Photos online:
Anime Los Angeles 6 meetings part 27: Pizza Party (24-Oct-2009) et seq.
Anime Los Angeles 6 meetings part 32: After the Pizza Party (24-Oct-2009)
Lunch with Tadao (25-Oct-2009)
Click on Hillel and fabula_umbrae (Victoria) to see their picture.

Halloween: upholding the family tradition ("do a trick to get a treat"). And it's the jumbo full-size 100-calorie Pixy Stix. We had 58 people come by. I'm glad library_lyn insisted on getting more than one 50-piece box.

I went out and bought a Halloween decoration. It's a little box with a different cut-out design on each side, and it lights up with changing color LEDs. I also put a 15W bulb in Mr. Tiki, and put the lava lamp and the neon flamingo in the windows. TImberwolves howling through the front window; Bach preludes and fugues on the organ ("funeral music" -- actually, stuff he wrote for the church, so it really is church music) coming out another of the new windows. Candle on the skull... you know, the usual sort of thing. This year I set up 10 luminarias on the lawn, in a row, using white paper lunch bags, a 5-lb. bag of kitty litter, and ladymaxstarr (Melissa)'s battery-operated LED tealight-replacements.

Will you be at pmxnews (Pacific Media Expo) Expo next weekend? To promote animelosangeles I'm organizing a "Free food room" aka Peanut Butter and Jelly/Potluck Party Room, right off of the "Japanese Garden Deck" where a lot of the cosplay photo shoots are likely to end up on the 3rd floor.

We'll be open from noon-ish to 9-ish on Friday. On Saturday, we'll close for the masquerade and re-open afterwards, so if you're entering the masquerade you can come upstairs and have dinner with us. We'll be open on Sunday as well, until at least 4.

Over the course of the weekend, I expect our hot food will include hot spiced cider, cocoa, stewed pears, macaroni & cheese, teriyaki meatballs, lasagna, jambalaya, chili con carne with beans, lots of rice, Hello Kitty toast, sweet & sour meatballs, barbecue beef, and more.

Last night I browned 9 lbs. of sausage for the jambalaya. We might have jambalaya all three days, how does that sound to everyone? (I like jambalaya: can you tell?) I'm leaning towards serving macaroni and cheese, and jambalaya, for lunch, putting the meatballs in a little later to be ready mid-afternoon and have the barbecue beef for the dinner. So when something runs out, there will be something else getting hot and ready by then.

The lasagna will be a bonus for Saturday (because that's when the Hetalia gathering is), and I haven't made up my mind with the little smokies. Probably a bonus on Friday, before or after the meatballs. I'm torn on all this, because Friday's going to be when we're open the longest, but Saturday's likelier the bigger day at the convention. We'll close for the Masquerade and re-open after. Our traffic dropped dramatically after 9pm last year, there wasn't much point to keeping the place open. Maybe we can get the word out better this year: there's hot free food upstairs -- if the door's open, we're open.

I know I've got some friends who don't eat pork, so there's plenty of barbecue beef, beef li'l smokies, and beef/chicken meatballs. But Nasir, stay away from the jambalaya, okay?

I think there's about 30 lbs. of meat ready to go. I'm not sure how much meat is in the lasagna and the chili; I'm calling it at 3 lbs., but that's just a wild estimated guess. (I don't even know what I'm going to do with the chili... realistically, I should have fixings to go with that, more than just rice, so that adds to the complications for serving chili.)

Logistically, I'm planning to do runs back to my own freezer at night, instead of trying to do shopping runs each morning. This also means I don't have to move everything Thursday night. Just most of it...

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: E. Power Biggs - "Bach's Great Preludes and Fugues, Vol. 2"
Tags: conventions, pacific media exp

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

Photos online:
Old storage, part 7: More books, many of them surplus (16/17-Sep-2009)
Remodeling Monster 2009 part 3: Spare room, new floor (16-21/Sep-2009)
Melissa's Birthday Dinner (17-Sep-2009)
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 371: Coral Cafe (17-Sep-2009)
MikomiCon 2009 part 1: Friday (18-Sep-2009) et seq.
MikomiCon 2009 part 6: Saturday (19-Sep-2009) et seq.
MikomiCon 2009 part 10: Sunday (20-Sep-2009) et seq.
Sarah and the couch (21-Sep-2009)
ASIS 2009 Exhibits part 1: Monday (21-Sep-2009) et seq.
ASIS 2009 Exhibits part 3: President's Reception at Disneyland (21-Sep-2009)
ASIS 2009 Exhibits part 4: Tuesday (22-Sep-2009)
ASIS 2009 Exhibits part 5: Wednesday (23-Sep-2009) et seq.
Dinner at The Hat with Kate and Melissa (23-Sep-2009)
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 372: Coral Cafe (24-Sep-2009)
The picture of summoner_lenne9 (Sarah) is from last Monday when she went home after spending the night on our couch.

