Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 21, 2008 in Science
While I think that Makemake is easier for kids to remember than minor planet 136472 it’s going to be rough on science students trying to keep track of all of these plutoids — although as an astronomy fanboy I think these are good problems to have:
“A dwarf planet circling the sun out beyond the orbit of Neptune has been rechristened Makemake after a Polynesian god and designated the third of the solar system’s new class of plutoids, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced Saturday. Makemake is a small, red-tinged world that ranks among the largest objects in the outer solar system. But it is still smaller and dimmer than the already demoted dwarf planet Pluto, which astronomers reclassified as a plutoid last month.”
Below: It sucks to be Pluto which is now reduced to being one of eight trans-Neptunian objects.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 21, 2008 in Videogames
As a fanboy I always enjoy seeing a fine artist exploring pop culture: In the above oil painting “Rough Night Out” artist Bob Dob takes on Nintendo icon Mario. The other Mario brother can be seen below in the next painting “Rougher Night Out”:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 20, 2008 in Animation
At long last we’re getting our first good look at the upcoming film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea and it’s looking like Miyazaki fanboys and fangurls won’t be disappointed. Although I have to say that the animation looks amazing the ever so cute theme song is getting to me!
Shown above is Kidrobot’s interpretation of Matt Groening’s The Simpsons which is due out on August 21st. There will be 24 mini figures in all but my favorites are already Itchy & Scratchy.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 19, 2008 in Videogames
I think this qualifies as a baffling mystery Sam! To tell you the truth I haven’t heard much out of E3 this year that’s very exciting. My theory is that last year was a real breakthrough with the excitement of the Wii, in fact it seems odd that there was any question just how well Nintendo would do. Which brings us back to E3: As a show E3 was always about the older hardcore guy gamers — so with the popularity of the Wii and titles like Guitar Hero the industry as become much more family oriented in spite of itself.
However as a long time gaming fanboy I rather like the state of the industry right now. Sam and Max is a good example of this — the first time I fell in love with the game was in the CD-ROM era back in the 90s. The game was as much about story as the game play itself, however back in the day sadly titles like this were swept away by Doom and and later the Playstation platform. So it’s nice for me to see Sam and Max re-emerge again on the Wii while poor Duke Nukem is a bit of a joke.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 19, 2008 in Science
Now you can have the greatest scientific minds in human history collecting dust on your bookshelf!Lord Crumwell’s Oddfellows Scientists Mini Figures includes Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Nikola Tesla. I think if I had a chance to travel back in time and meet any of these folks it would have to be Einstein as he seemed to have a good sense of humor.
Based in Vancouver, Canada Joe Blow Glassworks produces an amazing line of hot glass art objects called Raygunz:
“These are blown and manipulated hot glass objects. A transparent colour is picked up on the pipe, then clear glass is gathered on top. The piece is then blown out and shaped to the desired form. Coloured bits are added. Once the bits are in place, the handle and trigger are applied to the piece, the Raygun is then knocked off the blowpipe into the annealer to cool over a fifteen-hour cycle.”
“VIZ Media, a San Francisco-based publisher of Japanese manga and graphic novels, has formed a production company to exploit its huge content catalog. Based in Hollywood, VIZ Prods. will be run by Jason Hoffs, a former production exec at Amblin and DreamWorks, who most recently had his own producing deal at Sony.
Hoffs will serve as a liaison between Japanese creative licensors and Hollywood, and the company will develop to produce some of the titles inhouse. VIZ effort is another recent example of publishers, from the New York Times to vidgame companies such Capcom, becoming proactive in exploiting film projects hatched from their content.”
…It’s clear that Viz is looking at not only how well Marvel has been doing these days, but also at other blockbuster movies like Speed Racer. Hollywood knows how to make multi million dollar CGI superhero epics, so it would seem natural for them to tackle anime properties — which in turn would do well in the international market.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 17, 2008 in Comic Books
I have sort of mixed feelings on this one: For starters I feel like the art direction looks too detailed and the lighting is a also a bit too film noir. Although it looks like they have some characters nailed down like the Nite-Owl and Rorschach, other characters like Adrian Veidt don’t feel right. Also for me I associate Watchmen with the music of the late 80s when the comic was produced — I would have loved to hear something like an updated version of Pop Will Eat Itself on the soundtrack rather than the Smashing Pumpkins.
But maybe the main thing is that perhaps DC Comics should have thought of doing the movie as traditional animation rather than live action? If this was a Japanese film based on a manga there would be no question that we’d expect to see something akin to an Akira. But in Hollywood animation is always thought of as something for kids, it would have been nice to see them take a chance instead of produce yet another film that looks like Batman.
Shown above is the Hello Kitty 1seg tuner which features a 2.4″ LCD screen. The 1seg standard is a digital TV standard in Japan which is mostly aimed at mobile phones. Unlike regular TV the broadcasts can include text for breaking news and early earthquake warnings. The technology is still a bit flakey as it’s hard to use 1seg on a fast moving train, although if you’re just watching Kitty TV at home you should be fine.
