Jeff sent me a link to an awesome, fun, faux-vintage sci-fi short film a while back, and I mean to share it with y’all, but it slipped my mind… until I was flipping through a sketchbook and found this hastily scrawled list of cultural references that I saw while watching it for the first time:

She-Ra, Princess of Power. Lord of the Rings. American Apparel advertisements. The Neverending Story. Mario Bros. Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future. “The Clapper”. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Space Invaders. Silverhawks. Batman. Thundercats. Tron.

These things, in no particular order, sprung to mind immediately for me. Some of them are obviously intentional, others perhaps unintentional but likely to be seen by anyone who grew up when I did and watched the same stuff. Still others were triggered by a small detail or action in the video that other folks might not notice or associate in the same way. Anyway, here it is!

ELA in Love At First Byte by PepperMelon:

ELA in Love at First Byte from Fernando Sarmiento on Vimeo.

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Speaking of otherworldly creatures, check out these Golden Age Mexican lobby cards:

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I went to this cool Japanese pop-culture exhibit at the Kennedy Center a while back - and as you might imagine, robots were all OVER the place. There were a bunch of really cool robot toys on display, and I photographed most of them for some kind of gallery presentation. I wanted to try out a few different Photoshop techniques to make these into something other than snaps some guy took in like, ten minutes.

I’m trying to simulate they might look if I were approaching them through a gray, misty dawn, like they were looming up out of a toy plastic nightmare or emerging from mountain mist to shoot everyone’s eyes out with pre-safety obsession missiles shot from spring cannons on their arms and back.

And I have no idea what these things are named … apart from Tranzor Z and Godzilla. If you know the names, go ahead and drop ‘em in the comments.

I’ve pulled out a few of my favorites here, after the jump …

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Usually the initials MF are used to neuter my favorite expletive — but I’m pretty into those letters when they refer to a gallery on the Lower East Side that’s either named after Martina and Frank or Monster Face. Last Saturday’s opening at the MF Gallery was no slouch, either … it was the MF Gallery’s fifth annual toy show, full of cuddly monsters and blood-stained plush from artists including Suckadelic, Jenny Harada, Diana Schoenbrun and MF Toys.

I got there early, got some pics and checked out. The place filled up like a subway car, and fast. Most of the stuff there was priced to move, and I liked a lot of the work.

More photos of favorites, after the jump.

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