Thursday, May 31, 2012

Fanime 2012 - Condensed Version


If you want the long winded version of what I thought Fanime 2012 was, look below. For those lazy people who put tl;dr (too long;didn't read), here it is in a nutshell. Also note, protesters were there. They are the outside protest entertainment. Stupid christian protesters. Sometimes I worry about this country I live in.

Day 0: Met Bennett the Sage, started playing Line Simulator. Registration opened 5 instead of 4. Power went out, pain from back injury. 5 hours later, moved to another line. 3 hours later, shooed away. Angry, in pain, Sleep. Management is not organized.

Day 1: Started playing Line Simulator 13-2. Better and shorter than the first one. Sage's panel at 1. Walked for hours with more pain. See swap meet at fancy hotel, walk there as zombie. Rest at hotel, Sage's panel was a hit, crash again.

Day 2: Woke up, hotel room sausage fest, hungry, home to rest. Took Sage to BBQ place, fun. Saw candy shop, bought sweets and nasty soda. Soda sent to Cinema Snob. Coming soon, Brad Tries Bacon Soda. Yum.

Day 3: Went back, saw Jewario and the others back in town. Went to his panel, left, speed date but was kicked out. Saw them again, went to Mitsuwa with them and Sage for dinner. Had rice ball and energy drink with Mitsuya Cider. Delicious. Went to Black and White ball. No one to dance, music never kicked in. Too loud small place, too soft in place. Hugged shirtless cat boy, no con plague. Home.

Last Day: Scoped out last of con. Picture with Little Kuriboh. Got to know KG, energetic, but fun. Dropped off KG at con remains, back to friends place to eat, home.

Thoughts: Better organization, but fun. Screw Speed Dating, I'll find chicks my own way. Besides 15 guys and 5 girls. No good with odds. I'll go back next year.

Edit: Lazier version; Nothing happened, go again.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Fanime 2012


If there's one thing that brings people with similar interest together, it's conventions. There's a convention for everyone. From fitness, to music, to sports, to furries (yes even them), to game etc, big or small, there's something for everyone.  However, one type of convention that I actually belong to is anime conventions and the love of the culture. Fanime is the embodiment of that.

Over the past 5 days, I've been attending San Jose's only anime convention Fanimecon, by fans, for fans. I really hyped myself as well as others to go because of many things. For one Jewario was coming back along with Mark Fujita the former Psychotaku, Sam the Psykoneko and Jen. The other was Bennett the Sage who I briefly had as a client last year when he was looking for something for his show Anime Abandon. However, the biggest surprise was hearing that Little Kuriboh of Yugioh Abridged was coming. All this plus the potential chance to cosplay. Great.

Here's how it went down:

Day 0 - 120 hours remaining

Coming off of a nasty back injury with tight muscles or spine misplacement, I waited till the after noon to pick up my badge as well as meet Bennett for real. We joined up after meeting Robbie who is a big name in the convention scene. After brief hangover ice breaking we went to his hotel and went back to get our badges. There was the TVtuner and his gang including the Keet KG or Korean Guy. Tvtuner punches me in the back as I asked, but not in the right place so I writhed in the humorous pain and got in line... except it was across the hall near Peet's coffee.

Along the way in the line I come across a newcomer, Anthony who said that this year would be his first con. He was cool and Bennett and I just chummed a little until the plot began. Due to an error, the doors for badge pickup didn't open till 5, an hour later than expected. While we were waiting in line halfway through, the power went out and every pre reg person was stuck, even the press people. Somehow a blown transformer caused the outage so the people at registration had no way to access the database and people were getting irritable about it.

3 hours later, Bennett, Anthony and I reach the end of the giant winding line, only to be told to go to another line where it was still a long way to get inside. Circling around the Marriott this time, we ended up in another winding corridor of lines only to be told about 8 or so, just inches away from getting our badges were we shooed out of the convention center for unknown reason. Notably about the circumstances, I was pissed. Adding on the injury, it was just a matter of time where I just kept calling it Line Simulator 13. To who caused the outage, you have made a powerful enemy that day and you get nothing, but my greatest insult of "nice going genius."

