Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 7, 2007 in Pulp Fiction
Today is the 100th birthday of science fiction master Robert A. Heinlein who was born in July 7th, 1907 and passed away in 1988. As a dyslexic youth I always prefered to watch science fiction on television rather than read it, but I have to say that reading Heinlein was always a great pleasure for me (my favorite is the Moon is a Harsh Mistress). What’s also enjoyable about his work is that even while you may not always agree with his point of view, his writing always makes a great conversation starter with fellow fanboys and fangurls.
By the way shown above are various covers from from both books and pulp magazines featuring Robert Heinlein, if you’d like to see more go and check out the Heinlein Book Cover Museum.
It’s not that often you see many packages decorated with hot pink and featuring pancake flavored anything! That’s why the above Pretz package caught my attention. The artwork on the package features a character design created by Japanese children’s book illustrator Osamu Harada. If you like the look of his work you’ll want to explore this website:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 6, 2007 in Animation
When I cam across the above clip entitled Star Fleet 1980 from England I’d never heard of the show before, but after doing some research it seems that it’s a translated version of a marionette show created by famous manga artist Go Nagai who’s most famous for his titles like Devilman and Cutey Honey. Here’s a great description of the show from Wikipedia:
“X-Bomber (Xボンバー Ekkusu Bonbā) is a marionette tokusatsu TV series. Created by manga master Go Nagai, the show, aired on Fuji TV from October 4, 1980 to March 28, 1981, with a total of 26 episodes. This show was billed in Japan as being filmed in “Sūpāmariorama” (スーパーマリオラマ), a puppeteering process similar to Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation works. This show is basically a cross between Nagai’s Getter Robo and Star Wars. Just like Getter Robo, the show’s protagonists ride three vehicles that combine into a giant robot. Big Dai X, the show’s robot, is more similar to the kind seen in the popular Super Sentai series than your average Nagai robot.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 6, 2007 in Comic Books
Strange things happen around Glister Butterworth! Shown above is a sketch of the first panel from the upcoming comic book Glister by Andi Watson. Watson’s work always seems to offer a nice taste of whinsy and adventure framed within a well designed (and detailed) layout. And also not to mention his color choices tend to feature a nice sophisticated palette, which is unusual for comic books.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 5, 2007 in Animation
Shown above is a fun music video for the French electronia band Justice for song D.A.N.C.E. In the video I love the clever device of having t-shirt graphics animated. The video was directed by Jonas & François at 75 prod.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 5, 2007 in Japanese TV
This is a very silly commercial for Go Go Tea starring Aya Matsuura, who’s J-pop arists and actress associated with the Hello! Project. Aya’s favorite food is cookie dough ice cream.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 4, 2007 in Comic Books
I was looking for a good 4th of July story, so the first thing that popped into my head was Captain America. While browsing all of the early covers of Captain America I found all of the expected foes of the Captain: Hitler, monsters, Tojo, zombies, robots, and the like. But then I came across issue #11 above which features Captain America trying to save Bucky (who seems to be the most useless sidekick in all superhero history) from the “horror of the feuding mountaineers!” And of course these hillbillies don’t wear shoes, can’t shave, reject dental care (in any way shape or form) but are all armed to the teeth!
The mountaineers are of course a reference to the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud. Although I think seen in the context of 1940s America the poorly groomed hillbillies are seen to be the enemies of progress, science, modernism and thus America itself. One would think that the leasure suit movement of the 70s made the nation safe for casual fashion statements, but alas the anti-mountian man movement may be back in full swing again…
The above poster for promoting the PEZ Spaceman Candy Dispenser was illustrated in 1959 during the height of the space race. I came across the poster at artsnotdead.com so I was inspired to go and do a search to see the actual Astronaut dispenser in action, however sadly the actual item didn’t match the quality of the advertisement. Although on the flip side I discovered that the name PEZ was derived from the German word for peppermint, Pfefferminz which the first PEZ flavor.
I fell in love with the little bee illustration above the minute I spotted a package of Glico Pretz Hachimitsu Lemon. But i was blown away when I sampled the wheat treats inside, they tasted rather good (very subtle flavoring). Here’s a close up of the bee for my fellow fanboys who love whimsical illustrations:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 3, 2007 in Animation
Shown above are the opening titles for Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine from 1965. If the style of claymation looks familiar it’s because it was created by none other than Art Clokey whose best known for Gumby. And it should also be mentioned that the music on the soundtrack is the Supremes. The film also stars Vincent Price, Frankie Avalon and a bikini clad female robot who looks rather human.
Heidi presented Tock as a gift to the author Norton Juster at a recent event, it should also be noted that the illustration of Tock was created by Jules Feiffer who is an amazing cartoonist. You can find Heidi’s blog here, and if you like work you can even buy some of her crafts here.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 2, 2007 in Star Wars
Illustrator Michael Flemming is doing an amazing series called the Star Wars ABC set. Shown above is B is for Banta, I love the amount of charm and detail that he packs into each illustration. You can find Michael’s blog here:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 1, 2007 in Star Wars
I guess we’ll have to wait until the final cut to see if it deserves the fanboy.com seal of approval. I also wonder if they will mock Jar Jar after they’ve been kissing up to Lucas so much?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 1, 2007 in Comic Books
I was rather struck by the cover above for Cats Prowl at Night, a cover from a 1949 Dell Mystery novel, it must have been an early homage to Catwoman who appears in Batman #1 from 1940.
While looking around this cool poster website I came across this great print promoting the James Bond film Casino Royale in Japan. I love the wild look of the design, it’s quite playful for a cold war spy movie.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 29, 2007 in Comic Books
Shown above is a promo for the World of Mister Toast! I discovered the works of Dan Goodsell on Flickr, although you can also follow his adventures on his blog, and of course his book (co-authored with Steve Roden) Krazy Kids Food! is one of my favorites.
The latest trend on Flickr is for folks to show off their very own Simpsons avatar. To create your own avatar just visit the official website for the Simpsons movie.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 27, 2007 in Animation
Snow White is so much about dreams coming true, so there’s something very sad about getting a sexist rejection letter from Disney with her character so well positioned on the Disney letterhead of that era:
“Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as that work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason girls are not considered for the training school.”
By the way the good news is that Miss Mary V. Ford went on to become an animator during World War II…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 26, 2007 in Star Trek
Set phasers on RANT!So you’re telling me that Harrison Ford is still young enough to play mast moving Indiana Jones, but Williams Shatner is too old to play Admiral Kirk? Us Star trek fanboys should demand justice! Just take a look at Ford, they didn’t even update his costume: It’s now twenty years later (maybe the 1950’s?) and he’s still wearing the same clothing! We’ve lost so many of the original Star Trek cast, can’t we have one more flick with Kirk and Spock? I’ll settle for a small scene, or even a bit part…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 26, 2007 in Japanese TV
Yummy yummy bread chips! Dogs jumping rope! A Harry Potter chess game! And mega teriyaki burgers! What else could you want? Although I think the animated stop motion soy bean commercial my favorite.
