AX07 day 0+1
i missed the proper early pickup lines on thursday night due to work. i should have taken a vacation day off for that, but hindsight is 20/20.
today, i stood in line from 8am until about 11am waiting to get my badge holder as i had already received my badge in the mail. unfortunately for EVERYBODY in line, the AX staff had separated the first 100 people of each pre-registration and non-registered lines in to separate areas, but everybody after that was in a single line. This meant that anybody with a badge who was in the single line had to wait until all of the non-registered people ahead of them took their sweet time to fill out their info in the registration area and get their badges printed. fairly unacceptable, considering that separating the lines would have taken all of 10 minutes around 7am and would have kept all of the people who bothered to fill out forms and pay online happy and moving along to their pre-purchased "premier" ticket line (which moved about 1 foot per minute and was approximately 100 feet long).
The live programming panel scheduling overall was not horrible. It seems that it was attempted to keep similar panels out of each others way. The concerts and "featured" panels seemed to be well separated (though by an extremely thin line).
All seemed well. I had my plan in hand with my schedule and program guide. I all ready to systematically attend all interesting content at AX.
***
My plans were thwarted. The evil gods of AX decided that EVERY event in the arena would begin seating late, finish seating late, start late, and run late. yes, that is a LOT of late, and yes, it severely fucked the schedule for all arena events (and those panels scheduled *around* them).
I wished to attend the SOS girls panel to hear some interesting things and ask an interesting question or two, but the SKIN concert (for which i bought a ticket despite my lack of experience with j-rock) seating began about an hour after the concert was supposed to have already started. the SOS panel was supposed to begin immediately after the concert originally ended, but seeing as the concert didnt begin until it was supposed to have ended and i had a ticket for the SKIN concert.... well... ouch :\. it was pretty painful to have to choose between them, and if my friend had not had her own ticket i would have given her mine so i could go see the SOS panel.
on the positive side, i did see the SOS girls having lunch, but the president of bandai was hovering next to them the whole time and i didnt want to seem fanboyish by going up to them and talking to them in english.
bags, cell phones, cameras, and, yes, bottled water were all being checked at the door. bottled water. what the fuck. i was damn thirsty after waiting to get into the hall for 2 hours, and they denied me the ability to drink at whim.
the concert overall was not horrible. yes, thats right. it wasnt horrible. the first 10 minutes or so of music was a bit muttled and did not sound like anything particularly catchy, so i just sort of ignored it
the music picked up, and so did the gyration. i suppose i expected as much afer hearing the many j-rock tales of my friends, but to see it was something else. "what a ham" i thought when i saw gackt gyrate. when miyavi did it, he was more playful and it looked like he wasnt doing it to command the audience, but more just to hint that he was having a good time or something.
there was a slight musical break and i realized that gackt was singing into what looked like a molded metal dragon..... (um... all i can say is "lollerskates")
ultimately, the music was better than mediocre, as each player had what seemed to be a fairly good understanding of music and performance. the show itself was a bit silly. i think that maybe people (read: fangirls) will read too much into the actions of the band on stage. really to me it looked like they were performing a lot and having fun a little. gackt can really sing. he lost control a bit during some of the intense screaming and call/response, but he seemed to recover pretty well. it will probably take me about 48 hours to recover. i think im done screaming for the weekend. probably. miyavi can really play the guitar. he did pretty well during his "introduction" solo and i think that he has a great sense of groove and jam. yoshiki is a ham. the bass player was a pretty nifty guy, but unknown to me. sugizo, also unknown to me, seemed to be unable to jam in the same mode as the others during his introduction. he seemed to be trying to caress his solo when miyavi gackt and yoshiki were pounding it. i was confused and sad, but i suppose he has somehow earned his spot in the band and is good enough to carry his weight. if they ask him to change his style, he may, rather than be exorcised.
***
there were a couple of interesting things going on after the concert. AMVs, jpop culture, JAST games... unfortunately i was tired, so i dropped my luggage in to the hotel room before those events and i think i missed them for food and socializing.
later that night we went to the "midnight tea". EGL tea party with table decorations. some of us looked at the tea party from the window and decided that the 50 person long line was not worth the wait because the party didnt look all that happening. maybe it was the lighting. one other took pictures. one, two, three, four. There are a few more, but those are the best concept pictures. If it had more candles and less disgusting fluorescent lighting, i probably would have gone outside to check it out even with the line. i suppose a part of what turned a few of us off to it was that there was no line at midnight, but by 1220 there was a bit of one and they still hadnt opened the doors.
