I’ve been getting excited about the Sega science fiction game Infinite Space for a while, but of course my main fear was that we’d never see this cool anime spaceship themed saga in English. Well be careful what you wish for because the above trailer shows the English dub is shown above, and the voice acting is kind of average to say the least. You’d think that Sega would have learned from the Anime industry in the United States, but that isn’t the case here. However on the flip side even if the voice acting is bad what counts is the game design which looks impressive from what I’ve been seeing so far…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 2, 2009 in Star Wars
Over the last few hours I’ve been following rumors of a Star Wars live action television series which will be shot in Australia — well I’ve just confirmed from a source who has a friend that works at ILM that this rumor is in fact true! My understanding from what I’ve been able to gather is that the series will be high quality and tap into local talent from Australia from well know film people to science fiction writers. The series is suppose to be aimed at adults (unlike the previous cartoon series) and focus on relationships and emotional landscapes — which means that it might be in more of the “chick flick” tradition. Read more…
RoboGeisha is an upcoming film from writer/director Noboru Iguchi (井口昇). The trailer for this film (which will be released in 2010) looks quite campy, although I’d have to say that’s what makes me want to watch it! Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 2, 2009 in Videogames
There’s always something so rich about the games that LucasArts releases and Tales of Monkey Island for the Wii keeps to that tradition. Shown above is the official trailer and below is a sample scene which shows the “Launch of the Screaming Narwhal”. The developer of this game is Telltale Games which was founded by a team of former LucasArts employees who were working on the ill fated Sam & Max: Freelance Police project. I really love how they brought a cartoony feeling to a 3D world in what little I’ve seen of this game so far: Read more…
Acme Archives has released a beautiful set of faux posters based on the Pixar film Up illustrated by Eric Tan which are available through entertainmentearth.com. Be warned though: These are limited edition giclée prints which are hand signed so they’ll cost you a bit more than your average poster, however they’re signed by the artist and the quality is there. Read more…
It’s so easy to forget that when Hubble first launched in 1990 that it was a total disaster because the lens on the main mirror couldn’t focus — yet 19 years later it’s one of the best NASA success stories in recent history. This video tells he story of the team that replaced the mirror back in 1993. Here’s a before and after photo to show how much of an improvement the mirror fix made: Read more…
Everyone’s had that tingling feeling running (as they say) up and down one’s spine when they experience something awesome. Last night I saw a preview of Hayao Miyazaki’s new film Ponyo — and the feeling hasn’t gone away yet. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 30, 2009 in Japanese TV
Anna van! (Announcer Bang アナ★バン!) is broadcast on Sundays at midnight on the Fuji Television Network. The show is a bit odd because while it’s aimed at adults the studio setting looks like a kids show with the host talking to a sun puppet. This episode below is titled “Know the Future” and features palm reader who informs the well dressed ladies if they will be lucky at love, work or money: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 29, 2009 in Japanese TV
This late 80s greed-is-good coffee advert exerts a wonderful bravado for UCC THE Coffee. Doing some research I found that THE Coffee (with sugar!) is still being marketed to the public, in fact here’s the full line on the Japanese UCC website. Here’s another slightly less dramatic spot for THE Coffee from the 80s that I found: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 28, 2009 in Animation
A user on YouTube did a great job of putting together all of the Anime promos and commercials for the Summer season. The video above features: Bakemonogatari, Blue Flowers and Canaan. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 28, 2009 in Japanese TV
My guess is that commercial for Fujicolor Super HG has to be from either the late 80s or maybe the early 90s. The spot features the picture perfect looks of Imori Miyuki who started her career in 1986 in the TBS series It’s not fun, this is love (遊びじゃないのよ、この恋は) and is still active today. She has focused on comedy and her latest role was in the series Road to Remarriage (再婚一直線!) where she plays a struggling cartoonist trying to balance life with her proper looking husband and cute child: Read more…
This limited edition figma Miku Hatsune Live Stage Version will be released at The Wonder Festival on July 26th in Japan. Not only does the virtual idol have a keyboard but you can also pose her with a petty nifty looking speaker system as well: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 27, 2009 in Comic Books
I’m just not sure how I overlooked The Perhapanauts which is published by Image, shown above is issue #6 which just came out. I have no clue why an issue that comes out in June has a Halloween theme, but that doesn’t matter — what does matter is that this book looks great inside and out. Most publishers pull the bait-and-switch cover routine, but I have to say that the draftsmanship and character designs within this book are A+. Read more…
I’m usually not a fan of biopics but I think this case I might make an exception: The story of Amelia Earhart is a really strong one that’s ready for a fresh look. Add to that Hilary Swank as the aviator and surround her with the likes of Richard Gere and Ewan McGregor and you may have a winner, and if nothing else the cinematography that I see here looks beautiful. I even like the nice touch of having the scarf in the letter “A” on the logo. Amelia will fly into theaters in October and is directed by Mira Nair. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 26, 2009 in Science
This interview with Buzz Aldrin is from my favorite local news source NY1 (they have the best coverage of everything from the state of the subway to local political issues). Shelley Goldberg usually does their kids coverage so while this isn’t on her beat she does an A+ job of talking with an Apollo astronaut about some heavy topics in a very short amount of time.
