the trip of 2010
Aug. 13th, 2010 12:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davemerrillOkay, here's the rundown of what we did and how we did it!
Thursday the 29th we got in the car along with a lot of luggage and we headed towards Niagara. We detoured to that "Deja Vu" shop in Fonthill. Figured it was 3pm on a Thursday, they might be open, but no dice. So, they don't get our money. We continued onwards to Fort Erie, crossed the border with no incident, and once out of Buffalo almost immediately exited the expressway to take a cross country route across country. We drove through upstate central New York, which is full of hills, lonely farms, and small towns where kids ride their bikes to the McDonalds and don't even bother to lock those bikes up, they just toss them to the side and go on in. Coming from the bike theft capital of the world, this is amazing to see. Eventually we passed into Pennsylvania and got back onto expressways that led us to Danville PA where we spent the night in a nice Super 8.
Friday morning we followed the Susquehanna River valley down to Harrisburg PA. I got to say "Susqehanna" a lot. Somebody should open a business in the area called the Susquehanna Hat Company. Very pretty country, hills and low mountains and winding drives past the river. Eventually we got to Harrisburg, the capital and a surprisingly pleasant town. Had a good lunch, wandered around, mailed some stuff. Then we dropped into Atomic Warehouse, a terrific store full of vintage furniture, clothing, records, comics, kitchen stuff, clocks, decor, toys, you name it. Reasonably priced and fun to shop, I highly recommend this place if you're ever in the area.
After that we got back in the car and got back on the highway and headed down towards Baltimore. Stopped in an antique mall near the MD line where I bought a giant stack of old Archies for $5. Had to double check the price with the cashier because even though the comics were tagged "Comics - $5", they were in a box marked "Lionel Tracks - $10", and even though Archie comics are not train tracks, one must be sure. Somebody from the shop actually came out and watched us get into the car and leave. I guess strangers around those parts are a big deal. Western Maryland is hilly, almost mountainous, very pretty.
Baltimore was hot and trafficy. We got into town just as rush hour was getting into high gear. After a few false turns and near misses we got the car into an underground lot across from the Sheraton and got in touch with Toole, whom we were crashing with.
Otakon was a lot of fun. Nice to go to a con and not have to do anything, no pressure whatsoever. When I was there in 1999 it felt like one of the best run conventions I'd ever attended, and in 2010 I can say the same. We were walkins at 5pm on a Friday and it took us about seven minutes to get our badges. We did a little walking around the convention getting our bearings, and then hooked up with Dave and Amy for some dinner and some catchin' up.
This involved the water taxi across the Inner Harbor, always fun. We got a lot of seafood in a fairly crowded tourist joint (hey, we're tourists), took another taxi ride back, got some custard. Afterwards we got late night drinks with Mike Toole, Jeremiah Soria, and Walter Amos. And then it was bedtime.
Saturday we had a late breakfast/early lunch, hit the dealers room, saw Sarah and Emma in their cosplay, wandered upstairs for the Hetalia premiere, and were settled comfortably in the line when boom, the staff started clearing the place out. And by "place" I mean "convention center". Turns out there was a small fire in the concession stand in the dealer's hall and that means everybody out.
You can see both Krauser and Waldo in this photo, that's the cool part. We were all herded outside into the burning sun to mill around aimlessly and block traffic.
You can kind of get a sense of the thousands and thousands of people involved with these photos, but trust me it was an even larger crowd of people.
I'd spotted Walter earlier so we went in his direction. There he is. Hi Walter!
We went down the street to Walter's hotel where we had lemonade and sat around the lobby sofas cooling off. Eventually we wandered back towards the convention center. It was getting close to time for lining up for the costume contest and that's what I assume this giant line was for.
No, not the one guy waiting for a streetcar, but the giant line behind him. Anyway we got back inside and got a much better place in line for the Hetalia premiere thing. Shain's a fan and I'm curious as to what is inspiring so many people to dress up like personifcations of nations. The show has a lot of specific premises that take some time to get up to speed on, and the American dubbing varies from adequate to incomprehensible, but it's making kids want to learn about history, and that's a good thing. Also it's giving shrill girls something to shriek about at intervals of roughly thirty seconds. We ditched once the American cast started talking and went out for lunch of some kind, down by the harbor. It's real touristy and everything was crowded, so we just got some Starbucks and banana bread, and then it was time for Cyborg 009 Legend Of Super Galaxy in one of the video rooms.
