PanelCon Is Drama Nonetheless? Otakon Bloggers Get It Together?
The word is in that omo’s panel is not going to happen at Otakon. Our panel application has been rejected. However that shouldn’t stop us to attempt some kind of meet-up.
In the process of planning for the panel I got to talk to Super Rats and WAH as my co-conspirators. Well, WAH is lolz as always, but among such distinguished company I think we can do more than just call it a day. Hopefully it’s more fun than attending a panel that will ultimately result in a few of us sitting around and talk about growing your page views per day, finding the optimal number of posts per week, the editorial/review divide, and why TheBigN, well, is the Big N.
That also frees up my time to creep every single JAM Project activity. Hurrah.
I do want to know two things, however–
- Just what do you guys want to talk about at a panel? If there is a seminar on anime blogging, what would you like and expect to see? I would really like to know. Both for avid blog readers and bloggers alike (are they even different?).
- Do you guys want to hang out at Otakon anyways? I know I want to at least get to see Moy and JP/Hinano (sorry no AnimeNext for omo), and some others that I don’t remember off the top of my head. Would be nice to put a face to Super Rats too. And hopefully this guy would be less embarrassed and feel more welcomed than my heckling self alone. We are thinking let’s meet up Friday night after the JAM Project show, and maybe/maybe optionally hit up a bar or an eatery. If you got a better time slot just shout it out below. Actually, we will set the time for sure once Otakon puts out their first iteration of the schedule the week prior to the con, so I am sure you will hear from me again before the con. Say something if Friday nights are/are not good for you, though.
And since those precious Otakon panel slots are precious, I hope you can go say hello to MarisaTSO.
This relatively drama-less post ends with a tidbit about Tofusensei’s panel at Otakon. He’s been running this little operation for a while now, and he parties it up with a bunch of friends and acquaintances every year. There’s also a panel that goes with the operation, and having attended it a couple times I do think it’s a good crash course on digisubbing if you’re new to it.
This year, it seems, that he has something planned which is bigger than ever. But guess what, his panel has been denied too! I quote from the Otakon boards:
We were actually planning on having a panel discussion with members from the industry attending and discussing the issues with very experienced and influential fansubbers participating. I’m certain your convention is making a mistake by not tackling this issue.
If there is an explanation for why it was rejected, I’d like to hear it. Thanks.
A little more context: basically his digisubbing panel, which has ran for the past 6 years at Otakon, is denied and he wasn’t told exactly why. (FWIW I wasn’t told either for mine.) I would like to see Tofusensei vs. Otaking celebrity death match style…hmm. More impressions for Anime News Network!
As for the anime blogging panel…well, I’ve been thinking about it (out loud) since 2006, so there’s reason to take matters into my own hands again for 2009. I enjoyed what little work I’ve done this year, and I’m already half-surprised at the interest from you all in this little half-aborted thing. Hopefully next year will work out better.
Just What about Your Star, Do Tell?
Grats to the Anime Blog Awards for finishing relatively successfully. I ran across a couple interesting blogs (which I promptly now have forgotten…they’re bookmarked somewhere) in the process of participating in it. I mean, I’m kind of surprised–I never really am that interested in popular blogs on the whole, and was surprised to see some interesting blogs on the same wavelength as mine. The “rookie of the year” category is a telling example–the winner is a blog that I don’t know and I still pass over; but the other nominated entries in that category bring something original to the table that I value.
The ABA tie-in is pretty simple when as applied to Macross. Who is Sheryl? Who is Ranka? The latter will totally lose in a ABA-like contest in context of the show, but she’s the star in the show. And she’s the rising star in Nyan Furo.
[insert awkward transitional sentence here]
First–What ’bout My Star–for me that is the defining track on this CD, only because it appears twice and it gets lodged into my head easily. I hate it when songs get stuck in my head, because it sort of contaminates the experience for latter tracks. Nonetheless, the repetitive pop is just the right softness to be pleasant and the right sharpness to be catchy. I can’t really decide if I like Sheryl’s Live version more or the @ Formo version more–I like how the Sheryl only version is integrated into a live setting (with the appropriate arrangement!), yet I really dig the May’n/Nakajima duet.
