While attending Fanime 2009 in late May, I recorded most of the panels I went to with the exceptions being Meet the Anime Vice Squad (forgot) and Nerd Courting (because it was 3 hours!). You may hear some rustling noises caused by when I was shifting around or, in the case of Carl Horn’s panels, flipping through the samples he gave the audience pass around.
Music during lead-ins: “Blue Little” by 10:32 (album: Ghostly Swim – link)
A week ago, I wasn’t seriously considering travelling down to Anime Expo after last year’s long drive and feelings of fatigue afterward. But an hotel room offer came up recently from someone I know (not sure if I can say who) and since my family doesn’t have plans for the weekend, I decided to seize the opportunity. I pre-registered last night so unless I want to let my $65 go to waste, I’ll going to spend some time at the LACC next weekend.
Here is my preliminary schedule (subject to changes):
Thursday
10am: Digital Manga Publishing (will miss because I’ll be driving)
5pm: Nozomi Ent./Right Stuf
7:30pm: eigoMANGA
10pm-12am: TTGL Focus Panel and Documentary (missed this at Fanime)
Friday
9am: Bandai Ent.
11am: CMX
12pm: Aniplex or Yosuke Kuroda/Seiji Mizushima (leaning toward Aniplex) ***Why are these at the same time? ***
3:30pm: Viz Media
6pm: Without Watching the Anime: OPs & EDs (by Alex Leavitt)
9pm-12am: AMV Contest (list of finalists)
Sunday
10am: Directors Guests of Honor Panel
11am: Crunchyroll
12pm: The Problem With Otaku (Alex Leavitt again)
1pm: Production I.G.
2pm: NIS America (if I’m not exhausted by then)
Day 2 at Fanime (May 23rd) for me consisted of learning about the early days of fan subtitling, taking a slower walk through Artists’ Alley, getting something free for asking a question, eating an Italian dinner, and watching on-the-spot pitching of scenarios. Read the rest of this entry »
Two weekends ago, I drove myself and a press buddy down I-80/280/680 to San Jose over the course of about two and a half hours. We checked into our room at around 2pm and then walked down to professional registration to grab our badges. After that, I took a cursory walk through Artists’ Alley and the Dealers Hall before heading to the first panel I wanted to see. Read the rest of this entry »
A few days ago, I read something from ANN’s The Gallery series for the first time. In that series, they profile fan artists that could use a bit more exposure and this time it was about Stephanie Kao. I’d never heard of her before but she said some things I’d like to comment on, particularly since I’m going to a con this weekend and will take at least one cursory walk through Artists’ Alley.
Kao mentioned having to deal with negative reactions to her art style – a mix of traditional, anthro, and anime influences – from both the anime and the anthro (aka “furry”) fan communities. The first time it came up, she admitted it wasn’t easy to stick with the style she likes to draw in; the second time concerned putting together a recent sketchbook and deciding to push away some of the anthro-stuff from the front of it so more readers might be drawn in. I personally don’t mind anthro and I think it’s gotten a bit of a bad rap based on skewed perceptions about that broader community, such as a certain episode of CSI from 2003.
I don’t participate much in artists’ communities, fan art or otherwise, mainly because I’m not much of one myself. I can appreciate art on aesthetics (what it makes me feel) and mechanics (e.g. use of lines, empty spaces, etc.) and support a level of artistic freedom that lets artists work with as few restrictions as possible so that less diluted expressions of their intentions might be produced.
Kao also said “it makes [her] sad when artists feel like they must do fanart that they have no passion for”. I’m more inclined toward original works since their reception is not potentially hampered like prior conceptions about characters held by a collective audience, like fan art is, and because I get more pleasure in seeking out and experiencing new things than settling for what’s familiar. A potential risk for original stuff, though, is its lack of instant familiarity/recognition of their subjects that could be achieved through fan art. Determining at what place on that continuum an artist is most comfortable seems like it might help him/her in producing better work and enjoying it as well.
Seven days from now, I will drive down Interstate 80/680 with some friends and arrive at the San Jose Convention Center. I missed last year’s Fanime in order to attend my brother’s high school graduation. This time around I will have a press badge clipped somewhere on me, if they still make clip-on badges.
