Califur and Fanime annoyances

[furtech]

Just so folks don't get the idea that I'm a genuinely good person and patron saint of dogs and bluejays, I revert to cranky-mode for a moment...

I have been to two conventions in the last month: Califur (a local furry con) and Fanime (semi-local anime con).

Califur chose to move to a hotel with a really bad layout and flow. This apparently was the first of several bad decisions on their part. The hotel charged a fortune for parking and snacks. They also barricaded the con from the "real" guests/wedding and would not allow anyone to even use the hallways in their area (meaning we had to walk a huge detour through the front lobby.

Another bad decision was to allow several media organizations to freely move about the con and take pictures and video. Yet another bad decision was to post "notices*" warning about the media on a small piece of cardboard, and then post that notice by setting it on the floor, leaning against a wall under a counter where it was unlikely ever to be noticed. When I took this sign into reg and strongly suggested that placing it there was A Bad Idea, they said they hadn't had any complaints (I'll bet: most people never noticed it!). I also objected to their allowing the media companies to freely roam, and they quickly defended that decision by citing the positive articles that one of them had done on other events and that this would be "good for furry fandom!" What a bunch of idiots.

*FYI: the "notices" essentialy said (and I paraphrase): -"There will be filming/taking pictures by the media; by entering you agree to allow yourself to be photographed or filmed, etc."-

First, I don't believe that such "good" publicity can be guaranteed; I have yet to see one that is any better than, "Well, it wasn't as BAD as I thought it would be". Plus there are all the examples of the press promising to do "good" articles-- and how many of those turned out negatively (say, because a superior/higher-up decided that prurient articles sell more copies) or worse (complete lies, like the Sex2K piece).

I go to cons (any hobby con) to have fun relaxing with friends and like-minded folks. I hate being on-guard for media filming or shooting and constantly having to take a wide path around them. There were numerous reports of the photographer taking pictures in the costume changing room (WTF?!!). He belatedly asked for release signings, but many declined. Next time that happens, I think I'll ask for a refund-- especially if the convention does not announce in advance that the press will be there.

Fanime, on the other hand, was about a 100X's larger and had 1/100th the problems of Califur. Mostly this was to perform a (non-competition) skit before the masquerade, but I also wanted to see the folks of AGSMA (my cosplay posse). The skit went well (Okami) and I had a great time with Mich, Kim, Lyd, Wayne and Henry-- but I'll make another post about that.


What Are They Thinking? (Or, is "thinking" the operative word?)

My basic irritation was about nitwit/thoughtless attendees. I liked to believe that fans were generally a step or several up from "average"...but certain behaviors make me wonder. Fanime had a huge dealer's room, with a single entrance. No real problem that I could see...but several fans decided to plop themselves on the floor right in the flight path of the steady stream of people entering the room. WTF? I can't decide what combination of thoughtless-idiotic-clueless-vain-goddammit I want to use to describe this. I almost tripped over the guy sitting on the floor using his laptop-- he was right in front of the largest anime/toy shop in the room. The -last- place I was looking was on the floor where he was sitting. Both of them were right in front of the entrance to the dealer's room. These are just the two examples I snapped pics of-- there were PLENTY of others (singles and groups) who decided that the middle of a busy hallway was the perfect place to sit/lie/leave large backpacks&props.

Oh, and the other annoyance is the prevelance of anime baby-girl squeeling/giggling. In a cartoon, fine...but these are real people who are just over-the-top giggly, vacuous and speaking (shrieking) bad Japanese ("Sugoi!" a billion giggly times! *Agggh!*).

Comments

[swirling-chaos.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately (at least in my experience) annoying people are unavoidable even in smaller cons. I definitely think they should ban people from loitering in the dealer's room. Although my main pet peeve are the kids who go with their mommies and hog a whole room to just the two of them so nobody else has a place to stay. And don't get me started on the squealers.

