Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 28, 2008 in Science
This is an exciting time in astronomy, although as a fanboy what I wouldn’t give to be alive in the era when we’d have the means to visit these places:
“A nearby solar system bears a striking similarity to our own solar system, raising the possibility it could harbor Earth-like planets. Epsilon Eridani, located about 10.5 light-years from our sun, is surrounded by two asteroid belts that are shaped by planets, astronomers at SETI Institute and Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced today.
But it’s the possibility that currently undetected smaller planets could lie within the innermost asteroid belt that make the solar system intriguing to astrobiologists. “This system probably looks a lot like ours did when life first took root on Earth,” said SETI’s Dana Backman, lead author of a paper on the 850-million-year-old star that will appear next year in The Astrophysical Journal, in a release.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 27, 2008 in Videogames
This is the last scene from LittleBigPlanet and it looks absolutely stunning — not only that but the game play looks interesting which means that this title is more than just eye candy. If the rest of the game is this good I can easily see that it could drive sales for PlayStation 3 in the near future and help Sony win some mind space back from Nintendo. The game is being released this week and you can pre-order it from Amazon: LittleBigPlanet
“Japanese newspaper (shinbun) expertly folded and glued by hand in Towa Village by farmer’s wives. For the environmentally conscience.”
Although now that I’m thinking about it: I wonder how eco-friendly the bag is if it needs to be flown to the United States all the way from Japan thus adding to global warming? Oh well you can’t have it all, but the bag still looks cool…
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 27, 2008 in Videogames
My first reaction to these two spots was that “Nintendo is really pushing DSi as more of a lifestyle platform ala iLife apps on the Macintosh” but then I had to remind myself that in Japan Nintendo has already been doing this for a long time as you’ll find the DS being used for everything from education to wine guides. And of course the Wii has always had a wide audience in mind. What we’re starting to see is that game platforms are starting to become more PC like in terms of the content that they’re offering.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 26, 2008 in Star Trek
The above interview with Gene Roddenberry was from Good Morning America in 1986 (I believe that’s Joan Lunden with her big 80s hair asking the questions). Roddenberry came to my mind because he brought the series to life, but sadly was shoved to the side even during the original run of the series which as he points out wasn’t a success during its original run. In fact even after the movies brought the show back to life he was pushed over after the first film.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 26, 2008 in Comic Books
This cover by Juan Doe for Adam: Legend of the Blue Marvel #3 (which is due out in January) has a nice poster quality to it. The contrast between the art deco coloring of the Blue Marvel in the foreground makes for a nice contrast with the post-psychedelic hypnotic swirling backdrop.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 25, 2008 in Comic Books
Art Baltazar shows off his sense of humor on this cover of Tiny Titans #12 which is due out in January. In this illustration Baltazar is already in a land of cute with his characters, but I like the fact hat he takes it a step further by having those with super powers in training doing something mundane like the wash — and failing at it so well!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 24, 2008 in Star Wars
This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight — NOT! As I write this post I fear that I’m contributing to the obesity of Star Wars fanboys (and fangurls) across the world, yet the dark side of the force makes me want to get my hands on the Star Wars TV/DVD with Lightsaber Remote. Although sadly I’m wondering if this item is from the UK if it would work with NTSC?
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 24, 2008 in Comic Books
In January 2009 Marvel will be putting out the second issue of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz which features cover art and pencils by one of my favorite artists Skottie Young. One of the nice things that Skottie did with this cover is that he’s reinvented the visual look for Oz which has such a well known history – by ignoring the books and the famous MGM film he’s given the title a fresh start. It’s also great just how cartoony this cover looks too, which is something that you don’t associate with typical Marvel comics which seem so obsessed with Photoshopped realism. Speaking of Photoshop notice how good the coloring is? Young has a very washed out water-colored looking palette instead of the over saturated primary tones you see too often today. And all of this is just the background to the character designs which have a wonderful whimsy to them. Read more…
“New images of Shackleton taken by the Japanese lunar explorer satellite KAGUYA (SELENE) support the view that there likely aren’t any exposed water ice deposits in the crater. Junichi Haruyama of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and his team analyzed the images and data. They suggest that temperatures in the crater are less than -297 degrees Fahrenheit (-183 degrees Celsius), certainly cold enough to hold ice. But the images reveal no conspicuous brightness that would indicate a patch of pure water ice.
This new analysis, detailed in the Oct. 24 issue of the journal Science, could mean that there is no water ice present at all in Shackleton crater, or that any ice that exists is mixed into the lunar dirt in low amounts, Haruyama and his team concluded.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 23, 2008 in Animation
The Right Stuf is releasing the classic 1980 anime film Toward the Terra on DVD just in time for Christmas. Back in the day as a 80s fanboy this was one of my favorite flicks, and it still holds up well today judging by the trailer above. Firstly the story line is A+ if your any sort of science fiction fanatic as the plot is very similar to A.E. van Vogt’s famous novel SLAN. Next you have the look of the film which holds up very well some 28 years later!
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 23, 2008 in Comic Books
Recently someone spoiled this film for me by telling me that the ending was different than the comic book, and in a huff I promised myself that I’d boycott watching it in public. However upon seeing this new poster for Watchmen I know full well that ‘ll be waiting for hours on line with every other fanboy…
Frankly I wasn’t that crazy about the last three Star Wars films (three words: Jar Jar Binks) but of there are two things that George Lucas still knows how to do well it’s merchandising and preproduction art. These illustrations are for the upcoming second PC MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic — and I must say the images do inspire one to want to play with this mega multiplayer online title.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 22, 2008 in Animation
Shown above is the latest sneak peak of Bolt which is due out in theaters on November 21st and I have to say that I’m not getting excited by this clip. Now my understanding is that the film will be released in Disney Digital 3D and while that sounds cool it doesn’t mean that there can’t be a story up there on the screen. And from this small sample the whole flick looks like a bad action film which is already based on existing cartoons like Road Runner.
