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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
Are you tired of the boring and sappy Hallmark greeting cards? We meet-up with Tony Bui, the man behind the funny stationery items and greeting cards of Genuine Haha. Our Ramen host Ramon Angel gets a few laughs.
When I started out with comics all I cared about was the artist drawing the issue like the Jim Lee’s and Marc Silvestri’s of the world, and I could care less about the writers, inkers or colorists. But as I developed my comic book knowledge, I began to learn about writers, inkers and colorists I liked too. Our Ramen host Ramon Angel got back into comics not just because the art, but the inking by Matt Banning aka BATT on his Green Lantern runs.
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?
Over the years reading comics, you begin to find writers you like to read from, and one of them for me is Greg Rucka. I really enjoyed his Oni Press comics Whiteout and Queen & Country and Greg’s various Batman runs over at DC Comics. Our Ramen host Eddie Ballar interviews Greg Rucka at Big Wow! ComicFest.
The first time we spotted this amazing kid artist Ethan Castillo was at last year’s Big Wow! ComicFest, now he’s back for the second year in a row. Our Ramen host Eddie Ballar picks up the interview and learns what’s Ethan been up to this past year.
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.
This upcoming weekend here in the SF/Bay Area is one cool geek-fest – the Big Wow! ComicFest. The two-day convention kicks-off May 17-18, 2014 weekend at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, CA. Unlike other comic-book conventions I won’t name that have gone super Hollywood, Big Wow! remains the same as the headliner is all about comic books, the artists and writers in the industry. Many notable artists will be there like Frank Cho, Neal Adams, Mike Mignola, Greg Rucka, just to name a few.
It’s safe to say Retrenders will be at Big Wow! ComicFest! Our Ramen & A Half team Eddie Ballar and Ramon Angel will grab interviews and highlights from the event. Look for our videos on the Retrenders YouTube channel.
Here our some of our videos we did last year from Big Wow! ComicFest 2013:
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.
Are you fan of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy? If you are, Hellboy celebrates 20 years with this awesome art event in SoCal. The 20th Anniversary Art Show kicks off tonight – May 2, 2014, from 7pm-10pm @ Hero Complex Gallery (HCG) in Los Angeles, CA.
I was never a big fan of mobile games so naturally I’ve never heard of Marvel Puzzle Quest. Even though this game had been out since October 2013, it wasn’t until a week ago when I was persuaded to try the game for the first time. Here’s a fun fact about myself: I’m not a fan of Marvel Comics – I’m more of a a DC man myself. At first I didn’t want anything to do with this game; my friends then compared it to Bejeweled which didn’t help their case either, but in the end, I gave in and ended up downloading it on my phone. And lo and behold, in just a matter of minutes, I got hooked on the game. I guess the features of leveling up your characters and having hit points for each really got to the RPG fan in me. Since each of your characters have HP, and it takes seconds to restore just one hit point, this is not a game that you are going to be stuck on for hours and hours. If your character(s) get beat down at the end of the match, it may take them hours to regenerate back to full health, causing you to take a break from playing if you have no health kits to cure them – so at least you’re not going to be spending your whole day playing this game non-stop.
Are you looking for some neat geeky art for your boring work cubicle or apartment bedroom? Look no further, check out The Paper Pony Place.
If you ever feel nostalgic about past technological wonders like old video game systems, CRT tube TVs, rotary telephones and what not, and you are a LEGO builder, then check out – Chris McVeigh’s site Building Guides. I admit I am not a LEGO mad-genius builder, I’m like a Emmet who needs an instruction booklet and details before I can build anything.
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.
At the recent Sydney Brick Show (April 24-27, 2014) in Australia, LEGO announced a new release the LEGO 10244 Fairground Mixer. If you like county fairs and like to build LEGO cities, this is another wonderful LEGO addition. The Fairground Mixer will cost around $150 bucks and look for a June 2014 release date.
It seems like everybody wants in on Sanrio’s iconic Hello Kitty. Well, this is Hello Kitty’s 40th Anniversary and McDonald’s in Singapore has released a limited edition plush doll 6-piece set – Hello Kitty Bubbly World Collector’s Set.
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.
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