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 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!

AnimeFest 2014

That's right! Anime Hell will be preforming it's 14th year at AnimeFest. This coming Saturday night, August 16th at 11pm. Bring a kazoo (or your own favorite instrument) and join in on the fun.

Anime Fest 2013: We Show Our Panties

Anyway, so, uh...yeah.

We had another fantastic show, like we do every Anime Fest. It's because we have awesome volunteers like Elemkuro and SpamOwO and everyone else we had helping out. Our audio guy was fantastic and, even though we were next to the rave (it's a curse), he kept those levels where they needed to be without too much feedback.

Ah, now, the rave. That's a bit of a thing at the Sheraton. While A-Kon was there, Anime Hell was often put in the room next to it. It's part of why the A-Fest show had more dialog-based material. Luckily, most of our dialog stuff is subtitled, so we're not too put out.

I also want to thank our audience tonight who--even though we threw a couple pinatas' worth of candy at them--were very good about picking up after themselves and helping make sure the room was presentable afterwards. You are the reason we do the show and we can't do it without you.

You sang along with "Pink Elephants" and we're just going to have to do that more often.

Aw, and you chanted "SLIDE" during the Cautious Twins. That makes me so happy.

The kazoos were back! They're just so great. We had the Hard Gay pose-off and the Camay walk and this year, we had actual bars of Camay soap to chuck at people. We even had an audience member come up and bring us several bars so we could throw them.

Oh, and we've got some dedicated fans. One young lady caught a bar while holding a baby in the other arm. I'm sorry, but that deserves a prize.

I might be a little sore tomorrow (later today) from throwing all that gum and blow pops and soap and candy cigarettes, but I've got a tin of White Monkey Holding Peach to see me through it. You should get a tin of the stuff, just so you can dab a little under each nostril at a con.

That's a trick I learned from Silence of the Lambs.



EDIT: By request!

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!

Hard Gay Pose Off at AnimeFEST 2012

Foooooooooooooo!

Hell Nurse Katie's Shipping Game

Camay Walk-Off at AnimeFEST 2012

Sometime before 11pm we had the first contest of the night...

Sorry about the unfocused shaky cam. It's a new video camera and I guess I need to invest in a tripod. Or home build a steady cam rig.

AnimeHELL at AnimeFEST 2012

This Labor Day Weekend!  It's AnimeHELL at AnimeFEST!  We'll be bring lots of candy, prizes and Hell Nurse Katie to Dallas on Sunday, September 2nd! Doors open at 10pm in Panel Room 6! So bring a friend and practice your Camay Walk!

Anime Hell Za Poppin'

May is Hell month. And that means we're whipping up a whole lot of Anime Hells.

May 25th is Hell Nite in Canada. Anime North in Toronto hosts David Merrill's Anime Hell, Friday at 10pm in the Plaza Ballroom.

Meanwhile on the same night at Animazement in Raleigh, Phil Lee will get you out of your seat for Anime Hell, Friday at 9:30pm in room 401A in the RCC. And if you can't get enough, There is a 2nd show the next night. It's an evening of classic clips at Retro Hell, Saturday, May 26th at 9:30pm in the Marriott Ballroom A-B.

The following weekend there's not one, but two big shows at Project A-Kon in Dallas. Saturday, June 2nd, start the evening with Otaku Hell at 10pm, followed by Ninja Hell at Midnight. Okay, technically it's not in May, but it's close enough, right?

Come on down and enjoy the Hell with us.

Yulecon 2011 is STILL GOING ON

We just finished a great show at YULECON. For an unusual night at a small con, we had a very good show.

James Leavings, who runs Yulecon, is a lovely man who treats the people who work with him very well. He managed to secure the last double for Dan and myself, which saved us a middle-of-the-night drive.

We were on after Repo! The Genetic Opera and they let out thirty minutes before we went on. They did hang around in the room for a bit, but nothing that really caused any trouble in the long run. Everyone was very well behaved and polite and we had a lot of help from the Yulecon staff and that always helps.

I'd say the only problem we had this time around was Dan's laptop worked correctly and it screwed with all the workarounds we've been doing.

Yulecon is still going on and if you're in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, you should come check it out. They're doing a full schedule of cosplay on Saturday and there's lots of gaming going on. Everyone we've talked to has been very nice; I have nothing to bitch about, so it's a short post.

Anime Fest 2011: The Curse Has Been Lifted

A lot of people asked about this piece after the show, so here it is, so you can share with your friends.

Plus, we totally suck for not putting up a post letting everyone know about ANIME HELL at Anime Fest tonight. We were in panel room 6 and you WILL NOT believe what went wrong at the show tonight.

More...

Nothing. Nothing went wrong. At all.

Well, there was one minor hiccup. Dan and Ed came by the house at around five, and we attempted to do sukiyaki. We had decided against the raw egg dip, so it was really pseudosukiyaki, but the entire thing was a disaster anyway, because a fondue pot will never produce the kind of heat you need for that. Keep that in mind if you ever decide to do pseudosukiyaki: no fondue pot. We moved the entire operation into the kitchen, which annoyed the cats, because ONLY CATS EAT IN THE KITCHEN.

Anyway, that pretty much sucked the bad luck out of the night. It's not that it was wrong per se, it just wasn't what I had hoped.

But as we were packing up and getting ready to head out the door, we got a call from the AV staff at A-Fest, letting us know that the room was empty and ready for us to come on down and make sure everything was going to work.

And everything did work. We had the most awesomest AV crew and staff was super-cool about everything, helping getting the stage turned so we could see what was going on, making sure there was a fifth mic for Katie, showing us the light pre-sets so we could get the house-lights up when we needed...

And thank-you, Spam, for getting us water. That really helped a lot. You have no idea. Sorry that kid shoved you during the Hard Gay pose-off and tried to make out with your buddy.

We opened with TV SHOW, which is kind of about what we do here.

Spike Spencer sat in with us for a while (on a dare, I heard) and I hope we did not hurt him too much. You were a good sport, Spike. Thanks for joining in on the madness.

We had a great audience, a great crew, and a great time. Your "Yatta" dance was one of the best I've seen in a long time and you, the audience, are why we do this show.

Dinner at Sushi World was, as always, wonderful.

We did not try to have sukiyaki, however.

Now, before I forget all over again, anyone who was asking about my shirt tonight. It's the Simplicity pattern 3852, and the fabric is similar to this, but on a black background. Someone had asked me before the show and I totally forgot to touch-base with you afterwards.

Also, sorry again to the kid I beaned with the candy cigarettes. Those things are dangerous!

Hell Nurse Panty Contest

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.

YuleCon tomorrow at Midnight

OtakuHELL at AnimeFEST 2010