New York Anime Festival: Cosplay Photos
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 7, 2007 in Fandom
The Cutting Room Floor: No Country for Old Men
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 7, 2007 in Horror
Today I’m going to talk about a film that’s been getting a lot of critical acclaim. I know, I know, ‘critical acclaim’ tends to be Hollywoodspeak for artistic crap but there are exceptions. Pulp Fiction was critically acclaimed and it was chock full of blood, violence and Uma Thurman. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was critically acclaimed and introduced the western world to Ang Lee and while the movie had it’s moments of pure eastern spiritualism it still stands as one of the great action packed films of the last decade.
Now comes No Country for Old Men. The Cohen Brothers (O’ Brother Where Art Thou, The Big Labowski, Fargo) bring the novel by Cormac Mccarthy to life. A drug deal in the middle of the desert goes wrong leaving several dead bodies, A truckload of Heroin and two million dollars in cash and a dead dog (which is pointed out by just about everyone that sees it). The first to find it all is Llewellyn Moss played by Josh Brolin (Planet Terror, American Gangster, In the Valley of Elah). Llewellyn steals the money with the plan on keeping it and soon finds himself being tracked by the very creepy and insane Anton Chigurh played by Javier Bardem (Goya’s Ghosts, Life in the Time of Cholera). Also after Llewellyn are the Mexican Cartels, a local Sheriff played by Tommy Lee Jones and the firm that originally brokered the drug deal.
Sex in Space
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 7, 2007 in Science
This makes me think of Barbarella and that ending scene in Moonraker:
Astronauts test sex in space – but did the earth move?
“US and Russian astronauts have had sex in space for separate research programmes on how human beings might survive years in orbit, according to a book published yesterday. Pierre Kohler, a respected French scientific writer, says in The Final Mission: Mir, The Human Adventure that the subject is taboo both at Nasa and at mission control in Moscow, but that cosmic couplings have taken place.
“The issue of sex in space is a serious one,” he says. “The experiments carried out so far relate to missions planned for married couples on the future International Space Station, the successor to Mir. Scientists need to know how far sexual relations are possible without gravity.” He cites a confidential Nasa report on a space shuttle mission in 1996. A project codenamed STS-XX was to explore sexual positions possible in a weightless atmosphere.”
Speed Racer Trailer
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 7, 2007 in Animation
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This is the first trailer for the upcoming Speed Racer film and it looks pretty grand! The casting looks very true to the cartoon, in fact it sort of bought a tear to my eye…
Persepolis Trailers
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 6, 2007 in Animation
Persepolis looks pretty amazing, although it’s a bit odd to see them speaking French in Iran. Here’s the second trailer which just came out:
56 Geeks Poster
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 6, 2007 in Fandom
Shown above are just eight of the 56 Geeks Poster by illustrator Scott Johnson. You can order the poster here.
Found via MetaFilter.
The Mercury Theatre on the Air
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 6, 2007 in Cinema
If your an Orson Welles fanboy you love this website which has mp3 files of the Mercury Theatre radio shows, a great way to fill up your iPod the fanboy way:
The Mercury Theatre on the Air
“The finest radio drama of the 1930’s was The Mercury Theatre on the Air, a show featuring the acclaimed New York drama company founded by Orson Welles and John Houseman. In its brief run, it featured an impressive array of talents, including Agnes Moorehead, Bernard Herrmann, and George Coulouris. The show is famous for its notorious War of the Worlds broadcast, but the other shows in the series are relatively unknown. This site has many of the surviving shows, and will eventually have all of them. The show first broadcast on CBS and CBC in July 1938.”
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Trailer
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 6, 2007 in Cinema
Shown above is the new trailer for the the upcoming Chronicles of Narnia sequel Prince Caspian.
Doraemon Themed Commercial
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 5, 2007 in Japanese TV
The advert above is for the Japanese moving company The0123 and features none other than anime cat icon Doraemon. Meow!
Found via akihabaranews.com.
The Dark Knight Teaser Poster
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 5, 2007 in Comic Books
I have to say that I like the art direction of this poster, it’s better than the same old “just show a big photo of the actor in a costume” approach.
Found via Slashfilm,
Glico Rice Crackers
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 5, 2007 in Hobbies and Collections
The design of this Glico package is somewhat bland to me, but what caught my eye was the whimsical quality of the rice cracker character design. It reminds me of similar American trademarks from the 40s, 50s, and 60s:
Tokyo Metro-chan
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 4, 2007 in Fandom
Yeah! Beat up those no good otaku fanboys! Shown above is a street performance from the Tokyo Metro-chan which was held a few months ago. This cosplay act is based on the show Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan:
The Cutting Room Floor: Tooth and Nail
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 4, 2007 in Horror
2007 was a year filled with blockbuster films, Spider-Man returned for a 3rd (and final?) installment that introduced the world to Venom and brought joy to the lips of comic book fanboys worldwide. Johnny Depp took on the mantle of Captain Jack Sparrow and sailed around the world. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez took us into an absurd world of violence and flesh with their homage to the 70’s exploitation films with Grindhouse.
