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dejanaWarning, the cut portions of this entry are extremely long and image-heavy.
So, the past week...
I'd planned on doing running con reports like I normally do, but alas, the internets were denied to me for most of the trip. *weeps*
So now I have to write about the entire trip in one go. *further weeping* This is going to be a lot less detailed than my usual con reports because it's been days since much of this stuff happened and I'm lazy. :P
I didn't even get to make a goodbye-and-how-to-find-me post before I left, because I was too busy to write one the day beforehand and when I got to the airport on Wednesday I found out it was $10 to use the internet and the signal strength was crap. -_- I did write up an entry about miscellaneous things, intending to post it when I got internet access, but obviously that didn't happen.
So here it is.
I got my wireless fixed so I could use it at the airport, and now I've just discovered this airport charges $7 a day to use their wireless. And I can't even get a good signal at my gate, and I'm not moving, so forget it. Man, NWA's cheap. -_-
So it's really 6:15 AM right now, although this won't actually be on my LJ until most likely tonight. I'm sitting at the airport for the next hour before I fly out to Otakon. So tired T_T I was up until 11 PM last night packing and today I had to get up at 4 AM to be here on time. @_@ Stupid morning flights.
I've had a busy week and it's only Wednesday! Over the weekend I had two Anime Detour meetings to go to. The first, on Saturday, was another general staff meeting. Next month's staff meeting is the OMGWTFBBQ (v.2.0), so I'm looking forward to that. xD I'm still a bit on the outs as far as the group is concerned, but that's what happens when you're a quiet person like I am. I'm not too worried about it. Hopefully I can meet some folks next month at the BBQ. Plus, the treasurer gave a nice little speech telling the new people not to worry about being newcomers, he himself was new only last year and now he's treasurer, so anyone can still get into the inner group, and even though we're new they still want to hear our ideas and stuff. He made sure to greet everyone he didn't know, too. That helped a lot. What a nice and considerate guy. ^^
Then I threw my hat in the ring for the tech department, which had a meeting on Sunday. I was really nervous about getting out-geeked even worse than I was with the web team, and almost wimped out and didn't go, but I'm really glad I did. The tech guys are a LOT more experienced than I am, since I only have college AV behind me and they've worked in theatre and clubs and stuff, but they didn't make me feel weird or stupid about it at all. There were a lot of stories about how previous years have gone and a lot of talk about what's being planned for this year, and I think it'll all be easy to pick up as I go along. If nothing else, I'll be helping with setup and teardown and the Masquerade, which in itself sounds like crazy fun. I'm super excited. ^^
I'm still planning on helping with Ops, too, and at next month's BBQ I'm going to find the programming head and pitch the idea of a fanfic contest. With those three things to be involved in, my beginning goals for my involvement with the con will be realized. ^^ I'll be really busy at next year's con with Ops and Tech, but I think it'll be a blast. I figure I can have fun at other cons as a wandering nobody, I go to enough of them. ;P
Despite all the meetings I was determined to get up to my hometown one more time before Otakon, so I headed up Sunday after the tech meeting and came back late Monday night in the rain. Lots of storms this week, and it's gray again today and rainy. This is what's in store for the East Coast, so be prepared, folks. ;) Since I'm going out to Otakon I get to experience the heat wave and the rain TWICE! Oh boy! -_-
Anyway, it turned out to be a good thing I went to my hometown, because my grandma's in the hospital again. She'll be okay, but it was still nice that I was able to go there and see her before my trip. I got to spend some time with my mom and briefly visit my best friend, whose life has suddenly become...interesting, to say the least. o_O She's got a live-in boyfriend now, and her cousin and her cousin's boyfriend are living with her too, in addition to her son. It's a heck of a crazy full house. If it works out and makes her happy, though, I'm happy for her.
Dad drove me to the airport today, and they're starting to board first class now, so I'd better wrap this up. I'm spending today and tomorrow in Philadelphia with NOS, Dos, and Kelleh, and assorted other folks, and then I'll be hanging around with them during and after the con. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous ;P but I think it'll be fun. ^^
See you all later! :D
After that I flew out to Philadelphia to meet up with everyone. The Wednesday assembly was me, Kelleh, NOS, Dos, and Nigoki. Yes, the mechaboys. I could title this thing "Adventures with Mechaboys." -_- Of all the weird things I never thought would happen...but anyway. We spent Wednesday and Thursday in Philadelphia before heading to the con.
After everyone was collected on Wednesday we went to the Franklin Institute, but we parked really far away behind a museum so we could look at some statues and the waterworks and stuff. Unfortunately that meant we walked a good distance to the institute. Also unfortunately it was a crazy hot day. And I was still in the cheap sandals I had worn to the airport. By the time we got there I was pretty overheated and miserable, but I recovered okay before too long.
The institute was a lot like the Science Museum we have here in the Twin Cities, with lots of hands-on experiment type stuff in addition to the exhibits. It made me rather nostalgic for the years of my childhood when I was really into science and super excited about stuff like this. Science used to be one of the biggest parts of my life, one of the things I was most interested in. It had been a long time since I was in a place like that. It was fun going through all the exhibits and things and seeing so many excited children in the position I once was.
Anyway, pictures!
After that we walked back to the museum (ARGH) and NOS and Nigoki did the "Rocky" run up the stairs. The rest of us were not quite so insane. ;) They got cheered by a tour bus, though. xD Then it was back to NOS' place for the night where we hung around by or in the pool for most of the evening while Dos defeated a dragon or whatever with his online D&D party. ;P
Thursday we headed back into town for a visit to Independence Hall. The world was an oven again, but happily all the buildings were air-conditioned, and since we didn't have to do nearly as much walking I didn't get worn out from the heat so soon. I had music from "1776" in my head all day long thanks to the location. xD Fortunately I watched it a couple weeks ago after finally buying the DVD, so I avoided the "must watch!" craving, heehee.
It's funny, by the way, being in old cities and imagining what the environment of some of these buildings looked like when they were first built, and heading down tiny streets designed for carriages and thinking about what life used to be like and what kinds of people were once walking where you are standing. Ah, another thing I've learned about big cities - they're all ugly as heck, for the most part, no matter which ones they are. ^^;; Anyway, back to the history lesson...
Independence Hall. On the tour we were told when this was built it was on the outskirts of the city.
The state Senate chamber
The Supreme Court chamber
The chamber of the Continental Congress. It was in this room that the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed. The chair at the center is the same one Washington used when he chaired the constitutional convention.
The group in Congress' chamber. If you don't already know, they are, from left to right: Nigoki, Kelleh, NOS, and Dos.
