The Captain's Couch - Introduction

Mike Cervantes comes back from a long hiatus to....well, it's kind of hard to say. Just listen to the video and make up your own mind about it.

Copyright 2012 Augmented Reality Productions.

Blood N' Gore at Lips Lounge This Sunday

Bloody Bloody Gross N' Blood! This Sunday, July 29th at Lips Lounge, Frank N' Con will be showing an extra bloody double feature movie night. Bear witness to legendary director Peter Jackson's first two films "Bad Taste" and "Brain Dead." See the premiere of local shock flick "Vieja Te Mata" and listen to live bands  "Wrath and Gore" and "Chains of Rage." Also, we here at Augmented Reality are going to be on site selling fan art and taking donations for the "Giving First" fund to support victims of the Colorado theater shooting. It's sure to be a nught of horror, heavy metal, and heart, so come on down!

Tortuga Lounge's Monday Night Fight Club

Head on down to Tortuga Lounge, 126 Shadow Mountain, every Monday night beginning at 8 for Tortuga's Monday Night Fight Club. We've advertised this event before, but now it's official, every Monday night will feature a new tournament with weekly prize giveaways! There will be a $5 entry fee for each tournament, 21 and over only, please. Also, be sure to bring some extra quarters so you can take advantage of $3 Shock Top pints and other great drink specials!

Alicia // "Akia-chan"

Name: Alicia Bracken

Blog Nick Name: Akia Tomiyo aka Akia-chan

About the Nick Name: In middle school one of my friends was taking an introduction to various languages class. One of the languages was Japanese. She was learning the basic alphabet and wanted to write out my name but since there is no L in the Japanese alphabet she used the letters for "A" and "Ki". The Tomiyo part I really have no idea... I just remember that sounding like a cool last name.

Role: Editor-in-chief

Specialties: All things "otaku" such as manga, anime, dramas and the like.

Add Akia on the web:

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Hi interwbz, as you can see I am Akia and I'm here to bring you coverage on all things otaku while helping out the Augmented Reality crew with convention coverage, original films and anything else we can come up with. I've been blogging since early 2008 when I was part of Itadakimasu! Studios (a website dedicated to being otaku through podcasts, a webzine and original videos), then later joined up with NewTypeZone (which was being hosted on a forum with plans to eventually expand to being a webzine as well). In early 2009 I even started my own blog, Reader//Watcher[girl], which I used that format to help co-find Augmented Reality which is a mash up of my blogging/vlogging (I used to do a vlog series on YouTube called "An Akia Vlog") format with The Captain M Show. I hope you'll stick around as long as we are here to make content!

I've also staffed and volunteered at many conventions including but not limited to WinterCon, SummerCon, The El Paso Comic Con and Fellow Anime Lovers Convention. I much prefer being one of the hands that put a convention together in El Paso rather than just attending. Helping out is a lot of fun and a real magical experience. I can't say I've ever had a bad experience <3 Also being part of AugReal has defiantly gotten me into the door at a lot of convention and events.

+Favorites+

Cartoon: Adventure Time & Regular Show

Anime: My Sister Can't Be This Cute & The World God Only Knows

Manga: Elfen Lied

Drama: 1 Litre of Tears

Movie: The Girl Who Lept Through Time

Book: Uglies series

Food: (good) fried Okra

Game System: anything Sony

Game: Trauma Center, Pheonix Wright, Katawa Shoujo

[Manga of the Week] Blank Slate // Otomen (7/22-28/2012)

Image copyright goes to Aya Kanno and Hakusensha.

Normally I would only pick one manga title for this feature but due to the fact both of these titles are drawn by the same artist and are equally good I decided to feature both.So I guess this is technically a special edition of AOW buuuuuuuuuuuut I won't label it as one XD

Blank Slate

# of volumnes:2

Rating: Older Teen

Synopsis:

Zen, a man with no memory from before being found by a band of thieves on the verge of death, and no interest in his forgotten past, wanders a war-torn country while wanted by the new government for committing unspeaking acts of evil. Not because he seeks to commit acts of evil, but simply that he does whatever, wherever, whenever, and to whomever he wants, and if a few rules or law-abiding citizens happen to be in the way then he destroys them without a moments hesitation or regret. After a chance encounter with the daughter of the army’s general, and the surviving family member of a terrorist organization, he comes to suspect someone is controlling him … a prospect he cannot accept. This drives Zen to set off with the doctor who just patched him up, a physician willing to treat any patient, to rediscover his lost past and eliminate those controlling him. All for the sake of returning to his life of complete freedom.

