From: "Christopher Angel" <c_j_angel@hotmail.com>
<mailto:c_j_angel@hotmail.com>
Message-ID:
<000301bdcf0e$652bc120$d23b7018@cr458782-a.rchrd1.on.wave.home.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 23:22:16 -0400
Well, I'm back from my first anime con, and since I've seen loads of other
people write these, I thought I would too.
First of all, I'd like to say it was a decidedly mixed experience. I
really
feel that my money was NOT well spent in going to this con. Colin, my
con-going sidekick, agreed with me.
THEN we had the General Fanfiction panel. That was where I discovered
(much
to my shock) the ammount of um...fame?...notoriety?...I have among fanfic
readers. One guy actually said to me: "You're no Biles, Davies, or Lawson,
but you do good work." That was a kick, but not as much as meeting Bert
Van
Vilet. He showed up for Saturday only, and sat in on the two panels I was
on...more on that later. However, I'd just like to say meeting Bert was
the
HIGH POINT of the whole experience. The panel was disappointingly
unfocussed, but we managed to touch on some fun topics. For some reason,
people kept on eyeing my bokken suspiciously, though.
Moderation would certainly have been nice.. but I think that part of the
problem may have been because of the cramped space...<shrugs>
<snip>
Sunday
------
Checked out of our rooms, and wandered over to the con again. Watched a
panel on Disney and Miyazaki - John Demita was there again. From what he
and the others said about the deal between Disney and Miyazaki, I was left
with the impression that it would be a more or less good deal...I still
hope
they bring out subs though.
Finally, we had my last panel...on Sailor Moon fanfiction. THAT was a
disaster! 3/5 of the panel were part of this one SM group, and they
essentially dominated the panel with self-plugs and telling us all about
THEIR works. THe rather roudy set in the front row didn't help either. I
gave up about 15 mins in on getting anything done, and was happy to leave
when I could.
<sigh> Hmmm... considering that I was sitting on the bank of vents, I guess
that
I was part of the audience. If you had stayed after the 'rowdy' set left at
5, you would have had a much calmer discussion. The SM Fic discussion
didn't
end until 6:30. We covered a lot more topics after 5 including, SI-fics,
epic fics, different authors and their fic styles as well as general SM fic
discussion. It was probably a better discussion (after the end of the
alloted time)
than during. I will agree with the fact that the Fan Friction group did
dominate the panel for the time that they were there... but <shrugs>.
There is discussion of a possible third track for the next AN99 -- an entire
track devoted only to fanfic panels. Something along that line would
certainly
make moderation much easier. Considering I went to both days, asked my
questions
to the fic panels, got answers and then wandered off to the dealers room
because
I was really there for the fic discussions.
Epilogue
--------
As I said, I really feel my money was wasted. I think the panels could
have
used an acutal moderator, instead of just being free-form the way they
were.
I also felt that things were planned poorly - damnit, I never got a chance
to see Fred Perry!
Lovely man, Perry was there for the Anime and Manga in History (?) -- the
11-12
discussion on Saturday, as well, he -was- giving a speech down in the video
room on Saturday, signing pictures on Sunday...
Helen