Slight Review on Anime Diet’s NYAF Anime Blogger RT.. some thoughts.

Okay, this is one of last anticipated aspects of NYAF that I was waiting for. Flashback to Saturday of NYAF, in the midst of the masquerade, there was the Anime Blogger Round Table, that Moritheil of Anime Diet got video footage of. I was waiting for this since I wrote my con report, and I am sure lots of other people were waiting to see this panel. I don’t know how much words is the limit for comments, so I decided to write a blog posting here.

The panel had a multiple group of a lot of bloggers I have heard in passing, via Twitter or Press, so this shows more people than what I realize in front of my computer actually would be vying for a voice to be heard. A lot of them are successful as well.  Also it shows what type of specific niche there can be.. so you click or not.

Anime blogging meetups and gatherings are always so hard to do. Venue, time, schedule and place – so this panel was somewhat of a interesting promo-yourself and learn from others type of panel. Ego or not, different perspective and as they call it in my occupational field, the movers and shakers..are you actually known or respected by other people is another thought? Are you influential or not?

Still this is an observation to the NYAF panel. I will be recapping some questions.. and would definitely put in some random thoughts..

Why and how did you get into blogging? How many people get paid or even a press panel?

Typical introduce yourself, and with the amount of people on the panel, got to sum up your background/work in a few sentence or not. If you get paid, then that is a cushy job. Being press…  at least there is some financial relief for attending the con, when there is something to be writing or covering about in the end.

Are you a new school or old school fan?

Well that is a no brainer.  You have to be a an anime fan to be a panelist. But this shows that there are several schools of thought. Still the genre for old and new school is pretty broad. You should call this a part – if you got exposed to anime early or not, and are titles available to you or not? What is the basics of your passion? (People mentioned my tastes are old school.. but even then finding an anime blogger that is similar to the titles you see is even more needle in the haystack…)

Favorite merchandise/memorabilia

As I recall reading what a “meaning” of what Otaku is – a fan who has collections of anime good, this is a superficial question for  a comparison contest to see who has the best collection and what not..totally subjective.

Impressions of NYAF/NYCC merger for next year.. opinions.

Subjective.. people will see how it would be run for next year. But if my feelings are anything profound it would be in the line of what Vamp Vo mentioned with what he mentioned of how swamped press would be. Even thought there was basically no sleep for cons that I have attended. I was able to cover more industry news vs book buzz news… that my press covers on as well as a personal interest.  Also agree with Deb in what she mentioned of being recommended for more types of work that is out there.

Does it ever feel like you’re writing into a void/echo chamber?

Comment/dialogue being hoped for or what not.. and then this pretty much wrapped for the panel.

Panelist criteria as I heard of this panel was pretty loose, so who know what will be the next anime blogger panel I attend be like? I guess it would be as what Deb would say from what I recall of her twitter… the best thing is to have a panel/mixer.. where the panel wouldn’t be just 12 people waxing of their opinions/experiences.. rather open up the forum to mingle/network with other anime bloggers. Because in spite of this panel being interesting, like a lot of large panels, there were some panelist that over spoke others..

NYCC One Year Party Recap…

Yesterday night, NYCC was hosting a one year party for next year’s NYCC at Bowlmar Lanes down near Union Square. I RSVP, and it was an venue to be at if you wanted to hear the official announcement for the first guests of honor next year. There was some free bowling, and an open bar.

There was a huge crowd there, and on the screens were screen caps of this year’s show. There was also a raffle. Everyone was with friends, so it seemed odd to be a lone person there, still the night was young.

So I mingled and moved around. Got white wine spilled on me.. and that was that. Had soda to drink for the rest of the night.

Yes the guest of honors, unless you haven’t check out the NYCC blog or the Twitters, that I saw NYCC twitter did, as well as I did myself. John Romita SR and JR of Spiderman notoriety.

I ended not getting home until near midnight.

NYCC is an event I find interesting because there are paranormal publishers there, that have books other than comic. I went to this event with the intention of doing some publicity work for JLHLS. Did some advertising.

