We pick interesting products and trends for you!
Just hitting the retail shelves is a collaboration between Medicom and Takara. The popular toy brick bears meets the transformerable robots in this neat merchandising product line. The 4 figures: Optimus Prime, Megatron, Starscream and Bumblebee figures can transform into their BE@RBRICK form or G1-style robot form. Now that is cool, so just take my wallet and credit cards now!
If you’re an experienced ‘con-goer then you know it’s a mad blitz of fun all day all night. Like at Fanime – you never sleep! Our Ramen & a Half crew roamed around the late evening around the convention floor and our cosplaying host Jonelle spotted these 3 interesting cosplayers. Meet cosplayers Ashley Fee, Christine Deatrick and Jessie Blaufus as they get inventive with their cosplay outfits. These custom French Maid-inspired costumes are from the hit anime Neon Genesis Evangelion.
The “Underworld” of trench coats and Tommy guns meets the “Otherworld” of magic and the supernatural. This is 1930s Chicago, where the mobsters run the town and Mick Oberon ain’t no ordinary dick, this P.I. got special powers. Instead of a revolver to pump hot lead, he uses a magic wand, really, I’m not joking. His wand of choice is the Luchtaine & Goodfellow Model 1592. Worlds collide in Hot Lead, Cold Iron by author Ari Marmell.
Celebrate food and music in this happy and trippy music video. By the musician/teacher DJ Overeasy. He records the sights and sounds of San Francisco’s Mission District and mixes it up to give us “Mission Foodiez”.
This past weekend Kidrobot released The Art of War dunny series. The toy design theme for each of the 14 artists involved was to design a dunny figure based on Sun Tzu’s warmongering strategy novel – The Art of War. Our Ramen & a Half hosts of Eddie Ballar and Ramon Angel stopped by Kidrobot SF for the artist signing and release event with Frank Kozik, DrilOne and Huck Gee. We grab a quick interview with each about their dunny figure in the series and their upcoming projects. We also go unboxing a case with fellow dunny collector/artist Big C.
I remember being blown away when I first read the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic books by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Well, the turtles are back in a big way this summer with a new re-boot flick coming out in August 2014. To hold you over until the movie comes out, check out the new TMNT x Kidrobot line!
Our special guest host Anett Mende takes on the biggest modern home/office living event Dwell on Design LA 2014. The 3-day design showcased over 2,000 products and our Spotlight crew highlight products that caught our attention.
A look on UK-side of the pond, a clean StanceNation JDM-styled Honda Civic Type R EK9 hatch-back. Car Throttle interviews Ben Parker about his hot hatch ride.
We find more cosplayers at FanimeCon 2014. Ramen & a Half host Jonelle spots a cool One Piece cosplayer. All the way from Reno, Charmie Sweets is cosplaying Nico Robin from the anime/manga One Piece.
All we get now in the multiplexes and the TV screens are superheroes, zombies and vampires! Hey, Hollywood, about some good old-fashion cowboy flicks? That Johnny Depp “Lone Ranger” fail of a film did not count! How about dropping some John Woo/Tarantino-style old west cowboy stories? I can envision a pair of Colt .45’s blasting in slo-mo during a stage coach robbery scene. Enough with the World War II movies, but I digress. If you want your fill of the old wild west with a mix of weird and the wonderful, try “Dead Man’s Hand” an anthology of short stories collected and edited by John Joseph Adams.
Why do you need to go to Universal Orlando? Do I have to ask why? If you are a true Harry Potter fan then a point of destination is the land of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando. The buildings, all the details, it just looks and feels you’re in that world. Amazing. Check out this video walkthrough of Diagon Alley by Inside the Magic!
Here’s more videos from FanimeCon 2014! Interview with Hayashi from Akai Sky an indie-American Jrock band.
Look fly with this NEW ERA’s Artist Series collab with musician/actor Kid Cudi. It features a couple of cool looking snapback hats and urban-style backpack. Check this video as Kid Cudi explains his vision and thoughts about his NEW ERA Artist Series Collection.
