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It’s Dangerous To Be Green
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 10, 2009 in Fandom
This is a very well done video made by a Minnesota Public Radio show called In The Loop. I think the idea of taking a well known icon like Kermit and making him a spokesmodel for the green movement in Iran is culture jamming at its best! Clever Google Animation Showcasing Chrome OSI’ve got to say that when Google wants to they can be very creative, even doing things that are more interesting than Apple. This video is an example of this: It’s a stop motion animation to promote their Chrome operating system and it’s fun to look at even if you don’t care about the technology. Read more… Solanin: A Romantic Musical Manga Becomes a Film
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 10, 2009 in Cinema, Comic Books
Why Does Hollywood Treat Nicholas Meyer so Badly?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 10, 2009 in Star Trek
The Star Trek film this year owed so much to what Nicholas Meyer did with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. TrekMovie.com snagged this nice interview with Meyer but I admit that it’s a bit painful for me to watch. Frankly Meyer saved the franchise and his only reward was to be pushed aside — yet out of all of the Trek films and countless hours of television his is the only work that stands the test of time. Read more… When You’re Strange: Emily Comes Out for Fame
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 10, 2009 in Comic Books
A while ago that when I read they were gearing up for an Emily the Strange I have to admit that I feared for the worse in terms of quality — as part of a push for the film Dark Horse would be publishing an art book and a comic book. But I have to admit that while I’m still unsure about a film that Dark Horse seems to be off to a good start with our old creepy friend Emily. Shown above is the cover for The Art of Emily the Strange which doesn’t look too bad form the previews — it’s not brilliant, but it’s respectable as you can see: Read more… David Lynch on Turning Down Return of the JediIn this brilliant video David Lynch brings us back to early 80s when he turned a chance to direct Return of the Jedi. Lynch gives us an interesting insight which is that Lucas doesn’t like to direct his own films. Not mentioned in this clip is that Lucas was a huge fan of Eraserhead which came out in 1977. Of course Lynch would go on to tackle science fiction with the film Dune in 1984 — and while the film had his vision was part of that film it didn’t do too well at the box office. This R2-D2 Unit Includes Accessories
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 9, 2009 in Hobbies and Collections, Star Wars
The two things that caught my eye about this Star Wars R2-D2 Statue is that not only includes eight attachable accessories (a periscope scanner, gripper, and a saw just to name three), but given the fact that it’s at a 1:6 scale size it looks like the perfect toy for modding! Although faint-at-heart may think twice about kitbashing this droid as the asking price is about $160 and it is a limited edition. The Sad Fate of the Ban Ban Nuts
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 8, 2009 in Japanese TV
Those poor Ban Ban nuts: They sing, they dance and then they get crushed up to be sprinkled over ramen! Although I was happy to see the the Bam Ban in the middle escaped the destruction of the marketing department of Acecook. Yoda Knows Where It’s AT-AT
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 7, 2009 in Hobbies and Collections, Star Wars
Yoda knows that the Force is powerful, but some situations are more about the carrot and the stick! This Leading the AT-AT Tee by Block 33 perfectly illustrates this Jedi technique: Read more… Chocolate Craving Christmas Tree
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 7, 2009 in Japanese TV
What’s not to love about this Meiji chocolate commercial? I don’t know what’s cuter about the chocolate maker — the fact that she’s singing while making her cupcakes or that she’s so nonchalant about someone sneaking up on her dressed as a Christmas tree. And here’s a cute fruit flavored advert from Meiji for the few of you who don’t like chocolate or Christmas: Read more… The James Bond Girls Go Barbie
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 6, 2009 in Cinema, Hobbies and Collections
Mattel is getting brilliant with their marketing to collectors these days: Shown above is the James Bond Girls Barbie Doll Assortment Case. This set only has three Bond girls: They picked Honor Blackman in Goldfinger, Halle Berry in Die Another Day and Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder from Dr. No. For reference here are the real ladies of the silver screen: Read more… Enter the Pachinko Matrix!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 6, 2009 in Japanese TV, Videogames
I just came across this amazing commercial for an Enter the Matrix Pachinko game which is from Daiichi (although I couldn’t find any info anywhere else on the web and the original version of the game came out in 2003). I love the Japanese twist of setting the commercial in a noodle shop — and the fact that the “special effect” is so low budget makes it all the better! The Xylish Flavor the Jungle
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 5, 2009 in Japanese TV
This Japanese gum commercial stars the lovely ladies Miki Nakatani and Ryoko Hirosue as double mint girls (the sad actor stuck in the jungle is Watabe Atsuro). I love the cute touch of having a monkey and a raccoon at the start of the advert. Don’t Go Tako, It’s a Cookbook!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 5, 2009 in Hobbies and Collections
