’d stand out as just a bit different in a Hallmark world. Well sadly that’s coming to an end and above is the first step where Emily goes mainstream — that sad bit of artwork above is the cover of a limited comic book series. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 9, 2009 in Videogames
To one of the most classic videogames of all time — I’ll drink to that! ThinkGeek is featuring a super cool Ice Invaders Icecube Tray which allows you to make a total of 24 alien ice cubes to chill your beverage. Read more…
50 years ago in April of 1959 the then new American space agency NASA started Project Mercury — the goal of which was to have manned spaceflight. In 1962 Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. would make the first American sub-orbital trip — and later in 1962 John Glenn (shown in the video above) would make the first orbit: Read more…
Being an animation fan from time-to-time I’ll see an ad for a “serigraph cel” from a favorite animated film or TV show. As most fans of animation know old school cartoons were made with hand painted animation cels — which is a piece of acetate inked on one side and with the color painted on the opposite side. These animation cels are always punched so they can be registered, and it takes a mind numbing number of these to make an animated film which is shot at 24 frames per second (although most animation is done by limiting this 12 cels per second or less which is known as “shooting in twos”). Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 8, 2009 in Animation
The Girl That Leapt Through Time really put director Mamoru Hosoda on the map for many Americans — his next film will be Summer Wars which is a light hearted action-adventure film about a modern day Japanese family.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 8, 2009 in Star Wars
This is a vintage 1979 Star Wars themed public service announcement produced for the Department of Transportation. The funny thing to me about the Cantina scene is that for this dive bar filled with scan and villainy the music is inspired by Benny Goodman, which is rather upbeat: Read more…
Once upon a time there were the Flintstones followed by the Jetsons, animated family sitcoms that adults could watch as well as the kids. Then a great dark age followed for many years until the Simpsons brought the genre back in 1989. Since then we’ve seen it all from South Park to Family Guy and frankly the concept is a bit tired at this point. But when you take that and add second rate jokes you get 
I knew I wanted a copy! For those who don’t know her 
