This will likely be my last post to the FFML.  I actually unsubbed a
couple of days ago, but resubbed just to send this.  Because I had
promises to keep.  :)

This is a journal of my personal experiences at Anime Central.  Don't
read it as a comprehensive review of ACen; I didn't see enough of the
con to do that.

I left Minneapolis at about 7:45am.  I drove with fellow TCAAMS members
Mark, Anna, and Jason.  We listened to a portable CD player hanging from
the ceiling of the van by bungee cords.  Had some pleasant conversations
on the way.

Got in almost exactly at 2:00pm.  The hotel was laid out like a map from
Dungeons & Dragons; our hotel room was about three feet from the
entrance to the Abyss.  I showered.

Wandered into the con area.  The first thing I noticed was that all the
staff were wearing headsets connected to walkie-talkies.  Like, that's
so Secret Service.  The registration desk had several networked
computers.  Like, that's so geeky.

After getting my badge, I hit the dealer's room.  This was a *vast*
improvement over last year, which was quite cramped.  Lots of room, lots
of merchandise.  I bought some Macross figurines.  I considered an Anthy
figurine, but it was a bit... bleached.  I wonder if the dark-skinned
Anthy of the anime wasn't marketable in Japan.  Saw a dress-up Rei doll.
Made us wonder which otaku actually used the dresses.

I especially wanted to see what the DVD situation was like.  Not a lot
for sale yet.  I did find some Evangelion DVD's.  Man, they were
expensive.  I ended up spending $70 for the Eva movies on DVD.  No
English subtitles, of course.  At least I can order some fansubs with a
relatively clear conscience.  :)

I went to the lobby and met Nick Leifker, Lara Bartram, Bridget, Jamie,
and Rachel Wilde, Sean Gaffney, and Zen.  They were all waiting to check
in.  Nick saw Zen and actually jumped into his arms, nearly getting
impaled by a battle spatula in the process.  (No joke)

Talked with them for a while, having just a wonderful time.  Sean made
it a point to say "I am not whipped" despite doing anything Lara asked
him to do.

They decided to store their stuff in my hotel room while waiting for
check-in time.  Random motherly advice as we hiked to the edge of the
Abyss:  "Rachel, don't cough and then hold someone's hand."  Rachel and
I spent a few minutes playing with my Macross figurines.  Rachel noticed
that while Minmei and Misa have their knees together, Claudia does not.

Back to the dealer's room.  I helped Lara find a Ranma CD.  Then I went
to the AD Vision panel with Mark.  It was mostly Amanda Winn-Lee
talking.  She mentioned that voice acting is definitely a labor of
love - it definitely doesn't pay the rent.  She also talked about Scott
ad-libbing Shinji's voice at the end of the last Eva episode:  "Is that
it?  That's no way to end a series.  Oh, here's the music.  Is that
really there is?"  Amanda went on to mention that voice acting is *so*
much fun.

I left to go see "Macross Flashback 2012", something I've always wanted
to see.  Despite having the latest version of the video schedule, I went
to the viewing room to see that it had been scratched off and replaced
with something else.  I was extremely disappointed.  This was, alas, not
an isolated episode; all weekend long last-minute changes were being
made.  And no one had any clue what was playing after midnight Saturday,
since no schedule was posted until Sunday morning.  Very poorly
organized.

Anyway, back to the hotel room to allow people to get their stuff out.
Nick showed me the model of Priss we had commissioned for Jeanne, in
thanks for her help in tabulating the results of the fanfic awards Nick
and I used to run.  It was very nice.  Lara and Sean demonstrated
different methods of shoe-tying, too.

At one point, Sean commented, "Isn't Richard one of those people you
could cover with maple syrup and eat all day long?"

I should mention that I've published diaries for every con I've gone to,
so everyone knew what I was doing when I kept scribbling into my
notepad.  This became quite the focus of attention several times.

Zen demonstrated the effectiveness of the battlespat by spanking Sean; I
could *feel* the shockwave.  Zen also spent $600 on Maze LD's,
commenting several times "I am so dead."  Evidently he wasn't looking
forward to explaining the purchase to his wife.

Travis Butler brought his Powerbook along and showed us a Japanese-made
parody called "Kodomo no Eva".  Hilarious.  He also presented me with a
nice picture of Aeris(th) that he'd printed on very nice paper.

We went to the art show.  Not much, but I did see a nice picture of Nuku
Nuku.  I made a bid, hoping I would be the only one to do so.

Many fanfic authors began to congregate in the hopes of going to dinner
somewhere.  While we were all milling about, Sean and Rachel began
chasing each other all about.  They both seemed to be having a lot of
fun.

Nick and I took the opportunity to present Jeanne with her Priss
figurine.  This earned each of us a hug.

