Mention of the "first recorded anime convention in the State of Montana" being run by what appears to be a group of inexperienced teenagers, caused me to dig up an old, unpublished post about failed anime conventions.

Last year there was a discussion about a new Austin anime convention that snuck up on people, and that led to some mention of various failed and scammy cons. First to my mind came Anime FF in 2007, in which the organizer used the charity façade then fled with the money – I don’t know if he ever was caught -- but there have been others.

On Novemeber 25th, 2005 in Toronto, Ontario Con No Baka, a three day first time anime gathering, was held. But the hotel shut things down early and canceled Sunday's programming when it was evident, based on lack of hotel nights bought and overall attendance, the convention would be unable to cover its expenses.

But Saturday evening around 5pm during one of the games being played, a staff member came in, halted us, and informed us that there was going to be no Sunday for the con. Apparently due to a lack of attendance, the hotel was also removing the complimentary rooms used for guests and some con ops stuff... So some people were getting screwed and downright pissed.

At the first instant of the premature closure of the con, people who had bought a weekend past Saturday morning were wondering if they would be refunded some sort of a difference since their pass was no longer valid Sunday and at first were told "no"... Also, dealers were losing a day of sales and the paid space... Then the convention started giving out dealer room gift certificates to the con goers as compensation for their lost day but as a result, the dealers would now be losing money since the gift certificates were part of the dealer package or something of that nature... I'm not 100% sure of the exact situation regarding the gift certificates, but watching the convention, the fans, and the dealers all implode in on itself is one of the most amusing things I've seen in a long time. [1]

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If you’re interested, on a tangent, check out my old post Everyone Wants to Run a Con.

There are quite a few things I'd like but probably don't have time for, usually things like movies, tv series, and games, but I still want them. One has been Avatar, the Last Airbender. I remember when it first came out on Nickelodeon I viewed it with a mix of hope and skepticism, part thinking it'd be a copycat anime but another part hoping it'd prove that not everything anime styled must be Japanese. Thankfully, it was the latter, at least in my opinion. A good mix of seriousness and humor, I watched it regularly until I just got too busy with school then work then lost track of when it aired. I did catch it from time to time later on, but mostly in reruns, and the new episodes I actually avoided because I'd missed so many already. But I still wanted more. There are torrents and other sources*, but I know I like it enough that I'd like the nifty box sets.

There are games I'd like too, but.. time.. none.. gone. I have a stack I should finish, a stack that mocks me with beady little eyes and wicked sharp teeth. "You wuss," they chide. I... I... I nearly finished two, just finishing all the side quest and bonuses and such, but then I made the mistake of taking a book off my shelf, one on my "must read" list, and soon the pages had me in their papery grasp. *takes comfort in Puzzle Quest*



Speaking of games, I've not played any Guild Wars this week, but I'm starting to get the itch. I want to get the Tyrian Grandmaster Cartographer title, but progress slows considerably at 80%+. I don't know if I can do it, especially if it includes some of the mission bonus areas I can't reach. We did, finally, however, purchase a Guild Hall. We really don't need one; we don't PvP, but it's an accomplishment having a "home" so to speak and a place to sit around in your underwear.





*Piracy bad m'kay? I'd never download more than 20 in a day illegally copied programs.

Since it was such a messed up case in my opinion, I've been watching for updates to the story. On the 20th theOtaku did some digging into Kirk Kimmel, the name under which DMI (Duplicate Mass Industries), the company Aaron Ecker and Jeff Borncamp claimed to be the parent company of AnimeFF, is registered.

Kirk was supposed to be on-site at AnimeFF with Jeff but never arrived. Jeff and Aaron would constantly reference him as their boss. The first cell phone number that Aaron ever contacted me with had a three-digit Columbus, Ohio area code. Aaron claimed at the time that he was calling from a “company” cell phone number. Aaron is normally based out of Phoenix, AZ. It is interesting that Aaron would call from a Columbus, Ohio area code and that Kirk is based out of Columbus, Ohio.

An internet search shows that a Kirk Kimmel maintains the FAQ for a site called Rush3d.com. There is also an Aaron Ecker who wrote a review for that website under an @rush3d.com email. According to a public website, Kirk Kimmel graduated from Ohio State University (OSU) in 2002. This would make him the same age as Aaron and Jeff. Digging further, we find that Kirk still works for OSU. Is the Kirk Kimmel who works for OSU the same Kirk Kimmel who “owns” DMI? Yes. Public records show that the registered address for DMI was once the address of OSU’s fraternity house. DMI’s current address is residential, not business. Aaron and Jeff told me that DMI was a big company with offices in numerous states and ties to the printing/gaming/PC media industry. In truth, DMI is a “company” in the loosest sense of the word. There's no evidence that DMI is anything but registered paperwork. The company cannot even support its owner fulltime, let alone any other employees.[1]

After I heard about this whole affair, I did some Googling of my own, and I'd turned up an FBI report on an Aaron Ecker from a few months ago; I wasn't sure, however, if it was the same person. I wasn't even sure if it was the right state, but theOtaku suspects it is.

