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Christmas Toys of 1953
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 22, 2009 in Hobbies and Collections
This is the Gary Moore television show from 1953: Here he’s doing an amazing segment which features the hot toys of that era. Moore had an amazing career — he started out working in radio in 1937, went on to television ten years later in 1947 and kept going until 1976. Found via Ira Gallen of tvdays.com. Sockamagee! Dial H for Hero Returns…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 22, 2009 in Comic Books
In January of 1966 artist Jim Mooney and writer Dave Wood introduced a new concept for the existing comic book series House of Mystery. They came up with a teenage boy Robert “Robby” Reed who uses an old fashioned telephone dial to become one of many superheroes. This classic kitsch series became known as Dial H for Hero and ran until 1968, but was picked up again by DC Comics in the 80s and just a few years ago in 2003. Well the good news is that it looks like DC will be re-issuing the series as a book in April of next year. Read more… Is the Pen Mightier Than the Gundam?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 22, 2009 in Animation, Hobbies and Collections
Just when I had thought that I had seen every Mobile Suit Gundam goodie along comes another trinket to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the classic anime series. In this case we’ve got a collection of ballpoint pens that are shaped like the various weapons the mecha suits carry into battle, and at $11 the set is pretty cheap in terms of collectables: Read more… Avatar: My Big Fat Fanboy Wedding
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 21, 2009 in Cinema
Unlike Star Trek or a Quentin Tarantino film I’ve got to admit that I don’t have any emotional investment in James Cameron. Yes I grew up with his films and enjoyed them, but I never really loved them. From my point of view his weakness is that he tries to pull at your heartstrings with characters you just don’t give a damn about. Read more… The Curse of Ridley Scott
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 20, 2009 in Cinema
On paper it sounds like a good idea: Why not take the Philip K. Dick book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and make a graphic novel out of it? And that’s what BOOM! Studios has been trying to do for about seven issues of this comic book and they just can’t get it right. I’ve been looking at the previews for a while and something has always set me off about them. Then it struck with this latest issue — this isn’t a graphic novel based upon the novel, but a bad xerox copy of Blade Runner which was the famous film which was based upon the novel. Read more… The First Decade of the 21st Century: Thumbs Down
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 19, 2009 in Science
As a child of the 21st Century I had a clear set of expectations on what the future would look like thanks to watching too much many science fiction television shows. Now of course even as a child I had a clear understanding of what was and wasn’t going to be possible in terms of technology: For example anything you’d see on Star Trek was pretty much off limits — as the show took place in the 23rd Century. So while I knew that interstellar travel, transporter devices and even time travel might occur — sadly for yours truly that would happen after I was history. Read more… Iron Man 2: Prepare for Whiplash
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 18, 2009 in Cinema, Comic Books
Just knowing that you’ve got a film with Robert Downey, Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow is cool. But add Mickey Rourke who’s an amazing actor as the heavy and you’ve the potential for a very entertaining film. In fact Rourke as the evil character Whiplash looks like he’s going to be the star of this film. Iron Man 2 is due out in May of 2010… Dead Rock-and-Roll Action Figures: Plastic Corpse Collectables!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 17, 2009 in Hobbies and Collections
For kids action figures represent an idea of who you might grow up to be in the future. However recently I’ve started to realize that there is an entire genre of action figures that are based on dead rock-and-roll stars: My theory is that these collectables represents the mourning of our lost youth. As most of these rock stars die in their youth, we’ve never known them to grow old — and by extension this allows us to do the same. Read more… The Man Who Saved Disney — Twice!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 17, 2009 in Animation
When people think of Disney they always think of a solo founder — Walt Disney. And while Walt was a genius he had a partner that made the business work: Roy O. Disney. He was the younger brother to Walt, and business brains of the operation. To be blunt, without him Disney might have been a director and a producer but never a studio head. It’s because of Roy that Disney as a company existed. Read more… LittleBigPlanet Pirates Steals My Heart
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 16, 2009 in Videogames
You know it’s the stupid things in life that make me happy — and the minute I looked at the trailer for the Pirates of the Caribbean Premium Level Kit for LittleBigPlanet a smile emerged on my face. Everything about this level seems just right from the silly music to the kitbashing of character designs. This level will be out on December 22nd for $6 from Media Molecule. Ridley, Russell and Robin Hood
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 16, 2009 in Cinema
I’ll be honest: My first reaction to even hearing that there was a big budget Robin Hood in the works make with cringe as grow men prancing around in tights lacking proper machine guns just seems silly to me thanks to Bugs Bunny. However when I realized that Ridley Scott was directing my thinking is that he might do something interesting with the story after all. Read more… Omamori Himari: How Many More Catgirl Cheesecake Anime Shows Can Japan Produce?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 16, 2009 in Animation
This is a promo for the upcoming anime series Omamori Himari (おまもりひまり) which is due out in January 2010: It’s your typical boy meets supernatural samurai catgirl type of story. Now I know that this type of show always appeals to the fanboys, and is a sure fire break-even proposition from a marketing/merchandising point of view — but over the long run it doesn’t bring any new fans to anime. Read more… RD-D2 Will Give You Shiny Hair
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 16, 2009 in Hobbies and Collections, Star Wars
