The Dealer "Cartoon Passion" was selling almost, if not, 100% bootleg merchandise at Megacon this year. All those bags, wallets, jewelry pieces? Yeah. All Hong Kong bootlegs.

None of that money is going to license holders.

For those of you that may be unfamiliar with official merchandise in Japan and don't want to be caught with cheap knock-off shit that will turn green or fall apart in a week, avoid them.

There were actually a good number of dealers with this stuff (it's been a wave in the last couple of years beyond wall scrolls and SM CDs, venturing into plush and the like). It's harder to spot, unfortunately- just be wary of deals too good to be true or slightly off designs. Cartoon Passion, though, was the only one I saw who did nothing BUT bootlegs.

I even saw Minekura and Tsubasa bootleg artbooks- no yen price on the back. In fact, most bootlegs lack official logos, Japanese yen prices, or Japanese writing (for those of you that can tell the difference between the writing systems). Another good way to tell.

They'll keep doing it if we keep buying- profiting a huge margin off selling us crap.

So, apparently, we're getting a 5th park here at WDW called "Night Kingdom". It's going to be somewhat like Discovery Cove, but open only at night. You get into through a larger version of the Adventurer's Club (the only part of the park that has me excited- well, that, and the night hours).

I kind of wish it was a villain theme or coaster theme that was rumored earlier.

Park opens in 2011.

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jim_hill/archive/2008/02/15/night-kingdom-to-reimagine-the-disney-theme-park-going-experience.aspx

Damn, I love me some American Gladiators.

Santa!Light might make Baby Jesus cry, but he makes me smile. A lot.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Hey, gang- this is a listing of the fannish stuff we're getting rid of. Some of it was in the last post, but we did add a lot of items as well, and reduced some prices, too.

If you like something, but don't like the price, ask, and we'll probably be able to work something out.

After the stuff is here for a day or two, I'll be posting it to Garage Sale Japan, and eventually, as big lots on ebay.

If you don't have access to comment to this LJ, you can e-mail at fluffymaru @ bellsouth.net if you're interested in something.

( Stuff for Sale )

For those of you who like the holidays with a side of geek...

http://www.jacon.org/winterball/

Come see the event I've been buying decorations for!

Man, I'm winning friends and influencing people all OVER the place this week.

After my little Lair run-in, this is turning into quite the week for community shit. I'm going to get a rep if this keeps up- people are so fucking touchy.

( Kurofai bullshit this way )

Okay, seriously- this is the most retarded thing I've ever seen.

On kuroxfai, they're celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Japanese release of chapter 125...which, whatever. But the BEST part is...they're calling it the "wedding" anniversary. Ummmm...what?

I seriously want to make a big post and tell them that THAT is why the rest of the Tsubasa fandom hates them with a passion.

God, I hate fangirls when they get like this. Chapter 125 was gay enough in canon- you don't need to gay it up even more. Wedding...::snort:: Like they would ever EVEN.

In other news, I am now caught up on Viewfinder. Sweet. I love that manga. I kind of need to do another big manga post, now that I think about it.

Hi again! The continuing adventures of three geeks in the wilds of Tokyo...

( Day 4 or 'Sick? You have to be fucking kidding me...' )

Why don't you make up your fucking mind? Either declare the damn site porn free, or stop deleting fandom's artists! You might be able to get away with having it both ways, but we sure as hell don't like it, and we're going to bitch at you so loud and long that you'll want to shoot yourselves to get away from it.

Besides, what you're doing right now is awfully close to false advertising. You say that the illegal/legal lines are blurry, so you're just cutting everything of questionable content. Yeah, that's fair. How about you get over it- or tell the whiners to? Or here's an even better idea. How about we LOCK or DELETE *posts* instead of ENTIRE ACCOUNTS. Or, you know...give warnings.

Okay, here are the photos from Ueno that I couldn't fit into the other post. I tried to select photos that were different from the 2003 trip (I ended up with quite a few photos that looked a lot alike)...

( Photos from Ueno Park )

Now that I have some free time, I can finally post Tokyo pics and reports! This will be kind of divided up into days/districts, so I don't kill myself or my friends list. Some of this stuff was actually written a while ago, so if something sounds off, date-wise, that's why :D

Here we go!

( Tokyo Travel Log Days 1-3 )

So. Just watched GoF again, and I really do think it's the best of the HP movies. Now, granted, I hate the book, so the fact that the movie is better may help that. But I think it has more to do with the pacing and editing and the way it was filmed. No confusing, weird scenes, and beautiful imagery. They picked just the right things to leave in, and didn't spend too much time on any one thing. And the casting was awesome, as well. And Amos' reaction to Cedric is PERFECT, and made me cry AGAIN.

The first two movies were pretty good, too, but those books are a little more lacking, so...

Guess I should get back to cleaning ::pouts::

EDIT::

OMFG Tsubasa 160 WHAT! Want next chapter NOW. And a scanalation for this one would be nice, too. ::bites nails::

Hey, guys...

I need the help of some people who have read the HP books more than I have...

I'm looking for 3, 10-minute (if you're reading it aloud) scenes from any of the books. The passages should be interesting and kind of self-contained on their own. No passages with lots of thinking or devoid of dialogue.

I'll be flipping through the books myself, but I'd like to hear some opinions on what the best passages like this are...

The Shrieking Shack comes to mind to me, but I'll have to check it again for self-contained aspects...

The garage sale went well, although I'm still waiting to hear from one guy who wanted to make an offer on whatever comics I had left-over. The rest of the left over stuff we'll throw up on ebay or take other specific places (like CD Warehouse for the CDs, etc.) It was hot as hell out there, though, so I'm glad we're done. The house is already felling more open...

I want to do a HUGE cosplay specific one soon (meaning, maybe the Fall), and maybe we can all bring our stuff to one location and advertise together.

In Disneyana news, pin night went VERY well. We got some great pins- the Adventurer's Club LE 750 came out, so we picked that up. Found some other cute pins, traded with someone from Paris, sat next to an English couple. Best thing for me, though, was the GORGEOUS Jessica Rabbit LE 500 I got in the LE mystery trade. I almost dropped the envelope when I peeked inside and saw which pin it was.



See?

Pin trading is a lot of fun, but expensive, too. At least, to do it with any sort of real trading power, it is. But I would say it's my number one hobby right now...

So, if you're looking for geek-type stuff for cheap, you might want to come to:

Our Geek Garage Sale
239 Pap Finn Ct. (a.k.a. Kevin's house)
Orlando, FL 32828
Waterford Lakes
Saturday and Sunday
Starts at 9 AM

We'll have comic books, manga, DVDs, video games, toys/figures, games, YGO, Magic, Pokemon, Casey's old Transformers and other toys, Disney pins, CDs...the list goes on and on.

So come on out if you like cheap geek stuff and can make it.

If anyone is reading this, they're in Orlando now! The door...it's about to give. We don't have guns, but we'll use fire and our swords and try and get out- is anywhere safe? What should we do?!?

Please, PLEASE, if you get this, and know some way to stop this, contact us anyway you...OH GOD! They're i....jkbfongfdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

Needless to say, I'm pissed.

Not because I'm a member of any of the communities that went down, but because this is an OBVIOUS witch hunt.

If this continues, I'm not likely to renew (or ask for a renewal as a gift). If they want to treat perfectly innocent people as criminals, then I don't need their services. They've chosen who they want to cater to, and it isn't their paying members.