NY Anime Festival Dec 2007
Just back from NYC and NYAF. This con was on the leeetle-ish size in numbers but way big in awesome people and hot announcements. I'm just gonna set this all down while I can still remember it, forgive the stream-of-consciousness and lack of grammar. ^_^;;;
THURSDAY (morning 7:15am *wah*)
Took the Acela down from South station: 3 and 1/2 hours to NYC at speeds up to 150 mph, whee! (train geek :D ). This line exists largely to shuttle capitalists between Boston and hubs south and Brigid A. and I drove the paunchy business-creatures on either side of us ka-RAZY with non-mortgage/prime lending related chat. :D I'm gonna tell you guys about Brigeeed, who has the finely-tuned nose of an old skool reporter coupled with an intelligence that misses NOTHING. If we'd been on our way to freakin Gainesville we still would have filled up the time with industry talk.
At last in town, cold as hell, Brigid had a scheduled meeting with the PW crew and I tagged along killing time till Canada made The City. We walked the some blocks from Penn Station to the Javits Center, went into the same entrance we used at NYCC, discovered we were in the wrong place so went down the stairs and were confronted with several thousand feet of Canada's new series, Nightschool. It was a bit surreal, having seen this illo on my desktop, now seeing it as a 12 thousand feet high banner hanging from the rafters of the Javits.
BUY DRAMACON er, NIGHTSCHOOL. :D
Inside I hung out at in the press room with Brigid, killing time. Slowly PW all-stars began appearing and I realized what I'd lucked into - crack reporter power meeting! I met Calvin and Kai-Ming and Heidi (again) and Ed and Erin F. (thanks for the manga map, came in handy! :D ) and a bunch of other people, divving up the panels into small pieces to cover for Publisher's Weekly. Alright, reporters are just plain COOL. It was awesome getting a peek into their strategy session.
After a while they were all off to the ICv2 Conference and I headed back to the hotel. Met Svet there and off we went in search of food and, er, books and INOUE MURALS. Yes, Kinokunya across from beautiful Bryant Park. Inside we squeeed over the goods, and upstairs towards the cafe bumped into TP editor Alexi and creator Rem. We all sat down together for a lovely lunch, very much enjoyed meeting them both.
Rem and Alexi (all cut off) in the Kinokunya cafe, Bryant Park across the street.
Later, retired to the hotel room. Lillian finally got back from working the booth and it was... KIMONO TIME which is sort of like HammerTime but with less big pants. Lillian brought 3 and Svet, 2 with all the little associated do-dads (don't ask me, I'd need a manual for this stuff :D ) and they dressed up in all of them while I took pics. These pics don't really capture the beauty of these glorious garments, rare as flowers, all silver thread and silk in our cramped little hotel room.
Lillian, check those socks, yeah!
Svet, all shiny.
FRIDAY
Off to the con! Canada had an interview first off, then the Dramacon Launch Party where she did a reading and signed approximately 9 thousand books. Seriously. We heard from Alexi later that the booth had sold out completely out of copies of Dramacon #3.
Then into a cab and onward to Park Avenue for the Yen Press Dinner at Haru. Very cool Japanese fusion place where we occupied a big table full of interesting industry people and unfortunately it was far too loud to talk to any of them. :D The Yen press crew of course, and the guys from Publisher's Weekly and many others. Dinner was faboo then off to karaoke at Duet. We were such a large group everybody kinda of split up to make their way there, Svet and Paaat and I ended up walking with Calvin Reid (omg, a force of nature, he's amazing :D ) and Heidi all the way there. Man, making our way through the city, belly full of rice rolls, sparkly holiday lights all around us and industry talk - it don't get better than that.
Karaoke was a blast. The room was smallish, packed full of liberally socially-lubricated, happy people and it was the kinda vibe where EVERYOne sings. Awesome. Back to the hotel sometime well after 4am.
SATURDAY
Up somewhat sleep deprived and off to a TP panel where Svet signed an additional 9 thousand books, well over an hour after the panel had officially ended, I dunno, it was more like almost 2 hours.
Next up, the Yen Press panel for announcements. I was happy to get a chance to talk to Dallas M., sitting out there in the audience jotting down the new releases. ^_^
Then Svet to Yen Press booth to sign shikishi for another several hours. I wandered off and just immediately bumped into June Kim (who did "12 Days" for TP) who we meet last NYCC. She and I escaped to the secret underground food court (which hardly any of the other con-goers ever discovered, so served as a refuge all weekend) and she filled me in on her latest gig which is just freakin awesome, I really can't wait till some news is announced on this so I can follow the buzz.
