Okay, not a Pikachu, a Raichu. Anyway, lets find out what Sayori Chu has to ask this Raichu?
What do you ask a Pikachu at Fanimecon?
August 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
WESTWORLD 2016
June 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment
WESTWORLD 1973
There has been word that there will be a Westworld remake or a series adaptation for television for the past couple of years, and Jonathan Nolan and J.J. Abrams names are tied to the project.
Westworld was the first film that made me fear the dawn of the robot age – that computer embedded and wired life-like human operational machines can take over. Notice that I didn’t mention android or artificial intelligence? The reason being is because this film was released in theaters in 1973. It was very rare that anyone referred an intelligent robot as an android or artificial intelligence to some extent; the terms were far-fetched to the greater public at the time and not widely used.
The X-Files returns in a Mini-Series
June 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
I’m an X-Files fan because it was the “one” show at the time that was an eye-opener to mysteries and conspiracies of the unknown and unnatural phenomenon – and what better way to have two FBI agents go door to door and solve them. By watching the series, we got to follow agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully as they investigate incidents of flying saucers, people being abducted by aliens, spontaneous human combustion, to cult tales of witchery and the chupacabra (goat sucker).
Then the first film came out in 1998. I remember it clearly, it was opening weekend for the first X-files film of all-time in San Francisco, but it was like a Star Wars convention waiting in line to get into the theater! I mean, I saw some real or religious fan fanatics that came out of the wood-work with t-shirts, mocked up characters of Mulder, Scully and the Lone Gunmen; and homemade alien costumes. It was amazing, because I didn’t know there was such a passionate following of the show. Now they’re back and I just can’t wait to see what conspiracy – or depths of a conspiracy they will be entangled with this time!
Buffy is Back!
June 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
No there’s not a reboot, nor do we pick-up twelve years after Sunnydale High, but the past time television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer is going to air on ABC Family beginning June 22nd.
For those of you that never caught the series on television, it became a popular cult hit with teens, college students and anyone that simply craved a show with mystery, ancient rituals and myths, vampire fighting and slaying, to finding love, and on top of that – yes, dusting off an ancient relic of a book in order to research a spell cast, or find an antidote to a curse.
Pin-up Artist and Illustrator – Nicole Brune at BigWow Comicfest
June 7, 2015 by Leave a Comment
I’m a fan of Frank Cho’s, “Apes and Babes”, illustrations of women. And when I came across Nicole Brune’s art, I can definitely say if you love his work – you’ll undeniably love hers!
I especially love how Nicole Brune fashions some of her pin-up illustrations with pulp-fiction fantasy appeal that works from darkness to sweetness, or sweetness to darkness. I guess this would depend on what you notice first. See her artwork at www.nicolebrune.com
Steve Wyatt on SVCC!
June 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In a quick interview, Eddie Ballar asks Steve Wyatt what will happend to BigWow Comicfest with a new Comic-Con in town?
Steve Wyatt is the director and producer of many comic conventions in the Bay Area, and he explains how Steven Wozniak and Stan Lee are teaming up to create the Silicon Valley Comic Convention (SVCC).
BigWow Comicfest 2015: Cosplayer/Designer Marie-Claude Bourbonnais
May 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
This sexy French Canadian and professional Cosplayer became an online hit with her Mortal Kombat costume character – Frost.
Marie-Claude Bourbonnais has a background in fashion design with 16 years of experience. In her interview she tells us how she made it as a cosplayer, a model and a designer – and how she has to sometimes give her fans what they want – a little cleavage and sometimes nudity. “It’s a part of modeling and I wouldn’t be doing it if I wasn’t comfortable with it”, she tells me. She also tells me how latex became a costume fabric hit in the costume making world of cosplay… But what was it really used before that? The latex-fabric utilizing company that gave her the costume-making edge was Polymorphe.
BigWow Comicfest 2015 : Young Comic Artist – Ethan Castillo
April 30, 2015 by 2 Comments
What is it like to be a young talented comic artist! We caught up with Ethan Castillo at BigWow Comicfest 2015 to ask a couple of personal questions and find out if he’s anything like an ordinary child – and what we got, were simple words of wisdom.
Comikaze Expo 2014 – Mandalorian Mercs for fundraising
January 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Mandalorian Mercs can be found at every comic convention, but now days they have also ventured into the world of charity and helping to fund organizations with their appearance. Here’s Ramon Angel interviewing Sal Attinello of the Mandalorian Mercs Costume Club about Mandalorian costumes and fundraising!
