Belated wishes and my long previous weekend!
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, AIMEE!
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, REN-GEEK!
I hope you both got plenty of cake, ice cream, and presents all around! Any belated wishes? If so, please post here ;)! Aimee/aimeekitty, besides that package, you should be getting some things from me via Gaia soon!
Before I go into my long post, I thought someone here would be interested to know that Danica McKellar will be doing a book signing this Saturday at my nearby Borders for her new book, Kiss My Math. If anyone would be interested in an autographed copy of her book, please post here and let me know by Friday ;)!
The first week in August was basically one weekend: 1 anime convention, 3 art fairs, and Jim Lee!
Even though I was running ragged and tired all weekend long through to last week, I had a blast except maybe when I had to pick up my parents at the airport Tuesday morning at 5:55 a.m.! I took half a day off on Friday, Aug 1st, to go to Kakkoi Con and The Uptown Art Fair. I was hoping to eliminate at least one art fair Friday, so Saturday's big signing with Jim Lee at the Source wouldn't kill my weekend too much. Kakkoi Con booked the very nice and large Sheraton Hotel just off of 494, which is already a huge improvement over Anime Detour's location at the crappy Thunderbird near the Megamall. Supposedly, Detour will be moving to another location in 2009 while the Crappybird renovates itself, but I really hope they don't plan on moving BACK there in 2010. No matter how much renovation the Crappybird plans on doing, it will not make a difference ;b. The Crappybird is way too small and the parking is atrocious! The Sheraton, on the other hand, is modern with plenty of parking and tons of cheap places to eat nearby within a very short walking distance of the hotel. If you want to eat anything when you go to the Crappybird, you either have to settle for their poorly cooked and overpriced hot dogs and hamburgers, their crappy restaurant, or walk a few blocks over to the Megamall or Ikea. I really hope the Crappybird gets totally destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up or something!
Anyway, I got to the Sheraton around 3:00 p.m., about 3 hours after the convention had officially opened at 12:00 p.m., and I was shocked to see there was still a HUGE line of people waiting to check in o-O! I asked where I should stand for my check in since I was pre-registered, and the people in charge of the line said I could go wait inside where there was another HUGE line split into pre-registered and non-registered people. I went back and forth 2 times to check to make sure I didn't have to wait outside first, and the people in charge okayed me to wait in the inside line. The noise level in the line was really loud X(! I should have brought my earplugs just for the line! I couldn't believe the amount of deafening screams by some of the otaku girls who lined up behind me later. Why, oh why, do you have to try and scream until you break my eardrums just to express your happiness on seeing a friend ;(?! My ears HATE you >8(! Maybe I'm not otaku enough or something --;. I'm surprised the Sheraton didn't say anything about the noise levels. There were signs posted saying to keep the noise level down as a courtesy for other guests and meetings, but I don't think anyone paid any attention to those.
It took me 1 HOUR to finally get to the registration desk, and this was already 4 hours after the convention started o~O! The registration desk people profusely apologized for the long wait when they checked me and everyone else in. I guess they weren't expecting this many people to show up. The staff was very nice and polite in comparison to my experience at Detour last year. Since it was the first day of their first convention, I was wondering if their attitudes might change later after a tiring weekend. I tried looking at the schedule online earlier in the week, but it was very difficult to read or print out because it was put into one humongous Adobe PDF file. Thankfully, they had a larger readable schedule posted in the convention area.
I was very impressed by the size of the convention area in comparison to the Crappybird. It was HUGE with plenty of space for people to actually WALK around and not be touching or tripping over one another. The dealers' room too was very roomy with plenty of space! In fact, part of the dealers' room was used for the planned autograph sessions which I thought was nice. Also, unlike Detour, the dealers' room didn't book crappy dealers that no one had interest in that basically took up space and kicked out real dealers ;b. There weren't too many dealers, but 2 of the dealers there had a great selection of second-hand/used authentic/non-bootleg CDs, mostly maxi singles, at very good prices! I bought quite a few of those including a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles maxi single CD for Rosemary/roseangelo on Saturday from Rising Stuff. Rising Stuff has a partner in Japan who goes around and buys up used CDs, DVDs, games, etc, and sends them to his U.S. partners to sell here! I bought my sister a Doremon baby plushie that could only be one through those UFO crane games from them Friday for only $5.00! Now that's a bargain! They even had a Tare Panda PSP game for sale which I thought looked fun, but neither my sister and I have a PSP system. They even had Japanese maxi singles by CELINE DION and THE HANSON BROTHERS for sale which I thought was hilarious XD! In fact, the Japanese buyer labeled The Hanson Brothers' CD maxi single as CUTE!
