Damon Casale wrote:

Cool!  I'm gonna try to get all of these AX reports together and web them.  I just
dropped off my film, but it's gonna take two weeks to get back to me (since I ordered
photo CD's).  *sigh*  I've got some great shots, tho.  :)

You gonna put them up as well?

Yep!

I had decided to take Thursday off from work, seeing as how I had done close to nil
preparation for the convention thus far.  I piled a bunch of junk onto the living room
floor near the front door, grabbed a bus to the airport, and rented a "luxury liner" for
the weekend.  *grin*

Heh.  My prep was to pack a bag Wendsday night.  I worked a half day
myself. 

*nodnod*  I had to remember my cordials (I brought more than one, actually), guest 
book for the AX info desk, snacks, music for the trip down, CD player, etc.,etc...  ^^;;

I finally got on the road at about 2:30, and arrived in town just after 9 too.  Well, after
getting lost in town.  Twice.  ^^;;

We got a bit lost ourselves.  That construction mess screwed everything
up.  

Yeah...

Friday.
We got up a bit early in order to get a jump on things.  My roomies and
I got down to the line for the opening ceremonies around 8:30 or 9 and
we ended up with a pretty good spot in line.  A number of Cosplayers
were allready in evidence most notable was the guy with a Gundam(RX?)
costume.  He only had the head and chest on, but it looked kinda
cool(wide too).

I think I saw him that morning, too...

He was kinda easy to locate.  ^_^

By and large, yes.  ^_-

HAHAhaHAhahaHAha!!!!  ^_^

BTW, I'm not the "Deputy" BTFH.  I'm the _head_ of this band of psychotic fanboys.
^_-

I thought Foxtrot was the only BTFH.  The rest of you goons, leader or
not were just DBTFHs.  I guess you could add "chief" to that but... <g> 

Foxtrot is retired.  After Foxtrot left the office vacant for several months, Stargazer 
volunteered to occupy it, along with a band of Deputies.  After school and other 
responsibilities forced him to abdicate, I volunteered to take over.  *evil grin*

Also in the group were Anand and his roommates.  One of them...Justin?...I think
that was his name...was the one who was bragging about his new ADSL line.  Jeff
Bogue(?) was the FFML lurker with the really psychotic sense of humor.  'cept not as
psychotic as mine.  ^_-

I didn't hear most of the conversations going on at the other end of the
table.  I know someone was playing "scare the otaku" for a while
though.  ^_^

I would have been the otaku in question...  @_@

Anand met her later on that evening, and I found out that it was none other than
Jennifer Mondazzi.  I _finally_ tracked her down early Sunday afternoon, after
spending approximately five hours looking for her.  Not that I'm complaining, mind
you.  I was in and out of the dealer's room, and I found some great stuff while I was
there, including a set of EVA miniatures for only $5.  ^_^

Ah, well, atleast I can attach a face to another e-mail address.  

You mean Jennifer Mondazzi?  I got a good photo of her, so you won't have to worry 
about it.  ^_-

I had brought my mug and a two liter bottle of Mountain Dew to the panel, intending
to do the overcaffeinated-and-psychotic-author routine.  Too bad I didn't get the
chance.  ^^;;

Ah, I forgot about that.  You got to play the quiet author most of the
panel, IIRC.  

Heh.  ^^;;

Saturday, again an early start, this time to get in line for the Watase
Yu panel.  One of my roomies was in line at 7:45.  One person had been
there since 2:30 for some bizarre reason.  Now THAT is dedication.  The
wait to get into the panel room was a bit interesting by itself.  First
off, the line kept on growing.  It'd snake itself down to one end of the
hall, and then work its way back up.  It did this about 4 times by the
time the doors were opened.

Yeesh.  O_o  I went to visit a friend in Arcadia for most of Saturday.  He would have
_killed_ me if I hadn't visited while I was in the area, so...  *shrug*  ^^;;

Heh.  I almost got killed myself when I didn't have the time to see one
of my friends in SLO.  She saw me drive by too.  I'm glad she didn't
catch up to me.  o.O 

Eep!

