After being chided by congress for not having a moon and Mars mission it looks like the Obama administration is adding the goal of space exploration back into the mix for NASA. But sadly even though a boost of six billion over five years sounds like a great deal of money, in the world of space exploration it’s just a fraction of what’s needed to make a trip. So the sad reality is that we’re back to the NASA of the Bush years: An agency spread too thin with too many goals and too little cash. Yes we’re still planning on getting to the moon and Mars once again, but that may take decades. Read more…
The above heartbreaking video shows the founders of Sun Microsystems talking about the founding of the company which lasted from 1982 until they were acquired by Oracle in January of this year. As sad as I am for the company, the ability for any tech firm to to last for twenty eight years is an amazing feat. Their golden age for for me was in the late 80s when they dominated the workstation market. Read more…
Upon seeing the above poster blown up to billboard size in NYC my fanboy reaction went something like this: Lieutenant Saavik what are you doing? You’re a Star Fleet officer AND you should be setting an example for the crew! Logic demands that you put down those high calorie items and not romp around in a reality weight loss show!!! Mind you that my reason for this is because twenty eight years later this is how I still see Kirstie Alley in my mind: Read more…
Ah yes we’ve seen it all before — the parade of countless sexy figurines from Japan aimed at fanboys who seem intent on scaring away any potential girlfriends. Well now figurine maker Alter in Japan is trying something new for a change: A new series of figurines for fangurls! The first in this series will be the character Takashi Natsume (夏目 貴志) and his mysterious feline spirit Nyanko-sensei (ニャンコ先生) from the manga series Natsume’s Book of Friends (夏目友人帳). In the manga Takashi has the ability to see spirits and spends his time working with them. A translation is available for the series from Viz and last year and an anime series was produced based on the title. As for our figurine, he’ll be out in October and available for ¥7140. Read more…
In Star Wars the All Terrain Armored Transport (AT-AT) is an instrument of evil — however this clever variation is a techies best friend for hiding unsightly power strips. The AT-AT Cable Tidy is a do-it-yourself kit that you assemble yourself and the final model has adjustable legs which you you can pose: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 5, 2010 in Star Trek, Tech
At first your reaction to myouterspace.com which is a social networking site for sci fi fans might be that it was lifted from the pages of The Onion, but alas this is no parody. And what breaks my heart is that because J.J. Abrams didn’t give William Shatner a well deserved cameo in the last film is that now he’s been forced to get involved in second rate projects like this one. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 5, 2010 in Japanese TV
Yes this Nissin ramen commercial starts out quite normally, but then it quickly travels from the Swiss alps to the Twilight Zone. So like little Miss Muffet our ski bunny is in the middle of a forest enjoying her warm but somewhat lackluster noodles: And then suddenly behind the trees appear two Kamen Rider villains, one with a pepper grinder head and the other with a cheese head. These two villains of lackluster instant noodles then attack her meal by zapping it with extra delicious flavor. Our heroine then goes on to enjoy her Milk Seafood Noodles as if nothing abnormal had occurred. Read more…
As a fanboy I still have mixed feelings about what Zack Snyder did with Watchmen last year, although maybe in retrospect my expectations were too high. So with him tackling Legend of the Guardians which is a children’s book I think I might be willing to withhold judgement until I’ve seen a bit more than this teaser trailer. My doubts spring from the fact that I’ve seen too Pixar wannabe films these past few years and I’m not sure if I want to watch owls for an entire sitting — but I’ll give Zack a chance. The film will be due out at the end of September this year. Read more…
I’ve got to admit that not that I’ve started to fall in love with Japanese stop motion animation that I can’t stop looking for it on YouTube. This latest advert that I came across is done with claymation and while it has a very kawaii quality to the animation the character designs (or what happens to them) don’t look too typical of what you’d associate with anime. The animation itself is selling a yogurt drink called Yakult mill mill (ヤクルト ミルミル) which uses bifidobacteria to clean your intestines. Another thing I like about this spot is that compared to American ads for similar products like Activa this spot seems so much more entertaining. Read more…
As a Star Wars fanboy I’m quite impressed with the level of detail in this Kubrick Star Wars DX Series 1 which is based on Return of the Jedi. Featured in the set are Luke Skywalker as a Jedi Knight, C-3PO & Salacious B. Crumb, R2-D2, Chewbacca, Amanaman the bounty hunter, Bib Fortuna and extra parts to build a Jabba the Hutt! These goodies will be shipping around the end of June however pre-orders are already being accepted. Read more…
Least we think that only fanboys grow up to yearn for their youth behold the collection of chopsticks aimed at fangurls who grew up in the 80s with the countless magical girl anime series of that era! Shown above are the chopsticks which are based on Creamy Mami, the Magic Angel (魔法の天使クリィミーマミ) which aired in 1983 — here’s an illustration from that show which features a ten year old girl who thanks to magic can transform into a sixteen year old girl: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 3, 2010 in Star Wars
This video featuring Tim Kring of Heroes and Peter Hirshberg makes a very interesting point about the The Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978: Their thinking is that even though the special was quite bad that the genius of it is that George Lucas is inventing what they call “transmedia storytelling” — the concept of using multiple mediums to tell a story. Their example is that by introducing Boba Fett that Lucas expanded the Star Wars universe and was then able to introduce the bounty hunter as a toy and then in the next film. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 2, 2010 in Cinema, Science
