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WOO!!  Stoked for this year's contest, as always!

SUPER EXCITED for this year's contest!!!  (hoping the signup form shows up here soon)  I've got a new round 1 song that I can't wait to do at con....it's old and FABULOUS.

I'll be there again this year!  No clue what I'm wearing yet though.

Hey Ska, a quick question since I can't remember from last year....the 1:30 time limit for the prelim round, is that 1:30 from when the singing begins or total time?  My 1st song has like a 30 second instrumental intro, so 1:30 would cut off in the middle of the chorus unless I trim the intro.  I'm putting a fade out at the end, but I need to know if I need to clip the beginning to fit (total run time is ~1:40 with the whole intro left in)

Thanks!  Can't wait!

Since my job ate my life the last 6 weeks, I'll be in Starnin again...this time complete with badge and studs!

Can't wait to see you guys <3

Thanks Ska!!  Got my info in (hopefully) in time to sing again this year!!

Super excited....this is one of my favorite parts of Fanime!

I thought hotel registration was already handled by an outside group?  CMR?   Unless it's just a shared name.. *shrugs*

Jumping in to defend CMR a bit here, as they also do the housing and registration for a ~35,000 person scientific professional meeting I attend almost every year in SF.  As far as I can tell, CMR only provides the web apps/code (aka the thing that lets you make bookings and buy your badge) for Fanime, along with some telephone support (this is also what they provide for the science meeting).  I don't know whose servers we're using when we access the Fanime version of CMR's housing app...when we register for the science meeting, it's via the sponsoring society's server, not CMR's.

Much like Fanime, when housing opens for this other meeting, it's always kind of a mad dash, as graduate students try to get the cheapest hotel rates before the hotels fill up (for comparison, I think we usually have like 25-30 hotel options for that meeting, though).  HOWEVER...I have never experienced the website crashes and issues with reservations that I have with Fanime's version of housing.  This leads me to believe that it's a Fanime-exclusive issue, and not tied to CMR.  I've had great experiences with CMR over 8 or so years of attending this other meeting.

Just my $0.02

Doing my damndest to make Malshina (Akibaranger) happen this year...will keep the thread posted.

If people want to do a later Gaim meet again I could easily bring Oren :3

This system doesn't even solve the issue with the site locking up apparently.

I think this is the most infuriating part of this year's hotel reg.  Even SEVERELY REDUCING the number of people trying to get a hotel at once STILL made their servers crash/have errors.

Fun fact: a very large professional meeting I attend also uses CMR web apps for registration and hotels.  Average attendance for that meeting is ~35,000 scientists from all over the world and there's always a big rush when housing opens (I should note that even they do not require you to have bought a badge to reserve a hotel, and even so, their badges can be refunded up to a certain date).  I don't think I've ever experienced the crashing/timeout errors for that meeting as I have with Fanime.

got my email... 2/25 at noon.  here's hoping i can get something decent by then.

i registered pretty late, actually.  did it right after they announced the priority hotel thing on FB.  i'm interested to know how many badges were binned per 3 hr time slot (10? 100? etc.).  anyone have insight on that?

My kingdom for AT LEAST a hotel price breakdown by property/occupancy.

What con does this?

Mostly large cons in the Midwest and East: ACen, AnimeBoston, Megacon, to name a few.  It's normal for there to have been at least 1 or 2 announcements of guests and/or events before badge and hotel registration opens (usually ~6 months pre-con).  (Dragoncon is notorious for announcing guests quickly post-con, however their hotel reservation system is a whole other hot mess that I won't bring up here, and usually happens 1-6 weeks post-con.)

Yes, WE can look at the events from last year, but will they be the same?  Maybe there won't be enough $ to do Musicfest for example.  Or we can't get the hall for the B&W ball.  Also this doesn't help total newbies, as all the events just say "coming soon" on the website.  Not everyone who comes to Fanime is from CA (or the west coast for that matter)...and traveling for a con means that there is some holycrapamazing thing/person/event you want to participate in.  In any case, we won't know unless it is communicated, and communication has been horrendous the last several years.

I'm not asking for the moon here...right now we're roughly 4 months out and nothing has been announced.  Not hotel prices, which are kind of important since hotel reg is looming.  Every year it feels like everything is cut closer and closer to the wire.  IMO, this is not really the best way to market a convention to its attendees...rather, it feels as though Fanime is "riding its laurels" instead of striving to be better.  Maybe I'm just spoiled by decently run cons back east (I'm a recent transplant), but for its size and supposed reputation, Fanime really should be bringing the big guns when it comes to communication, programming, and event planning.

