Ivy Cottage and their Special Edition STAR WARS Tees at SVCC

Arturito - RetrendersFrom Clovis, California, Ivy Cottage is a small gift shop located in the Sierra Vista mall. I found their Star Wars MexiCool cultural fashion icon t-shirt series, ESTAR GUARS, pretty funny, which simply reflect some of the colloquial spoken Spanish language translations of Star Wars characters, if not made up for a little bit of Mexican pop humor. I have to admit, I’ve actually heard R2-D2 pronounced Arturito. Anyways, their ESTAR GUARS Special Edition T-shirts were a hit at SVCC.

If you’re in the neighborhood of Clovis, CA.,  and really want to get one of their ESTAR GUARS T-shirts, here’s their address: Sierra Vista Mall, 1050, 1007 Shaw Ave, Clovis, CA 93612

Comic artist Ethan Castillo at SVCC

_DSC2290 Ethan Castillo RetrendersETHAN CASTILLO Artist, Gamer, Nerd
I can’t believe it’s been five years since we met Ethan Castillo at Big Wow Comicfest; the Retrenders crew has literally watched him evolve as a comic artist. I know I will probably say the same thing next year, but it has definitely been amazing to watch him idolize and focus on the art of drawing Spiderman to now catapulting himself into creating his own superhero characters.

Ramon Angel caught up with Ethan Castillo at Silicon Valley Comic Con 2017 to find out about his latest undertakings.

Dance Photography by Al Morales

al-morales-photography-11Al Morales has been focused on the art of dance photography these past two years.  Al has gravitated to doing most of his photography with professional dancers. He didn’t think twice about the idea, because he himself was a former dancer the last two decades. Here is a glimpse of his passion for dance photography with Rachel Winter from San Jose CA, a Studio Company Dancer at The New Ballet School.

[Read more…]

STRANGER THINGS – A Throwback to the Best Movies of the ’80s!

Stranger Things - Netflix - RetrendersIf you haven’t seen this Netflix Series, you should!  Because I went into a sleepless night binge watching this!

Stranger Things takes place in the ’80s and with plenty of ’80s music.  It brought back so many memories of past films, this took me back to being a 5 year-old kid, because it had a little bit of The Goonies, a team of kids on bicycles. I also couldn’t help recognize the use of same dramatic theme track too.  Then there’s E.T., because of the weird girl; The Explorers, kids exploring; Stand By Me, the train track trail to find their friend; and it even had an X-Files Sci-Fi conspiracy twist that will lure you to want to watch the series until the end. Also, it’s worth mentioning, if you love Dungeons and Dragons, you’ll appreciate this series!

[Read more…]

Ghostbot on Emerging VR Technology

RETRENDERS GhostBot Inc - Emerging VR Technology

Where will virtual reality take us? The landscape is limitless at this point and finding that one spectacular use for this technology that makes this the next leading trend might be just around the corner. We caught up with Bay Area animation studio Ghostbot after their VR technology discussion panel at Silicon Valley Comic Con and interviewed them to find out where VR is heading.

[Read more…]

Red Chapter Clothing Company with Marvel Comics

RETRENDERS Red Chapter Clothing Elvis Monroe 02

Bryan Hopkins demonstrates his Ambigram tattoo

What is an Ambigram? I would have to say its the art of font design and creative wordplay, where one word passes off as two at the same time… or maybe superimposition, where one thing is placed over an existing thing to conceal something?

Okay enough, just watch the video we shot at Silicon Valley Comic Con with Bryan Hopkins, lead singer of Elvis Monroe, who is the co-founder of Red Chapter Clothing with world famous Ambigram artist Mark Palmer. He’ll tell you what an Ambigram is and how they have creatively designed them for the Marvel Comics world !

[Read more…]

Sayori Chu interviews Stan Lee!

RETRENDERS Sayori Chu Interviews Stan LeeWe caught up with Stan Lee at Silicon Valley Comic Con to talk to him about the “BIG” direction with comics, how did it begin, what were its influences, and where is it going now that it has become immensely and worldly popular!

