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it's in my sig, if you're ever wondering.  plus, now that it's May, just take 27 (day zero date) and subtract today's date (today is the fifth, so five) and there you are.  twenty seven minus five is twenty two!  voici, we have twenty two days left. 

The official start should be on May 28th. FanimeCon officially starts with the Opening Ceremonies despite all the fun things happening the day before (which is still a full day of set-up for staff).

I think all my departments are great treasures of FanimeCon.

The ballroom lessons offered before the actual Ball itself are a FANTASTIC way to learn how to ballroom for the cost of your membership. The Ball itself is so elegant and fun, filled with great music and beautifully dressed attendees.

The chance to dress up and make people laugh or smile is worth it if you participate in the Cosplay Spectacular. Or maybe just to watch great performances and even better costumes.

You can rock out to MusicFest's concerts on Friday and Sunday nights. Two GREAT bands. They aren't super crowded but a chance to see some great Japanese music being played in the U.S. should always be taken.

Of course, the FaniMaid Cafe is hugely popular but they are totally worth the visit for the experience. The maids are adorable and I always have a great time with them.

Best of all, the Opening Ceremonies gives you a great look of what's to come when we introduce each Guest of Honor while the Closing Ceremonies has a photo montage of the entire weekend that makes everyone in the room smile with fondness and wish that it wasn't ending.

There are some great events that are happening at FanimeCon besides all the ones I've mentioned and I do hope that everyone gets a chance to experience them.

P.S. Love getting boba on the concourse before heading to an event. So delicious!

I can imagine.  However, I've never had a real issue with the main events manager letting me set up a tripod and film the Masquerade, for example.  It sounded from what I'd read (and I'll be damned if I can find the discussion again) that there was going to be some sort of crack down this year.  If so, I'd kinda like to know what that entails...as I'm sure most who do what I do would.  I suppose it would be a way to cut down on press membership requests if that's the case, but then you'd be getting into Anime Expo territory there, and many of their departments are openly hostile to both press and their own press department.  Fanime has always had an exceedingly higher track record as far treatment of convention attendees and press goes.

As Eric and Pyron mentioned, though, FanimeCon does occasionally impose rules regardless of our own constraints - such as when an artist requests that no photography or video be taken. In those cases, even if photo/video were permissible, we'd still honor our guests' wishes.

I have no objections to this.  At the end of the day, I have no wish to force anyone to do anything they'd find objectionable in this context.  I would expect the same so I give the same.
closer.

Usually, for the Cosplay Spectacular, Marisa doesn't have any objections but the Union does. We normally bow to the Union because they WILL impose really big fees that will impact who we get (GoHs) the following year. Union will not allow anything that looks like a camcorder (since that implies broadcasting). Cameras are okay because we allow pictures. But if you have a camcorder and filming, Union will tell us about it and then fine us. Which would lead us to be stricter on the policy and that will affect press.

As for the concerts, this is up to the discretion of the artist. Momoi allowed photography/filming but there were a few who tried to do a live stream and this is not allowed by the Union. LM.C and their label asked for photography and filming not to be allowed.

The staff does not "just 'decide' our freedoms of recording/sharing our memories/moments." We do take our attendees into consideration but will always ask our Musical Guests permission for photography/filming at their performances.

Happy to hear the news about being able to see LM.C, but sad to hear about photography being completely and utterly banned.

Can I get a detailed explanation of why this is so? Or can someone point to me to where I can?

In my opinion, it's pretty ridiculous- but, I can understand somewhat if Staff has a good explanation. I need to know why Paying FanimeCon2010 Attendees aren't allowed to take their memories home with them. As a professional blogger and journalist, I really hoped to snap some pics for my website...

Will be grateful for any replies.
Thanks,
-Kazu

I don't think I can be more detailed other than the band and their label has requested that photography to be banned during their concert in the Civic.

We generally honor their requests as this helps our relationship with the band and their label for any future visits.

