Acen Report~~
May. 16th, 2005 09:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
croikI've never done a real con report really, and...I'm not starting now! AHAHAHAHA!!
But here's my weekend, roughly:
Got up Thursday morning, drove out in Dad's Big Red Van to meet the rest of our group (there were 13 of us together). It was cold and I wore shorts. The drive out to Chicago was uneventful save the truck of cute widdle piggies we passed. We checked in, waited in the long ass registration line (where I was mistaken for a 16 year old XP), and played video games most of the evening.
I was a little disappointed with Acen's programming schedule this year--all the panels that I might have wanted to go to overlapped each other, or other things I wanted to see. The dealers' room didn't open until 12 on Friday (it's usually 10), which was right when they were showing the AMV contest videos (which is usually Saturday). So I sacrificed first choice of merchandise to dress up in my Boss cosplay and head to the AMV room.
In all honesty, I wasn't terribly impressed with the contest entries. I stayed for nearly an hour and a half and only saw a handful that were good, and two or three that were really good (one of which ended up taking Best Themed). Everyone uses too many flashy effects these days, no one depends on timing and scene selection anymore. By then they hadn't shown mine but it was getting really boring, so I headed to the dealer's room...
...where I promptly spent most of the money I'd brought, on the imported Gantz PS2 game, 16 volumes of Gantz manga, 2 One Piece manga, 1 Death Note, 1 Hellsing, 2 Trigun, the MGS1.5 art book and Yuuka Nitta's HaruDaki artbook. The dealer's room is a wonderful place.
At one point we (me, my sister, and my brother) got caught by Eurobeat King, the cosplay photographer. It was kind of funny, 'cause he was taking someone's else's picture on the first floor while we headed up the escalator. But when re reached the top he was there waiting for us! The man's magic! The pictures he took of us are over Here (I'm in the white).
The rest of Friday was mostly hang out time (the panel I wanted to go to was full XP), playing video games, chowing down, watching anime. Saturday morning I was back in Boss gear and back in the dealer's room, where I bought 2 pins (Yuki and Sasuke) and three charms (Gaara, Sasuke, and Neji OMG I BOUGHT NARUTO CRAP), as well as 4 Gantz DVDs.
We had a few hours by then, so our whole group killed time by watching some Gantz, while I laughed like a madwoman as their brains were slowly turned to mush. Then half of us split up and went to the "Your Favorite Anime Sucks" Panel, which I WOULD have gone to, if they hadn't put it right when I was getting in line for the Masquerade. But![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tanithkitty was going to be in the contest so of course I wanted a good seat.
The Masquerade was AWESOME.tanithkitty got the biggest crowd reaction with her spamtastic Yubaba cosplay, and Stripper Vash from last year made a Return Appearance that I personally feel should have gotten him an award (*swoon*). From there it degenerated into a 70s dance party until the judges were finished. TK won a merit award--too bad she didn't win more, but the Best in Show winner really did deserve it, with her insane amount of hand stitched details. No one knew where she was from, but damn, that was a lot of work. After that was an assload of picture taking, and finally back to the rooms for more Gantz, video games, and Ho-Hos.
Sunday morning we tossed all our gear back into the Big Red Vans, and I donned my Seras Victoria outfit from last year for our last trip to the dealer's room. Sunday DR is a truly magical thing--by then you've already been through the whole thing two of three times, and yet you always manage to find the ONE thing you couldn't have left the con without. For me, that happened to be a FULL SET of the famous Song of Wind and Trees manga (Kaze to Ki no Uta). For those of you who don't know, it's one of the first shonen-ai manga that came out in the early 1970s, and was completely out of print until only recently. Beautiful, beautiful story. One of the classics, not like a lot of the crappy BL manga that comes out now. Back when characterization and plot really mattered.
*le sigh*
After that, and a brief scurry about to locate a lost party member, we ended up at the AMV awards. Sadly, my Wolf's Rain video did not win its category of Romance. But the one that did, done to the movie Beyond the Clouds, was really good, so I'm not surprised or upset. As soon as I figure out a better codec for it I'll post it to amv.org.
Other than that, I liked about half of the award winners this year. Best action was a lot of flash (nothing new), Best Drama was too cheesy for me (but then I'm not a Haibane fan), and the winners for Best Upbeat, Comedy, and Best in Show were all Azumanga Daioh (*silent death*). Best in Show was funny, sure, and very well done, but it wasn't nearly as good as last year's BiS. And the comedy and dance videos that won were nearly identical in most respects. They didn't even give a runner up or technical award this year (which, if they had, both could have easily gone to the Boogiepop Phantom video, which was DAMN CREEPY OMG. I LOVED IT).
All the winners this year were from Studios (access to professional equipment, as I understand). Which means if I only get one entry next year...it's going to have to be DAMN good.
Also, I think it should be a rule that you actually have to ATTEND the con you submit your videos to. I know not everyone can afford cons but that's the rule for cosplay, I don't see why AMVs should be any different.
In any case, afterwards we popped in the Big Red Vans and started the long drive home. Stopped at a McDonald's on the way, where I baffled the staff and all dozen occupants by ordering Chicken Selects in my Seras cosplay. I hope the register guy liked my short skirt ^_~
Thus was Anime Central, 2005.