There were also ALOT of Cosplayers in the line highlights included the
impromptu skit/mock fight/photo shoot between Tamahome, Evil Tomahome,
Miyaka, Nuriko1, Nuriko2, Suzaku No Miko, and Tasuki.  Also present in
the crowd were Cherry and Lime(Saber Marionettes), the Norns(AMG), most
of the Ruroni(sp?) Kenshin cast(I think there were atleast 3 Kenshins
around), a Natsumi and the bike cop(YUA), Ayanami Rei and Ikari
Shinji(in plug suits!), the requisite Sailor Senshi(*NOT* guys, thank
god), and who knows how many others that I've forgotten.  Some of the
costumes were *real* good.

I liked the lady who was not Deedlit, myself.  *giggle*

Heh.  Random comment:There were ALOT of women at the con.  I was
impressed.  

*shrug*  I vaguely remember one of the cosplayers ripping open her blouse during 
one of the skits.  I remember thinking, if this is how they go about getting attention, 
this does not bode well for Generation X... ^^;;

I heard about this after the fact.  I was one of the lucky ones -- when I finally found a
room party that night, it was one of the few that _DIDN'T_ get quashed.  We watched
a Dragonball movie (movie 7, I think), and then I crashed at around 4 AM, after a LOT
of Mountain Dew.  %_%

Well, the videos ran untill 2:00, so I didn't mind too much.  <g> 

*grin*

I think I know what I'm going to do for a music video at AX next year.  On the other
hand, I'd probably end up getting throttled if I try it...  ^^;;;;

Go for it!  Minna No Anime(CalPolys anime club) might be doing one as
well.  We've got the gear.  We've got the LDs.  We just need the time. 
^^;

I need the video equipment, though.  I managed to find this cutesy, really annoying 
Animaniacs MP3 on the web.  It's a parody of another song which people seem to 
love to hate, so either they'll really like it (if I manage to get the video done, that is), 
or they'll throttle me.  ^^;;;

Sunday was a rather lazy day.  I gave into my urges and bought most of
Eva, and the only thing that stopped me from buying the rest of the
series was that everyone was sold out of the tapes I didn't have.
D'oh.  I also came very close to buying a stuffed Mokona for the sole
reason of annoying one of the guys I came down to AX with(he can't stant
Mokona for some reason<veg>).  In the end though, I decided not to.  I
wasn't going to get enough enjoyment out of it to be willing to spend
$40 on it.  I think I might be able to find it for less anyway.

Heh.  I found cheap copies of Moldiver while I was there.  (But it's just RESEARCH
material, honest!)

<snort>Riiggghhtttt.... 

Well, I bought another Pinky and the Brain tape so that I could research some 
material for the sequel to Springtime for Brain in Megatokyo...  ^^;;

I went to Kamiya-san's panel on Friday.  The only anime I had seen that I knew he
had been in was Maison Ikkoku, as Mitaka Shun.  Even so, I couldn't help laughing
at his hilarious antics.  (I also found out that he was in City Hunter -- d'oh!  I should
have known that.  ^^;; )

He is rather entertaining.  I think he's going to be an AX fixture in
the future.

Yep!  I remember him saying that.  I'm looking forward to it.  :)

One last thing I almost forgot about Cosplayers...

Naga... ADV... Wow... @.@

Huh?  Whatsis?

There was a rather... *ahem* appropriate woman dressed up as Naga from
Slayers working the ADV booth.  I'll leave the rest to your
imagination.  

I haven't actually seen Slayers.  That could be why I didn't get it.  ^^;

Now that I think about it, another noteworthy Cosplayer was Ikari
Gendo.  He had the glasses, the stare, *everything.*  Scary... 

Don't recognize the character, or the anime he's from, sorry...


Damon Casale, damoo@jps.net
Spam, spam!  WONDERFUL Spam!!  ^_^