San Diego Comic Con 2008: Getting Prepped!

7:50am just before the doors open. All systems prepped and ready!

“Honey, will you be needing the X-Wing? “

David Foox is a professional artist, painter, and founding member of the Kung Foox Collective. You can see his work at kungfoox.com and his blog at kungfoox.typepad.com. His wife is Jessica Foox and you can find her artwork here.

Four Eyes #2: Fine Dragon Draftsmanship

The cover above for Four Eyes #2 made me take a second look: The draftsmanship in this cover illustration by Max Fiumara is nothing short of suburb. Even though the image is in black and white you get an vivid sense of lighting and shadow. And then here’s all of that wonderful texture that breathes life into that dragon. My bet is that Image Comics will ruin this cover by coloring it, but we’ll have to wait to see when it hits the streets in October.

Mobile Suit Gundam Portable Speakers

Banpresto has just released these nifty looking Mobile Suit Gundam portable speakers which are based on the Zaku suit. Sadly these will onlybe available in Japan at arcade centers.

Found via akihabaranews.com.

Secret Invasion: We Want More…

For this cover of Marvel’s Secret Invasion: Front Line #4 (Of 5) illustrator Juan Doe has created a wonderful comic tribute to Norman Rockwell’s Freedom from Want. While I always appreciated Rockwell as a vegetarian the site of the poor turkey in the original painting always turned my stomach — but in this homage Doe turns our feathered friend into a cut looking lizard creature (of sorts):

Read more…

iPhone Lightsaber Extravaganza

So I’m checking out the comments on my iPhone Lightsaber video and another fanboy brags “Go watch our video it’s a real battle: It’s a hundred times better than this!” And much to my shock and horror not only is their video cooler than my, but I think they even went a step beyond the notorious Star Wars Kid!

Real Life Tractor Beams to Move Asteroids

Any old time Star Trek fanboy knows that having a good tractor beam is a must have for any starship — and it looks like science is now catching up: Shown above is an artists conception of a gravity tractor spacecraft that could push a dangerous asteroid out of the day:

‘Duck!’ won’t save the day
Scientists explore ways to meet threat of an asteroid strike

“Real-life scientists are actually exploring the gravity tractor, the keyhole problem and other issues surrounding the very real, if remote, danger that a comet or asteroid will some day cross Earth’s orbital path at precisely the wrong time. A crowd of them met this week in Baltimore as part of the “Asteroids, Comets, Meteors 2008” conference sponsored by the Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory.

It’s not an idle concern. On June 30, 1908, astronomers say, a comet exploded over a remote area of Russia with the force of a 10-megaton nuclear bomb. The “Tunguska” impact, as it’s known, flattened 80 million trees over 830 square miles – that’s enough destructive power to devastate a city of millions, had it struck one.”

Disney Destroys At the Movies

Long before the web the best way to hear about a film for a cinema fanboy was to watch Siskel and Ebert — and even though Gene Siskel passed away his co-host Roger Ebert has kept the flame going all of these years. What made the show so good was that Siskel and Ebert were themselves true cinema fanboys: Watching them argue the finer points of a film was like hanging out with friends at a diner. Also you got the feeling that the two of them were there not for the money (the series got started on PBS after all) but because they were there to talk about what they loved. So I was upset when I heard that Walt Disney had decided to keep the show running without our beloved Roger Ebert:

‘At the Movies’ gets new hosts Lyons, Mankiewicz

“Over the years, TV’s best-known movie review show has gone from hosts Siskel and Ebert to Ebert and Roeper to Roeper and guest critics — and now it’s Lyons and Mankiewicz. Ben Lyons, a Hollywood reporter and film critic for ”E! News” and others, and Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz will take over ”At the Movies” when its new season begins in September, Disney-ABC Domestic Television said Tuesday.”

Apogee & Perigee

Some years after Star Wars, but 24 years before a very similar looking robot from Pixar came along, a pair of Japanese robots named Apogee & Perigee released an album of songs that tell their story. Entitled “Chojiku Korodasutan Ryokoki” it was released in fairly small quantities as an LP and soon became a sought after though obscure rarity.

Unfortunately, in 1984 YMO had retired and the small label was running on a shoestring. Aside from this promotional video I don’t think the release got much publicity. A CD reissue from the 90s exists but it was only sold part of a high priced 18 album set.

Though I don’t think it’s a big surprise, in reality really it wasn’t a pair of robots making the album, it was semi-anonymously made by the short lived band Testpattern (Masao Himura and Fumio Ichimura), who were signed to Yellow Magic Orchestra’s ¥EN Records label. For this, their second project, they made a concept album billed to a pair of robots. On it they recruited many labelmates to contribute songs and perform more or less uncredited.

It’s kind of sad that maybe with a bit more publicity and spinoff media they could have had more success with a fun concept like this. This track is sung by Jun Togawa. She began her career as an actress in the early 1980s and soon found many singing opportunities. She was able bridge the gap between performance art and rock. She often appears but not exclusively with her band the Yapoos.

