Messages

I just checked right now.

For 5/20-5/21 the following hotels have availability:
Double Tree
Holiday Inn San Jose Airport
Hyatt Place San Jose Downtown
Fairmont

As of today, the DoubleTree is full for Thursday night.  (I have Fri-Sun booked, and am still trying to get Thursday.)

There is a new "Cool Japan" venture capital fund, with a capital of over ￥40,000,000,000, to promote Japan's pop culture.  This is a heavily funded effort by the government of Japan and some major companies. The government of Korea has been funding K-Pop, and Japan has decided they need to spend heavily to keep up.

They just bought 100% of SDI Media, the world's largest commercial dubbing/subbing operation, and a satellite TV channel for broadcasting J-Pop and fashion. They are also funding an online anime distribution operation called "Anime Consortium Japan Inc."

[The Telegraph Office in 2014.]

The Aetheric Message Machine Company will have a steampunk Telegraph Office at Clockwork Alchemy again in 2015. We have most of our staff, but we could use a few extra people to fill in for an hour or two, especially on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Steampunk cosplayers especially! All our people were in costume and in character in 2014, and that worked so well we're going to do it that way again.

The Telegraph Office in 2014.

Anyone at the convention can send a telegram for free by texting from a cell phone. The messages are printed on antique printing telegraph equipment, stamped, sorted, put in envelopes, and delivered around the con by messengers.  We did this at all three Clockwork Alchemy events.



Operator: Works in the Telegraph Office and handles incoming messages from our brass and glass Aetheric Message Machine. Requires some typing and office skills.  You'll be in a highly visible location, a glass-fronted office facing the main corridor to the ballrooms at the Doubletree. Expect to be photographed and interviewed. About half an hour of training is required.

Messenger: Runs around the con delivering messages. Requires energy and a good voice. "Telegram for ..." You'll be on your feet a lot.

This is a fun job to do in steampunk costume.  You're handling real messages, using real antique machines, and do it in character. It gets busy, with the machines typing out messages and messengers running in and out.  We'll be operating for the same hours that the vendor room is open, Friday through Sunday.

See our web site: http://www.aetherltd.com
Here's a video of the Telegraph Office in full operation. Now in glorious black and white!
Our training manual for operators.
Contact us at [email protected] or leave a message here.
Each job comes with a hat - choice of the cap shown above or a green eyeshade. And a brass badge.
The volunteer refund deal is the same as for other Fanime volunteers, and will be coordinated through the volunteer office.

The Aetheric Message Machine Company, Ltd. - bringing text messaging to the 19th century.

For the Black Butler fans, the live-action movie is now out. See the outfits made by the pros.

https://www.facebook.com/Kuroshitsuji.Live

But I just don't know how Fanime's shuttles can be that much of a cluster duck. It's way shorter than AX. And less people.

It varies from year to year.

• 2012 - A real bus service, with large luxury buses. Lots of empty seats. Nice.
• 2013 - Short buses with totally lost bus drivers from a parking lot shuttle company. Trips went miles off course. Buses jammed. Long waits. Awful.
• 2014 - Less clueless bus drivers from same parking lot shuttle company. Buses jammed. Moderate waits. Adequate.

Does it bug anyone else that it's been a week and con staff haven't explained, apologized, or even acknowledge how hotel registration was messed up?

Fanime housing has become a hot ticket. Convention Management Resources (CMR) wasn't prepared for that.  Look at their client list: American Diabetes Association, Semicon West, the American College of Reumatology, the GPU Technology Conference, and the National Electrical Contractors Association. None of those are going to have 10,000+ people frantically trying to book rooms minutes after registration opens.

Still, not having enough server capacity is kind of embarrassing today. Especially with a system that behaves badly under load, starting transactions and failing to complete them.

Let's face it, Fanime has outgrown San Jose.

The first on the slate of launches is registration. Attendee registration will open Monday Nov. 3rd at or around 2 pm.
You may also begin to book hotel rooms on Nov 10 through the same site.
We will do our best to post the link at or around 2

Is the start time for housing reg tomorrow at 2 PM PST?

Waiting for housing reg to start....

[Any sign or banner displayed in a public area of our facilities that bears the name or logo of a sponsor or affiliate partner of Show Management is complimentary.]

(1) union cost for putting these up in the convention center

Fortunately, no. From the San Jose Convention Center user manual:
Any banner placed outside of or affixed to any of our facilities is subject to a space rental fee. This includes banners bearing only Show Management name or logos, as well as sponsor names or logos. Any sign or banner displayed in a public area of our facilities that bears the name or logo of a sponsor or affiliate partner of Show Management is complimentary.

So as long as it says "Fanime" on it somewhere, and it's inside and standalone (not attached to walls, ceilings, or posts) there's no charge.

(2) cost of banner vs a printed sign, for some departments this would take up a sizable part or exceed their current overall budget.

