It’s amazing to me to think that Futurama has been around for over ten years at this point (it went on the air in 1999). While I’ve always admired The Simpsons there’s something about the sci fi theme of Futurama that makes it closer to my fanboy heart. To celebrate the series there are three sets of Futurama Action Figures: Fry and Bender (shown above), Farnsworth and Hermes (shown below) and Leela and Zapp Brannigan (whom I wanted to see the most of all but couldn’t find an image of). Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 16, 2010 in Animation
How is it that they’re making the fourth film in this retched series yet they still can’t come even close to the quality of animation that Pixar was doing ten years ago? Over time Shrek has come to represent everything that I detest about bad computer animation films: Stiff movement, flat lighting, lamentable scriptwriting, poor comedic timing for gags, lackluster voice acting, uninspired music, predictable plots and sequels that aren’t even good enough to go direct to video.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 15, 2010 in Science
According to this article at the BBC News website the European Space Agency’s Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain is pushing to keep the ISS going until the year 2020. This is critical as support for the station is up for review, and signs are pointing to pulling the plug by 2015: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 15, 2010 in Japanese TV
Nicknamed Ro-chin actress and fashion model Kato Rosa (加藤ローサ) was born in 1985 in Naples, Italy — her mom was Japanese and her father was Italian. At age 6 her family moved to Japan but sadly lost her Italian language skills by the time she grew up. Since 2005 she’s been very active starring in both television shows and films, although I get a kick out of her commercials which I’ve collected here: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 14, 2010 in Animation
I’ll be honest: I’m not quite sure what the functionality of this Pikachu USB Computer Companion actually does. Although one might divine that if you’re any sort of self respecting Pokémon fan that you’ll need this office toy: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 14, 2010 in Animation
In the good old days animation was limited to the likes of Cartoon Network, so I’m glad to see other channels getting into the game: Tonight on FX a new animated comedy series called Archer will debut. The show features master spy Sterling Archer who works for the International Secret Intelligence Service:
The Dr. Who Cell Phone Alert Charm comes in two flavors: Dalek (seen above) and Tardis. The catch is that these cell phone charms only work with 800 – 1600 MHz GSM network cell phones — but if you own one of those models the cell phone charm will light up when a call comes in. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 13, 2010 in Dr. Who
A clever fanboy in the UK edited together this nice mashup video which kitbashes Dr. Who with Lost in Space. Of course having a character called Dr. Smith seemed to help the creative process a bit. In terms of Lost in Space I was never in love with the show although I always watched it in re-runs as a kid, but years later I discovered that the pilot for the show was quite well done and lacked the comedy elements that turned me off as a child.
Thanks to the Thanko USB Warmer Cat Paw Gloves you can combine cat cosplay with warming up at the office. The gloves include heat generators built inside and can come with optional cat ears earphones which are available in lack or white: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 12, 2010 in Television
The 80s seems like such a distant era these days and part of the reason was that there was just so little media in that era. Cable television was just starting to take off, but it was a very niche and the America wasn’t even on AOL yet. So there were so very venues for alternative culture aside from perhaps MTV and a few publications. However after Johnny Carson, the David Letterman show was a special oasis of culture. It was based out of New York City so it had a very different vibe, and the guests were much more off the beaten path. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 11, 2010 in Animation
Recently many anime reviewers were letdown that FUNimation dropped Big Windup season two — but frankly I was surprised that they picked it up in the first place. At first one is tempted to shrug it off and say that anime fans aren’t into sports, but clearly the popularity of Prince of Tennis proves that wrong. So what’s the real reason? This may come as a shock but baseball as a sport is endangered in the United States, and sadly that’s because most of Gen Y just doesn’t care about it as a pastime. Read more…
