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Makes you wonder if this is Fanime's way of saying "Beach balls are a great way to keep yourself entertained while waiting in another 6 hour registration line."  ;)

You remind me of the time that I waited in the registration line at Anime Central in 2008 for ten hours and fifteen minutes.  It was so bad that even people who preregistered had to wait in the same line.  Someone brought a beach ball and people kept batting it into the air until it was confiscated by staff.  Then people improvised with inflated condoms.

I ate at least three meals at Arcadia, once at Il Fornaio, once at Tandoori Oven, once at Myth (Greek) and once at Teske's Germania.  Would anyone care to join me?  I treat.

Ritsu and Mio from K-On are both familiar with Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck.  However, due to copyright issues, it is very difficult to actually hear American contemporary music in anime.

When I started cosplaying six years ago, I wore a costume from Paranoia Agent.  Since then, I have seen only one other cosplay (at Acen in Rosemont, Illinois) from that anime.  I have never felt bad about being the only cosplayer (in any particular series) so I hope that you do not feel uncomfortable either.

From what I have seen, many people cosplay from Puella Magi Madoka Magica so you probably would not be alone nor unrecognized.

Where/How do you guys know what Con is coming up and such?

I go to www.animecons.com.  You can search for upcoming conventions by date view their map and search by location.

There is always another anime convention coming up.  Although I have scaled back now, from 2008 to 2010 I attended an average of seven anime conventions a year.

Compared to all other conventions, I do not become depressed after Fanime.  This is because Fanime is four days long.  I always attend the swap meet on day zero.  That adds up to five consecutive days of anime related activity.  Fanime is a very satisfying convention.

At my home town, I serve on the staff of my local anime convention.  This means I attend their planning meetings, once a month.  For some of you, this may be a good way to stay involved with the anime fandom.  You can also learn some skills or acquire experience that will help you develop as a person.

I attended a panel with this name once at Kumoricon in Portland, Oregon.  It may be the case that the person who ran this panel is from far away and travel to San Jose is a matter of convenience.  Still, this panel does not seem particularly difficult to run so a local person may be able to revive it.

I would be interested.  It just cannot be at the same time that I am running my panel.  That should not be too difficult because my panel should be scheduled for early Friday and late Monday.

I would like to talk about some of the paintings found in the background of Kuroshitsuji and I think that there is enough material about just this subject to fill one hour.  I would, however, need two things.  First, the paintings need to be boldly displayed for the audience so I need someone with the technical ability to set up and run Powerpoint or some other way to project an electronic image.  Second, although I know more about classical art than most convention attendees, I would like someone with an art history or similar degree to back me up with authority.

There is also a scheduling issue.  I plan to run my own panel and it takes up three of the four days of the convention.

First, Fanime picks Sports as the theme for its 2012 convention.

Then, the Oakland As and the San Francisco Giants both win their respective divisions to advance to the Major League Baseball playoffs.

Is that great or what?

I thank everyone who participated in any capacity in The Extremely Hard Take Home Anime Quiz.  Four people turned in the quiz.  The high score was thirty-eight percent correct.  The average score was about thirty-two percent correct.  For some reason, the people who turned in the first and second place scores did not show up at the awards panel on Monday.  I had to award the XBOX 360 with Kinect and the one hundred dollar gift card to Fry's to respectively the third and fourth place participants.

Even if you did not participate, what do you think?  Should I do this again next year?

Here is where to turn in the quiz.

Quizzes must be turned in on Sunday, May 27th between 3pm and 4pm. Quiz turn in will be located in a small nook on the lower concourse, across from Registration and past Cosplay Gatherings.

Rurutie8

Are there multiple prizes, or only one grand prize for one winner?

Although the XBOX is the grand prize, there will be multiple prizes.  Second place will get a $100.00 gift card and third place will get a $50.00 gift card.  I have not yet decided on the store but it will probably be Fry's.

Rurutie8
2012 Probable cosplays:
24th: Mr. Prospector from Martian Successor Nadesico
25th: Ishikari Sensei from Yumeria
26th: Ichiro Mihara from Angelic Layer
27th: Souichi Tomoe from Sailor Moon
28th: Seta Noriyasu from Love HIna

At another convention that I attended, there were three speed dating events.  One was for minors, seventeen and under, another was for adults, eighteen and up and the last was for gays and lesbians.  One of the rules was that you can only attend the event in your declared group, in other words, strait people were not allowed to even watch the gay and lesbian speed dating event.

This is a fifty-question, multiple-choice, open-book, open-notes, open-everything quiz that will test more than your simple knowledge of anime. You get three weeks to do it. You can consult the internet, museums, libraries or anybody to help you. You can watch the anime clip if you have not seen it and you can look up the answers if you do not know it.

