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Chairman's Apology to Masquerade Participants
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Date: 2008/01/08 16:54
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By: Hazel Chaz
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Status: Admin
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Karma: 5
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Admin
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[I posted this Sunday night/Monday morning on the LJ and Cosplay.com, went back to the Burb, slept for four horus, helped load and unload three vehicles, drove home, packed, drove to San Luis Obispo, slept for an hour, then tried to participant in a seminar all day for work. I'm back at my my hotel, and realized I hadn't posted it here too.]
I would like to apologize for how the Masquerade was treated by the convention once the presentations were over.
We were late starting, and we only had one or two computers showing the simulcast feed outside LP1. And there were technical difficulties with the sound. All in all, though, it was another amazing show. The "Henshin Ninjas" for the Sailor Moon transformation? You didn't have to be a Sailor Moon fan to be stunned in your seat.
And then....
We cut the AMV repeat short, and re-set the room (i.e., cleared out a bunch of chairs to have room for the dance). And then we started the dance. We shouldn't have done either of these two things, because we could have kept the audience in their seats with the halftime.
And we promised to stop the dance when the judges came back, and we asked the contestants to stay in the green room -- in makeup and costume -- until then.
And then....
The judges came back, and we didn't so much as stop the dance as pause it a bit. The lights didn't come back up, the music didn't stop completely. And we didn't bring the winners -- all the winners -- back on stage to get their awards.
This was incredibly disrespectful to the costumers who put so much time and effort into their costumes. Those Henshin Ninjas with the heart-shaped sunglasses? They didn't get to come up on stage for a photo opportunity, or even just a bow.
We blew it.
I'm going to make sure that we don't make that mistake next time. It's too early to announce exactly what we're going to do; right now, at 3:00 am after the convention ended, I'm waffling between cancelling the Saturday dance vs. announcing it'll start at midnight provided the Masquerade's over. I'm probably not thinking completely clearly, and I should sleep on it.
I'm too upset over the realization of what I've done to all you guys. I let you down. I promised you that Anime Los Angeles would be cosplay-friendly, and we've been trying to build on that every year. And now I've alienated all of you.
I'm sorry.
We're going to post Masquerade entry photos on the website as soon as we have them. I'm going to try to get stills from the video capture of the show. I understand www.acparadise.com already has the video online -- go register and see it. (I need to register on that website, but I need to finish writing this first.)
But more importantly, we're going to fix this.
There are other announcements we'll be making about next year, and what we'll do regarding e.g. the tech difficulties. (Lots of tech rehearsal time enters into that solution.)
I promise you, though, we're not going to sell you down the river again. We'll come up with some kind of half-time entertainment, something that can be ended (not just paused) when the judges come back. It might be the AMVs like we should have kept going with this year. We're open to suggestions. Lots of things are in flux.
But if you don't come back, it's our fault. We shouldn't have done what we did Saturday night.
Chaz Boston Baden
chairman, Anime Los Angeles 5
2-4 January 2009, LAX Marriott
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