blueZhift Blog

Last night Puffy AmiYumi played the last of their current Go East tour dates here in Chicago at the Vic Theatre. In short, they rocked! The Vic is a relatively small and intimate theatre, so even from the balcony we had a really good view of Ami and Yumi, who along with their band were obviously having a great time and sharing it with the rest of us. They performed almost nonstop for about an hour and 15 minutes. They only took a few short breaks to talk with the audience in pretty good english, though mostly written on note pages. They played most of their popular pieces including the theme song to the current Pokemon movie in Japan. I was really impressed by the energy and passion of their performance. It was definitely worth it to see Puffy live. Even WillowBrow, who at best tolerates my interest in Japanese pop culture, had a good time and thought they were cute.

The audience was not what I had expected. I assumed that most of the audience would be teenagers and 20-somethings who are currently into anime, manga, and Asian pop culture. But in addition to this expected demographic, were lots and lots of little kids with their parents. Obviously the little kids were there because of the very popular Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi animated series on Cartoon Network. This made for a very strange mix of kids in the proximity of people drinking beer. The presence of the kids wasn’t really a problem during the main show, but the opening act strayed into PG-13 territory a few times which as a parent myself made me a bit uncomfortable with so many kids under 10 present. Once Puffy started playing, it really didn’t matter anymore. I don’t think the show was tailored to kids, but there wasn’t anything objectionable and the kids who were still awake by the time they started had a rocking good time. The fun of Puffy was truly infectious and I hope I’ll get the chance to see them again.

Well, Otakon 2005 is over and only the afterglow remains as life settles back into its normal pattern. Or at least as normal as it gets for me! First off I’m happy that the money I invested in auto repairs paid off as I had nary a hiccup on the way out or back, despite low tire pressure on the outbound trip. The only real travel problem I had consisted of some wheel vibration at speeds over 80MPH (129KPH), so I need to get the wheels balanced before the next major trip. Once arriving in the Baltimore area, the next challenge was really just the traffic due to construction. I got lost on the way to the hotel, but it was no big deal and over the course of the convention I learned my way around quickly.

Right from the start, I did a lot of things that I would not normally do. I’m not the most social person in the world, but that did not keep me from meeting up with a bunch of cool people from the MegaTokyo forums that I frequent. This is the first time I’ve ever gone out to meet people who I only know of via the internet. And I don’t normally get up in front of a bunch of strangers to sing songs in a language of which I only have the barest understanding, but I did! In fact I sang a total of 4 of my favorite songs during the convention, Shell, Shizukana Yoruni, All the Way, and Take It Shake It. None of these songs are particularly well suited to my voice, but I’m told that doesn’t matter in karaoke!

One of my favorite things to do is take photos of the cosplayers. I got a lot of them at Otakon and I had a really good time talking to the cosplayers as well. Click here to see all of the pictures I took for Otakon. The one below is one of my favorites, but not just because she’s an attractive woman. She told me that this was her first convention and that she’d come alone. Wow! Nice costume for her first con and coming alone says a lot too. In particular, the fact that she’s a young black woman makes me believe that the Japanese Pop invasion has had a more profound influence than one might suspect on the surface. In all of my years of attending SF, Star Trek, and now Anime conventions, generally I was one of few African Americans on the scene. Well it looks like those days are over. There were a lot of young black people at Otakon and few of these people had the classic geeky/nerdy look to them. So while I would not say that anime and manga have gone mainstream, I would say that it has reached a broader part of the popular consciousness than sci-fi ever did.

Ugh, the days before a big trip are always fraught with anxiety and excitement! In fours days I hit the road for Otakon and there are so many things I still need to prepare. In particular, I really need to do something about my side mirror. It’s not serious just irritating and having it taped up is just soooo tacky. I’ve done the 900 mile drive to Baltimore before on other business, so that part doesn’t bother me too much.

The thing to really gets me is the fact that this is my first solo convention in a long time. So I’m a little nervous about meeting new people all by myself. On the other hand, traveling solo means I can do whatever I want, which is part of the whole point of going at this time! I’m usually not so selfish, but right now I just want to have as much fun as possible. With 20K other otaku around, having fun may not be so hard afterall. Oh, anyone looking for me (yeah riiiiight), my con handle is Shonen Jidai. I didn’t have time to make a costume, but I do hope to get a lot of cosplay pictures. I love those cosplayers!

