Anime weekend Atlanta - day 6, Kikka concert!

Well holy mother of god!  Possibly the most important of all the days I am here for, the big day where I finally get to see her on stage!  Day started with me breakfasting at a subway in the Cumberland Mall and on my way out spotting Dave as he was about to chow down on a pizza slice, as there was still two hours or so until Kikka's autograph session we hooked up and decided to invade the AWA arcade.

At first we had no idea where it was so were forced into a detour to Dave's truck so that we could get the map of the convention, with this in our heads we ventured back inside and eventually found it by ear as we could hear the DDR music lol  What we found was an empty shop front that had been kitted out with about 25 cabinets but they were very very misleading!

One cabinet had the image of Marvel vs Street fighter but it turned out the game was a Megaman game.  Another had Teenage mutant ninja turtles but the game was The Avengers.  However, we didn't let this spoil our fun.  One cabinet had Puzzle fighter which Dave well and truly kicked my arse at!  As I slithered over to play the avengers, he was challenged by someone else, and was holding his own, before he got beat and retired lol  At the same time I completed the avengers pretty much solo without losing a life, while Dave continously died.  Have to say, that game is hilarious, a Sentinel attacked us a boss, but it was labelled Giant robot!  Funnier still was when Juggernaut attacked us, we managed to somehow lock in an infinite combo and just totally wiped the floor with him.

After this was over, it was around noon so we ventured up to the dealers room.  Kikka's stall was vacant so I decided to go and look around, while Dave wanted to wait at the stall.  I walked about and managed to find a DVD box-set of 'Fist of the north star' now I bought this because it was initially released as a VHS thing with three parts in the UK but stopped for no reason after volume 7, so I never saw it through to the end, and nostalgia has bitten me quite badly since coming to this con!

Soon I ran into Shug and Needmorebuono!  So we hung about and went into artists alley to see what was on offer, a lot of stuff was there for the crafts side of business, and also some good guides on drawing anime style.  Needmorebuono! wanted to scout alone while Shug and I went into the food court and tried some smoothie with a flavour I forget the name of...  What it was, in a nutshell, was a sort of creamy taste but it had these annoying gel things that got sucked up along with the fluid.  The drink was nice, but they weren't, and no matter what we tried, we couldn't stop sucking them up.  So we just finished what we could and dumped the rest, a shame.

After this it was just gone ten minutes to one, we got there and the line was long, much longer than the previous day, this was wonderful to see as I was concerned she would be seeing the same faces alot.  She was dressed in her outfit from the PV from Darling to Madonna and looked absolutely gorgeous.  I went around a few times again, getting reactions from her for multiple things.  Best of which, was when I presented a photo from her first single Kikkake wa you! and she pointed at it and said "young", then to herself in the flesh and went "old!"  I giggled before saying she was beautiful which got her putting her palms under her chin in a really aluring fashion, no photo sadly :(  I also said a pun created by Tomasz in response to 'big Kikka' the day before when I told her 'oki-kka'  (big kikka basically) and she giggled before doing a shape of her upper chest area getting bigger.  This made me smile.

After the autographing was over we were all feeling the burn from hunger, so Shug, needmorebuono! and I visited the Cheesecake factory since Kikka raved so hard about it.  I got myself one of their classic burgers and was a bit taken aback when asked how I wanted it.  In my head I am like "err...  it's a burger, on a bun!"  but I realised that they meant like a steak, as it was gonna be on bread I just chose Medium.  When it came I was amazed at how big it was, damn thing was colossal!  Really really nice but on reflection, could have caused problems during the live!

Now it was time to venture over to the hall as the lives were about to be called forward.  Now before Kikka there was a seiyuu that would be performing called Suzuko Mimori, I had never heard of her, but was told by staff that both concerts would be treated as one, meaning that the hall would not be cleared.  Determined to get as best a slot as possible, we all decided to watch her too.  All being Turbos86, Shug, Needmorebuono!, catchfivebats, manami kawai, nights4saturn, dave and a whole host of others.

Now this seiyuu was actually not what I expected, she was incredibly petite and reminded me alot of Ogura Yuko.  She had a few songs but I recognised none of them, being mostly from games or animes I hadn't seen.  This concert was quite jarring as she had a translator...  Whose microphone did not work!  So there was constant toing and froing all across the stage to provide the insight.  In short though, she was good fun and not bad at all.

But now it was time for the main event, I was worried that with the previous performer being an anime seiyuu the hall would empty out, but most people hung about and even more came in.  As the lights went down everyone started the Kikka! chants and all the glowstick shaking began, which got some confused looks from the anime fans that hung around!

