oh wait no no nevermind, i've got a
room.<br><br>Oh and Brian, if you have forgotten, i gave you
those 3 vhs tapes for music vids.<br>Speaking of music
vids, i should have a new one to show at the
meeting.<br>Jason
Once again, it's time for a movie review, and the
feature is - FINAL FANTASY!<br><br>Now, one thing I want
everyone to know is that I have never played any of the
games and my only exposure to this series is through
the multitude of music videos done to the various
chapter scenes. So, die-hards, please excuse my unknowing
opinions.<br><br>First and foremost, the film is worth every cent to see
it on the big screen on technical merit alone. Some
may say, 'I can still tell it's CGI.' Yeah, but it's
REALLY INCREDIBLE CGI!!! I mean, being a programmer and
artist, my mind boggled at the detail in the characters,
vehicles and even simple things like how the fabric in the
clothing was rendered. You have to see it to fully admire
it.<br><br>The story, although not in the 'fantasy' theme as I
had seen in the past, wasn't bad. Yeah, it was
predictable at times and the ending was sorta what I figured
it would be, but very entertaining overall. I even
thought the voice-acting was half-decent; once again,
Hollywood lending some big names to the cast.<br><br>If
there was something negative to point out, and only
minorly so, is that they don't quite have lip-synching,
or more precisely, the lip movements, down as well
as everything else. Again, I can understand that
this is a technical problem of a gargantuan scale, as
the precision must match the amount of detail. It
appeared to be made for the American dub, but sometimes I
wasn't sure.<br><br>In summation, just see the damned
movie! I thought it was worth the full ticket price and
probably another watch while still in the
theaters.<br><br>Adam
Greetings Fellow Carbon-Based-Life-Forms! How's
it goin'?<br><br>So...someone tell me what I missed
at this month's meeting. Did it even happen? Was
anything of note shown? Did a Singularity open up and
swallow the entire store in an imperceptible cataclysm,
plunging the entire countryside into a state of infinite
mass and utter obliteration? Or was it a meeting like
any other and Brian only needs to up his medication
dosage lest his rampant adjectives gain a mass of their
own?<br><br>So what happened, huh? ;D<br><br>Till then, be
seeing you...<br>Brian & Malak<br><br>p.s.: I concur
with Adam. Final Fantasy is worth seeing. If nothing
else, it can only be truly appreciated on a big screen
with a good sound system.
Well, we didn't watch much of note, but we did
show End of Evangelion (it was my first time watching
it, so that was cool). We watched a couple of
episodes of Crest of the Stars, and one episode of
something called Magic Users (I think, I don't really
remember, a little help?). And, that's
it.<br><br>--NE<br><br>"It's warm!" --Scientist-dude from FF:SW
Brian,<br><br>Yes, the main event for the evening
was 'The End of Evangelion', and I must say that my
brain still hurts from it. I believe Hazen showed an
episode (#3, I think) of 'Magic User's Club!' (Maho
Tsukai Tai!) and the first three episodes of 'Crest of
the Stars'. Also, we had some really great music
videos to start the meeting.<br><br>We announced that
next meeting will not be until August 18, due to the
OTAKON 2001 convention. Moot point, really, as
practically everyone will be at the con anyway.<br><br>That's
about it.<br><br>Adam
Well, I post, when I feel the urge.<br><br>But, I'm not going to Otakon, so have
fun, all. Oh, and, if anyone goes to MAT3K, tell me what the anime they did was,
plz? Thanks.<br><br>--NE
=^..^= Meow!<br><br><br>Ryan Here! Going to dress
up as Samaus Aran, (probably didn't spell that right
so sue me!) ;")<br>Got 7-8 people in my room already
so please do not ask.Other than those rants and
raves take care everyone hope to see everyone's goodies
when you guys get back....hmmm Let's have a show and
tell of anime. heh heh heh =^////^= you know what mine
will mostly be....
