Suggestions 09

[DancingTofu]

What about anime songs that're originally in some language other than Japanese?

I don't have any disagreement with that.  I think there's already lots of that available, to my knowledge, but I want to see more eurobeat, rock, etc available. 

And why should songs only be in their original language? That's like saying books should be, and we know that's not true.

I'm opposed to translated books as well, but not as much as I'm opposed to translated lyrics and poetry.  That's not a topic to be discussed here though; it's really a personal argument.

[Black~Rose]

yeah its America and not all of us are talented enough to sing j-pop........ so it would be more fun to have english songs that arent related to anime  available... cuz we'll MAKE it anime related ourselves lol.

[MistressLegato]

It is a Japanese fest, not American Idol . . .

[Mister_manji]

kelly clarkson.

I feel like I've been eating crazy pills.

[BlackjackGabbiani]

It is a Japanese fest, not American Idol . . .

But karaoke when you go to Japan has stuff from all over, so wouldn't it be more "traditional" to reflect that? Or more authentic or something.

Heck, I know someone who, when he came back from there, told me how the karaoke bar he went to had the US Power Rangers theme.

[superjaz]

i remeber at sakura can when some guys wanting to sing the engrish verson of a naruto theam, but it wasn't translated for singing it was for meaning so the rythem no good and they were just bad,
tho since i went next i apearred better tho n compairsen

tho i can see the apeal to sing some you CAN sing, so maybe a seprate compation? like doing a skit or dance to the song that is some how make it realate to anime, but not in the same contestst

[ThiefKingsHier]

It is a Japanese fest, not American Idol . . .

That's the same   very similar argument I've being using against mother f-ing raves for the past few years.

It seems that it is only 'Japense' when the majority wants it to be.

[melchizedek]

It is a Japanese fest, not American Idol . . .

That's the same   very similar argument I've being using against mother f-ing raves for the past few years.

It seems that it is only 'Japense' when the majority wants it to be.

As it should be, we are a fan run fest, not elite / exclusive fest.  I don't see how invalidating people who want more selection for singing is a bad thing.  Who knows, maybe if people are passionate enough they'll sign up as staff and help out.

Also, it occurred to me that there are not any Japanese songs playing in the gaming room with rock band players.

[melchizedek]

is htere anymore news on making friday a bit more than just register and leave? I know I'll be busy that day (gotta get to the hotel around 2 so I can start unloading stock, check into room, get on cosplay, and then get in line and keep unloadin stock into room and vendors hall) but it would still be fun to have something else besides just check in :3

You could join staff and help set up, that is what most everyone is doing on friday.  I think the biggest barrier to getting rooms running on the friday is things not being all set up.  But I'd like to have the rooms open longer and more stuff to do.

[melchizedek]

I suggest a larger dealers room than the one we had this year x.x also possibley have more panels sunday instead of saturday when everything is busy.

Oh I second this, the 07 dealers room I thought had better selection and venue then the 08 one. 

[xxxchihiroxxx]

Mel: I may help you set up staff or no, we plan to get to the hotel around 2 if some how we unpack our AA stuff in less then an hour and check in I will herd my group to help you guys set up >.> we want to get in line for pre reg round 3 or so, depends when the line opens up and they start giving out badages so we can get it all taken care of...

and yeah dealers room expansion would be wonderful <3

[Black~Rose]

but Japanese song loveing people can still sing those songs and be great...

its a Japanese fest yeah but that doesn't mean we aren't still in America... I like what someone said about not being elitist.... we go to have fun and I just think haveing some American songs would be more fun... I never said you should get rid of the j-pop I just said to add to the selection.. so no need to get all in a huff

and I agree about the dealers room lol that place is crowded

[TomtheFanboy]

If we can't become a 4 day (or 72 hour maybe...heh) convention then maybe Friday night could be a sort of "Preview Night" for the preregisterred people that are usually there anyway. Like maybe have one viewing room of anime and one panel room with some crazy stuff going on.

Like a panel with a programming staff going over all of the cool stuff that's going on. Like a sort of Q&A for people who just got their swag bags and have questions about the weird events in the book. The more people know this stuff the better, it means less people pestering the yojimbo and info booth!

I have suggestions about the space but those are being communicated in the staff forums and honestly, most of the stuff I WISH we could do there really isn't room for! 

[xxxchihiroxxx]

Tom I beg of you to push for two things ;_;

1. For a bigger vendors hall this year (This is very important to me cause I'm going to be in the AA) this year it was so crowded and stuffy, there wasnt much room so not as many stands but almost justa s many people! i could hardly walk sometimes.

2. To get some stuff going on on friday. I think the preview night is a good idea. maybe open up the game room if its ready?

[Jamiche]

You can go to any karaoke place and get the English songs... but here, at the convention, you can get anime & game themes and j-pop, and that's what you see in the contest.  We are not being elitist, we are are simply providing the content that fits with what we do.

That being said.. just because we don't have it in our library, doesn't mean you can't sing it.  Bring a CD, share your ipod.. we have the tech to allow you bring your own music.  We don't say no English, we're just not providing it.

2. To get some stuff going on on friday. I think the preview night is a good idea. maybe open up the game room if its ready?