Don't get me wrong; I love cons because I can meet up with friends, show off our costumes together and buy a bunch of neat stuff, but there's always a downside.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Oh, there are endless annoyances at cons...they're generally large Asperger's gatherings. But the sitting in the pathways and baby-talking are my two biggest pet peeves. Kids too young to be at a con...I'll go you one better: strollers at the wall-to-wall-people San Diego Comic Con!

[swirling-chaos.livejournal.com]

Yikes!

It's things like this that make me realize why a lot of my friends that are a couple years older than me have stopped attending cons or only go to the big ones. I'm only 20 and the younger crowd is already starting to grate at my nerves.

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

I've seen a lot of complaints about the black curtains and the wedding party at Califur. To be honest, I side with the hotel on this. If I were getting married in a frou-frou wedding and discovered there was any kind of other con going on, I'd threaten to take my business elsewhere unless the hotel made sure we'd have some level of privacy.

The media: Ugh, ugh, ugh. Lately when I'm reading non-furry related boards and the topic of furry comes up, it's always "those freaks who have sex in fursuits." Like it or not, this what the average person thinks furry is these days. People have seen that CSI episode now they're experts- trying to educate them is like shouting over a waterfall.

Did Califur actually invite the media? Because I'd turn around and walk right out of there. No, I don't agree to being filmed just because I buy a membership at a convention. It's one thing to be filmed at E3 where there's huge mass of people (and most of the cameras are aimed at the displays anyway)- quite another at a small con.

As for the thoughtless attendees- this isn't just at conventions. I see thoughtless people all the time out in the real world. Talking on their cell phone while checking out at the grocery store, leaving the grocery cart right in the middle of the aisle and not moving it, putting a baby wearing diapers on the food counter while ordering... ugh.

I don't even like the shrieking and baby girl talk in cartoons, let alone in real life. :D

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally side with the hotel on the black curtains! Hell, that wedding probably cost them in excess of $35K! I hold the con at fault because a small furry con shouldn't have been held at that hotel!

Funny note about the wedding: it was a Chinese or Korean wedding-- very hoi-hoi! Someone (probably me) suggested that I crash the wedding pretending to be someone's drunken relative. Being Asian, they would all be too polite to just throw me out, mostly because they'd think I was related to someone in the wedding party (ala Doodles-- "I thought he was YOUR uncle!"). Considering the money they spent, I'd never do that to them, but it was fun to joke about!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

The Media: they asked permission to film/photograph at the con and the convention granted them total access, with no press liason or escort-- hence things like taking pictures in the costume changing room happened.

The press at large cons-- E3 and even things like Fanime-- are no problem: they're reporting on an event. And it's easy to get lost in the crowds. Yeah-- little cons I attend to let my hair down and relax.

Re: thoughtless people-- true, but I keep (foolishly) thinking we're better than mundanes most people. Real World is where that half of the bell curve lives as well (the half that is -below- average!).

Baby talk: I have to force myself to -not- slap people who baby-talk at cons...

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

LOL about slapping people- on the horse forum I've been addicted to lately, a couple of people have suggested that they start the Shock and Awe Bitchslap Tour of 2008. The premise was that they would go around and bitchslap people who breed poorly conformed horses for the heck of it.

We could have the Shock and Awe Bitchslap Tour of 2008 for giggly fangirls!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Shock and Awe Bitchslap Tour! I'm in! (though I'd probably qualify for a couple myself-- but it'd be worth it!)

[fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com]

FurFright had a wedding smack in the middle of it a few years ago. And I mean IN THE MIDDLE. Because of where the stairs/elevator was you had to walk partially through the con. That wasn't so bad. If the attendees needed to pee however, they had to go deep into convention land. I had several people ask me in the ladies room what the heck was going on. I went with teh "artist convention, including many performance artists." That seemed to make them happy and explain the costumes. Oh, those whacky ARTISTS. Those are perfectly normal.

The funniest was when I was getting on elevator at ground floor carrying some equipment, standing there with the New England WASPS with their oh so elegantly wrapped wedding presents. The doors open... and there's two huge fursuitors wearings stilt boots that make them about 9 feet tall.

