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[Ginko]

Okiedokie, this is a long shot since we didn't get too many outside pictures, but you never know 'til you try. I'm on the lookout for pictures of Ginko and Sui from Mushishi (episode 2), and of boy-uniform Mikoto and cheerleader Toru from Princess Princess, as pairs or singly. The few of y'all who knew who we were warm the cockles of my shriveled little black heart, truly.

My favorite hands-down was the Harvest Moon guy walking around and doing the proposal pose with people who asked to take pictures of him. That was freaking adorable and made me giggle so hard. Rock on, Harvest Moon guy.

Fanime 2008 rocked pretty well, and most of what I would say has already been repeated many times over. Dealers' Hall was less than thrilling, but the AA was huge and awesome and had great variety. I'm one of those lazy people who never go to the concerts or masquerade or big events, but nevertheless I had a grand old time.

One comment I would like to make: is it just me, or does it seem to anybody else that the partying got a bit out of hand this year? I understand that Fanime is a social event and a lot of people like going to room parties and drinking at night, and that's all well and good if you like that sort of thing, but it seemed like there was an appreciably larger number of noticeably drunk people in the concourse earlier than usual...particularly one fellow who dashed down the hall while my friends and I were chatting, started throwing up into a garbage can, and then moved to a recycling bin to continue vomiting.

Just for reference, I captured notes on the live feedback session held at the end
of the closing ceremonies; here is the list of (Q)uestions raised, and where applicable,
the (A)nswers given to those questions, so that people here in the forums are
aware of the issues that have already been called forth to the FanimeCon management
team:

(pulled from my full transcript of the closing ceremonies...)

Former con chairs are called to the front
for the fan feedback/constructive criticism
section.

We do welcome your comments on how we can
improve.

If you're staying for the constructive
criticism, form a line up front, and we'll
make a note of your feedback.


========= begin fan feedback panel notes =============

Q: ld we have a public microwave for people
who bring ramen?
A: Someone must have requested a microwave, it
showed up in Casey's room.  Those are controlled
by the hotels, so it's not something we can easily
do.

A hot water heater also works. That's what we bring to our hotel room for our Ramen.
Didn't those water jugs, placed around con, have a hot tab? Do those actually work? If so, maybe direct people to those.

Heck, if you've got a hotel room nearby just use the coffeemaker to heat the water. Easy-peasy.

It's a shame Fructose and I weren't able to dedicate ourselves to being maids this year like we were last year, but we did our part by coming by on Saturday afternoon...I can't comment on how it was as a patron last year, but with the larger space and all it looked as though it was a lot easier for the patrons to spend time chatting and eating. Since the maids didn't have to shuffle people in and out super-quickly, it looked like there was more leeway to sit down and get acquainted, which was great (although it's a shame to hear that so many maids dropped out so early--but it seemed like the participating maids were handling things capably and smoothly, at least when we were there). I think our maid's name was Nicole? or some N name (I'm sorry, I'm terrible with names), and she was awesome. She was really friendly and attentive, and gave us little flower pins at the end. It was the little details like that that made the experience really memorable; I'm going to remember the chatting and the flower pin rather than how much we paid for our tiny little shared piece of cake. I hope the Cafe can keep the larger space next year, and if I'm able I'd really like to be able to participate as a maid again.

Speed (Speed Racer)

Fancy that, Fructose and I are planning to set up a little Speed Racer group and possibly a skit (her as Speed and me as Racer X, natch).

I line up every year on Friday and never had to wait for more than 5 minutes. :T

Same here...Fructose and I arrived at ~1pm on Friday and there was literally no line at all. We just breezed on through.

I'd be totally up for that.  You'll find Tom and I with the Twilight Knights teaching swordfighting most days (you have to sign up with the Con to get in the workshops), or see us at the panels.  Otherwise we have time off, and can chat.  Let's figure something out.

