24/7 Player

A-Kon (Dallas, TX)
A fan-run anime convention that takes place in the Dallas/Ft Worth area.

Anime Expo (Los Angeles, CA)
The largest anime/manga event in the US, Anime Expo runs annually in Los Angeles, bringing artist, voice talent and musical performances together for a wonderful weekend of fun.

Anime North (Toronto, ON)
One of Canada’s largest anime conventions, Anime North takes place at the end of May. They also raise funds for the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation.

DragonCon (Atlanta, GA)
DragonCon is one of the largest scifi/fantasy and pop culture convention in the US. It spans four hotels and three days of cosplay, panels, and offers a variety of guests. One of the guests for 2010 is popular author Laurell K Hamilton.

GenCon (Indianapolis)
GenCon is one of the largest gaming events in the world. Everything from computer and console games to table top and roleplaying games are featured every summer at the event.

Kansas City Game Fair (Kansas City, MO)
The Kansas City Game Fair is a small convention that combines three events in one, ShaunCon: Kansas City’s own role-playing convention, Blockhead! a board game convention and BorderWars (HAHMGS – Heart of America Historical Miniatures Gaming Society).

Long Beach Comic Con (Long Beach, CA)
2009 was the first year for the Long Beach Comic Con. It was attended by guests such as Stan Lee, Jeph Loeb, Seth Green and Eric Roberts.

New York Anime Festival & New York Comic Con (New York City, NY)
In 2010, NYAF and New York Comic Con will be taking place at the same time, in the same convention hall. Purchasing a pass will grant you access to both cons and you can experience the best both events have to offer.

Otafest (Calgary, AB)
A small and very community oriented anime and manga convention in Calgary, Otafest is a growing anime con run by an amazing group of dedicated volunteers.

Otakon (Baltimore, MD)
Otakon started out as a small college run convention but soon grew too large and has moved to Baltimore. The event attracts over 20,000 attendees and focuses on anime, manga and Japanese culture.

PAX East (Boston, MA)
PAX East 2010 will be the inaugural event for this eastern expansion for PAX. This first event is scheduled for March 26-28.

PAX West (Seattle, WA)
The original PAX site, PAX West offers one of the finest “For the Fans” gaming experiences. This is truly a community based event.

Sakura Con (Seattle, WA)
Seattle’s Japanese cultural festival, SakuraCon is one of the largest anime conventions in the Western US. It is held in the Spring and sponsored by the Asia Northwest Cultural Education Association.

San Diego Comic Con (San Diego, CA)
While the primary focus of SDCC has been comic books, science fiction and fantasy, it has grown to embrace more pop culture, anime/manga, and gaming. It is the second largest traditional convention in the world.

SIEGECon (Atlanta, GA)
SIEGE is an industry event for aspiring game industry students, graduates and local industry professionals to network and learn from each other over the course of an educational and fun-filled weekend of activities.

Video Games Live (Worldwide)
VGL is a musical event, touring the globe to bring video game fans orchestral versions of their favourite video game music. It is a celebration of the culture of video games, and is supported buy the gaming industry.

Yaoi-Con (San Mateo, CA)
Yaoi-Con is a convention focused on the “yaoi” (male-male relationship) anime and manga scene. Due to the nature of the material, attendees must be 18 years of age or older with ID.

Posted on November 15th, 2009 at 3:07am by Yukino
Filed Under: Angels on the Go, Conventions, Los Angeles, Otakon, Popular culture, San Diego Comic-Con International, anime, anime expo, fantasy, new-york-city, sci-fi

Last week I attended one day of the two day 140 Character Conference at the beautiful Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. Many of the great talks were Tuesday, but Wednesday definitely had some highlights.

What is the 140 conf? The #140Conf is an event that explores the effects of emerging real-time Internet on Business. The event specifically says it’s not about microblogging or where people share twitter “tips and techniques”.

The conference was even set up to be fast paced like twitter. Individuals has 10 minutes, featured talks has 15-20 minutes and panels were set for 15-20 as well.

Also in the Kodak theater were companies showcasing their products. Seesmic, Bing, Avaya, and Kodak all had booths on the outside of the room. I found the Kodak booth most interesting since they had all their products lined up with knowledgeable people there to discuss the different product lines. I had specific questions about the type of camera I wanted and they were able to answer my questions.

A few highlights of the event for me was watching Drew from BlameDrewsCancer speak, listening to how Twitter has affected sports industry and journalist sites, and Jessica Gottlieb for being brutally honest.

Overall though, I didn’t feel like I learned much of anything. Some of the group panels seemed frantic and rushed to the point where they were cutting each other off. Meanwhile people that weren’t organized it seemed like they had too much time. In the end, while the constant change of panels was interesting but it definitely felt like there was very little to learn.

I think it was a great first attempt and they will probably learn and alter it as needed. The next #140conf is taking place in London on November 17: london.140conf.com/

Here are a few videos about the conference. A number of the sessions are up at Real Player’s Youtube site here.

Posted on November 1st, 2009 at 3:42pm by GamingAngel
Filed Under: 140 conf, Angels on the Go, Avaya, Eastman Kodak, Jessica Gottlieb, Kodak Theater, Kodak Theatre, Los Angeles, seesmic, twitter, twitter conference