What Do You Do With Three Months Off?

~ mellopanther

There used to be a panel that frequently ran in the Northeast/Ohio Valley convention circuit called “10 Conventions A Year” which explained how an attendee could budget and schedule their way to double-digit shows. Most of my circle of friends thought that there were better things to plan for (like, say, a trip to Japan) so we didn’t pay much attention to it.

Fast forward to 2017, where I’ve been to 12 shows in less than 10 months.

Now granted, all but 1 of those have been while working with Megaroad Toys and the compensation I get for that, combined with my lack of buying tendencies (except for prizes) and benefits at my day job have helped enable my excursions. I also haven’t been presenting at all of these conventions (mostly because I’ve missed submission deadlines; I’ve been fortunate to not be declined for a show I’ve applied to this year) which can keep incidentals down, but it also means I can’t scratch that particular itch.

So what will happen when my next scheduled show after Blurriecon is in the middle of January?

Continue reading “What Do You Do With Three Months Off?” →

Making It Up

~ mellopanther

Every so often, I do improv, and sometimes that requires suggestions. In order to help the process and get as many good suggestions as possible, I’m turning to you out in Internet Land to help me out. I’ve put up a survey featuring games that will likely be used, as well as some example videos in case you weren’t sure what would work best. At each event, we’ll pick some of the good ones and use them.

Fill out the current version of the survey here or copy and paste https://goo.gl/forms/iyTz1J5SI4UyxUNm2

The Delayed Tekko Schedule Post

~ mellopanther

Friday

  • Tekko Improv 11pm-12:30am, Main Events

Saturday

  • The Most Unusual Mix 9-11am, 92.1 WPTS-FM and online at wptsradio.org 
  • I Cast A Forward Pass 12:30-1:30pm, Panel 1
  • Anime Fight Club 6-7:30, Panel 6

Sunday

I don’t have anything scheduled but Cherami Leigh is hosting an improv panel at 10:30. It might be of use :3

Fandom Feud Survey Post

~ mellopanther

So I decided that I want to do a Family Feud program for conventions, but it’s hard to get full families at a convention, so it’s getting renamed it to a much more common occurrence at conventions.

Of course we can’t play the Feud without surveys and so I have two for you to fill out. Because I have game show friends who are necessarily into anime and vice versa(???) I’ve set up one survey for all comers and the other for anime fans. Try one or both; it’s up to you. If I can get 100 people quickly enough, I’ll send out two more surveys. The goal is to have 20 viable questions for two full matches, so I want to get through as many as possible without overwhelming you.

You’ll also note at the bottom of each survey I ask for your e-mail. This is indeed for S&P purposes, but if you’d like, I’ll let you know when the next surveys are out.

The links are below and I hope to update them when the next surveys go out. Thanks a bunch!

Survey 1-1 (for all audiences) https://goo.gl/forms/V6QUywcgf4dsEBKQ2
Survey 1-2 (for otaku and con goers) https://goo.gl/forms/hIQafyOc5uOGBjrn1

 

In Sickness And In Health…And In Sickness Again

~ mellopanther

Hello friends. Did I mention that I have major issues with post-con blues? Well you can pair that a propensity to be sick and you’ve basically described the past 6 months or so. I actually feel somewhat fortunate that I wasn’t able to get into Katsucon as a panelist because I would’ve just been a total wreck.

What wasn’t a total wreck were my first three game shows of 2017. Setsucon hosted Name That Tune and Wheel of Fortune while Anime Mini saw the initial foray of Doge! Much Press Very Luck. All three were successful although opinions may differ on the latter.

Next up is Tekko, and it’ll be busy both on and off the floor. Right now the only thing I can confirm is that Saturday morning will see the return of the Most Unusual Mix to the WPTS airwaves as part of the new Alumni Show. The rest is up in the air.

That being said, I can’t wait for yeas or nays, I’ve been busy getting a new friend of the company in Nightengale Needles and undertaking some super big projects that you will be hearing about very soon. Watch this space.

Mr. Doge Goes To Washington

~ mellopanther

So far I have only done doge Wheel of Fortune in Pennsylvania, and even then, only as far west as State College. Come October, that will hopefully change. Anime USA is going to be the biggest crowd yet for my version of America’s Game. It’s surely going to be exciting, and maybe we’ll have the biggest win yet.