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R2D2 Goes Steampunk

Shown above is a wonderful Steampunk version of R2D2 named R2S2 (R2 Steam Too) which was designed by Crabfu SteamWorks. You’ll have to visit their page to see every loving bit of detail that was put into this droid — but to give you just a small sample here’s a close up from the back side of this mechanical marvel:

…and here is R2S2 in action:

Why Amy Winehouse Has To Be Dr. Who

I recently came across a video (see below) which was reacting to an interview with a former writer from Dr, Who who was claiming that Amy Winehouse would make a great Time Lord. While the video blogger in question hated the idea of his beloved character being turned into a mere singer, as a longtime fanboy I approve of the idea with all my heart. Here’s why Amy Winehouse needs to be the next Dr. Who:

1. Tom Baker proved that Dr. Who is about being eccentric: Who else besides Amy has any personality these days in the entire UK?

2. Dr. Who has turned into yet another brand of sci-fi dog food and something needs to be done to reinvent the series. This isn’t about having slick special effects — that was never the point of the show! Only Amy can jump start the show into something interesting.

3. The entire point of Dr. Who is that he isn’t a he! A Time Lord isn’t a human but an alien after all — the next shape that the good Doctor takes on should be a surprise. In fact expecting Dr. Who to be yet another guy is in itself sexist. In fact while we’re on the subject why is Dr. Who always a white dude?

4. While it’s true that Amy lacks any formal acting skills I think a good writer could work with that. It comes down to can she make the character believable? I think given the right scripts and proper straight-man sidekicks that she could pull it off.

5. Some fans may object to Amy’s speaking voice which is seen as “working class” — again this is classic British snobbery! What rule is there at Dr. Who has a degree from Cambridge and goes fox hunting on weekends? First knowing Amy’s vocal range I think she could do anything with that amazing voice — but why not have the character sound street smart for a change? And again I believe that a good script writer could make this work.

6. Some parents might be concerned that Amy is the wrong sort of role model for youth. But when has Dr. Who even been about being a role model? The entire idea behind his character is that he is a non-conformist that does things his own way. You’re talking about a character who travels around in a telephone box — this isn’t about being a role model.

7. Amy has the best facial expressions! In his heart of hearts Tom Baker always had that element of being a silent screen actor, so much of his acting was physical — his facial expressions were always amazing. We already know that Amy can pull this off from her music videos — there some dangerous about her eyes that would work very well with the character.

8. Being a Time Lord is about dealing with stress! Amy knows this scene first hand, for she has lived it. Amy’s own struggle is to keep her world in balance — I thinks he can bring this energy to the small screen.

9. Back in the day you could tell who Dr. Who was by what he was wearing, this character was never about slick raincoats or looking dashing but standing out and being different. Amy has a sense of fashion and knows how to wear clothing — in that way she’s iconic. I think even if you took away her beehive hairstyle that her strong individuality would come through with the right wardrobe.

10. Amy is already an international star and that would help open up the audience of the show. Dr. Who doesn’t have to be a show stuck on the Sci Fi channel — it can be a series worthy of being on HBO or Showtime.

In fact I’ll go on record to state the following: Without Amy being the next Dr. Who you can shove the show into the rubbish heap of mediocrity. And here’s the video that inspired me:

Star Wars as Renaissance Art

There’s a great Photoshop contest at worth1000 on the theme of Star Wars Renaissance Art (quite a bit of this is in fact Victorian romantic artwork but you get the idea). Shown above is Godward Padme by Frogman12834, and below is Yoda Borguereau by Mandrak:

Found via Gawker.

Meet Makemake: The Latest Little Plutoid

While I think that Makemake is easier for kids to remember than minor planet 136472 it’s going to be rough on science students trying to keep track of all of these plutoids — although as an astronomy fanboy I think these are good problems to have:

Fourth Dwarf Planet Named For Polynesian God

“A dwarf planet circling the sun out beyond the orbit of Neptune has been rechristened Makemake after a Polynesian god and designated the third of the solar system’s new class of plutoids, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) announced Saturday. Makemake is a small, red-tinged world that ranks among the largest objects in the outer solar system. But it is still smaller and dimmer than the already demoted dwarf planet Pluto, which astronomers reclassified as a plutoid last month.”

Below: It sucks to be Pluto which is now reduced to being one of eight trans-Neptunian objects.

Rough Night Out with the Mario Brothers

As a fanboy I always enjoy seeing a fine artist exploring pop culture: In the above oil painting “Rough Night Out” artist Bob Dob takes on Nintendo icon Mario. The other Mario brother can be seen below in the next painting “Rougher Night Out”:

Read more…

Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea: Commercial

At long last we’re getting our first good look at the upcoming film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea and it’s looking like Miyazaki fanboys and fangurls won’t be disappointed. Although I have to say that the animation looks amazing the ever so cute theme song is getting to me!

Kidrobot’s Take on the The Simpsons

Shown above is Kidrobot’s interpretation of Matt Groening’s The Simpsons which is due out on August 21st. There will be 24 mini figures in all but my favorites are already Itchy & Scratchy.

