Phew, wasn’t that something? Anime North has come and gone. It’s an awkward combination of  “this is awesome, don’t ever stop” and “no more, I’m exhausted” but for better or worse, we made it through.

If you’re one of the people who was referred to our site from our booth at Anime North or our Pokémon Gym Leader squad, you can check what we’re all about at our FAQ, or if you want to get in on the discussion and planning for the next Gym Leader squad, head on over to our discussion forum here.

Looking forward, we have a pretty standard week in CTRL-A ahead of us. Look forward to:

• Monday Meeting – Monday, May 30, 6:00PM, Room MC 4063. Back to our usual venue for this one. Not a whole lot on the agenda for this one, but we’ll probably talk about hot pot and the unending saga of the button maker. Possible dinner afterwards.
• Project Night – Wednesday, June 1, 6:00PM, Room SLC 2109. As is our wont, project night shall continue this Wednesday. If you’ve been craving some time to work on projects, or just want to hang out, drop on by.
• Games Night – Friday, June 3, 4:30PM, Room MC 4058. If you were like most people and at Anime North last Friday, then you are in dire need of some gaming! Let CTRL-A be your fix, and come play games with us this Friday. Even if you aren’t much of a gamer, there’s still plenty of opportunity for socializing, so come and spend some time with us. We don’t bite. Well, that one guy does, but don’t worry about him.
• Cosplay Tea Party – Saturday, June 4, 1:00PM, Amy’s Place. Probably best described as “hanging out at Amy’s Place.” Last time we had cake! If you want to hang out at Amy’s place and work on costumes, watch random TV shows, drink tea, or whatever, come on by. The address can be found in the FAQ, over here.

You can look forward to Show 2 next week, June 10 and 11, so definitely stay tuned! Also of note is the Weiss Schwarz tournament taking place on June 11 at 11:00AM. If you want to participate, there’s a forum thread for signing up. Make sure you let them know in advance. Don’t just show up unannounced and expect to play.

Also, Trigun: Badlands Rumble is coming to Galaxy Cinemas Waterloo on Wednesday, June 22 at 7PM. I put a thread on the forum which you can check out for more details, or you can check out their official website here, their Facebook page here and their Twitter page here.

That’s all for now. Until next week!

Dylan “Give me a prompt word” Mead

This is the moment that all true Ontario-based anime fans strive for. Anime North is upon us, and we’re all super-excited for it! If you’re able to contain your excitement long enough to do other things, we have a few events this week that you may be interested in. See:

• Tuesday Meeting – Tuesday, May 24, 6:00PM, Room MC 2035. Please take note of the special day and location. Due to the holiday Monday, our usual meeting is taking place on Tuesday instead. We will likely talk much of Anime North, so if you want in on that action, make sure you’re there.
• Project Night – Wednesday, May 25, 6:00PM, Room SLC 2109. The saga of project night continues to be told this Wednesday. What might happen next? Some gaming? A project, perhaps? Stay tuned and find out!
• Games Night? – Friday, May 27, 4:30PM, Room MC 4058. I mean, technically we have the room booked. If you aren’t gonna be at Anime North on Friday, then feel free to go play some games.

Also worth mentioning are the upcoming Weiss Schwarz and Chaos card game tournaments. They are taking place on Saturday morning during Show 2 and Show 3 respectively, so they’re still quite far off, but if you would like to register for either tournament, check out the corresponding forum thread.

And of course, there’s Anime North! We’re gonna have a booth in the Sheraton Hotel where we’ll hopefully be selling some of our remaining t-shirts and buttons, as well as giving out some totally sweet brochures advertising the club. Aside from this, we’ll mostly just be enjoying panels and spending too much money in the dealers room, but if you’re craving CTRL-A events, we have a couple for you:

• Weiss Schwarz Workshops/Tournament. CTRL-A’s official presence at Anime North is primarily this. There will be two workshops held; one Friday night and one Saturday morning, where you can learn how to play or practice for the big tournament, taking place Saturday afternoon. For all the details, check here.
• Sushi Lunch/Dinner – Sushi-Ya Japan, Toronto. Details are still incredibly vague as it’s difficult to plan something around everyone’s schedules, but there is interest in eating sushi during Anime North. If you are interested, check out this forum thread.
• Gym Leader Squad – Not really an event per se, and it’s probably too late to join, but if you want to see six of your fellow CTRL-A members (myself included) dressed as Pokémon gym leaders, then you can try to track us down. We’ll even have that gym leader’s Pokémon with us (in 4th and 5th gen, so no worries) so feel free to challenge us to a battle! There may even be badges to be won.

Beyond that, if you’re still in need of a ride to Anime North, we have this forum thread that may be able to help you out. No promises though.