My first purchase though was a hearty meal of steak and egg(s)!
Mmmm, steak and egg(s) with NO CALORIES, NO FAT, and NO CHOLESTEROL!
They weren't filling whatsoever though XD! In terms of other goods, I found a few cute fasteners/charms to add to my collection and 2 large poring plush. There were a couple of dealers I hadn't seen before at Detour including one that specialized in ball-jointed-dolls and their accessories. Kakkoi Con had several panels devoted to gothic and lolita dress, dolls, and even a tea party, which Detour didn't have. I know Meredith/uminomamori went to the tea party on Sunday, and I think Rana/chibitoaster probably went to the doll panel. I myself didn't have time for ANY panels because of my packed schedule ;_;! There were some voice over panels on Saturday morning which I would have liked to attend IF I didn't have the Jim Lee signing to go to on the same day. I guess I should be grateful that there weren't too many panels that I wanted to go to anyway too.
After I left the dealers' room, I looked through artists' alley and said hi to both Meredith and Rana. I picked up a poster of Meredith's birthstone jewelry ACEOs which I thought was neat X)! I was a bit disappointed by artists' alley though. There weren't that many artists, and the artists that were there weren't as good as the ones at Detour =/. Meredith and Rana were the exceptions to this, of course ;)! The artists there didn't have that many cool and neat handmade goods that the Detour artists had available. This, of course, translated to the lack of actual art for the art auction. I think there was only a handful of art to see and bid on in the auction room. Also, unlike Detour, there weren't any autographed anime items available either. I guess Detour has better connections with the anime community than Kakkoi Con. Hopefully, that will change as Kakkoi Con continues.
I was very impressed with Kakkoi Con's anime gaming room though. I don't recall if Detour had one, but I don't remember seeing it when I wandered around that con. Basically, it was a room filled with videogames galore and several different consoles for people to play at for free. There were big screen DDR setups, Wiis, Playstions, etc., equipped with all the popular Japanese and anime games around. I would have liked to have sat down to play something, but I really didn't have time this weekend o~O! Maybe next year I can at least try DDR. I've never tried DDR, but it looks like fun X)!
Special guest wise, Kakkoi Con basically invited everyone they could via Detour's guests, so all the guests that came had already attended Detour the previous year. If you met everyone last year, there wasn't much point in doing so again --;. At this rate, I'll never meet or see anyone big in the anime industry.
After I finished with artists' alley and the art auction room, which on Friday had NOTHING on display, I drove over to Uptown around 6:00 p.m.. I paid $10.00 for parking again and sadly finished my way through the entire fair by 8:00 p.m.. Uptown USED to have over 650+ artists when I first went to the fair with Kris back in the 90s. Now, there are only ~300 artists and more sponsor and food tents in the same space ;b. What happened to you, Uptown? At this rate, The Uptown Art Fair will disappear within the next decade or so.
As soon as I left Calhoun Square, I immediately made my first art fair purchase of the day at Lori Biwer-Stewart's tent.
GINGERBREAD 8D by Lori Biwer-Stewart!
Lemon tree by Lori Biwer-Stewart
I couldn't resist the lure of gingerbread men X), and I liked the colors in the lemon tree print. GINGERBREAD!
I was very impressed by Michael Brown's Optical Art and Photography tent right next to Lori's. They were lenticular framed photographs that changed seasons depending on the angle you looked at them. They were magical and ingenious! It was the best photography art I've ever seen!
After finishing through Hennepin Ave's artists, I went down the long artists' hallway. That area is mostly filled with artists that were regulars to Uptown as well as the majority of the food tents. I had a $2.00 corn-on-the-cob before I went down the street. I was planning on purchasing one of Craig Lossing's little wood turned jars this year, but he didn't have one that I particularly liked enough to buy. I ended up buying a somewhat cheap little wooden bookmark from another wood artist, Gregg Palm:
Bookmark by Gregg Palm
I really liked the various woods he used for his wares! His wood food utensils were really smooth to the touch too!
I must admit, Chief/chiefospage, there were a few glass artists' tents with round glass ornaments that tempted me, but I still didn't find any beautiful enough to commit to buying yet. One booth in particular, which I think was Glass City Blews by Meredith Wenzel, had a couple of colorful beauties in greens and blues that I stared at for at least 5+ minutes or so before I walked away. I still can't figure out a good way to display them without worrying about breaking them besides the hanging thing o~O!