Found via toysrevil.blogspot.com.

Sam & Max Wii Trailer from E3

I think this qualifies as a baffling mystery Sam! To tell you the truth I haven’t heard much out of E3 this year that’s very exciting. My theory is that last year was a real breakthrough with the excitement of the Wii, in fact it seems odd that there was any question just how well Nintendo would do. Which brings us back to E3: As a show E3 was always about the older hardcore guy gamers — so with the popularity of the Wii and titles like Guitar Hero the industry as become much more family oriented in spite of itself.

However as a long time gaming fanboy I rather like the state of the industry right now. Sam and Max is a good example of this — the first time I fell in love with the game was in the CD-ROM era back in the 90s. The game was as much about story as the game play itself, however back in the day sadly titles like this were swept away by Doom and and later the Playstation platform. So it’s nice for me to see Sam and Max re-emerge again on the Wii while poor Duke Nukem is a bit of a joke.

Smart Fanboys Prefer Scientist Mini Figures

Now you can have the greatest scientific minds in human history collecting dust on your bookshelf! Lord Crumwell’s Oddfellows Scientists Mini Figures includes Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Nikola Tesla. I think if I had a chance to travel back in time and meet any of these folks it would have to be Einstein as he seemed to have a good sense of humor.

Hot Glass Rayguns

Based in Vancouver, Canada Joe Blow Glassworks produces an amazing line of hot glass art objects called Raygunz:

“These are blown and manipulated hot glass objects. A transparent colour is picked up on the pipe, then clear glass is gathered on top. The piece is then blown out and shaped to the desired form. Coloured bits are added. Once the bits are in place, the handle and trigger are applied to the piece, the Raygun is then knocked off the blowpipe into the annealer to cool over a fifteen-hour cycle.”

You can see their collection here.

Found via darkroastedblend.com.

Sesame Street vs. Cloverfield

As a muppet fanboy I loved this parody of Cloverfield by Artifex Studios.

Found via one of my favorite NSFW bloggers from Japan: zaeega.com.

Hollywood Live Action Versions of Naruto, Bleach and Death Note?

If you’re an anime fanboy this may be good news: With this news we could be seeing Hollywood live action versions of Bleach, Naruto and Death Note:

VIZ Media enters movie business

“VIZ Media, a San Francisco-based publisher of Japanese manga and graphic novels, has formed a production company to exploit its huge content catalog. Based in Hollywood, VIZ Prods. will be run by Jason Hoffs, a former production exec at Amblin and DreamWorks, who most recently had his own producing deal at Sony.

Hoffs will serve as a liaison between Japanese creative licensors and Hollywood, and the company will develop to produce some of the titles inhouse. VIZ effort is another recent example of publishers, from the New York Times to vidgame companies such Capcom, becoming proactive in exploiting film projects hatched from their content.”

…It’s clear that Viz is looking at not only how well Marvel has been doing these days, but also at other blockbuster movies like Speed Racer. Hollywood knows how to make multi million dollar CGI superhero epics, so it would seem natural for them to tackle anime properties — which in turn would do well in the international market.

The New Watchman Trailer

I have sort of mixed feelings on this one: For starters I feel like the art direction looks too detailed and the lighting is a also a bit too film noir. Although it looks like they have some characters nailed down like the Nite-Owl and Rorschach, other characters like Adrian Veidt don’t feel right. Also for me I associate Watchmen with the music of the late 80s when the comic was produced — I would have loved to hear something like an updated version of Pop Will Eat Itself on the soundtrack rather than the Smashing Pumpkins.

But maybe the main thing is that perhaps DC Comics should have thought of doing the movie as traditional animation rather than live action? If this was a Japanese film based on a manga there would be no question that we’d expect to see something akin to an Akira. But in Hollywood animation is always thought of as something for kids, it would have been nice to see them take a chance instead of produce yet another film that looks like Batman.

Hello Mobile Kitty TV

Shown above is the Hello Kitty 1seg tuner which features a 2.4″ LCD screen. The 1seg standard is a digital TV standard in Japan which is mostly aimed at mobile phones. Unlike regular TV the broadcasts can include text for breaking news and early earthquake warnings. The technology is still a bit flakey as it’s hard to use 1seg on a fast moving train, although if you’re just watching Kitty TV at home you should be fine.

Found via akihabaranews.com.

Early Mars May Have Been Habitable

The good news: There may have been Martians! The bad news: That was a long, long time ago:

Early Mars Was All Wet

“New observations made by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), currently circling the planet, have revealed evidence that vast regions of the southern highlands of Mars were altered by water in a variety of environments billions of years ago. Water is a key condition for life as we know it. Though there is no firm evidence that Mars has ever harbored life, knowing that the planet was once wet suggests that it was at least habitable in the past.”

Tezuka Vinyl Toys

Organic Hobby has just released a series of Tezuka vinyl toys: Shown above are Leo (known here as Kimba), Dr. Ochanomizu and Sapphire.