Bonus – Anime Weekend Atlanta 2007 Con Report

Show 62 was running a bit long and we were already two months late on releasing this anyway, so we’ll just upload the convention report for AWA 2007 as its own separate thing since we probably won’t get much done during the Thanksgiving weekend. You need something to listen to while waiting in line/traffic for Black Friday, right?

We’ll release the rest of Show 62…later! But now, what may be the new THE SPECIAL PICTURE:

SEPARATED AT BIRTH DOT DOT DOT QUESTION MARK

If this had been sufficiently planned out, this episode would have also included our con report done at the convention with some dudes with a website, but that’ll have to wait for another day. More important AWA photos will be posted then.

40 Replies to “Bonus – Anime Weekend Atlanta 2007 Con Report”

  1. “I really don’t want to think about all the vile places that Snickers bar ended up before this picture.”

    Want a chocolate-covered pretzel? ^_-
    *obligatory Mallrats in-joke*

  2. Great podcast, as usual.

    Most of the scheduling issues we had came about due to the last-minute nature of the acquisitional phase concerning the guest portions of the program. In other words we spent the three weeks before the show furiously scheduling and re-scheduling and re-re-re-scheduling… I know, business as usual. One day we’ll get it right.

  3. AWA sounds like an amazing con. Awesome panels hosted by really smart old school fans that people actually go to!? That’s amazing!!

    You definately have to get some of those interviews up, they sound really interesting. I especially want to hear the Walter Amos/Rob Fenelon interview, as I would imagine that they have some really interesting things to say about American anime fandom. The Ishiguro and McCarthy interviews, of course, sound good too.

    That special picture of Carl Horn made my day. It’s now the desktop background on my computer. So, thanks for taking it. You need to get him on the show and talk about Studio Gainax, and what not.

    OK, this has gone on for too long. I need to go eat turkey. Happy Thanksgiving!

  4. Nice ‘cast as usual guys. Sorry I couldn’t get you into the vid rooms this year. Maybe next year. The Sunday elevator thing was one element I’ll definitely bring to the higher ups as I imagine you weren’t the only ones who had to deal with that.

    Oh I actually did get to briefly meet Ishiguro-san on Saturday, as Lloyd helped me to get him to sign my copy of Macross Perfect Memory. He seemed genuinely surprised to see the book. LOL Then I jumped back into working on Sat. night. Finally saw those two Matsumoto cosplayers thanks to Dave. They were genuinely fun to meet.

    Also, want to join you guys on the show one day as well… though to be honest, I don’t know how much I could actually contribute. Anyways take care, and til Gerald and Clarissa go at it like Dave and Maddie on Moonlighting, I’m outta here. Peace.

  5. Gerald-You gotta scan at least the cover and maybe a few pages from that Humanoid book you got.

    Also since you’ve mentioned magical girls, you should see Cream Lemon-Luries Heartbreak Live. Total parody of the genre (well, so was Puni Puni Poemi).

  6. Kinda sad to have heard of Ishiguro’s bit getting cut short there. I would’ve gave the middle finger if I were him! (of course I would’ve been as pissed off as you were) At least you got to have dinner anyway. Also seems like you’ll need to get a new recorder too Daryl to save these precious Kodak moments (if that even exists anymore) 🙂

    Interesting to hear of a Megazone 23 revival getting pushed back thanks to EVA, though I can see where it might make sense if they could at least get one out by 2010 for the original OVA’s 25th anniversary, or perhaps wait a couple more years and tie it in with 2012 if need be (the year we advance to that next level in human evolution, to become self-aware of being on a spaceship the whole freakin’ time).

    Still… FUCK YOU EVA!

    I think C.B.’s comments on EVA are probably the same as my feelings for it too, where I think it’s still pleasing action/visual-wise, but has some flaws in it’s plot and characters. Unless I don’t see the new movies coming out, my thoughts will remain the same.

    Might have some things to contribute to your “archive” once I get around to getting my scanner working again. Also found what could be my SPECIAL PICTURE I’ll have to use as an avatar someplace. just to scare people shitless!

  7. Not anime, but animation-related. I just caught a midnight show of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, which I hadn’t seen since it was new, and it mostly holds up, but the Judge Doom stand-off is kind of weak by today’s standards. Anyway, I don’t see the point in buying an overpriced LD just to see Jessica’s naughty bits, but does anyone think people who did that would be considered predecessors to today’s American otaku?

    rheinhard: “The Ishiguro introductory video I made that was shown at the opening ceremony that you referred to can be seen on my youtube page.”

