Yesterday was Gran Turismo 3 day. I spent several hours playing and really got into the game. Definitely worth $50 if you’re a car enthusiast and like racing games even remotely.

Back to Anime Expo. I staffed one of the Live Programming (LP) rooms along with some friends. They had me working in one larger LP room for two days and a smaller one that seated around 150 (?) the last two (AX ran for four days, from July 5-8). The last time I staffed expo was in ’99, but I was in a video room (which usually meant sitting down and tape switching and crowd control if the room got full – that only happened when Cowboy Bebop hit the domestic VHS market and everyone wanted to see it for the first time).

I didn’t get too much of a chance to go around, but that was sort of a personal decision. For the first two days in LP4 I stayed in the staffing room with an hour break. The AX dealers’ hall / artists’ alley at the Long Beach Convention Center was bigger than previous years, naturally.

I usually hate situations where events haven’t been pre planned. I’m the type who needs some assurance. When staffing the LP room, I noticed that people coming in to host panel discussions were usually late or just working with us on the fly. I tend to worry more than most people, but usually because I just want things to go smoothly.

Among the various events in the LP’s, I got to catch voice acting auditions and tryouts, a panel discussion on Cosplay (as taboo as “Otaku” in Japan, apparently – not looked well upon there) and a panel discussion on “serial experments Lain” (one of my favorite anime series I have ever seen).

Looking back, I actually enjoyed myself. I was often nervous right before the next scheduled event in the room because I didn’t know what the panelists would need in terms of equipment for presentations. Other than that, it was a decent experience.

The autograph sessions at the expo (Toshihiro Kawamoto, character designer for Cowboy Bebop was one of the Guests of Honor signing) were mangled. I swore that under ten people got sketches or autographs, and the hour for Kawamoto’s signing was up, leaving the 2nd floor of the convention center with a line of very disgruntled people. That was an hour of our time for one person. For nothing? And we were raffle winners.

(Yeah, spend more money, James. Good job.)

One of the things that popped up this year at AX (and I’m sure they’ve been around before) were Konami’s line of Bemani machines… Para Para Paradise, Dance Dance Revolution (5th Mix was one of them) and DrumMania. Sunday night, when expo was over, the machines were set on free play. So naturally, this was my chance to try these games out. Mike, always obsessed with the DDR craze, got me to try out DDR 5th Mix. I really enjoyed it. Playing two “easy” songs on DrumMania felt like I was living out the little dream of playing drums. I’m already looking for the import PS2 game w/ the ‘controller’ (a one-piece set of drum pads with a stand that is about 3 feet tall).

Basically, Mike has gotten me interested in these dance & music games. You are an evil man, Mike.

Nothing is really letting up right now. There is work, I have a wedding to attend this Saturday and on Sunday I’m helping my friend in LA fix his computer. I’m still looking into editing jobs/internships, but I’ll be able to search even more two weeks from now, when I think I’ll just stay home and catch up on a few net things.