We went to that anime convention at CSU Northridge and took all the fabric that we're trying to give away. (left)

The box of patterns was about half full, and there were 26 boxes of fabric -- and when I went home, there were half a dozen patterns left and half a dozen boxes of fabric.

We've been taking "Help Wanted" job descriptions to conventions, and this time out someone volunteered to be one of my minions. I've actually met Emerald (right) before, as early as five years ago at FanimeCon and as recently as earlier this year at magi_sammy (Julia)'s "Clue" party.

The work in my mom's storage unit has continued. My elder older sister Dorothy and I have moved all of the books out, and this week we're going to work on the non-books. I have more fabric to give away, so I'll probably bring it to Coral Cafe Thursday night. I'll also take what's right after that to the San Diego Costume Guild swap meet (2009-10-10).

I went to the ASIS trade show in Anaheim (left).

My employer had a booth, but I signed up for a free trade show floor-only badge under the name of animelosangeles so it wouldn't be obvious that I was in the business when I went browsing the other booths.

The show used Halls A-B-C-D, open all the way, and Hall E just for Registration. (right)

Monday night, as anyone with ASIS badge could have done, I got in free to Disneyland for a private party. About 1000-2000 people, in Adventureland/Frontierland/New Orleans Square, from 7pm to 10pm. The rest of the park was closed up tight -- the shops on Main Street were all closed up, the first time I've ever seen them that way. (Lights on, music up, but no doors open. Strange.)

All of the concessions were closed, but there were about 125 caterings stations throughout the three lands. Roast turkey carving stations, prime rib carving stations, salad and appetizer selections, desserts and coffee -- and I estimate at least a quarter of the stations were free open bars. (left)

I couldn't get a Disneyland Non-alcoholic Mint Julep, but I could get a real one if I wanted one. I have never seen so much liquor in one place outside of a liquor store!

For example there was a bar set up a little ways in front of the Cafe del Zocalo (between Big Thunder and the shooting gallery); another one in the middle of the restaurant; and a third one at the very back of the place. Every bar in the park except that one tucked in the corner had a big crowd of people getting their free drinks.

I ordered a Mai Tai at one of the bars set up in front of the Haunted Mansion (closed for redecoration). I wandered the streets of New Orleans Square remembering the last time I wandered the streets of New Orleans (La.) with a drink in my hand. (right)

Rides that were open included Tarzan's Treehouse, Pirates, Indiana Jones, Tiki Room, Big Thunder, and Disneyland Railroad. (left)

On Wednesday, library_lynn came to the show with me (right).

Lynn and I had fun wandering around the floor, looking for companies in my employer's field, and accumulating free pens, notepads, pens, shopping bags, pens, squeeze stress balls, pens, and screwdrivers.

We also met my elder older sister Dorothy, who was working at a booth in the show. In fact, she'd met Maureen and Bernice (salespeople from my company) at lunch, and our two companies' products were in each other's booths.

One of the inexplicable freebies we ran across was two cold cases full of ice creams. I had an ice cream sandwich, and Lynn had something, and when we got to Dorothy's booth again she asked where hers was. I pulled her ice cream sandwich out of my bag and got a chuckle and a thank-you from her.

I've recruited a helper to make things go more smoothly with the postcard mailings. Kate Capps (right) lives locally and wants to help with the convention, so I met up with her and we got started with the new postcards. Thursday I took her with me to Coral Cafe, where I turned over a quarter of the labels and stamps to the regular crew (Bessie and company), and we got several hundred ready to go that night.

(If you're one of the people who have agreed to help me track of our mailings, please look for a number in parentheses on your mailing label and e-mail it to me at the postcardart.info address.)

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Taj Mahal - "Fishin' Blues"
Tags: conventions, mikomicon, pix

(Leave a comment)

Michael and Theresa Contos found these tiki coolers, and he used colorful model paints to decorate them festively. Michael remembered us from AniZona earlier this year. (right)

( People were ready to start partying again Saturday afternoon... )

( Saturday evening, down on the lawn, the Devil-ettes were dancing on stage... )

Saturday night was the last night to party. A number of rooms were open for "after parties" meaning after the music and burlesque show is over for the night. So they opened at 10:00 pm or so. (In sci-fi or anime convention terms, think "after the masquerade.")

