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First off: Hotfoot, sorry I didn't call - I was always on the road to something else and barely had any usable free time, and my cellphone died the second night. Hope you caught some of the awesome flicks they had.

Anyway, I'm back from my 3-day sojourn to New York City and the Big Apple Anime Fest therein. In actuality, we didn't spend a hell of a lot of time at the con (in fact, we were in the dealer room for only a couple of hours). However, the $40 price for a weekend pass was more than worth it. Some highlights:

• The dealer room gets very crowded very quickly, but it's an amazing place to buy cheap anime if you go to the right source. I got the Record of Lodoss War OAV boxset for $42 at the Central Park Media booth (dude didn't have change for $60 ) and an Outlaw Star box elsewhere for what was probably the going price ($75). Picked up the Lupin III movie Castle of Cagliostro for $20. Got some Bebop books (Manga volumes 2 and 3 and Anime Guide #1 (which is woefully inaccurate and badly written)) at $9 a pop, 3 for $24. Also got an overpriced copy of Trigun OST 1: The First Donuts for $30 (it was an import). Some good prices, some bad ones.
• My sister is absolutely insane. There was one booth selling VHS tapes for $2 a pop (something like 5 tapes for $10). She bought - are you ready? - a total of 78 tapes. She got 50 or so from that place, then the rest are coming in the mail - she bought three seasons of Star Blazers from the special booth that had one of the English dub voice actresses
  78 goddamn tapes! She was hauling them around in a box for half the day!
• Got me a real nifty Bebop wallscroll. If you don't know what a wallscroll is, look it up. They're basically fabric posters between two bars of plastic that you hang on the wall. Very nice.
• Saw four anime movies on the big screen. The first was The Sensualist, about prostitution in Japan way back. The film itself is 70s vintage. Had a lot of lewd comedy, but was more dramatic than anything. The other three were all directed by Satoshi Kon, who is now one of my favorite anime directors. This is the man responsible for the mindblowing Perfect Blue. His next two pieces are even better. The first was Millennium Actress, a love story which is done in a very strange sort of "memory documentary" style. A pair of doco filmmakers track down a reclusive actress and wind up following her on a journey of her life. The film is like her life told as a trail through the roles she appeared in (spanning over a thousand years of history) as she journeyed to return the key that her lost love dropped. There's a lot more to it than that, but I have to see it again. A bittersweet romance story; it makes a very nice segue from high comedy to drama.
  Next (which I saw just this morning) was Tokyo Godfathers, which is now my favorite Christmas movie ever, following the lives of a gruff old man, an aging homosexual/wannabe-female drag queen and a runaway teenager after they find an abandoned baby and attemt to find her parents. It is simply the most twisted take on the Nativity I've ever seen. Like his earlier film, most of it is uproariously hilarious until all the threads start to tie together at the end, where all the true morals and sappy goodness seep through and stab at your heartstrings. Another comedy to drama segue, which seems to be becoming a trademark of this director. And during the end credits they did Ode to Joy Japanese-style.
  Millennium Actress is actually coming out on DVD next month, so be sure to pick it, and Tokyo Godfathers (which was, oddly, abbreviated as TGOD on my ticket), up when they come out.
• Karaoke. Some otaku are actually really good singers.
• It cooled off on the second night and remained cool into the third, so I didn't die.

And some lowlights:

• Started off in the video room for Wild Arms (which we thought led to the dealer room, which was still closed). Wild Arms dubbed sucks, but might be worth a glance subbed.
• Chinatown at noon in long jeans during a day of heavy heat and humidity is pretty hard on poor old Rob, but I picked up some more anime there too: Lupin III. The second TV series boxset #1. More w00tage. That was my last anime purchase. I need to save some money so that Discover stops calling me and leaving stupid jingles on my phone.
• Canal Street in Chinatown is the single most crowded place on planet Earth outside of Times Square at midnight on December 31. The McDonald's was so packed that it took me twenty minutes to wait on line to buy a small soda so I could go upstairs to use the bathroom.
• The Pennsylvania Hotel is the shittiest place I've ever stayed in. If you ever visit NYC, do yourself a favor and spend the extra dough to book a room at a name hotel like Holiday Inn or the Marriot or something decent, where the paint on the walls isn't peeling and the bathroom ceiling isn't covered in mildew. Walking there was like navigating a cave, most of the stuff was unplugged when we got in, and we got the barest of necessities. However, the lobby was quite nice.
• Waiting for a train that never comes sucks. Bah. Waiting over two hours for a table at Red Lobster sucks worse (though the service was spectacular).
• Boogiepop Phantom wasn't very good.
• I walked several miles in boots and now have a blister on my right foot.
• Karaoke. Some otaku are very bad singers.

