Geek.Kon is pleased to announce the first round of guests for Geek.Kon 2010 to be voice actor Chris Ayres, writer Bill Bodden, and game designers Matt Forbeck and Aaron Pavao.

CHRIS AYRES
Christopher Ayres has been working professionally in theatre, television and film since the age of 6. His work has been seen regionally, nationally and on Broadway. Chris currently works as a voice actor for FUNimation Entertainment and is an A.D.R. Director for Amusement Park Media. His first project with Amusement Park Media was the hit anime musical comedy The Nerima Daikon Brothers. Chris has also directed XENOSAGA: The Animation, Magikano, Mermaid Melody Pitchi Pitchi Pitch, and as co-director with Matt Greenfield on The Wallflower.
Chris' voice work includes the roles of Kei Kourono in Gantz, Suitengu in Speed Grapher, Von Kampher in Trinity Blood, Hayashimizu in Full Metal Panic? Fummofu, Nakamaru in Maburaho, Yaminami in Peacemaker, Johnny in One Piece, Sid in Devil May Cry, Koji in Godanner, Kenji Kurata in Diamond Daydreams, and Woogy in Michel. His voice can also be heard in Elfin Lied, Claymore, Tokyo Majin, Ouran High School Host Club, Cannon, Gravion Zwei, Utwararerumono, Coyote Ragtime Show, and Desert Punk, to name a few. Chris can also be heard as Wagram in the new Square Enix Game The Last Remnant. Most recently Chris has been heard as the Covenant Commander and various other roles in HALO: Legends. Aside from voice acting and directing, Chris works as a professional fight director, bringing his workshop "Mock Combat for Coplay" to many conventions, and is also one of the Anime industry voice actors who sings on Voices for Peace. He is very proud to be a part of the "Voices For..." organization.Geek.Kon 2010
You can learn more about Chris by visiting his website www.christopherayres-va.com.

BILL BODDEN
Bill Bodden is a wholesale sales rep for Green Ronin Publishing, as well as a freelance writer. He's done writing work for Mongoose Publishing, the Black Library/Games Workshop, Madison Magazine, Fantasy Flight Games, Scrye magazine, Avalanche Press, Knucklebones magazine, Game Cryer.com, Chaosium, Geek Monthly magazine and Green Ronin Publishing. He is currently a game reviewer Armchairgeneral.com, Flames Rising.com and ICv2's quarterly Guide to Games.

MATT FORBECK
Matt Forbeck has worked full-time as a writer and game designer since 1989 with many top companies, including Angry Robot/HarperCollins, Atari, Boom! Studios, Games Workshop, High Voltage Software, IDW, Image Comics, Mattel, Penguin, Playmates Toys, Random House, Simon & Schuster, Ubisoft, and Wizards of the Coast. He has designed board games, collectible card games, roleplaying games, and miniatures games and has written comic books, computer games, magazines, novels, nonfiction, screenplays, and short fiction. His work has been published in over 10 languages. His projects have been nominated for 24 Origins Awards and won 13. He has also won five ENnies. He is a proud member of the Alliterates writers' group, the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers, and the International Game Developers Association. He lives in Beloit, Wisconsin, with his wife Ann and their children: Marty, Pat, Nick, Ken, and Helen. Visit Forbeck.com for more details about him and his work.

AARON PAVAO
Aaron Pavao started his career in geekery as a child playing D&D with the babysitter, and sold his first game (Live Role-Playing Chess) as a teen. Since then, he has been involved in many aspects of gaming. He has run campaign-style LARPs, designed board, card, and role-playing games, run a game company, and yes, bought games just to read them. His geekiness even extended to his romantic life when he encoded his marriage proposal into a Shadowrun book. His most recent work includes a card game and expansions licensed to Atlas Games and freelance work in over a dozen titles for Catalyst Game Labs.

Geek.Kon 2010 will be held Sept. 3-5 at the Madison Marriott West in the Madison suburb of Middleton, WI.

Following its founding principles, Geek.Kon is dedicated to bringing together all aspects Geekdom under one roof from anime to sci-fi to gaming and more for the benefit of all. In line with this ideology one can expect to find programming, events, and guests to suit a variety of "Geeky" tastes. It is through these means that Geek.Kon strives to give each attendee a great time while also expanding their horizons as to what Geekdom has to offer.

