I know they got rid of the blog feature on TV.com years ago, but it seems they left it alone for Gamespot.

Any of my friends from the good old days still around?

Probably not, but if you are, please drop me a line :)

CN brought Toonami back during the Adult Swim block for April Fool's! haha what a nice treat! Currently watching Gundam Wing!

Happy New Year, everyone!

So last 4th of July weekend, I went on my annual pilgrimage to Anime Expo. It was their 20th anniversary and the biggest draw was "Mikunopolis" -- Hatsune Miku's first, US concert. Here's a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzYssX-CcSY

It was really awesome and the crowd was really into it. Me and my friend didn't have glowsticks--cause we waited until the last minute to look for some but that didn't deter us from having an awesome time.

Moving on...I'm not gonna go into detail about what I did on each day, like last year's blog cause I mostly did some walking and took cosplay photos.

Oh yeah, I went to the Power Rangers panel and saw some of my childhood heroes, especially Walter Jones--"Zack" the original Black Ranger.

So definitely going again next year--will be my 5th year going. It has become a summer tradition for me.

Here's some of the pics I took:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0zeEpgCq7I

And if you want to watch some amazing footage from AX, take a look at acksonl's youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/acksonl

I joined the site 5 years ago today! That's half a decade ago! Yay?

Happy New Year everybody, hope you have a fun and prosperous 2011. Ahhh I graduate from college in June!!!

Hope you all have a nice day with your loved ones.

So from July 1 - 4, I went to Anime Expo (AX) here in Los Angeles. I just thought I'd share my experience.

Day 0 (June 30)

Well, this day is designated as the pre-con where you can go and pick up your badge instead of doing so on Day 1 (That way you won't miss out on the Opening Ceremony or other events that take place early on the first day). So the con hours on Day 0 was from 3pm - 8pm. I got there at around 5pm because I drove from my college to LA (45 min drive) to find a massive line (possibly longer than the lines for the iPhone 4). After asking one of the staff, I found my way to the end of the line...fast forward a couple of hours and I finally picked up my badge and main event tickets...All set for the next 4 days!

Day 1 (July 1)

So July 1st, the official first day of AX. I got there at around 8:30am in the morning because I wanted to attend the opening ceremony at 9am. By this time I had already missed the red carpet event for the guests of honor. So I just went into the Nokia Theater (where the OC was being held) So the OC started at around 9:30 or so because people were still filing in to their seats. The list of guests of honor for this year was epic. It included all-girl J-Pop group AKB48(only their "top 16" were there), J-Rock band SOPHIA, some directors and producers of well-known anime, such as Eden of the East, Cowboy Bebop, and Ghost in the Shell; Danny Choo (Dancing Tokyo Stormtrooper), voice actors including Masakazu Morita (Ichigo from Bleach), and Yui Horie (Naru from Love Hina, Eri from School Rumble), singers Megumi Nakajima, May'n, and RSP (Bleach endings 14 and 22). (Mind you these were just some of the guests of honor, it's not a complete list). So anyway after they introduced themselves, AX was officially opened and an eye was drawn on the Daruma doll (see wiki article).

So after the opening ceremony, I just spent the next few hours taking pictures of the cosplayers. At 1pm I headed back to the Nokia Plaza for the RSP concert...It was awesome.

After the concert, I went back to being a photographer. I was contemplating on whether or not I should go to the AKB48 concert later on at 4pm, but decided against it because 1) I didn't have a ticket and 2) I don't really listen to them lol. So I decided to call it a day.

Pics: Danny Choo, AKB48, SOPHIA, Masakazu Morita, RSP, Daruma Doll.

Video: just search in "anime expo 2010 opening ceremony" or "rsp anime expo" on youtube if you're interested.

