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.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 11, 2007 in Animation
The more I see of Lucky Star the more I enjoy it! Shown above is a clip from epiosde 18 in which Konata tries to figure out what animal each character is most like.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 10, 2007 in Animation
If this film happens it won’t be animated but live action ala the Transformers. Of course I’m now so burned out on 3D animation I tend to think that live action the best way to go, although it makes me wonder why the Simpsons has inspired people to think aout 2D again. My other bet is that everyone in Hollywood with the rights to a giant robot wants to make a film right now:
“New Regency is looking to assemble its own giant robot movie.
The 20th Century Fox-based production entity is close to a deal with the Mark Gordon Co. to adapt “Voltron: Defender of the Universe” into a live-action film.
Gordon has been developing the pic, based on the popular 1980s Japanese animated TV series, comicbooks and toy line, with Justin Marks penning the script.”
“Warner Bros. wants to send Jonny Quest on his first bigscreen adventure. Adrian Askarieh and Daniel Alter, who have the vidgame-based “Hitman” bowing in October from Fox, will produce the live-action adaptation of the popular 1960s animated TV series from Hanna-Barbera, with Dan Mazeau penning the script.
Askarieh, a longtime fan of the series, is hoping to turn the property into a family-friendly adventure franchise — something the studio is clearly looking for now that “Harry Potter” is winding down. Mazeau recently sold his fantasy adventure spec “Land of Lost Things” to Paramount Pictures’ Nickelodeon Films, with Arnold and Anne Kopelson producing.”
Shown above is the Mitsubishi i Princess Kitty which features a Hello Kitty design motif (click to see all the detail at full size, trust me it’s worth it):
“It was bound to happen sooner or later… and after ANCEL and DAMD’s pimp of the Mitsubishi I, here’s the Hello Kitty version of our beloved Kei-Car. Don’t panic though, because only one of these will be sold! If you want to see this car irl, jet over to Japan because it will be on display in a big Japanese store between July 25th and 31st.”
“Continuing to expand its inhouse videogame work, Warner Bros. will self-publish the game based on next summer’s tentpole “Speed Racer.” Versions of the game playable on Nintendo’s Wii and DS will launch day-and-date with the pic’s theatrical release in May. A version for Sony’s PlayStation 2 comes out in the fall along with the DVD. Given the short development schedule, Warner Bros. apparently decided not to invest in “Speed Racer” games for the high-powered PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 7, 2007 in Comic Books
The folks at filmick.co.uk have come up with a very well done chart showing previous and current efforts to cast Watchman as a film. It’s sad that we’ll never know what the Terry Gilliam version of the film would have looked like.
“Warner Bros. apparently is putting together an anime project that would help bridge the gap between “Batman Begins” and the upcoming sequel, “The Dark Knight,” according to Batman-On-Film. The anime series will carry a PG-13 equivalent rating, and include stories written by Josh Olsen of “A History of Violence” fame as well as “Batman Begins” writer David Goyer. Also onboard to write episodes is comic book scribe Brian Azzarello.
It is not clear whether these will be animated episodes available on the Web, or if Warner Bros. will take the Matrix route and release them directly to DVD instead. Online promotion of television and movies, especially through the areas of online video, have become much more popular in recent years, and Warner could choose to take the viral promotion route. At the same time, however, comic book fans have been known to buy just about anything that is released on their favorite characters, so it might be a better money-making opportunity for the studio to go directly to DVD.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 6, 2007 in Animation
Shown above is a trailer for Robota by Star Wars mecha designer Doug Chaing. I have no idea if there’s any sort of story, but man do the visuals look great!
“…Then nerdcore came along. A largely white subgenre of hip-hop that celebrates the solitary pleasures of science fiction, computers and bad teenage movies, nerdcore is emerging from the shadows of the Internet, where it spent the last half-decade as an in-joke. This do-it-yourself brand of rap, part self-expression and part self-satire, has inspired two documentary films, and its own festival, Nerdapalooza, in California. This month, MC Chris — otherwise known as Christopher Ward, 31, the son of a finance executive from the affluent Chicago suburb of Libertyville, Ill. — will attempt an unprecedented nerdcore crossover when he joins mosh-pit-friendly rock acts like New Found Glory and Sum 41 on the Warped Tour.”
