Messages

This issue always comes up--people suggest mailing out badges, and in the past Fanime has always shot them down.

I realize that there are concerns about badges getting lost in the mail or people may duplicate them once they have the design.  Are these concerns justified?  Yes.  But are they justified enough to make THOUSANDS of people wait in like over 6 hours?  NO.

These are real people that have paid money well ahead of time to attend Fanime, and this year our first impression was a 7 hour wait with the names on a sticker tackily placed on the badge.  (Seriously, the pre-reg badges were the exact same quality as the at con-reg badges this year, but that issue was minor compared to the wait time.)  Some of these people had jobs or school the next day, and while some wait time is expected...getting there right when preregistration opens (7) and having to wait until 1 AM is not.

I think it's time for Fanime to start mailing out badges because the wait for lines has only gotten longer, and I don't think they'll be able to do anything at con that will make it go faster next time.  They've had plenty of chances.

Kudos to the volunteers for staying up until everyone in line got a badge...but this really could have been prevented and saved both the volunteers and attendees a lot of trouble.  I've been a loyal supporter of Fanime for four years, but unless this issue is solved (meaning solved, not simply saying "we're working on it") it will be my last. Too bad, because the convention is a couple of blocks from me.

We usually do not release numbers for the convention. There are too many ways to interpret those numbers, so we generally do not release them. Some issues - Do we count the people that paid for one day memberships for both Friday and Saturday as one person or two? Are guests, staff, volunteers, professionals, etc included in that number?

In the end, we don't want to give the wrong impression about how big or small the convention is. What numbers you see out there are often estimates or pulled from a source not intended for publication.

I would think it would make sense to count each person as once (not multiple times for multiple days.)  You could include staff/volunteers etc or say "X paid attendees/X attendees including volunteers, etc."

No numbers gives more of a wrong impression than a well-determined estimate, in my opinion.

Shopping: I'm not sure this is something that Fanime can do anything about, but it seemed like a lot of vendors had not included sales tax in their prices, and they didn't have any signs up to let shoppers know. Some of them were just rounding up sales tax to 10%, too. Even a $20 grab-bag I bought had hiked up tax on it. I kind of feel like it was an "idiot tax" more than anything. Sales tax in this county is only 8.25% so bumping it up has soured my opinion of some dealers a bit.

I noticed this too, but I don't mind if it's still a good deal after tax.  When in doubt, ask.  Also, I've found many dealers willing to waive tax or round down a few bucks if you buy a large amount (around ~50+ or so) with cash.

I agree that tacking on a flat extra 10% is kind of annoying, though.  I can see it being convenient to round things to the nearest dollar but I've seen some dealers just do it to get every extra penny they can.  For instance, I saw an item for $25.  With tax, it would have been $27.06, pretty close to $27.  But the dealer wanted to say it was $27.50 after tax.  When they do something like this I get all passive aggressive on them and pay with a credit card. ;)

[Organization]

Organization: Despite the registration issues, I thought Fanime was much better organized this year.  It wasn't their fault that the power went out and from what I heard, staff/volunteers handled it extremely well.  This probably had an overflow effect to the next day.  That being said, I got to the pre-reg line at 3 PM on Friday and was done by shortly after 5:11.  2:11 in the registration line is longer than usual but really not that bad.  The line kept moving.  Every volunteer I talked to was extremely helpful.  For a few years it seemed that Fanime was getting a bit bigger than they knew what to do with, but in my opinion they really stepped things up a notch this year.  I do enjoy a bigger convention as long as it doesn't turn into a complete mess.  Crowd seemed a bit younger than usual, but costumes were much better this year.

However -- please post the schedule more than two days in advance!!! But thank you for including the pocket schedules.

Dealer's Hall: Very diverse selection of goods and at better prices than last year...perhaps because the exchange rate has gotten a little better from last year's all-time low.  Lots of Gloomy Bears.  But where was Cartoon Passion?  Also, while I know Fanime doesn't set the prices, I have to vent that $20+ for all T-shirts was a rip-off.