All said, this coming week promises to be a great one, except in the unfortunate case that you will not be at Anime North. If that is the case, then I apologize for making it sound so awesome, causing you to immediately regret your decision not to go.

Have a good one!

Dylan “the Shining, Shocking Star” Mead

We’re fresh off the heels of show 1 now. Hopefully everyone had a good time, and hopefully everyone’s ready to continue to have a good time, because we have a ton of great stuff planned for this week as well. Not quite time for show 2 yet, but there’s plenty to look forward to, such as:

• Monday Meeting – Monday, May 16, 6:00PM, Room MC 4063. In which we talk about all the official club business. We’ll be discussing how show 1 went, and looking forward to future events, including discussion about the upcoming Anime North. If this is discussion you want to be part of, then this is where you want to be.
• Project Night - Wednesday, May 18, 6:00PM, Room SLC 2109. In which we plan and develop various projects, and games are played. It’s business as usual for project night. If you have something you’re working on, or want to help someone else work on something, then this is where you want to be. Even if you just want to chat and meet people, this is a great place to do it.
• Games Night – Friday, May 20, 4:30PM, Room MC 4058. In which we play games, be them card games, board games or handheld games, there be games here. Also great for general socialization. If that’s the sort of thing you’re looking for, then come game with us this Friday.
• Cosplay Tea Party – Saturday, May 21, 1:00PM, Amy’s Place. If you want to hang out with a smaller group of people, drink tea, work on costumes, and watch random TV shows, then come to Amy’s place this Saturday. This is the last weekend before Anime North, so if you’ve been procrastinating on costume plans, here’s your chance.

And there’s a typical week in CTRL-A. Is that enough for you? If not, then your expectations are, quite frankly, too high.

See you guys later.

Dylan “Would you like to give a name to your newly caught show 1?” Mead

Happy Mother’s Day.

And in other, actually related news, here’s your week in CTRL-A. We have a busy week ahead of us as we work towards our first show, so whether you’re a new member who doesn’t know where to start, or you’ve been around forever and you just need to know where to go, get all the delicious details down below.

• Monday Meeting – Monday, May 9, 6:00PM, Room MC 4063. Hopefully our super-long first meeting won’t scare you off, as they aren’t usually quite so long. The plan is to discuss Clubs Days and our exciting Show 1! If you have any suggestions for either, or ideas for our future events (whether it’s for an existing event or a new one entirely) this is a place you need to be at. For serious.
• Project Night – Wednesday, May 11, 6:00PM, Room SLC 2109. Same time, same place, it’s project night! While we like to promote the working on and eventual completion of actual projects, we totally understand if you just show up to play games. Such things are inevitable.
• Clubs Days – Thursday, May 12 and Friday, May 13, 10:00AM to 3:00PM, SLC Great Hall. This isn’t really our event, but it’s something the Federation of Students holds, and we use it to advertise ourselves and hopefully get new members. If you are a new member, then direct yourself to this link to see all the new information I posted last week. Either way, feel free to drop by our table and hang out or stuff.
• Show 1 – Friday, May 13, 4:30PM to 10:00PM and Saturday, May 14, 2:30PM to 9:00PM, MC 2065. This is it, folks. The real deal up in here. Show 1 is on its way. If nothing else, you should make sure you’re here. We watch all kinds of great anime, play a few games, socialize, and just generally have a great time. The schedule for this show can be found here.

Memberships – Well, we are an official club, so there’s a little thing called memberships that you should hear about. It’s not a big deal, but we charge $8 to those who wish to join our club. All money goes to support the enhancement and development of the club itself, so really you’re just paying to make the club better for yourself. If you aren’t sure it’s worth it, our first show does not require membership, so you can come by and see what we’re all about. Also, if you are a new student, you can pay the special discounted rate of $7. If you would like to buy a membership, we will have them on sale starting this Thursday/Friday at Clubs Days, and again at our first show.

Nice and full of CTRL-A goodness, wouldn’t you agree? Now off, into the week we go, and I’ll see you tomorrow. Or Wednesday. Or Friday. Whenever.

Dylan “Go, Pokéball!” Mead

Welcome back, welcome back, to another exciting term at Ctrl-A. This is your webmaster and president, Dylan, here to inundate you with all the wonderful details you need to know to get the most enjoyment out of this term. If you are new, please read the introductory area of this post. It has all sorts of useful information for you.

This Week

I will forgo my usual descriptions for the events, as I have rather extensive ones further down the page. Here’s what you can expect for this week.

Project Night – Wednesday, May 4, 6PM, Room SLC 2109 – Project night begins!
Games Night – Friday, May 6, 4:30PM, Room MC 4058 – Games night also begins!
Cosplay Tea Party – Saturday, May 7, 1PM, Amy’s Place. The address is available below.

Election Results – Let’s begin with the election results. Let me introduce you to your Spring/Summer 2011 executive team!