I was very saddened to hear that Dr. Robert McCall passed away as he was very much a hero of mine. I’ll never forget the first time I visited the Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. — along with being able to touch a piece of the moon and look at shopping mall full of aircraft and spaceships the first thing that hits you it the amazing larger than life mural by Robert McCall (an amazing gallery of his drawings that they house are here). Most of us have science fiction fanboys have grown up with McCall’s artwork without even knowing the artist. I think the first time McCall spoke to me was with his amazing work on the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. I was looking at this artwork as a child long after the film came out, but his paintings created a magical environment that you’d want to wander around and step inside: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 2, 2010 in Comic Books
I’ve been really enjoying the comic book Chew which is illustrated by Rob Guillory. Issue #9 will be out this Wednesday and Guillory tackles the vampire theme in his very own unique style. What I love about Guillory is that he’ll have investigators picking up dirty baby diapers in one frame and then cut to a morgue scene — yet every page is punctuated with humor every other panel: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 2, 2010 in Comic Books
I really love the draftsmanship in Dead Ahead #3 which comes out this Wednesday — the entire look of the comic book reminds me of a dancing combination of something you might see in a Wally Wood EC Comic mixed with a healthy dose of German Expressionism and just a dash of Goya. The credit for the artwork on this book belongs to Alex Nino and Moose Baumann who have done a wonderful job with the layout, it’s like they’ve taken the typical angular panels you see in Japanese manga and taken it to a new level of complexity. Add to that a plot focused on four thousand flesh hungry zombies and you’ve got a real winner: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 1, 2010 in Japanese TV
This cute animated commercial for the Tokyo Sky Tree (東京スカイツリー) which when it opens in the spring of 2011 will be the tallest building in Japan. The groundbreaking for the structure was started in 2008 and the construction is being backed a group of six terrestrial broadcasters (including NHK) who will use it to transmit digital television signals. If you’d like to see the ongoing construction of the building the webcam is here. And here’s a computer rendering to give you an idea of the scale and design of the building: Read more…
This heartfelt videogame filk song comes from Alex Day who is based in the UK: It’s the first of a trilogy of tunes which also includes tracks dedicated to the other retro gaming gods — Mario and Sonic. Day got his start in music when he sold his deck of Yu-Gi-Oh! playing cards and used the money to buy his first electric guitar — which was followed a year later with his own YouTube channel. I first discovered Alex when he uploaded a Dr. Who song to YouTube and I’ve been a fan ever since — it’s great to see someone celebrate their nerd passions with music. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 28, 2010 in Comic Books
Above: Tite Kubo on the left and Nick Simmons on the right.
We all live with the cultural myth that if you’ve got talent and work hard that at some point you’ll be discovered. But the sad reality is that there are some very talented people out there who kill themselves their entire lives and still go absolutely nowhere. And even for these of us who do manage to make a living with our creative skills know that it’s not an easy path. So whenever you see nepotism it’s a pretty bitter pill to swallow. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 28, 2010 in Japanese TV
The old vegetarian admonishment is “never eat anything with a face” — so of course looking at these very kawaii veggies heading to their doom makes me feel a tad guilty. This spot was done for Acecook which makes a wide assortment of ramen. Read more…
Sometimes when you see a great demo it changes your very perception of a platform: And Rittai Kakushi E Attakoreda (Hidden 3D Image: There It Is!) has made me not only made me see the Nintendo DSi in a new light — but has me thinking that mobile games could displace console games. Now I may be looking at this demo the wrong way but the program seems to be using the sensors inside the DSi to adjust the display, which gives you the illusion of looking into a 3D diorama. Suddenly this makes the idea of 3D on mobile platforms much more exciting: Granted I’ve seen 3D shooters on the iPhone that react to the angle you hold the device at, but this game takes that concept to the next level. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 27, 2010 in Star Trek
I came across this amazing video from back in the day showing quite a bit of behind-the-scenes work that went into Star Trek: The Motion Picture back in 1978. The film would be released in 1979 to mixed reviews, but while it wasn’t Star Wars you have to admire the amount of work that went into this film. You also get a glimpse into how making a special effects film was different then: Read more…
The quality of this Dainichi stop motion animation commercial for Blue Heaters from 1987 is amazing — keep in mind that this was done several years before Tim Burton did The Nightmare Before Christmas in 1993. And what blows me away is that the entire commercial had to have been done without any computer help, not to mention is that it looks like they’re using a replacement technique similar to George Pál with his Puppetoons. Yet for all technique the advert is funny and fluid — it makes me wish that I knew the studio and could give proper credits. Read more…
Apparently the dark side isn’t just evil — but evil to your credit card: This amazing Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer Framed SpecPlate will set you a mere $1,994.99! Of course only 25 will be produced of this goodie which emulates the dedication plate that would be attached to the bulkhead of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Of course Acme Archives who makes this collectable didn’t skimp on the quality as this keepsake measures 43 by 24-inches and is made out of aluminum. Although the thing that surprises me is that I wouldn’t have expected the Empire to be so sentimental…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Feb 25, 2010 in Science
Not so long ago congress was picking apart NASA chief Charles Bolden for not having a solid plan for space exploration: This is putting the blame in the wrong place which belongs with congress. Frankly a trip to Mars or even just the Moon requires a huge financial investment. Unlike the 60s NASA is highly invested in an ancient space shuttle fleet that’s due to expire and a huge stake in a space station which is in mid-life, not to mention dozens of other side projects which involve everything to investigating climate change to send probes to the furthest reaches of the solar system. Read more…
