JOURNAL: TnAdct1 (Joseph Klemm)

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  • Otakon 2002 Overflow and Fanparodies 2002-07-29 18:19:47 Here's some comments about the fan-parodies and the overflow videos.

    First off, the overflow videos. Here's a list of the overflow videos that I gave a +2 to at the pre-screenings:

    -Don't Cry to Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne: I saw this video at Animazement, and that video has gotten me interested in checking out that show once the tape of that show returns to the anime club's library.
    -Heroes to Various: What Firestarter was to villains Heroes is to the good guys in anime. The video had a lot of good action titles that I like (Cowboy Bebop, Read or Die, Noir), and to me, it seemed to work out very good.
    -The Rainbow Connection to Lodoss War: One thing to summarize this video: the dwarf lip-syncing to Kermit the Frog.
    -Farewell to Arms to Nausicca: Very patriotic-like song set to the film that started Studio Ghibli. I knew that this video was at AWA 7.
    -Theme to Gummi Bears to Gundam 8th MS Squadron: Ridiculous concept that ends up working. Got to like what the AMV makers use for "Gummi Berry Juice".
    -Dragon Bebop Z: As I said in my review of the video, it's a real bummer that the video's victories at other conventions prevents this from being in the contest, because the video would have easily beaten the competition in either action, upbeat, or comedy.

    Now for the comments of the new fan parodies:

    Hamstah Gangstaz: I got a VCD copy of the fan-parody when I was in line for MAT3K, and I watched it last night. The fan parody, which has the Ham-Hams from Hamtaro as members in the hood, is so wrong, yet so funny. BTW, any one else here also think the guys behind the fan-parody did Oxnard right when it comes to type of character (a crackhead considering how he's always carrying a sunflower seed) and voice?

    $$60,000,000,000 Funky Chicken: This is the one done by some members of the anime club I'm in. Very witty Trigun/Cowboy Bebop/Clerks fan parody that has a very funny story while at the same time makes fun of fan parodies in general (i.e. lack of lip-sync, how some are made by AMV makers whose videos failed to win awards). One more thing: The cookie store is not part of the food court! 
  • Otakon 2002 AMV Contest Report 2002-07-28 18:20:45 After holding my knowledge for most of the contest a secret for more than a month (having helped out with the pre-screenings), its time to comment on the Otakon AMV contest.

    ROMANTIC/SENTIMENTAL

    As usual, the contest started with the Drama videos. Personally, I am not much of a drama fan, however there were a lot of good drama videos in the category. "The One I Love Is..." was interesting as the video is AMV version of an Evangelion fanfic. "Light of Day" was a nice video about Melfina with some good computer-animated effects of the Outlaw Star. However, the real highlight (and my vote) was "Transending Love", Vlad G. Pohnert's AMV which takes a concept usually used in comedy videos, crossovers, and uses it in a dramatic way to tell a tale of two men (Ryo and Spike) mourning the death of the love that they loved (the girl from Macross Plus).

    SERIOUS/DRAMATIC

    In this category, there were three videos that I felt was going to win it. The first one, as well as my vote, was "Midwinter Night's Dream", a magical video that sets Cardcaptor Sakura with the music of Anastasia. The second was "Faceless Hill", Aluminum Studios' dramatic video which effectively sets Genesis' Land of Confusion to Pom Poko. The final one, as well as the actual winner, was the Perfect Drug, a video about how Haruko was important to most of the characters in FLCL.

    ACTION

    Things began to get interesting with this category. When Worlds Collide was an action-packed ride through 3x3 Eyes. Firestarter was a good video about the various villains in some popular anime titles. Despite lacking the hilarious intro, Shining Collection still was a fun alternative to the usual Ah! My Goddess movie video. However, like most of the people at Otakon, the best video in this category IMO was "Path of the Deus", a video which takes a song that is overused when in comes to Eva videos, Chop Suey, and sets to an anime you probably wouldn't expect, CLAMP's Angelic Layer, with some very good results.

