Dr. Romanelli x Head Porter

dr romanelli x head porterAre you looking for bags to rock “Back to School?”  Yeah, it’s that time again.  Dr. Romanelli and Japan fashion accessory brand Head Porter come together for this sweet collab collection – the ARMY vs NAVY Tote Bag Collection.

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Dr. Romanelli X Coca-Cola

coke 01I have various soda branded clothes like A&W Root Beer and Fanta graphic tees and here’s a cool collaboration between Dr. Romanelli and Coca-Cola.

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S.H. Figuarts’ Sailor Moon Figure

sailor moonWith Sailor Moon celebrating it’s 20th anniversary, S.H. Figuarts known for their Power Rangers action figures, will be releasing this classic Sailor Scout – Sailor Moon action figure these next few months.  The Sailor Moon will feature various points of articulation, 3 interchangeable faces, 3 interchangeable left hands, 5 interchangeable right hands, 2 Moon sticks and her friend Luna.

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Classic 1960s TV Batman & Robin Figures

batman and robin 1960Many of you might be too young to remember the 1960s wacky colorful Batman & Robin TV series, from DC Classics line-up, these action figures pay homage to that TV series.  This awesome 2-pack of figures features  6″ Batman and Robin versions from the 1960s TV series.  This collectible is shipping out now to retailers.

MSRP:  $32.99USD

Buy it @ Entertainment Earth – Batman Classics 1966 TV Moments Action Figure 2-Pack.

 

The Big Bang Theory Mystery Minis!

big bang theory mystery minisBig Bang Theory fans will want to get their hands on these cute little 2.5″ figures from Funko’s Mystery Mini lineup.  You can buy the single blind boxes or a full box of 24 packs.  And of course, there will be various variant figures and chase figures.

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Wall-E Robot Come to Life

walleFrom the Pixar animation movie comes a life-size version of Wall-E robot.  Tested goes on the road to Mike McMaster’s garage shop to check out this R/C controlled robot.

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Sci-Fi Short Film: CONTROLLER

“Love is to be experienced, not controlled” – Ralph Ellison III

the controller 00A girl with Jean Grey (Phoenix) type powers is trapped and she uses her powers to control her boyfriend in helping her escape.

the controller 01

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This Sunday in San Francisco: Crafts, Fashion and Design for the interior home to jewelry

There’s been an interior Design, Art and Fashion for the home and crafts going on this weekend. “Think about the moment we live in and all the images from post, modern to impressionism – like the styles and periods of great paintings influencing and changing to what we call modern today.” Retrenders - Johnny Moreno -  Lauren-Geremia-ACC-roomJust as images change for the age of art, so does home interior and craft designs. If you happen to be in SF and if you’re interested in getting to feel how contemporary décor may serve you or if you’d just like to see some interesting styles, designs and crafts – there’s an event taking place this weekend that will showcase these innovative interior home designs first hand at the American Craft Council Show – a showcase of 230 of the best contemporary home décor, furniture, jewelry, and clothing artists from across the country.

It’s one of the largest craft shows in the world!

Sunday, August 4: 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. For more details click here: http://shows.craftcouncil.org/sf

Tile art from Justine Tartarsky & Clive Bridges. Take a look at their website site  www.artontile.com . This is just one of the many interesting designs and things you’ll get to see.Retrenders - Johnny Moreno - Justine Tatarsky & Clive Bridges Art on Tile

Ramen and a Half @ Jpop Summit 2013 SF

jpop summit pamyu pamyu

Jpop Summit 2013 was held in San Francisco’s Japantown and Union Square districts simultaneously on July 27-28, 2013. The Ramen crew was there to check out this thriving event. We also see Eddie hyped up for Jpop superstar singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Ramon tasting some drinks and having a frightening fun interview with “The Killer Wolf.”

Viral Video Friday: Daria The Movie

dariaWhy is this not a movie?  College Humor has been cranking out lots of funny stuff and this Doria Movie Trailer with Aubrey Plaza had me laughing hard.

College Humor.com.

ANIME EXPO 2013: Sleeping Cosplay? Batman & Spiderman duo? Mortal Come back?