( At the Smuggler's Cove party I met Rebecca Cate and Martin Cate... )

( Tangaroa-Ru had a party, on the ground floor, that I'd wanted to check out, and I'm glad I did -- she was serving up Mai Tai Jell-O... )

( ''It's okay, I'm a mermaid'' (and other elevator snapshots)... )

On Sunday, I took a look at the newly-built ballrooms at the Crowne Plaza. They haven't finished getting the access ramp ready, so if you're on wheels you'll need to go around to the other side. They also haven't added any new tiki decorations. (left)

Dixie Von Trixie was in the indoor dealers room with the "Wear it Again Sam" booth. (right)

King Kukulele was on the phone, and had swapped shirts with Otto. Kukulele is the convention's toastmaster. "Otto Von Stroheim" is the chair of the whole convention. (left)

Otto had Kukulele's shirt, because he wanted to look sharp for an interview. I didn't catch the name of the photographer or the interviewer. (right)

And shortly after that I ran out of battery juice. Rather than fish a fresh set of out my luggage, we opted to head for home.

Next: preview of our Guests of Honor and a picnic in the park.

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Eric Blowtorch and his Superpowers - "Sympatico"
Tags: anizona, conventions, costume college, tiki oasis

(Leave a comment)

Photos online:

Dinner with Maria at Ruby's in Fullerton (20-May-2009)
Tiki Oasis 9 part 26: Things I brought home (18/19-Aug-2009)
Michelle at the Office (17-Aug-2009)
The picture of snobird (Kim)'s daughter was taken at work, in the cubicle formerly occupied by colleency (Colleen).

( For breakfast Saturday and Sunday during Tiki Oasis... )

( In the Crowne Plaza parking lot, there was an encampment... )

( I'd promised Hukilau I'd be available to volunteer anywhere he needed me... )

( The pool area was the main ''floor'' of the convention... )

( Most of the hotel's lawn next to the pool was covered with the stage and with booths from all sorts of vendors... )

Melissa liked the Hula Girls Hawaiian Shave Ice. She had banana, bubble gum, and cotton candy flavors. (right)

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Los Tigres Del Norte - "La Reina Del Sur"
Tags: anime los angeles, conventions, pix, tiki oasis

(Leave a comment)

Photos online:
Tiki Oasis 9: Friday Afternoon (14-Aug-2009)
Tiki Oasis 9: Saturday (15-Aug-2009)
Tiki Oasis 9: Sunday (16-Aug-2009)

( I drove down from Anaheim to help out at check-in, getting there just in time.. )

Most of the evening activity at this laid-back convention revolves around drinking and parties. You can think of it as a weekend with a thousand amiable drunks.

I walked into the "Limoncello Lounge" Friday night and was handed a little black souvenir tiki shotglass with limoncello over crushed ice. Limoncello is a strong lemon-flavored liqueur. Drink all you like, your breath will smell like Lemon Pledge. A lot of people were already carrying a drink -- you can see that Chris "Colonel" Sanders and Chao Sanders here have three drinks between them.

( The Martini Kings started playing, right there in the party room... )

I met bartenders Kitty Cat and Scarlett Letter at the Pele Utu party. (left) They had a little bar menu, showing three or four alcoholic drinks on one side, and a similar slate of virgin drinks on the other.

I got a "Blood of zombie tiki priestess queen" or something like that. It was a pink drink. As Tiki Todd can vouch for, each drink came with a leechee nut/blueberry eyeball as garnish (right).

( Everything's better in a tiki mug. Or with an umbrella in it. Or both... )

( At the check-in desk, I had heard Otto Von Stroheim's name mentioned all evening... )

People were making music in the Pele Utu party, next to the volcano. There were a few other parties that night, too. Not a lot -- I missed the afternoon room crawl (I was still on the freeway) -- but as it happens, I think I drank more on Friday night than I had in the previous eight months put together. (And that's including Christmas and New Year's.)

