Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 22, 2006 in Pulp Fiction
Oz magzine was first published as a satirical humour magazine between 1963–69 in Sydney, Australia and, in a second and more famous incarnation it became a “psychedelic hippy” magazine from 1967 to 1973 in London. Strongly identified as part of the underground scene, it was the subject of two celebrated obscenity trials. On both occasions the magazine’s editors were acquitted on appeal after initially being found guilty and sentenced to harsh jail terms.
Most of the issues have been scanned at high resolution and can be found at the Oz Library (just keep in mind that the issues may be ‘not safe or work’):
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 21, 2006 in Videogames
So I wanted to get the perfect gift for a tech junkie who already owns not one, not two, but three iPods! Then it hit me: Why not get a Nintendo DS Lite? It’s perfect for someone stuck on a subway, it’s the right price, and best of all it’s an interesting gadget with the cute two screen interface.
Well I’ve just returned from stopping at five stores, and I can tell you that the Nintendo DS Lite is sold out in Manhattan. In fact when I stopped by Circuit City I was told they’ve been sold out for two weeks now. When I stopped by a GamesStop store a sales clerk gave me his explanation:
“From what I’ve seen many parents ran in here to buy the Wii which is also sold out. But they somehow figure getting a Nintendo something will do the trick, so they buy the DS Lite!”
This sort of makes sense to me, but if it’s true something tells me that quite a few kids who asked Santa for a Wii will be a bit let down on Monday morning…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 21, 2006 in Animation
Well I gone on many a rant on how sad the state of computer animation is these days in Hollywood (with perhaps the exception of Pixar). However recently I came across a television series called Minuscul from France by an animation studio called Futurikon. Here’s a good description of the show from the TV France International website:
“Imagine a blend between a National Geographic documentary and a Tex Avery cartoon. A combination of 3D characters and live footage, with no commentary or dialog. Based on this offbeat starting point, the series will be zooming in to the grassroots level of the counrtyside to give viewers a bird’s eye view of insects’ day-to-day existence, distorted through a burlesque, yet poetic lens.”
Of course you can also take a look for yourself via the magic of YouTube:
In an ideal world someone in Hollywood would cancel Shrek the Third and allow Futurikon to make a feature film out of Minuscule.
“Based on the epic graphic novel by Frank Miller, 300 is a ferocious retelling of the ancient Battle of Thermopylae in which King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and 300 Spartans fought to the death against Xerxes and his massive Persian army. Facing insurmountable odds, their valor and sacrifice inspire all of Greece to unite.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 20, 2006 in Science
This is an interesting video from the 6th Annual Rescue Robot Contest held in Kobe, Japan (the city that had a great earthquake in 1995). There is some amazing technology being created here:
The above images are from a Japanese article on new limited edition Black Getter ‘alloy model’ from Bandai. Black Getter is a robot that appears in the Shin Getter (真ゲッターロボ) robot OAV. Also if you want to see an amazing job that somebody did with a mere plastic Black Getter model, check out this amazing page.
ComicsSpace is like MySpace, but for Comic Book professionals and fans. Right now the service allows you setup a page and network with friends, but there are plans in the works to allow comic artists to hosttheir work on the website:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 19, 2006 in Comic Books
I’ve always enjoyed playing with Digg.com which is a social news site, but I have to admit I’ve always hated the fact that there isn’t a section for comic books. Now you might find a comic book link every now and then in the entertainment section, but you have to go through dozens of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears links before seeing anything half interesting. So I was quite happy to discover that someone had setup a similar social news site for comic books and related topics:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 19, 2006 in Animation
Had it been produced, the ‘Life Sucks’ episode of Ren and Stimpy might have been the only bit of animation to ever focus on the Children’s Crusade! Below is a storyboard reel (animatic) which depicts Ren realizing it’s his duty to cure Stimpy of his naivety and he takes him on a journey through history to make him wake up and smell the coffee:
Found via the blog of John Kricfalusi (which also has some great additional storyboard art from the episode).
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 19, 2006 in Television
So there are plans to remake the Prisoner again! No it’s not the film version that’s already in the works but a television series. I get a bad feeling about this, why does Hollywood have to ruin classic shows by trying to remake them, are there no new ideas out there:
“AMC is remaking 1960s sci-fi cult fave “The Prisoner.” Cabler has come aboard to co-produce at least six episodes — billed as a modern-day reimagining of the TV series classic — with U.K.’s Sky One. Granada Intl. also produces. AMC’s is the second adaptation in the works. Universal Pictures has set helmer Christopher Nolan to direct a feature version that Janet and David Peoples are scripting (Daily Variety, Aug. 11).
U has the film rights to the skein, while Granada has separate television rights. Like the planned skein, bigscreen pic is said to be a contemporized take on the 1967 thriller. Bill Gallagher (“Conviction”) is writing the series, to be produced by Michelle Buck and Damien Timmer. Production will begin next spring for a debut in both the U.S. and the U.K. in January 2008.”