Nearby to Independence Hall is the building that houses the Liberty Bell. The building is stuffed with multimedia about the bell's history and significance. That's a heck of a lot of info about a bell. ^^;; It was funny... When I finally saw the thing, I couldn't convince my brain that it was the real deal. The bell is everywhere, in replicas and films and pictures, looking just as real as the actual thing. There was no "wow" moment when I was actually standing next to the genuine article. It was pretty surreal.
After that we went to a little hole in the wall place somewhere for cheesesteaks. It was a tiny little place practically stuffed into a crack in a building, but apparently it's famous as hell. The walls were covered in pictures and articles and signatures of celebrities and folks who have been there. The sandwich was awesome, too, so the fame is definately deserved. Great stuff.
We waited for a while to meet up with another guy who was driving Nigoki and some of the luggage to the con, and then it was off to Baltimore. With faulty air conditioning and some directional mishaps, the trip was long and baking, but we eventually got there. BTW, from now on a roll of paper towels will be a necessary item among my con supplies.
We arrived in the evening, parked near the hotel, and walked down to the convention center to pick up our pre-reg stuff. The hotel was ages away, and up a hill. Not a fun walk after a day of wandering around the con. x_x Oh well. By this point in the evening the prereg line was all inside the BCC, so we just walked over and inside and waited a little while to pick up our stuff. Today I heard from an Otakon gofer that so many idiots lined up all day long again that the con went through their entire supply of water and Gatorade on Thursday alone helping emergency cases. I'm glad we spent our day doing more interesting things. Anyone who might be considering going to Otakon, take note of the uselessness of lining up early Thursday. It's pointless. We went down to the art show so Kelleh could drop off her entries, feeling like some sort of elite entourage (woo!) and then headed out.
Back at the hotel we moved all the luggage inside and collapsed. Dos and I soon discovered there was no wireless in that hotel, just a router that didn't work properly. He called the front desk for help, but it was a no-go. Thus, I was absent from the net all week, and that's why I'm stuck writing up this huge thing in one big entry right now. GRR. By contrast, taking a cold shower that evening was one of the happiest moments of my life. Whew! xD By the time I got out, the couple who owned the hotel reservation were there. Nice people, but...man, the woman of the pair, who's about my age, was hyper like you wouldn't believe. This was a bit of a problem since she was used to partying at cons and the bunch of us were so exhausted we just wanted to sleep. I had to crank my iPod up pretty loud to drown out the chatter so I could get some rest. :\
Friday we walked down to the con with Tom, the other driver, who had somehow lost his badge overnight and hoped to get a replacement by going through prereg again. When we got there, however, the prereg pickup line was wrapped around the building, while regular registration was in and out. O_O That was the craziest darn thing I had ever seen. Fortunately a staffer was nice enough to let us go right in to the information desk and Tom was able to get a replacement badge there. After that I went to an anime showing that was listed as Kaleido Star on the schedule, but it turned out to be the sequel. Boo. I got a good impression of what the series is like but I'd really wanted to see the beginning and not the follow-up series. Oh well.
After that was over I got something to eat before joining the group for the end of the Gundam panel since I had nothing else to do, and then split off from them again to watch the first four episodes of My-HIME before the ASMR meetup. Man, that anime ROCKS! It's awesome! I want more! *_*
The ASMR meetup was a total bust. Beside the people I was already hanging out with, only the Chaos Effect showed up. He hung out with us for the rest of the evening, but still, that was a disappointment. I doubt there'll even be a meetup at all next year period.
Full Moon wo Sagashite was on after that, but someone's sending that to me, so I went to Anime Parliament with the group instead. In that event the panelists are like the judges of a court, and people can bring up cases against anime characters and the panelists pass judgement on them. Unfortunately I can't give a good example because I wasn't familiar with most of the shows being discussed. ^^;; There was a bit where they debated if women in anime use excessive violence against men and what should be done about them. Then there was an unusual one from the realm of non-anime - Waldo accused Carmen Sandiego of making him disappear for 15 years. xD
In general the panel was amusing, but all I could think of was ways it could have been done better. ^^;; I'm weird like that. If I had a bunch of friends to do it with, I'd design a similar event with the ideas I have, but with things as they are that will probably never happen except possibly at AD (and that's still extremely unlikely).
After Anime Parliament we went to the Fan Parodies. This involved waiting in an enormous line, since this year Otakon switched to a system of having people line up and clearing the rooms between events instead of allowing people to trickle in whenever for some reason. This was kind of a mysterious pain in the ass, since letting people squat in the previous event seemed to work okay last year and really isn't all that unfair, and all they had to organize the lines was tape on the floor. Plus this was in the fountain area which is usually a big realm of chaos. But we finally got in. Before too long, though, it became clear it was not at all worth it.
The first few parodies were all right. In particular there was one about the DDR club at Cornell that was extremely well-made and totally hilarious. Unfortunately it was followed by the Eternal Parody from Hell. I had a bad feeling about that one from the beginning, because it opened with a looooong extremely fancy opening credits thing. The creator had pulled out all the stops with fancy effects and shiny graphics for credits that went on and on and on. Then, what it turned out to be was a chronicle of some group's Otakon 2005 experience. That in itself was not a bad idea; there were some funny bits, but the problem was it was slow as hell. The funny bits were few and far between, padded with lengthy periods of nothing special. These guys included the night before Otakon, as well as their trip TO Otakon. Also not that bad of an idea but it went on and on and on and on. Just like this con report. :P Lots of babbling about nothing and shots of the road going by and graphics of the car moving along a map. Plus these guys had a long drive and hadn't left until 10 AM Friday, which in itself was pretty "WTF?" As they were going along I thought, "The only thing that can redeem this boring mess is if something bad happens and they don't actually make it to the con." Surprise surprise, they actually did have car trouble! :D Unfortunately they just got another car and continued to the con, arriving there late Friday night. They spent a total of a day and a half at the con. Also "WTF?" Why did they even go?
Anyway, moving on...this parody (yes I'm still talking about it! This is what this thing was like! Whenever you thought things were finally moving on, it CONTINUED!) also included some lengthy interludes of some guy giving a lecture on the definition of certain aspects of fandom, and daily summaries of how many glomps and pictures and items everyone in the group amassed. Fun, huh? By the time "Sunday" appeared on the screen, people were groaning and yelling "Enough already!" It was the Film That Doesn't End. I mentioned this to the Chaos Effect and he started singing the song. xD It had probably been running for 45 minutes at this point. People who had waited in line an hour to get into the parodies were walking out. The room was leaking like a sieve. Soon the whole place was chanting "Turn it off!" at the top of their voices. Finally the staff fast-forwarded through the rest of the video, and even then it felt too long. It included the trip BACK from Otakon. AND a follow-up thingy of everyone's impressions afterward! I have never seen such a mess in my life. Again, the concept itself wasn't bad, but it needed editing like WHOA. The thing was an HOUR LONG. It should have been fifteen minutes. It cleared the room. Those guys must have had immense egos to submit that thing and actually believe it was good. They are now the enemies of every congoer in that room. The pain of it cannot be described. Plus it decimated the audience, an incredibly unfair blow to the parodies that followed it.
