A-Kon 2019

Well, someone asked. He couldn't remember the name but we both remembered the plot.

Interesting show tonight. We were on Friday night instead of Saturday, which is a change. Then we were in a theater proper, which is a change. And it was far away from everything else, which is a change. And we had technical difficulties, which is not a change but I would like one eventually.

Unlike last year's issues with adapters, this year, VLC decided it wanted to play everything on the laptop. I tried switching the main display to the screen, but it still wanted to play on the laptop. This frustrated me beyond measure as I'd tested everything out beforehand. I think I'll be getting a new laptop soon.

I swear, it's Danno's ghost. I had some Hell Money specifically for tonight, but we forgot to burn it. This is my punishment.

The show was slated to run 1:15 to 3:15, but we started late. Well, the panel before us started late and we thought we'd be cool and let them finish as no one was behind us. I mean, we'd be holding no one up, so it was not a problem.

No, it was a problem. See, the last shuttle between the theater and the con was leaving at 4, so we couldn't run it too late. Also, the staff of the Alamo Drafthouse had a long day and kinda wanted to get home before traffic got snarled up by the implosion. Add to that, the panel before us was showing no signs of closing it down and packing up. One of the con staff got a manager from the theater to get them out.

I did not see what happened next, but I'm informed that will never ever be an issue again.

Because the Drafthouse serves food and drinks, we had to make the "Last Call" announcement at 1:45. The collection of drinks would happen at 2:15. We worked in the Hard Gay contest during that time so the house lights would be up.

Shortly after that, I had to reboot the laptop. As Danno would say, Uff da.

Still managed to pull off the Camay Walk. We had a great audience tonight. They are really what makes a show, so I must always give them credit for their participation.

Katie was delightful (as always) and Eileen stayed on top of everything in the background. Thank you to everyone who stopped by the front once the show was over. Someday it will be perfect.

Although, knowing our luck, the world will end shortly after. Well, at least we had fun.

New digs, again

OK, kids. Sorry I've been a bit getting to you all on this, but we've been hashing out details the last couple weeks and I can give you the schedule (if you don't already have it).

Otaku Hell will be at the Alamo Drafthouse Cedars on Friday night/Saturday morning, 1:15 in the AM until quarter to four. Yes, when they talk about the wee hours of the night, this is what they're talking about.

So, you ask, where is that? How do I get there from Fair Park? Well, lemme tell ya, you don't walk.

No, really. Do not try to walk from Fair Park to Cedars. Please. I am not kidding.

(click to enbiggen)

The "I am doing my best to not get lost" route is down Al Lipscomb Way to Lamar. For irony's sake, you could take a taxi. The Lamar route will take you through the Cedars neighborhood proper and may be safer. I think there's some street-work near Fair Park, so be aware. 

If you take I-30, it means you're going to have to take the weird on-ramp from First Ave, fight your way across a couple lanes of traffic, then shoot through the Canyon and hope you remember where the Ervay exit is (on the left). You might want to street-view this beforehand. If you do it wrong or miss your exit, you're either going to wind up on I-35 or on your way to Ft. Worth. 

Now, one thing you can do is get into Cedars a little early and enjoy the local nightlife. The Rave (once our sworn enemy) will be at Gilley's just down the street. If you're hungry, ZaLat is open until 2AM. 

We want you to be safe and happy. Plan accordingly. 

A-Kon after report

You never know which one is going to get the biggest reaction. I had a lot of other stuff that I knew was going to get them yelling, but this one really hit a nerve this year. Glad I grabbed it this morning.

Honestly, I thought the Akira Awaken trailer would get more, but it was met with (stunned?) silence. I like to think folks liked it, and was told it gave someone chills, but I should clarify that's a fan-made trailer and not anything official. Although I do hope people at least enjoyed it and we'll need more feedback on that.

Ah! What a show. The playlist wasn't in the playlist. Everyone was on top of their game. The A/V crew was very helpful in getting the projector and screen moved to the middle of the room and the mics down on the floor with the tables, and even came by with another projector during a contest to see if that would solve our little problem.

Because every so often, the projector would lose the signal.

I fear this one is on my end. Danno was always cursed by technical difficulties and he's decided to haunt us a bit. I might have to burn that hell money this weekend. ALL OF IT. The fault is most likely the HDMI/VGA converter I have used a total of three times. I mean, I still have the little plastic protector for one end. I'll be testing that this weekend. Still glad I brought it, or we'd have no way to connect to the projector in the first place.

I think, really, the only thing anyone missed was the VW Engineer Fight and a Little Baby's Ice-Cream ad, but the audio on that one came through and it's disturbing enough with just the sound. I had to restart the Mario's Cart for everyone, because that is just too good.

The guys from NinjaHELL! sat mic with us and kept the energy high. We even got some set-up help from some guys we met in the elevator on the way up and they're dedicated fans now. Lots of new faces this year and a lot of people came up later to ask where we'd be and where were were online.

With the name change, we're going to need a new eye-catch to play in the background during the contests. The possums eating bananas worked, but we're trying to be a little more professional here, right?

