I’m still not too familiar with what nerdcore really is and I’ve actually only listened MegaRan and Duane and BrandO prior to this past weekend. Everyone else I listened to for the first time as they performed on stage and I’m glad that happened for a lot of the performances I saw.

Actually, let me be clear: I originally felt that nerdcore was a mutation of the hipster movement as some nerdcore fans look like hipsters. (I swear, a couple dudes were out last night ready to appear on this website.) But what really had bothered me originally is that I thought nerdcore was just taking all the geeky stuff I loved and had grown up on and it was turned into a cheap fashion statement amongst a niche crowd of posers.

As Nerdapalooza was winding down, I have come to realize that there is a lot more to Nerdcore culture than that and I still have much to learn.

But enough about that; let’s talk about the show! Saturday was kind of a disaster. I showed great nerd rage on my Twitter and I was really starting to question how this could show up as #2 Best Festival according to the readers of Orlando Weekly. Not only did everything fall more and more behind on schedule (The Protomen appeared on stage after 2am when they were supposed perform at 9:40pm), but there were a lot of shitty acts to sit through.

Who did I think sucked the most? Killer Robots. They played the same song like ten times and it never sounded good once. Their gimmick(half the performers had one including groups of pirates or ninjas) was dressing up as robots and throwing out pool toys to the crowd to use as weapons to beat on each other. Then people in monster costumes would come into the crowd to get beaten. That part was awesome because I had much nerd rage to vent. If I hit you in the face Saturday night: too bad.

Perhaps if Killer Robots had spent their costume and prop money on music lessons then they would actually have decent songs to play instead of what felt like corny background music. Maybe there is a joke in their performance somewhere that I am just not getting?

Now that that mess is out of the way, let’s move to all of the awesome stuff! Like…

Hanging out with MegaRan and listening to his awesome set on Saturday. Did you know I got him to rap about AFO in his freestyle session? Hell yeah! That dude has some serious talent. I even bought his MegaRan 9 album not once, but twice! (The other was a birthday present for a dear friend.)

Then in the small videogame area, they had a knock-off NES with justice simulator River City Ransom in and ready to play so I did! I played that game from start to finish and beat the holy hell out of every thug in River City High including Slick himself! Everyone went back to class and became honor students!

That was really it as far as Saturday highlights. I guess those pirate rappers were pretty fun to see perform but they are a faded memory compared to all the awesome things that happened on Sunday. Nerdapalooza staff learned some lessons from Saturday and got their act together to make Sunday legendary! (Though to be fair, several instances of bad luck had hit them.)

The opening acts of Sunday wore far more fun and lively than the ones just the day before. In fact, Zombies Organize! taught me about robot clitoris and that I should try licking it someday! This guy called 3PIC-1 had a song about the terrors of having sex with a 17 year old girl that totally reminded me of a former convention promoter.

NOW THINGS GET REAL EXCITING!

I was in the hotel cafe with my posse and a couple of guests and we’re talking about performances we were looking forward to later and obviously we are excited to see The Adventures of Duane and BrandO play. For many of us, they were the first nerdcore act we had ever heard. I met them both earlier as performers are easy to access and talk to at Nerdapalooza.

Anyways, I bust out the final part of their Battletoads rap and who should join me in my lyrical assault but BRANDO HIMSELF! That’s right you punk bitches I rapped Battletoads with BrandO! That dude is totally fucking cool!

The only thing more awesome than that was seeing them perform live! It was everything I had hoped for it to be and man was it a fun time! You all should of seen my Cheetahmen 2 dance I did when they did that song. Bitches were totally throwing their panties at me! (Or at least, they should have.)

Later on I saw The Megas, MC Front A Lot, and then The Protomen came out again to make up for the night before. They were all awesome to see. The Protomen are practically in a whole different universe with how they perform and play their music. I’m not just referring to nerdcore, but music in general. If Nerdapalooza had a better sound setup, that could have seriously been the best concert I have ever been to!

The man known as “Hex” and his crew got together what ended up being a legendary weekend. They worked passionately through some tough spots and in the end, it was a fantastic time had by all. There are many acts I would totally see again, and if they come back to Nerdapalooza I will be there too.

In-between all of those responsibilities I spend a lot of time promoting each of them and simply being a fan. It takes a lot of energy to do all of this and sometimes it’s the only thing I ever talk about, as friends on my facebook and followers on my twitter already know.

As I do all of this, I try to stay positive and energetic while at the same time mindfully avoid repeating mistakes that those who were doing things like this before me have already made. I can now understand why some people in this line of fandom have turned out the way they have because it is so easy to become negative during all the chaos we face.

Despite the risks, I keep doing these things because I love to and this year I will be traveling to a whole lot of events. Here’s is the full list so you can see how busy I will be!

Orlando Anime Day – This event actually happens this Saturday. I’ll be there to give out new flyers for AFO 11 and to talk up that convention. I honestly don’t see any other reason to attend. This event doesn’t really do anything to promote anime and is more or less a quick money making venture for anime convention vendors. They have a costume contest because cosplayers will go to anything if there is such an event. Yeah…

Nerdapalooza – The following weekend is Nerdapalooza, a music festival dedicated to nerdcore musical acts. I am extremely excited about this because The Adventures of Duane and BrandO will be there along with The Protomen and MegaRan. I look forward to seeing them and others I have not heard yet perform!

