Convention Review: Connecticon 2025

Connecticon 2025 was a blast fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

What can I honestly say at this point about this convention that I have said about it in the past. It’s been close to my heart for an incredibly long time at this point, and it’s always managed to surprise me in all of the right & wrong ways with each year I go. 2025 is no different, and this year’s definitely did make me do a double take a few times. So, with that said, Let’s sit down & take a look at my review for Connecticon 2025. Let’s begin!

Good Points
The Hartford Marriot has continued to be a high point for me. It’s far grander than anything that could have been found around where Genericon once was, far more opulent (Though certainly not on the level of the Gaylord where Katsucon takes place), and has a lot more resources than one would think upon visiting it for the first time. In addition to that, the escalator that was down the count last year was working perfectly fine this year, so not having to use the elevator to get from the lobby to the 3rd floor & vice-versa constantly was incredibly welcome. I used the bar for the first time when I hung out with John St Jon & his friends, and the Vodka Tonic I had was quite lovely. 

Dealer’s Room & Artist’s Alley are still two of the biggest draws for people to come to Connecticon. Though there was a hiccup last year, and a bigger hiccup this year (More on that later), the sheer variety of goods to purchase always catches me off guard. The dealers that came back for the once a day thing in the upper part of the convention center came back, and although I didn’t get anything from them, there was a lot of variety there as well. Also, just like last year, I managed to have enough money for the next MTG release I’m going to in a few days (Edge Of Eternities anybody?).

Connecticon continues to rock it with the events. From the panels, to the AMV Contest, to the Idol show, to the Cosplay Chess, and finally to the Cosplay Deathmatch (Which is easily the best that has taken place in it’s entire history), you’ve got the living embodiment of “Something For Everybody!”. I may not have gone to a lot of panels, but the ones I did go were fun. The Eating of the Costco Chicken, John St Jon’s Sexy Late Night Panel (Never gets old, btw), and Cosplay Championship Wrestling were just some of the events I went to, and they were all great. Speaking of CCW.....

Cosplay Championship Wrestling keeps on being fire at Connecticon, especially since they’ve be coming to the con for almost 5 years now. Every single wrestler, both the men & the women, embodies the characters they play, and the heels and the faces have everybody in the crowd by the balls (Or ovaries). For 2025, they did something extra, and have the wrestlers play as their own characters from their parent company, and that was just as good if not better. You know things are better when you have a wrestler basically play as Prince.....yes, that Prince!

The food trucks are still a huge plus for me! A far cheaper alternative to how much most of the things to eat in the hotel cost, it’s like a culinary rainbow. From the poutine, to the cheesesteak, and to all of the other foods savory & sweet, and normal or vegan, you’ve got a lot to choose from that won’t hurt the bank account. Hell, even the most expensive items won’t been too much of a problem (The highest cost I saw was 19-something), and some of those you can share with people! 

One final good point I’ll mention is a bit of a smaller one, and that’s the water posts. In the lobby of the hotel, there was a table with two glass containers with flavored water (Flavored with natural things, and it was different each day), and there were two above the lobby by the games rooms & panel room. Over in the center itself, there were plenty of water booths in some of the panel rooms, and this definitely was a smart move. My only complaint was that there should have been some in every room in the center given what the weather was like for most of the weekend, but if they weren’t able to cause of how many there were, then I can’t really complain.

Okay Points
Honestly, I don’t think there was anything that was just okay with Connecticon this year. Everything about it in 2025 was either Good, or bad. Nothing in between was seen or hear by me. Speaking of bad however.....

Bad Points
Unfortunately for the con this year, it’s biggest fault is something I had an issues with in 2024, and that’s the lack of manga & anime sellers. If anything, it might have been worse this time around! There was absolutely no manga sellers except for one (Maybe two), and no anime sellers save for Otaku Joe’s (If there were more, I never saw them). Camp Anime didn’t even have any of there figures this year, and if they did I never saw them. Magic The Gathering was in surprisingly short supply oddly enough (Save for a few vendors), but Pokemon & Yu-Gi-Oh was shockingly plentiful! If there is some kind of shift in what’s getting pushed in the Dealer’s Room, I don’t know, but if there is then somebody let me know.

(Like last year, I was still able to purchase a bunch of things btw)

Final Thoughts & Rating
Connecticon 2025 stumbles ever so slightly on account of some of the issues I had with the Dealers Room, but otherwise everything else was great! The convention staff have really nailed what Connecticon is supposed to be, and I don’t think that’ll ever waver in any way. Going to this Mecca of awesomeness for close to 2 decades has become a staple for me during the summer.....and I hope it’s a staple for all of you.

