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Middle Tennessee Anime Convention - Author's Notes - 2007 Even the weather couldn't dampen the spirits of fans in Franklin. Might as well change that cliche to "soak the spirits" or "freeze the spirits," because that would give a better impression of the weather in the Mid-South on the convention weekend. In 2006, the convention had ideal weather that was perfect for outdoor events such as a celebrity dodgeball game. In 2007, it was hard to tell what season you were  in. The calendar said spring, but the thermometer said autumn - or maybe winter, since it was so cold you expected snow flurries to break out at any moment. So fans stayed inside and filled every inch of the Marriott where Middle Tennessee moved, a short distance from the Embassy Suites used in 207. The Marriott had more meeting room space than the Embassy Suites, and fans filled it all in the convention's first year at its new home. That led to some interesting traffic patterns. The convention limited the number of people allowed in the dealers' room, and there was a line to get in at opening time on Sunday followed by a lull when anyone could get in. That lull coincided with the infamous ramen-eating contest that drew a big crowd to the main ballroom. When the contest was over, most of the fans who had watched the contest streamed toward the dealers' room and the line formed all over again. You could gauge the size of the weekend's crowd by the attendance at that contest. When we first went to Middle Tennessee and the convention was in a small hotel not far from the Nashville airport, a meeting room the size of a small motel room was large enough for contestants and audience. In 2007, so many people wanted to watch and participate that the contest was in the main events hall. Middle Tennessee is expected to use the same hotel in 2008 (when the convention will have a Godzilla theme), and then the convention organizers likely will need to find a larger location. After having outgrown several Nashville-area hotels, the only places left might be a convention center or the massive Opryland Hotel on the east side of town - although we wonder if Opryand's owners would be ready for an anime convention. Don't be fooled by the "Opryland" name, because that hotel was more than large enough to hold major league baseball's winter meetings a few years ago. When we rolled into Franklin on the convention's Sunday morning, a few people asked us "How was Tekko," assuming we had started the weekend at the Pittsburgh-area Tekkoshocon, then headed to Tennessee. We wanted to do that, but had only Sunday available for travel, so we drove down I-65 to Tennessee. With more time and means, we could have gotten to three of the weekend's four conventions, including the brand new event in Fort Lauderdale, but there wasn't enough time. One of the flyers handed out at Middle Tennessee confirmed what we'd been told in March, that Sugoicon was returning to the Covington, Kentucky area in November. It's also going to be held on the same weekend as Anime NebrasKon and Anime USA, which means yet another tough choice for this writer. Both Sugoicon and Anime USA will be held near major airports, which makes us think there's a chance we could get to both events...but that decision is a long way off. Besides, the choice of which convention to attend on a particular weekend gets more difficult as conventions proliferate. The only convention with no competition in forthcoming weekends is Anime Central (most likely a Sunday-only trip for this site), and there will be four conventions on the Memorial Day weekend (probably two days at Animazement, then a cross-country rush for the Indianapolis 500). Middle Tennessee Anime Convention Main Page