Obligatory Fanime Post
Fanime - yet another one has come and gone, and I already miss how awesome it was. FLOW is, and will continue to be, the primary reason I want to go every year now. Again, they were awesome this year as well.
This is probably going to be a short, sweet, and to the point summary. Hey, that's how I role:
Day 1:
Before I left I went to see "The Hangover II" at 12, and then I called up vespabee (Kelly) and murada (Alica) to leave at 3am. Ate some Panda Express before I left. Initially getting out of L.A. took some time because of road blocks, but we were out by 4AM.
The drive was a bit edgy for me. Sorry Alica for waking you every hour when I reached for a bottle of water. Needed to stay awake.
Anyways, we got there at 8AM and got into the line for badges for 90 minutes. Unfortunately, no schedule so WTF. I knew not what was going on. So I wandered around with Tiger and Bunny as Spiderman.
I guess the act has age since no one recognized me initially, that is until I went to the Absurd Japanese Music Videos Panel. THE PANELIST INSTANTLY RECOGNIZE ME AND THEN ASKED ME TO PERFORM AT THE END. Afterward I was too tired to actually go to the rave; and it was too cold.
We all decided to check in to the hotel around 12 midnight. It felt like forever and a half, but then when we finally got through check-in we found out that parking was not free - in fact, the sign said $18/night. I was like WTF, but then too tired to care and totally passed out asap.
Day 2:
That morning I can't remember much except maybe stuffing my face with granola bars and refusing to eat little Mexican children that got Jerky-fied into what I can only describe as "Dora the Explorer Chewables". What I clearly recall is that there was already a line for FLOW, and I was like "SHIT JUST GOT REAL." So I drop Kelly and Alica off because they were both late for a cosplay meeting, and I sped to find parking.
The first parking spot I find some asshole decides to floor it in the parking lot going 30 mph with maybe less than 100 ft. of space and nearly pulls a front on collision with me. Fuck that guy.
Anyways, I end up finding all day parking in the most obscure place ever, and I end up getting in line where the positioning got us row 6 seating this year. I waited there since 11:45am - the concert started at 7pm. The primary thing that passed the time was watching those ridiculous religious protesters do the same thing they do every year by criticizing and harassing the convention goers. The people that waited in line with me started coming up with arguments about how the protesters were wrong, but as I heard I realize that their arguments are very much flawed in and of themselves. Most of their arguments were composed of self-centered reasons why "it is the religious fanatics like the protesters and how the beliefs in the most miniscule of acts considered sins" being the primary reason that they are atheists. Granted, everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, but I think what makes the protesters wrong was how they enforce their beliefs onto others by negatively criticizing others' ways of life. The entertainment ended with a large truck pulling up in front of where they are stationed, and essentially a wall was "accidentally" placed between them and Fanime - to which the entire line started laughing.
Back to the whole 7 hour wait in line. What probably sucked most about the wait was that it rained for 5 minutes like at the start of every hour. What made it worth it was that Kohshi, one of the lead singers of FLOW, skateboarded by like 4 hours before the concert. I yelled like a maniac saying, "YYEEEEAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" in a raspy rock-n-roll yell to which he acknowledged me. Totally made the wait worth it.
Con ops had shown up pretty early for the concert, to which I had to tell everyone that wanted in on the concert to get here asap, and then as they fluttered in I had to make excuses as to where they were and convince like 4 different people that "She was at an autograph session", "she was getting food", "she need to use the bathroom", "blah, blah, blah, I forget." It also helped that I made friends with the person in front of me when con ops weren't convinced that her friends belonged with her as well (Scratching each others back). I also had brought some cheasy masks of the old guys face from the music video "Re:member" by FLOW, and it made everyone look extra hilariously creepy with an unmoving Japanese man's smile. Also, by the end, somehow my group went from 6 people to 10 - Can someone identify that guy and girl that randomly befriended us?
We get in the concert, and I realize I was lied to because that Yuya Hakusho guy ends up performing first. All I can say is that the guy has a thing for Jazz Hands trying to imitate sparkles are something. Also they did that thing where they put his image in the foreground of another image whether it be the anime he sang for or his own face.
Then FLOW comes on and totally rocks the house: FLLOOOOOOOWWWW!!!! I like to think that they saw the masks I made, and recognize the fandom. Hell, Keigo was smiling the entire concert; I guess he could not believe the fanbase they have in America, or that the American style of audience is what he strives for. It would be like American audience is to screaming mosh pit near all out brawl as Japanese audience is to synchronized swimming. The energy was amazing, and I am very glad that they announced in the concert that they are coming back again next year. Thus, next year I either want to come as either a fish head from Re:member, or the garbage robot from Days. Also, I need to find that skateboard park in San Jose because apparently Kohshi skateboards there every time they visit.
