http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/index.php Copyright 2012, Ed Gomez Ed Gomez en-US SPHPBLOG 0.5.1 http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120108-182706


This year, we have a lot more people come with us to MLA. Our day started very early as usual. But the night before, had to call everybody to make sure where anybody know what the plan was. But this time, I was little worried if we would make it in time for the convention. Because Tim have to do had to run errands that morning. He was our driver. But there was nothing more we could do. So we just went along with the plan.

So about 6:45 in the morning, we arrived at Tim’s house. About the same time to, Andy arrived. We found out that Tim didn’t have to run that errand so we packed up all her luggage loaded into the car and headed out to Animé Los Angeles. On the way there, I wondered where Tim was going because he was taking the 60 Freeway. I mean, it wasn’t that important but I was just curious. So we continued. Also, Andy and Lawrence did not get any sleep the previous night. Those two were very tired and sleepy.

By the time we arrived at a LAX, we made very good time. Luckily, when we arrived at the hotel, there was some parking left. If Tim had to make that errand run this morning, we wouldn’t have any parking left. After we parked, we made it to the hotel and registered. While everybody else was going to registration, I went to the front desk to see if our hotel room was already available. But it was a little too early, so they told me to come back within the hour or two. So I made my way down to registration to get my badge and to meet up with everyone else.



After we’ll got our badges, we found a place to sit down at the main lobby to go over what we want to do for the day. But instead of starting with the convention, we all agree that were we were all hungry and went to eat at Carl’s Jr. for breakfast/lunch.

There was a panel that I have to goto when we were done eating. After we ate, we went back to the convention and all decided to go to the same panel. Actually, it was a panel that I wanted to go to but everybody else followed. During the course of the panel, Tim, Susan and Lawrence left to go somewhere. Or something like that. I actually don’t remember exactly what happened. All I know is that after the panel, we went to the dealer’s room. Oh I remember now, I met up with Lawrence and Andy. Tim and Susan went to the World of Warcraft panel.

Afterward, we were done with the exhibit hall. We then went outside to take more pictures and to relax. Several minutes later, Tim and Susan showed up after their panel. Even at this time, Samantha was off somewhere and we’d meet her until later on. But while we were waiting, which was Lawrence and I, there was this girl that sat with us at our table. If I remember correctly, her name was Kay. We started talking, and found out that she was also a graphic designer. At that time, I didn’t have any of my business cards because maybe she could help out with the magazine I mean. But instead, luckily I have a copy of the magazine on my iPhone, And showed it to her. I also gave her the address or website which contains my contact information. So I told her when the next deadline was and if she was interested she could contact me. Moments afterward that’s when Susan and Tim showed up.



It was already the late afternoon, and at this time we just we decided to split up and checking into our hotel rooms. Tim, Susan and Andy went to the Four Seasons Hotel, while Lawrence and I went upstairs. Samantha was still running around. When we arrived at her hotel room, on the fifth floor, room 5050, we had a spectacular view of the pool deck area! I kinda with we had a lower floor. The the view from our room was so perfect. I felt like while we were still in our room, we were still part of the convention. It was just that excellent! Oh, did I mention we had a balcony? Yes we did! So we relax in the room for a little bit and finally Samantha showed up.



There was still a lot more to do at the convention so we went downstairs. When you arrive downstairs, we decided to go to the pool deck. Can you believe, that after two years of going to this particular convention, this was the first time we’ve ever gone to the pool deck?! For the last two conventions, we pretty much stayed at the lobby or at the terrace. Not once we decided to go to the pool deck. Now that we were at the pool deck, there was a lot going on. We just went around taking pictures of a lot of cosplayers. So after a couple rounds of the pool deck, we decided to go to the terrace area to wait for everybody else. There were no panels that we really wanted to goto this late in the afternoon, so while we were waiting for everybody else show up, Andy showed up. Tim and Susan showed up briefly, and went to the dealers Hall. So the three of us were waiting for them, and went back to our room, to show Andy our room. Samantha decided to show up again, after trying to call her several times. Then we got hungry.

