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Author Topic: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)  (Read 191216 times)

Offline Kimuuu

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #440 on: June 07, 2009, 07:37:33 AM »
Can't. Get. Enough. Of. Recaps!  I always get the chills reading other people's accounts of meeting Yossy & Rika.  :yossi:  Yo, daigong, Kei and I were in line when you collapsed on the floor.  I totally saw you fall over in like, sheer ecstasy.  :lol:  This was before we officially met, but I had a feeling it was "daigong".  Hahaha.  Oh man... I'm glad you were able to get back in line a second time.  Kei and I tried to go back for another round, but by that time, 1444 had to leave.  Never thought to take pics with their chairs!!!  :inlove: :banghead: :grin:

Wooooooo, can't wait to read the next part!  :cow:

Offline daigong

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #441 on: June 08, 2009, 09:52:31 AM »
XD MAN!! See no exaggerating in this recap, ALL FACTS!! And yo Kimmy when u saw me, shoulda hollered! Good thing daigong didn't cause a scene eh?

Writing! The juices flowing - now I know how fics peeps feel! :halo:

Offline 0508

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #442 on: June 10, 2009, 12:37:15 AM »
Not bad, ordered a ton of rolls n noodles. Dinny has the appetite of ten big men!!

Wtf dai, stop giving away my secrets for staying tiny. :lol:

Awesome recap. Livin' it like it was just yesterday. Can't wait for the future installments! :heart:

Offline differentstory12

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #443 on: June 10, 2009, 06:21:42 AM »
Loved your review dai!
Seriously, everytime I think back to H&A in Seattle I cant help but to smile and have this huge grin on my face.
Thanks for your review, too bad I wasnt able to make it in time for the first autographs. I would have loved to be there but I felt like I was there with your review <3


Quote
Shit - after all that, I had only touched Yossi's finger tips accidentally when giving her the poster to sign.
XD lol.

Quote
And knowing I forgot my H&A goods, we went to find a Hot TOpic but the malls were already closed soo..
Same hereXD. I forgot my H&A CD and I was going to bring some Yossie & Rika merch just in case they did allow for them to sign but I forgot them at home XD


Hmmm I think the first time I saw you was at the concert line. I saw you wearing a JPH!P shirt so I thought maybe that was you since I hadnt seen a picture of you before. But I wasnt sure until we asked you after the concert was over XD.


Cant wait for the rest of your review!  :otomerika:  :yossi:

Offline Linna2040

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #444 on: June 10, 2009, 12:05:29 PM »
Yo, Dai, great recap!

Guess that means I have to make public my version of events.  As I mentioned elsewhere, this wasn't written as a traditional con recap.  But you all have been warned if you really want to go forward.  ;)

The full set of installments will be at my Livejournal page:
<http://pkristen.livejournal.com/tag/hangry+%26+angry>

I'll spare the intro pieces since that's really about introducing IY/H&A/H!P and my experiences with them, and pick up with part 5 which is my version of the autograph session -- hopefully this will be a clean copy and paste from Livejournal:

When I left for my trip, I was aware of four events that would be H&A related:  an autograph session at noon on Friday (opening day of the Con), the guest reception that night, and the concert on Saturday, and a Q&A panel on Sunday.

From over twenty years of attending various fan conventions, I learned the hard lesson that you must ALWAYS pick up your badges during pre-reg time if that is possible.  For you uninitiated: “pre-reg” is usually that window of time the day before the official start dates of the event.  It’s usually limited to people who register for the entire event rather just wanting to attend a single day or two.  This way, you don’t end up in obnoxiously long lines where you’re not only waiting with other fully registered attendees but also single-day attendees. 

A bad example of this was the year I went to Anime Expo for a single day registration.  I spent 5 hours in that line just to pick up my badge.  I spent more time in the line than in the con.

With the H&A autograph session being scheduled as one of the first Con events on opening day, the pre-reg pick up rule was a must.  (A good thing too because I heard afterwards that there was a horribly long wait that day for badge pick-ups and why a lot of people missed out on the session.)

Now, I’m not into autographs in general.  In fact, I don’t like them because the autographs are usually done over artwork or pictures that I would much prefer to look at instead.  But, I do know the power of showing support by participating in an activity for people who hold such events.  And for me, my primary goal was to give as much participatory support for H&A as possible.

That being said, I had read on the message boards that autographs for H&A was limited to “official” merchandise only.  Well, of all of the authentic merchandise that I own of IshiYoshi, if I wanted them to sign something, it wouldn’t be H&A material.  (Don’t get me wrong, I love the music but the goth fashion part is just not my thing.  I think they should ditch the goth look and just perform in their personally preferred jeans, t-shirts and leather and just focus on the music and performing!)

I have a mini IshiYoshi/Morning Musume picture “shrine” in my work cubicle (a source of amusing co-worker anecdotes, I assure you.)  One of my prize displays is a set of large solo pics of Rika and Yossie from their Ongaku Gatas tour last November, where they’re wearing the black and red plaid outfits.  These are “official” items (i.e., not bootleg or homemade), but not Hangry & Angry related unfortunately.  I decided to bring these pictures with me, just in case. 

And I planned to bring my H&A U.S. version of the CD as a fallback option.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t until I was in Eugene when I realized that I had forgotten it.  Oops.

The Thursday night before, I hooked up with “Rev2HD” (poster from JPH!P, whom I’ll refer to as “Little D” going forward based on her real name), and “Daigong” (“Big D” I guess), one of the main dudes from that same message board.  We picked up our badges in 45 minutes, went out to eat and had very interesting conversations.  Since the priority for the three of us was H&A activities, the strategy for the autograph session was to meet as early as possible – which would be about 11 am to line up. 

Big D realized that he forgot to bring his merchandise for signing as well.  Unfortunately, the exhibitor’s hall, which would most likely have a booth for Japanfiles to sell H&A material would open at Noon…  The autograph session begins at noon.  (Major drama was felt about this.)

