No this isn’t a film based upon the life of Charles Bronson the actor — this is a film based on the life of Michael Gordon Peterson an English criminal who changed his name to Charles “Charlie” Bronson who has earned a reputation as the “most violent prisoner in Britain”. The hype being pushed on this film is that it’s suppose to be a modern Clockwork Orange but actually it reminds me a bit of The Krays which was a very well done true life crime film from the early 90s. Bronson is due to hit theaters on October 9th. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 20, 2009 in Japanese TV
I love this series of cute commercials for Softbank in Japan, but then again what’s not to like about a talking doggie that can save a little girl from a falling piano? The use of classical music through out each spot adds to absurdity as well. And the oddest twist comes at the end when our hero is featured on a pair on sandals: Read more…
Looking back at it I think Snoopy is one of the few places in pop culture where World War I was a regular running theme. Having spent a childhood growing up on World War II films and TV shows it was odd to see Snoopy make reference to the oddly named Sopwith Camel aircraft which was so oddly named that it made me run to the library. Shown above (and in the video below) is a Flying Ace Snoopy USB Hub from Japan which will entertain you with beagle feats of bravery. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 19, 2009 in Science
This is a promotional video for the upcoming Nova episode Hubble’s Amazing Rescue which looks amazing. To me the irony of this documentary is that both NASA and PBS are examples of amazing government backed programs that deliver high quality results yet are terribly underrated and ultimately underfunded by constant budget cuts.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 19, 2009 in Animation
This latest promotional Astro Boy clip is titled Escape Metro City, but it’s more like Escape Pixar City. The more I see of the upcoming Astro Boy flick the more I absolutely hate it. It’s bad enough having to watch every other film trying to poorly imitate Pixar, but then to see such a classic anime character get dragged into the mud is humiliating. This clip sums up while I won’t be standing in line: We’ve got A list actors doing C- voice acting, poorly timed animation that telegraphs its punches and a great deal of eye candy over substance.
On this day in 1958 the then controversial film Cat on a Hot Tin Roof opened up, and while we live in a much more liberal society than that of 51 years ago I wonder if this film (or something on the level of this film) would get made today? The film was based on a play by Tennessee Williams; now when was the last time that Hollywood put major bucks and star power behind a story that didn’t start life as a comic book or television series? Read more…
The design for these rings date back to the good old days when Cylons looked like real Cylons! The coolest thing about the old school Cylons was that single glowing eye that darted back and forth and these Centurion rings pick up on that in a nice way (although i wish there was some sort of way that they could have animated it. Read more…
Summer is just about over but for a hardcore fanboy it’s never too late for anime themed flip-flops! These new flip-flops feature the characters from K-On! (けいおん!) and man are they too cute: Read more…
I think Star wars jumped the shark the minute Lucas came up with the Ewoks concept, and I guess it’s to the credit of Final Fantasy that it took them all that time to introduce the ever so cute Tarutaru race. Shown above and below are the Final Fantasy XI Taru Taru Trading Arts Figures which feature Ajido-Marujido, Star Sibyl, Robel-Akbel and Shantotto who “looks to the heavens when she laughs”: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 16, 2009 in Science
I don’t think that most folks have any idea what kind of bang for our buck we get out of NASA. Every day folks at that agency kill themselves to do a wide range of tasks in an underfunded program that’s doing so much with so little money. Shown here is just one example: This is time lapse video showing the building of the Ares I-X flight test rocket.
I was lucky that my good friend Christian Liendo got quite a few photos of the Vintage Computer Festival East 6.0 which took place this past weekend. Shown above is a young lady trying out Guitar Hero on a Commodore 64! Below is a collection of just a few of the vintage computers and related paraphernalia that was on display: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 15, 2009 in Animation, Tech
The stop motion animated spots above and below are for Google Japan and I’m just blown away by the quality of craftsmanship and creativity shown here. The spots are explaining how Google street maps will help ensure privacy by blurring out people’s faces and the like. In my humble opinion Google should tap the creative team behind these ads to enliven their branding in the United States which is a tad too dull for such an innovative company. Read more…
Shown above are the latest TV spots for Where the Wild Things Are, the only different between the two spots are the quotes from the critics. In an age of bad Pixar copies it’s so refreshing to see a lack of technology on the screen for a project like this: Yet even in these shot clips there’s a sense of wonder that so many bad computer animated films never seem to capture. I guess I know I’m going to be standing on line for this one…Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 14, 2009 in Videogames
Tekken 6 will appear on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in Japan, however Microsoft would rather you buy it on the Xbox 360 of course! This latest version of Tekken includes a “rage” system which kicks in when the energy on characters is low (I wish I had that in the real world). Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 14, 2009 in Japanese TV
I have a total fascination with the pets section of the Japanese version of YouTube. And one viral video pet is a golden retriever named Coco who, umm — doesn’t do much of anything except maybe eat watermelon. In fact what makes Coco so cool is that Coco is a cool character, nonplussed by the world about. So what I love about the above is that how in an age of narcissistic reality TV stars how mellow Coco was after being discovered by NHK TV in Japan: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 14, 2009 in Pulp Fiction