Connecticon 2025 gets an 8.5 to 9 out of 10.

And that was my review for Connecticon 2025. An absolutely wonderful time, despite the shift in products sold. In just a few short years, I will have been going for 20 years (2029), and I definitely look forward to that! With this out of the way, got my second no. 1 album of 2020, so look to the sky & join me at the end of the month. See you then!


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If you’d like to see what I thought of last year’s con, click on the link below:

Convention Review: Connecticon 2024

Album Review: U.D.O.'s We Are One (Revised)

Number 1's are here fellow Otaku & Metalheads!

We’ve made it to July everybody. Sure, we’re a flaming garbage pile that’s back to being an absolute joke, but we’re still here! We’ve now made it to my number 1 albums of 2020, and given what that year was like, it was only right to place what I thought were the most powerful & upbeat records of that year. To start things off, I’m taking a second look at a release that almost was going to be the sole record at number 1 last year. A record that is equal parts heavy, over the top, symphonic, and contains within it a powerful social message that doesn’t feel insulting in any way. So, get on your combat fatigues, find the right cause to champion, and get ready for my review of U.D.O.’s We Are One. Let’s begin.

Background
Taken from the CD booklet: 

“Dear Udo Friends,

I’m writing these lines at the end of April 2020. Corona is ruiling the headlines and all of our day to day activities. I am currently in the Cologne area after I was able to “Rescue” myself by driving to Germany from Ibiza two weeks ago after several weeks of total isolation.

I am currently in the studio with Sven almost every day and we are working together on the upcoming U.D.O. album, which should be released in the coming year (2021). The guys behind the band are all at home and only connected to our studio via Skype. Actually, we all wanted to come together in the studio because this type of work has proven itself on our last album “Steelfactory”. No chance, since this virus has a firm grip on the world...

THE WORLD! OUR WORLD! OUR ONLY WORLD!

Our world is dying! A little more every day! And we are all responsible for it. We are heading towards enormous problems and those “Doing Nothing” are responsible for the consequences. To make matters worse, there are ever increasing tendencies toward nationalist and right wing structures that lead to more isolation and selfishness. This is happening right now at a time when the whole world should be acting in a unified and collaborative manner. Unfortunately, lost for power, lobbying, selfishness and a giant dose of stupidity are preventing a better world for everyone.

- The rainforest in Brazil is burning. Billions of animals are dying in the flames and the world is watching as a “President” allows this to happen.
- The oceans are full of plastic and the world is watching millions of animals cruelly die from the plastic. Nevertheless, we continue to produce tons of plastic waste every day.
- Dictator, tyrants and the right-wing people are gaining more and more power and the world is watching.
- A corporation is obviously poisoning entire insect cultures worldwide, not to mention the bees and humans themselves with its pesticide. The world is watching.
- Car companies are massively damaging our environment with fake emissions data and the world is watching.
- In Australia (And Worldwide), we had true flame infernos in forest fires last year and again, billions of animals painfully burned to death, proven effects of climate change and the world is watching. Many a president denies climate change and yet, they still have chances of being re-elected. Our forests. The lungs of the world are burning while most people are not really worried and continue to live their lives the same way!
- Refugee camps in Europe are full of suffering people and the world is watching. There are thousands of traveling children who are alone in refugee camps in Europe, living in the worst of circumstance and being exposed to many dangers every day, and we can’t even bring these children to us and give them a new future? For months now, our politicians have been discussing whether we can get the children out of these! It is shameful!

There are currently many trillions in corona funding under discussion worldwide. Part of these funding is for prehistoric companies that will continue to pollute our environment in the extreme. Wouldn’t it be better to invest the money in new technologies such as fuel cells to help save our only and unique world instead of spending the money on polluting companies just because they have more power through their expensive lobbyists? Should we not take advantage of the unique opportunity for a better world just so a few people can keep stuffing their pockets at our own expense? Should we save jobs that, by design, exterminate our insects and bees worldwide? I think no! The free world must stand together and ensure that this ball does not continue to roll while many thousands of people are kept as slaves for years just to build new (football) stadiums! Unfortunately our politicians all too frequently play in the many-sided concert of injustices!

One could get the impression that this world is doomed and that humans are the biggest scum in global history. There is considerable evidence of this! I am not a scientist, but I have the hope that we will still be able to change this current course. Of course, there are a lot of stupid, selfish and bad people (Even several leaders of the largest countries cannot deny the accusation), but there are also a great deal of wonderful, good people and I am encouraged by this.

Check out the fantastic people within the Fridays For Future movement, or those from Greenpeace, Medicines Sans Frontiers and learn their names. This is my hope.

