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What’s Better Than Anime Sheep on Your iPad for Christmas?
Bakugan Goes Live-Action
I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with Bakugan. In fact, I wasn’t really aware of it myself until I asked my wife, who happens to work in retail, what had been selling really well. I half-expected her to say Pokemon but instead, she mentioned Bakugan Battle Brawlers. The title alone was very off-putting for me — I’m not fond of alliteration, you see — but I figured I should try to learn something about it, seeing as I moonlight as an anime journalist. Read more… Not so Secret Anymore
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Dec 21, 2010 in Videogames
Okay, so I’m not really sure it ever was a secret to begin with, but it sure seemed that way. Back in June, Square Enix showed off a small set of upcoming titles for Apple’s iOS devices and for whatever reason, almost nobody took note. It could be because, at the time, Apple had yet to make a signifigant impact in the portable gaming market. Regardless, that didn’t stop Square Enix from pushing forward with some notable classics. The first of which, Secret of Mana, finally hit the App store last week. The port largely stays true to the original, while featuring slightly updated graphics and new artwork. It’s currently priced at $8.99. The soundtrack is also available on iTunes for 25% off until January 5th. No word on when to expect any of the other titles they showed off at E3, but personally I’m still looking forward to their upcoming port of Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions. Read more… K-On! Scarfs are Super Kawaii
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 20, 2010 in Animation, Hobbies and Collections
This is one of the more interesting examples of K-On! merchandising that I’ve seen: They’ve created authentic scarfs based upon the ones that Yui Hirasawa wears in the series. Sadly it seems that one set is already sold out but the fish design still seems to be in stock: Star Wars Posters Reimagined
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 20, 2010 in Hobbies and Collections, Star Wars
This is a beautifully done series of art posters created for the collectible art house Mondo. Shown above is Star Wars by the artist Olly Moss — here are some other nice gems that are part of the series: Read more… Studio Same As It Ever Was Ghibli
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 20, 2010 in Animation
Studio Ghibli has picked the shojo manga Coquelicot saka kara to be their next film subject. I don’t have to see the film to know that they’ll do an amazing job with it — especially as the manga is reported to be very close to Miyazaki Hayao’s heart. Yet to me it’s sad that Miyazaki doesn’t seem to be taking any chances in his old age. Of course many of the great directors like Walt Disney or Howard Hawks seemed to make the same film again and again over their career; but to me it’s a sad reminder of someone like Tezuka who really experimented in his later years. Read more… DC Comics Jewelry for the Glam Girl Geek in Your Life
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 19, 2010 in Comic Books
Just in time for the holidays, Noir Jewelry has released a line of accessories based on DC Comics properties. A lot of it is what you’d expect, like gleefully gaudy Wonder Woman and Supergirl stuff, but there are a few genuinely cool items in there, like the Gotham City ring, shown above. And all I’m saying is that there is an uncomfortably high number of Catwoman claws in that collection. Grievous bodily harm: the gift that keeps on giving. Read more… Who Can Fix the Terminator Franchise? How About One of Its Creators?
