So I started to think: What would it take to get Flash on the iPad? Seeing that it’s a political situation the clear answer is that the CEO of Adobe needs to make nice with Steve. And then it hit me: Who the hell is the CEO of Adobe? Back in the day THE guy at Adobe was Warnock but that was eons ago — so who is running Adobe today? And much to my shock after doing a Google search I came across the page below and it tells you everything that’s wrong with this picture: There is no strong CEO at Adobe — the company is still in the shadow of Warnock. Read more…
This collection of Phone cases were issued to celebrate the tenth anniversary of One Piece. The first set of three features Monkey D. Luffy Wanted, Chopper Pink, and a Chopper Black version: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 30, 2010 in Comic Books
Shōjo manga fans may feel jilted but here’s a sad preview of Marvel Heartbreakers. The lack of quality in this book kills me because once upon a time there was an American tradition of romantic comic books which could appeal to the ladies which lasted until about the 60s, but as the industry retreated to the boys treehouse of comic book shops in the 80s the genre had all but faded. While I’ve been impressed with Marvel’s ability to do great work in the kids market, this book shows that Marvel doesn’t see the potential of the audience. And while the ladies are reading comics these days they’re more likely to be Japanese manga than anything that Marvel might put out as seen below: Read more…
During the CD-ROM era of the 90s the only real game in town was Macromind Director. The program first started life out as an animation program bit with the boom in multimedia Director gained a programming language called Lingo and had a loyal following. Then the damn web came along and ruined it all: There was a web version of Director called Shockwave, but due to the overhead of bitmap graphics another program called Flash started to build rapid momentum. Macromedia would acquire Flash and rumor has it that Director is still around but the notion of getting a Lingo gig is history. And now that it’s the year 2010 I’m seeing the same thing slowly start to happen to Flash all over again.Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 29, 2010 in Science
This interesting video clip author Wade Davis attempts to answer the question of what would alien anthropologists think of humans? His answer is that they might be impressed with our technology but not with our social structures. Actually my guess is that they might also see us a technologically backwards as a species that could achieve interstellar space travel would be eons ahead of what we think of as cutting edge.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 29, 2010 in Science
I just came across this tribute video from NASA which to me underscores how much we owe to those who put their lives on the line to travel into space. With the advent of space tourism we tend to forget that sending up a spaceship into orbit is in fact going into harms way. It’s sad to me that we don’t honor these brave folks by investing in NASA.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 29, 2010 in Science
From what I’m reading the upcoming NASA budget will do three things: Give up the underfunded quest to return to the moon, keep the ISS flying until 2020 and push to outsource a shuttle replacement which would mean scrapping the Ares I rocket. This is all unconfirmed at this point, but the it looks like NASA funding will increase by $6 billion which sounds good on paper, but may not be enough to replace the shuttle soon enough. Read more…
This is such a strange bobble head: It’s suppose to be Ultraman however his head has been decapitated and replaced with an old school television set which is showing Ultraman on its screen. But making this toy even stranger is that the television head will shake and nod which is powered by solar power. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 28, 2010 in Animation, Fandom
This is the video for the Ichirou Mizuki song It Is Not This! Korejanai Robo! which tells the heartbreaking tale of a child otaku who years from a Gundam toy but whose clueless parents get him a cheap bootleg instead. Of course our little hero isn’t going to take this slight, so he takes his revenge on the wannabe Gundam. But this mecha knockoff has a few tricks up his sleeve. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 27, 2010 in Science
I think an octopus is about as different as you can get from being a human — eight legs, lives underwater and a hard beak at the center. Yet this video shows clear evidence that they’re quite bright creatures who are quite capable of using tools. This makes me realize that as humans we might have a bias towards thinking that only humanoid creatures have intelligence — and often the worst offenders I see are science fiction films. Read more…
For about the past week all across Manhattan I’ve been spotting giant billboards for the upcoming Mel Gibson film The Edge of Darkness. And looking at this poster every day I couldn’t help but think “what the hell were they thinking?” Mel’s last public performance was being arrested after driving drunk and then uttering some not so nice words. So you’d think that Mel would want to put this sad episode behind him — yet his poster taunts us with the tagline “Some Secrets Take Us to the Edge”. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 26, 2010 in Comic Books
I’m always intrigued when I see commercials for light novels from Japan — because you can be looking at the next big thing, or a title that will never go anywhere. However this spot for Sunday is Not a God caught my eye due to the production value, it almost looks like pitch for an anime series. Apparently this light novel won the top prize at Fantasia 21 and was praised by Shoji Gatoh, the author behind Full Metal Panic!. Here is some interesting promotional artwork I found from the publishers which combines a shared theme of moe and ammo: Read more…
I have to say that one of my bigger disappointments of seeing Avatar wasn’t just the lack of plot in Avatar itself, but the uninspiring trailer for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland which made me heartbroken. Now there’s a chance that the trailer was rushed, and I hope that’s the case because I’m a Burton fanboy and would trust him to get the animation right. Although looking at the above featurette I’m still on the fence.
