At 11:11 -0500 4/10/98, Richard Lawson wrote:

Walked briefly in on the AD Vision panel. The most interesting thing I
heard there was that they are *not* going to support DVD. In their eyes,
DVD has not penetrated enough of the market to make producing DVD titles
worthwhile. I think they fear to be caught in a Betamax syndrome.

For those of you that are interested in DVD at all....  the final sales
figures for DVD's first year are in.  And, NOT including DVD ROM drives for
computers, DVD sales were phenominal.  Consumer DVD players sold more in
their first year than Video Cassette Recorders did in their first TWO
years.  Also, DVD players sold FOUR times as many units as CD players did
at THEIR rollout.  On the whole, Zen would say that AD Visions is so full
of shit that their eyes are brown.

During my time of wandering around, Mark Engels and I were getting into
an elevator. He called out to me, "Hey, Richard." A woman in the
elevator with us peered at my badge and then went kinda agog. She began
gushing slightly about how much she liked my fanfics and how much she'd
been looking forward to meeting me this weekend. I was extremely
flattered and a little shy, but we talked for a while and I rather
enjoyed our brief conversation.

How long did it take the swelling to go down, so you could get out of the
elevator? ^_^

Must be nice, ne?

As I continued to wander about, I was rather impressed with the number
and quality of the costumes. I'm no big con-goer - this was my fourth
con, or third if you call AnimeIowa and Anime Weekend Atlanta half a con
each - but this was the best costuming I'd seen among fans. I'd left my
Kuno outfit at home, and now wished I'd brought it with me.

Yah.  Zen would have paid MONEY to see Lara's expression... ^_^

In the hallway, lots of people were lined up to get Amanda Winn's
autograph. She must have signed for hours and hours, but she seemed to
be approaching it with enthusiasm.

Maybe she'd just had a smaller dose of whatever it was they slipped her
before the cosplay... H_H

I took a look at the video schedule. To my surprise, it consisted
entirely of commercial releases. I'm all for respecting copyrights, and
if I'd been in on the con planning, I would have advocated sticking with
what's legal to show. However, this made for a somewhat boring video
schedule, and limits the new anime the con-goers can be exposed to. I
made plans to go see Escaflowne at 8.

So who's doing that one?  Zen never can remember...

Oh well.  Not that it matters.  Zen is going to burn in hell for being an
evil fansubber. ;p

At 7pm I met Ryan Matthews. While talking to him, Zen walked by and I
greeted him enthusiastically. He was carrying a giant Ukyo spatula, made
out of the remains of an aluminum refrigerator door. The thing was *big*
- about five feet long. It was well balanced; Zen could twirl it about
with ease. I also met Lara Bartram - someone I'd talked to a bit on
KawaiiMUCK. Lara, Zen, and I sat down at the hotel's pitiful food court
and I bought Zen some pizza. We talked for a while and had a meandering
conversation. Meeting folks and talking was a big reason I wanted to go
the con.

Ara.... hold the phone... who bought pizza for *whom*?  Zen thinks you need
to see that spatula again.  Examine it closely. ^_^  See how shiny and
smooth the surface is!

At 8pm I went to go see Escaflowne. The video rooms were small and often
cut in half - the only way you could get to the other side of the room
without cutting off the projector was to walk behind the screen or
behind the video control table. Escaflowne was subbed, but it was almost
impossible to read the subs from the back of the room because of other
people's heads being in the way. I saw many people playing the
"head-bobbing" game: they kept moving their heads back and forth trying
to read the subtitles in whatever narrow sight of line they had on the
lower part of the screen. Again, nothing the con could do; the screen
couldn't go any higher. The con definitely needs to get better
facilities next year. Anyway, the audience really enjoyed the Escaflowne
episodes we saw. As I was leaving, I overheard someone saying
enthusiastically, "I really need a giant flying dragon."

As if. *sigh*  Poor planning all round.  It's a common failing, Zen fears.

Back at the food court, Zen and Lara were still talking, having not
moved since dinner. I also met David Lerman, who showed us some examples
of anime in Europe. In Poland, the name for fanfiction is "fanfiki".
I've decided that that's the term I'm going to use from now on. :^_^

Angels and Ministers of Grace....

