Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 15, 2009 in Animation
It’s frankly amazing for me to think that Pokémon: The First Movie came out over ten years ago — the release date was July 18, 1998 in Japan, which was followed by an opening in the United States in November of 1999. For a generation of fanboys (and fangurls) this would be their first introduction to the world of anime. This film would be the high point of Pokémonmania, although a shocking 11 other films have been produced not to mention countless TV episodes (605 and continuing!) since 1997. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 15, 2009 in Animation, Fandom
In what seems to be a growing trend of politicians coming out of the closet to embrace their fanboy roots in Japan it seems that Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Shigeru Ishiba (石破 茂) has announced to the public that he is an otaku and proud of it! Ishiba made the announcement on a radio show in which he sited growing up with AstroBoy and being a huge fan of Space Battleship Yamato which is known as Star Blazers in the United States. Least you think that Ishiba is a slacker he did hold the position of Minister of Defence of Japan for a year and was up for the Liberal Democratic Party presidency in 2008.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 15, 2009 in Videogames
Sega’s Block People is an well done new arcade game — what makes it cool is that like a typical video game you have these cute creatures who need to crawl over blocks to get to their objective. But the twist that makes this arcade game is that the building blocks aren’t on the screen, but are in fact physical blocks that you have to place in front of the screen:
I really love the latest rage of kit-bashed character universe games that are coming out — shwn above is the latest video for Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and below is a preview of Marvel vs. Capcom 2. And why are these videogames so cool? Because there’s a silly sort of honesty top them! Let’s face it: Every fanboy has always had those X-Men vs. Superman type of arguments, granted they’re silly but we all love that at heart. Read more…
I admit it, I’m a furry. Admit it? Right now I’m feeling rather proud of it. I don’t know what you think furries are, you’ve probably been brainwashed by the Vanity Fair–CSI Complex. What we are is a bunch of people with varied but overlapping interests in anthropomorphic animal characters. Like the Democratic Party, we’re a ‘big tent’ fandom – if you’re into cartoon, comic strip or comic book ‘funny animals,’ if you’ve built a ‘fursuit’ so you can physically become your animal alter-ego, if you draw your own pictures or write your own stories about ‘anthro’ characters (also known, just like us, as ‘furries’), you’re in. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 13, 2009 in Science
Above: The rusting hulk of a Saturn V rocket (now under restoration) is a harsh reminder of a lost golden age of manned space exploration.
As a child who spent most of his life after the Apollo project it’s my humble opinion that over the last 40 years we’ve been living a micro-dark age of space exploration. To me the 40th Anniversary of Apollo isn’t a cause for celebration, but is in fact a funeral for NASA which has been a shadow of its former self. Read more…
It’s always amazing to me what gems people can save from another era: In this case this vintage box of Meiji Creamy Candy from the 70s features a powerful Kimba the White Lion theme on the packaging. The strong use of primary colors really gives this little box a powerful roar: Read more…
I think Sgt. Frog (ケロロ軍曹) is one of the most beloved anime series of recent vintage, so this Sgt. Frog USB Companion defiantly meets with our fanboy seal of approval! And what exactly does a USB companion do? When plugged in Sgt. Frog will move at random and react at your voice and sound. Not very practical, but then that isn’t what frog friendship is about. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 12, 2009 in Japanese TV
This latest action packed episode of AKBINGO! starts off with the girls attempting to sneak into a high school — it sort of reminded me of how Josie and the Pussycats might come up with a solution. Later in the episode there’s a museum sketch where the J-pop girls get paint all over their face: Read more…
These ever so cute monster journals are created by the team of Karli and Linda who’ve got a shop on Etsy called Ghoulie Girls which specializes in items that are “Scary, monstrous, fuzzy, cute…ghoulie!” The above Three-Eyed Monster Journal is in fact a blank sketch book, while shown below is the Mini-Monster Journal which has lined note paper inside: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 11, 2009 in Star Wars
This is a sneak preview of Block Wars which was created in the game Blockland. While the cinematographer in me wishes there was a bit more rendering, the fanboy in me loves this!
