Messages

Anyone get pics of some of the staff at Fanime outta curiousity? Also anyone get shots from Stage Zero? XD

I, too, would like to see if there were any shots from Stage Zero...

I humbly thank everyone for the positive comments about Stage Zero.  I also humble thank everyone for their constructive comments and suggestions to help improve Stage Zero in the future.

Stage Zero in its first year had its ups and downs, but from the many comments I have been reading, it has been an overall success.

Let me try to address some of the concerns:

We did have some ambient light issues during the day, and sometimes it was hard to see the screen, and hopefully we will be able to rectify this issue next time.

As for being annoying...I know I was a little like that, but hey, no offense taken.  I had to be a little loud and obnoxious, because we were trying to get people to notice us.  Happily, we've learned some valuable ways to bring an audience to our Stage.

I must give a lot of love to the other hosts and staff of Stage Zero.  Many thanks for their hard work, especially our Stage Zero director, Sean Barber, who worked diligently to make sure things worked well throughout all four days of the convention, including pre-convention preparation, convention setup, and the ability to be versatile with all the changes that we put onto Stage Zero in coordinating with programming.

Programming was very tough to manage, as many things got rescheduled or cancelled, and moved about, or brought to us.  Hopefully the staff will try to be able to rectify that issue, and I think an open schedule for Stage Zero would be something to consider, since our Stage was so random, partially by us, and by changes in programming.  We constantly had people coming to us to make announcements for their panels and events, which threw us off our game big time.  I know that we'll definitely try to find a way to get those announcements and changes without having to torture the hosts with sudden changes.

I don't believe that we currently need another host, because as far as I'm concerned, I would give much priority to the hosts of this year's Stage Zero as we were only in the first year of this experiment, and they deserve a second chance.  I'd love to have Seanie back.  If Rey-Rey was willing to trek up to our part of California, he's got a spot here.  Also much love goes to Oniko, having busted her butt with stage direction, and even becoming an unofficial host of Stage Zero, and if she wanted to be a host again, her spot is reserved.  What I really would like to see are more people to help Sean Barber and running the soundboards and technical stuff, because he was more overworked than us hosts (although it is a very draining experience).  We just need helpers so that our hosts will be able to have their rest, or have time to be their usual chick magnets selves *coughRey-Rey&Onikocough*.

We did have some traffic issues with Stage Zero.  We appreciate the call to have seating for our Stage, instead of having people sit on the ground, and we will try to find ways to make sure there is suitable space to walk around the audience should there be big events at our area.

As for the rappers for Stage Zero, I know that made for many complaints, due to some language that isn't kid-friendly.  Much respect for Sean Barber and Jae Kinetic for holding it down for these artists.  However, I do not have much negative feedback for this.  As a person who appreciates anime and hip-hop, I do not have a problem with having hip-hop at an anime convention, but I'm sure the staff will work to make sure that it'll be a selection of artists that will appease the non-ignorant and open-minded Fanime crowds, or at least something that won't scare the little children.  At least we could have had Shing02 (rapper who did opening for Samurai Champloo, and lives in Berkeley... just an idea)

I appreciate that people actually want to see J-rock, J-pop, J-hip-hop artists and their music videos on Stage Zero.  I would love to show more of these music videos, but our resources are limited.  That being said, if anyone is willing to provide us with Asian music videos, we'd be more than willing to take them in and, after screening them, we'd put them into the video rotation for our Stage.  Like Jason said, we're not all anime music videos...

I wouldn't mind a J-rock/J-pop cosplay competition.  That might be an idea to consider to have for next year.  Then again, I think I speak for a majority of the hosts of Stage Zero: if someone is more than willing to cosplay as Koda Kumi and wants to perform for our Stage, I'M ALL FOR IT!!!!  :lol:

Gaming tournaments would be cool, but I have to think about the technical issues for that, and I'll have to talk to the directors.  It just, for now, would seem too much for technical support to handle, and I trust that the gaming room does a fine job hosting those tournaments.

People seemed to like the "randomness", and with the changes in programming for our Stage, we did our best to keep our audience entertained.  We will try to bring more random games, and will try to find ways to entertain you with our antics and overall good times.

Once again, thank you all for making Stage Zero a success, and we hope that we can improve for next year.  Keep the feedback coming, and we shall keep an open ear.

Oh, by the way, that guy who got kicked is okay, after speaking with him the morning after.  He had a pretty nasty sore, after endless kicks, a sword hit him "there", and a superkick as hard as Vanderjagt kicking the winning field goal for the Pats.

[The other hosts.]

You know...if someone were to dress me up as a Snorlax, I'd be so for it.

You know what's lacking in this thread?

The other hosts.

Besides, we all are one happy family that will bring you nothing but the best entertainment that our minds can give you.

[Wendell]

I heard Wendell mention Yaoi Twister.  Something about people cosplaying as feminine-looking dudes playing twister or whatever.

But don't look at me!  I'm just one of the hosts!  I don't make up this stuff!

To quote the infamous gangsta TRON,

"I plead the FIF!!!"
"...one, two, three, four, FIF!!!

Nah, that was another member of our staff...me thinks...um...yeah...

-------------------------------------------------------

I heard Rey-Rey mention a competition for Who Can Glomp Rey-Rey The Hardest?

I ain't one to gossip, but that's what the folks tell me around the block.

[Wendell Nacnac fellow]

That Wendell Nacnac fellow... yeah, that's YOURS TRULY.  Come and partake in our fun.