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Celebrating the Anime Series Gin Tama with Just Desserts
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 28, 2011 in Animation, Comic Books
To honor the return of the anime series Gin Tama to the air Bandai created a limited line of desserts to celebrate the occasion. There are 25 desserts in all which will be sold at Namco Namja in Japan. Here are a few of the clever designs: Read more… Shonen Jump Titles to Chew On
Posted by Linda Yau on Feb 28, 2011 in Comic Books
Initially released in 1968 at Japan, Shonen Jump is a still running manga magazine that targets the interests of young Japanese male readers. This is not to be confused with Shonen Sunday, which is another long running rival magazine that targets late teens to early twenties males. Now what does this got to do with the United States? Shonen Sunday and Shonen Jump, while rival publications abroad are both published in English by Viz Media. The premises of a Shonen Jump story has an easy to follow theme of a male protagonist, with a journey, conflict or antagonist to triumph over. This win is the result of morals, perseverance, loyalty, and friendship. Stories created from these concepts sold millions. Read more… Thundercats Reboot Trailer, Hooooo!
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 27, 2011 in Animation
Cartoon Network has granted viewers sight beyond sight with a trailer for the upcoming Thundercats reboot! Check out your favorite cat-dudes and their mummy-dude adversary in their new anime-inspired incarnations. It looks like the gang’s all here, more or less, and Snarf is, dare I say, pretty cute! It’s a brave new world where I can speak his name and the tone isn’t murderous, and I like it. Studio 4oC has done a great job putting their own twist on this established (and admittedly pretty weird) universe, so let’s hope the show itself holds up as well as the art does. Read more… Another Superhero TV Show on the Way, Courtesy of FX
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 27, 2011 in Comic Books, Television
2011 is truly the year of superheroes, from the salvo of superhero moves being launched from Hollywood to the several superhero TV shows either being planned or already on TV. And now cable is getting its own shot at the genre — FX has ordered a pilot of Brian Michael Bendis’ comic series Powers. The series, starring an ex-superhero who works as a police officer in a department that investigates superhero-related homicides, is a great fit for a TV-MA channel like FX, so let’s hope that they handle the IP with the respect it deserves. Read more… An Almost Life-Size Serenity Poster
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 26, 2011 in Television
Firefly fans just can’t seem to let the show go, even this many years after it was canceled. Nathan Fillion mused that he’d like to buy the rights to the show and make more of it. But right now, the closest you’ll come to the starship Serenity is an absolutely enormous wall sticker of it! 48 inches diagonal, in fact. It’s made by Quantum Mechanix, and it’s based on the original 3D model of the ship from the film of the same name. You can even peel it off of one enormous wall and re-stick it onto another wall. You might call it Verse-atile. Yeah, I went there. Read more… Want to Work on the Doctor Who MMO? Better Move to Wisconsin
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 25, 2011 in Dr. Who, Videogames
Fans of Doctor Who may be quite pleased to hear that a free-to-play MMO based on the Doctor’s exploits is in development! Called Words in Time, it’s set to be a “fun and easy” online game for fans of all ages in which you assist you the Time Lord himself, going on missions and vanquishing classic foes. Those with software engineering skills may be even more interested in the game, because its developer, Three Rings, is hiring! The catch is that you have to live in Madison, Wisconsin. Maybe it’s not as bad as it sounds, though — their office is pretty darn cool. Read more… Blame Bill Murray for the Ghostbusters 3 Delay
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 25, 2011 in Cinema
Ivan Reitman’s been dangling a possible Ghostbusters 3 in front of us for years now, and now that there’s a completed script, it’s only a matter of time before it starts production, right? Well, almost. There’s one problem, and his name is Bill Murray. See, there’s a special arrangement in place that says that no new Ghostbusters production can move forward without the consent of all of its original stars/creators. And Bill Murray is notoriously picky about his projects (except for Garfield, I guess). He told Howard Stern that he had received the script some time ago but hadn’t read it yet because it just “isn’t the foremost thing in [his] mind.” That’s fair. But it’s foremost in my mind! Read the damn script, Bill! Read more… To Boldly Stream What No Service Has Streamed Before
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Feb 24, 2011 in Star Trek, Television
Last Tuesday, Netflix reached a landmark deal with CBS to stream what no other service has streamed before — at least, without charging an arm and a leg for individual episodes. By now you’ve probably guessed it, but they’ve secured the license to stream every Star Trek series in their entirety, along with a whole catalog of classics like Cheers, Family Ties, and one of my personal favorites, The Twilight Zone. As far as Star Trek is concerned, this may be a first as I don’t recall any other service to date offering all six shows — that’s assuming they’ll be getting access to the animated series with this deal. The Price of Freedom is Worth it
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Feb 24, 2011 in Comic Books, Hobbies and Collections
Ever since the first trailers for Marvel’s Captain America: The First Avenger hit the net, fans have been gearing up for what could be Marvel’s most anticipated film since 2008’s Iron Man. Given the excitement surrounding the film, many true believers have had to make due with comics and games, but I know there are those of you out there who like to burn holes in your wallets. My suggestion? Take a gander at Sideshow Collectibles’ Captain America premium format figure. This limited edition statue stands over two feet tall and features an incredibly detailed sculpt. Unfortunately that’s not the only thing incredible about it. Seeing as they’re only making 1,000 of them, the price tag stands at a hefty $290 not including tax and shipping, though at that price I can’t imagine they’d charge for it. Still, it’s mighty impressive and, if you’re a big enough fan, worth every penny. Is Superman Already Doomed?