Instead of gorging myself on fair food, besides the corn, I ended up eating dinner at Zeno's Wine and Dessert Bar near the end of my route at the fair. I was very disappointed by their food, drink, and dessert selection. I should have gone to French Meadow Bakery nearby instead, but I was too tired and had eaten at French Meadow the other day. I ate a Greek sandwich made with hummus, arugula, kalamata olives, onions, and feta cheese with no dessert or beverage at Zeno's. The sandwich was okay, but a little bit too heavy on the kalamata olives. None of the drinks or desserts, which they're supposedly famous for, intrigued me enough to try. The drinks were mostly alcoholic selections, which I avoid, or the usual fair. I was HOT after walking around in 85+° F heat and humidity, and the only cold drinks were just regular tea, soda, or alcohol. The desserts were also quite unimaginative. There was carrot cake, cheesecake, cookies, fudge cake, and some other boring sounding things. I thought I should save my calories for something that's worth it ;b.
Saturday, things were a bit calmer than I had expected. I got up at my normal time to record The Winx Club to live edit before I headed to Source for the Jim Lee signing. I had spent Friday evening digging up stuff I wanted Lee to sign, but I guess I should have checked with Source before doing so. When I called them Saturday morning, I found out there would be a 2 item limit on things you could get signed from Lee, so I had basically spent Friday evening digging through things for naught X(! I wanted to get my hardcover copy of All Star Batman and Robin, Lee's latest work, signed, so that pretty much decided my spots. The other would be for mooncatx.
I was worried where I would be spot wise for the signing because Source handed out numbered tickets to everyone. The number on the ticket would be your place for the signing, and I had gotten #1! It's the privilege I got for basically giving Source all my $$$$$ ;P. The only thing I was worried about was parking. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to park anywhere and would have to walk from my house to Source instead. I was quite surprised to find when I drove down there around 11:00 a.m., 2 hours before signing, that the parking lot was still quite accessible with plenty of space o-O! I was expecting cars to be lining up around the block! I guess the ticketing system actually worked, allowing for people to come and go in shifts instead of all at once.
The store itself was still full though but not as crowded as it is during their big annual sales. Everything was on sale for the same amount as the annual big sales, but I guess that was supposed to be a surprise ^^;. I had already purchased my things for the week, so I didn't have much to do or look through. Thankfully, it was a light week because it was the last week of the month, the smallest week in terms of manga released by the publishers. The last time I waited for the Source's big sale to purchase my week's comics, I had to sort them in their back closet because the store was packed o~O!
I didn't bring any manga for me to read this time because I didn't want my book to get mixed up with the Source's. Luckily, there was entertainment aplenty for me including a few local artists who had tables near the signing area. I plotted something one of the local artists, which I hope he'll remember come FallCon, and I commissioned a sketch of Cheetara from another!
Cheetara by Brent Schoonover
Since I was giving Lee a copy of Bernie's music tracks for Thundercats so he might help with the soundtrack petition, I thought it was a very appropriate commission choice X)! Brent's 'specialty' is drawing on Source's 'signature' brown comic bags, so I asked for mine to be done on one as well! I had seen Brent's work at last year's FallCon, and I had always wondered who was the artist who drew on Source's bags XD!
When Source asked the first 100 in line to line up, I was at the head followed by numbers 2, 4, and then 32 o~O? I don't think the others in between showed up until much MUCH later. In the meanwhile, I entertained myself by snapping a few photos for posterity.
The big Jim Lee sign!
The 'local' Justice League posed for pictures to entertain us line waiters (Click on each link for a larger photo!)!
Elasticgirl, Thor, and Harley!
Elasticgirl, in real life, is Harley's mom!
Super team-up! Watch out, Spidey!
Before this photo was taken, there was some discussion on lining everyone up by publisher XD!
Batman gets no respect ;(!
Wonder Woman showed up a lot later, so I don't have a photo of her.
Lee showed up 1 hour late because lunch with Nick, one of the Source's owners, ran a bit over. By the time Lee showed up, I think most of the gaps in between the #4 and #32 had been filled, and the store had become packed! I took some blurry photos without flash of Lee which didn't turn out so well, so I didn't post them ;b. When Lee walked by me, I was surprised he was a lot shorter than I thought he would be. I think I imagined Lee to be this tall overwhelming figure, but instead, he was as tall as my Mom who is about 5'.