Retrenders - Sleepy Thor - Batman Spiderman - Mortal Kombat - Johnny MorenoWhat’s going on here? Well, it’s early in the evening and some cosplayers are snoozing while others are trying to keep up with photographers. We lead in with cosplay model, Vampy Bit Me, who happens to be from the San Francisco Bay Area.Retrenders - Johnny Moreno - Ramen and a Half - Vampy Bit Me - Anime Expo 2013
In this segment the Ramen Crew really caught some random images, a cosplay snoozing, and of course the other 99 percent getting their photo’s taken every which way and loving it. Interestingly enough, we caught a Batman and Spiderman dynamic duo cosplaying on the ground floor. Ryan Turney tells us how he used dye sublimated lycra to create his outfit and Danny Lopez shows off his Batman cowl mask which is made by professional prop maker, Shawn Reeves. Then we get a flash back taste of Mortal Kombat!

We pretty much interviewed the obvious of course… other than eat breakfast then cosplay, eat lunch then cosplay and then catch dinner and hit the cosplay night life, but for those who come from afar or from next door to the Anime Expo convention center and perhaps maybe stayed up a wee bit too late the night before excitingly undecided in what cosplay will do …Well, we got one person to explain that!

Alodia Panel Interview CUTS: Finally we get some answers!

Alodia Gosiengfiao’s image blew up with her sleek and sexy cosplay of the Cobra Baroness at 2010’s Comic-Con in San Diego and was recently featured as FHM magazine’s Cover Girl for the July 2013 issue, but she has been cosplaying for years in her home country, the Philippines, where she’s literally the Queen of Cosplay!Retrenders - Ramen and a Half - Johnny Moreno - Cobra Baroness - FHM Alodia Gosiengfiao
The Ramen crew was really hoping to get a one-on-one interview with Alodia, especially our host, The Eddie, but under the hierarchy of certain press privileges some things just didn’t work out. So instead The Eddie and Ame Garrucho caught up with a panel interview and made the best of what they could get!
During this interactive panel discussion, find out how Alodia got her start in cosplay and why? She even mentions wanting to work with Jessica Nigri! Which makes sense, because both of these girls are at the top of their Cosplay fame and continue to be creative and entertaining in their world of ubiquitous cosplay.

GETTING THE PANEL INTERVIEW: This interview panel CUT was shot on the fly with a Canon t3i DSLR and a Sony Bloggie respectively by our on the spot camera persons, Ame Garrucho and our Host- now in our credits as camera person, Eddie Ballar. Look forward for a STRICKLY FOR FANS Panel CUT of Alodia with our camera operator Johnny Moreno. I guess the Ramen Crew and The Eddie just couldn’t get enough of Alodia and would like to share whatever we could get for the FANS.
WEIRD TECH NOTE: The Sony Bloggie is far from being sharp compared to the to the Canon t3i DSLR, but The Eddie did give us the effect of being  inside his mind like the movie “Being John Malkovich”. Obviously from asking question directly from behind the camera, and it doesn’t help that he’s closer to the bloggie mic than Alodia, who is like 20 feet away… “still entertaining and informational though.”

Attack on Titan Playset!

attack on titan toys 00Everybody’s been talking about this anime Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin) and at anime conventions I see many cosplayers dressing as characters from this anime, so I think it’s about time I start watching it once I finish watching my kdramas.  Fans of the anime can pick up this cool diorama piece by the Good Smile Company.

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Custom LEGO Transformers: Ironhide & Ratchet

transformers 00The Transformers G1 Ironhide and Ratchet were always cool toys but the transformation from car to robot mode never looked right.  Then a few years ago, iGear produced very accurate G1 Ironhide and Ratchet lookalikes from the cartoon series, but they were tad expensive for knock-offs.

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Fan Film: The Last of Us

thelastofusApparently our Ramen host “the Eddie” is correct.  “The Last of Us” is not just a video game but a film too, well, a fan film made by fans.

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Frankie’s Garage: Wekfest SF San Jose 2013

IMG_4012This past weekend, the aftermarket auto and lifestyle event Wekfest rolled into San Jose, CA. Wekfest celebrates 5 years here in the Bay, which started in the Japantown Garage in San Francisco. The Ramen crew hits up Wekfest for the tuned cars and hot import models.

Pixar Playing Cards

pixar playing cards 00College student and designer Chris Anderson is a big fan of Pixar films.  For his art project, he created a Pixar themed carry box containing two packs of playing cards.

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Beyond Rue Morgue: Further Tales of Edgar Allan Poe’s First Dectective

edgar allan poeBefore there was a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, there was Edgar Allan Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin the sleuth from Paris, France. The short story “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” appeared in Graham’s Magazine in 1841 and kicked off an influential fictional character in which he uses his brains and wit instead of guns and physical combat to solve mysteries.

