Monday, September 4, 2006

   Anime Evolution 2006: Day Two
Been an extra week since the con'. Let's test that ol' memory o' mine!


Once again, woke up extra early, got dressed, got gelled, and got the hell out of the house before anyone else could wake up and see me (again, I'm lame like that). My legs were still kinda sore and my feet were definitely on the road to being torn up to all kinds of hell . . . I was a little more excited today, though, because today was the Shinsengumi/PMK photo shoot! For the most part, my work buddy and another guy from the con' were all still there from the night before since they were volunteers and were running some of the 24/7 video rooms. Oh yeah, my buddy from work was "Icecore" and is the guy standing next to me in the video most of the time; "Weenog" is the other guy (in the video he's the other guy wearing black hakama in the middle of the group).

Once I got to the campus at around 9am or 8:30 or something like that, I found "Weenog" pretty fast sitting outside a video room. We got together and talked about how tired we were - him more so, as he had been at about the 25 hours awake mark at that point. That's when I leaned back against a table and splayed across it - then "Weenog" told me I was lying on a coffee spill. I was a little miffed about that - luckily I was able to wipe most of it out with wet paper towel . . . still though, damn.

"Icecore" found us a little while later. He mentioned how he still had all his extra accessories in his car like his forehead protector, his swords, and stuff like that. So I went with him to his car as he did that - upon coming back, we found another Shinsengumi guy who was just waiting for the photo shoot as well - he was "Kawatori", the one in the video who got stabbed and fell. "Kawatori" actually mentioned that he didn't have time to really make a headband or anything, so "Icecore" offered to grab some of his extra ones (he had like, six of them. A lot were his prototype headbands). So again, he went to his car and back - he grabbed all of 'em, though, "just in case".

At about 9:30 (half an hour 'til the official shoot), we headed up to the stairs/pond area that's in all the pictures of the con if you look up any photos from AE. So there was "Kawatori", "Weenog", "Icecore" and myself all walking up some side stairs and walking slowly towards the small group of cosplayers and stuff who were already just hanging out at the stairs - really, that area became a sort of "lounging" area for the convention-goers at AE. I mean, stairs to sit on with a good view of the main Convocation Mall where all the big events were taking place, a grassy area at the top with a pond . . . it was nice. What's important, though, was that the four of us were all walking side by side, very very slowly. From what people later told us, four uniformed Shinsengumi walking a la "The Right Stuff" was quite badass.

Slowly the rest came as well. Along with the four of us (of which I was the only real "character" from something), there was that "Claire" girl, "Hijikata", "Souji", and "Suzu". As it turned out, our photoshoot was pretty short since really, no that many people are THAT interested in getting pictures of a PMK photo shoot. There's some good ones out there, though . . . . . in any case, other than the PMK group, I ran into some other people whom I was really starting to get close with. Again, there were the Hitsugaya and Soifon with whom I was habitually glomping, the girl dressed up as "Saya" from Blood+, and of course, the Byakuya girl (who was the Itachi who instant-glomped me the day before) whom I became very good friends with. So yeah, we all got some pictures taken of us, chatted a bit . . . got video of us walking badass-like and fighting against Saya and Envy (again, a VERY big no no) . . . . . and then while trying to decide what to do next, I suddenly realised something very amusing for us:

There was a Peacemaker Kurogane screening in Video Room 6 at 11am!!!

Clearly we knew what we had to do: we had to storm the screening . . . . .

At 11, those of us who could afford to go headed back into the Quadrangle and made our way outside the video room, plotting our next plan. The showing didn't really start until about 11:30 (delays, they happen), but we had it figured out . . . "Saya" went into the room first and set her camera for video . . . . . the rest of us waited for "You Gonna Feel" to start playing in the opening credits . . .

. . . . . single-file, we the Shinsengumi all walked into the darkened video room, along the right aisle, and across the front of the room under the screen. As we crossed the front, we started looking up at the projection screen:

"Wow, deja vu..."
"Hey, I know this show! It's a good show!"
"I feel like we've done this before..."

We got some good laughs from what little audience was in there . . . something we'll be sure to remedy next year, believe me . . . . . but yeah, afterwards we watched from the left aisle of the room for a bit until we decided to leave. It was fun.


Afterwards, we sat around for a bit, took some more pictures, and chatted while I did some emergency repairs to my left sandal. "Weenog" eventually left to take a nap (he capped out at 27 hours awake straight), and some others left for here or there. Heh . . . "Icecore" basically gave away the rest of his forehead protectors to whomever wanted them. He's pro, you see.

Eventually I saw there was a panel with Alistair Abell (again), Keith Miller, and Cathy Weseluck. I still needed more answers to my "David Kaye vs Scott McNeil" question, so I suggested we go there, whoever wanted to go. So there was myself, "Icecore", "Saya", "Byakuya", and a couple other people and we all went to talk with the voice actors!

Now, if you hadn't noticed, these aren't exactly the glamour names of voice acting. We had a veteran (Weseluck, who was Shampoo and Cybersix), a younger guy (Miller, who was Kuzzey from SEED and Kimihiro from Hikaru no Go), and . . . a lesser known man. Heh . . . of course, what I didn't realise was that Alistair Abell wasn't in the room: it was Trevor Devall (Mu La Flaga from SEED) who was just kinda there just because. Anyways, Cathy saw the outfits, asked what we were from, I answered "Peacemaker" while we sat down at the front of an otherwise pretty sparse room. A shame . . .

