My time at Sakura-Con 2010

Day 0 (Thursday)
After work, me and Rich headed over to the Washington State Convention Center to pick up our badges for the convention that started the following day. After dealing with some trafic and a quick line, the badge was in my hand. Next was for Rich to set up his art in the art show. With that set up, we got a bite to eat at the Subway outside the convention. Home we went to rest up for the next day.

Day 1 (Friday)
With the dear's room not opening till noon, we had a lazy morning. We made good time and got there before the dealer room opened. Rich was not able to get a Artest Alley table, but was able to split a table in the dealer's room. With a borrowed exhibitor badge I was able to get in before the others and help Rich with a quick set up at his table. With the doors open I was free to look around. After once around the dealer's room, I headed off to a pannel and then watch some anime where I rested my tired feet. I had brought my Pokewalker to keep track of the steps durring the convention, I had noticed a good number of people had the same idea. With moving the Pokewalker from my belt to the lanyard I was using with my badge. With that move I had a good number of people come up and do the friend connect.

Day 2 (Saturday)
With this being main day of the convention, we headed off earlier from the day before. The dealer's room was already open when we got there. I did my walk thru for another look around to find some thing that I may or may not know I am looking for. One item that was found was at the Ninja-Bot booth was a free Level 5 Mudkip with some great Battle Moves. I also got a chance to look around the Artest Alley and picked up some Iron Man and anime postcard art.

Day 3 (Sunday)
The final day with a lot of walking around the dealer's room and around the convention center for the final rounds of looking and snapping some pix of the people in costume. I also paid for next years Sakura-Con for a low cost of $30. When the 6pm time frame came, the convention end and closed. With the exhibitor badge I was able to stick around for a while. We got some food and did a final walk thru of the empty dealer's room (which was not the dealer room any more). It made me a little sad that the convention was over for the year. :-(

With the Pokewalker I kept records of the stats:
Day 0: 02291 steps
Day 1: 08659 steps, ~13 friend connects
Day 2: 09572 steps, 30 friend connects
Day 3: 11930 steps, ~29 friend connects

For totals, if you keep in mind that 2000 steps = 1 mile, I walked over 16 miles with over 70 friend connection during Sakura-Con.

Check out all the pictures I took during the conventure.

My time at Sakura-Con

It started out on a Thursday after work. Me and Rich headed over to the Convention Center to pick up the weekend pass and have Rich drop off some of his art for the Art Show. We made good time and found a parking spot. We got our weekend badge with around a 20 min wait in line, which went fast with the book I was reading. Headed over to the Art Show room to find they need some help with the stand ups they use to display the art on. It took about 2 hours to get them standing and ready to be used, after that we headed on home to get some rest for the next day.

We got to the Con around 11:30 am on Friday, before the dealer’s room opened. Rich set himself up at Artist Alley while I waited in a line for the Exhibitors' Hall to open. From last year, things were moved around. The Exhibitors' Hall and the Registration were next together, which gave a lot of foot traffic to the Artist Alley which was right outside the two rooms. I did my look around the Exhibitors' Hall and found the isles well spaced and easy to walk thru and with the traffic the con had it was needed. After my rounds in the Exhibitors' Hall, I went and looked around. I found the Main Stage, the Autograph area and the Video Rooms. From the layout of last year, the Video Rooms were above the Main Room (were the Concerts were), not below. So when the Concerts were playing the wall did not vibrate. The day was mostly walking around the main floor area or outside taking pictures of the people in costumes and when I needed to get off my feet, I headed back to the Artist Alley or headed up to the Video Rooms, if there was anything good playing.

Saturday was planed as a full day for me, with getting to the Con about 9:30am and leaving well past midnight. With some more walking, picture taking, sitting, video watching and eating (not all in that order) the day was enjoyed. With night time here, the Main Stage was full of people jamming to the DJ waiting for Smile.dk to play. At one point glow sticks and such were tossed from the stage and I was lucky to get a rebound off the ceiling into my hands. The place was jumping, you could literally feel the music. For a white boy that can not dance, I think I did good. I just copied the people around which was basically jumping up and down, waiving your hands (like you don't care) or doing a fist pump. My feet started to be a pain and I took off to the Video Rooms for some sit down time. After some time I got a text from Rich that it was time to call it a night.

Sunday was another day. If you wanted to be technical it wad the same day, just with five hours of sleep. We got there a little before the Exhibitors' Hall opened. They had pre-registration open for next year for just $30.00 for the full weekend. I grabbed the paperwork and head for the short line. With one person on the window, it took some time, around 30 min if I recall correctly. With the pre-registration done, I went thru the Exhibitors' Hall one last time to see if I missed anything and then did some more walking, picture taking, sitting, video watching with the day ending around 6pm.

For the anime that was showing in the theaters, I wish I had planed a little better to catch some of the ones that I missed. I did catch Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple, some Code Geass, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and some Shin-chan.

One thing I can say about the Exhibitors' Hall is keep a eye on what they have available. I picked up a few figures one day and looked for them the next finding they had sold out. Another item I found was at a good price of $6.00. I went back the next day to pick a few more up to find the cost showing was $70.00. Looked like I got a great deal on the one I did picked up. I should have picked up the full set of 4 at the $6.00 cost the first day. Keep your eyes open.

