Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 20, 2007 in Comic Books
The more I see examples of Skott Young’s artwork the more I’m impressed with his style. For the last few weeks I’ve been looking for covers to feature here at fanboy.com and frankly I haven’t seen much that impresses me, but the minute I saw this cover I knew it was a winner. What also impresses me is that Skott (or Skottie) doesn’t stick to any single style, but his work always has a very animated and fluid feeling to it.
This photo made me smile because I loved playing with G.I. Joe and watching Godzilla flicks as a child. Photo by Jason, around the web as TCM Hitchhiker.
“Eye in the Sky is an eye-catching masterpiece which urgently reminds us that the Hong Kong Cinema is not dead yet. This vibrant crime thriller casts a ray of hope onto the struggling film industry over there, telling us there are still some new, daring filmmakers working with passion and creative ideas in Hong Kong.
The movie is about an inconspicuous yet important unit of Police Force — the Surveillance Unit. The officers working in this unit mostly spend their time on endlessly waiting for their targets, following the suspects, setting up eavesdropping bugs and preparing tracking devices. They usually don’t need to participate in any action or use their guns. So how can a movie about people doing these boring jobs be so interesting? It’s because we have ignored the very nature of their job — they can only do things in secret and cannot afford any minor mistake. Once their covers are blown, so is the whole operation. To spice up the dramatic elements, the villains in the movie are not stupid at all — they also counter-surveillance to get away from the police. It’s a deadly cat-and-mouse game that is not only about physical strength but also about quick wit, patience and focus.”
“Back in 1976, Fireside published the above book under an agreement with Marvel and featured 128 pages of exercises and workouts. The program was designed by Ann Picardo and showed various Marvel characters demonstrating the techniques through the illustrative talents of Joe Geilla. (Stan Lee also added some character dialogue, which is why his name’s on the book too).”
For me the hallmark of a cool anime goodie is that it looks good to mundanes even if they know nothing about the show that the goodie is associated with, so the Misa Amane Mascot Cell Phone Strap (shown above) caught my attention right away. It has that wonderful goth feeling to the mascot, yet that smile gives it that nice sense of humor. If you want to adopt mascot Misa if you go here:
“Canned noodles are emerging as a hit product across Japan following last year’s rising popularity of canned oden in Tokyo’s Akihabara district. Kyoto-based vending machine manufacturer Fujitaka was the first company to come out with canned ramen. In May this year it began selling Sapporo-style noodles, which gained huge popularity, mainly in the Akihabara district.
In June, the company added hiyashi-men (chilled noodles) to its lineup of canned products. The noodles are made from konnyaku to prevent them from going soggy when they soak up the noodle soup. Since no hot water is needed they can be eaten straight away.”
“Tehran (CHN) — An animated piece on an earthen goblet that belongs to 5000 years ago was found in Burnt City in Sistan-Baluchestan province, south-eastern Iran. On this ancient piece that can be called the first animation of the world, the artist has portrayed a goat that jumps towards a tree and eats its leaves.
The earthenware found in Burnt City, one of the most developed civilisations dating back to 5000 years ago, show the images of goats and fish more than any other subject. It seems these animals were used more than any other by the people of this city.”
“To celebrate Bender’s awesomeness, we bring you this tiny, shiny version of the future’s favorite robot. At just slightly over 3″ tall, this effigy is just like Bender – all metal! In fact, he’s die cast and nickel plated. His head turns around (full 360 °) so he can look at, glare at, or target anything you want him to. Everyone needs a little Bender now and again. So grab one now, and celebrate the secret desire to become a folk singer in all of us. Each Bender is just over 3″ tall, made of all metal (nickel plated!), and has a rotatable head.”
“Just in time for the show’s off-net syndication launch, the cast behind “Family Guy” is taking it back out on the road. “Family Guy Live” will travel to Chicago for the first time Sept. 15, performing two shows at the Chicago Theater. Location was chosen because Windy City-based Tribune will launch the “Family Guy” syndie strip on its O&Os (including KTLA, Los Angeles; WPIX, New York; and WGN, Chicago) next month.
In the stage show, creator and star Seth MacFarlane leads the cast, including Alex Borstein, Mila Kunis, Seth Green and Mike Henry, in musical numbers from the show. Event includes a table read of an episode, a Q&A with the cast, and a preview of the “Star Wars”-themed season premiere.”
“The latest FX lightsaber is an exact replica of Master Yoda’s. Its illuminating blade features a power up/power down effect thanks to sequentially lighting LEDs. Lightsaber sound effects have been recorded from the film and are activated by moving the saber or by impacting the blade.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 14, 2007 in Science
Yes we all know that the real Skylab came crashing to Earth back in 1979 (too late for the Space Shuttle to save it), however a little bit of Skylab history is in danger of being lost. It seems that an organization is trying to save full scale training mockup from being lost to the ravages of neglect:
“In 1968 NASA ordered two identical flight qualified space stations (Skylab) built along with 3 full scale training mockups. One flight version, the 1st US Space Station was flown in 1973 and orbited the Earth until 1979; the second flight element is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum. One full scale mockup, used by astronauts and engineers at MSFC during the 3 crewed Skylab missions (73-74) was on display for many years at the US Space and Rocket Center (USRC) located in Huntsville Alabama. Several years ago the Skylab exhibit was moved outside. The original temporary weather coverings have failed and Skylab has suffered the effects of rain, sun, wind, plants, dust/dirt, mold, animals and vandals. Right now the Skylab artifact is nearing a point of no return.
