[ return : true > ax ]
 |
anime expo : chaos in four parts |
|
|
so what did our brave correspondent spend his time at this year? |
|
|
[ wednesday : preparation ] I spent all of Wednesday at work for Animate, planning for setup. We tried to get all the shop's items to the convention center in one quick and easy trip, and tried to figure out how we were going to setup our space. Then I headed home to get all my stuff ready for the con, ordering my loyal minions to load the car and make sure we weren't forgetting anything:
(We didn't end up doing a room party, by the way. . . more on that later.) Anyway, though, after all the stuff was packed, I went right to sleep like a good little boy on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa Claus. I had to get up at some ungodly hour the next morning to set up the booth, after all. [ thursday : corporate slave ] We set up and put everything out, just the way I describe in my article about being a dealer. I didn't see much of the con that day. We got to meet the dealer's room bigwigs and had a crash course in dealer's room politics—which people to avoid, which to trust. (Gods, I hate politics.) But the dealer's room closed at 5:00, after which I headed to the room, to settle in. Now, the room had many things wrong with it. There was only one bed, whereas we had expected two. This was a trifling matter, however, when compared to the total absence of the data ports the hotel advertised on their web site. When I see the words 'high-speed data port', I expect something i can plug into with an ethernet cable, rather than some glorified phone jack. We were not happy little otaku. On the other hand, though, when we got the computers hooked up we were able to blast anime music and visual kei at all hours, and, miraculously, no one complained. Then came the dance. It's all sort of a blur to me. . . I remember meeting up with some friends, trying to look like I'm dancing. . . And getting into a headbanging contest to Rammstein's 'Engel,' which explains why I don't remember too many details. I've got to remember never to do that again. [ friday : forbidden fruit ] I didn't have to work on friday, so I spent a lot of the day trying to spend money rather than earn it. I know i should probably have been saving my money to pay bills and whatnot, but I couldn't help myself. Forbidden fruit is always the sweetest. Sadly, despite my well-known lack of willpower in the face of merchandise, I couldn't find anything good to buy. I was shocked. I had no choice but to go along with my better instincts and leave without spending anything. Several people, both attendees and dealers, agreed with me that this year's dealers' room left much to be desired. So I went on with the convention. . . I don't usually spend my time at cons actually watching anime. Usually I focus on the dealers' room, panels, occasional dance, and room parties (extra-handy when i need a quick jolt of coke.) I was tired, though, so I headed over to the hotel to take advantage of my friend's computer and catch up on some shows. Afterwards I headed back to the Rennaisance hotel to try to catch the Bandai/Pioneer/BPM dance. Hung around, teased AX's press liason because she was there hawking glow sticks, but didn't enjoy the music. (I heard people compare the music to living in a small apartment where all the neighbors had hammers.) So I went back to the room and met up with the rest of the staff, who were returning from the music video contest. We all wound up watching videos until 3 in the morning with a friend, rather than having the party we'd thought about. [ saturday : standing ovation ] Somehow managed to get up in time to work the booth. As Largo has said: 'Conventions are work. Work is bad. I hate work.' After work, I'd been planning to go to the 'Anime Journalism' panel and see what people thought of how we as media marshall facts and mangle news in our best interest. I decided at the last minute to skip it, though, and instead hunt for our webmaster/oft-times reporter to get my ticket to the masquerade. And how was the masquerade? Fun. ^_^ The costumes were well-done, they showed music videos to keep the audience passive while the judges decided on awards, and there was an impromptu show by Kikuko Inoue that ended in a very well-deserved standing ovation. After that, I headed back to the room to compare notes with the rest of the staff, and ended up going to bed at 3 am again. [ sunday : long way home ] Ah. . . Last morning of the con. . . Wake up, feel the breeze, scream because the room is an utter mess and we have to load it up. . . earlier the better, because i have to be back in the dealer's room for my shift at 11. It's another task for the loyal minions, except that someone's been feeding the loyal minions too much coke and they're getting antsy.
|
|