78 VHS tapes? She does know about this newfangled thing called a Digital Versatile Disc, right? There's a reason stores are trying to dump their VHS catalogs.

Sounds like you got off pretty cheap, though. When I go to an anime convention, I invariably spend a small fortune (damn you Ghibli R2 discs!).

What brand was your Trigun OST 1? $30 sounds pretty cheap for a legal import (most CDs over there retail for $30, and then you usually wind up paying another $8-15 for what it cost them to ship it over).

Shadowhawk wrote:78 VHS tapes? She does know about this newfangled thing called a Digital Versatile Disc, right? There's a reason stores are trying to dump their VHS catalogs.

Dude, that's why she buys them. They're cheap. I keep telling her about things like "oxide degredation" and "magnetic interference", not to mention "drastic quality difference", "smaller case" and "no rewind", but she'll have none of that. In fact, she calls me a videophile because I insist on DVD quality!

Shadowhawk wrote:Sounds like you got off pretty cheap, though. When I go to an anime convention, I invariably spend a small fortune (damn you Ghibli R2 discs!).

Heh! I did spend a good deal though, about $240 all told out of the $500 I had. I'm almost sure I bought some other stuff, but I can't remember.

Shadowhawk wrote:What brand was your Trigun OST 1? $30 sounds pretty cheap for a legal import (most CDs over there retail for $30, and then you usually wind up paying another $8-15 for what it cost them to ship it over).

It was actually closer to $25 or so IIRC...the brand on the copyright disclaimer reads Victor Entertainment, Inc.

Chinatown is one of the few places you can find the VoH manga in the US.

Dalton wrote:First off: Hotfoot, sorry I didn't call - I was always on the road to something else and barely had any usable free time, and my cellphone died the second night. Hope you caught some of the awesome flicks they had.

So that's what happened. Alan and I tried to keep an eye out for you the whole con, but you sure managed to make yourself scarce. I made it into the con rap-up video (they interviewed me coming out of the Saturday Morning showing of Initial D: Third Stage...who am I to say no to a camera? )

Anyway, there will be a con comic coming in a few days if everything goes well.

Anyway, I'm back from my 3-day sojourn to New York City and the Big Apple Anime Fest therein. In actuality, we didn't spend a hell of a lot of time at the con

Well, that explains why I couldn't seem to find you.

The first was Millennium Actress, a love story which is done in a very strange sort of "memory documentary" style. A pair of doco filmmakers track down a reclusive actress and wind up following her on a journey of her life. The film is like her life told as a trail through the roles she appeared in (spanning over a thousand years of history) as she journeyed to return the key that her lost love dropped. There's a lot more to it than that, but I have to see it again. A bittersweet romance story; it makes a very nice segue from high comedy to drama.

Aside from Initial D: Third Stage, this was the only honest movie I saw. At first, I couldn't imagine how it could be heart-wrenching after all that comedy, but damn if he didn't pull it off marvelously.

Karaoke. Some otaku are actually really good singers.

And some...aren't. The Monty Python References by the "teleprompter" were funny though.

The Pennsylvania Hotel is the shittiest place I've ever stayed in. If you ever visit NYC, do yourself a favor and spend the extra dough to book a room at a name hotel like Holiday Inn or the Marriot or something decent, where the paint on the walls isn't peeling and the bathroom ceiling isn't covered in mildew.

Or have a friend in the city who will let you crash at his place for a few days.

Waiting over two hours for a table at Red Lobster sucks worse (though the service was spectacular).

Burger King for me, but then I'm on the super-low budget.

I walked several miles in boots and now have a blister on my right foot.

Think I might have gotten one today on my left foot, but then today involved much standing in lines...as well as the big con freakout of 2003.