She ripped onto the stage and went straight into koko kara hajimarunda and performed with aplomb, up close I could really appreciate how well practiced she is, she really nailed the notes and dances, even with the sound problems.  Said sound problems got worse during next song hapi rapi sunrise where the PA decided it would take a nap, meaning we could only hear music through the monitors.  Kikka herself kept signalling to her ears as if to say 'turn it up!'

The PA came back halfway through the song and the crowd continuously interacted with her alot, including shouting the line 'Aru kamo ne' on cue, which was a nice thing to experience.  After this song she introduced herself speaking English, and she did it really well.  Saying, in a nutshell, that she was called Kikka and was really pleased to meet us, before she started getting the crowd to chant you at her after she went 'Kikkake wa..." so I thought that was coming next, but no she suddenly reached behind a monitor and as a total surprise pulled out her Milkyway tambourine!

I was like 'whoa!" and before anyone could wonder what was gonna happen, she ripped into a solo version of 'tan tan taan' which was wonderfully nostalgic, and it was so interesting to hear how her voice has developed since she last did this song about three years ago!  Although at one point she was so eager she started to sing before the music could catch up lol  Also interesting was the absence of the harmonised vocals from the other two members, certainly a unique rendition.

Now, if doing that song felt like a shock, it was nothing on what happened next, out of absolutely nowhere she did Romantic ukare mode!  This Mikitty classic naturally got a lot of chants and cheers due to the nature of it, I did not do the romansu dance as I was wearing my rucksack and did not think it a good idea to knock people out with it! However, Kikka's version of this was wonderful, her naturally powerful vocie coupled with her softer style was eerily reminsicent of Miki herself...  Praise doesn't get much higher than that!

If hearing her do that song was not shocking enough, when she started the line for her next song there was a communal sense of holy shit!  Mainly because, totally out of nowhere with no hints to it whatsoever, she did a rendition of Daite hold on me the ancient Morning Musume classic.  This song is not only rare to hear, but a difficult song due to its semi-urban style, but Kikka really did well, she even did the rapping part by herself and that was awesome to watch as I haven't seen her do that before, but she did it first take with no trouble at all, truly awesome.

After this she spoke about them in japanese, saying how she did the old songs before once again getting the crowd to do the 'you' chant in response to the 'Kikkake wa...' setup.  But once again she caught us out by starting Konna watashi de yokattara.  I have always loved this song because it has mutliple styles and is so different.  The vocals build up in different ways and live it had lost none of its power.

For her penultimate song she performed her most recent single Darling to Madonna, I hadn't heard much of this song as I haven't got a copy yet, but I remember it being a great semblance of rock guitars and electro music, she was extremely energetic during it and constantly waving for the crowd to go for it and chant, which we duly did.

Then it was time for the final setup of 'Kikkake wa' and the crowd reply of 'you' and then this track as the closer.  Her dancing for this song is incredible energetic and powerful, plus lots of opportunities for the crowd to chant and flash the glowsticks at her.  In all too short a time the concert ended.  But my god!  She was awesome, even when faced with tough sound problems she just overcame them with absolute ease.  her constant smiling expression showed she really enjoyed being out here for all of us and that we were delighted to have seen her.

Though there was one last surprise, in that there was another autograph signing announced for immediately after the concert.  I went through the line once telling her that her live performance was one of the best I have ever seen, before I was asked for an interview on camera.  I gave a simple message of how I had come from England, that Kikka was really amazing and constantly looking to improve as she performed, not only this but how she treated us with such old songs and the modern stuff, concluding by saying that if anyone gets the chance to attend her shows in France and Belgium, they should go!  (I can't sadly due to the cost of this event), I hung around after this and we were all given a treat of yet another group photo with her.  She asked what pose we should do and I gestured for the one at the end of the PV for Kikkake wa You which she was instantly saying yes to.

This was truly the cherry on top of the cake!  We all were very happy about this, afterwards, with no other events of interest, we all went to a Chinese place called Changs, waited a long time for a table due to the group being 13 in number (well 12 as one of us disappeared), I just drank a few beers as my stomach was still full due to that massive lunch, but everyone else indulged and seemed to love it.  One group shot followed before we all called it a night, high on the fumes of Kikka's gig.  Truly wonderful day, and now it transpires there's another signing event and a panel for the final day, so more Kikka goodness to get stuck into, I aim to do that shortly.  Until next time, sets sail.

Anime weekend Atlanta days 4 and 5, Kikkawa comes for all of Yuu!

Ahoy everybody!  Jesus, typing ain't easy right now, even after eight hours of kip, I am guess I am still on my rush about Kikka-sama.  However, I am going to restore order as best I can in order to get things moving forward and steady for today.

