Please Take My 2012 Reader Survey
I want to make my blog and book more relevant to your needs and interests. To do that, I need to know more about YOU. As a result, I have created my 2012 Reader Survey.
Can you take 1 minute to fill out the survey? By doing so you’re ultimately helping yourself, because you will be helping me make my posts and content even more interesting and relevant to you.
Is there a topic you’d like to know more about? Anything about Goku, Dragon Ball or East Asian culture you’d love to explore deeper? How do you think I can make the site better? Now is your chance to be heard.
Your input is important to me and the survey is easy to fill out. Only 10 simple questions that will take less than 1 minute. The results are completely anonymous.
To say thank you, if you take the survey and then leave a comment or share this link on Facebook or Twitter and let me know about it (@derekpadula), I will pick 7 people at random to receive a FREE copy of my ebook, “Over 9,000 Explained!” A $1.99 value.
Thanks in advance for your help.
UPDATE – FEB 11, 2012: I’m still looking for more survey entries! If you want to win the Over 9,000 ebook, please take the survey and leave your name in the comments or tweet me! Do so before the deadline, Feb 28, 2012. Thank you!!
Dragon Ball Book Review – Akira Toriyama – The Master of Manga
Akira Toriyama – The Master of Manga provides an easy to read summary of Toriyama’s life, career and success in Japan. It’s succinctly edited and well designed. While it doesn’t bring much new content to the table, it is the first book to be written about Akira Toriyama and does a good job at what it set out to do; chronologically revealing the life and career of Akira Toriyama.
Even after more than 30 years in the industry, and after creating the #1 selling shonen manga series of all time (at 300 million copies), there was until now no book about Akira Toriyama, one of the most influential manga authors in the world.
Written in French by author Olivier Richard, it’s clear that Richard gives respect to Toriyama and other shonen works, and that he understands the genre.
From the foreword, “In fact, as a best seller of the highest caliber, Dragon Ball falls into the same category as Star Wars, the cultural phenomenon. Like George Lucas’ space opera, Akira Toriyama’s manga has captivated millions of children, adolescents, and young adults who followed with almost religious fervor the adventures of Son Goku, the fascinating and charismatic hero of a true modern myth.”
Derek Padula Interviewed on The Thunder Child
Yep, an interview with me. First one ever!
TheThunderChild.com recently interviewed me about the inspiration for writing The Dao of Dragon Ball book, how Dragon Ball changed my life and other topics related to personal endeavors. They are a science fiction and fantasy website, and Dragon Ball has a good mix of both.
Learn more about The Dao of Dragon Ball and its author in this Dragon Ball book interview!
Marcus Brimage – DBZ and MMA Part 2
This is Part 2 of the Marcus Brimage interview about DBZ and MMA. Click here for Part 1 of the DBZ and MMA interview
DEREK: You stated that Dragon Ball Z is the greatest action anime of all time. Why do you feel that way?
MARCUS: Because, man! No fillers baby! They got straight to the point. The action!
They had one filler, and that was the Garlic Jr. Saga. Which wasn’t that bad! It was a nice little break, like 5 episodes, and then they got right back to Future Trunks and the Androids. They got right back on it.
And they had a little fun with Goku and Piccolo trying to learn how to drive, you know, that little bullshit, but for the most part Dragon Ball Z stayed the course, it always stayed focused on the action.
Marcus Brimage – DBZ and MMA Part 1
Dragon Ball Z is a martial arts epic brimming with legendary fights.
These fights have awed and inspired fans across the world. And there are some fans who become so inspired that they decide to pursue martial arts and make it their career.
I had the privilege of interviewing one of those inspired fans recently: Marcus Brimage, a Mixed Martial Artist who can currently be seen on Season 14 of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) on Spike TV.
Here is Marcus’ introduction interview on the show.
This caught my attention and I decided to reach out to Marcus on Twitter. He agreed to the interview and the results were amazing.
We ended up talking for over an hour!
How and why did Dragon Ball inspire him? As an expert martial artist, what is his opinion on the fighting styles of Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z? How does spirituality play a role in his fighting? And did Dragon Ball influence his fighting style?
We also discussed his time growing up in Alabama and his desire for a greater life. His early experiences getting tough love from his MMA instructors. And the superiority of Dragon Ball over other action anime.
Not to mention another comment by Marcus for all of the Naruto fans out there!
*Warning that this interview contains occasional swear words.
*Warning that this interview contains violence and mixed martial arts content.
*Warning that this interview contains Dragon Ball spoilers because Marcus and I are super-fans and discuss the series in detail.
That’s right, kids!
So without further ado, here is The Dao of Dragon Ball’s interview with Marcus Brimage, a mixed martial artist and Dragon Ball fan!
Attending Anime Expo
I’ll be attending Anime Expo from July 1 to July 4, in Los Angeles, CA.
If you’re going to Anime Expo this year and want to get together, then drop me a line on the contact form or via facebook.
I’m going as a journalist for The Epoch Times, and also because it’s a good opportunity to be nerdy and have some fun.
For those who don’t know, Anime Expo is the largest anime and Japanese pop culture conference in North America. Hundreds of thousands of people come every year during the 4th of July weekend. Next year I want to be there to promote my Dragon Ball book.
I’d love to meet with you so we can talk about Dragon Ball or simply hang out, play games and become friends.
And it will also be interesting to see what type of a presence Dragon Ball has at this years conference. The last two years have been rather sparse, aside from an occasional cosplayer.
Hope to see you there!
Dragon Ball Book Progress Update 3
Son Goku Statue
Hi there. A reader requested an update on The Dao of Dragon Ball book’s progress, so here it is.
Most of the book is done in rough draft form. However, new information keeps appearing, new rabbit holes to go down, and I feel like it’s all essential to the book’s content.
For example, right now I’m studying the world’s largest martial arts tournament that took place in China in 2004. I’m reading about the history of Qi Gong and how it exploded in popularity. And I’m learning more about the VHS fansubbers of Dragon Ball in America. There’s tons of stuff.
I’m also completely editing the “… To the World” chapter. It’s currently 48 pages, so I’m going to break it down into smaller chapters with more focused content so that readers have an easier time understanding the global history and overall story of Dragon Ball in the world today.
Then I will continue editing the rest of the Dragon Ball book, which includes finishing the final martial arts chapter on Divine Combat. It’s tough because I’m basically trying to explain how the supernormal abilities depicted in Dragon Ball are actually possible without falling into pseudo-science. Meanwhile, it has to tell a story at the same time.
I work on the book everyday and am making steady progress.
Here I’ll quote the Venerable Master, Lao Tzu. I saw this on a Facebook fan’s page (be sure to friend me on Facebook, by the way!):
The soft overcomes the hard.
The slow overcomes the fast.
Let your workings remain a mystery.
Just show people the results.
-Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
Hopefully the results will speak for themselves.
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