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Things to Do: Cons

The First Irish Discworld Convention takes place the first full weekend of November, the 6th through the 8th. Yes, Terry Pratchett is the guest of honor (health permitting), and all sorts of fun things are planned; see the con blog for more details. This one looks unlike any other con for the weekend, and would be my first choice if I had just figured out that pesky teleporting thing. Except maybe for the PMX2009 event, listed below.

Chevron 7.3 in Northampton, UK, is a Stargate mediacon, with the guests leaning heavily to the new series Stargate Universe. Also in Europe, J-PopCon is an Anime Con that takes place in Valby, Denmark, close to Center of Copenhagen. It is the biggest Anime event in that country, and has been running since at least 2000. To round out the international listings, Vertigo is a one-day Anime con taking place on Sunday in Santa Cruz, Bolivia.

For events in the US, Astronomicon takes place November 6th through the 8th in Rochester, NY. Mike Resnick is the Author GoH, and one of the events is the Grand Great Lakes Steampunk Cotillion, Symposium and Tea Social, along with all the usual fun stuff you expect at a readercon.

Anime Cons around the US include Aki-Con in Everett, Washington, Anime NebrasKon in Omaha, NekoCon 12 in Hampton, Virginia, and Zenkaikon 2009 in King of Prussia, PA. They all have screenings, events, panels, and cosplay, but the Kabuki Mask Painting Workshop caught my attention, especially listed after the Cosplay Swimsuit Competition and Dating Auction.

Some anime is included in the Pacific Media Expo 2009, but the event also includes live-action movies, the hottest bands, the latest fashion, and the newest pop culture trends from Japan and the Pacific Rim, making this a truly unique happening. I would probably have to clone myself this weekend to attend this one and the Irish Diskworld convention.

Gamer Cons this weekend include Carnage 12 in Fairlee, VT, Millennium 12 in Round Rock, Tx, and UberCon XII in Edison, NJ. And no, I don’t know why that last one went with Roman numerals when the Arabic numbers were a good enough Twelve for every one else.

Finally in Charlotte, NC there is the one-day Charlotte Comic-Con on Saturday the 7th.

Things to Do: Cons and Movies

A major Con this weekend; the World Fantasy Convention celebrates Edgar Alan Poe’s 200th birthday, and runs from the 29th of October to November 1st. Held on Halloween weekend in San Jose, California, it will as always include the World Fantasy Awards, nominees this year including Kage Baker, Neil Gaiman, Peter S. Beagle, Ellen Datlow, Ann & Jeff VanderMeer, and many more (but the ones mentioned being multiple nomination recipients). As announced in August, the World Fantasy Lifetime Achievement Award winners for 2009 are Jane Yolen and Ellen Asher (see the previous award winners listings here).

Oni-Con takes place in Huston, TX this weekend, and will probably be the single most impressive Anime con this time around. In the same town as the former ADV, the guest list at this one has to be seen to be believed. There appears to be three separate tacks of Cosplay events alone.

Saboten-Con in Phoenix, AZ, also looks to be a great place to spend Halloween weekend. Musical guests include Ketsune Robot and Toybox at this Anime con, and the rest of the guest list is just as intense. Many events, screenings, concerts, panels, and so forth. The competitions include the usual (cosplay, artistic, etc.), and a few not-so-usual, including a +18 AMV contest (yes, that means explicit) separate from the all-ages contest, and a Karaoke contest.

In Vermont, BakuretsuCon runs from October 29th to November 1st. This predominantly Anime con includes an AMV contest and the steampunk-inspired Penny Dreadfuls, as well as everything a good con should have.

In Cincinnati, SugoiCon is an Anime con that covers aspects most cons miss; I would go for the concerts alone, the guest list is amazing from both Japan and the US, and the cosplay fans have multiple events! There is a lot more going on, it should be wild.

To round out the weekend of the Anime-Con is Youmacon in Dearborn, MI. This is the 5th year for this Detroit area event, with all the usual guests and activities.

For movies this week, Gentlemen Broncos comes out Friday, fresh from the Film Festival circuit. It is more a film about a science fiction author than an SF film itself. However, if you are in Washington, DC, you might want to consider the screening of Katsuhiro Otomo’s Mushi-shi on Friday evening, a one-time event brought to you by the DC Anime Club and the Japan Information and Culture Center.

Things to do: Cons and Movies

The Film Fest entries grew too large to include with this post, so they got their own posting on Tuesday. I think I just may make that their regular posting day.

On the Convention front, Palmdale, CA has Ani-Magic, an Anime Con this weekend. In Salt Lake City Anime Banzai will also be running games, cosplay, and lots of Anime guests.

