Saalon Muyo

My quality may be questionable, but apparently I’m wordy:

i think you could probably wrap the linear distance occupied by your accumulated writing around the linear distance occupied by *my* writing several dozen times, at least.

-Brennen Bearnes, 07/24/2007

Every few summers I make a trip out to Baltimore to hit Otakon, one of the biggest east coast Anime convensions around.  It’s always an interesting experience, but it hasn’t exactly been a good experience since the first time I went in 2000.  That year was the Year of Lain, where the entire con seemed to be structured around a show that I loved dearly.  On top of that, Anime hadn’t quite cracked into the full-on American genre scene yet, so there was the feeling that you were seeing things you’d never be able to see otherwise.  And to top it off, Cartoon Network premiered Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz at the con.  I don’t think there’s been a truly big premier here since.

Every con since 2000 has felt less well organized and less interesting than that golden year.  It hasn’t been bad, exactly, but it’s felt a little empty for a con that has so much technically going on.  The anime that gets shown feels less and less like like a group of crazy fans trying to show you something new and more and more like whatever the studios felt like dumping off.  The panels feel more perfunctory; it’s a press junket with costumes, anymore.

I have fun.  I do.  Artist’s Alley still has that thrill of discovery, and the dealer’s room does have some crazy Japanese stuff that youd otherwise have to buy online.   There’s something to be said for getting to touch that Gundam model before you buy it.  And it’s more than a little fun to make fun of terrible shows like Moon Phase Tsukuyomi (”Kitty ear mode! Kitty ear mode! Big brother kiss!”) and Mai Otome (”It’s finally time to fight the Schwartz!”).

The problem is that it’s all stuff you could get off of Netflix or Jlist or Anime News Network.  I caught Otakon in what must have been the last year when Anime was truly underground; before Media Play added anime toy sections and shows like Naruto got 12 year olds foaming at the mouth.  And so, in comparison, every subsequent con has felt like a marketing show.

But you know what?  The cosplay girls look really, really, really good, so it’s probably the best marketing show you could hope for.

• How did anyone think that 28 Weeks Later was a better movie than the original 28 Days Later? I could write an entire post on how many things were wrong with 28 Weeks Later, but how about focusing on just two: 1) SuperBob the Uber Infected, who - instead of flying into a rage when he sees humans -  spends the entire movie stalking his children with the skills of a ninja. 2) Where was the heart in this film? Remember Frank and his daughter from the first one? Remember Jim’s insane attack on the army base to save his friends? Horror drive these people to love each other. In Weeks it just drove them to scream and run around a lot.
• I think aliens abducted me just prior to the fall 2006 season of television. This can be the only explanation for how the mind control device missed me, leaving me as one of the 10 people on the entire planet who didn’t think Heroes was the best show ever created. It’s not even a good show. It’s an above average show at its best. And it was only at its best for about 6 episodes. Seriously, people, other than Hiro and Ando, what exactly were you enjoying in this show?
• How is Battlestar Galactica not in the short list of potential Emmy nominees when 24 is? I don’t watch 24, I admit, but I spent all season listening to every person who does watch the show saying how much this season sucks. So Science Fiction isn’t only a genre ghetto, but it’s actually more high brow to award a show you already admitted was a piece of shit than it is to admit to enjoing spaceships blowing each other up. And I’m supposed to think less of myself for being a geek.
• How come VRML never caught on? I mean, it was an overhyped technology, but I’ll take a 3D model of an X Wing over a javascript news ticker any day of the week.
• Remember when the only reason you watched reality TV was because it was called Girls Gone Wild or HBO’s Real Sex and there was the good chance you might see some naked boobs? How did reality TV get more popular by removing the nudity? That has to break some sociological law of the nature of mankind, doesn’t it? (Addendum: You might have also watched it because it was called When Animals Attack or Cops on the off chance you might see some violence; if so, I get that, too).