In the world of horror films it was more of a down year. Films like The Pulse, The Reaping and Captivity netted lukewarm box office at best. That does not mean that there weren’t any good horror movies out there in 2007, just that no one went to see them.
My favorite weekend of the year recently passed by, a new annual tradition called Horrorfest. Lionsgate and After Dark Studios releases 8 new horror films for one week in a limited release. The fun of Horrorfest is watching all 8 movies over one weekend. 3 on Friday, 3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. By the last film Sunday night you’re sated on a virtual feast of death, mayhem and fantastic situations.
With this being my first column I’ve decided to begin the discussion of the best horror movies you probably haven’t seen from the year 2007 with one of the ‘8 Movies to Die For’ from Horrorfest called Tooth and Nail:
Pac-Man Ghost Belt Buckle
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 3, 2007 in Videogames
If you’re a Namco fanboy you’ll get a kick out of this officially licensed Pac-Man Belt Buckle which has the Pac-Man’s Ghost image on it.
Nick’s Nippon Notebook: A Taste of Mystery
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 3, 2007 in Hobbies and Collections
After missing out on Pepsi’s popular but limited edition Pepsi Ice Cucumber flavor, I was on the hunt for a soda challenge. I guess to some extent I found it in the new Fanta Mystery Flavor from Coca-Cola Japan. Apparently it’s a combination of 2 fruit flavors but you’ll have to determine which ones by drinking it. There’s some sort of mobile phone mystery game tie in to play along with and eventually discover if your guess is right about the 2 (very artificial) flavors perhaps long after you really care to know. I notice the little fruits on the bottle have legs. Maybe they are fleeing from the scene of a crime?
I remember years ago there was an old man with a now gone shoebox sized store in Akiba. It might have been a smoking den since all I think inside there were vending machines and benches. What I remember is he had a drink vending machine with one of the display cans all wrapped up in brown bag paper and question marks written in magic marker on it. I didn’t go for it because it’s surely risking something not nice tasting.
Parody Preview: X-Men: Die by the Sword #4
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 2, 2007 in Comic Books
On a technical level this cover by Jelena Djurdjevic is great, but the minute you see that lion thing on the shirt the whole cover becomes silly. How come in the year 2007 super heroes still need to prance around in tights? The key to making a speculative genre story work is the suspension of disbelief (i.e. taking your audience on a wild ride with you), and when you’re working in a very visual medium like comic books the devil is in the details.
X-Men: Die by the Sword #4 will be in comic book shops this week.
Star Wars Gamecube Mod
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 2, 2007 in Star Wars
If your a Starwars and Nintendo fanboy you’re gong to want to bid on this goodie at eBay:
AT-AT Gamecube Mod! Nintendo! (not a Wii)
“Star Wars Fans!!! Nintendo Fans!!! Gamers!!! Dont miss out on this chance to own a one of a kind Item! This is an auction for my one of a kind Gamecube AT-AT mod. (AKA the AT-GC) It includes 4 wavebird controllers and the 2 memory cards that are inside the system itself (a 1019 and a 251) All the original Gamecube components are inside this mod including the heatsync and cooling fans so it will not overheat (Notice the small holes in the underside of the system for ventilation) and yes, the AT-AT pilot is also included:! All of it is in great cosmetic condition. The AT-AT itself was mint and complete before the Modification and still is (minus the electronic sound effects unit and head movement lever that were once inside) All of it’s joints are still tight and it’s paint is bright.”
…check out this video of the AT-AT in action:
Found via Engadget.
Sampson vs. the Vampire Women
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 1, 2007 in Horror
The vampire women capture and drain the blood of human beings to make themselves beautiful, and just what’s so wrong about that you PETA protesters? Sampson vs. the Vampire Women was directed by Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Corona Blake in 1962 under the original title Santo vs. Las Mujeres Vampiro.
Max Headroom Returns
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 1, 2007 in Television
Shown above is the new old Max Headroom, played by original actor Matt Frewer. The good news is that Max won’t be back as a Hollywood remake:
Channel 4 resurrects Max Headroom
“Channel 4 is to bring back 1980s creation Max Headroom to front a series of TV ads to raise awareness of the digital switchover. The campaign, which breaks this Saturday, features Matt Frewer, the actor who played the original Max Headroom. Ads will feature Headroom criticising Channel 4, which created the stuttering digital host in the 1980s, for ignoring his vision of a digital future.”
Nick’s Nippon Notebook: Meet the Beetles
Posted by Guest Author on Dec 1, 2007 in Hobbies and Collections
While gashapon (capsule toys) of beetles are far from uncommon, I noticed this series of dung rolling beetle miniatures utilizes the capsule as a replica of a dung ball (click on the image above to view the vending machine at full size).
There have been enough stories of actual live beetles sold from vending machines to maybe make some people believe that it’s commonplace, ranking right up there with school girl underwear vending machines. While I’m sure someone must have tried the idea, it’s a fallacy that either is commonplace. I’m sure someone must have tried it back in the 1990s sometime, but it’s more legend than something one may likely run into.