I’ve been following the soap opera of all of those tech blogs think they know what Steve Jobs will produce next for his tablet device. However my gut feeling is that science fiction is always the best inspiration for Jobs, and in his case my gut tells me that his inner hippy will bring him back to the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Jobs stole the 3.5″ disk from Star Trek so Kubrick seems to be even better source material. So my prediction is that the tablet will function like the flat-screen tv sets that are seen in the Discovery. In addition to video and graphic displays for monitoring the vital signs of our world I also bet that we’ll see iPhone functionality with potential video conferencing: Read more…
This 1991 advert for rice balls features J-pop singer Arisa Mizuki (観月ありさ) who was just making her singing debut at the time this commercial was shown. Arisa had been modeling as a child since the age of four, but her big break came with the TV drama Mou dare mo Aisanai which was followed by her first single record Densetsu no Shoujo. In addition during this time she also provided vocals for the Sailor Moon song Kaze Mo, Sora Mo, Kitto.
This Solid Alliance’s SushiDisk USB is perfect for fanboys who are both Japanophiles and techno geeks. Each bit of sushi holds up to two gigs of memory and comes available as Ikura (Salmon Roe), Uni (Urchin), Kappa Maki (Cucumber), Salmon, Kanpyo Maki (dried gourd), Tekka Maki (raw tuna): Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 30, 2009 in Comic Books
The United States Postal Service has announced their stamps for 2010 and I’m pleased to see that they’re honoring Bill Mauldin, who is perhaps the one cartoonist above all that I associate with World War II. What’s cool about the stamp is that while it shows his famous characters Willie and Joe, the stamp really features Bill (which is a nice honor). Also featured this year is an Archie Comics stamp: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 30, 2009 in Star Trek
The folks at Yokosuka Dry Docks have created a radio controlled version of the Enterprise that can go underwater. The funny thing is seeing this reminded a great deal of the old series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea which much to my surprise is now available on Hulu!Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 30, 2009 in Japanese TV
I just came across this amazingly cute clip of Mari Yaguchi from a Japanese TV show appearance she did back in October: This video shows her adventures taking care of a baby lion! Yaguchi is a current member of the Hello! Project and was leader of Morning Musume back in 2005.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 29, 2009 in Animation
Not so long ago a friend was asking me why animation in China was never as strong as Japan: A simple answer would be that because of Mao’s Communism from 1949 until 1976 that it was very hard for creative artists to express themselves in China, and especially even more so during the cultural revolution in the 60s. However it should be noted that there is a growing industry there today, in fact most of the hard work done to create Japanese anime is outsourced to China. Read more…
Most kitty paraphernalia is always pink, but this cool Hello Kitty MP3 Player Premium comes in black and gold which makes her quite sharp looking. This musical cat will hold up to 4 gigs of your mp3 and wma files and her battery life will last for about ten hours: Read more…
This latest episode of Weekly Toro Station (週刊トロ・ステーション) takes a look at the Lucky Star Net Idol Meister game that’s coming out in January. I love how both cats are dressed as characters from the series in their sailor girl outfits.
This deck is perfect for a poker game a long time ago in a casino far far away! The Ladies of Star Wars Playing Cards features 55 unique cards including slave Princess Leia as the queen of hearts. And in addition to humanoids this pack of cards also includes alien femme fatales as well: Read more…
Hewlett-Packard was the original flagship company of silicon valley — in fact along with Stanford University this amazing company really put the valley in a tech leadership position eons before the era of the personal computer. In fact it’s by no mistake that Woz was working there as Apple was being founded — and he didn’t want to leave until he was prodded because HP was a geek’s geek institution. Yet what’s amazing about HP is that it hasn’t faded with time; this video explores how the company has reinvented itself time and time again.
