Fangasm

I'm very pleased to announce the New York Anime Festival and RightStuf.com have slashed prices on 2007 New York Anime Festival shirts and other goodies to make room for our 2008 show apparel. We've only got a limited number of 2007 items left, and if you hurry, you can pick up some treasures from last year's NYAF for as little as $5...

http://www.rightstuf.com/catalog/browse/link/t=category,c=right-stuf,v=right-%09stuf,g=merchpub-NEW-YORK-ANIME-FESTIVAL

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Horror stories from the world of shared living spaces. EEK!

Over the past few weeks, the New York Anime Festival invited fans to design our 2008 mascot. What were the guidelines? None, really. We asked artists to create a mascot that embodied anime and New York City, but – beyond that – we wanted imagination to carry our artists away. Out of all the submissions – posted up on theOtaku.com – ten were selected as finalists, and these ten went toe to toe with attendees at AnimeNEXT last weekend in New Jersey. Attendees voted for their favorites all weekend long. And now, a week later, the dust has settled, the votes have been tallied, and we have a winner. Chibizilla!

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Chibizilla is the creation of Quarteni, a 23-year-old artist currently living in Orlando, Florida. More of her work can be seen at quarteni.deviantart.com and betweenreality.com. I spoke with Quarteni over the weekend…

What was your inspiration for Chibizilla?: I was watching Godzilla vs. King Kong on TV. Then, when I sat down to come up with a mascot entry, it hit me. Chibizilla! King Kong is associated with New York City, which is why the Empire State Building is in Chibizilla's clutches, and Godzilla is associated with Japan – and chibis are synonymous with anime! NYAF brings Japanese anime and New York City together, so I did the same with Chibizilla!

What software and materials did you use to make Chibizilla?: I used pencil, paper, ruler, Sakura micron pens, and Photoshop.

What do you do when not creating mascots?: I really enjoy drawing, creating content for computers (icons, desktops, screensavers, etc.), reading a variety of books, editing manga, web/graphic design, and of course anime and manga! I'm also currently preparing my portfolio to go out into the market and start my career.

What do you ultimately want to do?: I'd really enjoy drawing or editing manga as a career. I’d like to try voice acting (not strictly anime related). It also would be nice to be able to run my own business someday, too.

What do you think of when you think of New York City?: I think of the amazing architecture of the older buildings, pizza, the museums, the intriguing history, and many of my favorite comic book heroes whose stories take place in NYC.

What was the first thing you thought when you learned you won?: OH NO!! I won?! XD There were a lot of really great entries this year. I'd like to tip my hat to everybody who entered, everybody who voted, and everybody who has a part in the NYAF and the mascot contest. I'm really very honored to have my design chosen as the mascot this year.

What’s the first thing you want to do at NYAF?: Meet Peter Fernandez and ask him to sign my Speed Racer VHS.

Do you have a message for aspiring artists?: Practice constantly! Look at the world around you and always try to learn something from it. Also, take criticism and build from it. Show your art to anybody and everybody you can – friends, family, and even the professionals, too!

Who would win in a fight, Chibizilla or The Cloverfield Monster?: I'm sure the Cloverfield Monster would fall victim to Chibizilla's cuteness! <3

Look for Chibizilla and Quarteni at New York Anime Festival 2008!

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A journal where the alternative fourth season of the TV show Doctor Who is being written.

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I last came out to LA some time ago looking to enter the entertainment industry. I spent a summer writing for the BBC. Four months later, I left Los Angeles with a vow never to return and, after death, to curse any motherfucker who would possibly dare to bring my bleached bones back to this desert. Why such an immortal declaration against the City of Angels? Honestly, looking back, I'm not quite so sure. I think it had something to do with four months of blue skies and sunny weather. Or maybe the fact that so much of the city lives in pursuit of a dream job in television or the movies that is honestly only a dream. Or maybe it was the black and white divide between the city's rich and poor.

Wait, it was all three, with the emphasis on the second. I remember a day when I was talking to work. I passed the WB lot each day as I headed off to my office. One day, a tourist asked to take my picture. Sure? She took my picture not knowing who I was but because I was walking in front of the WB gate -- and therefore I had to be someone working in Hollywood. And because of that, naturally, I had to be amazing. I had to be a superman with the powers of a demigod who should be revered if not worshipped by most of the planet. It was in this moment that I was placed on a pedestal that I realized, yes, I was someone working in Hollywood and that working in Hollywood was still working.

A job is a job. Whether you're making a movie, baking bread, building a roof, or whatever the fuck else, it's a job, and what field you work in, title you hold, and check you take home at the end of the day all matter less than the amount of satisfaction you get out of it. In other words, if you don't like what you do, you shouldn't be doing it.

This manifesto led me to leave LA. I eventually settled in New York City, a city of schizophrenic weather, a million people leading a million different dreams, and rich, poor, and everything in between. I love New York. I am in love with New York. It's funny. I thought I'd love LA and didn't care for it one bit, and I thought I was going to hate New York City, but I am passionately, absolutely infatuated with her.

