JOURNAL: gambitt (Jeff Heller)

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  • Shoujocon: Day Three 2002-07-21 22:19:38 So, in case you didn't see it in the forum, Shoujocon 2002's AMV contest winnners:

    #3 Meri Cantoni's "Paranoia Rebirth"
    #2 Kate Dooley's "Believer"
    #1 Anneke's "Suichi's Question"

    All three are great to watch with a crowd. I did with about five different ones, all cracking up hysterically to Suichi.

    So, all I can say is that it pays to be on a con staff member.

    Ok I'll say a little more. Not entirely much went on in my travels (mostly Dealer Room work) but seeing the same faces over and over in the room really gave you an idea just how small and intimate the con was. It was just the right size to make it a legitimate good time, but not overwhelmingly crowded. Gotta say, for my first con, that was absolutely wonderful. Oh yeah, I have Otakon next week. Joy... 
  • Shoujocon: Day Two 2002-07-20 23:27:14 Today was a very lazy day. I had no hours in dealer room so I had freedom to do whatever I wanted. So what did I do? I basically sat around in the hentai section of the Dealer Room with a friend until the AMV panel started, then went back to the Dealer Room, waited for the 2nd AMV showing (and caught a lot of "This is Otakudom" which was an interesting watch), then basically found nothing more to do and went home.

    The AMV panel was interesting, I mean, it was my first time at one so it was nice to talk to other AMV creators in person about morals, ethics, procedures and such. Also cool to see MeriC again and meet VegettoEX. Most importantly, though, I met Turboneko's Marco and Christina! Yay! Finally got to meet the two innovators! I really wish I had not been on staff so I could have been more of a pal to them but unfortunately duty called in the most inconvenient of places. Also met (and chatted with) anneke who is so cool, Scott Melzer who was an excellent speaker at the panel, and of course Yosho of Brick Wall Productions.

    So after the panel I... did nothing important so let's skip to the AMV contest 2nd showing.

    The room filled up quick for the AMVs, people in the hallway watching, too. I got to count last night's ballots while sitting through all the entries in their entirety for the first time (was not there for most of the first showing). The contest this year is nothing out of the ordinary, which is unfortunate. All the big names who entered had good entries, all the unknown names had not-so-appreciated entries, so not much to report on. Hell, if you were here, you'd know who won the contest already. It's that predictable. Second and third place, however, are gonna be tight.

    So I spent the rest of the night sorting out bad votes and such, I made damn sure that the voting process was accurate and unbiased as I am hugely appreciative of well-run contests (though no contests and just exhibitions is a nice idea as well), and all we have left is tomorrow and then the winner can be announced. That's gonna be fun. I might not be there for the winner, though, as I do have hours scheduled to work.

    So, want some news on other happenings at the con? Well, can't tell you much, but costumes this year were great. I wasn't in for the cosplay, but there was controversy as two people were pulled aside by staff for carrying close-to-real air guns that they were going to use in their play. Our staff took the props, which angered the pair, claiming that at the other "big" cons they weren't confiscated. Yeah, news flash, those cons are in convention centers. Shoujocon is in the East Brunswick Hilton in conservative Middlesex County, NJ. Nice try.

    One elevator smelled like alcohol so you know at least one party was taking place. It surely was not in the consuite, though. That room's been deadweight all con. Well, except for the ice cream party.

    Yeah, a lot to say about today, but not a lot to report about. Really was a lazy day. I will admit, though, that saying who you are out loud at a panel is a really nice feeling. Especially when you mention that you're a part of NightOwl Pictures and two or three people start whispering. Chills.

    Oh shoot, I still have to edit my DDR vid for Wednesday! AHH!! Back to Premiere! Stay tuned for the finale, Shoujocon day 3, Sunday, where the AMV winner will be announced (I ain't saying anything but I am very happy with the results) and the Hilton can rest in peace again. Nighty! 
  • Shoujocon: Day One 2002-07-20 00:00:29 Today was a blast, surprisingly. I appeared in the Dealer Room for the "meeting" and setup, which turned out to be more of a job than I thought.

    Ok get this, Catzia's Collectibles (who have the KYOOOTEST Digi Charat plushies) needed to get their stuff to the dealer room, so they needed a dolly. I look for one, and some other vendor with a huge truck's worth to bring up, was hogging it. So what was I told to do? Run over to the bell boys and get a dolly, whether they like it or not. Yell if I have to. My committee chair is lucky I am the proud son of Mr. and Mrs. "This is not acceptable!!" so I go downstairs to bellhop. Did I forget to mention that Catzia's staff included three women, one pregnant woman, and one guy? Yeah. So I am telling this guy that I am NOT letting them carry crap up in a hot elevator when I could easily use one of their carts. What do they tell me? "Let's speak to the manager." I do that, and after minutes of talks about unions and inventory, I give up and go see how the dealers have faired. Luckily they got a food cart somewhere and were using that until the one big one was free. That was a huge help.

    And I wasn't even supposed to be here today! No, sorry, wrong line. I was supposed to be there. Rest of the day went well, one vendor got busted six times (exageration, I'm sure) for selling bootleg pins. PINS!! I just walked around or watched for anyone from the .org. I think I spotted anneke and I wanted to flag her down but I was behind the Shoujocon table and busy with a customer. Anneke, if you're reading this, I'm lookin for ya! Also heard from iserlohn that Scott Melzer is here. Gotta find him, too. Screw you guys, I'm making my own badge!

