Con Report: AnimeNEXT 2008 – Friday

This year my con experience was rather abbreviated and I didn’t feel quite as exhilarated as I have in the past. My favorite part this year was spending time with my friends and making a new friend.

AnimeNEXT is a good-sized con held in Secaucus, NJ. This con used to be held at a smaller hotel nearby, maybe six years ago or so, but now it’s held at the Meadowlands Expo Center. This year, the con took up TWO floors of the Expo Center, and even added the option of picking up pre-reg badges on Thursday, a great idea since the line last year was an hour or so long on Friday morning.

On Friday, I had to go to my cousin’s middle school graduation in NYC, so I didn’t get to the convention until much later in the day (around 4 pm). I went through the Dealer’s Room and the Artist’s Alley/Show (scoping out the competition a little bit, since later I put up 3 pieces in the Art Show). I didn’t think there was anything particularly special about what was in the Dealer’s Room this year (although now it was much more like a market, since it took up almost half of the first floor), so I just bought some manga in Japanese so I could practice reading hiragana and katakana. My friends met up with me a little later and we ate dinner at Nikko Sushi, which has reasonable prices and where I got a beef bento. Then we went to the Holiday Inn to use the bathroom and watch a few minutes of a fandub (best joke: a Chinese character tattoo someone shows that is translated as “Stupid gaijin I take your money”)

We went to Starbucks and I got a Shaken Iced Tea Lemonade – extremely refreshing! Particularly in the hot weather.

Rentrer en Soi performed at the convention, and I’d like to offer a few tips to people looking to see bands at AnimeNEXT. For the past few years, the band has appeared in the large Panel 1 room. The seats in the center are cleared away so the crowd can move in, and people can also stand in the seats. If you’re not that interested in the band, don’t bother getting in line – there has always been room in the past to not only get into Panel 1 but also sneak your way toward the front. Unfortunately, if you’re short like me, being stuck in the crowd is a pain because there are so many tall people around.

So, since my friend and I were with someone who wasn’t particularly interested in the concert – and neither were we – we dropped in after the show had started (surprisingly, it started on time!! and no opening band). Immediately, I was amazed by the crowd’s silhouette against the bright white, smoky lights hitting the stage. They announced the band and the audience erupted, and when the singer came up he screamed into the microphone. Then the music started. Thankfully, Rentrer en Soi isn’t a screaming kind of band, but we only stuck around for 10 minutes or so before leaving since my friend wasn’t having fun unless she was close and our new friend really wanted to leave. I was in the middle on the decision and I sort of regret leaving because our friends who had VIP spots said it was AWESOME but…well…whatever… I’ve never listened to Rentrer en Soi so for the moment, I don’t regret missing them.

We hung around outside for a while and then we went home. It wasn’t particularly eventful, but I had a lot of fun just hanging out and talking. On the way home, the clouds that had been hanging around on the horizon finally came over us and the rain beat down hard enough that we wanted to pull over since our driver could barely see. We saw so many lightning bolts in the sky, including horizontal ones in the distance, that I started to worry we were going to have a repeat of that awful thunderstorm (actually, microburst) that hit NJ two weeks ago. We made it home safely, though, and I crashed into my bed soon enough.

 

Argentina v. USA – Friendly at Giants Stadium

Yesterday was hot and hazy and it poured for a few minutes before my dad and I left for Giants Stadium to watch a friendly between the US and Argentina. I’ve only been to Giants Stadium once before yesterday for a soccer game, when River Plate and the Metrostars were playing. (Actually, there were two games in a row, but I can’t remember who played in the first one we watched). The stadium was packed, with 78,000 people, and ten minutes before the end the announcer said it was the 9th largest turn-out for a game in this league. We had “nosebleed” seats way up on the top tier, but we had a view of the entire field, which was awesome. During halftime, some guy ran out onto the field wearing Argentina colors, and the security guards chased him until one of them tackled him. There was much shouting and cheering.

The game itself was intense. My dad says today’s commentators said it was boring, but I guess the intensity of the crowd made the game awesome. Everyone was shouting and chanting, but there were two REALLY annoying guys sitting next to us. One spent most of the time yelling at the referee, the other one just kept shouting “USA, motherf***ers!” And plenty of people left repeatedly to get more beer and food. As my dad reminded me, there might have only been one goal, and you should have made sure you saw it. But the game ended 0-0.

At the end, though, the best part was when the thunderstorm came. Around the 80th minute, it started pouring. A few people left immediately, but we stuck around. Only 10 minutes left, right? Except 5 minutes of overtime were added. We left completely soaked (no umbrellas allowed in the stadium, and we didn’t have ponchos). Today my throat hurts, but it was really fun.

I took a bunch of pictures, mostly of the crowd and the balloons that were floating around. One long yellow balloon floated onto Argentina’s goal during the second half and everyone started cheering (btw, I ended up sitting on the mostly USA half of the stadium). The wave went around the top tier about 3 times, which was really cool to watch. And the USA fans at one point started shouting, “Estados Unidos” at the Argentine goalie. During Argentina’s corner kicks, too, they unfurled a US flag at the corner. After the game, a bunch of guys were yelling “Overrated” but I thought maybe they might have thought differently if the game hadn’t been a friendly. Still, Argentina made six substitutions, I guess so they wouldn’t wear out their players. There were a LOT of injuries and a lot of fouls during the game, and two red cards, one per side.

