Another Anime Convention 2012

Another Anime Convention is, as you might expect, an anime convention being held in Manchester, NH the weekend of October 19-21. There will be panels, contests, gaming, costuming, dancing, video screenings, vendors, artists, and a variety of special guests. Visit http://www.anotheranimecon.com/ to get all the details.

Star Wars Uncut

What if you took the original Star Wars movie, broke it up into 15-second chunks, and got fans from around the world to re-create those parts of the movie however they liked? The result is Star Wars Uncut, which retells the film using animation, toys, kids, pets, puppets and more. Star Wars Uncut will be screened at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, MA on June 7th at 8:00pm.

We probably won’t ever be able to screen the original Star Wars here at the Brattle but we’re thrilled to be able to present this amazing crowd-sourced, fan remake of the most famous and revered science fiction film of all time. The creators of this innovative project chopped the original Star Wars into 15 second chunks and solicited the internet to find filmmakers to remake each scene. Now, they have stitched together a feature length version of the project that retells the entire story of the film entirely through the eyes of fans. With quality ranging from remarkable to dismal, STAR WARS: UNCUT roams from animation to amateur child performances to hilarious reinterpretations of the material including appearances from Moe the Bartender, the stars of The Big Lebowski, and several out of place cats.

Here’s a brief sample:

Learn more at http://www.starwarsuncut.com/ and http://brattlefilm.org/2012/06/07/star-wars-uncut/.

What’s Coming Up in May

Free Comic Book Day is almost upon us! Visit your local comic book store on Saturday, May 5th for free comics, and possibly some parties, author/artist signings, and more.

Also, remember where your towel is on May 25th, Towel Day.

Here are the other events on the calendar so far for May:

Connecticut:
May 12-13, 18-20, 26-27: Robin Hood Springtime Festival 2012
May 13: “Weird Al” Yankovic On Tour

Maine:
May 4-6: HuzzahCon 2012
May 20: Maine Comics Arts Festival 2012

Massachusetts:
May 2: Author Appearance: Michael Olson
May 4: The Nerdist Podcast Live
May 4-5: ROFLCon III
May 4-6: BAMCon 2012
May 6: Southcoast Toy and Comic Show
May 6: University of Massachusetts Renaissance Faire
May 10: “Weird Al” Yankovic On Tour
May 11-12: Post-Meridian Radio Players Spring Sci-Fi Spectacular
May 11-13: Watch City Festival 2012
May 18-20: Nauticon 2012

New Hampshire:
May 12-13, 19-20: New Hampshire Renaissance Faire 2012

Vermont:
May 19: Good Shepherd Jericho Medieval Country Fair

Artist Appearance: Mark McKenna (Additional)

In addition to his June 10th appearance, artist Mark McKenna will also appear to sign his work on Dark Horse Comics’ Star Wars-The Old Republic: The Lost Suns at Larry’s Comic Book Show in Woburn, MA on June 11th from from 9:00am to 2:00pm. Learn more at http://www.larryscomics.net/shows.html.

[Tip via Convention Scene]

What’s Coming Up in March

Oops, I’m late with the March update! Darn that short month of February!

Don’t forget that March 14th is Pi Day! Mmmm, pi…

Connecticut
March 11-12: New England Magicians Conference
March 18-20: ConnCon
March 19: Steampunk Tempus: The Mark Twain House & City Steam

Massachusetts
March 4-6: Intercon K
March 6-13: “Mental Machines” Film Series
March 11-13: PAX East
March 18-20: Vericon
March 18, 20, 22, 25: Death and the Powers: The Robots’ Opera
March 21: Science On Screen: “Transcendent Man” With Ray Kurzweil
March 25-27: ConBust
March 26: Third Conference On Middle-earth
March 28: Author Appearance: Steven C. Schlozman
March 31: Author Appearance: Ethan Gilsdorf

New Hampshire
March 25-27: Steampunk Industrial Revolution

Rhode Island
March 16: This Is The End: Sci-Fi Film Fest

Vermont
March 19: Spring Meltdown

Boston Comic Con

The next Boston Comic Con will be held April 10-11, 2010 in Boston, MA at their new location, the Westin Waterfront. Guests scheduled so far include Jim Lee, Mike Mignola, and many more. For details visit http://www.bostoncomiccon.com/.

[Tip from http://www.conventionscene.com/2009/10/31/boston-comic-con-moves-to-new-venue-with-an-all-star-guest-list/]

Ig Nobel Prizes Webcast

The webcast of this year’s Ig Nobel Prize ceremony is now available at http://improbable.com/ig/2008/webcast/.

Interview with Michael A. Burstein

Wicked Local Brookline has an interview with local SF author Michael A. Burstein, whose publication party is coming up on November 2nd: http://www.wickedlocal.com/brookline/fun/entertainment/books/x1776785508

Admin: LiveJournal Feed Now Available!

If you’d like to subscribe to the RSS feed via LiveJournal, that option is now available. Add http://syndicated.livejournal.com/nescifievents to your friends list.

Administrative Stuff: Signing Up for Feeds and Updates

Hello to the few of you who actually know about this blog! I wanted to let you know that I’ve linked the blog’s feeds up to FeedBurner, which does two things: one, it lets me track how many people have subscribed to the blog via RSS, and two, it lets me offer a free email subscription service to people who prefer email to RSS.

If you sign up for the email service, you will receive one email a day with all of the day’s posts in it. If the blog doesn’t get updated, you will not receive an email. I will be able to see the email addresses of those who sign up for the email feed; I promise not to use them for spam or other nefarious purposes.

If you have already subscribed to the RSS feed, I am not sure if the switch to FeedBurner will affect you in any way. Please let me know if you encounter any problems, and if you do, my apologies, but better to get the software tinkering over with now before the readership expands (wouldn’t it be lovely to have lots of readers to piss off?).

Thanks to Kevin (the Ninja Podcaster) for all of his great technical suggestions! I encourage you all to listen to his podcasts.