PortCon, Wheel of Fortune, and the Death of Many Legends

So I didn't have a chance last week to blog about PortCon Maine, which was actually 2 weekends ago, so time to blog about it now.

It was just Inyx and I, as Wig had the opportunity to make $120 and get some of his old parking tickets paid off and get his license renewed in exchange for working with his father and uncles. We got up to Portland quickly and checked in. The convention was back in its old location, which was the South Portland Sheraton but is now the Wyndham, which is a much better location than where it was last year. It's right across from the Maine Mall and only a few blocks away from a lot of major restaurants and a Hannafords.
After an easy set-up, we headed over to the Maine Mall for a quick dinner at Panda Express. There was a David's Bridal there and Inyx thought it'd be fun to look around. I saw a couple on display that I kind of liked because they had old-fashioned elements, but I didn't see any I really wanted to try on, but Inyx weaseled her way into getting a fitting and tried on a dress herself and sent a picture to her boyfriend in Maryland to see if he'd freak, but nothing fazes him. We also went to Michaels because I forgot to pack my glue gun. Then we went to the hotel's pool and hot tub.
Sin arrived the next day after a delay because her friend Ed's car was in the shop and business went as usual. Friday night we went to Old Country Buffet with a group of other Artist Alley people. It was us, Sin and her group, Zodi-ack! a mother/daughters business also from Massachusetts, and a couple of Zodi-ack!'s friends. The food was decent, because OCB is really luck of the draw, depending on when you go there's shit to choose from or there's a good spread. At one point, someone got a taco, and another said "They serve tacos? At a Chinese food place?" And her friends are like "This isn't a Chinese food place! What made you think that?" and I go "Did you think the 'Old Country' was Thailand or something?" And hilarity ensued. I think the staff was happy when we finally left. Then we went swimming and hot tubbing with Sin and her crew.
Saturday after Artist Alley closed we all went to Olive Garden. Instead of squeezing into Ed's car, we threw Sin, Ed and Anzu into Inyx's truck bed, because it was only around the corner. I don't know if it's illegal in Maine to ride in the bed, but it is in Mass. But Anzu kept making Mexican migrant worker jokes and talking in a bad Mexican accent. On the way back from Olive Garden Sin's sitting up on her knees and dancing and waving her arms and when Inyx took a wide turn she flew forward and landed in Ed's lap. I have 4 videos of the entire trip to and from Olive Garden with the stop at Hannaford's to buy booze, including Sin's spill. They'll be up on YouTube eventually. Hannaford's wouldn't let us purchase the alcohol because not all of us had ID.
We all decided that the entire crew for PopCult and Plastic Love are going to dress in steampunk for ConnectiCon so now the race is on to get some Victorian-ish clothes and accessories that look like they came out of a Jules Verne novel. It's going to be fun. ConnectiCon is alway the big con because we have the Artist Alley Networking Party. Fortunately, it's not until July 31 so I have a lot more prep time.

After I got back from PorCon, Wig and I met up at Dunks w/Flav, Ricky, Alison, Jay, Gantz, Tony and Joey. Alison was down in Boston to celebrate her birthday. Mark and Katie also arrived and later Doug. We spent most of the time looking through yearbooks and photo albums reminscing about high school. Wig and I left early because I was exhausted after 2 conventions in a row and very little sleep. I've actually been out of it for a while, sleeping til 1130 and noon most days. I'm trying to get myself up at 9 to get shit done, but 10/1030 is all I can muster.

Yesterday, I drove an hour to Marlborough to Solomon Pond Mall because the Wheelmobile was there holding try-outs for Wheel of Fortune. As everyone knows, I'm too good at that game and it's my goal to get on there and/or Jeopardy. The ride was easy, just 93 and 495, but long, but it took me 20 minutes to find parking. But I only had to stand in line for an hour and a half before they began to call out names from my application group. Alas, they didn't call me :( But while I was at the mall I took the opportunity to get the AC/DC Chucks and also ended up getting Thundercats Season 2 volumes 1 and 2 for $9.99 each and Season 1 volume 1 for $20. Considering when they first came out, each volume was $60 each, this was a great value.