On a happy note, there was an awesome sequel to the DDR club's video not long afterward, which saved the evening. ^^
Now that I've finished that ranting... xD
We wanted to go to the "Your Favorite Anime Sucks" panel following the parodies, but the line was HUGE. Everyone was going to that panel. So we gave up and headed back to the hotel. Unfortunately the fanfic panel was scheduled for that evening... AT ONE-THIRTY AM. I was not staying that late. Plus it was 18+, probably so they could talk about nothing but slash. So alas, I did not get to distribute the rest of the cards for .moon. I left some of them on tables where there were flyers and things, but that was it. I was tired and worn out and wasn't going to hang around three hours for the fanfic panel. :(
So that was the end of Friday.
The Sailormoon panel was first thing Saturday morning, so I didn't go to that either, I was too tired. We got to the con in time for the second run of the AMV contest, so I actually got to see and vote in the contest this time. Looking at the winner list that was posted on the Otakon forums today, all but one of the videos I voted for won, and the one I voted for in the remaining category got second place. Good stuff. Fun times.
Afterwards we gathered upstairs to wait for the panel of Kouta Hirano, creator of Hellsing. It was another of those clear-the-room deals, so we waited outside in a growing crowd. Understandably, there was Hellsing cosplay like whoa.
The whole lining-up fiasco was pretty silly, since after everyone got inside the room wasn't more than two-thirds full. Lines for things at Otakon in general were pretty silly; most of them were insane unnecessary messes of chaos.
Anyway, the panel. Before Hirano arrived we got to see a preview of the new Hellsing anime, the remake that's being created properly following the manga. It's not even out in Japan yet, we were the first audience in the world to see it. :D! It looks awesome. It was raw Japanese, of course, since it's unreleased, but no matter. It rocked. I'm excited to see it. After that was a Q&A session with Hirano and some other guys who worked on the manga and the new anime. The creator looks a lot like the little cariacatures of himself that he draws in the back of the manga volumes. xD NOS lined up to ask questions about mecha, of all things, since Hirano's a big mecha fan... -_-
After the panel finished we went to dinner at a Japanese place in the Inner Harbor. I had miso soup for the first time, which was pretty good, and chicken tempura, which was lightly breaded chicken with dipping sauce. I was glad for my experience with chopsticks. ;) They had properly sticky white rice, too, so I was actually able to eat rice with chopsticks for a change. ^^
When we got back to the con we tried to go to the premiere of Hellsing Ultimate, but there was a HUGE line and the staff chose this point to STOP clearing the rooms between events. And the previous event in this case was the FMA movie. -_- So yeah. Not many people were getting in there. They cut off the line at a certain point and we decided to forget it. We headed down to the room where the Saturday night fan parodies were going to be showing, and since they had stopped doing the lineup-and-clear-the-room thing, we went in and saw the end of a set of fansubbed Japanese music videos. The highlight of those was definately "Jetto Nindjin" (Jet Carrots). You would have to see this thing to realize how awesome it really is. There were people getting shot by carrots. There were carrots rocketing through the air. There were bombs made of carrots. It was so delightfully random and to a really catchy song. I've tried my best to find the video online, but I've had no luck. :(
The fan parodies that night featured Evangelion Redeath and Nescaflowne, both well-done pieces of humorous mastery. And of course, where you have Redeath, you have dancing Gendos, two of them shown here before the film began.
That was about it for Saturday. Sunday was mainly packing up the car, wandering around the dealer's room, and attending the art auction where one of Kelleh's entries sold for a nice chunk of cash. Kelleh ROCKS! :D I didn't buy too much; off the top of my head I think it was only an Otakon pin, a plush Kirby (so cute! *_*) and a musical square cow for my sister to go with the pig and dog I bought her last year. In a happy chance, the people handing out the awesome free fans that had been at Anime North were there, so I got a replacement for the one I lost! Wooo! Another future necessity in my con supplies. xD After the art auction we collected Dos after yet another autograph line and then we were out of there. That was the end of Otakon.
Miscellaneous pictures!
Dos was dropped off at the airport and then the rest of us headed back to NOS' place. There was barbecue, and Memories, and Robot Carnival, and brief internet access so I could run the .moon update, and sleep. Monday we dropped Nigoki off at the bus station and reunited with Kelleh, and the three of us (NOS being the third) generally hung around until I had to go to the airport. Funny thing, that...we went shopping and looked at manga and anime and games. AFTER the con. Heehee. I actually bought some manga, when I had bought NONE at the con. xD I generally don't bother looking at anime and manga at cons since you can get it anywhere now, and usually cheaper. Then I flew home, arriving late Monday night. And that was the end of that.
Overall, I had a pretty good time. It was fun hanging out with everyone. There was some drama, but for once I didn't start it and wasn't directly involved, thank God. There was a bit of angst on the flight home due to something that came up on the way to the airport, but it was no big deal, and in general I felt good about the trip and was happy I went. This time around it was the con itself that was the low point.
I'm 90% sure I'm done with Otakon. The general trend was, either nothing interesting was going on, or there was one interesting event so overfilled that we couldn't get in, or the interesting stuff was at insane times when I couldn't go for need of sleep. I didn't get to go to the fanfic panel or the Sailormoon panel. I didn't get to see Hellsing Ultimate or get Hirano's autograph. Again I was reminded that Otakon is just an average con on a large scale. It's huge, but doesn't have hugely interesting things to match. There's a possibility I might go to Otakon next year, so I'll probably get a hotel reservation again just in case, but it's a slim possibility. Especially being that I get the feeling this was the last year for big room-sharing groups. Even if it weren't, I'm slow as hell even if I weren't having heart trouble, and even moreso now since I can't breathe properly, and I felt really bad lagging behind everyone who was walking faster than me and slowing them up. :\ (On the plus side, I haven't had so much exercise in a LONG time, and that was definately good for me even if it was hot and miserable at the time. xD) I'm hoping to go to Anime Boston next year, and that will most likely be my only East Coast con. Otakon just doesn't deliver for the distance and expense and crowding hassles. We'll see how things go, though.
I'm still glad I went for the fun that was had hanging out with the group. It was a little weird, since I tend to be weird around people I know online, but good. Kelleh rocks. Dos is friendly, if a bit loud and obnoxious. ;P NOS...is a good man. That may surprise some people, but it's the truth. There were some unexpected enlightening moments this past week. In fact, I feel I might have been a bit nastier to him during the trip than was deserved, even though it was all in fun. As a certain someone can attest, I tend to be a bit harsh in my friendly teasing when it comes to offline encounters with internet friends; I'm still not completely sure why that is. But anyway, the nature of the internet is one of deception and is prone to inadvertent misinterpretation (and misrepresentation, equally). Such is the benefit of meeting online contacts in person. There were discussions had that needed to be had offline.