Being first in line has its advantages and disadvantages. The obvious advantage is that you don't have to wait long for your turn. The disadvantage is that you're the first one up, and you know that everyone will stare very intently upon you. I was so nervous when I met Lee that the only thing I could think about was making sure I gave him Bernie's stuff and tell him about the petition. I think I totally forgot to gush over Lee and his work, AUGH O~O! STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! D'OH! I wonder if Lee thinks I'm a JERK now because all I did was plug the petition ;_;.
Without me even asking, Lee did a quick sketch of Batman, which I posted in my previous entry, in the cover of one of my books. I thanked him for that profusely. He only signed the second book I gave him though, and I was afraid to push him for another sketch especially after the petition promotion. I don't know what his policy was on sketching too. I thanked him for everything and left to go immediately back to Kakkoi Con. Later I regretted NOT asking Lee for another sketch for the other book, so after I finished up with Kakkoi Con again (I was there only for an hour at most looking through the used CD piles.), I drove back to Source and asked Nick if he could help me ask Lee for another sketch for the other book. Nick said he would see what he could do, and I left for the Powderhorn Art Fair. Sadly, I found out later from Nick that Lee had stayed 2 EXTRA hours after he was supposed to leave for more signings and sketches. According to the guys at Source I asked later, there were over 2000 people who showed up for the event! Afterward, Lee was totally exhausted 8(! Apparently, according to Nick, Lee hadn't expected quite a large turnout or store when he had 'sold' himself for the Comic Book Legal Defense. As a result, Nick couldn't/didn't ask Lee for another quick sketch for the second book I gave him ;(. I'M SO STUPID! PLEASE FORGIVE ME, mooncatx ;_;! I hope I can make it up to you with that other book I've been planning on giving you --;.
After leaving the crowded Source for a second time, I went straight to the Powderhorn Art Fair. This was my first ever visit to Powderhorn Park too, so I had no idea what to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the Powderhorn was a lake park with a playground in a very tucked hidden neighborhood. Parking was free around the park, and I was able to find an excellent spot right near the park! I love art fairs around lakes because of the scenery and breeze the lake provides! The lake didn't provide much comfort though this year because there the Sun was VERY bright and hot, so I purchased a snow cone to keep myself cool. I saw a few familiar artists I had seen earlier in the year at the Edina Art Fair and several new ones! My favorite was Bonnie Hinz, a glass artist whom I had purchased this cute little bowl.
Small green decorative bowl by Bonnie Hinz
She had several of them displayed in a variety of colors, and this one caught my eye. I think its emerald sheen really enchanted me. Her husband was a great seller too XD, describing how his wife made each bowl! I was sold even though I had no idea what I would put in the bowl. I later figured I could put the glass chips I had bought from this year's Edina Art Fair!
Mosaic glass chips by Anne Hoffman
Click on the picture above to see the glass chips in the bowl in a separate picture for the entry in the lower right corner X)! Incidentally, I forgot whom I had bought the glass chips from until I saw her again at the Loring Park Art Fair on Sunday o-O! I only recognized her because she had glass wind chimes made with similar mosaic patterns as the glass chips I had bought. I asked if she was the artist I had bought the glass chips from at Edina, and she said yes 8D! She said she didn't have time to make any glass chips again for the Loring Park Art Fair, but she would have some later for the Centennial Lakes Art Fair/Fall into the Arts in September. Anne said many people come back to her asking for glass chips too! If I hadn't spent so much this weekend, I would have bought one of her glass wind chimes. I'll have to wait next month to do that ;).
When I brought my little green glass bowl that night, I looked at it and realized I wanted to buy a pink one too ^^;. I made a special second trip to the Powderhorn on Sunday to Bonnie's tent and bought another.
Small pink decorative bowl by Bonnie Hinz
If you click on the link above and look at the lower right, you should see that I thought stacking the 2 bowls together looks a bit like a flower! That's how they're now displayed at home with the glass chips in the pink bowl. I also couldn't resist buying one of Bonnie's signature vases which have a special solid ring of thick glass for the rim.
Small brown vase by Bonnie Hinz
I really like the design of her vases, especially that thick glass rim. Unfortunately, she only had this one brown vase in this size available, but I loved it too much to not buy it. I hope she has more colors and sizes available when she attends Centennial Lakes Art Fair/Fall into the Arts next month!
