Triple Angle

So as I was looking at the Related Videos to my vids that I took at Sac-Anime, I found two different angles when Sam Reigel asked Liam O'Brien a question.

The first video is my angle, pointed at the voice actors at the front. The 2nd video, courtesy of drizz56, is behind O'Brien. The 3rd video, courtesy of BlackInuyaju11, is in front of O'Brien.

More O'Brien & Pudding

I was waiting for the day someone would use my sound clip from Sac-Anime with Liam O'Brien as Lloyd talking about pudding and put in a clip from Code Geass.

Well Kohkki, thanks for making my dream come true.



For comparison, the original clip:

Sac-Con December 2008 Availability Update

I do have that day freed up on Sunday to attend, but I am on call for my workplace, probably as a precaution just in case someone calls in sick. Odds are I'll stay the whole time.

Update 12/9/08: I got called into work for Sunday, so I won't be able to go. However, its kind of a blessing in disguise. I can save up for Sac-Anime in January, and I have more time to study going into Monday's final.

Sac-Con December 2008 Status

As of today, I don't know if I will be attending Sac-Con December 2008. It all depends on two things; obviously if I work on that Sunday I won't be able to make it. However, if I do have that day off, then I may still not go. The two days after Sac-Con are Finals, and I may need that Sunday to study. I might not though, since I can use Friday and Saturday as study days, then use Sunday to relax to relieve stress levels going into those two days.

I have put in time off for Sac-Anime (like I've always done in the past) so I will definitely be attending that.

Also, keep an eye out for some important news...it's a secret for now.

Looking to 2009

November is upon us. Soon, we will be stuffing ourselves full of turkey, Black Friday deals, Santa, and 2009.

My two goals for the beginning of 2009 is to reserve a hotel room the instant the site is online, and to apply for a press badge. Once those two are down, then I will map out the rest.

Winter 2009 Guests Update

Looks like Vic isn't coming alone.

Travis and Laura are making their return to Sac-Anime.

...this is going to get interesting.

SCCG TV Sac-Con Yearbook

So, after the long wait, the Sac-Con Yearbook presented by SCCG TV - The Hardest Hitting News In The Universe arrived in the mail!

Now, I haven't viewed the DVD yet, but I will when I have free time.

Sac-Anime Winter 2009 Guests

Until an e-mail this morning, the only person I knew that was coming was Chris Saradon, the voice behind Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas.

For one, Vic Mignogna is coming back (although no Travis Willingham or Laura Bailey here). Lisa Furukawa also returns for another con, as well as the duo of Katie Bair and Jondon Bellofatto.

We also have Tom Kane, the voice of Yoda in The Clone Wars (both the 2003 TV series and the 2008 movie).


It may not be as epic as the three-headed-monster of Vic-Travis-Laura from last Winter, but a good line-up of guests.

MINI-REPORT: Sac-Con Sept. 2008

Well I just got home from dinner with the Console Game Room (CGR) staff over at Olive Garden, a smashing time with them.

Even though I worked for 6 days straight, I still found the strength to get up and actually do something instead of sit around and do nothing on my day off; so I went to Sac-Con. The first thing I learn when I get there is that there's no Masquerade for this con today since Imari and the Cosplay staff could not make it. Apparently there was a post on the forums about this, but given the fact I haven't visited the forums in awhile I didn't know. CGR was happy though, because they had more time to game without any interruption from the Masquerade. For me, it meant less pictures this time around, although I did find enough cosplayers and events to fill out the roster of today.

Like I mentioned in the Day 3 Wrap-Up video, there was another con yesterday and on Friday that focused on Sci-Fi and Horror. From what I heard, the attendance count for Sac-Con at 11am totaled the attendance for the other two days all day. I had a feeling that the last two days were an experiment and odds are won't happen again (but that's just my opinion).

So the whole entire day I found myself kicking it with the CGR crew, taking pictures around the con, catching up with people, and just relaxing myself after a hard week. I also did a bit of the Charity Auction, although the loot wasn't worth it given my interest level; I got outbidded for an Desert Eagle-looking airsoft pistol by a mother and her son, which I didn't want to happen. But since I have more than enough (most of them the real thing in terms of airsoft) I let them have it. I also won a KHII necklace, which broke off 3 minutes after I bought it. So I stripped it on both ends, hung the end parts on my camera case, and gave the remaining pieces to someone else, probably to modify for cosplay or something.

One of the highlights of the con was the Futurama and Simpsons Panel, which rocked. I was able to see the people behind these great TV franchises, and it was fun to listen in at their panel.

The con came to a quick end (it must of given there wasn't a Masquerade), and I was stuck outside waiting for the CGR staff to conclude their meeting to determine where to eat. I suggested Olive Garden, and after determining they still had their Never-Ending Pasta Bowl deal going, we all headed out there.

It was nice seeing everyone after Sac-Anime, and it was nice to hang out with them without being "stressed."

I'll guess I'll see you all in December, and if not January for Sac-Anime!

Showing Up

I'll be showing up at Sac-Con tomorrow to hang out, take pictures, and blog. Until then, peace!

The Missing Link

Because of that takedown e-mail that I got, you probably have noticed a omitted portion of the 2nd part of the Fashion Show that I reuploaded.

Well here is that missing portion, courtesy of ACP.

Not Posting Masquerade Videos

I've decided to not post the Masquerade videos for the time being as ACP is starting to post theirs on YouTube; plus, they had a better angle than me (judging by the videos up so far and comparing them to mine) and that ACP's video don't switch from the back to the front row halfway through. Instead, I will continue to focus my videos on other events at the con. Next up, the Rave (Friday night).

Temp Header

Due to legal conflict with FanimeCon (that's the best way to describe to it), I had to remove the header. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, though.

For now, there's a temporary header until I can create an original header.

Fashion Show Video Reuploaded

After editing the video to reflect the takedown notice, part 2 of the Fashion Show is back up!

VIDEOS OF THE DAY: Bleach Photoshoot

VIDEOS OF THE DAY: Outside Conga Line

Lessons Learned

When I started blogging from FanimeCon back in 2007, my first ever entry into the world of convention blogging, I knew that good things could come out of these experiences. My first ever event that I covered in this blog was Sac-Con June of 2007. My first blog report from Sac-Anime was a month later in July of 2007. Since then I've covered many events and have purchased a custom domain, which shows the dedication of my efforts to give a first-hand account in near real-time if not real-time.

Sac-Anime Summer 2008 was the first time I blogged under a press badge. This was a golden opportunity to show who I am and what I can do. One of things I did is went out and purchased business cards so that I can spread the world and also give people a outlet to contact me in case they wanted material off my blog (which I have received already). The other is video coverage, and I plan expand at the next Sac-Anime in January and FanimeCon in May 2009.

I have learned a ton from having a press badge. One of them is that some people just don't want to be on a website, and that most of them can exercise their legal rights. The first person who sent me a notice told me that I didn't give her permission to be put on the blog and that the rights weren't given to me. And honestly, and won't fight back; I'll just listen and do what you say unless I can sense something more than just legal rights. I am also learning the way in which I report, which now comes in the realm of video and text blogging. I expect to provide better coverage the next time I head on out to a con.

Stupid Keychain

So during Sunday, one of the dealers was having a sale - a collection of key chains for 3-4 dollars (it was one of the two). I was deciding on two to compliment my Ed and Winry key chains, so for now I settle on a Renton from Eureka seveN key chain.