In other news, let’s flash back to a few weeks ago.

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Good news for my inner 60’s Spider-Man, AUSA will also be the debut of “I Cast A Forward Pass,” a panel all about how the wide world of sports crashed into board game night. This is literally part of my childhood that we will be talking about, and I am excited to share some of the ridiculousness I have found.

October is shaping up to be a really good month. Won’t you join me for it?

Let Me Be Honest

~ mellopanther

This has not been a good few weeks for me. My Otakon experience was marred by issues out of the convention’s control. While it was awesome that I was able to talk about Satoshi Kon to a group of 200-300 people in the middle of the night, the external stuff brought everything else down. Between car troubles, illness, lack of sleep, and a whole host of other issues, there will have to be a major reassessment of how I do things if I ever plan to go back. It’s a shame, but there’s not much you can do when you have a near-Perfect Storm of issues.

To compound on this, I had to pull out of Saikoukon due to a work conflict. This is the first time I can recall having to do this and it bugs me to no end. To be fair, I am fortunate to have a day-to-day job that gives me enough time out to do so many conventions—I’m still on pace for attending nine shows this year (more than I did in my first three years of going to cons) doing panels in as many as eight of them (as many as I did in my first five years of doing panels) and theoretically, I could’ve gone to 13-14 shows in total had I not gone to Japan—but there are other parts of my job that are dicey (tl;dr my job is secure, my position is not) and make it less desirable. Ideally, MP would be a side source of income while I find a position that pays well enough and is flexible enough to allow me to continue with MP, but that is still a long way from happening.

Luckily, I still have three shows left on the docket, and 2017 is shaping up to be very interesting, so I just need to find a way to get back on the proverbial horse (or is it panther in my case?) and continue to plug away.

Simply The Best

~ mellopanther

Another convention announcement for you: I’ll be in the land of Wawas and Tastykakes once again as I do programming for Saikoucon. Last year it was one of my “If You Like” panels; this time it’ll be “I Can Japan (& So Can You)” which is all about how you can Japan, or at least how to travel there in a reasonable manor. As is custom, I’ll also be helping out Megaroad Toys so I’ll be free to chat if you’re not hitting the water park. 😉

Even though there will still be 4 months left to go, it’s been an odd year, albeit a successful one. This will be the sixth show I am doing programming at (and 7th overall), and while I will have only done 12 hours so far (I have done less than 12 hours once since 2010), I’ve done a lot of different programs. Just take a look.

  • Name That Tune
  • Wheel of Fortune
  • Are Cons Doomed? (DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN)
  • Anime For Adults (Not Adult Anime)
  • Tekko Improv
  • The “How To Make A Panel” Workshop
  • Anime Fight Club
  • Satoshi Kon & The Mystery of Me (coming to Otakon)
  • I Can Japan (& So Can You)

That’s nine different panels out of eleven that I’ve done (Improv and AFC each ran 90 min.) I guess this is a good year to show the range of topics I can cover, and the final four months of the year may have even more, so stay tuned!

A Really Big Day

~ mellopanther

As I’m writing this, the doors for Sunday programming at Anime Expo are just starting to open. I am not with them (for multiple reasons, most of them logistics-related) but it would be certainly fun to get there once. That being said, I have news that is just as important: As spoiled by the countdown clock in the right-hand corner of this site: I am presenting at Otakon. When I first joined fandom around 1998—even when I started going to conventions in 2005—I couldn’t imagine running a panel at something of this magnitude, let alone even attending. For Otakon’s final bow in Baltimore I have been selected to present a panel that I don’t do very often, but it’s about a topic that I love: “Satoshi Kon & The Mystery of Me,” in which I break down the works of my all-time favorite director of media and examine how what he had to say about the culture of Japan and its relation with individuality. It’s a little academic, but it’s a ton of fun to present, so if you’re of age, I hope you will join me.

As is custom, I will be helping out Megaroad Toys when I’m not presenting or being awestruck at 30,000 people in one convention space, so there will be ample time to say hi and comment. Presenting at Otakon has been a culmination of over 10 years of work and dedication. I want to thank everyone who has helped me get to this point, and if you want me to go even further, feel free to spread a good word or two to your local show.