When our team was at New York Comic-Con 2013, we passed by a neat little booth selling cool graphic tees, but we also discovered it’s more than selling nerdy t-shirts. Shirts For A Cure was started by punk-rock photographer Mark Beemer in 2002. The various shirts and accessories sold by The Shirts For A Cure Project go to fight against breast cancer. It helps underprivileged women with financial assistant in the fight against breast cancer.
Geeky Graphic Tees for a Fight against Breast Cancer
Cosplay model YAYA HAN at NYCC
Ramen and a Half’s Jonelle Marie interviews pioneering cosplayer model – Yaya Han, at New York Comic-Con.
Back then when the term “Cosplay” was unheard of – Yaya Han and very few alike, simply loved the art of creating costumes of super heroes, villains, and not to mention fantasy and science fiction characters in between. The art of what became Cosplay for them was simply how convincing, how imaginative, and how ornately detailed their costume design can be from make-up to inseam.
Yaya Han : www.yayahan.com facebook/yayahan yayahan.bigcartel
New York Comic Con 2013 Teaser!
I’m still jet lag after 3 days, our Ramen and a Half team had a great time in New York City and checking out New York Comic Con 2013 which took place this past weekend – October 10-13, 2013. Stay tuned to our Retrenders.com and our YouTube Channel for videos from NYCC 2013!
The Highlights from Japan Expo 1st Impact 2013!
The anime convention imported from France, Japan Expo (JX) landed into Santa Clara, CA on August 23-25th, 2013 and our Ramen crew recapped the highlights from the 3-day event.
For more info, go to: Japan Expo.
The Ramen Crew visits Stockton-Con 2013
The Ramen crew heads up to Stockton-Con 2013 in downtown Stockton, CA. This is the second year of Stockton-Con, the last one was held in a high school gym, now the ‘con has moved to the Stockton Arena. They guys walked around looking for comics and other neat stuff. Ramon interviews J Salvador of SuperEmoFriends. Along for the ride, is Ramen friend and comic book shop owner Juan from CFA (Comic & Figure Addicts).
Alodia Panel Interview CUTS 2 : The Mistress of Cosplay
The Ramen crew felt a bit like a paparazzi, though we haven’t exactly dodged crowds, leaped over people, or body-checked anyone aside at any convention yet! The only thing we managed to dodge are off topic questions, loud hand-clapping and voices that over powered us from hearing our subject, Alodia Gosiengfiao FHM.
In this segment we get plenty of new surfacing information about our Mistress of Cosplay.
So here’s Panel Interview CUTS 2 – raw and lightly cut – which means I did very little editing. So it’s
STRICKLY FOR THE FANS to hear first hand answers from Alodia herself :
– Her Cosplay beginnings
– What she likes about being a Cosplayer
– Her stumbled upon opportunities
– Video Game influences like Final Fantasy
– Cosplay pointers
– Her first reaction as Guest of Honor at AX 2013
– The Fan that came all the way from Germany to see her
– Costume making
– Her make up – her eyes & contact lens of choice and why?
PREVIOUS MAGAZINE STORIES FROM ANIME EXPO 2013:
Alodia Panel Interview CUTS: Finally we get some answers!
ANIME EXPO 2013: Sleeping Cosplay? Batman & Spiderman duo? Mortal Come back?
AX 2013: Adventure Time & X-Men Cosplayers Collide
AX 2013: Captain Falcon & Crew!
ANIME EXPO 2013 : In line to see Alodia and we meet Kirito & Asuna Cosplayers
ANIME EXPO 2013 Masquerade: Thomas Depetrillo’s EVA-01
Jessica Nigri : Part 1 of 3
Jessica Nigri : Part 2 of 3
Jessica Nigri : Part 3 of 3
ANIME EXPO 2013 Masquerade : Ornament Tree Wings
Hey Hey Alodia from ANIME EXPO!