On the other hand, Alistair DID show up late, and at some funny point Vic Mignogna came in and sat behind us, also to chat with the voice actors - he didn't detract too much, luckily, and we all had fun.

Being that it was a pretty quiet question period, I asked a lot of questions - many of which were slightly nonsensical. Here's my findings:
-Upon just hearing the word "hypothetically", Alistair started cracking up (he heard the question yesterday).
--Again, David Kaye wins the hypothetical fight in a landslide - seems as well as being a kickboxer, he's also a bit of a health nut. Y'know "chicken breasts" and stuff.
-Keith Miller would have chosen "Magic" in a new game of "Kingdom Hearts". Incidentally, he was in the exact same seat as Alistair yesterday (who also chose magic).
-Trevor Devall considers himself an "Elvis" man rather than a "Beatles" man - everyone else was Beatles.
-Everyone likes black leather over brown.
-Alistair and Trevor like Thundercats over the old He-Man.

Of extra importance: if you go to Cathy Weseluck's entry at imdb.com, you'll read some bio info saying she initially refused to play Cybersix until she learned it was only 13 episodes. This is bunk. Total bunk. Cathy is not that kind of a person and I believe her. And so should you. Savvy?

After the panel, I turned around to say something quick to Vic Mignogna; that's when he asked me to say hi to Panda for him.


After the Keith/Cathy/Alistair/Trevor panel, it was about 2pm. My "Byakuya" friend along with the others wanted to check out the dealer's room; I had originally planned to go watch the Cosplay Contest, but I ended up going there instead. So yeah, I bought some music: "Chrono Trigger OST" and the Final Fantasy "20020220" album. Then we got some bubble tea. Heh . . . the rest of this part of the day is a bit blurry to me. I think I probably went back to the stairs/pond area to just play around some more. Heh . . . suddenly I saw this group of guys with boffer swords and leather/padded armour walk to an empty spot on the grass - I HAD thought that they were congoers . . . . . but then they started whacking the hell out of each other with their padded swords!

Turns out they were part of some LARP group or something - I talked with them a bit, about what they do, where they do it, whether security had issues with them at all (they hadn't, since they apparently come to SFU to beat on each other often and aren't official congoers). So that was exciting - I got a picture of 'em (THEY were badass!).

Actually, maybe we went to the dealer's room after we hung at the stairs/grass first . . . . . well, in any case, we went back to the stairs after going through Artists' Alley for a bit. We took more pictures, chilled some more, listened to "Anime Idol" from afar . . . . . it's funny, last year I spent a lot of the con going to the "informative" panels and stuff. This year, I was just chilling with cosplayers a whole lot . . . go fig', I guess.

At about 5-6pm, some of the people were either heading home, catching buses, or what have you. By this point I had totally lost "Icecore" and them as they were running around doing their volunteer work. Thus, I chilled with "Byakuya" and company, being that they were so kind to chill with the Shinsengumi prior. So yeah, we walked people to buses, hugged goodbye for the day, y'know . . . . .

I then walked with "Byakuya" and "Axel" back to the townhouse complex where they were staying for the con. Heh . . . by this point my sandals were on the verge of completely disintegrating and my legs were killing me. But yeah, the other two wanted to shower and change and stuff before the dance/rave at nine; I had originally just planned to walk with them there and then go back, but I ended up just chilling on a couch at "Byakuya's" townhouse, lying half-asleep or fixing my sandals.

After she changed and stuff, we headed out to find "Axel" at his royally stuffed townhouse (I think it was like, a dozen people in there). So yeah, we headed back to the main campus - we walked by Vic Mignogna and his entourage, who were heading TOWARDS the townhouses - I hugged some random girl who was tallying hugs for the day, and . . . . . then my sandals completely exploded on me. So yeah, the three of us walked to my car (which was on the way), I took off my Shinsengumi haori, sandals AND my socks, and the other dropped purses or other bits into my trunk.

Since it was basically a whole day without eating or drinking much, we went to a little coffee place nearby to get some nutrition . . . then I stepped in something sticky. Ah well . . . . .

Ran into "Icecore" still in kimono but without the haori as we went by, he told me where I could find him, and we kept going towards the dance (in the big outdoor area). Well, "Axel" was completely ready for the dance and was already hitting some . . . . funny, hand movement thingies. "Byakuya" was . . . less inclined to dance at the moment, and was still pretty self-conscious about the whole thing. Well, as the dance really started getting into the groove of things, "Axel" and I - being the jerks we were - physically picked her up and took her out onto the floor.

"Axel" went off to rave and glowstick it up, and "Byakuya" and I just relaxed, doing our own thing in our own spot on the floor. It was just fine. Sure, my legs were in total pain, but meh . . . it's not often you get to dance in a group to Naruto, Bleach, and Initial D themes . . . heh, not to mention the dance mix of "YATTA!" (yeah, that amused me).


Midnight hit, and all the minors had to get off the campus. Heh . . . yeah, "Byakuya" was a minor, so I drove her back to her townhouse (though I got lost along the way). Ahem . . . . . now at this point we all come to an understanding that yes, I spent an evening walking and dancing with a minor. Yes, I'm a horrible, dirty person . . . but meh, she's neat and was a great new friend to make.