Industry: I appreciated the greater industry presence this year.  This might have been one reason why it seemed "tighter."  The industry video room was awesome and it was great to see the Gurren Lagann, Evangelion, and Fullmetal Alchemist movies.  But the Aniplex Industry Panel was incredibly annoying.  They have such good anime, but the dude in charge was annoying and mispronounced the titles and didn't really seem like he cared that much.  Their slides were pretty amateur.  This is okay for a fan panel.  Not a professional panel.  They also didn't need to tell us every five minutes that we can buy all their moves at _______, ______, and ________ booths.  It seemed more like a bad infomercial than an actual industry panel. 

GOH's: Seemed to be a bit lighter than last year, but that could have been because last year's lineup was so awesome.  But I really liked the different types of guests Fanime brought in (illustrators, directors, etc.)  Yuki Saito's Replay Girls screening & Q&A was a highlight.

MusicFest:  Mai Aizawa and Igaguri Chiba were very nice and fun to watch.  I got to attend Chiba's panel which was pretty awesome.  He his great with his fans.  But the length/non-complexity of MusicFest was a bit of a disappointment.  I know it's kind of a toss-up who Fanime's able to get and yes, I'd much rather have what we had than no MusicFest.  But after Yuya and Flow last year, and Flow and L.Mc the year before, this year just seemed a little bit underpar.  Mai Aizawa only performed like what, three songs?  Chiba's set was better.  But in total the entire show barely lasted an hour.  Some people might have missed Chiba because they expected the opener to last longer and him to come on at 8...but by 8 it was over.  The audience turnout was pretty sad.  There were no real bands with live instruments; just Mai Aizawa by herself and Chiba with two dancers.  Randomly announcing Hatsune Miku was going to appear afterwards as a surprise was awkward and seemed like a last-minute attempt to extend MusicFest. (On the other hand, scheduling Hatsune Miku for the Main Video Room or one of the other Video Rooms would have been a very good idea.)

I went to Nijiya in San Jose this afternoon.  They said they will have the Green Tea Kit Kats tomorrow.  They also have Green Tea Aero bars, which are OMG so good.  I also noticed a bunch of signs saying "Fanime special" (but most of them weren't that much of a discount -- i.e. Ramune vs. $1.29 vs. $1.39...but still probably cheaper than they sell at the con.)  This weekend they will also sell 2 Liter bottles of Ito-En Tea (Green, Jasmine, etc) for $2.49.  

If you don't mind walking about 20-30 min (or taking light rail to your car) parking is unmetered north of Julian or St. John streets.  This area is pretty safe but if walking back after dark normal precautions apply.

Denki Groove

[Gripes:]

Gripes:
I know this is by fans for fans, but I don't think it would hurt to have a few more anime-related industry or professional panels.  My main gripe about Fanime, besides the lack of schedules -- although even this was somewhat mitigated by the schedule being clearly displayed outside each room (& don't get me wrong, I still had an awesome time this year) was that overall it felt unprofessional and with that many people, there wasn't really anything holding it together.  The Viz panel was good & so was the butler one (which I happened to walk into, but couldn't find on the schedule.)  I did see quite a few fan panels that were awesome, but others were just too painfully amateurish to sit through.  I'd also like to see more panel rooms, because only 3 dedicated rooms for a conference of 16000+ seems really low.

Annoying, but understandable:
Movies/anime that I want to see being shown at 5 AM (but if it's 24 hours, then there's bound to be some things being shown at odd hours), items in dealers room being expensive (because they're expensive anyway), having to go all the way around to enter the gaming room/dealer's hall (as opposed to one entrance being ridiculously crowded).

Good:
Seemed like a pretty big group of special guests this year.  Also love the big names that Fanime brings in for MusicFest...it's such a treat to see popular Japanese bands perform here, especially since some of them are only their first or second time performing in the states.  Also, loved all the 24-hour video rooms.  I could always hang out in one of those when I didn't feel like doing anything else.  All the staff I talked to was friendly & tried to be helpful (not all of them knew everything, but who does.  It's not like they're getting paid.)  I never got attitude that many people spoke of...but then again I never gave them attitude.  Imagine that.  The 10% discounts on food was a great idea too (it got me to try Philz Coffee & Good Karma) BUT if there are any caveats -- such as was the case with Hydration where you had to spend $15 in order to get the discount -- those should have been mentioned too.