So while the three of us were trying to figure out the layout for lining up for autographs outside of the designated convention hall, and how to meet the “official” merchandise requirement, I had noticed that there was an official con sign board on display that listed out the rules for the autograph session.  The biggest rule that caught our eye was that a “raffle” process would be used for signing.

This raffle process was described as tickets being given out to people who stood in line, with limited numbers to be called.  So the very possible end result is that the process meant that even if you lined up first, you were NOT guaranteed to get an autograph.  A late person could arrive, get a winning ticket, and get their autograph signed instead of you.  Needless to say, we were not pleased about that – it’s one thing to be “fair”, it’s another thing to screw the people who made the extra effort to do things like show up early just to line up early.

When the three of us then ran into “Stark”, the Convention Chair, whom Big D had previous conversations with.  In chatting with him (entertaining guy, btw), we found that Rika and Yossie had already arrived a couple of days earlier.  Plus, both of them, especially Rika, were suffering from horrible jetlag and time-difference adjustments.  As he described it, the two of them were doing autograph signings for convention staffers the night before and looked like they had been signing for four hours even though it had only been twenty minutes.  It was interesting tidbit that turned out to be very important later on.  And Stark mentioned the con program book qualified as “official” merchandise – if we were truly desperate. 

The raffle discussion also didn’t make the three of us feel happy about the situation if we’re limited to one autograph a piece (meaning, we can’t give a person with a winning raffle ticket our items to sign instead.)  He explained that the rule was established so keep guests from signing autographs forever.  My personal thought about that is just announce ‘The line ends here!’  (It’s what they do at other, bigger conventions I’ve attended.) Ah well…  But he did say that there's an unofficial policy that you can ask for autographs at the reception that night if things didn't work out during the official session.

So Stark left, and we were back to dealing with just getting into the line (we were like within the first 10 people) and figuring out the “official” merchandise issue.  Big D went down to the Exhibit Hall line (because it hadn’t opened yet) while Little D and I held our places in line even if it turned out to be futile.

This was the point when it started to become clear that the hard-core Hello! Project message boards people were all at the beginning of the line (big surprise.)  So introductions were made with putting faces to online names, and fan chat and picture-taking went on.  And as word about the pending raffle went around, we decided to make the most of our waiting time even if it ultimately meant no autograph as a result.

Luckily, it seemed that the Exhibit Hall opened early that Big D was able to grab some CDs and posters for us to sign.  And because he bought so much merchandise, he was also given “priority” tickets for autograph signing.  How that was going to work with the raffle, we had no idea.  (Another ticket process to keep track of.)

So now I owned a third H&A CD (including the U.S. and Japan release versions I had at home.)  Still, it would be worth it if I could have them sign it, more to show that their CD/music was selling.  But me being the kind of person who likes to do things a little ‘differently’, I decided I wanted them to sign the picture inside the insert of them pulling each other’s hair (wigs).  A lot more fun and well… IshiYoshi.

Now, as the time for the autograph session grew nearer, it was clear that the line for them was NOT that long, which I thought was disappointing in terms of showing H&A support.  That turned out to be fortunate because the raffle process was never used.  YEA!!! One obstacle down!

So as we walked into the hall, we all noticed that an official merchandise table was setup to the side.  My eyes immediately zoomed in on the official H&A photo sets that they offered, which Big D did not pick up.  With the idea of adding to my IshiYoshi picture shrine at work, these were a must buy.  It also meant that I got my priority ticket for signing.

The final autograph line up process was interesting in that the “priority” line was obviously shorter than the regular sign up line, but not really by that much.  It quickly became clear that we could line up more than once if the attendance was this minimal, which meant at least two autographs a piece!

So I got in the priority line and had them sign my CD insert picture.  Since I don’t speak Japanese whatsoever (I understand more than I can speak due to almost a decade of watching Japanese videos), all I did was smile and nodded at them.  Yossie did hers first, gave eye contact and said a ‘thank you’ before focusing on the next person.  Rika signed but I didn’t get eye contact with her but I kind of noticed that she didn’t seem like she was that energetic or in the rhythm of signing items.  Maybe I just got her in a low moment.

Now, with all of my bravado about being so jaded and only attending to show fan support, I was emotionally disappointed at such a brief encounter.  Of course, I got into line the second time since I wanted them to sign one of the H&A photos I had just bought.  But my disappointment burned in the back of my mind if I was going to be set up for a second “processing yet another fan” moment.

That’s when I started to pay attention to what other people had brought to have signed.  It was clear that not all of it were H&A material – especially for the others who had gone into the line more than once.  And a couple were even homemade items.

So as I moved towards the front of the line for the second time, that’s when I decided to be ‘selfish’ in that if I spent the time, effort and money to come to this event, I was going to get the one thing that I wanted out of it:  my Ongaku Gatas promo photos signed!  I was literally the person behind Yossie’s current focus when I made my final decision and hastily switched out the H&A photos for the OG photos.

I don’t know if the two of them remembered me – not expecting them to after all, but the experience was MUCH better this time around.  When Yossie saw the picture that I wanted her to sign, she gave a cry of pleased surprise (you Yossie wotas know what I’m talking about.)  Rika looked at her OG picture and declared “Saikou!”  We definitely had eye contact and exchanged a smile that time.  J

I left the line thinking the weekend could not get any better!

Since I wasn’t primarily focused on attending Sakura Con outside of H&A events, it was a case of “Now what?”  The reception was that evening, which was quite a few hours away.

That’s when I noticed that the fan clique had grown to about six or seven, who was hanging off to the side of the autograph area.  So we all waited, chatted, and watching other people getting their signatures.

And then we noticed that even though the signing was supposed to last until 2 p.m., the H&A team actually packed up early, about 1:30 p.m. or so.