For quite a while, we been trying to call Tim and Susan so they could join us to eat, but we never got through. So Andy, Lawrence, Samantha and I went to Burger King to have dinner. And after all these years, I didn’t know that there was a Burger King around the corner that was a lot closer than Carl’s Jr.! By the time we got back to the convention, the masquerade was already underway. So we skipped it! Instead, we just walked around the convention floors, took pictures and went back up to the room. Tim and Susan finally got hold of us, and came up to our room. They stayed with us for a while and finally went to go eat dinner themselves, and that was last we saw them for that day. Samantha was running around in the convention again. So the three of us were in our room and we were just talking until we called it the night.

In the morning, we got up fairly early and got ready. This was the last day of the convention. That morning, there was panel that are really wanted to go to. But before we went to the panel, we met up with Andy, Tim and Susan at their hotel to have breakfast. Breakfast was excellent. After breakfast, we all decided to check out of our hotels and pack our bags in the car. Lawrence, Samantha and I were ready packed up. We waited for Andy, Susan and Tim. The panel I wanted to go to was about to start, so we went to the panel with our bags. During the middle of the panel everybody else showed up. So after the panel, it was our turn to put our bags in the car. After we put our bags in the car, I wanted to go back to the next panel. It was just Lawrence and I this time. Andy was out taking pictures. I think Susan and Tim went to the dealer hall.



After the panel, we met up with Andy in the hallway. We decided to go to the terrace to sit down.Tim’s camera batteries died...again, so we were scrambling to find batteries. No preparation at all. Anyway, we all decided to go to the Four Season to get batteries. But why do we need four people to go. Lawrence and I stayed behind to wait with Susan and Samantha. By now, it was three in the afternoon and we went to the Convention Feedback panel. It was interesting. We made our last rounds of pictures before we left. As we were leaving, I (or we) met up with my buddy Patrick. To bad it was short. Also, it was to bad that I didn’t meet up with my buddies Dave and Vic. I know they were around and I was looking out, but to no avail.



On the way back home, we stopped at Book Off in Gardena to buy some old, cheap manga and books. And after that, we went to Ajisan Ramin and Yogurtland in Rowland Heights. Signing off.]]> Travel http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry120108-182706 Ed Gomez Sun, 08 Jan 2012 23:27:06 GMT http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/comments.php?y=12&m=01&entry=entry120108-182706 http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry110704-223757


We finally arrived at the convention center and parked the car. All the action this early in the morning was South Hall, so we went there. But I needed my coffee so we had some at Starbucks. We waited there for a while to pass time before the exhibit hall opens. Lawrence took off to get in line for autographs from the Miku composers. The rest of us just stayed and took pictures until the Exhibit Hall opened.



Once inside, we met up with Lawrence who finished rather quickly. So we just wandered around to see if there was last-minutes merchandise to buy. As we walked around in a group, Lawrence and I got separated from Tim and Andy. While we were walking, some random guy came up to us to take our picture. It was cool. Someone finally recognized us other than industry people. We cosplayed crew from the Space Battleship Yamato movie, which came out last December.

After we wandered around some more, we got tired and sat down. We called the guys to meet with us. In that tome we waited, we met this guy sitting beside us. We started talking and found out that his daughter was an artist—and a pretty good one. So I offered to showcase her artwork in our magazine. I gave them my business card and hopefully they would take up the offer.

So the rest of the day, we walked the Exhibit Hall, rested again and took more pictures. We waited till about fifteen minutes before closing time to head out the the main hall. There, we killed time but taking last-minute pictures and other things. At one time, there was this guy who recognized our cosplay and took out picture. We, rather I, started talking to the guy. Where was also a big fan of Space Battleship Yamato. He said that he are the at opening week of the movie when it was release the second week of December, last year. That was cool—to meet someone whose also a long time Yamato fan, as well as classic anime.



