Looking at airfares tonight, I saw a one-way fare from SFO to Seattle for only $39, so i bought it, confirming that SakuraCon 2010 is a GO!!

Once again, I'm sorry that i won't be able to make it to WonderCon this year, but you will have fun there, and I will have fun at SC, yesh?

I'll arrive into Seattle around 9:00am on Thursday and should be at the con by 10:30am.

Now to figure out WHERE i'm going to stay, but at-least this is a good start in planning for one of my favorite cons each year.

See you in the Spring in Seattle at Sakura!

As much as I've enjoyed going to Ohayocon since 2002, I may have to skip this year, even though I don't want to break my streak of attending for 8 consecutive years. If the convention were at the beginning of January, then I'd go but this year I'm attending Anime Los Angeles (ALA) and then originally going to Ohayocon at the end of January, and then Katsucon 2 weeks later.

But calculating costs for Ohayocon, it's around $275 currently round-trip from SFO to CMH, and then an additional $100+ for hotel (rooming with friends), $50 for registration, and food & transportation, total cost is about $450+/- And then the costs for Katsucon would be about the same, so i'd rather use the $$ to go towards Katsu, and possibly towards my next con in March, either AnimeLand Wasabi or MegaCon.

I'll miss seeing friends I only see once per year at Ohayo, and meeting new cosplayers, but costs & asking for time-off from work are more important. I hope everyone who goes understands my situation, and has fun at Ohayocon 2010!

It's not 100% certain that I'm cancelling on Ohayo, but chances aren't looking good.

When I found out a while back that my theater would be getting Twilight : New Moon during the same weekend, I said like what many people said about san diego comic con in that "Twilight Ruined Comic Con!" or in my-case "T R AUSA!" I've enjoyed going to AUSA and would've liked to have gone, but again, work had given me the time-off for EVERY convention I've asked for this year, and so sacrificing AUSA wouldn't be as bad as if i had missed say, Sakuracon, Anime Expo, Fanime, Otakon, etc.

As it turns-out, the weekend went smoothly, although it was crazy as anything, but it's better when it's busy rather than being slow & boring. The crowds were good, and I was able to watch the midnight-showing on Thursday night. Not having to work that evening OR work on that opening-Friday, i was able to get some well-deserved rest. And the movie was quite enjoyable, imo, and i'll def. watch it again sometime. ^_^

I've heard a lot of good and meh-stories from AUSA, but did i really miss the con? not really. while it would've been nice to see some friends onelasttime for 2009, i am patient to wait until Katsucon 2010 to see the East Coast cosplayers again. I needed to save $$ for the holidays and upcoming cons in the beginning of 2010, including Anime LA, Ohayocon, and Katsucon. To those who went, i hope you had fun!

Which now brings me up to another Twilight-moment. At work on Saturday, i saw the new poster for Twilight : Eclipse and then i saw the date for when it'll be released: June 30th, 2010. 0_0 That's the week that Anime Expo takes place, and for those who don't already know, my original plan is to go to AX from June 30th to July 2nd, and then fly home for my brother's wedding on the 3rd, and MAYBE fly back to AX on the 4th and spend the day there and get pictures of cosplayers on the final day. With T:E coming-out on that week, like with T:NW, my boss didn't want anyone asking for time-off that weekend due to how busy it was, so that may throw my entire AX plans out the fn' door, save for my bro's wedding..

The only saving factor would be if my theater DIDN'T get T:E that week. Recently my theater went through what they call a "Sequel Switch" with the theater down the block, so if the other theater gets one movie, then my theater would get the next sequel, and then the other theater would get the next sequel. That usually isn't always the case as my theater didn't get either Transformers movie, none of the Harry Potter movies, and yet we got both James Bond 007 movies, and (i hope not) both Alvin & the chipmunks movies. So for Twilight, we didn't get part 1, got part 2, and may or may not get part 3. We'll just see come the summer..

