A museum in honor of Fujiko F. Fujio (pen name for Hiroshi Fujimoto) is set to open in Japan on September 3, 2011. Hiroshi Fujimoto was half of the duo known as Fujiko Fujio who created the Doraemon manga which is one of the most popular franchises in Japan — although sadly the robotic blue cat has never quite caught on in America. Fujimoto passed away in 1996, and as a tribute to his fans his widow helped bring the museum to life as a “way of giving back”. In addition to the many interactive exhibits the museum will include Fujimoto’s drawing table, his personal beret and his pipe. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 31, 2010 in Science, Tech
This story touched my heart: One of the side benefits of NASA is the amazing images that that the Hubble Space Telescope has produced over the years — however many of these glimpses of the furthest corners of the universe are off limits to the blind. So according to this story reachers at NASA worked with braille experts to create a representation of the Carina Nebula. What I love about the project is that the embossed photo isn’t a literal representation but instead is filled with different symbols which give information on the formation of the nebula itself. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 31, 2010 in Animation
I was filled with horror looking at the above sneak peak poster from the Captain Harlock computer graphics film that Toei has planned for 2012. Clearly Toei has learned little from the horrible AstroBoy film that came out last year. I’ve some some amazing anime that’s been done in 3D, but very rarely have I seen a studio be able to pull off translating a 2D character into 3D. The first problem I noticed with this harlock poster is that while the clothing is just right, there’s something not quite working about the face and the hair. The result is that Harlock starts to look like Howard Stern with too much makeup on: Read more…
I am blown away by the quality of this virtual Lego Klingon Bird of Prey by Kevin J. Walter. This virtual model features 274,350 parts, would be 516 centimeters long and was rendered with the help of Eric Albrecht. This staggering project took more than two years to complete: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 30, 2010 in Japanese TV
This Nescafe spot starring Mariah Carey is from the year 2000. I half suspect that Carey didn’t go to Japan to do the spot because it seems to be shot against green screen. The give away is her awkward interaction with her co-star who I believe is Japanese comedian Sanma Akashiya: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 29, 2010 in Star Trek
You can spend so much time and cash on cosplay, but at the $10 each these Starfleet badges are the best way to pass yourself as an Enterprise crew member on a low budget! Each badge includes a pin back so you can wear them — and then just make sure that you have a colored t-shirt handy and black jeans for the full effect. Shown above is the command division badge replica, and below are the badges for the science division, engineering division and medical division: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 29, 2010 in Japanese TV
This very strange Kirin Green Tea ad from 2003 features Nanako Matsushima (松嶋菜々子). Apparently the young lad is getting his romantic advice from a manga, so our fashion model hero knocks him to the floor and then gives him tea tips with the help of her panda puppet. The entire sequence is very strange to say the least, and yet making it even odder is that we never see the panda puppet or the tea in the establishing shot with Nanako: Read more…
As much as it’s loved by kids everywhere I’ve got to say that Ben 10 has never really won me over, there’s something very generic feeling about the show to me. However recently while wondering around my hood in Brooklyn I came across an amazing set of eight capsule Ben 10 toys that blew me away. I tend not to expect much from American gashapon when put next to what the Japanese produce — however the level of detail on this collection of monsters and robots was quite good: Read more…
I was never given a warning, so I was upset to suddenly try and log into my YouTube account to see that it had been deactivated. Of course I have my theories: I used the account to post many clips for this blog featuring everything from movie trailers to Japanese commercials. So I suspect that the copyright gods might not have been on my side. Although in the past when that was the case YouTube would do anything from yanking the video, to removing the soundtrack to keeping the video and inserting ads. Of course this is just a guess, I was never sent an email so I don’t know. Read more…
With the anime series set to launch in April the folks behind the Nendoroids have decided to introduce a Nendoroid Black Rock Shooter. Sculpted by master craftsman Abe Masato this Nendoroid features extra hair parts based upon the illustrations of HUKE. Here’s a preview of the anime series to give you a taste of the show: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 27, 2010 in Animation
It took me a while to recognize the actor gazing into the mirror on the cover of Cookie issue #5. After a bat I realized that it was none other than Kenichi Matsuyama who is best known for playing the character L in the live action Death Note films in addition to being a voice actor in the animated series. The mirror concept in this cover reminds me a great deal of the amazing 80s music video Take On Me which was directed by Steve Barron: Read more…
In this video Nathan Shedroff talks about the fact that other companies can’t quite “copy and paste” what Apple does well without hiring a Steve Jobs. Apparently Apple uses a “genius design” approach which allows them to produce trailblazing products. I’d say that Nathan is tapping into something larger: Frankly what makes Steve Jobs unique is that unlike so many CEOs he has a genuine respect for creativity and a true empathy for his audience. To me that places him in the same company as a Walt Disney or the head of a fashion or music label. The key ingredient isn’t so much an approach but an ability to cultivate the creativity of a company. So maybe it’s not so much the process itself, but rather having a new role model for CEOs.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 26, 2010 in Comic Books
I have to admit that I’m enjoying the kids titles that DC and Marvel have been putting out over their grownup titles for two reasons: First the kids titles aren’t afraid to play with the typical superhero styles that we’ve all have seen too often — the illustrations are always fun and never take themselves too seriously. Secondly these books always contain a certain amount of fanservice to make us kids who never grew up want to buy them. The cover of Tiny Titans #29 which is illustrated by Art Baltazar is a good example of what I like to see in this genre.