With them now gone, and us still hanging out in the autograph signing area, this led to the other fans participating in photo ops with THE chairs IY sat in – including a moment of comical confusion trying to figure out which chairs they were. 

And no, I didn’t participate.  There’s fan support and then there’s FAN support.  It was also then I was started to make it public my ‘old fart’ nature as my excuse for not participating in certain things, or to leave early when my social energy level was gone.

Even though the H&A autograph session ended at a time that there didn’t seem to be any ‘unattended’ fans, unfortunately it did turn out to have some people arrive after that who had literally just got out of the registration line, including a hard-core Asian female fan who came to Sakura Con just for them.  Her disappointment being obvious, it was suggested to her to try to attend the reception with all of us and see if she could get her own autographs, since that was an unwritten possibility for that event.

And so we all went out separate ways (Big D to his press conference – slight jealousy there), and agreed to meet outside the reception area before that event.

To be continued...  maybe...
This Lesbian's Arts and Entertainment Forum.  Reviews and news of a LGBT-nature: http://www.pkristenenos.com/tlef/

Offline Kimuuu

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #445 on: June 12, 2009, 06:19:46 AM »
Lovin' the recaps!!!  :D 

BTW, the latest MySpace vid is up!

Offline Masa

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #446 on: June 12, 2009, 06:54:17 AM »
Linna2040 & daigong: PROPS FOR THE EPIC RECAPS! :twothumbs


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Offline candy_boy

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #447 on: June 12, 2009, 12:45:23 PM »
Yo, Dai, great recap!

Guess that means I have to make public my version of events.  As I mentioned elsewhere, this wasn't written as a traditional con recap.  But you all have been warned if you really want to go forward.  ;)

The full set of installments will be at my Livejournal page:
<http://pkristen.livejournal.com/tag/hangry+%26+angry>

I'll spare the intro pieces since that's really about introducing IY/H&A/H!P and my experiences with them, and pick up with part 5 which is my version of the autograph session -- hopefully this will be a clean copy and paste from Livejournal:




Yey! FINALLY! I've been checking for your updates since you wrote the first installment. :D

Can't read this just now, though... but I'm excited to. n_n
Rika <3

Offline zay05ohayou

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #448 on: June 12, 2009, 03:08:18 PM »
Wow, that was an awesome recap daigong! Man i'm so envious of you guys getting to meet them but reading up on your experiences with h&A in sakuracon got me all happy and excited! It was so freaking cool!  :twothumbs  Way to go man!  :bow:

Ishiyoshi~ DEF.DIVA~ GAM~ hANGRY&ANGRY <33

Offline ChocoMochaKei

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #449 on: June 12, 2009, 07:07:46 PM »
XD ahaha I see my tall friend in the latest myspace video, you can't see me though.  Too short ^^;

Offline Rickker708

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #450 on: June 12, 2009, 09:28:32 PM »
differentstory12 @10 sec
Life is one time.

Offline lilcazza

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #451 on: June 13, 2009, 05:05:15 AM »
WHOA! You people hads soooooo much fun!!!
Wish I was there ><""

But WHOO! It's SOOOO fun reading all the recaps!! xDDD
Moremoremore~

Offline Linna2040

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #452 on: June 15, 2009, 10:41:06 AM »
Yey! FINALLY! I've been checking for your updates since you wrote the first installment. :D

Wow.  Thank you!  It honestly never occured to me that someone would be actively waiting for me to post my con report.

...  Except maybe Dai since he gave me beep all that weekend for being a lurker.  But since he was procrastinating posting his own con report, I felt I could take my time.

But with AX around the corner with me wanting to have a clean mental slate by then, and my needing to start working on other personal projects, I do have to wrap this up.

So here's my version of the reception:

Thinking back on it, there were a lot of ironies around me attending the Sakura Con reception. 

Irony #1:  Due to my years of volunteering for theater, social and political organizations, whenever I’ve been part of a reception, it was usually as a worker instead of an attendee.  And if I did attend, it was usually a case where I knew half of the people there anyway.  It never occurs to me to focus on trying to mix and mingle with the guests because I considered that a perk really for other people because I usually knew or met the guests beforehand for preparations. 

When it comes to IY, I had nothing to say to them, even if we spoke the same language.  So I had no intention of using the opportunity to interact with them.  And especially after the thrill of my brief personal moment with them at the autograph session, my fan girl needs were more than satisfied for the weekend so anything else that would happen would be a pure bonus.

Irony #2:  I’ll be the first one to admit I’m not by nature a overtly social person.  I don’t get a thrill of talking to people just for the sake of talking to them.  It’s not a case of being shy, which I am not at all, it’s a case that I need a purpose or reason to do something.  Hanging out for the sake of hanging out is not my thing.  I can be the hostess or a facilitator of a discussion when the situation requires, but it’s not my preferred thing.  To truly get the most out of receptions (or any social function for that matter) mean you should be willing to aggressively mix and mingle, otherwise you’re not going to end up interacting with anyone. 

But I am an observer and a listener, and such crowds can offer interesting moments and sound bites.  So add on the component of a mixture of special guests and anime con attendees, I figure it would be ripe with possibilities.

Irony #3:  Even though I originally found out about the event because of Little D and had responded to her request for company, she and I did not hang out together at all at that event since she seemed to have bonded pretty well with Big D and others.  This was actually fine with me because this meant I could participate (or not) in the event to my personal comfort levels.  And again, I was in the primary mode of attending just to show presence and support.

Thanks to Little D’s constant checking with the event coordinator, she found out some critical pieces of information.  The most important of which was that it wasn’t going to be a sit down event but a stand and mingle process.  And since the reception was supposed to be a limited event with an extra ticket price, there wasn’t such a strong feeling of having to line up early to get the “best seat”.   

