“Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the original iconic Star Wars film, this replica of the headstrong astromech droid is a full-function, 628 x 528 pixel web camera that wirelessly transmits real-time video and audio to a computer, and has worldwide remote access capabilities, allowing you to control R2-D2’s movements and access the web camera from a laptop or a PC anywhere in the world.”
“A manga-illustrated canned coffee product that went on sale during the Comic Market (Comiket) 72 convention in August has turned out to be a hit among visitors to the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition venue. The “Seichi no Kohi” (sacred-site coffee) features two manga-like designs. One shows a girl carrying a bag along with another girl wearing glasses and carrying a thick book, resembling one of the official Comiket guides. The other shows a cosplay character in a sailor-type school uniform. The product was conceived by Big Sight Service, a company that operates stalls at Tokyo Big Sight, where Comiket is held.”
This is an interesting story from the BBC on a skycar that a company called Moller is working on (their website is quite interesting and worth a glance). It’s funny because I grew up watching science fiction I’ve always not thought much of skycars because you’d see them in shows like the Jetsons, while more realistic technology like a permanent moon base would be featured in shows like Space:1999, so it would be ironic if I lived to see flying cars take off in my lifetime while we’re still so earthbound:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 2, 2007 in Japanese TV
Shown above is a clip from a 1966 episode Ultra Q titled “Challenge From The Year 2020”. Ultra Q was a sci-fi/horror tv series which was like a cross between the Twilight Zone and the Toho monster movies. When this came out it was the most hight budget tv series being produced.
“After years and years of rumors about a potential live-action Dragonball Z movie, it has finally been announced that work is soon to commence! April 1st was a long time ago, so I am guessing this time the news is for real. The film will be produced by 20th Century Fox (as had always been rumoured) and will have a budget of US$100 million. Filming will take place in Montreal this fall and winter. There is good potential Fox will screw the film up, but is is certainly extremely interesting news for DBZ fans nonetheless.”
Not only is Tarantino correct that he was talking up Casino Royale before it was made, but also his vision of setting the film in the 60s was much more creative:
“Director Quentin Tarantino has slammed the Casino Royale producers for making the movie without his input, according to the UK movie magazine, Total Film. Tarantino, 44, best known for hit cult films like Pulp Fiction, said remaking the Bond movie was originally his idea.
“I never saw Casino Royale because I was so mad at those guys,” he said. “They said publicly that Casino Royale was un-filmable. The minute I said I would do Casino Royale, it’s on all the websites and it is the film that people want to see. They should have said thank you, ” added Tarantino.”
When I first read this I got excited, the idea of Russia or China landing on the moon would force the United States to re-invest in NASA and perhaps lead to a Mars landing as part of a new space race. But alas my fanboy hopes were dashed when I read further as it seems the Russians don’t even want to get to the moon until 2025 which pretty much makes their plans science fiction:
“MOSCOW, Aug. 31 (UPI) — Russia says it will send cosmonauts to the moon by 2025, with plans for a permanent manned base. Anatoly Perminov, head of the space agency, said a manned flight to Mars is scheduled for after 2035.”
It looks like good old TV Guide will cease to be published as a magazine, alas the company will live on but the publication will fade into history. As a fanboy this is rather sad for me as TV Guide has such a rich history of featuring all sorts of cool shows on their covers, making the back issues very collectable. Shown above are covers for Star Trek, Superman, the Six Million Dollar Man, Lost in Space, and Land of the Giants.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 31, 2007 in Animation
At long last Hollywood is starting to discover the animation industry in Korea. Shown above is a still from the film Yobi the Five-Tailed Fox which is featured in this recent Variety article:
“Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the country was a prime destination for outsourced animated work, with companies such as Akom Prods. (which produced much of the animated work behind “The Simpsons” TV series and recent film) leading the way. Nonetheless, few locally conceived and financed projects caught on with auds, or made much of a mark overseas. But newfound ambition and a rising generation of talent are raising hopes for a local renaissance.
Although what I liked best about the site is that it allows members to upload their own fan art, and thus allows you to create your own virtual dress up dolls. While some of the results may not be as slick as a professional artist, I admire the effort and energy some of the community members have put into their work. In fact got a kick out this Hamtaro entry which is very cute.
