details

Yes, I absolutely agree with the long lines. Here was the line to pick up my badge:

The line snakes inside the parking lot, along aisles of already-parked cars (they finally figured out that having lines that BLOCK TRAFFIC was a bad thing), up the sidewalk, around the alcove, and into the ticketing area. The problem was that, in the beginning, that was the only line for buying admission AND picking up pre-paid badges. About two hours or so in that line, when I was already in the alcove area, it was announced that they had divide the line in TWO, another line for the pre-paid folks...so I stood in line for another hour and a half, in the new line that should have been formed in the very beginning. Angry? Only when people started to blatantly cut in line (as in the person directly IN BACK OF ME, being coerced by the people in FRONT OF ME to just magically go, well, in front of me....as if I wouldn't notice). Why did I pay for Friday admission when I spent 4 hours of it in line?

And those weren't the only lines. This was a line to an event:

Glad that I didn't want go to to or pay for any of the events; the staff started giving out free tickets in and around the exhibition hall right before the events.

And then, the infamous cosplaying. I have to hand it to them, though. Standing in costume, in lines, in the sun, is dedication. And some of the costumes are so detailed, ingenious, and creative, it makes be think differently of the people who dress up for conventions.

Many Links!

I dunno...but he was giving out hugs to...not so small children.

From the back, it looks like a midget is carrying a very large head. But he was just taking really small steps. On top of that, his ARM SWINGS!! I should have taken a video of this one!

I KNOW this is not anime, but it was fun because whenever people saw this crew walking by, they would shout out a line from 300, and the crew would shout back the lines to them, and give them a cheer. Thankfully, too, most of the the crew looked relatively athletic.

World of Warcraft:

Wii controller. The guy in there needs to remove the "+" to see.

TRC, I like the weapons:

Friend of mine:

Because I'm an old fogy, my friends and I went walking along Long Beach and around the area, away from Expo. Here's the Queen Mary, and rather large flames in the distance?! We also saw the dome where the Spruce Goose was stored (which we learned from a local :).

Friends as we walked towards the Aquarium area.

We didn't go to the Aquarium because it wasn't open yet. We did head over to Bubba Gumps a day later, for a bucket of Cajun shrimp (mmmmm....) and other such good stuff for dinner. Over at Shoreline Village, there's a relaxing pub that serves very good breakfasts, and if you so choose, you could head a few feet over to the Funnel Cake shop and grab one of those or an ice cream sandwich :) After a lot of convincing, we rented a two-person, three seated, pedal Shantee and pedaled along the bike trail. It turned out to be a lot of fun, though we were completely beat by the people who were on Segways.

I think that getting away from the convention and enjoying the area around the Convention Center did us good. Another complaint that people had about the convention was that everything was too spaced out, forcing people to walk "great distances in the sun" to get from one event to the other. ...Maybe it's because I live in the area and know that by the shore, it was at least ten degrees cooler than where I live, and that there was a lovely sea breeze coming our way nearly the entire time. Maybe it's because I was wearing comfortable clothing. Maybe it's because Phil trained me well by going hiking the weekend before, so walking one, whole, short block up-hill took about one, painless minute. (this route could be bypassed by walking out of the other side of the Convention Center, which is at street level with the hotel) But the walking around, I do not agree with. Granted, some people had injuries and battle scars from sports and whatnot, but I think that many people who attended just weren't used to physical activity. I think that the guests coming over from Japan, performers, and other such honored (and usually older) individuals attending the convention should be golf-cart shuttled around the convention, at least. But with over 44,000 people attending the convention, I would MUCH rather having events spread amongst 3 neighboring hotels than have EVERYONE crowded into one city block.

Professionalism was a big problem at AX. I think that more experienced people have written about that much better than I could, so I'll only discuss the two panels/workshops I did attend. I attended the Copic Marker workshops, one for inking and coloring, and one for advanced coloring, both of which I walked out of early. One reason was that it was rather slow; I started reading a book that I bought at Borders. Second, it seemed very disorganized. Her and me, me and her, we're teachers, so maybe I had higher expectations. I did learn from her and there were some good points made, but it was not any more than what I would get from a sales person at the Copic Marker booth. The advanced workshop might have been more informative, but it was being taught by the same person.

The second event I went to was a Mushishi panel, which is something I've already written about in this blog. I LOVE IT! But since many people probably did not know what it was, the panel was relatively empty. Still, having the Japanese director, the head of the project from the English dub, and the voice actor for the main character was pretty darn awesome, not so much as being a fan of the series, but more so because it was entertaining to hear them talk, first, because they were professional and courteous (Funimation...reserve judgment! They're growing up!), and second, they had personalities. The Japanese director took a movie of the audience with his cell phone, panning across the hall as we waved to him. He was very happy with the results :)

...Won't mention social skills of attendees. Will just say that I felt like I was at work again, with the honors kids...and not the honors kids who were a part of ASB and attended dances.

Would I go again? Maybe for a day, to meet up with people and check out the exhibition hall, but I would only attend fully next year if I worked there.