Um. . .so uh sakura con was nearly a month ago. . .but it was really fun. Bought some cool merchandise (lots of one piece goodies), got to hear my favorite japanese song preformed live (Dogfight by Move), listened to spike spencer talk (he's funny), took lots of pictures of cosplayers, and in general had a fun time hanging out with the members of domina (Vergoth, Raygor, and Morkai).

Interesting things I learned while at Sakura con:

-the One Piece Portrait of a Pirate figures really are awesome.

-Yaoi is terrifying.

-Morkai is pretty much the best guitar hero player in washington.

-Morkai needs to be a member of a bank that doesnt take 5 miles of walking uphill to get to.

-The gate from Full Metal Alchemist has a craving for Organization XIII's blood, however, a well thrown pikachu will stop it's attack.

-Tonberrys can kill 9 FF7 characters (including clones) at once AND King Kong, but he will give hugs to Organization XIII members (specifically Axel I think).

-Jack Sparrow is a witch

-The pre-registered line is longer then the walk in registration line and it takes twice as long to go through.

-Baptists and Otakus should not hold conventions at the same time

-Crepes with spinach make for a great and filling dinner.

-Mojo Jojo attends anime conventions.

That about covers it I think. I will post pictures just as soon as I figure out how to get images off the camera without the cord.

What else hmm. . .Oh, I discovered Ebay last week. Thanks to Ebay I FINALLY after 2 YEARS of searching, own the Outlaw Star manga. It's pretty good, although its surprisignly. . . "detailed" (if you catch my drift) for a mainstream market manga. It's also vastly different then the show. Things that caught my eye were ( SPOILERS ): There are 2 melfina's (one is evil?), Aisha dies(?) in a fight against Melfina in 5 pages, the ending is has the main 3 characters leaving their home planet (that's pretty much where the anime begins), Hilda is evil and Jim kills her - the list goes on really. So now I am on the look out for the inspiration for Outlaw Star, Future-Retro Hero Story. Hopefully I don't have to look for another 2 years.

I also picked up a new cd by a band I had not heard of before. It caught my eye because. . .well. . . to behonest the title made it just to good to pass up. Battle Metal is the name of the cd and its by a band called Turisas. The style is something like if Rhapsody and Finntroll decided to create a cd together. It has heavy folk inspiration as well as a very prominant symphony that actually creates the main melodies while the guitar provides rythem. The lead singer's voice takes a bit of getting used to, but you come to appreciate it and wouldn't have it any other way. I also must profess that this band has created the best narrative my ears have ever heard. It could EASILY be used as an intro for any historical war story or game because its just that good. So ya, they redeemed my faith in that power metal CAN create good narrative if they really try.

Finally, I did something I never suspected I would again. I bought a Pokemon game, specifically Pearl. I am actually having a great time with it though. Enough has changed since the original that I am constantly kept on my toes. I beat it already but I am now in the process of training up a battle worthy team. All I can say is that thanks to Raygor, the world will soon fear the almighty Scallions! For those totally confused, which would be all of you except Raygor, Scallions is the bulbasaur he sent me after nicknaming it that absurd name. I didn't like it at first but after a bit of inspiration from Rhapsody, it's now awesome. I'll post this inspiration in my scraps soon but it might not be funny for those who have not heard the cheesy Tears of a Dying Angel (by rhapsody), which is a great example of why power metal bands should not narrate their own stuff (its ridiculously cheesy). Anyway, thats all from me for now. By the end of the month I am hoping to get some new art up.