Makes an self-affirmation as to why I prefer to be a press, than just a fan. If I was a fan, there doesn’t seem to be any point, other than gush on it, but at least if I was press – then there’s a reason for why I do somethings.

Comics unfortunately I don’t read much of – basics on the fact of the art and the length of the series. Archie is the only comic I was a slight fan of.

Still I got to meet hang out with some friends, meet an awesome librarian trainingto be, and bunped into a random friend on the streets of Union Square.

Self-promoting.. issues? Slide show with NYAF 2009 Pre-Party images.

Okay as I am pretty much done with my draft for con report. Right now I am getting down to sorting through images, now if these were family images it would be pretty self-explanatory, but as these are all digital photos. There is apparently a protocol one must go through, such as fixing the lighting or adding in your own name to show ownership etc. etc. etc. I don’t even what to think what Eric must be going through. He would be calling my camera entry level, but it is still something that I must navigate with.

I threw up pictures from last Thursday’s Pre Party up on Flickr, and just to emphasize the point, might as well throw it on a slide show as well. From that post, I took down those images.

Getting through the pictures have not been easy, and I pretty much in awe of my photographer friends. I don’t think of myself as a pro, but I really love to look through photographs sometimes. For me to take pictures, that is something I need to master eventually.

Post NYAF.. labeling and typing..

Well it is the day after NYAF 2009, and yes it was a productive con. I liked the panels I was able to attend. Got spooked out by the crowds on Saturday. Was able to network some more. Got more experience as press. Missed seeing a lot of people. Bumped into a lot of unexpected people.

Working on JLHLS con report, researching, and typing I took, trying to determine what kind of label I want to use. I took off some pictures from a previous entry for that reason. Should I tie my real name to this blog and so forth? So much to mull over on aspects of what to do and what not to do.

I don’t believe I am sick, but man the sleeping this weekend was pretty strange. >_<

NYAF – Recap of Day 1-2 – slightly epic feelings..also bittersweet as well..

Okay well it is the middle of the night from Day 2 to Day 3 of NYAF, no pictures, and yes I realize that this can impact the way my blog is taken, but all the photos are still RAW, so to say, so cannot fix them without needing to Press pic the best first, and then leave some for this blog. Also if I fix pictures at this moment, will probably try do so in better lighting..etc. I give the greatest kudos to professional photographers.. fixing digital pictures is sure not easy… to the point where I couldn’t even sort through MELL concert pictures, without enlisting the help of a personal photographer friend.

So yes, probably no sleep if I am on like this. Right now twittering/iming like mad…

But yes, after my previous entry on the Pre-party, this is Day 1 of NYLA- two days ago. I got to the Center at around 10-ish. Anticipation was in the air. I was waiting, since I didn’t really plan for much to do, go to panels, and do press duties. Unfortunately some slight problems, forgot Tomino item, so after a nail biting day of waiting for the item from my mom. I was also waiting for a friend who gave me his VIP ticket for the Tomino signing.

I am leaving the details of the panels I attended to my press report, so this is on my personal feelings before I lose that drive to write about this.

The con opened at 1pm, so went to the dealer’s room first, then off to panels. Attended how to become famous on the internet.. then went back out to dealer’s room, picked up the Tomino item from my mom. Then off to Vertical Panel. I never was able to go to one, so I caught this one. My mind turn slightly gooey when I realized that they have Chi’s Sweet Home, the manga.

Then back out to go meet up with a friend. After grabbing dinners, never buy Center food again, they rip money from your wallets.. $9 for a panini. So after wards, went back to my friend, and waited, when the time for the autograph came, also asked staff if my photographer friend could go in with him to take a picture, and man that was epic, I wasn’t VIP, so my friend went in. Honestly this autograph and photo is for a friend of mine in Japan, so she’s pretty happy when I called her on Skype later. So evidence is good and sweet. Couldn’t sleep til 4:30am.

Day 1 complete. Now Day 2.

