Thursday, July 26, 2012
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
Monday, July 23, 2012
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!
Saturday, July 21, 2012
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:
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:
Friday, July 20, 2012
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 18th 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.”
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
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.
EPCON 2012 Coming Attractions
Augmented Reality presents a selection of clips from the various actors and actresses who will be attending EPCON 2012.
All film and audio clips are copyright their respective owners.
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Project Enzuigiri - S01E02 - Austin Aires vs. Tito Santana
Join Maverick, Maximus and El Uno, as they debate on Austin Aries against Tito Stantana. Who will win?
Visit us on our channel at: http://www.youtube.com/projectenzuigiri and subscribe!
(c) 2012, Augmented Reality Online Magazine, all rights reserved.
[Anime of the Week] 5cm Per Second (7/15-21/2012)
Image copyright goes out to CoMix Wave Inc
Being a fan of Japanese animation, it was almost impossible for me not to notice the work of Makoto Shinkai who's first full length animation project was done %100 on his own about a cat. All of his work has this particular "feel" to them- bright pastel colors play a big role in his film as do emotional stories of love and moving on. Now, for those who know of this director you may be asking why I am not featuring his most recent film Children Who Chase Lost Voices but instead I am featuring 5cm Per Second. My answer is simple- Children Who Chase Lost Voices does not feel like a Shinkai film to me but more of a Ghibli film =/ I wanted to feature a Shinkai film and so happen to have stumbled across the manga version of 5cm Per Second at my local Barnes and Noble the other day.
# of "parts": 3
Type: original
Rating:Teen
Synopsis:The Story is set in Japan beginning from the 1990s and ending in modern day, with each segment centered on a boy named Takaki Tōno.
It is important to note that the first episode takes place during a
time period when cell phones are uncommon and email has not yet reached
the general populace.Rating:Teen
Monday, July 16, 2012
The Magical Black Wing @ Summercon 2012
What's up my milleniums?! Blackwinged Magician is here with my first con coverage vid! Check it out!
Sunday, July 15, 2012
The Super Test Tube Bros. - Summercon 2012
The Super Test Tube Bros., El Paso's new stars of convention coverage, bring us a great series of videos from Summercon 2012. Here is an interview with the El Paso Ghostbusters, followed by an interview with One More Level retro gaming store.
El Paso Ghostbusters:
One More Level:
El Paso Ghostbusters:
One More Level:
Yu-Gi-Oh The Blood of Razel, Behind the Scenes/Interview with Michel Solseth
The premiere of Yu-Gi-Oh: The Blood of Razel at this year's Summercon 2012 was a huge success! We here at Augmented Reality are gearing up for the upcoming internet release of the film. In the meantime, though, here are two videos illustrating the behind the scenes happenings of this film. First up is a collection of behind the scenes footage followed by an interview with Co-Director Michael Solseth.
Behind the Scenes #1
Interview with Michael Solseth
Behind the Scenes #1
Interview with Michael Solseth
Friday, July 13, 2012
Supah Hero Time! Bring out the Otaku Rangers!
What's up my milleniums! Blackwinged
Magician is back from a short hiatus! I just premiered Yu-Gi-Oh! The Blood of Razel yesterday. I would like to extend
my thanks a hundred times over to everyone here at Augmented Reality
who've made these past six months a blast! I'd also like to thank SummerCon and anyone who came to the panel!
Ok now that that's out of the way,
welcome to another segment of-
From now on this will be a weekly
segment and I'll be reviewing tokusatsu shows (namely Kamen Rider and
Super Sentai) every week! Kinda like Akia-chan's Manga of the Week,
Anime of the Week, etc. And today I'm gonna take a look at Hikonin
Sentai Akibaranger!
Ok So I gave you guys a brief look at
Akibaranger a while back, so today, I'm gonna go more in depth with
the show.
Now the show unfortunately lasted 13
episodes (the 13th being more of a clip show) but DAMN
what 13 episodes those were! This series had as much character
development, as much twists, and definitely as much story as a normal
Sentai which runs for about 50 episodes! And you'd think you'd feel
overwhelmed with a lot of stuff going on, but the beauty of
Akibaranger is that you don't feel overwhelmed. The series flows nice
and easy. It's prefect from start to finish and every episode had
something to offer. As a matter of fact, none of the episodes just
felt like fillers to me.
