I’ve always hated Penn Station in New York City, but one of the few silver linings was a nameless magazine shop located on the LIRR level on the west side of the station. I’ve know this shop since the 80s so it’s fair to say that it is at least 25 years old, although I suspect that it’s much older than that. What made it unique was that it was the largest magazine shop in all of Penn Station. This made it a welcome oasis in the desert wasteland of commuting on the Long Island Rail Road. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 8, 2009 in Videogames
Ah yes the trailer with the masses chanting “Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!” Now I’ll grant you that Eddie Van Halen is one of the most amazing living guitar players of our time (well sort of living if you look at that photo), but the real point of Van Halen is the dysfunctionality of the band itself! And a proper video game should reflect this discord as the central game play of the product. Frankly no one has fantasized about playing a Van Halen air guitar riff since the Reagan era, instead the real game should focus on what went on off stage: After all that’s what we’re really interested in. Heavy metal as a genre lends itself best to a This is Spinal Tap state, so why not give the people what they want instead of some juke box hero plot device that we’ve already seen a hundred times before? Read more…
Hello Kitty is catching the urban vinyl toy trend with this latest Hello Kitty Urban Vinyl Mini Figure 2-Packs Wave 1 Set which is due to come out this month. Featured in this set are Duckies Mimmy, Soap Kitty, Piano Kitty, Flower Power Mimmy, Peace & Love Kitty and Boom Box Mimmy. I guess you’ll have to wait for set two to see if they do a Walkman Mimmy or a VHS Kitty…
This Panasonic VHS deck commercial from 1986 opens up with the Robert Palmer hit Addicted to Love from just a year before in 1985 — also the animated wiggles and zig zags are lifted from the Dire Straits video Money for Nothing (which was also produced in ’85 as well). Although what’s funny about video was that if you were well to do in the 80s you’d be watching MTV on cable which was still a slightly expensive treat back then. Although I would have my friends tape blocks of programming on VHS which I would then replay in my lower budget household. Read more…
At long last The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is starting to see the light of day! This first trailer looks amazing, it sort of reminds me of what Terry Gilliam was doing with Brazil in a roundabout way. Many folks are focusing on the fact that this was Heath Ledger’s last film, but for me th real story is that this is a make-or-break moment for Terry Gilliam. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 7, 2009 in Comic Books
Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 will be out next Wednesday, August 12th and I don’t think I’ve been this excited about a Spider-Man comic book since my childhood! David Lafuente is a comic book illustrator from Spain and I really love what I’m seeing in this book. First we start with the cover which looks good and is pretty strongly designed (the layout has a nice dramatic effect) but usually at this point I groan about the bait-and-switch where the interior art just doesn’t measure up — well in this case it actually looks better! Not only that but each frame of the comic book feels like your looking at a well composed action film. Lafuente really understands how to make the page look dramaic in a way that reminds me of a Japanese manga. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 7, 2009 in Animation
We already know that Ponyo is going to be a great film — but the real question is if Disney would mess up the voice acting? I always hate when Hollywood studios favor screen actors over good old fashioned voice actors, but I’ve got to say that it sounds like they’ve pulled it off looking at this second trailer! The film opens on August 14th so get ready to reserve your tickets…
If you told me a few months ago that I’d be looking ahead to a live action version of Where The Wild Things Are I’d say that you were crazy — however it looks like Spike Jonze is set to change that! I also love the fact that Maurice Sendak really seems on board: When was the last time that a book author was behind a Hollywood film? I think the last director to pull that off was Stanley Kubrick…
As a Star Blazers fanboy at heart I have to admit that I feel slighted by the slew of high quality Gundam merchandise I’ve been seeing hitting the streets of Japan. Well as if to answer my prayers I just spotted this amazing new replica of Leader Desslok’s wine goblet that just came out: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 7, 2009 in Videogames
This is a bit of a self plug, but my design firm has just launched a free online game for the WNET/Thirteen kids series Cyberchase which runs on PBS Kids! The name of the game is Stop the Stormerator and I’d have to say that it’s the largest scale game project I’ve worked on since the CD-ROM era. We were lucky in that we got to work with the actual voice actors from the show, and the game features their talents a great deal. The only catch is that you have to register to play the game, but that only takes a few seconds. Here are some screenshots which show off how rich the game is: Read more…
I was heartbroken to hear that John Hughes passed away: Not only had Hughes shaped my generation in the 80s, but even today teens are rediscovering his films and identifying with them. It’s a bit too early to tell, but to me this hints that some of those films will without a doubt be seen as future classics in the years to come. And maybe that’s because there’s something for everyone to identify with in those films, the Breakfast Club is a great example of this which featured almost every teen archetype of the era. So without further ado here are ten reasons I admired John Hughes: Read more…
This latest Narikiri Hello Kitty Collection 3 features our favorite cat cosplaying as both Godzilla AND the evil three headed monster King Ghidorah! Each kitty figurine attaches to a keychain to conveniently scare your friends while opening doors (that or charming them with your cute accessories). Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 6, 2009 in Videogames
Crude humor? Yes! Cartoon violence? Yes! I’ve been following Mini Ninjas for a while due to the japanophile angle — the game is being developed in England so I was very happy to see that they’ll be bring it to to the good old USA. I loved the concept from the minute I heard it, but these videos give a bit more backstory, and I like what I’m seeing even more! Read more…
This is the latest viral video promotion for Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds — it’s a film within a film trailer. I spotted this last night on YouTube but I didn’t click on the thumbnail to make the connection (shame on me). But one thing I know for sure: Come August 21st I’ll be waiting in line to see this film on opening night. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 6, 2009 in Animation
This is the latest trailer for the Sgt. Frog season one DVD release from FUNImation (which comes out on September 22nd, 2009). Frog is one of the most beloved anime fanboy series due to the generous cultural references to Gundam, Space Cruiser Yamato, Dragonball and Evangelion (just to name a few shows). I’m really happy that FUNImation has decided to invest their resources into a fan favorite, and with 263 episodes and several movies it would be ice to see them get the support to bring over more episodes.
