This wonderful fan made video features a scenario which calls all ten incarnations of Dr. Who into action. The funny thing is that for me this video has the unintended consequence of making you compare all the actors who have played the good doctor since the 60s. I hadn’t realized how much I really appreciated Tom Baker or hated Colin Baker until you see them all side-by-side. And of course with Dr. Who the acting and the script are everything because if you hide behind a high special effects budget the show just lacks its unique flavor. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 9, 2009 in Videogames
The 1988 NES game Contra
Contra Rebirth is a WiiWare title that’s based on the 1987 Konami arcade game Contra ((魂斗羅) where you get to play an mutant killing commando (as a game the plot owed a great deal to the popular films of that era like Predator). The original game did so well that it was ported to NES in 1988 and has a well deserved rep of being the toughest game to beat. I’m really glad that we’re starting to see the market for retro games move out of the hobbyist era and into something more mainstream. Here are some screenshots: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 8, 2009 in Comic Books
With the story by Richard Starkings and the art by Boo Cook I’ve got to say that I’m impressed with the contestant high quality I’ve seen in the Elephantmen series from day one. Firstly the challenge of making cartoon elephants get past their Dumbo heritage and into ass kicking mode is an amazing challenge on its own. And here Boo Cook passes the test with flying colors as elephants are turned into action heroes. Cook does this with a combination of stellar draftsmanship, dramatic layouts and packing the page with loving detail. Issue #21 of Elephantmen is out this Wednesday and looks like it’s worth the price of admission: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 8, 2009 in Television
I come not to bury Caesar but to praise him, because he’s still very much alive! Today legendary comedian, actor and all about television genius Sid Caesar will celebrate his 87th birthday today. Isaac Sidney “Sid” Caesar started life intent on a musical career and audited classes at the famous Juilliard School in New York City. His early music gig were in the Catskills where on the side he tried his hand at comedy before joining the Coast Guard in 1939. During the war that followed he was assigned to play in military revues, where in between sets he would do comedy numbers that started to outshine his musical skills. Read more…
I was trying to figure out why this recent commercial for Tokyo Disneyland Disney Halloween looks so damn cool. I’m an anime fanboy so my thought was that anything with a Japanese voiceover would just seem cooler, but that’s not the case. Then it struck me: Mickey and Mini and decked out in Venetian costumes instead of the typical goth look associated with Halloween. The result is that our mouse suddenly takes on a magical European quality that I just doesn’t associate with Mickey who’s as American as you can get. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 7, 2009 in Comic Books
Published by Image Comics Olympus #4 comes out this Wednesday and once again I find myself surprised that I’ve overlooked a really good book. Illustrated by Christian Ward Olympus is a boldly modern take on ancient Greek mythology. The art direction of the book vaguely reminds me of Bill Sienkiewicz in terms of layout and color, although his illustrational technique is much more sketchy. And of course the story by Nathan Edmonson is very very violent, which means that this is not a book for the little tykes — although for us adults it’s an intense trip: Read more…
Robert Scoble was in a perfect storm: He’s one of the most high profile tech bloggers who is using WordPress which is pretty much the most popular blogging platform right now. And what Robert recently discovered was the combo of these two pinnacles of popularity made him a target for hackers who infected his website, and destroyed some his content in the process. Sadly the first two things that Scoble didn’t pay attention to are common in the blogging world: He was using a previous install of WordPress (2.7x) and hadn’t backed up his blog. Now notice that I didn’t use the phrase “what Robert did wrong” because the fact of the matter was that I was guilty of the very same behavior, and I suspect many other bloggers are too. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 6, 2009 in Star Trek
Inspired by Captain Kirk Star Trek Tiberius Cologne promises to be casual yet commanding. Now frankly I always pictured Kirk as more of an Old Spice type, although he always struck me at the type that wouldn’t go all metrosexual to attract the green skinned ladies.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 5, 2009 in Animation
Shown above is the beautiful Soviet propaganda film Mister Twister from the height of the Cold War in 1963. I really love how they’ve done so much here with such a little budget and no technology by modern standards. And of course my favorite shot is the opening scenes showing a decadent New York City which is cluttered with vintage ads. What’s also interesting to me about this cartoon is you can really see how Jim Crow really hurt the image of America abroad during that era: Read more…
