Quick notes interspersed.

--- Ukyou Kuonji <ucchans@ameritech.net> wrote:

Or not.  As we check in and attempt to get settled, he's acting

pretty UNsettled himself: swinging on the luggage cart, knocking on
the connecting door to the adjacent room (thankfully, no one was in
at the time - he'd gotten way too used to having L-chan in the
other room while we were on vacation), attempting to kiss the girls
in costumes, 

Believe me, if I thought I could get away with it...

We were worried that we wouldn't make it to the con in time for
opening ceremonies; what with washing and chopping up so many
vegetables beforehand (and in the car), we got a really slow start
on travel.  But we needn't have worried: while several panels *did*
take place before our arrival,

     The very first one was on Voice Acting, with Tiffany Grant
(Asuka of Evangelion.)  Fun, but no advice I hadn't heard before.

 In a similar vein, mention is made of a

proposal for a Minneapolis-based convention, which is welcomed by
the staff.  At this point, something like that would not be so much
competition as a pressure release valve, I imagine.

Probably wouldn't involve a seven-hour bus ride for me either. 
(Which I had to pay for twice when someone swiped my totebag and
tickets.)  I'm all for it.

During this period I was watching the music video competition, which
was won by a really good Slayers video lip-synching to "The Bandit's
Lament".  "I don't know.  I don't know!  I don't know where I'm gonna
go, when the volcano starts to blow!"

While James-sempai places the order, I head downstairs to see if
Scott's actually shown up and registed yet.  From there, I might
get directions as to where he may have gone.  Oddly enough, he
arrives at the desk at the same time I do, sleeping bag and
rucksack in tow.  Did he just arrive?  No, he's just been dragging
them around while he's hung out in the viewing rooms (you can watch
videos at an anime con?  I can't tell ya how long it's been since I
have).  Offering my profuse apologies, I show him up to the room. 
He offers a present, a stuffed alien cat, to Dan-chan for
ostensibly displacing him from the couch.  Well, he probably would
have slept in our bed, anyway, but I accept it on his behalf for
the moment.

It's an "aisha" from the Neopets website.  http://www.neopets.com 
Sorta a virtual pet thing.  Merchandise can be found at Limited Too
stores across the nation, if you can ignore the fact that every other
customer is a twelve year old girl.

We watch a few music videos and chat about Scott's latest sidestory
to Ma Vie Et Roses (he's still waiting for SOME response from his
partner, Scott Johnson, before proceeding on the *main* story)

Soon, I hope.

Took in a couple of episodes of Kaze no Yojimbo, about a drifter
hired to protect a hotel.  Looks very good, but the episodes ended
just as the mystery got fascinating.

And it's a weird one, which, given that it's Gainax, should

probably be expected by now.  They have a knack for series that
leave you wondering a) what were they smoking when they came up
with this, and b) where do I get my hands on some of it?  It's
thick with cultural references, a little bit of Shinto mysticism,
and a lot of in-jokes.  I half expect the kids, upon arriving in
yet another warped version of their rundown Osaka backstreet
shopping district, to let out with a Sam Beckettesque "Oh, boy..."

     More episodes ran on Sunday; it gets a bit more serious in tone,
though not quite as spectacularly as, say, Trigun.

You'd be dead wrong.  I'm a little embarrassed that Scott has to

see this, and I'm certainly not going into details about what we
had to do to get Dan-chan to bed, but suffice to say, it wasn't
pretty.

Actually, I turned the other direction, closed my eyes, and hummed.
 

While Konatsu and Dan-chan head to the car to retreive a few toys
Dan-chan left there (mykunoichi noticed them missing last night,
and hoped it would go unnoticed.  Is was too much to hope for),
Scott returns from breakfasting in the con suite, and we return to
talking about his latest works.  Besides Ma Vie Et Le Femme, he's
working on a few Harry Potter fics, including on where he discovers
a mentor in, of all people, a Dr. Jones - that's right, a
ninety-year-old Indy bridges the gap between the muggle and the
nagical.  In another, DracA Malfoy (a female version of Draco) has
a bad day, as Crabb and Goyle discover the differences between boys
and girls, among other things.

Not that you folks will see those here.