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Feb 23, 2011 in Cinema, Comic Books
I was already a little iffy about the next Superman film after director Zack Snyder announced his plans to cast English actor Henry Cavill as our beloved Clark Kent, and now we’re hearing that Kevin Costner has been cast as Kent’s adopted father. As much as I’d like to give Costner credit for his storied acting career, many of the major films he’s starred in have tanked at the box office. To be honest, I’m not really sure how much of that is his fault — after all, he’s not a bad actor — but if the naysayers are to be believed, his involvement may as well serve as an omen. I hope both him, and his co-star prove me wrong. Besides, it’s not like he’s the star of the film. Protect the Republic, One Brick at a Time
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Feb 23, 2011 in Star Wars, Videogames
I don’t know why I thought Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga would be the last in the series of Star Wars and Lego crossovers. Maybe I just thought Lego was planning on sticking with film franchises they knew they’d be able to cash in on — Indiana Jones, and Harry Potter for example. Turns out I was wrong. Today marked the release of the official demo for the latest title in the series, Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars. As you’ve probably guessed, the plot of the game will follow the Cartoon Network animated series with a number of cameos from both the show and original films. Star Blazers to Go Hollywood
Could we be seeing a Hollywood-produced Star Blazers live-action film in foreseeable future? Well, it’s not 100% official just yet. Skydance Productions are reportedly in the process of negotiating the license for the series. If some of you recall, Japan recently produced a live-action adaptation of their own that performed pretty well, so I imagine there’s probably some pressure to make sure the Hollywood adaptation will at least hold a candle to that. It probably won’t be a problem, seeing as they plan on hiring Christopher McQuarrie to write the script — he’s also working on the upcoming Wolverine “sequel.” Japan to Build Their Own Mr.Data? Japan recently announced that they’re considering sending a talking humanoid robot to the International Space Station in 2013. In addition to offering companionship, and being generally creepy — it’s suppose to monitor the astronauts while they sleep — it’ll communicate with Earth via twitter, where it’ll tweet images to its followers on the ground. Sadly, I don’t think the robot will posess super-human strength, or any form of self-awareness. After all, I doubt Japan has any cyberneticists capable of crafting the appropriate positronic components. Read more… Ten Spring Anime Titles Worth Watching
Posted by Linda Yau on Feb 21, 2011 in Animation
Graphic novel look of Deadman Wonderland Japanese anime run on a four season schedule, so to be serious about this hobby, a fan must be aware of anime that is going to be happening in the following season. The next season is slated to begin from March until June. Referring to the chart below, anyone would realize that there is a number of titles already announced. From those announced titles, these are my ten choices to not just watch, but know that a lot more fans might be checking out. Read more… Manga Bloggers Worth Bookmarking
Posted by Linda Yau on Feb 21, 2011 in Comic Books
Maintaining a blog and growing with it, has been an personal interest, since I began my own blog. My own blogigng life has been what I believe to be an ever changing one with writing as well as reading other blogs. There is one blogging niche that I have actively been keeping apace with, and the manga blogging community is a close knit group. Certain names are mentioned and appear time and again. Thanks in part to the Twitter networking, Google reader, and continuing blogging projects like an annual Great Manga Gift Guide recommendation list or Manga Movable Feast, it would be good to have these bloggers on your blog reading radar. This list is listed in alphabetical order, by the blogger’s first name; a link to their writing/blogs is also included with additional information about what makes them memorable bloggers. Read more… Star Trek: Nemesis Almost Wasn’t a TNG Movie At All
This is one of those stories that makes me wonder if things wouldn’t actually have been better if they had turned out as originally planned. Star Trek producer Rick Berman stated in a recent interview that the last film to star the Next Generation crew, Star Trek: Nemesis, was originally going to star a completely new cast of characters, but Berman fought to keep the TNG cast around for another film. At that point, Berman argues, Enterprise was just about to hit TV, so he felt like introducing yet another new Federation crew would’ve alienated series fans. Nemesis was not a great film by any means, its production was hampered with problems with both its script and cast, and it certainly didn’t make any money for Paramount, so one has to wonder if maybe a new cast and a fresh take on Trek would’ve made a better movie. Fun fact: Shinzon, Picard’s clone (shown above), was played by a young Tom Hardy, who you may know from Inception, and who’ll soon be playing Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. Read more… X-Men Anime Gets a Teaser Trailer
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 20, 2011 in Animation, Comic Books
Seems like we’re seeing lots more anime adaptations of quintessentially American IPs, like Supernatural, coming out of Japan these days, and a lot of them are through the animation studio Madhouse. Their latest offering, an X-Men anime, has all the hallmarks of such an adaptation — achingly beautiful hero (Cyclops), a whole lot of fire, and a Thundercats character. Wait, no, that’s Beast. But you can’t deny that there’s a family resemblance there! I think that X-Men is actually a property that might work well in anime, with its mix of character drama and over-the-top action, so I’ll be interested to see the final product. Read more… Count Your Cameos in Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 19, 2011 in Comic Books, Videogames