Pragmatic President: Dylan
Vigilant Vice-President: Asher
Super Secretary: Will
Timeless Treasurer: Karl
Enigmatic External Relations: Jon

Poised Publicity: Alcina
Elegant Electronic Communications: Mo
Aggregate Activities Coordinator: Sam and Paul (A.K.A. Spam)
Witty Web Maintainer: Dylan
Courteous Concession Manager: Andrew

Spring/Summer 2011 Anime Shows

As is our wont, we have planned for you four anime shows this term. These shows each take place on a Friday from 4:30PM to 10PM and the following Saturday from 2:30PM to 9PM.

Show 1: May 13th and 14th
Show 2: June 10th and 11th
Show 3: June 24th and 25th
Show 4: July 15th and 16th

Now, this list is always subject to last minute adjustments, but here’s what you can expect to see this term, in no particular order:

Continuing Series
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu (The Idiots, the Tests, and the Summoned Creatures)
Otome Youkai Zakuro (Girl Demon Zakuro)
Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai (The World God Only Knows)
Eden of the East
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Sampler Series
Kuragehime (Jellyfish Princess)
Star Driver
Guyver
Hanasaku Iroha
Level E
Gate Keepers
Fortune Arterial
Sora no Woto

Movies
Evangelion 2.0
.hack//G.U. Trilogy
Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro
One of the Detective Conan movies

The schedule hasn’t been decided yet; I will include that information in a future newspost.

For those of you just joining us… Well, first of all, welcome! We are the Club That Really Likes Anime (CTRL-A for short), a club built around the love and enjoyment of Japanese animation.  But we’re so much more than just an anime club. We are a social club, first and foremost, and we have many weekly events that promote socialization between our members. I figure the best way to explain who we are and what we do is to give a quick rundown of the events we normally hold.

Anime Shows – On four predetermined weekends every term, we actually sit down and watch some anime. This is the bread-and-butter of Ctrl-A; without it, we couldn’t exactly call ourselves that, now, could we? The typical format is to show 5 continuing series (meaning that each show will have more of the same series), 8 sampler series (2 per show; we only show the first 3 episodes, hence, sampler) and 4 movies (1 per show). See above for what you can expect to watch this term. We also run a concession stand (profits go to support the club) and order pizza for a dinner break on both days.

Monday Meetings – These happen every Monday, starting at 6PM, and are usually followed by dinner. This is when we deal with all of the official club business, and make important decisions that influence the direction of the club, such as deciding what anime to show and when. All important decisions are decided by vote, so if you want to have your say, you are welcome to come, provided you are a registered member of the club. If you have something you want to discuss at the meeting, you can bring it up then, or send me an email at prez@ctrl-a.org and I can put it on the agenda. This term, all of our meetings are in MC 4063.

Project Nights – Every Wednesday, a smaller subset of Ctrl-A meets for what is best described as “general socialization,” meaning you can pretty much do what you want. There’ll be lots of gaming, and if Jeremy is there you can be sure there will be a board game played, but the core purpose behind these nights is to give you chance to work on any projects you might have. If you need people to help you with an idea or half-finished project, come to SLC 2109 at 6PM every Wednesday.

Games Nights – On non-show Fridays (that is, Fridays where we don’t have a show scheduled) we get together and play games. Whether it be card games, board games, or video games, games are happening. Show up at 4:30 and get your game on! This term, we’re exclusively in MC 4058 every week.

Cosplay Tea Parties – On certain Saturdays, Amy is allowing us to storm over to her place to drink tea and work on/wear cosplay. If cosplay is your thing, then you should definitely get to know Amy. Whether these happen depend highly on her schedule, so these aren’t guaranteed to be happening every week, but when they do, it’s on Saturday, at around 1PM, at Amy’s place. The address is 365 Bennington Gate, Unit 39. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the Pokemon Gym Leader Squad.

And much more… Those are just our regular events. We also have sushi lunches, hot pot, card tournaments, survival tag, an anime marathon, and more! Trust me, stick with us, you’ll have a great time.

Getting involved – The best and most obvious way to get involved is to come to our events! Our shows are the most popular event, but if you want to get to know us, the best way is at one of the other events, where it’s easier to talk. Another way is via our forums; many of our members have accounts on there, and there is plenty of ongoing discussion to jump into. If you’re not feeling quite so adventurous, you can also comment directly to this post too! Either way, I read everything that comes in here, so you can be sure your voice is being heard. Oh, and don’t forget to sign up for our mailing list to receive weekly updates on all the events, if you’re too lazy to come back here every week.

Any questions? – That’s what we’re here for! Send an email to the appropriate exec (if you aren’t sure who’s appropriate, check out this handy reference page), or just send it to ctrl-a@ctrl-a.org and we’ll sort it out for you.