Thursday was a generally nice day for me, I did want to go into Downtown Atlanta, but had no idea of the route I should take.  I took a look online for some help about public transport down there and basically got told that that routes are crap for times, crap for reliability and generall crap.  With this being the day before the Expo, I decided to not take any chances and simply stay close by.

So I instead walked out of the hotel area I am in and headed to the left, as I hadn't done that.  Mostly I found myself walking along a highway and it was duuuull.  Google maps suggested there were some nice parks in the area, but I didn't see any!  That was until I found a nice little trail path that went directly off the highway.  In said place I found myself in a lovely wooded area by a creek,  With squirrels, birds and other stuff all going about their day.  It only went off the highway for around one mile, but like the previous beauty spot, it felt like a hundred!

On the way back I passed a stores area and inside was a liquor store.  So I decided to be bold and grab another two types of beer to enjoy and take my time with.  The result of which can be seen below.

After a spot of lunch I received an update from Tomasz who had drove all the way from Florida for this event, saying he'd pick me up so we could go to the Expo and get our badges.  Short car ride later and we got to the hotel at 18:05, literally five minutes after badges opened for collection...  The queue was at least an hour along already!  Totally miffed and not willing to suffer through that, we decided to go and grab lunch.  We found a rather cheap chinese place back near both our hotels called 'panda' so we ate there and then decided to walk to the convention centre as finding a space had been a nightmare as well as the traffic!

This time when we got there the main crowd of hardcore badge collectors had filed away so we were able to get ours in around fifteen minutes, with this done, we were looking to just go and take it easy, but as we came across the sky bridge we ran into Shug and Greg who were about to get theirs, afterwards they wanted a beer so we decided to hang about.

After numbing our arses on the steps I happened to notice some proper chairs inside, so we dashed in and occupied them before anyone else could!  For around twenty minutes we were thumbing through the programe schedule and so forth, when I noticed Tomasz having a rather foamy at the mouth and wide-eyed look.  I spin around and am face to face with Kikka-sama!

She was wearing the dress from the PV for 'Koko kara hajimarunda' and I was like 'hey Kikka!' and she smiled and waved at us both!  Well goddamn, event hasn't even started and already we are getting the good shit!  After this I kind of thought 'how do I break this to shug and greg?'   Fortunately as soon as they appeared they just wernt "guess who we saw?"  So I was able to say the same thing.  We all went for some very merry beers after this, high on adrenaline already!  Afterwards it was around 11 so we decided to call it a night as we planned to start early for the Friday.

Friday begins then around 07:50 when Tomasz, Manami Kawai and Catchfivebats meet me right outside their hotel and we walk to the con, on the way I get a call from Shug asking where we are and if we'd meet.  so the posse of five made our way inside.  Main reason was that at 1pm Kikka was going to be doing a signing at her merchandise booth.  We got there at about 08:30 just in case there were lots of nutters who would steal all the merch and leave a few of our group without the chance to get a signature.  (As a hardcore fan, I know first-hand how hard it is to get hold of some of her merchandise in the first place!)

Once we found the dealers room which was the place this all happened at, we sat around, got joined by multiple others including nights4saturn, when Kikka started walking about with one of her minders.  Thus we constantly interacted with her and she seemed realy happy to see us.  After about 90 minutes, she walked around and suddenly went 'Kikka-camera!'  And it turned out they were videoing.

She stopped with us all and did multiple poses from her videos along with chants of 'kikkake wa you!' which was awesome.  Also as she dived inside, one of our posses decided to steal a handshake with her.  (I have withheld the name in case of a witchhunt lol)

We stuck out the rest of the time and then eventually were let in.  At her booth the merch on offer was a mixed bag.  she had two t-shirts, one black (which I have multiple of) and one pink.  Now only the black had sizes other than small, one of which was XL.  I bought one and put it on...  XL?  Maybe if I was a child!  This thing is easily the tightest shirt I own!  Put it this way, I have a tattoo at the tp of my left-arm that I normally don't show off as sleeves cover it...  The sleeves on this shirt stop at the edge of my shoulder!

I struggled on with it, after all, even with bright yellow trousers and this skin-tight thing, I was still one of the most normal looking people at the con!  Seriously, until you actually attend one, you do not know how seriously popular coplaying is.  Interestingly, someone was cosplaying as The Stig the costume was actually awesome and all the time I saw this dude (presumably, you never know with the stig!) he was just marching down the halls not interacting with anyone, so quite convincing I must say!

1pm came about and we all swarmed about the desk, which was,. sadly, not rammed with people like I expected.  I was able to circulate five times for merchandise to be signed!  Still, Kikka did look radiant and awesome as she went about her work.

I bought a photoset from the desk and had those signed, along with photos from the debut single, a T-shirt and also a very rare 'cheerfully' movie photo card.

