My Trip To Ichibancon 10

Hello everyone!

Ichibancon is Charlotte's anime, gaming, and Japanese culture convention, taking place in January of every year. Its the second largest anime convention in the Carolinas, and caters to all ages and fans new and old.

This was my second visit to Ichibancon (see HERE for my previous visit). While I cannot say I had the same sort of unique experience I had the previous year -- I did get several complements on my kilt though -- I did have a good time and met many wonderful anime and gamer cosplayers. The dedication these folks put into their costumes and the passion they have for what they do is outstanding. 

The following are the pictures I took from this year's convention on Friday, January 11th.

The Embassy Suites Hotel in Concord, North Carolina.
The annual venue for Ichibancon.

Oh man right in the feels!
Fans of Full Metal Alchemist will get it.

Shego from Disney's Kim Possible.
Probably my favorite female cosplayer
of the event.

Princess Mononoke cosplayer.

Outstanding Black Panther costume!

Thanos cosplayer...I actually had two
photos of him, but he snapped and one
disappeared. LOL!

Appa! One of my favorite characters from
Avatar The Last Airbender.

Captain Jack Sparrow cosplayer.

Teen Titans cosplayers.
I do believe these three ladies are my top favorites.

Miss Kazuha Oda of the Japanese 3 piece rock band Kazha
was once again in attendance.

My favorite part of the trip this year was the chance to sit in on a panel featuring one of my favorite voice actors, the talented Mr. Steve Blum. He has done the voice acting of dozens of characters, including providing the English voice of bounty hunter Spike Spiegel from the outstanding anime series Cowboy Bebop -- this blogger's all-time favorite anime series. 

He autographed the Cowboy Bebop poster that I purchased last year at Ichibancon 9, which once again hangs framed on my office wall.

Voice actor Steve Blum, best known as the voice of Spike Spiegal
in the anime series Cowboy Bebop, this blogger's
all-time favorite anime series.

Voice actor Vic Mignogna, best known as the English voice of
Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist was also signing autographs.
Unfortunately I was unable to get his this time.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is also a favorite anime of mine.

The many characters voiced by Steve Blum.
My three favorites are: Spike from Cowboy Bebop,
Zeb Orrelios from Star Wars: Rebels, and Blunk from W.I.T.C.H.

Overall I had a wonderful time hanging out with fellow anime and gamer fans, as well as meeting several wonderful cosplayers, fursuiters, and other assorted fans and celebrities. Above all, I got the souvenir that I'd wanted.

My autographed poster now hangs framed on my
office wall.

Have a wonderful Dixie Day and y'all come back now, ya hear?

Welcome To Southern Fried Nostalgia & Fandom!

Greetings and Salutations, Y'all, and welcome to the official launch of my new Southern Fried Nostalgia & Fandom blogger segment here at Southern Fried Common Sense & Stuff.

This blogger is a huge fan of cartoons, anime, and animated movies. 

Yeah, I know that's such a big shocker coming from a slightly overweight 42 year old white Southern guy who wears Hawaiian shirts with camouflage cargo pants, attends Comic Conventions, Renaissance Fests, Highland Games, and cosplays for the midnight showings of sci-fi and young adult dystopian fantasy movies, huh? 

Well, it could be much worse. I could be some obsessive otaku nerd-boy who spends tens of thousands of dollars collecting memorabilia from every single sci-fi, fantasy and comic series ever made. 

I actually do have a somewhat modest anime collection, but anyhow moving on....

Anyhow like I mentioned before, I am a huge fan of animation and always have been. Actually I don't even bother keeping it a secret. I mean all y'all have to do is scroll down on this blog page and see that I mention being a fan of 90s cartoon shows.

I actually still prefer cartoons, anime, and animated movies to much of the so-called "reality show" crap and many other TV shows and sitcoms that pass for entertainment -- though there are many exceptions. Still, why watch a bunch of actors go on camera bitching about people they are sharing a house with behind their backs when you can watch Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Just my opinion.