At FFF, young people are getting straight to the point of what we should be doing: “Save the world. It’s the only one we have and there is no planet b” and I feel really terrible when I hear the accusations against FFF from the ranks of some politicians. How can you make Greta Thunberg to appear negative and even hostile? This young lady is remarkable and deserves all the respect in the world. She has my deepest personal respect!

Rebel Town handled the demonstrations in Lepzig as well as in many other cities in East Germany that finally brought down the wall in Germany in 1989. We “The Little People can also achieve something like this. We only have to stick together and stand up for our goals. Be brave out there and be uncomfortable for the offenders! Fight!”

Nothing will change if we accept everything as is and do not tackle these abuses. And we ourselves also need to change. Starting with little things like dealing with plastic waste and avoiding waste and also in our mutual human interaction. Luckily, metal fans are mainly very open and tolerant people. One could almost conclude that we need more metal in everyday life. A cool idea! In any case, I’m thankful to be part of this scene!

We need more understanding and love in our interaction with each other. And right-wing thinking must not be tolerated. It isn’t self-explanatory that most of the right or at least “Right-Leaning” politicians deny global warming and don’t give a shit about looking after the environment, people and animals?

We need to break out of our paralyzing comfort and finally act ourselves. Set an example! Write to your politicians and demand that they opt for humanity and not for money and everything behind it! Support the actions of organizations like FFF, Greenpeace, the WWF, etc. Help people and help yourself. Become active! Small steps eventually rest in a very big step.

Our current album is frighteningly more relevant today and we could have ever imagined. The Coronavirus has shut down the world. Was it created in an incredibly cruel animal market in China or did it escape from a laboratory? I don’t know, but I don’t tend toward conspiracy theories and certainly not doomsday scenarios (I guess it was the transmission from the unspeakable animal market). Regardless, we must take this virus and it’s effects extremely seriously. A new virus could go around the world tomorrow: One that is even worse and more cruel than Covid 19.

But please note that Corona is just a tiny little fucker. The big thing to come and we have to prevent whatever it takes is global warming with all negative impacts for us (Billions of death cases, famine, crop failures, floods, extreme climate changes, etc) worldwide. And there is no vaccination against global warming! We have to do everything possible and impossible in order to avoid global warming since once it is out of control, there is no going back to normal life.....

We changed the world through our actions, both positively and negatively. Where the journey goes is in our hands. I am afraid that the last decisive journey is imminent and I hope that we will be able to act sensibly and cautiously and look toward a great future for people, animals and our environment. WE ONLY HAVE ONE PLANET AND WE ARE ALL UNITED. WE ARE PEOPLE!

WE ARE ONE”

Basic Description
Symphonic Power with Social Activism.

Think about 2020 everybody. Think about what was going on at that time: COVID-19, increasing spread & influence of Right-Wing policies & politicians, forest fires in both Brazil & Australia, the planet’s environment getting worse and worse, George Floyd, and so much more. 2020, more than any other year at that time, felt like the gates of hell opened up and just unleashed a torrent of crap that fell on all of our faces. We Are One reflected what most of us were feeling: both in the positive & negative sense, what Udo & the gang were trying to convey across the entire record was an encapsulation of everything that was happening at the time, and it was something that anyone who listened to the record needed to hear. Coupled with some great Heavy Metal & Symphonic music from the marching band of the German Military, and the end result is one of the reasons why I say that 2020 will forever have the best metal of this decade. 

Best Track
I said it in my original review, and I’ll say it again here without fail, but Neon Diamond is a scorcher of a song. In addition to it being a perfect mix between the metallic & symphonic side of things, a little more variety is added in the form of some really good saxophone playing that gives everything a small jazz vibe when you can hear it. The lyrics & messaging is powerful also, referencing lovelorn souls looking for someone else to attach too, and the desire for material things (Think the name of the song is a reference to Blood Diamonds, but I’m not sure). It definitely works well as a track towards the end of We Are One, but it might have been the best as the very end.

Neon Diamond

Worst Track
Also like I stated in my original 2021 review, but if there was any fault to be had with We Are One, it would be the fact that the orchestra doesn’t match up with some of the songs. I still stand by this, as some songs the metallic elements & symphonic elements meld beautifully, while others sound good together but don’t quite meld. This doesn’t ruin the overall experience, and every song together is fantastic, but you will notice when both sides don’t work as well as they should.

One opinion of mine that has changed somewhat would be the Social Commentary. I said back in 2021 that the messaging was hokey & cheesy, and that Udo & the band are a little too optimistic about it. I still stand by that, but with how things have changed since 2020 for the worst, perhaps the message that the album is trying to convey isn’t quite as stereotypically hippy as it might be for some when they listen to this record for the very first time. There’s still some of that on here, but perhaps it isn’t as annoying in the 5 years since this release came out. There are some people out there that might not like We Are One because of the messaging (I can understand why to an extent), but there’s far more of that message that’s much stronger than some give it credit.

