Clutch

I saw a posting yesterday that Yuimetal (Mizuno Yui) has left the band. From the videos I have watched, Moametal looks out of place with no partner. The new costumes don't help, either. I wonder whether they will add a partner for Moa or if she will go solo? I can't really tell if Moa is singing on the new song Starlight as Su-metal has such a powerful voice. http://loudwire.com/yuimetal-left-babymetal-new-song-starlight/

There is no Guidebook application for Windows Phone any more, because they abandoned the platform. Put's me in the "can't" bucket. As a work around, I use the convention Wi-Fi to connect to the Schedule page in the phone browser. Phone works great for its intended purpose of making phone calls, so I am in no hurry to replace it.

In an emergency situation, you are more likely to get a SMS message through than a phone call. The system stacks the messages, and processes them when bandwidth is available, versus getting busy signals or dropped calls. They are much smaller and can go through more quickly, even with the cellular saturation at Otakon. While there will be delays, it should not be very long. Applets add overhead to any information you are trying to send. Radio the Base, and the Base sends the SMS blast. The Information booths could be secondary message bases. Just thinking out loud.

The only thing I think might be able to do that is a SMS text message blast, but that is usually controlled from a special server. They do that at work with our critical employee notifications. Given the load on the cellular networks at the convention, this is still a good chance it won't get through to everyone.

I picked up a magazine in Union Station to read on the train ride home. I think it was called "Cosplay Culture", but I will have to check when I get home. One of the articles said to use Contact Cement instead of Crazy Glue to attach seams. That may work better than ironing on the decals. Easy enough to experiment with it on a spare.

If possible, it would be nice to have the exit locations for convention proper, Artist Alley, Dealer's Hall, etc. specified on the convention map. A quick look at the map to figure out which way you should be heading. Absolutely, more bullhorns. It was very difficult to hear people, and they were straining their voices trying to shout. Same with the people running the bag check line. Although a sign noting to have your bag open on the mid point of the ramp may have saved some shouting.

As I stated in another thread, I rarely go to Panels because they just don't appeal to me. Not sure that will ever change. I did get to see some new anime, but the video operators had a rough time getting things set up. They were going back and forth into DVD menus trying to get the Japanese Audio and Subtitle tracks enabled. The very first video on Friday had the Zoom turned way up, so no-one could see the DVD menus. I think 4 people were there trying to figure it out. A few times, the person running the Video Room was going into the equipment set-up menus by mistake. If Otakon has an idea of which equipment is being used, then I suggest putting a troubleshooting card on the displays (e.g. Which remote to use. Equipment: Set Zoom to 0, Volume at 5. Anime: Set Audio Track: Japanese. Enable English sub-titles, etc.). My first Otakon was in 1994, so I am well past 18. That being said, it seems like many of the anime and panels after 8 PM required an 18+ wristband. If you did not have an 18+ band (which I do not get for the most part) your activity choices were limited. That could be my perception, but it seemed to stick out this year. There was a lot of downtime on the schedule for me. UGLY: The air quality. Between the wall of cigarette/vape pen smoke surrounding the convention center, and the great un-washed, I had a rough time finding clean air. Doing my best to avoid lung cancer.

The USPS is one of the slowest delivery places to update their data. I honestly think they scan for a whole day, upload the batch at the end. From my experience, it is not uncommon for updates to take forever. They lost a package for me once. I called the vendor and USPS to say I never received it. The vendor sent me a new one. After it arrived, the Post Office called to say they found the original packaged and were sending it to me. I had to get them to list it as "refused shipment" to get the first package back to the vendor. That package had been to more states that I have.

To put things in perspective: July 24 - July 26, 2015 Baltimore Convention Center Baltimore, Maryland, USA Today's date: 07/08/2015

Not a great advertisement for Taptalk. Whe keeps in touch with their costumes? Sent from my eggbeater.

If I don't get my badge the night before I leave for Baltimore, then I will be worried. It is still over two weeks away, so there is no stress at all.

Someone I know has complained a few times about videos in the "Drama" category going for laughs. They feel that the one with the laughs over-shadows the ones that went for straight drama, and usually wins the category. Side story: I forget which Otakon it was, but there was a video made with clips from Grave of the Fireflies to the song Love Will Keep Us Alive by the Eagles. Needless to say, when the video was over, there was nary a dry eye in the house, because it was so sad.(extremely well made too) Then out of the stunned slience someone yells "THE NEXT VIDEO BETTER BE F&CKING HILARIOUS!" and the whole place erupted in laughter. Don't think I will ever forget that one.