The title of this thread is what I'm saying to myself, but it's wayyy too early to tell if I have to cancel on AX, or will i be lucky-enough to escape from Twilight for the weekend. All i know is that the 4th of July weekend 2010 is going to be a crazy holiday..

Last night at midnight i went to the Best Buy that was a few miles away and bought Left 4 Dead 2 for the 360. Kinda wished the Best Buy right down the street from me had the 12:01am pre-sale, but no worries. Picked up that as well as the 2-disc set of the new Star Trek and then went home and began playing it.

The game is really fun, and challenging, with more stages than last time (and they're a lot longer than usual) along with new characters, new enemies, new weapons (both guns & melee-weapons), it adds to the game that we've played before to make it better. (btw, the carnival-stage of the game is what should've happened more in Zombieland which is.. killing more frickin' zombies!! haha)

I'm glad I beat Borderlands before this game came out, and I onceinawhile will take a break from L4D2 and try to finish Magna Carta 2 which is a really fun RPG, save for some really horrible AI.. Still, it's good to get back into video-games now that my con-season is over for 2009.

Just two more days until work gets realllly hectic with Twilight : New Moon and I'll be working Thursday in the morning, but then come back for the 12:15am showing on our brand-new X-D (Extreme Digital) screen. No work on that opening Friday, so i shall sleep in.

Oh yeah, AUSA happens this weekend.. well, have fun, everyone who's going!

Usually on Halloween I like to host the Winchester Mystery House Cosplay Gathering in San Jose, CA but didn't get to do so this year because Yaoi-con happened to take place on that weekend. Still, there's always next year to have the WMHCG ^_^

Yaoi-con 2009 was a lot of fun, as it always is for me, and it was a good way to end the year of conventions. I took a lot of pictures, and here they are:

Yaoi-Con 2009 Cosplay Pictures

Day 1 : Friday
http://www.cosplay.com/gallery/166809/

Day 2 : Saturday
http://www.cosplay.com/gallery/167235/

Day 3 : Sunday
http://www.cosplay.com/gallery/167655/

Please enjoy the pictures, and if you find pictures of your costume(s), you may post them wherever you like, and any credit you can give me is appreciated. ^_^

I look forward to next year's Yaoi-con and all the conventions in 2010!

I kinda want to go to Anime USA next weekend, but again, work will be super-crazy with Twilight : New Moon opening-up, and i don't mind making one-small sacrifice to help out work which has been gracious to let me have the time-off for EVERY convention I've asked for this year (and the last 2 years too, i believe) so missing AUSA will be sad and yet a good-thing too.

The last cosplay event for 2009 for me will be the gathering on Dec. 12th in Golden Gate Park, thanks to Bart Boy for putting it together, and i hope to see the Bay Area cosplayers there for one last hurrah.

I will be attending Anime Los Angeles (ALA) in the beginning of January, and hopefully Ohayocon at the end of January. If you're going to either of those, see you there!

Thanks to everyone who posed for my pictures at all the conventions of 2009 and see you next con!

-Al

This past weekend I went to Anime Destiny which was held at the UC Berkeley campus, taking place inside the Valley Life & Sciences building. Being in there brought back memories from the last time AD took place there.. in Fall 2004. That was the first year the convention started and again in 2005 (different building on the campus) but then stopped until its return this year.

Anime Destiny is a small con, using up about 7 rooms in the building for Artist Alley, Dealers Room/Swap Meet, video-games, main events (concerts, cosplay fashion show), and registration. For me, it was mainly taking pictures of cosplayers and seeing friends. There were a few surprise show-ups at this con in-terms of friends and cosplayers, not expecting to see them until Yaoi-con at the end of the month. ^_^

Oh yes, here are the pictures that I took from this weekend:

http://www.cosplay.com/gallery/165133/

Back in 2004, I participated in the Swap Meet all day, so i wasn't able to take too many pictures. Jump forward to 5 years later, and I did some nice photoshoots outside the building. Good weather helped get some nice photos too.

