Zenkaikon 2013 Day 3

From the positive reinforcement I got the previous night as Joey, decided to end out the weekend with him. I'll be trying to make his shirt one more time, but if it fails again for the fourth time, I'm going to have to move on and not waste any more time on it when there are other characters I'd like to do.
Only attended one panel/show on Sunday since I was too busy packing then chatting with friends made this weekend and artists from the Artists Alley to randomly choose panels to attend. I did make an effort to see the Eien Strife concert, it was amazing, possible video from that coming soon to my Youtube channel.
Linkstorm time. I picked up a lot of business cards this weekend, here's the links that you can check out their work.
http://daniellesylvan.deviantart.com/
http://atcomic.com/
http://rain-and-sunshine.deviantart.com/
http://elf-chuchu.deviantart.com/
http://sanshee.com/
http://www.technoangel.net/
http://www.snowbynight.com/
http://mikeluckas.net/
http://www.tamurancomic.com/
http://steveyurko.com/#1
http://dizzylizzycosplay.wix.com/cosp
http://random-panda.deviantart.com/
http://www.sweetandsourstand.com/
http://argibi.deviantart.com/
http://interrobangstudios.com/
http://www.luckysquidstudios.deviantart.com/
https://www.facebook.com/I.am.Sare
www.amylynnamylynn.com
http://www.sacredthemanga.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/manifesteddreams
http://www.etsy.com/shop/rainbowstarcandy
http://kartos.deviantart.com/
http://kankitsuru.deviantart.com/
http://rebeltooth.storenvy.com/
http://www.tawniebow.com/

Zenkaikon 2013 Day 2

Saturday morning dawns, and what kind of Saturday would it be without cartoons? I donned my Max outfit again to check out 'Saturday Morning (and beyond) Cartoons of the 80's and 90's.' Panel was hosted by Kevin Bolk, artist, and was hilarious and entertaining. I don't want to spoil his panel for you to see in the future, but even if I did you should check out his panels and comics, he's very entertaining. Some of my favorites included the Super Mario Super Show, The Legend of Zelda, Fox's Peter Pan and the Pirates, and Pirates of Dark Water.
After the panel tried to get a few more pics but it didn't quite work out so I changed into plainclothes which got me a lot of compliments. I decided to wear my shirt with this design.

The artist is Karen Hallion, and I love her work. You should see some of the prints she has on sale in her Etsy shop, just beautiful.

After taking more pictures of people, went to 'Eien Strife's Stories of Adventuring' panel. Going to share a video from their Youtube channel that they showed, but seriously, go check them out, they have the songs from their album on the channel that you can listen to before buying the cd. 

The panel was comprised of q/a sessions between videos and songs. They sang some popular songs like Still Alive, the Pokemon Theme song, and one of theirs, Follow the Star. Ended out the panel with everyone there getting in a victory pose up front.

Next up was the 'Webcomics 101' panel. Hosted by T. Campbell, Scott Kurtz, Jessi and Matt, creator of Not so Magical Girl, and the creator of Friday Nights. The panel was very informative, mostly q/a, but I took lots of notes if I feel the need to go that direction in the future. You never know. 
There were a few hours between it and the next panel I promised to go to, so I decided to get changed and end the night out as Joey Wheeler.
Not going to go in depth on the last two panels of Saturday, went to 'How to Burlesque' followed by 'Beyond the Tentacle with +2 Comedy.' I'm still trying to figure out why I went to the Burlesque panel, it's not something I would normally go to, but I thought that after the conversations I had Friday night, it was time to do something crazy and out of my comfort zone. Especially since it was highly unlikely anyone would be getting undressed, I felt more comfortable deciding to sit through this. Most of it was a q/a with talking about how they got into this business, followed by a demonstration and basic dance that everyone had to get up and do. And before anyone asks, yes I danced, it wasn't any worse than anything that's happened at RHPS, and no, I'm not ever going to be going down that path, so don't worry about praying for me or things like that. 
The +2 panel was next. Now, I feel the need to put a little disclaimer here. I don't watch 'adult videos' I'm not into that kind of thing, but I said I'd go and had no previous obligations that I thought were at different times. No offense to anyone who does watch that kind of thing, I just don't feel like it's worth my time when there are so many other things clamoring for it. That being said, the videos and topics did make me a tiny bit uncomfortable with it being in a large crowd, but Noah and Will from +2 Comedy were funny and I was glad I went to that panel since I probably wouldn't have bought the dvd otherwise. Watching the dvd tomorrow before work, more on that later.

