Fanimaid Cafe

One of the cool "attractions" at FanimeCon is the Fanimaid Cafe, "Akihabara-style" (according to their website). I believe that this is their 3rd year of the Fanimaid Cafe, and by the description it's going to be better than ever!

I'll be out there with the maids hanging out during some downtime.

Remember that AX Blog?

Remember that Anime Expo blog I created awhile back but deleted it when I found out I wasn't going?

Well, learning from the Fanime blog, I'm glad I got rid of that blog and you can guess the reason why. And with this new California Conventions Blog, all conventions - not just Fanime and Sac-Anime/Sac-Con - can be covered without having to put one blog for each con.

Here's the thing. AX is one of those cons I would love to go to. The big problem that I have is the hotel situation. Unlike the Long Beach CC and the Anaheim CC, the LACC doesn't have a connecting hotel (for counter-reference, Fanime has two - the Marriott and the Hilton). Here's the list of hotels as listed on AX's website:

• Figueroa Hotel (939 South Flower Street)
• Hilton Checkers Los Angeles (535 South Grand Avenue)
• Holiday Inn LA City Center (1020 South Figueroa Street)
• Kawada Hotel (200 South Hill Street)
• Los Angeles Marriott Downtown (333 South Figueroa Street)
• Sheraton Los Angeles Downtown (711 South Hope Street)
• The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites (404 South Figueroa Street)
• The Los Angeles Athletic Club (431 West 7th Street)
• Wilshire Grand Hotel Los Angeles (930 Wilshire Boulevard)

The official address of the LACC is 1201 South Figueroa Street - there's a reason why I put each address for each hotel.

Keep in mind the hotel list from the OFFICIAL WEBSITE. None of these hotels are within close proximity of the LACC like the majority of the cons like Fanime, SakuraCon, Anime Boston, ACen, and so fourth. The closest hotel is the Holiday Inn LA City Center - and that's about a 10-min 1/2 mile walk.

I'm not saying this because I'm too lazy to walk 1/2 mile to a con. Cons strive for safety, and when the majority of the attendees of a given con don't have to walk far to the con, staff and the people who keep the peace (such as the rovers and the police officers on duty) can breathe a bit easier. Sure, there are hotels outside the main blocks that connect to the convention center (like the Fairmont and Crowne Plaza for Fanime), but when all the attendees who are staying in the official con hotels have to walk or take some sort of transportation (I'm guessing AX will provide courtesy shuttles to all listed hotels this year like last year), I draw the the line at that point for my safety and the safety of everyone at the con.

There's a lot more about AX I can type up about, and that'll be coming in the coming days if not right after Fanime when I decide if I want to committ to AX.

Budget for a Fun Con

I mentioned this on the forums awhile back, but like last year I've made an Excel spreadsheet (via OpenOffice) putting a budget on this year's FanimeCon. I wish I had the 2008 budget for comparison, but that's on the hard drive that crashed. Anyways, I can tell that I'll be spending more this year, and items like spending cash is the same - that can be attributed to a higher hotel rate ($10 more than last year). But like last year, I'll probably be under budget - most of the values that I put on the spreadsheet is on the high side for potential.

That feeling of going back to Fanime is coming...

Under 30 Days For Fanime

I was supposed to post about this yesterday, but today will work too.

UNDER 30 DAYS LEFT UNTIL FANIME!

This also means I have less than 30 days in school...I have to finish up strong. Luckily I have all of Wednesday and Thursday to get everything together for Fanime, so it's not like I'll be rushing to get everything together.

So far, things are coming along nicely, as plans of what I'm doing is getting clearer and clearer...

Delivery of Them Cards

So as I was leaving for school today I find a box with the business cards I ordered. Given a small error in the Twitter URL (it's missing another /) I like the product. Then again nothing is misspelled so that's a plus and I'll take a small error over misspelling anyday.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

PRB Tourney 1st Impressions

You know, sometimes just don't change...just like the last tournament, we had to cut out early but for completely different reasons (not a medical emergency) that I won't mention on here.

But, by then we had already lost.

In my first ever tournament, me and Brett (in a Z31) didn't win it all on our first try, but we got our first tournament victories, which is a victory for where we come from - a place with NO COMPETITION. Another team that we sent down, while not getting any victories in, gained tournament experience like we did.

I have over five hours of footage, and I plan to put all five hours of footage on YouTube.

Thanks to everyone who hosted this tournament, it was a honor running with all of you (especially you Brett). I hope to run with you all in another tournament in the future, or at FanimeCon assuming there's MT3DX machines.

Blog Coverage of PATTY RICE BOOST!!!

I think that's the official name of the MT3DX Tournament I'm going to today.
Anyways I will be providing a breakdown of today's events sometime this weekend.
Also included will be video and pictures

Twitter Giveaway Details

I posted this on the Fanime Forums, and I'll do the same on this blog.