As I headed down the elevator to mosey back to my little motel room, I met Stuart Johnson who clearly was a Martini Kings fan who wasn't done for the night. I was.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Lil' Band o' Gold - "Shirley"
Tags: conventions, pix, tiki oasis

(Leave a comment)

Photos now online:
Costume College 2009 part 2: Arriving Thursday Night (30-Jul-2009) et seq.
Costume College 2009 part 4: Friday morning (31-Jul-2009) et seq.
Costume College 2009 part 9: Saturday morning (01-Aug-2009) et seq.
Costume College 2009 part 15: Sunday morning (02-Aug-2009) et seq.
Costume College 2009 part 21: Monday morning (03-Aug-2009) et seq.
Costume College 2009 part 23: Dinner with the Crosbys (04-Aug-2009)
missmea (Maria) was at the convention, of course.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Louis Armstrong - "Mack the Knife"
Tags: conventions, costume college

(Leave a comment)

Photos online:
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 357: Coral Cafe (23-Jul-2009) et seq.
Pool Party at the Tower (26-Jul-2009)
Lunch with Sarah and Carissa at In-N-Out (27-Jul-2009)
Costume College 2009 part 1: Posters on Tuesday (28-Jul-2009)
Dinner with Maria (29-Jul-2009)
The photo of summoner_lenne9 (Sarah) and Carissa was taken when they were on their way home from San Diego Comic-Con.

Trying to get caught up before I leave for another convention: Tiki Oasis!

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Apache Indian - "Arranged Marriage"
Tags: conventions, costume college, pix

(Leave a comment)

Photos online. And most of them have captions. Help me fill in the gaps!
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 354: Coral Cafe (18-Jun-2009) et seq.
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 356: Coral Cafe (25-Jun-2009) et seq.
Irvine Cosplay Picnic at Mason Park (20-Jun-2009)
Anaheim Gardenwalk and the Anaheim Marriott (21-Jun-2009)
Napmobile and a fenderbender (21-Jun-2009)
Anime Los Angeles 6 meetings part 2: Exec Dinner/Meeting (26-Jun-2009) et seq.
Anime Los Angeles 6 meetings part 6: General Meeting (27-Jun-2009) et seq.
Moving Melissa (28-Jun-2009)
Victoria's Picture Gallery: Anime Expo 2009: Saturday (04-Jul-2009)
Melissa and the Fan Gallery cases (11-Jul-2009)
Anaheim Marriott Tour (16-Jul-2009)
La Verne Cosplay Picnic at Las Flores Park (18-Jul-2009)
The picture of Tiffany (neo_serenity) is from the exec dinner.

( Losing my camera at Anime Expo really rocked me back... )

Oh, there's more going on than just my emotional state, of course. I've taken more photos since Anime Expo, but the photos in the queue have been on hold because of other non-photo, non-blog reasons. Family health issues and household management issues, and if I can be discarding and shredding old papers any of that comes before puttering around on my website.

I've just spent a few nights (in my copious free time) captioning some of the backlog. I think I've got to stop taking so many group photos -- they slow me down so much in the captioning phase!

I've been putting a few inconsequential updates on my facebook. Nothing major, but I wanted to repeat here the bigger items that I've mentioned there.

( The Potluck Party Room at Costume College was a big success, so we'll do it again at PMX... )

Between now and PMX: I'll be at Tiki Oasis this weekend (just for fun), Anime Vegas (in a convention center), and a small anime convention at CSU Northridge. So PMX is the next opportunity to do any kind of hospitality beyond giving away granola bars and candy at our table.

For loscon, I'm hosting a Confirmation: Westercon 63 party. "Poofy dresses (especially white ones), shirt and tie, or school uniform" will be the dress code. We're toying with the idea of using a "Confirmitzvah" theme, stay tuned for that.

( Some small convention news... )

I mentioned last month that I've purchased a new camera. I haven't found the "sports" setting yet, but I've started playing with the High ISO option for available light shots. You can see I've started posting the first crop of photos from the new camera.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Nouvelle Vague - "In A Matter Of Speaking"
Tags: anaheim comic-con, ani-jam, ani-magic, anime conji, anime expo, anime los angeles, anime vegas, animeland otaku mex, animeland tucon, animeland vegas, aodsf, baycon, condor, conventions, costume college, fanime, fannatiku fest, gallifrey, kin-yoobi con, loscon, mikomicon, pacific media expo, phoenix comicon, picnics, pix, saboten-con, tiki oasis, westercon, yaoi-con

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

Photos now online:
Anime Los Angeles 6 meetings part 1: Creative Director and Publications Division (19-May-2009)
FanimeCon 2009 part 70: Monday (26-May-2009) et seq.
FanimeCon 2009 part 78: Driving Home Tuesday (27-May-2009)
The picture of summoner_lenne9 (Sarah) is from Monday morning.

