I am Danny Foo

Anime Festival Asia Malaysia 2012 editon

So much to talk about, so little time. Especially when you’ve selected your photos, edited them then by that time, it’s already late and you just had to go to bed. Thought to self; the things I do when I write a blog post such as Anime Festival Asia Malaysia.

Anime Festival Asia Malaysia

After much commitment from Malaysians heading down to Singapore yearly for the Anime Festival Asia convention, it has finally crossed our (and Indonesia’s) borders. Held in the old Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), where PC Fair used to be until there was too many complaints of stuffiness and disgusting BO stories, I couldn’t help but ask; why there?!

The ticket counters had long queues. Long enough that it worried the PWTC officers monitoring the situation. This was because there was some other AGM or something going on. Plus, PWTC is located next to a political party’s tower. So yeay. 😛

And like our Malaysian road signs – not knowing it’s there until it’s too late, I heard from goldfries that apparently, there was an exclusive counter opened if you were a Canon user. Well, thankfully I got my tickets the previous day. By the way, speaking of bad signages, PWTC should look at themselves too because I didn’t notice any sign saying where was hall 1 and 2. The only hall I saw from the parking lot was Dewan Tun Razak 1 & 2. How’s everyone suppose to know THAT is hall 1 and 2?! *facepalm* Don’t get me started of having to walk across a bridge to the place. *sweats*

Once inside the Anime Festival Asia Malaysia, we started patrolling the booths to see what goodies which interest us. We walked end to end within 15 minutes. It was very obvious which booth were real crowd pullers; maid cafe, butler cafe and KKNM (together with littleAkiba – friend of mine).

afamy-27 — Ladies queuing to the butler cafe

afamy-26 — Guys trump ladies with longer line to maid cafe

afamy-19 — The queue goes around the KKNM booth

The other booths which were open (if I recall) were:

Danny Choo
GoodSmile company
Bushiroad
Macross Malaysia club
Online gaming
Sony Music
Canon
AFA shop
Event organizer
Malaysia Hatsune Miku party booth
Some other booths selling anime merchandise and cosplay items.

Danny Choo was not only hosting the festival shows but also promoting his Moekana Japanese language cards. And of course, he brought the lovely Mirai Suenaga with him to the Anime Festival Asia Malaysia edition.

afamy-20 — Danny Choo figurine in his iconic storm trooper uniform

afamy-22 — Mirai greeting people in her ride

afamy-18 — Well, hello Mir…wait a minute…who are you?!

Hmm, I read quite a bit of chatter on Twitter about the Ultimate Madoka figure. Though I’m sure there’s a very good reason, please do tell me about it. However, I believe this was the model they were oogling.

When it got really crowded, making for little room to move *cough – PC Fair history* we mozied over to the next hall. This was where the stage activities were held along with the concert in the evening.

I must say though, using this hall for the concert was definitely a good move. It’s spacious just like AFA Singapore. 🙂

Making our way to the stage

The first show of Anime Festival Asia Malaysia Day 1 hosted by Danny Choo was with Tomohiko Ishii introducing the upcoming anime film; Re:Cyborg 009.

afamy-01 — Tomohiko Ishii (left) and Danny Choo (right)

The Cyborg 009 production dates back to the 1960s for manga and the latest anime production was in 2001. I don’t recall watching the anime but I must say after watching the upcoming movie trailer, I’m going to hunt for the recent anime.

After Ishii-san’s segment, I noticed camera bearing guys moving to the front of the barricade. I pondered staying in my seat in the 3rd row then later standing on the chair, but I didn’t want to risk it. So I secured a seat in the front row.

Sitting beside me was a girl taking notes while her girl friend was snapping photos. They looked like journalist but my bet is they were real hardworking bloggers. 😛

Spiral Cats (SP Cats) cosplayers

The reason for this camera horde was because professional cosplayers were coming on stage at Anime Festival Asia Malaysia. Plus, both of them were Korean girls to boot.

Other than Danny Choo, he had a sweet lady co-host with him. Don’t remember her name.

The SP Cats are a Korean group of cosplayers who are rather serious in the hobby. It takes them awhile to produce the gear and costumes. The pair who came down for AFA was the group leader; Tasha, and youngest member; Miyuko. Okay, I will shut up now and just post the pictars. 😛

afamy-05 — Q&A with SP Cats – Tasha and Miyuko

afamy-09 — Kuroneko and Black Rock Shooter

afamy-13 — Miyuko in what I call the Hmph pose

afamy-14 — Surprising how a small change in pose makes a difference

afamy-15 — Classic innocent skirt holding post

By the way, here’s a picture of the crowd seated during the morning show.

We had to leave Anime Festival Asia Malaysia earlier because of lunch plans. And I found out later I missed the opportunity to snap some artistes on stage because they came out to wish the crowd. Oh well.

My only plunder of this event was the latest SCANDAL album. Primary reason being I didn’t have enough cash on me. From another perspective, that sounds like a good thing.

afamy-scandal-album — SCANDAL japanese band album

Overall, Anime Festival Asia Malaysia was alright. I’m hoping to see more booths open next year and that time, I’ll make sure to bring more cash. Also to the organizer, please bring down more Japanese acts! 😀

And if you could, please give me a media pass next time. Pretty please. ROFL!

P.S.: When Joshua shared this photo, I couldn’t believe it. Oh em gee, I tell ya.

View this post on Instagram
O_O #AFAMY #Cosplay
A post shared by Joshua O (@joshuaongys) on Jun 8, 2012 at 10:56pm PDT

Come to think of it, this isn’t Sheryl Nome from Macross right? Or, is it?

