The Retrospective

Super 7 is a wonderful little boutique located in Japantown in San Francisco. At the intersection of Post and Laguna it caters to the inner toy lover in all of us. It’s actually one of two stores founded by Japanese toy fanatic Brian Flynn (Super7/Hybrid Design). My friend Shannell and I went there over the weekend because I was lusting after a toy I hadn’t seen since I was a kid. I grew up watching a bunch of anime dubbed into French and when it comes to giant robots my all time favorite is Goldorak (UFO Robo Grendizer in Japanese). Vinyl toys from various eras of Japanese television were sprawled out all over the store along with some new custom toys designed by the staff of Super 7. Ghostland toys have a really cool concept, the creatures take on ghoulish forms as reminders of whatever killed them in their past lives. Besides toys, Super7 has collectible books and brightly colored lithorgraps by owners Brian and his wife Dora.

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[hulu:http://www.hulu.com/embed/hTEAlNGwHlsERGJVqpmsnw]

I thought I’d kill two birds with one massive digital stone in this post. As powerful as the Internet is, it’s also the number one way to waste hours of your life. Hulu is just that a wonderful distraction, but so much more. Released earlier this year the people over at Hulu have contracts with almost all of the major networks and deliver high quality streaming videos of not only current shows but a vaults-worth of past ones too.

I think that the best part of Hulu is that I am able to watch old shows that were cancelled like “The Invisible Man” or shows I missed while they were on-air like Fox’s “New Amsterdam”. The shows have little indicators that tell you when a commercial is going to air and a time marker that tells you how long it will be (usually 15 to 30 seconds). In my opinion, one of the smartest, funniest, and downright best shows ever written is “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” The show centers around a group of friends who run a hole-in-the-wall bar in a seedy part of Philadelphia. Written and starring  Rob McElhenny, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day the show tackles a variety of issues from racism and politics to underage drinking that are wielded together in a mass of twisted humor. The cast is like peanut butter and jelly or bread and butter, they just compliment each other. The addition of Danny DeVito in the second season just upped the hilarity factor. I put a clip up here which is actually another feature of Hulu for you to check out.

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httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=jqK1dE0FWo0

I’m still on the fence about what to think of this band. I’m unnerved a bit because the lead singer has a striking resemblance to my friend Ethan from back home, but that’s beside the point. I was totally blown away by the way Eric Sean Nalls sings; he’s soulful and, at times, downright operatic. The song is laced with piano chords and frantic bits of noise and hardcore. I haven’t listened to anything else from this band yet but from the video I can only hope that, in the flesh, they put on an amazing electric show. By the way, does anyone know what the heck a foxy shazam is? You can check out more from the band on their myspace page.

Editors Note: Thanks to Evan for informing us that “Foxy Shazam” is a slang term from Cincinnati that means “Dope Shoes”.

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Depending on how my morning goes, I usually commit myself to watching Rocko’s Modern Life before heading out the door. I was flipping through the channels to get there a few days ago when I saw “Yo Gabba Gabba” on Nick Jr. Now I’m old enough to remember when Nick Jr. had shows on like David the Gnome and Eureeka’s Castles. With strange creatures and even stranger segments the show had something that held me there for a few minutes. I remember my friend Paul mentioning this show but I never paid it much thought. I mean come on! I’m a grown man and YES I know I watch cartoons but this is like little kids programming, right? However, the fun part “Yo Gabba Gabba” is the diabolic work of Aquabats lead singer Christian Jacobs.

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httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=7urZe6r5CGU

Ghost in the Shell is, in my opinion, one of the greatest anime feature films ever to hit the silver screen. If you were to ask any anime fan what their top 3 anime films were this would most likely be one of them. The film centers on the members of an elite law enforcement unit known as “Section nine.” The covert ops team deals with crimes of the “technological” variety. Originally based on a manga by Masamune Shirow it has spawned multiple films, animated TV shows, and video games. Just when the hype was calming down it was announced this week that Spielberg’s DreamWorks had acquired the rights to create a live-action 3D rendition. I’ve always wanted to see what some of my favorite animes would be like in live-action but most adaptations have been rather disappointing (if not massive failures). Does having Spielberg and Avi Arad (Marvel’s savior in transforming their line up into blockbuster films) attached to this project make it appealing? Very, but I’m still pretty apprehensive.

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It’s been a pretty busy couple of months for the staffers here at The Retrospective. When we aren’t engaged in bringing you the latest and greatest we all work respective day jobs. That being said, the lack of updates hasn’t gone unnoticed. We are asking our readers far and wide if they are interested in being writers and contributors. If so, give us a shout because we want to keep the content here as fresh as possible.

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