In the video, the Boba Fett look-a-like is Mandalorian Merc member – Porfirio Guzman, suited up for the convention!
Comikaze Expo 2014 – Ramen and Half gets to meet actor James Hong
December 14, 2014 by 1 Comment
How could anyone not know James Hong! I think it’s safe to say that he has starred in more than four hundred American films and television episodes. He has played leading roles, supporting roles and small parts. I recently saw him in the classic Blade Runner and last year’s R.I.P.D., but when anyone asks me about James Hong, the two flicks that immediately come to my mind are Wayne’s World 2 and Big Trouble in Little China.
Comikaze Expo 2014 – We asked actor-comedian Debra Wilson one question
December 7, 2014 by Leave a Comment
What does she tell us?
“I’m working on several projects. There’s this one, but it’s N-D-A, then there’s another that’s also NDA… hmm oh wait, no that’s NDA too!”
I’m not sure if that’s what our site readers and viewers would like to hear, but she had fun explaining how NDA everything is to Ramen and Half’s Eddie Ballar. For those of you that don’t know Debra Wilson, you can definitely find out about her by watching this interview from Comikaze Expo. She is popularly known for her comedic sketches on MADtv and continues to venture the land of entertainment. She’s been involved in comedy flicks like recent Knock’Em Dead to animation and video game voices such as on Grand Theft Auto V.
Comikaze Expo 2014 – Eddie deAngelini on his comic Collectors
November 27, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Ramen and Half interviews Eddie DeAngelini about his comic – Collectors. He tells us how the story was originally supposed to be a film script, but making it into a comic strip took a life of its own, especially when it’s about him and his wife!
Comikaze Expo 2014 Ming Chen in “Let’s talk about Ramen!”
November 24, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Ramen and a Half meet their favorite Comic Book Men host, Ming Chen. He liked the fact that our show had the name Ramen in it, because he’s a big fan of the food. So in short, we love Ramen – he loves Ramen, so we talked about Ramen!
By the way Ming, “Can you find good Ramen in Jersey?”
Comikaze Expo 2014: Ramen and a Half meet DMC
November 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The Ramen and a Half crew meets DMC promoting his new comic! DMC tells us how comics was a large part of his childhood life before he became the well-known Master MC as we know him today.
Comikaze Expo 2014: Ramen & a Half interviews Stan Lee
November 10, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Once we arrived at Comikaze Expo we were christened by the powers of great opportunities and got an interview with Stan Lee! He’s a pretty busy guy these days, especially when everyone at Comikaze Expo wants to meet him…but who wouldn’t want to meet the man that gave birth to the pop culture of comics. With this great opportunity, our one and only “The Eddie” got to ask Stan Lee a couple of personal questions about the man and his comics.
2014 COMIKAZE EXPO Trailer
November 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The Ramen and a Half crew goes to Stan Lee’s Comikaze Expo and meet some of the fantastic celebrities and comic making heroes! The experience in some cases was overwhelming and we can’t say much more other than to watch our TRAILER!
Stan Lee, Ming Chen, Comic Book Men, Debra Wilson, James Hong, DMC
2014 Central Valley – Lindsay Lowrider Car Show
October 27, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Welcome back to Lindsay’s Finest 2nd Annual Lowrider Car Show at McDermont’s Field House. Retrenders Spotlight with Ruben Gonzalez and Ramona Padilla were able to bring you not only beautifully stylized lowrider cars, but a touch of history on early Chevy Impalas and their aesthetic differences between 1960 to 1964 with Gabriel Calderon and Marcelo Mota. We also get a personal experience on how judging Lowrider vehicles in a show can be with Harvey Reyes . Then how a Lowrider owner feels about his car, and we find out what the Real Housewives of Lowriding are all about.
RETRENDERS SPOTLIGHT
Producer: Johnny Moreno
Executive Producer: Stephen Jang
Music: Kevin Macleod
MUSIC also USED: Snippet of “Is it Love “ by Bob Marley and The Wailers, 23 seconds in length and incidentally captured due to live ambient recording.
