Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 15, 2007 in Animation
There’s a great article by Patrick Macias on Anime Music Videos (AMVs) but for me the best part is seeing Jim Kaposztas getting some long overdue credit! I know I sound ancient but I remember watching Jim’s video at a monthly meeting of the New York City branch of the Cartoon/Fantasy Organization in the early 80s:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 15, 2007 in Television
I tend to avoid covering the mainstream media on this blog, but the above video by the writers of the Daily Show caught my attention and I’d like to share it as the writers do a good (yet enteraining) job of making their point. Being a fanboy at heart my thinking is that what separates compelling entertainment from the mundane is the storytelling, and that starts with the script. Everything flows from that script, and you can throw money at the screen but without the story you have nothing. And so to me taking care of your talent is just smart business.
Crawling, Slimy Things Terror-Bent on Destroying the World! This classic 1958 horror flick is fanboy-notable as it’s somewhat based on the novel the Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein. Although the producers never quite asked Mr. Heinlein for his permission, so he sued them and the case was settled out of court. Years later the Puppet Masters would go on to be made as a bad film in it’s own right in 1994 (which thankfully Heinlein didn’t live to see).
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 14, 2007 in Star Wars
Shown above is an amazing collection from a Star Wars fanboy (Rob Jan) from 30 years ago in 1977, you need to to see the image at both the full size and with the special rollover notes.
Editor’s Notes: Here are some unedited notes from my friend Nicholas D. Kent from his recent trip to Japan:
I was at Yodobashi Camera again. Their Osaka store is 9 stories and fills the complete full size city block. They pipe different versions of the stores jingle non-stop on the store sound system in different arrangements with announcements in various languages, even German as to the great values and selections found at their store. Sometimes the song has Japanese lyrics sometimes it’s instrumental, but it’s the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” (this commercial dates back to 1984):
So I keep wondering if anyone from the ever South goes there then gets disgusted and storms out, because it is pretty non-stop.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 13, 2007 in Comic Books
If you’re lucky enough to be in New York City this Thursday here’s your chance to get to meet illustrator, designer and typographer Rian Hughes who has had quite an impact on the British comics industry (check out his portfolio here):
“Join us for an evening of genteel design discussion and civilized refreshment with British illustrator, graphic designer, comics artist and typographer Rian Hughes. For over 20 years, Rian Hughes has been fusing visual design with pop aesthetics. His distinctive panel art revolutionized the British comic industry, and his modernist graphic design and illustration style have been widely copied. Since 1996, Rian has released an astoundingly diverse range of display and text typefaces under the Device Fonts moniker.”
Before the web there were a few folks on the early internet and dial-up bulletin board services (BBSs) who pioneered spreading the word on anime, and quite a few of those folks owe their introduction to Steve Pearl who just passed away. Steve was the author of the FAQ (frequently asked questions) for the usenet group rec.arts.anime.misc. For those of you who don’t remember usenet it contained tons of email lists. The better ones would maintain a FAQ, in a way these sometimes large documents were Wikipedia before Wikipedia. And over the years Steve’s FAQ became the definitive pocket guide to anime during the 90s when quite a few folks were become anime fanboys and fangurls. My heart goes out to his family and friends:
If you grew up with Land of the Lost you know there aren’t any badder bad guys than the deadly Sleestaks. The above Sleestak Vinyl Figure is created by Funko and will be out in December. Sleestak fanboys should also check out this elecronica inspired Sleestak re-mix video:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 12, 2007 in Science
As a fanboy I love the futuristic look of the industrial design of the PIVO 2 Concept Car by Nissan. The design of this three seat electric-powered commuter car features a robotic agent and the ability to rotate 360 degrees:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 12, 2007 in Comic Books
Shown above is an “improved detail” from an eye catching cover for Spider-Man/Red Sonja #4 by Michael Turner. For me it’s not so much the ongoing struggle of good verses evil, but rather the more mundane battle of alcoholism verses halitosis.
