Pandakon 2013-good,good memories!

I have just been at my first anime convention ever,and it was AWESOME.I had high expectations for it,but even those were trumped.Right now while I am still writing this blog,Pandakon still hasn't finished(right now it's 23:37,Pandakon will end at 03:00).

The attendance was much higher than it was anticipated. Ofc. this convention is still very very new so it wasn't like 10000 people,but still It was pretty crowded from the very beginning.There were enough cosplayers and they were all willing to take photographs.

Well at the beginning of the convention there were origami workshops.These were interesting,however I failed at my first try to make a origami swan.Then there was a lecture about japan its culture and it contained many pictures from Japan.There was also a lecture about the lolita subculture.There was a workshop about draing in the Japanese manga style.Also there was a workshop about the lolita style of clothing and a lecture about how to make bento lunchboxes.There were anime projections as well.

However I would say that the highpoint of the convention were the cosplay and outfit competitions.During that time the hall was full of people and it was sweaty...you know.But the weird thing is that after the cosplay competition a set of completely new cosplayers arrived.

After that there were karaoke.At that time I took the chance to go to the local student caffeteria to eat some dinner.When I came back karaoke was still on so I got out and chatted with my mates for a while.After the karaoke they announced the winners of the cosplay competition.One winner was decided by the jury,the other was decided by voting.Both of the winners totally deserved to win the competition.

After the winners of the competitions were announced all that was left was a j-pop/j

Also during the whole time of the convention you could buy,sell or exchange mangas and collectible items(from now on known as "loot").And I didn't get out empty handed.

So here are the photos from Pandakon:

So this is the loot i got from Pandakon.I exchanged my Negima volumes 1,2,3,4 for volumes 5,6,7,8.I sold 3 of my Death note volumes(4,5,6) and bought Pandora hearts volumes 1 and 3.I am especially fond of the fate/stay night excalibur key-ring,it has both the sword and the scabbard.

Here I took some photos with the most impressive cosplayer.Notice the gun?I wonder how many hours did it take to prepare this cosplay.Anyhow,she deservedly won the cosplay competition by vote of the public.She cosplayed as Seras Victoria from Hellsing and Hellsing ultimate.

This one is hard to see,but this is a Mikasa cosplay from Shingeki no kyojin(Attack on titan).

And here is a Suigintou(Rozen maiden) cosplay which I liked a lot.Too bad it didn't even get 2nd or 3rd place in the competition.

And here is me posing with the one and only L from death note!

A picture from the manga drawing workshop.

Two almost identical pictures of a Christa cosplay from Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on titan).In the cosplay competition she was the jury's favorite and she won first place.She totally deserved it.

This is a group photo of all the cosplayers after the actual cosplay competiotion.

This one is very blurry,anyhow,this was from a stall selling homemade pixel art merchandise.

A stall from an active anime community in Croatia.

A stall selling voodoo dolls huh,huh :| :(.I am not sure what to think of it.

Those were nominated as the best cosplays.

And here is a group photo of all the cosplayers and outfit competition competitors.

Wow,lengthwise this is probably my longest post yet XD.

Written by:Mario Kamenjak

Anime conference in Zagreb:Pandakon 2013!

A few months ago I was asking myself if there are any anime related conferences in Zagreb,or at least in the vicinity of Croatia.The answer was of course,no more than 0!However,that changed,now there is one,but I will write about that one a few paragraphs later.

Back then a few months ago I even found a list of anime conferences in Europe.It seemed that the closest anime convention was in Belgium.Lol,no way,that's too far.

Ok,on that list were probably only some of the biggest and most succesful conventions in Europe,so I can probably guess there were conventions closer to Croatia.However we live in a hit or miss kind of world.Going out of the country just to visit some small conferences seems like too much.

However again,things have changed.Just a few days ago I was informed that some enthusiasts are trying to establish their own anime convention right here in Zagreb.I immediately started thinking,has the world finally come to its senses and started to bend at my own will?(lol,probably not)

Here is the official facebook page(unfortunately in Croatian,but you are still welcome even if you are not from Croatia):
https://www.facebook.com/events/504336189651664/

First of course the entrance fee:it's free :)(free as in free beer I guess XD).The conference will be held on the 27/28th october 2013,and it will be open from 12:00 until 03:00 the next day.

Now,what can you expect there...one word:

Awesomeness!!!!

