Very Quick Summary of Project A-Kon II...
Garland Operator 7-G
* been wanting to do a review of the convention and much of it I have
* stated in this letter so I thought about posting it anyway. These are my
* opinions so I will probably get flamed heavily for them but I don't care.
* There was MUCH, MUCH more to it than this but if you want the exact details
* let me know. I get angry thinking about some of it and that is the reason
* why this is abridged.
> P.S. how was Project A-kon 2? (besides the fact that you were
> dogged on by those guys...) :-)
I will say that there were many things about the convention that I didn't like,
but those didn't stop me from having fun. I had a good time, but it seems that
the times I enjoyed the most was NOT WITH CONVENTION ACTIVITIES.
An example of this was the ICE FIGHT out in the hotel parking lot Sunday night.
Me and many others went out into the parking lot with SUPER SOAKER 50's (TM),
water balloon grenades, and bottles of water (and ice to put down peoples'
backs) to have a good time. Pam Buck (of Banzai/Pinesalad Productions) was in
the fight also as well as the people who did star dipwads. It was hillarious,
and how often do you get to shoot Pam Buck with a watergun :-).
I enjoyed privately talking with Lou Scarborough Jr. He has worked on many
animation projects. He has recently done Ninja Turtles and at the con he was
up in his room privately working on some storyboards for Tiny Toons (that
were due yesterday). He was a VERY INTERESTING person to talk with. He did a
sketch of Raphael for me and ket me know the "insides" about what is going on
in the animation community (and about the guy who eats potato salad with his
hands at the studio). What saddened me was that just because he does AMERICAN
animation he wasn't as publicized as ... say ... FAN GUESTS "Kei and Yuri"
Forrester.
On Friday before the con I went to the local mall and had Japanese cuisine. I
had alot of fun there.
Manga prices were cheap in the dealers room if you knew where to look. I picked
up a bubblegum crisis novel dirt cheap because it was all Japanese (which I can
read somewhat). One guy was trying to sell Ranma 1/2 manga volume 1 for $25 and
I told him where he could go.
Another good thing to see was Tonari no Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service
DUBBED. They both are done very well. That's the biggie that I remember from
video programming. I picked up a "prototype" slick Amiga subtitler there which
I am itching to try out one day.
The con T-shirts were very nice. It has a picture of A-ko dragging C-Ko
behind (the same as the Movie Program and Poster ... I think).
Walter Amos make an EXCELLENT costume of Gargoyle from Nadia and I am happy
that he won 1st place. He deserved it.
Aside from that, it was kinda there. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ those are the memories
I wish to keep about the convention and throw the others away. When a
convention program book mentions CHRONIC MASTURBATION you know there is
something wrong. An the fact that I was hazed in my Ranma costume AND another
guy as Usagi Yojimbo was hazed pretty bad by the fans didn't help matters
either! It is amazing how much jealousy there is in anime fandom. I guess you
shouldn't try to dress up as anime characters unless you have big cleavage. I'm
sorry, but I cannot stress the mangnitude of the number of FANBOYS at the
convention.
Another thing... as you would walk down the hotel room hallways your teeth
would chatter from the sound of the humming coming from VCRs. The only reason
why many people came to the convention was to dub tapes. I go to conventions to
meet people and have fun, not to dub anime (I can do that any other time). But,
each to his own...
There were other things like the con committee not having it together, but I
could talk about that for many more K of text. Lemme know if you want any
details.
All in all, as for the convention, on a scale of 1 to 10 I give it a 6. It is
sad because they didn't make their break even point and went in the red this
year. I hope this doesn't mean the end. I guess it is just that someday I would
like to see a convention that would stress ANIMATION and less DROOLING FANBOY
CHEESECAKE. Can this type of convention be AnimeCon ... maybe ... Mike?
Domo. Ja na.
Brandon Freels (Garland Operator 7-G)
bra...@aardvark.ucs.uoknor.edu -or- bra...@uokucsvx.bitnet
"I'm witty naturally, I don't need quotes."