    I don’t get why people didn’t like the new Astro Boy as much as the old version. That funky disco music is catchier than the j-crap they got for the 2003 version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVv_MUktAfk
    [It’s kind of sad that Rockman’s basically a remake of Astroboy, and yet the best they could do for the new version was swipe Capcom’s riffs for the intro…]

    chris: “Still… FUCK YOU EVA!”

    Man, if you said that ten years ago, you’d get banned on most anime forums. It was ok to trash DBZ, or even Kenshin, but Anno’s work was considered “sacred” ground. I remember some dude who actually carried around copies of the Kabbalah because of the show.

    “I think C.B.’s comments on EVA are probably the same as my feelings for it too, where I think it’s still pleasing action/visual-wise, but has some flaws in it’s plot and characters.”

    The flaws are that it has neither of those elements.

    Anyway, I’ll just reiterate my annoyance for Great Hacks with the following links: http://www.themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=42
    http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/index.php/Site/ThumbnailEvangelion01
    http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/44243

  8. rheinhard: Did you get that Macross DYRL clip off an LD or DVD?

    chris:

    “Interesting to hear of a Megazone 23 revival getting pushed back thanks to EVA, though I can see where it might make sense if they could at least get one out by 2010 for the original OVA’s 25th anniversary, or perhaps wait a couple more years and tie it in with 2012 if need be (the year we advance to that next level in human evolution, to become self-aware of being on a spaceship the whole freakin’ time).”

    Apparently, he was surprised about a Starblazers movie, and had never seen Stealth, when I asked him about it, and mentioned the director being a fan of Macross. http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/stealth1.php

  9. Anyway, I don’t see the point in buying an overpriced LD just to see Jessica’s naughty bits,

    I bought it on sale, and i didn’t know about the extra frames until later, so I guess that doesn’t count…

    E. Bernhard Warg

  10. I’m sorry guys, I haven’t even listened to the show. I just laughed so fucking hard at this line in the THEM review of FLCL linked here:

    “This anime’s main purpose seems to be to showcase the Japanese punk rock band du jour (The Pillows)”

    hahahaha WHAT

  11. I forgot to ask earlier, how’s that archival project you guys mentioned coming along? Please keep us updated on your progress with that!! It makes old school anime fandom junkies like me happy.

  12. Dan said…
    Not anime, but animation-related. I just caught a midnight show of “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”, which I hadn’t seen since it was new, and it mostly holds up, but the Judge Doom stand-off is kind of weak by today’s standards.

    Having saw it in the theatres back in ’89 or so, it was a film I watched constantly on VHS for a number of years afterwards. I do admit the bit at the end was very weak and could’ve been better (perhaps they fired off Richard Williams by then).

    Anyway, I don’t see the point in buying an overpriced LD just to see Jessica’s naughty bits, but does anyone think people who did that would be considered predecessors to today’s American otaku?

    I personally don’t know otherwise, though too often it’s been thought of those quick frame-only gags having been a thing animators had done for decades, so it was nothing terribly new for it’s time, but it’s awareness due to home video with the LD release sorta put it to attention to those who bother to still-frame through it (what many people are doing with a lot of “Golden Age” cartoons now to bring up the subliminal nature of said poses and exaggerations). I still believe in the thought that it was a mistake in the painting of that particular cel that started the whole mess.

    I bothered getting the LD anyway for historic purposes (there had been a few other touch-ups like Baby Herman’s middle finger getting the finger in the more recent DVD release).

    I don’t get why people didn’t like the new Astro Boy as much as the old version. That funky disco music is catchier than the j-crap they got for the 2003 version.

    I personally enjoy it a lot as well.

    Man, if you said that ten years ago, you’d get banned on most anime forums. It was ok to trash DBZ, or even Kenshin, but Anno’s work was considered “sacred” ground. I remember some dude who actually carried around copies of the Kabbalah because of the show.

    Still, I would’ve stood by my word despite being the Benedict Arnold for a number of years.

  13. Roger Rabbit was the first movie I ever saw in theaters.

    I got to see an episode Desert Punk on a satellite channel today. Wow, man, that has to be one of the worst anime I’ve ever seen in my life. Mainly there’s stuff that I either really really like or just find boring but rarely say it’s the worst. The jokes were just terrible. It’s like those bad jokes in FMA but the whole thing is like that.

    I think I had a better time watching Macron-1 on youtube this morning. At least if there was anything dumb, I could blame it on just Saban’s doing. Oddly, wasn’t as painful to watch as Voltron is.

