This weekend I will be driving to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to attend Sogen Con. While I have never been to Sogen Con, I have high hopes for a great weekend. It is a smaller convention, but there are several interesting guests and a very interesting and unique list of events, many of which I have not seen at previous conventions.
Every year in Kansas City, the Japan festival Committee holds a Japanese cultural festival at a local community college. While in previous years the festival spanned an entire weekend, this year they are holding the festival on only one day, but adding more event during that time. I will be going for part of the day to explore the various exhibits, listen to some talks, and sample some food.
From their Website:
The 2007 Japan Festival will take place in the spacious Carlsen Center and include more “hands-on” workshops than ever. We hope these workshops will allow you to get involved in aspects of Japanese culture that you have wanted to try but have not gotten a chance to in the past.
This year you can participate in one or several of these workshops: from flower arrangement, bonsai, and tea ceremony to dance, music, origami, taiko and three kinds of martial arts.
Join us and experience the “new” and “old” Japan.
This weekend, I will be attending my fifth anime convention this year, the Anime Festival Wichita held in Wichita, KS. It is one of the smaller cons I have ever attended, but it should be fun. Expect a report when I return.
This weekend I will be attending Anime Iowa, a convention held in the brand new Coralville, IA hotel and convention center just outside of Iowa City. This should be the largest convention I will have attend this year, with an estimated 2,000 attendees. It is also the first convention which I will be attending for all three days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. It should be a lot of fun, and I will report back with the details after I return.
Last Saturday, I attended the Robert A. Heinlein Centennial held at the Westin Crown Center Hotel here in Kansas City, Mo — Robert A Heinlein’s hometown. I am sorry to say that the event was a disappointment. It felt as if it was planned to be a high profile convention with a few thousand attendees that would inspire some genuinely insightful looks into the author’s life. Instead, the convention felt almost second rate, thrown together and lifeless.
This weekend I will be attending a convention celebrating what would have been Robert A. Heinlein’s 100th Birthday. The event lasts three days: from this Friday through Sunday, and will be held here in Kansas City, Heinlein’s hometown, at the Westin Hotel at Crown Center. There are a great deal of events and panels planned, but I will most likely be sticking with the visitors pass, which is significantly cheaper ($10 per day versus $60 a day or $120 for the weekend) but restricts access to just the dealer’s room, Heinlein life museum and some panels.
Hopefully, it will be a fitting tribute to the life of one of my favorite authors, and a fun time as well.
Find out more at: http://www.heinleincentennial.com/
As anyone who has read much of this blog will know, one of my favorite features of anime and science fiction conventions is the masquerade. Something about watching a bunch of nerds get up on stage in costume, sometimes acting out a short skit, is very entertaining.
Otaku Omaha’s masquerade, though small, was interesting. There were several original and creative costumes which I had not seen attempted before, and a couple very detailed costumes that were better than any version I 
had seen before. The few people who attempted skits did not do anything particularly memorable. However, I had a great time, the event was run well without any problems, and all of the contestants seemed to have a great time.
Read more to see a bunch of pictures I took of the event.
Last weekend I attended my third Anime convention this year, Otaku Omaha. While it was the smallest of the conventions I have attended, and there were some serious problems with the hotel (see the previous post about the horrible, horrible Carlisle hotel), there were some definite highlights to the experience.
Click read more to read the rest and see some photos of the events.
I just got back from my trip to Otaku Omaha last night, and while I will be posting photos and information about the con later, I thought I would make a quick post about the hotel the con was at.
Without a doubt the Carlisle Hotel (a Days Inn) is the worst hotel I have stayed at in a long time. The hotel is obviously old judging from the architecture and decor and the state of repair and neatness of the hotel suggests that there has been no maintenance or cleaning done to the premises since it first opened. The EPA should categorize the place as a Superfund site and seal it off for the betterment of all mankind.
Hit the jump for more info and some pics.
This coming weekend I will be attending my fourth nerd convention of the year, Otaku Omaha, an Anime convention held in South-Eastern Nebraska. From what I can tell, it is a fairly small Anime con, but nonetheless looks to have some very interesting events in the lineup. Because Omaha is only a 2 and a half hour drive from Kansas City, and it is a smaller con, we will only be attending for Saturday and Sunday. Expect a report sometime after I return about the events.