THINGS NEED TO START ON TIME.
there is a signing tomorrow with the SOS girls at 10am. we are getting up at 6am to get our DVD boxes signed. the ones we got at the bandai asos invasion. yikes. such a full schedule...
i still carry the weight of missing the SOS panel with me, but perhaps i will get to see them at meet the guests or their signing.
today, i stood in line from 8am until about 11am waiting to get my badge holder as i had already received my badge in the mail. unfortunately for EVERYBODY in line, the AX staff had separated the first 100 people of each pre-registration and non-registered lines in to separate areas, but everybody after that was in a single line. This meant that anybody with a badge who was in the single line had to wait until all of the non-registered people ahead of them took their sweet time to fill out their info in the registration area and get their badges printed. fairly unacceptable, considering that separating the lines would have taken all of 10 minutes around 7am and would have kept all of the people who bothered to fill out forms and pay online happy and moving along to their pre-purchased "premier" ticket line (which moved about 1 foot per minute and was approximately 100 feet long).
The live programming panel scheduling overall was not horrible. It seems that it was attempted to keep similar panels out of each others way. The concerts and "featured" panels seemed to be well separated (though by an extremely thin line).
All seemed well. I had my plan in hand with my schedule and program guide. I all ready to systematically attend all interesting content at AX.
***
My plans were thwarted. The evil gods of AX decided that EVERY event in the arena would begin seating late, finish seating late, start late, and run late. yes, that is a LOT of late, and yes, it severely fucked the schedule for all arena events (and those panels scheduled *around* them).
I wished to attend the SOS girls panel to hear some interesting things and ask an interesting question or two, but the SKIN concert (for which i bought a ticket despite my lack of experience with j-rock) seating began about an hour after the concert was supposed to have already started. the SOS panel was supposed to begin immediately after the concert originally ended, but seeing as the concert didnt begin until it was supposed to have ended and i had a ticket for the SKIN concert.... well... ouch :\. it was pretty painful to have to choose between them, and if my friend had not had her own ticket i would have given her mine so i could go see the SOS panel.
on the positive side, i did see the SOS girls having lunch, but the president of bandai was hovering next to them the whole time and i didnt want to seem fanboyish by going up to them and talking to them in english.
bags, cell phones, cameras, and, yes, bottled water were all being checked at the door. bottled water. what the fuck. i was damn thirsty after waiting to get into the hall for 2 hours, and they denied me the ability to drink at whim.
the concert overall was not horrible. yes, thats right. it wasnt horrible. the first 10 minutes or so of music was a bit muttled and did not sound like anything particularly catchy, so i just sort of ignored it
the music picked up, and so did the gyration. i suppose i expected as much afer hearing the many j-rock tales of my friends, but to see it was something else. "what a ham" i thought when i saw gackt gyrate. when miyavi did it, he was more playful and it looked like he wasnt doing it to command the audience, but more just to hint that he was having a good time or something.
there was a slight musical break and i realized that gackt was singing into what looked like a molded metal dragon..... (um... all i can say is "lollerskates")
ultimately, the music was better than mediocre, as each player had what seemed to be a fairly good understanding of music and performance. the show itself was a bit silly. i think that maybe people (read: fangirls) will read too much into the actions of the band on stage. really to me it looked like they were performing a lot and having fun a little. gackt can really sing. he lost control a bit during some of the intense screaming and call/response, but he seemed to recover pretty well. it will probably take me about 48 hours to recover. i think im done screaming for the weekend. probably. miyavi can really play the guitar. he did pretty well during his "introduction" solo and i think that he has a great sense of groove and jam. yoshiki is a ham. the bass player was a pretty nifty guy, but unknown to me. sugizo, also unknown to me, seemed to be unable to jam in the same mode as the others during his introduction. he seemed to be trying to caress his solo when miyavi gackt and yoshiki were pounding it. i was confused and sad, but i suppose he has somehow earned his spot in the band and is good enough to carry his weight. if they ask him to change his style, he may, rather than be exorcised.
***
there were a couple of interesting things going on after the concert. AMVs, jpop culture, JAST games... unfortunately i was tired, so i dropped my luggage in to the hotel room before those events and i think i missed them for food and socializing.
later that night we went to the "midnight tea". EGL tea party with table decorations. some of us looked at the tea party from the window and decided that the 50 person long line was not worth the wait because the party didnt look all that happening. maybe it was the lighting. one other took pictures. one, two, three, four. There are a few more, but those are the best concept pictures. If it had more candles and less disgusting fluorescent lighting, i probably would have gone outside to check it out even with the line. i suppose a part of what turned a few of us off to it was that there was no line at midnight, but by 1220 there was a bit of one and they still hadnt opened the doors.
THINGS NEED TO START ON TIME.
there is a signing tomorrow with the SOS girls at 10am. we are getting up at 6am to get our DVD boxes signed. the ones we got at the bandai asos invasion. yikes. such a full schedule...
i still carry the weight of missing the SOS panel with me, but perhaps i will get to see them at meet the guests or their signing.