1. Atlanta
- Holy shit, that is a WIDE highway
- I stayed at the con hotel and saw nothing else of Atlanta
2. The Convention
- Rained all weekend. Good thing I stayed at the con hotel.
- My camera’s batteries died on me, so couldn’t take a picture in my Athena costume until I got home.
I am such a dojikko.
- There were no other Aria cosplayers. Also, nobody who took my picture knew who I was. These are the sorts of uncultured neanderthals that go to anime conventions.
- After disappearing for the past two years, FMA cosplay is making a comeback. Perhaps I’ll do Scar again in the spring.
- Before my batteries died, the only picture I got was this badass Taiko drumming.
- Vic Mignogna’s “Fullmetal Fantasy” video may be the highest quality work of “amateur” filmmaking I’ve ever seen. (For various reasons, you can only watch it at cons.)
- One of his other videos you can see online: The Legend of Middle Tennessee
- AWA had some of the best AMVs I’ve ever seen in terms of both entertainment value and technical skill. A couple I tracked down:
- I MUST watch Avenue Q
- Few lines for a convention so large. Overall, excellent venue.
- Several panels were dedicated to making fun of lame anime. Sometimes it was hilarious, other times it was tedious. A few times they even poked fun at non-Japanese animation. That’s about as hard as clubbing a baby seal.
“If you listen closely, there are people already jumping off the boat.”
- Big surprise, I didn’t buy anything. My walls remain blank.
- One of the guys I roomed with bought an $80 Hatsune Miku towel. I am still not sure who Miku is or what she has to do with anime.
- Been there, done that—my reaction to most of the panels. Surprisingly, the most engaging panel was on traveling in Japan.
3. Stuff I watched
- Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne (English trailer): Rin is no longer voiced by Mamiko Noto. Thus, her voice is much more fitting and much less entertaining. (+++)
- Detroit Metal City (Live Action Movie): Several minor variations from the anime make it worth watching. (+++)
- Fist of the North Star (Movie): Several minor variations from the anime were pointless or for the worse. Also, some of the scenes were clearly not remastered. (~)
- Canaan 1-2: Cool action, lesbian potential. May continue. (+)
- Best Student Council 1-2: Mildly entertaining. Cyndi, the driver girl, is awesome. May continue. Comment if this show is any good. (+)
- Otoboku 1-2: Boring, pedophilic. (~)
- Macross: Do You Remember Love (Movie): Watched mainly for the educational/historic value. Not bad (except for the whole aliens-with-feelings thing), but I’m sure it’s better when spread out over an entire series. (+)
- Spice & Wolf 1-2: Had me at currency speculation. Will continue. (++)
- Blood: The Last Vampire (Live Action Movie): Crappy acting, crappy directing, crappy writing, cool fight scenes. (~)
- Cruel Restaurant (Live Action Movie): Worst movie I’ve seen since Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Its only redeeming features are that it’s occasionally pornographic and doesn’t take itself seriously. (~~)
- Erotic Comic Girl (Live Action Movie): Worst movie I’ve seen since Cruel Restaurant. Absolutely terrible, even for porn. (~~~)
In case you aren’t familiar with my grading system, read up. Some of you who’ve been reading my site for a long time are apparently still clueless.