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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Paul Corrigan's LiveJournal:
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| Monday, June 12th, 2006 | | 1:50 pm |
Brief notes from Otakuthon Sunday
Coming Sunday was worth it for a few reasons (even if it was rather slow, slow enough I even had time to drop in to the student pub at Concordia just in time to see Iran get humiliated by Mexico 3-1--the Iran fans were visibly heartbroken). 1. I won an Otakuthon t-shirt (depicting Yurika) in the drawing at 5:30 pm. I was the only winner present. Marc Nadeau, the registration guy, asked me if I could pick his Loto-Quebec numbers for him. I told him it wasn't good to gamble. 2. Allie Laberge was making good progress towards my Sei/Yumi fanart, where they cosplay Oscar (Sei) and Rosalie (Yumi); I'll post it here when I get it. Oh, and I got my very own fan-made Yumi Fukuzawa water glass. There's at least one other fan art in preparation, but I think I'll leave that as a surprise. 3. I fell in love with the Ouran High School Host Club anime. Yes, an all-male harem anime. It helped it was made by the makers of Fruits Basket; they make it work by playing up how ridiculous the whole idea of harem anime is, even when it's all-male harem anime like Fushigi Yugi, Furuba or Ouran High School. A riot. Finally, another anime for me to obsess over. 4. The first thing I heard at the "Bitch Panel" was someone explaining about how they'd been to Anime North, and honestly had had more fun at Otakuthon. Less a Bitch Panel than a love-in. The panel chair, a Concordia anime club officer, said only half in jest that with reviews like these she'd damn well better start organizing next year's Otakuthon! Next year they need a real hotel space. The rundown Henry Hall building with its notoriously unrelaible escalators simply isn't going to cut it; it could barely accommodate the con as it was. But I'm definitely going next year. More detailed notes to follow. --- Back to work. --- EDIT: Okay, at least one more reason to be pleased with Sunday. Cafe Hookah is still open after all. Ioana, you were right (thank God). Current Mood:  pleased | | Saturday, June 10th, 2006 | | 3:57 pm |
Today's experiment: successful
Only major hitch worth mentioning was their opening the con an hour late (eleven, as opposed to ten). Appears successful so far, though I heard an unofficial attendee count (from a staffer I got talking with) of over 1500, not bad for a first anime con (and impressive by the standards of fan cons in Quebec). Chances are good for a repeat next year, please God in a bigger location (perhaps Place Bonaventure or even Palais de congres). Went to a couple of rather informative panels (Anime News Network and Protoculture Addicts), even ordered a couple of fanarts, though I think I'm done for the weekend in the art department--I was just at ACen, and the Alley's pretty small (though it's bigger than the Dealer Room, or rather Dealer Corridor). So I'm keeping busy, and pleasantly surprised. One downside is this is the first con I've been at all by myself. It would have been nice to take or meet someone there. Mais bon, a la prochaine. Amelia, what are you doing next summer? --- The Otakuthon mascot, Yurika, is a blue-haired girl in a kimono bearing a fan with a fleur-de-lis motif. Yurika is from yuri (lily), obviously as opposed to Anime North's Momiji (maple leaf). Current Mood: satisfied | | Thursday, June 8th, 2006 | | 7:59 pm |
In for a penny, in for a pound (or at least C$50).