After the concert Val, Yoshiko, and I raided a panel and hoarded the water station. Then ate at Johnny Rockets.
SLEEEEP
Day 3
This was the day I busted out King Kazma for the final time at a convention. That thing was ungodly hot, and hairy. Mind you, there is no ventilation system like all those furries have, but, then again, I AM NOT A FURRY! Well there were maybe 8 people total that considered me a furry, which aggravated the hell out of me. Val - who was "supposedly" my handler - decides to take four steps back a laugh at me in the background while the furries and furry lovers gravitate toward me. There was one especially obnoxious photographer that yelled out, "OH MA GOD, A FURRY! OH MA GOD, AH FURRY!!" in very broken English with a Chinese accent. Vince supposedly has a photo of a guy. Dammit, I even had drive-by furry shout outs.
The other side of the story is that a bunch of little kids would come up to me because, yeah, I look like a cool Easter bunny. What sucked was when we went to Johnny Rockets for lunch and a kid that saw me outside also saw me take off the head inside, and essentially place the head on a pike. I later passed out in the game room before I could even participate in cosplay chess.
Well the next thing I recall was meeting up in, went to game room, and then checked out the gong show. Decided not to go to B&W Ball - I was just not feeling it.
The Fanime Gong Show is usually not that great, so all you can really expect from the participants is to just sing poorly. The only performance I thought did very well was a guy that sang the national anthem and was waxing his arms at the same time. Every time he pulled the cloth off people would go "ooohh!!" I thought that was pretty much classic gong show. Everyone else was kinda boring. Hell I thought I should have gone and changed into Spiderman just to kick things up, but the judges tend to not forget the good ones.
I left after several more dismal performances, and went to change to go to the rave. I wore pants, just the red puff vest, and the spiderman helmet with sun glasses. Got into the rave and just went wild. I actually got a lot of compliments on the helmet mostly because I had a light show going on on top. It was very typical of the raves I tend to get into. Dance offs, regular dancing, light shows. The highlight of the rave was that I got my picture taken by a rave photographer - that, in my opinion, is a major compliment because to pull that off you have to dress to impress. I looked like a raver.
I passed out somewhere only to be awoken by con ops for sleeping. Got Alica and Kelly to head back to the hotel.
Day 4
I wanted to find and buy a keyblade for my friend, but no luck. We left for L.A. around 1pm and didn't get to L.A. til 9pm. Damn you stupid freeway construction.
Throughout the entire convention I took a total of 3 PHOTOS.
Also more news to come about thing....
This is probably going to be a short, sweet, and to the point summary. Hey, that's how I role:
Day 1:
Before I left I went to see "The Hangover II" at 12, and then I called up vespabee (Kelly) and murada (Alica) to leave at 3am. Ate some Panda Express before I left. Initially getting out of L.A. took some time because of road blocks, but we were out by 4AM.
The drive was a bit edgy for me. Sorry Alica for waking you every hour when I reached for a bottle of water. Needed to stay awake.
Anyways, we got there at 8AM and got into the line for badges for 90 minutes. Unfortunately, no schedule so WTF. I knew not what was going on. So I wandered around with Tiger and Bunny as Spiderman.
I guess the act has age since no one recognized me initially, that is until I went to the Absurd Japanese Music Videos Panel. THE PANELIST INSTANTLY RECOGNIZE ME AND THEN ASKED ME TO PERFORM AT THE END. Afterward I was too tired to actually go to the rave; and it was too cold.
We all decided to check in to the hotel around 12 midnight. It felt like forever and a half, but then when we finally got through check-in we found out that parking was not free - in fact, the sign said $18/night. I was like WTF, but then too tired to care and totally passed out asap.
Day 2:
That morning I can't remember much except maybe stuffing my face with granola bars and refusing to eat little Mexican children that got Jerky-fied into what I can only describe as "Dora the Explorer Chewables". What I clearly recall is that there was already a line for FLOW, and I was like "SHIT JUST GOT REAL." So I drop Kelly and Alica off because they were both late for a cosplay meeting, and I sped to find parking.
The first parking spot I find some asshole decides to floor it in the parking lot going 30 mph with maybe less than 100 ft. of space and nearly pulls a front on collision with me. Fuck that guy.
Anyways, I end up finding all day parking in the most obscure place ever, and I end up getting in line where the positioning got us row 6 seating this year. I waited there since 11:45am - the concert started at 7pm. The primary thing that passed the time was watching those ridiculous religious protesters do the same thing they do every year by criticizing and harassing the convention goers. The people that waited in line with me started coming up with arguments about how the protesters were wrong, but as I heard I realize that their arguments are very much flawed in and of themselves. Most of their arguments were composed of self-centered reasons why "it is the religious fanatics like the protesters and how the beliefs in the most miniscule of acts considered sins" being the primary reason that they are atheists. Granted, everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, but I think what makes the protesters wrong was how they enforce their beliefs onto others by negatively criticizing others' ways of life. The entertainment ended with a large truck pulling up in front of where they are stationed, and essentially a wall was "accidentally" placed between them and Fanime - to which the entire line started laughing.