Sometime later we all got together again for a quiet dinner at Tokyo Bar then back to karaoke at Duet where I can't help but think that the Kodansha reps were absolutely appalled at our singing except for Svet, and Lillian who RAWKS in both English AND Japanese, no fooling. Lillian led the room on Weird Al's White and Nerdy and I thought the Japanese guests were going to die laughing. (Yo, practice up for next time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbVtbc_XzrI :D )
Another late night.
SUNDAY
Another TP panel, here's Svet, Amy Hadley and Alice LeGrow on stage for a presentation ably mc'ed by Lillian after which they opened up the mic for Q&A.
After the second "I want to make comics but I can't draw what do I dooooo?" question in a row from some spotty guy I wandered off and ended up in the State of the Manga Industry panel narrated by Patrick Macias where I sat next to Brigid as she typed out the scoops. It was a good panel and I enjoyed listening to all these smart guys talk but was struck by 2 things: 1) when are we going to get some women up there on that stage anyway?? and 2) the roster on that panel would make an excellent yaoi doujinshi, wouldn't it? It'd be like Weis Kreuz, but with publishers! XD
After that I bailed out of the con and went wandering around the city for the rest of the afternoon. Always something to see in New York (a Free Tibet! march. Also, I like hanging around on the corner pretending to be waiting on someone but in reality listening to the tourists ask the NYPD for directions. Are there tapes that'll teach you the accent and the attitude of a NY cop?? Where do I get one?? :D ). I ended up in Kinokunya again, this time to shop, I was after 2 specific things and they had them both. I'd go broke if I lived in Manhattan and not just from rent, either. ^_^;;;
By the time I got back the con was over. Met Svet and Paat, retreated to the secret couch and made plans for dinner. We met up with June in Chinatown for dumplings, a rainy night in the city all bright lights on shiny streets and dirty spashy puddles, watching the locals skuttle by clutching umbrellas, sipping tea in some dive-y dim sum place off Mott street. Wonderful. Cabbed it back in a food coma, played around in the hotel room for a while and then to sleep.
MONDAY
Back on the Acela and home for Dee, happy as a clam with a bag full of comics. NYAF was a good con, smallish but with plenty of announcements for people to talk about and very many cool people to catch up with. It was great seeing Dave and Raina again and meeting more members of The Bakery crew. Got to see the faces of the Limemanga folk, people i've been following online for some time. Met a lot of new people and very glad to see friends from previous trips. I'd love for this con to catch on, it's so close to homebase. And anything that gets my favorite westCoasters over to this side of the planet so I can see them again is a good idea. ^_^
THURSDAY (morning 7:15am *wah*)
Took the Acela down from South station: 3 and 1/2 hours to NYC at speeds up to 150 mph, whee! (train geek :D ). This line exists largely to shuttle capitalists between Boston and hubs south and Brigid A. and I drove the paunchy business-creatures on either side of us ka-RAZY with non-mortgage/prime lending related chat. :D I'm gonna tell you guys about Brigeeed, who has the finely-tuned nose of an old skool reporter coupled with an intelligence that misses NOTHING. If we'd been on our way to freakin Gainesville we still would have filled up the time with industry talk.
At last in town, cold as hell, Brigid had a scheduled meeting with the PW crew and I tagged along killing time till Canada made The City. We walked the some blocks from Penn Station to the Javits Center, went into the same entrance we used at NYCC, discovered we were in the wrong place so went down the stairs and were confronted with several thousand feet of Canada's new series, Nightschool. It was a bit surreal, having seen this illo on my desktop, now seeing it as a 12 thousand feet high banner hanging from the rafters of the Javits.
BUY DRAMACON er, NIGHTSCHOOL. :D
Inside I hung out at in the press room with Brigid, killing time. Slowly PW all-stars began appearing and I realized what I'd lucked into - crack reporter power meeting! I met Calvin and Kai-Ming and Heidi (again) and Ed and Erin F. (thanks for the manga map, came in handy! :D ) and a bunch of other people, divving up the panels into small pieces to cover for Publisher's Weekly. Alright, reporters are just plain COOL. It was awesome getting a peek into their strategy session.
After a while they were all off to the ICv2 Conference and I headed back to the hotel. Met Svet there and off we went in search of food and, er, books and INOUE MURALS. Yes, Kinokunya across from beautiful Bryant Park. Inside we squeeed over the goods, and upstairs towards the cafe bumped into TP editor Alexi and creator Rem. We all sat down together for a lovely lunch, very much enjoyed meeting them both.
Rem and Alexi (all cut off) in the Kinokunya cafe, Bryant Park across the street.