Of course I'm going! In fact, I've been asked to
speak at a couple of panels and I would love to see as
many familiar faces amongst the sea of unknowns I'll
be staring down. <hint, hint><br><br>On Friday
night, at 10pm, I and others will be doing a panel
entitled "These Are A Few Of My Favorite Scenes". The
title is pretty self-explanatory. We'll have clips of
stuff few, if any, of you have ever seen (this panel
also doubles as an "Obscure Anime" track). The best
part is that they're giving us a whole four hours to
run this, unlike most panel which are an hour and a
half to two hours. This is always a fun panel, to
watch or participate in. I and Rob (see below) believe
that a panel is more enjoyable for all if everyone
pitches in. Basically, we prefer group-discussion over
the standard Q&A approach. Izz more fun dat way!! :D
<br><br>The second panel we're doing is "Anime...You're
History!" on Sunday morning, at 10am. We'll be showcasing
clips of anime that deal/borrow directly from Japan's
history. Sadly, we're only being given an hour and a half
for this one, but if you have any interest in
japanese history and culture, c'mon in! (And besides, if
our panels are well recieved, they may give us more
floor-time next 'Kon.)<br><br>I look forward to seeing
everyone there who can make it. Please, if you can, come
to my panels. You'll also get to see my
oft-mentioned-history-teaching-buddy, Robert Fenelon. He's one of the most
well-read
and engaging anime gurus you'll ever meet. (He's also
the direct source of most of the ecclectic stuff I
bring to the club. Talk about connected!)<br><br>Well
Adam, you asked for a post and you got a rant! Happy?!?
;D<br><br>Till then, be seeing you...<br>Brian & Malak
Yes, Brian, I am happy for all the response. I
know you can count on Hazen and I being at one of the
panels, at least.<br><br>And everybody, my 'TV Dinners'
video made it into the finals for the Music Video
Contest. Please vote for it.<br><br>Thank you for your
support.<br><br>Adam
This is going to be my last posting before
heading off to Otakon and I just wish everyone to have a
great time fighting the long lines and rabid fanboys at
the dealers' room. Hope to see most of you there, and
if not, Saturday the 18th.<br><br>Thanks for all the
feedback :]<br><br>Adam
Hey i just got back from Otakon, and i want to
say that i really enjoyed the panel you did Friday
night "These are a few of my favorite scenes". I also
want to say, where was everyone else! you missed his
panel! you would have loved it! <br><br>And to Dave,
nise job with Mystery Anime Theater 3000, love it
also, although i had to leave early to catch Brian's
panel. <br><br>Good job,<br>Jason<br><br>P.S. Brian, you
still owe me those 3 tapes of music vids. ^_^
Well, it's the day after Otakon and I think I've
recovered from the weekend with a good night's
rest.<br><br>The convention was yet again a great experience,
although I really didn't see that much new stuff. It was
fun seeing shows that I grew up on (like Johnny Sokko
and his Flying Robot) and loved the panels we
visited. The interactive ones that Brian had a hand in
were especially fun to be at.<br><br>Thanks to
everyone for their encouragement with my Music Video, even
though I admittantly got my ass spanked by the
competition. Hey, I was surprised that I even placed.<br><br>I
hope everyone had as good a time as I did and look
forward to swapping stories with all of you this
Saturday.<br><br>Adam
Greetings One and All!<br><br>Well...that's one
more Otakon down and, if the attendance trend
continues, many, many more to come.<br><br>Suffice to say, I
had a great time despite such little stumbling-blocks
like;<br><br>1. Very little money with which to shop. I finally
managed to do an anime con without dropping ANY money in
the dealer's room. Trust me when I say this is
nothing short of a miracle. I could teach the government
a thing or two about deficit spending. :P<br><br>2.