Oh sure any fanboy can put an anime emblem on their car — but it takes a very special otaku to tattoo their beloved Porsche with the characters from Lucky Star and Hatsune Miku! Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 6, 2009 in Videogames
Shown above is the new gameplay trailer for End of Eternity a role playing game for the PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 that’s being put out by Sega and tri-Ace (the game is suppose to come out at the end of this year). I’ve got to say that I really love the subtle steampunk look of this game colossal machine-city called Burzel. Below is the first cinematic trailer which came out in April: Read more…
To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam there will be a special full scale replica of Char Aznable’s helmet released this month. I think this has to be one of the most distinctive hat designs in the history of anime, on par perhaps with Darth Vader’s infamous helmet: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 5, 2009 in Animation
On this day in 1983 the animated film Rock & Rule opened in the United States: This was the first film produced by the Canadian animation studio Nelvana and it’s a bit of a lost classic — for starters it features voice acting by Deborah Harry, Lou Reed AND Iggy Pop! The film had been in production since 1979 and the quality of the animation is pretty high, plus this was one of the first feature films to use computer graphics (although in a very limited way). Read more…
Like chocolate and peanut butter — the two tastes of iPhones and Pocky go great together! This ever so cute Pocky iPhone Cozy was designed by Yummy Pocket of Montreal, Canada. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 4, 2009 in Star Trek
I hate to say it, but this is one of the more clever Star Trek t-shirts I’ve ever run across on Etsy! For starters the humor is conceptual which always wins me over, but I also love the smart looking illustrational style on the shirt itself. Credit goes to Cincinnati based artist peanutbutterandyelly. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 4, 2009 in Animation
After all these years I’m always amazed by how much I don’t know about anime: Case in point is the comedy series Ninja Hattori-kun which started life as a manga. Shown above is the opening title to the TV series based upon the manga which aired from 1966 until 1967. So looking at those opening credits you’d just assume that it was an anime series? Wrong! The opening titles were animated but the show is live action — but the show looks very strange as they have live action characters wearing manga like masks: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 4, 2009 in Animation
I’d like to thank Sean Russell for having me on as a guest on his podcast! This episode of his show (click here to listen) was quite amazing (I was scribbling notes during the show) — the theme was the State of the Anime Industry and the two guests other were Justin Sevakis of Anime News Network and Patrick Macias of Otaku USA and Japress. I have to say that Justin painted one of the most devastating accurate portraits of the field that I’ve heard in a long time (well worth hearing for anyone into anime) — and Patrick’s inside view of life in Japan is always fascinating.
On this day in 1932 the horror film Doctor X opened: Directed by Michael Curtiz and featuring King Kong’s girlfriend Fay Wray this film is interesting because it was one of the last Hollywood films shot before the infamous Production Code and as such it features all sorts of mature themes like murder, rape and cannibalism that wouldn’t find here way back into filmmaking for decades to come. Another thing that makes this film interesting for the 30s is that it was shot in Technicolor — so it’s a rare color film from that era: Read more…
Ah yes the trailer with the masses chanting “Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!” Now I’ll grant you that Eddie Van Halen is one of the most amazing living guitar players of our time (well sort of living if you look at that photo), but the real point of Van Halen is the dysfunctionality of the band itself! And a proper video game should reflect this discord as the central game play of the product. Frankly no one has fantasized about playing a Van Halen air guitar riff since the Reagan era, instead the real game should focus on what went on off stage: After all that’s what we’re really interested in. Heavy metal as a genre lends itself best to a This is Spinal Tap state, so why not give the people what they want instead of some juke box hero plot device that we’ve already seen a hundred times before? 
I was heartbroken to hear that 
