Wednesday, March 17, 2010

PR: 2010 National Cherry Blossom Festival Anime Marathon Cosplay Contest!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Tom Vic, 202 633 0468 fsgasiafilms@si.edu


Announcing the 2010 National Cherry Blossom Festival Anime Marathon Cosplay Contest!

On April 3, 2010 at 1:30 PM, the Freer and Sackler Galleries, in partnership with Otakorp, Inc. and the DC Anime Club, will host a cosplay contest as part of our annual National Cherry Blossom Festival Anime Marathon.  The contest is open to individuals or groups.  Each individual or group will be given a maximum of three minutes to perform before an audience in the 300-seat Meyer Auditorium.  A panel of judges will present awards at the end of the event.  All costumes and performances must be family-friendly.

To enter, send an email to fsgasiafilms@si.edu  with your name, the number of people in your group (if applicable), and a brief description and picture of the character(s) you will be performing.  The first 20 individuals or groups who respond will be accepted.

For more information on the Freer and Sackler Galleries film programs, please visit www.asia.si.edu/events/films.asp.

We look forward to your participation in what is sure to be a very fun event!

About Freer and Sackler Galleries:

About Otakorp:
Otakorp, Inc. is the not-for-profit organization best known for running Otakon, one of the world's premiere gatherings of fandom. It's an educational non-profit that promotes understanding and appreciation of Asian culture, by means of celebrating its popular culture.
About DC Anime Club:
DC Anime Club was established in 2003 to introduce and educate people in the Washington, DC area about East Asian culture, through viewing and discussion of Japanese animation (also known as anime) and Japanese comics (manga).

We also work to provide a positive, alternative activity to the youth in the area by exposing them to foreign culture, encouraging artistic expression and creativity, and providing opportunities for participation in community activities and leadership.

DC Anime Club is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization. Contributions to DC Anime Club are tax deductible to the extent allowable under the law.

DC Anime Club has been featured in many newspapers and publications .

In addition to our meetings, the club holds an Art Show, a Cosplay Party fundraising event, and anime lectures at local schools . Our club works with the Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan, Smithsonian Freer Gallery and DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival on their anime screenings. Our Marketing Team has helped promote performances for several Japanese bands such as Puffy Ami Yumi, Pine am, The Slants, The Captains and Ayabie.

DC Anime Club was founded by Chris Wanamaker (President), Jules Chang (former Vice President) and Craig Vaughn (Vice President) on Saturday June 5, 2003. We have a strong membership that continues to grow.



Feiffer at Politics and Prose on Thursday at 4 pm

Tomorrow - I'm there. I've heard him read part of this before, and it's good. See one of the great cartoonists and read his memoir.

Interview with former University of Maryland cartoonist, OR There's a Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie coming out?

Author Jeff Kinney on his movie-bound 'Wimpy Kid'
Liesl Bradner
Los Angeles Times' Jacket Copy blog March 17, 2010

How to draw Cul de Sac video

Richard's got a blog post up linking to a Youtube video where he draws Alice from Cul de Sac. This is only sped up about 1.5x - the guy's an absolute menace to be standing next to, as he draws and his arms flail around and that razor-sharp pen nib comes within millimeters of you...

Ugly Americans cartoon reviewed in Post

 'Ugly Americans': Trying to get along can be monstrously funny [online title: Hank Stuever reviews Comedy Central's new animated series 'Ugly Americans'].

By Hank Stuever

Washington Post Staff Writer

Wednesday, March 17, 2010; C01

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/16/AR2010031604003.html

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

OT: Tom Inge on Harvey Kurtzman

My friend Tom Inge, one of the sharpest writers on comics and humor, has a new essay online - he writes in, "My essay on MAD comics and Harvey Kurtzman appears on the Comics Journal website in two parts, March 15 and 16: http://www.tcj.com/history/m-thomas-inge-harvey-kurtzman-and-modern-american-satire-..."

Check it out - it's well worth it.