I missed the announcement last year that there would be an authorized sixth book in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series: However recently I came across a link in the sci fi section of reddit simple titled Fucking Blasphemy… which got my attention. This new book is coming out in october this year and is by Eoin Colfer, and of course pretty much every serious fanboy has already condemned the series. Although I find myself with mixed feelings which are just a bit more complex than condemnation. For starters this book was authorized by Adams’s widow Jane Belson so you get the feeling that his family isn’t against it. Next I don’t think anyone is trying to hide the fact that book isn’t by Douglas Adams; in fact I suspect that the readers will be his hard core fans more so than the general public. Read more…
I just came across the YouTube video below which mentions casting reality TV star Kim Kardashian as Frankenstein in a cult horror film which hasn’t started shooting yet. Now normally I’d dismiss this as a hoax, but the video is by Glenn Andreiev who actually has a decent body of professional work out there. Although frankly I can see more easily see Kardashian as a vampire, but not so much a Frankenstein: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 13, 2009 in Television
After years of storing radioactive waste on the the moon massive nuclear explosions tore the moon out of Earth’s orbit on September 13th, 1999 — on this very day ten years ago. Earlier in 1994 previous concerns resulted in the closing Nuclear Disposal Area One on the moon, however with the boom economy that followed after the global war of 1987 all the now obvious warning signs were overlooked. As of today 3,648 days have passed since this event, and numerous attempts have been made to contact the 311 crew members of Moonbase Alpha — whose fate is still unknown at this time.Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 12, 2009 in Star Trek
The minute I came across this Classic Captain’s Chair Replica from the original Star Trek series I just knew that I had to have it! Although the devil is in the details and I quickly realized the $2,933 price tag (on sale from $3k at Amazon) was still a bit much for my modest fanboy budget. But then I started to wonder “who would buy such a thing?” when my eyes skipped down to the review section; what I came across next made me glad that I’m on a low budget: Read more…
I never quite respected the film Rambo, but that said Brian Dennehy is a brilliant actor so I have to give his opinion some consideration. In this interview he talks a bit about the first Rambo film and how he feels that it was a good film, but what ruined it was the fact that Hollywood (i.e. the producers) had Rambo live instead of killing him off in the first film as shown here in the alternate ending: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 11, 2009 in Animation
I’ll sidestep all of the politically correct (or not) arguments about this film until I see a bit more. On the positive side I really like the animation I see here, it’s classic Disney and that’s nice to see good old fashioned cartooning in a world filled with too many 3D animated films. However the one thing that I dislike in this second trailer is the soundtrack by Randy Newman. To me Newman has always been overrated and his previous work on Pixar films hasn’t changed my mind at all. Given the focus of the film on New Orleans I wish they did a bit more with the music, it feels like they’ve ignored all of those wonderful musical traditions associated with the venue.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 11, 2009 in Japanese TV
In 1992 Norika Fujiwara (藤原 紀香) was crowned Miss Japan, and since then she’s done everything from doing the voice over work for the Japanese dubbed version of Shrek to acting as a goodwill ambassador for international sports games. In this commercial for ALC she dresses up like a medieval knight leading the charge to teach young kids English (ALC is an educational publisher in Japan). While doing my research on Fujiwara I came across this cute variety show skit where she plays a game of basketball against a guy dressed up as a french poodle: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 10, 2009 in Animation, Fandom
Sadly all good things come to an end sooner or later: And thus I’m afraid for yours truly it’s a bit too soon as the giant Gundam on display in Tokyo is being taken apart! Part of me always assumed that the Gundam would be on display forever, but sadly I was wrong. And what makes it worse is that the damn robot just sits there and does nothing to defend itself against a wimpy looking crane…Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 10, 2009 in Comic Books
It’s been unofficial for a while, but as of this week I’d say that as of this week the comic book biz is no longer about actually publishing comic books, but in fact about making films that star comic book characters. The take over of Marvel Entertainment by Disney and the reorganization of DC Comics into DC Entertainment is part of a larger picture which includes the death of print as a viable commercial medium. Although to be fair this story has been a long time in the making: In fact the first chapter in this story can be traced to Disney. Read more…
The stop motion animated spots above and below are for Google Japan and I’m just blown away by the quality of craftsmanship and creativity shown here. The spots are explaining how Google street maps will 
In 1992 
It’s been unofficial for a while, but as of this week I’d say that as of this week the comic book biz is no longer about actually publishing comic books, but in fact about making films that star comic book characters. The take over of Marvel Entertainment by Disney and the reorganization of DC Comics into DC Entertainment is part of a larger picture which includes the death of print as a viable commercial medium. Although to be fair this story has been a long time in the making: In fact the first chapter in this story can be traced to Disney.