Like I had said in my previous post, I was sick, but I still went to FanExpo for all 3 days anyway. I kept to myself most of the time, didn’t talk much, didn’t bother to show anyone my artwork, and didn’t really hang out with anyone before or afterwards. Despite that I was able to connect with a few old friends, tchat a little with some artists, and take part in some very cool panels. There were obstacles, but it was still a successful convention.

Highlights included:
– Voice Actors. Saw a panel with Veronica Taylor (Ash from Pokemon, April from Ninja Turtles), who was very nice, and another panel with Sean Schemmel (Goku from the Texas dub of DBZ), who is a very crazy and entertaining guy.

– Japanese Artists. Yasuhiro Nightow (Trigun), Daisuke Moriyama (Chrono Crusade), and Suzumi Atsushi (Venus Versus Virus) were there and had an decent discussion panel that wasn’t nearly long enough. They also took part in a sketch-off with Toronto’s own Alvin Lee of UDON’s Street Fighter comic. They each drew one of the other artist’s characters and the resulting artwork was incredible!

– Star Wars Guests. Temuera Morrison (Jango Fett) and Daniel Logan (young Boba Fett) had a panel together that was definitely worth seeing. Temuera even sang and danced Polynesian style for us.

– REBOOT! Reboot was certainly on people’s minds in a big way, what with the recent possibility of it coming back somehow. Creator Gavin Blair was there, and there was a huge amount of fan interest in the property, so things are looking really good! Speaking of looking good, check this out:

ReBoot cosplay. That’s so cool.

So, I saw some things, I bought some stuff, I had a good time, but I was still sick, and by the end of the weekend I was in a real bad way. I’m sure I would have enjoyed it more had I not been sick, but all things considered I had a good time.

Shawn Allison! I’m bloggin’ you out, boy! You officially fail at meeting people at conventions! This injustice will not stand. Prepare yourself.

Anyway, I’m still not feeling so good, so that’s enough from me for now.

Sayonara.

Some people say that anime should not be made into live action movies. While there is a lot of potential for things to go wrong, I don’t completely agree with that statment. In the right hands, anime can be the basis for a really awesome film. And here’s an amazing little video, made by some Spanish-speaking fans, that proves it.

Oh my God. I freaked out when I saw this. I want this to be a real movie so bad. This just looks awesome. Unfortunately, this is only a fan produced trailer, and no actual movie exists.

Captain Harlock is one of the all time classic anime characters, and one of the coolest characters of ever. This story is absolutely prime territory for a live action movie, in any language. If such a thing were ever to happen, with Harlock or any other famous character, I can only hope that it is done with the same quality and attention to detail as this clip.

There have been several live action movies based on anime released in Japan, with mixed results as you’d expect. As far as Hollywood goes, Speed Racer comes out next year, so maybe that’ll be the start of a trend.

Sayonara.

Yesterday I worked at a Summer Camp at the school I was teaching at last year. I was brought in to teach comic book and cartoon art for a special “Cartooning Day” they had. I taught 4 different periods, and all combined I ended up teaching the entire range of elementary school students, from grade 1 to grade 8. I must have seen over 70 of them in total. It was a busy day. Some of them really enjoyed it, and most everyone was able to take some artwork home that they were proud of. Not bad for a day’s work.

In my first class there was a little girl who was in my class over the past year, and when I was finished the lesson she came up to me and gave me a hug. I’m not really supposed to get hugs from students for various reasons, but she did this 4 or 5 times and she said she missed me. It was kinda cute. I have to take that as a sign that I’m a decent teacher.

The first graders were an interesting bunch. I’ve never taught anyone that young before, let alone a big group of them. You can’t really teach them the same way you teach older students, because they’d forget everything by the time they started. So I showed them how to draw a super hero one step at a time, and stopped after every step to let everyone catch up. So I first drew a circle, and then went around and helped everyone draw their own circle. It went slowly, and even the simplest things went slowly, but most of them were able to get through it and have a finished drawing by the end. They all weren’t angels through, and a few were really disruptive, but that’s pretty much always the case with any age group. There was this one creepy little squirt who was just vehemently opposed to the very concept of cartooning and was very destructive the entire time. This is ironic because this kid had these ridiculous looking glasses with perfectly round lenses that made him look just like a cartoon character. Somehow I imagine that he’s got an army of insects waiting for his commands. Far be it for me to make fun of a 6 year old, but still, this kid was something else. He could be a villain on Yu-Gi-Oh.

Anyway, me teaching at this camp was pretty much a one off, special occasion. There isn’t a “job” in it, so to speak, just a gig. But I’ll be doing the exact same thing again next month. So I’m not completely without anything to do this summer.

Sayonara.

A little late, but here as promised, pictures from the Weird Al Yankovic concert in Toronto last week. I didn’t take very many pictures because I didn’t think they would turn out very well with the way the lighting was set up on stage, but the few that I did take didn’t turn out too badly. I was too far away to get very much detail, but at least you can see what’s going on. Take a look, amigos.

He opened with a Polka!

In his Jedi robes for his Star Wars songs. This part of the concert was just awesome.

“They see me roll on… my Segway…”

White & Nerdy.

Of course, these pictures don’t do the show justice. See him live if you can!

Sayonara.

But Toronto loves Weird Al!

His concert was AWESOME. He puts on a very entertaining show with a lot of energy and dancing around. He went through most of the songs on his new album, plus several from prior albums. His Star Wars medley of “The Saga Begins” and “Yoda” had the crowd in the palm of his hand, and we were all singing along, but then towards the end it suddenly changed into this strange nonsense song and dance number. In between songs he would usually go back stage to change costumes, and in the meantime these hilarious video clips would play, including some of his infamous ALTV interviews like this one. He closed the show off with “FAT“, complete with fat suit, but then came back for an encore to perform “Albuquerque“, a song that I didn’t think he ever performed live. That song is over 10 minutes long, but he found a way to make it even longer. It was great! The concert lasted just over 2 hours, and to me that wasn’t nearly enough. I could have stayed there for twice as long. I didn’t want it to end.

If you ever get the chance to see Al live, you absolutely must go! It’s a total blast and something that every fan must experience.

I took a few pictures, but right now I have no way to get them into my computer. Come back later!

Sayonara.