It’s frankly depressing watching a Vice Presidential candidate who just doesn’t get that “Creationism” isn’t science (well maybe science fiction) — yet that’s just a symbol for the sad state of funding for public education. The last time the United States got serious about teaching science was during the when the Russians launched Sputnik in the late 50s. Well if you’d like to do something about this situation please take some time out and get involved with this effort:
“In the year 2009, the world will celebrate the International Year of Astronomy as it commemorates the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s use of a telescope to study the skies, and Kepler’s publication of Astronomia Nova. 2009 is also the anniversary of many other historic events in science, including Huygen’s 1659 publication of Systema Saturnium.
This will be modern astronomy’s quadricentennial, and the 2009 Year of Astronomy will be an international celebration of numerous astronomical and scientific milestones. Events are still being planned, and you are invited to tell us how you want to celebrate. This page is a product of the U.S. 2009 IYA team, and we want to help you make 2009 a year long celebration to remember.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 4, 2008 in Animation
Shown above is an interview with animator José Cuauhtemoc “Bill” Meléndez who just passed away. Most people will remember Meléndez for his work on Peanuts but he was much more than that in terms of animation history: For example he helped animate Gerald McBoing-Boing for UPA in 1951 which made limited TV animation possible. We’ll miss you Bill:
“Bill Melendez, the animator who gave life to Snoopy, Charlie Brown and other “Peanuts” characters in scores of movies and TV specials, has died. He was 91. Melendez’s nearly seven decades as a professional animator began in 1938 when he was hired by Walt Disney Studios and worked on Mickey Mouse cartoons and classic animated features such as “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia.” He went on to animate TV specials such as “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and was the voice of Snoopy, who never spoke intelligible words but issued expressive howls, sighs and sobs.”
Below: Now that I look back at it A Charlie Brown Christmas might just be one of the best Christmas movies ever made (or top five at the very least!):
Part 2: In Japan public transportation stops running at around 12 AM and starts again around 5 AM. That makes for a predicament if one is out late away from where they are staying. I’ve been trying out some scenarios of what one can do over a few recent trips to Japan. One obvious solution would be to just pay for a taxi back. Last year I tried that. Basically to get in a taxi and (in theory) not go anywhere the minimum fare is over $6. Helping to reinforce the possible validity that taxi companies had politicians make sure no public transportation runs at night is that taxis have an additional 30% late night surcharge.
It’s often quoted that a daytime taxi from Narita Airport to downtown tokyo is somewhere over $300. It’s not a case of tourists being tricked what supposedly happens to some foreign tourists in America. That would be the normal fare, though I guess most times someone states the $300 taxi fare factoid they neglect to mention the airport is well over an hour from downtown tokyo. It had to do with the older Tokyo airport Haneda (you’ll see it in old movies) becoming too small over the years, but not soon enough to be able to buy enough land closer to Tokyo. As a comparison, the cheapest train to tokyo is around $12, though a lot of luggage might be awkward and it’s not that fast. There are many more trains and busses in the $20 to $30 range though that are direct and can deal with luggage.
The 12 AM last run for trains means that shows at clubs typically start at 7 PM and end around 10:30 so people who live further away can get home. A fair number of clubs with space for dancing will open (or reopen after a live band set) around 11 PM and have DJ sets until dawn. This is especially true on Friday and Saturday nights.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 3, 2008 in Star Trek
I don’t care what the hell J.J. Abrams is cooking up with the next movie — you just know in your heart of hearts that it will never be 25% as cool as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. And why is that? Because whatever man child/pretty boy they cast as Kirk, he’ll never pass the test unless he can scream KHAAAAAAAAN! and really mean it:
Oh and by the way if you want to pre-order The Wrath of Khan Phaser you should go here. What’s cool is that like the phaser in the movie you can remove the type-1 phaser from the larger assembly (which is quite useful for stalking casting executives).
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 3, 2008 in Japanese TV
Shown above is J-pop diva and actress Kaela Kimura (木村カエラ) in an advert for Lucido-L which is a line of hair care products. Kaela was born in Tokyo and her mom is Japanese and her dad is British and she started modeling back in 2002 for the the Japanese idol magazine Seventeen. I really like her swinging 60s look in this ad and the nice use of color. Below is a “making of” spot on the commercial:
Part I: One of the differences most visitors to Japan point out sooner or later is the reality that most public transportation in Tokyo as well as throughout Japan starts to shut down at midnight to start up again after 5 AM. With trains and subways the reasoning is to perform thorough daily maintenance. The fact of the matter is they do run on time. Apparently the stationmaster will even issue a late pass if a train is late so you don’t get reprimanded for being late at your job. I guess it’s harder to justify busses not running either. It’s often rumored that perhaps taxi drivers used political influence to make sure no alternative to taxis run at night, but that might be a popular myth.
“Hong Kong’s Hot Toys has announced the Batman Cosbaby collection which features seven characters as follows: Batman (Classic), Batman (Modern), Joker, Batgirl, Catwoman, Robin the Boy Wonder and one secret character to be revealed.”
