New York Anime Festival 2009, Day 0: Cake
Posted by moritheil on 01 Oct 2009 at 8:09 am | Categories: Conventions, New York Anime Festival 2009
The Dave and Buster’s was crowded. Black-attired waitstaff in crisp uniforms nodded professionally at me as I entered, pointing me up to the third floor when I inquired about the event hosted there.
The cake-cutting katana. Photography by Linda Yau.
It was hard to miss – a frothing mass of humanity bumped and jostled at the far end of the room, packed in tight. I could not see the object of their focus, but this had to be it. As I made my way across the room, I gradually discerned that there were at least three different types of people here – businessmen in suits with refined drinks, a casually dressed faction, and a surprisingly large number of fashionably-attired teens.
To my left, a gaggle of teenyboppers crowded in. One girl tapped me on the elbow, and I leaned closer as we shouted over the noise.
“So who is it?”
“Huh?”
“It’s a celebrity, right? What celebrity is up there? I can’t see!”
“That’s the president of Del Rey.”
“Del what?”
“Del Rey – a manga company. They’re celebrating their anniversary.”
“Oh . . . ” No sooner had the words left my lips than the girls turned and left.
The words of those girls would haunt me. Is that all we are, even at our most formidable, even at our most presentable? Are we the perpetual other, the human spectacle, forever doomed to be strangers in a strange land?
I had no easy answers to that, and I still don’t. But rather than brood about the irreducible problem of alienation, I watched a man take a katana and cut into a giant cake.
Cake by Ace of Cakes. Photography by Linda Yau.
It was delicious.
Tags: cake, del rey, katana, nyaf, Otaku, party, philosophy, social commentary
12 Responses to “New York Anime Festival 2009, Day 0: Cake”
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Well the cake was overly sweet in my opinion.. hmm if you had that experience with teenyboppers.. I had a different experience with teenyboppers. When I was entering the restaurant, I was behind this group where they were saying pretty excitedly that they were ninjas, and that you couldn’t see them. Obviously they were there with an adult… but what a different experience that was. So I imagine just at any public event, that there would be a completely different crowd. If you are able to come up to NYC for NYCC/NYAF 2010, then experiences might be pretty different.
Fuck ‘em normals. May God damn the ippanjin. Good riddence! XD
As long as you enjoyed it that was fine. People have different interests and things that impress some won’t remotely make a difference to others.
I thought the cake was adorable, and I enjoyed eating it. ^-^
I still wonder about using a katana to cut into a cake, but ah well, if it rocks their boat. XD
The cake IS lovely, though! Is it a mix of fondant and that paper-thing they print images onto? And were the little microbes edible? :D
Did he use the Dragonfly stance with the sword over his head? Did he scoop the cake up in the air and made quick slices, which fell dead center onto each individual person’s plate? XD
Well Japantor does have a video detailing when the cake was cut.. I linked back to that video on my JLHLS report. http://www.liheliso.org/2009/10/01/new-york-anime-festival-2009-part-1/
Actually, the link to the YouTube video was in the article from the moment it went up. I took it directly from NYAF. Miz, your report was linked right next to it.
”I watched a man take a katana and cut into a giant cake.”
There were only eight links total. Check them out!
@soymilkpudding – You should have said hi! Don’t be a stranger!
@jennkei – I wondered too, but it was redeemed with deliciousness. I didn’t get any microbes, but I believe they were made of frosting.
@rayhum777 – He entered Jodan no kamae, as near as I can make out.
What the hell. -smacks spam above- I thought that sounded familiar; -I- said it!
Delicious cake is goot. =) I think maybe not frosting..frosting is quite soft and pretty hard to work with, while the microbes are quite detailed…which was why I was wondering whether they were clay or plastic or something. XD
@ jennkei – spam programmers are getting smarter all the time. I wish I could kill all their kids so they don’t have any offspring to carry out their trade! XD
That cake really didn’t look like something one can eat.
@rayyhum777: Yeah, that was pretty bizarre spam. I agree! The first picture I saw of the cake was a bit blurry and from another angle, so I was wondering what was with the shot of just books on the table…^_^”
@ jennkei – you thought they were books, too? That’s what I thought! Or…Wait, now I’m really confused! What is edible in that picture? XD
In any event, thanks for commenting and replying! But do watch out for wiseguy-spam program that copy your comments and your name and add: “Oh fyi, your are my favorite blogger!” or some shit like that. Any time you see an address that goes mcad*berry something-other, it is spam!