Is the Aaron Ecker, indicted for internet fraud, the same Aaron Ecker who organized AnimeFF’s “Tour For The Cure” convention? We believe so for three reasons:

(1) Same Middle Initial: AnimeFF’s Aaron Ecker owns a personal email account that begins: a e ecker. Aaron E. Ecker.
(2) Same Location: Both Aaron Eckers are based in Phoenix, Arizona. The press release was put out by the Phoenix branch of the FBI and the Aaron Ecker we had contact with called from a Phoenix area code.
(3) Same Age: The Aaron Ecker described in the press release is 26. We can confirm that AnimeFF’s Aaron Ecker is also 26. This was confirmed both through information gleaned from his website registrations AND from a public background check.

As far as theOtaku.com is concerned, our public investigation of AnimeFF is concluded. We have shown that both organizers of the AnimeFF “Tour For The Cure” convention are hardened con-artists. We have also shown that there is no risk of lawsuit from DMI, a company that only exists on paper. We made the right decision in speaking out early. theOtaku.com, among other parties, has already taken the necessary steps in filing complaints and informing the proper authorities.[2]

Sadly, yesterday is the last in the investigation, although not for reasons that threaten theOtaku or any of its supporters. They've done all they can, and I'm glad they contacted the authorities, but I do hope it's not the end of things. It'd be nice to hear that Aaron and Jeff got slapped with at least a nice hefty fine. Then again, in my perfect world, they'd also be forced to parade around in magical girl furry costumes to raise the money (plus interest) they'd taken.

[EDIT]
From Adam's blog, someone found a photo with Jeff in the background. To see it, click here.

[EDIT]
This email was sent out:

------------------------------------------------------------------
Feature Story: The Biggest Anime Scandal Of 2007
------------------------------------------------------------------

In late January, theOtaku.com agreed to help an organization
throw a charity convention in Las Vegas. All revenue from the
convention was supposed to go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation
for breast cancer research. The convention organizers, a Jeff
Borncamp and an Aaron Ecker, also agreed to donate $2,700 worth
of prizes to us so that we could run a breast cancer awareness art
contest.

Many people in the anime community were thrilled about the
convention, since it was a way to show the world that anime fans
can be charitable.

Fast forward and we hit a nightmare scenario. Jeff, the on-site
representative at the convention, stood up in the middle of the
event and fled with the cash box, which contained all the money
for the charity (between $2,000 and $3,000).

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[EDIT 5/29/09] Many of the above links are gone or dead, but there is this podcast by Anime Pulse, in which they interview Adam, the man behind theOtaku.com, who covered the scam. Skip to 00:33:00.

There’s a neat fanart contest where the prize is a Wii, and it’s open internationally. I really hope everything goes through smoothly, because I Googled for more information on various art contests where a console was a prize and uncovered one very big scam.

The Otaku, apparently a fairly large anime site – I’m not to up to date on the who’s who of anime websites anymore – was promoting a The Anime Tour for The Cure (ATFC) convention held by Anime Film Foundation (AnimeFF) where “100% of ticket proceeds will go to Breast Cancer research”. It sounded like a good cause, and Anime Vegas agreed to help. The sponsor was also holding an art competition with an impressive list of prizes, two Playstation 3’s and six Nintendo Wiis. This sounded too good to be true, but:

AnimeFF was to provide eight winners of this contest with six Nintendo Wii consoles and two PS3 consoles each. theOtaku.com was told that the reason AnimeFF was able to provide such a prize package, given the scarcity of these consoles at the time, was because its parent company, Duplicate Mass Industries, had ties to the video game industry. theOtaku.com was also told, again and again, that prize fulfillment would be a speedy and painless process. theOtaku.com has hosted many contests, sponsored by both small companies and large corporations. Prize fulfillment has never been an issue for any of them.