These preceding few paragraphs, which really should have been edited out in an early draft, have very little to do with the actual story, the story of my return to LA. In the six years that have elapsed since I last ventured off to Los Angeles, I found a job that I enjoy. For the most part. I say this because a few months back, I was asked to go to LA on a business trip. I contemplated quitting on the spot but stopped myself in the hopes that, upon second inspection, the vinegar in my blood for the City of Angels might have mellowed.

They did. A little bit. Maybe.

I'm writing this from the plane back to New York following the conclusion of my trip, and I've got to say the small dose of LA I just experienced was much more palatable. Here are a few things I really enjoyed…

IHOP. There's no International House of Pancakes in New York City, but I saw at least five during my weekend in LA, and one of them was only two blocks from my hotel.

Asahi Dark. Asahi is my favorite Japanese beer, and I discovered a new species -- Asahi Dark -- that I've never seen in Manhattan. It was a thick, chocolate ambrosia very, very similar to wheat wine, and I want more.

Heather and Matt. Two very good friends of mine now live out in LA, and I'm very pleased I was able to spend time with them. They're both great people and pretty sane except for the whole living in LA thing.

And that's about it. And, come to think about it, while NYC lacks any IHOPs, there are at least five diners within stumbling distance from my apartment I can wander into at any hour of the day or night. And I'm sure I'm pretty sure I can find Asahi Dark in Manhattan now that I know it exists. As for Heather and Matt, there's always MySpace.

So, really, LA, you have nothing to offer me, and I'd like to restate my vow never to return and, after death, to curse any motherfucker who would possibly dare to bring my bleached bones back to you. Seriously, I will haunt you.

Last year was NYAF's first year. Looking back, I think we had a pretty good show, and one of our highlights was definitely the World Cosplay Summit Masquerade. A lot of anime conventions have cosplay contests, but none have one like NYAF. The winners of last year's Masquerade -- Sonnya Paz and Renee Gloger -- were crowned Team USA and will be traveling to Japan at the end of July to compete against cosplayers from around the globe in the Olympics of Cosplay -- the World Cosplay Summit Finals.

This year's NYAF will be bigger and better, and I'm very happy to announce the World Cosplay Summit will be joining us again for an even more grandiose Masquerade, giving another team the chance to win a trip to Japan and represent the USA in an international cosplay competition!

This year's New York Anime Festival Masquerade takes pace September 27, 2008, and the clock is ticking. Get to work on your skits and costumes and register at newyorkanimefestival.com!

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What's this? Maybe the results of the 2008 New York Anime Festival Mascot Contest. When will these results make sense? Maybe tomorrow.

What are you doing this Friday? Hmmm? Battlestar ain't coming back until 2009, so you've got no excuse to stay at home. What do I recommend you do? Welcome visionary director Satoshi Kon to New York City!

Satoshi Kon will appear at The Film Society of Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater for a complete retrospective of his work from June 27 to July 1. The Film Society of Lincoln Center is screening all four of his feature films, as well as the entirety of his television series -- Paranoia Agent.

And following the 6:15 PM screening of Paprika on Friday, June 27, Kon will come onstage for a conversation about the depths of his stunning career.

If you'd like to take in Satoshi Kon's Paprika and meet the man, you can get your tickets right now at http://www.filmlinc.com/wrt/onsale/kon.html.

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hollow_art
A longstanding art, icon and base archive centered around RPGs.

I am very pleased -- very honored -- to announce the New York Anime Festival's latest Guest of Honor, Yoshitaka Amano. Mr. Amano is the artist behind the look and feel of Final Fantasy and Vampire Hunter D, and his work is known and loved by anime fans, gamers, and art collectors from around the world. He joins fellow Vampire Hunter D talents Hideyuki Kikuchi (the author behind the Vampire Hunter D novel series) and Kevin Leahy (the translator of the Vampire Hunter D novel series) at NYAF. All are Co-Sponsored by Dark Horse Comics.

Yoshitaka Amano began his career at Tatsunoko Productions where he served as a character designer for animated series including Gatchaman and Casshern. After 15 years with the studio, he chose to leave the comfort of a steady job to pursue his career as an artist. As a freelance illustrator, Amano contributed covers and illustrations to novels including Hideyuki Kikuchi's Vampire Hunter D, Kaoru Kurimoto's Guin Saga, and Yoshiki Tanaka's The Heroic Legend of Arslan, teamed with Mamoru Oshii to create the film Angel's Egg, collaborated with Neil Gaiman to make the award-winning graphic novel Sandman: The Dream Hunters, and partnered with video game studio Squaresoft to create the look and feel for the company's flagship Final Fantasy series.

Mr. Amano has worked with media including pencils, ink, paint, ceramic, stained glass, and fabric, and exhibitions of his work have taken place in cities including Tokyo, London, Paris, Berlin, and New York City.

I hope you'll join me this September at the New York Anime Festival as we welcome Yoshitaka Amano to NYC.