There will be:
-movie projections
-karaoke
-cosplay
-outfit competitions with rich prizes
-j-pop
-j-rock
-anime soundtracks
-anime beauty salons
-creative booths
-manga trading
-merchandise trading
-and more...

And if that isn't enough I will be there.This might be your once in a lifetime chance to meet me.I mean,what else could you want?(ok that's enough joking).

But seriously now,this convention promises to be AWESOME!If you have the time you should definitely go there.I mean,this sort of thing rarely happens in Zagreb,or even in Croatia,and if enough people come,there will be another convention next year.And if even more people start coming this convention might grow and become even more AWESOME!

The introduction

First,please turn off your grammar nazi mod, I do not care.

Second, Why left alignment? Because I am special!

Third if I can I want to do everything... LIKE A BOSS:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NisCkxU544c

Fourth I have a very ecclectic taste for almost everything.

Anyway, this is the part where I start introducing myself. My nickname is "The blue dragon". My high school colleagues gave it to me,and at first I hated it. However one day I noticed that it sounds like a badass epic nickname from something like lord of the rings or something like that and gradually I started to like it. My real name is Mario Kamenjak. I am an IT student at the polytechnic of Zagreb. And I am a relatively good student there, unfortunately not one of the top 5 yet, but give it time. Among others my skills include html/css(including html5 and css3), C programming, C++ programming(but I prefer C for various reasons which I will tell you in a later blog post), e-commerce(including a little bit of marketing strategies), computer science in general(including electronics and software), English, German...

What are my interests? My three main interests among others...

Well obviously computer science... Also there is Metal music which plays a big part in my life and anime. Oh yeah and occasionally I try and do some art... in the physical or virtual world. To me there is simply no other genre of music that is so great and that has that much "raw energy" inside of it. And basically I need that raw energy a lot. It is the only music that gets me 100% excited. Metal is just that,it basically says: "Good is never good enough for music,music has to be awesome!". Anime is my anti drug. I am intrigued by the Japanese culture,I love the interesting stories and the intriguing characters and their back stories and the overall epicness that occurs very often in anime. Thanks to anime we have many many great imaginary characters like L, Roy Mustang, Light Yagami, Lelouch vi Britannia ,Son Goku, the Elric brothers, Dante, Alucard... And nothing is as cute as anime characters, when they are supposed to be cute... I like most sub-genres of anime be it Yuri, Horror, Action, Slice of life as long as the anime itself is any good.As for art... I guess I am just artistic.

What interests me the most in computer science?

Linux(and the whole FOSS community) and Computer security. Linux,well it really was love at first sight.I tried it the first time somewhere around 2010. At that time I was already a Windows user for 11 years and Windows really became became pale and unexciting to me. And with it I was almost getting bored of computers. In fact almost all I did was just play games,nothing productive.I was even a Windows Vista fanboy. Then I  booted my first Linux distro(Mandriva Linux 2010) and suddenly a whole new world of software,free software opened up to me.Computing became once again exciting,kind of like "the wild west" for me.I became an obsessed geek again. A fast,nice and sleek OS that just worked and that was customizable to the last byte. And as a social-libertarian/social-anarchist I LOVE the FOSS ideology.

Now about "Computer security". It is also very exciting for me,mainly because I like this spy/detective stuff. I would even go as far as to say that I would like to become a kind of "IT detective". Basically I would love to have something like the most secure PC in the country,just for bragging rights. And the feeling of superiority when you know that you could hack almost every pc in your perimeter. I am sure that is a great feeling. Really I consider security people to be very close to the top of the industry, because security work is really for those "Jack of all trades" kind of people. My dream job is to become a penetration tester. Those guys really have to be at the top of their game. A penetration tester basically does the same thing a cracker would do except he is paid for it and does it for improving the computer security of the customer. I am also a bit interested into programming.Mostly in the hopes to develop FOSS applications and to contribute to the Linux kernel.

What skills do I hope to gain one day?
Of course all the skills I need to become a Linux wizard and all the skills I need to become a succesful penetration tester or "IT detective". I would also like to further improve my skill in C programming. Also I would like to learn python and assembly one day. Among other things of course.

Now you have a general overview of what I will be writing on my blog. I do not  promise regular updates because... because. But please do check out this blog occasionally.
+David Macan +Mario Novoselec +Ivan Juratovac +Alen Huskanovic +Hrvoje Kovačićek +Linus Torvalds