Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 16, 2012 in Science
A few years ago Pluto suffered the public humiliation of being demoted from being a planet, but perhaps things are looking up for the little guy: Last week a fourth moon was discovered to be orbiting around Pluto and Charon which is starting to make some folks feel that Pluto may in fact be a binary planet. Although there is still a larger debate on where to draw a line between double-planet and a planet–moon system, so poor Pluto may have to wait a bit longer…
You know I have to wonder what H.P. Lovecraft would have thought if he could see his beloved mythical creation Cthulhu recreated in Lego? Imagine Rigney did a smashing job of bring this scene to life — I really love the level of detail that was put into this project: Read more…
If you aren’t familiar with Danboard he’s a cardboard action figure who is based on an issue of the Yotsuba&! manga. The original model kit that became popular in Japan was produced by Revoltech, but this newest kit caught my eye because it’s made out of plastic! What;s nice about this new kit is that the cover features an illustration by the japanese artist Hidetaka Tenjin who is famous for his beloved illustrations of Mobile Suit Gundam and Macross. Shown below are a number of examples from Japan of local hobbyists who had fun with this kit: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 11, 2012 in Star Trek
Growing up as a child one of my prized possessions was my AMT Star Trek Exploration Set — a full scale model kit which included a tricorder, phaser and a communicator. Fanboy Tommy Williamson has done amazing job of recreating this set in LEGO! I really love how the Tricorder has moving parts: Read more…
This very nicely crafted Sandy Person Hat was designed by Michigan based artist BeeBeeKins and is available on Etsy. Below is an additional photo which shows off the attached scarf: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 4, 2012 in Star Trek
This is a new trailer for William Shatner’s documentary on Star Trek fandom called “Get a Life”. This film looks quite sweet and touching from the clip. “Get a Life” can be seen on Xbox Live Wednesday July 25, 2012 and on EPIX TV on Saturday July 28, 2012 at 8PM ET.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jun 4, 2012 in Star Trek
The latest chapter of The Outer Light has just been posted at theouterlight.com. For those of you Star Trek fans not in the know The Outer Light is a wonderfully done graphic novel sequel to the ST:TNG episode The Inner Light and is well worth checking out (previous chapters are posted).
Major League Mods has done it again with this very nice looking Xbox 360 slim Avengers edition. This ever so cool hack a really sharp looking avengers logo with controllers that feature matching Avengers colors: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 31, 2012 in Star Wars
I have to say that I’m shocked to have never known that this existed! Here is the very first professional song that Jon Bon Jovi recorded — a duet with R2-D2 singing We Wish You A Merry Christmas: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on May 31, 2012 in Animation, Cinema
The kind folks at Chronicle Books have supplied us with two amazing bits of preproduction art for the upcoming Pixar Disney film Brave. Make sure to click on each illustration to see it at full size: Read more…
New York Comic Con just announced that they will no longer have a side show which was called the New York Anime Festival. And adding insult to injury their press release no longer refers to cosplay, but instead uses the mundane term “costume contest”. It’s been hard watching what’s happened to the show over the last few years — but you just get the feeling that New York Comic Con is embarrassed by anime. Read more…
And now Ridley Scott wants Harrison Ford for Blade Runner II? The saddest thing an artist can do is to be forced to go back to their past to amuse the masses. This was the trap that poor George Lucas fell into: Try-and-try as he did to remake Star Wars he couldn’t pull it off. The result? Of course we all stood in line and watched Jar Jar Binks, but now that it’s been more than a decade since The Phantom Menace and today fanboys still yearn for the real thing — Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. And sadly I fear Ridley Scott is going down the same path to schlockdom. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 30, 2012 in Star Wars
There’s a very cool project on Kickstater which aims to send a Captain Picard and a Captain Kirk action figure into outer space via weather balloon. While I’d prefer an overpowered Estes rocket the idea of a weather balloon is a tad more legal if not less fun. In addition to Kickstarter you cans how your love for the project on this Facebook page as well. Read more…
There’s a really sad article by George Colony which assumes that with the death of Steve Jobs that Apple will follow the fate of companies like Sony and Disney and fade out into oblivion. While I agree that nothing lasts forever, it’s also important to note that nothing is certain: And thus I give the example of the company that Steve Jobs hated in his youth — IBM. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Apr 26, 2012 in Tech, Videogames
So what you’re looking at above is the Sony PSP — right? Wrong! It’s the JXD V5200 which is of course powered by Android, the preferred OS of uninspired industrial designers. Although I have to admit that there is something cool about ripping off poor ignored Sony, and I can only hope that duo screen faux Nintendo DS comes next. Although if you’re an old school Nintendo fanboy check out the JDX 100 which reminds me slightly of a Game Boy from back in the day: Read more…
Shown below is an amazing commercial from the 70s for the Xerox Alto: This amazing computer was first released in 1973 and featured all the cool features we associate with the PC today like a graphic user interface, a mouse and desktop publishing. While the the computer was a commercial failure, it went on to inspire the Macintosh in the the 80s and Windows in the 90s. Read more…
The last time I looked at a show with comic timing this good was when I was watching Ren & Stimpy back in the day. I have no idea if an entire episode of Super Best Friends Forever can keep up this sort of pace — but if it can it may be the best thing in a long time!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 25, 2012 in Anime, Fandom
Joe Vecchio has been working diligently to create a musical based on the romantic comedy manga Maison Ikkoku which was created by Rumiko Takahashi. When I first heard about this project I had my doubts, however at Anime Central in 2011 Joe managed to get a read through of his play for his fellow otaku. And now he’s on a quest to take his dream to the next level via the website Kickstarer: Read more…
I have to admit that as a jaded fanboy the idea of revisiting the Alien universe leaves me feeling a bit jaded — but this trailer that Ridley Scott could pull this thing off: Read more…
This film looks like a great deal of fun — they could have made it super serious, but my first impression is that by setting it in the early 70s and having fun that Tim Burton did the right thing.
