Posted by Tim Sheehy on May 20, 2010 in Cinema, Fandom
I’m not one for flash mobs, but when it comes to paying cinematic homage to a classic like 1984’s Ghostbusters, then I think I can make an exception. The guys over at Improv Everywhere recently decided to cause a bit of a scene in the New York Public Library on 42nd street, near Bryant Park. As some of you may recall, the library itself was used during the opening sequence of the film. Dressed in bed sheets and off-color Ghostbuster uniforms, the actors managed to score plenty of laughs and a decent applause, though you can tell from the video that a few people weren’t too pleased. I, for one, thought it was pretty funny. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 19, 2010 in Fandom, Star Wars
This fan video stars Luke Starkiller in a faux fifties styled trailer for a 3D version of The Empire Strikes Back. Of course this is very fitting as Lucas owed a great deal of his inspiration to the chapter films of a previous era, although those films were from the 30s and 40s. I like the fact that the editor of this fan video made it a point to go the extra mile and use footage from films from that era instead of just using the Star Wars footage on black and white. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on May 19, 2010 in Animation, Tech
Why is it that Japan gets all the cool phones? I’m serious. Sure we all have our Blackberries and our iPhones, but none of those come with model Gundams, or high resolution cameras. Well, Softbank’s upcoming Gundam Cellphone 945SH G certainly does. In addition to being a Sharp 945SH with a built in OLED display, and 12.1 mega pixel anti-shake autofocus camera — yes, their phones have better cameras than ours — the limited edition phone will be packaged along with a model RX-78-2 Gundam and charger stand. Read more…
Get a load of these upcoming Mojibakeru kanji transformers from Bandai. Each one’s an animal such as a tiger, dragon or dog, that’s capable of transforming into its kanji, the Chinese and Japanese character for which it belongs. I’m not sure why I’ve always loved transformable toys so much, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to buy them all. I should probably note that these are just trading figures, so they’re not made of fancy PVC or anything and they’re certainly not an Autobot or anything, but for $1 how can you go wrong? I haven’t been able to locate a vendor for pre-orders, but you’ll probably be able to pick them up from AmiAmi. Read more…
This is teaser video for the Revolution: The First 2000 Years of Computing exhibition which will be staged at the Computer Museum in Mountain View, California in January, 2011. For me it’s a special treat to see the likes of Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates and Eric Schmidt in the same video — but it shows you the geek love for those who came before. From what I can see the exhibition will offer a chance to see many gems in one location. Read more…
It’s probably not as warm as the insides of a Tauntaun, but now you can own your very own Wampa rug straight from the icy caverns of Hoth. Sure, it might be synthetic fur, and have claws of vinyl, but what would you expect for a fictional beast? Besides, it’s not like your friends have ever encountered one in person and lived to tell about it. The rugs will start to ship out this August, retailing for $99.99 each. I’m not really sure how fast they’ll sell, but if you want, StarWarsShop.com is currently taking pre-orders — now, if only they’d toss in Leia. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on May 18, 2010 in Videogames
Have you spent the last few years wondering what the big deal was about Portal, but didn’t want to spend your hard-earned cash? Perhaps you just own a Mac, and haven’t been able to join in on the fun. Well, for a limited time, none of that shouldn’t be an issue. In order to celebrate the recent release of Portal for the Mac, Valve has made both the PC and Mac versions of the game available as a free download via Steam. What’s the catch? Well, there is none really. You’ll need a free Steam account, and the offer only runs through May 24th, but that’s about it. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 17, 2010 in Animation
Above: Lady Gaga conquers Japan — love her or hate her, you can’t ignore somebody who has a hit.
I just read yet another blog entry on how illegal fan subtitled shows are killing anime, which I think misses the point. Anime is yet another branch of the entertainment business, and despite how much we fans pride ourselves on how different we are the cruel fact is that the only thing that really matters at the end of the day is that only the hits count. Now some economists will all harp about “the long tail” effect, but the harsh reality is that show business is a popularity contest (just like high school). And even in an industry that has been worse hit by piracy like the music industry you still have the likes of a Lady Gaga who is pulling in the moolah — and is thus a success. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 17, 2010 in Science
Not too long ago Stephen Hawking caused quite a stir by stating that contacting aliens was a bad idea as they may not be friendly — I guess you can call that the “It’s a Cookbook!” school of thought. However defending the aliens in this clip is Neuroscientist Gary Lynch who feels that a higher level of intelligence would have a more benevolent view of humans (more of a Spielberg approach with Close Encounters of the Third Kind or E.T.).
This beautifully crafted One Piece human/reindeer hybrid figurine is from a Japanese company called Plex. I’m particularly impressed with the high level of detail of the paint job shown in the photos, it shows a nice level of craftsmanship. The cast of the manga is being released one at a time and Tony Tony Chopper who is shown here is set to come out in June. Read more…