I should probably mention that Philadelphia has really interesting geology, since I rambled about it to NOS through most of the trip to the airport. xD I must remember to look up the physical history of the area. For the most part I was lucky when it came to my health. There was a period of heart weirdness on Thursday afternoon, and some dizziness Saturday, but other than that I survived with minimal attacks of instability, which was impressive given the amount of walking I was doing in intense heat.
I got home to find my dishes done, my mail brought in, my trash taken out, my A/C running, and my copies of "1776" and RahXephon missing. That's what happens when I leave my keys with my dad. ;)
After the con I was totally exhausted, but unfortunately I didn't get a break right away. Over the weekend I got a call from my sister; there was a death in the family. My grandma's husband passed away on Friday.
Tuesday I had to go north to my hometown for the funeral. My sister drove both ways since I was really exhausted. I was kind of detatched about the whole thing, since it's been years since I felt like Ralph was my grandfather (he was my grandma's second husband; they were married when my mom was in college). I went mainly for my grandma, who really wanted us to be there, and it was a good thing I did. I think Grandma felt really outnumbered and outcast by Ralph's relatives, even though she was his wife, and she asked for me and my sister to be near her during the service and the burial. Plus she just got out of the hospital and is currently in rehab in a nursing home, so I'm sure the extra support of her grandchildren helped a lot.
It was one of those situations were death is a relief; Ralph had been fading away physically for a long time, was in a nursing home, and had Alzheimer's. The service was...enlightening. Ralph was a veteran of WWII, so he got the whole 21-gun salute and the flag over the casket and everything. I knew he was a veteran, but what I didn't know was he was in France and Germany and was among the second wave of troops to reach Auschwitz. He was a quiet solitary man who didn't speak much, and who was already old by the time I was old enough to really get to know my relatives, so I'm sure there was a lot I didn't know about him. My mom's bitterness didn't help in that respect, and she was bitter to the bitter end, since she's well, bitter. -_- But overall it was a nice ceremony, he had made his wishes clear in advance so Grandma was able to arrange everything he wanted, and it's good that he is now at peace.
Met a LOT of relatives who probably all met me when I was too young to really meet anyone. One bright point was I got to catch up with Cathy, who![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
alexielnet might remember; Cathy the RA from SUMS. She became my step-cousin-in-law a few years back. I didn't think she'd remember me but she came right over to ask how I was and how I was doing. It was fun to tell her I'd just returned from an anime convention; SUMS was where I was introduced to anime through Sailormoon. xD She said every time she sees anything Sailormoon she thinks of me. ^^
By the time I got home last night it was late, so I had to go right to sleep and put off anything internet until today. I should've gotten a lot of things done, but I spent today sleeping and relaxing instead. After this whole week of busyness I'm just too wiped out to care about anything else, even if it's important. I'm really glad I took today off even though I really didn't need it.
It's taken me six hours to write this, but it's FINALLY done. Thank God. If I think of anything I've forgotten to add, I'll do a follow-up entry tomorrow. But now it's bedtime, as I have work tomorrow. It's nice to be home, and at the same time sad to be back to the same old grind. This ends the con season for me; from here on it's nothing con-related except AD work through AD itself in March. Good night, all.
So, the past week...
I'd planned on doing running con reports like I normally do, but alas, the internets were denied to me for most of the trip. *weeps*
So now I have to write about the entire trip in one go. *further weeping* This is going to be a lot less detailed than my usual con reports because it's been days since much of this stuff happened and I'm lazy. :P
I didn't even get to make a goodbye-and-how-to-find-me post before I left, because I was too busy to write one the day beforehand and when I got to the airport on Wednesday I found out it was $10 to use the internet and the signal strength was crap. -_- I did write up an entry about miscellaneous things, intending to post it when I got internet access, but obviously that didn't happen.
So here it is.
I got my wireless fixed so I could use it at the airport, and now I've just discovered this airport charges $7 a day to use their wireless. And I can't even get a good signal at my gate, and I'm not moving, so forget it. Man, NWA's cheap. -_-
So it's really 6:15 AM right now, although this won't actually be on my LJ until most likely tonight. I'm sitting at the airport for the next hour before I fly out to Otakon. So tired T_T I was up until 11 PM last night packing and today I had to get up at 4 AM to be here on time. @_@ Stupid morning flights.
I've had a busy week and it's only Wednesday! Over the weekend I had two Anime Detour meetings to go to. The first, on Saturday, was another general staff meeting. Next month's staff meeting is the OMGWTFBBQ (v.2.0), so I'm looking forward to that. xD I'm still a bit on the outs as far as the group is concerned, but that's what happens when you're a quiet person like I am. I'm not too worried about it. Hopefully I can meet some folks next month at the BBQ. Plus, the treasurer gave a nice little speech telling the new people not to worry about being newcomers, he himself was new only last year and now he's treasurer, so anyone can still get into the inner group, and even though we're new they still want to hear our ideas and stuff. He made sure to greet everyone he didn't know, too. That helped a lot. What a nice and considerate guy. ^^
Then I threw my hat in the ring for the tech department, which had a meeting on Sunday. I was really nervous about getting out-geeked even worse than I was with the web team, and almost wimped out and didn't go, but I'm really glad I did. The tech guys are a LOT more experienced than I am, since I only have college AV behind me and they've worked in theatre and clubs and stuff, but they didn't make me feel weird or stupid about it at all. There were a lot of stories about how previous years have gone and a lot of talk about what's being planned for this year, and I think it'll all be easy to pick up as I go along. If nothing else, I'll be helping with setup and teardown and the Masquerade, which in itself sounds like crazy fun. I'm super excited. ^^
I'm still planning on helping with Ops, too, and at next month's BBQ I'm going to find the programming head and pitch the idea of a fanfic contest. With those three things to be involved in, my beginning goals for my involvement with the con will be realized. ^^ I'll be really busy at next year's con with Ops and Tech, but I think it'll be a blast. I figure I can have fun at other cons as a wandering nobody, I go to enough of them. ;P
Despite all the meetings I was determined to get up to my hometown one more time before Otakon, so I headed up Sunday after the tech meeting and came back late Monday night in the rain. Lots of storms this week, and it's gray again today and rainy. This is what's in store for the East Coast, so be prepared, folks. ;) Since I'm going out to Otakon I get to experience the heat wave and the rain TWICE! Oh boy! -_-
Anyway, it turned out to be a good thing I went to my hometown, because my grandma's in the hospital again. She'll be okay, but it was still nice that I was able to go there and see her before my trip. I got to spend some time with my mom and briefly visit my best friend, whose life has suddenly become...interesting, to say the least. o_O She's got a live-in boyfriend now, and her cousin and her cousin's boyfriend are living with her too, in addition to her son. It's a heck of a crazy full house. If it works out and makes her happy, though, I'm happy for her.