It's now been a week since I got the key chain, and the logo on the other side has completely faded.

AFTER ONE WEEK.

Con Report: Sunday

Day 3

The first thing I notice is that unlike Saturday, the line for Sunday is pretty much dead. I was guessing everyone was still hung over from yesterday and the only ones who would attend would be the weekend attendees.

Still, there was some business to take care of. I sat in Jodon Bellofatto's panel, titled "You Not Your Own Anime Character," which basically was a crash course in con etiquette in general, because there are far more cons out there than just this one, and people need to know how to conduct themselves especially when large-scale hotels and convention centers come into play. One story that I remember was that a couple of attendees who thought they were re-enacting DBZ put a hole into a wall at a hotel, and the hotel stuck the con with the bill for fixing the hole in the wall. It's that and other stories that makes us as a community look bad. Just because we're there for the weekend to be ourselves doesn't mean common sense can be thrown out.

The only thing that I have to film today is the Fashion Show, which I promised I would tape to BSahpire, a long-time connection at these cons. She has moved on to bigger and better things, but she came this convention after resigning back in January. Actually, the Fashion Show went without a hitch; no technical problems here. It lasted about 20 minutes, and there were some very nice costume designs. I had posted both parts, but a participant of the show didn't want their portion of the show up on YouTube, so for now I have to go in and edit their part out which means part 2 does not exist on YT.

Either than that, it was a pretty slow day - caught some of the Rock Band Freestyle tournament, although the Gaming Room wanted me to film that instead of the Fashion Show. I filmed a bit of a Bleach photo shoot that took place across the street, and in between that a Conga Line.

By 6pm everything had shut down for Sac-Anime. I didn't leave until 7pm after everyone else was leaving, after I got in all my talks with the people I know. While the rest went out to eat, I decided to go home. After all, I was tired and I found out that I was going to work for 7 hours on Labor Day, plus I needed to start working on editing and uploading all the footage that I captured over the weekend.

---

Tomorrow I will post my finals thoughts on this con, as well as the lessons learned from being a first-time press member.

Con Report: Saturday

Day 2

Day 2 started out like every other Saturday at Sac-Anime: nice and early. By 9pm I was already near the Center, I was over at Crape Escape chowing down on a nice breakfast. I couldn't find their breakfast crapes, so I went with some pancakes, sausage, eggs, garlic potatoes, and a hearty glass of OJ. When I got there, the line was much longer for Day badges - almost 10 fold.

I started out the morning taking more pictures and video, then started off the Gaming Room with...Tetris Splash. Single player if I might add. Then again, I was sitting there for about 2 minutes in Multiplayer; no one wanted to play me, so I jumped in Single Player mode and waited for someone to join me...or for Jonas to remind me that it was for multiplayer, which I then told him "I know, I was waiting for someone to join me." Come on, I'm not going to sit there and wait, I'll quit when someone comes up to me. Eventually, someone did and I got a few rounds in. I would of joined the TS Tournament that they were doing, but given everything else I did I passed.

I decide to peak in Katie Bair's panel about building weapons and props. Given that she's the master of wigs, I wouldn't mind take a few tips from her. She's been a guest at Sac-Anime for a long as I can remember it, and she's a pretty cool gal.

The first major panel is at 12pm - the V&A Panel with Freeman, O'Brien, Riegel, Kaplan, and Spencer (who was chilling waiting out for his panel at 2pm). I set up shop in the panel room and await the start of it. I really got some good video, which most of it I have already posted, and a ton of pictures featuring the voice actors.

After the panel was over, I packed in my video equipment and waited for the Masquerade to start. Meanwhile, outside the con the masses have formed on the grass area. There was a huge Naruto gathering, although I didn't catch any of it. Instead, I caught people waving at cars that drove on H street. Eventually the crowd got a bit too far on the street and were ordered back onto the sidewalk.

By 3pm, I know that I need something to eat - the Masquerade is in two hours. So, I head to Quiznos - but the one on H Street next to Starbucks closed down (two weeks ago, according to my manager). Defeated, I go back only to realize that my parking spot is gone. Luckily, I found someone leaving and took their parking spot; I even told them. I settle for some Japanese Ramen, with a whopping 2,290mg of Sodium - 90% of the DV! No wonder it's "imported" Japanese Ramen.

I notice that a huge line is forming outside the main doorway - everyone must be jumping in for the autograph session. I pass this one, given the fact I have to set up for the Masquerade. I spend the next hour bouncing from place to place waiting for 5pm to come.

By 5pm, Dealers Room had closed and it was time to set up for the Masquerade. I ask the Cosplay staff where ACP was setting up, and they tell me to wait a bit since the person didn't arrive yet. I was hoping to piggyback off of their power to keep my camera rolling. Eventually, I find out ACP had set up shop in back, and that's where I plotted myself. Unlike last year, there were no problems getting everyone seated and whatnot, although standing room was probably the only concern, but then again it was a packed house.

If you were there at the con, there were a TON, and I mean a TON of technical problems. For one, the ones in the Masquerade didn't follow the rules of track burning; it was supposed to be a one-track burn, but some had 3-4 tracks burned which caused a headache when it came to timing. So there was a lot of standing time while the staffers figured it out.

Eventually, I ran out of juice in my battery. I was jealous of Mr. Wayne Kaa, the person from ACP who came to film everything, because he had a massive battery; he could burn for basically the whole Masquerade. I ask for his backup battery, and ask for my battery as collateral. But I find out that battery was dead, and I thank him for lending me his dead battery. So the only other thing to do is move up while the Masq is frozen. I find a seat in the front, plug everything in, and tape the rest from the front row. This means I have two different angles for the Masq - one from the back and one from the front. In all. I captured the majority of the Masquerade. I stick around for the Kung Fu Femmes performance, which dazzled me. I didn't tape because my battery was dead and my tapes were running out, but if you were there you loved it.

Despite all those problems, the Masq ended at 9pm - it's intended time. This gives me enough time to wait it out for the Poker Tournament. For the rest of the night I played some poker, although really it didn't start until about 10pm. In between the wait I got more pictures, mostly from the rave. By the time we start, we only had an hour or so before the Scottish Rite Center closed its doors for the night. I didn't win, though - I busted out on A-K against K-K on the short stack. Hey, you don't win all the time, you're going to lose a lot.

Soon it was time for me to head on home. I get home by 12:30, get everything prepared for Sunday, and then round out the night with Code Geass R2...and literally was a mindfuck after mindfuck after mindfuck, with the ending I couldn't believe. I went to sleep happy.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Crispin Freeman Goes Deep

Plus a bonus vid!

Con Report: Friday

As a week passes since Sac-Anime, I finally got my report together.

Over the next three days, starting today, I will be posting the Con Report.

---

Day 1

Honestly, it was weird that I started off the day of Sac-Anime with school. It also reminded me that August was almost over and that soon I would grinding once again in the Community College circuit. Might as well take these three days to finish off the summer (although technically summer ended for me on the 25th).

After getting home and grabbing what I needed, mostly my multimedia equipment that I would use, I headed off to the Scottish Rite Center about 12pm, grabbing some lunch on the way over. Unlike Saturday, there were a small amount of attendees gathered but most staff members had already arrived. I hung around the Cosplay Masquerade table, catching up on life and seeing that their plans were for the weekend. I also went into the Game Room as they were calaborating their tools for the weekend; they needed someone to finish of the band in Rock Band, so I did. Once I got my press badge I was off to take pictures. My first panel was the Con Ettiquette panel @ 1:45pm. Since the majority of the intended audience - the younger set - were still in school, not that many people attended. Still, it was a really nice panel and I even shared some stories. This panel would one of many that I would grab on tape, wanting to upload these ASAP, although it will take me awhile to capture, edit, export, and upload.

