ALA Day 2

Okie dokie! Yuka here updating for Day 2 of Anime Los Angeles 2009!
Sorry that we didn't get to this sooner, but we were dead tired afterward.

Starting day 2, as soon as we walked out of the elevator, there were of course tons more people in the lobby and the main floor. More panels, costumes, concerts, etc. First, I'd like to get a couple complaints out of the way. x.x

The one problem with the hotel that we started to notice: the bottom 2 floors, including the main floor, had absolutely no cell phone service. Extremely inconvenient. Especially because the three of us were separated half the time.

Another problem that I noticed: even though I've noticed that the hygiene problems at cons has gone down ever so slightly, A LOT of people chose to wear the same costume/cosplay they wore the day before, and as much as I don't want to say this, a couple of those people were masquerade participants. Unless you've made 3 of the same costume, please don't wear the same thing every day. ._.

Enough ranting about that... on to the panel, and then the...
>.> <.< MASQUERADE!!!!!!!!! :DDDDDD

Panel:
The one panel that Aki, Miki, and I did go to was about the translation from Japanese to English when dubbing anime/manga/music. The panelists: A Japanese teacher from a local college, a woman who majored in Japanese literature, a man who has connections in the dubbing industry, and a long-time anime fan. Not the biggest source of credibility, but I guess this could go either way. I don't know for now.
They did stay on topic (and thankfully did not stray onto the oh-so-famous subs vs. dubs). Everyone was respectful, there were laughs, known and unknown anime, visual & audio aides, explained accurately and clearly for those who weren't familiar with the subjects they were talking about. Overall, Aki says this panel gets an A-, because an actual translator would have been great! :D

Masquerade:
We all like to try and be the first ones in line for the masquerade, right? Right. So Miki, Aki, and I go to sit in the (at the time very short) masquerade line at around 3:30 or 4, since seating was at 6 and it began at 7. They moved our group of about maybe 8 or 9 people about 4 times in the span of about an hour or so. Finally they had us in the right spot, gave us 'Sorry' ribbons, and let us in the front of the regular masquerade line. But, the crew was having techical difficulties and instead let us in at around 8:30-ish.

The toastmaster Tadao Tomomatsu was as funny as ever. :] I think ALA has found their MC match.

The actual masquerade: There were some costumes that I didn't expect to be show. Most of this year's entries surpassed my expectations. Tons of brownie points go out to the participants! :]
But because of the 2 1/2 hour technical difficulties and moving the line so many times, this year's masquerade, we give a ............-drumroll please- *crash!* B+

I'll be uploading pictures very soon! Even though there's not that many this year. D:
I suppose that's it for day 2 of ALA 2009!

-Yuka