I’m finally home from NYAF! I had a very nice time, both visiting with old friends and at the con. Everyone else has already reported on the manga industry news and so on, so I’ll just talk about my personal experiences.
Many thanks to dear friends, Laura, Gavin, & James for making time to catch up with me at early hours of the morning, and to my dearest EA, little (or not so little!) Moo, and Malcolm, for putting up with me all weekend. I was also lucky enough to meet a couple of people I’ve become acquainted with through this blog. Here is my report (in order of appearance):
Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane: Friendly, fun, professional. I was very happy to spend time with her at a number of panels over the weekend!
Ed Sizemore: Kind, generous, BEST SHOES EVER. I wish I’d had the opportunity to chat with him more!
Overall, I really enjoyed this con. It was smallish, and with the exception of Saturday, felt actually kind of intimate, which is maybe not profitable if you’re running a con, I don’t know, but certainly enjoyable as an attendee.
In addition to the panels I already mentioned, I also really enjoyed the very informative “Art of Translation” panel (oh how I wish I’d been more consistent about writing down panelists’ names), and Disorganization XIII‘s fanfiction panel, which was surprisingly refreshing.
Saturday was so crowded, just being in the main convention hall made me want to curl up into a ball under the escalators, so I hid in panels all day to preserve my sanity. Friday and Sunday, though, were lovely, and I spent a lot of time grabbing up good deals on manga and checking out Artist’s Alley, where I bought some beautiful prints from artists Iris Chen and Alice Meichi.
I’d intended to write a lot more, but the day has been long and it is time for me to turn in. I’ll close by reiterating what great time I had, and add how pleased I am to inhabit a tiny corner of this world.
Goodnight!
Ed Sizemore says
September 30, 2008 at 7:34 amDid you make the masquerade? They had Xxxholic and Tsubasa skits. I was amazed.
Melinda Beasi says
September 30, 2008 at 7:36 amOh, I did not! Well, damn.
Ed Sizemore says
September 30, 2008 at 12:11 pmHopefully, someone will post pictures. All the costumes were well done. There was a married couple that posed as Yuki and Watanuki. They were both tall and lean, so they really looked like the characters.
I love the Del Rey panels. Ali makes sure everyone has fun.
Melinda Beasi says
September 30, 2008 at 1:40 pmI will look out for those photos. If you stumble on them, let me know!
Heh, yeah, Ali Kokmen was one of my favorite panelists at the entire con.
Oh! By the way, I did end up finding a copy of volume 1 of Cardcaptor Sakura to give to my host’s daughter! I was so pleased to find it! Of course, she’s going to have a fun time trying to hunt down the rest if she ends up liking it. Heh.
Ed Sizemore says
October 1, 2008 at 7:22 amANN has some cosplay pictures up. I wish they were of better quality, but you can get an idea of the costumes. They do have the couple I mentioned.
Melinda Beasi says
October 1, 2008 at 9:04 amOh, thanks! I will go look for that!
jansong@livejournal.com says
September 30, 2008 at 8:31 amThanks for the report.
xoxo
Melinda Beasi says
September 30, 2008 at 1:40 pmI’ll try to stop by sometime this week so you can get a more detailed report! :)
jansong@livejournal says
September 30, 2008 at 2:20 pmOh, good. Of course we want a people report, too. :)
Melinda Beasi says
September 30, 2008 at 2:26 pmAh, I’ll give you the short version of that here! You know I’d planned to meet Laura on Saturday, but was happily surprised to get Gavin too! I probably haven’t seen him in at least ten years, we figured out. The two of them together were a lot of fun, like always. We talked politics mostly, with a brief foray into mortgages and home repairs, at which point it became obvious how old we all have gotten. Heh. Laura had a job reading for Jay Binder’s office that she had to run off to after a couple of hours, but Gavin walked me over to the con (and even briefly considered attending), where we jabbered on for another hour at least before I finally went in. Good times. They both seem well! Breakfast with James was great too—we talked a lot about career and depression. Heh. He was really tired (had two hours sleep the night before), but in better spirits than I expected, and it was really good to see him.
EA is so happy, and it was a joy to see her like that. I really enjoyed myself at their house with the five dogs and two cats! Moo is going to be awesome one day, and I hope EA survives to enjoy it. Hee. It was really a great trip. And it was nice to spend a lot of time with people who really love me and believe in me, you know?
jansong@livejournal says
September 30, 2008 at 3:22 pmThanks so so much for the quick update on everyone. And it was just what I was hoping it would be for you!
Hopefully that will give you the cushion of support you need to get through the next few months, however they go.
Oodles of love!
Mom
Royvia says
September 13, 2019 at 10:17 amGreat post.
Fredro says
September 23, 2019 at 5:50 amNice post!