( Did I mention the plumbing incident on Sunday? )

Sarah's ride was leaving a little earlier than originally planned. And Monday being the last day of the convention, the elevators were extra busy with people checking out. library_lynn and I managed to get her and her stuff downstairs and into the car by a little before 11, and she was off. (left)

It was a day full of hellos and goodbyes, often two at a time. The famous "L-Squared" pair of best buds, xkokuux (Lisa) and fairegoddess (Lindsay), stopped by our table for a snapshot. (right)

( Mike Young and Barrie Young, freshly married piratical couple, visited us for a moment, as did a dancing Crocodile Hunter... )

( Julia and Caitlin again were quite helpful at the table, but they were both exhausted from staying up the night before... )

Once we'd packed up the table, it was time for dinner. tenkuudragon (Stephanie), Lindsay, and ladymaxstarr (Melissa) and I headed out to find something. On the way I realized that it's been a long time since I'd been out to dinner with a bunch of friends over 21 -- not counting Coral Cafe, that is -- and that we could actually all order beer. We went to Gordon Biersch to do just that. (left)

( We stumbled across an old friend of Patrick Beckstead, and a perennial fannish translator... )

The hotel still didn't have a 5th floor room to move us to. But they gave us an upgrade, on the 20th floor, in a large room/small suite overlooking the park. (right)

I wish I'd thought to ask them to knock something off my bill -- neo_serenity (Tiffany) had a similar plumbing issue earlier in the convention, and got half a room night taken off.

We went downstairs, where the move-out of FanimeCon was in full swing. The gentlemen in the orange jumpsuits are the FanimeCon Logistics Crew, and they're moving carts full of equipment to wherever it is they end up between conventions. While I think it's cool to give the Logistics people a distinctive uniform that they can wear more than once during the convention, I'm not sure I really agree with the "just escaped from prison" esthetic. (left)

( Melissa had been trying to meet up with Nikki (and the twins)... )

( We headed out Tuesday morning, about as bright-and-early as we ever do, and made plenty of stops along the way... )

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Georgio (Moroder) - "Underdog"
Tags: anime los angeles, conventions, fanime, pix

(Leave a comment)

Photos now online: FanimeCon 2009 part 56: Sunday (24-May-2009) et seq.

( Notes I don't want to forget, from the coin locker place... )

I've talked before about the FanimeCon venue. I want to mention the pocket program: Many people were pleased with how small and pocket-sized it was. Our days of a single folded-up sheet paper for animelosangeles may have to come to an end. And they had a little one-page restaurant guide in it! Good work on that.

( Notes about daughters of various people... )

little_serenity (Caitlin), magi_sammy (Julia), and tenkuudragon (Stephanie) were again a great help to have at the table on Sunday. And the sisters are definite draw to have at the table -- people came over to look at them, and in fact Caitlin got compliments on her turquoise wig all day as long as she was wearing it. (right)

( One of the things that nagged at me regarding the Artist Alley was the way that the badgers at the doors were blocking two of the fire exit doors... )

The table was a fair place for people-watching and costume-watching. daoutlaw (Stan) came by, as a shark, for example. (left)

I say "fair" because a lot of the people and costumes we saw were people who were coming specifically to find our Animé Los Angeles table.

( Sunday was Disney Princess day... )

With the increasing overlap between our staff and FanimeCon's (as well as others, of course) it means that attending other conventions becomes more and more valuable for keeping in touch. We have two Divisions and one major Department run by NorCal people, for example Gary de Guzman here in the white chauffeur's cap is in charge of Programming/Live Events at FanimeCon, and our Exhibition Division at Animé Los Angeles. (left)

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Artist Alley was open most days until 8:00 pm. A grueling schedule, and when we left for the day we were all ready for dinner, or a nap, or both. (right)

I was struck by Stephanie's "campaign" bag -- she has a tote bag for "Mario and Luigi '08." (left)

Once we'd had dinner, we went back to the convention center. ( Lindsay and Lynn helped me set up the Peanut Butter and Jelly Party... ) At 12:16 am we were all done. (right) A minute shy of two hours -- a little longer than I was expecting, we had 50% more bread than the night before and it took more than twice as long.

On the way to the elevator at the end of the night, I took pictures of the various signs that the second-floor Marriott departments had...

There's a place for a sign in the first two photos that might have used one. Just as here, under the venue's sign that says "Meeting Room B1" there's a signholder where the convention's own sign could have been slipped in. (right) Although I suppose they probably considered that superfluous, given the size of the big sign in front of it!

(Continued...)

