AK 2011 Excitement!

The AnimeKon 2011 weekend is just four days away! I'm excited! Last year, I tried not to go with high expectations and I guess it was a good thing because I wasn't entirely pleased. The organisers managed to score some hit points with me after responding to my critical blog post about my disappointments and, as this is the second year coming, I've raised the bars of my expectations.

The organisers of AnimeKon have been so kind to seriously take on my few opinions over the past year as they vigorously planned for this year's 2-day events. I know they've done their best to improve things a whole lot so I'll be looking forward to those.

I have all intentions of getting my Canon VIXIA back out of its bag and kick up the old vlogging. It must've been building up some dust over the past 6 months! I've been meaning to do one or two over the past months but never really get to it, for some reason. I've actually somehow reached 101 subscribers! I know it's not much compared to other popular YouTube folks, but it's a big deal to me. =] I'm quite happy to have your subscription and will certainly make greater efforts to create new videos for those who are interested.

So, who's going to AnimeKon 2011 this year? Are you as excited as I am? I'll be there both days this weekend so if you stop by, do say hi!

And on the night of AnimeKon...

...I enjoyed myself...somewhat.

All I can say is that it was nice being out of the house and that I wasn't disappointed. In my recent post about AnimeKon 2010, I mentioned that I wasn't going with much expectation so that I wouldn't be disappointed. Such a smart thing to do. I was excited because I got to dress up but that doesn't mean I expected it to go down great.

In all honesty, if it had been called GamingKon or something, I wouldn't have gone and all the guys and girls who would go to "GamingKon" would have gotten all that they could ever hope for. They could never have been disappointed. Why? Because AnimeKon was really one big video game convention. The only anime-like things that went down (to my knowledge) include: cosplay and the showing of Final Fantasy: Advent Children...oh yes and I guess the fashion show was supposed to be related?

I had the great misfortune of being stuck in a meeting for most of the afternoon. During this meeting, people who cosplayed were around at AnimeKon and I missed a few other, more entertaining events. By the time I had arrived, few people were dressed accordingly and I was told about all the cool characters that were around in my absence. The only goodness I got to see was a pair of girls walking around in their costumes as: Kakashi and an Anbu. I had to sorta figure out the Kakashi character. This was my experience, having gone after 6 PM.

There was a fashion show that I got to see. It was short. It wasn't bad. But then again, I personally am not really one for fashion shows because I don't really get the fashion behind it. Yeah, fashion isn't my thing.

There was some good artwork and graphic designs around so I was pleased with the amount of that floating about.

What made it all worthwhile for me was seeing a bunch of friends that I don't get to see too often. So I was pretty pleased about that at least. Oh and I also got to dress up! I like being able to dress differently from usual.

So, if any of the guys at AnimeKon read this, here are my suggestions for AnimeKon 2011:

• More anime! Otherwise, it's not AnimeKon. I expected to see a whole lot more anime-related things around.
• Anime movies in the "Anime Theatre". Marvel stuff doesn't count because it's American.
• Play some anime-related music: japanese music, theme songs, series soundtracks.

I think that was my biggest problem with AnimeKon. The fact that it had so little to do with anime and so much to do with video games. Anime conventions usually exist to promote anime, promote series that deserve more recognition. I didn't feel like the anime community was properly catered to. But it's something to work on for 2011.

Understandably, this could be difficult to tackle as there aren't really any anime/manga outlets in Barbados, to my knowledge. But using AnimeKon to promote this awareness would be ideal. There are loads of anime fans in Barbados but our source of it is only via the internet and a change from this would be nice, I'm sure. Video games are good, graphic arts are good, Marvel stuff is good but anime is great too! So, you have an entire year to try making AnimeKon 2011 a much more appealing event for anime fans such as myself (because I'm not a big fan of video games).

All in all, I think it turned out to be pretty successful.

AnimeKon 2010!