I heard rumors of Princess Monomoke being shown. I went to the main
viewing room, only to discover that the rumors were false. Instead I
went to the gaming room. The big hit was "Bust-a-Move". It's a game
where your character dances to the beat, competing against other
colorful dancers. I know it *sounds* lame - I certainly thought so when
I heard of it - but it's actually a lot of fun to watch and play. The
music was very good, which helps a lot. The graphics were first rate,
and the camera kept panning around so that you weren't married to one
view of the dancing. It was definitely the favorite of the crowd; I
imagine they'll sell a billion of these in the US when they release it.

Naaaah.  It'll die a grisly death. It's a spectator game.

And that's MONONOKE.

I went back to the food court - that's right, Zen and Lara *still*
hadn't moved. I talked with them some more, and then I joined the TCAMS
people (Twin Cities Anime & Manga Society).

It was a nice spot.  ;p

The next morning (well, 12:30pm) I noticed someone in a giant panda
costume standing at the bar, drinking a beer. The masquerade was set for
8:30pm; I expected to see a weaving Genma at that time.

And you DID.  You DID. ^_-  Gotta wonder what the bartender thought. ^_^

I met Zen in the Dealer's Room, and we stood for a while chatting. At
one point, someone came up to me and told me what a huge fan of "Thy
Inward Parts" he was. I thanked him and pointed him to Zen, the author
of "The Bitter End". He got all excited and started gushing all over
Zen.

_<  It took *hours* to get the stains out.

This kept happening as we talked. One guy peered at my badge, saw that I
was Richard Lawson, and said "Wow!". Another guy came up and started
talking to me about "Roses of Shadow". He found its depiction of bipolar
disorder to be quite authentic, and helped him change his perspective on
one of his relatives who has the disorder. It was a little scary to hear
- it's one thing to write about mental illness; it's quite another to
hear of people being exposed to it. I was deeply moved by his words, and
his thanks, and found myself unable to articulate anything intelligent,
except to thank him for sharing his experiences with me.

Read, "Richard gaped like a beached koi"

More people came by to worship at Zen's feet - the spatula made him
stand out. ^_^

Well... yeah.  If you swing it while NOT standing out, you HIT people...
that's generally thought of as rude... unless they deserve it.

At 3pm the Fanfic Panel took place, of which I was a panel member. The
room was filled to overflowing. I met Jeanne Hedge and Gary Kleppe, two
people I'd been looking forward to meeting. (My one regret about the
whole weekend was that I didn't have enough time to spend with everyone,
especially Jeanne and Gary). I also met Lorelei, yaoi author
extraordinaire. Ryan did a good job of having many different interests
represented on the panel - Mark Engels was a Battle Angel Alita and
Evangelion author, Jeanne did BGC, Gary did Ranma, Ryan did the Dirty
Pair and Tenchi, Lorelei did YYH, and I did Ranma/Nuku Nuku/Sailor
Moon/KOR.

**snort**  It wasn't dull. ^_^

I myself got started in a similar
fashion, two years ago reading what I could find of Ranma fanfiction and
thinking that maybe I could write something at least as good as that. So
I wrote "The Heart of the Home", got some good feedback, and, as I said
with tongue firmly planted in cheek, "the rest is legend." ;;^_^

Heh.  You are too modest, Richard.

At one point, Ryan mentioned that he used to write pretty quickly, but
slowed down considerably when, as he put it, "I got a life". Seeing as
how I'm known for writing very quickly myself, I decided I couldn't let
this pass. So I took the glass of ice water I was holding and poured it
on him. The audience loved it. ^_^

But, dammit, he didn't **change**... >_<

We talked about many other interesting things: getting noticed, stealing
ideas, finishing stories once started. We also talked about controversy
- do you write just so you can start a controversy? We also talked about
MST's (and generally dissed them, a little to my surprise despite the
fact that I was one of the people who was doing the dissing). We also
were asked who our favorite authors were. Among those I mentioned was
Zen, whose writing is guaranteed to do two things: make me want to give
up writing because no one crafts the language as well as Zen does, and
make me quite upset because I disagree with some of his
characterizations. ^_^

SOME of his characterisations? ^_^  When didja start agreeing with any of
them? ^_^

As for the MST's... Zen stayed out of that debate... Zen is ... biased. ^_^

After the panel, I was ambushed in the corridor with a spatula. I barely
escaped with my life.

