Random Aside - Otakon 1

While currently this blog is setup for use as a tool for a work project I feel I should take the time to talk about this past weekend's anime convention Otakon which occured down in Baltimore. For those who do not know me I have been an anime fan since the early 90's or late 80's, it all kind of blurs together after awhile. Yes I remember the days of VHS, when you only bought either Sub or Dub and subs were more expensive.
Ever since 1999, Otakon, the largest anime convention on the east coast is held here in Baltimore. I go every year but as I have gotten older the way I enjoy and particapate at Conventions has changed. In the early years I simply went to watch shows, enjoy the company of friends, and spend money in the dealer's area (remember the Internet was years away and so opportunities finding merchandise and being able to haggle over prices were few and far between) . For a number of years I went as part of the Press Corps. and as such went with obligations to others and so spent less time in video rooms and more time listening to industy talk about their next releases. And now for the past few years I have been going as a Panelist, which again has a different set of responsibilities. Of course more of those happen prior to the Con with getting all of the materials together and preparing to speak in front of a large groups of people. Up until this year I had still felt an obligation to others in terms of what I was doing at the Con. This year, outside of the one panel which I was involved with, my time was my own. This year I probably spent the most time I have ever in a Convention Video room in years, in part becuase projects I had worked on were being shown.
The Convention itself was actually rather fun. I saw one really good movie, Gunbuster, and its crappy sequel, Gunbuster 2. I watched a number of older titles, ran into old friends, saw a few interesting panels, and was even a little surprised. The panel I was on this year was "I Can't Believe You Haven't Seen That" a panel which shows the coolest, funniest, and most random anime moments we can find, and compresses them down into 3 minute clips. The panel went very well for being at 9 AM Sunday morning, or the earliest it could be on the final day of the Con. I would have been happy with 12 people but by the end we had a sizeable crowd which frightingly, was for us and not the Japanese guest scheduled after us.
I also ate at least 2 meals a day....in the past I was luck to get a meal (Ensure is a great product).
More to follow once more reflection has occurred.