Department of Alchemy » podcast

Department of Alchemy Audio Archive – Episode 3: Ian Condry @ Harvard

Alex Leavitt — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:27:08 +0000

After half a year, another episode is finally uploaded!

This third episode of the Department of Alchemy Audio Archive features a lecture by Ian Condry given at Harvard University on 13 November 2009. His talk is entitled “The Soul of Anime: Collaborative Creativity & Japan’s Media Success Story.”

Listen below, or use the direct download here (1 hour 19 minutes 15 seconds).

Mamoru Hosoda in Boston: March 1st

Alex Leavitt — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 23:12:23 +0000

On March 1st, I’ll be at MIT attending a screening of Mamoru Hosoda’s Summer Wars, followed by a Q&A with Hosoda himself!

I will be recording the Q&A and will post it up as a podcast following the event. If you have any questions you would like me to ask the director, add them to the comments below!

MIT/Harvard Cool Japan Project presents “Summer Wars”

03.01.2010 | 7:00 pm | Building 26 Rm. 100 (MIT Campus)

The New England premiere of the anime feature film “Summer Wars” (2009, Director Mamoru HOSODA, Madhouse / Kadokawa). The director and producer of the film, both based in Japan, will be present at the screening and will participate in a Q/A/discussion after the film.

The film explores the drama of high school romance, hackers in virtual worlds, the complexities of extended families, and the potentials of our hyper-connected present. Suitable for all ages but aimed at teens and adults, the film is a wonderful example of recent anime virtuosity by Japan’s hottest young director. Director Hosoda’s previous film, “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” (2006), won many prizes including the Japan Academy Award for Best Animated Film.

35mm print, Japanese voices, English subtitles. Free and open to the public.

More information here: http://cms.mit.edu/events/specialevents.php#030110
Hosoda will also appear in New York at the New York International Children’s Film Festival on 26 February. Details here: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-02-15/ny-intl-children-film-fest-to-host-director-hosoda

Western Otaku (and An Update)

Alex Leavitt — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:57:12 +0000

Happy New Year, 皆さん！ I feel like the blog dropped off in the last few months of 2009, but I finished up all of my PhD applications (albeit having to drop a couple schools in the end) with ease, so hopefully I’ll be back in the blogging business during the rest of this month! Look forward to (and I’m actually, finally, serious about this) new essays, commentary, and — OMG, really? Yes, really! — new audio podcasts!

In the meantime, take a look at this lecture by Mia Consalvo, who’s currently a Visiting Professor in the Comparative Media Studies department at MIT (where I work). Last semester, she gave a presentation on “western otaku”: American video gamers who interact with Japanese players and culture through MMORPGs. It’s a good, detailed talk, and you can even see me ask a lengthy set of questions at 64m10s. Enjoy!

From Nintendo’s first Famicom system, Japanese consoles and videogames have played a central role in the development and expansion of the digital game industry. Players globally have consumed and enjoyed Japanese games for many reasons, and in a variety of contexts. This study examines one particular subset of videogame players, for whom the consumption of Japanese videogames in particular is of great value, in addition to their related activities consuming anime and manga from Japan. Through in-depth interviews with such players, this study investigates how transnation fandom operates in the realm of videogame culture, and how a particular group of videogames players interprets their gameplay experience in terms of a global, if hybrid, industry.

Mia Consalvo is a visiting associate professor in the Comparative Media Studies program at MIT. She is the author of Cheating: Gaining Advantage in Videogames and is co-editor of the forthcoming Blackwell Handbook of Internet Studies.

Or download the video!

次のことは。。。

Alex Leavitt — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 18:35:12 +0000

So, now that our staff at the Department of Alchemy has returned from their much-needed period of hibernation, we’ll be bringing a lot more content to the blog in the next few weeks. Said content will most likely be encapsulated by the following three categories:

First, now that the summer convention season has (for the most part) ended on the East Coast, we’ll be presenting retrospectives on Katsucon, Anime Boston, Anime Expo, and Otakon as well as a few critical thoughts and theories on the contemporary fandom.

Second: audio. We’ve been recording a lot of panel content, which will slowly be thrown into an mp3 format for your listening pleasure.

Finally, and more experimentally, Alex has decided to compose reminiscent articles about his four-month experience living in Kyoto (since he never wrote them while in Japan). Many stories about delicious food, impromptu trips to rural temples via ママチャリ, and of course thousands of photographs.

Have a keen interest in any of these topics? Shout-outs in the comments are certainly welcome.