I was very thankful I made a second trip to the Powderhorn because on Saturday, the tamales' stand was closed, but it was open on Sunday =9! I had some tamales and a small taco from the stand which also has a place open in Midtown's Global Market too. I hadn't eaten there in at least a year, so seeing and eating them again was a welcome reunion for my stomach! Also, unlike all the other food stands, the tamales and tacos were cheap at $2.00 each! The Powderhorn had a few other ethnic food stands unlike Uptown or Loring, so that alone will make the Powderhorn a regular next year in my art fair visits ;)!
After my second trip to the Powderhorn, I went back to Kakkoi Con for my third and last time. I signed up for the pre-registration special and passed along a complaint I had heard from Nick at Source during the Jim Lee signing. Apparently, a group of girls had just come from Kakkoi Con to Source after a DJ there in the dance area had told them to F-EXPLETIVE off when one of them tried giving him $5.00 to play a song they wanted to hear. I thought the Kakkoi Con organizers should know about this, so they would NOT hire that same DJ again next year. The Kakkoi Con person I talked to said they really had no control over the DJs because they were hired outside the con, but he said he would be more than happy to pass along my complaint to the Con committee for next time.
Afterward, I headed back up to the convention area for one last look around. Meredith and Rana had already left the con when I got there Sunday. Everything seemed a bit sparse, but I still looked around everything again before leaving to go to Loring Park. Next year, I should have more time to enjoy the con because I shouldn't have to worry about anything else besides the con and the art fairs!
It took me a half hour to find parking this year at Loring Park because the weather was sunny and great again on Sunday. Last year, it was raining, so not many people showed up at either Uptown or Loring Park. When I finally found parking, I had only 30 minutes total to look around the entire art fair, ACK O~O! Yeah, yeah, I shouldn't have revisited the Powderhorn or went back to Kakkoi Con --;. Anyway, I did my best and managed to finish looking through the entire art fair in a little over 30 minutes. Luckily, Loring Park's Art Fair is the smallest of the 3 art fairs, so it wasn't too hard to look through everything within 30 minutes. Still, I would have liked to have looked through the tents a bit longer.
I did delay myself a bit too near the beginning of the small lake circle by seeing a couple artists I had seen at the Edina Art Fair. Other than Anne and her glass wind chimes, I also saw painter Judy Hagstrom again with her cute colorful paintings! I finally succumbed to the cuteness and bought one!
Clown fish by Judy Hagstrom
I love her paintings, especially the fishy ones X)! I also saw the artist I had seen at last year's Loring Park Art Fair with his wood jewelry wares and boxes. I had regretted not buying a necklace from him last year, so I bought one this year.
Wood necklace by Andrew Kringen
I ended up wearing it the rest of the day and around Loring Park's little man-made (I think it's man-made) lake. I also saw a tent that sold treasure puzzle boxes like the one I had found at a garage sale a few years back which was missing its top. I wanted to ask the artists at that booth how much would it cost to make a makeshift replacement top for it, but they were a bit too busy at the time for me to wait and ask questions. The top I would have asked them to make would be makeshift because usually, these treasure puzzle boxes are carved out of a single piece of wood. Any top I would get to replace it would be from a separate piece of wood, so it wouldn't match exactly well with the original design. I only paid $1.00 for it, but I don't know if asking them to make a top would be worth it or not =/.
I saw a few jewelry tents which actually had some affordable pieces (i.e. $50.00-$100.00) in silver or brass. The brass ones were all in a pile though to rummage through, and I didn't want to spend too much time looking through rings of varying sizes when I still had over half an art fair to see. Another tent had these gorgeous large acrylic structures made by twisting clear acrylic pieces, with dashes of colors inside, into fanciful directions. They were beautiful but way out of my price range and probably way to heavy for me to handle.
By the time I reached the half way point, I started picking up my pace and raced through the rest of the fair as best I could. Artists and food vendors were starting to pack up too, but they still allowed people who were wandering around like me to look ^^;. I was still able to look at quite a few booths in detail too before I reached the end of my round.
I had a spectacular if not busy weekend to say the least! I thought I could write up everything last week too, but besides cleaning up the house Monday, picking up my parents Tuesday morning, I also had to drive my Mom to her doctors' appointments Thursday morning o~O. I also went home early Friday to catch the Olympics opening ceremonies. There went most of last week for me.
Now, I'm going home, and I'll have to catch-up here tomorrow ;b!