PG My A**!

Let’s preface this post with some brief definitions, shall we?  Taken from the Motion Picture Association of America’s website . . .

“PG — Parental Guidance Suggested. Some Material May Not Be Suitable For Children. A PG-rated motion picture should be investigated by parents before they let their younger children attend. The PG rating indicates, in the view of the Rating Board, that parents may consider some material unsuitable for their children, and parents should make that decision. The more mature themes in some PG-rated motion pictures may call for parental guidance. There may be some profanity and some depictions of violence or brief nudity. But these elements are not deemed so intense as to require that parents be strongly cautioned beyond the suggestion of parental guidance. There is no drug use content in a PG-rated motion picture.”

“PG-13 — Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some Material May Be Inappropriate For Children Under 13. A PG-13 rating is a sterner warning by the Rating Board to parents to determine whether their children under age 13 should view the motion picture, as some material might not be suited for them. A PG-13 motion picture may go beyond the PG rating in theme, violence, nudity, sensuality, language, adult activities or other elements, but does not reach the restricted R category. The theme of the motion picture by itself will not result in a rating greater than PG-13, although depictions of activities related to a mature theme may result in a restricted rating for the motion picture. Any drug use will initially require at least a PG-13 rating. More than brief nudity will require at least a PG-13 rating, but such nudity in a PG-13 rated motion picture generally will not be sexually oriented. There may be depictions of violence in a PG-13 movie, but generally not both realistic and extreme or persistent violence. A motion picture’s single use of one of the harsher sexually-derived words, though only as an expletive, initially requires at least a PG-13 rating. More than one such expletive requires an R rating, as must even one of those words used in a sexual context. The Rating Board nevertheless may rate such a motion picture PG-13 if, based on a special vote by a two-thirds majority, the Raters feel that most American parents would believe that a PG-13 rating is appropriate because of the context or manner in which the words are used or because the use of those words in the motion picture is inconspicuous.”

http://www.mpaa.org/ratings/what-each-rating-means for more info.

I have a serious bone to pick with Nan Desu Kan’s cosplay contest for the first time and we have attended for years.  NDK totes itself as a mostly family friendly event, though geared more for 13 and up, and children of all ages are often seen gracing the hallways of the convention.  My own kids often go, one being 13 now, but the other is still only seven.  They state they want daytime things kept at a PG 13 level, and even costume rules have gone through some serious renovations in the last few years to see to this. 

I feel I should preface this; my husband and I monitor what our kids watch, hear, and see, but not strictly.  They have both heard language, seen violence, skin shown with costumes, etc.  But this year’s CC takes the cake!

In the midst of the worst Saturday I have ever had at any convention (to be fair, due to circumstances way out of control of the convention staff), while waiting for the judging to be tallied after the Costume Contest was over, but before awards were handed out, staff chose to show AMV’s (Anime Music Video’s) for the half time show (yep, just like in football.  It takes up the time while you are waiting nervously for the judges who hold your fate in their hands to determine that fate and print the certificates).  NDK clearly states AMV’s are an exception to the PG 13 rule; “Music Videos in particular are an exception to the PG13 rule and may have some explicit lyrics or flashes of cartoon nudity” (taken from the general rules page on the website) and does not mention violence anywhere in the rule.  In contrast, however, it states in the costume contest rules “NDK's cosplay contest is rated TVPG” (taken from the rules on the website).  Now I don’t know if that rating simply applies only to costumes, or what, but they seriously failed this year. 

My daughter, who loves to sing and dance, was happily enjoying the AMV’s as they started showing them on the big screen less than 20 feet from where she stood in front of the chairs dancing to the music with other small children who had competed.  It did not take long to realize these videos were anything but appropriate for any of the kids in the audience.  The language was far from intermittent and was not isolated to a few videos (in fact, I think every video shown had explicit language). 

If the language wasn’t bad enough, along came a video showing clips from Madoka Magica.  Now this was one of my daughter’s favorite anime until her Dad said it was getting too violent and we turned her onto something else instead.  She still loves seeing people cosplay from it, enjoyed the balcony decorated in this theme, and wants to decorate her room with stuffed animals and scrolls from the show.  So when the cute animal character who leads the magical girls (Kyubey) graced the big screen in front of her, I tried not to worry about the constant stream of F**k and B***h that came with it.

That was until the fateful scene where right in front of my seven year old the cute, fuzzy, stuffed animal character was violently shot; in fact, blown away would be a way better term.  Note I have pretty well adjusted kids.  My son plays Call of Duty.  My daughter, though not allowed to watch it, has seen it.  They have witnessed plenty of violence on TV (just look at the news), but I have never seen any kind of a reaction like this from either of my kids. 

