Ahoy, I'm Peter Tatara. In brief, I'm left-handed, a vegetarian, and my blood type is A. I work for the New York Comic Con and New York Anime Festival and have a cute girlfriend and a Space: Above & Beyond boxset. I'm generally a happy guy.
- Created By ptatara
NYAF Site Down
The NYAF site is down. It's been down since 2 PM today. We know. We're working on it. Please don't start with the "OMG NYAF ISN'T HAPPENING!!!!" conspiracy theories. What was I doing at 2 PM today? Actually, uploading the full schedule. The NYAF site should be back up soon -- and ideally all the panels and screenings will be there with it.
Iron Chef Morimoto Comes to NYAF!
The New York Anime Festival has anime at its center, but the show is a celebration of the entirety of Japanese pop culture. Looking at our Guests of Honor -- illustrator Yoshitaka Amano, author Hideyuki Kikuchi, voice actress Rie Tanaka, and fashion designer Baby, The Stars Shine Bright -- you can see this pretty well. And I've got a new, exciting, and even more diverse name to add to this roster today. Chef Masaharu Morimoto -- star of Iron Chef and Iron Chef America -- will attend NYAF 2008 as a Guest of Honor.
Chef Morimoto got his start in Hiroshima where he spent nearly eight years studying sushi preparation and traditional Kaiseki cuisine. At the age of 25, he opened his first restaurant and quickly distinguished himself from his peers with a unique fusion of Western and Japanese cooking techniques and ingredients. Five years later, Morimoto sold his restaurant and traveled to the United States to further explore and define his fusion philosophy. Morimoto settled in Manhattan and spent the next few years working in some of New York City's most notable Japanese restaurants, culminating in the position of Executive Chef as Nobu Matsuhisu's famed Nobu Restaurant. In 1998, Morimoto's career jumped again as he was tapped to join the wildly popular television program Iron Chef -- a move which exposed his talents to the world -- as Iron Chef Japanese.
All of us here at the New York Anime Festival are honored to have Chef Morimoto join us this year. Masaharu Morimoto has done more to expose America to Japanese cooking than perhaps any other chef in the last decade, and we are eager to give him a platform in America's biggest city to celebrate his accomplishments and open a few more hearts, minds, and bellies to Japanese cuisine.
And festival attendees are then invited to visit Chef Morimoto's eponymous restaurant -- Morimoto -- from 7 to 9 PM on the last day of the New York Anime Festival for NYAF's Official After Party. Morimoto Restaurant is located at 88 10th Avenue in Manhattan. The New York Anime Festival's After Party will take place in Morimoto's downstairs bar and is open to all NYAF attendees, exhibitors, professionals, and press. Kanpai!
NYAF Tickets On Sale In NYC Shops
Want tickets to NYAF? Don't have a credit card? Don't trust the internet? Don't have a computer? (Of course, if that last one's true, how are you reading this now?) Well, you're in luck as New York Anime Festival tickets are on sale at comic and anime shops throughout NYC. Friday tickets are $35, Saturday tickets are $40, Sunday tickets are $35, Weekend tickets -- good all three days -- are $55, and you can find them all at these retailers…
Anime Castle
35-32 Union St
Flushing, NY 11354
Forbidden Planet
840 Broadway
New York, NY 10003
Image Anime
242 West 30th St
New York, NY 10001
Kinokuniya Bookstore
1073 Ave of the Americas
New York, NY 10018
Midtown Comics
459 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10017
Jim Hanley's Universe
4 West 33rd St
New York, NY 10001
Vampire Hunter D Short Story Published For The First Time At NYAF
The New York Anime Festival and I are very pleased to announce Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer's Ship by Hideyuki Kikuchi will be published inside NYAF's Official Guide Book. Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer's Ship has never been printed before in any language anywhere in the world.
Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer's Ship, a story of D and his encounter with a blood-red battleship, dates back to one of the author's "Talk Live" events. Each year, Mr. Kikuchi hosts several "Talk Live" gathering in the Kabukicho section of Shinjuku. At these events, he introduces a younger generation of fans to a wide variety of horror and sci-fi films and brings them face-to-face with guests from the worlds of publishing, animation, and film. The events conclude with drawings that give the audience chances to win signed books, artwork, and other exclusive prizes. The very best is saved for last -- short stories handwritten by Mr. Kikuchi with exclusive publication rights.
To date, three tales set in the Vampire Hunter D universe have come into the possession of lucky fans. Only the first has been published. The third -- Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer's Ship -- was won by Ms. Hitomi Yasue, a longtime fan of Mr. Kikuchi and a regular attendee of his events. As someone who knew D from the novels before ever seeing the anime, she was surprised to hear the opposite was true overseas. Ms. Yasue has graciously agreed to share this short story with fans at the New York Anime Festival in the hopes of exposing more people to the literary incarnation of her favorite Vampire Hunter. Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer's Ship has been translated for the New York Anime Festival by Mr. Kikuchi's friend and the translator of his Vampire Hunter D novel series, Mr. Kevin Leahy.
It is with great pleasure that the New York Anime Festival presents Vampire Hunter D: The Wanderer's Ship in print for the first time anywhere, in any language. This is a genuinely historic moment, something for Kikuchi's fans around the globe, and it is only possible because of the generosity of Ms. Hitomi Yasue and hard work of Mr. Kevin Leahy.
The New York Anime Festival Guide Book will be available in the Jacob Javits Center lobby from September 26-28, 2008.
Q&A with Rie Tanaka
New York Comic Con and I offered fans a chance to ask T.M.Revolution questions prior to his concert earlier in the year, and I'm happy to be able to offer fans a chance to interact with another of Japan's biggest names leading up to September's New York Anime Festival.
I'm honored to have Rie Tanaka join us at NYAF. We're excited. She's excited. And her fans on both sides of the Pacific are excited. And to bring all this excitement together, I'm pleased to announce NYAF will be sitting down with Tanaka-san next weekend to conduct a little interview. What'll I be asking her? I don't know. See, all the questions will be coming from you!
I'll be asking Rie Tanaka 10 questions, which means you've got 10 chances to get your question answered personally by one of Japan's biggest voice actresses.
How do you ask Tanaka-san a question? Simply leave a comment here...
http://www.mediumatlarge.net/2008/08/q-w-rie-tanaka-experiment-in-democracy.html
I'll be going through all the comments and pull the 10 best and/or most interesting and ask them myself. Want to know Tanaka-san's favorite role? Want to know what show she wants to be a part of? Curious whether or not she likes long walks and rainy days? Maybe you're just dying to know if she's got any cute pets? Post your questions, and I'll ask Tanaka-san for answers. All questions must be posted before 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, August 24.
