Welcome to the Wasabiverse
Posts tagged Anime Sushi
CONCLUDED #2: Anim(e) Sushi dot com
May 12th
Well, believe or not, there is a happy ending. Myself and the team at Wasabi Anime have worked with and have completed a lot of amazing projects with members of Anime Sushi, an Orlando-based anime club. The problem with the club has always been the the club’s leader, John. Since the mid-2000′s, members of Anime Sushi have conveyed to me from that John has always perceived some of my actions as a personality in the anime fan community as being negatively directed specifically towards him.
I had (in the past) tried to call John when something seemed amiss, but he would never take my calls. You see, while the Interwebz is a fun communication tool – I am still “old school” about resolving issues with a conversation on the phone or, if need be, in person. John would never take a call from me and even went as far as to call Joey Snackpants once to “tell him to tell me” something.
How very middle school.
This peaked last year (or the year before – I can’t honestly remember) when John DID try to call me. Since John had never taken or returned a call from me for the better part of a decade (and I had made a number of attempts) – I decided to pass on taking his call. I extend courtesy to those that extend it back.
Thus, my distaste for the organization that is “Anime Sushi” is really just the distaste (and conspiracy mentality) of the leader of their club.
That said – I was reminded in the past couple of weeks that sometimes the worst generals can have good soldiers. One of their members (who owns the Anime Sushi domain names) contacted me in a civil and polite fashion looking to solve the dreaded animsushi.com issue from the story above. It’s safe to say that after two years of the same typo, it will probably show up again in 2011 – so Anime Sushi owning the domain is probably a good idea.
SO – I spoke with the other officers of Green Mustard Entertainment, Inc. (since the company actually owns the domains in the Wasabiverse) and we accepted an offer for Mark from Anime Sushi to buy the domain from us. No dramaz or assholery – just a straightforward polite request met with and equally straightforward response. So last weekend, I initiated the process of transferring the domain. So any moment now, the domain should start going to Anime Sushi’s domain.
I’ll be watching for Megacon ad typos next year to see if they truly get their money’s worth.
Special thanks to Anime Sushi (& Megacon!)
Mar 16th
Yes – the title of this blog post is tongue in cheek. That said, I did hear that Megacon was well attended and a good time was had by those who went. Kudos to Beth and her team on another successful year.
So why the obviously sarcastic title since (as many of you know) I am not a fan of Anime Sushi nor are they fans of me? It all has to do with this Twitter post:
http://twitter.com/TomCroom/status/7113327753
To get the full impact of the tweet, though, you need the complete story…
WAY BACK IN DECEMBER OF 2008
Everyone makes mistakes. Ask the Wasabi Anime staff and many of us will chuckle about some of our favorite typos and blunders when producing ads/flyers for our events. The one that most immediately comes to mind is the mystical month of “Devember”. We accidentally misspelled December when 5000 flyers were printed for an event we were working with about three or four years ago. The Wasabi Anime team passed all the flyers out at local conventions and giggled about it the whole time. It has since become our unofficial thirteenth month. As a matter of fact, it is still the year 2009 according to the Wasabi Anime Staff Calendar.
The point being, even we know when to laugh at ourselves.
Well, in December of 2008 I got my Megacon advertising book that gets mailed out each year to everyone on their previous attendee list. While looking to see if there were any guests of interest, I came across the two page spread for Anime Sushi’s anime events. I read through their descriptions and noticed that whoever had produced the ad had misspelled Anime Sushi’s website without the “e” – so it read www.animsushi.com.
Not once. Twice.
Seriously.
I (and many of the Wasabi Anime team) have misspelled some pretty funny things in our time, but if there’s ONE THING we’ve always made sure to get right it’s our website address – especially in print.
After some thought on the matter, I decided to give GoDaddy.com ten dollars and secure www.animsushi.com. I set up a one page website that told folks that there was a typo, and directed visitors to the correct address for Anime Sushi’s website. (After about 30 seconds the web page auto forwarded to the correct Anime Sushi site even if you didn’t click the link.)
Problem solved… or so you’d think.
GRAB YOUR TIN FOIL HAT, FOLKS!
Well, it seems that the fine folks at Anime Sushi took this action as an affront to their club and it turned into an OMGDRAMAZ. I heard this (of course) third hand when it blew up with someone who I had regarded, up until that point, as a casual friend acting like a total douchebag and calling my best friend to bitch about the website, me and Wasabi Anime while said best friend was driving hundreds of miles so see both of us and other friends for a Christmas party. It was that single “winner” move that pretty much put that person onto my ”don’t talk to me – you fucking annoy me” list.