Still, that didn’t stop our growing fan group from wanting to gather early and hang out.

I arrived at the hotel by myself and quickly found the signs directing me to the pending reception in the meeting rooms.  Of course, it took just once glance at the forming crowd at the end of the hallway to see I had reached the right place.

So the members of the original group and a handful of newer faces were sitting down on the floor near the generic doors that lined the wide hallway.  Being the practical person that I am, I sat down on the floor by the wall since I wanted back support for the pending wait.

Since most of the fans waiting had gone to the autograph session, we spent the time swapping stories of our individual signing moments with H&A.  It turned out most of us had non-H&A material signed, which meant to me was a good thing.  It would leave a great impression on IY that their American supporters were knowledgeable fans about them, not just responding to the H&A publicity machine.  And hopefully that would feed back to Up-Front to bring other acts over to U.S. soil (outside of Hawaii.)

Based on watching convention and hotel staffers slipping in and out of the still closed room, I slowly became aware of the fact that my particular waiting spot was right by the main door of the event.  This meant that I was literally within five feet of the guests and their entourages as they were ushered in prior to the event.

As the start time approached and the waiting crowd grew larger, I indulged in a little bit of fan fun of trying to recognize the guest of honor who was arriving at the moment, knowing that most of them were expected to attend.  My anime fan knowledge helped me recognize some Japanese voice actors as they arrived but obviously they weren’t providing the real thrill of the evening for me.

So when we spotted a few familiar staff faces from the autograph session leading two figures wearing large coats and head coverings, we knew H&A had arrived.

Now, before I write what happened next, I am going to state very clearly that I would not write this if I did not sincerely believe this happened.  I have no reason to make this up with so many witnesses around us.

Rika was in the front and of course looking around to see where she was going.  Yossie right behind her with a hat pulled low over her face.  When Rika got to the door next to where we were, she glanced over at us.  With an obvious look of recognition, she immediately smiled at us and briefly bowed as she walked by.  I even had brief eye contact with her when she did that.

I was so stunned that all I could do was smile back.  It was the moment that confirmed what I had always sensed about her (and Yossie) in that she was a woman who really appreciated her fans.

When the doors were finally opened, the guests and their staffers were all lined up against one wall while everyone else was allowed to gather around the rest of the room, with tables ready with food and drink.

I had to admit I was momentarily concerned about the dress code but Little D had confirmed that it would be at least Con standards, which meant no thong bikinis – a standard I could handle.  But it was interesting to see both guests and attendees in a wide range of attire, with H&A towards on one extreme.  Along with cosplayers, there were some very noticeable wotas, like two Japanese guys who wore Gatas shirts with (I believe) Yossie’s number of 10.

So the event started with introductions of the guests where they could also speak to the crowd (through interpreters as needed.)  H&A were some of the last to be introduced, which was extremely satisfying to hear the lengthy and loud applause they received compared to the other guests.  I think IY were genuinely stunned by the greeting.

I don’t remember line for line what H&A said during the intros, but I do remember how they both had to comment how they felt very underdressed compared to the cosplay costumes they had seen at the Con so far.  And it was cute when Rika apologized for not feeling well and that she couldn’t eat the egg rolls that were offered.  It was even cuter when Yossie grabbed the mike from her and declared in English “She’s angry!  Very angry!”  (IY!!!)  Needless to say, the crowd – myself included – loved that moment.

Before letting the reception start in allow attendees to mingle with the guests, the organizer announced that the guests should be allowed to get food first.  When mingling was finally allowed, a large line of fans almost immediately formed in front of H&A.  Since this happened on the opposite side of the room where we had planted ourselves, all we could see was this single file line of people while other attendees and guests seemed to roam around at will.

For me, the importance now was getting food and checking out who else of the fan crowd was just hanging out, which turned out to be a handful.  So we continued to chat amongst ourselves as we kept a casual eye on the lengthy line that had formed in front of H&A.

I remember a moment where looked around and noticed two young woman wearing white frilly dresses and thought “Wow, they really decided to dress up for the reception.”  It took me a moment to realize that they cosplaying IY from the “Osaka Koi No Uta” PV.  I laughed to myself for not making that immediate connection.

As time went on, it was clear that the H&A fan line seemed to persist.

One of the other fans I hung out with commented in frustration how we should get IY plates of food so they could at least eat since it was clear they hadn’t had an opportunity.  That was when Terrie, the Asian fan who had missed out on the autograph session, explained that IY wouldn’t accept it anyway.  For safety reasons, they would only eat food they had selected themselves or were prepared by their management staff.

It turns out the food issue was minimal since the H&A group left early.  The unsurprising explanation that went around was that Rika was not feeling well at all.

So with them gone, our fan group decided on the strategy for meeting up for the concert the next night.  Since it was supposed to start at 7 p.m., the group agreed to line up as early as possible.  Based on research the previous year’s con’s activities, some fans even suggested to start as soon as the previous event ended, which would be around 2:30 p.m.

Since it was a long day, and I felt compelled to go hang out with my hostess for a bit (since I was staying at her home for free after all), I left the Con after agreeing to meet the group at 4 p.m. on Saturday...
This Lesbian's Arts and Entertainment Forum.  Reviews and news of a LGBT-nature: http://www.pkristenenos.com/tlef/

Offline candy_boy

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #453 on: June 15, 2009, 11:23:55 AM »
Yey! FINALLY! I've been checking for your updates since you wrote the first installment. :D

Wow.  Thank you!  It honestly never occured to me that someone would be actively waiting for me to post my con report.


I've been "stalking" your page since you dropped that comment on Katatsamuri's blog about writing your own extensive account on the con and IY. Woah, that was loooong ago, wasn't it? Been checking up on it everytime I went online... Still do, actually. Too disturbing for you? LOL Sorry, can't stop now. :P  Oh, just read you part 5 and 6. Your accounts are extra special to me since you're writing it from an IY fan perspective...



