Robot XL500

Shown above is the Robot XL500 designed by LockWasher Design. What’s great about this design is that it’s sleek and futuristic, yet when you look closer you see the everyday objects that make up the details to this delicious droid.

When is the Next Comet Bombardment Due?

So if global warming doesn’t get us first we may get hit by tons of comets:

Did the solar system ‘bounce’ finish the dinosaurs?

“The sun’s movement through the Milky Way regularly sends comets hurtling into the inner solar system – coinciding with mass life extinctions on earth, a new study claims. Scientists at the Cardiff Centre for Astrobiology built a computer model of our solar system’s movement and found that it “bounces” up and down through the plane of the galaxy. As we pass through the densest part of the plane, gravitational forces from the surrounding giant gas and dust clouds dislodge comets from their paths. The comets plunge into the solar system, some of them colliding with the earth.

The Cardiff team found that we pass through the galactic plane every 35 to 40 million years, increasing the chances of a comet collision tenfold. Evidence from craters on Earth also suggests we suffer more collisions approximately 36 million years. The periods of comet bombardment also coincide with mass extinctions, such as that of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Our present position in the galaxy suggests we are now very close to another such period.”

Retro Animation: The Fruit Stripe Zebra

The above commercials for Fruit Stripe Gum and Lifesavers date to the mid-70s. The design for the characters on the Lifesavers spot are wonderfully creative, it’s sad to think that so much similar food advertising today is just so bland.

Golgo 13: Coffee for Assassins

I first discovered Golgo 13 as an anime series in the 80s, but the concept dates back to a manga written and illustrated by Takao Saito in 1969. The series revolves around the adventures of Duke Togo a professional assassin, and a new animated version of the show is now running on TV Tokyo in Japan. To celebrate the series Nescafe is introducing a line of canned coffees to celebrate the stark looking sniper which is shown above (click on the image to view it at full size).

Sneak Peak at Sleestaks

It looks like Land of the Lost is in production in Hollywood. The key thing that made this old series great was that they had some A+ science fictions writers doing the scripting, I hope the powers that be keep in mind that it’s going to take more than slicker Sleestaks to keep us fanboys happy:

Kitschy ‘Land of the Lost’ gets a modern makeover

“The Land of the Lost film is now shooting on multiple sound stages at Universal Studios, and the Sleestak surface in a temple where Ferrell’s character and his two companions (comedian Danny McBride, Pushing Daisies’ Anna Friel) are hoping a giant crystal will return them to their own dimension.

The plot involves three adults (not a dad and two kids as on TV) accidentally thrust into a realm ruled by dinosaurs, monkey-men called Pakuni and the murderous Sleestak. Director Brad Silberling (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events) says he fought to keep the human shape of the Sleestak from Sid & Marty Krofft’s original production, and not give into the urge to render them as spindly computerized beings.”

Introducing the Brand New Ultracompact Galaxy

It seems that scientists are discovering young galaxies that are smaller in scale but contain as many stars as a more mature galaxy like the Milky Way:

Tiny Young Galaxies “Full of Stars” Discovered

“While these galaxies are small enough to fit within the central hub of our own Milky Way, they each contain as many stars as larger, more mature galaxies. The light we see from the densely packed galaxies dates to a time when the universe was relatively young, less than three billion years old.

Previously observed tiny galaxies from this time period had correspondingly small numbers of stars. But the newfound galaxies—each only about 5,000 light-years across—weigh in at about 200 billion times the mass of the sun.”

Wii Fit on Yellow Cabs in NYC

It looks like Nintendo is ramping up to do a major push for the Wii Fit here in NYC. Shown above is a shot of an ad campaign that will be on top of cabs throughout the city. My gut feeling is that this product will continue to further push open the video game market, and my thinking is that in this case that’s a very healthy thing for both my waistline and the industry.

Barbie Sings!

Because girls just want to have fun! I realize that Barbie is more of a fangurl icon than fanboy material, but I was quite impressed with the above musical example of how Mattel popularized the well known fashion doll with legions of young fans back in 1961. Also as an animation fan I got a real kick out of the charming reto animated graphics used in the commercial. Here’s the actual record:

Shown below is another good example of Mattel reaching out to fangurls with an official fan club that even featured its own magazine:

Read more…

Bionics is Now Old School

This is an amazing article, according to one scientist within ten years that we will have strategies that will allow us to re-grow the bones and functional tissue:

The man who grew a finger

“The photos of his severed finger tip are pretty graphic. You can understand why doctors said he’d lost it for good. Today though, you wouldn’t know it. Mr Spievak, who is 69 years old, shows off his finger, and it’s all there, tissue, nerves, nail, skin, even his finger print. How? Well that’s the truly remarkable part. It wasn’t a transplant. Mr Spievak re-grew his finger tip. He used a powder – or pixie dust as he sometimes refers to it while telling his story.”

Six Million Dollar Man toy photo found via W!L.