Oh, and I went to Merrill.  Freshman year in the dorms, Sophomore year in the Crown-Merrill Apartments.  Had some good friends over in Porter though.  I was a Neuroscience & Behavior major, so I didn't have any classes over at your 'hippy' college.  *grin*

Yeah, you say that as if it's a bad thing. *laugh* I'm not sure I've even been to Merrill, since I'm a Modern Lit major and mostly hide out at Porter and over at Stevenson. Be cool if I see y'all there!

Heck, I'm sitting here in my Porter apartment room even as we speak. \m/

For my money, Damekko Doubutsu is the best painfully cute five-minute anime ever. (If you can ignore Chiiko's slightly-grating voice, anyway.)

The best one I ever found:



It will never leave my wallet.

There's a lot going on here, but there was one specific thing I wanted to throw in, for what it's worth. I was a maid in the cafe, and I know there were a lot of problems, what with it being the first year and various clashes and all. I admit I went into the actual cafe work not really knowing what to expect; I had a basic idea of how maids in authentic maid cafes act, but I wasn't sure how much of that was supposed to be reflected in our activities as waitstaff in our particular cafe. One of the biggest troubles for me was that many of the customers that came into the cafe didn't know what to expect either--while I wanted to get more into the maid cafe role and hang out and chat with the customers (and was able to do this a few times) and really interact with them, many people that came into the cafe in groups of two or more spent the entire time talking amongst themselves and acted confused and offput when I did more than take their order or ask if they needed anything else, as if I were pestering them. I'm admittedly not the most socially ept person out there, but it was a lot easier to strike up proper conversation/interaction with individuals who came in on their own, rather than those who were already in their own little bubble. Not to say that this has anything to do with changes that should be made to the cafe in the future, but I just wanted to comment on that from the perspective of a server. Most people who came to eat just seemed happier left to their own devices, and what's one supposed to do when the ostensible purpose of an establishment and the desires of the patrons are at odds?

I'm quite looking forward to watching the first few episodes of this when I get back to Fruc's house. I was a bit disappointed in the OP when I watched it on youtube, though...it was so sedate and calm compared to the OP of the first season. I much preferred the sort of jarring, eerie vibe the first OP had.

If we're talking underrated in the sense of "this series deserves more love than it's getting/more people need to watch it," I'd definitely agree with Mushishi, and I'd give a little pet prod to Damekko Doubutsu because despite the fact that it's a bunch of five-minute fluff, it's still really really cute and I don't think I know anybody else who's ever bothered watching it. *laugh*

It's all about the Baconyo. (Although for a non-meat product the Fakin' or however it's spelled at Saturn in Santa Cruz is pretty tasty.)

Thursday evening to Monday evening, and it all went by so fast. Most of the people I'd be saying hi to are ones I see regularly anyway, but I wanna say word up to John--I hope you actually get your butt on here occasionally (and I hope you feel a bit less dead now)!

lets see i guess i was there all five days though i was half asleep through most of it soo it counts

yup your fail sherpa has finally come sugars and i am stilll pretty dead

Sherpa has arrived! :D I'm so happy.

Mein pictures. A whopping thirty-seven photos; two, I think, are of cosplayers, and the rest are friends or just us dicking around with the camera, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to post them here after uploading them and coming up with mock-witty captions. (Next year I'll take like ten times as many, I swear it. I'll do better! ;_;)

Not entirely sure on costumes for '08 yet, other than Ginko from Mushishi and a certain costume for a skit idea that's in the works.

I eat the cord to my headphones. :D

I do that all the time, not just while watching anime. *laugh*

Aloe tastes very good and is good for your skin apparently. If you go to Ranch 99 or some Chinese supermarket (or Japanese or Korean), they usually have Aloe drinks for sale.

Yeah, I knew of the good-for-your-skin properties (I slathered that stuff ALL over my leg when I had a second-degree burn), I just didn't know it could be taken internally or enjoyed as a foodstuff as well.