Now, before I write what happened next, I am going to state very clearly that I would not write this if I did not sincerely believe this happened.  I have no reason to make this up with so many witnesses around us.

Rika was in the front and of course looking around to see where she was going.  Yossie right behind her with a hat pulled low over her face.  When Rika got to the door next to where we were, she glanced over at us.  With an obvious look of recognition, she immediately smiled at us and briefly bowed as she walked by.  I even had brief eye contact with her when she did that.

I was so stunned that all I could do was smile back.  It was the moment that confirmed what I had always sensed about her (and Yossie) in that she was a woman who really appreciated her fans.




I don’t remember line for line what H&A said during the intros, but I do remember how they both had to comment how they felt very underdressed compared to the cosplay costumes they had seen at the Con so far.  And it was cute when Rika apologized for not feeling well and that she couldn’t eat the egg rolls that were offered.  It was even cuter when Yossie grabbed the mike from her and declared in English “She’s angry!  Very angry!”  (IY!!!)  Needless to say, the crowd – myself included – loved that moment.



IY never fails to disappoint.  :twothumbs  GJ!  :thumbsup Looking forward to part 7. Thanks for this!
Rika <3

Offline Linna2040

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #454 on: June 24, 2009, 11:42:55 AM »
H&A at Sakura Con '09, Part 7: The Concert:  Waiting

Special comments:  With Anime Expo literally around the corner, I know I HAVE to wrap this up before my head starts spinning with H!P stuff again.  Also, too many Yossie things have been happening these days as a sign that I should be getting back into hard-core fan mode. 

One of these signs occurred tonight because I am currently working my way through Ayaka’s Surprise English Lessons, which means watching quite a few I hadn’t seen when I was into Morning Musume the first time around.  The key one that I just watched was Ayaka teaching Yossie the phrase “When pigs fly” and suggested that Yossie should use it in response to people asking her (Yossie) when she’ll get married.  This was aired in May of 2002 (a couple of months after the IY tabloid articles appeared).  Makes you wonder if the girls knew something back then.  Hmmm…  Yes, I’m having a heck of a lot of fun in (re)discovering IY stuff in hindsight.

Onwards, or actually, backwards to April 2009:


Let me start off my concert day report by stating my official Sakura Con gripe number two:  special wrist bands were offered to people so they could line up in a priority line instead of the regular attendance line.  However, these wrist bands were only offered to people who stayed in official Con hotels.  So anyone who was local (or staying with locals like me), couldn’t get one.  I would have willing paid for one if it had been possible (like it is with AX), but that was not the case – or at least not from what I was able to find on the official website.  While this was a one time event moment for me, I couldn’t help but think the Sakura Con folks were screwing their biggest supporters of local attendees.

So not being able to secure this priority wrist band beforehand led me to not feeling as enthused as my fellow H&A fans about the concert itself.  I knew it would mean that I could only hang out with my main crowd for a little bit before I had to join my proper place in line with the non-wrist banded folks, which would result in a very different experience for sure.  This was also the reason why I wasn’t as committed about lining up as early as possible since I knew I would most likely have to pass the time alone since I was sure everyone else in our fan clique had these coveted wrist bands.

And so I arrived at approximately 4p by walking into the hall where lines had already started to form.  What had immediately caught my attention though was the sounds of H&A rehearsing in the next room over (the actual concert hall.)  You couldn’t hear the singing that clearly but the music was unmistakable.

Sure enough, the fan clique was in towards the beginning of the priority line – like within the first 10 people, which included some female Japanese wotas.  More new faces had joined the crowd, so again, the more the merrier.  So members of the group told me they had heard the entire rehearsal set, (which is a damn good way to pass the waiting time.)

Now, I believe it was Big D who noticed that I wasn’t sitting down to join them in the wait.  I pointed out that I did not have the pink wrist band of privilege so I was going to go join the other line.  It was then revealed that one of the crowd had somehow gotten some extra wristbands and one was offered to me, which of course I accepted.  (Whoever it was, I am forever grateful to you!)

Once I was fully settled down for the wait, I could focus on the music that we were hearing.  While I don’t play an instrument or sing, I pride myself in having a little bit of an ear for music.  So I was purposefully listening for songs that didn’t sound like the standard H&A album list of 5, especially since like many other fans, I didn’t know what they were planning to sing for what we’re presuming will be an hour concert.  I especially wanted to know if they be doing any H!P material along with new H&A material.  I knew there was internet buzz of a new H&A song but that only brings the official set list to 6, sooo…
And sure enough, I heard a very familiar melody that was decidedly H!P and not H&A.  Unfortunately, when I pointed this out to people sitting next to me, I didn’t know (and probably couldn’t pronounce if I did) the song title.  But it certainly made me feel relieved that while Sakura Con publicity of focusing on H&A (NOT Ishikawa Rika and Yoshizawa Hitomi) wasn’t completely exclusive of the H!P connection.  Yes, we did hear some songs that sounded unfamiliar and more in the style of Goth rock.

Finally, the music seemed to stop and fan conversation started to resume.  After a few minutes, “Happy Birthday” could be heard through the walls.  Everyone knew it was Yossie’s birthday and hearing such a song was really not surprising.  But since they rehearsed it last, and well after the regular set, I assumed that it would be an encore moment, which would have been incredibly cute.

With the rehearsals now done, over two and a half hours of waiting with other fans is still a very loooong time to deal with.  And I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t pass time well if I don’t have anything to occupy myself with.  So having established my place in line, I felt comfortable going back to my car to grab my backpack and laptop so I could work on my lesbo ero novella, that I was finalizing for self-publishing.  (A strangely ironic thing to do while waiting for IY/H&A but I thought appropriate.)

