Catching up, Part 3

(Amazing ... not only do I get spam via e-mail, but now it seems I get it through the comments section of my blog ... fan-fucking-tastic!)

2 points to make before I get to the next topic:

• Please take a moment to stop and give thanks for all that you have. I always believe that I am very blessed to have the family and friends that I do. I am also extremely lucky in that I live in Tampa, Florida and I was able to escape the wrath of 4 hurricanes last year. Seeing the images of the devastation and continuing hardships due to Hurricane Katrina puts things in perspective, especially on how lucky most of us really are.
• This is nowhere near as heavy a topic as the last point, but I forgot to mention this in my last post. While we were waiting for Lake Texarkana Gamera to start at Metrocon, X and I started talking to some of the other people in the room. One young lady asked us what I thought was a pretty interesting question. Interesting in that if I was asked the question again, I would answer totally differently. I think she asked us why we had gone to Metrocon, or more generally why we liked anime. I can't even remember what I said at the time, but to answer that now I would say that it's to keep myself young (as if I'm really that old ...). What I mean is, now that I have a home, job, various bills and payments due, etc., I find that my time is mainly being spent trying to be responsible and act like the adult I'm supposed to be. Watching anime (and to a lesser extent playing video games) lets me escape from all my worldly pressures and lets me simply be a kid enjoying life.

U.S. Open 2005

After attending Metrocon, I felt a great renewal in my interest towards martial arts. This was fortunate, since the very next weekend was the U.S Open of Karate/World Martial Arts Championships. X was the first one to ever tell me about this annually held event. He went to it once back when we were in college, and he always talks about some of the impressive demonstrations and matches he saw. So last year we decided to go check it out and we had such a great time that we pretty much plan on going every year now. So, this year it was held at the Coronado Springs Resort Hotel and Convention Center in Walt Disney World. The tournament happens over two days (in this case on July 1 & 2) with martial artists coming from all over to compete in numerous events. The tournament is spread around multiple ballrooms in the resort, so X and I spent the first day going all over watching various competitions. I remember watching the individual competition for men's and women's traditional weapons, musical/extreme weapons, musical/extreme forms, and ISKA/USBA breaking. On Saturday, we spent almost all day in one ballroom watching the ISKA World Breaking Competition which was taped and will be televised on ESPN2 (sometime ...). I have to admit that this may be the coolest event for me to watch. Shit, who doesn't want to watch people break things? I want to speak more on this, but I'm honestly losing track of everything that happened. Unfortunately, that's what happens when I wait too long to write about something (and it doesn't help that I have the worst memory of anyone I know).

Another update will come shortly.

Catching up, Part 2

(Sorry, meant to have this up a lot earlier than today.)

Metrocon 2005

So from June 24 - 26, X and I decided to go to Metrocon, an anime convention held annually here in Tampa. This was their third year of existence, but their first year holding the festivities at the Tampa Convention Center. I haven't gone to many conventions, but I've always had a lot of fun at the few I have attended. I usually treat it like a vacation, and it's always nice to surround yourself with people that share your interests. I probably won't go describing the convention too much, as I'm not really sure many of you are interested (but if you are, just post a comment; I can always write about the con in a later post). I will say that for being at an anime convention for two days, I didn't actually watch much anime while there. It's funny, but we mainly spent our time in the dealer's room, watching Lake Texarkana Gamera, and walking the Path of the Samurai.

The dealer's room was pretty cool. Besides there being plenty of vendors selling anime and anime-related merchandise, there was also a vendor selling replica weapons, a couple of costume shops (cosplayers ... mmm ... ), and various other stalls.

Lake Texarkana Gamera ... how to explain this? Well, best thing to say is that it was maybe one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. Mr. John Swasey, voice actor/director for ADV Films, was the director for the dub of Gamera: Attack of Legion. I don't honestly remember the whole story, but after dubbing the movie some of the people involved with the English dub got it in their heads that they should make another dub of the movie. But this time, they should dub almost all the parts (they left the main female lead alone) as if the characters are from rural East Texas. I do not know if words can do this justice. This may quite possibly be the funniest thing I've ever seen. If you ever get the chance, rent or check out the Gamera Limited Edition Boxed Set. You have to get the boxed set, as the stand-alone version of Gamera: Attack of Legion does not have the full dub of Lake Texarkana Gamera. But the you'll find it is well worth it to find this edition.

Path of the Samurai ... this was an awesome experience. Basically, a local dojo came to the convention to show people the ways of Japanese swordsmanship. Sensei Mike Femal came to explain the basic tenets of the samurai, and to demonstrate the style of swordmanship that he teaches here in the bay area, Toyama Ryu Batto Jutsu. I found this interesting for two reasons. First, because I have always been interested in the sword arts. Secondly, I studied Edo Yagyu Shinkage-ryu Heiho for some time last year (before multiple hurricanes, laziness, and some personal issues caused me to stop), and I was very interested in seeing where the two styles differed. The classes that were taught went extremely well. They had something like 70-80 people sign up to participate, and X and I lent a hand in their preparations and instructions. We spent a lot of time speaking to the instructors from the dojo. I think we ended up spending 4 hours in this one activity. I want to express my deepest thanks to Sensei Femal and his students for putting on such great demonstrations and classes. That helped to get me energized for my next outing ...