I was pretty impressed because this is some ballsy programming for an anime con video room in 2010. We showed up early and they were screening goofy Ultraman clips and credits for the 60s 009 movie and TV show, and guys in the audience WHO WERE NOT ME were singing along with the theme song. Never thought I'd see the day. Anyway the movie started and it's not subtitled, it's in straight Japanese and the video staffer is 'interpreting' the film as it goes along. Now THIS is ballsy video room programming, let me tell you, this is the kind of anime video room action I have not seen since Worldcon 1988. I'm old school but this is too old school even for me. Anyway I already have like three different cuts of this film, so we're outta there. We wound up getting dinner in the Rusty Scupper across the harbor and returned to the con for late night panels. We couldn't get into the AWO's "ten anime you must see" panel, it was packed. So what else is going on... let's go to the "Feminism In Anime" panel. It wasn't packed, but close, and we got seats next to AWO's Gerald and Clarissa and waited for the panel to start. And waited and waited. Turns out the people doing the panel never showed up to do their panel, and even though we volunteered to do it ourselves the Otakon staff wisely decided to can the whole thing. So it was on to the next offering, a panel about how Sailor Moon influenced hentai anime. Of course there's gonna be a line for this panel.
That's me and some Sailor Senshi all waiting for the dirty porn panel. The panel itself was four people attempting to screen varying clips of hentai anime with varying degrees of success. There wasn't any context, there was no attempt to say "Okay, here we can see this anime totally ripping Sailor Moon off in this fashion", there was no attempt to acknowledge that elements like transforming using magical wands and compacts had been around in anime long before Sailor Moon, there wasn't much but badly animated adult cartoons. The panellists would say "Okay, here's an episode of DIRTY ROSE SEX FIEND Season 2", and then they'd show the entire episode, opening credits and all. Actually they would show the opening credits three or four times because their media players weren't working properly. Once they started an extended sequence from "Sailor And The Seven Balls" or whatever - an amazingly terrible crossover porn seemingly animated by brain-damaged trolls - we figured that we were not going to gain any further insight into the psyche of this particular subculture, and we left to watch Fist Of The North Star episodes until bedtime.
Sunday we got up, packed up, got ready to put our stuff in the car, and experienced a really horrible wait for the elevators in the Sheraton. We hit the dealer's room one last time and then it was off to I-95 and points south. As far as Otakon goes I was impressed with the professionalism of the staff, particularly in handling the fire alarm. I wasn't so impressed with the professionalism of the panellists, but what are you gonna do. Also there were a of costumers, including a whole gang of comic book super heroes including a "why bother" Batman:
I-95 was a breeze until we passed DC, at which point traffic became the famous gridlock everybody warns you about. We sat in traffic until about Petersburg VA, at which point it opened up a bit. Once we crossed into NC things were moving along smoothly, and we reached the world-reknowned SOUTH OF THE BORDER just as the sun was going down.
We picked up beach towels and sandals and then it was off through the hinterlands of SC, past Florence and Conway and about fifty "Myrtle Beach Offical Welcome Centers" until we finally reached our destination.
And that will conclude my travelog for right now. More later!
Thursday the 29th we got in the car along with a lot of luggage and we headed towards Niagara. We detoured to that "Deja Vu" shop in Fonthill. Figured it was 3pm on a Thursday, they might be open, but no dice. So, they don't get our money. We continued onwards to Fort Erie, crossed the border with no incident, and once out of Buffalo almost immediately exited the expressway to take a cross country route across country. We drove through upstate central New York, which is full of hills, lonely farms, and small towns where kids ride their bikes to the McDonalds and don't even bother to lock those bikes up, they just toss them to the side and go on in. Coming from the bike theft capital of the world, this is amazing to see. Eventually we passed into Pennsylvania and got back onto expressways that led us to Danville PA where we spent the night in a nice Super 8.
Friday morning we followed the Susquehanna River valley down to Harrisburg PA. I got to say "Susqehanna" a lot. Somebody should open a business in the area called the Susquehanna Hat Company. Very pretty country, hills and low mountains and winding drives past the river. Eventually we got to Harrisburg, the capital and a surprisingly pleasant town. Had a good lunch, wandered around, mailed some stuff. Then we dropped into Atomic Warehouse, a terrific store full of vintage furniture, clothing, records, comics, kitchen stuff, clocks, decor, toys, you name it. Reasonably priced and fun to shop, I highly recommend this place if you're ever in the area.
After that we got back in the car and got back on the highway and headed down towards Baltimore. Stopped in an antique mall near the MD line where I bought a giant stack of old Archies for $5. Had to double check the price with the cashier because even though the comics were tagged "Comics - $5", they were in a box marked "Lionel Tracks - $10", and even though Archie comics are not train tracks, one must be sure. Somebody from the shop actually came out and watched us get into the car and leave. I guess strangers around those parts are a big deal. Western Maryland is hilly, almost mountainous, very pretty.
Baltimore was hot and trafficy. We got into town just as rush hour was getting into high gear. After a few false turns and near misses we got the car into an underground lot across from the Sheraton and got in touch with Toole, whom we were crashing with.
Otakon was a lot of fun. Nice to go to a con and not have to do anything, no pressure whatsoever. When I was there in 1999 it felt like one of the best run conventions I'd ever attended, and in 2010 I can say the same. We were walkins at 5pm on a Friday and it took us about seven minutes to get our badges. We did a little walking around the convention getting our bearings, and then hooked up with Dave and Amy for some dinner and some catchin' up.