…but it’s this quote that makes me nervous:
“The show isn’t just a re-creation,” said Rob Sorcher, AMC exec veep of programming and production. “What we’re doing is an entirely new reinterpretation that stays true to the components of the McGoohan (show)’s vision.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 19, 2006 in Science
Not only might the Martians be amongst us, but they may have also pulled off an ‘invasion of the body snatchers’ routine as well! A new research paper hypothesises proposes that certain strains of radiation-resistant microbes on Earth may have inherited their radiation-resistance from Martian microbes, carried to Earth from Mars or on meteorites – and that the exchange may have been two-way.
“Joseph Barbera, one half of the team behind such cartoon classics as The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo and Huckleberry Hound, has died, aged 95. With William Hanna, Barbera founded Hanna-Barbera in the 1950s, after the pair had earlier worked on the Tom and Jerry cartoons at MGM studios.
Barbera grew up in Brooklyn and started to pursue a career in banking. But his amateur sketches soon became the raw material for cartoons in magazines, which then took him into animation. He met Hanna – who died in 2001 – at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in the late 1930s and collaborated on a cartoon called Puss Gets the Boot, which led to the creation of the cat and mouse characters, Tom and Jerry. Their 17-year partnership on the Tom and Jerry series resulted in seven Academy Awards and 14 nominations in total.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 18, 2006 in Comic Books
Archie hasn’t quite gone manga yet, but a redesign of the classic comic book is in the works and what I see doesn’t look that good (see the illustration above). Here’s the source for the story:
“With more than 60 years of a certain…shall we say, style behind them, Archie, Betty, Veronica, and the whole Riverdale gang will be getting a new look in 2007, courtesy of artist Steven Butler. Rather than moving to a manga style, which has worked on Sabrina by Tania del Rio, this change will move the art towards a more contemporary comic book style, more realistic, and less cartoony. The move, an Archie Comics representative told Newsarama, is a continuing experiment and exploration with the characters, showcasing not only their timlessness, but theur adaptability as well.”
This new stye looks more generic than anything, it’s sort of manga light. I think the problem is that they’ve added too much detail to the character designs, and have lost any link to the fun spirit of the comic (the new characters look a bit too serious). Of course after half a century they should update the book, but I think they should have given more careful thought about how to update the look.
Fantastic Plastic is a virtual museum and store that’s focused on scale models of everything from bizarre WWII-era project planes to the latest sci-fi spacecraft. Sadly I lack the spare real estate in my life to collct all of these goodies, but it’s always enjoyable to window shop for spacecraft and the like:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 17, 2006 in Science
This is a very cool computer animated video which gives you an idea of the relative size of the planets in our solar system and various stars. The video stars with every tiny Mercury, then rolls to Mars which is the next size up and then goes all the way up to the sun which is dwarfed in size by other stars:
Brickshelf is an amazing photo gallery website for Lego fans. You can waste quite a few hours seeing the many hours that Legoholics have put into a wide range of projects:
“Released last week, the Tamagotchi Music Fever is a music-based Tamagotchi game from Bandai, now celebrating the 10 year anniversary of the Tamagotchi. Its flash memory can hold up to 120 minutes of music, and gameplay integrates the music as well with “Session” (character plays an instrument) and “dance” (umm…dancing?).”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 16, 2006 in Japanese TV
When I think of great directors selling out the first image that comes to mind is poor Orson Welles doing all of those commercials before his death. It’s sad to think that you’d have the likes of the director of Citizen Kane selling “no wine before its time!”
But much to my shock I came across this little wonder, which is a commercial for Suntory not only starring Akira Kurosawa but also none other than Francis Ford Coppola! There’s nothing I like to do after directing an award winning epic like Ran or the Godfather than to enjoy a glass of the good stuff:
“It has a history of over 2,000 years and is as much a part of Japan as sumo wrestling and sushi. But sake, traditional rice wine, is losing popularity at home as more and more people opt for wine, beer, and cocktails. “This is the national alcohol of Japan, but Japanese people won’t drink it,” said Yuzo Kuji, whose family brewery is located deep in the heart of a prime sake-brewing region centred around Morioka, some 462 km north-east of Tokyo.
Sake’s share of Japan’s alcohol market is dropping by nearly 10% a year as drinks like cocktails gain. Now a new generation of sake brewers and sellers is pushing premium brews and innovative campaigns that include marketing to young people and shipping more of the beverage overseas, where consumption is rising. Ironically, the main thrust of the campaigns to reinvigorate sake in its homeland is to show Japanese consumers the popularity of their national drink in places like the US, whose trends young Japanese often seek to emulate.”
…well on the upside at least sake is becoming more popular here in the States and I see it around more often now than I did a few years ago, and in fact there is even sake being produced in California!
The first official batch of photos are now online for the upcoming film Grind House, which features two feature length films from Robert Rodriguez (Planet Terror) and Quentin Tarantino (Death Proof):