Well, a great game. Can’t wait to see a non-friendly, hahaha.

 

R.I.P. Heath Ledger

See the New York Times article reporting it.

I’d rather not comment on the circumstances (strange as they seem), but I can say I will really miss Heath Ledger. I remember seeing him in A Knight’s Tale for the first time, and most recently in Brokeback Mountain and I was waiting on the edge of my seat to see him in The Dark Knight (which IMDB says is in post-production now). He was a great actor whom I thought was really on his way to the top, with amazing skills, and I’m really going to miss him.

 

Two Chinese students need operation to remove microphones they used to cheat on a test

The article is in Spanish and the title is Operan a dos estudiantes chinos para sacarles micrófonos que usaron en un examen. If you can’t read Spanish, here’s the gist of it:

Two students in China used miniature microphones that they placed in their ears to cheat on an English exam. Normally, they said, you use a tiny magnet to remove the microphones afterward, but that didn’t work, so they ended up having to go to the hospital. According to them, this practice is very common among their peers.

How ridiculous is that? Wouldn’t studying be preferable? It might take longer, but then they’d end up with useful skills rather than ear aches.

 

This is totally ridiculous, and I acknowledge it.

But I had to mention it. I have NEVER, EVER seen a good-looking guy show up randomly in a newspaper photograph. Until today.

Link to the Times

The article is called “Bhutto Calls for President to Resign” and although I’m not up on all the details of the goings-on, I do think Musharraf should step down. I’ve had enough with military men stepping in. And once I get more info on this situation, I shall rant. But in the meantime, gaze at the gorgeous face that peers out in the picture at the top of the page. I had to do a double-take when I saw this because I thought it was from a video game.

Also, I’m sorry if I’ve offended anyone with my shallowness.

 

Waterboarding is Torture

I just saw this article in the New York Times about Michael Mukasey (attorney general nominee)’s opinion of waterboarding.

He says: “If waterboarding is torture, torture is not constitutional.”

But won’t say if it’s torture or not.

So I’ll tell you: It is. Getting tied down and having water poured on you to simulate drowning is torture. Or let’s put it this way – drowning is dying, so having a simulation of you DYING is obviously torture!

And Mukasey knows it.

The only thing he doesn’t know how to do is how to say that he’s pro-torture even though it’s unconstitutional. And of course it’s unconstitutional…or is it? The Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, but is torture a form of punishment, or a tool for the state to use to extract information? I mean, come on, most of these guys getting tortured haven’t even had trials, so how can it be punishment for something they haven’t been tried for? Unless they’ve been “convicted” without a trial.

But anyway, the problem would be determining when torture is just the authorities amusing themselves (Abu Ghraib anyone?) or the authorities using it to save lives. And I frankly don’t trust the authorities to decide when is the right time to use it. I’d like them to publish instances in which torture actually worked.

And meanwhile, the Republicans love Mukasey, but based on this answer to just one question, I’m sure I could do a better job than him. How can you be an attorney general if you don’t know about waterboarding (he said he didn’t know what it was), which is related to torture, which is CLEARLY a legal concern today?

This isn’t about politics, this is about people and truth. And the truth is, it’s torture, and people are illegally having this done to them.

You may want to argue that if this is about people, what about the people whose lives torture saves? Well, I’d like you to name me instances when torture has saved lives, and when that information couldn’t have been gotten any other way. I’m not saying there aren’t any instances, but I’d like you to tell me some.

And anyway…I really think torture doesn’t have to be painful… Aren’t there other less awful ways? Like tickling someone into insanity? Or scratching a chalkboard with your nails? At the risk of sounding ridiculous, I loved how Ace Ventura did it in that one movie – when he poked his own eyeball to freak a guy out.

“These are brainwashed fighters,” you might say, but fuck that. Make them watch Spongebob 24/7 and see what happens.

 

Tasers for Sale!!

I just found this article entitled Feeling Secure With a Little Shocking Pink on The New York Times. Apparently, now you can buy a pretty pink taser for $350 to put in your purse. They’re for women, of course. Not rapists. Because a rapist would never try to taser his victim before raping her, before she can get her own taser out.

And this sucks, because how can fists work against a taser? You can use it at a distance – ridiculous.

Yeah, it’s like how guns are available, and criminals get them. I expect criminals to get tasers soon, and then not have such harsh charges put against them once they get to court – because they didn’t use guns.

And how much you want to bet someone tasers themselves in the face because they confuse it with a razor? On a late night, with some booze, I can see that happening, too.

But don’t forget, they’re supposed to be safe. Getting shot with electricity is always safe. No matter how much it hurts. That tingling means it’s not working; that feeling that you’re dying? THAT means it’s working. If they just tasered the information out of suspected terrorists, would that be humane?

 

Diego Montoya Captured…and…what?

I was just reading up on some Latin American news for my Lat Am history class and I came across the article Army Captures Cartel Leader in Colombia. The article is about the capture of Diego Montoya, caught in his underwear, who was on the FBI’s top ten (now who will get bumped up from 11 to 10?).

But the funny part that had me giggling were the last words “John P. Walters, the White House drug czar.”