I do have to agree with some of the complaints made here.

There is this one thing, but I'm bot sure how to describe it.

If in my crude attempt I would describe it as the energy the con-goers were giving off. Two or three conventions ago, the energy felt spectacular. But last year and this year, well the energy seemed kind of dwindled. But of course it could have just been me. However this was just a thought I had.

This.

The attendees in general (and even many of the panelists) did seem pretty lackadaisical.  I don't think it has to do with the size, because some bigger conventions (i.e. WonderCon, ComicCon -- I know those aren't anime-focused but they are examples of big conventions with a great energy) & smaller conventions alike have the same great energy.  I thought it was a *slight* step up from last year, however.

My merchant processor charges me a fee plus a percentage of the total sale, which is why most vendors don't want to deal with smaller purchases. If you buy a $5 item and use your card, I'm out at least 10-15% of that sale. It's not really worth it. For a big purchase, say $300, it's ridiculous for me NOT to take a credit card. However, it's a lot slower as I have to process the payment over the phone, and I'm more likely to haggle when cash is involved.

Yes, I've noticed that dealers are more likely to make deals if you pay in cash.

As for sales tax, I believe the rate is around 9.5% in San Jose? To save time and hassling with loose change, I typically add the local sales tax in to my prices at the show so I don't have to calculate it later. As a business I have to pay my pound of flesh to the state later in the year, and I calculate that from my sales receipts.

Close...9.25

The we pay the sales tax thing most of the time is a lie. They make the prices such that its a solid price and listed the prices with tax more of the time. If they are selling books they tend to not add the tax from what ive seen.

Ehh...that's not quite true.  ~60% of the booths I've bought stuff from have added sales tax.  Of course, that can be bargained too.  For instance, one booth said that if I bought a small amount they'd add sales tax but if I bought a lot they wouldn't add it.

Dealer's hall prices seem to have gone up for certain things O_o or is it just me for this one?

I noticed this was especially the case for Japanese imports.  This is probably due to the exchange rate being as horrible as it's ever been (on our side, anyway) for the past year, like 80 yen to the dollar.

Fanime has posted a list of the restaurants that offer 10% off if you show your Fanime badge:

The Cheese Steak Shop 76 E. Santa Clara Authentic Philly Cheese Steaks
Peggy Sue's 185 Park Ave Burgers and Milkshakes
Tengu Sushi 111 Paseo De San Antonio Sushi Boat
Philz Coffee 118 Paseo De San Antonio Coffee House
Good Karma Café 37 S. 1st St. Vegetarian Fast Food
Smile Sushi 86 S. 1st St. Sushi Boat
Pho 69 Noodle 321 S. 1st St. Fusion Noodle House
House of Siam 151 S. 2nd St. Thai Cuisine
Icebee Frozen Yogurt 151 S. 2nd St. Do-It-Yourself Yogurt
Pita Pit 151 S. 2nd St. Wraps and Sandwiches
Psycho Donuts 288 S. 2nd St. Specialty and Custom Donuts
Bo Town 409 S. 2nd St. Regional South East Asian Cuisine
Hydration Coffee & Tea 310 S. 3rd St. Pearl Tea and Snacks
Pagoda Restaurant 170 S. Market St. Upscale Chinese

I went to Hydration but they informed me that they only do the discount if you order $15 or more...furthermore since it is a "Special event" they're not doing their usual box + milk tea combo.  Meh.  Does anyone know if there is a catch at the other places or has the discount worked?

You have no clue how old I am, nor how long I have been eating the way I have. So the suspicion of it not lasting many more years is quite presumptious. What if I just started eating like this? Then I would have plenty of years, or not so many years because I used to eat healthy and eating like this will cause my body to go completely out of whack since it's not used to it. Or I could have been doing it for the past 40 years, in which case, my doctor who knows my habits has stated that I am completely healthy and has not told me that *IF I DON'T CHANGE MY HABITS I'M GOING TO DIE SOON!"

I never said or claimed that I knew how old you were or how long you've been eating the way you have, nor do I care.  What I am saying is if someone keeps on following an unhealthy lifestyle, then they'll start to break down sooner than if they don't.  THAT'S ALL.