Zenkaikon Day 1 Part 2

Home again, on to updates! Friday was a fun day full of meeting new people, reconnecting with old acquaintances, and having fun attending a few panels.
So Friday I decided to wear the Mighty Max outfit.

Where's a portal when you need one?

For reference, here's part of the first episode. Love that show.

Not many people recognized me which turned out to be a good thing since it gave me the chance to take lots of pictures and just chat with people. I also decided to see random panels when I had the time, which turned out to be one of the best decisions of the weekend.
Pictures on flickr can be found here at Reitein700 Zenkaikon 2013
On a whim I chose to go see 'Eien Strife's Video Game Challenges' panel.

I'm not sure what exactly made me choose this one, but I'm so extremely glad I did. The group had people from the audience volunteer to come up and play a level in a video game while doing something silly or while something silly was going on/being done to them. It sounds weird to say this, but they were genuinely funny and completely unscripted with jokes they were shooting off between each other and with the audience. They seemed truly interesting and I went and bought their cd shortly after to hear what their music sounded like and loved it. They have videos and pictures on their website, go check them out. http://www.eien-strife.com/ or on their youtube. I then proceeded to go to most of their panels and shows this weekend minus 2 because or previous engagements. More on that later
After more wandering, I headed to Uncle Yo's Stand up Comedy, where he told jokes from his newest album, Ecto-Kitt-Lorean. It was hilarious as always, not sure what else there is to say since I've said so much about him already in several past posts. For those who had heard about an interview, not going up on this blog. I'll maybe link to where it was done for in reality, but not hosted here since it wasn't actually for this blog. I did talk with this one awesome guy while waiting with my 'friend', I wish I knew your name, you gave me some great advice for the future I'll definitely be using for my video tomorrow.
Final panel of the night was 'Avatar the Last Con Panel V:BoomerAang There and Back Again.' saw this group at Zenkaikon last year, and was thrilled to see them back. New material discussed about what might happen in the coming season of The Legend of Korra with concept art, new characters and leaked video. There were also descriptions and demonstrations of the different types of martial arts that inspired the types of bending. I decided to give the trivia a try but tanked. I got the simple math problem right though, so at least I'm not a total failure. Remember what I said about who I sat next to last year? Yeah, this year it was a heckler I had the pleasure of sitting next to. Again, here is where Toph and Aang can be found.
Going through Flickr found a bunch of great photos from these people and more.
Digital Ink
Gesheehy
Bodhisattva2013

Zenkaikon Day 1

It's shaping up to be an awesome convention this weekend. Connected with friends, acted a fool trying to explain how I felt about something but poorly, and saw some awesome panels. Bad news, no free wifi except in the lobby possibly, so posting from my phone right now. This means hardly any pics or videos until I get back home and can upload, but I will be getting them ready on the laptop, labelled and organized so I can get them out in several posts Sunday night to Monday morning. I'd stretch them out but I'd like to keep all the con posts in order and finished before I go see and post about the movies Monday and Tuesday afternoons. Also, not many videos going up, even if you saw me recording something, only about 10% are maybe going to be uploaded as clips or stills. I was really only taking videos so I could enjoy the panels more in real time. Last year I spent so much time writing about what was happening and didn't really enjoy it.
I'll leave you all with this one pic taken with my phone today.