# of volumnes:14+

Rating: Teen

Synopsis:

Smart, tall and handsome Asuka Masamune, chairman of the kendō team with accomplished judō and karate skills, is considered as "THE man of men" of Ginyuri Academy. However he has a big secret (or secrets): he excels at cooking, sewing, household chores and loves sweets, pink, shōjo manga and stuffed animals/plushies and is afraid of darkness. None of the above sounds "manly" in any way, and he tries hard to hide his hobbies in order to preserve his image, until he meets an extrovert girl named Ryō Miyakozuka who has just transferred to Ginyuri Academy.

entry by:

Absolution

The country is sad today. What should have been an exciting day for all fans of comic books and the movies based on them is now marked by the kind of weariness that can only come from the enactment of a national tragedy.

Like with the last nationally significant article I wrote, about the January 18^th internet blackout, there isn’t really much left to say about the event itself: An individual, allegedly 24 year old University of Colorado student James Holmes, entered a screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” dressed in ballistics gear and opened fire, killing 12 and leaving 59 injured. Upon being apprehended, the suspect allegedly made claim that he was inspired by the films, making the claim that he himself was in fact The Joker.

All day my personal Facebook wall has been alight with news of the shooting with friends and acquaintances all bringing attention to the tragedy, and for a while, I struggled over whether or not I too was going to have something to say about it. I committed something pretty disappointing myself the moment I heard about the crime. I got on the threads of several of my friends and I made the statement “What is wrong with people in Colorado?”  I was trying to indicate there has to be some civil unrest, or some element of the law in the state, like their current stance on gun control, (which is incidentally, stricter than it is in our home state of Texas) that was to blame for this tragedy.

The response to my comments however, were negative, and rightfully so. I respectfully agree with every response given to a statement like that, but the strange thing about it is, I agreed with all the statements made against me. Of course, this is an isolated incident, and the actions of a whole state cannot be blamed. I know that stereotyping a group doesn’t work to create a solution. I realize that raising flags like gun control won’t undo what’s already been done. I forgot that for a moment, though. I, like a lot of people are mentally working to make sense of the whole unfortunate circumstance.

So, after spending the entire morning lowering my personal reputation on Facebook, I remembered a similar incident earlier in my life: 9/11 happened when I was in my first semester of Community College, and while I was drawing a still life in one of our classes, another instructor I didn’t know, took our class aside and told us all to design posters expressing our feelings about the tragedy. Now, since I was just barely beginning art class, I didn’t think I had the skill or ability to make a real statement. Her only response was “Sometimes you have to stop being a student, and start being an artist."

I drew what turned out to be a graphite bleeding heart filled with fissures like a fault line with the planet Earth as its left ventricle on a piece of oddly torn butcher paper. It seemed corny to me then…It still does to me now, but nonetheless I learned a lesson: when something that happens that effects us all, we should all try to do what we can to make things better, even if it’s something as insignificant as giving away a day of art class.

So that’s why I finally made up my mind to write this, but more important than my decision is the message I want to send everyone:

Speculation, comments, discussions and debates on Facebook serve their own purpose, but when a tragedy like this happens it should make everyone want to get up and make everyone create something.

It doesn’t matter if it’s private or public, small or big…It just has to make a statement. Some artists are already doing this by creating fan-art and symbols like the Bat-Ribbon logo that have been appearing on Facebook. But there should be more. If you’re a cosplayer, a photographer, a gamer, a videographer, or a musician…If you make 3D models or plush dolls or even internet memes, you should put your feelings about the event in whatever form best suits you. If you can raise money for charity with what you do, by all means do so, but it’s not a requirement.

Some people are debating whether it’s appropriate that images of Batman should appear in these works: I say absolutely. After all, Batman is the ultimate symbol against the senseless and wanton perpetration of criminal acts like this. If this individual considers himself to be the Joker, then everyone who considers this to be wrong is, by all means, Batman.

What’s more important than the content of any of these works, however, is the message it sends: we do not approve of these sorts of actions. We do not want our community and our way of life beaten down by the act of one misguided individual who was inspired to commit murder and atrocity in a realm where we usually are inspired to uphold justice and what is right.

Just remember this quote from Batman: Absolution. “We impose meaning on the chaos of our lives. We create form, morality, order. It's a choice we have to make every second of every minute of every day.”

Are You Going to EPCON? (EPCON 2012 Promo)

Ruben Rascon and John Browning of Augmented Reality interviews Wesley Kravitz, Julian Lawler, and many members of the public at the exhibition of the Bat Tumbler at Wal-Mart. Warner Bros. Pictures presents the Bat Tumbler from "The Dark Knight" returns (c) 2012 Warner Bros.