However, I don’t know how often I’ll be exercising that privilege since a bunch of potential news might come out of another convention in the east, Anime Boston. (Other conventions that weekend include Animazement in Raleigh, NC; Anime North in Toronto [ETERNAL will be there!], Canada; JACON in Orlando, FL; and NipponCon in Neumünster, Germany.) I’m not going into thinking Fanime there would be a lot of news since the convention isn’t meant to be a wellspring of industry news – hence the “fan” part of its name – but the fact that only one publisher is holding a panel (Dark Horse) depresses me. Thanks, AB, for stealing some of our thunder. (Just kidding, though – I don’t want to start an East Coast-West Coast battle.)
Of course I’ll being stopping by one of my favorite events, the Swap Meet, to see if there are any bargains (I’m a sucker for old magazines) and I might try to get a few artists to draw me and compare their results (something I should. Some better-known names among the list of dealers’ hall vendors are Media Blasters and Aksys Games but there will also smaller operations like Kimonokitsy Studios (makers of the nemu nemu comic) and PMBQ. The maid cafe has reportedly improved since 2007 so I might peek into that and if I somehow get the courage to do karaoke, I’ll try to have someone record it for potential future embarassment.
A pocket guide version of the schedule went live on the convention’s website Wednesday – it’s good that it’s earlier than usual but it’s also a little frustrating that it’s a collection of images with no uniform document file offered, namely, PDF. I’m sure I will get one in a bag upon check-in, anyway.
Continuing a tradition from last year’s Otakon, I decided to do another con report while far away from the actual convention site. I won’t go over all the announcements and panels, just the ones that I found interesting enough to mention. As for why it took a week, I think it’s because I’m being secretly sponsored by the Pony Express. Whatever the reason, it gave me a reason to look through Creative Commons-licensed pictures so if you’ve already read the news before (it’s very likely you have), I hope you at least enjoy the pictures that other people took last weekend. Read the rest of this entry »
A 14-year-old Tecumseh, Oklahoma, girl who has been missing since Monday – Deborah Kalai Fourzan – is reportedly traveling to California with a once family friend James “Jim” Reimer and stopping at various anime conventions along the way, starting this weekend with Ikkicon in Austin, Texas.
Some elements that give this story an unsavory twist are that Reimer sent a number of explicit text messages to the girl’s phone, which her mother turned over to police and were used as evidence for a current warrant for “using text messaging to solicit sexual contact with a minor”, and that the convenience store where Reimer works was reported a cash theft Monday afternoon of several thousand dollars. (KOCO)
Authorities advise anyone who sees the two individuals not to approach them, but to contact the Austin Police Department at 1-405-598-9305. Fourzan is 5″2 and weighs 120 pounds. She has blue eyes, pierced ears, a birthmark on the back of her arm, and blond hair, but she may dye her hair black and also use her middle name Kalai. Reimer is 5″10 and weighs 280 pounds. He has brown hair, blue eyes, and a beard, but he may shave his beard off.
Despite the man’s previous behavior, there is a small and possibly irrational part of me – the devil’s advocate part – that thinks maybe Fourzan wanted to go to this journey with him and, less likely, has some feelings for Reimer. (Remember that Reimer is 40 and Fourzan is 14.) I simply wanted to float that possibility even though it may not turn out to be the case. Seriously though, I hope she does not get harmed before this case gets resolved.
Considering the area between Texas and California and looking at AnimeCons.com, possible conventions in their travels include Animation On Display in San Francisco, CA, on February 14-15 (if they can drive to SF in a week); Mizuumi-Con in San Antonio, TX, on March 21 (don’t know why they would go a short distance southwest over a month’s time); Animeland Wasabi in Denver, CO, on March 27-29; AniZona in Phoenix, AZ, on April 9-12; Anime Matsuri in The Woodlands, TX, on April 10-12; KamiKazeCon in Houston, TX, in April 10-12; and FanimeCon in San Jose, CA, on May 22-25.
I have attended SacAnime twicebefore but two Saturdays ago, I went around the Scottish Rite Center wearing a press badge for the first time. The overall experience wasn’t very different but there were some highlights worth mentioning. Read the rest of this entry »
Like last year, I did not attend Otakon and instead watched the first days of the Beijing Olympics. Sorry, anime – sports trumped you this time. But I was able to catch up with the help of Gia-Japanator combo liveblogging as well as reading raw transcriptions from an IRC channel (I think I saw one of those guys at an AX panel). Surprisingly, ANN lagged behind in terms of reportsand also no video as of Wednesday evening, which is strange since they supposedly were taping the fansubbing panel based on one of Scott’s tweets. [UPDATE 8/16: ANN has posted a 79-minute video of the Fansubs and Industry Panel along with a breakdown of the event.] Read the rest of this entry »
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