Here’s the description of the real storyline from this issue:
“Continuing the time-tossed team-up between the web-slinger and the She-Devil with a Sword! Okay, if Spider-Man and Red Sonja aren’t enough for you, what about Hyborean versions of the Scorpion, the Lizard and Hobgoblin? Still not enough? Then howzabout Kulan Gath and Venom…combined? Yeah, we thought that would do it.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 11, 2007 in Star Wars
I’m a big fan of urban toys and Star Wars, so I was impressed with the look of the V.C.D. Star Wars C-3PO Sofubi Toy shown above. The toy is produced by Medicom Toy in Japan, which currently sports models of Boba Fett, Yoda, and Darth vader in their Star Wars line.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 11, 2007 in Comic Books
I’m a picky eater when it comes to featuring cover art and the like here at fanboy.com. Every month I look through all the covers and interiors from Marvel, DC, and friends in an attempt to find something of joy to share with you. But alas the last few weeks I haven’t seen one darn cover that makes me say “that’s sweeeeeeet!”
So when I came across the above artwork by Joe Madureira and Christian Lichtner my first thoughts were “that’s nice on a technical level, but it has so many clichés going on!” But then I realized “don’t blame the artist, some where a writer had to come up with the description of buxom blond battles black monster!” So I decided to improve the scene by adding some text to flip the context so you’re rooting for the monster (unless you hate Greenpeace). By the way did you notice that the monster has time to brush his teeth? Oral hygiene is important in the Marvel universe…
This film looks like fun! ROBO☆ROCK (formerly titled Long Armed Monkeys) will be coming out November 23rd in Japan. The film follows the adventures of Masaru, an odd-job-man who has given up his dream to become a rock singer and Nirasawa, a fanatic who is convinced that a giant robot will save the world. This will be the first live action film for GDH K.K. which is an anime studio in Japan which has worked on Afro Samurai, Pumpkin Scissors, and Full Metal Panic!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 9, 2007 in Star Wars
The above Star Wars poster (click on to view at full size) does a wonderful job of showing off the entire series in one photomontage. I’m quite impressed with the fanboy who did this this, it’s wall worthy in my book!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Nov 9, 2007 in Star Trek
The one thing that confuses me about this report is that Spock’s mom (Amanda Grayson, shown above played by Jane Wyatt) was human not a vulcan. Although Winona would make a cute vulcan (although she’ll have to work on he logic thing):
“Star Trek is beaming up Winona Ryder. Paramount Pictures and director JJ Abrams have set Ryder to play the Vulcan mother of a young Spock (Zachary Quinto). Scripted by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, the film revolves around the Starfleet Academy days of the crew of the Starship Enterprise. Chris Pine has been set to play Capt. Kirk, Simon Pegg will play Scotty, Karl Urban is Dr. McCoy and Eric Bana will play the villain, Nero.”
…by the way for my money the BEST vulcan actress was Kirstie Alley as Lt. Saavik in the Wrath of Khan. Man I’ll never understand why they won’t let Nicholas Meyer touch Star Trek again!
Snarky Update: Variety revised the story to state that Spock’s mom will be human. Although on second thought I do think that Winona would look cute with the pointy ears…
Shown above is the Transformers Trans-Portable PC which is learning laptop aimed at kids. So ou can play with a robot while having it teach you about math, spelling, logic and memory games. It also features real-time English to Spanish Translation of select words and instructions (take that Lou Dobbs!).
“Kadokawa Pictures USA, Inc. and Bandai Entertainment Inc., announced today that it will be releasing the anime series Lucky Star in North America in 2008. The announcement was made in a unique way – a surprise trailer at the beginning of Vol. 4 of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, which was just released.
Lucky Star is a 24 episode television series from Kyoto Animation, the same anime production company that created the anime series for Haruhi. Lucky Star’s main character is Konata Izumi, a lazy high school girl who isn’t interested in anything besides anime and video games. The series is described as the ultimate “otaku anime,” — it pays tribute to anime culture and other series with in-jokes and hilarious references.
“Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have made an offer to Mike Newell to direct “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” a live-action feature based on the videogame. Newell, who last ventured into franchise fare with “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” met execs at the studio to discuss the project this week, and negotiations are expected to begin shortly.”
Shown above is the Hello Kitty ATM which allows you to save money. The kitty ATM also comes with a kitty credit card that alows you to take money out of the cute little kitty cash machine.