[Read more…]

Welcome to Silicon Valley Comic-Con 2016!

Retrenders - Silicon Valley Comic Con - SVCC - by Johnny MorenoWelcome to the first Silicon Valley Comic-Con! The inaugural of SVCC was the largest Comic convention in San Jose, California, thanks to Steve Wozniak and Stan Lee. The convention was a collaboration between panel talks of surfacing technology such as Virtual Reality and how will we use it? So when you you took a stroll through the convention floor, you were literally walking through the imaginative world of stories ; and if you chose to attend a tech panel, you can see how comics and Sci-fi have contributed to innovative technology and its use –Such things as the hoverboard which is the future of skateboard transportation! Now that’s what I call the ying and the yang.
Now who said we were just here to see Stan Lee? – RETRENDERS, or course!

Sayori takes World War Toons for spin!

World War Toons - TwitchCon - RetrendersAt TwitchCon, Reload Studios gives Sayori the opportunity to take their latest game for a spin. The creators worked on Call of Duty, and now want to take you to the next level of interactive movement virtually with World War Toons!

About the latest T-shirts by Design by Humans

Design by Humans - TwitchCon - RetremdersThe latest in popular T- Shirt designs, Design by Humans, is a collaboration of many designs influence by POP artists, musicians and the like… as we can already see the English virtual band album art of the Gorillaz.

Sayori Chu interviews Amie Lynn & Lindsay Elyse

04 Sayori Chu - TwitchCon CallWhile a community of Twitchers have an open forum about the latest growing social development surrounding female gamers in their webnet interactions on Twitch, Sayori Chu interviews Cosplay/Gamer,  Amie Lynn (a.k.a. MissHabit) and Lindsay Elyse, who are not cosplaying today?

TwitchCon – where Geek Gaming and Communication transform everything!

Sayori Chu - TwitchCon - BeanBaggedOutLet the games begin at TwitchCon. Sayori Chu ventures to the first official Twitch Convention in San Francisco, where she finds out why the latest in gaming communication rules, and how the Twitch community is driving behind it! Here’s a RETRENDERS/RamenandaHalf promo of our TwtichCon experience.

Wizard World 2015 – Happy Endings!

Wizard World 2015 - Happy EndingsFarewell Wizard World – until next year! On behalf of the “Ramen and a Half”crew and RETRENDERS, we’d love to thank Abby Ferguson for making everything so convenient for us at Wizard World 2015 at the San Jose Convention Center!

To be or not to be a Wizard World Fan?

To be or not to be a Wizard World FanEveryone has an opinion about certain Comic Conventions. Now, “Was Wizard World great or not great?” So we had to ask a couple of our local Comic Convention goers in the Bay Area, Diana and Alejandro. Though they mentioned nothing spectacular on a scale of one through ten, I would have to say they sounded pretty happy to be there, and they reinforced what comic conventions are all about: Attending a panel and learning interesting factors about writing comics from Michael Golden, Meeting friends, and best of all – Cosplaying! The video speaks for itself.

Wizard World ends with a pair of new Sunglasses

Wizard World 2015  - Red Sunglasses - Sayori Chu - RetrendersThe only mishap at Wizard World was loosing a pair of Sunglasses while wrapping up the show – “No thanks to Ramon!”

2.5D Sprites – Framed nostalgic video game art!

2 point 5 D Sprites - RetrendersNot exactly 3D, but imaginatively textured to give you that slice of pixel life! I know these are constructed pixel pieces, but it totally reminds me of when Han Solo gets carbon freezed into a slab and used as some sort of art piece in Jabba the Hutt’s palace. Click 2.5D Sprites to find out more about them.

The Walking Dead’s Scott Wilson

Scott Wilson - The Walking Dead - RetrendersAt Wizard World, The Eddie has a brief interview with The Walking Dead‘s , Scott Wilson, who plays Hershel Greene, the much grounded and upholding character of humanity in an overwhelming time of dead chaos. He will also be starring in the upcoming television series  DAMIEN, on A&E, a spin off from The OMEN.