The greatest thing though, is that on the second cycle or so of signing trips.  A girl who was cosplaying asked for a photo and she obliged!  Thinking that it was more likely to do with cosplaying, I expected it to be refused for everyone else...  Not so!  I went up and asked for one and she was only happy to say yes and pose with us all.

I feel incredibly privilleged to have had this happen, these forms of photos are very very rare to obtain indeed.  In fact, tales of them are so full of ardour and grit that I don't know what you normally have to do in order to get one!  But alas, I have and truly my life feels pretty much complete!  Once the hour came to an end Shug came up with the idea of us asking if she would take a group photo, manami kawai bit the bullet (or at least I saw her go up so if I wrongly approtioned credit...  sue me!) and it was arranged!  Kikka was really awesome and we all did multiple shots with her, including, one on her own personal camera!  Now as far as I know it was taken by a member of UpfrontLink, I really want that photo ASAP!

With this amazing hour completed, we decided to go and get food in the interim gap between signing and Q&A.  All of us were just charged and shared our experiences of other events outside Japan such as Buono! in Paris and Berryz at New Jersey.  This con has felt really smooth since we have been here, it has been easy to get access to the idol.  But to get two-shots?  Seriously, none of us expected that!

After sucking down a Taco Bell for the first time in my life...  And not getting bowel trouble, we decided to go back to the expo, when the heavens opened and a biblical storm shower started.  catchfivebats went 'don't worry it'll be short due to the intensity'...  Five minutes of non-stop rain later I just go "let's go for a pint!"

We pent twenty minutes sucking down a beer, whilst the other half of our group who went to Cheesecake factory finished their lunch.  Then we all headed back, found the Q&A room about 30 minutes early, and all sat down to await the event.  When it was time we were asked to chant for her, so the room of about 30 or 40 people started chanting, really loudly but still she didn't come in lol

Eventually a member of staff dashed out to give soem guidance, personally, I think she met Axl Rose and he just said 'whatever you do, don't go on until you're three hours late!'  She bounded in and then sat down, before staff anounced we could take some photos of her, I only had my camera phone and for whatever reason the light meant they didn't come out as well as I would have liked.

Still she was gorgeous, as they waited for some technical people who were handling a DVD for them, they asked us how we knew Kikka.  I got to say that it was because I saw Momusu's DVD of their 2008 tour and she caught my attention when she was performing as a member of Milkyway!  She looked really happy about that, another member of the audience talked about having seen the anime of Kirarin revolution and noticed her that way.

Before we started to ask questions the translator and Kikka's staff member basically wanted to show us the DVD, and the bods were still fiddling with the controls when Kikka just suddenly went "DVD watching now!"  Cue me going 'you have been told!'  Which caused laughter.

The DVD was essentially a fast summary of how she went from eggs to solo, and then showed the vocaloid version of the PV for 'koko kara hajimarunda'.  Afterwards the questions started and I got to ask her what it was like to have been the lead character in the film 'Cheerfully' considering how many other idols were in the film.  Her answer was really interesting, in that she enjoyed working with actresses that were of a similar age to her and how she saw the amount of effort they all put in, she then decided to use that as a means to push herself and improve to match their dedication.

I think this awesome of Kikka because that movie is almost in sense a 'the other idols' movie as you have Kikka, members of The Possible, Canary Club, UpUp Girls, passpo...  None of the main project members so for Kikka to look upon as people not only her equal, but those to learn from, really shows how little it matters about the size and scope a group has to the idols personally.

Rest of the Q&A featured some interesting stuff, someone asked her about whether she had been surprised by anything about Atlanta, cue a story about how when she looked over the city on the plane she thought everything look delicious!  XD  Her manager then told us that in the car ride from the airport she kept pointing at buildings randomly an going 'delicious!'  lol  Someone she remake the attack of the fifty foot woman and cast Kikka in it now!

Kikka also said she loved going to Subway over here as you can get the footlongs, big deal you think, but apparently in Japan they only do the six inch ones, not the foot longs, so she was happy to eat one of them.  She also adored Cheesecake factory and any mention of food just got her saying that for an hour lol.  She also closed out her Q&A by saying she wanted to become Big Kikka over here to help become big in Japan.  I just went "Biiiig" and she copied it which was awesome!

Catchfivebats also asked her to come up with a pun, as she is known for these.  She thought for a while before talking the act of turning on a tap and the water pooling about.  As in japanese that is something like jyo-jia, so Georgia!  Gotta give her credit for coming up with that, but personally were I her I'd have just gone 'Kikk-awa'...  No, forget that, she wins!