  14. Your comments about archiving all the old timey fannish detritus got me thinking on the train ride back to my apartment after Thanksgiving this evening – my workplace has these fancy new copiers that can scan to PDF. I ought to scan in all the old Star Blazers fan club newsletters from 25 years ago!

  15. VZ said…
    Roger Rabbit was the first movie I ever saw in theaters.

    Heh, I feel old! I can’t decide if the first thing I saw on the silver screen was Snow White or Bambi (of course the re-releases Disney used to do prior to the proliferation of home video that followed passed the 80’s)!

    I think I had a better time watching Macron-1 on youtube this morning. At least if there was anything dumb, I could blame it on just Saban’s doing. Oddly, wasn’t as painful to watch as Voltron is.
    Heh, I thought Voltron wasn’t that bad when I was watching that 23 years ago as a snot-nosed 7 year old (even had the robot figures but wished I stlll did). Hell I used to wear a pair of Robotech PJ’s to sleep in every night, yet I hardly saw a second’s worth of it at all back then. 🙂

  16. chris: “Heh, I feel old! I can’t decide if the first thing I saw on the silver screen was Snow White or Bambi (of course the re-releases Disney used to do prior to the proliferation of home video that followed passed the 80’s)!”

    I think I mostly saw Disney stuff, along with the He-Man and the Chipmunk movies-until Tim Burton came along. I still don’t get what’s changed in 21 years that I can’t see “Song of the South” again, unless I Youtube it…I mean, if WB can finally release on dvd-and even screen locally-“The Jazz Singer”, is there something worse about SOTS that I don’t know about?

    chris: “Heh, I thought Voltron wasn’t that bad when I was watching that 23 years ago as a snot-nosed 7 year old (even had the robot figures but wished I stlll did).”

    I was a Thundercats/Silverhawks kid myself. I only went for Voltron, cus of the toys.

  17. Well, Transformers was the big thing for me and I still have nearly all the toys I had as a child. Most are in good if played in condition (the early ones were really fragile though).

    I never even knew about Macron-1 and Mighty Orbots until the internet age.

  18. VZ: You are such a youngster.

    The first movie I saw was This Island Earth at a drive in. I couldn’t speak English then being 4 and new to the US but it began a love of Science Fiction that helped lead me to anime.

    AWO:
    Good luck on the archive project, I’ll see if I can get some PDF files a fellow club member did of the Cal-Animage Alpha newsletters years ago.

  19. For the record: At nearly 6 feet, Steve Harrison is definitely a bigger Star Blazers fan than me, since I stand at a modest 5’8″. If you were to factor in weight and girth, I doubt that either of us would place in the top five.

  20. Dan said…
    chris: “Heh, I feel old! I can’t decide if the first thing I saw on the silver screen was Snow White or Bambi (of course the re-releases Disney used to do prior to the proliferation of home video that followed passed the 80’s)!”

    I think I mostly saw Disney stuff, along with the He-Man and the Chipmunk movies-until Tim Burton came along.

    Because I had cable before I was born, I was exposed to a lot of cooky European stuff on Nickelodeon, and favored them greatly over the ‘gross domestic product’. Cable in those days, being young as it was, often resorted to things that wouldn’t work anymore in today’s conservative world. Dave Merrill made a mention about this in his latest “Let’s Anime” blog entry. I just think it was rather a shame I was too young to fully appreciate what it meant to pay extra to see things like Soviet television on Discovery Channel, T&A on USA’s “Night Flight” or the brief glimpse of Japanese cartoons on CBN.

    One cartoon I have to give credit for the balls it had 20 years ago that sorta broke from the Saturday morning mold was Ralph Bakshi’s “Mighty Mouse, The New Adventures”. One of the first cartoons I could think of as making a statement that you could blow your nose in public and it was OK. Of course it paved the way for future shows like Ren & Stimpy and others in the 90’s, but I could remember a lot of terribly cartoons in the 80’s that would make a great presentation in a video screening room!

    Still not sure why CBS hadn’t released the Mighty Mouse series on DVD at all, yet greenlight one that didn’t even get any airplay in the states at all, Garbage Pail Kids (remember the promos for this prior to it getting yanked at the last minute, but the show itself is garbage, to say the least).

    I still don’t get what’s changed in 21 years that I can’t see “Song of the South” again, unless I Youtube it…I mean, if WB can finally release on dvd-and even screen locally-“The Jazz Singer”, is there something worse about SOTS that I don’t know about?

