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G Richard Yamagata is co-founder, CEO and President of Virtual Market Enterprises, Inc. He also is on the board of directors of the Davis Community Network, secretary of the board of directors of the Davis Democrat Club, on the board of directors of Virtual Market Enterprises Inc, member of the board of the Business Link of Woodland and Davis and a founding member/co-founder, board member and secretary-treasurer of the Davis Progresive Business Exchange, and communications liason of the Independent Order of Oddfellows chapter 169. He holds a BS and PhD from the University of California, Davis.

G Richard was the recipient of the Williamson-Weir Award recognizing outstanding service to the Democratic Party of Yolo County in 2007. He maintains that his contributions to the party are all due to the work of his fellow board members of the Davis Democratic Club. No one person can do it alone and it is only through teamwork can success be achieved. Richard's job is to help and facillitate the club meetings and its activities and the actions of the club board is integral to its continued success. People like President Arun Sen, Vice President Mike Syvanen, Treasurer and Grand Dame of the Yolo County Democrats Betty Weir, Corresponding Secretary Julia Sanchez, Publicity Officer Barbara Slemmons, Membership Chair Carl Schmid, Past-President Bob Bockwinkel, the other board members, advisor and mentor Jerry Kaneko, and the general members of the Davis Democratic Club are all equally responsible for the success of all Democratic activities in Yolo County.

G Richard is the webmaster and web artist of over 140 web sites which are updated from weekly to annually. To see these web sites, visit the Virtual Markets below.

His only favorite movie reviewer is Roger Ebert, because there is not a single movie that Roger Ebert has given a positive review that he did not like nor a single movie that he panned that he did not hate. This unique phenomena has Richard purchasing Roger Ebert's Movie Home Companion review guide every 5 years since 1989 and has him watching each week Siskel and Ebert, now Ebert and Roeper. The review that firmly established Roger Ebert in his mind as the person to read or view for movie reviews was the famed Benji, The Hunted review disagreement with Gene Siskel. As this page is updated, Roger Ebert's e-mail movie review newsletter just arrived for November 2007 and there are now Ebert and Roeper reviews coming out. He hopes to see Roger Ebert return to the Ebert and Roeper TV show. People should realize that Roger Eberts contribution to the American Film Industry is great. His reviews and interviews filtered through his love of film and and his philosophy of viewing movies has influenced many, many people that like to watch movies and be entertained. As the doom-sayers continue to predict the demise of the movie theater, as long as Roger Ebert is writing reviews, that will not come to pass. Roger's wit and unique writing style remains as enjoyable to read and his advice on what is worth seeing remains true to G Richard's tastes. Who else could write, "I like this movie about as much as it's possible to like a movie with a two-star rating." That is part of what makes reading Roger Ebert reviews so truly enjoyable.

Richard's favorite Anime series is Cowboy Bebop. The animation in this series is unmatched and that is an understatement. It is arguably the best anime ever produced to date. He has given thought to what makes this in his opinion the greatest anime series after a decade. It is the original entertaining story lines (now cliched to death and reproduced in other anime and TV shows since 1997), the exceptional visuals and animation, and the exception soundtrack. The soundtrack and music is by Yoko Kanno, who has few peers in terms of talent in this genre. It is all great music, but what stands out is the music in the episodes with the character, Vicious. The closing song to the entire series, "Blue," is so perfect and fitting, it is painful to listen and absorb to the very last words of the song. The plot lines are not only entertaining, but were refreshingly unique and after a decade, still entertaining. The animation is always wonderfully busy. Keep your eye on the eye candy background images and pans and you should see life in the late 21st century passing by. The title of each episode is a record album by a popular artist or group. The episodes that are his favorites because of the plot and music are 5 - Ballad of Fallen Angels; 9,10 - Jupiter Jazz Parts 1 and 2; and 26 - Real Folk Blues Part 2. The episode that is his favorite in terms of an entertaining, laugh out loud, comedy plot is 17 - Mushroom Samba.

Along those same lines, his favorite anime series of 2004 is Witch Hunter Robin. The animation does not come up to Cowboy Bebop standards, but what makes up for that is the plot lines of this dark, mysterious series. Nothing can be taken for granted as the story develops, becoming more and more fascinating. The best analogy is that the plot of this story is like an onion. As you peal the layers back, you get closer and closer to the core of the story. This process keeps you coming back for more, starting from about episode six. The Witch Hunter Robin fan link exchange program was the basis for the creation of this web page.

Richard has received more and more enjoyment from watching anime. In 2005 his favorite by far was Howl's Moving Castle with its theme that true love of the heart goes beyond age and physical visages and can change the world.

In 2006 the viewing has taken on a darker tone as determined by family and friends. He is collected and viewed the dark adult anime series Baslisk and Speedgrapher. Baslisk is a historic period piece and knowing history, it can only end badly. But the artwork is exceptional and the characters are strong and rich. They have to be because they seem to burst upon the scene and then quickly die, to be viewed later only in flashbacks. This anime also made its way into a live action feature movie called "Shinobi: Heart Under the Blade." Some people believe the movie is better than the anime series and Richard agrees with them..

In 2007, the best anime in his opinion still does not measure up to Cowboy Bebop. But, Solty Rei is thoroughly enjoyable. This story takes place in the far distant future. Beyond that, it is a mystery that keeps you enthralled as more and more is revealed. What, this is not San Francisco or LA in the distant future...? It has a story line that continues to surprise to the very end and when you think the story is over, it is not and it continues on. Starting in 2007 and going on into 2008, the search for another Cowboy Bebop continues with his collecting Black Lagoon, a series that is gritty and contains so much foul language, this is not for kids. Also, the main female lead character is a sociopath. The series that has exceptional visual elements and again interesting and fresh story lines is Mushi-Shi. It has been said that watching Mushi-Shi is like watching beautiful wood cut art in animation. It is based on one of the top 5 Japanese Manga of all time and the visuals and stories show that they have successfully conveyed this Manga to DVD. The last series that has captured the youth of 2007 and is recommended by Yamagata is Death Note. It is also based upon a popular Manga and has been made into a live action movie. The series is so captivating, it has been banned in some school systems and one student was expelled from school for using a "death note." [ Click Here for more on this ]

G Richard's passion remains collecting and watching DVD movies with good friends. His collection has grown to over 1800 DVD titles and continues to grow. He wants to start writing movie reviews, but with work and everything else, that remains only an unfulfilled dream. To view one of his reviews, [ Click Here ].

As a note of complete trivia, what started the Yamagata DVD collection are the BBC television tales of Richard Sharpe, a character created by Bernard Cornwell for his "Sharpe" novels. The clarity of the picture and sound quality on DVD is far and away superior to VHS tape or broadcast TV, and with that realization, the rest is history. Richard Sharpe is played by Sean Bean. The series has this great beer drinking song that adds another stanza with every TV episode and in 2007, another TV show was added to the collection. The total number of TV shows in the series now stands at 15 episodes. One can only hope that more will come to pass. "O'er the hills and o'er the plains; for fortune, plunder, gun and fame; King George commands and we obey; o'er the hills and far away..."

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