Still, a very good show and a very good audience. We do the show for you because it makes you happy. You being happy makes us happy. We should all be able to take a little bit of time and be happy with other people. I hope you all had a nice day.

Have fun.
Stay safe.
Be kind.

Otaku Hell show A-Kon, Saturday June 9th

Saturday night, 11PM. We'll be in this hotel again, the Sheraton.

Only, this time, we'll be in the Magnolia. On the other side of the building. 

A-Kon 28

New digs! We were in the main programming room at the Sheraton: the "all the panels we can't define" hotel. Lovely line of people and no horrific wait at an elevator. How can you go wrong? Panel was from 11:30 to 1:30 and we cleared the room on time and everyone did a wonderful job of tidying up after themselves. We really appreciate that. It's the kind of thing that lets us come back next year.

And we had a wonderful full moon this year. I think we even managed to start the show with one. I know that Channel 58 has a rough start, but the payoff was worth it.

I'm still surprised the McDonald's "Mulan" commercial got the reception it did. You guys really liked that chicken nugget sauce, huh?

Our contests ran a little long this year. So there was a lot I didn't get to show. I'd set up one-and-a-half hours of material, with some of our more...out there stuff in the last bit, as a reward to our die-hard fans. I'm sorry we didn't get to it, but we're still tuning the process and things are always wonky in a new space.

I think--next time--we will be collecting our kazoo orchestra as folks come in, as a filler activity so we don't have to stop a contest to start that. And yes! You guys played "Livin' la Vida Loca"! I knew you had it in you.

Congratulations to our contest winners! I see someone took one of the bottles of Dr. Bronner's Curiously Strong Peppermint soap. DO THE BRON. Good luck to whoever took the cucumber plant and shout-out to the new owner of the blue bubble wand. Don't get that in anyone's eyes.

All in all, a good show, even with the hiccups we had. And yes, A/V crew, I do bring my own adapters. I like to be prepared. You never know what kind of surprises life is going to throw at you.

Tonight! Hell! A-Kon! 11:30! That's PM!

We are in this hotel, far away from everything else.



We will be in this room, right next to the bathrooms.

Hope to see you there!

A-Kon Report

Make sure you enable safe search before you Google anything about this video.

So! We had a great show. Considering we were starting much later than usual, I'm still pleased we were able to fill the room (with some left standing at the back for a while). Granted, we had contacted A-Kon later than usual this year, so I'm thankful they were able to squeeze us in.

And this year, all video had to be done via HDMI, which was OK because the laptop I was using was HDMI out only, but it was kinda not OK because of stupid HDCP and I'd left the laptop on a non-administrative account but that's neither here nor there and we were able to run the show from the back where all the devices could talk to each other without anyone completely losing their mind. This is more the fault with the protocol than it is with A-Kon's equipment and a purchase will be made to remedy that.

I want to thank our audience for sticking it out with us for two hours. I was worried we wouldn't have enough of the old stuff to keep our old fans' loyalty or enough new material to interest the newbies (and we had a shocking number of new people this year).

Now that I've done it, I'm a lot more comfortable with doing it again. I played it safe this show. Next time, we're really going to see some weird. I think it's the kind of thing Danno would have enjoyed.

As per tradition, we had a late meal at the Metro afterwards. According to Katie, they have the best chicken-fried steak.

Project A-Kon 27

As you can see, we're doing a show. Click on the picture to see the listing better.


And that's where we'll be! If you click on the picture, it will take you to a full map in PDF form.

I have ten pounds of candy to throw.

Looking for video/pics of the A-Kon Hell show

We're currently going through the video we shot at the show and will be posting the clips as soon as possible. If anybody took photos or has any video of the A-Kon Hell show and would be willing to share it with us, we'd really love to see it. Please post the links in the comments.

A-Kon 2015: the aftermath

Exciting, no?

I actually thought for a minute that Goemon was being played by Mansai Nomura, who played Abe no Seimei in Onmyoji, but no. It's Gô Ayano, who played Joe in Gatchaman. Either way, I get to have very nice fantasies later on.

So! The show!

Danno, Katie, and I took a taxi in this year, because you can't beat class. Also, I'd messed up my heel earlier in the week and didn't feel like walking 5 blocks and paying $30 for the privilege. I live close enough that a taxi was very affordable. It really is the best way to get to the Anatole, hands down.

Somehow, our room was switched with the folks doing Rocky Horror, or vice versa. I knew we were in Video Two; but when we got there, we were moved to Video One. BECAUSE WE ARE VIDEO ONE MATERIAL. All our hard work has finally paid off.

MEGALIZER II from MEGALIZER on Vimeo.

Strong start from Danno! Thinking we were going to be next to the rave, he threw in some nice boom-da-boom (sorry, Rocky Horror!) No, really, the Rocky folks were incredibly cool about the move. I don't know who made that decision, but you guys really were very cool about it and I thank you.

Oh yeah! This year, we had a special appearance from Jason Merrill, brother of Dave Merrill, the guy what started this crazy thing. He had a snazzy jacket.