"Ohmygod!" go the WASPS.

"it's okay, they're performers. They're just on the wrong floor. Just get in." And they got in and rode along with the fursuitors for a floor.

Other groups FurFright has shared a hotel with are the Baptist Preacher Convention, Church Usher's Convention, the Miss Connecticut Pageant, and an slumber party for middle aged women. They've moved now, but it was originally held in an airport hotel, so the fursuiters would sometimes go roam the concourse with a handler and amuse weary travelers. They had one of the fursuitors being wanded by TSA on the promo reel for awhile.

FurFright had a reporter sneak in last year, who wrote a pretty positive article: Hell Hath No Furries Funniest quote from article "May as well have gone to a Catholic school Halloween party. The dance starts in half an hour. Maybe something will happen there."

[tcreynolds]

"Nobody ELSE has complained about it!"

I hate it when people say this. As if the person complaining is some kind of lone malcontent with a personal vendetta against anyone doing whatever the hell they want.

This is what was said to me when I saw a couple in WAY INAPPROPRIATE ass-less leather fetish gear in the front lobby at AC. I went to security and complained to them, but I don't know if anything was really done about the couple.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Fortunately, I have no respect for the people running Califur* so I continued to tell them I didn't care what other people -haven't- said-- that most probably didn't -see- the sign-- and that it was a stupid idea, whosever it was.


*except for Glen-- who is a shining diamond in a nasty pile of potch).

[diadexxus.livejournal.com]

I TOTALLY missed you at Califur... OH I wish I could have hung out.. a lot of it was boring.. (See my review on my LJ)

-J

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I saw you dashing across the lobby in-costume at one point, but yeah-- totally missed you! The boring part was why I didn't stay long (dealer's room, dinner, home). I'll try to get to chicken the next time I'm up north, if I can get away!

[kyubikitsy.livejournal.com]

Yikes. Thankfully, I didn't see this going on my end... although seriously - there were like a LOT of tables and chairs at the BACK of the dealer's room?? It can't be THAT hard to walk there and plop your butt down? Is it so hard to move to the walls and corners too?

"Sugoi"?? *thinks garlic chicken bentos* >_>;; Is that the new "anime buzz word"? In general, there seem to be a lot of younger people in attendance nowadays... have all the veterans moved on? TT

[furtech.livejournal.com]

It's the cliche anime fangirl thing to shout-- you know, when they pretend that they're really Asian? "SUGOI!" to EVERYTHING! "Look-- there's your friend..." SUGOI!!! "Are you hungry?" SUGOI!

The average age makes me wither...I remember hearing one cosplayer called (casually) an "old fart" because she was 22!

[kyubikitsy.livejournal.com]

Ahahahaa! Scott was really annoyed by all the larger very non-Asian girls who all proclaimed that people insist they look part Asian, even though they're not.

What really got us were the REALLY OBNOXIOUS ones who were honking their horns, screaming and screeching down the street, outside the convention center, just because they were "in costume and thought they should act the part".

...

[furtech.livejournal.com]

PS-- why does "Sugoi!"=garlic chicken bentos?

[kyubikitsy.livejournal.com]

I knew you'd ask! XD XD XD
http://www.sugoihawaii.com/

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Oh, you are -so- evil! That looks SOOOooooo good! Maybe they'll open a shop in California...

[bovil.livejournal.com]

The media waiver probably qualifies as a "contract of adhesion" and is likely unenforceable because it's non-negotiable and signing a waiver to appear in a commercial documentary was not within the reasonable expectations of someone registering for the convention.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I think you're spot on-- though I'm not surprised they tried to get away with this faux-legal gibberish. Remember, these guys are idiots.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Oh, all sorts of events and venues have this kind of wording on tickets. Even Disney Parks have this kind of stuff; the difference with Disney is they have a higher grade of lawyer and you go in expecting they may be filming somewhere in a park.

