Computer guru, internet junkie, and gadget freak. I've been building solutions in education through technology since 1997. I am in the business of serving educators. I have many interests but I seldom write about it since I'm shy. I am not a writer, poet, scholar or artist so my writing is awful, wordy, long and full of grammar errors. I am a computer nerd, a gamer and more importantly a developer of ideas. This is my blog, raw and unedited.
Phoenix Comicon does not allow video of any kind this year but
guests can grant permission to the room by telling the room or moderator that they want video. That's it. Let them know they can make a difference! Tweet FB etc and let them hear your voice!
Send them a message like this-
.@celebrityname you will be at Phoenix Comicon this weekend ask them to allow video of your panel, your fans want to see you! #yesphxcc #phxcc
Comic Book Conventions are a place for celebrities to interact with their fans to help promote their work, causes and careers. Many people video these panels and share them with the world on social media sites like YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Please do not let Phoenix Comicon's panels this year have no internet footprint.
Have you ever enjoyed watching a Comicon panel of your
favorite actor on YouTube? I have been
filming panels for the past 7 years first as a Fan and second as a Fanatic who
wants to share the experience with others around the world. Panels are what I love at Comicon and I don't
come for much of anything else.
Video blog here.
This week Dick Van Dyke was announced by Phoenix Comicon and
joining their lineup but they aren't sure about being able to share his first
appearance at a Comicon on social media.
Recently there has been a growing trend of conventions
banning filming of any type at celebrity panels, thus closing those moments to
the few who can sneak short cell phone videos out. This practice is not the fault of the
convention organizers but that of the celebrity or their agent. As conventions grow in size, they are able to
attract bigger name talents but the downside of these A-Listers is in their
contract they will not allow any recordings without their permission. In 2015, Phoenix Comicon was faced with that dilemma
and faced with the prospect of losing said actor, they acquiesced. In order to enforce the policy and make it
easy on the volunteers they made it a blanket policy for all main panels, and
the dark ages began.
You are probably thinking to yourself, "but I love John
Barrowman and watching all his antics on YouTube at various
conventions!" Yes, there are actors
who understand the power of positive social media and use it to promote themselves,
their careers and other special causes they represent. Then there are others who want to control everything
because they don't want their likeness to be put out there, afraid of saying
something stupid or controversial, or just want to hide under a rock.
This practice has to stop.
I certainly understand that the convention organizers have to make a
proper business decision to make the convention the most talked about con of
the year so they sign the contract and the blackout happens. Comicons are for the fandom but the fans have
power.
There is a possible solution to all this. As fans we need to make it known to the
actors that we want to see them on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook to
laugh and share with our friends and groups.
When the comicon organizers make a blanket policy, they are doing it to
protect themselves but let's say somehow the fans are able to get their
attention and make it known that they can grant permission to the room to film. Let's hope they listen to the fans and exercise their desire. Any actor on stage has the right to give the
audience permission, they just have to say it, preferably when they first sit
down, or they can let the moderator know so they can announce it during the
introduction.
What do you think about all this? Please comment below!
Celebrity Panels this year at Phoenix Comicon 2017.
June 21, 2013. This morning I witnessed the airport hotel taxi scam where they victimize weary travelers in the wee hours of the morning and take them for a ride. It's 5:40 AM, a large group of people are waiting outside the Sheraton Gateway Hotel Atlanta waiting for the appointed hotel shuttle to pick them up at 5:45 and take them to the airport. At 5:43 three minivan taxis come streaming into the front door and the driver jumps out and announces that the shuttle will be 40 minutes late and they were called to bring passengers at $2 each to the airport.
The cabbie runs inside to "talk" to the hotel and make it look official. As the seconds tick, one by one the will power fails and the first car is loaded and on their way. Realizing that they may be left behind, others pile into the second and then a couple in the third. I think I counted 10 people who were taken for a "ride" and got bilked. About a dozen remain resolute and stay to take their chances. As the third cab not wanting to wait any longer rolls away, at 5:45 the airport shuttle arrives. I think the cab has a spotter. The couple who took the third cab jump out since they crossed paths with the shuttle. Later they reported that the cabbie, once having them in their possession announced it would be $10 a person to get to the airport. What a SCAM! What's worse is that there were no hotel staff outside to protect the customers, which implies that the midnight shift might be in on the scam.
Imagine my surprise when I saw on my facebook wall that
Costco was now offering fresh made sushi right at the store. Imagine my astonishment that Costco only has
it at one location and it happens to be at MY Costco at Paradise Valley
Mall! Having shopped there just a few
days earlier I headed over to grab just one thing, sushi!
Costco Paradise Valley Mall, Phoenix AZ
Arriving in the afternoon we were greeted with the display
and already most of the salmon rolls were gone.