I came back to campus quickly to watch "Seven Swords" at 1am (it's a Chinese movie, very epic, lotsa blood, very cool). Obviously I was drifting now and then as the energy drink I had before the movie started dying out. Buuut I made it through . . . . . heh, and then I limped back to my car.


Yeah, my legs were completely shot. My calf was sore from all the walking and dancing, so resting on the balls of my feet hurt; in contrast, the skin of my heel was all torn up from walking around in poor support and stuff, so resting on my heel also hurt. It was a neat feeling to limp like that, made for a good story. Then I went home, showered the red hair glue out of my head, and went to bed at about 4am for maybe 4-5 hours until the next and last day . . .



. . . . . . y'know what's really good about Day two, though? I took some pictures, finally!!!

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/emonkataren/AE%202006/Day%202/
(Photobucket got screwy, so they're all out of order now. Sorry. Anyways, here's some good pics:

Hitsugaya and Soifon, the impulsive glompers.
My new friend "Byakuya"
"Byakuya" getting those hair things out of her hair.
I love this pic: "Schoolgirl Rukia" and "Deathrow Rukia" stare at a ghostly image of their sister across the water . . .
Sense of the grassy area above the stairs
It's motherfuckin' Snaaaake!
The end result of my sandals.


Day three . . . . . at some point soon, I hope!


(And yes, the site's been on the fritz lately. Everyone wish theO's team tons of luck and stuff.)
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Friday, September 1, 2006

   The story . . .
First off, some explanations:
-No, those are not real swords; they're either homemade, plastic, or wooden. Most cons have rules against actual metal swords. It's bad enough that we were "fighting" with our not quite real ones, really.
-It feels good to be at an anime convention. You make close friends very fast based solely on what they're wearing.
-Yes, I was in there. "I'm the one on the far right for pretty much all the video" (August 28th/06). If you still haven't caught that, I'm wearing white hakama. Hakama are pants.
-Man-Faye did not come to Vancouver, no. I think he's mostly a California guy and doesn't travel much. However, there WAS one guy who dressed as Man-Faye . . . may have been a student of him or something.

---------------------------------------------

And now for the story!!


We were just walking along on patrol, as befits our regular duties. At some point someone with a video camera shouted an anti-shogunate slur, to which Shinsengumi member KawatoriShinji deemed it necessary to back them up a bit - not too seriously, mind you, which is why he was still smiling at that point.

We thought it was over by then, and headed towards the pond to make sure there was nothing suspicious about it - it was a very suspicious pond, you see. We never completely made it to the pond, however . . . Icecore, who had recently been learning to harness his inherent NewType abilities, sensed something was amiss behind us . . .

"Choshu da!" he cried out as he ran towards the pond to get into a better defensive position and drew his katana. "Prepare yourselves!"

Weenog, a longtime veteran to the group, was quick to pick up on this warning and immediately turned and drew.
"Here they come," he said, glancing in all directions quickly.

Nagakura 'SomeGuy' Shinpachi took a slightly less serious approach, swinging his sword around in a wide circle.
"I was wondering if we'd get to kill anything today," he commented with a smirk.

Hijikata 'Jai' Toshizo smoothly turned and drew cold steel in fluid technique befitting his position.
"I hope you're ready," he commented over his shoulder to the impulsive Kawatori, "I know you only received your forehead protector this morning, but we're counting on you!"
"I promise," Kawatori replied, "I won't let you down, Hijikata-san!"

In the rear, the mysterious Shinsengumi member known only as Claire took her signature guard and stance.
"And to think I only knew to come here since yesterday," she said, cursing her slow connection to the interworld.

Weenog grinned and wiped his nose slyly while the others dropped themselves fully into their guards.
"Chigau . . . Choshu janai," he said quietly to himself while he steeled his eyes . . .


Within a brilliant flash of light, Shinpachi suddenly found himself blindsided and reeling from an unknown attacker.

"Envy . . . Choshu has a homunculus!" Claire shouted as she dashed forward to block the furious assault; the rest of the squad was quick to rally to her position and fend off the strange, tall creature.

"Urgh . . . chikusho!" Shinpachi grunted, finally coming out of his daze, "he's strong, watch yourselves!"
"Single rank!" Weenog shouted, bringing the squad into a single line to fend off the ferocious yet clearly random attacks.

After being blocked again, the homonculus backed away slowly, yet with a grin spreading across its face. Icecore could only stare in confusion: what was it thinking? The epiphany struck him like a bolt of lightning . . . it wasn't retreating. It was screening their vision from the next attack!
"To the right!" he shouted, quickly bringing his steel up to block a blistering assault from a violent, skirted girl with a blade unlike anything he had ever seen. The entire squad was taken completely off guard by the sudden arrival; something Envy was quick to exploit.

Again with another vicious shout, Envy shot forward and slashed at the Vice-Commander's exposed back. Hijikata turned at the last moment and was able to deflect the majority of the blow's power. It still wasn't enough, however, and he remained stunned with his sword arm drooping and still; Envy took the opportunity to dash past the Vice-Commander and strike at young Kawatori.

If half the squad was defending from immediate attacks, the other half was frozen, still trying to make some sense of the strange and supernatural enemies. It was Kawatori, though, who paid the price for that mistake. He defended as best he could against the unorthodox hopping approach of the homonculus, but it was simply not enough. Envy speared forward with his sword, catching the impulsive Shinsengumi between his ribs. With a gasp as the wind knocked out from his lungs, he collapsed to the ground.