Each story is not just an interview, but one of the many interesting and entertaining things that happen at Anime Conventions. They’re short, sweet and you might find yourself liking our content!
AX 2013: Captain Falcon & Crew!
Jessica Nigri : Part 2 of 3
It could be the air, it could be ANIME EXPO, or it can simply be she’s Jessica Nigri. Yes, we’ve certainly established our ground and we definitely got Jessica Nigri’s word for an interview in so many words including her friend’s word. You can see for yourself as our host “The Eddie” approaches Jessica for our interview date in this episode!
This is also a split story package, because we also introduce you to Kelsie Lahti, a local of the greater Los Angeles area in her unique Spyro the Dragon costume. She’s one of the many on the grounds of Anime Expo enjoying the art of cosplay.
Hey Hey Alodia from ANIME EXPO!
Our Ramen and a Half host “The Eddie” sings the popular song Hey Hey Alodia by Segatron from the Philippines which is dedicated to cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfiao.
I call this our one take wonder even though it wasn’t our first take, but because Alodia by coincidence came up from behind Eddie and does a surprise cameo. I just managed to keep the camera recording as Eddie kept playing. It was a wonderful moment… some may even say magical!
The people in the background are actually waiting in line for Alodia Gosiengfiao’s panel discussion at ANIME EXPO 2013
Here’s the original music video “Hey Hey Alodia” by Segatron. Click here to visit Segatron’s facebook page.
AX 2013 – Alodia! Porno Graffitti! CARAT!
This past weekend one of the biggest anime conventions here in the States – Anime Expo took place in SoCal, the LA Convention Center. Our team was ushered in and out of press conferences asking questions and taking pictures with Anime Expo’s special guests – world famous cosplayer Alodia Gosiengfiao, Jrock band Porno Graffitti and Jpop girl group CARAT.
RETRENDERS highlight trailer for Big Wow Comicfest & FanimeCon
Continue to check back with RETRENDERS for upcoming segments from Big Wow ComicFest and FanimeCon!
Ramen at FanimeCon 2013
Ramen and a Half was video recorded before a live convention audience for their podcast as they talked about what FanimeCon is all about and discussed a serious topic on how some Cosplayers can be uncomfortably handled by costume admirers and sometimes get perverse images taken of them without one’s consent – then get posted on the internet.
BitCoin or Big Wow! Comicfest?
It was hard for me to decide which convention to go to when Bitcoin the future of currency and Big Wow! Comicfest 2013 happened at the same time at the San Jose Convention Center. The nerd in me wanted to find out more about this new form of cryptocurrency called Bitcoin (BTC) created by Satoshi Nakamoto. But anyways, I’m probably boring people now, let’s get on with another episode of Ramen from Big Wow! Comicfest:
FanimeCon 2013 This Weekend!!!
Where is the Retrenders team going to be at this Memorial Day Weekend? We’ll be at FanimeCon from May 24-27 taking place at the San Jose Convention Center in San Jose, CA.
For more info, go to: fanime.com.
Punisher Fan Film by Thomas Jane
The Punisher is one of my favorite characters in the Marvel universe, and was first introduced in the pages of Spider-Man in the 1970s and afterwards having his own ongoing comic book series in 1987 with writer Mike Baron and artist Klaus Janson. Marvel green-lit 3 films for the Punisher, the first film had action star Dolph Lundgren; the second film starred actor Thomas Jane; and the third, titled Punisher: War Zone, starred Ray Stevenson. All three of the films weren’t big hits at the box office or with critics, so actor Thomas Jane wanted to make his own version of a Punisher film. It’s gritty and violent – and that’s the Punisher.
FanimeCon 2012 – Memorial Day Weekend
This Memorial Day weekend, NorCal will hold one its longest running anime conventions in the Bay Area – FanimeCon 2012:
Where: San Jose Convention Center, San Jose, CA
When: May 25-28, 2012
For more information, check out: FanimeCon.com.
See ya’ there!



















