windseeker

double

I think he just likes to annoy crowds in general. He might be living in DC now, because I saw him months before the con yelling taunts at people walking into the US capitol building, I also saw him taunting a group of protesters outside the capitol when the healthcare debate was going on. Or maybe he just travels back and forth between DC and Baltimore.

Saw a guy doing that on Friday! If this is the guy, he''s the same street preacher who used to harass con-goers in Baltimore, looks like he followed us. But I've also seen him yelling over his megaphone outside the US capitol.

Love the idea!

Well to be fair I have been to conventions that allow you into the general areas, like Anime USA (its in a hotel so people not attending are still walking around the area, badge checks are done for panel rooms and such - if I wanted to go in and just take pictures I absolutely could do so) but those tend to be smaller conventions that don't rent out the entire place. Could be an honest, if not assumptive, mistake.

Three random passerby (one guy asked me from his car, another was a guy I passed by on the street and the third was a woman who was at one of those mobile religious displays in Chinatown) asked me about what the con was, I told them it was the biggest anime convention on the East Coast and we have just moved to DC from Baltimore. I used to get asked the same question in Baltimore, usually from tourists.

This was probably my favorite one:

The Good - SPAAAAACE - I learned my way around the con surprisingly easy, and this is coming from someone who constantly got lost around the BCC for at least three years. - So many more food options, including actual grocery stores - Friendly convention staff, nice change compared to the BCC staff. - Managed to get a nice Airbnb that was super close and nicely priced. - Great AMV contest The Bad - Bag checks, particularly on Friday morning - No Friday/Saturday fan parodies. Yes, I know this was announced in advance, but it still felt sad not to have them as part of the event. - Didn't find much to buy in the Dealer's Room - Con food prices. The Ugly - Temperature in the Main Events room. FREEZING. Appreciated the AC in general though, the heat outside was awful. - Heat/humidity outside. Made me resort to con food to avoid it.

Forgot to mention - Uncle Yo's Magical Girl Bootcamp - Probably the best panel I attended. Very eye opening and great fun to hear. Uncle Yo knows his stuff.

Just a few I attended that I would give feedback on: Nintendo Nightmares: First panel I attended that weekend (9 AM on Fri) and it was pretty fun, room was full from what I can recall. But given the creepy theme it might have been better to be at a later hour. Just to add to the atmosphere. And I was almost late due to the bag check. Shinto in Anime: Very interesting panel, especially at the beginning, but there were persistent computer problems that affected the presentation a bit (it took a while for someone from staff to come down to help) and it kind of dragged on towards the end - I saw several people nodding off and I had to leave the panel early because it went over the run time, which felt awkward (though I wasn't the only one who did leave). Media Blasters Panel: I went mostly out of curiosity since I vaguely remembered them as producing a lot of titles years ago, and didn't know they were still around. And I learned the reason is they mostly do hentai now Makes sense. The Colorful History of Yaoi: Hadn't planned on attending this, but we were bored so we decided to check it out. And it was a surprisingly well done and amusing panel. Craziest Anime Merchandise: Entertaining panel, as weird as you would expect. DBZ and KFC teaming up, oh my. The Comedy of One Punch Man: Well the presenter began by pointing out that the name of the panel was wrong and he hadn't bothered to correct it, so that was a bit odd. It was less about comedy and more about discussing tropes, which is fine, but it was just an okay panel overall.

Have to say the only significant slow moving bag check line I experienced was on Friday morning (I took the tunnel through the Marriott, only just managed to make it to a 9 AM panel) but aside from that they moved pretty fast. Though the outdoor line later that day looked awful...I was afraid to leave the con lol. Have to say the bag check people were pretty friendly and polite the whole weekend, which is a nice change from BCC staff attitudes.

I actually found the building quite easy to navigate compared to the BCC, which surprised me because I usually suck with directions.

There' are three churches pretty much right next door to the convention center:

I have subsisted on granola bars from breakfast until dinner for many Otakons. They better not.