The fanfic dinner was held at Denny's and was very nice.  *Lots* of
people were there.  The food was good and the servers did a good job.
Props to Denny's for a well-managed event.  :)

Afterwards, we went back to the con.  Nothing much seemed to be going
on.  Lara, Sean, and I passed the hotel bar.  We looked in and decided
to sit down.  The con had come down to this:  "We're ordering!"  First
round was on me; I bought Lara a Sloe Screw, Sean a rum thingy, and
myself a Diet Coke.

Random topics of conversation:  Kinky's Delievery Service, Kasumi's
Little Helper, Elmer Fudd saying "You SWUT you", the Portland-Utah
basketball game on TV (I'm a big sports fan, and Portland's my favorite
team.  Portland lost.), "I just had this image of Tenchi and Winnie the
Pooh having breakfast together.", "You're slipping Genma the tongue?!",
and, last but not least, Lara kicking me.

Others came and went during the time we spent in the bar, including John
Biles.  I swear to God, Sean and John look and talk and act almost
exactly alike.  Separated at birth is my theory.

Oh, and by the way:  John Biles *is* Jeff Lawrence.

Zen made the decision that Lara and Sean would sleep together.  Sean
looked somewhere between terribly excited and terribly nervous.

Bedtime.

Next morning:  showered, shaved, had breakfast with Mark, Nick, Sean,
and Lara.

Went to Anime Online panel.  This was boring so I left and went back to
the hotel room Sean, Lara, and Zen were sharing with others.  Nick was
offered a place in the bed between Sean and Lara.

I made an origami frog which provided many seconds of entertainment.
Went back to the dealer's room, passing a *very* long registration line.
I looked for, and found, more DVD's, but nothing I wanted.

Finally I went to the fanfic panel.

This was the first con I'd gone to where I wasn't on the fanfic panel
(with the exception of AnimeIowa 97, which had no fanfic panel).  I
deliberately made no effort to be on the panel, since I wanted to be the
one asking the questions for once.  The room was very crowded, spouting
many famous authors in the audience as well as the panel.

Ryan Matthews headed the panel again.  He introduced Bert Van Vliet, aka
Skyknight.  Jamie Wilde.  Bridget Wilde.  Nicholas Leifker.  Jeanne
Hedge.  Zen.  A very strong panel.  Many topics were discussed.

On Comments and Criticism:  Nick:  "Do no harm."  MST's were discussed,
with the consensus that too many are about themselves, not about the
stories.

Oh whether marriage helps collaboration (Bridget and Jamie handled this
one):  Not much in the way of collaboration happens, but a spouse makes
a convenient sounding board.  Jamie does excellent C&C work of Bridget's
work, too.

At this point, Lara grabbed my notebook out of my hand and scribbled in
it.

[Lara writes]

There's an idiot in the audience promoting himself to no end.  Shut up!

[Richard takes the notebook back]

On the Reunions multi-author fic:  It's dead.

On co-authoring:  Jeanne:  "Check your ego at the door."  Nick:  "It
takes infinite patience."

On Self-inserts:  Basically, don't care whether there are people who
hate the genre, and ignore the flames.

Jeanne brought up the subject of characterization in fanfics.  She noted
that many people stretched characterization to the point that the
characters are unrecognizable.  Nick said that characters are sometimes
seen very differently by different people.  Jamie also noted that anime
Akane and manga Akane are very different, perhaps accounting for the
very different interpretations of her character.

This all lead to the observation that Ranma fanfic has developed into
its own genre, separate from the source material, be it manga or anime.

The panel was asked which of the new anime and manga series being
released will have fanfics written about them.  Bridget announced, "No
Pokemon!"  The audience cheered and clapped.  The panel listed Battle
Athletes, Escaflowne, Utena, Silent Moebius, and Saber Marionette J as
possible sources of future fanfic.

That was the end of the fanfic panel.

[Lara takes over]

Richard is doing perverse things with this pen and notebook.  Prude?
Yeah, right.

He was also dumb enough to leave them with us so we can write whatever
we want in it.

Ryoga and Angela Lansbury lemon.  You sick puppy, you.

Don't throw this away, Richard.  This all has to go in the diary.  Like
lots of Sasami lemons involving Ryo-oh-ki and carrots.

Lots of looking at semi-schedules.  Now we're going to Yaohan's, a
Japanese supermarket/bookstore/restaurant.

Nick, Travis, Sean, and Richard all participate in homo-erotic
asphyxiation.  Right in the middle of the lobby, too.

Richard is a stubborn nit.  He won't even ask for this back.  Claims
he's not whipped... guess he's not, but then he's not getting this back,
either.  He *must* ask nicely.  It's not like there's anything going on
to write down, but I'm still finding stuff to scribble down.

There's a mob waiting for the music videos.  Electric cattle prods,
smelly otaku, and a large security guard.

Zen is playing the innocent.  He really *does* like Akane.

Damn Nazi line police.

Ah, the beginning of a new harem.  Who needs Mike?  To Richard and Sean:
"I don't save it just for him."

