We pick interesting products and trends for you!
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!
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
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?
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.
Here’s the first trailer for the much anticipated anime Sailor Moon Crystal. Look for July 2014 release in Japan. The trailer maybe only in Japanese, but I’m already very excited.
Dragons, like vampires, werewolves and zombies are all the rage in movies, TV shows, books, comics and video games these days. Besides the dragons in HBO’s Games of Thrones, Dreamworks animated How to Train Your Dragon (2010) is also very popular. I was pleasantly surprised how good the first one was and now I’m just excited for the sequel – How to Train Your Dragon 2 being released on June 13, 2014. Titan Comics will be releasing graphic novels of all-new adventures based on the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
While everybody is awaiting for the release of the LEGO Ghostbuster toy this month, here’s a custom LEGO build of Stay Puft marshmallow rampaging through New York streets. This city-street probably took months of planning and thousands of LEGO bricks.
Our Ramen & a Half crew of Eddie Ballar, Ramon Angel and Jonelle recap the NorCal anime extravaganza that is FanimeCon! No long lines this year, now that’s a big plus! The team reviews their adventure and we throw in some cosplay highlights as well.
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
This trailer – The Book of Life caught my eye, and I will likely buy a movie ticket after watching this. FOX/Reel FX along with Guillermo del Toro and Jorge Gutierrez bring the Mexican holiday Day of the Dead to animation.
Since the release of the 2 Guardians of the Galaxy movie trailers, I’ve been actually quite excited for the upcoming movie. You could say I’m a big Marvel fangirl, every month I have a stack of Marvel trades and comics sitting on my desk, but I wasn’t a fan of Guardians, until maybe now. And with LEGO putting out their Marvel Super Heroes product line, now they are releasing LEGO Guardians of the Galaxy toys.
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
One of the most popular Marvel cartoons was X-Men: Evolution which lasted 4 seasons (52 episodes) on Kids’ WB from 2000-2003. Our Ramen host Eddie Ballar interviews well-known artist Steven E. Gordon who was the Character Designer of Evolution. The show that gave birth to X-23, Steven talks about his role and what it was like working on X-Men: Evolution.
The iconic Japanese monster Godzilla created by the Toho Company is back with a vengeance (let’s forget that Roland Emmerich directed Godzilla film in 1998!). The new flick by Warner Bros and Legendary Pictures looks to bring back the classsic Godzilla with an all-star cast starring Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Elizabeth Olsen and Juliette Binoche. Titan Books sent me the “official” novelization of Godzilla a few weeks back and I’m now able to have time to read the book by author Greg Cox.
I’m kinda of still recovering from the 4-day anime extravaganza in NorCal – FanimeCon 2014. In the coming weeks ahead, our Ramen & a Half team of Eddie, Ramon and Jonelle will bring us video highlights, recaps, interviews and everything in between from FanimeCon. Look for it on our website here on Retrenders and our Retrenders YouTube Channel.
“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?
We get the 411 for Young Avengers artist Jim Cheung at Big Wow! ComicFest 2014. Jim talks about his upcoming Marvel projects and of course his Young Avengers work.
We interview comic book artist Nick Bradshaw this past weekend at Big Wow! ComicFest. Nick talks about working on the Guardians of the Galaxy, the new team line-up and of course the upcoming live-action Guardians flick.
Weren’t we just at Big Wow! Comicfest this past weekend? Our Retrenders team and Ramen & a Half show will be at this weekend’s anime fun-fest FanimeCon 2014 taking place at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, CA. All things anime and Jpop-culture will be on hand at NorCal’s biggest anime convention FanimeCon.
This past weekend at the San Jose Convention Center, Big Wow! ComicFest took place for comic book fans and cosplayers. The Ramen & a Half team of Eddie and Ramon recall their highlights of this 2-day comic book festival.
Beyond the Brick: A LEGO Brickumentary made it’s debut at the Tribeca Film Festival this past month and I look forward to watching this on the film festival circuit. The documentary is not just about “Adult Fans of LEGO (AFOLs)”, but about LEGO company itself, the kids and fans of bricks.
I’m still recovering from this past weekend’s Big Wow! ComicFest convention at the San Jose Convention Center. The Ramen and a Half guys went hunting for autographs, but also grab interviews with artists, cosplayers and fans.
Grant Gustin all suited up but not too flattering they say? I honestly love the suit. It’s retro, real and I’m sure the show has nothing to worry about. If you ask me, the suit makes for a gritty look. The only thing I would worry about for a new television superhero series is how well they will tell the storyline about the Flash and his episodic adventures. Oh, and how well the special effects will be when they come into play.
Click HERE for the rest of the review on Screencrush.com
SWEDE FEST will be held in Fresno, California, this Saturday, May 17th at the Tower Theatre. The venue was launched in 2008 by Roque Rodriquez and Bryan Harley and is now held in three locations, Fresno, Tampa Bay, and Palm Beach.
The idea to re-make a Hollywood hit film with video production essentials (literally just with a camcorder) and a great deal of far-fetched imagination came from Michel Gondry’s 2008 comedic hit movie, Be Kind Rewind, starring Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover and Melonie Diaz.
Now if you haven’t seen the film that sparked this craze – this is just a partial spoiler. The owner of a video store (Danny Glover) reluctantly has to take a business trip, leaving the video store in the hands of his less-in-reliable employee played by Mos Def, who promises nothing will happen while he’s gone. In short, an accident erases every video tape in the store which obviously becomes problematic for business, so Mos Def’s character along with his friends played by Jack Black and Melonie Diaz, creatively find a way to re-film the movies for their customers- and calling them SWEDED!
Popular SWEDED scenes in Be Kind Rewind were the remake of Hollywood hits: Robocop, Men in Black, Ghostbusters and The Lion King.
Click SWEDE FEST for more information about this upcoming event.
Okay, I’m sucker for 1980s films or flicks that take place in the 1980s and I can’t wait to see this movie – “Ping Pong Summer.” The year is 1985 and 13-year-old Rad Miracle is on summer vacation with his family and finds a ping pong mentor in Susan Sarandon’s character.
And I’m a sucker for any-type of ping pong movie!
Release Date: June 6, 2014.
For more info, go to: Facebook – Ping Pong Summer.
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