If you grew up on Star Blazers, Galaxy Expresss 999 and Captain Harlock you may want to think of sporting the Leiji Matsumoto Romantic Collection Watch on your wrist. I have to say that this beautiful timepiece really captures the look of Matsumoto mecha — it looks like a spare widget from the bridge of the Yamato or the Arcadia. Of course you may need to be a rocket scientist to actually read the watch as it features “quadrants have been demarcated with lines along with more minute lines which delineate the seconds”: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 26, 2010 in Animation, Fandom
I was recently very privileged to be part of an Anime 3000 podcast with legendary anime author Helen McCarthy who has written so many vital reference books like The Anime Encyclopedia (with Jonathan Clements) and Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. Also on the podcast were Tim Maughan and of course Sean Russell who’s really done a great job creating a podcast with the who’s who of anime. The conversation covers everything from Yona Yona Penguin to iPads and is also available on iTunes. Read more…
At over $200 this Nightmares of H.P. Lovecraft Dagon Statue is not for the casual fan looking for a bit of Cthulhu decoration for the library. Although looking at statues like this takes away the joy of H.P. Lovecraft for me — you see I was lucky enough to read a dusty old copy of At the Mountains of Madness and what I love about the style of writing is that it’s so packed with detail that your mind paints its own pictures. So seeing a Cthulhu hanging out in your living room takes away a bit of magic from those mountains of madness.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 24, 2010 in Japanese TV
Boss is one of my favorite canned coffee beverages so this Japanese advert caught my attention right away. What I find interesting about this spot is that as the camera pulls out I was expecting to see some sort of visual explanation as to why the singing fireman was wrapped up in his hose — but alas with a zen like quality that answer is never given. Read more…
What do you get when you put Steve Jobs together with a bunch of sci fi shows and movies? I’m not 100% sure but they’re all in the above video from Kelvington’s Parody Channel. By the way it’s amazing to think how much science fiction impacts the world of tech…
Tom Stathes’ latest Cartoon Carnival, number five to be exact, was presented at a storefront venue known as Vaudeville Park, and hosted by Cinebeasts, a local film society. Not only were the cartoons time-warp material; the twenty-somethings who’d organized the evening were dressed for the occasion in bowties, bowler hats and suspenders, a pianist was playing Fats Waller tunes, the SRO audience consisted of everyone from college kids to retirees, and never mind the open bar – they were handing out free popcorn! Read more…
Kikyo was cuter. Much cuter! It’s hard for me to believe it but to many anime fans Inuyasha is thought of as old school anime at this point — the show went on the air almost ten years ago in October of 2000. So for me it was a pleasant surprise to see this wonderful figurine of Kikyo which is produced by the BOME modeling house. From what I can gather from my source article is that this figurine first came out in 2009 as a limited edition but will be re-issued in June. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 22, 2010 in Fandom, Star Wars
This creative Star Wars themed fruit carving dates back to last year, but it’s still a classic to me! To me the Death Star is a symbol of just how iconic that Star Wars has become over the last few decades — there have been references to the superweapon in every show from the Powerpuff Girls to the anime series Crayon Shin Chan. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 22, 2010 in Japanese TV
You know you’re watching a Japanese commercial when a workaholic’s girlfriend stops by with a spot of tea and doesn’t seem to notice anything that’s slightly odd about the fact that your two co-workers are in fact a cat and a goose. Credit for this fun spot belongs to Aflac in Japan: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 22, 2010 in Comic Books
So many of the post-apocalyptic films from Mad Max to Escape from New York all owe a little something to Mighty Samson which was a comic book series published by Gold Key Comics back in 1964. The team of Otto Binder (writing) and Frank Thorne (illustration) created their vision of N’Yark which was one corner of planet Earth devastated by a nuclear war. The series lasted until 1982 and the faded into obscurity so I’m glad to see that starting in June Dark Horse will be releasing Mighty Samson Archives Volume 1. The first volume features the first seven comics from the series — here are some covers and interior pages from that era to give you a taste the mutants that roam the former streets of the big apple: Read more…
