First time, long time

Readers have been commenting that Whiskey, Texas seems to have fallen by the wayside recently. I'll admit I have been remiss in not keeping the blog current; I've been lacking a certain motivation to continue posting, and I've been preoccupied with other outlets for my creativity. But I don't want to leave anyone hangin'... let's bring you up to speed on what the kids and I have been doing.

Anime Fest: Labor Day weekend

I've been cosplaying as the wrong character; Near's the one who gets all the ladies...

M never has trouble making new friends at a con.

Over Labor Day weekend, we attended the Anime Fest convention at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Dallas. Smaller but more intimate than the massive A-Kon which we attended in June, Anime Fest featured cosplay events, art exhibits, workshops, and round-the-clock screenings of anime shows and movies.

M cosplayed again as Near, much to the delight of many DeathNote fans who remembered him from A-Kon.

Gender bending: two girls dressed as two guys (Mello and Matt from DeathNote)

The confrontation: Near settles the score with his rival

Cosplay photo shoot

Recession sale

Near has pissed off Mello one too many times...

L and her friend MV were around there somewhere, but I didn't see them enough to get any photos. And yes, I cosplayed as well... the Speed Racer gear remained on the shelf this time around in favor of a new character. Alas, no photos... I didn't manage to get any that I liked. But I'll resurrect the role at a future con, so stay tuned.

In October, I had a week of vacation and took a trip to Kasas City, with an extensive agenda of photography and sightseeing along the way. Trip reports will begin soon. In the meantime, here's a preview...

Church signs, ghost signs, fall colors, trains, and a meeting with buZ blurr. Check back soon for trip reports...

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np: Beastie Boys - "Girls"

No time for the blog... 8

... just the photos. Thanks to everyone who emailed, asking when the next update was going to be. This "lightning round" edition should get things caught up, just in time for me to start with another trip report series. Here's what's been happening in Whiskey, Texas.

Mayfest was cancelled due to the Swine Flu scare.

M finally got the hang of riding his 2-wheeler. We have enjoyed several rides together, including a beautiful Sunday afternoon along the Trinity River.

Riding to school. The school year was almost over when I snapped this pic.

Self portrait - high sun along the tracks in Roanoke.

Six Flags visit - L takes a spin on the teacups.

My cousin Marc has a new critter: Luke, age 0. Congrats, cuz!

Mom got a dog. Meet Sprocket.

A-Kon 2009. M cosplayed as Near from "Deathnote" (seen in 4 of the 8 photos above). I'll plead the fifth as to whether or not I cosplayed...

lunch with Miss C.

M and I just returned from a week-long visit to the midwest; stay tuned and I'll have some trip reports posted soon.

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np: Grateful Dead - "China Cat Sunflower"

The A-Kon experience - 2

Why is L dressed like an Akatsuki?

L and her friend, S in full Akatsuki garb. The Akatsuki are a group of ninja assassins from the "Naruto" series.

So, this was L's costume for A-Kon 19... L went dressed as Deidara. Just the two of us went on Saturday; we had only a couple hours to spend there before I had to come home and get ready for work. On Sunday, we returned with a second Akatsuki in tow -- L's friend S, dressed as Sasori.

L was Deidara, the blonde at the far left. S was Sasori (upper left).

"My little Akatsuki's" do some shopping in the comic market...

Wigs...

... magazines...

... pocky!

And now for my costume... when L first started talking about going to A-Kon, and the possibility of dressing up for it, I immediately thought of the only anime show I had any kind of identification with. There was just one show that I felt I could relate to, and it had the added benefit of allowing me to "kick it old-school", of being able to show those young punks the kind of anime that MY generation grew up with. True fans no doubt know the show by its Japanese name, "Mach GoGoGo" But to the layman, it's simply "Speed Racer."

Striking a pose as Go Mifune.

I was pleasantly surprised by the reactions I got to my costume, from people both young and old. A couple of young women (late teens / early 20s) came up and asked for a hug. There was the 40-ish mom who told me she remembers rushing home from school every day to watch the show. And a middle-aged t-shirt vendor congratulated me on representing the "early history" of anime. But the best reaction was from a little boy, probably about 4 years old... his eyes lit up when he saw me and he knew just who I was. "Speed Racer!" To him, I was the real deal. I gave him a high-five, posed for a photo with him, and told him to go see my movie. K told me after we returned home, "you must feel like a rock star". Well, pretty much...

I must have posed for at least 50 photos during our two days at A-Kon. A couple shots have ended up on the various Photo Galleries on the A-Kon site. One of them even ended up as the main photo on the A-Kon "Activities" page. I have no idea how long this link will remain active, or how long my photo might remain on it, but it's worth checking out:

http://www.a-kon.com/bm/Activities/index.shtml

feelin' like a rock star with my girl

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np: Webb Pierce - Cow Town

The A-Kon experience - 1

Why is this convention hall filled with people?

Filled with dealer tables and freaks in costumes, something BIG must be going on...

It's A-Kon 19 in Dallas! A-Kon is an annual convention celebrating anime, manga, cosplay, gaming, and all things in between... and if you don't know what any of that stuff is, look it up -- I had to!

They would get there or die trying... The person I met who came the farthest was a dealer from Colorado...


A little bit of background info... L has been interested in anime and manga books for about the past year or so after her friends introduced her to some manga titles like the "Naruto" series. Several months ago, L urgently announced that we just HAD to go to this anime convention in Atlanta in September. I had never heard of such a thing, but I figured if there was one in Atlanta, then there must be an equivalent (superior, actually... since everyone knows we do things bigger and better in Texas) convention somewhere in the D-FW area. It didn't take me long to find a website for A-Kon 19.

After looking at some of the photos of last year's event on the A-Kon website's Photo Gallery page, I was almost as interested in attending this event as L was. Even before we registered, L was busily planning her costume... and just to show that I was "in the spirit" of things, I planned one of my own. No, you don't get to see it quite yet; I'll post photos in my next entry. In the meantime, surf around on the photo galleries on the A-Kon site; you just might spot me.

A few words about Cosplayers... these people are f-ing NUTS! This was my first exposure to the world of Cosplay and I was blown away by how much time and work some of these people put into their elaborate costumes. Most of the costumes were consistent with the anime / manga / gaming themes (everything from Pokemon to Power Rangers to Halo 3 to Mario Brothers were represented) but there were also costumes as random as the Ghostbusters, Spider Man, Burger King, and Darth Vader. We didn't get to attend the actual Cosplay contest; it was held on Saturday night and I had to work. Maybe next year I will ask off for that day so that we can attend and possibly even participate. But we saw more than an eyeful during our day and a half at the convention... here is a look at some of the more noteworthy costumes.

A group from the popular "Naruto" series

Some familiar faces, along with some relative unknowns...

One of the main attractions of the convention -- besides running into Cosplayers at every turn -- were the convention halls full of dealer tables, hawking no end of dvd's, books, t-shirts, art work, Japanese candy and snacks, paper parasols, weaponry... you name it. There was some serious commerce going down. I'll share more in my next entry.

Everyone is welcome in Yaoi-land -- even heterosexual men! (But I didn't see very many...)

We also spent some time looking through the various entries in the Art Show...

I'm not sure I'd hang this on my wall, but L might...

more works of art

Hmmm, exactly what I was thinking.

Stay tuned for more from A-Kon...

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np: Hagfish - "Aquarium"