Of course, you all know that last week was the Week o' Celebrity Deaths with Ed McMahon dying at 86 on either Monday or Tuesday and Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson dying Thursday. Then yesterday while in line at the Wheel of Fortune event, Wig's brother texts him to say Billy Mays died. At first I insisted it was a prank because so many deaths already happened last week somebody's starting a rumor. I couldn't look it up on my phone because internet on my phone sucks. Wig called his friend Guru to look it up online from a reputable news source and it's unfortunately true. The report so far is that he was unresponsive yesterday morning but no foul play is expected. Saturday he was in a minor plane accident and hit his head, but he insisted he was fine and didn't go to the hospital. My theory is he had a concussion that he didn't treat and fell asleep and you know you're supposed to keep concussed people awake. But we'll see what the autopsy says. I'm devastated, he was an icon. Easy to parody, very memorable. I won't be able to laugh at the YouTube poops anymore. Would it be in bad taste for Wig to continue on with his spot-on impression? What will become of the reality show Pitchmen? And who will promote products like OxiClean and Mighty Putty now? Vince is good, but nowhere near the same caliber of Billy Mays. Incidentally, Wig wants to create a tribute song in the style of Dethklok, the death metal band from the Adult Swim show Metalocalypse. One of the suggested titles is "Sinfomercial" I'll post lyrics as soon as they're written. He already has one line about Zorbeez sopping up your blood or something. Meanwhile, jokes about Michael Jackson molesting small boys continue on even after his death while simultaneously everyone praises him for his memorable music...much like when he was still alive. And Farrah Fawcett's death seems merely a footnote. Who's going to die next? With all the rain and celebrities dropping like flies, someting apocalypic is going on...It's been a fucked up summer.

AnimeNEXT - FailCon 09

OK, this year's AnimeNEXT wasn't as fail as last year's AnimeNEXT, but it still fell short in many key areas such as organizations, communication, and quality panels/workshops/gaming tourneys. This year instead of the Meadowlands in Secaucus, they moved it to the Garden State Exhibit Center in Somerset, which is a much tinier building and they actually had half the convention in the Doubletree Hotel directly behind it. So the Artist's Alley and all the panels, workshops and gaming room were in the hotel while the Dealer's Room and shows were in the exhibit center. Also all the other hotels were across the street, like the Holiday Inn we were in - and this street was very busy. It's funny watching a bunch of otaku in full cosplay trying to dodge oncoming traffic in a Frogger-esque manner. The only plus the Secaucus location had over Somerset was there was a variety of restaurants within that one center within walking distance. I'm talking not only Dunks and Burger King but a Japanese restaurant, Red Lobster and Outback too. There was a variety in Somerset, but you had to drive everywhere.



One major fail was Artist Alley set up. Not only was half the Artist Alley in the hallway which made it very narrow and impossible to maneuver through the hall as retards just stood there in the middle staring at tables, but they didn't assign tables in advance. Instead, the artists had to check in on Friday morning barely 2 hours before the Artists Alley opened and picked locations on a first come first serve basis. On the one hand this was good because Inyx could pick a location that best suited our setup, but on the other hand it wasted a lot of time and added a lot of confusion.



Despite its shortcomings, AnimeNEXT was still pretty fun. The car ride wasn't so bad. There was hardly any traffic and we made good time. Thursday night we just settled into the hotel, got some Burger King and some bagels for the weekend at the nearest Stop n Shop. They had mylar balloons that said "ORGANIC" on them for display to proclaim that their produce was organic and I wanted to steal one but no one would let me. Friday we set up and got the ball rolling. Sales were slower than usual but not terrible. Inyx's boyfriend came up from Maryland and I called up my old Berklee buddy Zac who lives in Jersey and he drove over and we all went to the diner down the street. Everyone hit it off with Zac right away and we were all laughing our balls off the whole time. We were talking about great movies, music and sex...LOL. Saturday we did better sales. 3 of Flav's scarves sold. I didn't do as well as AB, but I still sold a bit and again the Brain Slugs were the hit of the con. Wig accidentally flooded the bathroom and there was water EVERYWHERE. It wasn't entirely his fault, the toilet was running a lot all weekend to begin with so it didn't help when he clogged it on top of that. But it was fixed while we were busy at the convention. Sunday went by fast and we went to Ruby Tuesdays for end-of-con dinner. It was my first time at a Ruby Tuesdays. I enjoyed their burgers immensely. And throughout the whole weekend was the usual anime/geekery/sexual innuendo-inspired hilarity that usually occurs. Inyx's boyfriend Chris is a great guy and he fits right in w/the crew.



The best thing about this weekend: My brain slugs are so popular, the guy who does the voice of Brock on Pokemon, Bill Rogers, bought Inyx's off her. So now a fairly famous anime voice actor owns something I made.



The car ride home was a little slower. We tried to avoid going directly through NYC, but the Tom Tom wanted us to take an exit that got us off 95 so we ignored it and trudged on, ending up on the New Jersey Turnpike and lots of traffic. It was mostly people trying to get on George Washington Bridge and some backup at the tolls and after that it was smooth sailing again. Still, we left the Ruby Tuesdsays at quarter to 7 and didn't get back to Revere until almost 1. Good thing I don't have to leave for work unitl 2 tomorrow. I still need some sleep. If I remember anything else specific I should share about the trip I'll post it, and I'll also post the pics on Flickr either before or after work tomorrow.



Also I'm another tweet sheep. Follow me if you care, it's orGAZm. I only joined because the owner of TShirt Hell was doing contests for money and free shirts, then I got hook on following my favorite comedians, Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members and such. In fact, if it weren't for Twitter, I wouldn't know that Kevin Smith was