Flying Scotsman

Would you folks go to the Geppi's Entertainment Museum (over across the street in that red brick Camden Station headhouse) if it were open on Thursday and open late? Say, go there before getting in line, or visit after picking up your badges? For those who don't know, the GEM is a museum dedicated to the collection of one of the ultimate comic-book/pop-culture collectors in the world--Styeve Geppi, the owner of the largest comic-book publishing/distribution company in the world. Comics made him rich, so he decided to give back and share his collections. There are comic books, toys, ani

Unh-huh. Unh-huh. And just WHERE do you or the rumors propose HOLDING said outdoor concerts? Oriole Park (and the related parking lots) are spoken for during Otakon 2008. Some silly little thing involving rangers, birds, and a ball. M&T Bank Stadium? Okay, just maybe. So, let's see what the cost of holding such a concert would amount to, divide by 20,000............ hmmmm, ready to pay another $10-30 or more per person membership? Of course, that would guarantee tropical-storm scale rains, and Baltimore at this point needs the rain........... I guess we coul

The Afghan Kabob, northeast corner Charles and Lombard, is now history--the building is reportedly slated for demolition. Signs indicate that the cooks have relocated to a pan-European eatery in Little Italy. Damn, damn, damn.

Okay, I'm just talking out my posterior here.............. ......... but seeing as Otakon is supposedly in part about the dissemination and spreading of Japanese culture of all sorts (read: "our plan to otakunize the WORLD!!!!"....)............. ............. without specifically detracting from Otakon itself, MIGHT there be room for the concept of pitching the idea of OtakuRave not only in the BCC where we always have it, but ALSO at a cooperative Japanese rave-style nightclub ELSEWHERE downtown that weekend? As I'm reading this, we're going to be rotating through many DJ's in

Article in today's Baltimore Sun describing the continuing process of overhauling/upgrading downtown hotel rooms, in part because of the now-abuilding Convention Center Hilton's looming competition: Bad news? There may be spot shortages of rooms as some are in the process of being revamped at some hotels, and the end results, though nicer, will probably be more expensive.......... not good news for austerity-minded otaku...... Personally, I'll take a "dive" over luxury if I'm coming to a maximum-time-in-the-BCC-possible convention like Otakon, but then again I do have a wife and a

The last few years, my section boss picks up my bag and gear and drives it down/back in his car, while I follow on my bicycle. That way, Ota-Staff has a "bicycle courier" available on-site, should I have to make a run to a store for anything.

Thought to consider: In all the time I've stayed at hotels for Otakon as a staffer, I've NEVER had the time to do ANYTHING that counts as an amenity at a hotel. No time for the pool, or the hot tub (much as I could have used the latter), or the bar, or anything of that sort. So what does that matter? Actually, no, wait, I use the business center to check my e-mail once a day. If I were paying to come to Otakon, I would be trying to extract every last cent of value out of my membership. Though, if I were paying $50 a head per night to crash with four folks in a hotel room, I guess

Most corporate-style computer reservation systems (read: ones used by any hotel/motel chain you've ever heard of) are NOT going to take reservations more than 366 days in advance. There may be rare exceptions, but the Days Inn Inner Harbor in Baltimore ain't one of them.