"TEL and Back Again"

I just wanted to announce that I'll be hosting the Lain Fan's Discussion Panel at Anime Expo this year on Saturday, July 7th at 7:00 PM in room LP3 ("Live Programming #3"). Here's the panel description (slighltly edited) from the AX website:

"Lain Discussion Panel: Come participate or just sit back and relax as we discuss issues and answer questions relating to deeper analysis of the series, show a 12-minute clip from the rare promo DVD, discuss some of the lesser known aspects of the show's production, and showcase some of the rarer merchandise based on the show."

Regarding the last point, if you know you will be attending, and have any rare or relatively rare merchandise you'd like to show off to your fellow Lain fans, please contact me and I'll put you on my list. Also, if you're a Lain webmaster who will be attending AX, please contact me if you are interested in participating in part of the panel discussion.

I think we'll have a great time. I have some cool stuff to announce, neato things to display, and interesting issues to discuss with the audience. It'll be great to meet some TEL readers and fellow webmasters after all this time. So if you're at Anime Expo, please drop by ^_^

After Anime Expo, I'll be sure to post a report and pictures from the panel.

Highlight reel: special moments in the history of TEL (updates)

• On May 30th, 2001, my Basic Info page on TEL earned the right to bear the Onsen Mark Award.

  
  

  The Onsen Mark is awarded to webpages that contain comprehensive basic information about an anime series. The page is subject to peer review on Usenet before final approval by Gilles Poitras, who invented the award. Mr. Poitras, a professional librarian and author of several well known English-language books on anime, invented the award to encourage and recognize webmasters who make a strong effort to list an anime's basic production information on their webpages.

  The typical anime webpage makes a good effort to include character bios, episode summaries, image and music galleries, link lists, etc. However, professional anime scholars and amateur otaku alike also need hard facts about a given series, such as its original release date, how many episodes are in the series, who worked on each episode, who voiced the characters, and so on. Although such information is basic, most webpages do not list it, as it takes conscientous effort to research and compile the data, to make sure it is comprehensive and accurate, and to present it effectively.

  So far, only 3 webpages have earned the Onsen Mark Award: nausicaa.net's Mononoke Hime page, Hitoshi Doi's Seiyuu Database, and most recently, TEL's "Basic Info" page. It's not actually very difficult to earn the award, but it hasn't been promoted or publicized heavily. We need to spread the word about the award, which is why I am writing this, and why I made it a point to earn the award in the first place. I think the goal of the Onsen Mark Award program is a noble one, and I'd love to see more websites bearing the award in the near future. If you'd like to find out how your website can qualify for the award, visit the Onsen Mark official webpage or e-mail Gilles Poitras.

• On June 7th, 2001, TEL was the featured site of the day ("Web Du Jour") on www.tvmag.com, the website of France's TV Guide equivalent.