Like many of the newer cable networks, the Science Channel lies on the fringe of my available HD programming. I almost never catch any of the shows, but I once happened upon it while an episode of Sci-Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible was airing. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the program, the host Dr.Michio Kaku takes concepts from Science Fiction and tries to explain how he thinks they’d work using current scientific knowledge and technology. The guys from Devestator Quarterly threw together this little parody showing us that some fanboys out there might take issue with his often liberal approach to some of the lore we hold so sacred. Campy? Sure, but it’s worth a laugh or two. Read more…
Recently I was at Anime Boston, and met an interesting cosplayer with a rich in potassium banana. I also definitely attended panels hosted by this person of interest. Meet Charles Dunbar aka Anime Antropologiest of Study of Anime. From the time I have met him to now, his panels at conventions will pack rooms. This is a scholar that has made my appreciation toward anime more interesting and academic in a sense that is away from the college environment. I hope to see more of this man speak, so I happened to be able to conduct an email interview with him. Read more…
This wonderful Star Trek fan film was made in 1971 as part of a final exam for a TV production class at Ohio State University by Ray who was a 21 year old fanboy back in the day. The film was first done on a 1″ open-reel videotape and earned an A-.
Leave it to Japan to create an entirely new level of cosplay. Tokyo-based Neurowear has created a set of cat ears that, when worn, allegedly react to your brain waves and act accordingly — if you’re concentrating very hard, the ears will perk up, and will droop back down when you’re mentally at rest. Are they very useful, all things considered? Well, probably not. At they very least they’d add a new level of realism to your catgirl cosplay, though. What do you mean you don’t cosplay as a catgirl? And a more important question: what happens if you put these on a cat? Read more…
We Found a Hot Springs is the name of a very cool Japanese blog which features an amazing ongoing series of moe looking characters which are based on the flag and flower of each nation in the world. The site reminds me of an anime take on the Disney concept of “It’s a Small World After All!” The artist on the site is going under the pen name Senami_ and can also be found on Pixiv here. Here’s a gallery of some of these charming caricatures: Read more…
Hey babe what sign are you? Agree with it or not what I love about astrology is that it really describes various personality types. Fandom aficionados James Wright and his friend Josh Eckert have come up with this wonderful geek zodiac chart so you cans see if you were born in the year of the spy, robot or my favorite — the time traveler! Read more…
There are a lot of people that can call themselves an otaku, but branding, up to designing a personal mascot is definitely something that can be done if a person is quite serious about this niche hobby. Meet Otaku Dan, a blogger who I know who has one cool mascot, and interesting blog entries to share. Here are some of his opinions, and thoughts from an email interview. Read more…
Wait! Don’t go! I know what you’re thinking. “I don’t want to smell like Cheetos and Mountain Dew and body odor!” But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s RPG perfume oil collection. There’s a selection of race-, class-, and alignment-themed scents. Shroud yourself in mystic spices and exotic incense with the Mage scent, or exude holy calm with the Paladin scent’s warm vanilla and frankincense. You can even forewarn your love interest that today’s not the day with the Evil scent. I’ve bought from Black Phoenix before, and the scents really are top-notch, and a bottle lasts for a good long time. They even change a little depending on your skin chemistry. Plus it helps you roll for initiative at the bar. Read more…
Anime and Manga Fans have been recently, and still consistently aware of what has been happening over in Japan. So when the there was a 24-hour podcast marathon, Tony Yao was part of the line up. Recently I got the opportunity to conduct an e-mail interview with Tony Yao of Manga Therapy: Where Psychology & Manga Meet. He was upfront about his experiences, so this interview may or may not have been what you have experienced. He is a fan as well as a multi-site blogger to keep an eye out for. Read more…
Cosplay isn’t a new phenomenon — for pretty much as long as there’s been fandom, there’s been cosplay. These retro cosplay photos, posted on 4chan’s cosplay board, prove it! We’ve compiled the best here for your perusal, from events ranging from WonderCon to WorldCon from the 70s to the 80s. You’ll notice some patterns — Red Sonja was a very popular cosplay choice for ladies back then, and Vulcans and Elric of Melnibone were popular for men. You can even see cosplay mainstays like Orion slave girls. It’s almost comforting to know that people have been dressing themselves up like fantasy and scifi characters for this long — it means that there have always been incredibly nerdy people in the world. Read more…
If you want a blast from the past, the official Star Blazers website has posted scans of the original Star Blazers fanzine from the early 80’s. Over 30 years ago, our Fanboy.com founder Michael Pinto started the fanzine in an attempt to see the series renewed after networks had dropped the show in New York. With the series returning to television later this month, these newsletters give us an opportunity to see the passion that fuled Star Blazers’ fandom. It’s a shame that they’ve had to wait three decades, but for those of us who were late to that party, we’ll be able to catch the series the second time around when it airs on SyFy starting April 21st.
