Wednesday, July 12, 2006

2006 Anime Expo Day One

AX'06 Day One: CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMP

I woke up at 7:00 A.M. Saturday, ate breakfast, and got ready. The cosplay for the day is Syaoran from Tsubasa Chronicle, a production of CLAMP. I couldn't ask for anything better: CLAMP attending, CLAMP cosplay, and my Syaoran cosplay on the front cover the of program guide.

I arrived at the Convention Center at 8:20 A.M. and started taking cosplay pics. I brought my Dad’s mini color containing cold water in ice and towels to wipe my sweat. I sweat very easy. I'm heat sensitive. Hall E, the area outside the arena, and the Marriott side entrance to the convention center were under renovation. The arena part which was fenced off made my walking time to and from the con longer. For Marriott attendees, they must use the front doors or side door which added more walking time >.>

Around 10:15 A.M., I met a CLAMP cosplayer. She's from the manga Wish. We talked a little and she told me she wasn’t going to the CLAMP panel. I asked her why. She said the line was way too long. I said, "No way." After she left, I went to find the CLAMP line in Hall D. I saw the line beginning to get long. The initial plan was to line up at 12:15 P.M. because seating began at 1:15 P.M. and the CLAMP panel began at 2:15 P.M. Change of plan. Line up now. I walked back to the hotel to get my laptop and my lunch.

On my way back to the hotel, I saw Arashi. We walked back to the hotel room. At the hotel room, I got my laptop for entertainment and my lunch. Then I got more ice from the ice machine. And Arashi and I headed back to the convention center to line up for the CLAMP panel.

On the way to the line, Jyun surprised me from behind. His family was visiting the area and Jyun and his older brother Otakuya were attending AX and stayed at the Hilton. Arashi and I arrived at the CLAMP line at 11:00 A.M. We got our raffle tickets for autographs. Only 220 people were getting autographs, and the autographs were from picture boards only. I ate lunch and Arashi read a book. At 11:30 A.M., the CLAMP Wish cosplayer arrived. She joined Arashi and I. We introduced each other. The CLAMP Wish cosplayer's name is Becky. We took pictures together and took pictures of other cosplayers. She let me borrowed her portable fan because I was sweating. I turned on my laptop and we watched episodes 21-23 of Tsubasa Chronicle. She drew a picture for me and she's left handed. I admire left handed writers. Becky works full time at an office and sews. We had fun hanging out. I found out she organized the CLAMP cosplay gathering at 7:00 P.M. later today. Awesome! I'm glad Becky joined us.

The CLAMP panel started late after 3:00 P.M. Pictures and recording devices were prohibited. Press was prohibited from taking pictures. Only an official AX staff took pictures. The panel started off with a 20 minute documentary video showing all of CLAMP's works. The video was shown at AX only. After the video, the four CLAMP artists appeared on stage to begin the panel with a standing ovation welcome. Their agent or bodyguard . . . someone wearing a suit . . . was standing at the stage left background. The first part of the panel CLAMP showed pictures of their studios. Each artist told the audience with a translator their thoughts working in their studio. Then there were 12 Q&A. Some of the answers included three of them went to the same high school and the fourth was introduced from a mutual friend, one of them writes the story and the other three draws the characters, and when writing a story, they start with the ending and work backwards. After the Q&A, the audience got a preview of Tsubasa Chronicle which was licensed by Funimation. More bragging rights for me and my Syaoran cosplay. *Hee, hee* After the preview, AX had eight gift baskets to give away. Becky was eight away from one of the gift baskets. And then CLAMP exits the stage to a standing ovation. Due to technical difficulties, the audience needed to check the info desk to see who won an autograph. Initially, AX was to post the winning numbers on the big screen. I'm guessing AX didn't finish drawing the numbers in time for the post.

Ryu, who volunteered for Funimation, benefited from the late start. His shift ended at 3:00 P.M. and successfully found the CLAMP line and watched the panel from the beginning.

Rest and Regroup

I said goodbye to Becky and I meet her at the CLAMP gathering at 7:00 P.M. tonight. Arashi and I went back to the hotel room around 4:30 P.M. to rest and regroup. Back at the hotel room, I took a shower, ate a snack, and charged my laptop. Arashi gave me a button made from an artist at the artist alley. The button shows a picture of Edward Elric and says "Who Are You Callin Midget?" Thank you for the button.

Bad news. I was backing up my cosplay pics on my laptop. I noticed almost all of my earlier cosplay pics were terrible. I don't know what happened. Thank goodness I caught the problem early; otherwise, I took more bad pics including the CLAMP gathering pics. I noted the error and I'm going to take the CLAMP gatherings pics at Auto setting. What happened was I used the P setting on my Canon A610 and used ISO 400. Pictures took using ISO 400 came out grainy. I was sad and pissed off.

We left the hotel room at 6:30 P.M. and headed back to the main courtyard where other cosplayers and congers hang out. I brought my laptop just in case. The main courtyard is between the Hilton and Convention Center. Arashi headed back to the Hilton hotel to meet up with someone.

CLAMP Gathering

The CLAMP gathering was the best cosplay gathering I ever participated. It was the best of the best. It was organized. Bart Boy attended the gathering taking pictures. And I met the FMA family again from Fanime'05 and AX'05. The older daughter cosplayed as Sakura from Tsubasa Chronicle. Someone printed out a list of all CLAMP works and announced each title one by one for a series group picture shot. Everyone took their places in order. Becky was both happy and sad she was the only Wish cosplayer. Happy she got center of attention and sad there were no other Wish cosplayers. She also got a picture playing patty-cake with a big sized Mokona. How cute! The gathering lasted 35 minutes. Turnout was great. Becky and I separated as I was to eat dinner with a couple of friends.

To repeat, the CLAMP gathering was the best of the best. It was awesome XD

I ate dinner with Ryu and ip360 at IHOP around 8:15 P.M. I ordered the Two Egg sampler which sausage, hash browns, and toast and a large orange juice. It was the first time I met ip360. We talked about stuff including the con, how Ryu arrived late, talked about J-Rock, and I showed some cosplay pics on my laptop. We left IHOP and headed to the Info Desk at the convention center. Ryu, ip360, and I saw Otakuya at the main convention center area. Congoers were confusing us four as if we were AX staff. Fortunately, all four of us knew the answers to the questions. You're welcome, AX staff XD Anyways, Otakuya told us he, Jyun, and their parents were in the area. One of their relatives felt ill and they visited the relative. Otakuya and Jyun planned to stay for three days. Otakuya was happy to attend AX as an attendee because he and Jyun are Fanime Con staff.

I arrived back at the hotel room around 10:10 P.M. and relax, took another shower *hee, hee*, watched some TV, and backup my cosplay pics. I could have watched half of the Anime Music Videos because the videos started at 8:00 P.M. and lasts approximately 4 hours. I was too tired because of CLAMP and choose to go back to the hotel. Great choice. I find the winners and download the videos on the Internet afterwards. After seeing the bad pics, I choose to take two pics if the first picture at Auto Setting came out terrible. The new plan for taking cosplay pics was Auto setting first, then P setting with flash and ISO set to Auto second. I went to sleep at 2:00 A.M. with an alarm set to 7:00 A.M.

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Resume? I don't need a resume. Here is my resume: Innovator. I'm available to innovate for hire.

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