Worry vs. Donuts

I’m writing this mainly in response to Sean O’Mara’s FanimeCon report on Otaku USA’s site.

Remember when you first got into anime fandom? Sure you do - everyone does. Perhaps you’re a younger fan who saw Ash and Pikachu facing off against Team Rocket on a daily basis, or perhaps you watched Robotech in the eighties. Me? I saw a re-broadcast of the oft forgotten 1980 dub of the Galaxy Express 999 movie. The dub was awful, the edits were deliberate… and this 12-year-old geek in training was eager to see more. When I was 16, I finally summoned the courage to head for my local Suncoast Movie Company store and tried asking the clerk if he knew of any other local anime fans or groups. “Yeah,” says the clerk, but before I even have a moment to get excited, he follows his answer with, “but you have to take a test to get in.” A test? What the fuck? “Yeah,” he says. “For starters, do you know who Osamu Tezuka is?” Sure I did, but the notion that I had to take a test to get into a social circle was not something I was about to do. Besides, I had SATs and ACTs to deal with, and that was all the testing I needed in my life at the time. Two years later, I would visit the local Sci-Fi con only to discover that some of the convention fanbase really didn’t want us there (in fact, they didn’t want many other groups there - which is why another con eventually stepped in and is currently running a better show than they ever did). There was an anime viewing room, but it was run out of a cabana party room. The message was clear: you can be geeky, but your geekery is different from our geekery. (Read the article)

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It’s funny how one’s musical tastes change through time. All of us can probably name an album or two that we bought that we were younger that we have since discarded or hidden out of shame (the skeletons in my closet: Milli Vanilli and countless anime character song CDs). Despite that, it’s common for many of us to smile or take a liking to modern music that incorporates elements from our favorite songs of an era gone by. That’s kind of how I feel about the genre (or mini-genre?) known as Korean Electronica. (Read the article)

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Papers, projects, sights, sounds, and so forth.

Enjoy!

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With Anime Detour less than 2 weeks away, I once again find myself awash in memories of conventions past. It’s been quite a long time since I first piled into a car with Charles and my Dad (who chauffered… lucky guy!) to go hang out with a bunch of random geeks in Iowa City (I won’t mention how long ago, since thinking about it makes me feel really old).

Since then, cons and I have had a special relationship. I’ve volunteered, translated, created events, made friends, and shared many laughs. Even now, my favorite part of cons aren’t the guests, the panels, or who’s costume looks the most professional - it’s about hanging out with neat people who share a common interest. Unfortunately, I have also seen the dark side of cons: con “drama”, backstabbing, harrasment, lawsuits, and more. Only once in my life have I had to block someone from my phone/e-mail/etc., and it was because of a convention.

Detour, on the other hand, looks like it will be tons of fun as usual. Since I (and a few other people I know) might be bringing “newbies” to this convention, I decided I would draw up this guide. (Read the article)

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