Michael Morimoto
Brandon, I am sorry to hear that you were hazed at the con and that I had
missed bumping into you. I did not go to A-Kon last year so this was my
first one. I had heard good things about last years (plus seen video 8^) )
and was eager to go. I had also heard that Texas fandom was somehow different
from California fandom and was eager to see for myself (Knowing that while con
people may not represent the local color, it might give me a very generalized
idea on attitudes). If Brandon can be 'brave' enough to post his $.02 worth,
so can I. If you think you might be offended by personal opinions, please hit
n now. These are my personal impressions and they may change over time...
This is meant to be informative and funny. If you can't sense the humor in
the glowing characters you see before you, trust me, it's there... Some of
the events are a little out of order.
I arrived with my group 'o friends friday afternoon after a long layover in
Phoenix. The flight from John Wayne to Phoenix was fine but the ride from
Phoenix to Dallas was bumpy because of storm action. On our way to the
Radisson hotel, it started to rain bigtime (at least to the eyes of this
Californian). We got to the hotel and I noticed a bunch of con-slugs in the
lobby. My expectations dropped. After checking in, we ate at a local
cafeteria (I love cafeterias) and I wandered around the hotel. In the vacant
dealers room I ran into some cool people and my expectations rose. I am awful
with names but the majority of these people were from Houston and were of Dave
Merrill's (sp) group. We then went shopping for 'supplies' and it was fun
getting lost in Dallas in the rain.
Saturday I got up early (for me on a Saturday, at least), got my con reg done
and went to the dealer's room. Con reg screwed up on my reg but the handled
it quickly and in a friendly manner. The dealer's room was kind of a joke.
Can we say: We want to rip you off??? There were a few okay buys however and
I did manage to pick up some minor dirty pair memorabilia. The red haired
lady behind the Lone Star table was cute though, and intelligent, so I did
get something out of my trip to the dealer's room. ;-)
I then went to a panel with Ms. Buck and others on it talking about their
animation projects. I was disappointed with the room. They put this panel
in a hotel room on the 4th floor? What a joke! Although I already know
some of the people on the panel and their info, the panel was still informative
and fun.
We then went to get something to eat and did some exploring in Dallas. Thanks
go to Mr. Freels for pointing out Kazy's and BCS. We went to BCS first. It
turned out to be a trading company which sells mainly manga and magazines in
the front. The selection is small but they did have some manga. The variety
of material appears to be aimed at the Japanese reading adult. The clerk
working there was very informative and friendly. Unfortunately, I forgot to
ask him his name. We then went to Kazy's. It is a small store with good
variety but poor selection... They appear to get most of there stuff from
California. If these were the only two places in Dallas to get Japanese
goods, then it is depressing. Tell me that there are better places in Fort
Worth and Houston. We then did some more shopping for supplies and I was
happy to see Dairy Queens in Texas (I enjoy chocolate dipped soft serve).
We went to the con banquet and it was kinda lame. I was expecting better
food for my $20. Plus the seating was kindof spread out and this made it
hard to socialize with others. They had a stage and PA system set up but
they did not use it here (maybe for the masquerade?). I would have been fun
to have someone talk (Like Ms. Wakefield did in the bar with the band the
night before). The banquet was deadsville and we had to entertain ourselves.
Luckily I did get to meet the Forresters (Meet the Forresters, sounds like
the name of a sitcom, doesn't it?)
I was out shopping for more supplies and missed the masquerade. We cruised by
the dance later, and as usual, there were only a handful of people out there.
:-(. It was fun hearing anime music, plus whoever was dj, picked a good
selection of 'normal' music too! I did the dance-thing and it was a lot of
fun (I _CANNOT_ dance!). Afterwords I wandered around a bit and finally went
down to the pool to dick around with my squirt gun.
Sunday I got up late. BTW: We did bring VCRs with us, but this was mainly to
show anime with. We were a but irritated at the number of people who came up
to us and expected us to dub for them right away. While we will do the
occassional free dub of things like PineSalad Productions material, we grew
to resent this intrusion on our con-dom (get it??? its a play on words, son).
We are on vacation for goodness sake, have a little consideration for others,
okay??? One of our VCRs broke in flight (A main logic board was cracked) but
some bwanes and a trip to the local Radio Shack (There everywhere, it's kinda
scary) fixed it.
I went to the Dealer's room to get T-Shirts made. They make the T-Shirts by
color copying your material onto special paper. This paper suspends the toner.
