I always enjoy getting newsletters from Viz with news of their latest manga releases. As bookstore chains began to crumble into dust, Viz wasted little time making their titles available on most digital reading platforms.
I guess Viz titles on the Nook are experiencing rapid growth.
I’ve wondered a bit how they were doing, so I was pleased to read that their titles were growing quite well on the Nook. In fact, they grew like a motherfucker! Yeah.
Salty language doesn’t bother me, but I just about fell out of my seat laughing. Now I wonder how long it will be before I get an email apologizing for that colorful language. LOL XD
It really feels good to have finally gotten OMG Kawaii Desu!: A parent’s guide to anime, manga, and cosplay out the door! I started working on the book over a year ago so this baby was already way overdue, LOL! The book is intended to be an instructive tranquilizer for parent’s whose children have gotten into anime, manga, and/or cosplay. It’s the sort of guide meant to read while waiting for your kids at an anime convention. Over the years, I’ve met a number of parents and grandparents in this role. Many really aren’t sure what this stuff the kids are into is all about. This short guide seeks to answer those questions, and, I hope, encourage parents to join the party!
The book is now available on the Kindle for $1.99 or free to borrow for Amazon Prime members. So check it out and leave a review or rating to let me know what you think. BTW, the cover art is by my totally awesome daughter Vanessa who is herself  OMG Kawaii Desu (really cute)!
It’s been a melancholy Monday, but I’ve been having fun reading the yuri romance manga, Girlfriends, on JManga. The story really tugs on the heart strings with all its might, but I’m a sucker for unrequited/forbidden love stories.
I think I’ve been feeling a little down because this will be the first year that my wife is not joining us for Anime Central. Just got our badges in the mail today minus one for her and one for our oldest daughter. My wife has never really been into anime or manga and definitely not cosplay. Sometimes I wish I had a girlfriend that I could share these things with along with a love for sometimes sappy love stories. It’d be great to have someone to sing Japanese anime songs with badly and dance to dub step music that I either love or hate all in the same mix. And someone I could hang out with whether cosplaying Roger Smith in  a double breasted suit, or a Japanese schoolgirl in a miniskirt two inches too short.
But with all of that, I’m not really interested in having an affair with anyone. I actually have a friend who likes a lot of these things too. Sadly, she’s kind of gone off the deep end lately, so I doubt she’ll be coming out to ACen again anytime soon. Of course it’d be fun to hang out with dudes too, but honestly, I’ve always preferred hanging out with women. They’re just so much more interesting and more fun to look at!
After a lot of summer adventures, some planned, and some not, I’m getting back to work on my next ebook, A Parent’s Guide to Anime, Manga, and Cosplay. I’m rather excited because I’ve got a kick-ass cover ready and the book is about 80% complete. And with the 1 year anniversary of Anime Aftershocks coming up, it’d feel good to get another title out the door!
Due to another project, I’ve gotten into the habit of working a couple of hours in the morning before leaving for the office. So I’m going to use these power hours to finish up the book at last!
Another Ohayocon is in the rearview mirror as I reflect on what happened and what it all means. The drive to Columbus was uneventful. I covered the 350 miles in about 5.5 hours and had no trouble finding the hotel. The Hyatt Regency had overbooked due to construction and moved a number of us to the Hyatt on Capitol Square with Saturday night for free. The free night helped my budget, but being remote would prove to be a real pain and a dampener on my fun.
Checkin was fast and after getting to my room, I did a quick turn-around to get to the convention center and pick up my registration badge. I had to ask around about where to catch the shuttle to the center. Feeling that this was going to be trouble for some, I went to the front desk to suggest that they put up signs. I had a pleasant talk with the manager, but in the end, no signs were placed at all. I guess it just wasn’t worth their effort. Lack of adequate signage would also be a problem at the convention center for many of the panel rooms.
On the plus side, the hotel upgraded the shuttle service to 24 hours and I think the drivers did a really good job moving tons of people back and forth. Still, I like being in the middle of the action, so having to figure shuttle time into everything was a headache. At least picking up my badge in the short pre-reg line was fast as usual and I got my first cosplay pic of a Garterbelt cosplayer!
After picking up my badge I headed back to the hotel, picked up a couple of Subway sandwiches and then began the arduous task of ironing my very wrinkled Mahoro costume. I really hate hotel irons! They just never seem to be up to the job. I really need to start packing my own irons!
The first cosplay usually takes me at least 2 extra hours to get ready. This is something else I need to work on. To top it all off, I was still very tired from the drive and in a bit of a fog. But I was determined to make it to the Chris Sabat Roast, the AMV Contest, karaoke, and the Friday dance. I’d already missed opening ceremonies which is why I was wishing for a  couple of extra hours.
I finally got Mahoro to the AMV Contest a little late and dropped off my first set of flyers promoting Anime Aftershocks. Ohayocon wasn’t spread out across the convention center this year, which was great for getting to things, but left a lot fewer places to dump flyers. I love AMVs, but I gotta say that I was a bit disappointed with the contest entries this year. A number of entries had pretty bad visual quality using footage that was clearly either recorded from TV or came from fansubs. Most AMV contests generally reject videos like this, but I guess they were short on entries. The best video in my opinion was Me, Myself, and Me by HalOfBorg. I laughed my ass off! And it reminded me of why I need to get it in gear and make some new AMVs myself!
The Chris Sabat Roast was the number one must see event for Friday. So I lined up early and was able to get a good seat. If you go to Ohayocon, you’ve got to see the guests. They have always been the best part of my Ohayocon experience. Part of it is the sheer talent they have, and the rest is how much fun they have with each other. The roast did not disappoint as not only was the target, err, guest of honor, mercilessly destroyed, but each and every other guest as well! These weapons of mass destruction included anecdotes, video, and an original song which included the term “crotch yogurt”!
I ended Friday hunting around for cosplayers to photograph and some fun hours doing karaoke. If I’d been in the Hyatt Regency, I probably would have gone to the dance, but taking the bus all the way back to Capitol Square to drop off my bags was just too much for me. So I decided to save some energy for Saturday and call it a night.