I am now the proud owner of two return tickets to Montreal, good for thirty days. The plan is to go up for at least Saturday of Otakuthon. If I enjoy myself, and/or I get fanarts that need to wait until Sunday to collect, I'll take the last bus home to Ottawa, go home to my own bed and come back on the first bus Sunday. If it's not what I hoped it would be, I'll have a spare ticket that I can use to go the next weekend and doss around. PLease God the weather will be better that weekend. Who cares if it's two hours each way? It's Montreal's first anime con! (Not to mention the price of another bus ticket's cheaper than any hotel room would have been--if I could find one at all.) Do you know what? I'll make some notes and post them here. I have a laptop now. Nowhere near as detailed as Anime North (I'll try to restrain myself); it'll be mostly something to do on the long commutes (at least one, possibly two) to and from Ottawa. Current Mood: hopeful | | Monday, June 5th, 2006 | | 5:11 pm |
Dessine-moi un fanart
Yesterday I decided to walk back to Ottawa from Librarie Reflexion on boulevard St-Jospeh in Hull, where I do my French anime magazine shopping. I came across a small art showing that was being had outside the Theatre de l'Ile in Hull. Local artists trying to sell some of their work. Most of them were still lives or landscapes, frankly rather soulless; one woman was selling what amounted to postcards in oil of Quebec City. Of course I've asked for Sei and Shimako in Champ-de-Mars station, but I want it for Sei and Shimako, so I can dream that yes, one day I, too, might run into the Rosas Gigantea in Vieux-Montreal. I don't drop myself into the universe of my anime fantasy girls; I bring my anime fantasy girls to me. All I need is superpowers. ^_^; The only artist whose work stood out enough that I'd want to take any of it home with me was a Lise Poirier from Ripon, Quebec (a village not far from Ottawa). So called naive art. A child-like, cartoonish style, of the sort you might find in the nicer sort of children's book. Her heads are simple circles with dots for eyes, and no mouth. She had been written up in an article in a recent Canadian art magazine. It seems when Poirier visited a local school one child asked where the mouths were. Another child answered, "I can see them laughing." They were mostly country scenes, but one was of a boy wearing a scarf standing on a small planet, accompanied by a sheep and a rose. The title: "Dessine-moi un mouton" (Draw me a sheep). It took me a moment to realize it, but it was in fact a fan art of St-Exupery's Little Prince, standing on his home Asteroid B-612. I was tempted...but six hundred bucks is a bit much to pay for a fanart, no matter how nice it is. That, or I've been ripping off fanartists worse than I thought I was. Update: Mme. Poirier has a website ( http://cf.geocities.com/lisepoirier_artnaif/index.htm), with examples of her work, but I can't find the Little Prince on it. Ah well. --- ( My last rant about Lady Oscar (Quebec edition), I promise. ) Current Mood:  okay | | Sunday, June 4th, 2006 | | 7:28 pm |
Fanart ffrom heaven/Un don de Dieu, ou plutot Notre Dame
Khanh Viet Duong, aka seravi, is a fanartist of some repute on deviantart.com. I had asked him on the Saturday of ACen for a drawing of Toko and Noriko, planning to pay him on Sunday. When I couldn't find him on Sunday, and not being sure I still wanted the drawing (I had my Toko/Noriko chibis by then), I let the matter drop, went home and forgot about it. Imagine my surprise when this showed up in my mail box. I forget how much I agreed to pay him; I'll have to now. It's quite nice. In the meantime, tell him you love his work at seravi_leonart@yahoo.com. I'll let you caption this on your own. Current Mood: surprised | | 7:16 pm |
The True Likeness of Studio Poutine
Amelia insists her host mother was looking for pictures of her (Amelia's) entire family. Alas, the only decent picture I have of me is my mug shot on my work ID card, so this is going to have to do. Could I look any more Irish? Discuss. ^_^; (Actually, where in the LJ FAQ should I look to see about turning some of my picture collection into icons?) Current Mood: okay | | Wednesday, May 31st, 2006 | | 7:25 pm |
Imavision answered. Imagine that.
I sent my letter by e-mail as well, just to make sure. To my great surprise, they replied that afternoon. I didn't think this was the place to plug their website, but it's probably a standard signature, so I'll let it pass. ( French )( English (translation mine) )Well, if that's all true (and to be honest, it probably is), Imavision got ripped off. I know I was. | | Monday, May 29th, 2006 | | 7:24 pm |
| | 2:29 pm |
Scenes from Wonderland
To while away the time yesterday before my train, went to Villa-Maria station again to take more detailed notes. Something tells me Shiori would give Lesvos Ouest a wide berth, even if she could afford to eat there. Had lunch at Yakimono. Where else in the world but Montreal can one possibly find kosher sushi, I ask you?Surely not in Japan, at any rate. Amelia, if you find some in Osaka, let me know. --- In Vieux-Montréal I saw a real game of croquet for the first time in my life, on the small plot of grass presided over by Jean Drapeau. Le Québec, c'est le vrai pays de merveilles parfois. Current Mood: good | | Sunday, May 28th, 2006 | | 1:11 pm |
Il etait temps!
