University Of Victoria Archives | Otaku No Culture

Harry Potter & the Cursed Child Midnight Release Party in Victoria, BC!

Cursed By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

The love for Harry Potter has never waned for many a fan, and people of all ages lined up Saturday night for the midnight release of J.K. Rowling’s look at the adult life of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. No spoilers are going to be offered about this book, as it’s fresh in this author’s hands who decided not to look at any info online leading up to this release. While I would love to see the play, not everyone can afford to travel to London just for a show. As much as I’d like to, well, if only magic was real so I could apparate there!

Bolen Books at Hillside Centre in Victoria held its own celebration, and they had the Paper Street Theatre Company, an improv theatre group and the University of Victoria Valkyries Quidditch Club, playing a short game, to entertain 400 folks here for this book. A local stage magician appeared to entertain the masses with his tricks and may have been the same person who demonstrated his talent previously at Cherry Bomb Toys. Unfortunately he disappeared before I could get his name! The enthusiasm was everywhere and the excitement shows we still love the boy who became … well, an adult. Now a new generation is going to the school and I suspect the tale will be about him growing up under the shadow of a very famous father. At the same time, the energy is there for another item of note. All three Pokemon GO teams were vying for control of the virtual gym that existed at the bookstore. The battle was intense, and even I tried to participate. The battle for wireless is just as competitive as my cell could not decide between Telus and ShawOpen.

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Borealis Set to Shine On At Cinecenta, July 17 & 18 and on VOD

Borealis Movie Poster Plays at Cinecenta
University of Victoria
Student Union Buiding
3800 Finnerty Rd.

Jul 17 5:00 & 7:00pm
Jul 18 7:00 & 9:00pm

Borealis is an aptly titled movie because part of the story is about the collision course happening between father and daughter. They live in their separate worlds, but when reality is hitting hard — Jonah (Jonas Chernick, Degrassi: The Next Generation) has a huge gambling debt to pay off and Aurora (Joey King, Fargo) is going blind — they need to learn how to depend on each other to get out of hard times. The elder is not going to be able to pay off his debt anytime soon, and when he says to his teenage daughter, let’s run away. is that a good thing to do? In what this film explores is a gentle mix of emotional drama, incidental comedy and a touch of gangbuster fun.

Tubby (Kevin Pollak, The Whole Ten Yards) is the loan shark trying to collect from Jonah, and Brick (Clé Bennett, The Line), his muscle, are chasing after him. When going on the lam is tough in a province where the mob is everywhere, they are not going to get far. All Jonah wants to do is to show Aurora the Northern Lights once before her blindness settles in. The wife/mother died long ago, and he wanted his little angel to appreciate the life she has instead of tossing it away. There’s a lot of thought and sentimental feelings put into this story that was originally developed as a short film. Sean Garrity created Blind which expanded to Borealis.

I got the opportunity to speak to Jonas about this film, and talk to him about how this film came together:

First off, can you please introduce yourself to readers unfamiliar with your work.

I’m primarily an actor, from TV series like The Best Laid Plans, The Border and Fargo to movies like Seven Times Lucky, How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town and Blood Pressure. In between gigs, I write, produce and act in my own films, such as 2006’s Lucid, 2012’s My Awkward Sexual Adventure and 2016’s Borealis, which opens this weekend at Cinecenta in Victoria.

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Spending an Evening with Batman’s Brain in Victoria, BC A Summary

An Evening with Batman s Brain-page-001

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

To spend “An Evening with Batman’s Brain” is a perfect way to prepare for next week’s ultimate grudge match in Zack Snyder‘s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The UVic Centre for Biomedical Research presented this discussion March 16, and the two hours went by rather quick. Normally, at a comic convention, these discussions get one hour to get the point across. Two hours are not that common. To add an appearance of The Joker, Two-Face and Scarecrow corralling Batman onto center stage only helped set up the night and provide audiences with a bit of entertainment in what the Clown Prince of Crime exclaimed as “Nerds on parade. Boring!”

