Anime LA 2008, held January 4-6, was an interesting experience. The membership was capped at 2400, so theoretically it should have been on the small side and not crowded. But logistics conspired against it. The convention committee entered into its contract with the convention hotel (at the Burbank Airport) when Hilton owned the hotel. But then the hotel was sold to Marriott -- which apparently took license with the contract terms (especially when it started renovating the hotel). The result: The con had far less space than it had contracted for; and crowding ensued.
The most fun part of the convention was the cosplay. A staggering percentage of the attendees were in costume. Many of them (not me) came from our house, as we played host to our friends Natalie, Sarah, and Logan from Utah, Brandi from Nevada, and Laurid from Colorado. The house was like a theater's dressing room, full of costumes, makeup and bodies. We also met our pals Don, Chad and John at the convention.
During the weekend, voice actor Patrick Seitz -- who played heavy Luke Valentine in the English-dubbed version of the Hellsing anime -- attended the con as a fan, rather than as a guest. On the last day, he posed in photos with folks from our party who were dressed in Hellsing-inspired clothes. (He's the tall guy in the "Just Say No to Dubs" shirt. Irony.) He got into the spirit, to the point of lifting various full-grown fans as he posed. ("A moment of fun," I warned him, "a lifetime of chiropractic.")
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