By then, the con had crowded a bit. School was out for Labor Day by late afternoon, and I decided to take a spin around the Dealers Room. It was pretty much the same dealers dealing the same items. Mostly I was looking for items that I couldn't find at Fanime, especially a Misato figure from the new Eva movies that I was looking for the last con. I also grab dinner while waiting out for the "Dub Your Own Anime" panel to start at 6pm, and got my game on over in the Gaming Room.

By far this panel was the highlight of Day 1, well next to the Rave but I'll get to that later. It was packed house for what would be a entertaining panel of sorts. What even made the panel more interesting is that the anime had some Yuri/Hentai undertones...seriously. All the attendees that went up did a fine job, but the icing on the cake goes to Crispin Freeman, who was just a specator on the sidelines, dubbed a waitress in two different tones. The scene played back, and it sounded fantastic. I did also capture video on that especially the playback, although both Liam O'Brien and Sam Riegel warned me that I would indeed get a takedown notice from the anime company if I had put that playback on YouTube. But I did promise the attendees that I would, and now that video is up.

The panel ended before 8pm, leaving me to cover the rave. Now, if you there both Friday and Saturday night, you would agree that the Saturday rave was much better than the Friday rave. I'll get into more detail in Day 2, but given I didn't have much to do, I got some video and pictures from that night, along with more "What's going on at the con" pictures and Spike Spencer doing his panel which started at 8pm. And whenever I came in to take pictures, he would stop and pose for me, creating some funny moments.

Usually I leave the con early on Friday, given there's nothing to do after 11ish. So what did I do? I left around 11:30pm. That gave me enough time to upload my Day 1 recap, get everything situated for tomorrow, then sleep.

Con Photo Philosophy

For now, I will call it a "Philosophy."

Out of the 1,000 pictures that I took at Sac-Anime last weekend, the majority of those really weren't cosplayers - they were hallway shots, pictures of the dealers room, the staff trying to ready the stage for the Masquerade. Pictures that aren't people, but of the con itself.

I think of it as being the eyes of the con and that people want to see more than just the cosplayers; they want to see what's going on at the con, who's doing what and how everything is.

And a ton of those shots are blurry, grainy, unfocused, and not "perfect," unlike most "professional" cosplay photos that have nice lighting, focus, and exposure. The quality of the pictures is like the reality of any con - you would think it would be perfect, but it's grainy and grinding and not so "perfect" (but at the end of day everyone is happy).

I like my style of con photography. Not just the cosplayers, but everything else.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Dub Your Own Anime Panel Playback

And BTW, I'm still waiting on that takedown notice from the anime company/distributor/whoever-owns-the-rights-to-that-anime they promised me I'd get if I actually did post this video...

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Protagonist or Antagonist?

Day Two and Three Photos

I have Day 2 and Day 3 photos up now. Enjoy!

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Fashion Show

Photoshoot Found

OK, remember the time when I said that I would eventually find a link to Darkain's photoshoot from Friday?

Well, here it is.

And as always, I am very impressed with the quality of the shoot. Since I was his only client that day, we were able to get fabulous shots.

I have always taken cosplay photos under Darkain, and will continue to do so.

Con Photos

I should have the con photos up by now, but uploading videos makes it near impossible to upload 500+ pictures at the same time. I hope tomorrow I can get all of them uploaded to share.

I was able to get Friday's photos up, and definitely Saturday and Sunday will come tomorrow.

Day Two and Three Recap

Day Three Recap

Again, I apologize for the lack of a video overview for both Day Two and Three, but I need to split the recap video and it's getting late...

Anyways, Day Three really didn't seem like the last day of the con. There was the Fashion Show, which offered some very spectacular costumes. I got a ton of photos and videos off of that event. There were still panels and other events going on, although by around 6, the official closing of the con, it got dead.

Anyways, I will be going through all my tapes & videos and hope to get something up soon.

Tapes full of footage: 6 (@ 60 mins. each = 6 hours of video coverage)
Total Picture Count: 1,054

Day Two Recap

I apologize for the lack of a video recap for Day Two. My video camcorder died on me before I had any chance of doing any sort of video recap.

I will say that it was much BIGGER than yesterday. The Masquerade, despite the tech difficulties (which are bound to happen at any convention, small and large) was fantastic and everyone who deserved an award got an award.

This is still a learning process, especially since this is my first time as a press member. There is a portion of the Masq in which I was recording from the back where ACP was, and then once room opened up in the front next to an outlet I recorded a portion of the Masq from the front row. What I plan to do with ALL of these videos is put small sniplets - enough to take in what happened without watching the whole damn thing.

Panels were great as always. No really, the VA Q&A panel was off the charts. I took some pictures from various panels and events, as I tried to cover at least most of the happenings through pictures.

Keep in mind we still have Sunday, and I have some events to tape. I would sleep, but I need watch Ep. 21 of Code Geass R2...


Tapes full of footage: 4 (I think)
Picture Count through Day 2: 682

EXCLUSIVE: O'Brien & Pudding

So, a bit of back story on this one. I'm still on the [adult swim] message boards, and every time Sac-Anime comes along most of the VAs are from series airing on [as]. Thus, I make threads letting the community ask the questions for their favorite VAs.

Well I had a request for Liam O'Brien to talk about pudding in the voice of Lloyd from Code Geass. I asked him to do that, and this is what I got...


Keep in mind that this was totally unscripted, 100%. I just told Liam to talk about pudding...

So yeah...

Day One Recap

Beginning of Day 1

...well, technically for another 5 hours or so. I have only one class today @ SCC, so after that I'm running my last errends, pick everything up from the house, then head on over there before everything starts.

It's been awhile since I attended any sort of con in Sacramento (see Sac-Con in March) so I'm really excited for this Sac-Anime.

See you all there!

Getting Ready

For the most part, I am ready to start my coverage of Sac-Anime. The only thing I really need to get is some spending cash and get everything charged. I will be there about 12:30pm (I hope earlier though), 30 minutes before the doors open @ 1pm.

I'm ready, are you?

Even though I have school going, I am so ready for this weekend. Speaking of school, I thank the person who decided to stick a Sac-Anime flyer in the Auditorium bulletin board over at Sacramento City College. I tried doing that for the ASG boards for the one before this one, but I didn't go through the proper channels to get them in.

Anyways, I have my plans laid out for the weekend. Expect me to attend a ton of panels, get a ton of video and pictures, and (I hope) a nightly video recap when I'm driving home - if I have enough energy to upload and all that crap.

Can it be Friday 10:10am already?

One Week and Counting...

Well, we're at about one week until Sac-Anime Summer 2008 gets underway. It feels weird to have a Sac-Anime during a school week, although for one it's the first week of school (which makes it easier to "slack off" and still come strong for the rest of the semester) and that it falls on Labor Day weekend, meaning I get Monday off from school.

I do have school on Friday, but my only class ends just after 10am. That gives me enough time to run last-minute errands, go back home, get everything ready, and be up there by 12pm if not there by 1pm, when the con opens up.