[gilmorelion.livejournal.com]

Well, I'll DEFINITELY be skipping this one in future. Thanks for the heads up. :)

Anime Cons? Don't get me started there......

[furtech.livejournal.com]

At least with anime cons there's a genuine appreciation of craftsmanship: they can appreciate the work that goes into a costume. I try to cut the annoyances at anime cons some slack-- the attendees are mostly kids unleashed for the first time.

[phavorianne.livejournal.com]

I found your reviews of the two conventions very interesting. After having gone to Costume-Con, going to Fanime was a bit of a culture shock. I felt so old compared to all those overly excited, self-absorbed kids. The childish behaviors were definitely a detraction from the atmosphere.

Califur didn't sound any more pleasant with all the media issues. I'm absolutely appalled that a photographer took pictures in the dressing room!

It's so good you were able to do the Okami skit as it should have been, though. It's just annoying when the stage set-up or other uncontrolled circumstances ruin the performance.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah-- the average age at anime cons is drifting down into the mid-teens. And for whatever reason, Fanime seems to have an even lower age-average. I didn't even like -me- when I was a teenager...and self-absorbtion seems to be the norm these days.

Talk about culture shock: CostumeCons probably have the oldest demographic of any of the fan conventions...and Fanime seems to have (to my experience) the youngest! That's what I find neat about CostumeCon: regardless of the ages, they're a steady group of people who -truly- appreciate the work that goes into -any- costume, whether it's a Sailor Moon schoolgirl uniform or a giant, furry monster!

Yeah, most of the costumers were appalled, too-- but people are too polite these days.

Thanks for the Okami props!

[card1shark.livejournal.com]

Great job as usual with the Okami skit. You always astound me with your costumes. Hope I didn't do too badly with the balloons this time.

I totally agree with the entire people acting stupid at Fanime. I stopped as much as I could when I saw it. I was in the dealer's room for like 3 minutes total this year, but generally if there are people sitting in walk ways, I usually walk over and tell them to move. If they argue, I pull out the Staff badge and tell them to move again. Generally they do it.

Is it just me or is the current generation of fangirls scary. They have the same if not worse fanaticism of previous generations of otaku, but then they have no concept of personal space. I'm the first to admit that I walk around and will hug strangers (mostly female) from time to time, but even I don't run up screaming to people and then glomp onto them so forcefully that chiropractors should be involved (well, expect the Neko Twins and that's just because of Yugioh).

It was good to see you even if it was just for 10 minutes total. Hope to see ya at SDCC if I find a way to get reg taken care of. Peace, love, and soul.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Your balloon wrangling was SUPERIOR! Thanks: we couldn't have done it without you!

At some point I just resort to deep breaths and counting...trying to correct bad behavior/thoughtlessness is futile. And yes, I think the internet (*cough*Livejournal,etc.*cough*) has created an entire generation of narcissists. And that over-the-top crazy of many of the fans (mostly female, for some reason) is annoying-- it's like they're trying to act like Japanese fangirls, but totally over-acting and awkwardly loud.

Someday we'll at least catch a meal together. It would be good to just bull with you sometime.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

"I hate being on-guard for..."

Seconded. That is the Number ONE dread I have at cons, whether it be disconcerting media, or disconcerting attendees.. and on that note...

"plop themselves on the floor right in the flight path"

I've noticed this to be a trend at SDCC too... though most will park themselves at a wall (much more considerate), it still occurs quite a lot.. ;P

[albrecht-fur.livejournal.com]

It's a shame that it ended up being so poorly organised.
On a media front however we had a magazine (not sure whether you get it in the US) called Bizarre come to one of the London meets a little while ago and the article actually turned out pretty well.

http://forum.ukfur.org/index.php?s=&showtopic=9712&view=findpost&p=216879

[jonnywoof.livejournal.com]

One thing is definitely for sure. I won't be attending Califur again. Ever. Next time it'll be a trip to Disneyland or Universal.

The highlight was seeing my Prius crank out 57 mpg on the drive up and down the 5. What an amazing car. :)