The sinus infection I misdiagnosed as merely "bad
allergies". It's not the constant nose-blowing or the endless
doses of decongestants and antihistamines that I really
minded, it's the fact that it was threatening to reduce
my speaking voice to that of a gravel-gargling frog
that had me tense. Not the best way to start off your
first time speaking on panels, no? Fortunately my voice
didn't depart till late Sunday night and the microphones
at the panel rooms were a godsend. Thanks
Otakon!<br><br>And last, but not least...<br><br>3. Genki Bakuhatsu
Baltimore!! Borrowing a friends' translation, this roughly
means "Joyous Apocalypse Baltimore" borrowing from an
obscure anime series "Genki Bakuhatsu Gambalgar". (See
more on obscure anime titles below) In a nutshell,
Baltimore has NEVER been this exciting (or inconveniencing)
before.<br><br>Okay, for those who couldn't make it to the 'Con,
here's what you would've had to contend with. On July
18th a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals
derailed and caught ablaze inside the Howard St. Tunnel
which knocked out power and water and effectively
closed the Inner Harbor for some
time.<br><br><a
href=http://www.sunspot.net/news/yahoo/bal-te.md.train19jul19.story
target=new>http://www.sunspot.net/news/yahoo/bal-te.md.train19jul19.story</a><br\
><br>Naturally there are still work crews laboring here and
there. This wouldn't be out of the ordinary except one
of these sites was on the road where Route 95 spits
you out into the Inner Harbor area, just past the
convention center and the stadiums.<br><br>Traffic was
HELL!!<br><br>Every car moving in or out of the area had to dance
around this one-block-long construction zone. I thank
the Powers That Be that I wasn't going through during
rush hour and that I had air conditioning in my car.
Oh yeah! Did I forget to mention that the
temperature was a shred over 100 degrees and carried a
follow-up-punch of an 80% or so humidity level?!?! I had to
circle around twelve or so square blocks two and a half
times to realize I couldn't drive up to my hotel
because of the work area!!<br><br>AAAACCCKKK!!!!! `;P (me
sweating to death)<br><br>Now we all know that bad events
aren't solitary creatures, but prefer to hunt in threes.
The availability of the hotels was eaten up by the
three days of baseball games in the ajoining stadium.
My heart goes out to all those who couldn't go
because of the notable lack of accomodations.<br><br>But
wait...there's more! And this is the best one
yet!!<br><br>-----continued on part 2-----
Greetings One and All!<br><br>Well...that's one
more Otakon down and, if the attendance trend
continues, many, many more to come.<br><br>Suffice to say, I
had a great time despite such little stumbling-blocks
like;<br><br>1. Very little money with which to shop. I finally
managed to do an anime con without dropping ANY money in
the dealer's room. Trust me when I say this is
nothing short of a miracle. I could teach the government
a thing or two about deficit spending. :P<br><br>2.
The sinus infection I misdiagnosed as merely "bad
allergies". It's not the constant nose-blowing or the endless
doses of decongestants and antihistamines that I really
minded, it's the fact that it was threatening to reduce
my speaking voice to that of a gravel-gargling frog
that had me tense. Not the best way to start off your
first time speaking on panels, no? Fortunately my voice
didn't depart till late Sunday night and the microphones
at the panel rooms were a godsend. Thanks
Otakon!<br><br>And last, but not least...<br><br>3. Genki Bakuhatsu
Baltimore!! Borrowing a friends' translation, this roughly
means "Joyous Apocalypse Baltimore" borrowing from an
obscure anime series "Genki Bakuhatsu Gambalgar". (See
more on obscure anime titles below) In a nutshell,
Baltimore has NEVER been this exciting (or inconveniencing)
before.<br><br>Okay, for those who couldn't make it to the 'Con,
here's what you would've had to contend with. On July
18th a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals
derailed and caught ablaze inside the Howard St. Tunnel
which knocked out power and water and effectively
closed the Inner Harbor for some
time.<br><br><a
href=http://www.sunspot.net/news/yahoo/bal-te.md.train19jul19.story
target=new>http://www.sunspot.net/news/yahoo/bal-te.md.train19jul19.story</a><br\
><br>Naturally there are still work crews laboring here and
there. This wouldn't be out of the ordinary except one
of these sites was on the road where Route 95 spits
you out into the Inner Harbor area, just past the
convention center and the stadiums.<br><br>Traffic was
HELL!!<br><br>Every car moving in or out of the area had to dance
around this one-block-long construction zone. I thank
the Powers That Be that I wasn't going through during
rush hour and that I had air conditioning in my car.