The last trailer for District 9 made it look like a documentary art house film, but from this second trailer the films looks a little bit more action packed! Here’s the latest blurb on the film: Read more…
My one main objection to the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series was that it always seemed to take itself a bit too seriously: Well these two ever so cute Galactica figures solve that little problem. Shown above is Little Frakkin Colonials Starbuck and what I love about her cartoony design is that she looks like she might be at home in an anime series! Shown below is Little Frakkin Toasters Cylon Centurion which looks almost like a designer urban toy: Read more…
Here’s the latest trailer for the Wii game Fullmetal Alchemist: Prince of the Dawn. What I like about this trailer is that while he pre-rendered animation looks great (when doesn’t it?) the actual game play scenes look pretty good too. This impresses me because as much as I love the Wii as a gaming platform it leave’s something to be desired in the rendering department. Here’s another video preview from a bit ago which shows more of the gameplay, including cut scenes: Read more…
This Hello Kitty Colorful Clock allows you to rotate the top like an actual Rubick’s Cube. In addition to allowing you to be able to tell the Kitty time, this nifty gizmo also includes a thermometer as well: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 8, 2009 in Animation
This nicely done mini-documentary shows off the studio behind the anime series True Tears. The video starts off by showing off the real world town that True Tears, but then quickly moves to show the animators in action. It’s interesting to see that all of the drawing is done by hand, and the level of draftsmanship in those key drawings is just amazing. Here’s the opening titles from the show if you haven’t seen it: Read more…
The purpose of the Ultraman USB Computer Companion is to, uh — I’m not quite sure in all honesty! The official description is “Ultraman ideal companion for your computer, he’ll will move at random, react at your voice and sound”. So i guess you could describe this as a fanboy themed entertainment peripheral for your computer. Read more…
The Japanese commercial is for the Monsters, Inc. attraction at Tokyo Disneyland which is set to open this Summer. I really love hearing the Pixar characters speak in Japanese, it makes them a bit more anime like for me!
The old sock monkey concept has now been logically upgraded with a Vulcan twist to begat the Spock Monkey! Designed by Etsy artist The Sock Drawer this creation was inspired by a viewing of the latest Star Trek film. Here are some other views of this crafty first officer: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 7, 2009 in Japanese TV
In 1989 Ray Charles recorded a cover version of the song “Itoshi no Ellie” by the Japanese band Southern All Stars for this TV ad. Of course he made it his own and renamed it “Ellie My Love”, the ad did so well that it sent the song to be #3 in Japan selling more than 400,000 copies. Here’s the full length song performed in concert: Read more…
I for one didn’t mind the original Battlestar Galactica series, there was s little sci fi on television (and so few choices in retrospect) that a fanboy had to be grateful for what he got. In fact looking back at it there was a high level of craftsmanship given that Galactica was a TV show and not a film. The Cylons are a good example of this: They’re clearly lifted from the Star Wars stormtroopers, but there’s been enough added to make it different. Even the red light swaying back and forth is a nice little touch, they could have just have easily skipped that given the budget. Read more…
This amazing clip of Kubrick from April 6, 1968 is now over 40 years old — yet there’s something so timeless about that film for me, which is amazing given how important special effects were to the production. It’s also incredible to realize that Kubrick started working on 2001 in 1965, proof that good things take time. The above clip is from a longer special seen here: Read more…
Above: CompuServe hit their high point during the golden age of 300 baud modems. Photo by Guille Avalos.
Founded in 1969 CompuServe was an early powerhouse of connecting people online before the era of the web. And at the end of June AOL killed off CompuServe Classic which was the last surviving bit of that service, the only thing now left is a tombstone “web portal” and a low rent ISP service. It’s a sad ending, but once upon a time in the 80s and early 90s CompuServe was THE online service. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 5, 2009 in Cinema, Horror
This is where science fiction ends and fact begins! On this day in 1962 the post-apocalyptic film Panic in Year Zero opened. The film was directed by Ray Milland and also stars him in the lead role of Harry Baldwin, a man who takes his family out on a simple fishing trip only to find out that that loud noise that they heard was the destruction of Los Angles by a nuclear attack. But it turns out that radiation sickness, looters and killers are the real issues of the day — what’s makes you civilized is the ability for a man to get a decent shave: Read more…
