Romance along the Tidal Basin

A couple who were waiting for their photographer, caught in a moment all to themselves. I hope they have a long and happy life together.
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D-Day, 6 June, 70 years later

On the 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion of D-Day, the 6th of June 1944, I went to the WWII Memorial in downtown DC to get a few photos. I had missed the commemoration ceremony that morning, but I did see the wreaths laid at the Freedom Wall, one from each Allied nation that fought in WWII, and had died on the beaches of France that day. I love the WWII memorial, for its subtle and no-nonsense tribute to a straightforward, no-nonsense generation that fought and destroyed the militaristic and totalitarian dreams of conquest, at a terrible cost. For their sacrifice we can’t give enough thanks, and it’s good that we can honor them while many are still with us. Their remaining time with us is now far too short, and I wish that anyone who knows a WWII veteran will take time to thank them.

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Dubstep pop-and-lock dancers, “Robot Boys”

Screen Shot 2014-06-04 at 9.48.08 PMOnce again, the Dutch pop-and-lock dancers Nick and Jeppe have another catchy robot-themed dance video, where they’re joined by “Poppin John”, another dancer in a routine set to the music composed by Nick and Jeppe. If you’re into this kind of music and dance, this will be the kind of performance you’ll like. If you’ve never heard or seen it before, give it a shot.

Enjoy!

Nerdtour 2012 flashback: Brilliant fountains of Yoyogi Park

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In the middle of Yoyogi Park there’s a small lake with two fountains. During the day they alternate how high they shoot up, but at night they are both lit from below by constantly changing colored lights, which create fantastic displays of light and motion.

Nerdtour 2012 flashback: Yoyogi Park, Tokyo

Autumn beauty of Yoyogi Park
Just a little glimpse of the Autumn beauty of Yoyogi Park, in Tokyo at sunset.

Anime music: “Witch Hunter Robin” opening and closing themes

So, in honor of “Throwback Thursday”, I present the opening and closing themes to one of my favorite anime from a few years back (12!), “Witch Hunter Robin”. The opening theme is called “Shell”:

and the closing theme is “Half Pain”, both songs by “Bana”:

Very moody and evocative, much like the anime.

Here is an excellent review of the anime, or you can always hit Wikipedia.

Katsucon 2014 pics as promised

So, I said I’d post some more Katsucon pics from last week, and here they are! There are a whole lot more on my portfolio site, if you want to see more. These are what I think are my best of the best, so enjoy!

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Coming soon: Katuscon 2014 pictures

katsu2014-02I’ve been remiss in updating that often, but last weekend I had an excuse: I was at Katsucon over in National Harbor, Maryland. The con this year was disrupted by the snowy weather, which lead to some guests delayed or unable to attend, and some of the panels were cancelled or re-scheduled as a result. Also, most people who had pre-registered, who would have gone Thursday night before the con to pick up their badges, most of them showed up late on Friday, and thus there was a line that lasted at least 3 hours in order to pick up con badges. I know because I was one of the thousands in that line, and that’s how long I stood there! That caused me to miss a couple of panels that I really wanted to see, but at least I got some pictures of cosplayers in the line!

As if to make up for the disruption from the weather, there were a lot of very imaginative (and timely!) cosplayers this year, and I have pictures of many of them. Of course, since there was a tremendous amount of snow on the ground, there was a plethora of cosplayers playing characters from the movie “Frozen.” So many Elsas and Anas, and even other winter-themed characters like “Jack Frost” from “Rise of the Guardians”. The largest number of cosplayers this year though had to be the “Attack on Titan” characters. This year there had to be more “AoT” characters percentage-wise than any other anime in other years, even counting “Bleach” and “Gurren Lagann”! (Sorry, “Homestuck” kids, you were FAR outnumbered this con!)

At any rate, I will be posting pictures here and on my photo site, at much higher quality than the ones I already posted on my Facebook page.

As an example, here’s a cosplayer who was taking photos herself (Click for a larger version):

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