This quiz is available now on the Fanime-Con web site under Programming. Please carefully read and follow the rules.  The quiz will be due at Fanime-Con on Sunday, May 27, 2012 at 4:00 pm, and prizes will be awarded in a panel on the following day. If you have further questions, there will be a panel at noon on Friday, May 25, 2012 to answer them.

You can ask your parents and teachers for help. The questions are a great way to show them that anime is educational. The prizes are great; at Sakura-Con, the grand prize winner took home an XBOX 360. This year's prize will be something similar.

Wow, you are right.  Fanime does not have cosplay chess.  It seems odd that an anime convention as large as Fanime does not host this event.

I have never actually participated in cosplay chess except as a spectator.  Nonetheless, I have seen it run many times at other conventions.  Running cosplay chess takes a fair amount of planning.  At other conventions where it is held, cosplay chess is a very popular event; it can attract crowds almost as large as the Masquerade or Black and White Ball.  What space could you use to hold this event?  In the Tom McEnery Convention Center, Ballroom A is probably the smallest room that can accommodate the chessboard and the audience.  Unfortunately, Fanime uses it for their theaters.  Meeting Room J can just barely accommodate the board and pieces but certainly far fewer audience members than would want to see this event.  Exhibit Hall 1 would be adequate but it is used for Artist Alley.  It sounds like you may have to consider an off site facility, perhaps the Civic Auditorium.

Once you get the space, what are you going to use for a board?  Using tape to make the board is a cheap solution but tape leaves a sticky residue when removed.  For this reason, the owners of the facility may not let you use tape.  Also, if the squares are not of contrasting colors then the chess pieces tend to become confused as to where they are suppose move and stand.  This will happen many times because pieces leave the board every time a battle takes place.  Sakura-con uses specially colored mats that help cushion falls.  However, this is an asset that they purchased and they must store it, lug it back and forth and assemble it every year.  They are also subject to wear so at Sakura-con, chess pieces are specifically forbidden to wear shoes.  How big should the squares be?  Three-feet across may seem adequate but in the early part of the game, the crowding of the pieces could make it difficult for the audience to recognize costumes except those that stand on the near edge of the board.

What kind of game or games do you want to run?  From what I have seen there are three types of cosplay chess games: scripted, unscripted and adult.  In a scripted game, the moves and who kills whom are already predetermined.  For chess pieces, this could be helpful because they can rehearse their moves ahead of time.  The scripted game is not as fun as the unscripted; its predictability can make it feel like professional wrestling.  However, it is probably the best choice to start if you have many people who have never played cosplay chess.  The unscripted game gains its charm from its spontaneity.  In the unscripted game, the kings or off board chess masters determine the moves.  This gives many cosplayers a chance to break the fourth wall and comment about the game while hamming up their characters.  The adult game is basically an unscripted game where raunchy jokes and coarse language are allowed to become part of the humor.

For participants, cosplay chess requires more than just the three hours to play the game.  Other conventions typically require an additional one hour meeting on the morning before the game.  Attendance is mandatory and any piece absent is cut from the roster.  The primary reason is to review safety rules.  You may want somebody from the Dojo to assist or give a few pointers on how not to get hurt.  This is also a chance for all characters to meet each other and become familiar with each others' tactics.  Not everybody is going to know the offensive and defensive techniques of every character and this would be a good time to create a death scene that they can sell to the audience.  Cloud Strife would probably make straightforward attacks with his big sword.  Ash Ketchum would probably say, "Pikachu, I choose you."  Then an off board Pikachu would rush in and electrocute his opponent.  Yuki Nagato would probably make her opponent disappear by saying something like, "Initiate file erase protocol 95110."  Hard Gay could make his opponents flee in terror simply by inviting them to wrestle.

How many participants do you need?  Due to inevitable no-shows, you are going to need lots of pieces.  Extra pieces are needed to replace those who cannot participate.  They can also serve as off board summoned monsters, as in the previous Pikachu example.  You will probably need several ninja.  They will help pieces by telling them where to go and stand.  This is necessary because many pieces may not be familiar with the rules of chess or may simply forget what in square they stood.  Ninja can also help carry microphones if you have them and help with seating and controlling the audience.

Which characters do you pick?  Well, it is not easy being a piece.  At some conventions you have to audition to become a piece.  In this part of the process, you can check to make sure the costume is appropriate and sturdy and that the props, even if peace bonded, do not pose a threat to the safety of others during the mock battles.  Generally, people with skit acting experience (as in the Masquerade) are favored.  If you are looking to create a theme, you can favor one costume over another.  If you have enough characters, some themes could include good versus evil, anime versus video games, males versus females and retro versus contemporary.

These are my thoughts about starting cosplay chess.  I wish you the best in this endeavor.

I stayed in the Crowne Plaza on Thursday and Friday night.  My room had no fridge.  I did not expect or need one.  Overall, I had a good experience and would stay there again.  I especially liked their parking lot.  It is comforting to know that I could spontaneously leave the convention if I needed to without the need to contact a valet.