Trekking back to Bennett's hotel a mile and a half away from the convention center did he start getting more into the casual speaking of random stuff, something I've accustomed to. After that, I went back home to rest.

Dawn of the First Day - 96 hours remaining

Normally someone like me who spent a "good" 8 hours in line to get a registration badge would go back in the early morning and bitch about the sequel rather than the original of Line Simulator 13, I had an appointment to get my back fixed. It went as well as it did with lots of aching. Soon as I got back home, I packed most of my tech stuff to help out Bennett with his panel at 1am. The only clothes I had were my bike clothes in the emergency that I ride at 3 am back to Milpitas to sleep. This was not the case as I went at 230 to see the honorable Sage himself 60% in the queue while I went all the way back that hugged the corner of the Marriott out in the streets. The only thing that kept me going in stride was the fact that 2 girls were dancing in front of me while I took residence on a nearby wall. The line made it so compressed that their asses were inches from me while they tangoed. Sometimes, the lucky ones get the breaks. Minutes later, I fall due to a rover cutting the line. Yeah, the lucky ones get the breaks.

After Line Simulator 13-2 came the mini line inside the registration booths. After 16 hours of standing with no food or hydration plus aches and pains, I acquired my badge. With pain and glee I ascended up stairs to the real deal and walked for the first time at Fanime.

I met up with Sage as we went to his hotel to grab his gear and traversed back. I ended up going through hidden staircases to find myself at a place where panelists check in and secretly stash their stuff underneath the chairs. Between the time of his panel and 9 or so, there was nothing but walking and walking. I did try to give speed dating a try, but I lost my way finding it only to find out it was full. To balance out between Sage, my physical being and TVtuner, I needed to meet up with TVtuner at the Fairmont where I was literally the Walking Dead. A bed or some crash type place was required to stay for a few hours while I recover my feet and body until Anime Abandon.

Bennett wasn't expecting an almost full house, but after a screw up on my end with some comedy from the unconscious comic relief, I end up finding a vga and audio cord not near the projector, but near the podium. The showing of his episode was a huge success and the Q and A was very close and surprisingly well informed and personal. Later, the two of us walk to his hotel talking about some more stuff and relationships. I didn't pay too much attention because I don't dwell in other's problems and their guilt that much. A short burst later I end up back at the hotel I stayed and lost consciousness.

Dawn of the Second Day - 72 hours remaining

Waken up semi refreshed from sleeping on the lounge chair, I eventually went home to recuperate after hauling more ass than I did for just one panel and went back to check out some more. I saw Bennett again as he was interested in getting a ride to grab a bite to eat. So Maveric, part of the friendoverse (word borrowed from Steve Here! And Larson!), and I picked up Bennett who was just looking for a place to sit and relax. We ended up driving to Famous Daves to eat snacks. That was a fun time as Mav never talked to Sage before. We circled around to Willow Glen for him to grab a nice drink for the evening. Just as were about to leave, at the corner of my eye was there a candy shop like Rocket Fizz in Campbell. The tres amigos went in and went to town finding novelty sodas and candy cigarettes for myself. Afterwards, we dropped off Sage at the hotel and went home and shut down till tomorrow.

Dawn of the Third Day- 48 hours remaining

The next day was when Jewario's panel was happening, and I stepped in but left because I didn't want to bother them in front of the audience. So I spent a good chunk of the hour between waiting to give speed dating another chance. The only reason why I wanted to try speed dating is to see what it was like to observe 15 or so men try to hit on one chick in 5 minutes. Alas, there was a misunderstanding in who can get in and not as I didn't not expect them to show me an email that I didn't get to confirm that I can get in. Soon as the line moved quickly, they closed their doors and left a good 20 or so in line upset. I asked why they couldn't just open up another banquet hall to which there was no legitimate answer. Dejected, I decided to scope out Bennett to see if he wanted to join Justin, Mark, Sam, and Jen to dinner. However, there wasn't enough room to fit 6 people, so I made a mad dash with the use of Demetori to make it down to Mitsuwa. Drenched in sweat, I got a rice ball and an energy drink to recover and sat down with the gang and some locals who know Mark. I noticed Bennett was nervous because he never ate Japanese food before and to some extent, it seemed to enjoy it. We all parted ways after the stores were closing so I decided to check out the Black and White ball.