Barbados' first anime convention! To be held next Saturday, June 26th 2010 from 10 AM - 10 PM. No doubt. I'm going.

I don't have any costumes or anything so there'll be no cosplay for me (I sort of wish I could though) but I'll see what I can muster up from my closet. =) Even if I did want to cosplay, I wouldn't even know who to go as. But I do know I'd wanna be someone with a simple outfit. Complex, exotic articles of clothing do not make me happy...especially if they'll make me hot. I have a friend who may go as Afro Samurai. I think he couldn't have chosen a better character! If you knew him like I do, you'd think so too. =) I wonder how many people will cosplay for the event...

It's Barbados and it's the first. I'm not expecting much really but I'm hoping I'll get a pleasant surprise. Too much hope though, will leave me disappointed. So, I can't say I have a lot of hope or expectations but we won't know how this comes off until the day arrives! I've never been to an anime convention before, so I won't have anything to compare it to, at least.

SoulSilver

I've had this new game in the palm of my hands since last Monday! Pokemon SoulSilver. Unfortunately, I haven't been playing it as much as I would like to. With classes, exams and assignments filling up about 80% of my days and sleep taking up 15%, there isn't a whole lot left for fun and letting out the inner child.

I get the idea that no matter how old I get, I'm going to just simply love Pokemon. I probably can't say the same about the show itself but as for the games, I can't get enough of it. I'm really excited about SoulSilver, the remake of the Silver/Gold/Crystal series (of which I have, and am still in ownership of, Crystal). It's really awesome so far and I totally love the whole idea of the Pokewalker and how you can catch certain Pokemon in it.

So far, I've started off in Johto and since it's been so many years since I last played in Johto, I've been trying to decide on who I'll keep in my party of six. I haven't gotten very far (on my way to Olivine City) but for now I've got my Quilava (you know Typhlosion will just be a bundle of awesomeness!), Togetic, Quagsire, Dratini, Kangaskhan and Elekid. Well, I'll figure it out eventually, beat the League and move onto Kanto. Imagine that! 16 gyms and 2 Leagues! =D This is surely going to last longer than the usual. =D

I've only recently realised how much there's still left to do in Pokemon Platinum which I got last year. I stopped playing it sometime and never picked it back up until two weeks ago. Interesting. I'll get back to that at some point in time. Right now, my focus is SoulSilver. =]

Going Platinum!

I'm still a little Pokemon nerd at heart. It can't be helped =] A good friend of mine got Pokemon Platinum recently and told me he was playing and something inside me just went *click* and all I knew next was that I wanted to play! I still do =[ I want a Nintendo DS. I don' have one = but I'd so get one just for Pokemon...cuz I'm a nerd like that hahaha.

I ended up dropping by my friend's house and playing it a bit...TWICE! haha Go me! It really was quite fun. Haven't played in ages. Apparently, it's like I'm letting the child in me come out cuz I look so happy playing hahaha. But, honestly, I just love it. How can I not?

I wanna play!

=P

Games Night

The Faculty of Medical Sciences had a "games night" planned out tonight. Not a huge thing. And it was way fun!

Everyone brought whatever games they had at home. I don't really have any...at all (yeah that's a bit sad) except for a deck of playing cards and UNO! There were other games there like Taboo, Clue, Mafia (I think it was?) and a dude who lives on hall had a PS3 there. When I got there around 7:45 (we were supposed to meet at 7 @ Frank Worrell Hall, UWI), I thought I was late. Turns out I was early! It slipped my mind the way things work here. Bajan 7pm means anytime after 8pm haha. Dunno how I let that one get by me.

I was throwing out the garbage and walking down my driveway this evening and, as usual, I was looking up at the sky (I love looking at the sky at night). And I saw the sliver of the moon and a star right next to it. I called my Mum to look at it and she told me to take a picture...so I did!


Makes me think little storybook pictures and drawings that portray the moon and stars together...right next to one another. Not something I really see often in real life though =]