Department of Alchemy Audio Archive – Episode 2: Anime Boston “Industry Panel”

Alex Leavitt — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:23:18 +0000

How we all vicariously feel about the anime industry.

Honestly, I just want to get this second episode online, because it’s taken more than a few months to do so already, so… bullet point time!

- The podcast has been officially named: DoAAA, or the Department of Alchemy Audio Archive. Fitting, since I’m probably always going to upload audio I record at conventions.
- Episode 2 features Chris Beverage from his Anime on DVD panel at Anime Boston 2009. Since there was no real industry panel on Sunday at the convention, Chris’s panel represents the pinnacle of industry discussion that happened inside the Hynes last May.
- I’m sick this week, so I didn’t want my crappy voice getting in the way of the equally-awful panel audio. Thus, I just use my laptop’s voice to host this episode.

Listen below, or use the direct download here.

Otakon 2009: Success +2

Alex Leavitt — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:07:34 +0000

Otakon, aka. Animation Fastival 2009

The Department of Alchemy met with another great success at Otakon 2009 this past weekend. We had large audiences come out for all of our panels: Impact of Evangelion (Saturday morning), Anime/Manga Studies (Saturday late morning), The Problem with Otaku (Saturday evening), and Without Watching the Anime: Opening & Ending Themes (Sunday morning).

Our immense audience on Sunday, albeit a poorly compiled image. Click to enlarge.

We may take it easy for the next week, since Otakon ends our summer convention circuit (until September), but look forward to a lot of analytical articles in the next few weeks, as well as many MBs of podcast fodder for the newly-named Department of Alchemy Audio Archive. Thanks to everyone that attended our panels, and it was great to meet a lot of new people down in Baltimore!

Anime Boston Panel Highlight: Evangelion Tripartite

Alex Leavitt — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 03:42:57 +0000

I’ve been meaning to do a few articles about Anime Boston (it was a few weekends ago), and I have no excuse for not getting them written and published. At the very least, here’s a little something more about panels from Anime Boston (if you missed Part I, you can check out the panel recording here).

Surprisingly, Anime Boston hosted a trio of panels about Neon Genesis Evangelion — a great opportunity because 1) Evangelion is maybe too influential, and 2) there are too many fans today that haven’t seen it. The three panels were hosted by a guy who goes by the moniker V, and while he was masked and played the character well, I couldn’t find any other info on him, and he was fairly reticent when I gave him my card after the first panel. V spoke at three panels: “The Evangelion Franchise: Past, Present, and Future,” “Explanation of Evangelion,” and “The Psychology and Philosophy of Evangelion.” I recorded the audio from the first two sessions, but V made a smart move: he recorded the video of all three panels and posted them to YouTube. Since the audio definitely isn’t as good as audio including panels (and a little humorous acting), I’m going to link to the videos for your perusal and enjoyment. I only attended the first two panels, but they were well researched and among the best at the con. Please watch, and check out V’s YouTube channel (filled with many more videos) at Revolution of Eva!

Note: Video embeds from YouTube don’t allow syncing multiple related videos, and since the talks are broken up (because of YouTube’s 10-minute limitation on videos), you’ll have to click the next part manually.

The Evangelion Franchise: Past, Present, and Future – 7 parts

Explanation of Evangelion – 8 parts

The Psychology and Philosophy of Evangelion – 8 parts

Department of Alchemy Podcast: Panels from Anime Boston 2009

Alex Leavitt — Thu, 28 May 2009 00:03:45 +0000

I’ve decided to flavor the blog with audio under the moniker Department of Alchemy Podcast. Occasionally, I’ll post audio from panels or discussions here, but don’t think of it as a regular podcast, à la Anime World Order.

This past weekend, I took my new audio recorder to Anime Boston 2009, and while I tried to record a number of panels, I had a few mishaps and some of them didn’t save. However, I did pick up a handful of them, so I’ll try to repair the audio a bit and upload them here.

First up is one of the five panels that I spoke at: Akiba Empire: The Otaku Influence. The convention’s booklet reads: “Otaku spending pumps over 4 billion dollars annually into Japan’s economy. Discover how nerdy anime fans went from basement dewllers to a powerful cultural, economic, and political force.” Please listen! Or download here.

More panels from AB will be posted shortly!

SXSW Podcast

Alex Leavitt — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:27:40 +0000

So, I went to this thing called South by Southwest. It’s a tech conference in Austin, TX. Kind of big, maybe.

I presented a panel about social technology in education. The podcast’s up. Why not give it a listen?