You see, you can't get your mind around the idea of black and white. And you also fail at following a conversation and that not every single point has to be exactly about the exact subject you are talking about. They are called examples and comparisons.

I never said that every point had to be about the exact subject.  What I called you out on was 1) You telling me that I said things that I didn't say, and 2) You not being correct on specific examples (i.e. kimchi.)

Just because something is labeled as "bad" doesn't make it bad. And just because something is labeled as "good" doesn't make it good. Dark chocolate is healthy in extremely small doses. It's harmful if you eat too much.

Yes, I agree with all of this.  Example: Eggs, coconut oil, and avocados: labeled as bad by many, but actually very good.  McDonald's food: labeled as bad, and actually bad. 

A business is not doing harm if they release a product. They have every right to advertise to whomever they want, and they have everyright to sell anything that is legal. It is up to the consumer to decide whether or not they should or should not buy/consume said product. I'm far from a republican or convervative but I don't believe that the government should spoon feed and hand walk every single person in the country and allow them and not allow them to do anything. If a kid wants a damned hamburger, it is up to the parent to tell them yes or no. If an adult wants a hamburger, it is up to them to say I'm gonig to buy a hamburger or that they think they should eat something healthier.

Now you're playing legality as a trump card.  If it becomes "illegal" to sell Happy Meals that have too much bad fats/calories, then what will be your next excuse?

What's funny is I didn't tell you how those fries were even prepared completely by the way. You just automatically assumed that they were healthier... to act like your argument was valid.

^^^now THIS is you just trying to create an unnecessary argument.  If you were withholding pertinent information, then it needn't be deemed as relevant & I don't need to ask you for specifics before saying something like "there are many things worse than beef fat french fries" and "deep fried foods in lard are much less bad for you than deep fried foods in vegetable oil."  And going even further, I talked about beef fat fries being healthier than rancid vegetable fat fries.  I didn't say "those specific fries you ate are guaranteed to be healthier than all vegetable fat fries on the planet."  Are you happy now?

Everything is about moderation and everything is up to the person who buys it. You have no right to tell me that what I'm doing is wrong if I decide to buy something that you deem as unhealthy, because for all you know, for my personal body, it's not. So get off your god damned high horse of what you think people should eat and allow them to make their own decision. When someone approaches you and ASKS FOR WHAT YOU THINK THEY  SHOULD EAT IN TERMS OF HEALTH, then you can tell them what you think. Until then, it's not up to you.

PyronIkari, I never went up to anyone and told then what they should eat.  Sheesh, talk about trying to put words in my mouth.  What I said is that I support regulations making McDonalds being healthier esp. when it comes to their products that are marketed towards children.

Same difference. This is no different than banning anything that is potentially harmful through abuse.

No it's not.  Again, they're not banned, what's going on is it has to do with how things are marketed towards kids.  There's a reason why Joe Camel can't be in kids magazines.

Now you are speaking of judgment over what is being sold. No different than stating if someone chooses not to eat anything at all for a week. Trace amounts? Oh ho, now you're being subjective. Define trace amounts. If I eat McDonalds once every week, is that trace amounts? Will I DIE IF I EAT McDonalds once a week? What about twice every week? Will my body break down and leave me a useless mess if I eat McDonalds twice a week? I mean, it's poison right? If I eat McDonalds then i'm literally consuming poison that will break down my insides and kill me?

The more you eat things like that the sooner your body will break down.  It will not likely be all at once and it may be as little as 5 days sooner or 5 years sooner, but who knows.

What a joke. Thousands of people eat fast food for almost every meal they have because it's convenient and fast. It's not healthy, but it is not poisoning them and killing them. You do not see thousands of people dying every day due to McDonalds.

McDonalds is just one factor.  There are many other reasons why people would get sick and die earlier and all of them contribute together, but I think that's something we can agree on.  However, I'm all for any steps in the right direction, no matter how small.

Okay? And? Do you know what else people eat in the world? Koreans eat fermented cabbage. Finnish eat fermented fish in a barrel. Do you know what alcohol is? That's all poison to though right? Companies should not be allowed to sell alcohol, kim chi, sirgstromi(sp?), lots of different cheeses, and hell... most foreign foods should be banned too in this case.