(It would also be nice to have things like room rates... guests and events announced so people know the con is worth going to... )

THIS TIMES 5 MILLION.  We know absolutely NOTHING about the con, except that it's happening memorial day weekend in san jose.  No announcements of any kind.  Communication from Fanime staff has been abysmal the last few years....looks like this may be the worst year yet. 

(Many other cons of Fanime's size start announcing guests and events for their next con a few months after that year's con ends.  It feels like Fanime's top folks take 6 months off post-con and don't even think about the coming year before trying to implement things for the next con.)

An additional HUGE issue is that we don't even have hotel prices yet.  Frankly, I'd like to know those WAY before I buy my badge so I can get "priority" booking....but Fanime's forced my hand with this.  Here's hoping the hotels haven't jumped up a massive amount of $ per night since last year.

Although, I wish they had announced this a month ago when registration went live ... if I'd have known that my ability to reserve a hotel room depended on when I registered, I would have registered right away.

I'm also wondering if this new system means that rooms can potentially sell out before they even become available to people who registered later than others?

Both of these things are EXTREMELY important points.  Messy though the old hotel reg was, it did give everyone a chance to get a room.  Now, we're looking at possibly not even being able to get a room even WITH "priority," which is pretty crappy IMO.

Fairmont (tower this year), king room, arrived Fri and left Mon.  Was my second year staying there and my go-to for Fanime.

Really no negatives to staying here: it's close to food and my favorite parking location, and yet far enough from the con that it's not crazy loud/busy.  I love the short walk through the park to get to the con....it's a nice start/end to the day.   

The rooms are big, though I missed the little boudoir area the rooms in the main building have...i could leave my makeup out and there was a little stool and mirror, whereas this year i had to do my makeup in the bathroom which had less than optimal lighting.  The Fairmont rooms tend to be on the cheaper end of the housing options, which I also like.  I have to say I think I liked the tower more than the main building....less of a wait for elevators and much less crowded overall. 

Remember to sign up for the President's club (free) and you get free wifi.  It's robust enough to skype videochat and stream netflix.  President's club members also have a special checkin/out lane at the front desk.

Masq/Cosplay Spectacular

• wasn't advertised well AT ALL.  again (same in 2014).
• REALLY HAPPY that the karaoke contest winner is part of the halftime show again.  thank you.
• the event itself is still somewhat fatally flawed: i don't understand the reasoning for mixing walkons and skits in the performance order....this is just really jarring and ruins the flow of the show for me.  IMO the walkons should all go first, then the skits.
• it really shows just how much the reputation of the masq has slipped that there were openings for entries 2 weeks before the con.  to get back in the community's good graces, organization needs to improve by 1000%: communication with entrants is still subpar, and updates are few and far between even on the forums.  on a personal note, i was so displeased with my experience in 2013, that i will not enter again unless major changes/improvements are made.

Artist Alley:

• better communication with artists and a THOROUGH explanation of how portfolios are being juried
• MORE CRAFT ARTISTS!!!!  there were WAY too many solely print artists this year

Guests:

• more japanese guests please!!
• guests mainly involved with (dare i say old?) series from BEFORE 2000 would be awesome.  i'm older, so most of my favorite series are older, and i often haven't even watched most of the 'flavor of the season' series that air now.  seiyuu from classic 90s shoujo series would be especially great.

Guides:

• put ALL the major events in the pocket guide. masquerade wasn't in there, and i could barely find any mention of swap meet.

Housing:

• what a hot mess. CMR has done the housing for a professional meeting i attend in SF (also with 25k+ attendees) and we've never had the problems that fanime seems to have with sites crashing, etc. now that linecon is fixed, this should be a big priority going forward.

General:

• response from higher up staff when serious things are going down (AA table selection/payment website crashes, lack of guest announcements a month before con, etc).  when you stay silent no one trusts you.
• if you open housing/reg early again this fall, don't let everything basically languish until april.  we didn't see ANY updates on ANYTHING really from nov through almost the middle of march, and that really doesn't make people want to come to the con.  almost every other con i attend (all outside of CA) announces events/guests/updates throughout the year at a pretty regular pace.  loading it all up in the 6 weeks pre-con makes the whole event feel last minute, poorly planned, and rushed.

Yes but consider for a moment... 4:30??? The best of both worlds.

works for me!!!!!  up late finishing my vest for starnin! 

can't wait to see all you classy folks on saturday! <3

Star Burger arrived today!!!  ZA CHANGE!  so, def kinji takigawa (starninger) for the 1st meet, then Oren for the 2nd.

Di we ever decide on a time for the unofficial 2nd meet?  i have that whole afternoon free, so anytime works for me.

Thank you based Oren

PARDON????  <3

(i'll bring my baka donguri lock along....still need to see how i can fit into this sengoku driver belt!)