    Heh, best I did was bought the Japanese LD anyway off eBay when one conveniently went for under a hundred. Also got a few pirated copies of varying NTSC/PAL qualities.

    chris: “Heh, I thought Voltron wasn’t that bad when I was watching that 23 years ago as a snot-nosed 7 year old (even had the robot figures but wished I stlll did).”

    I was a Thundercats/Silverhawks kid myself. I only went for Voltron, cus of the toys.

    I could never fully get into Thundercats at all, I can’t explain why that was, but perhaps after having watched a few toyetic stuff like He-Man, Transformers and the like, I was ready to throw in the towel (on that note, I hardly ever saw Silverhawks either).

    VZ said…
    Well, Transformers was the big thing for me and I still have nearly all the toys I had as a child. Most are in good if played in condition (the early ones were really fragile though).

    I had terrible luck with Transformers since the day my mom bothered giving me a Decepticon that turned into a tape player. My older brother on the other hand had Optimus Prime. 🙁

    I never even knew about Macron-1 and Mighty Orbots until the internet age.

    I find it funny I hardly remember much of ABC’s 1984-85 season whatsoever. I guess I was more into CBS and NBC then as it had the best toons that year, but a shame I missed out on watching something Dezaki got credited with. It was best I didn’t know about Macron-1 until much later.

    Gilles Poitras said…
    VZ: You are such a youngster.
    The first movie I saw was This Island Earth at a drive in. I couldn’t speak English then being 4 and new to the US but it began a love of Science Fiction that helped lead me to anime.

    I envy you, especially with seeing that at the drive-in (there was still plenty of them in my hometown in the early 80’s but my parents didn’t seem to bother much with going to the one that was less than 2 miles from home)! If only I could share in that experience early on (instead of being weirded out of seeing The Beastmaster as a unprepared 5 year old).

    Tim Eldred said…
    For the record: At nearly 6 feet, Steve Harrison is definitely a bigger Star Blazers fan than me, since I stand at a modest 5’8″. If you were to factor in weight and girth, I doubt that either of us would place in the top five.

    I’m ashamed to say I probably would’ve topped that one easy (I’m still trying to work out losing the weight). Again, only a shame I wasn’t exposed by Star Blazers at the right moment in my life where I could’ve had a lasting impact due to it.

  21. Nothing like firing up this here pod-castin’ thing you godless whelps are always going on about for the very first time ever and finding oneself name-checked! Nothing like a little ego-boo to drag in another listener, eh?

  22. Chris Sobieniak
    Heh, I feel old! I can’t decide if the first thing I saw on the silver screen was Snow White or Bambi

    Could be worse. First thing that I remember seeing in theater was Return of the Jedi. Although I’m not quite sure where that puts me.

    Other than that wanted to say, this was another good podcast. It really makes me kind of jealous (since all I have is Otakon).

  23. Cameron Probert said…
    Could be worse. First thing that I remember seeing in theater was Return of the Jedi. Although I’m not quite sure where that puts me.

    Heh, I only wish I saw the first film even if it meant being in my late mother’s womb at the time (and whether or not she and my dad bothered to even see it in the first place). 🙂

  24. Next week is an anime con in NYC. I’m going to see if i can ask Media Blasters if the rest of Gaogaigar is still coming.

    It’s weird how CPM is still around even though they’ve haven’t licensed or released anything new since what, 2004? Actually, most of the stuff I used to by was from them cause I love most of those crazy 80’s OVA’s that few people even still care about.

  25. I love the idea you guys have for an archival project. It’s listening to you guys that has inspired me to write about my early experiences as a female anime fan in the eighties, in Southern California. (We were few and far between). I might be able to help you with the fanzine history too. My husband (was boyfriend back then) ran a branch of the C/FO back in the eighties, and I’ve managed to save a bunch of the ‘zines he had from back then.

  26. vz: “Actually, most of the stuff I used to by was from them cause I love most of those crazy 80’s OVA’s that few people even still care about.”

    I’m only making it up now by salvaging whatever left-over copies of their stuff still exist from e-tailers. I generally liked their line-up more than Animeigo, but regret not getting Baoh sooner.

  27. I am SOOOOO hopped up with excitement over all these archiving projects that are going on!

    Perhaps all my hording and saving of stupid stuff will have meaning after all! I know I blew Tim’s mind on a recent visit with some documents I had that NOBODY has ever seen…

    And I keep forgetting to mention that is the most sweaty, creepy pic of Carl I have EVER seen. HIS EYES BURN!!

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