My daughter instantly screeched, covered her eyes as large tears began streaming down her face, and went into hysterics.  I tried in vain to explain it was just a drawing and that no character had died.  She was inconsolable, and me standing there helplessly in my giant wings and hoop skirt left me with no way to pick her up or hold her.  It was truly awful. 

I have exposed my kids to things and explained in the past that what they see on TV, live action or animated, was not real.  They know this, but at that moment it made no difference.  And no one cared.  I was glared at by those unkind individuals who sat in the front row of seats we had to walk past.  The look of annoyance that my daughter had ruined the rest of the video with her inconsolable wailing was sickening.  It had never been my intention to interrupt anyone’s fun that night, nor to need to find a way to help my daughter pull herself together. 

Amidst the continuing cursing, my daughter sobbing, and my ineffective attempt to hug her, only one individual came to our aid.  One of the amazing volunteers who had helped my daughter backstage (and would continue to come to our aid later in the evening) stopped to ask if she was alright.  When I explained, she disappeared into the crowd.  I assumed she simply did not think there was anything she could do by that point.  I was mistaken.  When this lovely woman reappeared she produced a small pink hair clip for my daughter and after calming her down by bringing her attention to this new treasure, she smiled and went back to her own seat. 

We finished the rest of the half time show in our little corner talking together with my daughter’s back to the screen.  What I want to know is who thought at a show with a kid’s category that is touted as a PG event, it would be a good idea to show AMV’s in the first place (already stated as having a higher rating), let alone something like that.  I understand this was an event I chose to participate in, but I can tell you in all of my years attending or competing in this event I have never encountered something like this so I had no idea they would ever think to show something this questionable in the first place.  I was completely unprepared and it will keep me from blindly entering my daughter in the contest again; unfortunate considering prior to that she had enjoyed herself.

I have wrestled with the wording for this post more than any other.  I have a lot of friends on the cosplay staff at NDK, I know the judges, and have met more great people working with NDK’s cosplay contest in general.  I hate to cause any issues, but I cannot condone this.  It was inappropriate and the personal strife it gave my family has far exceeded the enjoyment of the evening.  And let this be a cautionary tale to other parents of convention attendees in general.  You never know what you might find.

To hear more about our experiences at Nan Desu Kan check out my other blog post “The Nan Desu Kan that Almost Wasn’t”.  And getting back to a happier note, I hope you had better experiences at NDK’s CC than we did.  Care to share?  I’d love to hear about them. 

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

The NDK that Almost Wasn’t

Floods, Fires, Tornados, Bodily Harm, Hysterical Children . . . Yep, this Nan Desu Kan had it all. What a weekend!  I’m sure, no matter where you live, you have heard by now about the torrential rain which caused flooding in Boulder County (and the surrounding counties), Colorado.  Well, to start, I live in one of the towns most impacted by the flooding.  I had planned to get up a last minute blog post before heading to the con, but with all of the crazy, that never happened.

The weeks leading up to the con were spent head down, shoulders hunched, eyes trained, chained to my sewing machine.  I worked with more new materials and tools on these two costumes than I think I have ever for a single project.  It was great, but it also slowed things down.  I was still putting on the finishing touches (little last minute things) Thursday morning before the con.  Because of this, I had gotten up early (5 am) to get started, but to my surprise I suddenly found I had lake front property.  Between nervously watching the ever rising water inching slowly closer to our back porch and fielding all of the calls/emails/messages from friends and family all wanting to know how we were it was slow going on the last minute cosplay and packing which all still had to be completed.  And now there was a real deadline . . . finish early and get out of town before they close the very last road across town and/or out of town, or miss the con.

Ha ha.  This is all dramatic and sounds like a fiction, but I swear it’s ALL true.  After finishing the cosplays, I began madly running around the house getting things packed up and ready.  I convinced my husband that though he had gotten into work alright that morning, they were quickly closing all routes home and that he had better come home early. He left work looking at what should have been a half hour drive home.  Three hours later, and after many panicked phone calls wondering if he was ever going to find a way across town to home, he finally arrived.  After packing the car amidst our neighbors questioning our evacuation, we were nearly ready and soon after, we managed to pull out of our driveway. 

But, wait, there’s more.  That wasn’t nearly the end of our Thursday.  Fielding a confused mass of calls from friends and family as to road closures, flood protocols, and learning our home had officially been evacuated, we crept along the main roads in town winding our way eventually to the highway.  Once we arrived at the hotel and checked in, we settled in for our first night.  And was it spent relaxing and hanging out?  Not really.  We were all concerned about our homes, our friends, and family.  It was a long and restless night.