On paper it was a good week for Palm — they announced at CES that they’ve struck a deal with Verizon and the next day their stock price ticked up. However the whims of the stock market can be a poor predictor of how a company does in the long run and can miss the big picture. Frankly the company that owned this week was Google with the announcement of the Nexus One: And that spells the death knell of Palm. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 10, 2010 in Comic Books
I usually make the mistake over overlooking mainstream Marvel titles because they can be so repetitive to me — but by missing the first issue of Spider-Man & The Secret Wars I clearly made a mistake! So with issue #2 (which is due out on January 13th) I won’t repeat that: From what I’m seeing with this book illustrator Patrick Scherberger is doing an A+ job of bringing Spidey to life. Read more…
Back in the day science fiction book covers always looked realistic while comic book covers looked like — well comic books! However the last few years that has faded away and comic book covers remind me more and more of the good old days of paperbacks: Except unlike paperbacks the format is even larger. So I was blown away with the quality of this cover by art by Sean Cooke for Star Wars Legacy #47. Read more…
Once upon a time Domo goodies were so hard to come across, you had to order them from Japan and then wait, wait, wait; but these days you can find Domo paraphernalia almost everywhere. Dark Horse is continuing the reign of Domo with more goodies: Shown above is the Domo and Mr. Usaji Journal, and below are the Domo Sticky Note Book and the Domo Party Lights: Read more…
The above fan mashed video kit bashes together the Dr. Who spacial The Waters of Mars with classic 70s sci fi series Space:1999. What this video reminds me of is just how well the opening titles of Space:1999 hold up — that powerful combination of the music and editing still hold up today.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jan 8, 2010 in Animation
26 episodes of the The White Whale of Mu (ムーの白鯨) were produced by TMS in 1980 — I suspect the water theme from this vintage anime sci fi series owed a great deal to Space Battleship Yamato. Thanks to Matsumoto putting retro hardware like sailing ships (Captain Harlock) and trains (Galaxy Express 999) was all the rage, so why not Moby Dick? So it looks like TMS which produced the show is now putting out a restored version for retro anime fans (you can look on amazon.co.jp to buy it): Read more…
I always thought of Hello Kitty as being sweet enough on her own — yet this Hello Kitty USB Candy 2GB Memory Stick takes the concept to the next level but putting all of your data in a kitty styled candy roll. I also love how the product designer went that extra mile to make the candy more kitty like by adding a bow in the corner: Read more…
Not so long ago I started to notice a few comics were incorporating either Twitter or IM interface elements into their page layout in an attempt to be hip. Well Forgetless #2 takes this trend a step further by having three pages that are done as a faux YouTube video. Just to make sure they’re hitting the right demographics the story features the exploits of a failed t-shirt maker — now if it had been me, I’d have an Etsy craft nerd in the lead role: Read more…
A little bit over a year ago I purchased my iPhone — I was slightly late to the party so just a little bit after getting my first generation phone, Apple rolled out the next version. For the most part it was a speed bump so I didn’t resent AT&T for the two year contract lock in at that point. However by the end of 2009 still being stuck on the Edge network was wearing a bit thin for yours truly, but I still hadn’t entered “the hate club”. Read more…
The video below shows the Space Shuttle Endeavour being moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39A for its February 7th mission. The one thing that amazed me about this video is that gives you a good taste for just large the space shuttle is in scale. You get a great feeling for this looking not just at the scale of the automobiles driving by but also by how slow the rollout goes: Read more…
My favorite thing about this Mobile Suit Gundam toy commercial? The fact that it shows all of those Bandai employees dressed in in uniforms from the show: Read more…
Who is the least popular character from Star Trek: The Next Generation? Well I’ll give you a hint — her exclusive action figure has been marked down from $14.99 (which is pretty cheap for a collector’s item to start with) to a shockingly low $3.00! Yes you heard me right: Commander Deanna Troi is worth less than what you might spend on a cup of Starbucks! But I come not to praise the half-Betazoid, but instead to bury her (or rather the writers who created her character in the first place). Read more…
This trailer for the Star Trek Online MMO gives you a pretty good flavor of the universe that Cryptic Studios has been working on. The game is set to launch in early February and is set 30 years after the events in the film Star Trek Nemesis which was the last film with the Next Generation cast from back in 2002. Read more…