I made the suggestion that we hang out till about four so that most people are gone and we wouldn't have to fight the crowd. So we stayed for as long as we can before we had to leave. There was even talk about going to a late panel. It was already 4:30 and it was unanimous that we’re not going to the Closing Ceremonies. That said, we were headed for home.]]> Travel http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry110704-223757 Ed Gomez Tue, 05 Jul 2011 02:37:57 GMT http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/comments.php?y=11&m=07&entry=entry110704-223757 http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry110703-223646


It was already almost ten by the time we got ready and arrived at the convention center. So the first thing we did was to go to Danny Choo’s gathering. Unlike the panel the other day, this was more information meet where we was signing autographs. After he autographed the Mirai figure I bought, he needed help putting Mirai posters behind him on stage. So I gladly raised my hand and went up to help. It felt really great being up there helping out. I got to meet some new people and the cosplayer, Maridah. We exchanged business cards and hopefully I would like to get an email interview with here for the magazine.



After we finished Danny’s meeting, we decided to go to the Exhibit Hall once again and killed time there for a couple hours. And after that we killed more time walking around, taking photos and backgrounds for the the magazine. About four, we headed back to the hotel for the usual. I, on the other hand, had to really get ready because I had plans to meet up with close friend that I haven’t seen in a couple years.



So I didn’t go back to the convention center after that. I stayed behind to have nice quiet dinner here at the hotel with Lorraine. We walked around the hotel, reminisced about some things, showing her all the nice scenery around the hotel and wound up at the bar down in the lobby having a few pints. I wanted to take her to Nokia Live, but that’s another story altogether.

At the end of the night, she left and I went back to my room to find that everyone was back already too. We all ended the night watching Space Battleship Yamato and ate pizza.]]> Travel http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry110703-223646 Ed Gomez Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:36:46 GMT http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/comments.php?y=11&m=07&entry=entry110703-223646 http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry110703-223204


The shuttle finally came around the pick us up. I could swear that only two shuttles going our route. Totally very inconvenient if you’re in a hurry to get somewhere. The first event we went to was the Power Ranger’s panel which lasted almost two hours. It was fun and entertaining. After the panel, we were trying to go to the Exhibit Hall, but on the way there, Los Angeles Police Department closed South Hall completely because of a “suspicious” package—supposedly. But they really close the area and prevented people from going in. So we went back around to take more pictures. We eventually made into Dealer’s Hall. There were other things we were going to do, like the Chibi Masquerade, but the lines were so damn long and so many people showed up. Man, it wasn’t “chibi” anymore!



So around three, we all headed back to the hotel to freshen up, get out of our cosplay and eat a small meal to ready us for the Hatsune Miku Concert tonight. It was around six by the time we made it back to the Convention Center. SInce we had a lot of time to kill, we tried to take more pictures with our cells because we left our camera at the hotel to charge and fearing that Nokia Theatre will not let us in if we had them. After meeting up with some people we knew, we made it to Nokia Live and killed time there too. My wife and crew met up with us to leave Sam and Yzabel with us. Man they were tired, just listening to the tone of their voices. We killed more time hanging around Staples until the concert started.



The concert was really awesome. It’s the first live holographic virtual concert in America. It wasn’t no FLOW (a Japanese rock band that we saw just in month before), but it was good. Honestly, I’m not a big vocaloid fan, but it was fun, a few of the songs had a good beat and exhibition of the technology was excellent. If I had one work to describe it, it would be “wow!” After the concert, we met up with Tiarra and Jo to leave the girls with them. They were hungry and went their separate ways.



Us, on the othe hand, wanted to go the Bishojo panel by J-List at the convention center. Like usual, we wanted to wait until everyone went in before is, but the line was cut because very limited seating. Bummer. We called it the night. Again the line for the bus was way long so we caught another bus route that took us to a hotel near our hotel and we walked the rest of the way.]]> Travel http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/index.php?entry=entry110703-223204 Ed Gomez Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:32:04 GMT http://www.studioartmix.com/pblog/comments.php?y=11&m=07&entry=entry110703-223204