It’s like Get Along.
But I think my favorite track overall on the CD is Welcome To My Fanclub’s Night. I don’t know why–probably because of the arrangement and the appropriate amount of energy as a fake live version. Without any kind of emotional attachment to the actual show, it’s easily the best produced idol power pop song on the CD. It’s just got corny lyrics, but it’s not that bad for an anisong.
Infinity is pretty good too, that said, but Diamond Crevasse puts it to shame.
Anyways, the past half year we’ve heard some more “LOL Kanno is a plagiarist” stuff and I think while it is always good to fish out where Kanno is getting her mojo from, it’s just outright ludicrous to jump to conclusions when most people don’t even know about what it means to be a plagiarizing musician. But man, Klaus Badelt much? And also some Zimmer?
Overall I’m sort of amused by this entire CD. The selection of the BGM tracks to be included on this CD is a very clever mix. A lot of the very impressive tracks go right along with the not-serious-business pop vocals (Triangular is still a LUL-tastic comeback for Maaya x Kanno), and they mix well 1:1 with some of the Hollywood-inspired mood-setters. If you don’t take Kanno’s pandering seriously (as you shouldn’t), I think you’ll really enjoy the tracks they have selected.
And thankfully, even so we get some more subtle tracks to go with both versions of Aimo. Track 20 (Kirakira), specifically, was very nice. And necessary. It’s just a little too much to have the whole soundtrack be full of lulz and awesome, right?
Speaking of lulz, though, nothing beats Ninjin Loves You Yeah. Or if you’re really bold, you can try this version.
And in the context of this CD, the Nyan Nyan song is just down right sinister–beckoning you to the pretty girls, gorgeous, delicious, deculture. It mixes Chinese, Japanese, and English to create this bizarre, meta-cultural experience. And appropriately it’s smack in the middle of this very fun soundtrack album. It’s no longer East meets West, or some postmodern display of lulz. It’s a glimpse of the humble reality about anime as a form of entertainment.
It’s not easy to play a flute for two separate audience and make them both sing–the East and West; or in the context of this blog, the good and the popular. When you’ve micromanaged the soundtrack release for a cartoon TV show to include promotional material for aspiring idol talents in the form of a fake live show, while delivering a potent payload to appease die hard fans of the composer, AND at the same time weave a coherent narrative, in line with the theme and concept of the anime, that adds to the enjoyment of the show’s intended audience, it’s hard to not call it “best soundtrack <insert time frame>.”
[Note: If you ever want to do the Nyan Nyan Dance, you can get a glimpse of the full motion in episode 10…sort of.]
Yet I’m hesitant to call it that. Nyan Furo’s intrinsic qualities take a back seat in terms of epic composer epeen, compared to some of the more sublime works from Yoko Kanno. Basically, Nyan Furo is all about pandering. But that’s why we are all going to buy copies of this CD and be like giddy fans, because you know OST2-3-4-whatever will have more of this, and hopefully more of the Kanno score that made her the fan favorite today.
For a more detail breakdown of Nyan Furo, check out this entry from the premiere YK fan blog. I think DarkMirage is going crazy with the translations too, if you want a crack at it (as he translated none of the songs I wanted to look up).
Beyond Shinkai
So in a couple weeks, Makoto Shinkai will have his film and interview in London. Poor sods stranded over this side of the pond, like us, can probably take this opportunity and do something else while Shinkai moves on to a new chapter in life as an expat.
“2nd_Life (茗记)” is something that might be it. You can watch it on Youku, or watch it on Tudou. Chinese-based streaming video sites don’t work super great on my home connection, but they do work. YMMV.
This 6-or-so minutes long indie animation is produced by some PRC studio called L-Key. It’s in Chinese with Chinese and English subs. You can also find the soundtrack in mp3 as well as a WMV link (it didn’t work for me) for the video. Coming from a Shinkai fan’s perspective the similarity is clear, but there’s at least a modicum of originality in the expression that makes it credible, at least a little.