The Latest Incredible Hulk Trailer

Iron Man is like so yesterday already! Shown above is the latest trailer for the Incredible Hulk film. While I think that Edward Norton is a great choice for the Hulk, the actor that I’m looking ahead to seeing in the film is Tim Roth of Reservoir Dogs fame.

Killer Queen by Lorena Alvarez

Illustrator Lorena Alvarez was inspired by Marie Antoinette when she created this sketch entitled Killer Queen. I love the fact that the sketch fuses traditional French fashion with a bit of Japanese anime and Aubrey Beardsley thrown in for fun. Lorena is from Bogotá, Colombia and also does some amazing craft work as well.

Happy Turn vs. Disco Girl

Is it me or does the model from this 1979 snack commercial for Happy Turn remind me of Roller Girl from the film Boogie Nights?

Oh, Ooh! It’s Little Lulu

El Estratografico collects cropped Spanish comic book images and posts them to Flickr, I just love the Roy Lichtenstein quality of his picks. Shown above is Little Lulu in action…

Tom Corbett: Space Cadet Song and March

From the rocket fields of the academy! I wonder when the Sci Fi channel will do a remake of Tom Corbett: Space Cadet? Shown above is the cover for a 1951 record which features Mitchell Miller who would go onto fame in his own right with his Sing-Along with Mitch records in the 60s. As for Tom Corbett the TV series ran from 1950 until 1955 and inspired additional books, comics, a radio show and other goodies. I love the level of detail in the back cover of the record which shows you a typical space academy classroom:

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And Up Next: Cesar Evangelista Bautista

I just love the character designs above — you almost want to go out and party (or go on some magical quest) with the two of them. The credit for the artwork goes to Cesar Evangelista Bautista who is from Mexico City, México (check out his blog here).

Telepathy-Love

Shown above is a commercial featuring 70s J-Pop sensation Telepathy-Love, one of the many acts that rose up after the success of Pink Lady. Below is a fun album cover featuring the duo:

Album cover found via Kimberly Lindbergs, check out her cool sites: cinebeats.com, peppermintkisskiss.com and jsound.blogsome.com. I also got a kick out of her art and photography site.

Doc Ock Illustrated by Fernando León

I love the whimsical quality in this illustration of Doctor Octopus by Fernando León who is from Tunja, Colombia.

Roarr! Gulp!

El Estratografico collects cropped Spanish comic book images and posts them to Flickr, I just love the Roy Lichtenstein quality of his picks. I love the artwork above, the primitive use of color makes it all the more fun…

Noriyoshi Ohrai: Stellar Star Wars Illustrations

Noriyoshi Ohra is an amazing illustrator from Japan who does quite a bit of work related to the movies dating back the the 70s and covering every film from King Kong (the Jessica Lang remake) to Mad Max. However one of of his more interesting ongoing subjects is Star Wars, and there have been a number of amazing special edition books featuring his work aimed at Japanese fanboys (and fangurls too). What makes his work great is that it has a very strong painterly quality to it, you can see the brushstrokes at work throughout the canvas. His sense of color, lighting and sheer scale is also magical too. If you want to see more of his work check out this amazing article at starwars.com.

Read more…

Hello Kitty Hokkaido Lavender Bear

I’m sorry I just couldn’t help myself! These two little plushies were just too cute to blog about. Anyway I’ll try not to let this happen again in the future…

Found via Sarah from Atlanta, GA!

Indiana Jones Sofubi

This set of vinyl Indiana Jones statues sort of reminds me of the Muppet Babies, but in a good way:

Indiana Jones Sofubi by PansonWorks

“When the new Indiana Jones movie bows on May 22, Indy isn’t a young man anymore. He’s an old guy. So what’s a toy producer to do? Make an old man toy or hearken back to an earlier time? The choice is obvious in Pansonworks’ upcoming Indiana Jones sofubi (soft vinyl) toy which features a fresh-faced adventurer and his wizened dad. Indy’s also sporting about a day’s worth of stubble on his chin.”

Get Your Ass to Mars!

I say we skip the friggin moon! We’ve been there done that — time for something cooler:

NASA must look beyond the Moon

“Pressure is growing on NASA to speed up development of technologies that will allow astronauts to explore Mars, as envisioned by President George Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration. A new report echoes earlier concerns that sending astronauts to the Moon is dominating NASA’s agenda.”

Vintage Star Trek Medical Tricorder

I just love the detailing on this vintage Star Trek replica, in fact I’d love to see some enterprising fanboys kitbash it with an iPod! But sadly you’ll have to wait October to play doctor:

Star Trek Original Series Medical Tricorder Replica

“Based on the classic 23rd century design, the electronic Tricorder features silver highlights over a black finish, as well as light and sound effects taken from the classic Star Trek series. Also included is the removable scanner accessory – perfect for your next away mission! ”

Apocalypse Then: Humans Almost Went Extinct

When you stop and think about the idea of there only being 2,000 people some 70,000 years ago it’s amazing — you realize how fragile our existence is in this world:

Study says near extinction threatened people

“Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests. The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday. The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age.”

Illustration found via Scientific American Magazine.