Just saw a poster at Concordia announcing OTAKUTHON, MONTREAL'S ANIME CONVENTION! Details are at www.otakuthon.com. Apparently Concordia's anime club is organizing it. Free too (though they are taking donations--I'll send them $25, what the heck, I'd pay that for a day at ACen). Pre-reg is until June 4. I can get the form there in time, no problem. Well, that's cheered me up no end. I needed that. (I'm not sure I can stay all weekend, and someone said never attend the first annual anything. Then again, I've no good excuse not to come check it out Saturday and see if I wouldn't want to go to next year's. I've had worse excuses to day trip it to Montreal.) (Ioana, now you no longer have a damned excuse not to have ever been to a con either! ;P) Current Mood: thrilled | | 12:11 am |
La fin d'un epoque
Went to Cafe Hookah on rue Saint-Denis for a beer and to enjoy a sheesha. It could be my last chance. The waiter still wasn't sure whether they'd be staying in business after May 31. Pity. I rather liked Cafe Hookah--and this is the first time I'd been able to go without having to worry about missing my bus back to Ottawa. (Don't go home until tomorrow afternoon.) I did see at least one person in the metro this weekend wearing a t-shirt advertising a butt-out party at a Montreal bar for Tuesday night whose name escapes me. I wonder are they having any in place Aubry in Hull. I think I'll head there either way. Current Mood:  nostalgic | | Friday, May 26th, 2006 | | 10:46 pm |
A envoyer chez Imavision plus tard--moins les sacres
Cher Imavision, Je voudrais vous remercier d'avoir enfin realiser une edition quebecoise de Lady Oscar a un prix tellement abordable en plus; il etait temps, apres plus de vingt annees. Je n'ai qu'un seul plaint. Serait-il trop de demander qu'un DVD bilingue d'un anime japonais ait des sous-titres en francais, pour les fans qui preferent les voix des comediens et comediennes japonais mais pourtant ne savent pas le japonais, ou meme pour les sourds? Pour ne rien dire des extras inexistants. En autre termes--z'etes capables d'etre plus cheap? Crisse, c'est quoi, ce marde-la? Assurez-vous (malgre tout) de mes meilleurs sentiments. Paul Corrigan Current Mood:  bitchy | | 5:39 pm |
Lady Oscar, personne n'oubliera ton nom
I am now the proud owner of the first Lady Oscar box set. Bilingual Japanese/French DVD, so if I decide using anime to improve my French isn't working I can read my anime as God intended. It's dubbed in France, anyway. Marche Clandestin on rue Ontario ahd already discounted their three remianing copies by a third. Had it been selling that badly? I asked. No; the truth was the vultures had descended the first few days after it appeared. Anybody who wanted by now has proabbly bought it. I'lll send a longer review to the Yuricon list (and maybe here) later. For now: $35 for 20 episodes of anime. Can't beat that. Something to watch on the train home, too. Current Mood:  tired | | Wednesday, May 17th, 2006 | | 3:10 pm |
Twelve years of watching anime, and fat lot of good it is when it counts.
That's what I get for dropping Japanese as an undergrad. I know how to tell someone in Japanese that he's already dead, but I couldn't make a simple phone call to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) researchotaku at her host family's house in Osaka without writing a script. She had promised to call me as well as our parents, but she never did. Fortunately, Mrs. Morita spoke a little English. She's dealt with Americans before, I'm sure. [SFX: Phone rings.] Morita: Moshi moshi? Me: (horrible accent) Moshi moshi, Morita no otaku desu ka? Morita: Hai... Me: Um...Ameria Korigan no ani, Poru Korigan desu. Ameria-chan wa imasu ka? Morita: Miyako-san? Me: [mangling languages horribly] No!...Uh...Excusez...Ameria-chan... Morita: Yes! Just a minute please! Me: Chotto matte? Morita: Yes! Just a minute please! [Beat. In the background Amelia can be heard saying "Hai."] Morita: Moshi moshi? Me: Hai? Morita: Ameria wa...ano...sleeping! [SFX: Inane on-hold music. I pray I won't be hung up on.] Amelia: Hello? Me: Hi! I didn't wake you, did I? Amelia: I had to get up anyway. It could have been worse. Our mother had tried calling the previous night (Japan time). Mom has no Japanese at all, and to make matters worse she called them at 11:30 pm their time, after my father insisted the time difference was 11 hours, not 13 hours. I called Mom after I hung up, after getting the best times to call, and confirming that it was in fact a thirteen hour time lag (which, to be fair to my mother, she had been sure it was in the first place--my father got her confused). My father came in as I was talking to Mom. I asked to talk to him. Me: Dad, my friends at work said Japan was thirteen hours ahead of Cleveland. And they'd know. Dad: There's only 24 hours in a day. There's no way you can be more than 12 hours away from anywhere. Me: Listen. We're five hours behind Greenwich. Japan is eight hours ahead. Five plus eight is thirteen, ok? Dad: Rubbish...you can only be twelve hours away from anywhere else. It's eleven hours... Me: ...never mind. Give me back to Mom. And this is an