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OLIVIA
Performing at Pacific Music Live / Saturday, Oct. 28 / Hilton Los Angeles Airport International Ballroom
OLIVIA (aka Olivia Lufkin) will be live and in concert at Pacific Music Live, and will be attending a panel session and signing autographs at Pacific Media Expo. Her music is featured in the popular anime "Nana" (during the opening sequence in the first season and the ending sequence of the second season).
Born Dec. 9, 1979, to a Japanese mother and an American father, OLIVIA was discovered while attending the legendary Okinawa Actors' School. In 2004, Avex released her sophomore full album The Lost Lolli, in Japan, as recognition for her growing popularity.
After enjoying a musical hiatus, during which OLIVIA gained respect as a fashion model and designer, she was chosen by popular Nana manga author Ai Yazawa to provide the singing voice of character Reira Serizawa on the television program. She has since performed three songs for the opening and final credits. The first single, "A Little Pain," ranked at #8 on the Oricon charts and sold 20,162 copies in the first week. Offscreen, Nana has sold an astounding 22 million copies of its first 12 volumes.
Appearing at Pacific Media Expo / Saturday, October 28 only
Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino, co-creators of Nickelodeon action-adventure series Avatar: The Last Airbender and veterans of numerous other critically lauded series, including Family Guy, King of the Hill and Invader Zim, will appear one day only: Saturday, Oct. 28.
Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko both graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design and are veterans of Film Roman, famed animator of The Simpsons.
Award-winning filmmaker DiMartino directed King of the Hill, Family Guy, Mission Hill and his own Atomic Love, an animated short screened at numerous film festivals. DiMartino currently serves as co-executive producer and story editor on Avatar.
Konietzko worked as a character designer for Family Guy before becoming assistant director on King of the Hill and Mission Hill, as well as storyboard artist and art director for Invader Zim. Konietzko is co-executive producer and art director for Avatar.
Sifu Kisu, the martial arts expert behind the cool moves in Avatar: The Last Airbender will also be at PMX. You have seen him many times in the "Creating The Legend" segments of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Meet the master and learn the moves for airbending, firebending, waterbending and more!
Beginning Sept. 25, Nickelodeon will elevate Avatar: The Last Airbender to weeknights at 6:30 p.m.
Featured guest at PMX's Un-Birthday Party / 11:30 a.m. Oct. 28 / Hilton Los Angeles Airport Malibu Garden
Novala Takemoto, Japanese cult author and fashion icon, will make his first U.S. appearance as a Guest of Honor at Pacific Media Expo (PMX) on Oct. 28 and 29. Internationally acclaimed, award-winning film Kamikaze Girls (Shimotsuma Monogatari, 2004), based on Takemoto’s signature novel, will screen at PMX.
Takemoto’s debut novel, Sewing Machine (Mishin, 2000) sold 500,000 copies. Later works Emily (2002) and Lolita (2004) were nominated for the prestigious Yukio Mishima Literary Prize. Kamikaze Girls (Shimotsuma Monogatari, 2004) depicts the seemingly odd friendship between a frustrated and bored country girl fixated on the lifestyle of 18th-century frilly French dress, and a spunky member of an all-female biker gang. The film pays homage to fellow cultural luminaries Tank Girl, The Outsiders and Kill Bill while incorporating homegrown Japanese eccentricities.
Once labeled the “Lolita Bard” by overseas newspapers, Takemoto passionately supports the Lolita fashion style, which emphasizes Victorian-style and Edwardian fashion girl's dress and often aims to imitate the look of porcelain dolls. He created his own clothing and product line, Pour Lolita, in collaboration with Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, a leading boutique chain created in 1988.
Performing at Pacific Music Live / Sunday, Oct. 29 / Hilton Los Angeles Airport International Ballroom
UchuSentai NOIZ will open for OLIVIA on Saturday. Then catch twice the NOIZ when they play their full performance the next day.
UchuSentai NOIZ is the cutting edge of Japanese rock. They have toured extensively throughout Japan and released three albums and numerous maxi-singles, DVDs, videos and books. Illustrating the demand for their music and their love for entertaining, UchuSentai NOIZ is scheduled to perform live shows 32 nights straight, from Aug. 31 to Oct. 1, in the Tokyo area. EGO-style, the band's latest album, broke the top 100 on the Oricon Style music charts shortly after its release. UchuSentai NOIZ's visual kei style inspires their fans to cosplay and emulate the band's costumes. The band is composed of ANGEL-TAKA on vocals, MASATO on guitar, Kyo on bass, TAKEswiy on guitar and S@TT-ON on drums.
Appearing at Pacific Media Expo / October 28-29, 2006
Pacific Media Expo 2006 is proud to have as a guest Sifu Kisu, the martial arts expert behind the cool moves in Avatar: The Last Airbender. You have seen him many times in the "Creating The Legend" segments of Avatar: The Last Airbender! Meet the master and learn the moves for airbending, firebending, waterbending and more! (Go to YouTube.com and do a search on "Creating the Legend" and "Avatar".)
Appearing at Pacific Media Expo / Sunday, October 29, 2006 only
Ever wonder what life is like for an anime voice actor? Do you want to find out how to break into the voice acting business? Ask our experienced panelists who have done character voices for successful anime shows such as Naruto, Dragonball Z, Bleach, FullMetal Alchemist, and more!
BLEACH (C) Tite Kubo/Shueisha, TV TOKYO, dentsu, Pierrot NARUTO (C) 2002 MASASHI KISHIMOTO