Thursday, December 31, 2009

Looking Forward To 2010

As I look forward to 2010, I'm immediately slammed with attending my first So Cal con since AX '02 with Anime Los Angeles 6. I'm really stoked in going, and I really do hope to meet new faces and get to know more people within the con circuit. I also wish everyone luck to those who are going to Sac-Anime the same time I'm going to ALA, especially the new cosplay staff and the Console Gaming Room (I always give you guys props, I'm going to miss you all!)

FanimeCon 2010 is also on deck, and it'll be my first con above 21, meaning I can get my ass drunk have a few drinks with people I know while I'm there. Plus there's probably more that I will do down there, hopefully either attend Day Zero or Closing Ceremonies.

There's also AX 2010 (and I swear I will make an attempt to go to AX), the summer edition of Sac-Anime, and few small cons here and there. It would be nice if I could go to those small Bay Area cons like WonderCon or AOD.

2010 is looking nice, and with two years of convention coverage under my belt and counting, this is going to be good.

Happy New Years everyone, stay safe, and I'll see you all next week down in LA for ALA!

Con Year In Review 2009

If anything, 2009 went without a hitch, so I can consider the 2009 con season much much better than the 2008 con season. I didn't have any major troubles in 2009 unlike in 2008, so that's another big bonus.

There were only three "major" cons this year - Sac-Anime Winter and Summer 2009 and FanimeCon 2009. Again, no AX and no other Bay Area cons like WonderCon or Animation on Display (AOD). It would of been nice but with the economy the way it was I had to restrict myself to just a few, but despite that I actually spent more this year. Go figure.

As I kept saying in my FanimeCon 2009 overview, this was a "year of firsts." (Then again, I'll probably 100% say that again next year.) For one, I really focused on getting my blog out there by spending a lot on business cards to get the word out. I must say, they have done more than I have expected so much to the point where I have 2,000 cards sitting in my room waiting to be distributed in 2010. There were also the moments - meeting Halko Momoi and Hiroyuki Yamaga (for the 3rd time) at FanimeCon, seeing the Console Gaming Room evolve into a juggernaut at Sac-Anime, and the move from the cramped Scottish Rite to the "clusterfuck" known as the Radisson.

As I sit here looking at the clock wondering how much I have to go until 2010, I think to myself: "Is there anything I could of done differently besides going to more cons if I had more money?" The answer is an obvious no, because then things would of been differently.

As I look back at 2009 overall, I've learned a lot from running a "fan-made independent anime conventions blog" and how much people do appreciate seeing a con from a fan's point of view full of blurry con shots and omissions because the writer can't remember everything that happened at a con. In fact, I've made it my mission statement - to provide con coverage not from a press or industry point of view, but from an ordinary attendee's point of view.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Hotel Rush

As we get closer to January 1st, 2010, two things come to mind: the current plans for the con (ALA) and wondering when the hotel website for Fanime is going up. So far, I've been able to book on or near the first day they were available. I'm hoping that they go up at the same time again this year so that I can get first dibs on the room that I want. If anything, I'm not worried about ALA until I get my room for Fanime.


I will be posting my Con Year In Review 2009 tomorrow so check back for that.

Friday, December 25, 2009

ALA Flashback - UCLA Host Club

First off, Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope you got everything that you wanted and more!

So, being a Host Club member from Ouran High the Student Council President of Ouran High, I have some Ouran-related Masquerade videos lying around in my "Recommended for You" section of YouTube. I came upon the ALA 3 skit in '07 with the UCLA Host Club.

Now with double triple the angles (and the encore video)!



YouTube Doubler





YouTube Doubler


On a side note, I tried doing the iPhone Home Page add, and the icon didn't show up. Trying to work on it as much as possible.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Now That Finals Are Over

Now that finals are over, I can focus on preparing for ALA. I hope to get some good loot next week that'll be useful, like a new camera or a netbook. I also find it interesting that I'm going to be busy the next three weeks - Christmas, New Years, then the con.

I am interested in seeing Christina Vee and I hope that if she has the chance I want her to hear the remixes that I have done combining her dub and the original material. I love the mixes of "Super Driver" and "Don't say 'lazy'" that I made, as well as a couple of others.

I'm waiting for new information to appear before I really get into posting prior to the con, but do stick around for a reflection of the 2009 con season.

By the way, has anyone tried to add the blog as a iPhone Home Page link with the icon? Please let me know if it works.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Spending Cash Allocation

I'll have more on ALA on Thursday after Finals, but I wanted to touch real quick on a plan between spending cash for ALA and FanimeCon.

Odds are most of the items that I see at the ALA Dealers Room I'll see at the FanimeCon Dealers Room, give or take some items that come out after ALA that'll be available at FanimeCon. As a result, I can probably bring a bit more spending cash to ALA in hopes of finding what I want prior to FanimeCon. I can lower the cash budget down since I won't need that much money come FanimeCon, which will help in the overall budget total.

Just a thought from a budgeting standpoint especially between two cons.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Sac-Con December 2009 Availability

If I hadn't come down with tonsillitis this past week (and I'm about halfway through recovery) and didn't skip a week of work, I might of had a chance. Even if I had the chance, CSUS Finals are on Monday and Tuesday (two a day) so even then I wouldn't have gone in lieu of studying. So either way, I won't be headed out this Sunday.

I'll be posting my thoughts on a fast-approaching ALA post-finals next week.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

ALA Hotel Room Videos

I swear I hope to have more hotel room vblog updates from ALA; for some odd reason at Fanime my videos weren't going through since the bandwidth was limited with the amount of data traffic going out the hotel (I'm not kidding, it was like using a wi-fi connection on a wired connection). Maybe this time the bandwidth will be much better and I can have all my videos up.