Dad drove me to the airport today, and they're starting to board first class now, so I'd better wrap this up. I'm spending today and tomorrow in Philadelphia with NOS, Dos, and Kelleh, and assorted other folks, and then I'll be hanging around with them during and after the con. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous ;P but I think it'll be fun. ^^
See you all later! :D
After that I flew out to Philadelphia to meet up with everyone. The Wednesday assembly was me, Kelleh, NOS, Dos, and Nigoki. Yes, the mechaboys. I could title this thing "Adventures with Mechaboys." -_- Of all the weird things I never thought would happen...but anyway. We spent Wednesday and Thursday in Philadelphia before heading to the con.
After everyone was collected on Wednesday we went to the Franklin Institute, but we parked really far away behind a museum so we could look at some statues and the waterworks and stuff. Unfortunately that meant we walked a good distance to the institute. Also unfortunately it was a crazy hot day. And I was still in the cheap sandals I had worn to the airport. By the time we got there I was pretty overheated and miserable, but I recovered okay before too long.
The institute was a lot like the Science Museum we have here in the Twin Cities, with lots of hands-on experiment type stuff in addition to the exhibits. It made me rather nostalgic for the years of my childhood when I was really into science and super excited about stuff like this. Science used to be one of the biggest parts of my life, one of the things I was most interested in. It had been a long time since I was in a place like that. It was fun going through all the exhibits and things and seeing so many excited children in the position I once was.
Anyway, pictures!
After that we walked back to the museum (ARGH) and NOS and Nigoki did the "Rocky" run up the stairs. The rest of us were not quite so insane. ;) They got cheered by a tour bus, though. xD Then it was back to NOS' place for the night where we hung around by or in the pool for most of the evening while Dos defeated a dragon or whatever with his online D&D party. ;P
Thursday we headed back into town for a visit to Independence Hall. The world was an oven again, but happily all the buildings were air-conditioned, and since we didn't have to do nearly as much walking I didn't get worn out from the heat so soon. I had music from "1776" in my head all day long thanks to the location. xD Fortunately I watched it a couple weeks ago after finally buying the DVD, so I avoided the "must watch!" craving, heehee.
It's funny, by the way, being in old cities and imagining what the environment of some of these buildings looked like when they were first built, and heading down tiny streets designed for carriages and thinking about what life used to be like and what kinds of people were once walking where you are standing. Ah, another thing I've learned about big cities - they're all ugly as heck, for the most part, no matter which ones they are. ^^;; Anyway, back to the history lesson...
Independence Hall. On the tour we were told when this was built it was on the outskirts of the city.
The state Senate chamber
The Supreme Court chamber
The chamber of the Continental Congress. It was in this room that the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were signed. The chair at the center is the same one Washington used when he chaired the constitutional convention.
The group in Congress' chamber. If you don't already know, they are, from left to right: Nigoki, Kelleh, NOS, and Dos.
Nearby to Independence Hall is the building that houses the Liberty Bell. The building is stuffed with multimedia about the bell's history and significance. That's a heck of a lot of info about a bell. ^^;; It was funny... When I finally saw the thing, I couldn't convince my brain that it was the real deal. The bell is everywhere, in replicas and films and pictures, looking just as real as the actual thing. There was no "wow" moment when I was actually standing next to the genuine article. It was pretty surreal.
After that we went to a little hole in the wall place somewhere for cheesesteaks. It was a tiny little place practically stuffed into a crack in a building, but apparently it's famous as hell. The walls were covered in pictures and articles and signatures of celebrities and folks who have been there. The sandwich was awesome, too, so the fame is definately deserved. Great stuff.
We waited for a while to meet up with another guy who was driving Nigoki and some of the luggage to the con, and then it was off to Baltimore. With faulty air conditioning and some directional mishaps, the trip was long and baking, but we eventually got there. BTW, from now on a roll of paper towels will be a necessary item among my con supplies.
We arrived in the evening, parked near the hotel, and walked down to the convention center to pick up our pre-reg stuff. The hotel was ages away, and up a hill. Not a fun walk after a day of wandering around the con. x_x Oh well. By this point in the evening the prereg line was all inside the BCC, so we just walked over and inside and waited a little while to pick up our stuff. Today I heard from an Otakon gofer that so many idiots lined up all day long again that the con went through their entire supply of water and Gatorade on Thursday alone helping emergency cases. I'm glad we spent our day doing more interesting things. Anyone who might be considering going to Otakon, take note of the uselessness of lining up early Thursday. It's pointless. We went down to the art show so Kelleh could drop off her entries, feeling like some sort of elite entourage (woo!) and then headed out.
Back at the hotel we moved all the luggage inside and collapsed. Dos and I soon discovered there was no wireless in that hotel, just a router that didn't work properly. He called the front desk for help, but it was a no-go. Thus, I was absent from the net all week, and that's why I'm stuck writing up this huge thing in one big entry right now. GRR. By contrast, taking a cold shower that evening was one of the happiest moments of my life. Whew! xD By the time I got out, the couple who owned the hotel reservation were there. Nice people, but...man, the woman of the pair, who's about my age, was hyper like you wouldn't believe. This was a bit of a problem since she was used to partying at cons and the bunch of us were so exhausted we just wanted to sleep. I had to crank my iPod up pretty loud to drown out the chatter so I could get some rest. :\
Friday we walked down to the con with Tom, the other driver, who had somehow lost his badge overnight and hoped to get a replacement by going through prereg again. When we got there, however, the prereg pickup line was wrapped around the building, while regular registration was in and out. O_O That was the craziest darn thing I had ever seen. Fortunately a staffer was nice enough to let us go right in to the information desk and Tom was able to get a replacement badge there. After that I went to an anime showing that was listed as Kaleido Star on the schedule, but it turned out to be the sequel. Boo. I got a good impression of what the series is like but I'd really wanted to see the beginning and not the follow-up series. Oh well.
After that was over I got something to eat before joining the group for the end of the Gundam panel since I had nothing else to do, and then split off from them again to watch the first four episodes of My-HIME before the ASMR meetup. Man, that anime ROCKS! It's awesome! I want more! *_*
The ASMR meetup was a total bust. Beside the people I was already hanging out with, only the Chaos Effect showed up. He hung out with us for the rest of the evening, but still, that was a disappointment. I doubt there'll even be a meetup at all next year period.