NOTES: This Spotlight Lowrider Episode was produced in the same fashion as last year’s – single handedly, on the fly, documentary style. The only difference was that I filmed the show in HD and decided to give you more interview stories that encompasses the production and some of the people that make up a Lowrider Car show (specifically this year’s). As a result, this Retrenders SPOTLIGHT show turned out to be 26 minutes long, informative, entertaining and it moves along pretty fast. You’ll feel that you’ve just sat down and watched a five minute show. – I think this is as close I’ll get to a Jay Leno episode on Lowriders!
2014 Central Valley Lindsay Lowrider Car Show – TRAILER
October 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Next on Retrenders Spotlight, look forward to learning about the Lowrider culture from Lindsay’s Finest Lowrider Car Show. You’ll learn how Lowrider vehicles are judged in a contest, what does a Lowrider vehicle mean to its owner, who are the “Real Housewives of Lowriding”, and was the Bat Mobile modeled after Chevy’s 1960 Impala? Find out with a little history and aesthetics behind early 1960s Chevy Impalas on Retrenders Spotlight!
Django meets Zorro – Comic Book
June 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment
While in the midst of pre-production of The Hateful Eight film, a possible influential spin-off from The Magnificent Seven, Quentin Tarantino is also working to release a Comic book about Django and Zorro! Tarantino is co-writing the comic with Matt Wagner and edited by Reginald Hudlin.
Find out more at : comicvine/Djangomeetszorro
Tomas Overbai @ Big Wow! Comicfest 2014
June 15, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Just what does it take to become a Comic Artist? Tomas Overbai explains everything to Ramen and Half‘s host, Eddie Ballar, what got him into comic art and eventually comic story telling with his upcoming Book One of ICHIDO – a post apocalyptic science fiction fantasy comic where a threatened Empire goes to war utilizing the traditions of kung-fu fighting and futuristic advanced robot warfare. The comic is like the battles of a Shogun Empire meets Robotech! 
LINK: http://www.fallensunasylum.org/ facebook/TomasOverbai twitter/TomasOverbai
Our very own Tomb Raider @ Big Wow! Comicfest 2014
June 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
In revamping the successful Tomb Raider franchise – we got a re-boot! Just when we thought Lara Croft would move forward from her ninth adventure to another artifact finding mystery, we get to find out about her – the origins of Lara Croft. We’ve all read her back story, but where was the episodic adventures that led to the skilled, acrobatic, and duel pistol-drawing heroine – Tomb Raider?
Cosplayer and Actress – Vegas PG @ Big Wow! Comicfest 2014
June 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Meet the Power Girl from Vegas – Vegas PG! We swung by her booth and asked if she could give our Ramen and a Half crew a shout out – Mary Jane Watson style! She happily replied, “Well of course I can”.
If Vegas PG is not enjoying the comic convention strip, you can find her being as spokesperson for events and entertaining the world commercially or artfully as an actress.
Hellboy creator Mike Mignola @ Big Wow! Comicfest 2014
June 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment
I know I was just the camera operator at the scene, but after Ramen and a Half’s host Eddie Ballar interviewed Mike Mignola, I started to pick up on some very correlating personality traits between Hellboy and it’s Creator, Mike Mignola. Here, we find out what’s in store for Hellboy after it’s 20th year anniversary and if there will be another upcoming film on the comic superhero?
Los LINKS: Art of Mike Mignola facebook/MikeMignola twitter/MikeMignola
Valerie Perez as Zatanna @ Big Wow! Comicfest 2014
June 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment
For our first Cosplay-Cut, Valerie Perez portrays DC Comics Zatanna at Big Wow! Comicfest. She’s one of our favorite continuous Cosplay models who does a perfect Wonder Woman by the way. In this video she impersonates the Penguin, using her Zatanna wardrobe as a duo-character outfit for a photo shoot!
Valerie Perez: facebook/ValeriePerez
Power Rangers @ Big Wow! ComicFest 2014
May 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment
“Who hasn’t grown up with the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers – and what parent hasn’t dealt with their kids mimicking an acrobatic Power Ranger?”
At Big Wow! Comicfest – “The Eddie” interviews two of the most down to earth Power Rangers, Alison MacInnis – Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue and Steven Skyler – Power Rangers Samurai. We wanted to know what they loved best about being a Power Ranger… and of course, if they knew anything about Lionsgate‘s upcoming production of the reboot Power Rangers movie?
Johnny Moreno
Edward Ballar
GuestContributor
kellyannbrooke
Ramon Angel
Al Woo
SW biko
Retrenders 