...Next year, I am SO cosplaying Gantz.
But here's my weekend, roughly:
Got up Thursday morning, drove out in Dad's Big Red Van to meet the rest of our group (there were 13 of us together). It was cold and I wore shorts. The drive out to Chicago was uneventful save the truck of cute widdle piggies we passed. We checked in, waited in the long ass registration line (where I was mistaken for a 16 year old XP), and played video games most of the evening.
I was a little disappointed with Acen's programming schedule this year--all the panels that I might have wanted to go to overlapped each other, or other things I wanted to see. The dealers' room didn't open until 12 on Friday (it's usually 10), which was right when they were showing the AMV contest videos (which is usually Saturday). So I sacrificed first choice of merchandise to dress up in my Boss cosplay and head to the AMV room.
In all honesty, I wasn't terribly impressed with the contest entries. I stayed for nearly an hour and a half and only saw a handful that were good, and two or three that were really good (one of which ended up taking Best Themed). Everyone uses too many flashy effects these days, no one depends on timing and scene selection anymore. By then they hadn't shown mine but it was getting really boring, so I headed to the dealer's room...
...where I promptly spent most of the money I'd brought, on the imported Gantz PS2 game, 16 volumes of Gantz manga, 2 One Piece manga, 1 Death Note, 1 Hellsing, 2 Trigun, the MGS1.5 art book and Yuuka Nitta's HaruDaki artbook. The dealer's room is a wonderful place.
At one point we (me, my sister, and my brother) got caught by Eurobeat King, the cosplay photographer. It was kind of funny, 'cause he was taking someone's else's picture on the first floor while we headed up the escalator. But when re reached the top he was there waiting for us! The man's magic! The pictures he took of us are over Here (I'm in the white).
The rest of Friday was mostly hang out time (the panel I wanted to go to was full XP), playing video games, chowing down, watching anime. Saturday morning I was back in Boss gear and back in the dealer's room, where I bought 2 pins (Yuki and Sasuke) and three charms (Gaara, Sasuke, and Neji OMG I BOUGHT NARUTO CRAP), as well as 4 Gantz DVDs.
We had a few hours by then, so our whole group killed time by watching some Gantz, while I laughed like a madwoman as their brains were slowly turned to mush. Then half of us split up and went to the "Your Favorite Anime Sucks" Panel, which I WOULD have gone to, if they hadn't put it right when I was getting in line for the Masquerade. But
tanithkitty was going to be in the contest so of course I wanted a good seat.The Masquerade was AWESOME.
tanithkitty got the biggest crowd reaction with her spamtastic Yubaba cosplay, and Stripper Vash from last year made a Return Appearance that I personally feel should have gotten him an award (*swoon*). From there it degenerated into a 70s dance party until the judges were finished. TK won a merit award--too bad she didn't win more, but the Best in Show winner really did deserve it, with her insane amount of hand stitched details. No one knew where she was from, but damn, that was a lot of work. After that was an assload of picture taking, and finally back to the rooms for more Gantz, video games, and Ho-Hos.Sunday morning we tossed all our gear back into the Big Red Vans, and I donned my Seras Victoria outfit from last year for our last trip to the dealer's room. Sunday DR is a truly magical thing--by then you've already been through the whole thing two of three times, and yet you always manage to find the ONE thing you couldn't have left the con without. For me, that happened to be a FULL SET of the famous Song of Wind and Trees manga (Kaze to Ki no Uta). For those of you who don't know, it's one of the first shonen-ai manga that came out in the early 1970s, and was completely out of print until only recently. Beautiful, beautiful story. One of the classics, not like a lot of the crappy BL manga that comes out now. Back when characterization and plot really mattered.
*le sigh*
After that, and a brief scurry about to locate a lost party member, we ended up at the AMV awards. Sadly, my Wolf's Rain video did not win its category of Romance. But the one that did, done to the movie Beyond the Clouds, was really good, so I'm not surprised or upset. As soon as I figure out a better codec for it I'll post it to amv.org.
Other than that, I liked about half of the award winners this year. Best action was a lot of flash (nothing new), Best Drama was too cheesy for me (but then I'm not a Haibane fan), and the winners for Best Upbeat, Comedy, and Best in Show were all Azumanga Daioh (*silent death*). Best in Show was funny, sure, and very well done, but it wasn't nearly as good as last year's BiS. And the comedy and dance videos that won were nearly identical in most respects. They didn't even give a runner up or technical award this year (which, if they had, both could have easily gone to the Boogiepop Phantom video, which was DAMN CREEPY OMG. I LOVED IT).
All the winners this year were from Studios (access to professional equipment, as I understand). Which means if I only get one entry next year...it's going to have to be DAMN good.
Also, I think it should be a rule that you actually have to ATTEND the con you submit your videos to. I know not everyone can afford cons but that's the rule for cosplay, I don't see why AMVs should be any different.
In any case, afterwards we popped in the Big Red Vans and started the long drive home. Stopped at a McDonald's on the way, where I baffled the staff and all dozen occupants by ordering Chicken Selects in my Seras cosplay. I hope the register guy liked my short skirt ^_~
Thus was Anime Central, 2005.
...Next year, I am SO cosplaying Gantz.