A true Jedi must always be prepared to deal with the dark side — and that includes cloudy days with a chance of showers. But fear not young Padawan for with this Star Wars Light Saber Umbrella you can protect yourself from the wet side of the force. When this telescoping water saber is deployed the shielding mechanism will instantly display a Death Star, an X-Wing Fighter, and of course the Millennium Falcon.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 26, 2010 in Comic Books
If you’re a manga fan looking for an American comic book to check out I’d highly recommend Kick Ass #8 which will be available this Wednesday. At first glance one might confuse the moe character designs in this book as a Marvel title aimed at kids — but there’s too much splatter going on which is one of the fun things that anime fans would instantly love: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 25, 2010 in Animation
Leiji Matsumoto was born on this day in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan in 1938 — and he went on to dominate anime in the 70s much to the delight of a generation of fanboys including yours truly. He got his start in 1953 drawing romantic shōjo manga for girls and although he disliked this genre you can see the influence it would play in the many strong (but rail thin) female characters which would be featured in his work for years to come. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 25, 2010 in Comic Books
For me the joy of science fiction is that it’s somewhat believable — and once upon a time before the comic book code there were some amazing comics that had science fiction themes. However with the code and the dawn of the silver age of comics superheroes dominated the medium. Superhero comics may have some elements of science fiction, but they’re always used as window dressing using dull plot devices like superpowers being caused by genetic mutations. However from time to time you’ll see a book that tries to reintroduce the genre, and Guardians of the Galaxy tries hard but doesn’t quite succeed at this task: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 24, 2010 in Science
This is a nice video that sums up the work of the Opportunity rover on Mars which was expected to be a 90 day mission, but that has been going string for six years. Of course my frustration watching this video is that one wishes that humans had made the trip instead of a robot — but the images are still impressive.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 24, 2010 in Animation
FUNimation is bringing out Slayers Revolution on DVD in March and what’s funny about watching this clip is that even with the slickness of current anime productions there’s something so 90s about this series. Although what I might be picking up here is that Slayers has this wonderful sense of humor that you don’t see in anime too often in the age of Death Note. Yes you’ve got all of the typical wizards and demons, but there’s something so snarky about this franchise which makes it endearing. Here’s the original opening titles from the show which hold up pretty well (despite the poor resolution of this clip): Read more…
Miyamoto is THE man who made Nintendo what it is today: He got his start with designing Donkey Kong and is also the genius behind Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. Of course most casual videogame won’t know this, but that’s the joy of this t-shirt featuring a Shigeru Miyamoto gag if you’re a hardcore retro-gaming fan. I also love the Iron Chef reference as well…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 23, 2010 in Comic Books
I was reviewing all of the Marvel titles that are set to be released next week and as usual the the one cover artist who always seems to be standing out is Skottie Young. Usually marvel takes itself so seriously so it’s nice to see Skottie injecting his humor and cartoony style into the stiff world of superheroes. At first I would say that Marvel is limiting him to comic books aimed at kids, but frankly these are turning into the best publications that Marvel is producing. Shown above is the cover for X-Babies #4, and below are the covers for The Marvelous Land of Oz #3 and Marvel Adventures Spider-Man #59: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 22, 2010 in Science
This video shows an interesting interview with Evan Thomas works for NASA on “water recovery systems” which means converting urine to drinkable water. Although it should be pointed out that similar systems are already used on here on planet earth. What I found interesting about this interview is that the NASA technology can also be applied to helping folks who are living through a drought.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 22, 2010 in Animation
Thank you Tokyopop — I had no idea that Tsuneo Goda, creator of Domo came to the United States and did an interview! It’s amazing to think that Domo-kun was created all the way back in 1998, he’s really taken on a life of his own these past few years. From my own point of view the thing I’ve always liked about Domo is that he’s a stop-motion character which sets him apart from anime yet gives him a quirky quality that you can’t quite capture in computer animation.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 21, 2010 in Comic Books
I love how this cover for King City #9 by Brandon Graham harkens back to the great tradition of paper cut out dolls: Frankly it’s highly refreshing to see a cover take chances like this for a change. Sadly I’ve overlooked this series in the past, but having unearthed these other covers from the series I have to say that I’m impressed with Graham’s style: Read more…