Another Harvey Pekar interview

This one's an audiofile so it's going to be kind of hard to cut it out and tuck it in Harvey Pekar: Conversations, but I have faith in your ingenuity.

Phone call with Harvey Pekar
by LADYGUNN . March 15th, 2010 .
http://ladygunn.com/love-life/phone-call-with-harvey-pekar
http://vimeo.com/10181052

Washington Times confirms award-winning editorial cartoon no longer appearing

Regarding Alexander Hunter's The Big Picture, this article refers to it in the past tense - Illustrator for Times wins editorial-cartooning award, WASHINGTON TIMES March 16 2010.

Any hope of a collection?

Politics and Prose graphic novel book club schedule

Good lineup here...

March 24th
West Coast Blues by Jacques Tardi.

April 28th
Logicomix by Apostolos Doxiadis

May 26th
Crossing the Empty Quarter by Carol Swain

June 23th
The Photographer by Emmanuel Guibert

July 28th
Superman: Red Son by Mark Millar

August 25th
Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow by Brian Fies

September 22nd
Burma Chronicles by Guy Delisle

South Park article in Examiner and Express

Today, both free papers ran David Bauder's Associated Press article on South Park's caricaturing of Tiger Woods.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Environmental Film Festival starts tomorrow

Here's the Washington Post's take on the children's portion of the Festival. I think the Environmental Film Festival website is a bit hard to use so I'll give a quick rundown of the schedule of animated films here. Free, unless otherwise noted.

March 16: MLK Library, 1:30 pm
The Goat That Ate Time
Wishful Thinking
Cravings
Smart Machine
Chicken of the Sea

March 17: Palisades Neighborhood Library, 1:30 pm
The Goat That Ate Time
Wishful Thinking
Cravings
Smart Machine
Chicken of the Sea

March 18: Lamond-Riggs Neighborhood Library, 1:30 pm
The Goat That Ate Time
Wishful Thinking
Cravings
Smart Machine
Chicken of the Sea

March 20: National Gallery of Art, 10:30 am
Delivery
Papiroflexia
Miro: Flower
Once Upon a Tide
Manantial (The Spring)
Varmints

March 20: National Geographic Society, 1:00 pm, $5
Up

March 21: National Gallery of Art, 11:30 am
Delivery
Papiroflexia
Miro: Flower
Once Upon a Tide
Manantial (The Spring)
Varmints

March 22: Anacostia Library, 10:30 am
The Goat That Ate Time
Wishful Thinking
Cravings
Smart Machine
Chicken of the Sea

March 23: Parklands-Turner Neighborhood Library, 10:30 am
The Goat That Ate Time
Wishful Thinking
Cravings
Smart Machine
Chicken of the Sea

March 27: Carnegie Institution for Science, 6:00 pm
Clean Coal (4 minute short before three non-animated films)

March 31: Herblock lecture by Warren Bernard

Warren writes in,

This time, I am going to lecture on his editorial independence, and get into a few battles he had with his editors. This will include showing the cartoons that even the Washington Post did not run (though indeed his syndicated papers did run them) when Herblock and the then-editor of the Post, Phil Graham went head to head. This was not the first time Herblock battled his editors; we will also get into a large battle he had prior to his coming to the Post He was an ardent anti-isolationist, much to the chagrin of the isolationist syndicate he worked for.

We will get into all of this, and show cartoons galore!!

Here are the details, hope to see you!!!

Date: Wednesday March 31

Time: Noon (that 12:00PM...)

Place: Madison Building, Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave Washington, DC

Room: Dining Room A, 6th Floor

Metro: Capitol South exit, Blue or Orange Line

Alex Hunter of Washington Times wins award

Editor and Publisher is reporting that Alexander Hunter of the Washington Times has won the Scripps Howard Journalism Award which includes $10,000 and a trophy. Hunter does a full broadsheet multipanel editorial cartoon that I find fascinating. While I don't agree with his politics, I'd buy a book of the cartoons - I had the opportunity to see them recently and he's a facile cartoonist who can quote a lot of styles when making his arguement.

Unfortunately, I wonder if he's still in the paper since they dropped their weekend edition?

