TOKYO IN TULSA IS THE NEXT STOP ON THE ROBOTECH CONVENTION TOUR

Tokyo In Tulsa is the next stop on the 2011 Robotech Convention Tour! Clips from the Robotech documentary and the new animated project will be shown at the at the convention on July 15-17th.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE CONVENTION

PARAMOUNT LAUNCHES NEW ANIMATION DIVISION

From TheWrap.com

Paramount is getting into the animation game. 

The studio announced on Wednesday that it is launching an in-house animation division and expected to release its first film through the unit in 2014. 

In making the announcement, Paramount Chairman & CEO Brad Grey said that budgets on each of the division's films will be in the $100 million range. Grey said the company will draw on other members of the Viacom corporate family in developing its films, in particular the kids network Nickelodeon.

Grey said that the market “'has never offered as many opportunities" for animated movies "at very appealing budget levels." He said that the company will expand into toons "with appropriate and prudent overhead and production budgets.” 

The move comes as Paramount's renewal of its current distribution pact with DreamWorks Animation remains very much in doubt. That deal is set to expire in 2012, but Katzenberg has clashed with Paramount's leadership, according to individuals with knowledge of the situation. Paramount, which makes an 8 percent distribution fee on the films it handles, is unlikely to sweeten those terms and if the studio is serious about creating its own in-house product, that could severely weaken DreamWorks' hand.

I think this is a great thing! The more studios and production companies get involved in animation the better off we all are going to be. Competition is a good thing for consumers and we now have one more player.  

THE GHOST FLEET OFF SINGAPORE HAUNTS YOU EVEN TODAY

During the Anime Expo Robotech panel I discussed how the Global Economic Slowdown has affected the supply chain. As expected the people "who know this business" took to the internet to say this was false.

From the UK Daily Mail  from two years ago.

Some experts believe the ratio of container ships sitting idle could rise to 25 per cent within two years [by 2011 which just happens to be right now - Kev] in an extraordinary downturn that shipping giant Maersk has called a 'crisis of historic dimensions'. Last month the company reported its first half-year loss in its 105-year history.

Martin Stopford, managing director of Clarksons, London's biggest ship broker, says container shipping has been hit particularly hard: 'In 2006 and 2007 trade was growing at 11 per cent. In 2008 it slowed down by 4.7 per cent. This year we think it might go down by as much as eight per cent. If it costs £7,000 a day to put the ship to sea and if you only get £6,000 a day, than you have got a decision to make. 

'Yet at the same time, the supply of container ships is growing. This year, supply could be up by around 12 per cent and demand is down by eight per cent. Twenty per cent spare is a lot of spare of anything - and it's come out of nowhere.'

The article is worth the read as it is gotten much worse since then.

ANIME EXPO ROBOTECH PANEL - PART 3

ANIME EXPO PANEL WRITE UP FROM THEREALMTOYS.COM

The website TheRealMToys.com has a great writeup of the Anime Expo Robotech panel and here is the opening. 

The biggest thing, for me, at Anime Expo every year is catching the Robotech panel staged by Harmony Gold, the company that owns and operates the franchise.  This panel is always hosted by Tommy Yune, often accompanied by Steve Yun, and in this case, the two were joined by marketing rep Kevin McKeever.  The three company men are also fans, so their enthusiasm for all things ‘Tech coming down the pike is infectious.  Over the last year or two, news was few and far between, with various projects in the works, but not due to see the light of day just yet.  Well, that light is getting closer, and here’s what Harmony Gold will offer up to Robotech fans in the months to come, and an approximate release date.

 It's a great writeup and worth the read.

ANIME EXPO ATTENDANCE REACHES 47,000

From Anime News Network.com

Anime Expo announced on Sunday that this year's event had a turnstile attendance of over 128,000 and over 47,000 unique attendees.

"Turnstile attendance" is the number of attendees on each day added together, so a person who uses a four-day pass is counted four times. "Unique attendees" is the number of attendees regardless of how many days they attend, so a person who uses a four-day pass is counted once.

Former SPJA CEO Michael Lattanzio had announced that the convention had a turnstile attendance of over 105,000 last year. 2009's listed attendance numbers were over 109,000 (turnstile) and over 44,000 (unique).

