OMG I like Vegamite

[cornerofmadness]

Who would have imagined it? kylie1403, as I’ve said earlier sent me some vegemite and evil_little_dog wanted to try it to so we cranked one of the samples open for the breakfast toast. First thing I said was ‘this smells like a bouillon cube turned into a paste.’ She looked at me and replied, ‘if it tastes like that, we’re gonna love it.’ And so it was. Loved it, salty goodness. My Aussies friends are looking at me in horror probably.


So, the anime con…well, the big highlight was getting to meet inane_nana and her friend. That was a lot of fun. Sorry we didn’t get to hang out longer. I felt bad that we didn’t get to go to lunch. We looked for you and thought maybe you headed out early and that’s when evil_little_dog’s phone crapped out and got no service so we couldn’t call. Sorry about that.

As for the con, well, let’s just say we doubt we’ll be returning. Moving the hotel did nothing for the dealers’ room which remained small and the amount of fan artists was rather sad. Most of the good panels weren’t until the evening (sorry annepackrat, I didn’t get a chance to hook up with you either. Sigh) which doesn’t do the day tripper much good. There were things to do of course, rpgs, video games old and new, panels and workshops but we managed to hit it when there was nothing to do.

However, the con was a let down in two respects. Last year the Cosplayers were really really good. We took lots of pictures. This year was rather sad. A couple decent ones and that was it. In the decent pile was a female Capt. Harlock (according to evil_little_dog I missed her) someone dressed like those weird grey things from Princess Mononoke , a Winry and a really nice Ravi from D. Gray-Man . The rest were mostly badly done Naruto ninjas.

Speaking of Naruto kept its stranglehold on the dealers’ room and I’m at a loss to explain the popularity of this one with the girl. The characters aren’t that cute and the main female is useless to the point of embarrassing (well that’s my take at any rate). Last year we did notice that there was a lack of diversity in the dealers’ room but since it was FMA and Samurai Champloo highlighted we didn’t mind so much. I can understand, to a point, the limitations of trucking stuff to these cons. You want to bring the hottest stuff but surely a little diversity wouldn’t hurt. This year it was all Naruto , Deathnote and Bleach . While I do like the latter two, I don’t collect on them which meant there was precious little to hold my interest in the dealer’s room. I found a few stickers and a pencil board, spent like 10$ which was hardly worth the price of admission.

I think in some ways Ebay is hurting the conventions. We have such wide access to stuff now it’s not funny. The dvd/manga dealer had nothing I couldn’t get at Borders or Amazon or Ebay. I did splurge (I drove all this way, I paid to get in, damn it I was spending cash) on the Saiyuki Reload box set. They DID have some cute t-shirts however all they had with them were Smalls and Mediums (Not to be harsh but most of us are bigger than that). I did try an XL (the largest size anyone brought, which was surprising, at least in the FL con’s they usually went up to 3X). because I can fit that. evil_little_dog and I looked at them because there was an especially adorable Fruits Basket one in grey with Kyo and Yuki in animal form that I would have bought. XL for petites? Children? Trust me this wouldn’t have fitted on either of us even if you oiled me up. The few evil_little_dog wanted never were larger than a medium. So it was a disappointment that way too. And of course they had the one messenger bag of Hellsing that Flippy expressly told me NOT to get. Figures. (and thanks for telling me you hated it but I wouldn’t have bought it anyhow. It’s uglier in person). Sadly I was told that my favorite collecting item, trading cards, are falling by the wayside thanks to the glut of images on the Net. But I don’t really like plushies and action figures all that much (I like them but in limited space, they take up too much). Heck these dealers didn’t even bring that many pins or the good posters (i.e. the laminated ones)

evil_little_dog and I hit the mall afterwards and then came home and went to Dakota’s steakhouse which I only mention because mjules has told me all the stuff she used to do while waitressing to make a customer’s stay more enjoyable and no one’s every done this for me until last night. The waitress gave me my babyback ribs and said ‘I thought they were small and burnt a little (they were) so I made the kitchen get you a new slab’ (a whole rack for me!)

evil_little_dog and then spent the night watching her original Saiyuki set and my Reload set. Okay my animation is better but OMG these voices suck. Dear God they made my brain bleed. Next time I watch the subs. And the filler stories are so bad you pray they never stray from the manga (which IS good but the anime…) Seriously if you want to laugh watch the original series just for the soundtrack. You’ll hear, no lie, Dukes of Hazard banjo music for the chase scenes, piano music from the young and the restless and music appropriate for an Old West Saloon. WTF? Of course mine had Scooby-Doo sound effects that make you just want to cry. The most hilarious thing about the con was the thought and effort that went into the program. That was hysterical. Though one bone of contention with the person who thought Fruits Basket restores our faith in the American dubs…were you being facetious? FB’s American VA’s are so bad they make the Saiyuki ones look good and they need to learn to a) emote and stop reading off the cue cards and b) how to pronounce the Japanese names consistently (and c) to the one doing Hakkai, sweetie, he’s not a Queen, honest).

Well, at least evil_little_dog and I had fun together as per usual. Too bad it was raining too hard to do anything else while up in Columbus but here but I think from now on I’ll have to use a personal day and get off work to go to one of the bigger cons because I’m too spoiled any more.



Oh and GIP!!! Bondage....yay

Comments

[emmyaward.livejournal.com]

We fed Vegemite to some of the American students at breakfast one morning, and they didn't mind it. Didn't love it, but didn't hate it as vehemently as Americans are apparently supposed to.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

It was yummy. *nods*

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

it wasn't bad at all