EyePet Preview

It looks like Sony is trying to play catch up with nintendo in terms of going after the family market: EyePet allows you town interact with a virtual monkey of sorts. The title is set to come out in 2009, but no word when or if it will be out in the US.

Death Note vs. Family Guy

I always preferred South Park over Family Guy which feels more like an animated sitcom than an animated show, although adding visual from Death Note does make it much more humorous.

Gurihiru Charms Wolverine

The one thing I’ve always loved about manga over American comics is that in Japan comic books are for everyone and cover every damn subject — from baseball to sex. American comics on the other hand have been stuck in a super hero rut for about 30 years. Now of curse I’m excluding all the great indie work, but I’m talking about the big boys: Marvel and DC.

But I’m happy to say that I’m starting to see the trend reverse. Believe it or not the above detail is from a cover published by Marvel — the first thing you notice is that “damn that’s soooo cute!” The issue is Wolverine and Power Pack #1 (whichis due out in November) and the illustration is by Gurihiru and it’s an example of Marvel getting it right:

Read more…

Star Trek Warp Drive is a Possibility

I just want to put the entire world on notice that my feelings as a fanboy won’t be the slightest bit hurt if warp drive technology become real! Of course if I can get a free pass on the next mission that would be cool too:

Star Trek warp drive is a possibility, say scientists

“Two physicists have boldly gone where no reputable scientists should go and devised a new scheme to travel faster than the speed of light. The advance could mean that Star Trek fantasies of interstellar civilisations and voyages powered by warp drive are now no longer the exclusive domain of science fiction writers.

Dr Gerald Cleaver, associate professor of physics at Baylor, and Richard Obousy have come up with a new twist on an existing idea to produce a warp drive that they believe can travel faster than the speed of light, without breaking the laws of physics. In their scheme, in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, a starship could “warp” space so that it shrinks ahead of the vessel and expands behind it.”

New Minor Planet Discovered Near Neptune

Could it be that there are quite a few minor planets wandering around out there on the far edge of our solar system? Astronomers haven’t come up with a real name yet, but this new minor planet called 2006 SQ372 is mostly made of rock and ice. Shown above is a chart of the orbit of 2006 SQ372 which almost seems to just barely dip into our solar system (click on the image to view it at full size). Here’s the full story:

Astronomers Find a New “Minor Planet” near Neptune

“Astronomers announced today that a new “minor planet” with an unusual orbit has been found just two billion miles from Earth, closer than Neptune. Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, astronomers detected a small, comet-like object called 2006 SQ372, which is likely made of rock and ice. However, its orbit never brings it close enough to the sun for it to develop a tail. Its unusual orbit is an ellipse that is four times longer than it is wide, said University of Washington astronomer Andrew Becker, who led the discovery team. The only known object with a comparable orbit is Sedna — the distant, Pluto-like dwarf planet discovered in 2003. But 2006 SQ372’s orbit takes it more than one-and-a-half times further from the Sun, and its orbital period is nearly twice as long.

2006 SQ372 is beginning the return leg of a 22,500-year journey that will take it to a distance of 150 billion miles, nearly 1,600 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun. Scientists believe the object is only 50-100 kilometers (30-60 miles) across.”

Luck Star vs. Death Note

I just can’t get enough of the second season opening titles of Death Note, it’s one of the best opening titles I’ve seen in a long time! But some people can’t leave good enough alone — and thus i’ve collected a few anime fan videos that are kit bashing Luck Star with Death Note because you can never get enough of a good thing:

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Star Wars TIE Fighter Webcam

Sadly I’m afraid for now you can only buy this little goodie in the UK, but it does look rather cool! Produced by Wesco Limited this Star Wars Tie Fighter Webcam can attach to the top of your computer screen and features a built in microphone.

Found via technabob.com.

Retro Computing: 1960 Promotional Film for UNIVAC

This 1960 promotional film for the UNIVAC computer is amazing to watch — it’s amazing to think how much computing has changed in just a few decades: Computers have gone from being these large exotic machines to a disposable device that can fit in your pocket.

Researchers Regurgitate Disney Insights

Thanks to computer graphics it’s interesting to me that serious researchers are covering ground that traditional animation has been focused on for almost 100 years now. In the above video scientists reach the conclusion that having different body types makes for a more convincing scene — well the truth of the matter is that Disney already used this technique with great success in the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. If you looks at the seven dwarfs you’ll notice that they all have different body types:

Just think about it: Over 70 years ago Disney animators knew how to create a convincing crowd with just seven characters who were all the same height and sex — yet computer scientists are just wrapping their heads around this now…

Follow Fanboy on Twitter

You can follow me on Twitter!

I’ve always hated the fact that I had to turn off the comments on this blog due to spam so this should open up the conversation a little bit…

Strange Love: Illustrated by Gray Sapphire

The charming illustration above is by Gray Sapphire. The main draw of this illustration is the contrast of the alienesque monster with the cute little girl offering a flower — although in addition to the subject matter I like what the artist has done with her color and lighting which furthers the content.

