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Hey all. Dieter....... For the record, I ran hosted Fanime DerCosplay for five years and hosted the following, which was 2006.   Not an easy event to coordinate and lots of things can happen. I heard about things for 2013...I am sorry to learn of all the difficulty that happened this year.

I'm going to have to estimate: paid attendees were approximately 14,000; total attendance was something like 15,000

That's what AnimeCons.com has us down, and that'll put FanimeCon at #9 of the 10 Largest North American Anime Conventions of 2009, a drop from #5 from the 2008 list.

Yeah but we're still the #1 most fan oriented and uber badass con in the nation =P

Fanime:  we're not Dramacon  :P

hmm ya get those things a twirlin and snap! Ya got yourself another Wii controller nightmare.  :(

As with other Live Action Adaptations, It definatly could be fail, but the sets and effects look cool thou.

True, yet......

Just seeing the CG animation snipets of the Yamato and the music score makes it cool.  And that its a Japanese production.   8)
Remember when Hollywood "tried" to do a Godzilla movie starring Matthew Broderick? Epic Fail.  :D

Sometimes, its not about how much money or how advanced the special effects, it's about the intent and effort put forward.  Soul.  The remade Battlestar Galactica started with a lot of skeptical fans....look how that turned out.

Case in point, The Speed Racer Movie was really done well to the intent of the original series (it was a kids show).  Tatsunoko Studios was very appreciative of the Wachowski Brothers and their luv of the 60s show.  Even Peter Fernandez got realy good screen time.

SNK v Capcon? that is so last year. :P

Tatsunoko v Capcom is where its at, jack! 8)
http://wii.ign.com/articles/106/1062972p1.html

Okay, this is a BIT off topic, but you know what they say: "It's better to post in an old thread than make a new one."

What are the rules about shovels? They obviously aren't MADE to be used as weapons, but I'm worried that they might fall under the Live Steel clause.

Um, don't bring real tools like a shovel to the con.  Objects made of metal are a danger regardless their purpose.

AX was for profit years ago.
The drama at AX is an epic mini-series that just won't stop.  wow. 
So now AX has pissed off Sony?  A crazy control freak CEO?
Remember back when AX pissed off Pioneer?
It seems the AX higher ups find some new/creative way to purge themselves of experienced staff after a few lean years of developing staff into department leadership.
Sheeesh, some things never change.........

Is this the topic that gets new life every year?!?!  Seriously, AX and Fanime are worlds apart.  Trust me I know. I've staffed both events.

8D dude its called sarcasm

No, we're pretty serious.  8)

I pretty much cant tell which is which at most times so...uh...X___X

oh yes.  I can see the "untapped potential" relocating to the east bay.

Just as the title says.

(Sorry if it's still really really early, but I wouldnt want to pre-reg then find out that it's in Fremont or San Fransisco because then my parents would definately not let me go >.<)

HMmmm, Fremont does have the Hayward Fault Hole at the park...lots of tourists are going there.   Might be worth it.  :wink:

[might]

Believe it or not.

http://images.cosplay.com/showphoto.php?photo=705991

Too bad he's not gonna teach at Hartnell next semester since I have the Fall catalog.

I know that sucks that he's not teaching next semester at Hartnell  :( .

I might be teaching in the Fall. The Dean hasn't figured that out yet.  Being an "adjunct" faculty has its drawbacks.  Most likely I will be one of the sections labeled as "staff"

All of the above posters made excellent points. :D
 
Two minutes is a long time for a skit.  The best performances with really high efforts are usually within two minutes.  The energy and creativity stay high from beginning to end.  Come up with an idea with your friends at least a couple of months before the con starts and then refine your basic concept and then....practice. 8)
 
I must repeat the points about obscure charaters/series.  If you really want to do something from say "Brother Dear Brother" just expect to get confused looks.  Perhaps during the course of the skit some context can be communicated to the audience.  