So you want a fanboy friendly Broadway musical? Well the South Park crew could pull off what Bono and marvel never could — an amazing geek friendly Broadway musical which is the best I’ve seen since Monty Python’s Spamalot. In addition to musical numbers that made me laugh so hard that I had problems breathing there were numerous fully costumed references to Star Wars, Star Trek AND the Lord of the Rings! Also the Disney fan in me loved the never ending mocking of The Lion King. My guess is that this show will be sold out for eons, but if you have a chance to get your hands on tickets grab them right away. Read more…
Twitter as a social medium, is conversation or line of thoughts in 140 characters or less. It has taken the world by storm, since its inception in 2006. In this past year, it has made its availability to other countries, creating a global community. Twitter has become a valuable tool in communication for Japan crisis awareness to other parts of the world. When nearly all lines of normal communication became compromised, Twitter was useful with just a cell phone or a computer, and an internet connection. There currently is a #quakebook that has began, because of Twitter. Read more…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Mar 28, 2011 in Animation, Fandom
The latest episode of CollegeHumor’s Nerd Alert features an interview with Fanboy.com publisher Michael Pinto (although you have to get a few minutes into the show: Read more…
We see conventions like Comic-Con as so huge and, well, modern, that for the young (like me) it’s hard to imagine what they were like before the internet, before information got around so easily. Well, we now have video proof! Joe Field from Flying Colors did a promotional video review of WonderCon 1988, and it’s surprisingly … YouTubey. Eerily ahead of its time, even. There are interviews with Stan Lee and Will Eisner, among others, as well as footage and commentary on the con itself. It’s a pretty fascinating piece of video. Read more…
If you think your house is missing something, I think I know what it is. It’s a cross-stitched art piece of characters from your favorite genre series! Wee Little Stitches agrees, and they have your back. There are over 20 cross-stitch patterns of the casts from everything from Firefly (above) to the Avengers, and reasonably-priced, at that. I don’t know about you, but a cross-stitched picture of Jayne’s hat feels meta to the max to me. Like some kind of recursive meta loop. Read more…
This Star Wars-themed Wampa pound cake was recently designed by Star Wars fan & professional illustrator Alica Policia for her 30th birthday. Pretty amazing, right? Made with her mother’s classic sour cream pound cake recipe and featuring some fantastic buttercream icing, one might wonder why she didn’t bother going all the way by adding a layer of ice cream. After all, Hoth has plenty of ice — you’d think it’d be a necessity.
Anyone paying attention to Asian news these past several weeks would have realized that a devastating triple threat has happened in Japan. On March 11, 2011 around the Northern east coastlines of this island nation, there was a strong earthquake that resulted in devastating tsunamis, and what is now the concern of Japan in controlling a nuclear incident around its nuclear plants. Every day checking certain tweets on Twitter, there is an official notification of how much casualties there has been, with also thousands of people displaced or suffering. This incident has caused casualties and victims that surpass Japan’s Hanshin Earthquake in 1995. Japan needs an incredible amount of money or resources in order to rebuild. So many people around the world, celebrities, or civilians have banded to join up the cause of fundraising and donating time or money for Japan relief. The better option in other countries, out of Japan, of course is to send money to charity foundations to supply aid. Read more…
Japan is facing the worst crisis in its post-war history, and you can help! Bloggers whose work revolves around Japan have banded together to make Bloggers for Japan, a website dedicated to compiling resources and news for those who want to donate or stay abreast of new happenings related to the earthquake. The site recommends active charities like Doctors Without Borders and Shelterbox, and has donation boxes for each. Read more…
One of the girls from GamingAngels.com — fantastic site, by the way — caught this amazing video of William Shatner’s Q&A session at this years Emerald City Comiccon. An audience member asked Shatner if George Takei is a giving lover, and if he’s interested in men with beards. Shatner’s reply was priceless. It’s fairly common knowledge that Takei isn’t fond of his old co-star, but what amazes me is that Shatner still isn’t quite sure why. Takei, for his part, has mentioned plenty of reasons over the years.
You may think you’re a sci-fi expert, but can you navigate this fittingly tentacular map of the history of the genre? Artist Ward Shelley created it for Places and Spaces: Mapping Science. Almost every important event or genre piece is here, though you may find that your pet series or favorite novel isn’t on there if you look hard enough. Click on the image for a super-huge version, well worth the few seconds to download. Read more…
Every time Mr.Spock peered at that scanner by his station, I always found myself wondering what he was looking at. Well, this fan-edit by BlackMoonCGI lets us get our peek. It never occured to me that he’d spend all his time on Facebook, but that would probably explain the need for the added privacy. After all, it’s always worksafe if nobody else ever gets to look through your scanner. The video seems to be the first of what may become an ongoing series, so let’s hope for more of these hilarious edits in the future.
For hobby enthusiasts, developing a passion and devotion to an industry takes time, and while it can be visually measured with how much you own (thus bringing in the materialism and consumerism aspect). There is more to the limited examples for what was presented in Tokyopop’s search for the Greatest Otaku. Otaku can be defined as being loving all things Japanese anime, or obsessive introverts, but to be a devoted fan really is have the knowledge and sincere passion for it. Similar to uncovering the layers of an onion are identities and fandoms of this niche cultures that is worth exploring and considering. Before getting to the list, I have to mention that some of the labels I have used is an approximation of how a certain fandom treats aspects of the anime hobby. Read more…
Han Solo has already shown us the results of crossing bounty hunters and galactic crime lords, but now we finally know what happens to those who cross Shawna, the manager at Jo-Ann Fabrics. Xanadoodle created this 16-inch throw pillow, which is a fairly faithful (as yarn goes) recreation of Han Solo’s famous carbonite imprisonment. At least this Han looks comfortable. Well, comfortable to lounge on, anyway. His face tells a slightly different story. Read more…