“Honey, why is your face glowing? In 1951, A.C. Gilbert introduced his U-238 Atomic Energy Lab, a radioactive learning set we can only assume was fun for the whole math club. Gilbert, who Americanmemorabilia claims was “often compared to Walt Disney for his creative genius,” had a dream that nuclear power could capture the imaginations of children everywhere. For a mere $49.50, the kit came complete with three “very low-level” radioactive sources, a Geiger-Mueller radiation counter, a Wilson Cloud Chamber (to see paths of alpha particles), a Spinthariscope (to see “live” radioactive disintegration), four samples of Uranium-bearing ores, and an Electroscope to measure radioactivity.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 30, 2007 in Comic Books
Fearless Frankie is a EC Comics inspired zombie comic book set in the jungles of the Vietnam War. This well done mini-epic is illustrated by Canadian artist Rob Sacchetto, and the comic is completely free online or as an Adobe Acrobat download.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 29, 2007 in Star Wars
You only have $50 to get your fanboy friend a gift, but the only trouble is do you pick something with a Star Wars theme or a cool Transformers toy? Well if you want to get the best both worlds you should check out the Hasbro Star Wars Transformer Deluxe Death Star that changes into Death Star vehicle mode into a mecha Darth Vader. The funny thing is that the mecha Darth sort of reminds me of a Gundam robot too…
Side Note: I keep looking for worthy Star Trek goodies to write about but the merchandising biys at Lucasfilm seem to be in hyperdrive mode this year. Maybe that will change when the next Trek film comes out.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 29, 2007 in Japanese TV
Shown above is a 1979 National camera commercial starring singer Aki Hitomi and a few of her fanboys. There’s something very innocent about this commercial, it’s not like the slick stuff you see today.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 28, 2007 in Comic Books
Ninty years ago today (August 28, 1917) comic book great Jack Kirby was born. Shown above is a cover for Mister Miracle that Kirby illustrated in the 70s. Kirby himself was a bit of a miracle man himself by the way he revolutionized the comic book industry.
Shown above is the Kewsion Kewpie line of anime hero cell phone strap figurines. The series features characters from well known anime shows from Astro Boy to Gatchaman (Battle of the Planets here in the US). You can order the series from Strapya World:
So for those who are asking, just what exactly is a Kewpie? Kewpie dolls and figurines are based on illustrations by Rose O’Neill that appeared in Ladies’ Home Journal in 1909. These illustrations, which incorporated words and pictures with the recurring Kewpie characters, are considered to be early versions of the comic strip medium. In Japan Kewpie is the name of a Japanese food manufacturer, famous for its popular brand of Japanese mayonnaise which features a Kewpie doll logo.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 27, 2007 in Animation
Storytime (1968) was the first film directed by Terry Gilliam. Prior to this Gilliam did animation work on the series Do Not Adjust Your Set which featured several other Python cast members:
The interesting thing to me about Logan’s Run is that when it came out it was a very adult science fiction film, in fact I read the book eons ago and I think it was more racey than the film as I recall. Also the theme of ‘only being allowed to live until 21’ seemed to be an indirect reference to the generation gap of the Vietnam War era. It will be interesting to see if director Joseph Kosinski can tap into these themes by going with a low tech approach:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 26, 2007 in Star Wars
Shown above is the official watch of the dark side! Although maybe that’s the dark side of good taste? The Star Wars watch set comes with two different time pieces: A wristwatch in the shape of Darth Vader’s head (shown above), where you open the helmet to reveal the simple digital dispaly. And the other one is an analog desk clock where the front piece of the arch villains helmet has been replaced by the multicolored “3D style” clock face:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 25, 2007 in Animation
On first look I wasn’t impressed with the character designs on Pocoyo, but after checking out their website I have to say that it was very well done and entertaining (and thus very visit worthy for any animation fanboy). It’s also very cool that they’re giving away their movie free online and then making money by selling books and DVDs:
“The soil on Mars may contain microbial life, according to a new interpretation of data first collected more than 30 years ago. The search for life on Mars appeared to hit a dead end in 1976 when Viking landers touched down on the red planet and failed to detect biological activity.
But Joop Houtkooper of the University of Giessen, Germany, said on Friday the spacecraft may in fact have found signs of a weird life form based on hydrogen peroxide on the subfreezing, arid Martian surface. His analysis of one of the experiments carried out by the Viking spacecraft suggests that 0.1 percent of the Martian soil could be of biological origin.”
Shown above the trailer for the sequal for Aliens vs. Predator, yawn! Why can’t Hollywood come up with something more interesting like ‘MechaAliens vs. Godzilla’ or ‘Aliens vs. the Klingon Empire’?