"Kawatori!" Weenog cried out as he watched his comrade fall to the earth. He rushed forward, putting himself between the fallen Kawatori and the black-clad aggressor. "Kisama!" he screamed, charging in with a volley of slashes and pushing Envy back. In that same moment, Shinpachi stood his ground against the unknown female attacker. He saw out the corner of his eye that his friend Icecore was still watching from the back, unsure of which threat to cover.

"Envy's too dangerous!" Shinpachi shouted over his shoulder after blocking another slash. "Everyone focus on him, I'll take care of this one!" Claire was quick to react, and immediately followed up on Weenog's initial dash, pressing the homonculus even further back. Fire burned in her eyes as she worked to keep Envy off balance and avenge her comrade.

Icecore slowly backed over to Kawatori as Shinpachi continued to hold the squad's flank.
"Oi, daijobu desu ka?" He asked the fallen member, never once taking his eyes off the battle.
"Agh . . ." Kawatori mumbled, "ita-ta-ta-ta-ta . . . . . I'll . . . I'll live."
"Good."

Shinpachi, meanwhile, continued parrying the many, many blows from the other warrior.
"Who are you?!" he demanded from her. "Why are you fighting for the Choshu?!"
"You don't know who I am either?!" she shouted as she struck down again. "I'm Saya, damnit! From Blood+!"
Okay, I get it!" Shinpachi snapped back. "But why fight against us?! We're not your enemy!"
"Yes you are!" Saya retorted. "All vampires are my enemies!" Shinpachi slashed down and grunted.
"Choshu's been telling you some crazy lies, then . . . y'know that guy you're fighting with? He doesn't die when you stab him . . ."
"Nani?!" Saya said, shocked at what she was hearing . . . . .


"Weenog! Eyes front!" Hijikata shouted, seeing the veteran glancing too long over at the short-statured Shinpachi guarding tirelessly against the barrage. "Worry about Envy . . . look for an opening!"

The moment he heard the Vice-Commander's words, Weenog saw a perfect opening as Envy blocked upwards at one of Claire's strikes. With zero hesitation he lunged forward and stabbed the homonculus through the heart; Claire once again followed up flawlessy, plunging her steel into her opponent. Both withdrew their swords, and Envy remained still in his spot. Weenog immediately stepped back, sure of a good job; Claire was not so sure . . .



"We're not your enemy," Shinpachi repeated as Saya turned to quickly slash at Icecore, "you have to believe me . . . . ." Saya quickly looked over and saw what should have been a fatally wounded Envy to her right . . . . .


. . . in another surge of energy, Envy leapt at the younger member viciously. Claire would have none of it, however . . . . . with but a deft sidestep and a lightning strike across his front, she tore a gash across the homunculus' stomach.

Envy fell.

He did not stay down, however, and began to stir . . . surprisingly, however, it was Saya who would land the next blow, striking down with both blade and knee. Envy couldn't believe the treachury of it all and quickly rose to his feet enraged.
"Oi! Saya! Nani ya te?!" he screamed out as the entire squad of Shinsengumi - back at full strength - squared off against him.

"You're on your own, Mr. Not-Really-Human!" Saya said with a smirk as she walked away, slightly holding a bruised spot on her hip. "I'm through with you guys . . . . . . I'm joining the 'Gumi next year . . ."


Envy could only snarl and once again leap forward as he was slowly surrounded by blue and white haori . . .

-----------------------------------------


Alright, I'm goin' to work. See ya!
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Thursday, August 31, 2006

   Anime Evolution Day Two . . . . . in a little bit . . .
Here's another teaser post. This is just too badass to not tell right here, right now.

Alright, so at the con', the Shinsengumi/PMK photo shoot was Sunday morning, on the second day. Well, it started with the four guys meeting up randomly in the halls before we all headed to the meeting place together. It just happened that after we all came up these steps along the outside of the building, we were all walking in a single line really slowly . . . and again, we just looked badass.

So, after the main photoshoot bit, someone suggested that we once again do the slow, badass walk but with the whole group - and videotape it! Little did I know, however, that they continued taping well after we did our badass walk . . . . . gotta tell ya, the second half made the video . . .



I wrote a story about it, being me, to fill in the gaps a bit. If you want I can post that later on or something. Now, obviously this video is solid evidence that we broke the rules of the con in that we were basically fighting with our swords and stuff (a very big no no). Soooo . . . we'll see what happens. In any case, I'm the one on the far right for pretty much all the video. Enjoy!
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Monday, August 28, 2006

   Anime Evolution 2006: Day One
Let's get on with this already . . . it's been over a week now!


Being a first-time cosplayer who pretty much hid the entire costume project from the people in the house, I woke up as early as possible that Saturday morning so I could shower, dress, colour/gel my hair and get the hell out of the house before anyone woke up and saw me (I'm lame like that). I had slept for about an hour all night. I got into the car, and hauled ass to the campus of Simon Fraser University, where Anime Evolution is held. By the time I got to the parking lot which the school had allotted to convention goers, I was maybe among the first 10 or 20 cars to park. In any case, I got out of the car, sat down in the trunk of the wagon, and attached nose bandage, forehead protector, and swords. Just as I got out of the parking lot, I became someone's first cosplay photograph.