Lelouch

Updates and news

Just a quick update on everything going on right now. I know Burt Wonderstone just came out, but because of things happening, I'll be seeing it Monday the 25th, and the Croods on Tuesday the 26th. My job has had me working weird hours until after my 'vacation' this weekend. Which brings me to my other news. I'll be going to Zenkaikon this weekend, and being sad reading all the tweets and updates about Pax. Sadness will be contained within the hotel room though, as I'm looking forward to meeting a lot of new people and networking this weekend. I'll be a blonde, this weekened only, dressed as Joey Wheeler, or Max the Cap-Bearer. The days leading up will be full of last minute prep, both for the con and Easter and watching massive amounts of Mighty Max. Yes, I'm one of those people who when dressed as a character, I like getting the lines and way of speaking correct. Also my Joey is going to be abridged Joey, easier for me to do that accent and funnier.
I'm also hoping to be able to go to Otakon this year as well, but if I don't, there will still be the Renn Faire and other small events to go to.
Other news, some interesting things to talk about. I finally got around to watching the BBC's Sherlock, Loved it! I won't be getting The Hobbit when it comes out tomorrow, I'm waiting for the special extended edition like what I have with the LOTR dvd sets. Loved the finale of King of the Nerds. The one I was rooting for the whole time didn't win, but he's still awesome. I'm amazed it took me this long to find this movie, but I just finished watching 'Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel.' I freaking love this movie, Chris O'Dowd is great in it, and will be getting it on dvd very soon and sharing it with all my friends. Not quite sure how to put this in words, between the dialogue, references to other means and stories f time travel, and the need to be thinking about the movie while watching it, it's all just amazing. The thinking part I might have liked the most, where you had to get involved in the movie thinking about the different timelines they cross into and change. It really makes you get invested in the movie, even though it's not really interactive.

Avatar: The Last Con Panel

This panel had to be the quenchiest in humor and knowledge. 

Pre-panel videos played while people were coming in, they had Haru's Beauty products, Avatar School Time Shipping, and one of my favorites for a long time, Avatar: The Last Puppet Bender.

The panel was run by people playing Toph, Aang, Sokka and Zuko. Show started with clips of early character designs as well as what the story was originally going to be about before they decided on what was aired. This was followed by clips from Avatar-Creating the Legend of the art of bending and martial arts, and after each clip of the 4 main bending styles, Zuko gave an explanation of the style and history, as well as a demonstration on Sokka on how it works. He also went into the other types of bending on the show with information on energy bending, and what Ty Lee and Combustion Man so as well as the many other minor forms and differences. The new book, The Promise, was also talked about.
Now for the humor. It's a bit hard to separate the two since funny things were interspersed within the entire panel. As well as in the audience, I had the pleasure of sitting by a Bolin cosplayer as well as a Korra(see above pic). He was completely in character and trading one liners with the panelists about things and made the panel 20% cooler. I know, wrong anime.
There were also a lot of funny clips in the slide show of information about avatar that I may link to, but might not since they will be at Otakon. Let me know what you think I should do in the comments below. If they have a panel again, you should go see it if you're into the Avatar anime. Although if you haven't seen the show before, stay away, they keep Korra spoilers out, but it's full of spoilers for the original series.
Before the game show of Avatar trivia questions that ended the panel, there was a q/a session about what people like about the new series The Legend of Korra, and what they don't like. I'd also like to hear your opinions on what you think about the new series in the comments below.

The Toph and Aang cosplayers have deviantarts they gave me, Toph is here http://apocalypsepuppy.deviantart.com/ and Aang is http://karin-alice.deviantart.com/


Update: After a lot of searching, I finally found the right Bolin's Tumblr.
Bolinanswers.tumblr.com
And link to Korra's as well.
http://korranswers.tumblr.com/

