June 2, 2011
News for AniMinneapolis 2011:
AniMinneapolis announces Greg Ayres, Frenchy Lunning, and StarF
Minneapolis, MN - June 2, 2011 - AniMinneapolis is excited to welcome Greg Ayres, Dr. Frenchy Lunning, and StarF to the newest Minneapolis anime convention, happening July 8-10, 2011. Guests for AniMinneapolis now include Quinton Flynn, Greg Ayres, Chris Rager, Spike Spencer, Shannon Townsend, Richard Townsend, YT Cracker, Dr. Awkward, Dr. Frenchy Lunning, and StarF. AniMinneapolis happens at The Northland Inn in Minneapolis.
Greg Ayres can usually be found rockin' out somewhere, whether animated or not. From the loud-mouthed Hideki in Nerima Daikon Brothers, to Koyuki, singing with the the band in Beck:Mongolian Chop Squad, he's always glad to shake things up a bit. He is thrilled to be able to add the roles of Uesugi Kenshin in Sengoku Basara, Seikechi Tayama in Oh Edo Rocket, and Abe in Big Windup to his list of new roles. He can also be head as Son Goku in Saiyuki, Chrono in Chrono Crusade, Kaoru Hitachiin in Ouran High School Host Club, Yuki in The Wallflower, Leo in Ghost Stories , Satoshi Hiwatari in DNAngel, Kaworu Nagisa in the Director's Cut of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Negi Springfield in Negima, Heihachi in Samurai 7, Jr. in Xenosaga:The Animation, Tsujido in Speed Grapher, Roan in Ragnorok The Animation, Yamazaki in Welcome to the NHK, Nowy in Glass Fleet, Gau Ban in Shadow Skill, Pope Alessandro XVIII in Trinity Blood, and a bunch of other titles he'll probably forget to mention. Funimation has recently announced that Greg will voice the role of Kouta Tsuchiya in it's upcoming release of Baka and Test.
When Greg's not in a booth with headphones on, you can usually find him sporting headphones of another variety behind "the decks". A veteran nightclub DJ of many years, Greg has really enjoyed the opportunity of doing something else that he truly loves at conventions. From packed rooms at anime conventions, to the legendary stage of The Knitting Factory (NYC), Greg never misses an opportunity to share his love of music with anyone who will listen.
Frenchy Lunning, Ph.D. is a Professor of Liberal Arts at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, there she has focused on design, popular culture and cultural theory throughout her work. She has written magazine, journal articles, and book chapters and is currently working on two books, one on fetish and fashion, and the other on cosplay for Berg Publishers in Britain. She is also working on a book she began on a Fulbright to Japan in 2008 on the shôjo as a global character. She is the director of SGMS: Schoolgirls and Mobilesuits: Culture and Creation in Manga and Anime, an annual workshop at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design which will inaugurate the first annual Mechademia Conference, the only academic conference currently in the US focusing on Asian popular culture (http://schoolgirlsandmobilesuits.com/). She is the co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Mechademia, a book series published by the University of Minnesota dedicated to Asian popular culture, but primarily on manga and anime. Mechademia 7: Lines of Sight, soon to be submitted, will appear in fall of 2012, Mechademia 6: User Enhanced, will be out his fall of 2011(http://www.mechademia.org/). She has a new film production business with some colleagues called Moving Walkway Productions, which although now works primarily on music videos, has a script for an adult animation feature which they hope will eventually be produced. Despite her academic work, she is also an otaku, and is lucky enough to be able to speak at universities around the country on the things she loves.
StarF, submerged in the Minneapolis, Minnesota music scene (yes, it exists!), is as much of an artist as he is a fan of Hip Hop. After writing lyrics for years and realizing he needed to find a way to transmute his words into song, he began his journey into rapping around April of 2006. After years of hard work and improvement, he finally found his way to Scrub Club, which was not just another record label, but a collection of people who he could relate to and call his family. Raised by internet culture and obsessed with music, StarF blends a mixture of poetics and edgy humor into everything he produces. Every new project is approached as the beginning of something that will better himself rather than a means to an end, and as so, StarF is consistently progressing and leveling up within the Nerdcore community. While socially awkward to a noticeable degree, StarF still loves everyone in the community he meets. Despite any awkwardness, he will never hesitate to grab a mic and rock it for a crowd.
AniMinneapolis features over 65 different panels and events, ranging from its Masquerade, Nerdcore Concert, and Video Game Tournaments to various fan-run panels and discussions. Every room in the convention center hotel is a suite with a separate living area, and rooms cost only $99 per night. Rooms can be booked by calling The Northland Inn at 800-441-6422.
Rules for the AniMinneapolis Cosplay Contests and AMV Contest have been recently announced, and can be found on the AniMinneapolis events page: http://www.animinneapolis.com/events
For more information, visit http://www.animinneapolis.com/
Registration is now $35, which can be paid either online (until mid-June) or at the door.
