Otakon has apparently blasted the recession to smithereens, or at least fought back valiantly against bad-economy rays. On Sunday Otakon president Matt Smiechowski said of this year's pre-registration:

"I was actually expecting it to be on par with, if not lower than, last year's pre-registration total of 17,186, due to factors such as the economy. It's better than I could have hoped." He said he's expecting around 27,000 to attend this year. That would represent 2.8% growth over last year.

We'll see if that happens. Last year they had 26,000. Otakon, an "annual celebration of Japanese and East Asian popular culture" is a nice little updraft for the Baltimore hospitality industry, which could use it.