Friday was thankfully, uneventful.  Besides realizing in the chaos to get out I had forgotten all of the racks for my booth in Artist’s Alley (yeah for a close Target), setting up our shop, and standing in a few hours’ worth of lines, we had relatively little else to do that night.

Saturday would however make up for it in spades.

We woke, rushed to get our table open, our costumes judged, and then to the Press event that morning.  By noon we were exhausted.  Around 1:00 we returned to our room to grab lunch and then dress for the costume contest.  It was shortly after, while standing in tiny panties and a top that could get me arrested for indecent exposure (Hey – I was getting dressed for the costume contest), the fire alarm went off.  At first, the soft binging did nothing more than make me curious.  I stepped into the hall (covered a bit) where I was told by a maid I was fine and to simply go back about my business in my room. 

Just afterwards, however, the loudspeaker in the Atrium (AA inside the hotel and right outside of our balcony) boomed an announcement to evacuate the building immediately.  Nearly 7,000 people were ushered into the parking lot area as our room speakers announced the Denver Fire Department was responding and we were to stand by.  Now, I know what a fire alarm means so I stepped back into the hall and double checked with the maid.  She assured us we should return to our room and listen for further instructions on the speaker.  We might have been more concerned if the staff for the con or the hotel seemed upset in the least, but besides someone from NDK staff screaming at those who had been told to stay in their rooms to evacuate, every other member on staff lazily went about their business. 

So, we continued dressing, with the added excitement of adrenaline coursing through our veins and our small daughter wide eyed and arguing about leaving when a fire alarm goes off.  While it seemed to take forever for the fire department to arrive, once they were on scene, they quickly cleared the building and people came flooding back in.  That was when the alarm system sounded announcing a tornado watch for the area.  By this point, I was sort of done.  I had been stressed all weekend over our house, the flooding, wondering if we’d even be able to get home Sunday night, and normal con stress with the upcoming competition, but this?  This was too much! 

We finished dressing, collected ourselves a bit, and using the old adage “the show must go on”, we continued to check in for the contest that night.  While sitting waiting to be checked in, the alarm went off for a third time.  Now I don’t know who thought simply stating over the intercom that the hotel had an announcement wouldn’t get enough attention after a day like that, but whoever it was is personally responsible for nearly sending me (and probably dozens of other people) into a heart attack.  This time it was the Denver Fire Department stating people had parked illegally and had ten minutes to move their cars before they would start towing.  I nearly wanted to strangle the idiot on the loudspeaker.

You’d think that would be it, but our night was long from over.  Not even going into standing in one position with giant wings on my back, a hoop skirt which cannot be made to collapse, and a nervous small child in a hot uncomfortable costume, we patiently waited back stage for our turn.

 Photo By Chris Gilstrap

This was the single shining moment of the night.  My daughter, at seven years old, was astounding on stage in front of all of those people, cameras flashing, judges judging, big screens of her performance easily visible from peripheral vision, and music pumping.  She ROCKED!  Our performance was a bit lack luster all over, but that was my costume issue (my wings bent and covered us :C  ).  After we had stepped off stage, it was no better than before hand with more standing in one tiny space, giant wings, non-collapsing hoop skirt (that means I couldn’t sit), seven year old wanting out of her costume, and a lot of time to wait.  And more issues followed during the “half time” show (that will have its own mini blog!).

Finally, after what seemed like forever, the judging was under way.  I am so sorry to announce we did not win anything, but honestly, that was not the worst part of the judging by far (I’ll cover the judging more in depth in another mini blog too).  Half way through the judging one of the Cosplay staff at NDK who was 20 feet from us (with front row seats and a clear view to see her) began shaking, then jerking, then collapsed into a full on seizure.  I will not go into any details here out of concern for her (and I do sincerely hope she is doing alright!!!  <3), I only mention it because for an already upset and uneasy seven year old this was probably the last straw.  Who knew you could need therapy for a lifetime because your parents took you to an anime convention?!?

Needless to say, they did not finish announcing the winners as usual, instead choosing to read them off and then ask everyone to exit the room.  I thought they handled it particularly well given the circumstances.  Still, I was wearing a costume I would normally need help navigating crowded hallways if I’d been by myself and here I had a pig suit, head, props, and a seven year old to keep track off during the mass evacuation (have you noticed the evacuation theme of the weekend???).  Normally my husband would have helped us out of the room, but he had been on the far side and had our video equipment up so it took him some time to get to us.  Fortunately, a very kind gentleman offered assistance and I gratefully accepted. 