It should also be noted that this wasn’t the first time I contacted Anime Sushi regarding a mistake. You know that 468 by 60 Megacon costume contest banner they use? It’s the same one they’ve used for a few years now. The first time they posted it, it had the misspelled word CUSTOME instead of COSTUME. I emailed one of Anime Sushi’s officers (whom I knew) to let them know strictly out of courtesy since I would hope someone would do the same for me in a similar circumstance.
Again – I (and others at Wasabi Anime) have gotten emails about typos in the past. We giggle at ourselves and correct the problem… and move on. We also try to avoid the same mistake twice.
WAY BACK IN DECEMBER OF 2009
Last December I got an email from GoDaddy.com letting me know that www.animsushi.com was about to expire. I had completely forgotten about the domain and seeing no use for it, I chose not to renew.
A week later, I was exploring the Megacon website and took the time to read the anime events page. While hovering over the hyper links for Anime Sushi’s website, I noticed something that left me completely dumbfounded: while the correct address was in the text of the site, the hyper link address for Anime Sushi’s website was spelled incorrectly. Whoever had coded the page had gotten it wrong. How was it spelled? You guessed it:
www.animsushi.com
This bring us back to my Twitter post. I noticed the website mistake on December 28th – and after some thought, I went back and coughed up another ten dollars to buy back the domain. My initial thought was to try and contact Anime Sushi and offer to transfer the domain to them and tell them of the error. They obviously just needed to keep it around for (what was appearing to be) a pretty consistent typo. I then thought about how the key members of Anime Sushi have always reacted to these things in the past… and I decided to save myself the headache of dealing with them. Instead, I just forward the domain to the Wasabi Anime website.
Only three others shared this secret — my friends the Sorceress, Man-at-Arms, and Orko. I eventually shared it with a fourth person – but all of them have, at my request, kept this private. There was debate as to whether or not to go public with it right before or right after Megacon. There was even discussion about whether or not to go public at all.
It seems, though, that the error WAS finally discovered by SOMEONE. Last Thursday (the day before Megacon) we tracked our final hits to the Wasabi Anime website from Megacon’s site:
So from December 28th, 2009 to March 11th, 2010 – Anime Sushi and Megacon have been supplying GreenMustard.com with a steady flow of website traffic.
After two years in a row, it’s safe to say that keeping an annual $10 investment for a regular traffic bump for first quarter of the year is probably worth it.
So it goes.
Pundits, Postings, Bloggers and "Bad Sushi"
Aug 3rd
First off – Anime Festival Orlando X was a blast, and congrats to the convention organizers for another successful year! (Check WasabiAnime.com later this morning for some video of our events there.)
It seems that while we were out and about for the weekend, the folks at Anime Sushi wrote a counter point to my statements from two of my previous blog posts…
* MegaCon + Anime Sushi = EPIC FAIL
* MegaCon + Anime Sushi = FOLLOW UP!
I found it by way of this article, but you can also find it posted on the Anime Sushi forums.
It is worded well and written very clearly (which lets me know who DIDN’T write it on their staff) – but it still misses the mark.
You see: Anime Sushi DID begin promoting their event five days before Anime Festival Orlando. Their event lineup DID list a guest already appearing at Anime Festival Orlando. Therefore their emails/postings WERE counter-advertising that were poorly timed.
So while they can cleverly pen a rebuttal statement, they still can’t get the gumption to say two simple words… “We’re sorry.” While they can try to defend their intent, it still doesn’t justify their actions.
As an added bonus, let’s take a look at the snarky paragraph they put in for good measure…
“Anime Sushi is disappointed, on the other hand, at the assumption of hostility on the part of a select few (and we do mean few) bloggers and “pundits” (a term used loosely and implying no actual expertise) who have spent significant time publicly deriding and decrying the events Anime Sushi has endeavored to bring to the public, and the methods by which we have organized said events. Anime Sushi is a volunteer organization, and invests significant time and money into bringing events to Anime Fans.”
* There is no assumption – just actions that were called out as poor form. “Facta non verba.”
* Bloggers and “pundits” are fans just like anyone else. I have personally (on numerous occasions) promoted Anime Sushi’s events through Wasabi Anime’s advertising channels (our forums, newsletters, etc.) and even give accolades when they are due. It should be noted that Anime Sushi does NOT extend the same courtesy… but myself and the fine folks on the Wasabi Anime have continued to due so in lieu of the personal politics of some of the Anime Sushi staff.
* “Anime Sushi… invests time and money into bringing events to Anime Fans.” – That’s funny, I thought they were paid for their work running and promoting events at MegaCon.
