- Remember when everyone used to joke about having a robot girlfriend way, way, wayyyy into the future? Well, thanks to Sega Toys, the same company which brought us the popular Playstation 3 console, that reality is upon us. The New York Daily News has some information on EMA, the robotic girlfriend who hands out business cards, sings and looks a little bit like Barbie: “Case in point, the robot has what her designers have dubbed a “love mode” in which she pecks at people’s faces in a rough simulation of a kiss that’s about as close as you can get to a smooch from a toy with no actual lips. The toy is intended for adult men, starting around age 20, Sega says, and she will retail for about $175 starting in September. The company is hoping to sell 10,000 in the first year as part of what Japan hopes will grow into a $10 billion market for artificial intelligence over the coming decade.”
- The New York Asian Film Festival is set to kick off and, like always, has a few heavyweights from Japan which will be sure to please the crowds. Mark Pollard of Kung Fu Cinema tells us what to expect from flicks like Dororo: “Acclaimed indie filmmaker Akihito Shiota’s first venture into the period-fantasy genre, is not another solemn-faced epic although it’s deep enough in some of its themes. But mostly it deserves adjectives that used to be rolled out for old Errol Flynn movies: dashing, swashbuckling, rollicking. And it’s cool, too, though not in the post-post modern sense. Instead, it’s cool in the 10-year-old fan sense, which may not seem strange since it’s based on a classic comic by Osamu Tezuka (creator of Astro Boy). Given all the comic book adaptations that strain to be for adults—and fall into wretched excess—it’s a refreshing change of genre pace.”
- And speaking of Astro Boy, the famed anime series that is in major motion picture preproduction, Sci Fi Wire tells us that British actor Freddie Highmore will use an American accent in his portrayal of the title character.