I found out that they just started this two days ago and PV was the test
market. Let’s hope it’s actually
good. We grab all three types and headed
home.
Background
Keep in mind, I’m no sushi expert and I rarely go out to eat
sushi because I feel it is mostly overpriced.
I never buy from the grocery store and consider the rolls they pass as
sushi in the refrigerated section a bastardization of the concept. I have however hosted my own sushi parties
making them from scratch using sashimi grade fish flown in from the coast and
have all the cooking supplies to go with it.
I have also eaten at conveyor belt sushi restaurants at budget locations
in Tokyo at Shinjuku station where the common people eat sushi, which is by far
not a fine dining experience (which it shouldn’t be).
Hey Mom! I'm at Costco in Tokyo
Large Sashimi Platter Costco Tokyo
This is commonplace in Japan... Sashimi - Sushi - Zushi! Prices in Yen
I have also bought Zushi and Sashimi from the Costco in
Tokyo. I am also in Culinary Arts
education, having created an online culinary arts program used by businesses,
schools and universities called KP Culinary Arts Online.
The Review
We get home and inspect the rolls. The first thing we notice is that they are missing a tray for soy sauce. They use the traditional dry wasabi powder and it was of good consistency. Included was a fair amount of white pickled ginger. The rolls were done in the inside out roll style and you get 8 pieces per roll, 2 per package at $10. The rolls are larger than the average roll, almost twice as large compared to grocery stores and upscale stores like AJ’s. Inside they put a generous amount of the product and you never feel cheated unless you get the end pieces which is capped by the rice. The rice was drier than what I would have liked but that may have been the timing of when we purchased the rolls. From what we can tell, 90% of all ingredients are items they normally sell at the Costco warehouses in the USA.
The only complaint I have is that whomever the sushi chef
was went a little overboard with the wasabi.
You can use wasabi to accent the roll inside but in some bites you find
a large enough portion of wasabi that makes you gasp, and I ate mine without
any additional wasabi or soy sauce. If
they are a little more careful with the green stuff, this would have been a
glowing review. My other complaint is
that the rolls should not be placed side by side. They were stuck to each other and took some
effort to get them unstuck. Either place
them apart and have the soy sauce in between or place a small piece of wax
paper or plastic to separate them.
Admittedly not the best sushi I’ve ever had but it’s damn
good and you can’t beat the price vs value Costco offers. If you are a sushi lover, definitely give
their sushi a try. I’m going back for
more! (except when I went back a couple days later they were all out in the
evening.) I guess they can’t meet the
demand.
Here’s my review of each type of roll.
Smoked Salmon Roll
Consists of Costco’s sockeye smoked salmon, cream cheese,
cucumber and a line of wasabi inside with a light drizzle of wasabi mayonnaise. Generous portions of the smoked salmon make
this roll the highlight of the trio.
Definitely my favorite roll to buy there.
Dungeness Crab Roll
Consist of what I believe to be Phillips dungenous crab mix
in generous amounts along with cucumber and a good helping of avocado with a
light spread of wasabi inside, topped off with a fair amount of capelin
roe. This was a nice treat and really
tasty. I loved the portions of crab
inside the roll and the roe was a nice touch.
Shrimp Crunch Roll
Contains chopped up precooked shrimp, a good helping of
avocado and cucumber with a small line of wasabi inside, and topped up with a
decorative drizzle of wasabi and spicy mayonnaise with a sprinkle of onion
crunch topping. This was a delightful
roll but was very plain for my taste.
The crunchy onion topping was a nice touch but it didn’t fit, was soggy
and the pieces were too large for the rolls and served to fall off when you
pick it up. It’s still an enjoyable
snack but my least favorite of the three.
I would recommend replacing this roll with another roll style.
Thank you for reading and I let me know what you think of
Costco’s new fresh sushi!
Having spent the past 10 days living in Japan and with five more days of my trip I sit back and think about how this experience has quite significantly differed from my last one a year ago.
Last year I had an opportunity for the first time in my life to spend 8 days in Japan. Like any happy go lucky otaku I went crazy. Japan has been in the heart of my travel goals. Being a well seasoned traveler for my work I knew that Japan would have been an experience like no other, and it did not disappoint. I was in awe of the sprawling metropolis, looking from Tokyo Tower out to see a vast sea of concrete. I went from one location to the next taking advantage of the short time I had to take in as much sites as I could. I tried to experience everything from places, people and particularly my love, food. I wanted to try everything once from authentic Japanese cuisines, to common every day foods. I went even as far as try American foods here such as McDonalds and KFC. I was amazed at their rendition of pizza and how they treat and appreciate food. Lastly I was amazed at how this sprawling metropolis worked so efficiently through their mass transit system. Needless to say, it was an overwhelming experience that I think everyone should have once in their life.