The other thing that’s missing here is that none of the characters seem lovable — the dog character Bolt seems to lack any charm, and even the bad guys in the scene above seem so generic. For crying out loud this is suppose to be a Disney film, having interesting evil characters is half the point! To me it looks like Disney was so obsessed with making a Pixar film that they forgot what makes Disney so special (hint: it’s charm, storytelling and imagination!).
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 22, 2008 in Science
While it breaks my heart that NASA is in such a sad state it’s great to see India take this major step into exploration. India still have a long way to go to catch up with China, but they’ve just made some real history today. Perhaps the 21st Century will be about space exploration no longer being limited to a few nations but becoming common place:
“The unmanned Chandrayaan 1 spacecraft blasted off smoothly from a launch pad in southern Andhra Pradesh to embark on a two-year mission of exploration. The robotic probe will orbit the Moon, compiling a 3-D atlas of the lunar surface and mapping the distribution of elements and minerals.
The launch is regarded as a major step for India as it seeks to keep pace with other space-faring nations in Asia. Indian PM Manmohan Singh hailed the launch as the “first step” in a historic milestone in the country’s space programme. “Our scientific community has once again done the country proud and the entire nation salutes them,” Mr Singh said in a message.
The launch was greeted with applause by scientists gathered at the site.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 21, 2008 in Science
Don’t panic quite yet — scientists claim that there isn’t anything to be worried about. However this is yet another reminder just how fragile life on earth is:
Sun’s protective ‘bubble’ is shrinking The protective bubble around the sun that helps to shield the Earth from harmful interstellar radiation is shrinking and getting weaker, NASA scientists have warned.
“New data has revealed that the heliosphere, the protective shield of energy that surrounds our solar system, has weakened by 25 per cent over the past decade and is now at it lowest level since the space race began 50 years ago. Scientists are baffled at what could be causing the barrier to shrink in this way and are to launch mission to study the heliosphere.
“Around 90 per cent of the galactic cosmic radiation is deflected by our heliosphere, so the boundary protects us from this harsh galactic environment.” The heliosphere is created by the solar wind, a combination of electrically charged particles and magnetic fields that emanate a more than a million miles an hour from the sun, meet the intergalactic gas that fills the gaps in space between solar systems.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 21, 2008 in Japanese TV
From the land of the free and the home of the bud comes these two Japanese adverts from the 80s. My guess is that the commercial above for Budweiser may have been slightly inspired by shows like Dallas from that era — while the below Coors ad features music by David Foster and Lee Ritenour:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 20, 2008 in Animation
This Jetsons Little Golden Book is from 1962 — and what’s refreshing to me about this cover is the bold sense of optimism which you don’t see much these days. Authors like Isaac Asimov always felt that dividing line of modern science fiction was that it viewed technology as a positive force in the universe. However I think science fiction (and other imaginative literature) is a reflection of how society views the world at that point in time. So while attempting to predict the future these cultural documents tell us more about the present — or in this case the past.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 20, 2008 in Japanese TV
I’m quite impressed with the staying power that MikuMiku (初音ミク) has had as an internet meme — in fact I’m sort of surprised that there haven’t been plans announced for a anime series, manga or even a video game?
I think that it’s fair to say that Buck Rogers was the first Star Wars of its day (sorry Flash Gordon came later). Buck started as pulp fiction but quickly made the jump to comics, movies and later television. And with success came merchandising — and the toy ray gun from the show became a favorite to a generation of young fanboys back in the day when “Atomic” conjured up visions of the future:
“Sideshow Collectibles is proud to present Go Hero’s Buck Rogers Atomic Disintegrator replica. Originally manufactured by Daisy in the 1930s, the Buck Rogers pistols were the most popular toy ray guns for kids and adults for years! Starting with the Atomic Pistol, and then after WWII, the Disintegrator Pistol, these celebrated ray guns became the gold standard by which all others would be judged. The Go Hero version is a hybrid of these two designs, 10″ metal pistol, four fins (sub-atomic condensors), and nearly a piece for piece reproduction of the originals. Pull the trigger for a loud pop sound and bright flashing spark to deliver that great original experience!
Used as cover art for the 1995 Foo Fighters debut album and inspiration for blasters in several modern day sci-fi films, it is the epitome of iconic design perfection. It shoots no projectiles and is completely harmless, unless you happen to be an evil alien! Travel through time to see what the future used to be, as Go Hero presents the Buck Rogers Atomic Disintegrator Pistol!”
I’m always amazed at the number of people I see on the subway with portable DVD players — well now if you’re a Kitty fanboy (or fangurl) you can watch your video in purrfect style:
“Japan’s Sanrio unveiled a cute, new portable DVD player shaped like a Hello Kitty face. It features a 7-Inch LCD screen with 480×234 resolution, a built-in rechargeable battery (2000mhA) and plays DVD,DVD-R,DVD-RW,CD (for music), CD-R, and CD-RW formats. It also provides a battery life span of 2.5 hours, and comes with a remote control.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Oct 18, 2008 in Comic Books
The roof! The roof! The roof is on fire!!! You know when you watch a bad film and it’s obvious that a special effect is just obligatory eye candy to make up for a lack of plot? Well that’s how I feel about the above “Photoshop magic” from the upcoming issue of New Avengers #46 which is due to blaze into your local comic book shop on October 22nd. By the way I’m not writing this to put down Aleksi Briclot (his work looks pretty decent) — but perhaps Marvel should let him do something a little less conventional on the next cover?
