Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 17, 2009 in Comic Books
I’m so happy to see Marvel taking chances for once! With the first issue of Punisher Noir #1 which hits comic book shops on Wednesday, August 19th we’ll see an entire Punisher series that is set in the 1920’s. The minute I came across the cover for this book (illustrated by Tim Bradstreet and Denis Calero) I liked the little touches like the Flatiron building in the background and the vintage firearms show as decorative graphics. Looking at the inside of the book I like what artist Paul Azaceta and writer Frank Tieri have done with this book: Read more…
Both of these spots are from 1986 and solve the unique challenge that while toy ads sell to kids, toy store ads must sell to adults. The Toys R Us ad does a nice job of this as it’s appealing to the kid inside all of us, I especially the oversized robot which comes in about 5 seconds into the spot. The Lionel Playworld spot takes more of a Footlose approach to the problem, but for all the shoulder pads and singing you don’t get the feeling that they’re really having a good time of it: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 16, 2009 in Videogames
I loved this obsessive fan made video which is a montage of nothing but death scenes from old school video games set to the music of the Misfits! Part I above features the song Skulls while Part II below uses Night of the Living Dead as the soundtrack: Read more…
Both of these spots come from a local TV station in Florida from 1988 — and they both share the theme of needing to know computer skills (or blue collar “technology” skills like in the spot below) to survive in the marketplace. Most people think of the 80s as a prosperous time but in fact even during the high points there were many layoffs due to mergers and acquisitions. In fact when these commercials were shot it was right after the stock market crash of 1987, so people would have had their eyes on keeping their jobs. Read more…
Introduced in 1976 Atari Breakout was a breakthrough game — it’s interesting to note to that future Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak worked on the prototype (who was hired by Steve Jobs). This Japanese piggy bank celebrates this legendary arcade game — and what’s cool about it is that you can actually play a function version of the game on it. I also rather like the fact that all the decals on the piggy bank are in Japanese: Read more…
Introduced in 1984 by Galoob Sweet Secrets were purse shape toys which would transform into dolls — this 1986 spot shows them turning into a puppy, teddy bear and a girl with long blond hair. There was also a related line of jewelry that would transform into a panda, a koala and a “pretty friend”: Read more…
Hello Kitty is a master multitasker and that’s why this Hello Kitty USB Hub is so brilliant: It allows you to consolidate your clutter by allowing you to plug in two USB devices. Yes I know in terms of the geeky side two isn’t that many, but how many other hubs might you own that feature a cute kitty sitting on top of a mushroom? Read more…
This is Noto Arisa (能登有沙) who is nicknamed Nocchi, this video is a regular feature on the DogaDoga7 Anime NewType Channel. I’m somewhat addicted to these videos on YouTube because Nocchi is always hanging out at anime cons and sneaking around animation studios. In the video above she’s announcing her 2nd personal manga, talking about some DVD and mentioning that she will debut as a voice actor in an animated drama titled Deba no Hime Goto. Below is the video of her snooping around Gonzo, the studio responsible for the Strike Witches: Read more…
The Daruma doll (達磨) are a classic Japanese toy — you fill in one eye upon starting a quest, and then you color in the other eye once you finish. This cute digital variation of the doll actually stores 2 gigs of memory — which makes it the perfect companion for overachievers: Read more…
I recently came across these two Kenner toy commercials from 1986 for M.A.S.K. (which stands for Mobile Armored Strike Kommand and shouldn’t be confused with the 1995 animated series based on the the Jim Carey film The Mask) and was surprised to discover that this classic 80s kids series was in fact anime! The series was produced by DIC, but the actual animation was produced by three Japanese studios: KK C&D Asia, Studio Juno, Studio World and Ashi Production. Of course they weren’t alone back then, many anime studios did work for American series — the best example would be ThunderCats from that era. Read more…