Day 2 (July 2)

I only briefly went to AX this day. I had to pick up a friend from San Diego (2 hours drive from LA) in the morning so we didn't end up going to AX until around 4pm. Fortunately what I wanted to do on Day 2 was to watch a play called "Kisaragi" at 5:30, which is a big hit in Japan and I commend the AX people for including it to the program this year. The cast of Kisaragi included Masahiro Usui (the dude who played "Hanto" in Engine Sentai Go-Onger, for the sentai fans out there). The play was billed as "a homage to otaku culture". I won't go into detail of the plot of the play but that was a pretty accurate description and it was superb. They even had people who flew in from Japan just to watch it (I was calling them "groupies" lol). The play lasted 2 hours. Afterward I took some more cosplay pics and called it a day.

Pic: Cast of "Kisaragi"

Day 3 (July 3)

So Day 3 is the busiest day of AX, seeing as how it's Saturday, so I wasn't surprised to see that there was (again) a huge line of people picking up their badges. Most 1-day attendees choose Saturday (As I did, when I went for the first time in 2008 ). So most of the day I took more cosplay pics and visited the Exhibit Hall aka Dealer's Hall and I bought a poster and one of those giant white fans that you smack people with. At around noon, my friend and I headed for the SOPHIA concert only to get kicked out because I took a picture So I was pretty p*$$ed off after that, but I decided to make the best out of the time that was suddenly available to me, so I took more pics and went into one of the video rooms and watched Densha Otoko (Train Man)--great movie if you haven't seen it). So flash forward to 8pm to Anime Expo's grand event--the Masquerade. Most of the skits were so-so, only a couple made say "that was awesome." After the skits, they showed the winners of the AMV contest while the judges deliberated on the masquerade. We didn't stay for the announcement of the winners and left after the AMVs were shown.

Here's the best skit of the night IMO: Henshin Ninjas

Best of Show AMV: A Word from our Sponsors

Day 4 (July 4)

Happy 4th! So the last day of AX (usually dead, but this year it was moderately lively). I only went for the closing ceremony so I didn't get there until 5pm. When I got there, there were some Hetalia cosplayers (America cosplayers, specifically) singing the national anthem. So I headed to the hall were the CC was going to be held. I thought I'd catch the auction but it was over by the time I got there. (Last year the auction reportedly raised about $80,000 for the children's hospital) So the closing ceremonies finally kicked off at 6 and only a handful of the guests of honor were there, but I'd say most of them were still there. So they all said their "thank you's" and "goodbyes" to our loud cheers. Then the other eye (closed eye) was drawn on the Daruma doll (now clad in autographs of the guests of honor) and Anime Expo 2010 was officially over.

Pic: Daruma Doll

So in all, it was a great experience and I really enjoyed AX this year. This was my third year going and it was really the best one yet and the biggest one yet--lots of press coverage and even the mayor of LA was there. Can't wait for next year. It will be the 20th AX so it's expected to be much, much bigger.

Well, I guess I had it coming. I don't log in for a few months and so when I finally did today, guess what? I've been stripped of all my editorships. You know what tv.com? I actually have a life so don't expect me to log in every single day to see if I have anything in my queue; besides it's not as if the shows I'm editor for are currently airing or are overly active.

Hmmm, well it's not like I'm getting paid for being editor, so I guess I shouldn't be upset, but still, I put a lot of time on those shows when I first took the helm. Then suddenly, it's all gone.

A suggestion: maybe you guys should send notifications on our actual emails, not just the through PM system here? I mean that would certainly get my attention if I see an email from you guys saying that I have a contribution to moderate, or that I've been MIA so I should log in so I don't lose my editorships.

Well, all good things come to an end; not like I've been really active here for the last 2 years anyway.

Well to my friends here who want to know what I've been up to the last 2 years, I've been in college, majoring in political science as some of you know. This week is actually finals week so I'm on the verge of finishing my third year. I've taken all the classes I need for my degree and I just need to pile up on units so I'll have enough to graduate next year. Since I've done all my requirements, I'll just be taking it easy for my senior year. I've been putting this off since I started college, but now that I've done all the really important stuff, I can now take Japanese 1A during senior year. I really look forward to that class and hopefully by the time I graduate, I'll be competent in simple and basic Japanese.

Well, that's basically it. To anyone who reads this, I'd appreciate if you comment and give me an update on what you guys have been up to. Thanks.