Recently in Howard Tayler Category

Mountain-Con III starts today

By nihon on September 21, 2007 11:09 AM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Mountain-Con III starts today at the University Park Marriott (480 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City). I'll be posting reports on the con over the weekend. Hope to see you all there!

Anime Banzai report

By nihon on September 2, 2007 4:36 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Well, Anime Banzai 2007 is over now, and I think it was very successful third year convention. All of the people I talked to there enjoyed themselves, and we are all looking forward to next year. Despite a doubling of the at the door rate from last year (to $30/person), the numbers at the con were still almost what they were last year. The amount of activities and the amount of time were also doubled (since they could start about 12 hours earlier than they could while at Salt Lake Community College), and they took advantage of all the extra time. 

The dealers room was about the same, though at least one of the dealers had less merchandise available than last year due to flying to the con instead of driving. Many of the dealers were familiar from past years, too. There was no art show this year, from lack of interest I'm guessing. The art show last year was smaller than the one the first year. It may be that they just need someone very dedicated to running one. We'll see if they bring it back again.

This was the first year Anime Banzai was held in a hotel (specifically, the Sheraton City Centre Hotel on 500 South), and while there were some rough edges due to inexperience on the part of the con staff and dealing with hotel issues, I think they did an admirable job overall. I even talked to some of the other hotel guests who asked me what was going on, and some of them seemed genuinely interested instead of amused or scared by all the weirdos running around in strange costumes. The hotel staff seemed more friendly than when CONduit was there. 

The guests this year included Artbeat and Michael Dobson. Artbeat was very well received, and had an encore performance on Saturday night in addition to their scheduled Friday night concert, pushing back the cosplay contest an hour. After their concerts, they sold copies of their CDs, signed them, and posed for pictures with their fans. From my perspective, they were very gracious throughout. 

Artbeat is an unusual group, being a Jrock group from the United States rather than Japan. The members of the group speak both Japanese and English, and have released three independent albums. They have been making the rounds to various conventions, and have even begun being noticed in Japan. 

Michael Dobson is a well-known English-language voice actor working for the Ocean Group. He's voiced Starscream (Transformers), as well as many other anime and non-anime roles. He gave a presentation about what it was like to be a voice actor, covering some of his experiences over the last many years. 

I participated on two panels, one about classic anime (1980s and earlier) and one about the difference between reality and the portrayal of life in Japan in anime. Both were very well attended (probably not due to me, but I can hope), and those attending asked a lot of good questions which we answered. You can get the handout for the classic anime panel here:

If you like anime, or even just curious about it, I highly recommend attending next year. It's great fun!I'll be posting some pictures later.

Dragons Keep 20th Anniversary Celebration & Creators' Signing Event!

By nihon on August 22, 2007 7:59 PM | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
(Reposted for John Ortiz)

Join us, Dragons Keep in celebrating our 20th Anniversary of Business, Comic Books and Gaming on Saturday September 8th! This will be a day of fun filled with Gaming, Door Prizes, Comic Books, Sales, Creator Guests & Much More!

The Dragons Keep Anniversary Celebration & Signing is a family-oriented event. This is our opportunity to say thank you to you the fans and our supporters! This will also be a great opportunity to interact with some of the comic industries most talented creators currently working in comic books. Great events all day long!

Our Guests This Year Include:
Howard Tayler: Schlock Mercenary - www.schlockmercenary.com    
Ryan Ottley: Invincible, Superman/Batman - www.unclewya.com   
Tyler Kirkham: Avengers/Transformers, X-Men, Spider-Man, Superman, Wolverine/The Darkness, Strykeforce, The Gift, & More! - www.tylerkirkham.com  
Andrew Dabb: DemonWars: The Demon Awakens, Dragonlance: Chronicles: 'Dragons of Autumn Twilight', Dragonlance: Chronicles: 'Dragons of Winter Night', Forgotten Realms: Streams of Silver: 'The Legend of Drizzit Book V', Forgotten Realms: Sojourn, G.I. Joe Special Missions: Antarctica, & More! -www.andrewdabb.com   
Dylan Johnson: Call Center Blues - www.1200n.net   

There will also be gaming and game demos on site! Game demos occurring during our event include: HeroClix, Collectible Card Games, Star Wars & More! BYU Quarks Club on site to support the gaming activities!

40,000 comic books NEW to the floor! On Sale! Back stock comic books 10 CENTS! 25 CENTS! Up to 90% OFF! Buy 3 get 1 FREE on selected comics!

Meet owners that have been part of the Dragons Keep legacy for the past 20 YEARS! This is an event for all ages and not to be missed!

Dragons Keep is located at: 260 N. University Ave. Provo, Utah 84601 801-373-3482 For more details visit www.dragonskeep.com

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