As far back as I could remember as a child the advertising for Twix cereal always centered around the fact that “Twix are for Kids” this taunting the poor bunny associated with the brand. In 1984 things changed and there was a campaign to allow kids if they wanted to share their cereal with the rabbit — shown above is a promotional button from that historic election.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Sep 1, 2008 in Comic Books
Leif Peng has scanned in a comic on the life of Samuel Gompers from an issue of Boys’ Life magazine from 1958. In an era of outsourced jobs it’s some what sad to look back at just fifty years ago when someone with a blue collar job could earn a decent living.
I’m only guessing (due to my lack of Japanese language skills) but it looks like Garbage Bag Artwork that chronicles people turning their every day garbage bags into bunny rabbits! It’s funny how just adding a small bit of artwork can make something so mundane so much more interesting.
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 31, 2008 in Animation
The advert above with the catchy jingle is for Um Bongo which is a “tropical fruit juice drink” which became popular in the UK in the early 90s. In addition to wonderfully fluid animation what makes this spot great is the music was produced by Andre Jacquemin who worked with Monty Python back in the day. Sadly I discovered this spot because it seems that this beverage is on the verge of extinction:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 31, 2008 in Comic Books
I just came across an treasure trove of Anti-American political cartoons from China which date from 1958 through 1960. Shown above is a cartoon making fun of NASA after the USSR launch of Sputnik in 1957. What’s interesting about this selection of comics is that you see references to President Eisenhower but also references to those out of the scene like General Douglas MacArthur and Winston Churchill.
I think I’ve seen this design kicking around recently, but it’s never too late to share something that you like! In this case what attracts me to Helbotica is my love of typography and giant robots:
Walking home this morning I spotted the above poster which immediately reminded me of the Reservoir Dogs from a few years ago, peering closer I got very excited to see two of my favorite tough guy actors Robert DeNiro and Al Pachino teamed up. Righteous Kill is due out on September 12th and it’s directed by Jon Avnet who’s claim to fame is Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, so it’s hard for me to tell how well he’ll do with the crime genre. Frankly with DeNiro and Pachino I would have preferred Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino as director — here’s a trailer of the film:
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 30, 2008 in Science
This is scary, I always assumed that our galaxy was just that — a solo act. It seems that part of our galaxy contains smaller galaxies which were torn apart by the Milky Way:
“Astronomers have discovered nearly a dozen new stellar rivers—strings of moving stars—over the disk of the Milky Way. The streams, which seem to represent smaller galaxies torn apart by our own, come from scans of the velocities of about a quarter million stars in our galaxy made for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.”
“We built this fiberglass replica landspeeder from the ground up on a custom aluminum chassis. The electric drive system is capable of a top speed around 25 mph. The speeder is the same size as the original, and can travel several miles on a single battery charge.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 29, 2008 in Animation
I always preferred the Muppet TV show to any of the movies (the humor works better on the small screen) — but so much of what made that show work was the contemporary humor and the amazing guests. While it still looks this show may or may not happen, but it would be interesting to see how they’d re-invent the show:
“The Jim Henson-created characters may be on their way back thanks to a new Disney Film. In the movie, written by Forgetting Sarah Marshall star and writer Jason Segel, the Muppets reunite to save their studio with one last variety show. Should the film go well, it opens up the possibility of a television programme, also written by 28-year-old Segel.”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 28, 2008 in Television
A few days ago I noticed that there was a film being shot in my neighborhood in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The first clue was that there was quite a few retro cars and a storefront on my block was redecorated to look like a bad check cashing establishment. So a friend found my story and blogged it herself trying to identify the mystery film. Well a few friends solved the riddle online and it turns out that what’s being shot is in fact a TV show called Life on Mars which is a remake of an award winning BBC science fiction show! The show is suppose to air on ABC on October 9th so I’ll have to look for scenes featuring my apartment building! Here’s the opening titles from the BBC show to give you a taste of the show:
Even though I’m a vegetarian the sight of this cute little lion cosplay figurine brought a smile to my face! I guess if I buy this goodie I’ll have to pretend that her meat chop is made out of tofu:
“In the Fate/Tiger Colosseum game, the cast of Fate/Stay Night is shrunken, deformed, and shifted into toddler-like versions of themselves. Archer is lanky in his full-size form but he’s a chubby little punk in the Colosseum. Similarly, Saber’s normally lean and mean but in her Coloseum turn, she does “Lion Cosplay” and whacks her enemies with a bone-inl meat chop. ”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 27, 2008 in Animation
I’m not 100% sure what the cute pup has to to do with Lucky Star, but the above video is a commercial for the Lucky Star OVA which will come out in Japan on September 26th:
“The official Japanese website of the Lucky Star anime franchise is streaming a television commercial for the Lucky Star OVA, a new adaptation of Kagami Yoshimizu’s four-panel gag manga about four girls’ everyday life. The site posted the designs of the characters Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, and Nanako in fantasy adventure outfits. It also posted the designs of Konata cosplaying as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’s Yuki in a witch’s hat and Kagami as the virtual idol Miku Hatsune, as depicted on the anime’s jacket cover. ”
Posted by Michael Pinto on Aug 26, 2008 in Japanese TV
Yeah it’s just me and my penguin pal hanging out, going to the mall and doing lunch. That’s perfectly normal — hey why are you looking at me like that? The above cute commercials are for Suica which is a smart card used in Japan. Here are a few more cute penguin spots that they’ve done:
