Welcome to My Page!

Bio

My name is Mike Greene.

I grew up in Toms River, NJ.

If you know nothing about Toms River, here are some interesting facts about my hometown:

• In the 1990's, our national little league team qualified for the little league world series 3 times in 5 years, ultimately defeating the legendary 1998 Japanese team to win the world championship.
• Our three highschools during my generation have produced a number of professional athletes: Frankie Edgar (Fmr. UFC Champion), Todd Frazier (3B, NY Mets), Darian Barnes (FB, last team: N.O. Saints), the list goes on.
• Toms River is featured in the events of series and films like BoardWalk Empire, The Sopranos, and The Amnityville Horror. The setting of MTV's 'The Jersey Shore' is our actual boardwalk.
• We know EVERYBODY. If you ask someone from New Jersey if they know someone else from New Jersey, we can usualy play 5 degrees of separation to eventually find a common acquaintance. In Toms River, let's go ahead and shorten that to 3 degrees.
• In 2007, Toms River was voted the 14th safest place to live in America.
• In short, that place is pretty sick.

In 2003, I enlisted in the US Army as Military Police. I spent about 9 years in the service. In 2012, I left the military to go back to school in Redmond, Washington where I studied game design.

In my own time, I work on developing my voice acting career. Please feel free to visit my site and listen to my reels here.

My favorite sport is boxing, in the service I trained/fought at amateur cruiserweight several times over the years. I haven't tried to compete since 2011 other than some sparring here and there at gyms, though. My favorite famous pro-fighter is Vasiliy Lomachenko, he is a future hall of famer and has less than 10 pro fights, it's astounding his rate of improvement and level of skill. My favorite up and comer is probably Ryan Garcia off the top of my head. One of the fastest crosses I've ever seen if you give him a chance to get into his rhythm.

My favorite type of music is Metal. I love everything from that heavy southern grind like Pscyho Holiday(Pantera) to norweigan supergroups like Warriors(I) to weird gross-out bands like War is All We Know(GWAR).

My favorite hobbies are playing videos games and reading manga/mahnwa.

• Favorite video games right now: Kerbal Space Program and Dragon Ball FighterZ.
• Favorite Mangas right now: One Punch Man(Yusuke Murata version) and Rokudenashi Blues.
• Favorite Manhwas right now: Weak Hero and Hardcore Leveling Warrior.

Education History

• Non-Commissioned Officer's Leadership Development Course (team/squad sized elements)
• Digipen Institute of Technology
• Bellevue College
• Codefellows

Work Skills

• I have training in several fields of law enforcement and security, the motto of the Military Police Corps being, "Assist, Protect, Defend." This includes: law enforcement patrol, investigation, and inter-personal communication; Route recon and security; Weapons handling, including sidearms, long rifle, SMG, carbine, and SAW qualifications (mostly 'expert' or 'sharpshooter' ratings); Checkpoint Control; Physical Security, including anti-terrorism evasive driving, principle protection formations, secure route reconnaisance, and crisis intervention tactis.
• I have a high level of driver's training. Currently I work as a licensing instructor/certified examiner. This time behind the wheel instructing others including my time spent on mission from the military has bestowed me with a high driving skill useful for all instruction, security, or safety type training purposes.
• I have worked in several retail environments, learning product details quickly and relaying them to customers to inform them better on their purchases is something thatk comes second nature.
• I work well with children and young adults. I have acted as a program director for a children's summer camp, managing staff, payroll, scheduling and individual needs of campers. In my current work, I usually work with teenagers between ages 14-19 who are practicing to earn their driver's licenses and as such need to be fast in response and calm in nature to allow them to relax while they practice.
• I learn new things fairly quickly as long as I have good examples provided to me, and will remember them far longer than I ever should even after leaving an organization.

Personal Goals

• Finish Codefellows
• Change Careers before 2022
• Own and operate a multimedia production company
• Be cast as a main character in a cartoon/movie/anime/etc
• Own and sublet 4 houses
• Own a small hotel
• Become a light-heavyweight amateur boxing champion for any city

Boxing Quiz

Now that you know a little about me, it's time for me to pick YOUR brain for a second! Let's take a little quiz, shall we?

*Personal* Top Ten Best Managas

1. Hakaijuu

• Kicking off the list is Hakaijuu from Shingo Honda. Part zombie apocalypse / part godzilla movie / part government conspiracy thriller / part slice of life, this story will take you on quite the emotional roller coster. Featuring likeable (and REALLY unlikeable) characters, amazing monster designs, and really gory monster kills, Hakaijuu is a great red on a dark evening!

2. Baki the Grappler(all volumes)

• Listening to me trying to describe the plot of Keisuke Itagaki's Baki the Grappler is like watching someone slowly descend into a stroke, but I'll try. Baki is the son of the literal strongest creature on earth, Yujiro Hanma; the man whose back is so swole the face of the devil has appeared on it. After witnessing the death of his mother at his father's hands, Baki swears revenge against the most dangerous predator on earth. In his path for strength, Baki will learn how to throw himself off of cliffs to activate the hormones necessary to induce flow state, fight the last missing link between man and the apes, super body builder prison assassins, karate msters who can murder tigers with their bare hands, a giant yakuza sumo wrestler, basically, Foxhound from Metal Gear, a phantom "Iron" Michael Tyson, the ghost of Miyamoto Musashi trapped inside of a genetically engineered clone body, and (my favorite) kung fu Che Guevera that is also a pirate. Truly a mastapeece...

3. Kingdom

• Yasuhis Hara's Kingdom is the story of the formation of the first Chinese Imperial dynasty throughout the Warring States period of history. It is a time of largerr than life heroes, beasts with links still to the prehistoric past, and endless war. The story follows Shin (Xin in Chinese), and his quest to become a Great General of the State of Qin. Balancing very intense depictions of war and violence with the sincere comradery that soldiers enjoy despite the horrors of the battlefield, you will find yourself often cheering along with our heroes as you read through their exploits. Embarrasingly loud and in the bathroom at work...just me?

4. Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z/Dragon Ball Super

• What do I have to even say about Akira Toriyama's cultural juggernaut? If you don't know the story of Goku, the monkey hero from another world who protects the earth from the universe's strongest weirdos...then you're just awaking from a coma and I'm so sorry! If you like lots of flexing, lasers, robots, shapeshifting lizard people, and sweet haircuts, then this is for you!

5. Mob Psycho 100

• Mob Psycho 100 is the second unique manga from ONE, the secretive cretor of One Punch Man. It follows a middle school boy, Mob, who is the world's most powerful "esper" (psychic). But Mob is only interested in being popular with girls and hs no need really for psychic powers, I mean they can't make you more handsome or charming, right? One day, a young Mob befriends a local con-man "pcychi" Arataka Reigan, and it is through this unlikely friendship that will shake up the very foundations of the esper world.

6. Hinomaru Zumou

• Hinomaru Zumou (Hinmaru's Sumo) was developed during a cultural revival of sumo wrestling (or Ozumou, in Japanese). Written and illustrated by the author known simply as Kawada, HZ is a high energy love letter to the sport. Hinomaru is a boy who has sworn he will become Yokuzuna, but the stern truth is that Hinomaru is VERY short, and thus light. And these things do not a Yokozuna make. Or do they? If you've never liked sumo, or even just wrestling sports in general, Hinomaru will change that for you. Simple throws and sweeps are drawn as advances of cavalry and the crashing of the moon in beautiful illustrations by someone who clearly loves their national past time. At the same time, HZ does a great job displaying how to express one's feelings as a young male. The story spans about a decade, and Hinomaru grows, falls in love, and learns his limits as a professional and it is all done in a very poignant and calm manner which contrasts the HYPED sumo tournaments very well.