(I was thinking that an unlikely paring could be "Brother Dear Brother" and "Revotuntionary Girl Utena")  There is so much drama to both in the same style and dress codes!  They seem like natural bookends, imho. :)

As to Yaoi/Bishonen Ai cosplay skits.  Yes, it has caught on a bit in the mainstream cosplays and not everyone (er, most people) might not find it amusing/entertaining.  Again, if your group wants to take this path, I would stress a tasteful aspect.  We don't want non-yaoi fans to get a distorted view of yaoi fans, right?
:wink:

unfortunately, I wouldn't miss SWC IV for the world.... :/  SO no Fanime 2007 for me :o

Ah yes.  It should be fun.  Getting all those SW geeks (er, fans) watching a pirate copy of "Christmas in Endor" and demanding Lucas release the final, final, fan edition to the original trilogy.  :lol:

And then there is the obligatory sight of the poor unfortunate Star Trekker wandering around the festival. :cry:

Yeah, it will be 30 years since the release of "A New Hope"  I was there as a nine-year old. However, I don't know how you can stretch it out for five day event just on six films.  (Ok, maybe including the Ewoks and Droids cartoons)

Since Star Wars is very much a genre specific event, I doubt very much it would be a negative, unless there's a big exedus of dealer favorites opting for San Diego.  As for the reference to PMX back in '04.  That little drama is way over. It's been cussed and discussed.

As for future Fanime dates, (our initial three-year run in SJ has concluded) I wouldn't be surprised to hear soon of a long-term deal in San Jose for more than three years.

Then explain the delays every year.  There are Union people running the board directly on stage right and I am certain there was a union person at table in the back.  Needless to say there were huge gaps in cues.  Have things changed?  Is it simply the vast size of the venue itself?  Headset coms were in short supply again this year.  Casey mentioned that to me. I am interested to know.

Our stage manager, Casey (the ONLY guy who had a full handle on what was needed onstage and backstage), was not given a headset. So we had to communicate any changes through the Fanime Tech person on stage, who communicated it to Fanime techs in the back, who then communicated it to the union staff. There's that 5 second delay. That really has to change next year, and that's something we need to obviously hash out with tech, because that was the core problem for any technical snafus was the "gap" time that Brian mentions -- as well as that having to communicate it through so many people ends up not getting the proper message out.

I was pondering things over the weekend and estimated the there were conservatively over 300 audio/light cues for cosplay.  It is a very deamanding aspect to coordinating and running a live event, which does put many people in stressful positions.  Factor the lack of a cue to cue rehearsal and new people this year for stage crew does add to the challenge.

The setup used for cosplay at the auditorium is set up ideally for the music event to handle/adjust the live bands (for the music concert program) and not for a more conventional performance event.  Indeed, a four hour program is a marathon by any measure and does test the patience of all tech/stage crews.   I'm not getting on anyone's case Tony.  Just noting how things have changed since Santa Clara.

[Wendell]

I appreciate the props, Wendell.  And kudos to everyone involved with Stage Zero and I know the shoutouts have been long overdue for you guys (that means all of you: Sean Barber, Oniko, Yuni, Eric, Seanie, Cheska, Rob Miles, Jason Ebner... if I missed any of you, apologies).

I also appreciate the fact knowing that I have a spot at Stage Zero for Fanime 2K7 but, truth be told, it's WAY TOO EARLY for me to even think about it.  And considering I'm only taking it one convention at a time nowadays, I'm not even sure if I can give a clear answer to that even two months before Fanime 2K7!  

Conventional wisdom tells me that I SHOULD give it one more try.  But, yeah, a lot of factors get in the way (such as the aforementioned having to travel all the way from Long Beach AND the waning interest of going to anime conventions).  

In any case, it was a pleasure working for y'all and I appreciate the hospitality Fanime gave me... despite the fact that I make fun of Northern California a lot. ^__^ v  Just trying to be hella funny for some of the peeps out there. ^__^ v

Hey Rey and Stage Zero Crew.

Major congrats on putting together and running Stage Zero.  From the looks of things, you turned into a very valuable resource for the rest of the con by having to adjust your schedule to deal with other programming emergencies.  

Rey, it was great to interact with you onstage and backstage at the Cosplay Spectacular.  I know my son Tyler now is wanting to hang with you from now on.  BTW, I know how a long distance relationship with cons can be on your personal time and finances.  (oh yeah...I know that very well)  Stay flexible.

