Love and Pop at LoliCon / SNSDcon / Pacific Media Expo

THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED.

Dateline: Friday, November 12, 2010 well actually, Saturday November 13 by then
12:30 am

Another late-night violin practice session. Nights before conventions always get a little bit hairy because that’s when I actually have to choose my repertoire and polish it up, instead of chewing through scales and etudes like I usually do.

(Except the night before Anime Expo 2010 where I stayed up watching ANGEL BEATS! instead of prepping interview questions for AKB48 LIKE I PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE.)

Pre-convention rehearsal also means having conversations with myself that go something like this:

“Hay so I herd u like mudkips you do a pretty decent version of ‘Gee’ by Sonyeoshieedaehh Shoujo Jidai SND48 HOT KOREAN CHICKS.”
“Yeah, I think it’ll go over pretty well, especially since Pathetic Pacific Media Expo is supposed to be all about ‘general [East] Asian pop culture’ (even though 80% of the attendance is still anime dorks).”
“It would be even cooler if you added one of their more recent songs like ‘Oh!’, don’t you think?”
“Buuuuut I have to be at the con in 12 hours (and spend 6 of those hours sleeping).”
“Oh come on, you already know how it sounds, you just have to know how to play it.”
“Let me see what I can find…”

>> Google for 'snsd oh sheet music'
>> Download
>> Sight-read
>> skritch skritch skritch [fingering] [bowing] [expression]
.... .... .... 30 minutes later .... ....

OPPA OPPA I’LL BE I’LL BE DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN

Dateline: Saturday, November 13, 2010
6:00 pm...ish

I had heard, through assorted internet scuttlebutt, that a couple of girls might be showing up for PMX [Pacific Media Expo] in SNSD [Girls' Generation] cosplay [yes pls]. Of course, never being one to turn down the promise of DELICIOUS LEGS, I made it my mission to to find these aforementioned cosplayers and snap a picture of them.

I was never informed that they were actually going to have AN ENTIRE NINE-PIECE GROUP DO A FULL ROUTINE DURING THE MASQUERADE.

This, I think, is the line between goodness, and GREATness, and awesomeface.gif-ness.

To put it in sports terms:

Goodness:
- Couple of girls doing SNSD cosplay
- Pitcher Barry Zito survives 6 innings, gives up a handful of earned runs and allows a bunch of guys on base

GREATness:
- Complete SNSD cosplay group
- Pitcher Jonathan Sanchez gets through 7 2/3 innings, gives up a few walks and maybe 1 mistake pitch for a home run

:
- Complete SNSD cosplay group performs song medley during the costume show
- Pitcher Tim Lincecum dominates with a complete-game 10-strikeout shutout

It’s like that.

Between the audience reaction (“YEAH! TAKE IT OFF!”) and the work that went into the outfits and the routine AND the fact that they won Best of Show (congrats!), this was a great leap forward for idol culture IN AMERICA, seeing as fans—most notably female fans—are taking the initiative as performers and showing their enthusiasm for the genre. I’m not gonna say this was history in the making but we definitely saw Something Cool that night.

To that end, I also submit, from the Intermission:

Man, I remember when “Go My Way!!” was MY JAM when the first Idolm@ster console game came out. Except the damn thing was on XBox, Japanese version, so I never got to play it. XD Also the anime Idolm@ster: Xenoglossia had nothing to do with anything. But I had those figures up on my piano for YEARS lololololol. It’s one thing to become attached to the game/anime characters, but seeing an actual iM@S performance in action—and with local performers, no less—is like REAL 3-D FFFFHHHNNNGGGGHHHHh. And the fact that they danced a full 20 minute set! I always thought cosplay-show intermission performers were like 3-5 songs and DONE but somehow they had the time, energy and resources to learn all of that. For a small-to-midsize local convention.

(Also, not to be a creeper or anything, but Ami <33333 I mean it's just PERFECT how she's totally the right height for the character and brings out her persona.)

In conclusion: originally I was all disappointed because they didn't invite back USA Musume, but holy crap Angel Hearts rocked my face.

What this all means, from a local perspective, is that idol culture is clearly HERE. I mean, it’s “HERE” enough for entire groups of like-minded female fans to gather together and learn dance routines and produce replica costumes and perform in front of a crowd. Which is great! This is very grassroots, very up-from-the-ground-floor, no corporate meddling from the actual Korean or Japanese record labels but the genuine love of the fans making things happen. Clearly, they’re drawn to the pageantry and excitement of the genre despite the best efforts of stuck-up music snobs cawing that This Kind of Shit Has No Fans IN AMERICA.

IN AMERICA

The problem I have, though, is with the folks on the other side of the stage. The audience. OR LACK THEREOF.