Built for the Sony’s iconic driving-game franchise Gran Turismo, this a sneak tease of the Nissan Concept 2020 VISION. Is this next generation Nissan GT-R?
Summer is beach parties, barbecuing meats of all kinds and ice-cold beer. Keeping the beer cold is the key, and this portable beer cooler is the answer – The JamCooler.
This week is Dwell on Design LA at the LA Convention Center in downtown Los Angeles. The home living/modern design hipster chic event will take place from June 20-22, 2014. Our Retrenders Spotlight will be back in action to cover the 3-day event and bring all the cool stuff from Dwell on Design LA.
FanimeCon 2014 had their own mini-Street Fighter Tournament over at Stage Zero. Ramen & a Half host Eddie Ballar grab Julio Fuentes aka MMG Julio for a quick interview on plans and prepartion for EVO Championship Series in Las Vegas, July 2014.
Our Ramen & a Half host Eddie Ballar does a mini jam session with the talented Anton Bex. We sit down and talk about his latest project, the fan film Dragon Ball Z: Light of Hope. Anton plays “Future Gohan” in this YouTube web series.
At FanimeCon’s Artist Alley we find artist Ben Costa with 2 published comics already. His Xeric Award Winning Web Comic follows Pang, a Shaolin Monk in 17th Century China.
If you ever wondered how Pokemon animals would look like in real life? Well, artist RJ Palmer draws many of the Pokemon animals in a real-world realistic way. A mix of art, imagination and paleontology by artist RJ Palmer.
Our host Ramon Angel interviews RJ Palmer at FanimeCon 2014.
You can follow RJ’s work at: arvalis.deviantart.com
On this side of the pond, usually what comes to mind when you think Ford racing cars? The American pony, the Ford Mustang. There is a different story in the UK and Europe, where they love smaller cars and rally performing hot hatches. XCar Films gives us a little 4-1-1 on two iconic Fast Fords, in the ’80s the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth and in the ’90s the Ford Escort Cosworth.
Ramen & a Half host Jonelle interviews her favorite cosplayer idol Yaya Han at FanimeCon 2014. Yaya kind of admitted that this might be her last appearance at FanimeCon. She also talks to Jonelle about Heroes of Cosplay tv show and cosplaying in general.
The sizzling pulp novel “Borderline” by prolific American crime author Lawrence Block sees the printed pages once again after 50 years of being out of print. Four lives intersect on the border towns of El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico.
Marty is a smart professional gambler always looking for a good card game in Juarez. After a couple of years spent in a failed marriage, Meg is looking for some fun and action. The beautiful blonde Lily is looking to make money and get out of the border towns. The insane killer running from the law, Weaver is looking for his next bloody victim. These 4 characters ultimately cross each others’ lives in “Borderline.” The book also includes 3 Lawrence Block short stories: 1) The Burning Fury (1959); 2) A Fire At Night (1958); and 3) Stag Party Girl (1963).
I look at my cousins now who grew up in the 2000s, I know that technology has spoiled them from the sleek smartphones, the sexy iPads, the 4G speed, and the big-screen LCDs. I grew up without the internet and like many kids went out to the playground or played baseball with my brother. But the most enjoyable memories was waiting to get our hands on the Sunday newspaper with my siblings. Of course, we would dig through all the cool Toys R Us ads, the Sports Section, but also the Sunday comics section. One section was just dedicated to cartoon strips like Peanuts, Garfield, Doonesbury, Hagar, Beetle Bailey, and others. Out of all the comic strips we liked was Calvin & Hobbes. I used to cut out the strip from the newspaper and collect it into a photo album, until they published trade paperbacks of Calvin & Hobbes. Every time my family was at the mall, I would directly head to the bookstore like Barnes & Noble and make my mom buy me a Calvin & Hobbes trade paperback.
If you read lots of science-fiction books from authors like Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Ben Nova, Orson Scott Card and John Scalzi, there is usually a beautifully painted cover book art of the galaxy, outer space world or spaceship and that artist is John Harris. The Art of John Harris: Beyond The Horizon is a collection of his many works since the 1970s.
Edward Ballar
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Ramon Angel
Al Woo
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