    UPBEAT/RHYTHM

    While not having not as much finalists as last year, the Upbea category was still fun. "Scatman" was a fun DBZ video with Gohan (as Saiyaman) as the Scatman. Meanwhile, "The Wickity Wild West" was a fun take on Trigun. However, I as expected it when I first saw it at the pre-screenings, the video that dominated the category was "Beboppin'", a video that shows a typical long flight on the Bebop, with Ed playing some Kylie Minogue music on her computer.

    HUMOROUS/SATIRICAL

    The surprise of this category was that "commercial exploitation '02" was the winner in this category. The reason had nothing to do with it being a bad video (in fact it was a very funny video that uses an anime that needs to be in more AMV's, Saber Marionette J), but rather the fact that it beat my pick for this category, "This Video Sucks", in a very close competition. Other good videos IMO included "The Doom Song Sing-A-Long", Justin Emerson's "Initial D/Speed Racer sex" video, and the comical anime version of the Folger's Coffee commercial. 
  • Otakon 2002 Convention Report 2002-07-28 17:52:25 Here's my report on Otakon 2002:

    FRIDAY

    I arrived at the convention center at almost 8:30 AM, where I dared the elements of rain (I packed an umbrella for the trip) to wait in line to get registered. While the people at Otakon wiseley put the registration line inside, the line was VERY slow, and it was almost/around 11:00 AM when I finally got my badge. With badge around my neck, I got in line for the dealers' room and picked the Trigun Box Set, a Berserk DVD, and DDR 4th Mix for PS2. Then, it was off to see the first showing of the AMV contest (see the journal entry on top). After that, I picked up this year's Otakon and Neko-Con T-Shirts and got a big bag to carry my dealers' room merchandise with.

    Then came time to check in. However, I thought that the club that I attened the convention with was to check in at 4:00, when they actually checked in a 3:00. Thus, after a series of incidents, including climbing up a floor of stairs after the elevator door shut on me before I can leave, I got the key to my hotel room, then I immediately took a shower and had some dinner.

    With some time before I should line-up for MAT3K, I went back to the dealers room and bought a Hong Kong DVD of Shaolin Soccer and an American DVD of Evangelion: Death and Rebirth. Then I watched some of the DDR Project, with me doing my usual viewing routine for Operator (watching the bottom half with my eyes moving in beat to the character changes, save for six characters, three from shows on my top 10 favorite anime list). Then it was time to get in line for MAT3K, which actually started on time this year. This year, MAT3K really hit the jackpot with Attack of the Super Creatures (correct title), a very awful film that combines anime with crappy models and dinosaur puppets to tell a tale about a defense team protecting the world from the threat of evil dinosaurs. The film had a lot of good riffs (including a few refs to lst year's Otakon) and a lot of well-deserved cracks at the heroes (i.e. the "Drill salute" the two minor members of the defense team does). A repeat viewing of the AMV contest finished off the night.

    SATURDAY

    Got up early and attended the AMV panel at the start of the convention, though I left a few times for cosplay picture taking and to call my mother. Still, it was an interesting panel. Then, I spent some time at the MAT3K panel before I did another shopping trip, this time picking up a couple DVD's. Then, I headed to the Bandai panel, which was a fun expierence (i.e. the guys with the "Jerry Chu is My Bitch" shirts). Following the panel, I returned to the dealers' room to get another DVD, an import video game, and a dance pad. However, since I wanted to get a good seat for the cosplay contest, I lugged the pad with me into the Cosplay line and waited there with the occasional water break. Then, when I got my cosplay seat, I tried to relax in hopes of curing a headache I got from the heat, which did go away. The cosplay contest had a lot of fun skits this year. Among them:

    -A skit in which two DDR characters have a dance-off.
    -A Yatta skit featuring characters from various anime (CCS, Ranma, Princess Mononoke).
    -TWO skits involving the second OP to Child's Toy (the first with the cast from Child's Toy, the other involving Vash the Stampede).
    -A skit involving Evangelion, DDR, and Shinji's two buds going yaoi.
    -Mecha King Ghidra singing Bohemian Rhapsody (with people holding some lit lighters near the end of the skit).
    -A fun skit based on Speed Racer.
    -A skit that gives people the wrong idea (I think) of what Hellsing is all about.