Later, retired to the hotel room. Lillian finally got back from working the booth and it was... KIMONO TIME which is sort of like HammerTime but with less big pants. Lillian brought 3 and Svet, 2 with all the little associated do-dads (don't ask me, I'd need a manual for this stuff :D ) and they dressed up in all of them while I took pics. These pics don't really capture the beauty of these glorious garments, rare as flowers, all silver thread and silk in our cramped little hotel room.
Lillian, check those socks, yeah!
Svet, all shiny.
FRIDAY
Off to the con! Canada had an interview first off, then the Dramacon Launch Party where she did a reading and signed approximately 9 thousand books. Seriously. We heard from Alexi later that the booth had sold out completely out of copies of Dramacon #3.
Then into a cab and onward to Park Avenue for the Yen Press Dinner at Haru. Very cool Japanese fusion place where we occupied a big table full of interesting industry people and unfortunately it was far too loud to talk to any of them. :D The Yen press crew of course, and the guys from Publisher's Weekly and many others. Dinner was faboo then off to karaoke at Duet. We were such a large group everybody kinda of split up to make their way there, Svet and Paaat and I ended up walking with Calvin Reid (omg, a force of nature, he's amazing :D ) and Heidi all the way there. Man, making our way through the city, belly full of rice rolls, sparkly holiday lights all around us and industry talk - it don't get better than that.
Karaoke was a blast. The room was smallish, packed full of liberally socially-lubricated, happy people and it was the kinda vibe where EVERYOne sings. Awesome. Back to the hotel sometime well after 4am.
SATURDAY
Up somewhat sleep deprived and off to a TP panel where Svet signed an additional 9 thousand books, well over an hour after the panel had officially ended, I dunno, it was more like almost 2 hours.
Next up, the Yen Press panel for announcements. I was happy to get a chance to talk to Dallas M., sitting out there in the audience jotting down the new releases. ^_^
Then Svet to Yen Press booth to sign shikishi for another several hours. I wandered off and just immediately bumped into June Kim (who did "12 Days" for TP) who we meet last NYCC. She and I escaped to the secret underground food court (which hardly any of the other con-goers ever discovered, so served as a refuge all weekend) and she filled me in on her latest gig which is just freakin awesome, I really can't wait till some news is announced on this so I can follow the buzz.
Sometime later we all got together again for a quiet dinner at Tokyo Bar then back to karaoke at Duet where I can't help but think that the Kodansha reps were absolutely appalled at our singing except for Svet, and Lillian who RAWKS in both English AND Japanese, no fooling. Lillian led the room on Weird Al's White and Nerdy and I thought the Japanese guests were going to die laughing. (Yo, practice up for next time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbVtbc_XzrI :D )
Another late night.
SUNDAY
Another TP panel, here's Svet, Amy Hadley and Alice LeGrow on stage for a presentation ably mc'ed by Lillian after which they opened up the mic for Q&A.
After the second "I want to make comics but I can't draw what do I dooooo?" question in a row from some spotty guy I wandered off and ended up in the State of the Manga Industry panel narrated by Patrick Macias where I sat next to Brigid as she typed out the scoops. It was a good panel and I enjoyed listening to all these smart guys talk but was struck by 2 things: 1) when are we going to get some women up there on that stage anyway?? and 2) the roster on that panel would make an excellent yaoi doujinshi, wouldn't it? It'd be like Weis Kreuz, but with publishers! XD
After that I bailed out of the con and went wandering around the city for the rest of the afternoon. Always something to see in New York (a Free Tibet! march. Also, I like hanging around on the corner pretending to be waiting on someone but in reality listening to the tourists ask the NYPD for directions. Are there tapes that'll teach you the accent and the attitude of a NY cop?? Where do I get one?? :D ). I ended up in Kinokunya again, this time to shop, I was after 2 specific things and they had them both. I'd go broke if I lived in Manhattan and not just from rent, either. ^_^;;;
By the time I got back the con was over. Met Svet and Paat, retreated to the secret couch and made plans for dinner. We met up with June in Chinatown for dumplings, a rainy night in the city all bright lights on shiny streets and dirty spashy puddles, watching the locals skuttle by clutching umbrellas, sipping tea in some dive-y dim sum place off Mott street. Wonderful. Cabbed it back in a food coma, played around in the hotel room for a while and then to sleep.
MONDAY
Back on the Acela and home for Dee, happy as a clam with a bag full of comics. NYAF was a good con, smallish but with plenty of announcements for people to talk about and very many cool people to catch up with. It was great seeing Dave and Raina again and meeting more members of The Bakery crew. Got to see the faces of the Limemanga folk, people i've been following online for some time. Met a lot of new people and very glad to see friends from previous trips. I'd love for this con to catch on, it's so close to homebase. And anything that gets my favorite westCoasters over to this side of the planet so I can see them again is a good idea. ^_^