I am looking forward to seeing you all there!

Note: This blog post was done using ScribeFire, a free Firefox extension that allows you to blog straight from the brower!

Business Cards

So the business cards that I ordered to promote my blog came in today. I didn't realize that 250 was a lot, let alone if I wanted 500 or 1,000. I will be handing these out to people that I record and take pictures of among other things.

I'm still waiting on my press application, and I hope it goes through sometime today or next week.

Sac-Anime & ACP

A combination I've really been waiting for. For people who don't follow the cosplay community, ACP is short for American Cosplay Paradise - one of the premiere cosplay websites next to Cosplay.com. What ACP does best is recording Masquerades - you can thank them for the good quality of the skit that I was in Fanime - and posting them on the internet. All the major cons are covered: AX, Otakon, SakuraCon, Fanime, ACEN...and now Sac-Anime.

Also, with the amount of coverage that I want to do, I may have to scale back on cosplay...maybe.

New Domain

Like my Sac-Anime/Sac-Con blog, this blog deserves its own domain...

Say hello to fanimeconblog.net!

New Domain

As I approach one year of Sac-Anime blogging coverage, I decided to spice things up a bit - and give this website a new domain.

You can now see this webpage at http://www.sac-conventionsblog.net.

Fine Tuning Update

I got the Firewire cables that I needed to transfer video from camera to laptop.

Also, getting more excited as Sac-Anime comes closer and closer...stay tuned as we go though the days.

Fine Tuning

So I decided to give the camcorder a spin on Sunday at Animania over at Sunrise Mall. Unfortunately, I didn't even get past an hour before security guards told me to stop filming; must of been a public & probably privacy issue. Then again, I'm at a mall.

I am having some problems transferring video from the camcorder to the computer. I think I need to get a DV cable in order to transfer the video data. I'll run about 30 or so dollars.

It's about a month before Sac-Anime.

New Header

The '09 site is out, which means new banner!
However, the forums are still down...

Forum Problems

I think because of the transition to the '09 site, the Forums have been on and off.
It was down for awhile, then it came back up. Now it's down.

Change of Pace

Usually, July is really busy for me. I have something going on every week in July.
Last year, it was 4th, Sac-Anime, birthday, poker tournament.
This year, it's just the 4th and my birthday. There's no poker tournament in So-Cal this year, and Sac-Anime is pushed back to August.

Which is a good thing.

However, I am used to there being a Sac-Anime around this time, as the last 3 - '05 through '07 - have been around this time. At least the one in August is on Labor Day weekend, which is a also a good thing.

Sac-Anime is around the corner folks. Don't be surprised if it sneaks up on all of us...

The Other Photoshoot

I actually found out where the other photo shoot is.
It's on CosplayMeetup.com, under the Fanime '08 section.
Somewhere there, you will find the photos that Darkain took on Friday night.
Eventually, I'll get around to posting them here...

Pasta Pursuit Canceled

If you're reading this, then a) you're not at the 3rd Gourmet Race, and b) I'm not there.

My ride to the gathering backed out after founding out that he had to pick someone up from the airport who was arriving. Since it was a international flight, odds are she would probably want to go home instead of tagging along to the gathering. Thus, I'm not at the gathering but instead at home.

I'm all good.

Gourmet Race 3

So I've only read about the first two Gourmet Races that have occured. The first one involved sushi, and the 2nd one involved steak.

Now there's a third, and it involves pasta.

Oh, and I'll be there competing.

Details to come...

Nico Nico Douga Medly Remix

So out of the blue I had the urge to remix both the original audio version with the one from the Masquerade. I had one version up using both rips from YouTube, but now that I aquired the original audio track of the Medly, Ver. 2 is up. Compared to Ver. 1, the track is much cleaner, with no sync issues.

I hope to get some good feedback before making a video version of it.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=DPWN5DG0

Fanime '09

So we're about 16 days away until Fanime changes the main page to reflect the 2009 edition of FanimeCon. I do hope that pre-reg is available when the new page is up since I really wanted to get pre-reg for '09 out of the way. I also expect to change the banner to reflect the 2009 edition of FanimeCon.

Until then...

Fanime Connections

So I just watched Kung Fu Panda, which came out today. Great movie for both kids and adults, and odds are I'll be the #1 movie this weekend.

But as I was fascinated by the action sequences, one thing popped up into my head:

Ric Meyers - yes, that Ric Meyers, the kung-fu guru and longtime FanimeCon guest - worked on that movie. So obviously it showed in the detail of those sequences. Great job Ric, and keep up the good work!

Photoshoot 1 of 2 Posted

The first one that I took has come in. This is the one that I took with IamTetuso of the Forums on Saturday afternoon. I had him for a photoshoot last year, and this year we tripled the output of photos - 81 high-quality photos!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33682961@N00/sets/72157605390994247

You've already seen four of them featured on the front photo of the blog - that was me posing with an airsoft shotgun modeled after the Mossberg 590 in the stairwell. Although some of the shots were whitewashed due to flash, they came out very nice. Here are some of my favorite shots:

Tetuso, you come through again! Love you work!

I'm still waiting on Darkain's photoshoot, and I'm waiting to see how the night affected the shoot...

Sac-Anime Gathering

So last Sunday, there was a Sac-Anime Gathering at the front of the convention center. I was wondering when I would see the photos...until now. J Ryoga of Coscom (short for Cosplay.com), a Sac-Anime regular, posted these and I'll share them here:

...it was nice to see all us reppin' Sacramento in the Bay Area. I won't be seeing you all in June - I have to work in the morning - but definately come August, when Sac-Anime hits.

June MIA

Due to the fact that I have to work Sunday morning, I will not be at Sac-Con next Sunday.

In fact, this breaks my streak of consecutive times that I have showed up to Sac-Anime and Sac-Con. I have been showing up to each and everyone one since the spring of 2005, and I've been a regular here. I consider this my hometown con.

Then again, I'm still recovering costs from Fanime. I should be ready to go by Sac-Anime in August. By then, I have something planned...

More Masquerade Thoughts

I've already mentioned #13, the Baccano! group with Triller/Motteke! Sērāfuku -



- and #30, Marvel Vs. Capcom -



...but there are a few others that I haven't mentioned yet.

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#3 - OH!smeCK, the brainchild behind last year's sensation "Ouran Gay Bar," breaks out the Wonderland episode for some dancing, and a double "awwwwwwww" moment when Haruhi and her mom reunite (SPOILERS: It's all a dream...). Of course, they had to break out the "Gay Bar" sound clip, just letting the audience know who they are.

---

I really don't know how this happened, but #15, the Slayers skit, actually won Best In Show. I was hoping that either #13 or #30 would win it, but hey with costumes like that and a varation of a favorite song, you might as well.

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#19 - I have to throw in some props to the lady who did this stand-up routine, throwing in some political commentary. Very nice.

---

And finally, we have #46, Candy Mountain Cosplay, the folks behind "Riku's Journey to Candy Mountain," to round out the Masquerade. And what couldn't be better than some stripping? Could we ask for a better ending than this?