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 19, 2010 in Cinema
So, the last entry into the Terminator film franchise wasn’t so great. And neither was the one before it. In fact, the only good entry into the series since 1991’s Terminator 2 was the woefully short-lived TV series The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Is there anything that can revive the franchise, or is it deader than most of humanity after Judgement Day? Maybe all hope isn’t lost. We can still get the gal that helped start the franchise to give it a shot in the arm! Gale Ann Hurd, who co-wrote and produced the original Terminator film, told Entertainment Weekly that she’d love to make another. Of course, right now she’s occupied with her gig as executive producer of the smash hit AMC series The Walking Dead, but we can hope that the powers that be (and the hedge fund group that currently owns the rights to the Terminator franchise) are listening. Read more… Hey, At Least Tron Costume Guy Liked Tron Legacy
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 18, 2010 in Cinema
Okay, so maybe Fanboy head honcho Michael Pinto didn’t particularly like Tron Legacy, but I did! And, at the very least, it’s captured the heart and mind of possibly the world’s biggest Tron fan. That’s right — Tron Costume Guy, who might himself qualify as a digital entity due to his status as a living meme, liked the heck out of Tron Legacy. He even got to review the film for Wired. He compliments the sequel’s logical extension of the plot from the first film, the great soundtrack and, of course, the visual effects. Now, before you say “Well of course he liked it! He’s Tron Costume Guy!”, remember that diehard fans are usually the hardest to please, not the easiest. At least that’s what I’m telling myself when reading a review of a movie from a guy dressed like the guy in the movie he’s reviewing. Read more… Teh Trouble with Teh TRON
So as the end credits start to roll in the theater my friend turns to me and says “that sucked!” But my reaction was “Well they did about as good of a job that they could have…” The original Tron was an impressive film on a number of levels, but the heart of the film was that it represented a breakthrough of computer animation on the big screen — but as a film it was quite average. So the problem is that if you’re going to make a sequel over 25 years later everything that was great about the first film is going to be dated. Read more… Stargate Universe Cancelled
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 17, 2010 in Television
For a while, it seemed like the cult favorite Stargate series refused to die; between SG-1’s long run, Atlantis, and the more recent Stargate Universe, it just kept chugging along. Unfortunately, you’re going to have to take a portal to another world if you want to see more Stargate Universe after the final set of this season’s episodes — SyFy has officially cancelled the series. This leaves the fate of the entire Stargate franchise in question. Read more… Tim Burton’s Superman Costume That Mercifully Never Happened
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 17, 2010 in Cinema, Comic Books
Photos of Superman’s nauseatingly bad costume for Superman Lives, Tim Burton’s aborted take on the Man of Steel, surfaced a few months ago. We knew it was bad, but it turns out it’s even worse than we thought. There was video taken of the suit in action, and … it defies words. It’s some kind of Tron-style Electric Superman Laser Floyd light show. If I didn’t know for certain that it was supposed to be a Superman costume, I would never have guessed. What were they thinking? Thank goodness someone had the wherewithal to nip this one in the bud. Read more… iBooks Users Experiencing Issues With Their Latest Update
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Dec 16, 2010 in Tech
Those of you with an iDevice may have noticed the recently released update for your iBooks app. Apple pushed their 1.2 update on the 15th, allowing users to view fully-illustrated children’s books, cook books, reference guides, and more. Personally, I can’t wait to download some photography books, though I imagine they’ll probably take up signifigantly more space on my hard drive — a small price to pay, or is it? Read more… Not Sure Where to See Gantz?
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Dec 16, 2010 in Cinema
The special one-night-onlyNorth American screening of the upcoming live-action adaptation of Gantz is happening on January 20th. Given the special circumstances surrounding the limit release, only select theaters will be showing the film. I remember how annoyed I was when I missed out on a screening of Princess Mononoke simply because I couldn’t find a theater in time, but this time Fathom Events will be looking out for us all. They’re providing a list of all the theaters that’ll be participating in the world premiere event. Better yet, you can search by zip code to find the closest theater nearby and even purchase advance tickets — not that I’d worry about it being sold out before you get there, but you never know. To see the list of participating locations, click here. Uncharted 3 In-Game Footage Looks Hot
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Dec 15, 2010 in Videogames
