Muramasa

Watching Samurai 7 (again...) and One Outs, mostly.

You'll need to specify what time the DJ was on, and it would help to specify what kind of music they were playing. They rotate many DJs in each room, each night.

All questions of this variety can be answered with one word: SLAYER. \m/

Place I stayed: The Hyatt Regency Number of people in room: 2 Hotel Staff: Very responsive, catered to what few needs I had very quickly. Walk to the con center: 2-3 minutes from room The bad: No free internet, parking $27/day, no microwave in room, refrigerator already stocked with expensive incidentals that you have to call to have removed. The good: Rooms are nice, view is great, directly across the street from the convention center. There is a health club, restaurant/bar on the roof, indoor pool, plentiful staff that are very quick to help you with anything. The walls are t

Oh wow - You must have *just* missed it, it was about that far into the set that I switched to dnb and that was the first dnb track that I played. :-(

It may seem silly, but I seriously want to thank anyone that moved out of my way during one of my ''scuse me, 'scuse me, really important, I need to get through' powerwalks across the convention center. Like many other staff members, I was under a lot of stress at times running time-sensitive errands, and the people who did the little things like stepping to the right on the escalators really helped me out. I also want to thank the tireless dedication of certain staff members (you know who you are) that made sure other tirelessly dedicated staff members took breaks and ate meals. It's ver

Hey guys - thank you so, so much for the kind words, I'm really happy that you enjoyed the set! It's especially nice to hear since this was my first time staffing/working the con so I was not prepared to perform after already working non-stop since Wednesday night, lol. This is seriously my favorite gig every year, I can't really express how overjoyed I am walking out of that room each time. I'll try to comment some more when I'm a little less tired. I was a little stupid last night and got carried away playing Shining Force EXA until 1am instead of getting a full night of sleep for the

IMO the con itself is supposed to adhere to the mission, but there's nothing requiring every attendee to come dressed as an anime or video game character. Granted, I have more fun when I get several days to be away from being saturated in American culture, but that's just me.

This pretty much sums up my method as well. This is a painful lesson if you love drinking and go out to bars often, lol.

This is my pet peeve as well; There's a bold line between stupidity and laziness. I'll admit that I'm not the greatest practicioner of perfect grammar, but we live in the day and age of computers, and it's my belief that this transition into less effective, more convenient communication (in terms of tone and other non-visual, non-text aspects of language) requires a little more effort than most people give it. Yuo? Usually a typo, it happens. U? Die in a fire. Yoo? Stop reading 4chan, it's making you stupid.

Not all staffing firms are that inflexible. these firms work with people who are in some form of transition so they're understanding. you can basically look at there policies and determine which ones are flexible or not. I too work and live in DC - there are numerous firms in the city. I worked with one a while back and enjoyed it very much....... and I also enjoyed the money I only suggested a staffing firm in the worst case senario. you should of course try and hold onto your job - even if management is giving you hell about taking off. but remember that enjoying yourself is important

That is really hilarious. I wonder if other baltimore city companies/businesses experience the same thing. I agree...... Well, I say bump your job. no torturous retail/wage job is worth your happiness, especially if you're not doing anything else during the summer. I had a retail job last summer and my ex-manager gave me hell about taking off 3 days for otakon. I basically told her that this is something I've been planning since the beginning of the year and I am going......... I said this nicely of course. Manager wasn't happy but oh well. I quite after otakon cause that job w

I typically come with my girlfriend, and another friend or two to meet up with several others while we're there. Typically find a new hotel party each evening and make a few new friends. :-)

Food. I've eaten so much fast food in my life that I really need to start eating better instead of grabbing junk around the con. Some sort of handheld video game system. If I dig through my old boxes I may be able to dust off a gameboy with pokemon... which means I'm overdue for an upgrade. Music. Mandatory. A camera this year! I've never taken pics at Otakon before, not really sure why. Brand new socks. There's nothing in the world quite like them. Movies, for late night viewing. Sunglasses. Summer is bright.

No sweat! -And I appreciate & respect the well thought-out response. I feel you on the black hole of flame wars on the net, too. I can definitely understand slipping into using over-encompassing terms, I do it as well sometimes.

I highly doubt that should be a concern. No one in their right mind would pay $50+ for a completely non-headliner lineup. Heck, most people wouldn't pay that much for several headliners unless they were on the top-tier Tiesto/Oakenfold/PvD/ATB level. $50 is a somewhat common fee for large festivals, and many of the DJs on the lineup play all over the place locally at places with a $0-10 cover.

This is a really awesome and feasable suggestion. There are a ton of pro VJs in the tri-state (and beyond) area that would be willing to do visuals for this event for free, and would be willing to bring their own equipment. I'm sure a quick google search for 'VJ Forum' would yield some popular discussion boards that Otakon could advertise a VJ slot on. I'm not 100% sure if this could be worked out in time for the '08 con, but it's definitely doable in '09.

I'm not going to comment on breaking because you're dead on; personal responsibility is key. Some contrary thoughts, though - This kind of gig is a privilege, not a favor you do for Otakon unless you're up on the headliner level and missing out on a serious paycheck by playing a free event. A lot of well-known local djs would LOVE to be so humble as to 'offer their services' at last second notice for an opening slot at this gig. Putting out criteria to be booked without directly contacting the talent booker, in conjunction with not knowing that the submission date for demos is wel

Really though I don't think this will have an effect on Otakon's turnout. They're 2 completely different events with two completely different agendas. People save up all year and prepare for Otakon. You can catch at least half the people on VFest's bill individually year-round. No contest.

VFest has pretty much the biggest of... everything. If there's a name on the flyer you don't know, it just means that there are styles of music you're not into. $90-100/day is a steal for the amount of talent crammed in; This year's dance tent has an INSANE lineup. Bringing any one of these guys to town individually is a big deal. I heard Pendulum was going to do their live show, but I guess that fell through. Rabbit in the Moon (Hey! That's a japanese reference) does a pretty spectacular live show and is very crowd-involved -- at one point Bunny (the lead singer) gets inside of a giant bubble

"DiCaprio will produce through his Appian Way production company" I know, I had to take a minute to process it too. I'm still trying to decide if it would be good or bad for him to act in it.

Taken from a friend who picked it up today in DC. (yes, today) "They broke the release and are already selling it early at the Target that just opened up on 14th and Park NW. I'm not sure if thats true of other Targets or not." *Steps away slowly from thread*

Interesting. When I first heard about this I was pretty taken back, but I think I'll give it a shot.

Someone has seen powerthirst And Brawndo! the thirst mutilator. How did I miss this? WIN AT YELLING

Considering how much electronic music samples live instruments, I find this complaint dubious at best. so let's say you were in a rave circle that sampled heavy house and beat music. No problems there, you get your glowsticking on and everyone is cheering. Then suddenly the DJ's switch sets and a different DJ comes on stage who plays saxophone music. Would you say the mood was broken? or that the music was changed from house/trance/techno to Jazz? because that's what happened last year. Jazzy house was around long before a lot of current subgenres of edm. Honestly a lot of peo