Con Report - Day 1

I can now say I have attended my first anime fan boy moderated panel.  This was for the "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" series of which I haven't see all of the episodes for, yet.  I love watching anime, but I leave it at just watching it.  Heh, I've always read about this, but it's true... fan boys are a mess.  I don't see how anyone can get so riled up about a cartoon... or movie or tv series for that matter.  Don't get me wrong, the debates in the panel were interesting.  I almost put my two cents worth in when they started arguing about the continuity and chance for error when it comes to digitial reproduction (it started by referring to an episode where "ghost" copying was performed).  I'm glad I stayed out of it, now.  It's not worth arguing with a fanatic that thinks they're right.  Especially, when I only have limited knowledge on the subject (even tho I work with one of the top DSP graduate departments in the nation).  The bonus for the panel was I got to watch a screener for the new movie coming out in November.  I almost smacked the moderator and one of the geeks sitting in front of me when they wouldn't shut up throughout the whole damn movie.  It was hard enough trying to concentrate since the thing was in Japanese with no subtitles.  Probably even the funniest of this event was the rather large crowd waiting on the movie to end so the henti (anime pr0n) could start.

As for the rest of the con, I finally got down there around 2p.  I slept in since I was up so late last night.  The first couple of hours were spent figuring out how to get around the 2 hr waiting line (if I hadn't found out that pre-registerees could skip the wait, I would have gone back home), wandering the dealer rooms (which I left quickly so I wouldn't start spending money on things I did NOT need), and getting my bearings of the all the different rooms across the 3 hotels.  I still haven't gone to anything in the Marriot, yet.  As with all cons, cosplayers are everywhere.  I saw comic book heroes, Storm Troopers, X-Wing Fighter Pilots, Jedis, Darth Vaders, Browncoats, Trekkies, a very well done Belle from Beauty and the Beast:

,a good deal of different Anime characters (suprisingly), tons of vampire and Goth-based leather, vinyl, and lace, and faries out the wazoo.  Even managed to finally get a picture of Master Chief:
There were several other game characters that I recognized as well, but I couldn't tell you which games they were from off the top of my head.  Unfortunately, in all my wandering and gawking, I kept forgetting my camera was in my pocket (Day 1 Pics).  Also, some major hotties in skimpies:

Overall, I've been very impressed.  Crowd control is amazing.  For as many people as there are, I've never seen such organization.  Oh, it's still packed in most places, but at least you're moving or can easily find a way around the masses, if you try (especially helpful when you're headed outside for a smokie break).

Since it took me a while to get aclimated, I didn't get to my first "Program" until 5:30p: New Trends in Computer Arts and Graphics.  Interesting panel on using digital tools for artistic purposes.  It wasn't anything I hadn't heard or figured out already, though.  Next, I headed across the lobby and down a couple of escalators for Drawing Anime 101.  Yes, this is mostly a sci-fi/fantasy and role-play con, but they still have an anime track, amazingly.  The odd part is that after asking a couple of questions, I realized who this KittyHawk was that I was probing and quizzing for drawing tips: the author/artist of the Sparking Generation Valkyrie Yukki webcomic.  LOL!  I haven't read that comic since she first started it years ago on Keenspace (which has changed names, apparently).  I about flipped out once she started bringing up panels from the comic.  I didn't get a chance to talk to her afterwards because I had to bolt out early for another presentation on "real vampires".  I wished I had stayed at the anime one till the end as the vampire presentation turned out to be just an enlightenment on the descriptions of blood suckers in older/ancient non-fiction literary texts (like the Bible).  Don't get me wrong, it was interesting, but after about half an hour I wasn't in the mood to analyze literature, so I left.  KittyHawk is doing a couple more tomorrow, so hopefully I can get a chance to talk to her then.  Anyway, I left the real world vampires talk, took a quick smoke break, and headed over to catch the tail end of the Dawn (old comic by Michael Linsner) look-alike contest.  What's the point of going to a con if you don't check out at least one costume contest?  So who's the guest of honor hosting the thing?  Anthony Danies (C3P0)!  He even used the classic line, "Well, I am versed in over 6 million forms of communication" after spouting some Japanese to one of the contestants themed as a Gaisha.  The crowd went nuts!

I've wanted to attend the Buffy Prom ever since I read about it's first apperance when I looked in to going a few years ago.  The Southeastern Browncoats (Firefly/Serenity fans) were hosting a Shindig at the same time.  Unfortunately, I wasn't really dressed for either, so I passed on them this year for the uncanny-ness of the GITS panel.  I might hit the Star Wars Cantina tomorrow evening if I can get my friend to hand around a little later (tagging along a 4yr-old apparently isn't easy).  I would have hung around for Cruxshadows performance at 1a, but the last MARTA train left at 1:20a, Cuervo needed to go out, and I was getting a bit hungry (even tho I did eat a lunch/dinner of sorts around 5).

So now that I have a schedule, I'm going to try to plan out tomorrow a little better so I'm not skittering around quite as aimlessly as today.  Besides, I think I'm going to the pool on Mon, instead, if there's not much going on (ends at 4p).  So, tomorrow's my big day.  Hopefully I'll remember to take more pictures....

 

l8rs.