Ketchup and Mustard Dept.

Time for me to play catch-up once again, I think.

• The Really Cool Thing I Can't Talk About Just Yet took another incremental step forward at the end of the week. I suspect I'll have some kind of answer about that next week — right on top of about, oh, six other major happenings. (It was raining pretty fiercely outside my window as I typed this graf, so any comments about how it never rains but pours would only be redundant.) I suspect August will be the month of Many Things Falling Into Place at last.
• The recent news about jailbreaking phones and ripping DVDs for fair use is spectacularly good news. It means that a whole slew of things that have been going on whether or not there were laws about them is now protected activity. It doesn't mean that I can rip a DVD, post it online, and not expect to get yelled at — but it does mean I can do that for a classroom, or for the sake of a review, and not feel like I have to apologize for anything. (Before anyone starts with partisan views about this, the whole thing is part of an ongoing effort by the Library of Congress to evaluate such things every few years, so it's not an Obama or GOP thing. It's further proof this multiple-branches-of-government, checks-and-balances thing sometimes gets it exactly right.) [Addendum: a good summary of the exact privileges. Backing up DVDs you already own is not one of the protected privileges.]
• Otakon. Oh, boy. Expect this to be a very hectic show. There's a chance I may get drafted in to help out with interview questions for some folks. It also looks like I may only be at the sales table Friday and Sunday, as the space in question is being sublet to someone else on Saturday and there's just not enough room for three of us. The sheer size of these events — this, Comic-Con, NYAF, etc. — makes me think they're going to need to build bigger convention centers before much longer.
• RoboGeisha and Mutant Girls Squad (among others) are being featured in the late-night lineup at Otakon, among other things. I've read a couple of reviews from people who are already getting sick'n'tired of the whole Crazy Asian Movie thing, and they bring up a point which I agree with in principle: how many times can you go over the top before you're just totally inured to it? Then again, a) I've found these guys seem to find new ways to go over the top every single time, and b) they're kind of in a category by themselves even in Japan. Which is saying a lot.