Zenkaikon Part Two

Day 2 of con was much more awesome than the first. Actually went to a bunch of different panels, but still go to run around all day taking pictures.
Started the day off with Whose Line is it Anime? Which had an awesome cast of CJ Henderson, Uncle Yo, Sonny Strait, Michelle Knotz and I believe staff member Veronica. Not going to say there were some funny sections, they were all pretty hilarious, but my favorite has to be Snapshots, where Uncle Yo was Ciel Phantomhive, telling us about his vacation to Canada and describing what was happening in each 'snapshot' the other three posed for.
Next panel I made sure to see was Uncle Yo's Stand Up Comedy. Hilarious as always, check out his site here, his CD's and DVDs can be purchased there as well as on itunes.
I got lucky enough to get into the Motivational Anime panel next. I'm finding it hard to come up with words besides hilarious and awesome for these panels because they were. This panel was full of information about what the motivational anime genre was, with examples like Initial D and Nodame Cantabile. My favorite one in this genre has to be Yakitate!! Japan.
After that I walked around until the Avatar panel, but more to come on that tomorrow, it needs a post of it's own. Didn't want to leave afterwards, so hung out at the rave until my ride was done dancing. The DJ is pretty good, DJ Hi5, website from con here. My companions also got to see the Asterplace concert in the main hall. They said it was awesome, and from what I heard of them before the closing ceremonies they sounded great, but my love for Avatar won out over checking out a new band. Especially since my companions love that sort of music and got the CD.
Again, I didn't want to leave, but also didn't feel like walking 4 miles to the hotel after they kick everyone out of the con. I'm definately going to try to go next year, it was a amazing experience. I actually got to talk to people and get things done, still astounded on how I got so many experiences in so little time. The cons I usually go to are one extreme or the other. Either it's a gigantic convention like Comic Con, or teeny one like mini con in the back of my local comic book store.

Zenkaikon Part One

So day one of Zenkaikon is over, and I had a blast! So much fun not being at Line:The Con. Not as many people here as Otakon, and there are virtually no lines to get into anything. Showed up early to the Sonny Strait panel to make sure got good seats, but not many people went, possibly choosing instead to dance at the rave of watch the magical girl genre videos next door. Their loss, his panel was hilariously amazing. Earlier in the day got him to sign the back page of my guide, picture coming tomorrow of what he drew in mine and Eric's book.
Picture now up! Krillin looks like he's been knocked around a bit, and Hughes just wants to tell you about his daughter, So cute!

Saw a lot of awesome cosplayers, as well as some halfhearted ones, but at least most of the pics I get are of those who tried and pulled off the character enough for me to warrant a picture. Sorry catgirls. The dealer's room has a lot of great stuff, lots of artists here selling their wares. Only one panel I wanted to see today, spent the rest of the time as I normally do, running around taking photos of everyone. Tomorrow going to many more panels, so will have more stories.
Getting back to the one panel I went to, it was scheduled to be Sonny talking about his comic We Shadows. Due to not many people showing up, it turned into do whatever the VA wants. I wish I had recorded this just to watch over and over again in the future, but I was laughing too hard to think about it.
Camera died, so a bunch of pictures are coming on Monday, pictures taken with phone coming tomorrow morning and evening. Also pictures taken with sister's camera coming Sunday. So You all have 4 days of fun to look forward to, yay!

Life news

News has been a little slow around here lately, not much is going on in my life besides looking for a new job. Went to a stamp expo and spent a bit more money than I should have, but every cent was worth it. I got some amazing stamps and peripherals for my crafting, also I found out some little old ladies can be scary about their love of stamps.
Speaking of crafting, the time I've spent not looking for a new job has been working on birthday and Mother's Day gifts, and items for an Etsy shop. I'm getting really excited, but didn't want to tell many people at first because of the time frame, paperwork and other things. One thing I can say for certain though, is that all the pictures I've been posting on other forums, and gifts for people I've been making are not going to be sold in my store. Those are things I've seen people selling on Esty that I've made myself since I had the supplies and too poor to buy it, so I make it myself. It also means more to the recipient than just buying someone else's craft don't you think?
On to things I have been watching. I'm loving the start of the new series the Legend of Korra, I recommend it to everyone, even if they haven't seen the original series. Glee is getting interesting in trying to wrap up so many story lines before several of the kids graduate, and adding in new story lines for the younger kids to go through with the oncoming season. Still sad I wasn't able to see the live action Ouran High School Host Club movie when it came out, anxiously waiting for dvd news so I can import it. My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic is excellent as always.
So upcoming news for the future is the store, my imminent trip to Zenkaikon, and later this summer I'll be at Otakon. Reviews and opinions also coming soon on Black Butler, Game of Thrones season 2, and of course the Avengers movie. If anyone reading this is into comics, don't forget Free Comic Book Day on May 5th this year, I'll be at my favorite store.