Werewolves are back in the movies! Underworld and it’s sequel have managed to make the wolf man a popular topic for film in the new century and the latest release in this genre is Skinwalkers. With a PG-13 rating and a pretty formulamatic plot Skinwalkers was perceived as another tired retread from a Hollywood in desperate need of originality. Yet as the movie progressed it showed itself to have a little spark and a cast of actors and characters that you found yourself caring for.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 4, 2008 in Japanese TV
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!
Thanks to the marketing division of Bandai shown above (click for a full image) is Deslar Wine. It’s no secret that Star Blazers was quite an inspiration to me growing up, well it seems a generation on wine drinking fanboys in Japan have now arrived — and want to enjoy more sophisticatedmemorabiliaassociated with Space Cruiser Yamato:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 3, 2008 in Comic Books
A graphic novel about old school phone phreaking and computer hacking? How could an old school fanboy not be sold on this concept! And from the looks of it Ed Piskor has done a great job with this comic book which features everything from acoustic modems ala WarGames to a scene with the Woz and Jobs selling blue-boxes in a primitive pre-iPhone world:
Every day Ian Stone starts his life, at some point during that day Ian dies a terrible death only to find himself in a new life with an unsettling feeling that he’s been through something horrific. Thus the plot setup for the Deaths of Ian Stone for the best movie to come out of Horrorfest in 2007.
I recently enjoyed myself spending much time exploring the website GRIN: Great Images in NASA, which has an amazing collection of over a thousand images which any fanboy would love! Below are some of my finds, make sure to click on each photo to see a larger image:
Saturn V, S-II Stage is Lifted into Test Stand: The S-II stage of the Saturn V rocket is hoisted onto the A-2 test stand in 1967 at the Mississippi Test Facility, now the Stennis Space Center. This was the second stage of the 364-foot tall Moon rocket. The second stage was powered by five J-2 engines.
I’m starting to hear some good things about Cloverfield, but the Statue of Liberty treatment reminds me a bit too much of the end of Planet of the Apes and we’ve already seen the blowing up New York City thing in Independence Day. And not to make it personal but in my mind JJ Abrams is still not on my “friends list” until he patches things up with William Shatner over the next Star Trek film. Although that won’t stop me from standing in line to see the movie on opening day of course…
P.S. Although I have to say that Cloverfield’s marketing campaign is very blogger friendly which makes me happy!
“One of the most prolific writers in history, on any imaginable subject. Cared little for art but created lasting and memorable tales.”
This made me rather happy on a silly level as I grew up reading the Foundation series and chaired a small science fiction convention on Long Island in the 80s that had Asimov as a guest of honor. Although credit for getting him as a guest has to go to Elyse Rosenstein who was very involved in organizing the Star Trek conventions in the 70s and the Lunacon science fiction conventions in the 80s.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 1, 2008 in Comic Books
When I saw the above X-Men poster I was blown away! The credit for the illustration goes to Eric Tan who works for Disney in California, his inspiration came from old German film posters.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 31, 2007 in Animation
It’s been ten years but I feel that Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke holds up pretty well (and will look still look great good ten, twenty, and thirty years into the future).
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 31, 2007 in Animation
Forty years ago Tatsunoko introduced the classic anime series Mach Go Go Go which would become known in the United States as Speed Racer, which will be revisited by Hollywood in the upcoming year.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 31, 2007 in Animation
Produced by Miami’s Soundac Studios the animated series Colonel Bleep was the first color cartoon made for television and entered syndication in 1957 as part of “Uncle Bill’s TV Club”.
Kabaya Petit Pastels are ice cream shaped chocolate candies. What caught my eye in the package design was the strong use of pink, magenta and yellow which are colors that you almost never see in American package design. The designers of the package were what I would call “anti-minimalist” and have crammed every centimeter of the layout with little details:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 29, 2007 in Television
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!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 29, 2007 in Science
Shown above is an ad for Tang from a November 1971 issue of Parents’ Magazine. Here’s some teaser copy that only a fanboy could love:
“Imagine a spacecraft that carries 12 passengers and lands as easily as an airplane. It will be ferrying back and forth to space by the late 1970’s. And if the future is like the present, Tang will be in its galley.”
Sadly the space shuttle didn’t look quite as cool as the concept art in the ad, although to credit the copy the shuttle did indeed take off ten years later in 1981 (which wasn’t too long after the late 70’s). The illustration of the ad was created by H. K. Wimmer. A second ad in the series can be seen here.
