Sense & Sensibility: Without Zombies?!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 17, 2010 in Comic Books
Jane Austen (1775 – 1817)
The Newest Space Shuttle is Older Than a High School Student
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 16, 2010 in Science
Watching this video on the history of the Space Shuttle Endeavour is very depressing to me. For starters the shuttle was rolled out during the Bush administration: No I don’t mean George W. Bush Jr. but his father! That’s right Endeavour came out the first year that Nirvana scored a hit with Nevermind about 19 years ago, a time before any living high school was born. Of course the construction of Endeavour was kicked off in 1987: This means the last time America was serious about NASA was when the film Dirty Dancing came out. Read more…
I Hate to Admit It But the Interface for Windows Phone 7 Looks Great
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 16, 2010 in Tech
While I haven’t played with it yet the screenshots I’m seeing of the Windows Phone 7 look great. I’m an Apple fanboy at heart but it’s a wonderful surprise to see that Microsoft didn’t just do an iPhone clone. This isn’t enough to make me switch from my iPhone, however it is enough to make me have second thoughts about switching to Android and it also convinces me now more than ever that Palm won’t live to see the end of the year. From what I’ve read the Windows team has been working on this for 18 months and they decided to focus on the app side of the phone which is their core strength: Read more…
A Robot That’s Good for Your Kid’s Future: Toy Fair 2010
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 15, 2010 in Design, Hobbies and Collections
Editor’s Gold Award Pick: As much as I love toys I live with the guilt that so many of them are filling the landfills of the world with toxic plastics and who knows what else. So when I met the robot shown above it was love at first sight. Now what’s interesting about this robot is that most of the parts that you see aren’t included! In fact 90% of what you’re looking at in this toy is made out of recycled items that we throw away every day — which is what makes this hobby kit so ingenious. The Makedo Find & Make a Robot Kit includes a easy-to-use cutting device to hack cardboard and a series of fasteners to hold objects together — and thus by applying the age old toy concepts that you see in Tinker Toys or Lego combined with the idea of recycling you get an amazingly creative activity for your kids. Read more…
Secret Codes With Beads: Toy Fair 2010
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 15, 2010 in Design, Hobbies and Collections
Editor’s Silver Award Pick: When I was first shown this crafts kit I have to admit that on the face of it I was unimpressed — it was just a collection of beads on a string made into a bracelet. But that’s what makes this crafts kit so brilliant! It turns out that every bead in this kit is assigned a secret letter — so kids can put secret messages on the bracelets to give to their friends who can then decode them. Essentially this is a crafters version of a Little Orphan Annie decoder ring! In a show filled with slick gimmicks and dazzling packaging I was impressed with how something so simple could be so engaging. And thus the Bead the Message crafts kit earns my silver award for Toy Fait 2010. Read more…
Action Figures for Videogamers: Toy Fair 2010
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 15, 2010 in Hobbies and Collections, Videogames
At this year’s Toy Fair I noticed a great deal of Halo merchandise but not too many toys based upon other videogames — so it was nice to see NECA with a line of action figures based upon BioShock and Gears of War: Read more…
Enterprising Cosplay for Kids: Toy Fair 2010
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 15, 2010 in Hobbies and Collections, Star Trek
I usually avoid the holiday focused booths at the Toy Fair, but Rubie’s had these adorable Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock Halloween which captured my heart. The manufacturer also has a full line of Watchmen costumes for adults who like to cosplay. Read more…
Yoda, Hello Kitty and Buzz Lightyear Will Be Joining Us for Lunch Today: Toy Fair 2010
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 15, 2010 in Hobbies and Collections, Star Wars
The Tin Box Company may claim that these lunch boxes are just for kids, but I know better! As any art student can tell you a lunch box makes a fashionable accessory that can be used as a mini-briefcase. Shown here are lunchboxes from Star Wars, Hello Kitty and Toy Story — however Tin Box’s full line up also includes Bakugan, Strawberry Shortcake, Disney characters, Sesame Street and Spider-man. Read more…
So You Want To Own a Full Scale Tardis? Toy Fair 2010
Underground Toys had a killer selection of Dr. Who goodies on the showroom floor. Shown above is a Tardis which isn’t quite full scale but pretty darn close! Below is a smaller version for those of us fanboys and fangurls who live in small apartments: Read more…
A Jupiter II That’s Ready for Take Off: Toy Fair 2010
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 15, 2010 in Hobbies and Collections, Television
If you’re a Lost in Space fanboy you’re going to like what Moebius Models: A fully finished and lit Jupiter II 1/35th scale metal prop replica. That’s right: If you’ve always wanted one of these amazing model kits but know that you’ll never ever have the time to build one Moebius Models will build it for you! Sadly you’ll have to wait until the 4th quarter of this year, but having seen the model up close I was drooling. Read more…