yaoi done right (in a convention sense)

Notes on the convention, presented unedited for your entertainment.

[ the final judgement ]

[ notes in case some mishap should befall me. ]

typing on the bay bridge - entering the city.

it's quite beautiful from the water.

i don't know what i'm doing. i know how to get there. s. has given me her usual excellent caliber of instruction. i know many of the people that i'll meet.

but, i have no idea why i'm going. i don't know what i'll do there. i don't want to deal with yaoi, i don't want to deal with yaoi fans. . . i'm too tired. too old, too tired.

only a couple of days.

listened to rob miles for an hour.

gideon and janice had proposed a classic trademarkable insane idea. 1.2005 - sdf-o con. rob, predictably, went ballistic. fired weaponry into the atmosphere. etc.

wonderful singing at opening ceremony.

(or so i'm told. didn't make it, of course. still don't have cash to fund this mad adventure. bob, i may well be damned already.) gideon and janice did 'yaoi world' i have got to get a recording of that sometime. maybe i should offer to host an mp3 again. ^_^

yaoi con, like all other cons above a certain (double-digit) size, needs a message area.

current status: in the lobby of the holiday inn. no badge. no press contact. gideon and janice have left. dac contacts nonexistent. i would just go to sleep, but i don't have any place. . . i'm hoping that someone i know by name will walk by, and i will just attach myself to him until he takes pity on me and gives me a place to sleep. this thing _needs_ a bulletin board.

s.f. church of christ teen ministry.

lending credence to the theory that all anime cons are counterprogrammed against religion. this is best described as an endless source of amusement. my (haha only serious) theory is that there are some deeply-rooted fundamental similarities between the cons and associated religious groups. these manifest themselves in the (seemingly coincidental) choice to coincide.

insane, as expected.

'inflatable sai! a million and one uses!'
swedish chef impression. by saiyuki. bork. bork. bork.

masquerade commentary. . .

sdf idea to not have a masquerade seems increasingly good, and i liked it to begin with. there doesn't seem to be any good way to formally consider both the cosplayers and the audience. not sure how well-planned this con is, from that perspective.

dependence on technology

so the projector dies on us at 4:30ish, after we shut it down for a while to give it a break. ungrateful little pos. . . fortunately, kent has a spare. we get rolling again after a break of about 4 hours.

24 hours later

water is discovered falling from the ceiling. this is a source of some bemusement, given that the ceiling in question is in the basement, and the weather has been untraditionally dry for leaky roofs. we set up glasses to catch the falling water, and when that failed, a trash can.

shortly after.

it's flooding in. we warn everyone that we may need to shut down the room. i move the dvds out of the way while the other guy shields the equipment. the hotel management is useless. the rug squishes when i walk on it, and they claim it's the air-conditioning.

eventually.

our working theory, in view of the fact that no water pipes seem to be leaking, is still that it's the air conditioning. apparently torrents of water are accessory to its normal operation. as politely as possible, i point out that that's the most bozotic thing i've ever heard of. the management ignores me.

art room.

it's small. marisa's duo mannequin stands watch just inside the door. it's cute. kind of charming. i pat its hair and move on.

armbands.

after some work, i manage to get an armband. they're red, made of some apalling synthetic, with the words 'yaoi con' printed on the side in one of my least favorite fonts. needless to say, i love them. they make volunteers visible, lend them credibility, and are a great souvenir for everyone who worked at the con. as one guy in the dealers' room comments, it's the japanese standard for marking con staff.

besides, i want to wear mine during AX. ^_^

video room (reprise).

it's a decent size. seats a couple hundred, but the ceiling is low and the seating is flat, so its functional capacity is somewhat reduced. my favorite aspect of it is the signboard outside, a rotating showpiece for Idol Hands, an artist whose work i'm acquainted with through the fanime t-shirts.

i'm kind of amused at the people i'm working with, actually. i know them all from other cons--fanime and baycon, primarily. they know what they're doing.

—chris