On this day in 1960 the British film The Brides of Dracula made it’s American debut. The film was produced by the beloved Hammer Film Productions which did some amazing horror and science fiction work in the 50s with films like The Quatermass Xperiment and The Curse of Frankenstein. Although by 1959 they started to revert to sequels and by 1974 had produced a total of 9 Dracula flicks. Of course in this case the Dracula title is slightly dishonest as the lead vampire Baron Meinster (played by handsome David Peel) was in fact just a mere disciple of Count Dracula as seen in this trailer: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 4, 2009 in Star Trek
Shown above is a wonderful shirt clip of director Nicholas Meyer on directing the Spock death scene in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. Meyer points out that not being a Star Trek fan gave him the freedom to turn that film into art. I’d take a bit further than that myself: Coming to Star Trek with a fresh eye pretty much saved the franchise. And by killing Spock he bought the series back to life…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 4, 2009 in Videogames
This is the 90 second gameplay trailer for the American launch of Mini Ninjas. I’ve got to say that I love the variety of scenes shown here — it’s very inventive how they’ve got everything from bobsledding to battles with bears.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 4, 2009 in Cinema, Horror
What do you get when you mix up Dracula, a cloned version of the comedy team of Martin & Lewis and a guy in a gorilla suit? Well on this day in 1952 you got the opening of the cult classic comedy film Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla. Frankly poor Bella was always an afterthought, in fact he only spends a few minutes on the screen although it’s his name that has kept the flame going for lovers of camp films all these years later. The film was made at the height of fame of the comedy act of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis — in fact the duo sued to stop the film but failed. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 3, 2009 in Animation
I loved The Royal Tenenbaums and I can see some of Wes Anderson’s touches on this film, but there’s a major problem looking at this trailer. What Anderson is great at is getting emotion out of actors on a screen, so a small nuance can communicate volumes of emotion and storytelling. But every frame of an animated film demands painful planning to achieve that spontaneous feeling. And what I’m seeing in the trailer above is a very stiff looking film which is bad news for an animated film. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 3, 2009 in Comic Books
Born on this day in 1923 Mort Walker was a fanboy of comics in the truest sense; by the ripe old age of 12 years old in 1935 he sold his first cartoon. By 1943 he was drafted into the army for World War II after which he pursued a career in cartooning in New York City. After his first 200 or so cartoons were rejected he found success with Beetle Bailey. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 2, 2009 in Fandom, Tech
If you live in my neck of the woods you may want to think about attending the Vintage Computer Festival East this year: It’s running from September 12th until 13th at the InfoAge Science Center in Wall, New Jersey. Shown above is an amazing video from last year which shows an ancient PDP 8 computer running Space War. This year the fest will feature an 8-bit music concert, a by-the-pound book sale, a build-your-own PockeTerm workshop, and the BASIC Programming Challenge. The keynote speaker is Ted Hurewitz who worked on RCA computers in the 1950s. A single day is $10 and a weekend pass will cost you $15 (hell that’s coat check tip at one of those fancy web 3.0 conferences).
The purist in me hates the ideas of giant frogs wandering around the planet Dagobah distracting poor Luke Skywalker as he tries to learn the ways of the Jedi from master Yoda. Yet the fact that I can imagine this silly scenario means the fanboy in me loves this! If I had this in my childhood this would be a great set for an epic Super 8mm film project where Jedi knights do battle with giant bullfrogs. If you wish to live out this cinematic fantasy yourself the Dagobah Frog Habitat is available via ThinkGeek.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 1, 2009 in Animation
The latest Space Cruiser yamato film is set to come out on December 12th this year and a new trailer has been posted to the official website yamato2009.jp. Looking at the trailer above I’m happy to see less of an obvious computer graphics look to the film, but on the other hand the plot looks exactly like something that we’ve seen before. And that’s an amazingly sad statement for me to make given that I can’t even speak a word of Japanese! Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 1, 2009 in Videogames
I’m blown away by the fact that Sega is making a Napoleon videogame: Because you’d have to be a Napoleon in your medium to take on the subject of Napoleon as an entertainment project! Firstly the man is larger than life, and his story is a canvas that stretches across all of Europe (and other places like Egypt). In fact silent film makers didn’t even touch this story until 1927: Directed by Abel Gance the result was one of the best known films of the 20th Century. Read more…
Despite having no mouth Hello Kitty has taken a huge bite out of America, yet most mundanes have no clue who Doraemon is! Example: When I came across this cute Doraemon flash light it was sadly listed as a “Space Kitty Rechargeable Flash Light”. Now looking at this site it’s clear to me that I’ve committed the crime of just shining the light on all things Sanrio — so here’s a quick intro to Doraemon, the other Japanese kitty you should know:Read more…