Now I'll go a little more in depth of
the story. The first episode introduces the town of Akibahara (a true
town in Japan) which is considered “otaku central”.
We meet Akagi, a 29 year old man
obsessed with Sentai, Aoi-tan(an anime within the show itself) and a
woman named Sayaka which he occasionally delivers packages to.
He constantly finds himself having
delusions and this catches the attention of Hakase who has just
enlisted Aoyagi, a martial arts student who is a closet otaku. She
enlists Akagi to be an Akibaranger, while Akagi thinks he is merely
being enlisted for an actual Sentai show.
Next they enlist Yumeria and the team
is formed!
They are then taken to the Super Sentai
Cafe, which serves as their base and all around awesome hang out
spot!
Hakase and her assistant Kozkoz give
the team their changers, the MMZ-01, or the Moe Moe Z-cunes and the
team transforms for the first time!
The episode ends with the team meeting
Malshina, having their first battle with a pretty lame anti-climax,
and the team being told that the entire battle was just a delusion of
theirs.
The rest of the show is just a
hilarious, action-packed, perv-fest, with twists that could make your
head spin. The show is beyond well and cleverly written. They say
there MIGHT be a chance for a second season, and I think I speak for
the countless fans when I say... TOEI IF YOU DON'T MAKE A SECOND
SEASON I WILL TAKE YOUR (bleep) AND RUN IT THROUGH A WOOD CHIPPER!
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
The Future of Augmented Reality
This past June 23, we at Augmented
Reality had out first year anniversary. I say “had” instead of “celebrated”
because we had no particular party, private or public, and we didn’t make any
special videos or articles made in order to commemorate the event. In fact, we
haven’t posted many articles at all lately, and for that I have nothing to say
other than we’re sorry.
A lot has happened in the personal lives of my contributors
and I the past few months. Some of them are minor, some of them are major, and
some of them had more impact on us than they really should have. One of those
types of changes occurred around February, during my last semester of college
at UTEP, when my friend and fellow contributor Alicia left her apartment to
move into the spare room of my house. A good amount of my personal time has
been spent adjusting to the changes that can only come from sharing a home with
someone. Naturally, the fact that I was working on graduating from university
added to my work load, but one thing that was most impactful for me was the
fact I’d lost my job as a file clerk at a local grade school; a job that I’d
held on to for four years.
A lot of time that would have gone into the blog has been
put into the adjustments that we’ve had to make. Alicia and I are both the main
editors of this blog and in the past few months we’ve both had to put aside our
responsibilities a lot in order to…make life happen. In addition to that we’ve taken
on a new contributor, John Browning, the “BlackWing Magician,” and we’ve been
hard at work producing his directorial project “Yu Gi Oh: The Blood of Raizel.”
The production of the film has been an emotional mixed bag for all involved.
There have been good times and trying times on set for both the crew and any
members of the cast we’ve brought in from El
Paso’s numerous other organizations.
Thankfully, the film is as of now complete life is slowing
down, and everyone in the AugReal crew are optimistic about one another and
their ability to continue forward working as a team. As for me, well, I’ve
graduated UTEP with my Creative Writing and Communication degree, and while I’m
still between jobs I’ve made a significant amount of income doing some freelance
online communications work.
When I think about the future of the blog, however, all I
can think about is how much more we can all accomplish. I want Augmented
Reality to do its best to provide the latest information on all of El Paso’s great events, conventions
and local business. I want Augmented Reality to produce unique and original
content for the web, and I want Augmented Reality to be the go-to place for all
the greatest information related to fandom this great city of El Paso can offer. In order to do that, I
have to be the person who is willing to change. The past few weeks I’ve been
figuring out to do that, and I’ve busied myself with making apologies,
negotiating new deals with some associates, and planning a feature for the blog
that, well…I don’t want to spoil the surprise.
So, for all of you that are looking forward to some sort of
affirmation from Augmented Reality on its first anniversary, here it is: the
next few months re going to be filled with all new material, brand new content,
and brilliant new ideas that are going to be like nothing we’ve ever produced
before. We are already hard at work on some unique and original ideas, and with
the addition of new member John Browning’s directorial skills, we will be
bringing out some great original content. We’re still very closely associated
with many local conventions, shops, and event-makers in the city, and we’ll
continue to provide a unique look at all the truly unique and interesting events
that El Paso
has to offer.
Here’s to the future of Augmented Reality.
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Marginal Gaming - Women Written Wrong
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)