Full Moon wo Sagashite was on after that, but someone's sending that to me, so I went to Anime Parliament with the group instead. In that event the panelists are like the judges of a court, and people can bring up cases against anime characters and the panelists pass judgement on them. Unfortunately I can't give a good example because I wasn't familiar with most of the shows being discussed. ^^;; There was a bit where they debated if women in anime use excessive violence against men and what should be done about them. Then there was an unusual one from the realm of non-anime - Waldo accused Carmen Sandiego of making him disappear for 15 years. xD
In general the panel was amusing, but all I could think of was ways it could have been done better. ^^;; I'm weird like that. If I had a bunch of friends to do it with, I'd design a similar event with the ideas I have, but with things as they are that will probably never happen except possibly at AD (and that's still extremely unlikely).
After Anime Parliament we went to the Fan Parodies. This involved waiting in an enormous line, since this year Otakon switched to a system of having people line up and clearing the rooms between events instead of allowing people to trickle in whenever for some reason. This was kind of a mysterious pain in the ass, since letting people squat in the previous event seemed to work okay last year and really isn't all that unfair, and all they had to organize the lines was tape on the floor. Plus this was in the fountain area which is usually a big realm of chaos. But we finally got in. Before too long, though, it became clear it was not at all worth it.
The first few parodies were all right. In particular there was one about the DDR club at Cornell that was extremely well-made and totally hilarious. Unfortunately it was followed by the Eternal Parody from Hell. I had a bad feeling about that one from the beginning, because it opened with a looooong extremely fancy opening credits thing. The creator had pulled out all the stops with fancy effects and shiny graphics for credits that went on and on and on. Then, what it turned out to be was a chronicle of some group's Otakon 2005 experience. That in itself was not a bad idea; there were some funny bits, but the problem was it was slow as hell. The funny bits were few and far between, padded with lengthy periods of nothing special. These guys included the night before Otakon, as well as their trip TO Otakon. Also not that bad of an idea but it went on and on and on and on. Just like this con report. :P Lots of babbling about nothing and shots of the road going by and graphics of the car moving along a map. Plus these guys had a long drive and hadn't left until 10 AM Friday, which in itself was pretty "WTF?" As they were going along I thought, "The only thing that can redeem this boring mess is if something bad happens and they don't actually make it to the con." Surprise surprise, they actually did have car trouble! :D Unfortunately they just got another car and continued to the con, arriving there late Friday night. They spent a total of a day and a half at the con. Also "WTF?" Why did they even go?
Anyway, moving on...this parody (yes I'm still talking about it! This is what this thing was like! Whenever you thought things were finally moving on, it CONTINUED!) also included some lengthy interludes of some guy giving a lecture on the definition of certain aspects of fandom, and daily summaries of how many glomps and pictures and items everyone in the group amassed. Fun, huh? By the time "Sunday" appeared on the screen, people were groaning and yelling "Enough already!" It was the Film That Doesn't End. I mentioned this to the Chaos Effect and he started singing the song. xD It had probably been running for 45 minutes at this point. People who had waited in line an hour to get into the parodies were walking out. The room was leaking like a sieve. Soon the whole place was chanting "Turn it off!" at the top of their voices. Finally the staff fast-forwarded through the rest of the video, and even then it felt too long. It included the trip BACK from Otakon. AND a follow-up thingy of everyone's impressions afterward! I have never seen such a mess in my life. Again, the concept itself wasn't bad, but it needed editing like WHOA. The thing was an HOUR LONG. It should have been fifteen minutes. It cleared the room. Those guys must have had immense egos to submit that thing and actually believe it was good. They are now the enemies of every congoer in that room. The pain of it cannot be described. Plus it decimated the audience, an incredibly unfair blow to the parodies that followed it.
On a happy note, there was an awesome sequel to the DDR club's video not long afterward, which saved the evening. ^^
Now that I've finished that ranting... xD
We wanted to go to the "Your Favorite Anime Sucks" panel following the parodies, but the line was HUGE. Everyone was going to that panel. So we gave up and headed back to the hotel. Unfortunately the fanfic panel was scheduled for that evening... AT ONE-THIRTY AM. I was not staying that late. Plus it was 18+, probably so they could talk about nothing but slash. So alas, I did not get to distribute the rest of the cards for .moon. I left some of them on tables where there were flyers and things, but that was it. I was tired and worn out and wasn't going to hang around three hours for the fanfic panel. :(
So that was the end of Friday.
The Sailormoon panel was first thing Saturday morning, so I didn't go to that either, I was too tired. We got to the con in time for the second run of the AMV contest, so I actually got to see and vote in the contest this time. Looking at the winner list that was posted on the Otakon forums today, all but one of the videos I voted for won, and the one I voted for in the remaining category got second place. Good stuff. Fun times.
Afterwards we gathered upstairs to wait for the panel of Kouta Hirano, creator of Hellsing. It was another of those clear-the-room deals, so we waited outside in a growing crowd. Understandably, there was Hellsing cosplay like whoa.
The whole lining-up fiasco was pretty silly, since after everyone got inside the room wasn't more than two-thirds full. Lines for things at Otakon in general were pretty silly; most of them were insane unnecessary messes of chaos.
Anyway, the panel. Before Hirano arrived we got to see a preview of the new Hellsing anime, the remake that's being created properly following the manga. It's not even out in Japan yet, we were the first audience in the world to see it. :D! It looks awesome. It was raw Japanese, of course, since it's unreleased, but no matter. It rocked. I'm excited to see it. After that was a Q&A session with Hirano and some other guys who worked on the manga and the new anime. The creator looks a lot like the little cariacatures of himself that he draws in the back of the manga volumes. xD NOS lined up to ask questions about mecha, of all things, since Hirano's a big mecha fan... -_-
After the panel finished we went to dinner at a Japanese place in the Inner Harbor. I had miso soup for the first time, which was pretty good, and chicken tempura, which was lightly breaded chicken with dipping sauce. I was glad for my experience with chopsticks. ;) They had properly sticky white rice, too, so I was actually able to eat rice with chopsticks for a change. ^^
When we got back to the con we tried to go to the premiere of Hellsing Ultimate, but there was a HUGE line and the staff chose this point to STOP clearing the rooms between events. And the previous event in this case was the FMA movie. -_- So yeah. Not many people were getting in there. They cut off the line at a certain point and we decided to forget it. We headed down to the room where the Saturday night fan parodies were going to be showing, and since they had stopped doing the lineup-and-clear-the-room thing, we went in and saw the end of a set of fansubbed Japanese music videos. The highlight of those was definately "Jetto Nindjin" (Jet Carrots). You would have to see this thing to realize how awesome it really is. There were people getting shot by carrots. There were carrots rocketing through the air. There were bombs made of carrots. It was so delightfully random and to a really catchy song. I've tried my best to find the video online, but I've had no luck. :(
The fan parodies that night featured Evangelion Redeath and Nescaflowne, both well-done pieces of humorous mastery. And of course, where you have Redeath, you have dancing Gendos, two of them shown here before the film began.