For pre-show this year, we got the kazoo orchestra set up and ready to go. Why not? It's a good activity while other things are getting handled and it keeps up from slowing down the show to handle it later. Also, kazooers? You guys rock.

Normally, we split up the "Hard Gay" and "Camay" walks by gender, but this year, in the spirit of something, we decided to forgo with such binary restrictions. Both contests went wonderfully.

New contest this year was our "evil laugh" off. That is the stuff of nightmares, let me say. We'll be posting what we have of that later.

Everyone was awesome. We had a great show. Everyone had a good time. I swear, in the last four years, these have just been getting better and better!

If you've got video, post it in the comments! We love your feedback!

Yes, I know I'm posting late. I have a new work schedule and things got wacky.

Tonight! A-Kon Hell!

A-Kon Hell tonight! 10pm! WOOT!

The Totally Awesome Japanimation Fan Show (April 1990)

"We dug back into our videotape archives and pulled out this classic episode from April 1, 1990. We talk about a new Japanimation convention in Dallas, sub vs dub, and the new fad called 'cosplay'."

Shout-out to A-Kon after 1:13. Cos-play segment at 3:50. You can FF through the laser-disc part.

Danno found this, so I don't know why he didn't post it.

Bad news, kids

If you were looking forward to seeing Anime Hell at A-Kon this year, don't. We're not doing it. No Dogsnack. No Hard Gay. No Camay Walk. No Kazoos. No Hell Nurse Katie. None of that.

I hear you asking, "Why? Sweet lord, why?" Well, we contacted A-Kon this year, at the same time of of year as we have the last few times, and got the following reply:

A-kon has for many years been shifting towards an environment where we do not seek out talent, we have talent beating our doors from panels to artists, and everything beyond.

Unfortunately this year I actually had a waiting list for groups and rooms starting in October. Additionally there was a last minute unscheduled change that leaves us without our largest video space for half of the convention, as it is becoming Registration. We are making due [sic] with all the changes but we don't have space between programming and events to fit you guys in this year, and our programming book has already gone to print.

In thinking about all the folks we had to contact to let them know it wasn't happening this year, I had to remember you, the fans. It's not that we've quit; we're just not going to be there this year. We'll be back next year and we're still planning on Anime Fest later this year.

A-Kon 24: the debriefing

As openers go, that's a pretty good one. The real question is, how did we get here?

Anime Hell at A-Kon 24 this Saturday!

Come and see Anime Hell at A-Kon! The madness starts at MIDNIGHT!

Followed by ninjaHELL riffing on the classic 1982 made for TV movie MAZES AND MONSTERS! Starring Oscar Award winning actor TOM HANKS in a realistic portrayal of role playing gamers in the early 80s that will move you deeply!

Food Trucks

Danno pointed out that there will be food trucks at A-Kon this year.

"You did good," he said. "You made things better."

OK, now, here's why he said that:

Last year, A-Kon was in downtown Dallas, where there are many places to get something to eat. This year, it will be at the Anatole, which isn't close to anything unless you have a car.

My mom's neighbor, Brent, is currently building the Sylvan|Thirty development at the corner of (drum-roll, please) Sylvan and highway 30. While he had the land, but before he had the permits, he had a couple of food truck events at the location.

I had written to Brent to ask him about his food truck contacts, and if they could get in touch with the Anatole about being out there. I know hotel food is crazy expensive and there needed to be an alternative for folk without cars (or limited access to one).

So, the other day, Danno tells me about the food trucks. I immediately wrote to Brent. "I don't know if you had anything to do with it, but it looks like we'll have food-trucks this year at the convention. If so, great!"

Brent wrote back, "Probably your pops pulling strings upstairs ;)"

Now, this worries me. My dad was an eighty-years-old journalist. He hated that I was involved in conventions at all and though the type of people who go to them are just a waste of time. I had forwarded him the blog of someone from the convention and asked what he thought. He said, "Don't ever waste someone's time like that again."

So, here's the deal.  If you get food poisoning from one of the food trucks, it's not my fault. But here's how you might appease the ghost of my very cranky deaddad:

When you are telling someone about it, make sure you mention the who, what, where, when, why, and how. Extra points if you include the who else and what next. Use an Oxford comma and don't bury the lede.

And Brent's a cool guy. He always called Dad "young-timer". If you're in the area, come see Sylvan|Thirty when it opens. It's going to be really neat.

We did it!

Kubu-kun texted me at 8:30 AM Friday morning. "We'll be there soon."

Then, again, at 11:58. "Hey, we're here. Did you get the badges?"

I woke up 12 minutes later.

Hell Nurse Panty Contest

So much potential

Kuba-kun forgot both his toothbrush and paste at my place from this weekend.



I dare someone to cosplay it.

A-Kon Debriefing

The original plan was the Ninja Hell squad would stay at my place. I had meal plans for this: chicken tikka masala with palak paneer and naan Thursday night, lunch in the tunnels on Friday, leg of lamb with tabbouleh that night, and that wonderful beef tenderloin Saturday before the show with Sushiworld afterwards.

That was not to be.