MetroCon – The weekend after Nerdapalooza is Metrocon, the self-proclaimed largest “anime” convention in Florida. I have mixed feelings about this one.

I really wanted this to be the convention I go to as anime fan because I spend so much time working two other conventions in central Florida(MegaCon and Anime Festival Orlando) that I end up missing a lot of cool stuff. Looking at their schedule this year, it looks like anime is that thing on the side and focus seems to be on cosplay, Pokemon, videogames, Twilight, Dr. Horrible, and every other aspect of internet geek culture.

(For the record, I love videogames but I can attend better talks from people well educated on the subject at videogame conferences so videogame panels at anime conventions don’t really excite me.)

The convention’s big event is their “Anime” Human Chessmatch that happens on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. It seems like they put all their resources into that event and the rest of the convention is an afterthought. (This is a shame.) I do enjoy watching about half the Chessmatch when I go but the other half is painful to sit through and the ending always pisses me off.

Usually, some “secret character” comes out to kick ass and save the day. For a couple years it was Sepiroth and last year it was Darth Vader. What the hell does the latter have to do with anime? See what I mean? How hard is it to bring out someone dressed as Goku to do a Genki Dama? The whole crowd could throw up their hands to “donate” part of their life force and it would be awesome crowd interaction and RELEVANT.

I don’t know any of my friends who are actually excited to go to Metrocon. In fact, many are just going because other people are. I’m going because I pre-registered months ago thinking that it could be good this year and since I can’t get my money back I might as well go. At least all my friends are excited about…

Anime Festival Orlando XI – Coming the first weekend of August, I will once again be busy with my ragtag hand-picked crew to do another weekend long live action game. It’s called Skies of Orlandia and it features a lot of fun things that convention attendees can do to earn experience points, level up, and help one of four factions win the impending conflict! Myself and other returning veteran staff have learned a lot about this kind of game over the past two years. Because of that, this year there will be a game better than any of the ones held at any prior AFO.

Once again, it’s the marquee event at the convention. That’s exciting; however, what do this have to do with anime? I have been wondering that for quite some time. It certainly is a fun event and does help AFO stand out. Lots of people like the live action game as well. I like it a whole lot. But where is the connection? I do not know.

However, I am going to balance things out with a couple key anime panels taking place on Friday and Saturday night respectively. The first will be my upgraded- and mostly rebuilt -hit, “It’s MANIME! The Manly Anime Panel!” This is a panel that EVERYBODY should see! It’s that good and you will be a better person for going.

I will also be doing a sequel panel to “Is Anime Already Dead?” that I did at MegaCon earlier this year called “How to Make Anime Cool Again.” It’s a lofty task but I am sure that Fuzzy and I will get a strong message delivered to our audience.

I’m also wondering how the fans will feel about all the Power Rangers guests we have this year. By the time AFO begins, the guest list will be split near the middle between representation of anime industry guests and those involved with the spandex-clad hero franchise. LOTS of people love returning guest Jason David Frank, but are we over doing it now? I may be thinking about this too much since everything will be fine and everyone going to AFO will have a good time like they always do.

(Disclaimer: The views of Kent Ward do not reflect those of Anime Festival Orlando or any of its staff members.)

I’ve seen the full list of AFO events(many are yet to be announced) and things are looking really good. There will be lots of fun for everyone, especially those attending because they are anime fans. It’s too bad I’ll be working the convention all weekend and will miss most of the panels and events I want to see!

Anime Weekend Atlanta – I haven’t been to a fandom-related convention outside of Florida since DragonCon in 2006 so Anime Weekend Atlanta(one of the ten largest anime conventions in the United States) has got me pumped. It’s about six weeks after AFO so I have plenty of time to recover from the gauntlet of summer conventions and festivals. I look forward to meeting Shinji Aramaki and many other guests they plan to have.

Yesterday, I got an e-mail approving my MANIME panel to be on the schedule that Saturday at the same time as their costume contest. This is great because I know already that I won’t miss anything that I care about! I hope that AWA can be the convention I can go to and enjoy as an anime fan.

That’s it for the year. Friends are trying to talk me into going to DragonCon and EXPCon but I am going to pass on both. Perhaps I will change my mind on the latter if something really cool gets announced. Other than that, my schedule is getting packed! Hope to you at some of these events!

The album features nerdcore renditions from games like Legend of Zelda, Megaman 2, Metroid, Castlevania, Punch-Out!, Ninja Gaiden, Final Fantasy, Battletoads, and more! I left my awesome new laptop running with the LP of Devastation playing and it was the best sleep I had in a very long time. I totally look forward to playing the LP of Devastation on my music playlist this Friday!

You can check out the album and more about The Adventures Of at http://www.the-adventures-of.com/.

God damn I love The Adventures of Duane and BrandO! This has to be their best song yet, beating out their rendition Mega Man 2. There’s also an 8-bit remix of their Punch-Out! song. There are some hilarious lyrics in all of their songs and they pretty much rap about almost every videogame I loved as a kid. I hope they do some River City Ransom soon!