Retro Space: Sleek Retro Game System

Inspired by computer arcade systems of the past like Pong, Retro Space is a arcade cabinet with a minimal footprint. It features an HD screen and has controls for many classic games in addition to offering a hi-fi audio system. Right now the Dutch made system isn’t available but you can sign up for info on their website.

Special thanks to Chris Liendo for finding this site.

The Jedi Gym

I hate to admit it — but when I first watched this video I thought it was for a real gym! As a young fanboy I hated gym (jocks aren’t always so nice to nerds) and sadly I’ve carried that dislike with me till this day. So if anyone wants to open up a real life Jedi Gym I’ll buy a membership (or at least a few day passes).

Found via Zaeega.

Trock = Time Lord Rock

Until I watched this video I had no idea that there was an entire genre of songs inspired by Harry Potter — in this video our friend from England Nerimon takes this concept to the next level with Trock which stands for Time Lord Rock. By the way the idea of writing science fiction folk songs has been around for eons — it’s called filk singing. Any way Nerimon’s work reminds be a slight bit of Perl Jam, just without the guitars and a bit of geek thrown in.

Face Your Manga: The latest Flickr Meme

The latest meme in comic book circles on Flickr are artists creating icons of themselves using the website faceyourmanga.com. Of course not being a poor artist myself I just screen grabbed an image and cropped it in Photoshop. Other than costing too much my problem with the service is that look of the artwork isn’t very manga like.

Peekasso: Portrait of Bart with Hello Kitty Eyes

Shown above is the poster design titled bartart by Peekasso.

The Star Wars Bar: Serving up Richard Pryor

The above skit was from a 1977 episode of the comedy show The Richard Pryor Show which aired on NBC. The show only ran for a few episodes, was a mega hit — but at the end of the days Richard Pryor’s comedy was a little bit to racy for broadcast television. By the way the costumes in the skit were used with permission from Lucas and I believe that this skit was done before in infamous holiday special.

Special thanks to lucasfan.com for the insights into the show.

My Aquarium: A WiiWare Trailer

Shown above is a trailer for My Aquarium a WiiWare game by Hudson Entertainment. The advantages of this virtual aquarium are:

1. No hard feelings when the fish die from you not cleaning the tank.

2. No need to buy yicky fish food like worms.

3. No guilt that you are taking the poor critters away from the wild.

By the way the aquarium concept reminds me a great deal of the old After Dark screensavers for the Mac from the early 90s — as I recall they had a fish tank themed screensaver:

New Star Trek Posters

Confession time: I’ll admit it that I’m a grumpy old fanboy when it comes to the fact that William Shatner won’t be in the upcoming Star Trek film, but I have to say that Paramount is doing a great job of fan outreach. Thanks to their webmaster program I’ve managed to get some copies of posters for the upcoming film. Above is the main poster (click on them to see at full size), below is a version with “Kirk” (quotes used out of respect to William Shatner):

Read more…

Tagged Up AT-AT = Graff-At

Shown above is the sculpture titled Graff-At by Suckadelic which being offered for auction by Christie’s — here’s a description from their catalog:

“Customized Hasbro Star Wars vehicle customized by professional Graffiti artists EASE and JK5 under the direction of SUCKADELIC. All tags are written in the Aurebesh language, a fictional letter system created for the in-world use for the 6 Star Wars films. The largest tag on the side of the vehicle spells the word REBEL. 16x18in.”

Ultraman Fighting Evolution 3: A Look Back

Ah yes the good old days of 2004: There’s nothing quite as fun as being Ultraman and getting to spend hours trying your Kung Fu on a wide assortment of giant rubber suit creatures! Above and below are video for the game Ultraman Fighting Evolution 3 which came out in 2004.

Update: Special thanks to Jenn Frank for * cough * correcting me!

The Ogoh Ogoh Demigod of Cartoon Movies

I was blown out of the water by the above illustration by Juan Molinet which is titled The Ogoh Ogoh Demigod of Cartoon Movies (it’s always a pleasure to see an icon like Mickey Mouse reinvented). Jaun is based out of Argentina and you can find his Flickr site here.

Achieve Anime Eyes with Extra-Wide Contacts

The latest trend from Korea are contact lenses that give you that “big eyed Anime look” — it seems that the look has been popularized by J-Pop star Ayumi Hamasaki. The results to me look a bit more disturbing than anything, but I guess it’s a safe alternative to surgery for those into cosplay, and at $32 a pop they work on a low budget. One place selling them online is shop-crazy.blogspot.com (note: I can’t vouch for them as a shop) and the contacts are manufactured by gngcontact.com. Here’s afull chart of what’s available:

Found via inventorspot.com.

The Boba Fett Pez Dispenser

The Boba Fett Pez Dispenser is armed, dangerous and may cause cavities! I like the little touch of the Pez candy showing through the side…

Found via uniquedaily.com.