Sideshow Collectibles has always been a hallmark of quality in terms of toys and collectibles, though I’ve never really been able to afford to collect them myself. Never the less, the quality of their products never cease to amaze me. For example, take a look at this fantastic replica of the Bat-Cowl from Batman Returns. I could only dream of having this displayed in a dark room of my make-shift manor. They took the original mold that used in the film and painstaking crafted the fine details in fiberglass, limiting it to a run of 500. At $499, it’s just a little too rich for my blood — after all, I’m no Bruce Wayne. If you’re interested however, check their website for updates. It’s supposed to be available sometime this quarter. Read more…
When I first laid eyes on an iPad, I knew I had to have it. Sure, I didn’t really have a practical use for one, aside from using it to read e-books or check my mail, but the hipster in me just couldn’t resist. Besides, it was the closest thing to a Star Trek padd I could get, and now, thanks to the LCARS Reader app, it’s even closer than before. Let’s just hope that CBS keeps their grubby hands off of it. Read more…
The guys over at Luxury Lane Soap really blew me away with what could easily be the coolest bar of soap I’ve ever seen — so much so that it would pain me to have to use it rather than keep it on display in my own sand-scarred palace. I’m not even sure how they got the idea to make soap out of Han Solo’s carbonite tomb, but it’s pretty fantastic if you ask me. Of course, I’d find it a bit morbid to wash myself with poor old Han, but I think the coolness factor easily makes up for that. Luxury Lane is currently out-of-stock, but you can still place one on a four to six week back-order for around $6.50 a piece. Read more…
A teaser has been released for the upcoming fan film Star Wars: Uncut. For those of you who haven’t heard about the project, the film consists of 15 second clips by fans in an attempt recreate Episode IV: A New Hope in its entirety. The trailer highlights the variety of methods used to create each scene with everything from Legos and toys, to pets and food. I about died when I saw the hamburger Millenium Falcon take off, making its escape from a cardboard Death Star. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 16, 2010 in Comic Books
The Marvelous Land of Oz #5 hits the street next week on Wednesday, April 21st — if you haven’t seen this series do yourself a favor and get your hands on it. I love the fact that Marvel is doing a series that doesn’t involve superheroes — and then add the fact that Skottie Young really has a unique visual style that you don’t get to see anywhere else in comics these days. I wouldn’t be too surprised that given the Disney takeover over Marvel that one day we might be lucky and get to see an animated version of this series. Read more…
The upcoming May issue of Pen magazine in Japan will be honoring legendary horror manga artist Shigeru Mizuki. Mizuki is the artist behind GeGeGe no Kitaro which features a great deal of Japanese folklore and a little boy who was born in a cemetery. Currently the issue isn’t out yet but when it’s available you can order it via amazon.co.jp. Read more…
Amazon has updated their listing for the upcoming Star Trek: The Original Series 365 coffee table reference book. The 774 page hardcover claims to be the most comprehensive guide for the series to date, featuring remastered photos, in-depth episode synopses, interviews with cast and crew, behind-the-scenes and more. While the concept behind the book is similar to that of John Knoll’s Creating the Worlds of Star Wars: 365 Days, the description promises quite a bit more in terms of content. It’ll retail for $29.95 when it ships this September, though Amazon is currently offering a 34% discount off the list price for pre-orders. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 15, 2010 in Comic Books
It’s all too often that comic books are really about escapism, but every so often you see a book that tackles the issues of society. And one such manga is Hagane no Onna by Hukaya Kaoru which has touched a raw nerve in Japan — now up to its sixth volume (shown above) this manga focuses on a teacher who has to deal with out of control kids and their overly demanding parents. Apparently the book has been so successful that a live action television drama has been produced based on manga and will go on the air in late May in Japan. Read more…
Have you ever wondered what the weather outside would be like if you were in a galaxy far, far away? Well, now you can know, thanks in part to Tom Scott’s Star Wars Weather Forecast. The site uses Yahoo!’s weather service to determine the forecast for any city you choose and presents it to you in terms any true Star Wars fan could understand. If it’s muggy and humid, you’ll get Dagobah. Temperate but cloudy? Endor, maybe. Currently New York City is like Naboo: Read more…
Rather than exploring strange new worlds or civilizations, Seagate and Paramount have recently teamed up to offer a strange new deal for film and portable hard drive enthusiasts. In what they claim is an industry first — I’ve yet to find evidence to the contrary — Seagate will be selling a selection of their 500 GB Free Agent Go portable hard drives pre-loaded with a selection of 20 Paramount films, including a free copy of J.J. Abram’s Star Trek. Read more…
You don’t have to worry about the lack of Flash on your iPhone because Hello Kitty brings her own style! Shown above is the is the ever so kawaii Hello Kitty iPhone 3G/3GS Cover Case. As a kitty fan I like the design of the case although I wish they had gone the extra mile and included a set of wallpapers to complete the effect.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 13, 2010 in Comic Books
I really really wanted to like Cold Space — for starters the story is by Samuel L. Jackson and his Afro Samurai collaborator Eric Calderon. Yet while Afro Samurai looked amazing the artwork in this book by Jeremy Rock is a little bit on the stiff side. The layout of each frame has little to no action which is made even more boring by a lack of interesting mecha. I’m not sure that I’d blame Jackson and Calderon for the lackluster visuals, however I would say that Boom! Studios could have done a better job given the subject matter. Read more…
This beautiful Irodori Collection Stickers for DS Series will give your Nintendo the look of traditional Japanese prints. Irodori is a Japanese word for an assortment of colors and this collection of stickers features a dozen different style which are available for the DSi and the DSLite. To me the best part about this collection is that when you get tired of one look you can peel off the sticker without doing any damage. Here the rest of the collection: Read more…
I must admit that I’m not exactly a historical fiction buff, but when I heard about Seth Grahame-Smith’s recently released novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, I must admit that the concept piqued my interest. Of course, it wasn’t until I stumbled across this amazing trailer for the novel that I found myself compelled to buy a copy. I’m still in the process of reading it, so I can’t comment too much on the content, aside from my assurance that it isn’t Twilight. Read more…
Pullip is a fashion doll line that was created by Cheonsang Cheonha (who is from South Korea) in 2003 which reminds me a great deal of both Blythe and Barbie dolls. This latest Pullip Eos Doll features her in steampunk gear — in fact she reminds me a great deal of Jane Fonda in the film Barbarella, although her looks is more Victorian than French comic book.
