“Currently titled “The Internet’s Own Boy,” the new film by Brian Knappenberger, director of “We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists,” follows internet activist and programming pioneer Aaron Swartz from his teenage emergence on the internet scene and involvement in RSS and Reddit, to his increased interest in political advocacy and the controversial actions he allegedly took in downloading nearly four million academic articles from the online service JSTOR. The film explores Aaron’s arrest, the prosecution’s tactics in bringing the case to trial through the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the CFAA, and the impact a seemingly small hacking gesture had on Aaron’s life and the future of information access on the internet.”Read more…
On Hacker News I came across this amazing vintage Steve Jobs quote: “The Mac user interface was a 10-year monopoly,” says Jobs. “Who ended up running the company? Sales guys. At the critical juncture in the late ’80s, when they should have gone for market share, they went for profits. They made obscene profits for several years. And their products became mediocre. And then their monopoly ended with Windows 95. They behaved like a monopoly, and it came back to bite them, which always happens.”Read more…
“There hasn’t been much excitement or rumors about what Apple will do next. Is the next version of iPhone really all that exciting anymore? What do you think Apple will do to stay current; or would you think that with the lose of Steve Jobs, Apple will expire? There’s the iWatch speculation/rumor, but is this all that interesting? What is so exciting about an iPhone on your wrist? Or do you think Apple is developing some cool device using graphene? A watch that could unfold into an iPhone then further unfold into an tablet would be amazing. But, I don’t feel like Apple will be pulling this rabbit out of their hat. What do you think?” Read more…
Sadly on April 12th science fiction humorist Nick Pollotta passed away after a battle with cancer. In addition to his writing Nick also had a background of doing standup comedy and was active in fandom going back to the 80s — above is a video of him performing a dramatic reading of the old Spiderman theme song.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 26, 2013 in Television
If you were a child of the mid-70s chances are that before the dawn of Star Wars that Space:1999 was a beloved favorite. In the United States the show had a decent following and merchandise followed in the form of model kits, action figures and of course toys. My most treasured toy was a wonderful import from England which was a die-cast metal Eagle, but being a mere child without an internet connection I didn’t know about this gem: This is a Japanese “Space Eagle” toy which even includes the box! And of course it’s for sale on eBay: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 15, 2013 in Star Trek
So I’m watching the latest cut of the official teaser trailer for Star Trek Into Darkness (see below) and it suddenly hits me: I’ve seen this lady before in the Star Trek universe. Sure enough I go back through my stills of Where No Man Has Gone Before which was an early pilot for Star Trek and there she is — Dr. Elizabeth Dehner! There is also a shot earlier in the trailer that reminds of Kirk talking to Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell in the brig: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 26, 2012 in Television
Sadly my guess is that most fanboys under the age of 40 will never quite appreciate Gerry Anderson the way that I might, because I think his very best work was aimed at children. So if your childhood started after say 1975 this shows that he made wouldn’t quite have the same magical qualities. So for those of you who are too young even at age 40 let me take you back to back to the year 1975 when I was only ten years old: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 26, 2012 in Dr. Who
The BBC reports that the Royal Mail will be releasing an official set of Doctor Who stamps to honor the the 50th anniversary of the show. This wonderful series features a stamp for each Doctor, and then a second class set of stamps will features the villains from the show including my favorite the Daleks. Shown below are the other first class Doctors: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 16, 2012 in Animation
If you’re into classic old school animation you’ll want to be watching Turner Classic Movies this weekend. From 5pm until well after midnight animation historian Jerry Beck will be showing Max Fleischer’s Gulliver’s Travels (1939) , Max Fleischer’s Mr. Bug Goes To Town (1941), UPA’s Jolly Frolics , some silent animated films from NYC from back in the day and Lotte Reiniger’s The Adventures of Prince Achmed.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 28, 2012 in Anime, Fandom
Recently a friend dropped an interest factoid onto my Facebook page: Thirty years ago today on August 28th, 1982 as part of the Creation Summer Expo*NY comic book con there was a mini-convention held inside which was called the Star Blazers Mini Con. Up until that point there were gatherings of anime fans in New York City thanks to the local chapter of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization, but this was the first time that anime fandom found a place inside of a larger convention. My memory is fuzzy but the event lasted two full days, had about 100 people hanging around at any time and featured a mix of videotapes being played along with panel discussions. Read more…
I was just devastated to read that director Tony Scott has committed suicide. Of course most fanboys know his bother Ridley Scott who directed Blade Runner, however Tony Scott has always had a special place in my heart. Scott hit Hollywood gold with Top Gun in 1986, but my favorite film of his was The Hunger which he made in 1983. And of course I also loved True Romance which featured a script by Quentin Tarantino and some great scenes — my favorite being the one between Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken: Read more…
In Japan Sharp is showing off two robot vacuum cleaners which have been given a Mobile Suit Gundam theme. Apparently these are variations on their existing Cocorobo robot cleansers which include a voice recognition system. Here they are on display: Read more…
According to our sources Raiders of the Lost Ark will be re-released in IMAX format from September 7th until the 13th. This will be up excitement for the release of the Blu-ray box set which should be out on September 18th. This new release won’t feature any changes to the original special effects which makes this fanboy very happy.
This brilliant infographic is titled From Kane to Nolan: Seventy Years of Batman and is by Blair Erickson. To see the full sized version just click on the image below: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 24, 2012 in Comic Books
Shown below is a nice mini-video profile of comic book artist Joe Sacco: Joe will be a for a live chat at billmoyers.com on Wednesday, July 25 at 2 PM ET. Joe’s latest book is Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt and is on the invisible poor. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 23, 2012 in Science
I was heartbroken to read that Sally Kristen Ride has passed away. On June 18, 1983 she became the first American woman (and also the youngest American at age 32) to enter space. She went on a second ride in 1984 and spent a total 343 hours in space, but more importantly she inspired a generation of girls to get involved in science. Here is a wonderful photo of her on the job: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 20, 2012 in Cinema, Fandom
By now you’ve heard it all, so I won’t recap the story. My heart goes out to the family and friends of those who were murdered in Denver last night. The opening night of a film is an event that many fans look ahead to for months on end, and for someone to exploit this is a very depressing thought. In the days ahead many folks in media will focus on the madman that did this and his motives, but I’d ask that everyone think of those who are the victims of this crime.
Alexandre Dumas is the talented Space:1999 fanboy behind this handmade model of the Swift spacecraft. The Swift was one of the cooler spaceship designs from Space:1999 and was featured in the episode Brian The Brain. In the series the Swift was a support shift which could make an interstellar trip: Read more…
