Host City: Evansville, IN
Venue: Clarion Inn
Date: March 28th-30th, 2014
If you've been keeping score, you may recall that the very first convention post here on ACN was for EvilleCon - their 2013 Year of the Snake show, to be precise. That was my first year attending that convention, and it served as the jumping-off point for the New Era of Almost Certainly Ninja. As such, I think it only appropriate that the most Eville of anime conventions be the first con I do a second entry on. Thus I present to you, My Little Eville - The Year of the Horse(Pony).
You may be thinking that the Chinese zodiac's Year of the Horse is a flimsy justification for having a My Little Pony theme for a convention. You may also be thinking that that is a totally okay and fine thing, as MLP: Friendship is Magic is fantastic and hilarious. So here, have some ponies and pony-themed potpourri:
Look at My Con, My Con is Amazing
Now that this entry is pretty and bursting at the seams with friendship, it's time to talk details. This year's EvilleCon had a change of venue, from the Holiday Inn Evansville Airport to the Clarion a short trek down the road. The main area of the hotel wasn't as wide-open as the Holiday Inn - and the rooms were a bit cramped - but the Clarion held its own brand of charm. There were two main locations that served as hubs for the weekend's events: the area around the main lobby, and the atrium containing the pool. The lobby connected the Main Events and Vendor rooms with the Registration Desk, and the meeting rooms above it - with a balcony that looks down onto Registration and the short path to Main Events/Vendors - served as an excellent central location for the gaming and anime rooms, as well as the Spring Fair(which I'll get into a bit later in the entry). That setup really kept you from feeling cut off from the rest of the action if you were in these rooms, something that occasionally comes up with cons that have their gaming and anime rooms tucked off into corners. A short trek from this hub was the atrium, where the Artist Alley, the Panel Rooms, the Snack Bar(there was sadly no River City Roller this year due to that business shutting down, but the hotel's food was very reasonably priced and delicious), and the General Hang-Out Zone were found. This was where the venue really scored points with me. As much as I loved the Holiday Inn's interior, lighting was a tremendous problem; the skylights provided ample ambient light for just milling about during the day, but given that it was overcast for much of the weekend, at night it wasn't sufficient, particularly down in the Artist Alley where folks still needed to be able to work. The atrium also had a skylight, but the additional lighting in the area was far better. Plus, it was just gorgeous inside:
Spring Fair
EvilleCon is a friendly bunch of people who do cool things. This is an established fact. This year's signature Cool Thing was their Spring Fair, a collection of little games of skill and chance one could play for prizes such as candy and supreme bragging rights. Playing the games required buying tickets, but those tickets were very cheap, and it served as a great break from the usual con activities.
Professor Shyguy
Whilst milling about the entrance to the vendor room, I made the acquaintance of one Professor Shyguy, a singer/chiptune artist I'd been familiar with for some time. I acquired two of his CDs, Rated Heart(assortment of originals and homages to geek icons like Mario, Doctor Who, Ender's Game, etc.) and Geekotica(songs about lovin' with a gamer's flavor), and generally shot the breeze for a while. He's a chill dude, and we ran into each other at Denny's during the obligatory after-hours grubfest. Hit up his YouTube channel, and enjoy yourself some tunes.
Little Kuriboh
So this was kind of a shock to me, because anyone who knows me knows that I contract The Dumb right before conventions and usually forget to check the guest lists. If you're familiar with Yu-Gi-Oh!/Dragonball Z Abridged, then you know who this guy is. In many ways, he basically created the current "abridging" craze, and his personal brand of goofy parodies that nevertheless capture the spirit of the original source material perfectly is a wonder to behold. I managed to make it to his Unabridged Q&A, despite the fact that it was a completely-packed affair, and he's easily one of the coolest people I've met this year.
Vocaloid Concert
I could write an entire entry on Vocaloids(and probably will at some point), but for the sake of staying on-track, I'll just summarize. Vocaloids are digital singing voices created from actual voice samples. Hatsune Miku is the most famous one currently, but there's also Kagamine Rin and Lin, Megurine Luka(personal favorite #1), Gumi(personal favorite #2), Kaito, and a slew of others. As the Vocaloid project has matured, some groups have started creating holographic projections of the characters themselves to serve as digital pop stars, and holding concerts.(video of this one?) I'd seen some videos before of these, but never been to one in person. Most of the Vocaloids still have a way to go before they can fully stand-in for a human vocalist, but the songs we were treated to were definitely enjoyable, and several really did sound natural. Plus, having a life-size animated performer "on stage" was really cool.
Samurai Dan and Jillian
Apparently I've never actually talked about them, which is nuts, because I'm a big fanboy. Dan and his wife Jillian represent their family dojo, the Kojokan Samurai Dojo in North Liberty, Iowa, and are regulars in the convention circuit 'round these parts. Accomplished martial artists both, they hold panels on self-defense("No Means No: Self Defense for Anime Fans"), weapons("Real Sword or a Piece of Crap?" and "History of Sharp, Shiny, Pointy Things"), comedy("The Way of the Samurai Stage Show"), and others, each of which I have now attended at one point or another. Do I really need to explain why all of this is awesome?
EvilleCon's Got Talent
EvilleCon's larger, and more signature, event, EvilleCon's Got Talent is a talent show that the con staff promote year-round at the various conventions where they have tables. This was actually my introduction to the staff; while walking the halls at OMGCon, I happened upon some people in light blue T-shirts imploring passersby to show off their skills, and was treated to more than one impromptu vocal performance as a result. The actual show at EvilleCon is always one of their biggest events, and who knows, maybe I'll enter my epic poetry slam routine next year.
And finally, how about some mo' pictuuuuuuuures?!
So, yeah. Short entry this time, but sometimes all you need is a few words. I'll be hitting up EvilleCon 2015 mos def, so you should too. I hear they're even doing VIP badges this year with early access to events and autograph sessions, a con T-shirt thrown in, and a professional photograph with one guest of your choice - y'know, if you like extras and rolling like a bawss.
Until next time, this is Eville Veteran Ro, signing off.
No comments:
Post a Comment