[does not]

....fanime con ops tend to bully and harass congoers who just want to pose with weapons,

As someone who used to work in the ConOps dept. at FanimeCon, I would like to correct this assumption of ConOps staff going out to "bully and harass congoers". ConOps does not do any peacebonding of any kind for the past 4 years (that I've worked for FanimeCon, and 5 if you will count this year) and would not do so while on duty. ConOps staff will answer your question or help you find an answer to your question if it pertains to something you've lost, something you found, something that requires a Dept. head's attention, or something else. The staff will direct you to Rovers if you have any questions about weapons.

However, if I see something that I think should be peacebonded (meaning, I feel uncomfortable with your prop), I'll let one of the Rovers know so that they can check it out and enforce the weapons policy.

MusicFest will be held this year on Friday evening, May 28, 2010 and Sunday evening, May 30, 2010. Both concerts will be held at the San Jose Civic.Times of the concerts are to be announced.

The Dance is usually held in the J inside the San Jose Convention Center.

Hi, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I'm new to this too and I also have a few questions about Musicfest.

1. Is it a part of the convention / where is it going to be held?
2. Does it cost extra to attend, and if so how and where can I get tickets?
3. Is there any sort of dress code or items we're not allowed to bring?
4. Is LM.C the only band playing?

Sorry if that seems like a lot of questions, and thanks in advance for all your help!

1. MusicFest is one of the events held by FanimeCon and is definitely part of the convention. This year, MusicFest will be held in the Civic Auditorium which is across the street from the San Jose Convention Center.

2. MusicFest is a badged event, meaning that if you buy a badge at FanimeCon 2010, you can attend MusicFest for free.

3. There is a general dress code for the convention such as shoes are mandatory. There are rules of conduct as well as Safety rules that our awesome Rovers team puts up. Please read the rules when they get posted or in the program guide. Also, food or drinks are not allowed in the Civic Auditorium.

4. Currently, only LM.C is confirmed to play at MusicFest. Keep checking back for any future announcements we might have on future guests.

Hi Ongaku,

Those are completely valid questions.

Right now, the exact schedule for LM.C's concert has not been released yet. We will announce their schedule and any restrictions once we have everything confirmed.

Usually, the band will play in the evening. So if you want to be one of the first ones up front, you may want to talk to other concert-goers to see what time they are lining up. But don't line up too early! We don't want you to miss all the other cool things happening around the convention.

Sakura-Con is a lot of fun.

I would totally go this year for High and Mighty Color but I have other obligations around that time.

But here is a list of their Guests (http://www.sakuracon.org/programming/guests.php).

If you go, have a lot of fun!

The Fairmont Lounge normally has different musical groups coming in most nights of the week to play. Sometimes it's jazz, other times it's oldies. But the band is always a good one!

It's one of my favorite places to just lounge, have a drink, and enjoy the music. Especially pre-con & after con.

I know what WCS is. It's the state dance and I actually know how to do it. Not amazingly well, but I know the basic step. It would be nice if everyone could actually keep the circle moving though...

Um....... In which state is it the state dance?  And in what state does it travel in a circle??  I am confused ._.

West Coast Swing is California's official State Dance.

Many States have official symbols that identifies it against other states. Like the California Grizzley Bear is CA's state mammal and so on.

It's interesting to note that many states in the U.S. have Square Dance as their official dance. Maybe we should consider putting in a square dancing class in? ;-)

Things to keep in mind, such as; this is a three day con and although it gets very exciting, ...

Aren't we a 4+ day Con now? :)

Technically, from Opening Ceremonies on Friday afternoon to Closing Ceremonies on Monday afternoon, FanimeCon is a Four-day convention. There is a fun evening on Thursday for those picking up their Pre-Reg badges but it's not an official part of the convention.


To sasukoi, Welcome to FanimeCon! Hope you will have a lot of fun this year.  Don't forget to bring comfortable shoes because there are lots of things to do in many, many places around the convention.

Currently, I'm trying to see if he's interested as attending as a GOH (Guest of Honor) or as a normal attendee. I could understand if he wouldn't want to be "mobbed" and having to be "in character" the whole time.

I've also sent a message to Angry Joe. I think he's thinking it's only as a "professional" invitation to be a GOH, as he was saying he was going to talk it over with Channel Awesome's CEO, Mike, to see if it's worth doing. Hell, if THAT were the case, they'd probably bring, Angry Joe, Linkara, and probably, The Nostalgia Critic. Honestly, while that would be awesome, I'm not counting on it. Although it's something worth pursuing. I'm mainly focusing on trying to get Linkara to show up.

