Friday, August 22, 2008

AFK, Fan Expo

Every year, Toronto gets a convention for the geeky masses. No, I'm not talking about Anime North (although it's the preferred event for strictly otaku and the like), I'm talking about Fan Expo. The Metro Toronto Convention Centre gets invaded this year by the likes of people obsessed with Anime, Video Games, Comic Books, Science Fiction, and Horror. It's a wonderful smelting pot of different hobbies and pasttimes, enjoyed by a large community of people.

For me, this convention holds dear to my heart moreso than ever. Now that I've gotten into WoW, there's extra reason for me to head on over. Last year, a very large 5v5 arena tournament was held live for all to watch. Unfortunately, I knew little about the game, and didn't really appreciate the level of competition. While there is a possibility that it won't come back this year (hasn't been mentioned in the advert that I received in the mail), any sort of WoW related showing will definitely get my excitement going.

As for the anime fans out there (Spicy, I'm looking directly at you), there's a large amount of stuff to do as well, including your usual masquerade and cosplay contests, lots of pictures to take. Special guests this year include essentially the entire English voice cast of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. Why is this significant, at least from my perspective?

Ok, so here's a, well, sad sad admission of absolute nerddom of mine. At Anime North last year, I participated in a Hare Hare Yukai dance-off contest. The contest was judged American Idol-style by none other than the English cast of the anime. I essentially pugged a group for the contest since none of my friends were otaku enough to know the dance. We didn't win the contest, but here's the kicker:


I won the judge's choice award for individual performance.

Nerdgasm galore. Who would've known that the prize I got was Volume 1 DVD of TMoHS, signed by each judge in the panel? "WOOT!" is all that comes to mind. And with them coming back this year, I surely hope that they recognize me from last year (probably not), but I still need a few more autographs from 2 of them (Wendy Lee and Johnny Yong Bosch, who do the voices for Haruhi and Koizumi, respectively) for my autograph book (NERD ALERT: It's a replica of the Death Note, and I have convinced the anime celebs to write a short description of how they would like to die along with their name).

So yeah, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are a go! Unfortunately, Saturday will be cut short due to family obligations, and I'll be missing day 2 of Kara on Sunday. Overall, no posts until Monday! Oh well, the give-and-take life of a WoW/anime geek.

5 comments:

LarĂ­sa said...

Krizzly, I thought you'd be off this week for writing some fan fiction but you seem to keep posting on your blog anyway!

You've really been bitten by the blog bug haven't you?

Have fun and see you next week!

krizzlybear said...

Oh, I actually said i'd just take the day off to do fanfiction. If I have a plot in mind, it doesn't take me long at all to write about it. So I posted my chapter that day, and let it be. I can probably find time one or two days in the week to write, but for me it's just so easy to write for my blog that there's just no excuse to update in any way shape or form.

Anonymous said...

Oh, that's a nifty idea! The Death Note book, that is. Those individuals who are unfamiliar with the series might think you a bit weird, but, hey, it's a nerd convention, right? Anything goes!

Have fun!

krizzlybear said...

@cyn: well, the autograph book is mostly for nerd conventions anyways, so a good number of them know how it works. I must say, lots of them have some really gruesome ways to die. Derek Stephen Prince, voice of Shino in the Naruto dub and Ken in the Digimon Season 2 dub, apparently wants to die dorwning scuba diving, due to a fish swimming into his nose. Weird, but awesome!

Spicytuna said...

Oh man, you should have killed to have went to Otakon this year!

Kappei Yamaguchi was there as a special guest. He is known for doing the japanese voices of Inu-yasha and as the brilliant investigator, L from Death Note.

The Death Note as an autograph book is an awesome idea!

Hope you have fun at the con. We're allowed to have a few weekends out of the year to get our Nerd on.