Karaoke. Some otaku are very bad singers.

Though some of them were amazingly good...and some of the Anime Idol contestents were simply amazing.

Now, for some of my own bits from the con:

Initial D: Third Stage-very cool movie. Rather long, but it flows very nicely. Try to either read the Manga or watch the series before seeing it though, as there are some spoilers for a few plot threads.

Anime Idol Voice Acting Contest: Tons of people applied (including myself), but only 20 people got picked. Of those 20, only 10 went on to round 2. Finally, there were only 3...plus the 9 gathered from other cons all over the country earlier this year. The grand prize: $500 and an exclusive voice acting contract for an upcoming anime show. The contestants were great (and I knew one of them personally...I had an acting class with her two years ago). Sadly, I didn't even get picked, so I missed out on getting up on stage. However, watching the finals on Sunday was absolutely hilarious and stunning. All the finalists put on good shows, and some were so good the entire theater was electrified. I like to think that I'm a halfway decent voice actor, but some of these people were able to induce extremely powerful emotions really well on the fly.

There were many other things that happened this weekend, but some of those will have to wait until I'm done drawing the comic.

Hotfoot wrote:So that's what happened. Alan and I tried to keep an eye out for you the whole con, but you sure managed to make yourself scarce.

Wasn't my fault The people I was with tended to drag me around and I didn't want to call you if I wasn't actually at the con. I was looking for you too, mind.

Hotfoot wrote:I made it into the con rap-up video (they interviewed me coming out of the Saturday Morning showing of Initial D: Third Stage...who am I to say no to a camera? )

Camera whore!

Hotfoot wrote:Anyway, there will be a con comic coming in a few days if everything goes well.

Cool, do show it when you're done.

Hotfoot wrote:

Dalton wrote:In actuality, we didn't spend a hell of a lot of time at the con

Well, that explains why I couldn't seem to find you.

Pretty much. It's unfortunate

Hotfoot wrote:Aside from Initial D: Third Stage, this was the only honest movie I saw. At first, I couldn't imagine how it could be heart-wrenching after all that comedy, but damn if he didn't pull it off marvelously.

Tell me about it. Tokyo Godfathers was even better in that department.

Hotfoot wrote:And some...aren't. The Monty Python References by the "teleprompter" were funny though.

Oh, you were there too? Yeah, that dude who tried to sing the Outlaw Star end theme was kind of sad. But those Malice Mizer goths rocked. And how about the girl who did the Escaflowne song? She's got real talent.

Hotfoot wrote:Or have a friend in the city who will let you crash at his place for a few days.

Oh that's right, you stayed at Alan's, right? Asshole

Hotfoot wrote:Think I might have gotten one today on my left foot, but then today involved much standing in lines...as well as the big con freakout of 2003.

Freakout? The cosplay thing? I'd've gone but everyone else was tired and the line was super-long.

Hotfoot wrote:Though some of them were amazingly good...and some of the Anime Idol contestents were simply amazing.

I wanted to see that...

Too bad about not getting in, BTW. I'd've liked to try out but I tend to have to clear my throat too much.

Dalton wrote:Wasn't my fault The people I was with tended to drag me around and I didn't want to call you if I wasn't actually at the con. I was looking for you too, mind.

It's okay, we both had fun, and that is what's important.

Camera whore!

You got it!

Cool, do show it when you're done.

Absolutely.

Pretty much. It's unfortunate

It happens, so no worries.

Tell me about it. Tokyo Godfathers was even better in that department.

Wow...I'll have to get that when it comes out then. Alan and I were both extremely surprised by the movie (and surmised that the Director had a right to be upset by the posters).

Oh, you were there too? Yeah, that dude who tried to sing the Outlaw Star end theme was kind of sad. But those Malice Mizer goths rocked. And how about the girl who did the Escaflowne song? She's got real talent.

Yeah, we popped in and out. Didn't see you there, though the lights were off.

Oh that's right, you stayed at Alan's, right? Asshole

Bwahahahaha...

Freakout? The cosplay thing? I'd've gone but everyone else was tired and the line was super-long.