To celebrate the year of the tiger you can order this swanky limited edition Lum lucky charm. Although if you’re a die hard hard Urusei Yatsura fan you’re going to need a bit more than luck to buy this limited edition lucky charm as this goodie will set you back 80,000 yen plus shipping (and orders are due by December 28th): Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 26, 2009 in Science
I’m increasingly of the mindset that it may be too late to do anything about climate change as we’re already starting to watch the glaciers melt away. Add to this the fact that there’s too much infrastructure in place with no quick global replacement to fossil fuels and the picture becomes worse. So it’s interesting for me to watch this video with Stewart Brand interviewing archaeologist Sander van der Leeuw and talking about this critical topic. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 26, 2009 in Star Trek
Having grown up with the REAL Star Trek (well at least the re-runs in the 70s) I always viewed Star Trek: The Next Generation as a bit of a dodgy scam designed as a fundraising scheme for Paramount. Although like some sad junkie I found myself watching pretty much every damn episode! And being in the tech scene I’ve discovered like attracts like, and much to my horror a mention of the Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra! episode always seems to rear its ugly head. Read more…
The problem with being a Christmas baby is that your birthday is forever ignored: Although that can give some motivation to stand out in life and become a success. Here are just a few remarkable talents who have shared their birthdays with the day that everyone else is getting gifts: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 25, 2009 in Cinema, Science
My problem with Avatar is that the humans are smart enough to achieve interstellar space travel, but their technology feels like it belongs in the early 21st Century. I’ll grant you that you can make this critique of quite a few science fiction films, but frankly Avatar seems to become a giant plot hole when you think about this. Read more…
I’m actually surprised how attractive this Cylon Centurion Replica Target Poster looks, it almost makes you feel bad for the cybernetic warriors. My bet is that most fanboys won’t use actual ammo to harm a collectable, however a within an office environment a nerf gun might be the ideal weapon for training purposes. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 24, 2009 in Science
Having been a child of the 70s I witnessed what America looks like during an energy crisis and it wasn’t pretty. And many of the alternate energy sources like solar that I heard about back then are coming back into the popular conscience. But all these years later nuclear fusion still seems like science fiction. In this video physicist Steven Cowley does his pitch for why he thinks fusion will work. There are too many arguments as to why fusion would be great, so my hopes are that this power stuff becomes a reality.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 23, 2009 in Science
Shown above is footage of the Expedition 22 Soyuz docking at the International Space Station — what’s interesting about this mission is that it includes Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Noguchi will be hanging out at the ISS for a six month stint in orbit and you can follow him on Twitter if you’d like to ask him some questions.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 23, 2009 in Animation
I personally blame Gia Manry for the American popularity of Spice and Wolf — oh I’m sure other fans were into the show, but the first time I heard about it was when she did a review of the light novel back in the day. Without me realizing it somehow Gia had planted the seed and now every where I turn that’s all that anime fans seem to be talking about. Well now Gia can claim victory as Funimation has capitulated to wolf fandom and released the first season on DVD…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 23, 2009 in Comic Books
Issue #7 of Chew just came out today and I really love how this book is is evolving over time. What’s great about Rob Guillory’s work is that he does a nice job of having a cartoony look with a fast paced action focused story that keeps you going. The setting of this issue reminds me of Pulp Fiction — down to including a Samuel L. Jackson character: Read more…
The amazing thing about Peanuts is that it represented the life’s work of Charles Schulz, and as such the character designs changed over time. As a side note while his character designs were very graphic, they’re incredible hard to draw — Schulz’s draftsmanship was brilliant. Next year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the comic strip and to celebrate Dark Horse will be releasing Peanuts Then and Now Figure Sets showing the characters as they first looked in 1950 and then as they looked later in the series. Here’s good old Charlie Brown as he appeared in 1950: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 22, 2009 in Pulp Fiction
There’s only a few days left before Christmas, but if you’re still doing your shopping please consider supporting your local independent bookstore or comic book shop. The recession has hit these folks hard and they need your love more now than ever before. Of course if there’s only a big chain bookstore near you, please go there as you’ll be helping the publishing business as a whole as well as giving the gift of reading. Read more…