The only blemish was two rather dumb questions that got asked, one was 'have you ever been to Alabama?'  Despite them clearly saying it's her first trip to America!  The other 'have you got a boyfriend?'  The wota amongst us all facepalmed at this, the guy was an anime fan so he wasn't to kmow any better, but I don't think it was well-received shall we say!

After the Q&A ended the group schismed and myself, shug, greg, nights4saturn and tomasz] all went for a massive and absolutely gorgeous steak dinner, before we crashed shug's hotel room and watched the concert of Buono! in paris again!  Hey you can't have a good steak without a beer to wash it down!

So yes, truly one of the greatest days of my life, and today, it starts again!  Signing at 1pm and a concert this evening, the hits just keep on coming!   Until next time, sets sail.

Anime Weekend Atlanta Days 2 and 3 of the journey

Ahoy all!  Finally able to check back in on the written form!  I have uploaded quite a few vlogs on my youtube account, but I am going to embed them here for those who have not seen them.  I haven't blogged as both days sort of merged together.  So yeah, gonna start with Tuesday morning, got out of bed and recorded the vlog I posted in the previous blog post.  Afterwards wanted to get some breakfast so left the motel.

Having crossed the street I immediately had the option to visit Burger King, but decided against it as I thought I would try them later.  Now, across the main three lane road, was, of all things, an Aldi supermarket!  This weirded me out big time, I know that they are a major German chain so I expected them to have a reach all over Europe, including my home country England.  But USA?  Totally and utterly unexpected!

 Thing is, I wanted something cooked, so carried o wealking but only place I saw, besides Burger King, open that early, was a Mcdonalds.  Normally I hate these places, preferring to call them cackdonalds.  However, I thought to myself, that as I was stateside I should at least give it a try.  Went inside and scanned the menu, only thing taking my fancy being a Southern style chicken biscuit...  It was fine, not amazing, but the chicken tasted like chicken and it wasn't as greasy as I expected it to be.  Score!

After this I just came back to the room and spoke to a few friends online for a short while, before I set off, around 10am to scout out the venues.  Now, where I am, is a place off sports avenue over the other side of a motorway so I was wondering how I would reach the venue on foot.  Consulted google maps and got given two routes.  Now the first was the shorter one in terms of as the crow flies, so decided to give it a shot.

At first it was all fine, as it was just walking along the main road.  However, I soon reached a problem when it turned out that to the get to the cobb galleria centre and the waverley hotel, I would need to cross eight lanes of traffic!  This was terrifying, but only the beginning.  I first of all stayed on my side of the main highway and walked down under a bridge beneath the motorway.  To my horror ahead all the pavements were dug up and accompanied by signs stating that the paths were not in use.  Seeing no other option, I ignored the signs and walked on.  Eventually I see a footbridge over all eight lanes, but way above my head and no route up to it from the road I was at the side of!  There was a road into a hotel, but no pathway and even at the top of that, no access to the bridge.

Reluctantly I returned to the main road I was following and carried on walking upwards, hopeful of finding a guided crossing over the eight lanes as I had seen at the end of Sports avenue...  I eventually found one, way further past the galleria and hotel...  But the pedestrian guide lights were not working!  I just thought to myself at this point that it would be suicidal to even contemplate jaywalking it so I gave up and returned to the hotel.

Just to show what these main roads are like

On my way back, I stopped in at a Wendy's burger joint to give them a try.  I had heard all about Wendy's courtesy of Noah Antwiler's riff review of their training videos on www.spoonyexperiment.com so out of honour for the Spoony one I thought I would indulge.  I looked at their menu and one thing caught my attention, a thing called the baconator.  That name alone sounded epic so I decided to give that a shot. 

One thing I had forgotten about the riff review of their training material, was that they call the customers guests, so I am there, waiting in line and it took about four attempts on the behalf of the assistance shouting "next guest please!" for me to realise it was my turn to order!  Absolute and utter brainfart right there!

So I get this burger in my hands at last.  Essentially, it is a half-pound beef burger with loads of bacon, and the meat was very tasty indeed.  There was one fatal flaw, that I should have foreseen and asked to avoid...  That was it being loaded with ketchup and mayo.  YUCK!  I do not like either of these things, so combining them is an even worse idea!  I soldiered on, but I think if I go for that again I'll state no sauces of any kind please!

I also stopped at a petrol station nearby and picked up a six pack of extra pale by an Atlanta brewery called 'Sweet water brewing company" and I liked what I tasted, as shown by the following video.

So anyway, once back at the hotel, I began scouting again.  On google maps there was a second walking route suggested and I gave it a shot.  This one made a lot more sense, in that the road goes over the motorway and leads to the rear of a shopping mall.  Then it is a matter of crossing through the mall parking lot and onto the footbridge that I had seen but been unable to reach.  Thing is, there was a flaw in the plan that the road side I walked on ended, and the only way forward I saw immediately was this.