By the time we made it through the crowded halls, up a tiny elevator (you wear 7 foot tall wings in a hotel elevator and then say they’re not tiny.  Lol), along the way too short corridors to our room, and reached the relative quiet of our sanctuary, I desperately needed a taste of normalcy.  We changed into regular clothing (no costume whatsoever), crossed I-25 for food (which we had to stand on the sidewalk and wait for a friend to drive through just so we could get it at that time of night), and returned to the hotel to eat before venturing back to my booth to help close up for the night. 

Sunday was also thankfully less eventful.  While we did have autograph and dealer’s room lines to stand in, the World Cosplay Summit to film (though I wish I had known someone else for the con was – we wouldn’t have bothered then), and the Artist’s Alley to work in, for the most part, we had time to breath; which provided us plenty of time to worry and wonder if we would be able to make it home that night and what state our homes would be in once we did.

I am pleased to say, we did in fact make it home that night, with only a slightly longer drive than usual and two spots of road flooding (one of which was very small).  And our place?  Fortunately, completely dry, with a much smaller lake in our backyard.  In fact, by the time we woke up Monday, the lake was gone and we once again backed to a soggy grass field. 

All in all, it was the most eventful weekend we have ever had at any convention (or any vacation for that matter).  Between the nearly month worth of constant sewing/stressing leading up to the con and then the con itself, I could really use a break!  I had wanted to try a live video blog, but Saturday was just too crazy, so that idea fell apart.  We did well in Artist’s Alley and loved seeing the returning faces and meeting lots of new ones!  Your continued patronage is incredible and I am so fortunate to have such a great group of fans! 

There was a contest for a returning artist for 2014’s AA Sunday afternoon, but honestly with everything going on, not only did we forget to remind folks to vote for us, we didn’t even mange to turn in our own ballot.  :(  I am not holding my breath that we will win the contest this year, but I am still waiting, fingers crossed, just in case.  I will happily let you all know if I got in again for next year.  Otherwise I will have to hope the raffle is on my side next year.  I hate leaving things up to chance like that!  Ah well . . .

So that was the Nan Desu Kan that almost wasn’t.  It was not just a long weekend, it was nearly too much and honestly my stress level is off the charts so I won’t be posting much for a bit (besides the two mini blog posts I have planned).  I will try to get our photos loaded to FaceBook and Photobucket.  Thank you again for everyone’s continued support in Artist’s Alley and everyone who was worried about us due to flooding. 

I look forward to hearing about your experiences with NDK this year.  Was it a strange year for you too?  How did your weekend turn out?  I’d love to hear about it!

I’m taking a seriously needed break before jumping into the Halloween costume season, but for all you out there in internet land; Happy Crafting!

Nan Desu Kan is Comig Right for Us!

I have so much to get done before Nan Desu Kan!  I am sorry I have not posted lately, but to be honest, every spare moment I have (including a lot of sleep time) has been spent on cosplay.  My daughter and I will be entering the costume contest together for the first time.  She is seven and is super excited so I am having more fun than usual (which is seriously nice during crunch time), but does mean again I have two master class costumes to create.  Want to know what we’re competing in?  I’ll give you a hint.  We’ll be in the characters avatar forms from the anime.  Any guesses?  Not yet?  No worries, I’ll be giving more hints as we get closer so stay tuned to find out more and come support us at NDK!  

I have also been busy getting my stuff ready to sell.  I’ll have more hats this year (as requested), lots more, and a larger variety of jewelry than last year.  I still have more to finish up, but I am very happy with my inventory.  My favorite new items?  Chain earrings.  They sound odd, but are awesome!  These little babies can be looped through one piercing to hang as a dangle earring, or two piercings for a looped effect.  You’ll have to see it, but they are pretty cool.  I wear mine constantly.  

I was also recently in a magazine!  Asian AvenueMagazine in Denver has an article in their September issue which offers lots of info and lovely pictures of cosplay, as well as a shot of my table from last year’s Artist’s Alley.  Be sure to get your copy for more things NDK and check us out!

Well, as you can guess, I gotta’ run.  I have more cosplay to work on.  Lol.  Never a spare moment.  ^__^  I’ll try to update at least once more on the blog before NDK, but for more up to the minute info, follow my facebook page.  

Oh and one last thing.  I’m going to be trying something new from the con this year – a video blog!  I’ll post more info soon!