This involved the water taxi across the Inner Harbor, always fun. We got a lot of seafood in a fairly crowded tourist joint (hey, we're tourists), took another taxi ride back, got some custard. Afterwards we got late night drinks with Mike Toole, Jeremiah Soria, and Walter Amos. And then it was bedtime.
Saturday we had a late breakfast/early lunch, hit the dealers room, saw Sarah and Emma in their cosplay, wandered upstairs for the Hetalia premiere, and were settled comfortably in the line when boom, the staff started clearing the place out. And by "place" I mean "convention center". Turns out there was a small fire in the concession stand in the dealer's hall and that means everybody out.
You can see both Krauser and Waldo in this photo, that's the cool part. We were all herded outside into the burning sun to mill around aimlessly and block traffic.
You can kind of get a sense of the thousands and thousands of people involved with these photos, but trust me it was an even larger crowd of people.
I'd spotted Walter earlier so we went in his direction. There he is. Hi Walter!
We went down the street to Walter's hotel where we had lemonade and sat around the lobby sofas cooling off. Eventually we wandered back towards the convention center. It was getting close to time for lining up for the costume contest and that's what I assume this giant line was for.
No, not the one guy waiting for a streetcar, but the giant line behind him. Anyway we got back inside and got a much better place in line for the Hetalia premiere thing. Shain's a fan and I'm curious as to what is inspiring so many people to dress up like personifcations of nations. The show has a lot of specific premises that take some time to get up to speed on, and the American dubbing varies from adequate to incomprehensible, but it's making kids want to learn about history, and that's a good thing. Also it's giving shrill girls something to shriek about at intervals of roughly thirty seconds. We ditched once the American cast started talking and went out for lunch of some kind, down by the harbor. It's real touristy and everything was crowded, so we just got some Starbucks and banana bread, and then it was time for Cyborg 009 Legend Of Super Galaxy in one of the video rooms.
I was pretty impressed because this is some ballsy programming for an anime con video room in 2010. We showed up early and they were screening goofy Ultraman clips and credits for the 60s 009 movie and TV show, and guys in the audience WHO WERE NOT ME were singing along with the theme song. Never thought I'd see the day. Anyway the movie started and it's not subtitled, it's in straight Japanese and the video staffer is 'interpreting' the film as it goes along. Now THIS is ballsy video room programming, let me tell you, this is the kind of anime video room action I have not seen since Worldcon 1988. I'm old school but this is too old school even for me. Anyway I already have like three different cuts of this film, so we're outta there. We wound up getting dinner in the Rusty Scupper across the harbor and returned to the con for late night panels. We couldn't get into the AWO's "ten anime you must see" panel, it was packed. So what else is going on... let's go to the "Feminism In Anime" panel. It wasn't packed, but close, and we got seats next to AWO's Gerald and Clarissa and waited for the panel to start. And waited and waited. Turns out the people doing the panel never showed up to do their panel, and even though we volunteered to do it ourselves the Otakon staff wisely decided to can the whole thing. So it was on to the next offering, a panel about how Sailor Moon influenced hentai anime. Of course there's gonna be a line for this panel.
That's me and some Sailor Senshi all waiting for the dirty porn panel. The panel itself was four people attempting to screen varying clips of hentai anime with varying degrees of success. There wasn't any context, there was no attempt to say "Okay, here we can see this anime totally ripping Sailor Moon off in this fashion", there was no attempt to acknowledge that elements like transforming using magical wands and compacts had been around in anime long before Sailor Moon, there wasn't much but badly animated adult cartoons. The panellists would say "Okay, here's an episode of DIRTY ROSE SEX FIEND Season 2", and then they'd show the entire episode, opening credits and all. Actually they would show the opening credits three or four times because their media players weren't working properly. Once they started an extended sequence from "Sailor And The Seven Balls" or whatever - an amazingly terrible crossover porn seemingly animated by brain-damaged trolls - we figured that we were not going to gain any further insight into the psyche of this particular subculture, and we left to watch Fist Of The North Star episodes until bedtime.
Sunday we got up, packed up, got ready to put our stuff in the car, and experienced a really horrible wait for the elevators in the Sheraton. We hit the dealer's room one last time and then it was off to I-95 and points south. As far as Otakon goes I was impressed with the professionalism of the staff, particularly in handling the fire alarm. I wasn't so impressed with the professionalism of the panellists, but what are you gonna do. Also there were a of costumers, including a whole gang of comic book super heroes including a "why bother" Batman:
I-95 was a breeze until we passed DC, at which point traffic became the famous gridlock everybody warns you about. We sat in traffic until about Petersburg VA, at which point it opened up a bit. Once we crossed into NC things were moving along smoothly, and we reached the world-reknowned SOUTH OF THE BORDER just as the sun was going down.
We picked up beach towels and sandals and then it was off through the hinterlands of SC, past Florence and Conway and about fifty "Myrtle Beach Offical Welcome Centers" until we finally reached our destination.
And that will conclude my travelog for right now. More later!