    Which brings me to the AMV contest. I wasn't there for most of it, and when I was there someone came to me complaining about very rude people ripping each video apart loudly. I ran to get security, he, hopefully, busted chops. Got free Pocky out of it, too. Me happy. As for the music videos, I saw the last three and each were good. One that especially had audience members SCREAMING was a music video with many risky shounen-ai series to Danny Elfman's "What This?" from the Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack. My god that room went nuts. Then it was off to collect ballots and counting them will be tomorrow I think. So, trust me for results of the contest AFTER the con.

    Walked around for a few, the free hugs crew got a huge amount of hugs tonight, very cool. Usual con-goers I noticed were there, friends of mine from the anime club at SVA were there... fellow SVA students were there! Yay! I gotta find those "glomp me!" girls tomorrow and glomp. I miss anime club... my fangirls would glomp me every time I entered the room! No, seriously! I mean, coming back from bathroom breaks I get glomped!

    Art show was great, REALLY excellent work done by the artists. Talked with the woman at the front desk (bag check) about Dragonball, which I knew nothing about but did a great job feigning knowledge (sorry but I'd rather hear these people talk, they're so fascinating!).

    They played a lot of great titles and *gasp* Kodocha 37-40! Well ok it wasn't that special, they were the episodes before the Christmas Special and I had already seen that subbed, so I skipped out. I did catch an episode of Card Captor Sakura and found out why anyone would read CCS hentai doujinshi. Can't figure it out yourself? I'll give you a hint. Girl with video camera constantly video-taping Sakura. I hate to sound typical male, but that gets freaky.

    I didn't stay for the DDR tournament, so no idea how that went.

    So tomorrow I have a day off, I think I'll go in as staff anyway and help out. I really love how they run cons. Never a dull moment! I get to yell at people, too! I have authority! Well, not too much, but it's fun to help people who are like brothers (and sisters) to you.

    By the way, excellent costumes! A rather funny one, too. In the staff mailing list a few days before the con, TokyoPop let us know that they screwed up somewhere and could only give us 400 bags. We expected 1200. Oh well! So what did one guy do? He made a costume out of Tokyopop bags! Very humorous, looked good on him, too.

    Remmeber when I used to hate the idea of me going to Shoujocon? Yeah, I'm so stupid, and this is the last year they do it ten minutes from my house! Figures, I tell ya. So, that's all for today, come back for day 2, Saturday, tomorrow night!

    Oh, I also got my first speeding ticket! YAY! I go to court in August! YAY! I'm totally guilty! FUCK! I won't get into detail. 
  • Shoujocon! 2002-07-18 21:31:02 Yay, today went well. This is my first time being on staff for a con (hell, it's my second con! Nah, let's call this my first con. BAAF was a gathering), and it's so nice to see that the people I'm working with are just as obsessed as I am. In many cases more than me. It's funny, when you talk to a total Otaku, you know in five minutes what their favorite anime is, what they do with their fandom and who they've managed to suck in to the fandom.

    My job's pretty decent, too. I get to look around and pick out bootlegs and basically listen to the dealers if they need anything. Yeah it could be more exciting, but hey, if they bootlegged stuff, I get to call the security guy (who happens to be a friend of mine from school) and have him kick ass. Pretty sweet. Nice hours, too.

    I think I'll go to the music video thing, even though I've been warned that there's not much to be expected. Basically it's "This is shoujo anime. This is music. Put them together and you have an anime music video!" Doesn't exactly help that I think most of the community has fallen to that logic, but whatever, it'll be nice if any other AMV creators actually recognize me by my name tag. Hint, I have this obnoxiously pink sash on that says "STAFF" on it. Very becoming. That or a white t-shirt with "STAFF" on it. Today I met a girl who took me with her everywhere (and had me carry her bag for her... sheesh :P ) who designed my sash to fit me like a necktie. So if you see a guy wearing a sash like a necktie, that is most definitely me.

    I almost got mobbed for being on the staff that picked Pepto Bismol as the color of the Security shirts. All the guys were complaining, as you could imagine. My only defense was that I was one of the only guys to vote against the color because I've learned from past experiences that Pepto Bismol is a TERRIBLE color for a background. My committee chair told me that was EXACTLY what they were looking for. Terrible and disgusting, making you stick to the rules so you weren't approached by anyone with those ugly shirts. It's sick logic, but it makes perfect sense.

    So tomorrow I have a 9:30AM meeting before we set up the dealer room, we also get first dibs (muahahaha!). My shift's until noon then I have to come back for my next shift at 6pm since I have a job interview at 2. It'll be an interesting day, yah. And I still have yet to finish my DDR vid! AAHH!!! Let's pray it all goes well. To those going, see you at Shoujocon! 
  • See this brick? That's my head. 2002-07-17 15:08:44 Ohh... ok I gotcha. Takes me a while, doesn't it? So now thing if things go wrong it goes over both your heads instead of just Brad's. Heh heh heh ;) Nah it'll go fine. 
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