by Ryan Mathews

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June 1999

First off, if you've been sending me mail and getting no response, it could be because I'm not receiving it. Netcom, my ISP for over five years, was recently purchased by Mindspring, who is having some problems integrating the two systems. To their credit, at least Mindspring has a page that tells you when there are problems. Netcom rarely told their customers anything. I know I've been missing some mail, because Scott Frazier said at Anime Central that he'd mailed me in response to the March column, and I know I'd have remembered that!

Ah yes, Anime Central. That was an interesting convention. Well done and lots of fun, if you could ignore the fact that the hotel was a run-down piece of crap. The highlight of the convention for me was the impromptu fanfic-writer dinner. As usual, I was running the fan-fiction panel. One of my panelists had suggested, through email, that the panel go out for dinner Friday night. Per the usual routine, I had my panelists gather at the art show on Friday evening, to make sure everyone made it to the con. Imagine my amazement when I saw gathered in the hall, not simply the six writers on my panel, but seemingly every fanfiction writer in the known universe.

We descended upon Denny's, more than thirty strong, Richard Lawson and Gary Kleppe and Scott Schimmel and Pearson Mui and Bert Van Vliet and Mark Engels and Jeanne Hedge and John Biles and oh so many fanfiction writers whom I'd never before met. We ate and talked of fanfiction and just had a grand old time. I was glad I went, even though I'd had two slices of the famous Chicago deep-dish pizza and wasn't all that hungry. Pearson was about to take our picture in front of the Denny's sign, when we noticed a large limousine and posed in front of that instead. Only the best for my panelists!

I wasn't the only one having fun. You remember my friend Eric? The one who had a half-naked American voice actress in his room, getting her body autographed by a guest of honor [Aug. '98 column]? Well, he held another one of his legendary parties at Anime Central. You may not know Eric, but trust me, the guests of honor at any convention he's attended know him. One such GoH even "autographed" the bathroom sink after drinking too much sake. It was just as well, as he was having difficulty being understood. Eric got the man's translator so drunk, the poor guy forgot how to speak English.

Not that I have first-hand knowledge of this. I got it all secondhand from Eric, supported by photographs of the happily inebriated anime creators. Me? I was sound asleep in another room. I'm boring, remember?

What else... Oh yeah: I just upgraded my sound system. Tossed out my 12-year-old receiver with the non-working radio and replaced it with a new 5.1-channel Dolby Digital surround system. Wow! What a difference! One of the cool things I discovered while playing with my new toy was how many anime titles in my collection had always been in surround, and I'd never known it. I re-watched Macross Plus on LD the other night and was blown away by the soundtrack. Slayers Next also had a nice surround mix, surprisingly enough. Are there any other titles I should pull out of my collection and watch again?

And I saw The Phantom Menace. It's hard to say how I felt about the film. There was a lot to love, a lot to hate. I won't say any more than that, since this is an anime-oriented column. (But hey, wouldn't the original Star Wars have made a great anime?)

For this month's topic, I'm trying out a new idea.