Rockville, MD (a suburb of Washington, DC) is holding CapClave 2009, a ReaderCon with Author GOH Harry Turtledove. Hosted by the Washington Science Fiction Association October 16th through the 18th, they will also be presenting the WSFA Small Press Award at CapClave, and are releasing Reincarnations by Harry Turtledove, available only through the WSFA.

ValleyCon 35 is also this weekend in Fargo, ND, with Author GOH George R.R. Martin and Media GOH Peter Jurasik. ValleyCon is a general SciFi/Fantasy/Comics/Gaming convention.

For movies, Where the Wild Things Are looks to be the most interesting new choice for this weekend. The Road, originally scheduled to be released this week, is now slated for November 25th.

Things To Do

It occurs to me that every week I hit Friday and then look around to see what there is to do that weekend, and often I miss the chance (event tickets sold out, too late for airplane or hotel bookings, etc). So I thought that if I checked it out on Wednesdays instead, that additional 48 hours might increase the number of things I actually managed to get to. Since I already know I have issues with scheduling time for new tasks (I don’t really have any problems with scheduling new tasks; just with following through on the tasks once they are scheduled), it would be useful if I re-purposed a task I am already in the habit of completing on that day. So my Wednesday blog entry now becomes my Events/Things To Do task for each week. I’ll figure out the format, included events, structure, and organization as I go along. For this first one, I’m just going to throw events into the entry will-he, nil-he and observe the results with an eye to improvement.

In a few weeks the Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest film festival will be happening! This one is world-class, and all about Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Anime/Horror. Most film festivals have some SF/F/Anime/Horror films involved, so it’s worth noting that this weekend is the start of the Pusan International Film Festival (it runs for a week), and yes, there is a choice of English on the site, for those who can’t read Korean. A few of the more interesting movies are Running On Karma, Tokyo Taxi and 15 Malaysia.

There are also some conventions worth mentioning. In Huntington, WV, Tsubasacon runs from the 9th to the 11th, an Anime Con. Just to the east is the Baltimore Comic Con, a comic and sci-fi event. In Philadelphia, also from the 9th to the 11th is VGXpo, a video gaming convention. Orlando, Florida has the Spooky Empire Ultimate Horror Weekend, while St. Augustine, FL, has EXPCon, a combination Gaming/Anime convention. In the southwest, a gaming convention called RinCon happens in Tucson. In Romulus, Michigan, which is really the Detroit airport hotel center, ConClave 34 takes place, a Sci-Fi Con also celebrating the International Year of Astronomy.

I don’t see much interesting opening in movie theaters this weekend, except perhaps that Zombieland will expand to more screens in more towns. Going to think about this bit; a movie is definitely something you go to, but do VOD and DVD releases new that week count? They are Things To Do, but not events you have to go somewhere to join in on. And where do new TV/Radio programs fall into the grid, be they broadcast, cable, or online? I have a week to figure it out before I try to do this again; any recommendations anyone feels like passing my way would be appreciated.

NY Anime Festival

Coming up this weekend is the New York Animation Festival. The Guest of Honor is Yoshiyuki Tomino, creator of the Mobile Suit Gundam series and a songwriter who has worked with a range of folks from Yoko Kanno to Niel Sedaka. Musical guests include AKB48, Swinging Popsicle and a number of others. The Voice Talent guest list is HUGE, and full of some of my favorite voices from the world of anime; see the full list here. Events include the World Cyber Games National Final, Cosplay in the form of the Neo-Victorian Fashion Show (you can say it: Steampunk!), and Zombie Survival training from the Green Light Anti-Zombie Squad.

Parsec Awards 2009

Congrats to 365 Days of Astronomy for taking home a Parsec Award, handed out for excellence in science fiction podcasts (see their award here). If it seems a bit strange that an astronomy podcast won this award, don’t panic (and keep your towel handy), because it was for the category Best “Infotainment” Cast, things that entertain as they educate. As part of the 2009 International Year of Astronomy project, 365 Days certainly does that. If you or your kids have an interest in astronomy, be sure to look into the Galileoscope, a low-cost replica of Galileo’s original telescope that you can build and use for your own. There were a lot of other winners, including PseudoPod for Best Speculative Fiction Magazine or Anthology Podcast, the ScapeCast for Best Speculative Fiction Fan Podcast, Stranger Things for Best Speculative Fiction Video Podcast, Cool Shite on the Tube for Best Speculative Fiction News Podcast, and The FuMP for Best Speculative Fiction Music Podcast. There are a lot of other categories, you can catch the latest roundup of them at Wander Radio, or download the full report here. And then there are the Masquerade Winners for 2009, another group you should be familiar with. And my favorite author post from DragonCon came here by way of Suvudu, with the correct attitude!