It was maybe 7:30am or 8:00am by the time I got into the line-up for registration; I seriously need to pre-reg' next year even though the line was just as bad. But yeah, could have been worse. I didn't really chat up with anyone since my friends were still en route to the con' (they had a much further drive than I did) and mostly just stood quietly or leaned against an open door in a lazy attempt to nap or something (yeah, the line went out a door of the building). Once the line finally started moving, I spent my time either figuring out how to comfortably wear swords, posing for really quick pictures (maybe about 3 or so), or just looking around at who else was here so far. So yeah, $40 and a gigantic bag later, I was in and set.

Which, of course, is why I spent the next hour and a half or so just sitting or standing on a set of stairs that lead up the Academic Quadrangle of the school, which was where the majority of the con' took place. I didn't take any pictures even though I totally should have; mostly I was just waiting for my friend from work to arrive. In any case, it was nice to just start to get used to who I was going to get very familiar with for the next three days. I did end up being in a lot of random video pans, though . . . well, two or three, in any case.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FmbqgrUsj4
(7-9 second mark)

Eventually I gave up on that and walked around inside the quad' to maybe find food (again, what happens when you try to get out of the house really fast). It was during these random patrols, however, that I made three of my brand new friends. The first, a girl dressed up as Itachi from "Naruto", saw me and basically freaked out. "Omigod, you're Kenpach-... no, wait! No... oh! Oh! Sh-...Shinpachi!" she finally got out. So yeah, we hugged, chatted a bit - I was boring, though, since I was still tired and hungry, and I felt guilty about that for a bit afterwards. We ended up hanging out a lot during the con', but we'll get more on that later, maybe. The other two were a couple girls dressed up as Soifon and Hitsugaya from "Bleach"; they saw me, excitedly asked if they could hug me (I was still trying to figure out of they were looking at me or not), and then after I gave the go-ahead they both slammed into me simultaneously. These two . . . well, I ended up seeing these two a lot over the weekend. And every time we saw each other, we always went in for the glomp . . . . . gotta tell ya, there's some definitely fun in dressing up for these things . . .

Anyways, buddy arrived at about 10:30 or 11 or so, we hooked up, and . . . I dunno, walked around or something? Noon came around soon enough, though, and opening ceremonies kicked in. They were MC'ed by The 404's, an Alberta-based improv group getting more and more famous on the convention track in Western Canada, parts of Ontario, and even in Seattle at this year's Sakura-Con. They were pretty silly, whapped each other with someone's yaoi-paddle (those things are nuts), and basically introduced us all to what we could expect throughout the con'. They mentioned the guests: a lot of local talent like Alistair Abell (Trunks, Djbril-"Gundam Seed Destiny"), Trevor Devall (Mu La Flaga, Scourge-"Transformers: Energon, Pyro-"X-Men: Evolution"), Michael Dobson (Starscream-"Transformers Armada", Nappa, Dryden-"Escaflowne"), Vic Mignogna (do I really need to answer this one?), Keith Miller (Kuzzey-"Gundam Seed", Kimihiro-"Hikaru no Go"), Kirby Morrow (Miroku, Goku, Trowa, Cyclops), Brad Swaile (Mousse, Quatre, Dearka, Gohan, Nightcrawler), and Cathy Weseluck (Cybersix, Shampoo). And that's just the voice actors!


I lined up for the dealer's room right after the opening ceremonies. We knew it'd be a long-assed line-up for overpriced stuff. Buuuut, we figured we get there early, we can at least see stuff before it's sold out. Not like the line-up was uninteresting, or anything . . . more random chatting with other people, the guy dressed up as Zack from FFVII walked by and shouted "I'm not Cloud!", and we had a quick chat about "Snakes on a Plane" with others. Anyways, the actual dealer's room wasn't that great, but it was nice to learn that this one gaming store is actually homebased in my city!

After we left, my friend left to do some volunteer work, so I went (with another guy) to watch the last half of the Hong Kong "Initial D" movie. It seemed like it could have been alright, except I kept dozing off in the dark lecture theater. Hehe . . . seemed neat, though.

After the movie we went to the Kirby Morrow, Allistair Abell and Scott McNeil voice actor panel; incidentally, Scott McNeil was running late. Thus, I felt it important to ask my one ultra-definitive question which I kept asking all con':

"Before Scott gets here . . . [checks door] . . . hypothetically, who do you think would win in a fight between Scott McNeil and David Kaye?"

Heh, on paper you'd think that'd actually be a pretty interesting fight: Koga vs Sesshomaru, or Wolverine vs . . . well, Professor X . . . . . well, everyone picked David Kaye, being that David Kaye apparently does kickboxing, and the guy who taught him was a bouncer with Alistair one time. But yeah, everyone had fun with that one. Half an hour later, Scott DID arrive finally to the pleasure of everyone. More regular questions here and there, more voice requests . . . then some dude to my right humped me out and asked Scott if he thought he'd win in a fight against David Kaye. Incidentally, even Scott thinks David Kaye would kill him.

My other big question of the con' was, "If you were to start a new Kingdom Hearts game, would you choose strength, defense, or magic?" - this was extra funny because I was actually sitting next to a Sora cosplayer at the time. Anyways, Alistair picked magic because magic is cool, and Scott picked defense because "in real life, I'm a total wuss" or something; I think Kirby dodged the question entirely. But yeah, great panel, lots of fun. I gotta tell ya, it's great to have so many voice actors in your home town.