-New host character for mAsquerade not as funny as Deiter.  No funny voices = no funny.

-Bring back Deiter or at least SOMEBODY with a funny accent.  California accent NOT funny.  English accent funny.  Australian accent funny. But NOT a "normal" accent.

very amusing rant....not very keen on details.  Since I AM DIETER.. Doh!  
I did do "some funny voices" as you call it.  Perhaps you were out getting food.

Odd comment about no sleeping places....not the responsibility of the con to provide a bed and breakfast.

Interesting use of grammar  too (no funny voices = no funny) is that new math??  

Hard to please everyone, I guess.

Part of the difficulty with the Auditorium is the layers of staffing we have to endure just to get light/sound cues.  There always seems to be a delay of a good five seconds or so before light go down/up and sound cues get done.  This has been THE biggest gripe of mine for the past three years in San Jose.  The venue (Union house rules) prevents us from doing our own tech. :(

Oh, Brian, that's not true! We can use our own tech...

... for MILLIONS OF DOLLARS!  :evil:

Then explain the delays every year.  There are Union people running the board directly on stage right and I am certain there was a union person at table in the back.  Needless to say there were huge gaps in cues.  Have things changed?  Is it simply the vast size of the venue itself?  Headset coms were in short supply again this year.  Casey mentioned that to me. I am interested to know.

[the house lights went up.]

I really enjoyed Masako's perfomance during the Masquerade intermission. I just felt bad for her because she (as well as Eugene and JC) was really great, but not many people were paying attention.. which is fine because it was an intermission, but I think they deserve some kind of timeslot or situation where they can have a fully attentive audience!

This was probably the most bizarre thing that happened to me while running Fanime's Masquerade. There was NEVER intended to be an "intermission" -- none -- we were introducing the next performance, a set by Maiyu and Luno (her band) and it took a few moments to set up her equipment. Everyone on my staff was in absolute shock when everyone started standing up, talking, walking around, etc.... right in the middle of the performance. We were honestly horrified. I was running around the theater myself trying to get people to sit back down, especially the cosplayers who were wandering around with non-peace-bonded equipment which was completely prohibited and against various violations. When I went to go ask the union staff to bring the house lights down to indicate that this was not an intermission, I discovered the lighting/sound union theater staff had disappeared on a break-- they figured since everyone else was getting up that it was a scheduled break (even though it was not in our script or our program).

I remember Brian saying something about 'and now we'll take a bit of a break to listen to some music by Mayuu'--I don't remember exactly how he said it, but I'm pretty sure I remember him using the word "break" in her introdution.  I'm sure he meant it as a break from the cosplay skits, but I think it was ambiguous enough that the audience took it to mean a literal break.  I do agree that it really does disrupt the flow of the show to have a break in the middle, with all the noise and chaos it creates.:)

Even before I stepped out to the stage to stall and announce Maiyo and Luno, the stage crew was setting up the equipment, people were leaving their seats and the house lights went up. I was a bit puzzled and uttered "break" because of this happening.  Marissa as well didn't expect the house light to go up and she reported backstage that the tech crew disappeared during this time as well.

Part of the difficulty with the Auditorium is the layers of staffing we have to endure just to get light/sound cues.  There always seems to be a delay of a good five seconds or so before light go down/up and sound cues get done.  This has been THE biggest gripe of mine for the past three years in San Jose.  The venue (Union house rules) prevents us from doing our own tech. :(

Some people forget over the years that I really encouraged people to not exceed two minutes for their skit/performance because the intent is for the participant to have the stongest stage experience possible and not just monopolizing their given stage time.  

Of course it would degrade and impeed the overall intent  of the event itself if the stage crew had to "yank" people off stage for going way over time.  It doesn't look good and it just isn't a fun thing to occour for everyone: staff, participants and audience.   Sitting off stage with a stopwatch isn't really a fun thing to have inplace for an event like a masq.

In the end, the entry participants themselves must bear the brunt of praise and critical comments from the audience.  (be it valid or not)  I just hope most comments are not of the crude variety, which sometimes happens in large group events.