Literally. The first in-game footage from the highly-anticipated Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception debuted last night on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Naughty Dog’s Evan Wells and Christophe Balestra were on-hand to show off the game, and while I imagine they’re still working out a few of the bugs, they put on a pretty good showing. The demo featured a few minutes of gameplay that takes place presumably early on. Nathan Drake, and his partner/mentor Sully are caught in what appears to be a burning mansion in France and are under assualt by numerous gun-wielding mercenaries intent preventing their escape. It’s pretty exciting footage, despite Jimmy Fallon’s inability to press the shoulder buttons when prompted. The game is currently slated for release on November 1st, 2011. Even More Star Wars Poster Parodies
I still don’t get why people take the time to make these Star Wars poster parodies, but it would seem they’re becoming more popular. Back in October, I shared several examples of these alt-art posters and they proved to be somewhat entertaining, so here we are again with another set — this time, by artist Matt Ranzetta. While I personally can’t say I love the posters themselves, I can’t really knock Matt’s taste in cinema. They also fit the subject matter quite well, all things considered. I’ll admit that Cool Hand Luke made me giggle a little, though. Mass Effect 3 Debut Trailer is Epic
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Dec 14, 2010 in Videogames
While I admit I’m equally excited about the recent announcements of Elderscrolls V: Skyrim, and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, nothing had my jaw drop quite as fast as the debut trailer for Bioware’s upcoming Mass Effect 3. I’m sure what we’ve witnessed is a pre-rendered CG film clip, but if the visuals even come close to that, we’ll all be in for quite a treat. Read more… Better Late Than Never; Magic hits PSN
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Dec 14, 2010 in Videogames
It’s been well over a year since this stripped down, arcade-friendly version of the popular Magic the Gathering videogame, Duels of the Planeswalkers, hit Xbox 360’s Live! online gaming service. Back in June, the game launched for the PC, giving those of us who were left out by the Xbox exclusive launch a chance to own the game. Well, now it would seem the game has finally launched on Playstation Network, complete with all three current expansions. Now, don’t get me wrong, I loved the original trading-card game but in addition to being incredibly addictive, it was also perhaps the most expensive hobby I’ve ever had — aside from music. I can’t fathom how much money I must have wasted in college trying to build decent decks. The nice thing about this scaled down version of the game is that it includes all the rules and gameplay of the original at a fraction of that cost. How so? Read more… The Cutest Little Superhero Kit
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 13, 2010 in Comic Books, Fandom
I got a real kick out of the new line of Superhero Snapsuits which are aimed at fanboys and fangurls in training. The series includes Wonder Woman (shown above), Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Batman and of course Superman. What nice about this line is that it comes in several different sizes from six to twenty for months so you can keep up with your superkid! Read more… Steampunk Star Trek Photography
These wonderful Victorian styled Star Trek photos are he handy work of an artist known as Rabittooth. I really love how the artist has matched the role of each character on the show with an appropriate historical counterpart: Read more… To Legos and Beyond!
I just love the level of detail on this recreation of Andy’s room from Toy Story which was made using lego bricks! The talented artist behind this effort is Matt De Lanoy who will be showing it off at the 9th Annual Lego Train Show at Cantigny Park, Wheaton, Illinois. Read more… Can We Build Mars Settlements by 2060?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Dec 13, 2010 in Science
The video clip below doesn’t show just anybody predicting settlements on Mars, but Pete Worden, Director of NASA’s Ames Research Center. Now I’ll grant you that gives us a good fifty years to get there — but what kills me is that we have the technology today to do this, or to at least get started trying. In fact part of the problem I think is that NASA is just spread too thin; I’d love to see the agency with a single focus on manned space exploration with a realistic budget to match. But alas that could be fifty years off in the current political climate… Read more… Out of Many Rings, One
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 12, 2010 in Cinema
U.S. currency is full of references to the Freemasons, the so-called secret brotherhood that oversaw and controlled the burgeoning nation (and, some people say, still does). That sounds an awful lot like a certain evil overlord who dwells in the scarred land of Mordor, doesn’t it? It looks like dschwen on Threadless had the same idea, and he turned into a shirt pitch. It’s a fantastic mashup of the famous “e pluribus unum” Masonic pyramid and the Eye of Sauron. Let’s hope this one makes it to the printing phase. Read more… Iron Man 3 to Pick Up Where The Avengers Leaves Off
Posted by Michael Sacco on Dec 12, 2010 in Cinema, Comic Books
Marvel’s been doing a pretty good job of tying their shared-universe films (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, etc) together, and it looks like they won’t stop trying after The Avengers is released. MTV’s Splash Page spoke with Jon Favreau, who said that the third installment of the Iron Man film franchise will continue the story threads started in the Avengers movie. It’s good that they’ve decided to let the superheroes lead separate lives, so to speak, while also letting them get together for coffee and Cosmic Cubes every now and then. Read more… |
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