News & Updates

Last weekend I had the pleasure of being a panelist again at Anime Boston, hosting panels predominately of interest to Evangelion fans, however I also tackled a panel on retro game collecting, which is another hobby of mine.  Thanks to those of you who checked out my panels, particularly those of you who went to more than one.  It’s nice to know that I didn’t scare you away with my antics.  I enjoyed meeting and talking with you about Eva, and more, and I look forward to returning in 2013.  If you were there, here are some relevant notes from panels that I hosted, and if you weren’t there, here’s a taste of some of the things that I talked about and showed to attendees.  It’s not quite the same as being there, but not everyone can make it to these things.  Contents after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

This shit. THIS SHIT RIGHT HERE. Now that I am fully recovered from Anime Boston, I was going to do a post-Anime Boston update. But then I saw this ridiculous bullshit and I was like “This cannot wait. I must blog about this immediately.” And that’s where you come in.  It’s like Evangelion and My Little Pony got together and made awkward drunken love, and out popped these strange things.

So apparently, there’s this company in Italy called Rody that makes these miniature inflatable horses and ships them out worldwide, and now they are producing licensed Evangelion ones.  Really?  REALLY?  WTF I DONT EVEN.  Why am I even writing about this nonsense?

At any rate, god… there’s one that’s Eva Unit-01 themed, and one each for Asuka, Rei, and Mari’s plugsuit.  They go on sale in July and will cost ¥3,990 each.  So if you have small children who want a horse, maybe this will be the middle ground, they get a pretend pony, and you get another piece of useless Evangelion merchandise.  Or if you’re just a huge brony, you can buy one or more to adorn your bedroom or dormroom or whatever.

Geez, and here I thought the Evangelion bucket was the pinnacle of ridiculous and/or useless merchandise.  I’m sorry, this is like the worst post ever, but I figured, well… you just have to see this.

The more digging I do, the more Evangelion-inspired music I discover.  This time around, it’s an album called “Asuka” by Free Parking!, an alternative rock band from Pennsylvania.  They describe their influences as “Weezer, Thrice, Radiohead (just Brendan), Blur, The Fratellis, Say Anything, Vampire Weekend” and more.  I can definitely hear some influence from Weezer on track 8, This Voyage, and I want to say I hear some influence from The Pillows on track 2, Life on Earth.  The tracks My Girlfriend is a Robot, Every Monster, and Asuka flesh out the theme of the album, but it’s not quite as developed as some (myself included) might desire, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a listen, especially when you consider it’s completely free.  It’s a bit rough around the edges and the punk vocals might not agree with everyone, but it’s still something I’d suggest you check out.

• Free Parking! – “Asuka” – Digital Album on Bandcamp
• Free Parking! – My Girlfriend is a Robot – Music Video on YouTube

It’s time for another outing to Anime Boston.  I had told myself I was going to cut back on cons for the rest of this year, but after pre-registering last year, and then getting a bunch of panels, I just couldn’t turn it down.  I’ll be back again, hosting some Evangelion and Evangelion-ish type panels as usual.  I will also be hosting a panel on retro gaming.  Yeah, I do things other than Evangelion from time to time.

Find me.  When I’m not busy, I’m generally pretty friendly.  I enjoy meeting other fans and talking about nerdy shit.  If you hang around me for long enough, a game of Cards Against Humanity might break out.  You want to be there when that happens.

Intro to Retro Game Collecting
Friday, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm, Panel 309

Evangelion Deconstructed
Friday 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm, Panel 302/304

The Life and Works of Hideaki Anno
Saturday, 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm, Panel 202

Evangelion, WTF? (18+)
Sunday, 12:00 am – 1:00 am, Panel 202

Hey, if you’re going to be at Katsucon this coming weekend, and you want to have some Eva-ness in your life, I’ll be doing a few panels that are relevant to your interests.  In particular, Evangelion, WTF? is always a good time.  So if you’re going to be there, drop me an email, message, tweet, pm, im, etc. if you want to meet up, hang out, and shoot the shit.

