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AWA 10 (Late Entry!)
2004-10-11 00:23:37
So I am two weeks late it writing this... I came back with post-AWA sickness as I have the previous two years. AWA, as usual, was a blast and it was great to see familiar faces and meet a lot of new people.
Throughout the weekend I whored out about 20 free NHMK t-shirts. Someone told me that it was an incredible advertising campaign because at any given angle in the con you could probably see someone wearing one. hahahaha :P
Thursday:
Flying:
I don't know why... but the Eugene (bandcamp as some call it) airport was
overflowing with people. For having what seems like a grand total of 6 terminals it sure was busy... The first flight to Salt Lake City wasn't too bad. I think I fell asleep... The first flight was short... the second was close to 4 hours. Bleh... I failed to bring headphones and didn't really want to pay for them. I stuck with the book I take on every flight I go on: "Mankind: Have a nice day."
Rest of the Day:
When I arrived in Atlanta I found the "gang" and met Studio Gaijin (the masters of mood videos). After a random roam around the wrong pickup area of the airport we found the shuttles and made our way to the con hotel. Although most of the day is a haze of me meeting a number of people and waiting in line for registration... I do remember talking with the employee at the counter who checked me into the hotel.
(near precise memory :P)
Me: "Could I get four keys?"
Her: "The cost of the room will go up to 140 a night, how many are staying?"
Me: "How about three keys"
Her: "The cost of the room will go up to 130 a night."
Me: "Then give me two keys"
Her: "Why do I even ask..."
She ended up giving me four keys and charging me for only two people... it's a con... wtf do they expect. Anime geeks are cheap and cram 6+ people in every room.
Later that evening I met a ton of people and we walked to Carabba's and nearly died on the death bridge of DOOM. We returned and watched the RVG project... then I think I went to bed... (maybe?)
Friday:
I don't remember much of Friday other than working on the RVG documentary. I am not one for working in front of a camera as I am fairly shy and uncomfortable in front of groups or even IN groups. I am glad MJ shoved off some of the interviewing to me. Not only was it fun, it also loosened up my attitude towards holding and speaking on a mic. This set me up to not be so nervous when introducing the project. The RVG showing was a lot of fun just as NES was last year. I think the length was just right and the audience seemed to really enjoy it. I have to thank Wonka for holding up his lighter during the credits and inspiring others to do the same. People were clapping along with the song (for 3 minutes?! ... it did quiet a bit sometimes as clapping along that long can get dull :P). I must again give major thanks to Ailsean for making one of my favorite Zelda based tunes "One Link to Rule them All." (the credits song).
After the showing a woman came to me asking about the NHMK t-shirts I had whored out (for free!) and wanted to express her concern about the "Causing Epilepsy" comment on the back. She said that she suffered from it and that the comment on the shirt concerned her. I remember when I was designing them... I considered seizures in place of the more critical medical problem.... I am glad she made the point and wasn't trying to be mean about it.
For some reason the decision was made at 1am that we should go eat. After much continual protest from myself and some others... we had a meal at Steak n' Shake(?).
Saturday:
Milo panel in the morning = :up: I was glad to see the Milo bros. new super sized videos on the big screen with booming sound.
I was definitely not as freaked out as previous years when sitting and watching the award ceremony (yea just being there made me nervous :P). I was surprised when Images won best technical. I was concerned about my masters video as it was an Arjuna video. I had talked with some of those who entered pro and they mentioned two Arjuna videos. I asked about the content and realized that my video would likely contain a lot of the same footage. This didn't worry me too much until one of the pro Arjuna entries won an award. I watched it and came to realize that my own video and the pro winner did share a lot of the same footage (and in some cases sequences of footage). Fortunately the videos were not the exact same... whew! I figured it wouldn't be a big deal because my video wouldn't win and I wouldn't have to worry about explaining or warning the audience.