To save Skylab the Alabama/Mississippi section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) started the Skylab Restoration Project (SRP). AIAA is seeking volunteers to help save this unique part the US Space Program.”
…saveskylab.org is collecting funds, so give a hand if you can!
If you live in NYC and love horror flicks and pizza, the new film Unholy will be playing at Two Boots Pioneer Theater on August 15th. The plot sounds very cool (I love the time travel twist):
“Adrienne Barbeau and Nicholas Brendon star in this provocative shocker about a mother’s investigation into the grisly suicide of her daughter. But what begins as a family tragedy will soon lead to a conspiracy of bizarre crimes, occult carnage, and a necromancer who may control a dark new trinity of warfare. How far would our government go to harness a Nazi legacy of paranormal power? Has the U.S. military secretly attempted to develop time travel, invisibility, and mind control as weapons? Answers await in a mind-blowing journey that will take one woman from the trauma of the unimaginable to the ultimate horror of the UNHOLY.”
“In a seven-figure deal, Millennium Films has acquired the rights to make a new series of pics based on Robert E. Howard’s mythical conqueror Conan the Barbarian. Company’s aim is to start production by next spring.
Malmberg declined to renew another option with Warners when the rights lapsed in spring. He was frustrated that seven years’ worth of development at WB had not yielded a production start on the franchise that launched the film career of Arnold Schwarzenegger in its first bigscreen go-round.
The recent summer success of branded properties like “Spider-Man,” “The Simpsons” and “Transformers” led to a receptive marketplace for Conan. The property already is a globally established brand that has 40 licenses including a top-selling Dark Horse comicbook, an upcoming vidgame for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and the Funcom/Eidos massively multiplayer online role-playing game “Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures”.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 13, 2007 in Star Trek
Shown above is my attempt to do a Simpsonizeme version of Captain James T. Kirk. I admit that I changed the shirt color a bit, but it’s pretty darned close. Simpsonizeme is a clever Simpsons movie tie in website sponsored by Burger King.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 12, 2007 in Science
Above: View of the space shuttle from the TS-118: Endeavour Mission (click the image to see it at full size – trust me it’s worth it).
Not too long go a bridge fell apart here in the good old US of A, and after the disaster that claimed a few lives everyone has gone back to sleep (and they’re still finding bodies no less). It’s my thinking that the space shuttle is another disaster waiting to happen again, and like that bridge it’s because we’ve neglected NASA for the last thirty years ago. The space shuttle is 70s technology and while it’s cool that they can still still get into orbit giving the crew some glue to fix tiles isn’t the answer:
“A detailed laser inspection on Sunday of the difficult-to-reach area on Endeavour’s belly could send astronauts out to repair the 3-inch wound later in the week, although NASA said that prospect appeared less likely than it did a day earlier. A penetration, if severe enough, could let in searing gases when the shuttle returns to Earth in a possible replay of the Columbia accident. As a pair of spacewalking astronauts installed a new beam to the international space station on Saturday, engineers back on Earth scrutinized images of the gouge, the result of a strike by fuel-tank foam insulation at launch.”
…I’d like to see every 2008 Presidential candidate tell us what they’re going to do to re-invent NASA.
I have to admit that I’m already pre-sold on this film! Be Kind Rewind is directed by Michel Gondry which makes it promising to me, but it’s the references to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Back to the Future, and Robocop wins over this fanboy. The film will hit theaters in late December this year.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 12, 2007 in Videogames
At first this “face training” game sounds silly, but I quite impressed by it. You see about ten years ago as the era of multimedia CD-ROMs was coming to an end I was lamenting that interactive media had so much potential to be more than just shooter games like Doom. So it’s nice for me to see Nintendo reinventing the entire notion of what a game platform should be. I hope this out of the box (or X-box?) thinking comes here:
“A new game for the Nintendo DS handheld machine helps players exercise their facial muscles to have nicer smiles and livelier expressions. “Face Training” comes with a digital camera that fits into the dual-screen machine to show live video of the player’s own face on the right screen while an animation of a woman’s face illustrates exercises on the left screen.
The 16 types of exercises called “facening,” designed by beauty expert Fumiko Inudo, take about two to 10 minutes each to complete. Nintendo Co., the Kyoto-based maker of Pokemon and Super Mario games, recommends playing no longer than 15 minutes at a time. In addition to the animation that serves as a model for players, an electronic voice like an aerobics instructor guides you to twist your mouth, drop your jaw, wink, glare at the ceiling and do other moves to tighten flabby cheeks and develop that bright-eyed look.
Company spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa says the game is also entertaining because players end up making funny faces in the name of a better-toned countenance. Overseas sales plans are still undecided, he said.”