Oh, and for the record . . . . . "OCEAN STUDIOS IS NOT SOME KIND OF MAGIC PLACE WHERE EVERYONE LIVES AND WORKS TOGETHER WITH PIXIES AND STUFF DANCING AROUND". Heh . . . it's just one studio where people record their stuff - everything is entirely singular and contracted, and the voice recording just happens to be at Ocean. The actors aren't part of some sort of actors' stable: they just happen to work on a lot of the same shows. They all felt this was important to make clear . . . and thus, my article about anime dubs is now incorrect in that one part.


After that, my friends wanted to go check on something or another which I can't remember; I wanted to go to this "Rapier sword fighting Workshop" some fencing academy was putting on, though, so again we split up and did our own things. The actual academy people were running two workshops: rapier and longsword. Now I kinda wish I did rapier, but damn, learning longsword techniques was fun! I was like, doing the motions for them with my bokken all through the rest of the con' . . . so yes, "Academy Duello", look them up, they're cool and one of their top pupils took Arthurian Lit' and Beowulf with me at UBC.

By this point it was coming to the evening . . . and there was a concert by ZZ being put on at the main stage! I didn't know who they were, but they did an opening theme for One Piece, and something else, I think . . . . . in any case, there were too many chairs for the audience - it was a rock concert, you're supposed to be standing! BUt yeah, despite too many chairs, ZZ was awesome. Heh . . . and afterwards, we once again spent time in a long-assed line-up to buy ZZ merchandise and have them autograph it. I tried to be nice, and after they all signed my stuff I said to them "Arigatou! Minna no laibu wa . . . saikou da!" In retrospect, I should have said "kimi-tachi" instead of "minna" to tell them that their concert was "the best" . . . ah well, they knew how I felt.


I think . . . I more or less went home after that. I was hungry, sleepy, and my feet were killing me (crappy home-made sandals). Now obviously there was a ton of stuff that happened that I didn't end up seeing, like Round 1 of the "Anime Walkoff", or the "Anime Chess Game" (I still don't know what that was exactly). There were tons of screening rooms, some workshops for webcomics, yaoi, and voice acting. There was "Anime Idol", the 404s had a show, and at the end there was a dance. Yeah, I missed all of that. I hear it was pretty good, though . . . well, except for the Anime Walkoff, which was nasty the first two days in a row . . . I'll talk about that more later, though.


So yeah, that was Saturday and Day one. And I have no pictures of it at all. I'm sorry. Search around the site's forum if you wanna look around, maybe. You might find some cool outfits:

http://animeevolution.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=25


Hopefully I get to day 2 sooner than later. 'Til then, then!
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Friday, August 25, 2006

   In the meantime . . . . .
I'm gonna try REALLY hard to get an AE post done for tomorrow! Meantimes, I put up my first cosplay gallery ever.



Go check it out, if you please.
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Wednesday, August 23, 2006

   Anime Evolution 2006: The Prologue
I haven't slept nearly enough. My body's in a weird survival mode from not eating, drinking, sleeping, and bathrooming normally for a whole weekend. My feet are kinda ripped up from walking all weekend in both real and fake sandals (how do people wear flip-flops?!) and my calves are ultra-sore; that said, I limp most of the day.

On the other hand, the con' rocked. So here's some brief things I'll just say for now:

-A very strong majority of local voice actors feel that in a hypothetical fight between Scott McNeil (Duo, Kouga, Piccolo, Wolverine) and David Kaye (Treize Kushrenada, Sesshomaru, Megatron, Professor X) . . . David Kaye would win. Scott McNeil himself feels the same way.

-I find it exceedingly weird to not have moving hair; extra so for stiff, coloured hair.

-Vic Mignogna's a funny guy . . . yes, Vic Mignogna came.

-The "Anime Walkoff" - "a male modelling runway battle to the finish" to determine "who will be 'King of Bishounen'" - may very well be the most incredible original event ever created at Anime Evolution.

-My brand new friend whom I met after she glomped me early on day one needs help: next year she more or less wants to do a PMK cosplay (bwahaha), but she's conflicted. Should she cosplay as Souji, as Akesato (the Geisha), or Akesato (the blonde Shinobi)?


Do answer that last one, the decision is driving her nuts! So yeah, NEXT TIME on SOMEGUY Z . . . . . AE 2006, Day One!!!


. . . . . although this photo is technically from Day Three!!!

. . . and go watch "Snakes on a Plane" if you haven't yet!!!
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Saturday, August 19, 2006

   The following post contains excessive coarse language and is not suitable for all ages. Viewer discretion is advised...
[samjackson]


("Yeah, all y'all need to see my new movie...")


Holy fucking hell! I have never had so much fucking fun at the fucking theater in such a long fucking time! I mean, everywhere I went there were all these sorry little motherfuckers at work, online, all over the fucking place talking about how fucking bad this movie looked. I gotta tell ya, this movie fucking rocked so fucking hard! The whole fucking movie was about snakes on a motherfucking plane and it was the craziest, most utterly happiness-inducing motherfucking party at the movies I've ever been to!

