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Blu-Ray Star Trek Phaser Mod
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 21, 2010 in Hobbies and Collections, Star Trek
We come in peace — shoot to kill! It’s not powerful enough to kill Klingons but this modified Playmates brand Star Trek Phaser (from 1994) is strong enough to pop balloons: Read more… The Birth of the Man Who Invented Bones McCoy
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 20, 2010 in Star Trek
90 years ago today in the town of Toccoa, Georgia the wife of a local Baptist minister gave birth to Jackson DeForest Kelley. Foreshadowing his science fiction and television future DeForest was named after pioneering electronics engineer Lee De Forest who played a major role pioneering both radio and sound-on-film. Read more… The Elusive Quest for an iPhone
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 20, 2010 in Comic Books, Tech
The latest issue of Player vs. Player features the epic quest for the Apple iPhone. Being an Apple fanboy I love it when geeky tech things find their way into comic books, and Scott Kurtz has scored a hit in my nerd zone: Read more… The Disturbing Case of the Aflak Duck Cat Wedding
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 19, 2010 in Japanese TV
There’s something just freaky about this Japanese commercial for Aflac which stars Aoi Miyazaki (宮崎 あおい) sharing the screen with a creepy look animatronic duck and kitty. The odd kids song being performed is Song of the Duck Beckoning Cat and is featured in this very cute animated music video which Aflac has also put out: Read more… Why Can’t Ken Just Come Out of the Closet Already?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 19, 2010 in Hobbies and Collections
Dennis Hopper: A Portrait of the Essence of Cool
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 18, 2010 in Cinema
Above: The painting Dennis Hopper 1971 by Andy Warhol.
A Rare Film Shows Newspaper Cartoonists of 1931 in Action
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 18, 2010 in Comic Books
This amazing video is from a 1931 silent promotional film which featured the cartoonists from the Tribune chain of newspapers. Shown at work are John T. McCutcheon, Gaar Williams, Carey Orr, Sidney Smith of The Gumps, Frank King of Gasoline Alley, Frank Willard of Moon Mullins, Carl Ed of Harold Teen, Martin Branner of Winnie Winkle, Walter Berndt of Smitty and Harold Gray of Little Orphan Annie. Here’s a quick gallery of these artists to give you an appreciation: Read more… Test Your Alchemist Skills
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 18, 2010 in Animation, Videogames
I was given an opportunity to play with the new iPhone app Fullmetal Alchemist: State Alchemy Exam and enjoyed having an anime themed game at my fingertips. Now if you’re a serious gamer you might be let down with this app, but if you’re a fanboy (or fangurl) looking for an entertaining casual game then State Alchemy Exam is worth checking out. Exam is the key word here as this is a trivia quiz app which tests your knowledge of Fullmetal Alchemist with physics and chemistry thrown in for fun: Read more… Popeye: The Spinach Powered Sailor Turns 81 Years Old Today
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 17, 2010 in Animation, Comic Books
On this day in 1929 artist Elzie Crisler Segar added a new character to his Thimble Theatre comic strip named Popeye the Sailor Man. It’s hard to believe but Thimble Theatre was running for ten years before the sailor was introduced to American readers — Popeye would go on to take over the strip which was followed by quite a few animated films and television shows. Read more… An Amazing Vintage Cosplay Competition from the 80sThe year is 1985 and anime fandom is buzzed about new shows like Macross: This amazing video shows a cosplay competition from this long gone pre-internet era when fans traded VHS tapes from Japan. Keep in mind that if you had an anime gathering of any sort back then even having a hundred fans show up was nothing short of astounding. Futurama Action Figures: If You’re Not Completely Satisfied, I Hate You
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 16, 2010 in Animation, Hobbies and Collections
It’s amazing to me to think that Futurama has been around for over ten years at this point (it went on the air in 1999). While I’ve always admired The Simpsons there’s something about the sci fi theme of Futurama that makes it closer to my fanboy heart. To celebrate the series there are three sets of Futurama Action Figures: Fry and Bender (shown above), Farnsworth and Hermes (shown below) and Leela and Zapp Brannigan (whom I wanted to see the most of all but couldn’t find an image of). Read more… Dreck Comes to an End, Um I Mean Shrek…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 16, 2010 in Animation
How is it that they’re making the fourth film in this retched series yet they still can’t come even close to the quality of animation that Pixar was doing ten years ago? Over time Shrek has come to represent everything that I detest about bad computer animation films: Stiff movement, flat lighting, lamentable scriptwriting, poor comedic timing for gags, lackluster voice acting, uninspired music, predictable plots and sequels that aren’t even good enough to go direct to video. A European Push to Save the International Space Station
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 15, 2010 in Science
According to this article at the BBC News website the European Space Agency’s Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain is pushing to keep the ISS going until the year 2020. This is critical as support for the station is up for review, and signs are pointing to pulling the plug by 2015: Read more… Kato Rosa: A Japanese Neapolitan Icon