What does this have to do with fermented cabbage or fish or banning foreign foods?  This shows that you don't know what you're talking about as kimchi, when made properly (like most Korean stores & restaurants actually do) is VERY healthy.  I am not as familiar with Finnish fermented fish so I will not comment on that.

See here's the thing. I do not put words in your mouth, I'm merely showing you how YOU ARE PORTRAYING THE INFORMATION. You literally said those things wwhether or not you meant to word it that way. If you omit something then you are stating that it doesn't exist. If you say "eating mcdonalds will kill you" and leave it at that, you are stating that if someone eats mcdonalds they will die. That is not putting words in your mouth, that is literally what you just said, because you do not go into explain the reasonings, the exceptions, the basis of how that statement is true. To make it a true statement you must say "Eating McDonalds constantly without balancing it out with other nutients and lack of exercise will kill you over time". See the difference? You're stating the top and that's it. You did it again in your reply to me by stating how poisonous McDonalds is.

Uhh no.  Telling me that I "literally said those things" that I never said?  LOL.  No points for you here.  And I never said "eating McDonalds will kill you," I said "McDonalds is healthy by no standards," which I still stand by 100%.  And then you went on to talk about vegan diets and fruit juice and stuff, which I certainly do not support as being healthy.

I am perfectly healthy. I eat fast food for the large majority of my meals. Just yesterday I ate a huge serving of beef fat french fries(these things are so damn delicious). I consume quite a lot of alcohol, I smoke, I don't exercise very much... and I am completely healthy. Are you going to say I'm not? My doctor will disagree with you. I kind of trust him more than you. But according to everything you said, I should be a lifeless pile of fat with organs that do not work.

There are many things worse than beef fat french fries.  As I said in my previous post, deep fried foods in lard are much less bad for you than deep fried foods in vegetable oil.

But if you keep on parading eating unhealthy, smoking, consuming lots of alcohol, and not exercising, you may be healthy now but I suspect (but cannot promise) health at this lifestyle will not last for too many more years.  But, I don't expect you to take my word for that.

Health, nutrition and what the human body needs VARIES SO MUCH BETWEEN PEOPLE that stating certain blanket statements are complely baseless. The idea of nutrition works on the idea of a control standard of food. Nutritional facts are based on 2000 calorie diets and most people do not live on 2000 calorie diets. If people want to eat McDonalds they can. It won't kill them. It's just not the "healthiest".

Well, yes and no.  As I said in the first post, there are more issues at stake than just calories alone.

And besides that the biggest thing in this is... who gives a damn if it's unhealthy. Not everyone cares about taking perfect care of their health, because I will straight you say right now that you do not. Is this a huge claim? Yes, but it's true, because no one does. No one exercises the perfect amount every day. No one eats their perfect nutritional balance. Everyone indulges in things that are not healthy sometimes. Some days you over sleep, some days you undersleep, but you know what? That is your damn choice to make. If I want to eat a tub of ice cream, I damn well can eat a tub of ice cream. If I want to put a bunch of hot sauce on my food, I can and will. People do not eat just to stay healthy, people eat to enjoy the food they eat. People eat what is convenient, fast, or whatever it is they feel like doing at the time. Or are you against this and saying, people should ban food that is not healthy? Candy stores shouldn't exist, because candy is bad for kids? They shouldn't allow candy to be sold right? Let's ban chocolate, because that stuff is bad for people. ALL DESERT PLACES MUST GO!!!!!!! This is a health liquidation, only healthy things should exist, stores should not be allowed to sell unhealthy stuff. Because we're not taking away your choice to eat it, we're taking away the stores what they can and cannot sell.

Well, I never advocated banning McDonalds altogether; what I support is changing how things are marketed towards kids and as I said before any step in the right direction is a good one.  You can still buy all the same items as before but the kids package is going to have different proportions.  Kids don't always know what's best for them & shouldn't be held fully responsible for such.  Heck, some adults don't even know either but I figure once they reach that age they become responsible for themselves.
Fyi, dark chocolate is actually very good for you, it's the excessive sugar & other things inside that makes it bad.