Back to the whole 7 hour wait in line. What probably sucked most about the wait was that it rained for 5 minutes like at the start of every hour. What made it worth it was that Kohshi, one of the lead singers of FLOW, skateboarded by like 4 hours before the concert. I yelled like a maniac saying, "YYEEEEAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" in a raspy rock-n-roll yell to which he acknowledged me. Totally made the wait worth it.
Con ops had shown up pretty early for the concert, to which I had to tell everyone that wanted in on the concert to get here asap, and then as they fluttered in I had to make excuses as to where they were and convince like 4 different people that "She was at an autograph session", "she was getting food", "she need to use the bathroom", "blah, blah, blah, I forget." It also helped that I made friends with the person in front of me when con ops weren't convinced that her friends belonged with her as well (Scratching each others back). I also had brought some cheasy masks of the old guys face from the music video "Re:member" by FLOW, and it made everyone look extra hilariously creepy with an unmoving Japanese man's smile. Also, by the end, somehow my group went from 6 people to 10 - Can someone identify that guy and girl that randomly befriended us?
We get in the concert, and I realize I was lied to because that Yuya Hakusho guy ends up performing first. All I can say is that the guy has a thing for Jazz Hands trying to imitate sparkles are something. Also they did that thing where they put his image in the foreground of another image whether it be the anime he sang for or his own face.
Then FLOW comes on and totally rocks the house: FLLOOOOOOOWWWW!!!! I like to think that they saw the masks I made, and recognize the fandom. Hell, Keigo was smiling the entire concert; I guess he could not believe the fanbase they have in America, or that the American style of audience is what he strives for. It would be like American audience is to screaming mosh pit near all out brawl as Japanese audience is to synchronized swimming. The energy was amazing, and I am very glad that they announced in the concert that they are coming back again next year. Thus, next year I either want to come as either a fish head from Re:member, or the garbage robot from Days. Also, I need to find that skateboard park in San Jose because apparently Kohshi skateboards there every time they visit.
After the concert Val, Yoshiko, and I raided a panel and hoarded the water station. Then ate at Johnny Rockets.
SLEEEEP
Day 3
This was the day I busted out King Kazma for the final time at a convention. That thing was ungodly hot, and hairy. Mind you, there is no ventilation system like all those furries have, but, then again, I AM NOT A FURRY! Well there were maybe 8 people total that considered me a furry, which aggravated the hell out of me. Val - who was "supposedly" my handler - decides to take four steps back a laugh at me in the background while the furries and furry lovers gravitate toward me. There was one especially obnoxious photographer that yelled out, "OH MA GOD, A FURRY! OH MA GOD, AH FURRY!!" in very broken English with a Chinese accent. Vince supposedly has a photo of a guy. Dammit, I even had drive-by furry shout outs.
The other side of the story is that a bunch of little kids would come up to me because, yeah, I look like a cool Easter bunny. What sucked was when we went to Johnny Rockets for lunch and a kid that saw me outside also saw me take off the head inside, and essentially place the head on a pike. I later passed out in the game room before I could even participate in cosplay chess.
Well the next thing I recall was meeting up in, went to game room, and then checked out the gong show. Decided not to go to B&W Ball - I was just not feeling it.
The Fanime Gong Show is usually not that great, so all you can really expect from the participants is to just sing poorly. The only performance I thought did very well was a guy that sang the national anthem and was waxing his arms at the same time. Every time he pulled the cloth off people would go "ooohh!!" I thought that was pretty much classic gong show. Everyone else was kinda boring. Hell I thought I should have gone and changed into Spiderman just to kick things up, but the judges tend to not forget the good ones.
I left after several more dismal performances, and went to change to go to the rave. I wore pants, just the red puff vest, and the spiderman helmet with sun glasses. Got into the rave and just went wild. I actually got a lot of compliments on the helmet mostly because I had a light show going on on top. It was very typical of the raves I tend to get into. Dance offs, regular dancing, light shows. The highlight of the rave was that I got my picture taken by a rave photographer - that, in my opinion, is a major compliment because to pull that off you have to dress to impress. I looked like a raver.
I passed out somewhere only to be awoken by con ops for sleeping. Got Alica and Kelly to head back to the hotel.
Day 4
I wanted to find and buy a keyblade for my friend, but no luck. We left for L.A. around 1pm and didn't get to L.A. til 9pm. Damn you stupid freeway construction.
Throughout the entire convention I took a total of 3 PHOTOS.
Also more news to come about thing....