Brand-new brawler Marvel vs. Capcom 3 has a pretty robust roster of 38 characters (including announced DLC characters), but just because a character didn’t make it into the game in playable form doesn’t mean they didn’t make it in at all. Each playable character’s ending in Arcade mode has unique art and dialogue, and almost every ending has cameos from both sides of the Marvel-Capcom spectrum. GamesRadar has collected them all and catalogued them for your perusal, and there are cameos from some seriously obscure or second-string characters here. Shanna the She-Devil? Dazzler? Fin Fang Foom? Awesome. And then there are some matchups that just make sense, like Devil May Cry‘s Dante duking it out with Ghost Rider. I’d pay to see that fight. Read more… Iron Man 3 Snags a Downey-Favorite Director
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 19, 2011 in Cinema, Comic Books
No, not Val Kilmer, the other guy. Shane Black, who directed RDJ in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, is said to be helming the third Iron Man film after Jon Favreau was booted from the director’s spot. Downey ultimately has choice of director in that he is allowed to leave the project if he doesn’t approve of the director, so Paramount and Marvel Studios have reason to keep him happy. Black and Downey have a long history and a good friendship — in fact, much of the original Iron Man‘s dialogue was cribbed from discussions between the two in Downey’s trailer even while filming was ongoing. Black is a great choice for director, and he may even be writing the film as well, so let’s hope that the third film in the series fares better script-wise than the second did. Read more… Matthew Vaughn to Helm “The Expendables with Superheroes”
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 18, 2011 in Cinema, Comic Books
Director Matthew Vaughn isn’t even done with X-Men: First Class yet, but that isn’t stopping him from planning his next venture, which he says a major studio is ready to fund. It’s called The Golden Age, and it’s based on an unreleased comic book written by UK TV personality Jonathan Ross, and Vaughn likens it to “The Expendables with superheroes.” The comic book follows several retired superheroes who have to team up one last time to fix the problems their superhero children have caused in the world. Vaughn says that he’d love to have Jack Nicholson or Warren Beatty in lead roles, or any other former big-time star who’s now relegated to side roles. Sounds like a neat concept, but I’ll have to wait until the comic is released to make a real judgement on the film’s prospects. Read more… New Thor Cinematic Trailer Has the Goods
Posted by Michael Sacco on Feb 18, 2011 in Cinema, Comic Books
The last few Thor trailers haven’t really had a lot to say in terms of Thor the character, just how people around him react to him. We haven’t gotten a chance to see the oblivious oaf side of the Odinson, a necessary counterpart to his more stalwart and heroic side. Well, in this latest trailer, we get a little more action and a little more oaf. And Kat Dennings taking out the depowered god of thunder with a taser. This I like. We even get the indication that Loki is the villain of the film, not just a side character! Not that followers of the film didn’t already know that, but at least the trailer is making it obvious to the average viewer. It’s a big summer for comic book movies — let’s hope Thor makes an impact. Read more… Meet the New Wonder Woman
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Feb 17, 2011 in Comic Books, Television
Various outlets are reporting that Friday Night Lights star Adrianne Palicki has been cast as Diana Prince in NBC’s upcoming Wonder Woman television series. The joint venture between writer David E. Kelley and Jeffrey Reiner had a bumpy start, but after being passed on by a number of networks, NBC finally came to the rescue. Unfortunately, like rival network Fox, NBC is often quick to pull the plug if a show doesn’t hit the ground running. We’ll just have to hope that Palicki has the skills to match her striking looks — after all, anyone can dye their hair black, but handling that Lasso of Truth? Well, that remains to be seen. These Divinity II Pre-Order Gifts Look Absolutely Divine
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Feb 17, 2011 in Videogames
Xbox 360 owners are in for a bit of treat when they pre-order Larin Studios’ upcoming expansion for their hit RPG Divinity II, entitled The Dragon Knight Saga. Those of you who were unfortunate enough to own the previous title for your console may be happy to know that this upcoming release will feature a remastered version, complete with new content, an improved engine and support for the Flames of Vengeance add-on. On top of that, Atlus, the game’s North American publisher has decided to sell it for the low price of $39.99, and those of you who pre-order will recieve an art book and soundtrack to boot. What Was It Like to Be an 80s Anime Fan in NYC?
You know how when you go to a really popular anime convention that there might be say a 100 people waiting on line to get their badge? Well back in the 80s those 100 people would be pretty much the sum total of anime fandom in New York City! Thanks to Saul Trabal (show in the photo above) we have a wonderful little photo essay from that era when anime was limited to getting VHS tapes from friends of friends who had pen pals in Japan: Read more… |
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