Because now you're restricting people and telling people what they can and cannot eat. If I want to eat something unhealthy, who are you to tell me I cannot go out and buy it and eat it? Two cartoons have done an entire episode based on this very thing. King of the Hill and American Dad both did episodes about trans fat banning. You're basically saying that it's okay for the government to mandate what we can and cannot eat because some people are too stupid to make rational decisions.

It's not about telling people what they can and cannot eat, it's telling companies what they can and cannot sell.  Big difference.

Now we get into a real health discussion. You know the human body is made to adapt to things right? If you completely remove "bad things" from someone then the body never learns to adapt to bad things and thusly becomes weaker than someone who "only eats healthy things". It's the same idea of never letting your kid go outside and getting hurt, playing in mud, getting drity, etc. When you prevent the human body from ever experiencing these things, they never build up tolarance or immunity to these things.

It isn't quite the same.  You are correct that the body was made to adapt to trace amounts of dirt, poisons, etc, but just trace amounts.  Nothing to the scale of what's in one happy meal, let alone day after day, week after week, etc.  It's like living in a constantly polluted environment - the body can't adapt to something like that.  After eating nothing but garbage for a week you may not get any immediate reactions but the systems inside your body are breaking down.

Rowan RavenSong he got sick because French fries were too greasy for him". Okay, your generic french fries are not that unhealthy. grease and fat are not that bad for you. In many ways, they're incredibly healthy for you in moderation. But your body has grown to not be able to handle it because you avoid eating it and have done so for a long time.

It depends on the type of grease and fat.  Some types and cooking methods are better for you than others, but unfortunately deep frying is the worst.  Vegetable oils break apart and become toxic when heated to that high of a temperature.  (Ironically enough, when McDonalds was using lard to deep fry their food it was actually much healthier.  Lard, although not a great food, does not break apart when heated to high temperatures.) Fast food restaurants (and, sadly, most others for that matter) also reuse oil for as long as they can get away with, which means you're getting rancid oils.

Here's a fun story. There was a man in SE Asia that lived on nothing but bacon(well pork belly not nec. bacon) and deep fried foods for the majority of his entire life. He was one of the healthiest men in the world and is still alive well into his I think 80s now(I hread this story sometime around 2000). Doctors say he was so healthy because his body learned to process the food well.

Am I saying everyone should do this? Of course not because his body adapted faster than most people would. He also exercizes daily and knows how his body works. But it's proof that just because "something is bad" doesn't mean "it's bad".

Do you have any proof of this person?  Although it is believeable in theory, I'll admit.  Also, it is correct that food is only part of the problem and we indeed need to do other things to stay healthy like exercise, such as this man did.

People in general need to learn moderation. Unhealthy things are healthy for you in moderation, and only eating healthy food is actually bad for you. So will I give my kid things like mcdonalds and stuff? You're damn right I will, but I won't give it to them every day for every meal. People are so busy trying to sound "better" than other people and have this bull shit holier than thou attitude because "I eat right". Last I checked, I'm completely healthy and my diet is far from what people say is "healthy". Last thing I remember was how true vegans actually deprive their body of a lot of nurishments that the body requires and do harm by not eating fatty things.

This doesn't have anything to do with veganism and I am certainly not advocating that nor would I advocate a no-fat or no-carb diet.  You have to eat good fats and good carbs.  But you're absolutely wrong when you say that "only eating healthy food is actually bad for you."

Think of it. Milk was made by the human body to nourish its young. It's the natural food created by bodies for their children. Do you realize how much fat and sugar is in milk? Milk and dairy products are some of the fattiest foods out there. Sugar? Fruits and fruit juice are mostly sugar. Fruit juice is just as bad for you as almost anything in terms of sugar content. These are natural things with what some people say are terrible for you.

Quit being god damned hypocrites. If you want to talk about diet and health, actually know what the hell you're talking about before you chime in your stupid ass decision about how "so and so is so unhealthy" and "This is so much better for you".