Scott eventually heads out for a panel,

"Women in Manga and Comics" with Lea Hernandez  (I picked up an
autographed set of the first six "Silky Warrior Tansie" comics from
her later.)  Utena is voted "Favorite Strong Female Character in
Anime" and I got points for correctly remembering the plot and themes
of "Princess Knight."

Continuing in a similar vein, they talk about self-promotion, which
amateurs like myself might consider overly egotistical, but needs
to be done if one is to even try to make money in the business. 
Scott speaks about the importance of schmoozing, and how many jobs
were through friendly contacts with editors here and there.  

Especially before they were editors!

  Scott also

states that the FFML has done well by him, although he has his own
ML and subscribes to several more specialized ones as well. 

For example, a Harry Potter list for mature writers only.

 Went to see a fun show entitled "Pita Ten."  A warm & fuzzy show
about the world's most incompetent angel coming to live next door. 
"How to Bake a Delicious Apple Pie" was a classic episode.

Coincidentally, Scott shows up shortly thereafter.  He's just come
back from the dealers' room, where he's actually found someone
selling Japanese import CDs, rather than the Chinese pirated stuff.
 He relates with slight wonder about a dealer back home in
Minneapolis who refuses to stock the genuine imports because "that
would be illegal."  And pirated copies aren't?

Something about the regions, supposedly.

Scott also mentions a fandubbing panel he attended, including a
group in his area that's hurting for male voice actors.  After
talking with them, he may have landed a role in a project of
theirs.  But don't hold your breath waiting for him voice acting
debut; he seems to think the actual likelihood of anything
happening is pretty slim.

Verssen Werks.  And no word from them yet.

***

The RightStuf Premiere turns out to be an amazingly generic giant
robot show which has T&A so overt as to be yawnworthy.

Magic-Users' Club, immediately afterwards, is better, but they're
playing the dub.

Then it's off to the rebroadcast room to get good seats for the
masquerade.

.  A Drunken Mage appears and gives the answer
that at least makes the audience happy: "Booze!" 

A Drunken Black Mage, from various Final Fantasy games.

Somewhere along the line, Konatsu leaves (probably to seek out
Dan-chan in the consuite - at least the boy is *predictable* as far
as his disappearances go) and Scott returns from his forays in the
screening rooms.  His droll descriptions of Mahou Yuugi and Dragon
Drive are quite amusing, but I'll wager his descriptions are more
entertaining than the actual shows. 

Mahou Yuugi:  Magical girls fight, sometimes lethally, to become top
witch.  Most excellent.  I mean, magical girl police?


Dragon Drive:  Yet another "pet fighting" anime.  In this case it's
dragons in virtual reality.  Cute, but nothing you can't miss.

Overman King Gainer:  Generic giant robots, less T&A, but it does
have an idol singer.  More watchable than the RightStuf one.

Yukikaze:  Fighter pilot takes on aliens with craft that may have
attained sentience.  "Action" only in the most basic sense of the
word.  I kept thinking, "this *has* to be over soon, surely it's been
half an hour."


 
 He also mentions a

magical-girl show in which stock trasformation sequences once took
up 22 of the thirty minutes of a show before the animators figured
the audience wouldn't let them get away with that, and began
abbreviating them.

Actually it was a kiddie giant robot show, "Invincible Raijin-Oh"
from the early 90s.

Last thing I got to see is "Witch Hunter Robin", about a government
agency that hunts witches, with the aid of "tame" witch Robin.  Very
stylish.

The fellow's been to twelve anime cons already this year - that
more than I've gone to in my entire otaku career!  His next stop is
a new one for him - a 'furry' convention - and he's a bit scared. 
Granted, these people are willing to spend money like water: $35 a
yard for costume fur that you could get at JoAnn Fabrics for a
third of that price.  But these guys are serious fetishists, and
he's just a little leery of dealing with people whose biggest
fantasy is to make it with a catgirl or what-have-you.

Or make it *as* a cat-girl.

Sadly, the art room was late opening up for the sale of leftover art,
so I'll never know if I won that one piece...as it was, the taxi
barely got me to the bus station on time.  "Be there 45 minutes ahead
of schedule, or you're not boarding."

Best buy for me of the dealers' room:  A large plushie Majokko Doremi
for only $5.

Enjoy,
SKJAM!

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