Suicidal bridge

I bit the bullet and walked over this, terrified out of my skin as I was pretty much walking a tightrope next to three lanes of oncoming traffic!  I have since discovered that over on the other side of the road, where this shot was taken from, there is a wide path, that leads onto a completely encased footbridge so I am now using that.  This terror was born of my own creation, so yes, point and laugh, I deserve it!  However, before the mall, there is a crossing meant to serve as a way to reach the mall and also some bus stops, which is not entirely safe.

Not the most enticing waiting point

This shot is of the corner of a four way junction and that pole has two buttons on it, one to cross the right, and one to cross straight ahead.  There is no other waiting position aside from back on the carpark!  This, needless to say, is also quite brown trousers in terms of moments due to the American driving laws that allow people to turn right on a red light!  So extra caution is needed to show you are crossing, while on the clock to cross the road in entirety!

Anyway after this I make it where the venues are and now know my path, not entirely safe but it has allowed me the ability to get there!  So as a final compendium to the day, I went back to the main area I am staying at for my dinner.  I had heard that near to where I am staying is a bit of a hidden gem, a Japanese place called 'Minato' so I decided I had to check it out.

On the main road there is a Papa John's pizza joint, a petrol station and golf emporium.  At this place was a sign pointing behind the building saying 'Minato at rear'  Due to this, I expected one of those tiny little sushi belt places, as I didn't see what else would be there.  But when I get down to the rear of these stores, there is a traditional Japanese roof design over a door, I walk in, and am greeted by an amazing looking place.

It had loads of room, a beautiful collage near the entrance of all things Japanese and a really quiet atmosphere.  Having been sat down I consulted the menu and settled on that old favourite Sukiyaki.  Now, in my hometown, there is an excellent Japanese place called Samsi that does this.  It has really thick udon noodles, a really sweet sauce and damned good meat.  This one out here had a much deeper bowl, different noodles, but the same level of excellent taste, it was delicious!  But by god was it big, I barely finished it, got back to my hotel, collapsed on bed watching TV and passed out full of food and beer!  Crazy.

So day three begins with me having the intention of going into downtown Atlanta, main reason, is that I am actually in Smyrna a bit north.  Before I was in a position to set off though, I went to that Aldi to get some standard supplies like orange juice, chocolate and crisps to snack on whenever I wanted.  Having shopped something else got my attention, a local comics store.  I walked inside and was greeted with all sorts of interesting stuff.  Wary about cost and weight, I settled on a companion guide to The Walking Dead about characters who are alive and dead, quite a nice read actually.  And also a copy of my favourite X-men story arc The dark phoenix saga.

Before I knew what had happened, it was 1pm, so I decided that I wanted to set out through the area and make my way downtown.  I walked out though and soon found this stunning little place.

Being here just felt lovely, so I sat myself on a park bench and just started to read, soaking up the sun, the nice breeze the quiet.  Though I shattered said quiet with the following Vlog: -

Once I had finished my reading and the clock had got past 3pm, I decided that I was gonna head back to the hotel to dump my stuff and prepare to get my access badge, as the website still said it was available from wednesday night at this time.  Before I went though, I decided to get a closer look at the lake for some shots and got some rather nice images.

The one that got away

Turtle gathering

"Which way is the bar?"

After enjoying this for some time, I got back to the apartment and dropped off everything but the ruckback I have since it had my documents.  I took my overland route to the hotel and got there, only to be informed that the convention people weren't even there!  I was like 'oh...  Well better wait another day then!'  I checked back online and it was still showing the wednesday availability, but this morning it had been updated to show thursday.  A bit of a blooper there!  

Since I was close to the Cumberland mall I actually thought I would go and check it out.  Setup wise it isn't much different to those I have encountered in England, except that ours are slap bang in the middle of town, rather than ones you have to drive out to.  I suppose this must be what it is like for those who go to places like The Trafford Centre back home?  (Curiously, I have never been!)

Not a lot took my fancy though as it was mostly clothes stores, there was a Gamestop and I visited it just for looks.  I doubt anything would play on my computer back home though so didn't buy anything, but I did overhear some dude buying a game and the woman serving asking if he had pre-ordered it.  He was saying that he hadn't and she suddenly began orating.  "Well if you had pre-ordered it, I have to inform you that you'd have got a, b, c..."  I felt like going, "what is this?  Here's what you could have won?"  It felt total unnecessary in my view.

