Posted by Guest Author on May 16, 2008 in Animation
In this exclusive series our guest author Tim Eldred picks the top ten crown jewels of anime:
As a guy who started watching anime in 1980, I was lucky enough to catch the virus when the medium was in a creative upswing the likes of which simply hasn’t been seen since. Of course, there was great stuff before that, but never in quite so much abundance. The early 80s in particular were chock full of shows that had the power to make me (A) cry like a baby or (B) leap out of my chair like a sports fan. And any show that could do both became a crown jewel in my eyes. They haven’t all been officially exported yet, which means a lot of people still have an opportunity to experience them for the first time. Here’s number 5 on my top ten list:
Galaxy Drifter Vifam
1983 was a banner year for SF anime on Japanese TV. The best writers were producing their best stuff at this time, and despite the preponderence of seemingly endless dynasties of giant robots every story had new turf to stake out. Vifam was a shining jewel in this crown, artfully combining said robots with a group of 13 children (who pretty much summed up the target demographic of the time) who are forced to grow up fast after their entire planet is swarmed by an alien enemy and strands them on a spaceship in the middle of hostile territory. If that sounds a little like Battlestar Galactica or maybe even Infinite Ryvius, that’s because it is. But the resemblance ends there.
Dark Horse will be publishing a collection of the works of Eric Joyner in early October. Joyner who is an illustrator and a fine artist takes his favorite objects like Japanese tin toys and yummy donuts and places them into whimsical painterly scenes of surrealistic bliss:
“In the years following World War II the major export from Japan wasn’t electronic equipment, but toys, specifically tin toys. Crafted in the shapes of submarines, planes, trains, cars, and horses, one of the most popular motifs was toy robots. Constructed in virtually every shape imaginable from the 1940s throughout the 1960s, they ranged in appearance from horror to science fiction characters. Capturing this period in history became a passion for painter Eric Joyner and in Robots and Donuts he celebrates this forgotten era with images marrying the metal creations with images plucked from his imagination. And, almost always, with donuts.”
Posted by Guest Author on May 15, 2008 in Animation
In this exclusive series our guest author Tim Eldred picks the top ten crown jewels of anime:
As a guy who started watching anime in 1980, I was lucky enough to catch the virus when the medium was in a creative upswing the likes of which simply hasn’t been seen since. Of course, there was great stuff before that, but never in quite so much abundance. The early 80s in particular were chock full of shows that had the power to make me (A) cry like a baby or (B) leap out of my chair like a sports fan. And any show that could do both became a crown jewel in my eyes. They haven’t all been officially exported yet, which means a lot of people still have an opportunity to experience them for the first time. Here’s number 4 on my top ten list:
Blue Meteor SPT Layzner Sometimes translated as Blue Comet SPT Layzner
If dark, complex, emotional stories are where it’s at for you, this one has it all. Created by Ryosuke Takahashi (who struck gold earlier with Armored Trooper Votoms), it’s a hard-edged SF action series about a robot pilot named Eiji Aska, who gets stuck between a rock and hard place when he breaks with his own army to prevent them from invading the Earth.
The first Earth people he approaches with this story, a group of refugees who narrowly escape an attack on their Mars colony, aren’t sure what to make of this (and neither is anyone else for that matter). As time goes on, Eiji wins the hearts and minds of a select few, but the opposition stacked against him is not only enormous — it’s personal.
“A Doctor Who fan is embroiled in a row with the BBC after she published knitting patterns for the sci-fi drama’s monsters on the internet. The patterns of Ood and Adipose were removed from her website after the BBC’s commercial arm complained that they breached its trademark. But the woman said the corporation was “making an example of her”. BBC Worldwide said it acted because finished figures were being sold by others on auction website eBay. It also denied threatening legal action and said it had offered to consider marketing the designs itself.”
“Now, Beavis & Butt-Head might be getting ready to do it all over again — and wait until you hear what they’re gonna look like. “I feel like it’s something I can come back to and do,” creator Mike Judge told us when he stopped by our studios to promote “The Animation Show,” an eye-popping theatrical/DVD cartoon extravaganza that has occasionally featured the dimwitted duo.”
…Oddly enough I wouldn’t mind seeing a Daria live action film.
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 15, 2008 in Comic Books
I first came across the work of Tony Millionaire (Scott Richardson) in the 90s while following his comic strip Maakies in the New York Press newspaper here in NYC. His work harkens back a great deal to old school comics like Krazy Kat and Popeye. So I was very pleased to hear that Dark Horse will be publishing a collection of his work in late October which should be an ideal Christmas gift for any comix fanboy:
“Prepare to set sail on a drunken fever-dream of dollies, apes, and exotic mysteries that once seen can never be UN-seen! The Art of Tony Millionaire collects illustrations, comics, stories, photographs, and anecdotes from the man once referred to as “Beefy McManus” by the late rock star, “Rocky Stardomes!” — the one and only Tony Millionaire! THRILL to never-before seen illustrations that have made women gasp and grown men gasp, too! PARTAKE in the beautiful genius of the only cartoonist in the history of mankind to have won five Eisner Awards, three Harvey Awards and an Ignatz! He also won Best Marksman at summer camp when he was twelve, but lost the art competition at High School to a girl who drew a lovely ear of corn!”