If there is an Anime Destiny in 2010, i will definitely return.

Since I have funds now, and the cost for airfare is cheap, I bought my ticket GOING to Anime Los Angeles (ALA) 2010 in January.  Thankfully the con is the weekend after New Year's Day weekend, so that makes it easier for me to ask for time-off from work, and allows me to work on NYE/D weekend (time-and-a-half baby!!) and then go to the con.

I haven't gone back to ALA since 2007, as that year was most memorable for the staff being badge-nazi's, pestering people to show their badges all the time, even when I was doing a private photoshoot they would come over and demand to see my friend's badge.  Best part was when there was a Bleach gathering, a staffer stood in-front of the group, and  told all the cosplayers to SHOW THEIR BADGES in the big-group picture.. WTMFH?!!  I've never seen that before at a gathering, so ALA gets the kudos for being the first con to ask for such an absolutely-redonkulous thing.  XD

The con has gotten better since then so I've heard, but I've chosen to go to the East Coast for Ohayocon in 2008 and 2009 as my choice for a con in January.  Still, there's 3 weeks in-between ALA and Ohayo and I figured I'd give ALA another chance.   With them changing locations the last two years and now with it being at the LAX Marriott, it's right at the airport, making transportation to/from the con a snap.  And considering this may the only time I see a lot of So.CA cosplayers until AX (which I may go for half of the con or miss it completely) or San Diego Comic Con in the summer. 

Lodging-wise, I'll need to figure out a place to stay.  If anyone's going and has room for me for Friday & Saturday night, please let me know.  I'm willing to pay my share for those two nights.  Thanks!    Else, I'll stay at a motel a short distance away.  It's the same place I stayed during PMX last year, but this time the Marriott is a little further (PMX was at the LAX Hilton) but i should be okay. 

So i look forward to seeing my friends and cosplayers and taking a lot of nice pictures.

See you all in January! 

Finally finished posting ALL of my Dragon*Con and Nan Desu Kan pictures, and it's now October 2nd.  I have about 4 weeks from now til Yaoi-Con. 

During that time, I plan to clean-up my Private Message inbox on cosplay.com, as I'm almost full (at 500) and need to get rid of a lot of messages, some dating back to 2005, to see if I need them or not.   Looking through them, I can see that there are some members who don't go to conventions anymore, some aren't as close anymore, or some who asked me to fix something on the forums and i forgot the delete it.. haha  

There are also those who have asked me for pictures from conventions, and I will now do my best to look for those pictures that I have somewhere on cd-r's and dig them out.  A friend even asked for pictures from 2004, so that may or may not be too difficult to find.

I have time now, so hopefully I'll be able to get the pictures emailed to everyone before Y-con arrives.  ^_^

Looking at the dates for WonderCon 2010, i saw that they're having the con later in the Spring, on April 2-4.  That's late considering it's usually in late-February or March.  OK, so no problem.. until i checked another con..

SakuraCon in Seattle, WA is happening.. the same f'n weekend!!  0_0  sonofab--

Immediately I knew which con I was going to..  SakuraCon.  

I like going to WonderCon because it's cheap, local, and a fun mini-version of San Diego Comic Con.  However, SakuraCon is the only time I go to Seattle and see my cosplayer-friends there, and i usually take a lot more pictures in the 3 days (and Day Zero) rather than the 3 days of WC, and the first day there aren't as many cosplayers there..

Still, I normally go to both but this RARE occasion has forced me to give-up one of them, and there's no-point in me going to Sakuracon for Thursday-Saturday, and then come home on Sunday for WonderCon because there are still a lot of cosplayers on S-con Sunday, while WC-Sunday doesn't have as many cosplayers.

