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Another documentary that is on my watch list and is now hitting the film festival circuit is “The Search for General Tso” by filmmaker Ian Cheney. If you been to any Chinese restaurant in America you will find some-type of “General Tso” chicken dish. This dish is unheard in native China, a typical Chinese-American dish like Egg Rolls and Beef & Broccoli. This documentary tries to find the origins and effects of “General Tso” chicken.
This story of a young boy and a dog separated in a zombie apocalypse will leave some tears at the end of this animated short. “Steadfast Stanley” is animated by CalArts film student John Cody Kim.
If you didn’t catch Zoo Station – The Complete U2 Experience at this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in downtown San Francisco, I advise you to catch them at their next up-coming venue in Walnut Creek. I had the opportunity to catch this band play several times and have never been let down by how energetically and sound-fully they impersonate and simulate the real thing (U2). The band’s vocalist even calls himself Bonalmost (Bon-Almost), as if not quite, but pretty damn close to the real Bono.
Bass guitarist – Scott Schulman / Lead singer – Joshua Fryvecind / Drummer – Skott Bennett / Lead guitarist – Mike Horne
For more information about their up-coming performances click here: http://www.zoostationsf.com/gigs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zoostationsf
The likes of Kenner, Hasbro and various third party companies have made action figures, plush dolls and other Star Wars-related merchandise, now the Disney Store will take its turn with their own new exclusive line of action figures, plush toys, mugs, PVC figurines and die-cast vehicles.
When the James Cameron’s ALIENS flick hit the theaters in 1986, it blew me away and it made go back to take a look at the first ALIEN (1979) film by director Ridley Scott. Now, if you don’t have the DVD or Blu-ray handy, or cannot find it streaming somewhere, then how about you go old-school and check out the official novelization of ALEIN with author Alan Dean Foster based on the screenplay by Dan O’Bannon.
Pop singer Avril Lavigne gets in on the Hello Kitty celebration.
A couple of weeks ago a full-size AV-98 Ingram mecha from the live-action series Patlabor created a buzz in the crowd and caused a ruckus of a traffic jam.
DC Entertainment celebrates Batman’s 75th anniversary this year and has kick the party off with various animated shorts. This Batman Beyond animated short is by artist/writer Darwyn Cooke.
Iconic hip/hop rapper and leader of the G-funk movement Snoop Dogg is now “Dunnified” with this Kidrobot 7″ vinyl figure. Our Ramen host “The Eddie” takes an in-depth look at this Snoop Dogg figure.
Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight with Sony Pictures is kicking off a super 30th anniversary celebration of the 1984 Ghostbusters film that starred Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and late Harold Ramis. The famous pop-culture art hangout Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight will do a 4-city traveling art show exhibiting original artwork, prints and apparel.
Marvel today released more detail images from their Marvel Legends: Guardians of the Galaxy movie line-up. These detailed and well-articulated 6″ action figures features 6 figures: Star-Lord, Gamora, Drax the Destroyer, Rocket, Nomad and Iron Man. Collect all 6 figures to build the Groot action figure.
The documentary is “Europe In 8 Bits” takes a look at “chip” music and how it’s growing in Europe. Many musicians are looking back to old school videogame hardware like NES, Amiga, Commodore 64, Sega Master System, etc and using them to create new sounds. What catches the eye is the animated 8-bit opening to the documentary. Here’s a look:
Director Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Black Swan, The Fountain) is known for making movie controversy and he does it again with his 2014 movie film Noah taken from the Bible. Titan Books releases two novels based on the movie, the official novelization by Mark Morris and a YA (Young Adult) book titled Noah: Ila’s Story by Susan Korman based on the screenplay by Darren Aronofsky and Ari Handel.
The world has turned more dark and sinister, and Noah has a vision from the Creator that a great flood will come to wipe out the world. He must build an ark to save his family and all the animals. In the mist of all this, warlord leader Tubal-cain who killed Noah’s father Lamech comes back years later to try to take over Noah’s Ark with his army of soldiers. The official novel by Mark Morris follows Noah’s journey like the PG-13 movie.
A double dose of Viral Video Friday, here’s a parody song by Sydney Amber with Harley Quinn singing “Do You Wanna Kill The Batman?” Taken from the hit animated Disney film “Frozen”, the song “Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?” And if you haven’t seen “Frozen,” then jump on the bandwagon and grab the Blu-ray!