Well, the freakout was involved with the cosplay thing, but it didn't involve it directly. It's actually what started me working on the comic...I was trying to take my mind off of it by focusing on the act of drawing. Unfortunately, they had everyone stand up, so I couldn't draw anymore...and it hit a whole new level.

I wanted to see that...

Too bad about not getting in, BTW. I'd've liked to try out but I tend to have to clear my throat too much.

Too bad you missed it, it was excellent (though I really did want to go to the webcomics panel, I felt I had to support my former classmate. ).

Hotfoot wrote:Wow...I'll have to get that when it comes out then. Alan and I were both extremely surprised by the movie (and surmised that the Director had a right to be upset by the posters).

Oh, you were there too? What was the poster he was talking about? I never saw it.

Hotfoot wrote:Yeah, we popped in and out. Didn't see you there, though the lights were off.

Natch

Hotfoot wrote:Well, the freakout was involved with the cosplay thing, but it didn't involve it directly. It's actually what started me working on the comic...I was trying to take my mind off of it by focusing on the act of drawing. Unfortunately, they had everyone stand up, so I couldn't draw anymore...and it hit a whole new level.

I've GOT to see this now.

Hotfoot wrote:Too bad you missed it, it was excellent (though I really did want to go to the webcomics panel, I felt I had to support my former classmate. ).

What webcomics were represented?

Dalton wrote:Oh, you were there too? What was the poster he was talking about? I never saw it.

Figured we had a bunch of near misses. I'm not certain, but I think it was the one Alan ripped to shreds during the karaoke contest...

I've GOT to see this now.

Heh...don't worry, you will.

What webcomics were represented?

Dunno...was going to find out there, but I couldn't make it.

Coolness I regret that I spent July at work rather then hitting the West Coast Otakacon with Ali. Damn Piro and Sara were there too.

Not to mention that Cosplaying Nat Portman lookalike booth Babe model that Ali knows....

Damn!

Hotfoot wrote:Figured we had a bunch of near misses. I'm not certain, but I think it was the one Alan ripped to shreds during the karaoke contest...

See if you can find out. I'm really, really curious.

Hotfoot wrote:Heh...don't worry, you will.

That reminds me, Durandal still owes us a comic

Hotfoot wrote:Dunno...was going to find out there, but I couldn't make it.

Bah. Slacker.

Dalton wrote:See if you can find out. I'm really, really curious.

Fair enough. He might have an extra one that he didn't destroy.

That reminds me, Durandal still owes us a comic

Oh?

Bah. Slacker.

It was at the same time as the Anime Idol Finals...it was an either or sort of deal. My duty was clear.

My friend Suzy went up there for that con, though she largely goes to show off her latest cosplay outfit. I think she was cosplaying as San from Mononoke Hime this year. I would have gone but I'm poor and all, and don't venture to cons that far from home unless I've got a good reason.

Dalton wrote:

Shadowhawk wrote:78 VHS tapes? She does know about this newfangled thing called a Digital Versatile Disc, right? There's a reason stores are trying to dump their VHS catalogs.

Dude, that's why she buys them. They're cheap. I keep telling her about things like "oxide degredation" and "magnetic interference", not to mention "drastic quality difference", "smaller case" and "no rewind", but she'll have none of that. In fact, she calls me a videophile because I insist on DVD quality!

LOL. Well, VHS is cheap, unless you get the high-grade archival Fuji SVHS tapes...

Phong / Dalton AV hijack in progress....


Warning:

If this was ASVS the statement you had just read would be followed by 9000kb of Phong and Dalton arguing about video formats.

Thank you

Would of gone like I did last year (and would of loved it again too) but was out of town for something far more important to me.

Hotfoot wrote:

Dalton wrote:See if you can find out. I'm really, really curious.

Fair enough. He might have an extra one that he didn't destroy.

Thanks.

Hotfoot wrote:

Dalton wrote:That reminds me, Durandal still owes us a comic

Oh?

GSDA!

Hotfoot wrote:It was at the same time as the Anime Idol Finals...it was an either or sort of deal. My duty was clear.

Bah!!

phongn wrote:LOL. Well, VHS is cheap, unless you get the high-grade archival Fuji SVHS tapes...

I don't recall any vendors selling Super-V tapes Hell, even a blank Super-V cost eight bucks at school.