Only problem with missing WC is that if my friends from So.CA decide to come-up here again, I will miss them.  And if Lionboogy decides to bring a Transformer to the con, I'll miss out on the fun being his handler again..  ;_; 

But I've made commitments already at Sakuracon, so i can't back out on those.

This just bites..  Sorry to those Bay Area cosplayers who'll be attending WonderCon, but there's always the Cherry Blossom Festival later that month and then FanimeCon in May.  Hopefully I'll see you there.  ^_^

I must be mistaken when I thought two conventions, Ani-magic 2009 and Anime LA 2010 were on these dates:

Ani-Magic 2009  October 2-4  when it's actually October 9-11

Anime LA 2010 January 1-3  when it's actually January 8-10

I can understand how Animagic wouldn't want to have it October 2-4, as that's the weekend Long Beach Comic-Con is happening.  And ALA wouldn't want to have it on New Years Day, cos travel would be a nightmare and people would still be recovering from NYEve.  haha

My bad for thinking those two cons were on those days, but I may still not go to either because of timing.  I've already decided to go to Anime Desitny at UC Berkeley on Saturday October 10th, and then the next con would be Yaoicon 3 weeks later.  And as for ALA, it's 3 weeks before Ohayocon, which I usually prefer going to as my January-con. 

But there's still time to ponder ALA, since it's not on NYDay weekend, which work would probably not give anyone time-off for, so i'll think about it as the months go by.

This weekend I'm not scheduled Friday and Saturday, but open on Sunday. I just got paid, and if i were REALLY crazy i would buy a red-eye flight to New York and go to NYAF for 2 days, and then fly back and work on Sunday (or just call-in sick.)   Screw how much a ticket costs.. i should do it!!

nahhhh  i still have pictures to post and I don't really care about NYAF, and I'm done with East Coast cons for the year.  I already had my fun convention(s) for September and done enough flying.  Bring on the local conventions where it's cheaper and I can cosplay at these cons w/o worrying about luggage-space.  Bring on Yaoi-con!  hahaha  ^_~

Kinda disappointed that my theater isn't getting anything new this weekend:  no Surrogates, no Fame, and no Pandorum.  And we're getting back Up in 3-D for another week.  Just when I thought we were finally rid of that film (we've had it since the end of May!!) it's back for one-more-week..  i could only stand watching it just once, unlike Wall-E which I watched 5 times in the theater.  Screw UP!!  =P

Next week we're making up for it by getting 4, possibly 5 new films!!  Confirmed forsure are: Capitalism: A Love Story (the new Michael Moore film), Coco Before Chanel (bio-pic film), Whip It (Ellen Page) and Toy Story 1 & 2 in 3-D (for 2 weeks.)  I'm only curious to watch Toy Story 1-2 again, since I've only seen each film once or twice years ago, so it'll be cool to see how they make it look in 3-D.  

My boss hinted that we may be also getting Zombieland and i sure hope to hell we actually DO get that film, since I have been waiting for this film since seeing the trailers, so we'll know soon. *crosses fingers*

Down the road, we confirmed that we're getting Michael Jackson's This is It  and tickets go on sale Sunday.  wheeeee.. i wonder if it really is going to be a big hit, or will it be like the Jonas Brothers concert that we had back in March but bombed big-time after the first weekend.  Granted, the King of Pop is dead and this will be the last concert (and behind the scenes) we see of him, but after the first weekend, will it still be popular?  we shall see..

Back to posting pictures, and i will escape from the house sometime this weekend and go out.  Do what? i dunno.. haha 

Calling it a night for posting pictures from Dragon*con and NDK, but wanted to let people know what the rest of the year is in-store for me, in-terms of conventions and such.

The return of Anime Destiny is highly-anticipated, on Saturday October 10th, and the small but fun 1-day con that took place at the UC Berkeley campus was memorable during the two-year run from 2004-2005, and glad to see that it's coming back. Whether or not it's going to be like previous-years remains to be seen, but I'm looking forward to it. ^_^

Yaoi-con will be my last con for 2009, and a friend told me I should get back into the swing of cosplay, and so I'll be cosplaying a few costumes during the halloween-weekend-bishy-con, nothing new, but it's just to show that I also cosplay and not just do cosplay-photography.