Yahoo! News is reporting today that some Japanese musicians are trying to join iTunes Japan, even though their recording labels, such as Sony, are not. The Japanese iTunes Music Store has been a huge success, breaking through the one million downloads mark in only 4 days (it took 7 in the U.S.). It only makes sense that a recording artist would want his/her work to be as accessible as possible to the fans (and paid for of course). But as tightly controlled as the music business is in the U.S., it is even more so in Japan where many artists receive a salary rather than royalties and the typical music CD sells for nearly $40. In such an environment, for artists to publicly move against the wishes of their labels is nothing less than a revolt. But the Japanese consumer has spoken, very loudly, in favor of iTunes so anyone whose work is not availble via iTMS is going to be left behind. I just don’t see how $40 CDs are going to survive with iTMS around. Even CD rentals, which are popular in Japan, are likely to suffer as many people will likely prefer the convenience and lower cost of iTunes downloads.

Right now in Japan, RIAA’s worst nightmare is unfolding. Given access to legal, low cost digital access to music, not only are consumers moving away from overpriced CDs, the recording artists are as well. At least in the U.S. market, CDs have begun to fall in price but even now, a new CD from a popular artist may cost $15-$20 which is still too high. If the artist revolt in Japan spreads, and there have been U.S. artists who also have been breaking with their labels, then maybe the artists and the fans will get a better deal in the end. As for the labels themselves, they can either get with the new program, or be left behind.

Generally I like to be on the cutting edge having all of the newest toys, but of late the wallet has had a bigger sway over just where and when I get my toys. With this in mind, I was in no hurry to upgrade my cable service to digital. I got everything I wanted on extended basic and the could live without the extras on digital. Well all of that came to an end last week when I got an automated phone message from Comcast informing me that the Sci Fi Channel was going from basic to digital. If this call had come a year ago, I really would not have cared. This year I was thrown into a junkie’s cold sweat…without Sci Fi where would I get my Battlestar Galactica fix?

I don’t think it’s any accident that the channel with one of the best shows on right now is moving to the more expensive digital line up. As much as I hate having to spend more money (not to mention making room for a cable box), I understand that this is pretty good marketing. Comcast will undoubtedly see a pretty good spike in digital upgrades. So on Friday, I dutifully wanted for the cable guy to come install the new equipment. After he left I started sorting out my components and especially needed to get my TiVo box reconnected. It turned out that a change of programming source like this required repeating the initial setup process, not difficult, but time consuming.

Anyway, I’m pretty happy with the setup now and my Battlestar Galactica supply is once more secure. On top of that though, I’ve fallen in love with G4 Video Game Television, a network made for geeks and otaku, heaven on the wire! So at least I’m getting my money’s worth.

Apple’s iTunes Music Store has opened in Japan at last! While, like the other stores, I don’t expect to be able to buy Japanese music from that store here in the U.S., I am hopeful that someday soon this will not be the case. For me, one of the attractive things about music via the internet is the opportunity to hear music from all over the world in many different languages. Before RIAA began its crusade against online music, I had quite a lot of fun listening to various French and German internet radio stations that had sprung up like weeds. So I’m hoping that soon, buying the latest BoA, or Ayumi Hamasaki song will be as easy as it is now to download the latest from Kenny Chesney via ITMS.

It has now been about 31.5 hours since my last 4+ hour romp in Final Fantasy XI. This was only the 2nd time in over a year of playing that I had engaged in such a long session. This time I avoided the arm cramping but having stayed up until 2am, found myself suffering severe sleep deprivation and something entirely new, cravings. The long session had consisted of a fair amount of traveling and fighting in the company of a small party of other players. It was a lot of fun and by the end of it I could probably have continued another hour or two. So I’m guessing that my brain was awash in endorphines in which case withdrawal symptoms would be expected. After that, I had a better understanding of why people get addicted to these games. I haven’t played again since that time, but I sure have been thinking about it!

Another interesting thing during the session was the dreaded question of, are you a guy? I’ve been playing a lot as a female character because it just seemed more fun that way to me, but I hadn’t really decided how I wanted to answer the question of gender if it were raised. Until now, no one had asked directly so I never raised it myself, preferring to maintain the illusion. But when asked directly I decided to just play it straight and honest. As it turned out, it was no big deal and interestingly enough no one else who joined our party later even asked about it. You don’t see lots of female characters in the game anyway, so I would guess that most players prefer to maintain the illusion too. This is just a game afterall, right?

Yes! The arrangements have been made, the car has been fixed, and permission has been obtained from she who must be obeyed! I’ve been cleared to attend Otakon! This is especially sw33t since I’m on the precipice of one of those milestone birthdays. Staring into that chasm, I fear that this may be one of the last chances I’ll have to run rampant with like minded otaku. There, I said it…I am an otaku and now the healing can begin…w00t! Otakon here I come!