Messages

Trying to think of stuff no one's listed.

Lee's is good; it's on 7th street by the Albertson's, and there's a Tung Kee (noodle place) right next to it.

I highly recommend giving Hydration a try; the bentos are definitely a cut above the typical pearl milk tea place IMHO.

Down 3rd street (towards the convention center IIRC) is another vietnamese sandwich place called Da Kao that also has a sit-down restaurant section with Pho and other good stuff. The staff always seem kind of irritated at the customers, but the food is good and the sandwiches are very cheap.

There's a decent Japanese place called Smile Sushi on second street, a few blocks up from the main library. Their lunch combos are about $8-10.

There's a Quizno's on 2nd street by Starbucks and the Repertory Theater, and next to it a pita place and "Lollicup" (a pearl milk tea type place that has Hawaiian-style bentos) though I haven't tried either of those yet).

What I saw was a bunch of guys calling each other names.  What would a 4Chan panel look like?

If you're really curious, there's a video of the AnimeUSA 4chan panel floating around the net...

A friend of mine went to A-Kon last year, and from what he said, the sign situation was out of control beyond anything we have here. I swear though, anime conventions keep reminding me of pro-wrestling events, what with how people wave signs around and whole crowds will take up chanting things.

In other news:

(The only sign I made up was the one in the last panel... ^^;;; )

[School Rumble]

I can't believe no one's mentioned School Rumble. ^_^;

I really want to like the Negima anime, but I find the manga to be *way* better. ^_^;

So Anime Palace, one of the cooler Dealers Room vendors has opened up a local store... The only thing is that it's at a really crappy location that you have exactly zero chance of seeing from the street.

For my part I'd like to see this store not completely die, hence the post. They carry a really incredible selection of gashapon and other figures, plus trading cards, doujins, plushies, and about a million other things. Personally I spent about $140 there for Christmas shopping (the good and bad of having so many anime fans on my list).

Their website has directions, and if you want to take VTA it's right off of the 55 bus (which in turn connects with the 25, which in turn connects with Light Rail at Tamien station, though there are undoubtedly other ways to get to it).

nyo~

I'm one of those who has the dubious distinction of having attended EVERY FanimeCon, though the first one was one of those things where a friend of mine called me up out of the blue saying that his mom was going to drive the two of us to Hayward for this anime thing. That was where I first saw Macross Plus and the Street Fighter II movie.

The first Foothill one was where we volunteered and got to watch the dealers room for a couple hours... and then another hour or so while they were finding relief for us. I think that was also the first time we encountered the proto-Deiter at con-ops.

It's just continually grown since then, though I've always found the crowd at Fanime much more pleasant to deal with than pretty much any other convention of any kind.

I'm happy; I can get a signal from the city's free wi-fi from my hotel room (I have to put my laptop on the windowsill, but hey).

It probably depends on how many people will (like me) be bringing laptops with wi-fi. :D

Ignition.

^_^

Closest I've been asked is, "Why do you watch anime?" To which I reply, "Because there's nothing better on teevee." Which is true, so shuts them up.

Heh. Too true, and not in the way they'd probably think you meant it. :P

It never ceases to amaze me how people with really terrible but mainstream hobbies try to find excuses to bash more fringe hobbies. I prefer to spend a Friday night gaming or watching anime or something, where "normal" people would go out and drink and smoke and maybe pretend to dance.

Professional sports are probably the funniest, just because guys who've never even heart of things like Tolkeer or Evangelion or, you know, Calculus, practically have a pHD in sports statistics and can rattle off the most obscure facts and figured about their favorite sports with ease. Add to that the massive use of steroids and the fact that players really do try to hurt each other... yeah.

for a while i wanted to be a character designer for games.....then my dad said it was a stupid idea  :(

but for now i can design and create my own costumes, and wear em to future fanimes

It would be a typical creative job, meaning that you really could do it, and even make good money at it, but it's unlikely to be exactly what you expect. You'd need to get a college degree in some kind of graphic design, putting together a portfolio together along the way, and be willing to do stuff other than character design -- when games are developed, they need people to come up with monsters and scenery and such too -- and it would help a lot if you could do more traditional art/designs in addition to anime/manga ones.

From there you could probably work your way into a niche doing just character designs, but the way the industry is going you'd have to be prepared to deal with companies outsourcing more to either freelancers or overseas.

But if you like costuming, maybe you should think about fashion design? In this country we need more cool-looking clothes, especially for guys. :P

I think the last time I got called a "nerd" was when I was in eighth grade -- and I'm 25 now. Not only is it childish and rude to go around calling people that (some people use the word in a more friendly manner, but he obviously wasn't), but the term seem to now be out of style by nearly a decade. :P

So if someone had said that, I would've responded with, "First of all, who the hell calls people 'nerds' anymore?" And then I'd go on to explain how you just plain can't paint everyone with the same brush (especially with something like anime; Japanese people of both genders, all ages, and all levels of "coolness" read manga), and that learning to have some vague notion of respect for things that other people treasure is a Good Thing.