Unfortunately the mood wasn’t quite right for me to work on such material but then I realized I had H!P fansub files on my laptop that I had brought to educate to my Eugene friends.  One of the files was Rika’s Hello Morning graduation episode, which I played for everyone sitting around.  Talk about being a fan-popular way to pass the time! 

Other than the momentary appearance of the H&A mascots, there wasn’t much else of significance to note from the next few hours.  But it was heartening to see both concert lines start to grow with anxious concert goers.

I had to admit I wasn’t quite sure what to expect of the crowd.  While I know some of us were H!P educated, I wasn’t going to make that assumption of the rest of the attendees.  I’ve watched enough of my H!P concert DVDs to know that concert fans behave very differently in Japan than in the U.S. (even though it had been a very long time since I had personally attended a concert that didn’t have assigned seating.)  I knew the Japanese wota had this thing about calling out the nicknames of girls as they sang verses of the song.  I was really hoping the Sakura Con crowd would not do that, but would rather be “American” in that the music and the performance was really more important.

On the other hand, I was also hoping that H&A wouldn’t be so focused on idol choreography, that they could relax a bit and just sing and perform without worrying about making sure their arm or leg was in the proper position or in timed movement.  While I respect the intense choreography that can be involved for H!P concerts, it wasn’t really something I wanted to see for H&A.  Though some planned performance movements are fine.  J

As the starting time grew near, it dawned on me that I was saddled with my laptop backpack that I just didn’t get around to taking back to my car for some reason.  When we were finally let into the hall, it was this factor that made me contemplate following the group of people who were headed towards the seats versus the mosh pit, being the practical and lazy old fart that I am.  However, when I saw that the mosh pit was still almost empty and that this was my opportunity to have the ultimate concert experience, I decided to take the mosh pit option. 

This was probably the most critical, spur of the moment decision I made all weekend.

Next:  Part 8 (the actual concert), Part 9 (Q&A panel), Part 10 (aftermath -- which I'll spare you folks by only keeping on my livejournal page.)
This Lesbian's Arts and Entertainment Forum.  Reviews and news of a LGBT-nature: http://www.pkristenenos.com/tlef/

Offline Kimuuu

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #455 on: June 25, 2009, 01:07:30 AM »
Woooooooo! Way to be spontaneous and opt for the pit! :D 

And thank goodness you got a wristband.  Kei and I had a spare one, too...  I think we left it in our hotel room.  :huhuh

Looking forward to the next parts!

Offline daigong

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #456 on: June 25, 2009, 07:41:09 AM »
^ Not going into the mosh pit was an option?? :lol: I'm sure glad I got you in, and thanks Za_Wolf for the extra red wristbands :thumbsup we hook each other up!!

Awesome recaps!! Kristen! I reaaallly feel the pressure to finish start mine as well. PLUS Anime Expo is gonna take us to the next level, I fucking guarantee it.

Also I promised my homies I'd finish :halo:

Offline Linna2040

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #457 on: June 25, 2009, 10:32:44 AM »
thanks Za_Wolf for the extra red wristbands :thumbsup we hook each other up!!

Ah!  Thanks Za_Wolf!  Mystery solved!

I guess that's the good thing about posting these reports is that other folks can help fill in the blanks if possible!

Awesome recaps!! Kristen! I reaaallly feel the pressure to finish start mine as well.

Well, I figured that as long as I finish mine before you finish yours, I'm safe.  ;)

Now having gone through this exercise, I don't think I have it in me to do a con recap for AX.  I'm not as vested in MM (though I do like them).  And I admit Y without I (or vice versa) is just not the same level of interest for me.

And after all, I have porn to write as I'm starting to get some fan-pressure to work on ero book #2.
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Offline Linna2040

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #458 on: June 25, 2009, 11:12:05 AM »
H&A at Sakura Con '09, Part 8: The Concert:  AWESOME!!!

Let me clarify something: though I joke that I’m an energy efficient old fart, I do know how to party. During my twenties, my friends and I would go clubbing almost every weekend in West Hollywood and hold my own on the dance floor with the gay boys. But that was over a decade ago. So going to a goth rock concert was hardly intimidating as much as I was out of practice being an active concert-goer. Also, if the act isn’t good, there’s no way in hell I’m going to get into party mood. As I’ve written earlier, the true test of an entertainer in my eyes is that ability to do a good live show.

Also, I purposefully have avoided watching all of the official H&A con videos because I wanted to write this account based on my own intellectual and emotional memories where possible. The report may not be technically accurate, but the point is that the impressions and memories are what really stays with you in the end.

And so I joined the gang in the mosh pit, almost dead center and with only one person in front of me! Armed and decorated with various glow items, I was ready for the concert to begin. The only drawback was that I spent the next few hours trying to keep my spot while dancing and trying not to trip over my laptop backpack at my feet.

But even with such prime positioning, the opening band experience made me (and a few others) a little nervous. So when the opening act, Miyuji, played and it was immediately noticeable that I couldn’t hear/understand the singer at all though the music was more than a little overwhelming. The sound system was THAT bad.

Up until the performance, I had to wonder about Miyuji’s persona since the lead singer introduced himself at the reception as a big hentai fan. Something that I’m sure that probably horrified all of the native Japanese speakers who may have had some concerns about national pride and appearances to Americans (e.g., IY.) My personal conjecture of course but that was my biggest impression of the band up until their performance. But because the sound system was so bad, I wasn’t able to leave with a better impression that musical talent may outweigh a little bit of joking ‘in your face-ness’.

Unfortunately, the concern about the sound system added to potential concerns about what H&A would sound like when they took the stage. That was the last thing I wanted personally and for their hopes of the best possible first U.S. performance.

So when Miyuji left the stage, and we were waiting for the REAL concert to begin, I had to refocus my expectations and concerns.