 

ANIME EXPO ROBOTECH PANEL - PART 2

YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT UPDATE FOR THE WEEK

News of the shipping slowdown begins with this report from Reuters.com

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index , which tracks rates to ship dry commodities, fell for a third day on Thursday as slower cargo business on the capesize and panamax markets took their toll.



Brokers said they were watching for further developments in China, which is facing its worst power shortages in years and likely to have an impact on dry freight activity. Uncertainty over prospects for the world economy could also potentially hurt demand for raw materials.

The overall index fell 0.49 percent or 7 points to 1,413 points. Prior to the drop, it had risen for four sessions previously. The index has declined over 20 percent this year.

A decline of 20% over 6 months in the shipping world is BIG. But hey it gets better as this IFW-net.com report shows. 

In its latest market commentary, shipbroker ACM/GFI said little had changed over the past two weeks and market sentiment remained “dismal”.

It said: “Additionally, just to paint how depressed the current freight market is, one of our contacts in the US told us that to ship a 40ft container of grain door-to-door from Chicago to Kaoh Siung in Taiwan, the all-in rate in the current market is $1,250 per feu.

“That equates to a freight rate of $44 per tonne, which is cheap as chips.”

The broker added: “With no shortages of containers and what appears to be a poor harvest this year, carriers are facing weak volumes, not only on head-haul routes, but also on the back-haul.”

On the Shanghai-North-west Europe trade, it said: “We saw the recent months fall in value reflecting the weak sentiment in the market that general rate increases (GRIs) are unlikely until the start of Q4.

“However, despite Q3 and Q4 trading at 10% and 16% premium respectively to the spot market, we are seeing more buying interest for these periods, with expectations that the market is starting to reach a bottom.”

According to the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI), prices from Shanghai to Europe fell $24 to $821 per teu last week, while rates from Shanghai to the Mediterranean slipped to $949 per teu, a decline of $4 on two weeks ago.

Prices from Shanghai to the US West Coast increased $19 last week, compared with the week before, to reach $1,652 per feu and prices from Shanghai to the US East Coast increased $79 to reach $3,113 over the same period.

SeaIntel’s Lars Jensen said at a recent conference that operating costs were the lowest for liner companies in the ultra-large container vessels segment, provided they were running at full utilisation levels. 

This what an economic slowdown looks like and it has very wide ranging effects.

ANME EXPO ROBOTECH PANEL - PART 1

A CLIP FROM THE ANIME EXPO ROBOTECH PANEL

One of the cool things about the 3-disc Robotech Soundtrack we are working on is that we have found the 24 track masters of the original music. Steve Yun gives a demonstration of some of the new music and capabilities they provide.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED AT FUKUSHIMA

While I'm working on post Anime Expo stuff here is an excerpt from from The Atlantic about   Fukushima.

Throughout the months of lies and misinformation, one story has stuck: “The earthquake knocked out the plant’s electric power, halting cooling to its reactors,” as the government spokesman Yukio Edano said at a March 15 press conference in Tokyo. The story, which has been repeated again and again, boils down to this: “after the earthquake, the tsunami – a unique, unforeseeable [the Japanese word is soteigai] event - then washed out the plant’s back-up generators, shutting down all cooling and starting the chain of events that would cause the world’s first triple meltdown to occur.”

But what if recirculation pipes and cooling pipes, burst, snapped, leaked, and broke completely after the earthquake -- long before the tidal wave reached the facilities, long before the electricity went out? This would surprise few people familiar with the 40-year-old Unit 1, the grandfather of the nuclear reactors still operating in Japan.

Its a interesting article and worth the read.

ANME EXPO MAIN HALLWAY CLOSED DUE TO 'UNKOWN OBJECT'

From Anime News Network

he staff members of Anime Expo and the Los Angeles Convention Center cordoned off the central hallway between the South and West Halls of the center just before noon due to a "threat from a hazardous object," according to security. The public announcement system made requests for anyone who left a package in the area to claim it. The exhibit area and panel rooms remain open, but the central food court area, several administrative rooms, and all interior passageways between the two main halls are closed to everyone except convention staff.

This incident began about 20 mins before the Robotech Industry Panel was about to start. I can say the panel went out with out delay or incident and was a great success.

I will have more later on.