O-No! Sushi by Andrew Bell is an urban toy reaction from a vegetarian to sushi. I like the effect of the cartoony octopus looking on at horror at the presentation before him. Bell also has a similarly themed print up for sale at his website as well: Read more… The Biggest Problem With the 21st Century? No Flying Cars! So Far…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 4, 2009 in Tech
As a child of science fiction shows from the 20th Century I have to admit that my biggest disappointment is how pathetic technology is in the 21st Century. A classic example of this is the lack of flying cars which is why this video of the ICON A5 caught my eye. It’s not quite a flying car, but you can fold up the wings of this aircraft and store it at your house. And while it isn’t as cheap as a typical car, at about $140k it’s pretty cheap. Here are some photos: Read more… June Angela: Remembering the Electric Company
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 4, 2009 in Television
June Angela is a grownup these days (it happens to the best of us I’m sorry to say) but back in 1971 she played Julie who was an official member of the the Short Circus — that special cast of kids that powered The Electric Company. From age 11 to 17 she was the longest surviving cast member (of the kids) who lasted to the very end of the show in 1977. Her efforts earned her an Emmy and in this series of clips she recalls that amazing series from the 70s. You’ll notice that she mentions Joe Raposo who was the musical genius behind the show: Read more… X-Force Annual #1: Page Turning Power
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 3, 2009 in Comic Books
Shunk! Blam! Whudd! Kroom! Fwump! Don’t tell me the story, show me the story is a truism that is given to film scriptwriters, but it also applies to comic books — and X-Force Annual #1 illustrates this concept with glee. Carlo Barberi and Jason Pearson have done a great job with the artwork in this book which keeps you turning from page-to-page with good old fashioned fisticuffs: Read more… X-Babies: Chabot Goes Chibi
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 3, 2009 in Comic Books
When I first came across X-Babies I have to admit I was drawn in by the ever so cute covers by Skottie Young, but with X-Babies #3 I’m realizing that the best part of the book is actually the interior art by Jacob Chabot. Chabot’s work reminds me a great deal of the chibi style that you see all the time with manga, yet he’s managed to make the style his own and it works very well with the Marvel characters — yet it’s never so cute that you get the Muppet Babies effect: Read more… Superheroes Sans Capes? A Strangely Refreshing Comic Book!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 3, 2009 in Comic Books
Somehow I overlooked the first issue of Who is Stephen Strange? but the second issue is due out this Thursday and is worth a look. As a manga fan I always dread how Marvel is still married to always having superheroes prance around in capes — well Strange is a refreshing departure from this cliché. For starters our protagonist is a young lady who’s not flying through the air in tights — instead she wears normal clothing and uses her superpowers with discretion. I’m very impressed with the story that Mark Waid has come up with, and Emma Rios has done an ace job bringing these characters to life in the interiors of the book: Read more… Dr. Grordbort: An Elixir to Entertain You
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 2, 2009 in Comic Books
Greg Broadmore is a conceptual designer at the Weta Workshop the New Zealand effects studio that did some amazing work on Lord of the Rings. In his book Dr. Grordbort Presents: Victory Broadmore goes steampunk and has an Edwardian military officer giving a lush tour of a world filled with enemy robots and space aliens. The result reminds me of a cross between old pulp fiction covers and old patent medicine adverts: Read more… Kawaii Llama Mania Grips Japan
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 2, 2009 in Japanese TV
I just came across this strange collection of low budget but very cute adverts for aru Paca Friends and Skip Bunny from Sunward Co. Ltd. and Media Factory in Japan. Read more… Superman: How To Rescue a Rusting Man-of-Steel
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 1, 2009 in Comic Books
Above: A reality TV show isn’t the way to fix Superman…
The first problem that you notice with Superman is that he always performs better on the small screen than in theaters. If you look back at the 50s TV show with George Reeves they had time to have fun with the characters; and if you look at Smallville today the series has been running since 2001 and is well loved. This gives a vital clue: The danger of Superman is that within the limits of a few hours the man-of-steel runs the danger of becoming a flat character devoid of any substance. Read more… Adam Warren’s Empowered Special is Gifted
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 1, 2009 in Comic Books
I just love the power of the draftsmanship of Adam Warren, there’s something so strong and yet silly about his pencil sketching which reminds me of the golden age of Mad magazine. This Thursday his latest effort Empowered Special: The Wench With a Million Sighs will be released by Dark Horse and it looks amazing. The cover isn’t that spectacular but the interior of the book more than makes up for that: Read more… Gundam vs. GundamThis video of two Gundam robots slugging it out is from the recent 2009 International Robot Exhibition. I like how the decapitated Gundam continues to dance after defeat… |
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Sadly the Superman franchise is on hold as Hollywood waits for the legal chaos to clear up. 