Oh yeah! Did I forget to mention that the
temperature was a shred over 100 degrees and carried a
follow-up-punch of an 80% or so humidity level?!?! I had to
circle around twelve or so square blocks two and a half
times to realize I couldn't drive up to my hotel
because of the work area!!<br><br>AAAACCCKKK!!!!! `;P (me
sweating to death)<br><br>Now we all know that bad events
aren't solitary creatures, but prefer to hunt in threes.
The availability of the hotels was eaten up by the
three days of baseball games in the ajoining stadium.
My heart goes out to all those who couldn't go
because of the notable lack of accomodations.<br><br>But
wait...there's more! And this is the best one
yet!!<br><br>-----continued on part 2-----
-----continued from part 1----<br><br>But
wait...there's more! And this is the best one
yet!!<br><br>Saturday...KAAAABOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!<br><br>It would seem that 1000
GALLONS OF UNACCOUNTED FOR
TRIPROPYLENE that had mysteriously pooled underground decided
to...how shall I phrase it mildly...express itself in a
very flamboyant fashion early Saturday morning. In
other words, it exploded...SIX TIMES!!!! Fortunatly,
the only above ground effects were palpable tremors
and the launching of a 300 pound manhole cover four
feet into the air. Unfortunately, this meant even more
sealed off roads and traffic, not to mention fire trucks
and the like. But the show bravely went on...until
about 1:45am when the convention center's fire-alarm
went off.<br><br>Oh shit...<br><br>But much to our
good fortune it was either some very minor event, a
false alarm or, and I don't think I've ever seen
anything quite like this, caused by EVERY fire hydrant in
the area being opended up! It seems the fire
department turned them all on to wash away the chemicals
used in dealing with the
fires.<br><br><a
href=http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-explode14.story?coll=bal%2Dhome%2Dhea\
dlines
target=new>http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-explode14.story?coll=bal%2Dhome\
%2Dheadline
s</a><br><br>Large amounts of drugs & alcohol nor repeated blows to
my head will not be able to erase my memories of
this Con and I haven't even touched the subject of the
panels I got to participate on!<br><br>What can I say
other than, it was a fuckin' blast! I'm honored that I
finally got this opportunity to inflict my special brand
of insanity upon a captive audience. That and some
of you got to meet Robert Fenelon, my mentor whom I
speak of often, and see that he's NOT my personal
"Tyler Durden" spawned by my twisted imagination, but
rather a real, flesh-and-blood person. (I don't talk
about the figments crowding around inside my
head)<br><br>Thank you all for your endless support and praise of
our panels. From the sound of things Rob and I will
get another crack at the panel tables next year,
hopefully with more time to expound (re: rant and rave) on
our topics.<br><br>I liked the four-hour blocks we
had for "These are a few of my favorite scenes" and
"Bad Anime, Bad!" but it became quickly apparent that
an hour and a half for "Japan, Your History!" is
nowhere near enough. Rob and I made the mistake of
starting with the Great Pacific War which ate up a whole
hour. But we might get approval for our plan to break
up the history panel into two separate events. One
would cover ancient Japan to the Tokugawa Shogunate,
the other would be the Meiji Restoration to modern
day. We'll just have to wait and see what
opportunities come our way.<br><br>Wow! It's the day after a
convention and I'm already excited and impatient for it to
roll around again!!<br><br>If all goes well I should
be seeing many of you this Saturday albeit later in
the evening. Since I took last Saturday off I
couldn't justify another break but I may be able to get to
Greg's by 9:30. We'll see.<br><br>Till then, be seeing
you...<br>Brian & Malak
I was not Otakon ::hangs head in shame::, because I was out camping with my
parents. I have just one question, what anime did they do for the MAT3K?