engineeer (not in aerospace, thank God). I don't why I bother trying to talk sense to my father; he just doesn't listen. Of course, I never listened to him when I had a choice either. I get more like him with each passing year, down to the gut. Which would explain why he thinks _I'm_ always talking through my rear end. Of course, I have his teeth too. Extremely solid ones by the standards of the British Isles, and I didn't cost a dime in orthodontics, so it could be worse. --- researchotaku sounds well; she was going to Nara that morning to do some sightseeing. She'd have e-mailed the previous night, but she couldn't figure out how to get the Morita computer to write in romaji. (Actually, Amelia, if you're reading this, update your LJ. I want to hear about Nara.) Thank God the Moritas don't live in the cardboard-box apartments you hear about. It's a duplex; she said it reminded her of our aunt's place in Drogheda. I fancied Mrs. Morita as a Japanese Patsy Clarke when I heard that. I couldn't help but be amused by the thought of a Japanese woman ordering Amelia out of bed with a thick Drogheda accent. I really do envy her. Something I should have done at her age. Unless it was business I couldn't afford to go to Japan now, and where I work even the jetsetters don't get to go to Japan much. That's why I write about Canada when I should be writing about Japan. I don't know anything about Japan. Not really. --- Good news. I'll actually be seeing my aunt in July. I'm going to London on business; the business is done by Thursday of the week, and there's no point coming home before Sunday, so I'll take a commuter flight to Dublin and spend the weekend in Drogheda. My aunt was surprised, but she didn't object. The Irish practically live in each other's houses; nobody thinks twice about dropping in on a friend out of the blue, and it's very bad form if the friend can't (or won't!) offer a cup of tea or some cookies. One of the first things I remember my mother having to explain to me when we moved to Cleveland was that I couldn't just go over the road unannounced and ask the neighbour's children out to play. That and Mom and Patsy have always been close, and Mom's never tired of entertaining her sister or her children (or vice versa). They're nice that way. Patsy actually joked that she keeps bugging me. It's not true, but I did do my best to give her a good time in Canada when she came to see me (I couldn't afford to put them in the Chateau Laurier, so they made do with the Lord Elgin, not as dear as I thought it'd be). Now I have money it's only fair I buy a few rounds, as it were. Mind you, if she ever visits again I'm taking her to Montreal by the freeway, not Quebec 148. --- winterbymorning, chapter 4 will be finished this weekend, I promise (please God by Victoria Day). It'd better. Weekend after that I won't get a thing written, though the reason is I'll be on business again. (In Montreal.) Current Mood: (hence, I'm updating) | | Tuesday, May 9th, 2006 | | 10:25 pm |
One more--a Nana chibi
I didn't even commission this one--one of the fan artists had it for sale for a few dollars. I couldn't resist. That's all for now. "Shimako at Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours" and "Shiori at Villa-Maria" will follow as soon as I have them myself. | | 10:14 pm |
Toko and Noriko Chibi number 2
"Ooh. Buddha fan book. Shiny." The price of fan art has really come down. I picked this up for $2, and it's not bad either. | | 10:08 pm |
Toko and Noriko Chibi number 1
"You want us to go to the prom in matching dresses?" "Oh come now, dear, we'll be the toast of the ball! Ohohoho!" If you don't like my caption, add your own. | | 9:54 pm |
| | 9:45 pm |
Shimazu Yoshino, the Yellow Rose of Edo
Philip Moy has done work, among other projects, on the Powerpuff Girls comic. As a matter of fact, no, he'd never even heard of Marimite before, never mind tried to draw Yoshino. Even the yellow-rose-motif kimono is much more elaborate than I'd expected. Another professional at work. He was also selling a hentai dojinshi (starring Faye Valentine). I was tempted (the art wasn't bad), but I managed to resist. | | 9:33 pm |
La Rose du Village
Douglas Smith is a graphic designer (and occasional voice actor) for ADV Films, who's designed many of their DVD covers. He's also not a bad fan artist. If this didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, it's partly my fault. I had in mind Sei hanging out by station Beaudry, waiting for Shimako, perhaps even smoking a cigarette, etc. Problem is, the photo I gave Mr. Smith as a model wasn't great (I'm not the best photographer), and I didn't make clear to him that I wanted Sei in her college garb, not her school uniform. So he had to do this one in a few hours on Sunday; I got it just as I was about to leave for O'Hare. Call him the Iron Fanartist. Sei is the focus, of course (looking more feminine than usual). Mr. Smith was pressed for time, and settled with a very stylized rendition of the entrance to station Beaudry, emphasizing the rainbow-colored columns. Not bad for a few hours work. |
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