Crowds and more crowds.. plus my sleep schedule is like now. No sleep…

Day 2. Makino’s concert. I spent the night looking through my collection of books, and pencil boards, so many choices. I also purchased a cd that was her latest single. Got two tickets for Makino’s signing, the day before. So that morning I sold the cd to another friend. Listened to concert, ran back out for another cd single… I believe my photographer friend called it desperation. So when the line was mentioned that she can only sign official cd’s, I was disappointed. I wanted my pencil board signed, since it is a policy of mine. Because of a necessity of going over to SBR panel, quickly signed the cd I purchase and then ran to the panel. Because I purchase a new CD single, there was the second autograph session of the day. Following the panel, I went back to Makino autograph, and got my pencil board signed. Shocked and happy. She drew a cute bear on my pencil board. Yes I am a sucker for seiyuu’s. Yes to the fact that I learned that she drew the same bear figure for any Sakura relevant products. Yes to epic feelings.

Then a downtime, of course by now I was already starting to feel exhausted. The crowds definitely unnerved me, even though I took some pictures. The camera unnerved me slightly as well. I was really tired, so I went to the Press office for cover. I probably shouldn’t over do it, but I did/do.. and yes there are moments I stick a foot in my mouth. Day 2 is one of the worst days, so today I saw so many people I knew, and missed out on seeing 3-4 people. So real bittersweet feelings for that one.

Then toward the evening went over to Hinano’s panel. It was good. Got some help with Pangya PSP, and experience multi-player option. Following this panel, I made my way over to the Blogging RT for a little bit, wanted to stay a little longer, but hunger drove me out… After dinner, made my trek back home, and so now at 5am, wonder if I can squeeze in an hour or so sleep, to go to Day 3 of NYAF, and then off to a personal friend’s event.

New York Anime Festival 2009 – Pre party – Cake pics..

At this part of the city, within the Jacob Javis this weekend, New York Anime Festival 2009 is happening. Now backtrack to the evening before that, there was Del Rey co-sponsored event with NYAF for a Pre-convention party at Dave & Busters. It was Del Rey’s 5th year Anniversary, and yes, there was a cake sponsored by Ace of Cakes from Food Network. What was funny also was that right across the street, Cold Stone Creamery was having an event as well, where there was free ice-cream for a donation. However, because the lines were massive for that one, I did not try to go for that ice cream event, but saw a Female Wrestler Maria at that event. Have pictures, but because in the heat of NYAF at the moment, will have to fix them when I am done with the con. >_<

Back to the Pre-party, waaay too many people, just people snapping pictures of other people actually. Got pictures of the cake before the cutting, from two perspectives, and then the Katana as it left the building. Also got other interesting pictures like the drink menu, and some samples.. courtesy of Twitter’s @reika and friends.

If you didn’t know it already, the cake was cut with a katana. This was acknowledge via Twitter..

Rumor is we’re cutting the #NYAF Pre-Party Cake with a katana. See if it’s true on 9/24!

Then

We have the sword! We’ll be cutting the Ace of Cakes cake with a katana from Dragon Song! See their booth at #NYAF!

Bumped into Omo and Moritheil….and several more people.. and that was an interesting evening.

I had a tiny taste of the cake and thought it was too sweet…. Moritheil, I recall had some observations of how the waiters got mobbed and then some.. cake ran out as well. Would he recap this experience, who knows.. but that is experience of yours truly..

Couldn’t get a picture of when the cake was exactly cut, but perhaps there will be other sites that actually have pictures up? Also because of my photography skills, the pictures might be or be not good, but the lighting was also not an ideal situation.

Probably will end up throwing pictures up on Flickr when I have time to fix then.. so stay tune or not.. ^_^

NYC Japanese Street fair – a month late, but who’s counting?

Okay this has been on my mind since the summer, when I did attend this event. I got really hung up about other things, so instead of working on reviews, and my photography class – decided to procrastinate, and here is my idea of procrastination. Plus I worked a bit on updating some titles and tags on my Flickr page, so did that.

For the closing of the summer, there was the Japanese Street fair, which was relatively similar or maybe more commercial than the Mitsuwa Summer Matsuri, that I attended relatively two weeks before this event.

I was there really early, but then left as the place got so crowded, that it was pretty claustrophobic, plus there was the summer heat, and believe me.. you don’t want to be around that. Hinano actually wrote about her opinion on the street fair more on schedule/time-wise, than my late entry.