The other comments he made seem to reflect someone who can't separate the need to appear cool to other people (having gotten over that is a sign of maturing and of *real* coolness). I see the exact same thing more frequently with regard to tabletop RPGs; there's just a certain group of people who can't get over the stereotypes ("I wouldn't be caught dead playing those NERD GAMES!"), so they miss out on something they might enjoy and alienate people who might be their friends.

> I dont think Im better then anyone else and no one is better then you.

Good! The world needs more people like you. ^_^

The way I see it, it's pretty much agiven that whatever interest group exists will include people who take it WAY too seriously, people who find ways to be jerks about it, and people who are just plain annoying. I can say from persional experience that it is in no way limited to anime. I for one do believe in "live and let live," though of course some people tend to try and make that credo a difficult one for others to live by. On the internet, you have to be a bit more thick-skinned than in real life because people will more readily say things that they'd hold back when face-to-face.

Personally it takes a lot for me to say I "hate" something. A friend of mine will say "I hate console RPGs" when he's actually holding an opinion that I would state as "I don't care for console RPGs." (Personally I like them, but we're both entitled to our opinions; understanding that kind of thing is part of why we're still friends after all these years). To me if I really hate something it means that it find its very existence actively offensive and detestable. So there aren't many things around that I hate.

BTW, while I don't hate people who don't take showers, I do think that whether at a con or elsewhere proper hygeine is a Good Thing, both from a social and a health standpoint. And besides, if you have a hotel room, the necessary materials are included for *free*.

I prefer subbed or raw for the extra practice at Japanese, but whether it's on Cartoon Network or it's what my friends prefer to set a DVD to, I have no problem with watching a dubbed version.

American dubs (which are mostly done in Canada  :P ) have reached a point where unless the original Japanese voice acting was pretty exceptional (Kenshin comes to mind here) you generally can't complain about a difference in quality.

Although I've been learning Japanese for a while now and it certainly helps with anime stuff, in some ways for me the language is an end in itself -- I've started learning Japanese partly just because I like Japanese.

The way I see it, fandom is a convergence of two things: Taking whatever your hobby is a bit further, and enjoying it with a community. Those are the things that keep me coming back to FanimeCon year after year. I like anime because it entertains me, and it provides the kind of escape from everyday life that everyone needs. I take it further -- by doing a webcomic, writing stories, and other random things -- partly simply because I enjoy doing those things, and partly because it gives me an opportunity to give other people something to enjoy. Although I would love to get into the industry some day, the stuff above is enough to keep me happy with the hobby.

On the one hand I'm too realistic of a person to wish I could marry a given anime character, but on the other hand I understand that mentality perfectly well. I think everyone has those moments when it seems like their favorite fictional characters live in a bright shiny world with their dreams at arms length and it feels like they themselves are drowning in filth and doing nowhere (god that sounds depressing). One of these days I'm going to have to write some more stories exploring those kinds of themes.

The Read Or Die TV series won't disappoint. Same goes for Uchuu no Stellvia and Naruto. It's hard to say since only the first episode is out, but from the manga and what I've seen so far, Midori no Hibi is going to kick major behind. :3

I don't suppose you live in or near San Jose? If you do, Nikaku (SJ Japantown) has a rental section with a pretty good selection of both DVD and VHS.

Since the plug was pulled on my house's DSL I've had to rely on friends with broadband for new digisubs (must have more Naruto).

Azumanga Daioh! Freaking hilarious. :3

Other than that... uh... crap. I assume you mean manga in English? ^_^;

As far as costumes and other stuff is concerned, keep in mind that the overlap between anime fandom and video gaming (amongst other things) is huge. The masquerade pretty much always features quite a few video game related costumes, particularly from Final Fantasy, and no one complains about it being "inappropriate." Reactions tend to be more along the lines of "Wow! That (Squall/Cloud/Yuna/Vivi/Chun Li/Shorty/M. Bison/whatever) costume kicks ass!" For that matter Stan Sakai (creator of Usagi Yojimbo) has been a guest of honor once or twice, this year I get to be alongside the likes of Fred Gallagher at the webcomics panel, and gaming rooms have featured the likes of Quake and Dungeons & Dragons.

So in terms of what's permissible at an anime convention, the definition of "anime" is ridiculously broad.

The general purpose definition of anime most people use in the U.S. goes along the lines of "animation made by and for the Japanese," though you'd be amazed by the amount of nit-picking that can go into defining the word.