From what I saw, the Black and White ball was very popular amongst the crowd and everyone was dancing. Something however threw me off a bit. One of the room was rather too small for one DJ to run eh music and the other room was too big to run good music. I wished I learned to dance, but I realized maybe it wasn't the music that clicked with me. I shook my knees to one song, but that was about enough. Uncourageous as I was, I tried asking or better yet find some girl to dance with, but my standards got the best of me. I did hug a shirtless cat boy who I initially didn't know wanted one. After the less than stellar dance I just went home.

Dawn of the Final Day - 24 hours remaining.

Today was the last day and I wanted to scope out Fanime one last time. This was also an unexpected detour as I wanted to say good bye to Little Kuriboh, which I got a shot with, and Bennett the Sage, who I didn't get a shot with. I did get to know more of KG and his relationship with the TVtuner was. After a brief retread back to the con one last time to drop off KG and back to Tuner's house I eventually said my farewell to the convention.

I learned a few things while at the convention and a few I'd like to share:

1. Go in a group. Whether it's just one person to make a duo or with a group of 5 close friends, always make sure to keep contact with them to at least drop by while they are busy.

2. Bring plenty of water and extra clothes. Going to a convention is tough and walking is part of it. You are going to get sweaty, so hide somewhere and change if you can.

3. Bring food for money or other things. If you don't feed yourself, you won't keep up.

4. Buyer Beware. If a deal is too good for what it is, it probably is. However, the rule of thumb is you don't pay con price for something that you can commonly find somewhere else. For example, Manga. The price of a copy of... let's say Toradora Voulume 4 is 11.99. At a con it's the exact same price, but there catch is you don't save much if at all buying it there. Most likely you can get it at another bookstore with your membership discount + coupon for more than the savings at the Dealer's Hall. Heck, online it's about 9 or so dollars. If I were to buy something at the Dealer's hall it would be the potential of a heavy discount on pre registraion for next year's convention and some other things like rare cds or material for costume making. Just don't pay con price for everything. Food is also a big no no at cons because most likely, there is a grocery store nearby. If not, then try to swallow your pride and wallet.

5. Shower! I can't stress this one enough. All that walking in heavy costumes and doing alot of exercise will have you start sweating. Either carry some body spray, some moist towelettes to wip yourself off, or go back to your hotel or nearest sink and wash your upper body. I know sweat attracts the ladies, but not if there's too much.

6. Know your way around and know a few people on the inside. Don't get lost looking for what you want and if you know someone, accept their offer of help if you need it. Don't overpush yourself to the point of exaustion. If you have the ability to break your limit, do it with caution.

Lastly, 7. Have fun. Try to find new people to share a similar interest with. That's how you break the ice. Just chat, enjoy a joke or two and you got yourself a potential friendo or female friendo.

Will I go back to Fanime? Yeah. Will it be better than this year? Depends on who is there. Will the speed date actually have more girls than men? You serious? Should the people in charge do better with management? Absolutely. So hope to see ya next year Fanime. It's been real.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Rare's Quickie Movie Reviews

Today's movie: Battleship.

Well what the hell did you expect for a movie based on a board game like Battleship? It's like smart people are trying too hard to act stupid. You're better than this damn it. This makes the Asylum mockbuster's look better in comparison, and that's not a good sign.

Bonus: Battleship (the movie, the game) FPS/RTS?! Are you freakin kidding me. $60 for 4 HOURS?!! Aliens? You ripped off the Covenant for cripsakes! This is shit, like the movie. Screw this noise!

Oh don't believe me? Ask Angry Joe




Saturday, May 12, 2012

Rare's Quickie Movie Reviews

Today's movie: The Avengers.

Marvel's Avengers, a.k.a Tony Stark is a smart ass for 2 1/2 hours and the others bitch and kick ass. Didn't Black Widow have white hair? Needs more Hawkeye. Samuel "muthafkcuin" Jackson, the happiest man on earth. It was ok.