Fujiya Peko Cakes

Shown above is an animated vintage commercial for Fujiya Peko cakes. In her kimono Peko looks cuter than Minky Momo ever did, in fact I’d say it’s high time she lands her own anime show!

Madonna vs. the Dragon

This classic 1995 Japanese commercial for Takara Sake features Madonna in traditional garb. It holds up pretty well, no?

Sneakers Save Astronaut from Spys

The above commercial was shown inbetween episodes of Jonny Quest between 1964-65 when B.F. Goodrich, the makers of P.F. Flyers co-sponsored the cartoon. To me there’s something very surreal about the connection between the sneakers, spys and an astronaut. Although I love the idea of including a comic book as a bonus when you buy your footwear!

Found via Ira H. Gallen.

Asahiyama Zoo: Red Pandas in the Snow

This is such a cute report from Japanese TV! It features a bunch of Red Pandas playing in the snow at the Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, Japan.

Clever Korean Commercials: XSpeed

This funny series of commercials from Korea for LG PowerCom XSpeed shows off the need for speed.

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Doraemon Themed Commercial

The advert above is for the Japanese moving company The0123 and features none other than anime cat icon Doraemon. Meow!

Found via akihabaranews.com.

Max Headroom Returns

Shown above is the new old Max Headroom, played by original actor Matt Frewer. The good news is that Max won’t be back as a Hollywood remake:

Channel 4 resurrects Max Headroom

“Channel 4 is to bring back 1980s creation Max Headroom to front a series of TV ads to raise awareness of the digital switchover. The campaign, which breaks this Saturday, features Matt Frewer, the actor who played the original Max Headroom. Ads will feature Headroom criticising Channel 4, which created the stuttering digital host in the 1980s, for ignoring his vision of a digital future.”

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Japanese Game Show: Marshmallow Eating

It’s hard to say if this video is funny or just slightly cruel? The clip is from the Japanese comedy show Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! (which is Downtown’s “Not An Errand Boy!” in English).

Found via Mixx.

Doctor Who’s First Producer Passes Away

In addition to the Dr. Who tv series, Verity Lambert also worked on other classics like Quartermass and Rock Follies:

Doctor Who’s first producer dies

“Doctor Who’s first producer, and the BBC’s first female TV producer, Verity Lambert, has died aged 71. She was also the youngest person to take charge of a BBC television show when the sci-fi drama started in 1963. Lambert oversaw the first two series of Doctor Who before leaving in 1965. Russell T Davies, the current writer and executive producer of Doctor Who, said: “There are a hundred people in Cardiff working on Doctor Who and millions of viewers, in particular many children, who love the programme that Verity helped create. This is her legacy and we will never forget that,” he added.”

Harlan Ellison Rant: Hollywood Studios

This is a great rant about how Hollywood studios never want to pay writers.

Found via Dvorak.

Stick Around: Andy Kaufman in the Year 2055

Andy Kaufman played the character of Andy the Robot in the pilot episode of Stick Around, a Sleeper inspired comedy show set in the year 2055. Pretty much everything i read about Stick Around claims that it never aired, but the odd thing is that the theme song sounds very familar to me so I’m wondering if the show did air or if the theme song was somehow re-used. The funny thing about the pilot is that there are so many references to the 70s to things like inflation.

Found via Peter Bernard.

Not the Daily Show

I tend to avoid covering the mainstream media on this blog, but the above video by the writers of the Daily Show caught my attention and I’d like to share it as the writers do a good (yet enteraining) job of making their point. Being a fanboy at heart my thinking is that what separates compelling entertainment from the mundane is the storytelling, and that starts with the script. Everything flows from that script, and you can throw money at the screen but without the story you have nothing. And so to me taking care of your talent is just smart business.

Found via RumorsDaily.

Set the Alarm Clock for Rice!

Because seven o’clock is rice time! I love this catchy commercial from Japan…

Xmas Beer

You’d think that Christmas beer from Kirin would come in a glass bottle rather than a can?! Well at least it’s not egg nog flavored…

An Athletic Pocky Commercial

Aragaki Yui stars in the above athletic themed Pocky commercial. Of course I like her previous Pocky commercial better (because it has an electro clash beat that much more easy to dance along with):

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Japanese Video Game Commercials

This collection of Japanese video game commercials is amazing! It’s like getting a compressed overview of the history of video games. Here’s part two:

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Mystery Science Theater 3000 Returns Online

According to mst3kinfo.com it looks like Mystery Science Theater 3000 will use their website to put out new episodes of the show:

The ‘Bots are Back!

“Beginning November 5th, BBI will be launching its very own website at MST3K.com. The site will feature brand-new animated adventures of Crow, Tom Servo and Gypsy. We’re told the goal is to have one new adventure each week (though “some settling may occur with shipping,” they added). The Web site will also feature work from the original series (which BBI is now calling “the legacy series”), behind-the-scenes footage and other material culled from the BBI vault.”

Monkey Decoration Tips

Shown above is a cute ad for the Japanese paint company Asahipen from the early 80s.

Schwarzenegger Shills for Cup o’ Noodles

Shown above is an old Nissin Foods commercial featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger enjoying a healthy helping of instant ramen after a musical work out. It’s funny no matter how much ramen I eat I never get muscles that look like that…

Catching Up With Logan’s Run!

It’s funny as a child of the 70s I remember the above cover of Dynamite magazine pretty well. Of course my favorite issue (which I left out in the rain by accident) was the one that featured a Space:1999 cover (but alas that’s a tale for another day).

This cover caught my eye as right now Hollywood is doing a remake of Logan’s Run. Now usually even the mention of the word “remake” would set me on edge as it would bring visions of some unoriginal Hollywood hack mining my childhood for ideas. However this cover made me take off my rose colored glasses and realize that how back in the day if a film that did well it might be followed up by a very bad TV show based upon on it. And the Logan’s Run TV show was about as bad as it got!

Just looking at those actors above and you can taste the cheesy flavor in your mouth. For starters they break the golden 70s rule that if you have one guy with black hair the other guy has to have blond hair. Every show from Starsky and Hutch to the Dukes of Hazzard followed this winning formula. And then you have the lady in the middle, it’s like they knew they couldn’t get Jessica Lang or Farrah Fawcett (who had a minor role in the film) so they figured “well let’s just give her a Farrah Fawcett haircut and maybe nobody will notice”. And what’s sad about the show is that while I can remember this magazine cover perfectly, I can’t recall even the slightest plot detail of a single episode — althought my bet is that I must have watched the entire series back in the day.

Yukan Club

Shown above are the opening titles to Yukan Club, a new Japanese comedy revolving around six wealthy high school students who solve mysteries and in their free time, and amuse themselves lavishly while doing it. The live action show is based on a manga that dates back to 1983 by Yukari Ichijo, which was then turned into an anime OVA title in 1991.

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Dalek Webcam

This Dr. Who themed webcam is “point-and-shoot”:

Look and Ex-ter-min-ate!

“Daleks have an eyestalk which they use to view the world. But baby Daleks aren’t as lucky. They have eyes in their torso and are quite often captured from their nests and enslaved by larger lifeforms to be used as webcams. The Time Lords have always used Dalek Webcams to talk to each other over large distances of space and time. This could be one reason why the Daleks are always trying to destroy everything.”

Puccho: A Catchy Cute Candy Commercial

I love the music for this cute advert for Puccho, also check out their website too (the silly Flash animations are worth checking out):

Yui Aragaki Attacks a Lemon

The Japanese commercial above is for Mitsuya Cider (which tastes like Sprite but is less suit) and stars none other than Yui Aragaki.

You can see another Aragaki commercial here…