This weekend’s LA Times had a substantial insert that educated moms and dads everywhere on what the differences were between anime and manga, as well as descriptions of the more popular - and soon to be popular - series of the same. Now, some exhibitors are looking to “take advantage” the anime fans’ tendency to cosplay.

Hey Cosplay Cuties!
Represent Anime Selects!

We need four spunky fans for Anime Expo 2006! If you’re 18 or over, friendly, articulate, and can get to the Anaheim Convention Center July 2nd and 3rd, 10 am – 6 pm, email us! Send a 10-second video or JPG of you in cosplay, plus 3 reasons you’d be an ace ambassador. Your mission: to attract fans to the booth and hype the great lineup. Your reward: $100 and a ton of fun! Do you have it? Prove it! CosplayCuties@ccfv.com.

I guess it’s not the worst deal in the world, offering a mere hundred bucks for some chick to dress up to titillate and sell your wares when you stop to consider that they’re likely to do so for free anyhow.

[via]

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Man, I’d love to see this happen at San Diego. I may be pro-P2P when it comes to TV and movies, but actually profitting off of someone else’s work like these guys do is messed up. It’s one thing when the booth is covered in impossible to find rarities, but when they’re blatantly selling ripped DVDs repacked in their own photocopied cases, I say screw ‘em. Best part of the article - the guy’s claim that he got direct permission from the MPAA for his copies. That’s some funny stuff!

Campus police seized the materials from a Rockford, Ill., man at 4:51 p.m. Sunday after consulting with the Dayton FBI, Special Agent Michael Brooks said Monday.

No arrests have been made or charges filed, pending review of the DVDs, apparently containing copies of original TV shows, Brooks said.

The vendor said he had no copyright license to sell the DVDs, according to police reports, but he provided police contact information for a Motion Picture Association of America official who he said had cleared the sales.

However the DVDs were seized after consultation with the FBI and the U.S. attorney’s office, Brooks said.

Full article here.

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I can sum up Day 2 of the New York Comic-Con in two words: Cra-zy! I showed up at about 9:45 to set up the DK booth, and there were easily thousands of people already in line to get in (thanks to my Exhibitor Pass, I walk right in. It’s like a Nerd EZ-Pass. Boo-yah!). Original estimates for the entire 3-Day attendance were 20,000; by 1pm, just two hours after the show opened, people were being turned away at the door. Unlike yesterday, which had an almost leisurely feel in retrospect, today was louder, busier, and the aisles got really, really crowded. It was still fun, but only hardest of the die-hard were gonna make it into this thing. Word of advice for next year (and judging by the turnout, there will be a next year): GO ON FRIDAY. Onto some photos!
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Dan’s the KFR eye on the street at this weekend’s big NYC Comic Convention, and he’s already sent us a load o’ photos chronicling his Day One adventures. One of his pics was of the Superman Returns statues that are lined up to come out this summer, and I liked them so much, I’ve blown the details up so you can see them better. Click on the (more) link below to peep them for yourselves!
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The first sign of the coming Great New York Nerd Invasion of ‘06 was after work yesterday: an overweight, balding, goatee sporting dude wearing a black Spider-Man costume tee shirt and an unzipped, baggy hoody walked by me on the street. I tried to snap a photo of him, but alas, I was not quick enough on the draw with the old camera phone. However, I’m pleased to report that the first day of the New York Comic-Con at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center — which I’ll be attending all 3 days as an exhibitor for my day job at DK Publishing (booth #553, come visit!) — there were all types of nerds (and I include myslef in that category) as far as the eye could see, and all kinds of great stuff on sale and on display. The Marvel and DC booths were relatively small, but there was a good feeling all around, and the lines for autographs weren’t bad at all. In my time away from the DK booth, I snapped some pictures for KFR. Enjoy!

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If you’re gonna be in the San Fransisco area this weekend for Wonder Con, you’ll be wanting to find the raffle ticket booth for these babies. Huge, 4′ x 6′ X3 promo posters will be raffled off to 500 people, one per winner. If you aren’t gonna be in the area, keep an eye on ebay and be prepared to fork out a small fortune for one of your own.

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This is one of the weirdest, yet strangely appropriate, celebrity signing announcements I’ve ever seen. Los Angeles’ NecroComicon is going to have as their guest, OJ Simpson. Apparently The Juice will be signing photos for $95 a pop and jerseys for $125. No word yet on how much they’ll be asking for the limited edition gloves & knife collector’s set.

O.J. Simpson plans to sign autographs and pose for pictures at a Halloween-themed comic book convention in a rare public appearance coinciding with the 10th anniversary of his acquittal on murder charges, a promoter of the event said on Friday.

Simpson agreed to show up at the NecroComicon show in Los Angeles for three days, starting on Friday night, as a favor to an unspecified friend who was paid in advance to arrange for the weekend appearance, according to the promoter, Tom Riccio.

Riccio said Simpson, who now lives in Florida, was “not getting a penny” for his visit, but was using the event as a possible trial run for future public appearances that he would make “in exchange for donations to his kids’ college fund.”

“A lot of promoters are watching this to see how it goes, and we’re going to take it from there,” Riccio said.

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According to the guys at Penny Arcade, Harlan Ellison still doesn’t know how to play nice with others. They were co-guest of honor at the latest Foolscap Con, and apparently Ellison had a public hissy fit while sharing the stage with PA. It’s not a long story, but it is a funny one and one that I tend to believe to be fairly factual considering Gabe and Tycho aren’t afraid to publically admit when they’ve been humiliated.

So Tycho and I are up in front of the audience with Harlen, and Hank (the con organizer) presents us with some jester hats (“Fool’s caps”). Tycho and I put ours on because we are polite, but Harlen - who is apparently too cool for school - refuses to wear his. I turn to him and say, “Don’t you want your hat?” and he tells me to fuck off. This caught me off guard, I mean I have no clue who this fucking coot is. Then he points to a pad of paper he has and asks if I’m aware that his paper is also called foolscap. Now, I’ve never heard that term before, I pretty much just call it paper so I shake my head “no.” This really isn’t a fair question. I mean, it would be like me asking him about Photoshop or if he can remember what he had for lunch. The guy was essentially setting me up to look stupid in front of all these people. So then he asks me if I even attended college and I say “No, I did not.” Then, he says “did you at least finish high school?”

I said that I had, but you couldn’t really hear me because the audience is laughing at me along with Harlen. So once they stop, I turn to him and I say, “While I’ve got you here I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the Star Wars stuff you wrote.”

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