Online preregistration for Geek.Kon 2010 is now open.

Registration rates are as follows:
full weekend preregistration: $25
full weekend at door: $30
Friday at door: $15
Saturday at door: $20
Sunday at door: $15
children age 5 and under: Free with paying adult
children age 6 - 12: $15 with paying adult

To preregister or find more information on guests, events, and other convention aspects visit http://www.geekkon.net

Press Release for April 6th, 2010

San Japan, San Antonio's Major Japanese Culture and Anime Convention, has announced the first round of guests for its July 2010 convention. San Japan is proud to announce that voice actors Carrie Savage, Chris Ayres and Josh Grelle will be making a return appearance in San Antonio. San Japan is also proud to announce the return of 'New School' hip-hop act Maja, local cover band LoliHolix and popular artist Amelie Belcher.

Christopher Ayres has been working professionally in theatre, television and film since the age of 6. He currently works as a voice actor for ADV and FUNimation. Chris is also an A.D. R. Director for ADV and Amusement Park Media.

Carrie Savage has voiced many anime characters: from California she has voiced such characters as 'Fuko' in I, My, Me! Strawberry Eggs, 'Rakka' in Haibane Renmei, 'Hakufu' in Ikki Tousen, 'Nancy Makuhari' in R.O.D. the TV series and 'Maromi' in Paranoia Agent.

San Japan A native Texan, Josh Grelle was raised on stage and in the art studios of Central Texas. He performed on stage for over 15 years prior to starting work for A.D.V. Films at the start of 2004. Since then he has worked for ADV and Funimation on numerous projects.

Amelie Belcher travels the country selling her award winning art, doing one of a kind commissions for con goers, giving the best damn panels on earth, and being paid tribute to by her army of fans known as the "Ami Army" in the form of Pocky and manga. Known as "the angriest chick on the net", she is the creator of the popular web comic "The Real Life Adventures of Amelie" at Cordeval.com.

Maja is an American lyricist who shares our love and fascination for things like Japanese animation, video games, and the Japanese language. In Fall 2009, Maja released a brand new album called "Bleach'd Out", a brand new hip-hop twist in tribute to the anime series Bleach which can be downloaded for free at reverbnation.com/majatron.

LoliHolix is a group of cool cats that will be performing the music you know and love. They've gathered members across time, space, and those pesky alternate timeline paradoxical universes to bring you a fun line up with fun songs. Influenced by video game music, Japanese styles, and all types of assorted musical diversities, they just want to rock your socks while saving the universe at the same time.

San Japan will be bringing many popular events to the convention including the Ouran Host Club, Hetalia Olympics (formally Otaku-lympics), an enduring otaku competitive event along with Ani-Idol, a karaoke and singing competition. San Japan is currently taking entries for its upcoming AMV Competition along with art submissions for its art contest with prizes given out for winning entries. San Japan will also be holding a charity auction with the proceeds going to Child's Play.

San Japan will be happening on the weekend of July 9th - 11th, 2010 at its new convention location at the San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter Hotel, adjacent to the Rivercenter Mall in the middle of the famous Riverwalk. Pre-registration for this event is currently $30 for a discount 3-day weekend pass. Hotel rooms are available at the Marriott Rivercenter Hotel for a special convention rate of $117 per night (standard nightly rate is $219). Pre-registration is open until June 10th and the discount hotel rates are available until June 17th.

For more information on registration, additional details about the convention, guest announcements, along with streaming music tracks of the performing music guests, can all be found at the official revamped San Japan website at www.san-japan.org. San Japan is also on Twitter at twitter.com/sanjapan or on Facebook at facebook.com/sanjapan, which will include the latest up-to-date news about the convention.

ABOUT SAN JAPAN

San Japan, LLC, is a not-for-profit organization devoted to bringing an appreciation of Japanese culture "state-side" through a variety of high-quality educational activities and entertainment events. In addition to the planned annual convention, San Antonio's first major Japanese culture and Anime convention, San Japan also participates throughout the Alamo City in a number of events such as the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures Asian Cultural Fair.

Press Release for January 20th, 2010