Fanboy.com

As usual I was stumped again this year shopping for a family member who loves dogs, but as I was strolling through Books Kinokuniya which is a Japanese book store here in New York I came across some great goodies for canine fanboys and fangurls of all ages. Shown above is are some playful paper clips which are by Midori who has a wide line of interesting stationery products.

Below is an amazing little gift book that I discovered which was packed with dog photos and Japanese brush typography. The name of the book is いぬだもの (単行本) which translates to "Dog's Book" and is available at Amazon Japan. There's also a second book in the series which is titled いぬだもの 2 (2) (単行本) which translates to "Dog to be 2" and can also be found at Amazon Japan:

Here are some spreads from inside the book, you can click on each image to see it at full size:

Continue reading "Fan's Best Friend: Japanese Dog Treats" »

Posted by Michael Pinto at 12:01 AM | Permalink

Hard to go wrong with a cute puppy in a commercial! The above spot was done for Hokuren Pet Foods in the 80s.

Posted by Michael Pinto at 12:01 AM | Permalink

You can follow me on Twitter!

I've always hated the fact that I had to turn off comments due to spam (due to the limits of using an older version of Movable Type) so this should open up the conversation a little bit...

Posted by Michael Pinto at 12:00 AM | Permalink

In this exclusive series our guest author Tim Eldred picks the top ten crown jewels of anime:

As a guy who started watching anime in 1980, I was lucky enough to catch the virus when the medium was in a creative upswing the likes of which simply hasn’t been seen since. Of course, there was great stuff before that, but never in quite so much abundance. The early 80s in particular were chock full of shows that had the power to make me (A) cry like a baby or (B) leap out of my chair like a sports fan. And any show that could do both became a crown jewel in my eyes. They haven’t all been officially exported yet, which means a lot of people still have an opportunity to experience them for the first time. Here’s number 2 on my top ten list:

Armored Trooper Votoms

You gotta hand it to a series that starts out riffing on a movie you really like and then blows way past it into completely new territory. For me, the movie was Blade Runner (1982) and when I saw the first few episodes of Votoms I thought, cool‹a Japanese take on one of my faves! And then Votoms kept going?and going?and GOING. By the time it got all the way to its finale in episode 52 it had left Blade Runner far behind and found its own path to become something wholly original that has never been equaled, though some well-meaning imitators have tried.

Continue reading "Crown Jewels of Anime: Armored Trooper Votoms" »

Posted by Guest Author at 11:01 AM | Permalink

Shown above is the Batmanesque inspired painting Duo again (2008) by fine artist Richard Mullins. What I like about his work is that in addition to be inspired by pop art subjects, his style of painting and bold use of vivid colors reminds me a great deal of the Fauvism of Henri Matisse. Below are some additional examples of his work that caught my eye:

Continue reading "Richard Mullins: Super Comicism" »

Posted by Michael Pinto at 12:01 AM | Permalink

In this exclusive series our guest author Tim Eldred picks the top ten crown jewels of anime:

As a guy who started watching anime in 1980, I was lucky enough to catch the virus when the medium was in a creative upswing the likes of which simply hasn’t been seen since. Of course, there was great stuff before that, but never in quite so much abundance. The early 80s in particular were chock full of shows that had the power to make me (A) cry like a baby or (B) leap out of my chair like a sports fan. And any show that could do both became a crown jewel in my eyes. They haven’t all been officially exported yet, which means a lot of people still have an opportunity to experience them for the first time. Here’s number 1 on my top ten list:

Space Battleship Yamato

How does one objectively describe an anime saga that changed one’s life? You can’t, so there’s no point in trying. Space Battleship Yamato is simply the greatest of them all. The proof of this is that you didn’t even have to see it for it to change your life. If you became an anime fan after the year 1977, you have Yamato to thank. That was the year the first movie hit theatres in Japan with the same impact that Star Wars had here. (It was a compilation of the inaugural 1974 TV series, but that’s beside the point.) It was the first ever 'anime boom' and everything that’s come out of Japan since then has been an echo of it.

Continue reading "Crown Jewels of Anime: Space Battleship Yamato" »

Posted by Guest Author at 11:01 AM | Permalink

In 1967 Gold Key started publishing a series of Star Trek comic books. What I love about these early ones is that the designs look very and mod, not what you'd expect to see on the cover of a comic book. The use of colors is very psychedelic and they incorporate design elements which are reminiscent of op art and Andy Warhol. Shown above is issue 01-00 from 1967, below are issues 03-00 from 1968 and 04-00 from 1969.

Continue reading "Mod Looking Gold Key Star Trek Covers" »

Posted by Michael Pinto at 12:01 AM | Permalink

Any forum posting fanboy will love the above animated short Robochi Gets Flamed by Jonathan Kim who likes robot girls and holding giant plush cats.

Posted by Michael Pinto at 11:01 AM | Permalink

The Outer Space Men (Colorforms - Late 1960s)

Major Matt Mason: Mattel's Man in Space: Space Crawler (Mattel - Late 1960s)

Lost In Space Robot (Remco 1966)

See the entire collection here, collection curated by Frederick Barr.

Posted by Michael Pinto at 12:01 AM | Permalink

Introduction: I first discovered Fan History back in 2007 when long time Anime fan Steve Pearl passed away. To me Steve was a real hero in the anime scene, yet when I did a search I found very little about his contribution to the field. So I was very happy to find his entry at fanhistory.com. The website is still in an early phase yet they have a wealth of information on fandom. As pulisher of fanboy.com I encourage everyone to contribute to helping this amazing resource grow. And without further ado here is my interview with Laura Hale who started the site:

For folks not familiar with fanhistory.com (and wikis in general) can you give us an introduction to your project?

Where to start? Fan History is a fandom run project dedicated to doing a couple of things.

First, it is about sharing the history of fandom. It explains what was going in specific fandoms, in regards to specific topics in fandom, gives an idea as to who some of the big name fans are, shares some of the historical activities that took place in a fandom and continue to take place in fandom, and where to find fandom.

Second, and complimenting the first, Fan History is about creating a directory of people in fandom. The directory information contains a history of a person's involvement in fandom, what fandoms people are involved with, any fanworks they've created and links back to their sites or blogs.

Fan History is a project in wiki format. A wiki allows anyone to edit the content. In the case of Fan History, it means that anyone can help contribute to project, adding information on the history of fandom.

Continue reading "Interview: Laura Hale of FanHistory.com" »

Posted by Michael Pinto at 11:01 AM | Permalink