Thanks to Japanator, I was turned on to this wonderful AMV featuring the visual input from Full Metal Panic: fumoffu. The series is funny as hell, with a military minded giant mecha driving high school age combat veteran without a clue about how to act in non-combat situations assigned to guard a high school girl. If nothing else, his threat evaluation skills need retraining and his responses could be a little less lethal. After watching the AMV, I am ready to break out the series and watch the entire thing again, starting with season 1, episode 1.
Tomorrow kicks off Dragon Con’s Fandom Music Video Awards round number 3. You have from May 1st to July 31st to build and upload your entries, where they can then be viewed and voted on. Bring your best game, though, because a lot of the stuff entered in rounds one and two is pretty impressive, as you can see from these examples.
Most folks got Conned out with the massive number of events last week. But if you are ready for more, they are happening. Expo Comic Cancun is taking place in Cancun, Mexico, which includes a series of events by the Cosplay Deviants (they don’t show up at too many US events). Colossalcon 9 is an Anime, Gaming, and Japanese Culture con held in Sandusky, OH. It is being held at a waterpark resort, and they are giving away a trip to Japan, but not at random; you have to win their Cosplay Masquerade competition to get the prize. A-Kon 21 in Dallas, Tx. is an Anime con with a great concert lineup, and for the competitive they are running a Kabuki Slam! In Huntsville, Al., it is HamaCon 2010, an anime con that includes the Okinawa Festival Drums, and AMV and Cosplay competitions. Finally, Anime Kaigi in Flagstaff, AZ has a complete and aggressive series of events to edutain everyone.
A general Sci-Fi con well worth a visit this weekend is Con Carolinas 2010/ Deep South Con 48, in Charlotte, NC. These two events seem to have merged, at least for this year. Jerry Pournelle and Johnny Ringo are the writer GoH’s, Ed Beard, Jr. is the Artist GoH, and Media guests include Claudia God Sent Me Christian and Richard Hatch. Another good general con, although leaning towards the WriterCon side of life is SoonerCon 2010 (2010: A Bubba Odyssey) in Oklahoma City, OK. This one is particularly well endowed with panels and workshops for artists, authors, and fans. And in Nashville, TN, it is HyperIcon 6, again with lots going on.
DieCon X is a great name for a gaming convention, and this one is held just outside of St. Louis in Collinsville, IL; come ready to play, some of the tournaments have already started and will be going through the weekend.
I love fan made music videos, and one of the world-wide iconic focus points for them these days is Doctor Who, the new series. So here are just a few that tickled my interest that I felt the need to pass on. A few of these will probably evaporate but more will come to take their place; and doesn’t that Killers quote sum him up so well; He Doesn’t look a thing like Jesus, but he talks like a gentleman, like you imagined when you were young. The scope of the musical styles alone tells you just how wide the appeal of the program ranges, and I selected a few of my favorite tunes for this collection, because selecting tunes I didn’t like would have been both silly and counterproductive. Enjoy!
Anime Today interviewed Bandi Entertainment’s Robert Napton about the new movie EUREKA SEVEN – good night, sleep, tight, young lovers for episode 99. They covered some other interesting topics as well, which mostly involves trying to sell you things, but there are a few good contests you might want to get in on. The movie will be showing on the big screen in the US for one night only on 24Sep09 courtesy of Fathom Entertainment. If you happen to be in Texas this weekend, you might want to hit San Japan, the Japanese Culture and Anime Con in San Antonio. To the north, there is Anime Iowa, and for Europe try Aya Revolution. All the Cons are running Panels, Cosplay, Screening Rooms, and all the other usual; two have AMV competitions, and one has both a J-Pop and J-Rock lounges.
I mentioned the New York Comicon yesterday, going on this weekend. Also this weekend is the Broward Anime Festival in Florida, complete with the DOA volleyball competition, and the G-Anime Con in Canada for the French-speaking fans on this continent. If you are anywhere near Austin, you are hopefully at Ikkicon, and enjoyed today’s Anime Music Video (AMV) Contest. Other events at the Con include live music from Last Stop Tokyo, Peelander Z, Kristine Sa and The Slants (we are talking Austin here, of course there is great music), the Anime Poetry Slam, the Dance Contest (fan teams choreographed to their favorite Anime theme songs), the Anime Dating Game (18+), and the Iron Artist competition, as well as a large number of panel discussions with the creators of the various Animes listed. Then there are the instructionals, where you learn how to build your own: Animation 101 (owning 2D or 3D animation software helps, but is not required), the DVD Production Panel, Breaking Into the Music Industry presented by The Slants (again, this is Austin), the Voice Acting Workshop, Cosplay Presentation, Cosplay Props and Materials, and many more. The scary part? All those events happen on the first day! Wish I could be there for the rest of the Con!