I was hoping to go to PMX the weekend after Y-con, but it turns-out that weekend my theater is hosting the annual NATO conference, where a lot of the GM's of Cinemark Theaters come together for a day of lectures, food, and free previews. This is a big-event for my workplace, and so nobody is getting time-off for it. Sorry to my So.CA friends & cosplayers that I can't make it, but hopefully I'll see you at Anime LA in January 2010!

And then mid-November as I've said here and on cosplay.com, I can't attend Anime USA due to my theater getting Twilight: New Moon. On the Thursday night before it opens, Nordstrom has rented out the ENTIRE theater for a special 9:30pm showing of T:NM, which will be playing on all 9 screens. And then comes the 12:01am advance-screening, so it's going to be a busy night. I will miss going to AUSA, but to save $$ and avoid any possible-drama over there on the East Coast, it's better this way.

Once Yaoi-con is over, I'll have 2 months to figure out which conventions I will be going to in 2010, if I choose to continue on going to the same amount I do each year, or cut-back.

There's enough time to think it all out and go from there.

I'm currently stuck-here at the Denver airport, due to bad weather at SFO, so i'm here for another few hours but thanks to free wi-fi i'm able to post here and other places.

I have to say that Nan Desu Kan (NDK) was a lot of fun for me, and personally, was better than Dragon-con this year. Call me crazy, but being a smaller and less-crowded con, it was easier to find cosplayers, and it was easier to take friends and cosplayers outside to take photos. Granted it rained heavily on Saturday, i was still able to find some dry places and take pics.

Plus my health was a major improvement this weekend than last, and best of all, I didn't have any drama at NDK, unlike what i encountered at D*con. Those factors combined to make NDK a fun weekend.

Yes, I will return to both cons in 2010, and perhaps D*con will be more-fun for me next year but I'm glad that I had NDK to make me feel better in-terms of pictures, conventions, and cosplayers.

Wish me a safe-flight home.. i have a LOT of pictures to post! haha

still a little sick, legs are sore, tired..

and depressed to no end.. Drama happening again locally, and then encountering some events at Dragoncon that add to my depression, i should rethink about what I will do in 2010. Nan Desu Kan and Yaoicon are my last cons in 2009, and the time after that will be used to decide where I go from here.

I've lost incentive to post my Dragoncon pictures..

Never thought I'd make an entry and disable comments, but always a first time..

Returned home this morning from Dragoncon, and slept on the 4.5 hour flight home, so i should have enough energy before working from 5-1am tonight and then 9-5pm tomorrow.. ughhh.. who am i kidding?

I'll work on the pics from D*Con this week, but with Nan Desu Kan (NDK) coming up in 4 days, I don't want to work myself too hard, considering the last time I had back-to-back (Otakon and then SDCC) that was a harsh 2 weeks (plus the weeks that followed.)

I have to say I thought D*con wasn't as much fun as previous years, and I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted to, due to the amount of crowds everywhere, so it made it hard to find people. That and other reasons which I won't get into..

I'll just say that I'm actually looking forward to NDK this weekend, and maybe i'll have more fun than i did at D*con. I said, maybe..

still sick, with both coughing and internal-pain, making my day with work not so pleasant, and during the evening when I have pictures to post, I need to pack, and then something else.

I'm not the one to usually have emotional-drama, but last night and tonight I suffered some that I haven't felt in a while, and this is the type that can keep me depressed for a little while or for longer, especially when the next Bay Area convention hits.

Thankfully I have DragonCon and Nan Desu Kan to keep me occupied, and getting away from work, the city, and this new drama will be the best way to help what's ailing me (emotionally.)