This year I had the opportunity to visit once again. This time it would be for a longer period, approximately twice that of the last time. It will be a very different experience in that my wife procured an apartment in the suburbs of Tokyo.
This time I came not as a starry eyed otaku but with a familiarity of the area. For the first eight days I spent it at the apartment living in Japan. We would go visit the grocery store every day and buy the food we need to make. We would shop for supplies at the 100 yen store instead of eating out. We only went out on occasion to visit places that were necessary instead of going for sites. We used the public transportation system to get to where we needed to go. We lived efficiently and economically not as tourists but as residents. It was an entirely different experience than the last.
Even though our time here is short, it gave me a taste of what city life is like here in Tokyo. It amazed me how so many can live in harmony in such tight quarters. Respect is the key element to keeping this metropolis thriving. It is like a well oiled machine. There is an order to everything and everyone follows the rules because if they didn’t, there would be no way for so many to live in such harmony in such a small space. As an island nation, they had to adapt to this style of life.
I sit back and ponder our own existence back in the United States. In contrast, we live in excess. We have land o plenty and an abundance of food. We have an abundance of luxuries we take for granted that would be so difficult for the average Japanese to attain. And despite all the things we have, we complain, bicker and sneer about what we don’t have, always wanting more, doing more and needing more. I’m not saying that everyone lives in excess but by the standards of the life we live, we are in excess.
Taking a page from the Japanese simple life we should treasure what we have, live in harmony and not focus on what we don’t have. Life continues on and we should be happy for living in such a developed country where we do have those luxuries that the majority of the world does not have.
Landing in Tokyo I am greeted by heat and humidity, enough so that you don’t want to leave the confines of an air conditioned apartment. If you do happen to find yourself outside you will want to spend all your time in a department store or restaurant. Being a desert dweller, I am accustomed to the heat but not the humidity. The average temperature was 95 with 80% humidity and it was awful! These two days I did practically nothing other than recover from jet lag and enjoy amazing Japanese meals prepared by my loving wife.
The morning I arrive I was starving so Michi made me a quick curry and rice. It was delicious! For lunch we had sashimi with tuna, and octopus. It was a delicious meal and a perfect way to start my time in Tokyo.
Last year being my first time in Japan I wanted to see and experience as much as I can traveling from place to place, eating as much variety I could during my last experience. It was my first and I treated it as if it were my last. This time around, I’m here for an extended time with the goal to enjoy Japan in a different way, as a temporary resident. With an apartment with a “full” kitchen, our goal was to spend as little as possible eating out but instead, going to the local grocery and buying grocery every other day. This way, it is very economical and we get to really immerse ourselves in living rather than visiting.
So with that, we stay indoors, eat at home, make breakfast, lunch and dinner and enjoy really being in Japan rather than running from place to place in Japan.
On the second day I wanted to see if I could find one of the most amazing finds I made last year, a camera accessory. We ventured into the heat and humidity at noon and made a quick trip to Akihabara, Japan’s electronics hub. Here we walked down the street with a mission, to find the small hole in the wall store that I found this rare item (which I still can’t find online) only to not locate the store or the item.
We wandered over to the 8 story Don Quijote where we found out it was the headquarters of the new Japanese pop sensation AKB 48, a teenage pop girl group, but it’s different since it’s not really a singing group but a singing team comprised of members who’ve won audition contests. The group has grown over the years from a few to now 60. It was started by the owner of Don Qui because he wanted to create a pop group where people can easily meet the idol. With that, the 8th floor of his store in Akihabara is devoted to their theater, merchandise and a place you can meet your pop idols. Pretty crazy if you ask me.
Having been thoroughly defeated we went over the a mega department store featuring 8 floors of electronics, home electronics, books, games and restaurants right next to the station. It was fun walking in this giant electronics store and see their premium items and prices. Multistory department stores are a common thing in downtown Tokyo.
Heading back we cool off and I prepare myself for my own journey, to Shinjuku to retrieve a bicycle from Michi’s Father. It was hot, it was humid, and even after dark it’s still miserable. At 7 I head out on the subway to Shinjuku, making it there in 30 minutes. I meet her father, locate the bike and begin my ride back to Itabashi. It was estimated that it would take me 45 minutes. I mounted my camcorder on the bike and head on back home. It was a good ride and had two tough points where I was going up a fairly steep incline. It was made even more difficult with the bike being old and a single speed. It also had a friction powered light which took away some of my riding energy. Making it back, I was soaked and exhausted but happy to be back in air conditioned comfort.