I was wide awake and soaking as much of the discussion in. The information presented was jam-packed with fact-filled insights into the psychology of Bats, the dilemmas he faces and the punishment he takes as a man in his prime. The comics and movies (mostly Chris Nolan’s) are referenced, and a bit of the animated series (where my knowledge comes from) is referred to. Dr. Travis Langley (Psychologist at Henderson State University), Dr. Mark D. White (Philosopher at College of Staten Island), and Dr. E. Paul Zehr (Neuroscientist at University of Victoria) each gave their presentations examining this character. Noted CBC Radio personality Shelagh Rogers moderated this panel. She opened the floor for audiences to ask questions and if only this event lasted three hours, I’m sure fans will get more than a general sense of what makes Batman tick.

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Tsukino-Con Reveals Kensho Ono as Japanese Voice Guest

Ono has already racked up an impressive number of credits to his resume.

Kensho Ono Publicity Shot Victoria’s local anime and cosplay convention has managed to obtain a Japanese idol for their guest list. Tsukino-Con announced on their official Facebook page that voice actor-singer Kensho Ono will be attending their event.

Ono has already racked up an impressive number of credits to his resume. Muggles will know Ono as the Japanese voice over artist for the lead character of the Harry Potter films but anime fans will know Ono as Tetsuya Kuroko from the series Kuroko no Basket. In the more recent animated series Ono has voiced Souji Okita on Bakumatsu Rock (where he also sang the series opener), Slaine Troyard of Aldnoah.Zero, and Mikaela Hyakuya in Owari no Seraph.

Ono has also appeared in a number of Japanese films and television programs including Hôtai Club (2007), Dive!! (2008), Kujira no Ita Natsu (2014), and Fuji TV’s Senjou no Yuubinhaitatsu (2006).

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Tsukino-Con Announces Voice Actress Sarah Anne Williams!

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

Sarah_Williams With all that has happened in 2015, it is good to see fandom on Vancouver Island can still rely on Victoria’s annual anime convention Tsukino-Con. When it comes to experiencing a weekend escape, I believe Tsukino-Con knows all too well what kind of distractions their con goers want. That could be why they have announced the addition of special guest, voice artist Sarah Anne Williams. She has worked as a voice artist for English dubs of Japanese animation and video games since 2009.

Williams’ first role was as Ayumi Tokita from Shinryaku! Ika Musume. Her other anime credits include Sayaka Miki in Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Kozuki ‘Niko’ Yuniko in Accel World, Lisbeth in Sword Art Online, Nonon Jakuzure of Kill La Kill, and Sayu Hisanuma in Nagi no Asukara. Williams’ video game works include Jinx in the League of Legends, Angel Death in Wasteland 2, and she’ll be voicing Aaa in the upcoming Freedom Planet 2.

Tsukino-Con will be held on the grounds of the University of Victoria from February 12 – 14, 2016. To purchase tickets, please visit Tsukino-Con’s official website here.

[Victoria, BC] Tide Lines Sweeps Back into Victoria Nov 17th!

Fortunately, Tide Lines does not condemn. It shows what this team of sailors who love surfing are doing to educate the people they meet about this problem.

Tide Lines Poster Tide Lines is more than just a documentary about two brothers and a friend setting sail from Vancouver Island to the Polynesian Islands to south of Africa to the Panama and home. It may have started out as a project to look at their journey, complete with a mini-biography about Ryan and Bryson Robertson and Hugh Patterson, but during the making of this film, it evolved to become another type of movie. The three-year journey these individuals undertook showed how they are discovering how different cultures are currently reacting to a global problem: what are the denizens of this planet doing to clean up the beaches that’s littered with trash? Scattered around them and floating within Earth’s many oceans are plastic debris of all sorts, bottles and all kinds of junk. Not everyone knows about the Great Pacific or North Atlantic Garbage Patch that’s just only growing beneath the waters of the five major oceanic gyres.