Oh, there were people there. The event was packed enough that I had standing room only for the show. But man, is the PMX crowd alwaysthis dead, or do they just not “get” how you’re supposed to cheer for idols? And by that I mean, Angel Hearts threw out tons of lightsticks to the crowd before they started, yet for most of the performance you saw maybe about FIVE of them actually being waved.

I wasn’t expecting anyone to do a full on “TIGER FIBER DIVER FAVRE” chant or have precise rhythmic wotagei for every verse, chorus and bridge pattern, but MY GOD if they give you free lightsticks you had better damn well wave those lightsticks appreciatively. (I would’ve done so, except I was standing too far back to grab one and was holding my camera.)

And then a soloist named Mikarin came on and she was doing a ton of cool Vocaloid songs but during the instrumentals the crowd would just sit there like they were in a doctor’s office while she bobbed quietly along with the music. So I had to help start a few claps, and some “HEY! HEY! HEY!” during the breaks so that it wouldn’t sound so freaking DEAD. Geez us cries people, audience participation is not a dirty word at convention shows! This isn’t freaking Shostakovich for crying out loud. (I always feel awkward when I go to symphony concerts and get really pumped up but then at the end when the audience applauds I look weird for pumping my fist and cheering on the orchestra. MUSIC IS THE LANGUAGE OF EMOTION, SHOW SOME OF IT YOU LAZYASSES.)

Dateline: Saturday, November 13, 2010
7:40 pm...ish

It was later that evening, while catching up with some pals from PMX staff, that I happened to stumble upon epic BONUS CONTENT from the show.

I literally walked right past the photoshoot room when a good White Mage friend of mine pointed out, “Oh look cute girls in military-themed outfits” and I was all “OKAI YOU GUYS GO ON AHEAD I MIGHT BE BUSY FOR A WHILE.” I was supposed to go grab dinner with them, but quite frankly, I’d rather starve than miss a Girls’ Generation cosplay photo op.

Maybe it was a part of me nostalgically trying to relive the exhilaration of spending two and a half days chasing AKB48 around downtown L.A. and the Convention Center. I may not have a badass SERIOUS-looking DSLR camera, or professional video equipment, but I will fight off whichever paparazzi I have to for good footage. To quote myself: “This is the second best thing to ACTUALLY having Girls’ Generation show up for a con!”

Still pulling for KARA in Anaheim summer 2011, though.

Dateline: Saturday, November 13, 2010
5:15 pm

And then, earlier in the afternoon:

“Well I’ve been playing K-ON! theme songs and other anime crap all afternoon, maybe it’s time for a change of pace.”
“I suppose it is.”
“Gee gee gee gee baby baby?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”

The best part was seeing people react to my violin-freelancing on SNSD like I was some kind of paranormal apparation. Like, in the middle of “Gee,” this girl COMES RUNNING after recognizing the music, AND THEN SHE GRABS HER FRIEND to listen, and looks on in dumbstruck awe as if she just witnessed a public beheading. Except, you know, the opposite. I think it was a surprise for me too, because I knew the music was popular, but probably nobody was expecting to hear a wandering minstrel do a cover version in the middle of a local convention. Which is why, a few minutes later, this also happened:

OPPA OPPA I’LL BE I’LL BE DOWN DOWN DOWN DOWN
>>frighteningly well-dressed Lolita comes running up in complete and utter shock
“OMG OMG ARE YOU PLAYING ‘OH!’ BY SNSD???!?!?!!!”
No I am just randomly noodling in the key of D minor
“Yeah, that’s it!”
“OMG OMG OMG”
And then of course I’m so distracted at this point that I SCREW UP AND FORGET THE NEXT BAR OF THE SONG.
And my amp battery dies right there.

Which was convenient, actually, because she wanted me to re-start anyway so she could record it on her camera/phone, and some guy wanted to photograph her while I was changing batteries. So I did a second run-through of “Oh!” and she was all like AAAAHHHHHHH and I was all LOLOLOLOLOL.
“OMG DO YOU KNOW ‘HOOT’??!!?!?”
wtf “Hoot” came out two weeks ago do you think I am some kind of ridiculous genius who can memorize a piece of music in a single night
“No I haven’t learned ‘Hoot’ yet.”

Come to think of it, my only regret was that I didn’t play “Genie” while I was there, and I totally know “Genie” (with bonus double-stops and everything lol). But I was in a hurry to get to the masquerade at that point.

In conclusion:

OMG DO YOU KNOW ‘HOOT’?!!?!?!

I’ll think about it.

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Tags: convention, cosplay, Girls Generation, Idolm@ster, idols, k-pop, LOL, Pacific Media Expo, PMX, SNSD