For more info, go to: Sydney Amber.
I blogged/tweeted/Facebooked or something like that when this video clip came out. Actor Hugh Jackman appeared on BBC Radio 1’s The Matt Edmondson Show and performed a mixmash musical of Les Miserables “Who Am I” to Wolverine/X-men lyrics. I’m watching this again and again. It’s really funny and well done.
“The Eddie” from Ramen and a Half interviews Rookies is Punk’d at Fanimecon. ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D is a Japanese punk rock band from Shibuya, Japan, that was formed in 2005.
They’re very well known in their home country and have spread a niche of fans in cities of Asia countries and in the US. They’re hoping to go places and share what they have to offer to the music world.
This was an interview done last year. We apologize for the rough interview package because we had audio issues, but we decided to pull it out of the vault and put it together as best we can for the fans.
The majority of their Official Website ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D is in Japanese, but you can google them and find plenty of information.
They will also be at AnimeNEXT in June 6-8th, 2014. You can still Pre-Register.
A slice of life video by Brandon Li. Brandon spent a few days in Dubai’s shipyards and started filming away. The video was shot on a Sony RX100MK II Cyber-Shot.
A long time ago, I remember watching Pixar’s Toy Story in the theater and I was blown away by the CG animation and storytelling. Over the years, many animation houses were looking to do the same and one is Blue Sky Studios (Epic, Ice Age). The CG animated film Rio was a 2011 hit and surpassed the $400 million mark in box-office receipts, so obviously there is a sequel with Rio 2 arriving into US multiplexes on April 11, 2014. Along the way, Titan Books has just released: The Art of Rio – Featuring a Carnival of Art from Rio and Rio 2.
Cadbury maybe known for their Easter-time chocolate eggs, but this Cadbury ad will make you dance and buy some Cadbury chocolate snacks.
A tribute to HBO’s Games of Thrones, animation students at Atelier de Sevres do a great job with an animated credit opening. A big thumbs to Mathilde Loubes, Jory Bertrand, Alison Dulou and Ramin Djawadi.
For more info, go to: Vimeo – Games of Thrones Opening.
I remember sitting in the multiplexes eagerly waiting to watch 300 and by the end of the movie I was blown away and it made me cry out: “Spartans!” Well, now its 2014 and a sequel of sorts will be coming out to the movie theaters – 300: Rise of an Empire. Titan Books has released of a companion book to the movie with 300: Rise of an Empire – The Art of the Film. This 160 page beautifully over-sized hardbound art book will have everything you want from the 300: Rise of an Empire film.
As 80s kids, my brother and me were blown away when we first watched James Cameron’s epic ALIENS (1986) and then we had to grab a VHS copy of Ridley Scott’s ALIEN (1979) to fill in the blanks, because Sigourney Weaver played the iconic scientist hero Ellen Ripley who was such a bad-ass. In our minds Aliens 3, Alien Resurrection and Aliens vs Predator never happened, just like Brett Ratners’ X-Men 3. My head hurts just thinking about this, but I digress. After watching the first two films, you wondered if anything happened to Ellen Ripley during her 57 years of sleep? This “official novel” enlightens ALIEN fans on what happened to Ripley from the end of the first ALIEN film and the start of the second ALIENS film.
I love classic Folk Guitar music, but there’s nothing better when it’s mixed with original creative pop riffs, smooth vocals and an entertaining way to play. I should have blogged this video awhile back when I was personally surfing for the latest Folk jams and stumbled across-ed it. Here’s Shakey Graves performing at the SXSW Utopia Session with his song Dusty Lion.
LEGO presents their Star Wars Microfighters line-up with this Microfighters Animation. I want them all!
One of the most looked forward to Indie Game for 2014 is The Witness, created by Jonathan Blow, who also created the popular game, Braid, a game based on the simplicity, the innocence and the motivation of an teen-adult life in the magical realm of forces and struggles. Hence, life isn’t simple, but it’s attainable when you search and struggle for it. Jonathan rendered the nature of life in Braid , but what to expect from The Witness and what will it’s theme really mean overall – we hope to find out soon from players, reviewers and the creator himself. Here’s a snippet interview from Game Life WIRED
Click here for the list of most looked forward Indie Games for 2014
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