Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 14, 2010 in Comic Books
I came across Groo: Hogs of Horder #4 and it then hit me: I’m guilty of having spent my entire life looking at the amazing artwork of Sergio Aragonés and I’ve selfishly have always assumed that I’d be seeing more. It’s high time for us fans to stop taking Sergio for granted (he’s 72 years old!) and starting to treat him like the comic book god that he is. I grew up with Aragonés in the pages of mad magazine, but sadly those issues were so packed with high quality work that Sergio got lost in the crowd. However as of 2002 he’s drawn more than 12,000 gag cartoons for Mad and that deserves some real respect. And then we have his creation Groo the Wanderer which has been running since the 80s — to me this running series ranks up there with Asterix and Tin Tin, and what’s wonderful about is that it has both an American and Spanish point of view. Read more…
For his day gig Tommy Williamson professional artist working in the motion picture industry, but for fun he likes to play with Legos: His latest creation is this wonderful Alice in Wonderland tribute. What’s brilliant about his sculpture is how few bricks that he used to capture the likeness of the Mad Hatter and Alice: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 13, 2010 in Animation
In Japan package design is very influenced by the idea of gift giving — and as an otaku I’ve always love the fact that attention to detail and inclusion of little goodies tends to find its way into DVD packaging. The above illustration is for the DVD set Kimba the White Lion: The Courage to Begin a New Future. Of course Kimba is quite an old lion of anime at this point, but I love how the studio has the courage to play with a new look and take a chance with the illustration. But as if that wasn’t enough the package itself is a mini collection of all sorts of goodies: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 12, 2010 in Fandom, Star Trek
This hilarious fan video is titled Captain Kirk Deals with a Strange Alien Culture. I have to admit that while Kirk’s solution broke the Prime Directive it still shows that he’s the best commander in the whole of Starfleet! By the way the internet meme in the video is Russian singer Eduard Anatolyevich Khil (Эдуа́рд Анато́льевич Хи́ль) giving a performance back in 1976. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 12, 2010 in Comic Books
I first discovered the joy of Japanese anime and manga themed art books while I was in art school — and I have to admit that even though these books are always expensive I have yet to regret ever buying one. The reason is that as an artist I always find myself learning from these books and looking at them years later. IllustStudio Perfect Master is a good example of this genre — it’s a collection of a wide range of illustrators who are each given a page in this volume. From what I can gather each artist in the book is using the software package IllustStudio — and the nice thing about this book is that it also includes a bonus CD-ROM which includes a movie of each artist using the software in action. So it’s almost as good as being an apprentice for a Japanese manga illustrator. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 12, 2010 in Comic Books
To be upfront I’ve always have been more of an indie comic book fanboy having grown up on manga and publications like RAW magazine in the 80s — so on the face of it yet another X-Men spinoff comic book doesn’t get me excited. However for X-23 I’ll have to make an exception to that rule. Firstly what I like about this book is that it isn’t trapped too tightly in the typical Marvel style, and then the draftsmanship of the drawing and the cinematic panel layouts are well done. Alina Urusov illustrated this book and her artwork does a great job of telling a story, and I also liked the fact that Marc Hempel who did the colors didn’t overpower the drawings. The only thing that upsets me is that this issue is a one shot: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 12, 2010 in Science
One way to stop climate change is if everyone suddenly gives up on fossil fuels — however that notion might not be realistic given the political realities. However it begs the question if we should be getting much more serious about geoengineering which is the concept man made intervention to prevent climate change. In this video atmospheric scientist Ken Caldeira asserts that this may be the only realistic way to prevent climate change — and given what we’ve seen the politicians do (or not do) he may be correct.
You know it’s funny I’ve never have been too crazy about James Cameron as a director, however listening to this very relaxed interview with him was quite energizing and inspiring. It’s wonderful to hear not just about his creative process — but also his take on Hollywood then copying everything (his example is the 3D craze which he inspired). And as much as I wasn’t crazy about Avatar I almost felt sorry for Cameron watching the Oscars because you could sense not just a level of insecurity and slight hostility to his technical skills, but also even the idea that a science fiction film might get best picture. So even with the success of his box office, it gave me a real sympathy seeing him within the Hollywood hierarchy.
For decades fanboy wine connoisseurs have debated if Star Wars works best while enjoying the red or white wine — but alas the idea of opening up multiple bottles to see what goes best with each film could be quite wasteful. So coolstoppers.com have solved this issue by creating a series of Star Wars wine stoppers: So you can have the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Princess Leia, Han Solo and a Stormtrooper guarding your vino. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 10, 2010 in Japanese TV
This Canon Autoboy Luna camera commercial from 1996 has everything that a fanboy would want in life: A chance to get to hang out at a space station with a pretty model and her adorable doggie! By the way I half suspect that the space station motif was inspired by the Michael Jackson music video Scream which came out about a year before this — and of course that production owed a great deal to 2001: A Space Odyssey. Read more…
I came across Groo: Hogs of Horder #4 and it then hit me: I’m guilty of having spent my entire life looking at the amazing artwork of Sergio Aragonés and I’ve selfishly have always assumed that I’d be seeing more. It’s high time for us fans to stop taking Sergio for granted (he’s 72 years old!) and starting to treat him like the comic book god that he is. I grew up with Aragonés in the pages of mad magazine, but sadly those issues were so packed with high quality work that Sergio got lost in the crowd. However as of 2002 he’s drawn more than 12,000 gag cartoons for Mad and that deserves some real respect. And then we have his creation Groo the Wanderer which has been running since the 80s — to me this running series ranks up there with Asterix and Tin Tin, and what’s wonderful about is that it has both an American and Spanish point of view. Read more… 