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 15, 2010 in Japanese TV
Nicknamed Ro-chin actress and fashion model Kato Rosa (加藤ローサ) was born in 1985 in Naples, Italy — her mom was Japanese and her father was Italian. At age 6 her family moved to Japan but sadly lost her Italian language skills by the time she grew up. Since 2005 she’s been very active starring in both television shows and films, although I get a kick out of her commercials which I’ve collected here: Read more… Pikachu: Because Your PC Needs a Pokémon Pal
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 14, 2010 in Animation
I’ll be honest: I’m not quite sure what the functionality of this Pikachu USB Computer Companion actually does. Although one might divine that if you’re any sort of self respecting Pokémon fan that you’ll need this office toy: Read more… Archer: Silly Secret Spy Series Premieres Tonight
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 14, 2010 in Animation
In the good old days animation was limited to the likes of Cartoon Network, so I’m glad to see other channels getting into the game: Tonight on FX a new animated comedy series called Archer will debut. The show features master spy Sterling Archer who works for the International Secret Intelligence Service: Dr. Who Makes House Calls
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 13, 2010 in Dr. Who, Hobbies and Collections
The Dr. Who Cell Phone Alert Charm comes in two flavors: Dalek (seen above) and Tardis. The catch is that these cell phone charms only work with 800 – 1600 MHz GSM network cell phones — but if you own one of those models the cell phone charm will light up when a call comes in. Read more… What Would Happen If You Mixed Dr. Who and Lost in Space?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 13, 2010 in Dr. Who
A clever fanboy in the UK edited together this nice mashup video which kitbashes Dr. Who with Lost in Space. Of course having a character called Dr. Smith seemed to help the creative process a bit. In terms of Lost in Space I was never in love with the show although I always watched it in re-runs as a kid, but years later I discovered that the pilot for the show was quite well done and lacked the comedy elements that turned me off as a child. Warming Up to USB Powered Cat Cosplay
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 12, 2010 in Hobbies and Collections
Thanks to the Thanko USB Warmer Cat Paw Gloves you can combine cat cosplay with warming up at the office. The gloves include heat generators built inside and can come with optional cat ears earphones which are available in lack or white: Read more… Why You Should Still Detest Jay Leno
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 12, 2010 in Television
The 80s seems like such a distant era these days and part of the reason was that there was just so little media in that era. Cable television was just starting to take off, but it was a very niche and the America wasn’t even on AOL yet. So there were so very venues for alternative culture aside from perhaps MTV and a few publications. However after Johnny Carson, the David Letterman show was a special oasis of culture. It was based out of New York City so it had a very different vibe, and the guests were much more off the beaten path. Read more… The Fat Lady Sings: Baseball Anime Strikes Out in America
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 11, 2010 in Animation
Recently many anime reviewers were letdown that FUNimation dropped Big Windup season two — but frankly I was surprised that they picked it up in the first place. At first one is tempted to shrug it off and say that anime fans aren’t into sports, but clearly the popularity of Prince of Tennis proves that wrong. So what’s the real reason? This may come as a shock but baseball as a sport is endangered in the United States, and sadly that’s because most of Gen Y just doesn’t care about it as a pastime. Read more… Prediction: Palm Will Switch to Android (and Then Fade Away)
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 11, 2010 in Tech
On paper it was a good week for Palm — they announced at CES that they’ve struck a deal with Verizon and the next day their stock price ticked up. However the whims of the stock market can be a poor predictor of how a company does in the long run and can miss the big picture. Frankly the company that owned this week was Google with the announcement of the Nexus One: And that spells the death knell of Palm. Read more… Scherberger Spins Spidey to Life
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 10, 2010 in Comic Books
I usually make the mistake over overlooking mainstream Marvel titles because they can be so repetitive to me — but by missing the first issue of Spider-Man & The Secret Wars I clearly made a mistake! So with issue #2 (which is due out on January 13th) I won’t repeat that: From what I’m seeing with this book illustrator Patrick Scherberger is doing an A+ job of bringing Spidey to life. Read more… Sean Cooke Cooks Up a Seaworthy Star Wars Cover
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 10, 2010 in Comic Books, Star Wars
Back in the day science fiction book covers always looked realistic while comic book covers looked like — well comic books! However the last few years that has faded away and comic book covers remind me more and more of the good old days of paperbacks: Except unlike paperbacks the format is even larger. So I was blown away with the quality of this cover by art by Sean Cooke for Star Wars Legacy #47. Read more… |
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