For Lotte’s latest commercial for their ACUO brand of gum they’re featuring an animated Haruhi Suzumiya (and her friends) interacting with live action actor Toma Ikuta. As much as I love Haruhi I think the cutest part of the advert is when he runs out side and the three street cats that are looking at him transform into cat girls: Read more…
At long last there’s an answer to the classic problem is that you’re an aspiring j-pop guitar player but you don’t want to disturb your neighbors. VOX is introducing a line of K-on! themed headphone guitar amplifiers so you can practice your chords in private. These goodies will be hitting music stores in japan in late April and come in three editions — one for Yui Hirasawa, another for Azuka Nakano and a bass guitar one for Mio Akiyama. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 11, 2010 in Television
I was sad to learn that Dixie Carter has just passed away — while she did have a role in Desperate Housewives her legacy will be the Designing Women sitcom which ran from 1986 until 1993. If you look at the above clip you’ll see a wonderful fearsomeness in Dixie which almost reminds me of female version of Samuel Jackson in Pulp Fiction. The writing is pure camp but she owns every damn word being spoken and clearly means it. I always admired how she managed to balance the comedy in her role with the finer points of drama. And speaking of beauty queens it should be noted that in 1959 she competed in the Miss Tennessee pageant, where she placed first runner-up. Read more…
In 1995 the Gamera franchise was robooted with the film Gamera: Guardian of the Universe. Our titanic turtle friend made his first appearance in November of 1965 in the film Daikaijū Gamera in which he awakes due to an atomic bomb explosion during a cold war tango between the Americans and Soviets. So of course our turtle friend the decided to go on a rampage of Tokyo — which has endeared him to generations of Japanese ever since! Shown above is the Tokusatsu Revoltech 006 Gamera and below is the Tokusatsu Revoltech 007 Gyaos who like to fight each other and wreck havoc in densely populated urban locals. Read more…
Astronaut Soichi Noguchi (seen on the left) grew up watching Space Battleship Yamato which is well known to American fans as Star Blazers. And here he is on International Space Station making us Earth bound retro anime fans very proud. Here’s the official caption for the photo from NASA which sadly omits the fanboy reference: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 10, 2010 in Animation
Rail thin blond ladies and killer mecha, yup we got that! This beautiful fan made video from Japan combines Leiji Matsumoto animation with Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. My thanks to Evan Minto of Ani-Gamers for finding this gem!
Apple is turning the screws tighter on Adobe to kill Flash — with their latest update to the iPhone OS they’ve now gone as far as to put in their agreement with developers that they can’t use Flash. This got me thinking about the history of Apple: As old time fanboys remember when Steve Jobs returned to the company it wasn’t a happy time. We were all glad to have him back, but upon arrival he killed the Newton and put HyperCard out to pasture. In fact one of the reasons I first dismissed the iPod was that as an old Apple fanboy it was never going to be as cool as the Newton. Little did I know that it would evolve into the iPhone. Read more…
These fine Kirk and Spock Nutcrackers are perfect for opening the L’maki nut which when pureed makes a wonderful blue cream cake frosting. Ah but that recipe is from Voyager, getting back to Kirk and Spock the pair of nut cracking officers will set you back about $20 for the four inch tall versions — or if you are more ambitious there is an eleven inch tall version of Spock and Kirk which go for about $33 each.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 9, 2010 in Japanese TV
This Godzilla themed canned coffee advert perfectly captures my inner crankiness when I can’t get my daily caffeine fix. The commercial is for Kirin Black Deep Body Fire which features a “51% blend of carefully selected premium bean” from Guatemala. Although the two main selling points are that this coffee is both sugar free (and thus low calorie) and apparently tastes quite bitter. Read more…
