Ani-Gamers

Genericon XXIV is almost upon us! The annual student-run anime, sci-fi, and gaming convention held at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY is going to be a total blast this year, thanks in part to some fantastic guests and panelists who are making their way to the cold, cold north of upstate New York on the weekend of February 11-13.

Who are these wonderful people? Well, they include guests like the Most Dangerous podcasters of Anime World Order, RPI alumna/webcomic artist Jenny Blanchard, independent animators For Tax Reasons, anime voice actor/fangirl magnet Vic Mignogna, Ani-Gamers' very own Uncle Yo, and Japanese-American punk band Uzuhi.

The new featured panelist program rounds out that list with Legend of the Galactic Heroes/Hetalia superfan Walter Amos, Vertical, Inc. Marketing Manager and all-powerful manga expert Ed Chavez, a group of RPI alumni panelists called "The Con Artists," super-powered podcasting duo Erin and Noah of the Ninja Consultant podcast, and the part-time anime bloggers/full-time detectives of the Reverse Thieves blog.

I am a student at RPI and the Public Relations Coordinator for the convention, so my weekend will be comprised mostly of running around trying to make sure everything works well for our attendees. However, I will be making time for two of my own panels: a new "Satoshi Kon Tribute" (7-8pm on Friday), in which I walk the audience through the life and movie-making style of the acclaimed director, and my tried-and-true character design panel, "The Changing Faces of Anime" (3-4pm on Sunday). Uncle Yo will naturally be running his popular stand-up comedy show (3:30-4:30pm on Sunday), as well as "Beyond D&D" (6:30-7:30pm on Saturday) and "Anime One-Night Stands" (1-2pm on Sunday). Our copy editor Sean Kim is also an RPI student, so he might be hanging around the con as well during the course of the weekend.

I know I'm super-psyched about Genericon this year, and I hope I'll get to see some Ani-Gamers readers/listeners up in Troy. If you happen to go to a panel from me or Uncle Yo, feel free to come up afterward and say hi!

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Yes, it would seem that an apology is in order. I have been missing in action for about two weeks, which means (due to the current editorial structure of the blog) that Ani-Gamers has been missing in action for about two weeks. Luckily, the two big things that have caused this hold-up are related in some way to Ani-Gamers, so no "life got in the way" excuses here, folks. Plus, they're mostly out of the way, so we'll be back in business ASAP.

New Blogging Platform: For the better part of the two weeks since the start of the new year, I have been working night and day to construct a blogging platform based around this idea: Blogger isn't quite doing it for me and, being a perfectionist control freak, the best solution is naturally for me to build my own platform from the ground up, with every functionality made to fit my needs. It's still a little unpolished, but I've finished all the big things, so at this stage it actually could operate as the official Ani-Gamers blogging platform. I haven't decided yet if we'll be moving to it, but I'm currently looking into a web host to hold the new system and some cosmetic and organizational changes that might go along with it. I'll keep you all updated on that as things progress.
Genericon XXIV: As soon as I finished that colossal project, I moved on to Genericon, the anime/sci-fi/gaming convention for which I am Public Relations Coordinator (a job that I didn't really keep up with much during the two weeks of straight coding). I'm now working hard on organizing press coverage, guests, and featured panelists (including some folks you might know from around the Internet) while I get back into the swing of things here at Ani-Gamers. I'll be running two panels (my character design panel The Changing Faces of Anime and a new Satoshi Kon retrospective) at the Troy, NY convention, which will be held February 11-13, 2011 at my college, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Thanks for sticking with us through this embarrassing little hiatus. We all look forward to your continued readership and feedback!

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