Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 4, 2009 in Japanese TV
Unlike most of those infamous spots where American stars only do a Japanese commercial that never gets seen back home this 1989 Japanese spot for Pepsi was part of a global advertising campaign. However in the States the spot was pulled off the air once Madonna’s “controversial” music video came out, but lucky for us (and the Pepsi New Generation) the Japanese commercial aired. In this advert I like the added touch of Madonna hanging out on her couch watching her own video.
From 1981 (well this commercial aired in 1982, but you know what I mean) comes this spot for the Kenner’s Yoda and R2-D2 sensor-scope action figures from the Empire Strikes Back collection. As why poor Luke Skywalker and poor old Obi-Wan Kenobi don’t get a mention at the end of the advert I don’t have a clue. Although with some research I did discover that some lucky kids from this era could actually get a Dagobah action playset if they didn’t want to get dirty in the backyard: Read more…
Having previously used several social media websites I faced a dilemma when I first started using Twitter: My problem was that several unique groups of people who had very different focuses were following me on Twitter. And Added to that is that I’m a linkaholic who loves to share breaking news and offbeat stories. Read more…
Hello Wars has a line of stickers (which have sadly disappeared from their website) which do a wonderful job of giving Star Wars characters that Hello Kitty touch. You can follow them on twitter to see if their stickers will reappear! Read more…
I’ve been getting excited about the Sega science fiction game Infinite Space for a while, but of course my main fear was that we’d never see this cool anime spaceship themed saga in English. Well be careful what you wish for because the above trailer shows the English dub is shown above, and the voice acting is kind of average to say the least. You’d think that Sega would have learned from the Anime industry in the United States, but that isn’t the case here. However on the flip side even if the voice acting is bad what counts is the game design which looks impressive from what I’ve been seeing so far…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 2, 2009 in Star Wars
Over the last few hours I’ve been following rumors of a Star Wars live action television series which will be shot in Australia — well I’ve just confirmed from a source who has a friend that works at ILM that this rumor is in fact true! My understanding from what I’ve been able to gather is that the series will be high quality and tap into local talent from Australia from well know film people to science fiction writers. The series is suppose to be aimed at adults (unlike the previous cartoon series) and focus on relationships and emotional landscapes — which means that it might be in more of the “chick flick” tradition. Read more…
RoboGeisha is an upcoming film from writer/director Noboru Iguchi (井口昇). The trailer for this film (which will be released in 2010) looks quite campy, although I’d have to say that’s what makes me want to watch it! Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 2, 2009 in Videogames
There’s always something so rich about the games that LucasArts releases and Tales of Monkey Island for the Wii keeps to that tradition. Shown above is the official trailer and below is a sample scene which shows the “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal”. The developer of this game is Telltale Games which was founded by a team of former LucasArts employees who were working on the ill fated Sam & Max: Freelance Police project. I really love how they brought a cartoony feeling to a 3D world in what little I’ve seen of this game so far: Read more…
Acme Archives has released a beautiful set of faux posters based on the Pixar film Up illustrated by Eric Tan which are available through entertainmentearth.com. Be warned though: These are limited edition giclée prints which are hand signed so they’ll cost you a bit more than your average poster, however they’re signed by the artist and the quality is there. Read more…
It’s so easy to forget that when Hubble first launched in 1990 that it was a total disaster because the lens on the main mirror couldn’t focus — yet 19 years later it’s one of the best NASA success stories in recent history. This video tells he story of the team that replaced the mirror back in 1993. Here’s a before and after photo to show how much of an improvement the mirror fix made: Read more…
