"Akira's Hip Hop Shop" update

A couple of people have written to ask me the results of the Con-Can online film festival where a 22 minute version of my film "Akira's Hip Hop Shop" was shown during the month of August.

Hundreds of people watched it online and 120 of you actually took the time to vote. For that I'm very appreciative. Thanks so much!

The top "scoring" film got 163 votes for the highest number of responses. Some of my close friends told me they watched and didn't even take the time to vote for my film. At first I was dissappointed but honestly the website didn't make it any easier! Many people had to search their SPAM folder for the registration confirmation. For others it took 2-3 hours and in some cases days for them to get a confirmation so they weren't able to vote or forgot about it by the time the password arrived! I guess there were some issues with the Japanese ISP?

The organizers told me that voting isn't just based on the number of ratings, but the scores themselves. So I guess I still have an outside shot? In any case the results will be announced October 1st.

In other news I had a great time at the Los Angeles Comic-book & Science Fiction convention. Akira himself, James Kyson Lee, stopped by and signed autographs. He looked great and was excited about the new season of Heroes right along with the fans! We had mini-posters and t-shirts available which I'll soon be offering on my website if you're interested.

Finally, the DVD of "Akira's Hip Hop Shop" is out today available exclusively via my website. You can pick up a copy for $10 plus shipping and handling. It's the first time to see the full 37 minute Director's cut. It laid the foundation of what we hope to build on in the feature film (where Akira is a regular Asian-American kid instead of a Japanese immigrant!).

Stay tuned for AND for exclusives!

Thanks again for all your support.

best,

Joe D.
www.akirashiphopshop.com