Final thing I did here today was get some food from the foodcourt of this mall, where I found a cajun chicken place.  It was actually very nice indeed, had everything from sweet stuff like bourbon chicken to some really hot ones.  I gave away my Englishness quite easily here as one of them was a basil chicken.  I asked for that and the lady was 'basil?  Oh you mean bayzil."  I just nodded and then explained that I was from England and we say it differently.  I got asked a few questions about the way I sounded since I wasn't as refined as she thought English people spoke.  I explained that the common English accent heard is rarely, if ever, used in my country, and that most of us have very rough and ready style.  I think she got the point, either that or she didn't understand me, answers on a postcard!

So that concludes days two and three.  Now today, I have all day free.  The convention badge collection is not until 6pm, so I am actually going to get to downtown Atlanta.  Near that mall was a customer service building so going to visit there and get some information on the best way to get to Atlanta and pay it a visit.  Hopefully lots of photos and videos to come soon.  Until next time, sets sail.

Anime Weekend Atlanta Trip - day 1

Ahoy all of you!  Well I had threatened to do it and I have!  Anime Weekend Atlanta is upon us, though I have set off earlier than most people!  My trip started at 4am UK time on 24th September after getting up for my final day in the UK for a little bit.  I was insanely nervous as I was coming to the USA and I have never visited here before, so had no idea if it would be an easy trip or not.

One thing that did make things insanely easy is the ESTA programme, as I am from the UK, I am one of many citizens who can take advantage of a visa waiver agreement.  What that entails is filling out a form with some awesome questions.  For example; are you a terrorist?  Have you committed an act of genocide?  Were you a member of the Nazi party between 1933 and 1945?

Fortunately this form you complete no later than 72 hours before you fly in the comfort of your own home.  Had this been a one to one conversation with a border guard I imagine it would have ended up a bit like a Bill Bailey comedy gig!  The downside to this is that it does cost you $14, however, it lasts for two years and gives you unlimited 90 day blocks that you can visit for.  So the New Jersey formula 1 race is now very enticing in 2013...

So with this form being passed with ease, I was all set having converted sterling into dollars and all that jazz.  Now the day started very annoyingly, my flight was due to depart for London at 10am, with my cab I ended up being at Manchester airport at 6:20am...  They wouldn’t let me check in until 8am!  An extra hour in bed missed, denied!

Swallowing this through a coffee shop and a book, all started to go smoothly again, until I get to the gate and board the plane.  All seems perfectly normal, full of people in suits going for business meetings in the main.  When the pilot comes on the radio, “well Ladies & Gentlemen, we know that you are all ready to depart, as are we, we’d like nothing more than to take off now.  Unfortunately, there has been some very severe weather in London, and it has caused a backup of planes on the runways.  As such we have not been given permission to take off due to the very short trip, we aim to be airborne in around 70 minutes!”

Being a naturally cautious guy, often to the point of paranoia, this really started to set me fraying.  Originally I was to have a layover in London of just under four hours, which I booked in case anything should go wrong.  Score one for planning ahead!

So with the 70 minutes up, we start to move, when we suddenly pull over at the side of the runway.  Mass confusion arouses in the passengers when the pilot comes back on the radio, “well Ladies & Gentlemen, we now have permission from London.  The problem though is that the aircraft has developed several glitches which stop us from taking off, we have tried the work arounds and unfortunately they have failed.  So we now have to do a hard shutdown of the craft, like a computer, and hopefully it should all be ok.  We’ll then need around ten minutes for the navigation systems to detect where we are and then we’ll be ready to go.”  So half an hour later and finally we are in the air, three hours of lost time, what in the world was gonna happen next? 

Well I arrive in London two hours late and get through connections to see a customer service desk with one agent and a huge queue...  Fuck that!  Next!  So I walk up to the main concourse of terminal 5 and this place...  I hate it!

Seriously, what is with this place?  It’s not that it was packed, I expect that from a huge international airport.  It was the food, all the places were brands like Harrods!  The only place that looked promising was a sushi place called itsu, but it was absolutely jam packed with about forty people waiting to pay. 

All I wanted was something like a burger, maybe pie and chips, something filling, simple and relatively inexpensive.  Absolutely nothing on the main concourse, but then, my gate gets announced as B47, now this is where T5 is even more flashy and modern.  If your gate is either B or C, then you have to go underground, jump on some form of train and be ferried over.

Fortunately, on the other side was a rather swanky styled sandwich store, but they did a delicious ham & cheese on thick crusty bread for just £3.80...  At Heathrow I will take that!  Rest of the wait went by without incident, just a case of a quick Vlog and rest.

The flight to Atlanta itself was scheduled for around 9 hours, but due to favourable conditions we were looking at 8 and a half...  Until some Germans had been affected by the same problem we had towards Manchester, cue them arriving twenty minutes late, doh!  Recovery wiped out.