Fruits are actually not healthy for you if you do not eat them correctly. By correctly I mean time based. Fruits are supposed to be eaten when you have an empty stomach and only an empty stomach? Why? Because if you don't... it sits mixed with food that takes more time to digest. When it does that, it rots in your stomach and isn't fully digested and broken down until way after it ferments. But this is basic diet knowledge and you know that right?

Eating healthy means eating in moderation, "good" and "bad". knowing your body and eating things that your body needs is basics, and sometimes your body needs things that are labeled "bad" but in small amounts.

Regarding milk, well, I won't stay that it's the greatest food, but you need to know that one fat and one sugar is NOT as good as another fat or another sugar.  Also, don't compare milk to McD's fast food -- McD's is healthy by NO standards.  Nowhere did I ever say that fruit juice was healthy either; in fact I agree that it's one of the worst things you can drink, especially if it's from concentrate.  You just put a lot of words into my mouth and used them to say that I don't know what I'm talking about.  That was uncalled for.  Trust me -- I know this stuff & yes, I am also very aware that fruits are best when eaten on an empty stomach.  If you want to have an in-depth conversation about nutrition, I'm certainly down for it but you will need to lay off the attitude and personal attacks.

Ehh, I don't see the big deal in regulations like this.  In fact, I think it's a great idea.  Most food at McDonald's is healthy by no standards (I've studied this stuff, and trust me...it's bad & there are a lot more problems than just calories), so why not have them at least make an attempt to be healthier, especially if they're going to target kids?  If the parent isn't doing their job and putting their foot down, there's certainly nothing wrong with putting safeguards in place so the kid doesn't get hurt too much.

I am looking forward to getting a few more Gloomy Bears! :D Last year I bought like 8 from FanimeCon xD

But I'm worried that since the exchange rate has been horrible last year (it's been about 80 yen to $1 -- yikes), dealers may have kept their Japanese imports to a minimum.  At Wondercon, Anime Palace & ABC Toy 4 Me didn't have any  :'( & Hobbyfan had very few.  I found a booth that had a lot of them, Global Anime, but they were $35 each for the regular sized ones :o  (To be fair, I don't even think they're making much money off of that -- but that's still too much to pay.)

Hydration Cafe & La Vic's Taqueria...both near 4th & San Carlos & both of these are open waaaay late.  @ La Vic's, if you get the super nachos w/ meat to go then they give you a HUGE portion.  Hydration Cafe has Taiwanese-style lunch boxes & lots of good milk teas.  They keep the artificial stuff to a minimum, too (i.e. their taro smoothie is made with real taro)

There's a few good Vietnamese restaurants around the area...Dalat @ 10th & William, all purpose, though they close early (like 7:30), & Dakao, mostly banh mi, @ 3rd & San Salvador.

There's Japantown...it's about a half hour walk but quicker on the light rail.  I agree with the comments that most restaurants in Japantown have conservative hours...e.g. only open for normal lunch & dinner hours.  They're also pretty small, so they might get crowded.

"Pre Registration:
$55 until 11:59pm PST March 31, 2011
http://registration.fanime.com/"

Very top of the page. http://www.fanime.com/registration-faq/

It wasn't there until just a few days before hand. There wasn't even a price on the website at all until I questioned it 5 weeks ago. Before then, the only way to get the price off the site was to go through the reg system and sign up.

I'm sorry that you missed our posts, but we made several warnings on our Twitter/Facebook account as well as listed the cut off time/date on the Registration FAQ. If there are any other places that we missed, please let us know and we'll consider it.

Not everyone has (or wants) Twitter or Facebook.

Yeah, I'll second all of this.  I don't have twitter and rarely check FB.  A few weeks beforehand I remember looking for the price/deadlines on the registration faq, and couldn't find it.  I didn't click on it again because it wasn't there last time, so it didn't occur that it would be there when I clicked on it again.  It would have been helpful to have the cut-off date posted on the main page.  Although I made pre-reg by a hair because I clicked on the reg system on March 31.

Anyway, what is the point of Early Registration?  It costs the same as on-site reg and doesn't come with the cool badge that pre-reg gets.  If it's non-refundable, why pay the same amount ahead of time?  The only thing I can think of is you can pick up your badge on Thursday...but there's not really anything then & not to mention the line is MUCH longer.