That was about it for Saturday. Sunday was mainly packing up the car, wandering around the dealer's room, and attending the art auction where one of Kelleh's entries sold for a nice chunk of cash. Kelleh ROCKS! :D I didn't buy too much; off the top of my head I think it was only an Otakon pin, a plush Kirby (so cute! *_*) and a musical square cow for my sister to go with the pig and dog I bought her last year. In a happy chance, the people handing out the awesome free fans that had been at Anime North were there, so I got a replacement for the one I lost! Wooo! Another future necessity in my con supplies. xD After the art auction we collected Dos after yet another autograph line and then we were out of there. That was the end of Otakon.
Miscellaneous pictures!
Dos was dropped off at the airport and then the rest of us headed back to NOS' place. There was barbecue, and Memories, and Robot Carnival, and brief internet access so I could run the .moon update, and sleep. Monday we dropped Nigoki off at the bus station and reunited with Kelleh, and the three of us (NOS being the third) generally hung around until I had to go to the airport. Funny thing, that...we went shopping and looked at manga and anime and games. AFTER the con. Heehee. I actually bought some manga, when I had bought NONE at the con. xD I generally don't bother looking at anime and manga at cons since you can get it anywhere now, and usually cheaper. Then I flew home, arriving late Monday night. And that was the end of that.
Overall, I had a pretty good time. It was fun hanging out with everyone. There was some drama, but for once I didn't start it and wasn't directly involved, thank God. There was a bit of angst on the flight home due to something that came up on the way to the airport, but it was no big deal, and in general I felt good about the trip and was happy I went. This time around it was the con itself that was the low point.
I'm 90% sure I'm done with Otakon. The general trend was, either nothing interesting was going on, or there was one interesting event so overfilled that we couldn't get in, or the interesting stuff was at insane times when I couldn't go for need of sleep. I didn't get to go to the fanfic panel or the Sailormoon panel. I didn't get to see Hellsing Ultimate or get Hirano's autograph. Again I was reminded that Otakon is just an average con on a large scale. It's huge, but doesn't have hugely interesting things to match. There's a possibility I might go to Otakon next year, so I'll probably get a hotel reservation again just in case, but it's a slim possibility. Especially being that I get the feeling this was the last year for big room-sharing groups. Even if it weren't, I'm slow as hell even if I weren't having heart trouble, and even moreso now since I can't breathe properly, and I felt really bad lagging behind everyone who was walking faster than me and slowing them up. :\ (On the plus side, I haven't had so much exercise in a LONG time, and that was definately good for me even if it was hot and miserable at the time. xD) I'm hoping to go to Anime Boston next year, and that will most likely be my only East Coast con. Otakon just doesn't deliver for the distance and expense and crowding hassles. We'll see how things go, though.
I'm still glad I went for the fun that was had hanging out with the group. It was a little weird, since I tend to be weird around people I know online, but good. Kelleh rocks. Dos is friendly, if a bit loud and obnoxious. ;P NOS...is a good man. That may surprise some people, but it's the truth. There were some unexpected enlightening moments this past week. In fact, I feel I might have been a bit nastier to him during the trip than was deserved, even though it was all in fun. As a certain someone can attest, I tend to be a bit harsh in my friendly teasing when it comes to offline encounters with internet friends; I'm still not completely sure why that is. But anyway, the nature of the internet is one of deception and is prone to inadvertent misinterpretation (and misrepresentation, equally). Such is the benefit of meeting online contacts in person. There were discussions had that needed to be had offline.
I should probably mention that Philadelphia has really interesting geology, since I rambled about it to NOS through most of the trip to the airport. xD I must remember to look up the physical history of the area. For the most part I was lucky when it came to my health. There was a period of heart weirdness on Thursday afternoon, and some dizziness Saturday, but other than that I survived with minimal attacks of instability, which was impressive given the amount of walking I was doing in intense heat.
I got home to find my dishes done, my mail brought in, my trash taken out, my A/C running, and my copies of "1776" and RahXephon missing. That's what happens when I leave my keys with my dad. ;)
After the con I was totally exhausted, but unfortunately I didn't get a break right away. Over the weekend I got a call from my sister; there was a death in the family. My grandma's husband passed away on Friday.
Tuesday I had to go north to my hometown for the funeral. My sister drove both ways since I was really exhausted. I was kind of detatched about the whole thing, since it's been years since I felt like Ralph was my grandfather (he was my grandma's second husband; they were married when my mom was in college). I went mainly for my grandma, who really wanted us to be there, and it was a good thing I did. I think Grandma felt really outnumbered and outcast by Ralph's relatives, even though she was his wife, and she asked for me and my sister to be near her during the service and the burial. Plus she just got out of the hospital and is currently in rehab in a nursing home, so I'm sure the extra support of her grandchildren helped a lot.
It was one of those situations were death is a relief; Ralph had been fading away physically for a long time, was in a nursing home, and had Alzheimer's. The service was...enlightening. Ralph was a veteran of WWII, so he got the whole 21-gun salute and the flag over the casket and everything. I knew he was a veteran, but what I didn't know was he was in France and Germany and was among the second wave of troops to reach Auschwitz. He was a quiet solitary man who didn't speak much, and who was already old by the time I was old enough to really get to know my relatives, so I'm sure there was a lot I didn't know about him. My mom's bitterness didn't help in that respect, and she was bitter to the bitter end, since she's well, bitter. -_- But overall it was a nice ceremony, he had made his wishes clear in advance so Grandma was able to arrange everything he wanted, and it's good that he is now at peace.
Met a LOT of relatives who probably all met me when I was too young to really meet anyone. One bright point was I got to catch up with Cathy, who
alexielnet might remember; Cathy the RA from SUMS. She became my step-cousin-in-law a few years back. I didn't think she'd remember me but she came right over to ask how I was and how I was doing. It was fun to tell her I'd just returned from an anime convention; SUMS was where I was introduced to anime through Sailormoon. xD She said every time she sees anything Sailormoon she thinks of me. ^^By the time I got home last night it was late, so I had to go right to sleep and put off anything internet until today. I should've gotten a lot of things done, but I spent today sleeping and relaxing instead. After this whole week of busyness I'm just too wiped out to care about anything else, even if it's important. I'm really glad I took today off even though I really didn't need it.
It's taken me six hours to write this, but it's FINALLY done. Thank God. If I think of anything I've forgotten to add, I'll do a follow-up entry tomorrow. But now it's bedtime, as I have work tomorrow. It's nice to be home, and at the same time sad to be back to the same old grind. This ends the con season for me; from here on it's nothing con-related except AD work through AD itself in March. Good night, all.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 04:34 am (UTC)Thank goodness for the internets.
Anywho, glad you had a good time at the con. ^-^
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 11:52 am (UTC)Although I do sometimes wonder if I should stop meeting people.