---

I'll also run down the awards that were given:

Best of Show: #15, Slayers Mayhem

Junior/Youth Achievement: Walk-on #5: Twilight Maiden

Craftsmanship Awards:
Best of Division: Advanced Craftsmanship, Group: #25 Goddess Academy Cosplay
Best of Division: Advanced Craftsmanship, Individual: Walk-on #4 Trow
Best of Division: Craftsmanship, Group: #24 Twilight Party Cosplay
Best of Division: Craftsmanship, Individual: #16 Three Dollar Laugh Cosplay
Design Award: #31 Rikku Winter from Ninja Shank
Judges’ Award: #11 Paper Hearts
Judges’ Award: #14 hanabee
Honorable Mention Group: #17 Pokemons of Chaos
Honorable Mention individual: #22 Zuko from Gomu Gomu Cosplay and Sakura Mochi

Performance Awards:
Best of Division: Performance, Group: #13 Minna no Nur-Puppy
Best of Division: Peformance, Individual: #5 Angelic Threads Cosplay
Best Dramatic Skit: #10 TakeriyaSamurai
Best Comedic Skit: #30 Maximum Pwnage
Best Chreography: #38 Ex Dee Lollerplay!!!
Judges’ Award: #42 DN Cosplay Task Force
Judges’ Award: #7 OMG5 Productions
Honorable Mention, Group: #3 OH!smeCK
Honorable Mention, Individual: #34 Devil May Cosplay

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Everyone who I thought should of won an award did, as well as some major suprises. Overall, the Masquerade was alright. Could of been better, but at least everyone who did good won something.

And just for the heck of it...

Traveling Valentine Fanime '08 Report

Actually, the first time I met Victoria and Tom, the duo behind Traveling Valentine, was at Sac-Anime Summer 2007. They stayed in the same hotel room that I was staying at, and they actually featured me on one part of their report. It was very nice to meet them the first time around.

I caught them after the Masquerade, and I kicked it with them for a bit. They took a picture of us posing from the musical "Jersey Boys":

They also got me very interested in that musical, especially after introducing me to "shopping Jersey style." I did catch up with them later at the Marriott catching a later dinner, which was very good - $2.50 for a bowl of pasta. I sit with them for a bit before taking off.

I wouldn't see them until the end of the con, when this was taken:

That was right before I left.

It was nice seeing them again, and I hope to see them if they come to Sac-Anime, if not the next Fanime.

And yes, I will go see Jersey Boys. And give me a call if you want to go shopping, Jeresy style.

http://www.scarlet-rhapsody.com/traveling/fanime2008/index.htm

Fanime Masquerade Skits on YouTube

As of right now, ACP is uploading videos of the Masquerade skits on YouTube. Once that is done, I will post more thoughts on the Masquerade, focusing on other skits that I haven't mentioned yet.

This'll probably come tomorrow...

Final Con Report: Epilogue

First off, I know I'm missing a ton of details. I know that I visited Stage Zero everyday, and I did other things that I can't remember off of the top of my head. Then again, it's hard to remember what you did; but it's easy to remember what you didn't do.

And that was one of my problems - there was so much to do, but so little time to do it. And that's probably a given within a convention; there is so much you can do. But, I didn't mind that - I had so much fun, met new faces and saw old faces, hung around with people that I knew and didn't knew. I had a blast last year, I had a blast this year, and I hope to have a blast next year & in the coming years.

I think of this as a tradition now to come down to Fanime. I hope next year the people that I know will be here, and that Fanime will continue to grow and grow as a convention while still keeping that personal touch.

That's it for my Final Con Report for FanimeCon 2008. Until next year, keep reading my blog! And be sure to visit my Sac-Anime/Sac-Con blog to check out coverage of Sac-Con in June (if I go) and Sac-Anime in August!

*waves* Bye-bye!

Final Con Report: Monday

Ah, Monday, the final day of Fanime.

To beat everyone out of gate to check out, we decide to check out early, very early - like 9am early. Everything is packed, stored in the car that's still in Vallet, and the feeling that we didn't have to wait long to check out.

I found out yesterday at the Hilton resturant had a brunch, so we went despite staying at the Marriott. While some people got to eat there for free because they stayed there, we had to pay, but hey I'd rather take half off Vallet and free internet for the whole weekend over one meal.

We split up for the last time before we have to leave. I head over the Ouran Gathering, holding that cake that the Masquerade group didn't use. For a Monday gathering, there were a lot of us. I got some very nice pictures, most of them already uploaded.

I then head over to the second and final panel that I would attend - the Forums Panel. Though that panel, I was able to learn the history of the fourms, various forum meetups, and much, much, much more - too much, in fact.

But somewhere during this panel, I fell asleep. I knew that this was a bad thing, so the quicker I can get home safely, the better. If I would of left after end of the con, which would of been 5pm-6pm, I would of been home around 9pm; and on the energy that was left, that would be a bad thing. So to drive while there is still ample daylight would be the best option even if that meant leaving the con early.

So after going to "Dealer Monday" (meaning last day sales and bargains) and finding nothing, I throw in the towel. I'm done here at Fanime, time to call it a weekend and head back home.

I drop off my friend in San Rafael, and I make it back safely to Sacramento with ample daylight to spare. I make stops in Fairfield for gas, and Vacaville to eat (and to pick up the frame for the program guide since it was close enough).

After four days of Fanime, it was back to the normal life for me.

Final Con Report: Sunday

Sunday started the same time as Saturday - 8am, despite the fact I slept at 3:30am. On this morning - I found myself in a familar place: the Starbucks on the Hilton side of the convention center. Last year, I was here twice during breakfast with their Strawberries and Cream Frappuccino and Coffee Cake. But today I had a Grande White Mocha, extra shot, and a muffin.

After changing back into my FMA uniform, I head over to my first panel of the whole convention: the "Your Anime Sucks" panel at 11am. Since I had time to burn, I paid a visit to Dan Southworth, one of the Guests of Honor, who was watching the Indy 500 on the bar TV. I stick with him for a bit before leaving for the panel. Needless to say, for the short time that I was there because my photoshoot was at 11:30, I had a blast!

I head back to the center of the convention center, and I wait...and wait...and wait. I ask everyone, and I pace back and fourth. Eventually, I gave up and went to the Dealers Room.

Later in the day, I went to Jack-in-the-Box, driving of course, with my friend Tom. We get back up to the room, I eat my lunch, and prepare to head down to the "How Become A Become A Host" panel. I would show up late, though, because of the charity auction. I did this last year, and I got a lot of mechandise for cheap.

With me dressed in my Ouran uniform hauling a giant cake, I wait around to see if I would win some An Cafe tickets and/or tickets to their autograph session on Monday and/or tickets to meet GAINAX over at the Fairmont. I won nothing, but once the charity auction started, I won myself some nice Gundam merchandise. However, the Perfect Grade Wing Zero Custom, an item that has eluded me for 8 years, did once again by $50, a $200 bid against my $150.

Through some deals that I made with an attendee, I was able to head over to the Fairmont, looking very nice in a dress shirt and tie (no Ouran jacket for me) to go check out the GAINAX Reception. Mostly everyone who worked on TTGL was at that reception, and none of them spoke English, which was a good thing in my book. My goal was to get as many autographs on the program guide that I had, and for the most part, I did - except for two, who had lines going for sketches that they were doing. That same program guide is now framed and on my wall displayed nicely. Honestly, I would pay $50 just to see GAINAX alone - this was so worth the price of admission.

Sunday night featured a Game Show on Stage Zero, more arcade games, and a night in the Hentai Room next to a couple of Persona 3 cosplayers. The room featured wincest and pervs on a train, which got me to say "I've had it with these mother**bleep**ing pervs on this mother**bleep**ing train!"

