Ever get that sinking feeling like you’re about to be devoured by a giant yellow ball but weren’t quite sure how to express it to others? Well, this shirt is the solution to that problem. ThinkGeek recently introduced this killer retro Pac-Man glow-in-the-dark ghost t-shirt. Obviously the ghost in question is about to become a snack, but that doesn’t make it any less cool. What’s more is that they’re giving the shirt away for free! What’s the catch you ask? ell, you have to add it to your cart, and spend $31 on other goods before they’ll toss it in free of charge. I guess that doesn’t really make it free, but $31 isn’t too much to ask, especially considering how many awesome products they carry. Besides, if you don’t want to drop the cash on other stuff, you can buy the shirt itself starting at $15.99, with XL and XXL costing a mere dollar or two extra. If you’re shooting for a free one though, I highly recommend a box of Stay Puft caffeinated gourmet marshmallows.
Universal Design, the guys who brought us those amazing custom Iron Man sneakers, are also known for their replicas — one of which just happens to be this awesome motorcycle outfit from Disney’s upcoming feature film Tron Legacy, set to release later this year. The outfit, which I can only imagine will be worn during a killer light-bike sequence, comes in two fits — the men’s Sam Flynn model and the women’s Quorra model. While each piece of the outfit — jacket, gloves, pants and boots — will be sold separately, each complete suit will run you $995 and $899 respectively. I know that seems a bit pricy, but you have to admit they both look awesome. If you’re interested check their official website for more information.
I love NASA, space exploration, and photoshop as much as anyone, but this official — yes, it’s official — poster for one of NASA recent trips to the International Space Station has got to be the most gaudy one I’ve seen since The Expendables. Of course, I’m not going to fault them for wanting to make routine supply and maintenance seem way cooler than it actually was, but I know I’m not the only one who thought it was a bit much. The guys over at titleofmagazine.com even tweeted that they must have “missed the memo” about Michael Bay running NASA , a jab that I have to give them credit for — after all, it certainly looks that way, doesn’t it?
I’m not entirely sure it was Keita Takahashi’s intent to revolutionize the game industry when he created Katamari Damacy, but somehow a concept as simple as rolling a ball managed to do just that. In fact, many often label his work as art — contrary to what Roger Ebert would have us believe — so it doesn’t surprise me that others would take notice. Having parted with his former employer, Namco Bandai, Takahashi has been forced move on to bigger and better things. Whether or not we see another title on par with Katamari’s success remains to be seen, but until then, Takahashi will be hard at work creating something a little bit different. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 5, 2010 in Comic Books
Rian Hughes is a very talented illustrator, typographer and designer which is why I’m looking ahead to seeing On The Line which will be published in December by Image Comics. This book will be a complete collection of his newspaper strips drawn for The Guardian newspaper in England. In the strip Hughes draws a great deal of inspiration from the old modernist UPA cartoons that Gene Deitch did in the 50s.
These days, it seems everyone thinks they can have a web comic. I’m sure that’s probably why I don’t often read them, at least, not the ones that lack art in favor of snark. I’m not sure why, but I suppose on some fundamental level, I just object to the idea of reading witty blocks of text that could have been blogged, or otherwise printed instead of uploaded as a JPEG. And then, to call it a comic on top of that just adds insult to injury — it’s not a comic, it’s lazy. Occasionally though, these “comics” hit the nail on the head. One such was The Oatmeal‘s recent rant about the various e-mails we deal with on a day to day basis. Read more…
If you had asked me a month or two ago, I probably would have told you that I couldn’t imagine a place like this existing. However, after my recent trip to Tokyo, I could believe anything — of course, that doesn’t change the fact that I totally regret missing this. Apparently, there’s a Dragon Quest-themed bar in Roppongi — Luida’s Bar. For those of you who aren’t big on Japanese RPGs, Dragon Quest , or Dragon Warrior, as it was once known in the states, is almost as popular as Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy here in the States, and even more so in Japan.