7. Hunter x Hunter

• Yoshihiro Togashi is a man whose labyrinth-like mind can be clearly seen in his work. Famous for a little anime called "Yuu-Yuu Hakasho" that you might have heard of, Togashi's magnum opus is truly HunterxHunter. A story of a boy looking for his father, and yet about anything else but that. HunterxHunter centers on the "Hunter Association," a para-military corporation that employs humans who have trained their bodies to the height of power, unlocking the ability to manipulate their very lifeforce itself, or "nen." Each nen type unlocks various powers, from the ability to summon items to constant awareness of a certain target you envision, and as such there are various types of hunters, each with their own objectives. If you've read something like Naruto you can probably guess where this is going, but where HxH distinguishes itself is in that there is little to no power-creep. Characters have a set of skills and rarely develop stronger versions unless they are still children, this is significant because it creates writing scenarios where often the smartest/best prepared character will prevail through a convoluted series of observations and counter strategies rather than simple "screaming the loudest." Unfortunately, Togashi has fallen into poor health in recent years and it is unsure if this masterpiece will ever really be finished.

8. One Punch Man (Yusuke Murata ver.)

• Yusuke Murata is an artist whose pure drawing capability is inhuman. Gaining a lot of popularity as a draftsman for the "Eyeshield 21" football mangas, after reading through ONE's original mang, One Punch Man, Murata fell in love. Bringing the same pure talent to the insane world of One Punch Man, Murata gives us panel after panel of gorgeous artwork dripping with personality. OPM's story centers around our hero, Saitama, a local hero for hire. In the world of OPM, the Hero Assocation is a corporate body that employs a variety of talented individuals to act as employed super heroes, protecting the earth from everything from various monster attacks and natural disasters to muggers and cats stuck in trees. Saitama is a man who has become so strong (like BEYOND powerful) that life is boring for him. Ultimate villains are literally beaten to pieces with just one punch from Saitama, and worst of all no one ever seems to be around to notice and make sure he gets paid. As such, much of One Punch Man's adventures will feature him rushing to the grocery store to make sales, figuring out restaurant bills, and occasionally punching intergalactic space pirate warriors on top of their invading battleships. What really sets this version apart is Murata's clear love of the source material and his reinterpretation of it.

9. Rokudenashi Blues

• Masanori Morita is a man who deserves so much more attention than he gets. If you want to talk about BEAUTIFULLY designed charcters and facial expressions, just look at Morita's newest work, Rookies, a story of a high school teacher leading a baseball team of misfit students. But it is his original work, Rokudenashi Blues, that made me fall for him. RB is the story of Maeda Taison, the stoic but noble leader of the Teiken Highschool streetgang. What makes RB great is how each member of Maeda's gang is slowly added to his crew, first being kids with sincere emotional damage that resolve their trauma through confrontation with the fearles Maeda, who would never turn his back on a friend who needs it. The stakes slowly build as the story goes on, with schoolyard brawls featuring in the early chapters and genuine full on aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the later stories. And as the violence becomes more extreme, Maeda eventually becomes more mature and protective of his loved ones as a result, really giving him a sense of maturation throughout the course of the sotry. The fighting and action is all beautifully rendered and the physical comedy is often laugh out loud funny. Morita's expressions often really strike a chord with me, and I could genuinely pick many of my favorite character's faces out of a lineup, even without their distinct clothing.

10. Hajime no Ippo

• And this is it, my all time FAVORITE manga(and in many ways, anime adaptation), but to truly describe why would take pages. Hajime no Ippo is Morikawa Jouji's life work, having first appeared in "Weekly Jump Magazine" in 1989. It is the story of a young boy, Ippo Makunouchi, who is ferociously bullied at school for smelling like fish, as he must help his mother with her fishing boat business since the death of his father. During one such beating, a local middle weight profesional boxer (the mighty Mamorou Takamura) happens to be jogging by and saves Ippo, bringing him back to his gym for first aid. Trying to make Ippo feel better, Takamura allows him to punch a crudely drawn face of his bully on a punching bag. Surprising everyone, it turns out Ippo's punch is insanely strong. Curious, Takamura entinces Ippo into the world of Japanese professional boxing, and the rest is history. Morikawa works as a profesional boxing trainer and it clearly is refelected in his story, basic to mid level boxing is taught to the audience with a care and attention that really shows the passion for the sport. HnI is an amazing story not in that it is the story of a man whose fists beat other fighters down, but rather that they lift them up. Most of Ippo's opponents start out as arrogant,violent, and sometimes even damaged individuals, and it is through Ippo's character that they learn to love the sport for what it is: learning what it means to be strong.