Anime Los Angeles had a few events going on Friday evening - a ball joint doll lobby meet up, the anime music video contest, and the rum party. I attended two of the three events. I didn't bring any of my dolls to ALA (too much of a hassle to carry around), but it was nice seeing my fellow resin children compatriots - Claudine, Anneke, Darci, Parker, Betty, and Elecktra. Of course, more of our friends were pouring into the convention on Friday evening. Mucho thanks to my mom for packing fruit for my convention rations. Of course, I know how to share. Who knew that bananas would make great weapons of mass destruction? Before going to the anime music video contest, the group had to rehearse for masquerade. Luckily, our sketch had basic choreography. Thanks to Stan for providing rehearsal space and allowing us to borrow the laptop for visual reference for the choreography. For the record, thank goodness for the London Jersey Boys cast for performing "Walk Like a Man" at every other variety show they're guests on. We were able to nail the moves in no time. It took about an hour to get it down where we needed it to be. Many thanks to Claudine for giving us a few performance pointers. It was the first time I ever attended an anime music video competition. I showed up towards the tail end of the action category. From what I've heard, I did not miss much. The Kingdom Hearts / Final Fantasy videos started to get repetitive. However, there were a select few that stood out. I'll admit to my biases and favoritisms. It was great to see Baccano! represented. I was like, "I was cosplaying as that mute knife chick earlier today!" Of course, "24 the Animation" got the audience going. Darci's "Blood to a Beat" was Fergielicious and glamorous (the flossy flossy). Amazingly enough, it was revealed that there is a decent anime music video set to Linkin Park not set to Bleach, Dragonball, or any other shounen derivatives. And this gent, would like the world to know that he shoots anime music video trolls. I'll have to bring my glock next time around. After the contest, Deb and I decided to have an Evangelion themed photo shoot in the lobby. Nothing like a sassy drunken major and emo boy. And then Dr. Gregory House received his photo shoot. More of Tom's observations, including the encounter where he played Dr. House for real, are here. Tom's photos are also online and include the Friday Night Domesticated Servants gathering. The night wound down and I ended up back to the hotel room having a classic pansit dinner. The view from my hotel's balcony was rather delightful. Pictures are copyright by Traveling Valentine. If I took your picture, feel free to use it on your site or cosplay gallery. While you're here, do sign the guestbook. This site was brought to you by the font Dance Club. Many thanks to Chaz Boston Baden for the image resizing and watermarking program. |