Twindom – Make a self action figure with 3-D body scanning

Twindom 3D Body ScanningThe Eddie comes across 3-D Scanning to make a miniature figure of yourself! The company, Twindom, is freshly new and could have your figure delivered to you in two weeks.  Beware, if you watch this video, you might get excited and just click Twindom to find the nearest Twindom 3D scanning facility near you to make that self-figure!

Sayori interviews forever Green Ranger – Jason David Frank

Jason David Frank - Green Ranger

Sayori has been a longtime fan of the Green Ranger and was excited to interview Jason David Frank. . . And did I mention, she also loves watching a good MMA Fight. My only comment about Jason David Frank is, when he became the Green Ranger, he didn’t raise the bar, he knocked the bar out in what’s expected to be a true Power Ranger!

Metal Souls – Creatures and Figures out of nuts and bolts

Wizard World Comic Con - Metal SoulsRamon is a big on collecting action figures, so when he stumbled upon these welded and bronzed metal sculptures by Metal Souls , he couldn’t just pass through with out mentioning how amazingly cool they were!

The Eddie meets Michael Rooker of Guardians of the Galaxy

Wizard World - The Eddie BallarWizard World was full of surprises – just like how “The Eddie” was able to meet actor, Michael Rooker. Those of you that don’t know him as Yondu of Guardians of the Galaxy, will definitely remember as Merle Dixon from the Walking Dead series. He is well recognized as playing the bad guy that you hate and then love, as you can see in his character metamorphosis through the episodes in Walking Dead. And I’m pretty positive that he had fun playing Yondu, which I would have to say, “he has added so much character to the biggest scavenger-pirate of the galaxy!”

Sayori Chu interviews cosplay Wind of the Stars – Mel Hoppe

Wizard World 2015 - Retrenders Sayori ChuOur very own Harlequin, Sayori Chu, interviews Wind of the Stars cosplay, Mel Hoppe, at Wizard World Comic Convention on making costumes and making friends. Here we find out the topic on why do people cosplay is more than meets “living out a fantasy character”, because its also about clicking and bonding with others that love the same thing.

Welcome to Wizard World Comic Convention!

Wizard World - DysoMike - Eddie - Sayori - RamonThe Ramen and Half crew crashes Wizard World as their extended adventure to meet their pop culture icon celebrities and finding that must have comic and figure for their personal collections. Find out what they have to say before they hit the convention floor.  This promo is also a sneak peak at what to expect in their upcoming Wizard World videos.

LOST IN THE SUN – A cultish San Francisco Indie Film

Retrenders - Lost in the Sun - Dan Bernstein - David Moutray - Marcus Sams - Jess Reich

Dan Bernstein (actor), Dave Moutray (director), Marcus Sams (actor) and Jess Reich (make-up)

I feel very fortunate to be one of the crew members of “Lost in the Sun“, a feature film with a mysterious cult happening that takes meditation of body, mind and the discipline of gazing at the sun ritually to transform one’s life. The only catch is that someone has gone missing through the process, and the cult of sun gazers are not exactly your typical sun gazers, and that’s about all I can tell you.

[Read more…]

Why a BLADE RUNNER sequel?

The 1982 film was absolutely on point for it’s science fiction noir story taking place in 2019, because we still have neon lights and newspapers! Bladerunner - RetrendersDirected by Ridley Scott , Bladerunner accomplished its look with a raw and real-life edge of art direction and special effects  that we see influencing today’s futuristic films; the modern caper wardrobe intermingled with stylized space-tech outfits depending on the defined identity of the character – to the atmosphere of space age flying vehicles through a sky rise metropolis contrasting the ground level of real city life eclecticism of street cyclist, people walking with umbrellas, to grime that exists in rainwater running down a gutter in a dark alley street. There was no superficiality, but dark romanticism to this futuristic film which made it a cult noir classic.

[Read more…]