Do you want to look like Fujiko Mine from Lupin III? Well here’s your chance: Bandai will be rolling out a line of cosmetics that are based on the beloved anime series by Monkey Punch. I love the fact how some of the items in the line are shaped like bullets — although I’m surprised that Bandai isn’t doing a line of jewelry given Lupin’s occupation. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 4, 2010 in Comic Books
Shown above is a preview of the cover for Viking, Vol. 1: The Long Cold Fire which will be published in December 8th by Image Comics. What drew me to this illustration by Nic Klein is the wonderful level of detail in his model combined with a feeling of motion that reminds me a great deal of Japanese manga panels. But the two things that make this cover stand out are the nice use of negative space in the upper left where you eye first reads the artwork — that an the bold use of yellow is a real wiining combination. As this is a preview the artwork may change, but like what I see here.
The above photo is of an umbrella shaped like a star destroyer from Star Wars. I think. I’m not enough of a Star Wars nerd to know the difference between all these things. Anyway, it’s bizarre because it’s such an artsy-fartsy photo and it’s such a dumb shape for an umbrella. Which begs the question: where the hell is the Death Star umbrella?! Read more…
Most studios are okay with just using ads and merchandising tie-ins to drum up publicity for their upcoming animated films, but not Dreamworks. No, they had something much bigger in mind to promote Megamind, Will Ferrell’s upcoming CG superhero movie: they wanted to break a world record. Specifically, the record for most superheroes gathered in a single place. And they did it! In Los Angeles’ Nokia Plaza, over 1501 people showed up in superhero garb, edging out the previous record gathering of 1500 costumed crimefighters. Let’s hope that the movie, out November 5th, is worth this kind of (admittedly awesome) publicity. Read more…
While I’m trying not to establish myself as the “concept art guy” around here, sometimes a gallery of images is so cool that I just have to link it. And, not to play semantics or anything, these are concept cars, which are totally different from concept art. Not really. Specifically, though, these are concept cars from Japanese auto companies from the last 50 years, ranging in design from “sporty” to “swanky” to “kind of looks like a mechanical caterpillar” (like the above). Some of them seem straight out of a sci-fi movie — and some of them actually are. Read more…
…he showed up at Marvel HQ and told them so! Isaiah Mustafa (himself a big ol’ geek who even went to Comic-Con) has said several times that he wants to play Marvel brawler Luke Cage in a movie, but this time he took matters into his own hands, showing up at Marvel in the flesh. They filmed this great riff on his famous “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” ads with Old Spice while he was there, using action figures and superimposing Mustafa’s head over Luke Cage’s plastic incarnation. Personally? I think he’s got the chops. The karate chops. Read more…
San Diego Comic-Con is the biggest event in geek culture, the Mecca toward which all self-respecting nerds point themselves once a year. But it almost became Los Angeles Comic-Con, or Anaheim Comic-Con, thanks to price gouging by local venues and hotels looking to capitalize on the 130,000 fans who flock to the area every year. Negotiations were fierce to cash in on the $150+ million dollars the event brings local tourism — Los Angeles reportedly offered the administrators convention space at no cost — but in the end, the con’s old home beat out all comers. Comic-Con will remain in San Diego, at least until 2015. Sorry, Anaheim — looks like you’ll have to lean on BlizzCon for another five years. Read more…
Wait, wait, don’t go! I’m not talking about the story continuity (though I gather it did pick up more or less where the last one left off)! I’m talking about the continuity of Ali Larter/Claire’s grey tanktop dropping lower and lower throughout the film, showing of just a little more black bra at a time. Witness! Read more…
So, all of you know who Richard Belzer is. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, try Detective Munch, or “the skinny paranoid cop on Law and Order: SVU who used to be on Homicide: Life on the Street” (the latter clause only if you’re a true obsessive when it comes to crime TV, or are over the age of 30).