The entire affair, however, turned out to be a disaster, and in the end Jeff Borncamp, AnimeFF’s lead organizer, took the money and ran. One convention worker wrote:

He originally claimed that he was going to have PS3s, Xbox360s and Wiis and such set up. Bzzt. Wrong. We had to supply our own gaming consoles[…] He was going to supply us with iPods full of anime for people to watch individually. Wrong. He didn't have anything. Again, we supplied a projector and DVD player. He promised catered food, VIP areas, and other insane benefits. Guess what? Yeah. Complete goddamn lie. Three day con? Bloody fucking lie. Even as far as today, the site said we'd atleast have food/beverages during pre-reg. Lie. We were told that these people would make a donation to help our local con out. Right now? Partial lie. This isn't 100% just yet confirmed, so go figure. Not to mention that there was NO local advertising for this con. None. Only the website and word of mouth from us who were tapped to work this thing.

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A dealer, meanwhile, blogged about her experience.

[...] I was told to expect 100-200 attendees. I was told that I could back out and they understood. But I live in Las Vegas, my laptop travels, there was no reason not to go. This is not the same for the other four exhibitors. […] They were told there would be a dealer’s room with 20 dealers, 2000 attendees, and that the convention was Saturday and Sunday.

Well there is no Sunday. The revised version of this event had knocked out Sunday. And there was no Dealer’s room. Let me clarify, the dealer’s room was put in a small 3rd floor lounge overlooking the baseball field. We were supposed to have pipe, drape, table, trash. We arrived to a pile of tables and ‘put it whereever you want.’ I had reserved 1 table. Some dealers had reserved 3 or 4. With chaos ruling my one table became 3. I had to make a table triangle to wall off my space. This was free, right? No big deal how many tables someone reserved, right?

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TheOtaku did a little digging into Jeff’s online activities prior to the convention turning up several posts on various meetup sites where he described himself as “the primary organizer for Tour For The Cure” and wrote enthusiastically about getting into the “growing market of anime”, yet his attitude at the convention seemed nothing like the enthusiastic organizer he pretended to be.

When I arrived at the Cashman Center in Las Vegas, I asked a young man at the registration table for my badge. He handed it to me and then started complaining about what a disaster the convention was and how he wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place. He seemed a little jumpy. I told him I appreciated his volunteering. I expected to hear many similar stories throughout the day, from all the volunteers who nobly came out to salvage the event. After picking up my badge, I turned to leave and then turned back, asking the young man where to go to meet the voice actors and Jeff Borncamp, the AnimeFF representative. The young man at the desk then informed me that HE was Jeff Borncamp.

I was shocked. I thought I had been speaking to an unhappy convention volunteer, not AnimeFF’s only representative, not the person assigned to check us into our hotel rooms, and definitely not the person who stated online in so many different venues that he was the one running the event in the first place. [3]

And he wasn’t the only one to think Jeff’s behavior odd.

Whenever I tried to talk about anything anime related he pushed it aside and said he did not like anime. I went off thinking "What kind of person runs an Anime con that doesn't even like anime?" When I went on a short break I told a few people that I thought something was not right with this "Jeff" person and to what I found out there were other volunteers who had thought the same thing and already reported it. [4]

So now what is everyone to do? Attempts to reach the elusive Jeff have all failed. As the webmaster of theOtaku wrote earlier this month, “A call to the Cashman Center, home of AnimeFF's "Tour For The Cure" convention, has revealed that the space was paid for by Ohio-based Duplicate Mass Industries, LLC and not Anime Film Foundation. AnimeFF's website is offline and we no longer have a contact there whose email does not bounce.” The Susan G. Komen Foundation, which was supposed to benefit fromt eh convention, one month after the convention date, have received no donations from AnimeFF or any of the parties related to the convention. Writes Adam of theOtaku, "I was personally told that 100% of ticket revenues (between $2,000 and $3,000 considering attendance) would go to the charity, so this is disappointing, albeit unsurprising news." And to make matters worse, now one of the other AnimeFF organizers is attempting to turn the tables.

I received an early Valentine's gift two nights ago from Aaron Ecker, Jeff's partner at AnimeFF. Aaron didn't show up at the convention, but I spent a LOT more time on the phone with him than with Jeff, so I personally hold both equally responsible for what transpired. Many of the promises (i.e. lies) made to me and others about the convention were made by Aaron. I only talked to Jeff on the phone once before the convention, and to Aaron, dozens of times.

Aaron's lovely Valentine's voicemail, left on my personal cell phone, went something like this: "Adam, you are so sued. You have no idea how sued you are." And the "f" word was used a few times too.