Some would say that traveling in a foreign country by ones self is a daunting task but add a metropolis, language barrier, mass transit, no communications, lack of internet, and two 50 pound pieces of luggage to the mix and we've got ourselves a situation just ready for something disastrous to happen. Fortunately for me I've had the experience of using the transit system in Tokyo the previous year, memorized the maps and stations I would use, plotted the best route to take based on memory and a determination to get to the apartment to see my wife. Yes, I make it and here is the tale of how I did it with some lessons learned and fun thoughts.
Sitting on the plane bound for Tokyo Haneda airport, the passengers are roused from their slumber three hours prior to landing for meal services. As we prepare ourselves for landing I memorize the maps of Tokyo and subway routes one last time. Using my iPad 2, I pre-cached google maps, downloaded Go Tokyo transit app and plotted the best route according to google and what I could see. Unfortunately google in all it's awesome plotting power doesn't take int account some subtle nuances that would have made my journey much easier.
Here is a picture of the Japanese transit system.
As you can see, I had to get from Narita to Motohasunuma. According to google, my best options were to take the JR line to Hamamasucho, transfer to the Yamamoto JR line to Yurakucho and walk over to Hibiya subway station and take the Mita line all the way to Motohasunuma. Sounds easy right?
We landed half an hour early in Narita. It was 4:30 and I was eager to get my bags and get on my way. One thing to note here is that the immigration process going into Japan is such an efficient process, it takes a matter of minutes to go through immigration. All you do is hand the attendant your form, smile at the camera and place your fingers on the fingerprint pads and you are on your merry way.
First important tip when traveling the public transit system. YOU MUST GET A SUICA CARD. A suica card is a god send when it comes to riding the trains and subway system in Japan. It is a charge card where you can load $$$ on it and it automatically calculates your fare based on where you go. Normally you would have to read the map, determine where you are going, put in the correct amount into the machine and buy a ticket. If you guess wrong you lose your extra money, if you guess less, the gates will close and you will have to make an adjustment before the gates will let you out. You will also disrupt the efficient flow of people making a many busy Japanese commuters disgruntled at the Gaijin who has stopped the flow of traffic (thought they would never let you know they were upset (and more than likely one would come up and help you be more efficient.)) If you want to save a few $$$ you will need to calculate transfers but sometimes you mess up and even though you added the transfer fare, the machine will take your ticket away thinking you were just stupid and put extra money in.
The SUICA card is a godsend because it does all those calculations for you. First you go to the machine with a SUICA symbol, select that you want to purchase a card. A new feature they added this year is an ability to personalize the card with your name adding the ability to retrieve lost cards (for a fee) and any remaining funds. 2,000 yen is necessary to activate the card which 500 of is used as a deposit and is refunded with the return of the card. Once you have the card, you can place it in your wallet since it used RFID and can sense your card through the wallet. Just walk up to the gate, place it on the lighted spot and off you go to your train.
Once I got my Suica card I decided to take the Monorail instead based on a recommendation by some Japanese Americans. 5 AM, waiting for the 5:12 monorail to Hamamasucho, a direct run to that destination. Immediately I was hit by the humidity and even though it was such an early time, I could start to feel the change in the weather. Getting to the station was a breeze and changing from the monorail was easy with escalators a definitive path. I just needed to decide to take the Yamamoto line at platform 2 heading towards Tokyo and Ueno. Two stops later I was at Hibiya and this is where the fun begins.
According to the map the Hibiya station was a short walk away and connected to the station. Boy was I wrong. I exited the station to find myself on the streets of Hamamasucho. With no signs to guide me I whip out my iPad and set it to find the correction direction to walk. Identifying the proper street I head in the direction of the station After navigating three streets I finally find a sign pointing to the station around the corner. As I turn the corner I find that it was just stairs leading into the depths of the earth. Having the need to move two roller bags, I had to find an alternative solution and fortunately there was a elevator 100 feet away. The elevator took me part of the way down into the station and I had to walk quite a distance to get to the subway gates only to find more stairs. By the time I finally make it to the platform I've navigated three stairs taking my bags one at at time up and down and had an old lady pass me during the process. This lengthy excursion could have been avoided now that I know how to read the map. I would have taken an alternative route, one that takes me farther than this direct route but provides me with escalators.
Now on the Mita line I am on a direct route to Motohasunuma, 30 minutes away. It was a smooth ride and at this hour 6 AM, the morning commuters started their day and the subway car started to fill. Sitting there I analyzed the map and decided on a better route for the way back since we will have more luggage with us. At my destination I was greeted with an elevator to the street level and proceeded to make my way to Sakura House.
At Sakura House I was greeted with my arch nemesis, stairs, three flights of them. After moving my bags for the last time up the flight of stairs, it is not 7:15, the sun is up, the air is humid and I'm ready to see my wife and take a shower.
Here's my first Video-Blog post of my adventure, taking video memos as I travel.
Please comment on this post. I appreciate all feedback.