But did you know that long before he played one of the most crossed-over, spun-off characters on television, Belzer was a stand-up comedian? And did you know that he’s apparently returning to the stage…digitally? Pop Eater has just debuted Belzer’s new video, an homage to vampires…who love the ladies. Read more…
Julia breaks up with her boyfriend from Volume 1. Volume 2 is her depiction of things as she goes on her life, leaving San Francisco to move to New York. All this is done in a cartoony way. You can either empathize with her, or just believe that she should get her life out of a ditch and just take life as it is. But if you believe the second option I just mentioned, then clearly she shouldn’t have written this book, and what a loss that would have been. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Oct 1, 2010 in Star Wars
No, not that kind of 3D. ComingSoon reports that Lucasfilm will be re-releasing the Star Wars films — again — in theaters, this time with a trendy 3D conversion. But even if you’re into Star Wars (or 3D conversions, which are getting pretty tiresome at this point), don’t get excited just yet. The 3D films will be released in story order — in other words, Phantom Menace first. Releasing the objectively worst film of the series first probably isn’t the best way to generate opening-weekend profits, or to guarantee future releases.
Oh well. At least Industrial Light & Magic is overseeing the conversion, so we can expect a treatment that does the original films justice — that is, if the re-releases make it that far. Read more…
It’s not like there was ever really a doubt in the matter, but given that there’s been no word about it either way, one could perhaps get a little antsy as to whether or not visionary director Christopher Nolan would be returning to direct the third installment in the rebooted Batman franchise. Well, doubt no more! Empire recently spoke with the man himself, and he sort kind of semi-confirmed he’d be helming the new Batman film. Though he waffled a bit at the beginning of the interview, with a little prodding he said we can safely assume that he’s directing. The site was also able to confirm that there’s even a script, written by his brother Jonathan — again, no surprise, but comforting news to fans of the superb previous two films. Read more…
I can’t even count the ways I love this game. For those of you who may not have played the series, Dynasty WarriorsGundam combines the legendary anime with Koei’s Dynasty Warriors game mechanics. The end result? You control one of the enormous mechs as you fight through hordes of giant robots until you face off against other new-types in a bid to control the battlefield. Sure, the gameplay can seem a bit repetitive at times, but unlike the original Dynasty Warrior games, the Gundam series has always presented me with more of a challenge.
So you love One Piece, and you want to rock some nifty pirate attire but don’t want to bother with an eyepatch? Don’t worry, Japan has you covered. Check out these sweet One Piece sun glasses and frames. Sure, they’re not quite as fierce as an actual eye-patch, but I’m sure anyone who recognizes the logo will envy you. Everyone else? Well, at least they still look pretty classy. I suppose it depends on which color you end up getting. As much as I love Frankie, I’m not sure I’d look pretty good in baby blue shades, and I’m not sure many of you would either. Thankfully, there are plenty of others to choose from, with each color and design for each of your favorite characters. No word on when or if these will be available stateside, though I imagine that if anyone decides to carry them, it’ll be J-List. Until then, just stare in awe.
If you hurry, for the next 22 hours or so, TeeFury has these amazing Super Mario Bros/Star Wars cross-over tees. It’s been quite some time since anything they’ve decided to print has caught my eye, but this little gem is hard to pass up. In case, for whatever reason, you’re clueless about classic Nintendo games, the shirt depicts an 8-bit Bobba Fett in a parody of the original cover/cart art for Super Mario Brothers here in the US. Aside from being kind of awesome, owning this shirt definitely earns you some instant nerd cred. Besides, I can’t even think of a better way to determine who you’d want to socialize with or not, because either they’ll get it, or they won’t — and why would you want to socialize with anyone who doesn’t? As always, TeeFury keeps it reasonable at $9 per tee — and before that price scares you, don’t worry, they’re sturdy.
I actually didn’t think anyone would ever take the time to build a 1:1 scale replica of Star Trek‘s Enterprise 1701-D, but it looks as though someone decided to go for it. The video above depicts his attempt thus far, using the Minecraft development tools available here. It’s hard not to point out how enormous the vessel truly is — which seems like it would be obvious, but seeing it on television and seeing it from this perspective can be quite different. It blows my mind that he’s managed to get this far on his own, but I’m sure the process might speed up considerably once he has more people assisting him with the project. If you’re interested, he’s left details on the video’s YouTube page in case you want to contact him and offer your support. Read more…
