PR Wonks Note: I believe in "value added" link-blogging.
Either I grossly underestimate the actual reach of this blog, or PR types think the monthly-or-so linkback that makes the rounds of the other manga/comics blogs makes me ‘notable’ in the field or whatever – but I get way too many press releases in my email inbox from some of the oddest tangentially-related companies.
…Due in no small part to all my articles and thinkpieces with “e-book” and “iPad” prominently mentioned in them, methinks, that and my email address isn’t all that hard to find (or figure out).
I usually don’t post anything related to these PR blasts (or when I do, I’m rude, snarky, and a little condescending) but here’s one submission over-the-transom that I am going to mention, for all the wrong reasons.
As I’m sure you’ve seen elsewhere (100,000+ hits on Google for “Gantz Live Action January 20”) the Gantz Live Action movie gets a US premiere on [wait for it] January 20th —
And for many of us, that’s either all we needed to know [as we now begin feverishly digging to find out who what when why where etc.], or perhaps you shrug it off because your blog is already 2 months behind, you’re committed to writing that evening (a rare day off!) and you figure it’s just a NY/LA/that-theatre-just-down-the-street-from-Viz-HQ-in-San-Fran kind of debut.
Oh no. Let me educate you:
Fathom Events http://www.fathomevents.com/ is doing so much more and the Gantz thing is just the latest, and what they happen to be doing on a random Thursday in January.
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Fathom first came to my attention because they simulcast The New York Metropolitan Opera live in HD, with subtitles, on movie screens across the country. – this year is the fifth season. It’s typically a Saturday matinee (with a Wednesday evening encore) so it’s fairly easy to work into one’s schedule and it’s the Fucking Met. I know the center of the Venn diagram for opera-loving, beer-drinking manga bloggers is perhaps restricted to the population of my desk chair, but nothing beats a Saturday afternoon of Wagnerian Excess with a pitcher or three of the local microbrew — speaking of, I think I know what I’m doing on May 14th — and yes, some movie theatres serve beer; you pay through the nose, but hell, it’s just a couple dollars more than what they charge for Coke, and it’s worth it.
Fathom has also done simulcasts of A Prairie Home Companion, rock concerts [past events include a HeavyMetalFest and Clapton’s Crossroads] – and other specials:
Now, I know the center of the Venn diagram for beer-drinking, manga-blogging, Marching Band Geeks is perhaps limited to the population of my desk chair, but Fathom has simulcast DCI’s Big & Loud for several years now, and it rocks.
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So, anyway, I already knew about Fathom Events even before I got the Gantz press release. The thing about the Gantz premiere that you may not know (and that may have gotten lost in the “oh, hey, Gantz” links posted) is that it’s showing in a hell of a lot more theatres than you thought and that tickets can still be had.
Thank you, and good night. And if you live in Atlanta and happen to come to the Buckhead Fork & Screen between Noon and 4 on Saturday, 14 May, the drunk bastard in the back singing along off-key to Bryn Terfel’s Wotan isn’t me – it’s some other dashing baritone manga blogger who likes beer and opera.