‘Nuff said.
MegaCon + Anime Sushi = FOLLOW UP!
Jul 27th
So it seems my blog post this morning raised a few eyebrows – and I got an email (and then phone call) from Beth Widera, the owner of MegaCon.
After a lengthy discussion, I agreed to clarify a few facts and we agreed to disagree on others.
FIRST OFF – Mini-MegaCon has been in the works for almost two years. According to Beth, she contacted the staff at Anime Festival Orlando when looking for dates in the summer. The only request given was to have the event as “late in August as possible.” MegaCon complied and put the event in the third week of August.
SECOND – Mini-MegaCon has been promoting anime as part of their programming since its inception. I personally was under the impression that the event would not include anime (being so close to AFO,) but Beth has stated this is entirely not true. She included an advertising file used in April of this year that includes “anime” and the event dates.
NOTE: None of the advertising I have seen actually has a “Mini MegaCon” nameplate logo… including the current graphics on the web site header. This, in my opinion, probably contributes to the confusion in the “branding” of MegaCon/Mini-MegaCon.
NEXT – MegaCon (Beth) became aware of Anime Sushi’s event lineup at the exact same time I did… via an email on Sunday.
The fact that this action was in poor form and reflects poorly on MegaCon is where she and I disagree.
Anime Sushi has been doing events long enough to have thought better than to begin promoting their anime events less than five days before Anime Festival Orlando. Not only is it counter-advertising, it is disrespectful to AFO’s event organizers.
The smart thing would have been to wait five more days and do a strong promotions push AT Anime Festival Orlando – therefore not sending any mixed signals about Orlando anime related events and not stepping on toes.
So is Mini-MegaCon still a fail? Not as badly as initially perceived (it would seem)… but sadly Anime Sushi still is – and (very sadly) their actions reflect on MegaCon. Of course, it’s all just business -
But there’s still no such thing as business ethics.
“So it goes” – Kurt Vonnegut
EPILOGUE: Thanks for all the replies to my last post – but a decent number of them were filtered and never saw the light of day. Even if you agree with what I’m writing, I don’t allow posts that are Anonymous.
MegaCon + Anime Sushi = EPIC FAIL
Jul 27th
EDIT! BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE FOLLOW UP TO THIS POST BY READING HERE!!!
There is a great book by John C. Maxwell called “There’s No Such Thing As Business Ethics.” The idea that the book proposes, in short, is that ethics are ethics regardless of whether they have anything to do with business.
For years, the team at Anime Festival Orlando has helped staff and operate the video game room/video game section for MegaCon in Orlando, Florida. This loyalty, it seems, has been grossly misplaced in my opinion.
At the beginning of the year, MegaCon began to market a new summer event: Mini-MegaCon. The design of the event (up until about two and a half weeks ago) seemed to be a small scale science fiction and fantasy show with comic book related programming.
You see, Mini-MegaCon takes place three weeks after Anime Festival Orlando… so one would assume that professional courtesy would prompt MegaCon to withhold any anime related programming, right? I mean, the folks at AFO have been supporting MegaCon for years and this year AFO will be celebrating their tenth year – so MegaCon would never do anything to harm the integrity of a show that has supported them. Right? RIGHT?
WRONG.
About two/three weeks ago, anime voice actor (and regular to the anime con circuit) Vic Mignogna was confirmed to appear at Mini-Megacon… a mere three weeks after appearing at Anime Festival Orlando just two miles down the road! Poor form.
This past weekend (July 25th to be exact) – Anime Sushi, Orlando’s “Premiere” Anime Club, announced an entire track of anime related events. Anime Sushi alumni have been integral to this year’s creative process for Anime Festival Orlando, so why would they start counter advertising for their events less that a week before AFO? This move is further proof of how apathetic that club is to the “community.” Poor form.
So my recommendation to local anime fans? Skip Mini-Megacon and support Anime Festival Orlando. Enjoy an entire weekend of anime related events (including a guest list that boasts the Fullmetal Alchemist cast!) instead of a small convention center show with “some” anime. MegaCon will be back in the spring for you to enjoy – but there is no need to spend money on the same show twice a year… especially if actions like this prove that they don’t deserve your hard earned dollars.
So while a bunch of the usual idiots will read this and do the usual “OMGTOMCROOMISBEINGANASS” bullshit that usually ensues, I ask that you keep the following in mind:
Con drama and politics have been around for years, and it’s all fun and games until you start fucking with other peoples’ money and time.
Then it is no longer con drama… it’s poor ethics.