Still, it was an ok experience, the flight was on a Boeing 777 which I had never flown on before.  Some things about it freaked me a little, the overhead lockers for instance.  Instead of simply being a case of open a hatch and throw in your stuff, instead you pull on this bar and the shelf kind of pulls down like a bunk bed, very very weird!

I was in the middle bank of seats but luckily had the aisle seat so at least had some room, next to me though was a Mother and child and I was just thinking ‘oh now you’re taking the piss!’  Anticipating wailing, crying, arguing...  None of it whatsoever, easily the best behaved child I have ever seen on a flight.  Little girl fills out the colouring book, sits watching some kids films and then sleeps.  The only disturbance I got out of her was one tiny little elbow bump, and I barely even noticed that due to my reading!

One thing I wasn’t impressed about was the food, first meal was standard chicken and mash affair with  bread, brew, beer and a chocolate mousse.  This was ok actually.  No, what happened was it got served less than two hours into the flight, there was then nothing else served until about an hour and a half before we landed...

And good god was it shit, if it wasn’t the biggest fucking insult I have experienced.  It was, no joke, a sandwich and a cupcake.  I am dead fucking serious!   Oh it had fancy packaging and all that bullshit, but the fact was, it was a Gregg’s meal deal without the bag of crisps!  I take it back, it’s not an insult...  Insults have done nothing of worth to be associated with it!  Debacle, farce, pathetic, useless...  Take your pick, they all apply!

So anyway not long after this we land at Maynard jackson airport and begin to taxi along to the terminal...  We taxied very very very very slowly!  We hit the tarmac at around 19:20 local time, I didn’t get to disembark until 19:45!  Fortunately the walk to customs was rather short and I joined the queue of internationals that need to be vetted about entry.

There was a fairly long line, but, it was processed quickly.  I got to join a queue at a desk for a customs agent after less than ten minutes, and then another seven or so and I was up at the desk for my adjudication.  I get there, present my passport, remove my glasses so the agent can compare the photo with my face.

I then get asked the question, ‘why are you here?’  So I just told the lady that I was here for Anime Weekend Atlanta.  Suddenly, ‘how long have you been into anime?’  I wasn’t expecting that so just went, ‘oh lord, since about 1999, it used to air on television and I watched it when I was in college.’  She wasn’t done!  ‘What do you collect in regards to this?’  I was a little caught out but did my best to avoid being flustered.  ‘Dvd’s, photocards, books, soundtracks, albums, figurines, lots of things.’

By now I am thinking that we were almost done...  We weren’t!  ‘How did you hear about this event?’  Well for this I then explained who Kikkawa Yuu was, how I had found out about the event through her e-mail blog that is sent out by her management, and that I was one of her biggest fans.  Agent was like, ‘So you had to get on this?  She announces that she is coming to the USA and you can’t miss it?’  I just went ‘yes, it is a very special concert appearance.’ 

Agent finally started smiling so I am guessing that at this point she had reached the conclusion that I wasn’t lying and coming up with a very creative method of illegal entry.  She then switches to the very standard questions about currency I have, any food and all that.  Before finally she orders me to present all four fingers and thumb on both hands, and facial shot.  This all checked out and I was through.

Phew!  I wasn’t expecting it to be as easy as when I went to Japan, but I wasn’t expecting all of that!  Fortunately this coincided perfectly with bags coming off the airline, so I was able to pick it up and head out into a taxi.

I enjoyed the cab ride a lot as it ventured from city street driving into motorway, and on the horizon I could just see all these skyscrapers and the drive in places.  It was an awesome experience, felt very different to the UK.  Cab cost me about $60 which is about what I expected and was no less expensive than any other method I got quoted, with the added advantage of not having to provide all my particulars to companies.

When I got to the hotel area, it turned out I had booked a motel.  Trust an englishman to book here with no car!  Had an amusing experience at first in that I was given a room and keys, get there and they don’t work.  No matter, I’ll just inform the reception.  Well, right after, the door opens and a guy goes ‘hello?’  I was like ‘err...  I have the room...  You’re not staff are you?”  Dude is like ‘nope that’s sure wrong!’  I just went, ‘sorry mate I’ll speak with reception’

Needless to say the guy on the desk was rather red-faced about this!  Fortunately he took me to another one, which is actually very nice.  Big bed, large tv, fridge, freezer, cooker, bathing facilities...  Almost like an apartment rather than a hotel.  Yeah, it’s a bit odd being on foot compared with every other resident, but then, mostly likely I am the only one from the UK here so that figures!

Having slept until 4:15am local time I got up, wrote this and released the vlogs.  My plan for today is to start with breakfast and a shower, then later find the venues so I can have a look at those and hopefully get the jump on what is happening.  Gonna be a lot of fun.  Until next time, sets sail.