Banners on the Cheap, custom 2x5' banner $12.95. One of many cheap online banner suppliers.

Buses were much better this year. Thanks.

Last  year the drivers were totally lost.  We were taken on an unwanted tour of Sharks Stadium and its parking lots, plus a visit to the San Jose railroad yards, by a driver who couldn't find the freeway on-ramp. This year, they could find the freeway.

It's still hard to find the bus stop at the Fanime end. I'd expected it to be in front of the convention center, not over by the Hilton lobby.

[Girls und Panzer banner, Ōarai, Japan.]

Girls und Panzer banner, Ōarai,  Japan.

A Japanese advertising banner in its usual setting - in front of a retail store. Banners like this are about as common as vending machines in Japan. The banner format is traditional, centuries old. The modern advertising version is a cheap mass-produced plastic pole and stand, like this one. Banners usually have bold characters and colors, without much detail. Text usually reads downward, not across. Sometimes you see kanjii down and English across on the same banner.

Banners like this would be a nice touch for Fanime.

(Ōarai is the setting for much of GuP, and the town supports it. Banners like this were all over Ōarai last year.)

Over at Clockwork Alchemy, we already have most of that. This year, due to hard work by Gene Forrer and his team, there were steampunk lamp posts with signs all over the con, and outside each panel room.  The info desks at CA are staffed by people in steampunk costume.  The Telegraph Office (my project) had some great cosplayers as operators and messengers this year.  CA has a lot of people with Dickens Faire experience, where all staff are in costume.

Japan-style greeters at Fanime are a good idea. At least for the reg line. You need people to untangle the lines, direct people to the right line, and such. With a bit of training, that could be done in character. It would get people in the right frame of mind for the con.

(For the anime version of training for a greeter job, see Yuusha ni Narenakatta Ore wa Shibushibu Shuushoku wo Ketsui Shimashita, episode 2, where the Demon Lord's daughter goes to work in an appliance store and has to use the polite Japanese forms and phrases. It's not easy for her. )

[Hotel Stayed:]

Hotel Stayed: Doubletree
Nights Stayed: Thursday night to Monday morning
Amenities: TV, wired Ethernet. No mini-fridge. Comfortable without frills.
Helpfulness of Staff: Very helpful and polite.
Pros of Hotel: Clockwork Alchemy is there
Cons of Hotel: Food hard to obtain. Sprigs coffee shop closed some days of con. Over $20 for breakfast buffet. Micro-Starbucks ran out of food. Main restaurant about $40 and up. Sushi bar in bar area is OK, not great. No food or candy vending machines. Few nearby restaurants open on holidays. Dennys nearby, but hard to reach on foot due to freeway in the way. Better than last year, though; at least Sprigs was open most days.
Would You Stay Again: Most definitely.
Recommendations/Suggestions/Misc: Try to get Starbucks to offer more of their standard line, like their little boxed meals, during the con.

[Typical Clockwork Alchemy directional sign.]

Over at Clockwork Alchemy, the design team and Gene Forrer built lamp-posts with signs all over the con.

Typical Clockwork Alchemy directional sign.

Next year, there should be a few of those at Fanime to direct people to Clockwork Alchemy.

Fanime itself needs a different style, of course. I'd suggest the standard Japanese advertising banner.

These things are all over Japan.

Most small retail stores have at least one.  They're easy to make.

[Telegraph Operators at Work]

Thanks to the cosplayers who volunteered for the Telegraph Office, we had a working, fully staffed steampunk telegraph office in full operation.


Telegraph Operators at Work (2 minute video)

Three days of running messengers, clattering machinery, and ringing bells, with several hundred messages delivered. Thanks, everybody!

Will reg stay open until everyone in line at closing time is processed?

[Thu 79°- 55°]

Weather prediction update:

Thu   79°- 55°
Fri     86°- 57°
Sat    84°- 57°
Sun   88° - 55°

10% chance of rain each day until Sunday. So, cooler Thursday than previously predicted.

[88°F]

Current San Jose weather prediction (Google version):

Thursday: 88°F   Partly cloudy.
Friday: 84°F   Partly cloudy.
Saturday: 81°F   Sunny.

I am confirming that 1 membership for any convention covers "admission" to both conventions. Therefore, if you choose to purchase a CA membership, you will be able to gain entry to FanimeCon and Clockwork Alchemy during the time your membership is valid.

Um... this actually needs confirmation?

A friend of mine was confused about this, because of the way the web sites are set up. The CA home page http://www.clockworkalchemy.com/#/home takes you to the CA registration page http://www.clockworkalchemy.com/#/essentials/reg. which links to the Fanime registration page https://fanime-reg.appspot.com/, which looks like it has nothing to do with CA. There's no mention of Fanime on that path until you get to the "Register  Here" point, and then there's no mention of CA. If you have no idea that Fanime and Clockwork Alchemy are connected, you can think you're lost or have been diverted to the wrong site.