Despite Monday being the last day of Fanime, I still had things to do...

Part 4: Monday - up next!

Final Con Report: Saturday

Like the day before, Saturday would start real early for me - about 8am. My friend Tom treats me to a McDonalds breakfast, but I'm not walking! Hello Vallet parking with In-and-out privileges!

After that, I get ready for the FMA Gathering. I head down shortly before it starts, camera and all. It's a very nice gathering, and there are some nice pictures that were taken. Very very nice.

During this time, I am trying to get ahold of Jessica, the one who is coordinating the Ouran Masquerade skit that I was in. I finally get ahold of her, and I get what I need to get into the Masquerade. They told me to meet them at a certain spot to rehearse the skit, so I went off waiting for that time.

By then, I decide to hit up a big lunch before the long haul through the Masquerade. So I hit up Peggy Sue's for a nice Philly Cheeesesteak and a milkshake. My god, it was good! I also made stop at the Civic Auditorium to see how big the stage and everything else was set. I must say, the room was a lot smaller than I thought.

But somewhere, I had a photoshoot at 1:30pm. Luckly, I caught the notice in my head on time, changed, and performed the shoot. There is something that I did at the end of the shoot, but I will not mention for now.

I wait out my group's arrival by watching some TTGL in one of the video rooms. Once they arrived, we quickly go into the skit, working on motions and timing. It didn't take long, and they needed to go back to change, much like I needed to do.

I go back up to the room, change into my Ouran outfit, and head to the Masquerade. On my way there, I notice a huge crowd gathered at the front of the convention center; apparently, there were two religious protestors that came, and well you know the rest of the story.

5pm - my group hasn't showed up yet, so for now I would vouch for them. The people behind the Masquerade talk to us, give us some pointers, and then we are seated in order of the skits. It didn't take long for them to show up, and we went through the skit a number of times, making sure we had everything down. Meanwhile, the beginning of the Masquerade was awesome! If you were there, you were surely to be impressed! However, once the actual skits started, it sort of went downhill from there, especially when the skits have one too many Hare Hare Yukais, or any sort of dancing whatsoever. The only bright exception to this was #13, who pulled off Triller/Lucky Star OP perfectly!

Soon, it would be time for us to perform. Honestly, I'm nervous as hell. But once we got up there, I acted my butt off, even though my vocal timing was way off. Overall, we didn't do too bad, but it could of been better.

After the end, I take back the cake that we didn't use back up to the room. I decide to round out the night again at the arcade, but to also check out some of the very awesome speedruns that were going on. Come on, beating Super Mario 64 with all 120 stars in an hour and a half? No stars in 6 minutes? I've seen my share of speedruns, but with a crowd cheering at every glitch is something you can't get anywhere else.

I get to bed 3:30am without realizing it's only Sunday...

Part 3: Sunday - up next!

Final Con Report: Friday

FanimeCon 2008 started real early for me in the morning - about 6:45am. By 7:30 I'm already out the house, fully packed and on my way. I do make a gas stop in Dixon, just south of Davis, where I find gas prices lower than Sacramento.

My first stop is San Rafael, to pick up my friend Tom. That has got to be the steepest, narrowest driveway I've ever driven on! By then, it's about 9am-ish. Once I picked him up, it was time to make that journey all the way down the East Bay to San Jose, site of Fanime.

We get there about 10:30am, when the Reg lines where about 20 minutes or so. Here's what I was planning: since Shira couldn't make it, I was hoping to get Tom to use her badge; but the people up in Reg wouldn't, and Tom had to go to the At-Con Reg line, which suprisingly didn't take long for him. For the time being, I hit the arcade to pass the time, despite later that I would complain that WMMT3 was $1.50 each play. I also hit the video room for some AMV Hell 4...oh yeah!

Noon time hits, and I decide to see if the Marriott is checking people in. In fact, they were and I was able to get a room on the 4th floor. I call up Vallet, which I used over the weekend, loaded the carts, and went up to a very nice room. I prepare my Gatorade mix drink, which I will do often that weekend, get cozy for a bit, then go downstairs again.

By then, Dealers Room is about to open up, and I stand in line. Some people thought that we weren't the end of the line mostly because there was a gap to allow a walkway, so when they did most of line where I was kindly - if you wanted to call it that - told the others where the line is. 2pm hits, and Dealers Room is open. I didn't find the figure that I was hoping to look for - Misato from Evangelion - but I did find a very nice Belldandy figure, and for a good price! I make that purchase, and walk back to the room to drop off my merchandise.

Soon, Opening Ceremonies is about to start, featuring Taiko Drummers; I got some video of that (which I hope to upload soon). But to find out that 47 GAINAX employees who worked on TTGL are here, and that they look as excited as we are is a sight to behold. They're holding digital and video cameras taking pictures and video of all of us. And we were doing the same thing!

Man, I'm hungry, especially when all I had this morning was a hot pocket and OJ. I decide to take a walk to a local Quiznos to find some discounted large sandwiches. I find out that they're only doing the $5 Deli Favorite subs, and not the $7 and $9 subs that my workplace does. So I buy a large Roast Beef and a bowl of soup. I take that back to the room, where I eat and prepare for my first photoshoot with Darkain in my FMA uniform.

That photoshoot was scheduled for 8pm, and since I was really his only shoot of the day, we took our time on it. I also took the opportunity to sign up for the Hold'em Tournament on my way back to the hotel room to grab some water. He got some really nice shots, and I'm waiting to see how they come out.

9pm rolls around, and the Texas Hold'em Tournament is about to begin. But, we have a problem - someone stole the host's chipset, meaning we were going to play a 27-man tournament with one chipset. It was a stretch, but we did it. I did make Final Table, surviving two all-ins - catching a Queen on the river to win it, and catching two 5s on the flop when I went all in with a 5-2 offsuit. But with big chipstacks in front of me, my muscle flattened, and I finished in 7th place. Not too bad for that kind of tourament. I also find out that someone else was getting another chipset to make things easier for the Saturday and Sunday tourament - I couldn't make the Saturday tournament due to the Masquerade, so I hoped to make the Sunday tournament. I thanked the coordinator for rolling with us, and to continue talks about helping him out next year.

I change out of my cosplay to go check out what's going on at the dancefloor. I stay for a couple of minutes, enjoy the heart-thumping music, then move on. I round out the night at the arcade again.

By midnight, I was ready to crash early - I knew I had a long day ahead of me on Saturday...

Part 2: Saturday - up next!

Final Con Report: Prologue

If anything, this con report for FanimeCon 2008 should really start from the end of FanimeCon 2007, when I decided to come back. It was more likely after I changed the domain to represent multiple years - instead of 2007, as originally thought. After all, I did have "2007" within the domain, and by removing that I could be able to report beyond that certain con.

There were supposed to be 4 people go with me to Fanime - me, my friend Tom, my friend Shira from Colorado, and Gabi, Tom's friend from Maryland. Unforunately, Shira dropped out due to financial reasons, and Gabi...well, I really don't want to mention that. Luckly, I was able to downgrade the room and in the process saved me a couple of hundred of dollars. This was when Gabi dropped out, and I was still assuming Shira would go. But, in the end, she dropped out in the final weeks leading up to Fanime; so it would be me and Tom (also known as Shiro) who would go to Fanime and use the room.

Part 1: Friday - up next!

