Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 29, 2009 in Animation, Tech
If you’re any sort of anime fanboy (or fangurl) you’re going to want to sign up for Nico Nico Douga which is almost like a Japanese version of YouTube (in fact the first version of Nico Nico Douga used YouTube as a source). However most fans get turned off as you need to register to see any videos and the entire interface is in Japanese (although there are Spanish and German interfaces available if you know those languages). The other nice thing about the site is that it encourages users to post high quality video.
To make it easy to get started I put together the first three steps to get you to he right spot. This is where you click on the homepage: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 28, 2009 in Animation
I was quite pleasantly surprised that the above robot design was created by Disney! Earlier this year Disney cracked the Japanese market with a show called Fireball which was designed to appeal to a Japanese audience (with some help from Toei who did all of the heavy lifting). The main character is a robot-girl named Hatsune Miki who also goes by “Drossel” is a mech-girl — shown above is a figurine based on her character (which can be pre-order from National Console Support). Sadly Fireball didn’t do too great because a second season isn’t in the works, but here’s a bit of video to give you a taste: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 28, 2009 in Videogames
It’s funny the world of arcade video games seems to be so stagnant that it’s amazing to see what’s going on in Japan where they seem to be having much more fun. A good case in point is the Sega Storm-G ride which will spin the rider a full 360 degrees — the game emulates a bobsled ride on steroids. The first ones will be installed at Sega Joypolis in Tokyo. Read more…
Poor William Shatner! He creates the character of Captain Kirk and doesn’t even get a damn cameo in the upcoming Star Trek film which will no doubt generate millions of dollars worth of merchandise. But if that isn’t enough now they’re cashing in on his Twilight Zone work as well! Shown above is the Twilight Zone Mystic Seer Bobble Head which is based on the classic 1960 Twilight Zone episode Nick of Time which featured a ‘mystic seer’ fortune-telling device. The episode opens with this stunning narration by Rod Serling: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 27, 2009 in Science
The good news is that Peter Smith who led NASA’s Phoenix Mars Mission predicts that within ten years we’ll find life on other planets — but the bad news for us fanboys with hopes of hanging out with Vulcans and Klingons is that E.T. may be a clump of lowly microbes sitting underneath a rock on Mars. Smith made this prediction during his recent “Journey of the Phoenix” presentation at the University of Delaware which included images from the Phoenix which touched down on the Martian arctic last year. Read more…
The year is 1982 and Howard Scott Warshaw has been picked to design the Raiders Of The Lost Ark game for the Atari 2600. This game actually did pretty well, but the next game Warshaw designed for Spielberg was the infamous E.T. video game which was one of the worst failures in the industry. But a year before that things were so good that Vestron even produced a home video on how to do well while playing the the Raiders Of The Lost Ark game: Read more…
While walking to work every so often I’ll pass an antique store which is on the corner of Houston and Elizabeth Street — this week I came across an amazing find: A framed vintage 1933 Popeye the Sailor Shipwreck Game published by Funland Books and Games. I only had my iPhone camera on me so the detail in these shots is limited, but the artwork looked just amazing (click to see at full size): Read more…
I always assumed my love of tech was natural, but looking back at this early 80s advert you can see the pressure on every young member of Gen X to grow up and be the next Steve Jobs or Bill Gates. The funny thing is that these early computers struck me as being clunky at the time because my expectations were set by watching science fiction TV shows where computers were much larger but did cooler things. The commercial above and below feature a later version (from 1980 on) of the Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer which was lovingly renamed as “The Trash 80” because it was in competition with cooler machines like the C-64 and Atari 400 which were cheaper and better. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 24, 2009 in Japanese TV
This is a cute segment from a Japanese TV show which shows off how to get up, make breakfast and get dressed for work in five minutes. Although it’s somewhat telling that the segment is eight and a half minutes long…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 23, 2009 in Star Trek
The first weekend in May they’ll be airing a remastered version of the Cage. The only problem I have with these remastered versions is that the Enterprise looks very CGI — what I’d rather see instead is to have them make the special effects look like a feature film from the 60s. The problem is that the CGI contrasts so much with the look of the original series that it’s distracting to the eye, you spend too much time looking at the animation and not the action. Also the CGI looks too clean, it needs some film grain and texture to match the original show: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 22, 2009 in Comic Books
Superman-Tim Club Pin
For comic book fanboys this is THE Platinum Card! In 1942 Tim Publications created an official Superman fan club for younger boys (older boys got a Gene Autry club) which featured a 6″ x 9″ sized now hard to find monthly comic book. The books were mainly produced to sell the Tim clothing line, but they also had the second benefit of teaching character building lessons while entertaining the kids. Club membership also included a (you guessed it) membership card and a pin. Since the club existed during part the World war II era Tim would also give kids useful tips on war related things like killing your enemy. Sadly the club only lasted for about eight years, so today anything associated with the club is very rare and hard to find. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 22, 2009 in Videogames
Interactive fiction does quite well in Japan and one the more successful studios is Key which has created Kanon, Air and Clannad — all of which have made the transition from games into anime series. Shown here is a behind the scenes tour of their studio, what’s really cool is that each workstation is surrounded by various otaku goodies. Currently the next game coming out from Key will be Rewrite: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 21, 2009 in Videogames
Sega has just released the first video of the Shining Force Cross action-RPG game the latest chapter in their Shining Force series which got started in 1992. The game will only be available in Japanese arcades and will use Sega’s ALL.Net platform to link together four different players at a time: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 21, 2009 in Animation
This promo for the upcoming The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya-chan looks like it contains a few scenes that haven’t been seen before. Volume 1 goes on sale on Friday May 29th for 5040 yen. The first run will include a special soundtrack CD and other otaku goodies.
