Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 6, 2007 in Animation
Shown above is the first still from the new CGI AstroBoy which is slated to come out in 2008. I don’t want to be too judgemental at this point as it’s hard to tell from a still how well the animation will or won’t work:
“For Danish-born animator Jakob Jensen, to animate Japan’s classic manga “Astro Boy” at Hong Kong’s Imagi Animation Studio seems like a difficult challenge, despite his background at DreamWorks. After all, Astro Boy is virtually a national treasure of Japan, but far less well known in the rest of the world. But Jensen has confidence that he can make “Astro Boy” fly.
” ‘I want to apply my DreamWorks experience and implement philosophies I learned at that company into the work flow and the pipeline of the studio in Hong Kong to make Astro Boy as empathic in the U.S. as he is in Japan,” said Jensen, 32, the animation acting director for “Astro Boy” at Imagi.”
At first I thought the use of VOCALOID2 (an anime themed voice synthesizer software) to make videos on YouTube was just some sort overnight fad I could ignore, but much to my shock the voice of Hatsune Miku the cute robot girl keeps popping up in my browser. My official fanboy.com prediction is that at the rate things are going we’ll see a Hatsune Miku anime show, manga and video game within a year.
“Craig Venter, the controversial DNA researcher involved in the race to decipher the human genetic code, has built a synthetic chromosome out of laboratory chemicals and is poised to announce the creation of the first new artificial life form on Earth.
This trailer proves that it’s hard to go wrong when you team up Tim Burton with Johnny Depp! I’m also impressed they they have Sacha Baron Cohn too, yet my only regret is that Angela Lansbury wasn’t included:
“ID-WALL are delighted to officially announce the release of five new stunning Star Wars photo wallpaper images, and that they are now able to ship overseas to the U.S.! The large format wall murals include illustrations featuring the Rebel X-wing Starfighters, Millennium Falcon, Boba Fett’s Slave I and TIE Advanced fighters. Also included in this release is the impressive Death Star image that has proved so popular in the earlier canvas print collections.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 4, 2007 in Pulp Fiction
Ward Jenkins is a very talented illustrator who hails from Portland, Oregon. Recently on his Flickr feed I discover an amazing set of scans he uploaded of the book Space Alphabet (1964) by Irene Zacks, which features some amazing artwork by Peter P. Plasencia. I did a quick bit of searching for a bio of Mr. Plasencia and found this:
“Peter P. Plasencia is a native New Yorker. He is married and has one daughter, Regina. He majored in industrial design at Pratt Institute, studied at the Meschini Institute in Rome, and at the Art Students League in New York. Mr. Plasencia is now head of his own design house. Among the children’s books he has illustrated are In The Deep Blue Sea, Magic Mixtures: Alloys and Plastics, and The Chemistry of a Lemon, all published by Prentice-Hall.”
“Wallace and Gromit are to return in a half-hour television adventure – the first since 1995’s A Close Shave. Aardman Animations has announced that the cheese-loving inventor and his loyal dog will star in Trouble at’ Mill – to screen on BBC One in late 2008. Creator Nick Park said: “The story takes Wallace and Gromit in a direction we haven’t seen before – both emotionally and technically.”
Shooting starts in January at Aardman studios in Bristol. Trouble at’ Mill is a murder mystery that sees Wallace and Gromit running a bakery business – with their house converted into a granary with ovens and robotic kneading arms.”
“Good News: 20th Century Fox are making a Dragon Ball Z movie. Bad News: James Wong, the guy behind the sh*tty Final Destination films is the guy directing it.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 2, 2007 in Animation
Shown above are a few more trailers and omake for the Fall 2007: MapleStory, Strait Jacket, ChocoMimi, Tensai: Dr. Hamax, 静止画らしい, Keitai Shojo and a live action Negima.
The Hello Kitty bathtub toy from the 80s seems so low tech when put next to all the recent Sanrio merchandise like the Hello Kitty Bluetooth Wireless Earbuds.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 1, 2007 in Animation
Shown above are promotional trailers for Clannad, D.C. II (Da Capo II), Shakugan no Shana 2nd, Prism Ark, Kimikiss Pure Rouge, Ef – A Tale of Memories, Night Wizard, Kodomo No Jikan (A Child’s Time), Myself ; Yourself, Blue Drop, Rental Magica, Mokke, Sketchbook, Bamboo Blade, and Dragonut the Resonance. And here’s a second set of trailers:
The trailers from this set are Koharu Biyori, Genshiken 2nd, You’re Under Arrest: Full Throttle, Hidamari Sketch, Suteki Tantei Labyrinth, Shugo Chara!, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Jyushin Enbu: Hero Tales, Yattokame Tanteidan, Ultimate Survivor Kaiji, Majin Tantei Nogami Neuro and Ghost Hound.
“Dunny Series 4 is rockin’ the block with it’s greatest assortment of artists yet. That isn’t to say the first three series weren’t great, it’s just that this one is going to blow your minds! Series 4 is a 3-Inch mini-series featuring Frank Kozik, Jon Burgerman, MAD, Tara McPherson, Mad Barbarians, Shane Jessup, David Flores, KOA, Sket One, Gary Baseman, Michael Motorcycle, Joe Ledbetter, MIST, Nico Berry, Thomas Han and Mike ‘2600’ Davis of Twelve Car Pileup.”
“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.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 30, 2007 in Comic Books
If you get a chance check out The Fun Never Stops! which is a wonderful collection of Drew Friedman’s artwork. I first spotted his work back in the 80s when reading Raw magazine and have been following his work in the New York Observer over the last few years. At first glance his very detailed stippled inking technique makes his illustrations stand apart, but once you look further his sarcastic wit and social commentary are just as enjoyable.
“The American public has voted and it’s time to deliver. Please join the U.S. Postal Service at Madison Square Garden at 10:00 a.m. on October 25th for the dedication of the Yoda stamp. Since it’s so close to Halloween and the subject is Yoda, we are encouraging everyone to come dressed as their favorite Star Wars character. There will be treats for all! Look forward to seeing you, we do.”
“Parallel universes really do exist, according to a mathematical discovery by Oxford scientists described by one expert as “one of the most important developments in the history of science”. The parallel universe theory, first proposed in 1950 by the US physicist Hugh Everett, helps explain mysteries of quantum mechanics that have baffled scientists for decades, it is claimed. In Everett’s “many worlds” universe, every time a new physical possibility is explored, the universe splits. Given a number of possible alternative outcomes, each one is played out – in its own universe.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 27, 2007 in Animation
There are no giant robots or spaceships blowing up, but I love the look of this short film My First Crush which is by English animator Julia Pott. What makes the film enjoyable is that it’s telling a very personal story, it turns out that Julia was inspired by performance diva Miranda July. make sure to also check out her website as it has quite a bit of nice illustration work on display:
Transformers fanboys may now store their files in style! The Transformers USB Flash Drives sport a nifty design and comes with USB 2.0 technology and with 1GB (Autobot) and 2GB (Decepticon) of storage:
