Second Day In LA

Thursday, 2nd July 2009 08:07

Today was the day we all had to go and get our tickets for the Expo tomorrow (some mildly boring photos of people queuing can be found here, ptom : Queuing(?!) At The Expo). I headed down to the main location with everyone else (although not as early as some) and done a tiny amount of queuing before disappearing to get lunch for people. If I'm honest it was a disorganised mess with pretty much nobody knowing what was going on (and by 'nobody' I mean the staff members). Although to be honest I can't say I was much better, as unknown to me at the time the Junket and press registration was being held in the hotel I'm staying in, so I could of had a nice lay in and not made the quick rush back when I realised I was in the wrong place and going to be late :S

So just as the Junket was starting in the hotel I was being told that I needed to head there. I said my goodbyes and dashed out to grab a taxi, with the expo and the hotel being fairly close I was there and running up the stairs to the event within minutes. Coming in about 20 minutes late I thought I'd get on the interview list with no problems, unfortunately there would be no such luck, it was the only list to be completely filled up :( A quick discussion later with the guys running it and I tagged my name onto the bottom on the off chance that if someone wasn't around I might get my chance to step in.
In an attempt to not look like a total lemon sitting by myself I did a quick scan of the room and saw two guys in P9D tshirts, so headed over and introduced myself. Turns out they were from Hello!Online, Henry and Joshua (I have no idea what their user names are on H!O unfortunately) and had a brief chat with them before they got called away by Chase (the guy organising the press side of things) for a talk about their interview.
A few minutes later they returned with the sad news that they weren't going to be interview them as UFA's handler had decided that they didn't want them to, I can only presume this is because of the downloads the site offer via the tracker? Being the nice guy that I am, lol well one reason was because I didn't like the thought of anyone missing out on a chance to interview their fave idols and secondly because the idea of going in alone had me very nervous, I said they could come in with me if they wanted to and obviously if I got my chance to go in. Unfortunately the Expo staff wasn't having any of that either when it was mentioned, so off they trotted in an understandable sad mood but plus side, apparently they'll reply to their questions if they email them over so I guess it's not all bad news.

So there was me sitting on my own, twiddling with my thumbs for a bit. Perfect time I thought to organise my questions and jot down a couple more so I wasn't totally winging it. Having wrote some of my own questions, I went through some of the suggested questions in the H!B Gets a Press Pass post and added them to my list, jumped onto MSN and caught Gina who suggested another and then with even more time to kill I picked up the phone and called Hexi in the hope she was around to add a couple more questions to the list...which she wasn't and considering how this story ends, turns out to be no big loss.
And then just as I was getting bored and thinking about turning around and chatting to the guys behind about Guilty Gear, in walked the JPH!P guys, opsmonkey and Terrie (who I've no idea what site she's from, I should probably find out). Now, there was me thinking that the H!O guys were organised, but Daigong and his guys were set up good and proper. With quite a few people doing specific jobs and even a kick ass JPH!P microphone, which I wish I'd got a photo of, they really looked like they knew what they were doing (keep an eye on their site and you might see me pop up in one of their videos, I was in super slouch mode at that point).

And so we all waited... and waited... and waited...

And finally the guy strolled down from upstairs with the great news that H!P weren't going to follow the plan that the Anime Expo guys had set out and that all the other Guests of Honour were following, oh no, they were going to pick and choose who they wanted to see. Which unfortunately wasn't any of us as time ran out with some of us being called up but not making it in and the rest left waiting downstairs, I feel really sorry for opsmonkey who was 4th in the list as he would of definitely got his chance if they'd of just stuck to the list.

So, obviously everyone who attended isn't overly pleased with UFA at the moment. Although no reason was given as to why H!O were denied their interview by H!P I can only presume that this was down to the whole file sharing side of the site, I can imagine that they weren't best pleased to see what is essentially the biggest community for dodgy H!P downloads getting the top position for an interview. So as to whether this situation was the cause of the rest of the pick and chose approach from UFA who can say, perhaps they weren't overly keen on the fan sites in general getting in the door with the press passes, I guess even if these sites meet the requirements to get a pass they're still Fan Sites and not "Proper Media". I am however curious to know how many interviews were given to non-Japanese based press, as to me it seems fairly pointless to come all this way just to do press for Japan.
I did also overhear some people from JaME saying they got an interview, but also from what I heard they were saying it basically consisted of the girls introducing themselves and that was it :S

But, as sad as it was not to get to interview the girls I can say that I still had a great time. Much like my failed attempt to hang out at the airport yesterday to meet Morning Musume as they landed (lol, one day off oops) the anticipation and enjoyment was fun, I also got to put some new faces to names and had a good laugh hanging out with everyone there, which is what I'm sure we're all here for? An interview would have been cool (and I guess until they tell us they aren't doing the 1on1 interviews during the expo then the chance is still there), but meeting up with everyone is something I'm really enjoying, it's going to be great attending the concert and the Hello! Party with everyone there, good times! Now all I hope is I can remember every bodies names, I'm useless with names :S
Ooohhhh, the other plus side is with the odd mix up I had with my tickets, my concert ticket was registered to my normal pass rather than my press pass, I managed to bypass the long queues and get a fairly decent seat :)

TAGS [ Fan Meetup Stuff ]
Posted Thursday, 2nd July 2009 08:07 | 6150 Reads

Comments

Comment by Hexi on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 10:24
you do know i was asleep right? i had to be up early today.
sucks about the interview though. but i suppose that with all the people getting press passes JUST to interview them they had to do something. ><


Comment by paul.thomas on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 10:49
Well I do now ;p.
In total I think there was 22 people wanting to do interviews with Morning Musume, with each interview being 15 minutes thats 16 interviews, that's a good wedge that could be done and from what I know there was only a handful of blog/fan sites there, the ones I know of H!O, JPH!P, H!B, and the guys from IntlWota. But even the AX guys seemed a little annoyed with what UFA were doing, ah well.
I guess the fact that they were late starting didn't help matters. But at the end of the day it's no biggy, still had a great time!


Comment by turbos86 on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 14:33
Thanks for the details Paul, I have made a reference to this post in the news update on Hello!Online.


Comment by jaydesummers on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 15:14
That's terrible! I'm sorry you waited just to be denied but on the plus side, it sounds like you're making a bunch of new friends! Seriously though, that's some baaaad ideas from UFA if they're denying their fans. Publicity is publicity no matter which way you look at it. I hope you get the one-on-one interview!


Comment by Kelly on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 16:06
so sad they refuse hello!online
coz i actually though by interviewing morning musume by hello!online will let more western fans to know more about them
so ur going to their concerts aswell?


Comment by Liz on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 16:41
UFA obviously has no idea how things work over here (for starters with the whole no english language songs issue). Sometimes this stupidity is mindboggling, their acting like they are britney spears or something- YOU'RE PERFORMING AT AN ANIME CONVENTION!!!!


Comment by Litago on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 18:17
Hhahahaha...the comment above me!!!
Made my day!! hahah.....thinking they are spears or something, yet Performing at an anime convention!!!!


Comment by Crokk on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 19:38
I am not sorry to say that UFA S U X, maybe they should keep all their artists just in Asia (I am a fan of MM)


Comment by momo on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 20:06
The expo is only in it's first day. Please don't make conclusions until AFTER the expo. It's their first time in mainland USA so give them some time. Maybe they will be successful in the US besides Asia


Comment by lord_jagganath on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 20:29
Sad to say this, but UFA had better stay in Asia... let people who are interested in them come to them.
What they could do is, do songs for anime :lol:


Comment by momo on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 20:57
Can't you people listen? Give them a chance please...


Comment by Kid on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 21:27
Still sounds like you're having a great time dude, make the most of it!


Comment by Hexi on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 22:13
Children, children, stop freaking out because UFA decided to cut down interviews. it's not big loss and i'm sure we'll still be able to find some great ones from other sites translated.

on a side note: paul, is that you in the yellow shirt? http://img18.yfrog.com/i/bmd.jpg/
pretty sure it is....


Comment by Cotton Cloth on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 22:23
Shame it didn't work out for you, Paul. It stinks that they allowed people to build up their hopes and then simply dash them. Certainly they could have had some sense of who was on the press list before they turned up and if they wanted a purely Mainstream Media affair, they could have let people know before they travelled.

In a way, it makes sense. Doubtless they see interviews with fansites as preaching to the converted. They'd rather get on local TV news.



Comment by qleao on Thursday, 2nd July 2009 23:21
These stuff about MM was published/announced in any famous tv-program?. I don't understand, and also I didn't read all this post but all the western H!P fansites were refused?...


Comment by Sube on Friday, 3rd July 2009 03:58
Sucks. Which Hotel was it?


Comment by MorningBerryz on Friday, 3rd July 2009 04:40
Hopefully you got your autographs today!!! (*´∀｀*) No matter what happens with the one on one interviews and such I think you just getting up so close to them and having something signed will make this trip all worth it for sure!!! ＼(^o^)／☆ And there's the concert too to look forward to!!! Gambatte Paul!


Comment by paul.thomas on Friday, 3rd July 2009 06:35
turbos86, cheers, see you guys at Hello!Party tomorrow?

jaydesummers, well I don't put it down as such a biggy it's a shame as it would have been fun to talk to the girls, but in the past two days I've had so much fun that in all honesty it doesn't matter. As for all this talk about UFA making a mistake by not allowing the fan sites interviews *shrugs* I don't personally it's going to affect anyone's opinion, I was there and it hasn't affected my opinion on them, the only thing I was upset about was purely selfish, I wasn't meeting the girls. But today kinda fixed all that.

Kelly, yep I'll be going to the concert tomorrow, should be a good time!!

Liz, lol I get where you're coming from, but it's UFA, if they're not like this with the Japanese fans why would we expect them to be like this with foreign fans?

Crokk, I seriously think everyone is being really harsh with UFA, they have the right to refuse who they like, it's sad but that's about it I think. Plus I think with things like the Q&A today it was pretty cool, sitting there having a laugh with everyone and the girls it was totally cool.

Momo, exactly!

lord_jagganath, personally I hope that MM come and do performances in the US (and fingers crossed Europe) again, I can tell you I'm having the time of my life over here at the moment, I'm mingling with new people each day along with all the old faces (lol, like 2 days old) and it's amazing, everyone is so friendly and it's just so great being able to approach people and no instantly we not only have a common interest but we're all up for talking about it and just generally having a laugh. People are moaning about UFA doing thigns wrong and all this, but in my opinion this is the best thing they've ever done for Western fans, certainly from my perspective they've pulled the H!P community closer together which can only make for a stronger community. I never thought I'd be able to sit there and name H!O admin names and say that I've met them, that I've spent two days hanging out with guys from blog, JPH!P and IntlWota and it's all thanks to UFA. I think we really all need to start looking on the positives here rather than all the negatives. Sure there's been dissapointments (more than one) but I don't think they out weight all the pluses that their appearance here has done for those attending.

Kid, you know it, just quickly popped in to sort my credit card out (think I left it at JPop House oops) and then I'm off down stairs to check out all the cos players at the Expo Party downstairs....well at least I hope they're still cosplaying cos some of them were pretty skimpy :)

Hexi, totally agree...and yep that was me this afternoon shouting over to Lampshade and Matt_D to move their arses over to our side to the Q&A session, where did you spot it?...Lol, you're missing that much that you're searching the net for pics of me? ;p

Cotton Cloth, well they'd literally just arrived when the Q&A started I think so I'm not sure whether they got a list of all of the Press people plus I don't think the Expo would forward them all on would they? But exactly, if you want to get the name around, the fans is probably not the way to go, this whole event is one big fan service so we're all good.

qleao, I wouldn't go as far as to say all western H!P fansites were refused as that's not entirely right. From what I understand H!O was the only site that was refused an interview, from then on UFA decided not to follow the list and do it in the order that they wanted, the time simply run out.

Sube, it was at the Westin Bonaventure.

MorningBerryz, autographs were....much the same as the entire event, badly organsied, so a lot (and I mean a lot) of people didn't get them, including myself. But I left the queue for something which turned out to be very unique I met a couple of people one (which will probably have Hexi at my door ready to kill me when I say it) was Yossie who walked right next to me and waved and smiiled as looked round in awe saying "Hangry" and the other....well, I'll leave that till my next post as it's pretty unique. Fingers crossed the Hangry signing tomorrow will go well, I bought a Hangry cuddly toy to get signed which should look really cool....I was totally conned by JPop House cost me $120 for it :S they left the Japanese price tag on it 3200 yen.....:'( but still I needed something for her to sign and who knows it could have been that expenside becuase it was one of the ones she picked up when she came over lol?
And fingers crossed I'll get a chance to meet MM at the next signing....oh, and I was in an arms reach of Aichan this morning as well, her and Koharu are so much more prettier in real life it was mind blowing :)

Time to party, hopefully post the Day 3 Post later tonight or earlier tomorrow morning.




Comment by chris on Friday, 3rd July 2009 06:54
paul, what a drag man. but you went, tried and that's a true fans effort.

sounds like the good time made up for it and that's cool.




Comment by MorningBerryz on Friday, 3rd July 2009 07:20
A~h! Yossi was right next to you today!!! I'd be like.....Yossi please hold my Hangry Plushy while we get a photo~! o(*´∀｀)o゛♥ I was thinking with the rather short autograph session scheduled today that it'd be difficult but you did your very best and Yes! there's still the session on Saturday ne~. ＾　＾

Wow that's some plushy markup they had there! (・д・`*) So funny that they didn't bother to hide the originally marked price on the tag! :o

Sounds like you're having an awesome time!!! ＼(^o^)／☆


Comment by Kelly on Friday, 3rd July 2009 08:08
lucky you going to the concert aswell
will you be buying goods?
if you are will you buy some for me if you don't mind
of sayumi or ai-chan or just the group photo, under 10 pounds and i will send you a postal cheque like before if you don't mind :) thanks


Comment by edie on Friday, 3rd July 2009 08:31
of all the blogs you sir have the best coverage of what's going on over there in LAX. I feel happy just reading about your experiences xD


Comment by Greg on Friday, 3rd July 2009 08:42
Hey Paul. Was totally cool hanging with you at the press junket man, even though we didn't get anywhere with MM it was great meeting you & circumventing the system to get our tickets without standing in that long ass line. =)


Comment by MorningBerryz on Friday, 3rd July 2009 09:51
Hmmm....I was just thinking about Aichan being at arms length from you earlier today.....me thinks that if I could've been there I sort of would have accidentally bumped into you so that you could have made *contact*!…(^q^) But then you wouldn't be able to wash your arm for a very long time...like ever! OMG would that really be a good thing now that I think about it (。ーωー。) ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪~.


Comment by Sube on Friday, 3rd July 2009 15:08
Thank you! Is that where they're staying as well? Ah.. I wish I went to see them in LA. :( Have fun at the concert!


Comment by Hexi on Friday, 3rd July 2009 19:20
Psh! as if. as soon as you get back i'm ambuxhing you and stealing all your stuff you bought.
no, it was one of the photos on the H!O twitter.

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