---

Plz note: this "contest" is in no way afflicted with any FanimeCon event. This is being done on my own time with my own money.

Welcome to the 1st annual "Find Me @ FanimeCon and Win Free Stuff!" game!
The game is simple: you find me at FanimeCon, you win a prize!

This is how you play:
1) Go to my Twitter page and subscribe! Don't have a Twitter account? MAKE ONE!
2) During FanimeCon, I will be Tweeting at the con as part of my coverage alongside my blog. I will also be announcing times in which to find me. I might Tweet "First one to find me in the Dealers Room wins a CD" then follow up with a clue like "Pizza Butt" (meaning I'm at the Bandai booth). If you're the first one to find me, you win!
3) Prizes may vary, from plushies to CDs to quarters already inside an arcade machine. You never know what I might pull out.
4) I will be doing this once a day for the four days of the convention. You never know, I might do a Saturday one early in the morning, or early early early Monday morning.
5) ???
6) Profit!
7) Enjoy the game!

Business Cards

I have ordered new business cards for the new blog.
They should be ready in time to hand out @ FanimeCon. 1000 have been ordered, so I don't have to worry about reordering come Sac-Con and Sac-Anime.

Counter

8800+ views? And I just started this blog!
No, I took the final numbers of both blogs, add them together, and then started from that number.

Combining the Two

With the recent crackdown of the FanimeCon blog due to copyright infringement, I have been forced to combine both my Sac-Anime Blog and my FanimeCon Blog into one central blog, the California Conventions Blog.

You may ask "Why the Sac-Anime Blog?" Well it's easier to have everything under one blog, like what I should had done. This also gives me more freedom to do conventions like AX or Comic-Con without starting an independent blog.

Shutting It Down

This will be my last blog post here for awhile, until I can get things sorted out.
As of now, I am not allowed to have this blog up because it has the name "FanimeCon," and no one else is supposed to have the name in any shape or form...

Yeah, there's a problem when a domain and business cards are printed with that name that I have to now change.

I apologize for everyone who has visited this site and supported me by coming back to this page. But as of now, this blog is dead.

Thanks a lot FanimeCon staff.

The Tournament After the First

I just realized: I forgot to mention that I'm going to another MT3DX tournament on Friday back at SVGL.
The reason why is that a) there's not much personal hype since this is my second, and b) I'm going to keep most of the updates to Twitter. I might have one blog post the day after, but for the most part it'll be through Twitter.

"FanimeCon & Twitter Search Hunt" Update

I've talked to the Marketing Director for FanimeCon, and he basically green-lighted my idea.
I will say this now: this is NOT an official FanimeCon event, it's something that I've decided to on my own.

With that said, stay tuned for more details!

Giveaways?

So I'm trying to figure out how to use Twitter at FanimeCon. I recently came upon Shaquille O'Neal's Twitter account (THE_REAL_SHAQ) and noticed that while he was in Memphis, he offered a challenge to his subscribers: find him at Graceland and win four tickets to the game that night. He was quick to post the winner and commentend at how "dam that was fast."

I might be doing the same at FanimeCon. It might give people motivation to subscribe to my account in hopes of winning some free stuff from me. The possibilities are endless...

So subscribe to my Twitter account and see if it goes down!

Source Material

In preparation for next week's MT3DX Tournament back at SVGL, I went through all the tapes and rewound them so that I can pop one in when I'm done with one tape.

While doing this, I go and watch a couple of minutes and see what's on them.

This is when I found out I did have the part when Crispin Freeman went deep...half of it recorded over footage from the last tournament.

Dreams Shot Down

I know somewhere on this blog I mentioned attempting to get a press badge for this year's FanimeCon.

Over time, I just forgot about it and went with regular registration.
Now I know I forgot about it in the first place.
The requirements for a press badge are very very very very very very tight. A blog like mine, while unique in its own light, would never make it. Hell, if Sac-Anime wouldn't give me a press badge for the Winter '09 show, then why should FanimeCon?

Cosplay what?

So yesterday I mentioned that I would be cosplaying as the GIRUGAMESH guy.
Well guess what? HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY! In fact, I'll probably make plans to get the P3 uniform in time for a May competition.

Radisson Rates Up

As of today, the rates for the Radisson Hotel for Sac-Anime is up.
Now, here's the thing. You may do the same search for the same dates and get a cheaper rate. But look at the fine print. With the AR (Advanced Rate), if you cancel anytime, there is a hefty cancellation charge. With the SA rate, there is no cancellation charge up until the day of the con. Also, according to Imari, there are some other perks that are associated with it - I can't think it off the top of my head, but if you check out our Twitter accounts we have you can see the conversation we had.

With that said, I wouldn't mind the extra $20. Makes the decision to cancel if something should come up easier, plus those perks.

Assuming the price stays at $99, I'll drop my reservation sometime soon, if not after Fanime.