I have an mp3 of the whole thing, but, as of this second, I have no intention of posting it online. I also have more than enough data in my dossier to do an investigative report on Aaron. A lot is being done in the background, on all fronts and by many parties beyond myself. We'll keep you updated. Stay patient as we continue in lock-down. [5]

More information may be found at the following additional news updates:
story 06: contest rip-off (part 1)
story 06: contest rip-off (part 2)
investigation 06: jeff, WoW thief
story 07: anime Vegas perspective

[EDIT 5/29/09]
Many of the above links are gone or dead. Looks like TheOtaku did some updating and trashed all their archives. Bad move imo. I hate when sites do that. I added more of the quoted accounts in case the other links go dead.

And the world was destroyed bay fire and brimstone... and bad comics.

I apologize if you’re a Laurell K. Hamilton fan and take offense at what I'm about to say, but I won't apologize for my opinion, which is that the lady writes the worst most clichéd Mary Sue stories I've ever had the pleasure-pain to read. I first read it based on the raves of one person -- although it wasn't until recently I remembered considering buying two of her books via a bookclub years back -- and it wasn't bad, although with each page the heroine grew more and more perfect and more and more annoying. Granted, I'm very hard on female protagonists; if they're too girly I sneer, but if they're too perfectly badass I also sneer, so by the end of Guilty Pleasures I had that unsettling feeling one gets when they read a dime store romance, like I'd just sullied my brain. True, I read smutty fanfics, but at least those make no attempt to disguise what they are. Yet the book wasn't horrible, and I decided to buy the next in the series.

That was a mistake.

First of all, I couldn't find it used, although I'm surprised there aren't more ex-Hamilton fans eagerly unloading their books to make shelf space for something better. So I had the shell out full price for a new copy. Early into The Laughing Corpse though the formula was repeating itself and though I finished the book with little pain, I'd had enough. I washed my hands of Laurell K. Hamilton.

But the world would not let me forget her.

It's Anita Blake the comic book! When I read this in a blog, I shuddered, then I googled Ms.Hamilton, and then I wished I hadn't. It turns out that later in her Anita Blake series werewolves, wereleopards, werehyenas, were-everything, and "ardeur", which compels her heroine to have sex every few hours, appear.

( a couple of reviews by ex-fansCollapse )

Speaking of sex, has anyone seen the director’s cut of the anime Kite and Mezzoforte? I saw those based on someone’s raves, someone who insisted the sex scenes contributed to plot blah blah blah, but they don’t. You could omit them or pan away at the right time and get the exact same message across: these two people had sex. The scenes were there just for the opportunity to show bouncing breasts and other… stuff, so it’s no wonder those two anime are considered hentai – though the sex bits make up a small percentage cut – nor that the recommender’s fansite was often targeted as a porn by webcrawlers and search engines.

I went out for dim sum today for lunch, and as the cart came by I spotted congee, the instant version of which headlesspuppet affectionately calls “catpuke”. Naturally, based purely on that appealing description I had to try it, and it was good. (Wikipedia definition) Then again, I'm not a very picky an eater. Meanwhile, what the lady with the cart called potstickers were good too, but not fried crispy as I prefer them; for crispiness the orangey shrimpy thingies were better. And, of course, there were the sesame red bean balls. MmMmmm. I warmed a left over one up last night and ate with tea while watching a rental movie. *bliss* Yes, they all had names, but I couldn’t understand half of what Cart Lady was saying, and our conversations came own to me trying to clarify what was she said was inside the dim sum.

Afterwards, I stopped by two animal shelters. A couple years ago I was on a hunt for a pet, but something always came up -- moving, job, family stuff, possession by an evil spirit, etc. – that made the time not right to get one. In the wake of recent events, however, I decided to start looking again, but it’s not an easy thing. First of all, I’m limited by size. My landlord accepts large dogs, but since I don’t have a nice yard that wouldn’t be fair to the dog. Thus, I’m limited to small to medium animals. Secondly, the selection of dogs is dwarfed by the cats. At each shelter I’d estimate 75% were felines, the papers clipped on their cages often reading the same thing, stray found or surrender from unwanted litters, proof before my eyes of what happens when people don’t fix their pets and let them run round. (It’s something I believe strongly in, especially after seeing the mange ridden and emaciated strays in Pomeii and Rome) And although I don’t hate cats, I’ve never met one– even a stray I once fed, socialized, got it shots and spayed, then found a home for -- I’ve gotten particularly attached to. They’re just often less social; that’s their nature. Sometimes they can be affectionate yet more often they seem aloof, hiding under things and dashing by whenever someone new is in the room. It's hard to get to know one. Not to mention they climb on everything, so tiny paws that have been in the litterbox end up on the counter and table. Maybe one day I’d get a feline. You never know, but for now I want something I can do all the things I used to, walk outside, sit in the grass, or go for a drive.

