Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 20, 2011 in Pulp Fiction
Author Tim Maughan has just released a new collection of science fiction short stories titled Paintwork. The stories have a wonderful range of interesting characters from augmented reality street artists to two young Cubans caught up in video game tournament which turns out to be much more than that. The book is available at Amazon in the US and Amazon in the UK and at Smashwords.
This wonderful video below gives an overview of the effort to rebuild a fully working version of the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC). EDSAC was an early British computer from 1949 which was one of the first machines which was able to store software. The computer did this with little more than vacuum tubes, punched tape and a teleprinter: Read more…
If you love old school videogames, like the ladies and live in NYC you’re in luck! On Saturday July 23rd the D20 Burlesque troupe will present their stage show 8 Bit Beauties at the he Parkside Lounge. The official show description is as follows: “For its fifth show, D20 Burlesque will bring you a night of scintillating burlesque themed around those old school videogames near and dear to our hearts. If you still remember blowing into cartridges and can enter the Konami code in your sleep, this is the show for you!” Sadly the guaranteed seating is sold out but if you can stand it general admission is still available — you can get tickets here…Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 18, 2011 in Fandom, Tech
It’s funny I somehow assumed that the rock stars who had conquered Twitter would move onto Google+ and do the same exact thing — but that simply isn’t the case. From my small time playing with this new service I’ve noticed a few folks who are really going the extra mile to use the site to say something interesting and to really make their mark. This isn’t by any means a scientific or comprehensive list, but here are some of the more interesting folks I’ve come across on Google+ so far: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 14, 2011 in Comic Books
Something I’ve always wondered is if coloring books aimed at kids really just stop short of encouraging real creativity? After all your biggest challenge is which crayon you want to pick and making sure you’re “coloring in between the lines”. What I love about Sasquatch’s Big Hairy Drawing Book is that it really encourages kids to use their imagination — and most importantly to draw, draw and draw! What I also love about the book is that in a world of slick CGI films that there’s a very warm and whimsical quality to the illustrations in the book by Chris McDonnell; you get the feeling that your doodling amongst friends who have a sense of humor. The big hairy drawing book won’t be released until October but you can either pre-order it at Amazon or if you just can’t wait there will be a pre-sale at the San Diego Comic Con. Read more…
The good news is that the space shuttle Atlantis takeoff went well, but the bad new is that this is the last flight: As of this moment the only nations that have an active manned space program are Russia and China. It’s great that America has a good relations with Russia so we can bum a ride — but frankly we should be leading the way in space exploration. Making matters worse the successor to the Hubble telescope was canceled last night. We may not have realized it just yet, but we have entered a dark age of space exploration in the United States, and this is a very bad thing. Read more…
Chupa Chups is a Spanish brand of lollypops and in 1995 their Japanese agency this very odd advert featuring a Mr. Spock styled alien in a silver spacesuit which seems a bit, well you be the judge: Read more…
This has to be the most cute sounding video I’ve ever listened to — I believe that it’s an announcement for the first live-action episode of The Idolmaster:Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 7, 2011 in Comic Books
Oh sure anybody can go to an anime convention these days — but this September 24th manga fans in Japan are in for a treat: There will be a one day festival that’s just focused on the manga artist’s collective CLAMP. The gathering will feature music, videos, interviews, skits and of course cosplayers are welcome to attend. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 7, 2011 in Star Wars
It’s that extra warm time of year to enjoy cool beverages, and what better way to do that than with Han Solo ice cubes? This cute Star Wars Han Solo in Carbonite Silicon Tray allows you to make up to six mini-Solo ice cubes plus a giant-Han on ice for your punch bowl. By the way while researching this post I came across this wonderfully humorous tribute to George Lucas: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 6, 2011 in Star Trek
There’s a cool series of viral videos on YouTube for Social Security that start none other than George Takei playing Sulu! In the below spot he gets in a nice dig at William Shatner, although he also has a Spock and a Chekov mention as well: Read more…
When ever most of us think of anime we mostly think of TV shows or films — however like the US the use of animation was very popular for commercials in the 50s and 60s. Some of the nicer spots here also feature some amazing stop motion animation which reminds me a great deal of the look that Pixar has these day: Read more…
Oh sure any average Dr.Who cosplay fan can order a stock model sonic screwdriver — but this sweet goodie allows up to 80 possible combinations so you can be unique! Apparently this customizable sonic screwdriver also includes multiple sound effects to astound your co-workers and fellow geeks, however batteries are required… Read more…
Those damn bastards! You spend dozens of hours of hours and hundreds of dollars buying the coolest geeky stuff for your cubicle to keep up company moral — and then some dumb ass forces you to “clean it all”. Heartbreaking video shown below: Read more…
After hours of research most of the cool photos we found this week were cosplay shots from Anime Expo — however we did stumble across a few nice examples of fan art: Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Jul 5, 2011 in Star Trek
ThinkGeek is carry this sharp looking Star Trek Metal Plated Stunt Phaser Replica — which to me of course is a bittersweet reminder that our somewhat distracted friend J.J. Abrams owes us fanboys another Star Trek film (which I bet we won’t see until 2012 at this rate). In the meantime goodies like replica will have to keep us fanboys happy! Read more…
TV Ashii in japan had a nice little segment on Anime Expo which was held in California this weekend. I loved where they were asking American otaku about the earthquake in Japan: Read more…
As an old time BBS user I tend to be cynical about every new site that comes along, but not only did Google+ impress me — but it passed the ultimate test: It just ate most of my weekend. On the surface the program seems like a slightly updated version of Facebook, but as you begin to explore and really live with the program you start to realize that it’s so much more than that. Read more…