I've let them know, that, this is a fan's invitation first, but if they're cool with it, and the Fanime staff is interested, then who knows?

Any thoughts?

Hi. Thanks for suggesting them as guests to us. Our GR (Guest Relations) Department handles all the official Guests of Honor. If you have contact information for any guests that you would like for us to invite, please forward it to [email protected].

For Musical Guests, please forward contact information to [email protected].

There is no guarantee that an invitation will be extended but we will consider all suggestions.

Bring in the Wonder Girls  :o


*runs and hides*

They should bring in SNSD (Girls Generation) --- Even though they are Korean... Gee Gee Gee Gee is an CATCHY SONG.
2 P.M. --- Just do it...again Korean
Super Junior - If you don't think the Sorry, Sorry Dance Video is cool....you suck.


Go go Korean music =p?

-Steve

More like 2PM would be weird to get since currently they went down to 6 members (Jaebeom controversy) D: <3

Girls Gen's genie is so catchy *3* I like gee too! and as for SuJu more like GET SUPER JUNIOR-M (so I can salivate over Kyuhun)


I always say Plastic Tree D: you guys should totally bring them also, I suggest DBSK/TVXQ/Tohoshinki they are so amazing and their song Mirotic (Jumon in JP) is very popular they have high energy performances and not to mention very good looking *3* they sing songs in both Japanese and Korean so a bit of both for those who want Korean music and J music

As much as I adore Korean music, we're currently only looking at artists in Japan.

At the moment, TVXQ has suspended activities due to the court case involving 3 of the 5 members.  :(


But keep those suggestions coming! The MusicFest staff and I do look at your suggestions of whom you want to see at FanimeCon.

"Sleep is for the weak, you can sleep when your dead!"

That quote seems to apply to many of the upper executives as well...

Weren't FanimeCon's biggest musical acts from the last three years all signed with Avex?

No, they were not. Other than Momoi-san, the other groups were signed to different labels.

Also, our Head of Photography is working on getting the photos up. So be patient! He's going through thousands of pictures right now. :D

So was there a semi official "B&W Ball" Photo op area?

again this idea might be a bit far fetched, but either using the Photo Dept Head [I know who he is] or maybe a professional hired person/team...

I wonder what the demmand would be if we were able to get them prints [say Polaroids or something similar] would be in a budget?
Just a random thought. :P 

That was one of the ideas that we wanted to do for 2009 but didn't fully come to fruition. It's being looked into for next year. :D

A question - can a few dance lessons be held in the evenings at Fanime? I found myself not having any time to make it to the lessons, since I was caught up in cosplay business. However, I had a lot of time to kill in the evenings, and I noticed many other people did too. I know it may not be convenient for instructors, but how about a few lessons available for the night owls?

The main reason why there were no evening lessons was due to the space being used for Dance (either setup or a few other things that were going on in there) on all the nights.

But we'll take your suggestion into consideration and see what we can do.

Yeah since I was doing clothe check on the attendees I did have some slight problems telling if its okay to let them in so it would be nice ot have a backup wit me.

Rovers were handling the clothing check as far as I knew. You should not have had to worry about this as we were checking attire at the door and also vaguely in the lines before the doors opened.

Yeah I see.  I'm gonna do volunteer again next year.  In the past 2 B&W Ball I was assigned to check the clothes on the attandees while they lined up.

Could you PM me who gave you that assignment? I think clarification of who is enforcing the dress code may be something we can improve on for next year.

I consider the dance lessons for the B & W ball as a workshop (you go to learn how to dance/practice) and I was wondering how they went with everyone. I loved going over to the B & W and seeing everyone enjoying themselves. :)

Looks like I missed a couple of great panels. :( I can only see stuff in the evening when I'm off, but I am working on that for next year *giggles :P

Sounds like Banzai Arcade was a really good one ^^) Can anyone tell me more on the Dojo stuff? I really wanted to go over for that and could not make it... :(

B

You can find feedback on the dance lessons as well as the Black and White Ball itself  here. It looks fairly positive so far. :D