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Opus - "Life is Life"
Tags: anime los angeles, conventions, fanime, pix

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

Photos now online:
FanimeCon 2009 part 1: Over the Grapevine (21-May-2009) et seq.
FanimeCon 2009 part 8: Friday Morning (22-May-2009) et seq.

FanimeCon report part 1. ( We stopped three or four times going to Bakersfield... )

We were northbound out of Bakersfield by about 3-something. We then stopped at the Coalinga-Avenal rest stop where Sarah opened up the graduation present that missmea (Maria) made for her. (right) You can't see it clearly in the picture, but it's a scrunchy made with Nepalese sari wool that Maria had lying around. Sarah was especially touched, because her parents met in Nepal.

( Lynn and I traded off driving all the way up to San Jose... )

On the drive up, Melissa had been working on finishing a scarf for Nikki. It was ready, we ran into Nikki in the Swap Meet (Gaming Room), and Nikki loved it. (right)

In fact, the Swap Meet and the Concourse in general was the place to meet lots of the usual suspects. We drive hundreds of miles to hang out with people we know from back home, such as magi_sammy (Julia), little_serenity (Caitlin), and SanjiCat (left).

Nikki and her boys helped me shop for some used PS2 video games, to get our video game equipment collection started. I ended up with 12 games that wouldn't be automatic if-you-sit-down-you'll-be-playing-for-two-hours time sinks. Thanks for the help!

( We learned that FanimeCon has two kinds of advance registration: ''Pre-Registration'' and ''Early Registration.'' Snarky comments behind the cut... )

We went off-site, to buy peanut butter, jelly, and eight loaves of bread. We came back, got our badges, and headed down to Artist Alley.

( Artist Alley setup was announced to run from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm. Mildly snarky comments here... )

I was very glad to have Caitlin and Julia helping me, in addition to Sarah. They really pulled their weight. Artist Alley was open until 8:00 pm, so there were some long hours for us to man the table. They committed to working two two-hour shifts a day, which was just amazing. (left)

tenkuudragon (Stephanie) also showed up and put in a lot of hours at the table. We were giving away postcards, selling memberships, giving away snacks, and selling badge ribbons to raise money for the ones we give away at the convention.

( It was a good day for people-watching... )

( After dinner, we came back and started setting up our Peanut Butter and Jelly Party on the concourse... )

By being out on the concourse so late, I did get to see a bunch of folks as they came back for dinner or went to the dance.

Such as travel_valenti (Victoria). (left) Her report is up, by the way -- go check it out.

divine_sage (Carolyn) and neo_serenity (Tiffany) were having a bonding experience -- Carolyn's joined the ranks of the legal adults, so no 10:00 pm curfew for her anymore. (right)

Sheri "SanjiCat" Jordan was out late, too, in her red loli dress and with her dollfie. (left) We talked quite a bit -- she wanted to videotape me answering the question "Why did you start Animé Los Angeles?" The problem with that question is the answer is long and involved, and it's a speech I haven't figured out how to edit down into a manageable, YouTube-appropriate sound bite...

(Continued...)

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Ramones - "Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?"
Tags: anime los angeles, conventions, fanime, pix

(10 comments | Leave a comment)

Photos now online:
Melissa helps out (13-May-2009)
LASFS/Aftermeetings part 344: Coral Cafe (14-May-2009) et seq.
Secura Coin Locker (16-May-2009)
California Strawberry Festival, Oxnard (16-May-2009)
Mother's Day (Observed) at Faire (17-May-2009)
The picture of missmea is from the Faire.

Things I've done recently: Went to the Strawberry Festival. On the way there, we stopped off at Secura Coin Locker in Chatsworth and looked at their products. We're probably going to buy a dozen coin-operated lockers, to use in the animelosangeles game room.

On the next day, went to the Renaissance Faire. This was our traditional Mother's Day trip, delayed a week because of missmea's work schedule.

The following week, ala_mokita and I met up with Joyce Hooper and Evan James, to talk about the job of "Creative Director." Evan's going to be approving the designs for all of our convention publications. In the past, he's done all of the design. Going forward, the Publications Division and other divisions with other publications to design will work out the preliminary designs, then forward them to Evan for tweaking or approval.

To aid in this, Publications Division now has a copy of everything that's passed through Evan's hands for the convention, including all of the signs and publications produced -- so there's a thick file of sample designs.

Our Publications Division head, Arianna, joined us as well, and we talked briefly about what her team is going to do. Some of those are graphic designers yet to be recruited. We're going to post "Help Wanted" notices for her division on the website, and she's going to join us at Anime Expo to talk to potential volunteers (mostly, artists) for her division.