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Date: Aug. 11th, 2006 12:03 am (UTC)And I do hope you'll reconsider not meeting people. Friends are what make an otherwise bad con experience liveable, and when the con is actually good they make it all that much better. I had a great time, and part of it was due to you, for which I am grateful. I'm glad I met you. ^_^
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Date: Aug. 11th, 2006 11:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 11th, 2006 06:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 05:08 am (UTC)Anyways, I have Full Moon sitting on my desk. -.- I just haven't been motivated to go to the post office to mail it off but then I realised it's been WEEKS since I told you that I would. My bad. I have another DVD I have to send off to another friend too so it'll be soon. Promise.
So did NOS by any chance offer to take you out for a real Philly cheesesteak while you were there? Haha...
Oh, and I didn't realise that you guys had things planned outside of the con. That must have been really neat being able to interact like that. It's funny because looking at all the historical pictures you took instantly made me think of National Treasure. God, that movie is awesome.
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 11:54 am (UTC)Indeed yes, we did get one, I mentioned that somewhere in the lengthy tome above. Mmmm, yummy. ^^
It's funny because looking at all the historical pictures you took instantly made me think of National Treasure.
When we were walking up to Independence Hall, I think it was Dos who said he wanted to find Franklin's special glasses. xD
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Date: Aug. 11th, 2006 12:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 05:27 am (UTC)Anyway, a couple of random comments:
1) I love Philly - the parts that are not ghetto, at any rate. (Sadly, Philly is mostly ghetto.) And I especially love the Franklin Institute. I keep trying to apply for jobs there.
2) I've said it before and I'll say it again, the point of cons is not the convention itself but to use it as an excuse to get all your friends from around the country together in one room so that you can all make fun of the bad cosplay en masse. (Also, fan parodies.)
3) Speaking of fan parodies, you got to see Nescaflowne! I've only ever seen a cheesy bootleg VHS of that particular one. Soylent Green references for the win!
4) You didn't happen to catch the AMV contest, did you? Because if so, I totally need a list of stuff to download. ;)
5) Brief warning about Anime Boston: It's the SECOND largest convention on the east coast and I'm willing to bet that it'll surpass Otakon in size within the next year or two. So, if you plan to escape the crowding... not gonna happen there.
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 11:58 am (UTC)Indeed I did. I got to vote and everything this time. My list of all the AMVs is at home, but from the Otakon forums, these were the winners:
ROMANCE/SENTIMENTAL
Winner: Worlds Unbroken by Silver Moon and Sierra Lorna
Runner-Up: Learning to Fly by Skyebox Productions
SERIOUS/DRAMATIC
Winner: Shattered Dreams by AuN Studios
Runner-Up: Fallen by VicBond007
ACTION
Winner: Naruto Ball Z - A Battle of Epic Proportions by Castor Troy
Runner-Up Seven May Cry by Junipertay
UPBEAT/RHYTHM
Winner: Peter "Cabbit" Book Report by Theresa Robeson
Runner-Up: All New for '72 by Hoshizora Productions
HUMOROUS/SATIRICAL
Winner: Anime: Lifestyles of the Animated and Fabulous by Michael Zubrzycki
Runner-Up: The Wedding Rings by Suberunker
COORDINATOR'S CHOICE:
Winner: Floyd's Nightmare (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About the Voices in My Head) by Parodic Productions
5) Brief warning about Anime Boston: It's the SECOND largest convention on the east coast and I'm willing to bet that it'll surpass Otakon in size within the next year or two. So, if you plan to escape the crowding... not gonna happen there.
It's not that I want to escape the crowding, it's that I want a better con to make the crowding worthwhile. I've heard nothing but good things about Anime Boston.
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 11:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 11:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 02:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 02:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 02:42 pm (UTC)It's fun to hear other people's takes on these things ;P
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 02:56 pm (UTC)Yours is sadly short. >(
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Date: Aug. 11th, 2006 02:35 pm (UTC)I did actually plan on writing something more substantial, but I've been lazy >>
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Date: Aug. 11th, 2006 02:55 pm (UTC)*still in the dark*
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 02:37 pm (UTC)As of next year, I told Dejana she could crash at my place on her way up. (I think we talked about that...if nooooot then I'm saying it now...cuz I know we talked about Anime North)
Dejana, if you go to Boston, I'd definetly go there as well. Even though Boston is furthur from me...it's a place I'd rather go. Boston would be awesome.
As for Anime North, that is super easy for me to go to...and I could drink up there ;) The timing of that con is great for me as well.
We shall talk about this some other time.
The places you go to go in terms of historical value was awesome! I'd have way more fun there.
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 02:57 pm (UTC)I'm definately planning on returning to Anime North, though. :D
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 03:52 pm (UTC)however, I will do Anime North this year. Are you going to fly? If not, you can drive up to me and I could drive the rest of the way there to save gas and what not.
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 04:00 pm (UTC)And a car with Michigan plates might have an easier time at the border than my suspiciously-distant Minnesota ones. >.
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 06:19 pm (UTC)Maybeee a possibility. You want to drag an old lady around with you??
*waves cane*
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 06:36 pm (UTC)AN runs over Memorial Day weekend; for 2007 it's scheduled for May 25-27.
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 06:48 pm (UTC)Down here we have AWA... (last time I went to it was in 2002 also) then there is MTAC which is suppose to be awesome as it is the year of the robots... Transfomres, Gundam, big O, robotech, you name it.
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 07:20 pm (UTC)Ideas for fanfics for sure.
Oh Krysia, you aren't that OLD. Of course we would drag you along. I believe you are right on the way up if Dejana came up towards me.
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Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 06:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 10th, 2006 06:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Aug. 11th, 2006 11:30 am (UTC)From what I've gathered, 2004 was the last big year for ASMR at Otakon. I wish I'd gone...
no subject
Date: Aug. 12th, 2006 05:11 pm (UTC)And hey, I forgot you were in Illinois. That's right on my path to Anime North. Maybe you could join me and Ry and Krysia! :D It's not Otakon, but still.
no subject
Date: Aug. 12th, 2006 11:05 pm (UTC)Con problems/disappointments aside, it sounds like fun. Actually, I know someone who was in the area (for another reason) and ran into some people from the con. She said she thought of me when she heard what was going on.
One of these days, I'm going to a con. Really. I mean it.
And of course NOS is a nice guy. And very funny. I'm not sure why that seemed to surprise people. I don't even know why I was surprised when I first figured it out. Now, it just seems obvious.
Thanks for the update.
~December
asmr meetup
Date: Aug. 19th, 2006 07:00 am (UTC)Re: asmr meetup
Date: Aug. 19th, 2006 10:49 am (UTC)Re: asmr meetup
Date: Aug. 26th, 2006 05:27 am (UTC)