The toner is polyester based. They then take this paper and bond the toner
onto a 50% cotton 50% polyester shirt. This technology has been around for a
while but the image definition has gotten better. Plus, I had to spend money
on something, didn't I???
Then there was anime remote control. It was a lot of fun. My favorite
catagory was \Dead or Canadian\. Hats off the Pam, Richard, and Alec for
a great job done! Saturday night there was a showing of PineSalad material
in one of the video rooms. This material was remastered from laser and little
comedy bits were inserted. It was great! Hats off to Alan and Pam and the
rest of the crew!
Pre-dinner, there were wheelchair races down the hall which were a lot of fun!
The trip to the Hard Rock was kindof a bummer. 1) If you are going to lead a
caravan of cars, know what the f*ck you are doing and know where you are going.
If you are unsure, allow someone with a map and sense of direction to lead.
Major points off. 2) You would think that people going out to eat would bring
money with them. Wrong. Quite a number of members did not bring money with
them and they did not let others know that they needed a loan. If they had
let us know, maybe we would have been able to _bring extra funds to lend
them_. 3) The Hard Rock group was intended to be a small group of cool people.
You would be amazed at the number of obnoxious people who self-invited
themselves and then left because the Rock wasn't there kind of environment.
NEWSFLASH: If you go to a Hard Rock,there will be crowds, music playing, and
rock memorabilia... 4) If you are a Hard Rock, play you music loudly. The
music was hard to hear, or maybe I'm just used to the L.A. one. Overall, I
managed to have a good time, but it was forced. The Hard Rock staff, the
small food fight, and Kei really helped me to have a good time (plus a Long
Island Iced Tea and a Hurricane :-) ).
We then went to the infamous grassy knoll. At said knoll I gave a long-winded
monologue about the various Kennedy conspiracy theories. My audience was kind
enough to act interested. A memorial to Kennedy was nearby. A friend of mine
said that I would like it 'because it's very Japanese'. They were right. We
went to the memorial and it is very austier and grim. I liked it. It IS very
Japanese!
We then went back for the squirt gun fight Brandon had previouly mentioned.
Monday we go up, packed, ate at Shoney's, said goodbye to all the good people
we had met, and left for home.
Overall, Texas was humid and full of masquitos. It might be too humid for me,
I dunno. Most of the Texans I met were nice although a select few held
certain views (racist, sexist, homophobic, intolerant, and neanderthal) that
I had hoped has disappeared and that was depressing. The road system was
strange and people need to learn to drive. The supply of Japanese good was sad.
A con is what you make it. I have been involved in running small cons in the
past and it is a lot of work. This is not intended to be a defense of this
con but let's not be so quick to condemn, okay. Cons are environments in
which to meet people. The events, shopping, and dealers rooms are just side
notes. People are the most important thing. I met a lot of interesting people
who I had only heard of before. Most of the them were interesting to talk to.
This con gave me the chance to glimpse beyond the con-persona of some people
and and what I saw I liked. I especially enjoyed mmeting the Forresters
(Meet the Forresters) esp. Kei, Mr. Merrill, and a few other people I cannot
remember the names of.
Sure fandom has a bunch of inconsiderate Fanboys and Con-Slugs in it. People
who are not interested in the anime but are only interested in latching onto
something. People who are seriously in need of getting a life (As if I can
talk with my Ph.D. in Life). But there are those few interesting people who are
interested in anime and/or use it an a fun escape/vacation who are truly
interesting and unique individuals that make it worth it all. Too bad we
cannot separate the wheat from the chaff... A con is what you make it and if
asked, I will go to A-Kon III, if there is one.
I hope to see some of you at ComicCon and AnimeCon.
Well that's my $.02 worth. (It's more like $1.00 worth, keep the change) ;-)
-- Michael.
Robert Gutierrez
[review of Project A-Kon deleted]
> I hope to see some of you at ComicCon and AnimeCon.
Speaking of the Devil, I recently found out I was made a staff member of
the ComicCon (surprise!), so I will *definitely* be making way to San
Diego, no matter what.
The last 2 ComicCons, there has not been any effort to do a get together...
maybe we can try this year??? Although I usually get swamped and sidetracked
all the time. This year may even be worse for me since I'm actually working
the con also.
Suggestions???
rob.