There was a plan to have viewing Friday nite, if we got everything set up in time for it.  Obviously, that was not the case .  I'm hoping we have better odds of it happening next year.

We really do want you guys to have something to do Friday nite

[xxxchihiroxxx]

I have a group of four girls... we would be willing to help set up, we are coming around 2 but I could see if we could come earlyer

[oslapedo]

Me and my group of at least four others can help set up on Friday. We live 3 hours away, but we'll probably be leaving in the morning so we'll have a lot of spare time

[xxxchihiroxxx]

yay! <3 oslapedo we shall be a super duper team! I think I'll work it out so we will get there at 2 or earlyer, help set up and then once its time to get in line I'll have kenzie and guzzy hold our spot and me and kate will unload the truck and help set things up.... and switch off holding the place untill the lines open

[ThiefKingsHier]

but Japanese song loveing people can still sing those songs and be great...

its a Japanese fest yeah but that doesn't mean we aren't still in America... I like what someone said about not being elitist....

Yea, and they should practice what they preach..

 I don't know about here, but on the SC forum ravers get  REALLY nasty about suggesting Japenese music at dances.

 I would really like some Japanese music, along with Techno. Maybe even one Japense dance and one rave.  But that is elitist, wanting ALL techno ALL the time..is apparently not.

 Anywya, I second this. Mixing things up between Japanese and English music sounds like a great idea.

[TomtheFanboy]

1. For a bigger vendors hall this year (This is very important to me cause I'm going to be in the AA) this year it was so crowded and stuffy, there wasnt much room so not as many stands but almost just as many people! i could hardly walk sometimes.

I don't think there's much we can do about that. The exhibitor's hall is always going to be crowded, but the booths should be the normal size next year. I have no idea what the Vendors/AA plan is right now, nor will I until I know who is in charge of the hall (we can make a good guess at who the Relations Director will be though, since there's just one candidate) 
No matter the layout I think that the transition to the new hotel and the growth we've been experiencing is going to keep us feeling just as crowded.

As for doing some stuff on Friday nights....

There was a plan to have viewing Friday nite, if we got everything set up in time for it.  Obviously, that was not the case .  I'm hoping we have better odds of it happening next year.

We really do want you guys to have something to do Friday nite

As I suspected, Viewing should be available as long as the whole staff is working towards it (as in, they know they should work towards it). Gaming is tricky though because of their set up time and security checks. It is sort of an All or Nothing room as far as allowing attendees access. We'll see what the gaming staff have planned for 09. If some people have their way gaming might open at midnight Friday night and never close! 

Don't get too excited though, that's just an idea.

[MistressLegato]

It would be nice to have the AA setup run more smoothly this year, hopefully with a new coordinator so everyone can get their paperwork dealt with early one and nobody ends up getting shafted with tiny tables.  Refunds are nice but squeezing 4 binders of 2 artist's work on one table is very, very frustrating and cramped.

[Rathany]

(we can make a good guess at who the Relations Director will be though, since there's just one candidate) 

Really?  *checks*  Oh, I didn't even realize that was the case now ...

[DancingTofu]

Jaki, I'll help with setup outside of gaming next year if people are going to seriously dedicate themselves to opening up some programming on Friday night.  There were a lot of holes in my planning this year that made setting up gaming run a lot slower, and got me to the hotel a few hours later than I'd hoped.  There were also some confusions with inventory that slowed us down.


I don't think we can open Gaming on Friday night, but I've talked to Ground Kontrol casually and they said they would be interested in bringing in machines and being at Kumoricon in '09 and '10.  If we set them up just outside the game room, we could have a setup that nobody could steal (arcade cabs weigh 100-400lbs) and that would also open up space in the game room.  It could also open up an area for 24-hour gaming that wouldn't need to be heavily supervised. (just having 1 or 2 staff and/or GK reps there at any given time to make sure nobody's coming in with a handcart and wheeling off the machines to their truck at 5am.

I'll discuss this with the Programming and Relations directors after elections; I think it could work really well if we make that happen.

[melchizedek]

Mel: I may help you set up staff or no, we plan to get to the hotel around 2 if some how we unpack our AA stuff in less then an hour and check in I will herd my group to help you guys set up >.> we want to get in line for pre reg round 3 or so, depends when the line opens up and they start giving out badages so we can get it all taken care of...

and yeah dealers room expansion would be wonderful <3

Well, if you are staff then your ticket will be less then not-staff
But I'll appreciate the setup help.  I'm all about getting things up and running quicker.

[VampireFangs103]

A random suggestion that I doubt is possible, but nice to dream about. Wouldn't it be cool if we could get one of those stuffed animal crane machines and fill it with plushies? That'd be so fun. *_*

[DancingTofu]

As with an arcade DDR machine, the biggest hump there would be getting it here.  I'm sure Coin-Op on McLoughlin and Ochoco has them and probably aren't too expensive, but moving one of those to and from con would take 4-8 people and as much shipping space as all of Gaming's equipment combined.  I'm not saying it's out of the question, just that we've got to determine whether it would be a matter of having three or four people interested or if 30 or 40 or 100 people would use it if we got it there.