To those I see at DragonCon this weekend, I look forward to seeing your new costumes and taking your pictures! Please make some time to look for me or if I find you, to pose for a few pictures. We all have busy schedules, but I'm willing to spend a few minutes (or more) with you, so hopefully you'll appreciate the time I'm giving. Also, if you don't want your costume posted on cosplay.com, just tell me and I'll be happy to oblige you, but allow me to at least take the picture so i can email or IM it to you after the con. That's fair, right?

Time to get whatever rest I can tonight, with a full-day of work tomorrow, rushing to pack, and then a red-eye flight, i'm not going to give this ailing-body a lot of sleep. But hopefully the weekend will prove to be the best con as it has been the last 5 years for me.

Safe-trip and fun-times to all who are going this weekend to D*con, Anime Vegas, KumoriCon, AnimeFest, etc.

Still sick, busy with picture-posting from Sac-Anime, and 2 more days before I head out to Dragoncon, and I come home and suffer a little drama & disappointment, but thankfully a friend posted this video on Twitter, and it made me feel a lot better..




maybe it'll make your bad-day feel better.. ^_~

My buddy Trowa Al posted one of his recent photoshoots, a lovely one of his friend Ilona at Otakon back in July.

Check it out:

Cantarella as Mima Kirigoe from Perfect Blue
http://www.cosplay.com/shoot/161014/

After a long, hot, tiring day of work, I can now relax a little, but the rest will be short-lived as I am going to Sac-Anime tomorrow for just one day, even though I'd like to go for both.  Alas, 1/2 of the con is better than nothing, ya?

Sac-Anime.. haven't been there since 2007 and I liked the hotel it was at, the Red Lion.  Nice to see that they got Voltare as a guest and he gave a great concert, but I'm used to seeing him usually at Dragon*con.  Relaxing hotel, nice place for pictures, and the only thing that ruined the con was the stupid-@$$ con-security guard who yelled at people to leave the premesis since the con was over.  When that happened i thought "wow, what a way to ruin a good weekend."  Since then, Sac-Anime hasn't been at a hotel and remained (like Sac-Con) at the Scottish Rite Center.  Now, finally, it's at a NEW hotel, and looking at the pictures, there should be a lot of places for good photos,provided we all don't roast and burn in the Sacto-heat.. 

There are other concerns I have about going, but I'll address them after the weekend if they turn out to be true or not.. 

I'll be taking a lot of photos, but this con will just be an appetizer to the main-entree in 6 days.. Dragoncon.   hahaha

I should be done posting all of Sac-Anime's pics before I leave Wednesday night for D*C.

See you all tomorrow!!

My work posted the managers' schedules for the next couple of weeks, and they were nice enough to give me the following days off:

• Saturday, August 29th for Sac-Anime
• Thursday, September 3rd to the 7th for Dragon*Con
• Friday, September 11th to the 13th for Nan Desu Kan

Again, sorry to those who are going to Anime Weekend Atlanta and New York Anime Festival that I can't be there to take pictures of everyone.After that, there's no cons for me until Yaoi-con on Halloween weekend, and MAYBE i might try for Pacific Media Expo (PMX) the weekend after, but i may just skip it.  And then that'll be it for the cons in 2009, as no Anime USA for me, since work has a good-chance of getting "Twilight: Full Moon" so NOBODY will be able to take that weekend off..  *sniff*

But i don't blame work.. they've been nice to me all year and haven't denied a request for me going to cons ONCE this year.  I take pride at being one of the better managers at my theater, and being good at work pays-off in that sense.

I will still have fun at the remaining 4 (or 5) cons this year, and hope to see you there! 

P.S. Bought my return-ticket home from NDK, so I shall be leaving the con around 5'ish on Sunday.  Plenty o' time to get pics of cosplayers before they have to force me onto that Super Shuttle to the airport..  i'll be like:

"no! no! i don't wanna go!  must stay and take more pics of friends, dammit!"  hehehe