[Richard finally wrests the notebook back from Lara]

Ahem.  Now on to the music video showing.

Mostly it wasn't so good.  Some neat concepts, but not well executed for
the most part.  I walked out towards the end, when they showed the
*really* boring videos.

Sean and Lara evidently spent the night fighting over blankets.

I paid the con suite a visit; it was well-stocked with pop, chips,
M&M's, and the makings of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

We went on to the cosplay.  We didn't bother waiting in line, only
wandering in after everyone else had meandered inside.  We didn't sit
down, just stood up in the back.  I actually had a pretty good view from
there.  I watched the cosplay with Paul Corrigan, who is one of the
fastest-talking people I know - I always had to replay what he'd said in
my head to make sense of it.

The cosplay started with a non-competing entry:  a *large* man in a
Sailor Moon outfit.  He lit a cigar with his moon scepter, and then used
the scepter to, er, scratch an itch.  Quite funny.

Highlights from the cosplay:  a very nice Gally, a good Lina Inverse,
Miaka, an eight-year-old Super Sailor S (who stayed on stage for only a
second and had to be called back on stage by the enthusiastic calling of
the audience), Aerith (I especially liked this one), Sailor Uranus, Rei
and Asuka in plug suits, and Zoicite.  There was a moderately humorous
skit with Ruroni, Ryoga, Kuno, Aoshi, and Tottsan.  Tamahome appeared
and auctioned off various anime women for money.  Wrestling is invading
anime, too: the NOW played a part in two separate skits.

Midway through the cosplay, the Master of Ceremonies told one Amanda
Winn-Lee (one of the judges), "Amanda, be good."  Amanda responded,
"Baby, I'm *always* good."

The last entry was last year's best of show in a new costume.  A giant
Pen-pen came on stage and danced to a song from the chef on South Park.
Halfway through the dance, Amanda Winn-Lee jumped on stage, shrugged out
of her shirt in one easy, fluid movement, and danced with him, her bra
leaving little to the imagination.  The audience, of course, went nuts.
I personally said "Oh my God!" several times in a row.  :)  When all was
said and done, Pen-pen got a standing ovation.

I left before the judging was completed so I could see Castle of
Castigliorno, the Lupin III movie by Miyazaki.  Despite being on the
most recent schedule, it too was cancelled at the last moment.  Again, I
was quite angry.

I ended up going to McDonald's with Lara and Sean while they talked
about the hours they'd spent translating hentai doujinishi.  This
including translating the sound effects.  "patpatpatpatpat" indeed.

Lara means never having to say you're sorry.

Sean said "Nah, woman!" and poked Lara.

We went back to Zen's room and watched some raw Japanese tapes of some
new anime.  It was a mix of traditional animation and CGI stuff.  It
didn't work well at all.  I went to my room and went to bed.

Next morning I went back to the dealer's room.  I eyed the Nuku Nuku
Dash OAV laserdiscs despite not owning an LD player.

[Lara takes over]

Does he have a Nuku Nuku green hair fetish.  Is that her *natural*
color?

[Richard takes the notepad back]

I eventually buy the LD and give it to Zen, with the understanding that
he'll make copies on VHS for me.

At noon I go to the Art Show.  I'm the only one who bid on the Nuku Nuku
drawing.  Expecting to buy it, I go up to the desk only to find that
they've decided to put *all* of the items on auction, regardless of the
fact that I was the only one who bid on it.  This made me extremely
angry, especially since I wasn't going to stay long enough to
participate in the auction.  Damn it all anyway, it just wasn't *fair*.
I sure hope *someone* bid on the piece, or else the con's actions were
unfair to the artist as well.

We went to go see Sean off, which prompted a mass shouting of "Joe!"

I went back to the dealer's room, realizing I hadn't purchased any CD's.
I finally bought an Utena boxed set.

Back to the lobby, and an extended conversation with Bridget and Jamie
and Rachel and Lara and Nick and Travis and others.

[Lara grabs the notebook]

Travis talks about plasma balls.

[Richard grabs it back]

Anna joined us and showed us the cels she'd purchased.

At 1:40pm, the fire alarm went off.  The con staff ran towards the
dealer room at a dead run - a bit of an overreaction, in my opinion.

[Lara takes the notebook away]

And now a lame fire alarm and I have to go to the bathroom.  This sucks.

[Richard reclaims the notebook]

At 1:50pm we were allowed back in; false alarm.

[Mercutio asks for and receives the notebook]

Someone besides Lara HAS to write in this, might as well be me.

[Richard gets the notebook back]

At 2pm, I left, after being given a very nice picture of Shampoo, drawn
by Bridget on the spot.

Anime Central 99 was my most enjoyable con so far.  Not so much for the
programming, which was a little sub-par in my opinion.  Rather the
people; never have I had so many friends to talk with and so much to
talk about it.  I really had a blast talking with all the different
people; I look forward to more at A-kon.

-Richard
May 5, 1999