Then it came time to go to FanimeCon. We had our "Peanut Butter and Jelly Party" (or Frenzy) on the ConCourse each night. Staff aren't allowed to bring in food to the concourse; we're not allowed to prepare food; we're not allowed to sell anything, or take donations or deal with money in any way, out on the concourse. Fortunately, we weren't in violation of any of those rules: we just put bread, peanut butter, and jelly on the table and let people make their own sandwiches. Over the course of the weekend we went through 28 two-lb. loaves of bread -- which is the equivalent of about 37 ordinary one-and-a-half-pound loaves. Lots of sandwiches.

This past weekend we sponsored a picnic at Lake Balboa Park, where 82 fans signed the sign-in sheet. Recruited a few people to help with the convention in a number of divisions. We now have a Gaming Department head. I am pleased by how many departments and divisions showed up -- we had representatives from departments in all of our divisions.

And Sunday, yesterday, I collapsed with dehydration sickness. Too much sun[burn] and not enough water on Saturday resulted in a daylong headache and much sleeping on Sunday. I've got to watch out for that in two weeks, when I'm going to attempt back-to-back picnics in Fresno and Bakersfield!

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Michael Jackson - "Remember The Time"
Tags: anime los angeles, conventions, fanime, pix

(3 comments | Leave a comment)

Photos online: Xanadu Las Vegas part 1: Arriving late Thursday night (17-Apr-2009) et seq.
The picture of theresamather is from the convention.

AniZona, then Xanadu. AniZona had a mix of a seasoned "old" (over 30) crew of concom, and its third batch of under 30 staff learning the ropes; while Xanadu had a small concom of over-30 people learning as they go. About 350 members attended Xanadu.

AniZona's supposedly trying to train up the younger generation. My conclusion: it's not working. If this is their third batch of staff, if they've managed to have a 100% turnover in staff twice, then there's something wrong with how they're going about it. And it's not because people don't want to make anime conventions happen in Arizona: Saboten-Con over Halloween Weekend, Phoenix Cactus ComicCon (they dropped the "Cactus" this year) in January, AnimeTuCon down Tucson way... (We'll gloss over Yaoi Jamboree for now.) Anime convention fandom has spread into Arizona.

As far as Xanadu: Jacqueline Mason, the lady who'd convinced me to sign up back in September, was no longer part of the Xanadu operation. I expected to find a con suite, but they didn't have one. They didn't have name badges for at-the-door members, just wristbands. And the hotel, the Plaza Hotel (ex-Union Plaza) stinks of cigarette smoke, not just the decades-old kind but the fresh kind from the guy standing outside the door to the ballrooms smoking. I'm not going back to that hotel for a convention again.

We're heading out to Bakersfield tonight, for a cosplay picnic that summoner_lenne9 (Sarah) is involved with. Should be fun.

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: calm
Tags: anizona, conventions, picnics, pix, xanadu

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

loscon

squiptryx0 (Martin)

ladymaxstarr (Melissa)

animelosangeles

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Loverboy - "Working for the weekend"
Tags: anime expo, anime los angeles, anime vegas, anizona, conventions, fanime, picnics

(8 comments | Leave a comment)

My Animé Los Angeles report, part 3: Friday, through Opening Ceremonies. (See also part 1, part 2, part 4, part 5, part 6, and part 7.)

( The Autographs, Photography Studio and Cosplay Gatherings ran smoothly, mostly... )

( Artists' Alley went smoothly as well... )

( Last year at Gallifrey One, in the same hotel, they had two rooms set up as the Pass-Through Lounge... )

( Opening Ceremonies, featuring Marianne Miller... ) Mostly it's a chance to introduce the Guests of Honor, to get everyone started on the convention, and to explain that Tadao will be doing the talking so I don't have to. "See you at Feedback and Closing Ceremonies on Sunday. Bye!"

After Opening Ceremonies, a few people wanted to interview me. A lady from Colombia, and two people with a video camera, didn't catch what they were doing. They filmed me answering the Colombian lady's questions before they asked their own. I think that the timeslot after Opening Ceremonies is perfect for this kind of thing -- I'll have to plan it that way next time. I'd told someone else that the best time to find me would probably be late afternoon Saturday; I now think that the post-Opening timeslot is even better. In any event, another shoutout to magi_sammy for helping me prepare for that day as well as later in the convention when a Japanese television station interviewed me.