The Life and Works of Hideaki Anno
Saturday 11:30pm-12:30am, Workshops

Evangelion, WTF? (18+)
Sunday 03:30am-04:30am, Live 4

Evangelion Deconstructed
Sunday 08:00am-10:00am, Live 1

Carl Horn was a guest this week on Anime News Network’s podcast, ANNCast, speaking to Zac and Justin about the early days of anime and manga fandom in the United States.  You may know Carl for having worked on not one, not two, but three Evangelion manga titles.  He has been an editor on both Neon Genesis Evangelion and The Shinji Ikari Raising Project, and done adaptation on Campus Apocalypse.  He’s worked with both Viz and Dark Horse, and has even found time to hang out with us on Eva Geeks Forums.  Much of the podcast’s episode focuses on anime and manga fandom, however there’s little bits of Evangelion and Gainax strewn about that you might be interested in.

• ANNCast Episode #105: Horn in the USA

Also, be sure to check out episode #59, where Carl and I were guests talking about Evangelion.

• ANNCast Episode #59: Nervous Breakdown

Studio Gainax rang in the new year this year by flipping the switch on its Evangelion 3.0 site, which included the international title for the film.  The next film is now known as Evangelion 3.0: YOU CAN (NOT) REDO.  In addition to that, the date for FINAL has been given as sometime in 2013.  It’s still unclear if they are still going with the original plan to release 3.0 and Final at the same time, which begs the question, will 3.0 be out in late 2012 as last stated, or in 2013?  And if they mean that both will be out in 2013, will they hold to that deadline, or will it get pushed again?  It’s really hard to say, when you take into account that their original plan was to have all four films out by the summer of 2008.  I’m hoping that 3.0 will be out next year.  It would be nice to have a new Evangelion film after several long years of waiting.

I made a few tweets and facebook updates already, but after some reflection, I thought I should take a bit of time to muse over the recent developments concerning RightStuf’s sale of the Evangelion thinpack.  Around black friday, RightStuf.com began a sale on a number of items, in particular, the Evangelion thinpack for $30.  That in and of itself was definitely worth spreading the word.  After all, I hail from the days when Evangelion was distributed on thirteen single language format VHS tapes for $25 (dubbed) or $30 (subtitled) a piece.  That progression in the past ten years says a lot about the affordability of video releases these days, as well as the desperation of some of these companies to continue selling a dying industry.

Where things get more interesting is that yesterday, RightStuf posted a news item indicating that they had received word that Neon Genesis Evangelion is going out of print.  Read the rest of this entry »

Just before running off to DC for Anime USA, I got a panel confirmation for Tigercon 2011 at Towson University.  I’ll be presenting my newly revamped studio Gainax panel that I presented at Anime USA.  If you happen to be in the area, you should take a look, it may only be a small, one day college anime con, but it’s free.  You can’t really argue with that.  Come talk to me, geek out with me about various nerdy anime stuff.

Studio Gainax and the men who created Evangelion
Saturday, December 3rd, 12:00pm-1:00pm, Panel 1

• Tigercon’s website
• Schedule information

I’m happy to return as a panelist to Anime USA this year.  Last year was my first time going to AUSA, it seems like my responsibilities as an officer at my university’s anime society always kept me from checking it out.  I did last year for the first time, and was pleasantly surprised with it.  I’m looking forward to hanging out with a bunch of cool people, including Charles Dunbar, Victoria Gadson, Lauren Orsini, and hopefully meet some new ones.  I will of course be true to my fandom, hosting a few panels along my interests, which you’re free to check out if you’ll be geeking it up in Crystal City this weekend:

Studio Gainax and the men who created Evangelion
Saturday, 10:00pm-11:30pm, Panels 3

The Life and Works of Hideaki Anno
Sunday, 11:30am-1:00pm, Panels 3

More up-to-date schedule information is available on Anime USA’s site.