Then the masters entries started to play. I kept waiting for mine to be shown. It didn't... I started to consider what I might say if in fact I did actually win. I figured I would start by warning the audience of the Arjuna video similarities and make sure to thank Wagner and the AWA Art Track crew. Otherwise I wasn't really sure what I would say. So then the lights came on. At that point I figured either Wagner disliked the video enough to show it during the masters "overflow" or that I had won (seems logical :P). Then my name was called to go on stage. I didn't know what to do other than bound onto the stage and pray I had gotten the jacket measurements right. Fortunately they were. So there I stood with a green jacket and my own self-advertising t-shirt with a bar code. :P
Something that helped calm me was the fact that I couldn't see the back 80% of the room. The lights were bright enough that I could barely make out the front couple rows. I warned the audience about the content of the video so they would be prepared to see even more Arjuna. :P I then told the tale of making the video and being a cheapass and buying the entire Arjuna series for $29 (good investment!). I also wanted to say thanks to all the other creators/editors who are supportive. (I have no idea what I said or whether that came across correctly... :P) When I was done coming up with things to say I "bounded" off the stage to see the video.
After the awards ceremony I wore the jacket until 11pm or so when people wanted to go outside and smoke. I figured I didn't want to bring it back soaked with cigarette smoke...
I was pretty tired that night... but even with my whining/complaining I stayed up until ~5am. I am glad I did so I could talk with a variety of people I usually don't have any contact with.
Sunday:
MJ got his "put an egg in it award" for his sick hentai video. :P Sadly he wasn't there to pick it up... but oh well.
Later, (in AWA tradition) we ordered a number of pizzas and stared at the TV "decompressing" from the experience that is AWA. Kazz, Gloria(Lord Rae's sister), and I opted to go on Soda Quest (coming soon from Sierra). This adventure literally was like a video game. Ask everyone everything, go everywhere, pick up any items possible, take leads that end in dead ends... finally we ended up at the nearby mall buying soda from machines. ... unfortunately the machines didn't have any Pepsi... oh well. The pizza order made it to the hotel before we got back... we killed an hour on Soda Quest. :P
Monday:
DannyWilson purchasesd the Krystal Steamer. 24 cheeseburgers... BLEH. He then proceeds to take this on the plane. (we had the same flight) Arjuna visions of hamburgers fill my head!! :P
Flight home... Danny and I would be dead right now... but the pilot finally opted to level out the plane and not land on the right wing. I think it was what most would call a near death experience.
Overall AWA10 was even better than the previous years. No drama! The only issue that came up was MJs back issues... which he semi-resolved with the purchase of a pimpin' sword-cane. Of course I question his back issues when I see him running around and bouncing off the walls. :P -
New Horrible Anime
2004-07-16 11:05:25
A new anime purchase is being inducted into the total anime crap hall of fame: Arcade Gamer Fubuki
Whlie it does have old arcade game footage, the show lacks any content whatsoever. Watching an episode may cause internal bleeding.
I have yet to finish all 6 episodes... because it simply hurts to sit through one. -
Memories DVD
2004-02-29 23:04:26
To my complete surprise I saw the Memories DVD for sale. I immediately snagged a copy.
Long ago in early 2001 I began to edit anime music videos. One of the first (and still a favorite) I saw was Caldwell's Magnetic Rose/Phantom of the Opera video. This introduced me to Memories and more specifically, Magnetic Rose. I was able to see Magnetic Rose shortly after when a friend ran across a divx fansub version. Later in my anime class in college I saw the other two parts of Memories. (Stink Bomb and Cannon Fodder)
It feels like some strange completion of a circle to finally have the dvd of Memories... -
Dead Video FTP
2003-12-12 23:29:54
So yeah... videos will be down until the hardware is replaced... :(
New stuff will be faster though! -
Nothing beats...
2003-11-28 10:25:11
... waking up to a hard drive dying ...
So... can it be saved?
Only time will tell... off to save it! (and slay the dragon and get the triforce!) :P
Videos will probably not be available randomly... like anyone will read my journal and see this warning though...
JOURNAL: Fluxmeister (Tim Stair)
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