WinterWish Photography

I take everything back I said - it was my fault. I think I came half an hour early, and probably by accident left without realizing that my photoshoot was after the 11am block at 11:30am. I even had it down on my iPod...:(

It's ok though. I was able to get my other two photoshoots in with ease, and I can't wait to see how those come out.

EXCLUSIVE: Analysis of Skit #43

(Now featuring the official video from YouTube)
This is Skit #43 - Ranmasan productions: Battery Operated Twins! - that I was in.

First, a bit of backstory. This, for me, is my first big opportunity to jump from the small Masquerades of Sac-Anime/Sac-Con onto the big stage of FanimeCon, where more than 3000 attendees, hundreds of press ranging from photographers to video that go on the internet, and judges who have done this type of thing longer than you have.

Through the forums, I was able to find a group who were looking to do an Ouran High School Host Club skit, headed by Jessica (ranma12 on the Forums). I was interested, so I joined. I recorded my lines leading up to Fanime, while the chreography would be done on-site at the convention.

The basic premise of the skit is this - why are the twins they way they are?

For my character, I was supposed to be an outsider - more like a random person. I changed that title to "Student Council President of Ouran High School," because of my connections to student government in college. So basically I am someone who really doesn't understand the twins in what they do and why they do it. And honestly, if those twins did exist I would be asking the same question.

We were #43, which meant we were in the last strech of skits. By then, most of the attendees that I talked to said the same exact thing - epic fail. Too much Hare Hare Yukai, Rickrolls, and even Caramelldansen got played out - it felt like skit after skit involved some sort of dancing, dacing that was half-assed and out of sync. Our group believed that at least we had an original skit going, one that doesn't have dancing (I'm not counting the music near the end, since that's part of the skit).

Now, onto the actual video.

First off, you notice there's a big lag between the time when Ric Meyers, the MC for the Masquerade, leaves the stage and when the lights come on. Also, notice how the audio track plays (about 1:00) before the lights come on. By the time the lights do come on, you can already hear the cheers that is supposed to become because this is a Ouran High School Host Club skit. Now, I do wish my voice wasn't as high-pitched as I wanted it to sound - somehow my voice translates differently.

As I walk across the stage, you can notice the sleeping Honey and Mori who is sitting on a chair facing the backstage. The twins are standing to the back-left as I face the audience. At this point, I'm supposed to give a monologue while the twins play around in the background, giving the perception that I'm supposed to be the one out of place. He does address the twins, but also tries to catch them in the act of "incest." The whole "Battery Operated Twins" gets mentioned (1:26) here too as well.

About the 1:40 mark, he actually does catch them in the act, and you can see the exaggerated pointing that I do here, accompanied by the audience cheering because of the twincest. After this, Honey wakes up and asked what is going on. In the series, Honey doesn't like to be awaken from his naps, and has a pretty bad temper when you do wake him up. So, Honey runs up, knocks down the twins, and "knocks me out" (2:05). Again, he sees the twincest and blows it off.

Soon thereafter, Tamaki shows up - but if you look closely, it's Mori with a wig on. Unfortunately, the Tamaki that was supposed to be there didn't show up, so the Mori cosplayer had to double as Tamaki. By then, my character is supposed to set things straight with Tamaki, but gets the same answer...MONEY?

2:50 - Tamaki calls on the twins to bring out someone - bring out the women! Again, the twins fall to the ground, and crowd reacts. And then Tamaki had to ask the ultimate question: "What do you think of their 'brotherly love?'" You can probably guess the crowd's reaction to that one. And now my character just gave up, defeated at the hands of the Host Club and their twincest ways. You see the facepalm that I put on as the twins, up in arms, parade themselves on stage.

All of the sudden, I start to come backstage, to where Haruhi is now standing. I am supposed to court her, which I do. Tamaki, seeing this, goes into his own corner and sulks, just like in the series. Tamaki sees her, she runs, he runs, I run.

The skit ends with the twins humming offstage.

I think we could of done better - the lipsync wasn't as great, and the timing of the whole skit felt a bit off. We also didn't get to used this prop:

We were supposed to bring out this cake for Honey, since Honey likes cake. But we never did, so after the Masquerade I took the cake back with me:

You probably know me for asking "You want cake?" Most of them replied with "The cake is a lie" (a Portal reference).

Overall, we did ok with all the cirumstances that were given. I thought we were one of the more original skits, but not without the polish. I'll definately take this experience as I look foward to the rest of my appearances at future big-time Masquerades.

That concludes Skit Analysis...expect Final Report tomorrow.

FMA Gathering

I have most of the shots that were taken at the FMA Gathering...except for this one...

This one was taken at the way beginning of the gathering, when they told us to get on the staircase (the left side of the staircase as you're coming into the convention center).

Final Reporting

I would love to do my Final Report now, but I need to do a couple of other minor articles, inlcuding Masquerade analysis; once that's done and I have some time to think together what happened, I will then post my full report.

Back Home

RIP FanimeCon 2008. :(
*sigh* That will always be one of the greatest weekends of the year! Too bad it ended quickly, and now PCD - Post-Con Depression - is setting in.

The good news is that Sac-Con is on the horizon, next week I believe, and everyone who attended the Sac-Anime Gathering @ Fanime on Sunday will be there, I hope. I may go, depends on how my work schedule is.

Also, Sac-Anime Summer 2008 is not too far...in August.

Forum Problems

Hey, is anyone having problems getting on the Fanime Forums? I'm having some...

And for the people who actually saw it, I tried to put up Skit #43 of the Masquerade via Photobucket embeded like the YouTube videos I have on here. I was ready to give my analysis, but I found out quickly that my browser froze up every time I tried viewing it. So for now, you can go here and watch it. Once the YouTube version goes up, I will do my anaylsis.

Fanime Photos Up!

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4

Early Masquerade Thoughts

Full analysis of the Masquerade is on the horizon (meaning I'll do it when ACP posts them all), but what I believe where the two best skits in the Masquerade have already hit YouTube.

Also, props to Yukie Dong who did Niconico - the whole entire song! Even if it wasn't perfect, you have to give her credit!

Getting The Other Half

I am currently uploading Day 2 photos, then Day 4 photos after that...hurray!

Day 2 and 4 Photos Coming Today

I was able to get Day 1 and 3 photos up because those I didn't need to sort out...on the other hand, I really need to sort out Day 2 and 4 photos. But I promise to get everything up by tonight!

Press Badge for '09

During the GAINAX Reception at the Fairmont Sunday night, I had an opportunity to talk to some members who had Press Badges. I asked them if I could get one, even though my blog wouldn't qualify for a Press Badge - yet. Someone suggested that I have business cards, which I sort of thought of earlier in the year, but after the immense coverage that I gave here, I just might have to...

Actually, I really could of signed up for one, but like I said I didn't know the magnitude of the coverage that I would give.

Day 3 Photos Uploaded

What? You uploaded Day 3 photos and skipped Day 2?

Countdown to '09

OK, I think I got the countdown clock right assuming the date is right...meaning we have 360 days until FanimeCon 2009!

Day One Photos Uploaded

I just uploaded Day One Photos, and I will eventually get to the rest of the days...

I Told You...

Drive Home

The first thing I needed to do was to drop off my friend in San Rafael, the same place I picked him up Friday morning. But instead of going back up the 880 to 80 to 580 to 101 like I did the first time, we went up the West side the Bay - up the 101 to San Francisco, knifing though downtown SF, driving on the Golden Gate Bridge, and going all the way up to San Rafael.