I had watched the Ongaku Gatas “Come Together” concert DVD in March and though I liked it, the almost lack of IY-interaction concerned me. With H&A openly marketing lesbian sexuality, I hoped that OG’s hands-off aura from that tour wouldn’t overshadow this concert. I also wanted the audience to respond positively to anything that H&A did on stage, no matter how subtle or overt.

To me it was a cycle to follow: Note whatever significant behavior H&A/IY may do on stage, take in how the audience reacted to it, and then how H&A/IY would react to the reaction.

Unfortunately, with writing this account two and a half month afterwards, my memories did blur a bit. So here are the significant points that are still very vivid for me:

When H&A first took the stage, the sound system was great (whew!). And I was glad to see that while there was some choreography, they seemed to have moments where they were allowed to improvise with whatever they felt at the moment. And the audience responded “American-style”, spontaneously responding to music and moments as required.

With her training from H!M skits, Y started the concert as being in very composed character, of however she defined the character of “Hangry” to be. R struck me as being a little bit more loose and relaxed as she went with the flow of the songs. As the concert progressed there was moments that you clearly thought “That’s not Angry, that’s Rika. But’s perfectly okay!” And Y clearly shifted into rock mode as required.

The first time (of several) where R would touch Y in a very staged, lesbian-seductive way, the crowd screamed. Yes, SCREAMED. And I admit myself included. The two of them were clearly surprised by the strong reaction, but it was clear that it was a pleased surprise. And it also showed how many women were in the concert crowd, which was something that I’m sure wasn’t typical of an H!P concert. Either way, it was very clear very early in the show that America LOVES IY!!!

During one of the early songs, when I saw the two of them position themselves for the next choreographed moment, they exchanged a look and a smile that was clearly a moment between the two of them. When I saw that, my concerns about them remaining formal with each other finally faded. And I looked forward to seeing them exchange looks as the concert went on, thrilled to actually see their smiles evolve to a private chuckles or laughs.

And the crowd frenzy caused by R’s leg stroke in KMKM version 1 just pushed all concert energy over the top.

Another cute moment was when the two of them had arm full of glow ring in the colors that matched their characters. They both started pitching them out into the audience. (And let me tell you that it sucks being a short person surrounded by taller people in those moments!) Y got through her batch very quickly, flinging out handfuls, while R seemed to be paced at doing pitching them carefully one at a time. And as expected, Y was soon standing on the stage waiting for R to finish, which was clearly a moment of amusement between the two of them as R rushed to catch up.

Now when the “Happy Birthday” song was played, I honestly think the only person who was more surprised than me was Y. Like I had written earlier, I thought it would be an encore moment. But since it was quickly evident of being a surprise, I was able to happily and quickly adapt to R’s present, though I did use “Y” instead of “H” in the name part of the song.

I remember dancing, arm pumping glow sticks and singing along with what few English lyrics there were. But I admit that my less energetic nature did get the better of me towards the end of the concert. Any time one or both of them looked in the direction of where I was, I jumped up and down and pumped my arms like crazy. The moment neither of them had their eyes in my direction, I put my arms down and relaxed/recooperated. I thought my arms were going to fall off. I admit though that it would have been worth it.

As for the KMKM encore version, my recollection of that moment was when R started her leg stroke (as she did the first time), I immediately spotted that wicked glint that flashed on Y’s face. I swear my heart almost flipped because I just knew she was going to do something to R that was not planned! The chain of events built with Y’s impromptu grab and hug of R, with the latter jumping in surprise but then playing into it. I screamed with everyone else at what I considered to be the ultimate IY moment of that weekend – or in any recorded memory, including the OG “Come Together” PV ‘kiss’!

When the concert concluded, everyone seemed to be in an emotional and physical high. As we left the concert hall, I asked the very seasoned H!P wota Terrie if she had ever been that close in a concert before and she admitted only once. She seemed just as thrilled as the rest of us. It was this pure crowd energy and fun that carried into our fan group’s meal at Ruth Chris afterwards.

For all of you who weren’t there, you unfortunately missed something that I don’t think can be recreated in terms of dynamics and circumstances even if/when H&A perform on U.S. soil again.

But I’m definitely not stating that you shouldn’t support them or go see them if you have the chance in the future. I certainly will!

This Lesbian's Arts and Entertainment Forum.  Reviews and news of a LGBT-nature: http://www.pkristenenos.com/tlef/

Offline Linna2040

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Re: [News] Hangry & Angry Concert in Seattle (JPH!P WORLD TOUR 2K9 Recap)
« Reply #459 on: June 26, 2009, 10:59:37 AM »
 :shocked:... seeing light at the end of the tunnel ...

H&A at Sakura Con '09, Part 9: Q&A Panel:  Anti-Climatic?  Or Not?

In response to Little D texting me that the group had now gotten into the line for the Q&A Panel, a couple of hours before the panel itself, I was genuinely confused when I arrived at the hall where the panel was supposed to be and did not see a line, much less the fan clique.  It took a little bit of educated guessing (and wandering around) to find that the line was in the next hall over, but hidden behind some panels.  Apparently this was the line up space for the Gilgamesh panel the previous day.

And sure enough, the fan clique was at the beginning of the line, and had now grown to about a dozen people, including the Asian female wotas that had shared line territory with us for the concert.

By then, the group had apparently got into “expert mode” of how to the pass time since we still had a couple of hours to go:  someone was playing the Elder Club “Thank You For Your Love” concert DVD while people bonded over the experiences of the weekend and H!P/J-Culture knowledge in general.  It was also a time when people started to discuss the upcoming MM concert at AX as the next big thing to look forward to even though it would be almost three months away.

It really surprised me how many people did NOT list either R or Y in their Top 3 fav Musume of all time.  In fact it was discussed a bit about how the fan attendence at Sakura Con was undercut by the MM @ AX announcement, where folks opted to go to latter instead.  Those that went to Sakura Con were happy enough to have an official “H!P” event to show there was indeed a fan-base on this side of the Pacific Ocean.