NeXt tImE, lAwSon, yOu WiLl dIE!  Er.... gomen.  Have no *idea* where that
came from. ^_-

Went out to dinner with a couple of Zen's friends. (Another unfortunate
thing about the hotel was that there were no restaurants within walking
range, other than the hotel's lousy food court or its overpriced
restaurant.) Six people in Zen's truck meant that I was pressed against
the window on one side and Lara on the other. I stared straight ahead
and thought of baseball stats.

Baseball bats?  Why is that, Richard?

Back at the hotel we waited for the masquerade to start. The hotel
didn't like a couple hundred people standing in the hallway waiting for
the doors to open, so they ushered us into Ballroom 2 while Ballroom 3
was being prepared. While we were milling about, many people came up to
admire Zen's spatula (dubbed the BFS 2000).

Mark One.  The BFS-2000 Mk-II is already in the advance design stages. ^_^

Finally, the masquerade started. Some good costumes, nothing
spectacular. The skits were very short, thanks to the con rules of four
minutes maximum per entry, which I think was an excellent idea. What was
more important was that the fans were thoroughly enjoying dressing up
for us. There was a great rendition of "South Porco Rosso" by Innpchan.

Hee hee...

Other entries were shown, including a rather good Vampire Hunter D
costume, well presented. While the judges were tallying their results,
the con organizers paid special tribute to Enrique Conty (who'd I'd
addressed as "Victor" earlier that evening, much to my embarrassment).

Eh?  Why'd you call him 'Victor'?

It was his birthday, so the who audience sang Happy Birthday to him. He
was obviously moved. His special present was to be whipped by one of the
contestants, who was wearing a leather costume that showed her body to
good effect. ^_^

Oh, God.  Cammy-sama!  ^_-

At midnight, I went to go see AD Vision's premiere of the Shin KOR
movie. The ADV guy apologized that they only had the dub available. As I
watched it, I understood why. I like both dubs and subs, and don't take
a strong position either way on the eternal debate. But this dub was
*awful*. The voice actors seemed to be merely reading words off a page.
I couldn't stand it. The good thing they did was to make the dialogue a
lot less cheesier - my one big complaint about the sub. Another curious

Less cheesier?  Hmmm.  Need another dose of Grammar radiation, Richard?

thing about the dub: Kyosuke calls Hikaru "Hikaru-chan" (of which I
approve); however, she calls him "Mr. Kasuga".

<<bleah>>  And they wonder why people fansub. >_<

On Sunday there was a massive checkout. I went to the Dealer's Room to
see if the prices on the Escaflowne CD's had dropped, only to find a
fatal flaw in my plan - everyone had sold out of them. I really should
have known better - all weekend long, Escaflowne had been a big hit in
the video rooms. I was left only to curse my stupidity. ^_^

Three letters, Richard.   U  C  I

I talked briefly with Bert Van Vliet and Jeanne, went out to get some
pizza with Zen and Lara and some others, then went back to the hotel.
Mark had stayed behind to watch "Death and Rebirth of Evangelion", only
to find that it was cancelled at the last minute for reasons of
copyright - rather a disappointment. Finally, I said my goodbyes and
left.

Cowards.

The con was rather fun, and very well run for a first time con. There

Zen would be more charitable if they hadn't spent three years planning it.
They made some VERY basic mistakes that they could easily have avoided, if
they'd paid any attention to other cons.

Still, they made a good effort, and SOME of the departments ran very
smoothly indeed.

were several things that could be improved, and I definitely think they
need to find a better facility. But to me, the measure of a con's
success is how much fun its participants had, and to my eye a lot of
people were having fun. I know I did. I enjoyed meeting lots of folks
and talking with them, and very much look forward to next year's.

OUTSIDE of Chicago and the immediate surrounds would be a help. >_<

If I can avoid Ryan's revenge and Zen's BFS 10K, that is. ^_^

You can't.  ^_-

Zen no Itan-sha
Apprentice to the Angels of the Apocalypse