Once that was done, it was now to drive back home to Sacramento. I realize that gas is way too much, so I gamble and hope my 1/4 tank holds. I make it to Cordelia, near Fairfield, where gas was way cheaper.

I also make a stop in Vacaville for some food, and to Michaels...you'll find out why in a sec.

And now I'm back home...

Day 4 Wrap-up & Finally Home

I'm finally home. After a long drive back home (which I will post in a different section), I'm finally back in my hometown safe and sound. Once everything goes through, I will start uploading everything and giving my final report. I also plan to do a full anaylsis of the Masquerade skit I was in.

I had somewhat of a bad feeling when I fell asleep during the Forum Panel, when my body was sprawled out on the chairs, relaxing as I listened to stories about the Forums and all the gatherings that have occured during the years. I do wish I were at more of these gatherings, but due to the fact I live in Sacramento and holding a job it makes things a bit more tougher.

That, was after the Ouran Gathering which was really sweet. I finally got that cake off my hands...in the trash.

Since I didn't want to catch any incoming Memorial Day traffic and I wanted to ensure that I get home before the sun starts setting, me and my friend left the con after scanning the Dealers Room for Monday deals. I didn't find any.

We had already checked out and everything was stored in the car. All I needed to do was call up the Vallet, and we're going home!

Fanime 2008 Masquerade Teaser

(as featured on YouTube)

You know what this means...as soon as the skit I was in goes up on YouTube, I will post it here including complete commentary by me!

Day 3 Wrap-up

It's almost 3am, about 15 hours until the end of Fanime...wahhhh!!!

I'm currently uploading photos and videos onto my computer, but will not be up until late Monday/Tuesday.

There was a great reception at the Hentai Room tonight - enough to pull me out of the Yaoi Room and into the WINCEST that we all witnessed. Also, I've had it with these mother**bleep**ing pevs on this mother**bleep**ing train!

Pushed 810HP on WMMT...yay!

Um...there's also the fact that my Sunday photoshoot, Winter Wish Photography, did not show up at all! I was in the Lobby, like it said, and I was looking for the man in the overcoat, just like the picture! I hope they didn't mean the other side of the reg line near the Hilton, because that's a different area than the one they described. I kept calling out their name, asking everyone in the area if they have seen them! Oh well, I got in my other two this weekend which are going to look sweet!

Tomorrow is the last day, but there's still the Ouran Gathering, the Forum Panel, and Closing Ceremonies, not to mention Dealer Monday!

Winding Down The Con

I just got back from the Meet the Guests panel at the Faremont Hotel. Through some deals that I made, I was able to get into the panel and meet all 47 staff members of GAINAX that were behind TTGL (you all know what that is). I have the majority of all the signatures on my program guide, and I plan to frame it when I get back home. I would also like to thank the man who gave me a Sharpie for everyone to sign!

Anyways, I'll be downstairs for some panels and then more gaming to round out the right. I'll see you all downstairs!

Day 2 Wrap-up

Sorry for the long delay, I finally got into my hotel room after checking out the Saturday Speedruns and the Hentai Room, both of them very nice. I also just realized at the feed for CN here is from the East Coast, so right now it's not [as] - screw that.

I'm going to try to keep this as short as I can.

First off - Masquerade. The majority will tell you that it was epic fail, but I thought it was meh. The problem is that the trend of "dance" skits continued - either both a single (see Hare Hare Yukai or Caramelldansen) or a number of short dances, although the group with the Triller/the one from Lucky Star was really good, especially when they pulled out the Poms in the middle of nowhere. I thought our skit was more original, and most people like what we did. However, there was a cake that was never brought out due to timing issues. I have that in my room, and I hope to bring it to the Host panel. I would like to thank Jessica and her group for allowing me to be part of their group and to allow myself to have the greatest feeling in the world - more than 3,000 people, cameras, and video cameras all on you on the biggest stage in one of the biggests cons of all of North America.

Either than that, nice gatherings (the FMA was win for me), and I finally reached 800 HP in WMMT. Now I can hang with the big boys.

I need to update my budget plan before I head off into dream world, but I'll be up to finish an epic Sunday. I don't have enough energy to sort out all the photos; that will be done later.

Day 2 So Far

So far I was in the FMA Gathering (very awesome) and I took some pictures from the Bleach and Code Geass Gathering (props to the Nunnally cosplayer for bringing the Pizza Hut pizza! Very nice of you!)

Anyways, I do have another photoshoot in about 10 minutes, and then I need to eat, go practice with my group, prepare for the Masquerade, then take the long wait...

Day 1 In Photos

Unfortunately, the Taiko Dummer video couldn't upload at the moment, so odds are I'll get that up after the con.

Day 1 Wrap-up

Day 1 is in the books for me. I plan to crash early since I plan to really be up tomorrow night due to the Masquerade - yes, I will be there, but I won't tell what skit I'll be in (and you have a 1 and 65 chance of guessing right, assuming everyone shows up).

I am uploading Day 1 photos and a video of the Taiko Drummers that I will post shortly.

The Beginnings of Fanime '08

Way to start off Fanime '08 with a bang! First the Taiko Drummers put on a awesome show, and then the events at Stage Zero I will never forget! And seriously, I didn't realize that EVERYONE behind GL were here at Fanime! That's freakin' awesome!

I am currently getting something to eat, then I will get into my cosplay and head down to pick up tickets for the GAINAX Meet at the Faremont.

I need to finish my food first...

Current Song I'm Listening To (as I eat Quiznos): Michael Hunter - Soviet Connection (The Theme from GTA IV)

Checked In And On Time!

It's almost 1:20pm, and I've already checked into the Marriott. Nice room we got here, and the bed is really big for a single! I've already got my badges, although I was sad to find out that I couldn't get the other badge since Shira (my other friend from Colorado) couldn't come due to fiancial reasons. :(

Anyways, I should be down there in time for the opening of Dealers Room and Opening Ceremonies. I'm not in cosplay now, but I will be later in the evening in time for my first photoshoot.

Hurray Fanime!

FANIME IS HERE!!!

Sleepy Sleepy Time

I should be getting to sleep soon...I shall be waking up real early to head down to Fanime.

Day Zero

Really the only video so far from Day Zero...not to mention them badges look nice!

Work?

I have to work? I would rather be down there right now picking up my Pre-Reg Badge! Oh well, at least more money in my pocket come the next paycheck...

Zero Hour Is Near

Less than a day now until Fanime officially begins! (Although, if you want to count Thursday Pre-Reg pickup as part of Fanime, about another 7 hours or so....)

I am so hyped about this! I also need to go run my final errends in preperation for Fanime. Until then, keep those sowing machines going!

Glomp responsibly

Program Guide

Wow, that's a very nice program guide they got there! I especially love the Japanese, very nice!

Finals Are Done!

And I am done with school!!!

This means all that is standing betweeen me and Fanime is...today, tomorrow, and Thursday. Great, now I have to wait! :(

Pre-Reg Badges

According to Sen of the Fanime Forums, that's about 95% of all the Pre-Reg Badges all ready to go next week...

Holy crap, that's a LOT of badges.

I got to give it up to the Reg Staff; they put all their hard time into all those Pre-Reg Badges, and to have most of them ready a week before the con is freakin' amazing. Now, to worry about those 10,000 other "paper badges"...

Hurray Reg Staff!