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 15, 2008 in Animation
I don’t know why but this sort of thing always makes me so happy! This fan video is a mash up of scenes from Rozen Maiden featuring the character Suiseiseki.
Posted by Guest Author on May 14, 2008 in Animation
In this exclusive series our guest author Tim Eldred picks the top ten crown jewels of anime:
As a guy who started watching anime in 1980, I was lucky enough to catch the virus when the medium was in a creative upswing the likes of which simply hasn’t been seen since. Of course, there was great stuff before that, but never in quite so much abundance. The early 80s in particular were chock full of shows that had the power to make me (A) cry like a baby or (B) leap out of my chair like a sports fan. And any show that could do both became a crown jewel in my eyes. They haven’t all been officially exported yet, which means a lot of people still have an opportunity to experience them for the first time. Here’s number 3 on my top ten list:
Mobile Suit Gundam
If you’re having trouble sorting out one Gundam anime from another, you’re not alone. If you’ve heard that Gundam is a legendary saga that everyone has to see, you heard right‹but it’s not the current stuff (the latest being a TV series called Gundam Double O) that earned it this reputation. If you want to cut to the bone, you need to go all the way back to 1979 for the original no-extra-title-added Mobile Suit Gundam. It’s inescapably clunky and rough around the edges, a low-budget show even by those early standards, which was prematurely cancelled but went on to become a theatrical blockbuster.
As usual I was stumped again this year shopping for a family member who loves dogs, but as I was strolling through Books Kinokuniya which is a Japanese book store here in New York I came across some great goodies for canine fanboys and fangurls of all ages. Shown above is are some playful paper clips which are by Midori who has a wide line of interesting stationery products.
Below is an amazing little gift book that I discovered which was packed with dog photos and Japanese brush typography. The name of the book is いぬだもの (単行本) which translates to “Dog’s Book” and is available at Amazon Japan. There’s also a second book in the series which is titled いぬだもの 2 (2) (単行本) which translates to “Dog to be 2” and can also be found at Amazon Japan:
Posted by Guest Author on May 13, 2008 in Animation
In this exclusive series our guest author Tim Eldred picks the top ten crown jewels of anime:
As a guy who started watching anime in 1980, I was lucky enough to catch the virus when the medium was in a creative upswing the likes of which simply hasn’t been seen since. Of course, there was great stuff before that, but never in quite so much abundance. The early 80s in particular were chock full of shows that had the power to make me (A) cry like a baby or (B) leap out of my chair like a sports fan. And any show that could do both became a crown jewel in my eyes. They haven’t all been officially exported yet, which means a lot of people still have an opportunity to experience them for the first time. Here’s number 2 on my top ten list:
Armored Trooper Votoms
You gotta hand it to a series that starts out riffing on a movie you really like and then blows way past it into completely new territory. For me, the movie was Blade Runner (1982) and when I saw the first few episodes of Votoms I thought, cool‹a Japanese take on one of my faves! And then Votoms kept going?and going?and GOING. By the time it got all the way to its finale in episode 52 it had left Blade Runner far behind and found its own path to become something wholly original that has never been equaled, though some well-meaning imitators have tried.
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 13, 2008 in Comic Books
Shown above is the Batmanesque inspired painting Duo again (2008) by fine artistRichard Mullins. What I like about his work is that in addition to be inspired by pop art subjects, his style of painting and bold use of vivid colors reminds me a great deal of the Fauvism of Henri Matisse. Below are some additional examples of his work that caught my eye:
Posted by Guest Author on May 12, 2008 in Animation
In this exclusive series our guest author Tim Eldred picks the top ten crown jewels of anime:
As a guy who started watching anime in 1980, I was lucky enough to catch the virus when the medium was in a creative upswing the likes of which simply hasn’t been seen since. Of course, there was great stuff before that, but never in quite so much abundance. The early 80s in particular were chock full of shows that had the power to make me (A) cry like a baby or (B) leap out of my chair like a sports fan. And any show that could do both became a crown jewel in my eyes. They haven’t all been officially exported yet, which means a lot of people still have an opportunity to experience them for the first time. Here’s number 1 on my top ten list:
Space Battleship Yamato
How does one objectively describe an anime saga that changed one’s life? You can’t, so there’s no point in trying. Space Battleship Yamato is simply the greatest of them all. The proof of this is that you didn’t even have to see it for it to change your life. If you became an anime fan after the year 1977, you have Yamato to thank. That was the year the first movie hit theatres in Japan with the same impact that Star Wars had here. (It was a compilation of the inaugural 1974 TV series, but that’s beside the point.) It was the first ever ‘anime boom’ and everything that’s come out of Japan since then has been an echo of it.