Other
If you’re curious about listening to this album, click on the link below: 

We Are One

Overall Impression & Rating
We Are One came out at the right place and the right time. It came out during a time where it’s messaging was absolutely needed, and it’s energy was required to give us a boost to make it through a plague-filled haze. The orchestral aspect may not match up in certain songs as well as others, and the messaging might be a little silly, but the music came out when the fans needed it the most. Considering the hellscape that has been 2025 so far, it’s vibes & commentary are stronger and perhaps needed more. It might not be for everybody, but We Are One is for anybody.  

We Are One is still a solid 10 out 10, and I will stand by this until the day I die.

And that was my revised look at We Are One. Perhaps more relevant now than it was in 2020, it manages to delight & entertain while delivering a power message that everyone should hear. As things continue to crumble in the U.S. and abroad, perhaps it’s a message that everyone needs to hear. So, I’ll be back in a few days when I’ll have a review up for this year’s Connecticon, and at the end of July my second no. 1 album of 2020 will get looked at. Look up to the sky, and I’ll see you soon!


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If you’d like to take a look at my original review, click on the link below:

Album Review - U.D.O.’s We Are One (2021 Version)

Food For Thought/Thought For Food No. 35: Biscuit (My Precious Furbaby)

With how crap the world is right now, I think we all need a heartwarming story.....and I’ve got the story for you!

As of late last week, Biscuit, my precious furbaby, turned 5 years old. Since the summer of The Plague, this adorable but exceptionally squishy cat has been a source of smiles & joy in a world that’s increasingly going to hell in a handbasket. For half a decade, this chonky cat lies right next to me whenever I’m in my room, doing the best she can to conform to my leg & ask for belly rubs, and purrs hard enough my leg jiggles ever so slightly. Yes, this kitty of mine has been a source of smiles for half of this seemingly sordid decade, and her origins is surprising.

Let’s rewind to last decade. Around 2014 to 2016 if I recall correctly. Some asshat had dropped off a small box of kittens near my house, only for them to somehow make their way towards me & my folks. Once day, my Mom opens the door to the porch, only to see one of them, and the rest after a few seconds. Immediately she tells my Dad, who reacts as her normally does when it comes to cats at the time. Mom gets some kitten food from the store that day, and begins feeding & watering them so they don’t die. This in turn got Pops to jokingly call Ma “Sucker Finder”, and I’m not going to lie when I say that I did to (Even though I loved those little kitties). For a few years, we’ve tended to them as they grew up, and oddly enough a few more showed up over time. Mom & me loved them with all our hearts, while Dad was his usual self about it. 

Fast forward to 2020. More specifically, Father’s Day 2020. That day, one of the cats was tragically hit by a local, and this cat recently gave birth to four kittens, and recently at that time moved to a spot by the creek near us. The woman that did it was a local, who came to our house sobbing & saying that she hit the most beautiful cat in the world. Mom & me immediately knew who it was, and went out to grab her body & bury her on the property (We got a tiny Cat graveyard). However, an oddly bigger issues was trying to rescue her babies. We knew they were still at the creek, but we didn’t know what part. Not only that, but when a mamma cat communicates with her kitten, they chirp rather than meow, so Ma gets some mamma cat chirp noises ready on her phone, and over the course of a few days (That’s kind of a story in & of itself) we rescued them & brought them inside.

We knew we couldn’t keep them, so over the course of a few weeks we looked for homes for the kittens, and we were pretty successful. Two of them, ironically enough, went to a local in town (Might have been the same woman I mentioned earlier), and one had gone to a friend of my Mother’s daughter, only for it to be returned cause of issues they were going through, and they went to another friend of my Ma.

So now we get to me. It was early August if I recall correct, and I just got to the bathroom after waking up. Before I could close the door, this is the conversation with my Father: 

“Josh, do you wanna keep the cat?”

“Dad, she going to a good home. It’s okay.”

“Okay, so here’s what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna take the two kittens, and you’re gonna start juggling. You’re gonna juggle the kittens. Which ever one stays up in the air the longest, is the one you’re gonna keep.”

I was almost going to slug my Dad for that joke, but Mom came in to basically translate what he said before something actually happened. After that, the rest....is history.

So that was a warm & fuzzy story about Biscuit, my precious furbaby. With the kind of year everyone has been having, it seemed only right that I talk about her. Stayed tuned throughout the rest of this month for some more goodies. See you soon!