Late Summer Miscellania
Oct 14, 2026 - digitalily
Mid-October already, and not a ton of sanding work completed to show for it ^^;
So it goes.
VCFMW 2026
Earlier last month I ended up attending Vintage Computer Festival Midwest for the first time. I had some awareness of it previously, but it wasn't until I saw the youtuber LGR's vlog of his trip to it last year (which, doesn't feature VCFMW itself a ton, but still) that I became really interested.
I'm really no expert when it comes to the vast majority of what was on display, but it was a very cool experience getting to see what people are doing with older tech, and the way in which these devices were impactful back in the day. A lot of things don't have such an important history, though, and the sheer number of frankly bizarre devices of the early 00s demonstrates that well enough. I ended up quite tempted by this small yet wide little netbook despite the fact that it has a horrendous battery and terrible ergonomics, but it looked very interesting so what can I say? And being tempted is something you really have to watch out for, as most tables were selling certain pieces. VCFMW is the kind of event where participants are constantly on the look out for some white whale or the other, as one man's trash may very well be someone's treasure. I was glad to catch a couple of booths with PC-98 Touhou games on display and for passers by to try their hand at, which was definitely a contributing factor to attending. ...
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anime magic 2026
Aug 25, 2026 - digitalily
This marks the second year of attending Anime Magic, and try though those of us who attended last year might, we weren't able to pull anyone else along this time, firmly cementing us as the Anime Magic squad I guess? Something which I mind a lot less as I had a much nicer time this year compared to last.
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gen con 2026
Aug 3, 2026 - digitalily
At some point last year, not more than a few weeks prior to Gen Con 2025, a friend posed the question (paraphrasing) 'do we want to try going to Gen Con even though it is imminent?' And we definitely tried, but the exorbitant hotel cost, lack of hotel space nearby in general, and dubious ideas of transportation meant that it wasn't to be, almost certainly for the better. This year however, with others also interested, we chose one day to attend the con, booked an AirBnB a couple months in advance, and after a bit of a whirlwind of a couple days, have successfully completed Gen Con 2026 with an eye for a full Gen Con 2027 weekend.
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con season 2026
May 26, 2026 - digitalily
Another May, another ACEN & now Combo Breaker wrapped up- a welcome pair of events after a slow start to the year, featuring a bunch of recurring colds/illness and a hefty serving of cabin fever....
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anime magic 2025
Aug 26, 2025 - digitalily
Summer continues, this time with a trip to another local anime con, Anime Magic! The usual group I head to ACEN with had heard some rumblings about Anime Magic a couple years ago, and there was a desire to give it a look since we haven't really been to a huge variety of anime cons collectively, so after this year's ACEN some distant plans were made and in the end, a small group of us headed over for a day!...
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ACEN & Combo Breaker 2025
May 26, 2025 - digitalily
Another year, another ACEN, and this time a surprise last minute decision to visit Combo Breaker after. It's been a busy couple of weeks!...
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