Growing up as a kid in the 80s and a teen in the 90s, I was certainly exposed to some of the best cartoon shows: Transformers (the original G1 series, of course), G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Muppet Babies, HeMan and the Masters of the Universe, Inspector Gadget, Thundercats, The Real Ghostbusters, Bobby's World, Bettlejuice, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ducktales, Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers, TailSpin, Tiny Toon Adventures, Darkwing Duck, Ren & Stimpy, Rugrats, X-Men, Animaniacs, The Simpsons, The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog, Rocko's Modern Life, Gargoyles, Hey Arnold!, Spiderman, Duckman, Space Ghost Coast To Coast, Wild Thornberrys, Pinky and the Brain, Family Guy, Futurama, Rocket Power, The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Kim Possible, Danny Phantom, and Batman the Animated Series -- just to name a few. 

Man, I'm such a nerd!

Almost certainly there have certainly been some really good cartoon shows after those I mentioned. The 2000s and 2010s had some memorable animated series as well -- some of which are really outstanding like: Star Wars The Clone Wars & Disney's Star Wars Rebels, Avatar The Last Airbender & Legend of Korra,  Gravity Falls, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Teen Titans (before Go!), Steven Universe, ect. -- but for some reason those shows in the late 80s and early to mid-90s will always feel to this blogger and many others of my generation as have something slightly more to them somehow. Something deeper and more profound in the stories and character development. Even the Japanese anime from the 80s till the end of 2000s (with a few exceptions) seems better than the more modern fare in my opinion, though many fans might disagree strongly.

Perhaps I am simply biased, or maybe as a pseudo-adult I don't understand cartoons quite the same way as I did being a decade or two younger? Maybe being older I tend to examine animated shows differently? The cartoons today -- with the notable exception of some Japanese anime -- are for the most part geared for children and young adult minds after all. That's not to say that all animation is strictly for children though. Still, my adult mind spends too much time critically analyzing the content of a TV show rather than just going with the flow and simply surrendering to the storylines. Then again I know from conversations on various websites and chatrooms that other fans of 80s and 90s animation share some of my views on the issue of story quality in those old shows as compared to the more modern fare. 

During my teenage years in the late 80s and early to mid 90s, many of these shows were the highlights of my afternoons and weekends -- yeah I know, that didn't speak well about my virtually non-existent social life, but oh well. 

Okay, for the record, that's not to say I had zero social interaction with anyone at all. It's just that most of my peer group activities between age 14 - 19 for the most part included being a couch potato with my closest buds and female friends watching sci-fi fantasy shows like Star Trek The Next Generation and Highlander The Series, some of the 90s cartoons I mentioned, or getting finger cramps and yelling profanities at a TV screen while trying to get a little pixel plumber to jump on a bunch of flying snapping turtles. 

"Come at me, bro!"

I also saved the Lylat System as Fox McCloud and defeated Shang Tsung on several occasion during that time span sparing the Earth from being conquered by the realm of Outworld, just so y'all know!

Um, anyhow in addition to animation, this bi-monthly blog segment will also be dedicated to nostalgic movies and cult classic films including culturally significant science fiction, horror and monster films and television shows that this blogger grew up with. Growing up in the 80s and 90s, I was exposed to various classic horror and science fiction movies like the Nightmare On Elm Street films, the Friday the 13th films just to name a couple. Not to mention reruns of classic movie monsters like the Gill-man and the original Godzilla, and outstanding sci-fi classics like Forbidden Planet (1956) and the original Planet of the Apes (1968), just to name a few, and will be reviewed by yours truly here on this blog.

Well, except maybe for this one....

Uh....WTF?!
Yeah let's never bring this up again!

Well folks grab your popcorn, pull up your chairs, be sure to keep that soda away from your keyboards and put a coaster under it because Southern Fried Nostalgia & Fandom is officially here!  

First official review is coming soon! Please stay tuned!

Night Sky Photography -- 01-07-2019 -- Very Young Moon In Western Sky

Greetings and Salutations fellow stargazers!

This evening I was pleased to see the clouds spread apart just long enough for me to get two good shots of the very first Very Young Moon of 2019. 

In both photos you can see the slender waxing crescent of the moon in the clearing between the clouds about an hour after sunset, or so. In the first photo you see the first moon phase following the New Moon as it appears in the dusk. 

In the second photo you can see the outline of the moon covered in Earth's shadow with the small crescent of sunlight visible on the lunar surface. 

I was truly fortunate that the sky cleared up long enough for me to get these two shots. I hope y'all enjoyed these photos. 

Have a wonderful evening and keep looking to the night skies, y'all.