The first Japanese Street fair was a slight disappointment to me, in some ways – because there weren’t as much space as I would have liked it to be. The Japanese portion of the fair was only one block from 42nd to 43rd, and it was so packed. There was a ticket aspect to paying for food, so that I guess it was food controlling. New York Anime Festival was also there, to pump up the air for tickets, and that it is going to be the next weekend. So there was the maids, and there was the cosplayers.

I saw some people that I hung out more with this summer, and met some people there as well. Got some free samples, spent a short bit of time with Kero, and then spent the rest of the day going off with another friend to go to Duets 48, where I was went to karaoke. Tried to sing, got really nervous, was the day that I got to sing Avenue Q songs, fan girl-ed over a City Hunter song, and then had fun singing Hikki songs with another friend who came in the middle of the karaoke. Because of my learning hirigana over the summer, was happy to be able to read the lyrics of some songs.

Now I need to go and write up my review on the Brooklyn Book Festival, and thus prepare for New York Anime Festival. These days a bit more slower on writing. But for slide show purposes, here are some pictures I took.

Otakon 2009 and aftermath…

Right now thinking about how to write the con report, will link back here when I am done with the writing. So if you’re reading this. This is a customary thing I do. A con report for JLHLS and a perspective here. LOL.

Ahh what can I say about Otakon 2009, other than meeting up with my con roomies from last year, our friendship has gotten better. It is nice and strange to talk with them. Weird feeling no? Also I believe this is the year, where I met a lot of people that I would have loved to meet, via Twitter or non-Twitter. I met some of them such as TheBigN, Sh1zuka, and Moritheil. Thank you guys and gals for the experience!

Also as Press, spoke with Gia of AnimeVice some more, and definitely made some more photographer acquaintances, Peter Ng. It was great like that. I am by no means technical, and definitely need more time – that I don’t really have. Most likely would go and take a class in the near future.

For many of the events on Friday, I hung out with Omo and his friends for a lot of the events on Friday. Friday night was the concert. My god that was an amazing experience.

Saturday was a day of running around to correct what I thought I lost. That would have been a problem for my con report.

Oh and yep I must be a lucky person sometimes. When I wrote on my blog, last I said I lost my SD card ne? Well come Saturday night, I went back to the last place I thought that I last saw it, and lo and behold I found it. Of course now I am trying to think about fixing the convention images nice and pretty. That is going to be a tackle, since my photographer friends seem so swamped. Just need to get a better lens and flash, and it is off I go.

Anyhow in the mean time I went off and did other things I normally did at Otakon, which was was wait. I wasn’t as able to attend many panels this year at all. All those little favors, I truly hope that my report won’t be that bad.

Got all the autographs I would ever want this year! Three for my own fan collection, and two more for my friend. I was so surprised at getting them all!

Also broke my condition to my mother yet again. God she needs to get a grip, or is it that I have such a complex about her? Well for the same matter, I can say yet once again I HATE/love THE DEALER”S ROOM.. them with their products! That’s the whole concept of spending money and more that bites you in the back. Ah woe it is to be an Otaku or anime fan. My room’s mess is inching way and way near the bed door with my collection.

I couldn’t believe how many Secret Desires products I got this year. Will update game list to be played later. Will probably give them reviews if I ever finish them. Ahh the desires of a shopaholic, and the fact that I feel the need to spend spend spend.. on things that I can get in Japan or on 18+ things. My other friend had to take back a One Piece POP figure I got. Should I do a convention haul?

Roughly I got four new PC video games, One Piece POP figure, two books from Artist Alley, bookmarks, and earrings from Artist Alley.

Now back to New York City, and real life comes crashing in. Need to go and do my Japanese homework for lessons, and do a lot of other tasks. Edit some more papers, work on writing the con report, and prepare the concert pictures, which I am relying on my photographer friend, who is very busy by the way. Maybe I can ask my other photographer acquaintances, who lent me a flash and an extra SD card during the con, but I feel kinda bad to ask him, when he might be doing some other things. Argh! Well MELL concert pictures and Tamura concert pictures are going to take a slight bit of time. So those who would want to see them, better wait.. >_<