While on the topic of animals, I found this funny chat log between two people, a girlfriend and boyfriend:

bf: "Would we be able to keep mice and rats in the same cage?"
gf: "No, rats attack mice."
bf: "What? Why?"
gf: "Uhm... because mice are tasty rats are predators and mice are prey?"
bf: "Why are the mice prey??"
gf: "Because they're smaller and-"
bf: "SO?! WE DON'T EAT MIDGETS JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE SMALLER!!"

Mmmm midgets.

Lastly I found in the used DVD section of the gaming store yesterday a BLAME DVD. Other than being of better quality, it’s nothing new from the old video files I'd seen before, but it was only five dollars, so I got it on impulse. Five dollar!

Sunday I spent a lot of time zoning out, thinking about people and friendship and life and love and death and anything else that would flit into and out of my mind.

Tomorrow is the day, and for that I'm rather excited, because closure is good, not that I expect many to actually care. If they did, well, never mind. People’s actions and words don’t mesh a great deal of the time, and that’s all I’ll say for now. I'll save my snarkiness for later.

I know there's at least one person on my friendslist who likes the Teen Titans, so I present a link to several sound clips, including the Japanese theme song and the version Larry sang. Browse and enjoy.

To any anime fans Arizona and the surrounding area, you might want to consider attending this year's AniZona. It's their first year, but, impressively, they managed to arrange Yoshitaka Amano as Guest of Honor. Unfortunately, not everyone took the news well, particularly those who are fans but unable to attend, calling the con "ghetto", whining about how such a fledgling con won't be able to handle it, how the organizers said before they didn't have money for big guest, why such a big name would go to such con instead of a big well established on like Anime Expo. Maybe Amano like small cons. Maybe he likes the way they asked. Maybe his horoscope told him it to. Who knows? And as for the allegations that they lied about not having money, maybe they didn't want to make any promises they couldn't keep. Personally, to me it sounds like a case of sour grapes.

It's later; thus, it’s time to be a snarky.

I read not too long ago a comment in a community that began, "I hate to be bitchy, but..." after which the commenter immediately did get "bitchy". Personally, I believe it's too often become way to excuse rude or crude or nasty behavior or words, because if they truly hate to be or don't mean to be a certain way, then they wouldn't do it. They’d think and reword your statement.

Also, ever notice how some people spend so much time trying to find out what's wrong with what you say that they don't actually hear what it is you're actually saying. There seems to be a certain perverse pleasure in trying to contradict your words, find the loopholes, or twist things around. For instance -- and this isn't the best example -- if I were to say, "Eating doughnuts to excess is a bad thing," such a person would reply, "It's okay to eat doughnuts." But you see, I never said there was anything wrong with doughnuts; I'm quite fond of their fried goodness, yet along the way the key word "excess" was overlooked, intentionally perhaps?

I don’t remember if I mentioned his before, but there’s a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy movie coming out this year, and the cast includes Alan Rickman as the voice of Marvin the Paranoid Android. It’s been so long since I first read the series, that I ought to reread it before I see the movie.

I’m behind in reading the manga, but if you’re interested in GANTZ, the first edited season of the anime and the first five volumes of the manga are available HERE. ADV is releasing the first DVD next month.

Today was my first weekend back north, and I took advantage of it by sleeping in. Afterwards, I decided to try a new restaurant that opened up nearby, and I’m glad I did. The best way to describe it is “pan-Asian” for they serve Japanese, Chinese, and Thai food, and, unable to resist due to having not eaten all day, I sampled a little bit of each. I filled up, however, on tempura and sashimi, and the Thai is now in my refrigerator for later. Mmmm, yummy.

While eating I read over the newspaper, something I like to do on weekends, and a few stories caught my eye.

( Teen sitter's release left up to probationCollapse )

I’m not going to bother debating whether she did it or not or her innocence or guilt, but the statement about whether a scared 13-year old could knowingly wave her rights got me wondering. On one hand, some teenagers are pretty bright and mature, but on the other, she is just a “kid”.

( Iraqis from region start a 1,200-mile journey -- just to register for votingCollapse )

Once again we’re presented with an attitude that contrast that of most Americans; we, myself included, take a lot for granted, but my inner cynic also wonders if this will make a permanent difference. Initiating change is but one hurdle; maintaining that change is another.

My project lead is encouraging us to work overtime, but I managed to get most of my work done Friday, and I’m still desperate for some “fun time”, so I don’t think I’ll bother going in on Monday. I could always tell them my wrist was acting up from battling all those ninjas… or something.
"I'm telling you, they came out of nowhere, from the doors, the windows, the skylight..."
"You don't have a skylight."
"... Well... now I do."