My new toy has arrived

Let me start by saying I panicked for nothing today. I thought I’d be meeting a crowd for my Anime Festival Malaysia tickets, as reported on their Facebook page.

550718_10150889983206022_1458581373_n — Source: facebook.com/animefestivalasia

But thankfully, there wasn’t a queue when I got there and I could walk up to the counter to buy them. *phew*

Coming back to my toy

When I got back from KL, I noticed a package had arrived. Curious as to whether my sister-in-law ordered something, I was happy to find it was for ME. LOL! I don’t get many packages you see.

It was the waterproof camera I ordered on Milk A Deal. It was only going for RM20 so I definitely had to have it. Plus, I could take it underwater! Though only for depths upto 3 meters. But that’s fine. It’s a waterproof camera! 😀

After taking it out from the courier’s package, it looked like a present where you prank someone by wrapping it with tons of newspaper. I almost felt that way until I saw the blue box inside.

I really love the camera. And I especially like the bright yellow colour. I was pondering between this and the white version because I wondered which would be identifiable if the camera floated down to the surface on the beach.

milkadeal-saccino-waterproof-camera — I dub thee; Spongebob

And after much staring at the yellow, I couldn’t help but think; Spongebob. Which is why, my underwater camera is going to be called; Spongebob. LOL!

Oh. In addition, the instructions for the camera is very clear. That makes it a bonus buy!

waterproof-camera-instructions — Click on the image for larger version

The trinkets like the scrungie and bracelet you see was an additional gift which came with the package. Not sure why, but my guess is it’s because the merchant (Saccino) included it as an apology as they ran out of stock for the camera and they had to make customers (like me) wait to fulfil the order.

By the way, I do have to thank Saccino because I think they gave me free shipping for the wait in delivery. Kudos! 🙂

On another note, tomorrow is the start of Anime Festival Asia – Malaysia edition. AFA, here I cometh!

Follow-lor (law) day

While driving back from an appointment one day, I was spacing out though my attention span was still on the road. Don’t ask me if that’s possible, it’s just something I do.

So I was thinking of how recently we’ve been talking about fairness and corruption in the country. Then, a thought came to me. What would it be like for 1 day, if all of us didn’t give the road authorities any room of opportunity to be corrupted?

It’ll be like an awareness campaign to fight corruption. Or, the fun part about it, seeing the faces of the authorities who have no excuse to write you a ticket or stop you. Or the least, creep them out.

In other words, we’d drive them nuts. *grin*

This list is some of the common mistakes we shouldn’t let the authorities take advantage of, though I know it can be difficult for some – out of habit.

Wear your safety belt
Renew your road tax, on time
Use a hands-free bluetooth headset
Respect the traffic light – don’t beat it
Follow the speed limit – as stupid as it may be
Avoid making illegal turns
Park in allocated spaces
Pay for parking (or, at least check if you have to)

So, if we were to follow the law for 1 day or during the seasons when most drivers get caught, they’ll be driven up the wall thinking, “WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG TODAY?!”

Because there would be little to no tickets to write. *evil laughter*

I know. My spaced out thoughts are living in a world too perfect at times. 😛

For what you’re worth

While I understand your frustration and anger may be towards others who may have undermined you, I hope you had the slightest thought that your remark wasn’t proof of anything. Because from where I stood, I only saw it as a paycheck. And I would think you only got it because you had the ability to command it. And that ability was thanks to your visitors.

Sorry. I had to let that out. It disturbs me to stumble on people who feel they’re all high and mighty, than looking at both sides of the coin.

Because yes, we are underestimated. However, we are in this situation not because others feel we deserve it. It’s because they don’t understand the mechanics which drives it. Therefore, they’ve more insecurity.

If you really wanted to prove your worth, then instead tell how you managed to help the ones who engaged your services. Did they make money? Did your visitors engage with you in a conversation? What were the results?

If you don’t know the answer to those questions, then you should be educating more on the why and how it equals to your worth than blowing your horn about your expected worth.

Men In Black 3

It was over the weekend when me and Ariel spent almost 10 hours, yes, TEN hours at the mall. I guess that proves it that we urbanites have really nothing better to do at times. But, I’ll leave that story for another day.

GSC had a new advertisement order

As we went through the whole advertisements and trailers, I noticed GSC changed the arrangement of them. Most of the time, it’ll be advertisements then trailers then the GSC introduction. Or, trailers then advertisements and then introduction. However, it was now introduction, advertisements, trailers, advertisements then trailer again.

It definitely felt very obvious because Ariel was asking me if we were watching The Amazing Spiderman. LOL! Though I do understand why she also felt that way, because the trailer seemed longer than the normal ones. Are the producers of Spiderman worried not many people are going to watch it? Come on, it’s Spiderman! Who’d miss it? 😛

Men in black wrap up

Or not? But first, let me say I watched the first movie at the premiere at Rex cinemas in Sea Park PJ. Yes, it’s been THAT long ago since Men In Black was first shown. And I clearly remember, the best dressed for men was won by a dude in a trench with a lighted up backpack character of the Toy Story alien.

Fast forwarding to the present – unfortunately, I can’t time jump. Men In Black 3 to me captured what the film had in its first release. It had the shroud of mystery and tie-back in the film. Sure, the whole story of an organization overseeing aliens with employees dressed in black suits with black ties and black shades created a trend. But, the second movie to me wasn’t all that good. Maybe it was because they tried too hard interjecting some form of romantic relationship. Who knows?

If you’re planning on watching Men In Black 3, don’t compare it to the first. Like I said out loud over Twitter, it felt like a wrap up to the Men In Black sequel. And I hope they leave it as that.