Teaser Moment

The flurry activity that has surrounded me in the past few weeks since the last update is really, well, baffling.

School and work, since they pay the bills for both my physical as well as internet activities, ultimately take a priority over anything else. And honestly, they've kept me busy if not anything else. It's not for a lack of news or lack of effort (I actually fell asleep at my home desktop the other night thinking Akihabara Renditions needs an update badly), but purely a lack of time. Now on a relaxing Sunday, planning the future of AkibaRen has gotten me in the right mood to finally post a brief update, which I hope is better than nothing at all.

At Anime Weekend Atlanta last month, there is a decent amount of information to report on, but a much longer Con Report will have to follow. I can say right away that the first press experience I had was enjoyable and once the Con Report is complete, I will be submitting it to again apply for press status; of course, AWA would have to accept us back again, but I cannot think of anything at the moment as to why they might not want us back.

In the weeks since AWA I've hit the ground running and while keeping up with the news in the anime world, the feeds have been heavily focused on the start of the Fall Programming season and the new titles coming out rather than news surrounding old classics or creations based upon older titles. TV Asahi announced a couple of new 100 Anime rankings; one by the general public and other from 100 Japanese celebrities, Anime News Network has transliterated copies of both of the lists. These lists represent a healthy mix of animated film and television series from the general public (ie anime fans and non-fans alike) and are usually a good basis to look at a series's popularity, both contemporary and residual. The previous Asahi lists, the first one I believe being made in 2002, was dominated by titles from the 70s and 80s; however the more current lists from 2005 and 2006 demonstrate more of a bell-curve distribution.

This "lack of news" though has provided me with an opportunity. After all, the maxim is that "no news is good news", right? I've been planning to move the content here at Blogspot to its own dedicated site for some time. Well, "planning" may not be the optimum word - "talking about" may actually be the best description. I have mentioned "I'm thinking about moving to our own domain" but it hasn't been until lately that I've actually devoted time to looking into the actual logistics of the plan. Before today I had been looking over what I want the layout to look like and what sort of content I plan to offer. When it comes to web-design, I'm practically a newbie, so I have requested the help of some professionals that I know personally to help me personally get on my digital feet and help with the initial designs. The content though, will all be on my shoulders to start with and I most likely be looking for the help of others once I get it all cleared. I've sought out a domain and as of writing this today, it is still open. I've negotiated some server space and have decided to toy around with PHP Nuke to get a feel for site management.

The plan as it stands now is to toy around through November and have a upload samples ready by December of this year and hopefully launch the site in time for New Years, January 2007. Coupled with the aforementioned work and school issues, this will be demanding a lot of my time and I hope that I'll be able to get it all done in the time frame required. I'll keep updates posted here for the time being, and pending on the Add-Ons required, may even keep this as a site blog. After all, I don't really pay anything outside of time, effort, and Internet connections to run this Blogspot. Why re-invent the wheel if I don't have to, ne?

I hope that I'll be able to maintain my current audience and with the new site increase my readership. I know I am dedicated to the ideal of having one of the best resources for classic Japanese animation on the Internet and I hope that everyone is looking forward to Akihabara Renditions's expansion as much as I am.