I dunno if I've ever mentioned how much fucking fun I had watching fucking "Attack of the Clones" opening night. When Yoda and Count Dooku started doing their crazy shit near the end, the audience was going fucking ballistic. Imagine that kind of fucking geekery but times ten. This is the kind of fucking fun I'm fucking talking about.


Ahright, so you already know you've got Samuel fucking L. Jackson quarterbacking this whole fucking thing. He's the smoothest, suavest motherfucker on the planet right now, you know he's gonna be good. Right off the bat, his very first fucking introduction, he fucking changes history. Y'know that line from The Terminator movies, "Come with me if you want to live"? Motherfucking Jackson ups the ante with "Do as I say, and you'll live." Twenty fucking years of movie quoting, and the motherfucker blows that shit away in one fucking line.


And that's not even the important fucking line of the whole fucking movie! But we'll get to that fucker later . . .

The real fucking surprise here, is that the fucking movie fucks with every fucking prediction you could have ever fucking fucked around with. Some of the people you think are sure goners fucking survive, and some whom you think are safe fucking get bitten and swollen and gross and shit. The movie fucks with your expectations the whole fucking time! It's fucking refreshing, I'll say that.

Anyways, let's really dig into this fucker; it's called Motherfucking Snakes on a Motherfucking Plane for a reason, let's talk about some motherfucking snakes!

I don't think I have ever been as fucking entertained watching those slithering fuckers fuck up so many poor fuckers before. There's a lot of random fuck ups here and there (including some hot nameless girls that just don't make it), but the really important ones are just so fucking brilliant you almost want to fucking cry. [CONSIDER THIS A VERY MINUTE FUCKING SPOILER FOR THE FUCKING PURISTS OUT THERE] By now we've all heard about the fucking young couple . . . well . . . fucking in the airplane bathroom. You know they're fucked long before the snake comes down to fucking kill them . . . and believe me, gratuitous movie nudity was never made so . . . important, before. Basically, you show a fucking boob, you better let a fucking snake do something to that fucking boob. Sammy spilled that one in an interview first, so I hope that didn't fucking ruin too much. [THE FUCKING SPOILERETTE IS OVER. GET BACK TO THE FUCKING REVIEW!] This, of course, doesn't even get into the other poor motherfucker in the other fucking bathroom . . .

As more and more poor fuckers get bitten, gurgle, swell up and fucking drop dead, some others keep on going . . . . . believe me when I fucking tell you that it is some kind of fucking miracle that you seriously fucking care about these motherfuckers! These are all fucking two-dimensional characters, but they do do their fucking stuff to a tee and really make their fucking presence known in the fucking omvie! These motherfuckers aren't just fucking snake food, they're fucking people! And you fucking worry about them because they're actually pretty fucking interesting!

And when all these motherfuckers start fighting some motherfucking snakes, well . . . it's gonna be hard not to hear someone cheer when the fucking kickboxer hits his fucking kickboxer moves to be a hero, when the fucking stewardess starts making some fucking improvised weapons, and when Samuel fucking L. Jackson fucking shoots a fucking snake with a motherfucking speargun . . . . . it's fucking fun. Seriously fuh-king fun.


I mean fucking fun when the fucking audience is cheering and clapping and laughing for every fucking crazy scene or death; when video games suddenly become very fucking important to the fucking storyline; when the shit really hits the fucking fan and everyone fucking gets really fucking serious . . . there's some fucking good drama in here too! But it's all so much fun - I don't think my fucking smile ever left my fucking face, I was having so much fucking fun it wasn't even fucking funny.

And then of course Samuel fucking L. Jackson gets up and fucking says it. It's late into the movie, he's fucking tired, everyone's fucking tired, and he's fucking had it.
"Enough is enough!" he fucking shouts. That's when the rest of the fucking theater started reciting along with the crazy motherfucker:

"I'VE HAD IT WITH THESE MOTHERFUCKING SNAKES ON THIS MOTHERFUCKING PLANE!"

The fucking energy that was fucking released at that point . . . . sends fucking chills down my spine just fucking thinking about it.


This is a fucking movie about fucking snakes on a fucking plane. This ain't no fucking masterpiece and it doesn't pretend to be. It's a fucking ridiculous story, and even more fucking ridiculous fucking idea, and it exists in its own motherfucking dream world. But y'know what? When you dream, you fucking know the rules to your fucking dream world and you play by those fucking rules. And when everyone on both sides of the fucking movie screen follows the rules, you can make some fucking magic.

I'm fucking begging you all. See this fucking movie. See it with all your fucking friends, and see it in a big fucking theater jam packed with as many other fucking people as possible. This isn't a movie experience, it's a fucking THEATER experience . . . it's a fucking party experience! By the time the fucking credits roll (to a neat little fucking music video, might I add), all 'yall are gonna be fucking happy that you went out. I fucking guarantee it.

[/samjackson]


Anime Evolution starts today. I'll try to get some pictures for ya.
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Friday, August 18, 2006

   One day away . . .
It's getting later and later. I'll be very brief.

"Snakes on a Plane" opens today. I'm going to watch it, and so should all of you who can.

Anime convention on Saturday. I am very excited. It also seems that it's not just Ocean Studios people there . . . Vic Mignogna's gonna be there too - very surprising. I'll try to talk some more about that tomorrow or something, though.

I bought a lot of manga a couple days ago. It was nice.