Comic Riffs interviews Judge Parker's Mike Manley

The 'Riffs Interview: Artist Mike Manley makes his 'Judge Parker' debut today
By Michael Cavna
March 15, 2010

Animator in Richmond

A bit far to the south perhaps, but we can drive there fairly quickly, so check out "Saxton Moore Gets Richmond Animated," By Andrew Cothern, Richmond.com March 15, 2010.

Andrew Cohen interview by DC Comic Books Examiner Mark Ruffin

Mark Ruffin catches up with one of the DC Conspiracy members - "Andrew Cohen constructs an ol' scratched vinyl note on comics," March 15, 2010, DC Comic Books Examiner on the same day that I do. At least we picked different people.

Weingarten on 'Watch Your Head' comic strip

In "Past imperfect: Is Gene Weingarten old school or just old?" By Gene Weingarten, Washington Post Magazine March 14, 2010; W36, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/05/AR2010030503120.html, he says of the strip:

 
I consider myself an expert on newspaper comics; I can confidently deconstruct how a single panel of a 1939 Krazy Kat episode contained a sly foreshadowing of the anomie that would come to define the beat generation. But my own newspaper is now running a new strip, "Watch Your Head," that is hip and modern and filled with ironic detachment; therefore, I not only cannot understand the jokes, but I cannot tell for sure which characters are male and which are female. Hip people like this strip.

 

A Chat with Matt Dembicki online at City Paper now

Meet a Local Cartoonist: A Chat with Matt Dembicki

Sunday, March 14, 2010

ACT-I-VATE at Politics and Prose pictures

ACT-I-VATE webcomics people at Politics & Prose, l-r Simon Fraser, Jim Dougan, Joe Infurnari, and Dean Haspiel. Further down, Jim and Joe switch seats...

100_9738 ACT-I-VATE

100_9739 ACT-I-VATE
(that's Jim's wife who read some of the parts in the comics)

100_9741 ACT-I-VATE

100_9740 ACT-I-VATE

100_9743 ACT-I-VATE

100_9742 ACT-I-VATE

100_9744 ACT-I-VATE

Saturday, March 13, 2010

PR: April 16-18: T-MODE gaming and anime convention


T-MODE GETS READY TO ROCK

T-Minus 36 days and counting to the popular D.C.-area convention

ALEXANDRIA, VA. (March 12, 2010) – With just over a month to go, T-MODE 2010 is gearing up for a party like no other. The popular local anime and gaming convention makes its triumphant return April 16-18, 2010, and will be held this year at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town, just steps from the King Street Metro.

T-MODE offers a chance to get up close and personal with some of your favorite guests, including voice actors Wendee Lee ("Cowboy Bebop," "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya"... enough shows that we could be here all day!), Todd Haberkorn ("D.Gray-Man," "Claymore") and Cristina Vee ("Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha," "Anime TV"); author Roland Kelts ("Japanamerica"); musician Random ("Mega Ran") and webcomic artists Jessi and Matt Pascal ("Geeks Next Door") – with more surprises in store as the convention draws closer.

Along with guests and performances, T-MODE 2010 presents video game tournaments, a Cosplay Variety Show and Masquerade Prom, live event sessions, an interactive video room, the Otaku Bazaar with vendors and artists and much, much more. T-MODE also offers several different membership options, including its signature collection of Otaku Passports for fans who prefer closer interaction with the convention guests. For a truly unforgettable weekend, check out the Otaku Passport Premier. Only five of these very special memberships will be sold, but T-MODE guarantees a VIP fan experience like no other. Registration is still open and available online at www.tmode.org.

About T-MODE
T-MODE is where Asian, western and urban pop culture collide into a completely fun and unique convention experience. Held in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, T-MODE is a "fun-sized" event that celebrates the fusion of anime, gaming, music, cosplay, and all things otaku. T-MODE also strives to create a friendly and more personal atmosphere for convention attendees.

For more information about T-MODE and T-MODE 2010, please visit our Web site: www.tmode.org.