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20 Jul 09 – Rorschach Hugging Pikachu - Otakon 2009 Pictures

I'm back from Otakon, the second-largest anime convention in the Western Hemisphere. Feels like the largest, partly because folks are packed into small spaces. Not a compliment.

Here are the photos on Flickr. Represented: Silent Bob, Neo, Beetlejuice, Tiger from Kung-Fu Panda, Gambit, a Mind Flayer, several Gundams, Spider-Man, Billy Mays, Dr. Forrester, several Rorschachs, and a number of anime characters.

These things are always exhausting, but worth it. Every single time.

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13 Jul 09 – Witnessing a Civil War Battle

On Saturday, I interrupted a wonderfully productive morning to drove up to Frederick, Maryland. Clouds moved in to shelter an otherwise perfect day. I pulled in to Rose Hill Manor, parked my car in the big field, and ran towards the other side of the property, camera in hand.

"Rebels in the cornfield!" The cry came up around me. Men dressed in Union uniform ran up to the lone cannon, some passing it to take up positions around an ancient oak tree at the bottom of the hill. I heard the crack of rifle fire and saw occasional flashes of grey passing through the corn.

Then the cannon fired, and I jumped. Not quite literally defeaning, it was nonetheless a shock every time it thundered. And still the rebels came, materializing out of the cornfield and leveling their rifles at us.

It was a re-enactment, obviously. It suffered from a few problems. Because there were only a few dozen re-enactors, only a few "died," despite the lines moving to within fifty yards of each other. Moreover, the re-enactors were having too good of a time to look scared or ferocious; many of them cracked easy smiles as they marched towards the rifles of their enemies.

But that added a relaxed atmosphere to the event. We all know the horror of that war; we could easily imagine the soldiers' pain and terror. These were computer programmers and auto mechanics, dressing up and playing soldier for the afternoon.

The entire grounds had been converted into a Civil War-era bivouac. Dozens of tents spotted the fields, most of them complete with low fires, kettles, lanterns, the vital bottles of whisky, and other accoutrements of the time. Quite a few non-soldiers wandered about wearing costumes of the era—how women didn't sweat every drop of water out of their bodies in an hour fails me—and they were all more than happy to regale you with stories and facts of the period.

It felt like a convention (then again, I have cons on the brain this summer). Vendors were selling food, books, fake rifles, real Civil War bullets, belt buckles, hats; just about anything one could imagine. A folk singer sang songs of the era. And all of this was occurring on the grounds of a beautiful manor house, with the flowers in full bloom.

What better way to spend a summer afternoon?

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6 Jul 09 – Comparing Anime Expo and Otakon

I'm just back from Anime Expo 2009, and despite the jet lag, I'm going to try to share the differences between Anime Expo and Otakon (at least, based on my experience with AX 2009 and Otakons 2001-2008):

AX's L.A. Convention Center feels slightly larger than the Baltimore Convention Center. This means more walking, but also the crowds never got densely packed as they can be at Otakon.
The LACC isn't as nicely situated in the city as the BCC is. At LACC, you have to walk a few blocks to get to any restaurants, and there's really nothing scenic nearby. The BCC's got restaurants across the street, and the Inner Harbor is just a couple of blocks away.
AX is more laid back, as befitting California. Folks walk a little slower, expressions aren't as intense, and there's little of that simmering frustration you see in folks stalking around the Baltimore Convention Center.
It's rare for an Otakon panel to be completely full. Happened several times just for the panels I was interested in at AX.
AX has somewhat more Asians, and definitely more Asian guests than Otakon.
The AX dealer's room has a slightly larger selection, but it's ultimately like Otakon in terms of what you can buy. So, while an Otakon dealer might have 40 different Gundam model kits, an AX dealer might have 50. But there was nothing there I felt I couldn't possibly buy at Otakon (and I could certainly get any of it online).
There was way less video gaming at AX than Otakon. Otakon has a huge room with literally dozens of consoles and video game machines running. AX's video game room had two DDR machines, a Para Para Max machine, a few copies of Street Fighter 4 and a few other games, a wall of crane machines (?!), and an air hockey table (?!?!). The console game room had a grand total of four games running while I was there (Smash Brothers Brawl, Blaz Blue, a Japanese SNK vs. Capcom, and Guilty Gear). Both rooms were small.

Otherwise, the two cons felt the same. There was about the same number of events, the same kinds of panels and events (guest Q&A, a concert, an AMV contest, etc.), the same amount of cosplay as a percentage of guests, about the same quality of cosplay. Most panels started within about 10 minutes of the scheduled starting time. Everything went as smoothly as a fan-run con ever goes.

All in all, they're more similar than different.

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5 Jul 09 – All I Ask Is A Tall Ship

This will inevitably post to my blog several days after I actually write it, as I'm writing this in a hotel room in California at Anime Expo, and I refuse to spend $13 a day for the privilege of posting to my blog (and otherwise accessing the vast reaches of the internet).

I'm tired, but I feel fulfilled. Literally, filled full. I experienced a lot today, from cool interviews to fun Q&As to interesting anime.

In other words, it's been an adventure.

Unrelated but related: I've had trouble sleeping for the past few months. Nothing serious; just an hour or two cut out from a full night's sleep here and there. I'd catch up, then lose a few more hours' sleep.

I won't have that problem tonight. Which leads to an inevitable conclusion:

Adventures fulfill us.

Adventure can mean a lot of things, of course; from a trip halfway around the world to a new restaurant down the block. But I suspect that most people stay on the safer end of the spectrum than would be best for them.

Don't folks complain about ennui? About depression? Feeling drab, a slave to work, a slave to routine? Unfulfilled?

Doesn't that strike you as a serious spiritual illness? How can we perform to anywhere near our best when we're depressed? And don't we need to perform to our best these days?

Wouldn't adventure solve this?

Now, I had an upset stomach for most of the flight here. I nearly threw up on the plane. I'm 95% sure this was directly caused by the stress of the trip. I just don't like to travel.

That shouldn't stop us. We need more adventure.

Posted in Self-improvement - Permalink - comments

1 Jul 09 – The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

If you're looking for a fun, touching summer movie, you can't go wrong with The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

It's an anime film released two years ago, centering around a Japanese high school girl with two male friends, and the surprising summer she has as she stumbles upon an ability to (duh) jump through time.

It's a high-quality production throughout. The animation's fluid, characters are drawn consistently and realistically, the music fits, and the voices work well.

Even better, it avoids anime cliches. This is a light-hearted film that just happens to be animated.

It's a perfect summer flick; fun, light, airy, but with just enough melodrama to remind one of lazy teen summers and the fleeting hearts of youth.

(Okay, I blush at the cheesiness of that last phrase. But it fits, somehow.)

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	Pluto, volume 3 by Naoki Urasawa
	Pluto, volume 2 by Naoki Urasawa
	Puckoon by Spike Milligan
	Pluto, volume 1 by Naoki Urasawa

	Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick)
	Blade II (Wesley Snipes, Guillermo del Toro)
	Blade (Wesley Snipes)