The item that I got a lot of work out of, was the digital camera I got for Christmas. I tried out a few of the setting to find they worked out great for what I needed them for. A few of the pictures came out bad, but that is what the delete button is for.

This was the first time doing the full weekend at Sakura-Con and I had a great time. Took over 400+ pictures. Went over my spending budget (a little) and got a chibi charature done of my self.

. . . and I am doing this again next year.

(Currently uploading the pictures I took at Sakura-Con up to flickr, you can see the growing pictures here.)

A new start.

Last week I got a new phone, LG-9100, the enV2. The screen size is different from the prev one. The internal only had a small adjustment, while the external was much smaller and had to have adjustment. Here is the current wallpaper I am using. Fell free to use. All I ask, if you can, leave a comment.

Ghost In The Shell - Online Screen (wallpaper)

My current external wallpaper.


Ghost In The Shell - Group (wallpaper)

My current internal wallpaper.

Sakura-Con 2008

Saturday, I went to Sakura-Con at the Washington State Convention Center. I carpooled with Rich and JP. The day started at 8:30am at work's parking lot with Rich picking me up. We got there about 8:50am. Registration took about 30 min, which is alot better than the 3 hours it did last year. Getting there early sure did help. I went down to the dealer area to find it not open yet. I hung around the entrance area and took some pictures of the people in costumes. The doors opened, I did a round of all the tables. Took some pictures and did another round of the booths. Took some breaks in the Anime Theater or in Artist Alley at Rich's table. The dealer room closed down at 6pm, I hung around took some pictures and waited around till a anime movie was playing. I got most of the way thru the movie, till the dance party up stares got noisy, the metal door in the back of the room was shaking and I could not hear the movie. It was something I had seen before, so I headed back to Artist Alley to hang out. Be headed out to get a bite to eat around 11pm and got back to the car around 12:30am to find my car covered with snow.

I had fun. I might do Sunday next year. It has been a few day sense the convention and my cafes are still sore from all the walking, at lease my feet are not hurting

Click the picture to get a biger picture of what
I took with me and what I came back with me.

Also check the pictures set I have of Sakura-Con on Flickr.
(It will take awhile to post all the pictures,
check back to see what has been added.)

Sakura-Con 2007

I want to start out by saying that getting sick sucks. Sakura-Con was last weekend. I hitched a ride with a friend to the Con. It did start with a 1 hour and 45 min stand in line. It was not too bad, i had planed on some wait. I did bring my PSP and iPod to kill some time. People in costume were abundant as you can tell in the picture that I took and others. One good did happen while in line, got a free con t-shirt. The dealer room was great. I did a lot of looking and bought a few Tachikoma toy figures, Dragon Ball figures and a Drsgon Quest toy. Seen here. I saw my frind Rich and stoped by the video room a few times. By 6pm I was ready to go, I was not feeling good. I got home in good time and crashed out. I ended up recovering that weekend and next two work days.

Check out the photo group for the Sakura-Con 2007 pictures, some are mine:

My Anime Rant

Watched the Pokemon movie, Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, that was Cartoon Network tonight and was sorry to see a good chunk of the movie missing. I saw the Japanese version of the movie the movie opened with a good overview of the Pokemon world which was about 4 to 5 minutes. That was missing. Then the next shot was with the Pokemon Ranger rescuing the Pokemon egg from the pirate ship which was about 10 to 15 minutes. That was also missing. From what I could tell the movie did not suffer from the cut shots, the scenes were in the original Japanese version, why were they not kept. I do not know why the movie was not kept whole. The only reason I can possibly see is it was cut for time. The movie was given 2 and a half hour, but the movie only used 2 hours and 10 minutes. The other 20 or so minutes were used to a different cartoon show.

Thats my story and I am sticking with it.

Ghost in the Shell

Found some info on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society

NEWS: http://www.productionig.com/contents/works_sp/47_/index.html


YouTube Video Link

Pokémon Mystery of Mew Giveaway!

Want to add Mew to your Pokémon collection? Visit any Toys "R" Us on September 30th from noon to 3pm and Mew can be yours! <see full article>

Being a pokemon fan, I went to the local Toys "R" Us at about 12:30 thinking there would not be too long of a line. I ws wrong, I took me about a hour and a half to wait for the download. I did not mind the wait, not feeling too good, I did not plan on the wait (ie I did not bring my mp3 player).

.hack//G.U. Part 1

Browsing thru my email I ran across some info on a new .hack game, .hack//G.U.

The main site is here and some more info is available from IGN.com.

Also check .hack//AI buster a book from TOKYOPOP. Volume 1 is currently out, with Volume 2 out on 02/07/06. With Manga also from TOKYOPOP, check out .hack//Legend of the Twilight.

Robotech: Shadow Chronicles Info

A 90-minute sequel movie to the original Robotech tv series from the mid-1980s.

"With the unexpected conclusion to the war with the Invid, the people of Earth are finally liberated and an expedition prepares to search for Admiral Hunter's missing fleet. However, another mystery unfolds as a deadly new adversary threatens to test the limits of the Expeditionary Force's use of Shadow Technology..." (ROBOTECH.COM)

There will be a new menace that was responsible for the events in the original series. (ANIMATION MAGAZINE, NOV 2004)

Takes place the day after the end of “The New Generation” (Kunicon St. Louis, 2005)