Many Apolgies for not being around last week, I had one storm after another keep me offline often enough to miss last week for posting, and for getting around to sites as well. I'll try to get to sites this week sometime, hopefully the weather will hold out on Monday or Tuesday for me.
A lot to cover this week, including a concept article for this post, and I'll have a treat or two in store for the next few weeks as well. Right now, I'm in the stages of planning a trip to Tsubasacon which is in October, so it's a good way away right now, but it's worth mentioning since I will be attempting to provide in-depth coverage of the convention for my readers here on MyOtaku. I haven't heard anything about anyone else from TheO/MyO going, but I will plan a meet-up for anyone who is going and is interested in saying "Hi" to one of few resident WV anime fans. I'll have more info as it becomes available.
Since a lot of you don't get out to the main page, there are a couple contests going on that I should mention. First is an interesting Fan Art contest that I've decided I'll give a go at myself since the deadline will force me to produce something and hopefully get me out of my slump with my other pieces. Second is a fan manga contest. Please read the articles for full details of the contests, good luck to those of you who decide to enter. Both end on October 31.
Also, tattoo touch-up picture is still not available, I'll have to have it taken soon for you all to see it.
The heat has been unbearable here, so once again the artwork is delayed. I'm going to have to learn to think in the heat if I expect to get anything done at all this year. No new news on the novel project either, I still haven't sent that out yet, but it should go out in the next week or two.
Feature Article:
Anime Film Event Snubs West Virginia Fans
National CineMedia's NCM Fathom division, a company that distributes digital content such as movies, concerts, and other performances to movie theaters nationwide, continues to ignore West Virginia anime fans with their latest offering in September, the "Anime Bento Festival", four nights, and four films each being shown for one night only.
NCM Fathom boasts "more than 14,000 screens in 1,000+ digital theatres in 46 states, chances are, a must-see, once-in-a-lifetime Fathom event is happening nearby." but this isn't the first time NCM Fathom has let down anime fans in West Virginia. When the Naruto movie was distributed earlier this year, they did not have any theaters in West Virginia screening that film either.
So, why is West Virginia consistently being ignored when it comes to anime content? I don't really know. We have a convention here, Tsubasacon, we have theaters capable of delivering the content, so the question becomes why hasn't the industry noticed yet? Why does the entertainment industry continue to thumb it's nose at West Virginia's anime fans? Some reasearch into those questions turned up a surprising clue. National CineMedia is joint owned by ACM Theatres and none other than Regal Entertainment Group. Things get worse for Regal, their local theater comes up in a theater locator search on the National CineMedia site. That tells me the theater is equipped to accept the content, they choose not to show it.
All this boils down to is one thing. West Virginia anime fans continue to be stlighted, insulted, and discriminated against by an arrogant, ignorant entertainment industry.
At the time of this writing, neither FUNimation Films, Manga Entertainment, Regal Entertainment Group nor NCM Fathom responded to my e-mails.
Comments:
japanese kitten:
When I post numbers like that, it means there's no way in all the [Censored] that I'm taking that route. I'm still in the process of getting everything together to get out to a publisher that takes unsolicited work, I'll be able to provide more info when the time comes that I get it to them and I hear back. I just don't have the money to vanity publish right now, so I'll try to do it the right way as much as possible.
Sorry, just haven't gotten around to shooting it yet, that'll be soon I hope. So far, it seems to be warding off my fears though,which is a big help to me.
I know that. It got up to 110°F in the shade one summer back in the 80's where I lived in TX, it gets hot there.
AngelBest Dream:
The weather has been brutal on me lately. Keeping me offline, and sapping my concentration so I can't think to do stuff. It's hard to tell when I'll have a lot of time, but hopefully, I'll be able to make some soon.
beyblader:
I'm having trouble wrapping my head around that one. Proponents of global warming would havea field day with it. Yeah, the back-up is the expensive route to take, but if I have to go that way I will, somehow.
lifes burden:
It happens to all of us sometimes, don't worry about it. It's not easy to find a publisher these days when you're a simple author who doesn't have a name in the industry. Really, it comes down to getting a foot in the door, one that's done, things will be easier. Life is a challenge that way, but then again if its worth having, it's worth working for right?
Yeah, the tattoo is done, but I still don't have the picture of it yet. I'll get one of it soon. Actually, I was expecting the ink to peel again, and it did that, so with it peeled, the color is more accurate. If you look at my first colored picture, you can see the darkest spots are actually loose skin gettng ready to peel off, it makes the tattoo look darker than it really is.
timechaser:
Hopefully things are doing better for you, I haven't been around to check your site lately to really know what's up.
If I'm diligent, I'm sure it will pan out.
Yensid:
Yeah, I'm trying to post on weekends now, it's easier for me to do that since I know I'll be home all day to get it done.
In simple terms "vanity press" is what it sounds like, it caters to people's vanity just for them to see their name on a "real" print book. It's not a method of publication that's generally accepted in the industry for various reasons. Most vanity presses will not distribute the book for you, that means they're not on bookstore shelves, they're not listed in Bowker's Books In Print or Ingram's databases (those would make them available to overseas buyers and online booksellers). They won't promote the book for you, so really you end up putting out more time and money into your own work than is worthwhile. That's my biggest reason for not wanting to go with vanity press.
It's been hot here for the past two weeks, even with the rain it's been hot here. The humidity has to be getting around 100% for heat indexes to be getting as high as they have been, that just means air so thick you can cut it with a knife. Plenty of Gatorade will keep the risk of heatstroke down.
With the run of luck I've had these past seven years, I'm certainly due for a run of good luck for a change. Please do send those along when you can, I'd really appreciate it.
Yeah, transferring to skin is tough, but there are things that are supposed to be able to do it and don't. I have a couple ideas that I'd like to explore when I have the money to play around with them, but when worse comes to worse, there's always the basic transfer paper that tattoo artists use. Oh, I did give that home-made carbon paper a try. It's a little messy when you use charcoal, but it works surprisingly well.
I could certainly use those thoughts, thanks.
GIDRA:
Yeah, I'm burning out from all this trying and not getting anywhere, it's frustrating.
I'll know soon enough.
Yeah, tattooing does take some time that people don't seem to have much of anymore. My picture is still on the way, it'll be up soon. No, I still haven't gotten the dragon done yet, I'm still designing that one, but the Kanji was touched up and is looking better now.
I love a nice soft steady rain myself, but I don't get that around here too often. The heat won't be letting up for a while yet.
BASH:
So do I, but even if it doesn't, I'll know more about the submission process, and I'll have some tips (hopefully) on how to improve my book so other publishers might see interest in it. Any way I look at it, I'll come out the winner this time. Of course, if it ever does get onto bookshelves, I'll probably end up like Stephen King, getting in trouble for signing my own books while in the store on a regular day.
That's a good question, and it does help some, but it still lacks the strength to really get me to work in the worst weather extremes. I'll have to try to sharpen it up a little bit and see if I can make myself put something together soon.
Shireishou:
I'll be back to form soon enough, just need the humidity to go down a little.
Depending on the publisher and how the book does stateside, I'll have to push for translated versions to be made. I'd like to have a broad audience for my work.