Thanks.<br><br>--NE
The infamous Samurai Shodown movie.<br><br>And they actually made it worth
watching!!! :) VERY funny. You may now kick yourself in the head for missing
it.<br><br>Chris
There are many possible interpretations for
japanese words. It depends on the context.<br><br>"Genki",
for example can be said by someone in this
context;<br><br>"Daijoubu ka?" Are you okay?<br><br>"Genki desu." I'm
okay/I'm fine.<br><br>Or take "Sugoi!" for another
example. It can mean "Cool!" or it can be an exclamation
of excitement. Try picturing Tony the Tiger
exclaiming in japanese "Suuuuugoi!" ;D<br><br>My friends,
when they first got their hands on episodes of
"Gambalgar", each tried to come up with their best
interpretation of "Genki Bakuhatsu". Of all the different ones
"Joyous Apocalypse" was my favorite and also seemed most
appropriate for the subject title. My way of saying "What a
BLAST I had in Baltimore!!"<br><br>Just a little
FYI.<br>Be seeing you...<br>Brian & Malak
Hi again!<br><br>I just wanted to get an idea of
what people want to watch at the next meeting and
throw out some suggestions.<br><br>Adam, could you
bring the next batch of Nadia episodes? I would like to
continue the "Anime Classical Education" theme we started
after Katsucon.<br><br>I'll see if I can find the next
episode of Giant Robo. What was the last one I showed? I
think it was episode 3, but if I'm wrong please correct
me.<br><br>Mind you, I may not get to Greg's until about 9:30pm.
It all depends on when I get out of work so don't
hold back on showing stuff on my account. As far as
Nadia goes, I've seen the first eight or so episodes a
number of times. If I get there in time to show a Giant
Robo episode, great! If not, oh well. Not a problem.
Next time.<br><br>Till then, be seeing you...<br>Brian
& Malak<br><br>P.S.: I also wanted to encourage
anyone with convention photos to post a few in our
"Photos" section. All I ask is that you create a folder
with your name on it and that the picture sizes don't
get too high. Maybe around 100k or so, give or take.
Brian,<br><br>I've already put the tapes in my
briefcase to bring to the meeting. Like you, I figured that
we'd continue what we had started before Otakon,
barring any other mind-numbing distractions like 'End of
Evangelion'. ;]<br><br>Adam
Greg MADE me bring it.<br><br>I'm not kidding,
either. In fact, he told someone else to bring it, and
that person was on vacation and instead gave it to me
to bring. <br><br>Unfortunately, I will NOT be
attending this month. My mother has decided to round up all
the kids for a "family vacation". You'd have thought
we'd have been past such things, oh, about 10 YEARS
AGO! But such is life. It is unwise to irritate one's
mother unnecessarily, particularly when she works for
the IRS.
This is a posting of the cartoon network adult
swim and music vids they will be showing!<br><br>Adult
swim will be shown on Sep 2 on a sunday at 10:00 no
one under 17 (bahaaahaaaahaaa) but anyway I know they
will be shoing cowboy bebob and some thing called the
brack show I don't know what the rest will be
though<br><br>The Music vids of daft punk, gorzillas client east
wood, and never before seen cartoon networks music vids
will be shown on aug 31 what time i don't know yet!
<br><br>I think the adult swim will be a continueing thing
till a stupid paraent complians about how she dose not
know how to change the channle thus saying she can't
stop her child form watching it or making him/her go
to bed on a school night for that matter!
<br><br>But anyway take care everyone<br><br>Manax
Everybody, this IS the second Saturday of the
month, right? If so, we ARE having the monthly meeting
then, right?<br><br>If the above two answers are 'yes',
how about some input on what you want me, or someone
else, to bring to show.<br><br>Thanks<br><br>Adam
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