Big thanks to Iwa ni Hana for pointing this piece out.
Speaking of which, there’s this other piece on Iwa ni Hana about She and Her Cat which is just delightful. Can I go squeee now? You should go pay the blog a visit.
Momotato Is…
Some things in life are just hard to put into words. Momotato is one of those things.
Sure, for most people, Momotato is this guy who used to blog (although technically he still does) about anime, Japanese pop music, and some random game stuff. And being one of the earlier anime bloggers who wrote about proto-news, his influence on the fledgling online blogging community in English-language-land is actually more far-fetched than one would imagine an owner of a dead blog.
But to me, he’s a friend I’ve known for some time. And he’s a pal. Despite his eccentricities, there’s an undeniable charisma about him which makes his opinions somehow always better than most people’s opinion about the same thing, even with the same opinion! He did not need pretty pictures or a 12th grade vocabulary to convey heartfelt ideas, even if he had those. There’s a trace of humility entwined with experience in every wisdom-laced review he posts on a humbly designed, pre-Web 2.0 homepage. It was admirable, and to me he’s managed to accomplish something that few I know was able to do so–to cause ruckus out of building bridges between fans who share the same passions, rather than divisive drama spoken from some ego-filled hot -air-balloon/soapbox.
Even so, I don’t think I’ve gotten close to capture the essence behind why a small group of people are so hyped up on Momotato. He’s just a fan much like you and me, after all.
Perhaps he is the everyfan?
I’d like to take this opportunity to (try to) embarrass him, but also to let him know how many of us still appreciate him. And also for me to get a better idea just how many people who appreciate him. You can do this by leaving a comment on a blog. Any blog. Like this Anime Blog Award vote thing that’s going to end today. Just post “Momotato” in the comments.
Anime Blogging Nonsense
For once, I feel compelled to do something about the state of anime blogging.
Would anyone be interested in hosting a panel with me at Otakon? This is a somewhat serious commitment and the deadline for an application is the end of the month. I am in the process to evaluate if this is a worthwhile idea or not so I can accordingly decide the next step.
I realize while anime conventions are a part of the fan culture, the mixing of that and anime blogging has not really come to focus in the fore. One of the issues that could be discussed is exactly the scope of anime blogging. The everyday blogger writes about daily circumstances, and it’s not totally uncommon for someone to talk about or review an anime once a blue moon. Or manga. Or any other subject matter the usual “anime” blog scene cover. How is that different than an “anime blog” as we know it?
Should we talk about the style of blogging? Personally I take a very relaxed approach; a major advantage of blogging is the way it allows for the expression of individuality; at the same time, it is worthwhile to discuss the nature of such things in order to provide insight into how to get the most out of a blog as a blogger. As long as we can convey to people that ultimately a blog is whatever you make it, and defined categories are not all there is to anime blogging. At the same time, I am interested in how people think about this issue, if you have given it some thought.
Discussing such topics at a con also runs into the issue to get the audience involved, and I think that is why the idea is compelling. For one, a lot of con panels are really just pow-wow sessions for people on the internet to say hello to each other. Also how to entertain people may very well be an issue. I suppose I can start stretching and practice learning the crane kick. Anyways, I think this is only a good opportunity and worth all the potential work if other people can play both as panelists and audience.
At the same time, all this thinking makes me realize I’m pretty under-equipped with some of the basic blogging concepts. How do we discuss aggregation portals, scrubbing, or the technical ends of things? Managing traffic and generating it? Advertising? Well I guess I’m not clueless about all of those things but I’m certainly not confident and knowledgeable enough to host a panel. This is just another reason why I will need help.
And … yes. Help. If you are interested in this project (even if you may not be able to come to the panel), I can probably use it. Just ping me, email me, or otherwise leave a message.
Speaking of that, anyone else up for epic karaoke this Otakon?