I also ranked #1 in that last caption contest with my Zidane-inspired headbutt news report. This was also nice.
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Wednesday, August 16, 2006

   Back into real-time for a second . . . . .
Well, I'm officially finished my list of people who requested ego strokes. It's been a fun month.

Now, I just got a couple more, plus I feel that I need to do two others just because. But those'll come later, maybe after the weekend. Y'see, I'm still kinda busy with sewing a kimono together . . .


So yeah, lotsa news this past while. The Articles section officially came off the sidebars and stuff, I got to write one last thing that I hope all of you got to read, and . . . I'm just sittin' pretty hoping that theO puts their writer-related projects into work sooner than later.

I've been commenting a lot all over the place about this Articles closing down thing. Aside from those of us who happened to see Adam's blog on the subject two weeks ago (and those whom we told), people are only now really finding out about this thing. Hehe . . . bossman Adam's gettin' quite the earful from all of us these days.

Obviously I wasn't happy about the news, and I was one of the more emotional ones to protest it. In any case, here's my official stance on all of it:

It happened. It sucks all kinds of balls, but it happened. We can either bitch about it for the next year or five, or we can get on with our lives. Adam knows he's upset a bunch of us since, and he knows that it ain't gonna be easy to fix this rift. It'd be naive of us to think otherwise, and constantly reminding him of how hard his latest website decisions have had to be aren't being productive to anyone; he's still got a plan he needs to stick to, and we're all just wasting breath saying otherwise. Now as we all know, I was with this site a year before we were ever able to write articles, meaning that that section had no sway over my choice to join this community. When it did come up, I was obviously happy because now I could submit fan-stuff to the site. In any case, I have no intention of leaving the site over it.

Here's where it gets a little trickier . . . now, Adam said that he was gonna implement articles into myO. This could work. It could also not be very interesting; as someone put it, they don't want articles to just turn into fancy blogging entries. So yeah, it could work, but we'll hafta see. Heh . . . he says if we write something interesting/timely, that we could send it in to the news team which will bring it 10x more exposure than the articles section. I'm still sketchy on how it'd get more exposure, but I'll say this much: I'm pretty much willing to send in every single article I write, so . . . . . yeah.

The other thing he's said is that down the road he is going to have some writer-specific projects coming up. Again, he hasn't said what or when, but I don't have reason to stop believing that he won't pull through. I wouldn't mind hearing a bit more about these sorts of projects, but as of this moment I can wait it out.

Elsewhere, those wonderful writers at SOAP are putting together a LiveJournal for anime articles, as well as another website which is still being set up. I think it's a great idea, it'll keep ideas flowing, and it'll let those writers and whomever else chooses to submit to them to keep writing. I, of course, am not a part of SOAP, nor do I expect I ever will be. It's nothing against them whom I respect with all of my being, it's just . . . heh, I just don't see myself as a part of them. I could probably put it into words if I gave it more time, but that might have to wait another night. In any case, I don't think I'll be sending anything in to their LiveJournal.

I enjoyed writing articles for theOtaku.com because it was a polished, professional sort of anime website. As that person said, they didn't want articles to turn into overglorified blogging entries; I mean, we could do our article thing in any of our blogs, but that just isn't the sort of professional display I wanted. Having articles in a section of theOtaku.com gave them a kind of legitimacy. That's what I liked about it.

The LiveJournal thing'll be great for allowing writers to keep writing, but as far as I can tell it will still just be "another LiveJournal account" unless I'm not seeing the whole picture (which is also very possible). It's not what I'm looking for.

So yeah, I'm willing to wait and see what happens with theOtaku.com and writing-type stuff. I spent almost a whole year not writing last year, so it's not like I have some sort of article-itch that I can repress. I don't know how long I'll hafta wait, but that's what I intend to do. Heh . . . 'cause really, this kind of patient toe-tapping will either do nothing or it will encourage the webmasters to keep the projects moving along; it certainly can't discourage them, now can they?


In other news, the Nagakura Shinpachi outfit is coming along alright. I expect it'll be better next year, but for now it's looking alright. "Snakes on a Plane" comes out on Friday, I only have to work on Thursday, and then Anime Evolution goes on from Saturday to Monday.

And I think this makes as good of a post-egostroking blog as anything. Cheers!
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Monday, August 14, 2006

   My goodness, they just keep getting younger!
So once again, we get a sort of challenge post. Once again, I shall have to craftily put together my own intelligence about someone. Let's do it!

Quarry Subject: serenity453
Age: 13
Ethnic Background: Asian; Vietnamese, specifically.
Occupation: Middle School Student
Likes: Anime, eating without gaining weight, soccer, pink hues.
Dislikes: Possibly bad necklaces.
Last seen: Waldameer Park; photo evidence.

Believes herself to be: Tenten.
Believes herself married to: Hyuuga Neji.
Seems to enjoy: Square-Enix RPGs.
Seems to love: Hyuuga Neji.
myO background: Image of Neji kissing Tenten.

Favourite character pairing from Naruto: ...still under observation.....


It's funny, back when the site first started I knew a lot of people just barely 13 . . . now they're all 16 years old or so.
To think that there's a whole new wave of new, young myOers, well . . . . . that's about as cool as it gets . . . . unless they were new, 13 year old myOers with pet dinosaurs, now THAT would transcend cool . . . . . but we're still in good shape.

Kudos, Miss Linda, alias, serenity453. Kudos.
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