The most depressing thing about this trailer is that awful cover version of a Kate Bush song that kicks in about a minute and a half into this trailer! Until that point I was willing to give yet another vampire flick a chance, but ruining a musical icon ruins everything for me. Well in any case Daybreakers will come out in January 2010 so perhaps they’ll have time to fix the soundtrack. Here’s an overview of the plot: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 26, 2009 in Animation
Believe it or now I recall watching this show as a child, although it may have been in re-runs! The Jackson 5ive ran for two seasons from 1971 until 1973 and was produced by Rankin/Bass in collaboration with Mowtown. The show was very similar to the Beatles cartoons that ran a few years before: The average plot was that the group is on tour, one member falls intro trouble and crazy antics resume which are interrupted by musical numbers: Read more…
With the passing of Michael Jackson everyone is focused on title “the king of pop” but to me his contribution was much more important in another area: The fine art of making music videos. This is important to me as I came of age in the 80s and while my taste in music was more on the new wave side than pop or R&B I was (and still am) bery much a hardcore fan of music videos. Yet even if you weren’t a Michael Jackson fan during that era if you were into music videos you couldn’t avoid his domination of the medium. In fact I think it would be fair to say that Jackson was one of the artists that made a network like MTV possible. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 25, 2009 in Television
The above photo My Farrah Fawcett Poster (from Shaggy Duck on Flickr) perfectly captures how an entire generation discovered Farrah Fawcett in the 70s. The fanboy in the photo above wrote “It was the 70’s and this was the moment I received MY Farrah Fawcett poster! I covered an entire wall in my room with Farrah and Charlies Angels pictures”.Read more…
I don’t care if it’s good, bad or silly: I’ll stand in line for any Quentin Tarantino — so by default this is the film I’m looking ahead to seeing this summer. Part of me is still trying to get use to Brad Pitt’s southern twang matched with Tarantino’s wisecracking dialogue. The plot of this film reminds me a great deal of The Dirty Dozen with a touch of Pulp Fiction thrown in for fun. Below is another clip I found from late May when Tarantino first showed the film in Cannes, it’s very cool as it has a full scene with a set up by Quentin at the start of the video: Read more…
Designed by neoelegance these two steampunk prop guns are available on Etsy. Shown above is the DG-4450 Blaster and below is the Subsonic Immolator. Both weapons are issued to officers on airships in Her Majesty’s Royal Zeppelin Corps and are useful for defending against sky pirates. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 24, 2009 in Science
I just finished reading an amazing essay by Buzz Aldrin — Buzz of course is the second human to have walked on the surface of the moon during the Summer of 1969. Aldrin is currently pushing his book new book Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon, but what has warmed my heart is that instead of reliving the past he’s pushing for the idea that NASA needs to aim higher and not just land on Mars, but build a space colony there: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 24, 2009 in Television
Ed McMahon represents the passing of the age of broadcast television which his career mirrored, and of course he’s best known for his long lasting gig at the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson from 1962 until 1992. But over the years he worked on a number of side projects: And from a fanboy point of view the most amusing to me is Legends of the Superheroes. This 1979 show was a sort of live action version of the Super Friends cartoon which was produced by Hanna-Barbera at the time. Read more…
, but what has warmed my heart is that instead of reliving the past he’s pushing for the idea that NASA needs to aim higher and not just land on Mars,