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 12, 2008 in Star Trek
In 1967 Gold Key started publishing a series of Star Trek comic books. What I love about these early ones is that the designs look very and mod, not what you’d expect to see on the cover of a comic book. The use of colors is very psychedelic and they incorporate design elements which are reminiscent of op art and Andy Warhol. Shown above is issue 01-00 from 1967, below are issues 03-00 from 1968 and 04-00 from 1969.
Introduction: I first discovered Fan History back in 2007 when long time Anime fan Steve Pearl passed away. To me Steve was a real hero in the anime scene, yet when I did a search I found very little about his contribution to the field. So I was very happy to find his entry at fanhistory.com. The website is still in an early phase yet they have a wealth of information on fandom. As pulisher of fanboy.com I encourage everyone to contribute to helping this amazing resource grow. And without further ado here is my interview with Laura Hale who started the site:
For folks not familiar with fanhistory.com (and wikis in general) can you give us an introduction to your project?
Where to start? Fan History is a fandom run project dedicated to doing a couple of things.
First, it is about sharing the history of fandom. It explains what was going in specific fandoms, in regards to specific topics in fandom, gives an idea as to who some of the big name fans are, shares some of the historical activities that took place in a fandom and continue to take place in fandom, and where to find fandom.
Second, and complimenting the first, Fan History is about creating a directory of people in fandom. The directory information contains a history of a person’s involvement in fandom, what fandoms people are involved with, any fanworks they’ve created and links back to their sites or blogs.
Fan History is a project in wiki format. A wiki allows anyone to edit the content. In the case of Fan History, it means that anyone can help contribute to project, adding information on the history of fandom.
“A pair of Harvard researchers say violent video games don’t turn children into killers. According to a newly published book, ‘Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games and What Parents Can Do’, psychologists Lawrence Kutner and Cheryl Olson dispel common myths about violent games. In their two-year study, they found that there was no data to support any causation between games and real-life violence.
Kutner and Olson studied 1200 middle-school children in a $1.5 million federally funded study. Instead of studying the children in the laboratory, like other studies, the pair actually sat down and talked to kids after long bouts of game playing – sometimes in excess of 15 hours a week. The lucky kids played a variety of games from the very non-violent The Sims to grandma shooting, pedestrian bashing Grand Theft Auto.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 10, 2008 in Videogames
I still have high hopes for this film based on other things that I’ve seen and have heard, but frankly the above video game trailer doesn’t get me too excited. I wish that Disney and Pixar would get more directly involved with their games ala LucasArts.
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 9, 2008 in Animation
Shown above is the animated film Kings of Power 4 Billion by Paul Robertson. It’s hard to see all of the detail in the YouTube video (I’d suggest downloading a torrent) but Robertson’s animation technique is drawn pixel by pixel like an old school video game. In addition to video games he also draws quite a bit from anime and pop cultural references. Here’s part two:
In August of this year Buck Rogers will be 80 years old! The franchise which takes place in the year 2419 first started life as a short story in the pulp magazine Amazing Stories has has spawned comic books, novels, toys, serialized movies and two TV series (first in 1950 on ABC and then the disco version in 1979). Now it looks like Nu Image/Millennium Films has acquired film rights to the property and will create a live action film:
“Nu Image/Millennium’s Avi Lerner got the rights from the Dille Trust, which is run by the surviving family of series originator Frank Dille. Those rights had once been with Disney, but the Dille family was attracted to moving them to a small movie and gaining more control over the direction of the film. Despite web reports that Frank Miller had boarded the project, sources at Millennium disputed than any creatives had yet aligned to the project.”
“The prevailing thinking is that Mars is a planet whose active climate has been confined to the distant past. About 3.5 billion years ago, the Red Planet had extensive flowing water and then fell quiet – deadly quiet. It didn’t seem the climate had changed much since.
Now scientists think Mars’ climate has been much more dynamic than previously believed. After examining stunning high-resolution images taken last year by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the researchers have documented for the first time that ice packs at least 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) thick and perhaps 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) thick existed along Mars’ mid-latitude belt as recently as 100 million years ago.
In addition, the team believes other images tell them that glaciers flowed in localized areas in the last 10 to 100 million years – akin to the day before yesterday in Mars’ geological timeline. This evidence of recent activity means the Martian climate may change again and could bolster speculation about whether the Red Planet can, or did, support life.”