Posted by Guest Author on Apr 21, 2009 in Animation, Tech
Virtual idols have been around longer than you think — shown above is a magazine cover featuring Kyoko Date from 1996. In this article Nick Kent gives us his insights:
The interesting “real” Robo-Girl in the pop culture room is Hatsune Miku, who really is software:
She’s a second generation Windows voice synthesis software released in 2007 that anyone can buy at mainstream Japanese software retailer for around $150. With a slightly difficult user interface software one can program her to sing anything in a voice that’s now not far out of place on the pop charts. The Vocaloid technology was created by Yamaha and then licensed to developers, namely Crypton who developed the character and voice. Read more…
I already like what little I’ve seen of this film in the trailer, there are a few nice homages to 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien which make the fanboy in me quite happy. So far very little is up on their website although the film will be out in New York and LA on June 12th. Here’s a description which gives you the basics: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 20, 2009 in Star Wars
Skippy is the clever creation of NearFar Productions in California, in this video he tries to explain the entire plot of Star Wars in under one minute (while he may not have succeeded I had a fun time watching him try). What I love about good comedy is that it’s all about the timing and Skippy nails that — I also liked his explanation of Lord of the Rings: Read more…
In this article pop culture pundit Nick Kent gives us his insights into the growing trend of J-Pop singers who want to sound cyber:
I’ve been noticing a mini-trend in Japanese pop music lately consisting of pretty female singers singing with android sounding vocals rather than natural sounding ones. I can’t help but to think Cher’s 1998 hit single “Believe” makes her the Borg Queen of this phenomenon: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 19, 2009 in Videogames
I’ve always associated Topps with their amazing baseball cards but I had no idea that they ever did anything this clever: In 1983 they had a series of “Video Arcade Gum” which came in individual boxes that were shaped like (you guessed it) video arcade games! I’m surprised that this product never took off because I don’t remember seeing it back in the day. The games they featured included Donkey Kong, Q*bert, Zaxxon, Frogger and Centipede. The quality of these package designs looks great: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 18, 2009 in Star Trek
I haven’t seen this film yet, but I know one thing for certain: J.J. Abrams really knows how to promote a film! I’ve now seen him pushing this film every where from Australia to Wired magazine — and I like the fact that he’s not taking his audience for granted. He seems to understand that this isn’t just about making a film, but rescuing a franchise that could fade away. Of course at the end of the day this film has to be damn good, but the amount of work I see him doing is a good indication. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 18, 2009 in Animation
Once upon a time there were the Flintstones followed by the Jetsons, animated family sitcoms that adults could watch as well as the kids. Then a great dark age followed for many years until the Simpsons brought the genre back in 1989. Since then we’ve seen it all from South Park to Family Guy and frankly the concept is a bit tired at this point. But when you take that and add second rate jokes you get Sit Down, Shut Up. And just in case you think the first video clip that I found was lame, here’s additional proof that this is the must miss show of the season: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 17, 2009 in Japanese TV
Time was not too long ago that Domo was the coolest thing not just for me — but for any self respecting hipster, creative professional or occasional otaku. But alas our favorite razor toothed character who was all but unknown in Japan conquered mainstream America, before you know it every damn yabbo could pick up a t-shirt at Walmart. But fear not as I have discovered a worthy mascot replacement: On-Chan Nendoroid (shown above) was created in 1997 to represent the Hokkaido Television Broadcasting Co. and he sports a pet monster called Guchi. So if you want to be the first kid on your block to own your very own Nendoroid this figurine can be ordered from National Console Support, Inc. By the way here’s Nendoroid in action:Read more…
On November 22, 1963 along with President Kennedy newspapers received their first fatal wound and they’ve been slowly fading ever since. Most people learned of the assassination of JFK via their TV set or radio — and ever since then newspapers have broken less-and-less news each year. Smugly watching this death march has been broadcast and later cable television news. At a certain point the money, power and glamour shifted from print to the small screen and along with that came a certain sense of hubris that we see today. Read more…
The first weekend in May they’ll be airing a remastered version of 
Once upon a time there were the Flintstones followed by the Jetsons, animated family sitcoms that adults could watch as well as the kids. Then a great dark age followed for many years until the Simpsons brought the genre back in 1989. Since then we’ve seen it all from South Park to Family Guy and frankly the concept is a bit tired at this point. But when you take that and add second rate jokes you get 