Editors Paul Kane & Charles Prepolec have brought together an amazing group of award-winning authors to the table featuring new adventures of Auguste Dupin by Clive Barker, Mike Carey, Simon Clark, Joe R. Lansdale, Jonathan Maberry, Elizabeth Massie, Weston Ochse & Yvonne Navarro, Lisa Tuttle and Stephen Volk.

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AX 2013: Adventure Time & X-Men Cosplayers Collide

x-men cosplayersOur Ramen crew Ame and RJ interview more cosplayers from Anime Expo 2013.  They interview a couple of groups – The Adventure Time group: Fiona, Marceline, IceQueen and IceKing; and the X-Men:  Mystique, Jean Grey, Jubilee, Storm, Pixie, Bishop and Deadpool drops by with Starbucks coffee and Cyclops chit chats with fans.  Plus RJ sprinkles a few random interviews with anime swimmer Haruka and Darius from League of Legends.  Now that’s a jam pack Ramen episode!

Jessica Nigri : Part 3 of 3

As I’ve heard, “Third time’s the charm!” I also believe that being persistent is always key. So finally, our Host, “The Eddie” interviews Jessica Nigri!RETRENDERS - Eddie Ballar & Jessica Nigri on Ramen and a Half
The Ramen crew had their doubts, but we persevered and got to find out that Jessica is just an all around fun and down to earth person. She’s just a busy-body when it comes to working at conventions, especially when Anime Expo 2013 hit an all time high attendance rate this year!

“The Paintings of Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo in Movement”

Dances of Mexico with the collaborative artistry of Ballet!

Some purist say traditional folkloric dances shouldn’t be changed because it changes the theme of originality. That’s fine, but as time moves on, dances take on new meaning in context to moments in one’s life and this is exactly what Ensambles Ballet Folklorico de San Francisco has done for their piece, “Las Pinturas de Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo en Movimiento”, that will be showcasing this Saturday! – July 27, 2013 2PM & 8PM at the Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater in San Jose, CA.

For tickets click here www.cityboxoffice.com

I attended last year’s performance and I’m thankful that I did! I was amazed by the elaborate and vibrant colors of costumes, traditional dances and the interjected dramatic collaboration of ballet pieces into the show to tell you the story of Diego y Frida through dance.

ensambles postcard

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AX 2013: Captain Falcon & Crew!

captain falcon and crewFrom Anime Expo 2013 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, we interview 3 cosplayers – Captain Falcon, Zero Suit Samus and Fox McCloud. We also hit-up downtown LA for the Anime Expo after-party at the Exchange. The drinks were on and the bass was pumping.

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Justice League x Kia Sorento

kia justice leaguekia justice league 02Batman may drive a technological advance Batmobile, but what about his Justice League teammates?

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Pacific Rim – The Official Movie Novelization by Alex Irvine

pacific rimGundam (insert Jaegers) vs Godzilla (insert Kajijus)

It’s already July and the summer multiplexes are heating up with Hollywood blockbusters with big explosions and incredible special effects.  This is director Guillermo del Toro’s tour-de-force special effects extravaganza summer flick.

When two tectonic plates collide in the Pacific Ocean, it creates The Breach, a dimensional portal is opened where mysterious monsters known as Kajiu attack the earth.  The world unites together and put their technology and knowledge together to create gigantic robots called Jaegers.  We fast forward to the year 2020, seven years into the Kaiju war, brothers Raleigh and Yancy Becket as kids dreamed of piloting these gigantic robots and battling monsters.  Hotshot pilot Raleigh and his brother Yancy are veteran operators now with 4 Kaiju kills under their belt.  During a Kaiju mission in the Alaskan region, the battle goes awfully wrong.

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ANIME EXPO 2013 : In line to see Alodia and we meet Kirito & Asuna Cosplayers

RETRENDERS Jessica Nigri & Alodia Gosiengfiao iphoneWe get in line with Host “The Eddie” in hopes to get an exclusive interview with Alodia Gosiengfiao as Co-Host Reyson Sioson introduces us to Casey Cabuco and Kim Caboom, who bring us a real live re-enactment of cosplaying their characters “Kirito kissing Asuna“!RETRENDERS Casey Cabuco & Kim Caboom