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away the fanboys (and fangurls) all had dirty hair! Although sadly I think that most fans who will purchase the Star Wars Shampoo Bottle Set will be afraid to ruin the collectors value by actually using the hair cleaning substance within: Read more… Tron Evolution: This Virus Teaser Trailer is Infectious
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 15, 2009 in Videogames
Never judge the game by the trailer — it’s the gameplay that counts! Good I’m glad I got that out of my system because I KNOW that’s true, but the fanboy in me is pre-sold on this because we’re talking about Tron. Now that’s a gamble as it’s a favorite geek franchise from back in the day, but frankly everything in this trailer feels like the perfect update from the quality of the voice over to bringing the look of the original film to the next level. Read more… Sherlock Holmes: A Cinematic Christmas Gift from Guy Ritchie
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 15, 2009 in Cinema
Looking at all of these clips of the upcoming Sherlock Holmes I’ve got to say that I’m intrigued enough to see it on opening day (Christmas!). I recently caught RocknRolla by Guy Ritchie on cable and found myself re-watching more than once — while it wasn’t original his craftsmanship and storytelling was wonderful. He’s turned Sherlock Holmes into a bit of a superhero in these clips — and I’ve got to say that Jude Law makes a great Watson: Read more… Tarantino Picks His Fave Films of 2009There were some films on Quentin’s list that I loved like Star Trek, but his admiration for Observe and Report leaves me puzzled. I’ll be honest: I didn’t film the film but the trailer unsold me rather quickly. I love the fact that Tarantino mentioned the Thai film Chocolate which was directed by Prachya Pinkaew. Here’s the trailer which looks amazing: Read more… A Do-It-Yourself Iron Pastry Chef Kit
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 14, 2009 in Hobbies and Collections
Sadly this product could never be released in the United States due to fears of lawsuits — however that said the Cream Filled Pastry Kit is one of the coolest looking foodie focused toys I’ve seen in a long time! In theory here are what your results are suppose to look like: Read more… The Lucky Star Concert I Sadly Missed!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 14, 2009 in Animation
This commercial is from a month ago and who knows when this concert took place — but according to this advert the DVD for Lucky☆Star in it for you from the Budokan will be released on December 25th and will be available through kyotoanimation.shop-pro.jp. The video is 118 minutes long and features Dolby stereo so you can sing along with the voice actors, although the light sticks that the audience members have are not included. Control Gigantor With Your Netbook
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 13, 2009 in Animation, Japanese TV
Shown above is an NTT ad for the Docomo for PC service which features Tetsujin 28-go, which is lovingly known to American fans as Gigantor. I love how while the two giant robots are destroying Tokyo the Docomo PC user is still spellbound by his nifty software… The Final Moonwalk of the 20th Century
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 13, 2009 in Science
On this day in 1972 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt went out for their third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) — which is known to us civilians as a moonwalk. The Apollo 17 mission would mark the last time in the 20th Century when humans would walk the surface of the moon. While the close of that century would start a new golden age of astronomy with many planets outside of our solar system being discovered, it’s been a dark age of space exploration. And yet least we forget: The nation that went to the moon was in the middle of an expensive Cold War, was fighting an actual war in Asia and was enacting new healthcare programs — and yet they still had the gumption to go. Read more… A Ninja Obsessed With Dental Hygiene
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 12, 2009 in Hobbies and Collections
I know that ninjas are so last year and that everybody is obsessed with zombies this season; but this Bacteria Assassin Ninja Toothbrush Sanitizer really caught my eye as it’s one of the few geek gizmos that’s healthy for you. The little ninja uses Ultraviolet light to eliminate bacterial growth on your toothbrush. In fact the makers claim that it kills 99.9% of bacteria and viruses — including H1N1: Read more… What Was the Hardest Book for Isaac Asimov to Write?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 12, 2009 in Pulp Fiction, Tech
Talking to my old friend Marc Thorner I got an interesting insight on legendary author Isaac Asimov: It seems that as a younger fanboy he was professing his admiration to Asimov for one of his lesser known treasures An Easy Introduction to the Slide Rule which was written in 1965. Asimov then confided to my friend that it was the hardest book that he ever wrote. This is somewhat shocking given the sheer range of subject matter that Asimov tackled — every subject from Lecherous Limericks to a complete guide to the works of Shakespeare! Asimov’s reason for the difficulty? It seems that the book was very graphics intense and required a great deal of input into the illustrations. Here are two covers from this classic: Read more… Buckle Up Batman Style
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 11, 2009 in Comic Books, Hobbies and Collections
Actually the JLA Trophy Room Batman Modern Utility Belt Prop Replica isn’t designed for vintage cosplay fanatics; at a price tag of $280 this replica is designed for display in your bat trophy cabinet. The design of this belt is somewhat based upon what Adam West wore in the 60s television series shown here: Read more… The Forlorn Frazetta Art Heist
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 10, 2009 in Pulp Fiction
Sadly it seems that Frazetta’s son was caught trying to steal paintings from a museum honoring his father. Police report that Alfonso Frank Frazetta was caught loading up to 90 swiped paintings while loading them into his vehicle. The son claimed that his father told him to take the paintings, but his father claimed no knowledge of having said that. A source claims that Alfonso may have been motivated by a family feud. I suspect that’s the case given how easily he was caught, and my sad guess (and it’s only a guess) it that it’s a cry for help. My sympathies to the Frazetta family. |
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