“New observations made by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), currently circling the planet, have revealed evidence that vast regions of the southern highlands of Mars were altered by water in a variety of environments billions of years ago. Water is a key condition for life as we know it. Though there is no firm evidence that Mars has ever harbored life, knowing that the planet was once wet suggests that it was at least habitable in the past.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 17, 2008 in Videogames
With the fears of childhood obesity you could never get this commercial made today: There mere idea of having advertising featuring kids drinking chocolate milk while spending hours in front of a video game would make sponsors run in the other direction. But alas in a more simple era (1983 to be precise) this sort of behavior was thought of as normal — in fact some may have argued that it was a good way to trick the kids into drinking milk which was thought of as healthy. And this we have the above commercial from over twenty years ago when two kids and cartoon bunny could enjoy some Nestle Quik while playing with their Atari 2600.
So you’d think that this commercial was a one shot deal? Wrong! Of course this fanboy marriage of chocolate milk and fanboy goodness was too good for Nestle to pass up again:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 16, 2008 in Comic Books
It was my lack of athletic ability that drew me to science fiction and comic books, after all you didn’t have to hit or kick a silly ball when it came to zapping space aliens or commanding a starship. So with rare exception I tend to look down my nose at anything associated with sports — however with Blood Bowl Killer Contract #2 I’ll have to make an exception.
Published by Boom! Studios this book looks pretty funny as by putting together two negatives (football and silly fantasy escapist fantasy that I hate as a hardcore science fiction fanboy) you get a real plus. There’s something that just seems to work well by putting together the false bravado of jocks with the over the top world of elves, dwarves, orcs, and ogres. I think part of what makes this story by Matt Forbeck is that the artwork by Lads Helloven just pushes the concept further over the top. In short you should think of getting a copy of this when it comes out on July 16th, 2008.
Not only will I recommend this comic book, but I’ll go out on a limb here: If Boom! Studios ever manages to get this concept made into a film I’d be the first on line to get tickets…
Below: The cover and an interior page from Blood Bowl Killer Contract #2:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 16, 2008 in Science
I’ve always admired Freeman Dyson from the first time I heard about the concept of the Dyson sphere. In the above video Dyson talks about the idea of looking for exterrestrial life inside of our own solar system. What’s interesting is that Dyson thinks is that we should look on the edge of the solar system — all the way out in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud.
I think the charm of robot tin toys is that they’re a reminder that what we think of futurism is in fact the ideas that are most likely to date the fastest. Photographed by Ed who lives in Massachusetts, USA.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 15, 2008 in Videogames
If you’re a Nintendo fanboy then you’re going to need to visit Wiibrew which is an amazing wiki devoted to hacking the Wii. They have over 300 articles at this point on everything from emulators to Bluetooth specs for the Wiimote.
“Sideshow is proud to bring you the Big Baby Life-Size Prop Replica from Hellboy II: The Golden Army. The Big Baby Prop Replica features six removable shells and a musical wind-up feature that plays the tune Lullaby and Goodnight, and comes complete with a sturdy display base. The Big Baby Life-Size Prop Replica is the perfect addition to any collection, a reflection if Sideshow’s dedication to quality.”
And while we’re on Hellboy you may get a kick out of this random quote generator that’s being used to promote the film:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 14, 2008 in Animation
As a Beatles fanboy I got quite a kick out of this animated short film — it uses the soundtrack of a recording made of 1969 interview of John Lennon which was done by a 14 year old snuck into a hotel room in Toronto.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 14, 2008 in Science
Why are you sitting at home watching Netflicks when there’s a huge ass space station flying above your house? It seems that the next few weeks will be ideal for NASA fanboys to catch a glimpse of the International Space Station:
“If you’re out watching the twilight sky in the time frame from 45 to 90 minutes before sunrise, or 45 to 90 minutes after sunset, you’ll might see a few “moving stars.” They are most likely artificial satellites. The brightest of all is the International Space Station, and this month provides some great opportunities to see it from just about anywhere. During the next couple of weeks, North Americans and Europeans will have many opportunities to see the ISS flying over their homes, due chiefly to a seasonal circumstance.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 13, 2008 in Videogames
I love this brilliant expletive filled review of a vintage 1987 copy of Mega Man (known as ロックマン Rokkuman in Japan) which was published by Capcom for the NES. You can tell that while he’s having a hard time with the game that Chris is enjoying every retro minute of Mega Man.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 13, 2008 in Star Wars
The never ending fight between good and evil computer connectivity methods continues! Shown above is the R2-D2 and Darth Vader USB hubs — the cute droid makes little beeping noises while Lord Vader will amuse your fellow Jedi by lighting up his eyes for you. Both Star Wars USB hubs are available from National Console Support for pre-orders.