Now while discussions were happening, I couldn’t help but notice the Japanese wota were very focused on the concert video, to the point that they were clearly memorizing the choreography to the songs.  It wasn’t until that point that it really sunk in for me on how important the choreography was to their marketed audience.  I guess because the concert DVDs don’t show the crowds, so you don’t really have a sense of what the fans are doing except for calling out nicknames when appropriate.

Regardless of the actual quality of the choreography, especially for idol acts, I will be the first to admit that it does take skill and talent to execute movements that may not be natural for your body.  For example, when I’m out on the dance floor doing my own thing, I’m a pretty good dancer, but the moment I have to count steps or memorize other movements, I suck.  So I definitely respect H!P acts where half a dozen (or more) people are trying to execute a song with the precision and energy level of a cheerleading squad.  It just never really occurred to me that Japanese wota would take it to the next level of trying to learn the moves themselves.

That being said, I have to admit I haven’t been dancing for a while, but I can see that the next time I hit the dance floor, some of my movements might be unconsciously influenced by H!P dance motions.  That should be interesting since the clubs I go to probably won’t be playing the H!P music to match.

And while I’m watching some of these wotas do other activities like preparing sign-boards, it was clear that the process and experience of preparing such items was just as important as any other fan activity that could be involved with the celebrity or idol themselves.  Again, there’s fan support and there’s FAN support.

Though it was amusing to note that everything is allowed to be put on hold when GAM performs.

And it was great to see the Q&A line stretch out with a lot of people, whether existing fans or newly converted from the concert of the night before.

Okay, so now we come to my official Sakura Con gripe number three:  SOMETHING got majorly FUCKED UP with this line situation!  I saw Con staff occasionally check up on us, assuring that the Q&A room would be cleared out and we would be in the first row.

That didn’t happen. 

As the panel start time arrived and no one came to fetch us, some anxious fans checked out what was going on.  It turns out that people were seated inside for the H&A panel and no one had come to let us officially know.  So after moments of chaotic confusion and panic, it did turn into a bit of a frenzied “get in there NOW!” moment as we and the other people in the line rushed in to get the best seats possible, which were definitely NOT starting at front row.

And the programmers decided to start off the panel with the “Kill Me Kiss Me” video, which would have been awesome to watch on big screen with a bunch of other fans.  Would have.  If they had actually got it to play all the way through instead of repeatedly freezing up after a minute or so.

But what bits they did show included a couple of the lesbo interactive moments, which of course solicited some fan hollering, though not to the volume and intensity of those similar moments in the concert.

Now I know some people have already posted transcripts of the Q&A itself and so I’m going to focus on my personal impressions and recollections rather than worry about being technically accurate.  Again, I purposefully did not read those transcripts (yet) because I wanted my reports to be as “unbiased” as possible.

I was very pleased that, for the most part, the fans were definitely respectful to them in the questions asked and the attentive given to their answers.  Of course, I wrote “most”.

Through the various events of the weekend, I noticed significant attempts of flirtation (by usually male fans) at one or both of R and/or Y.  And so when the couple of questions like that were asked at the panel, it was not surprising that while the other fans clearly made their disapproval known, and the translators intercepted by not translating the questions and creating comical responses on R & Y’s behalf.

Now R and Y aren’t stupid, and I’m sure have dealt with this their entire careers.  Personally, I would have liked the translators to have passed on the requests to hear R and Y’s responses, which I’m sure would have been clever, Japanese polite, or both.  Ah well.

But to view things on a general level, this is hardly the first time I’ve been to Q&A panels where fans made inappropriate personal requests or offers.  Sometimes you just can’t tell if these people are truly socially clueless to the fact that they had lined up to see the celebrity in question, not the other way around.  It’s more than a little embarrassing for everyone else involved, especially in THIS situation where I think both sides are anxious to make the best impressions possible, H&A/R&Y as Japanese entertainers for the first time at an event targetted for U.S. audiences, and we as American fans showing support.

(Holding breath as I tried not to imagine too much right now about the MM Q&A panel at AX.)

I personally got out of the panel a couple of things:

I couldn’t help but notice that R touched Y a lot, whether on the hand, arm or shoulder.  It was as if the ‘hands off’ aura on H!M after the tabloids scandal never happened.  Y, on the hand remained seated forward for the most part, but it didn’t seem like she minded the touching at all – as she appeared very comfortable and used to it.

There were also several times that they seemed to check with each other on answering questions, either having the same answer, or comfirming that their answers were aligned or okay with the other.  People who are interviewed as independent, individuals usually don’t do that, or at least not as much even if they’re in a professional duo or group.

And in hindsight, I have to chuckle when I think about the question of their favorite manga (or was it anime?) and while Y answered “Shin-chan” (which I also like btw), R answered “Sailormoon”.  That manga scene of Michiru being approached by an anxious male fan, and Haruka intervening to keep him from getting too close, suddenly has a whole new dimension and meaning if R is a fan of the series as well.  Possible self-identification on R’s part?

And so the panel ended and the second autograph event happened.  It was very pleasing to see the line wrap around two and a half sides of the large room.  It was a good enough final sight for me personally before I left the con to make my way to the airport…

Of course, I kicked myself again when I realized that I missed their appearance at the closing ceremonies…  :angry:

Next on my livejournal page only: Part 10 : Aftermath.  Some post event related H&A/IY anecdotes and thoughts about the upcoming MM @ AX event -- with Y ("H")!

Otherwise, thanks for reading!  (And yea!!! I can now watch ALL of the H&A videos I’ve saved and the other fan con reports that I forced myself to stay away from!!!)   :w00t:
This Lesbian's Arts and Entertainment Forum.  Reviews and news of a LGBT-nature: http://www.pkristenenos.com/tlef/

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