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Patty Smyth - "Downtown Train"
Tags: anime los angeles, conventions, gallifrey

(4 comments | Leave a comment)

Who wants to design a postcard for Loscon 35? The prize is a pound of See's Chocolates. If you just want to be on our postcard mailing list, send us your name and address through this form.

We're going to cram an entire progress report onto one side of a little postcard. What should we put on the other side? We've got full color printing capability. Bleed, even -- you can have color and stuff going right up to the edge.

Postcard Art Contest Rules

1. Deadline for Art:
   (Pacific time) 11:59 pm Wednesday 2008-06-18.

2. Dimensions at 300 dpi: 1350x1875 or 1875x1350 pixels. Display thumbnail size, if you post your designs, should be 270x375 or 375x270 pixels (i.e., 60 dpi).

   Design your art to be 4.5"x6.25" at 300 dpi, and allow for at least 1/8" along the edges where you won't have any text or anything vital to the design. It'll be 4.25"x6" once it's trimmed. So, don't have any text or logos within 40 pixels of the edge (1/8") and we should have no trouble trimming it.

3. You can e-mail the high-resolution version to loscon2008 at postcardart dot info, or just publish a link to it on your server. Or if you are sending artwork made from traditional media, such as an inked or painted piece, please send them to:
   
   Postcards
   PO Box 17522
   Anaheim CA 92817-7522

4. Prize for the one we use will be a 1-lb. box of See's chocolates, or something else if you're allergic or dieting. If you've used someone else's art in your composition, get their permission -- you'll be splitting the prize with them.

5. By contributing art to the postcard contest, you are granting the convention permission to use it for promotional purposes for no more than one year. Your art remains your property, you're just loaning it to us.

6. Don't use trademarked characters. You can draw our guests of honor and any characters they've created. Of course, your own original characters are welcome as well.

7. Our theme this year is "A funny thing happened on the way to the Loscon..." so Roman references are certainly appropriate. John Scalzi has some green human super-soldiers in some of his books. Make one of them a centurion flying a UFO, perhaps?

8. You may enter as many times as you like.

9. Please sign your art.

10. If you would like to be put on our mailing list, send us a note. Your info will be kept on a computer in California, and will only be used to send you convention postcards.

Questions and Clarifications

*raises hand* Just a note regarding the postcards and stuff - are these actually being mailed out? Because I wouldn't want to put anyone through the expense of mailing stuff out to Australia &D Would there be scanned, online versions, or could I have my postcards set aside and I'll pick them up at the convention, or can I nominate a friend of mine in the US that they can be sent to? (It's okay, she's going as well!) (2007-09-20 05:38, ryttu3k)

I can afford a couple of 90-cent stamps to send a few postcards down under. And if you're coming to the convention you're entitled to them to be mailed to you. If you insist, though, I can mark them "do not mail" or "mail c/o so-and-so." Digital images will be posted.

Is the contest open to Quebec residents? (2007-09-25 15:59, Romanadvoratrelundar)

Yes, it's open to everyone on the planet. We'll happily ship. Even to Quebec. See's has a number of different assortments. There's the Assorted Chocolates, the Milk Chocolates, the Soft Centers, the Nuts and Chews, the Chocolate and Variety... For one contest (different convention) the recipient asked for See's peanut brittle, in fact. If you have a See's shop near you, we can just send you a gift certificate and you can go and pick exactly which ones you want. All Bordeaux and Chocolate Cream? Easily done.

EDIT: Additional clarifications and information can be found on www.postcardart.info.

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum - "Comedy Tonight"
Tags: conventions

(1 comment | Leave a comment)

The amount of audio-visual material that Duncan had stored under MISC was remarkable, even for an inquisitive ten-year-old. It was not that he lacked organizing ability--that was the most celebrated of all the Makenzie talents--but he was interested in more things than he knew how to index. He had now begun to discover, the hard way, that information not properly classified can be irretrievably lost.

costume_con

library_lynn

missmea

wiscon

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Current Music: Peter Frampton - "Show Me The Way"
Tags: conventions, pix

(4 comments | Leave a comment)

kproche

bovil

galtine1

didjiman

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Tags: conventions, pix

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

xkokuux

ala_mokita

library_lynn

rebecca817

colleency

johno

missmea

Current Location: Anaheim CA
Current Mood: chipper
Tags: conventions

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

costume_con

library_lynn

bovil

Current Location: Santa Ana CA, USA
Current Mood: chipper
Tags: conventions

(7 comments | Leave a comment)