    Funny thought for the contest: considering how the stage hand for the cosplay contest eventually dressed up as Saber Marionette Cherry for the costume contest, I had this comical image of the stage hand doing the job in her costume. After returning to the hotel to drop off the dance pad, as well as take a shower and have some pizza, I returned to the convention to watch the anime game show and the $$60,000,000,000 Funky Chicken.

    SUNDAY

    I felt a little depressed today, since the convention is ending, and I have to return to the "real world". However, I did watch some AMV's, as well as picked up some more DVD's and a Captain Jack album at the Dealers' Room.

    In the end, Otakon was a fun time this year, save for the registration trouble. 
  • Five Days Until Otakon 2002-07-21 19:46:02 This weekend had a little bit preparation for next weekend's big convention. Yesterday, I went to the bank to withdrawl $100 so I can pay for my share of the hotel room and the registration at the convention. I may withdraw some more later this week for the dealers' room, as I have plans on buying another boxset at the con, and I don't want my debit credit card to prevent me from buying another box set a la Evangelion at Animazement.

    I paid for my share of the hotel room today at the anime club meeting. This week, it was back to normal with the usual anime titles returning to the schedule (with Noir and Fruits Basket having some good episodes this time around). Meanwhile while I was doing that, my brother, without thinking that I'd might be interested in it, went to the mall to trade in a few video games and buy some more games and a memory card. Mustn't kill him. Mustn't kill him.

    Getting my mind off of my sibling troubles, I checked out the schedule for Otakon after I returned from anime club. The good news: it looks I have time to attend the dealers' room and see the first showing of the AMV Contest before the anime cub I'm attending the con with has to check in at the hotel (meaning that I can attend one of my favorite convention activites, the AMV contest, twice on Friday, once in the afternoon, again after MAT3K). The bad news: the way all the good panels are scheduled on Saturday and Sunday means that I may have to skip the ADV panel, which was exciting at Otakon last year, in order to ensure that I can see the Masquerade Contest in the main events room.

    Well, I have some plans for tonight, so I'm ending my journal entry for tonight. 
  • Seven Days Until Otakon 2002-07-19 23:54:38 Next weekend is my main highlight of the month (as well as possibly the whole summer): Otakon 2002, and I need to prepare for that convention big time. Today, I began taking vitamins so that way I can be well after the convention. Also, I plan to withdrawl $100 tomorrow to pay for registration and hotel. All that's left to do is to get my clothes ready and pack some stuff to bring for the convention (i.e. camera for cosplay (first aniversary of my cosplay pictures hobby), my anime pin cap, some stuff to possibly get autographed).

    Anime-wise, it's been all right. I've got a few fansubs and picked up a $15 anime DVD that I was interested in checking out. As for the anime club, the last meeting, despite Noir having it's "Episode that centers around a character I don't care about while giving little or no screen time to the characters that I do like" episode, was fun with a sampling of Magical Shopping District and Full Metal Panic returning to the concept of "military guy posing as a student". One thing's for sure, I'm definitely getting more anime at Otakon.

    When it comes to AMV's, I've been a downloading a few since AX. In fact, I pondering whether, in the future after Otakon, I should get a "plug and play" hard drive so that way I can have storage space for my AMV's without worrying about the storage space on the computer's hard drive, which is becoming troublesome thanks to my AMV downloading and my younger brother wanting to put stuff on the computer as well (I don't mind MP3's, but the computer games are major MB eaters).

    Mustn't kill my younger brother. Mustn't kill my younger brother. That's a sign I should call it a night when it comes to writing in my journal. 
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