Hello from Los Angeles, CA USA

By Chibibubbleninja. 05/01/13, 07:53 am

Hello all!
I cosplay here in California. I was just wondering like the cosplay scene is like there. (Because I might move there).
I would especially love to hear from anyone who has come here for something like Anime Expo.

Thanks all!
Catherine

By Highlander. 05/01/13, 08:46 am

Cool. There is a group of us going to AX this year.

By **seraphik**. 05/01/13, 09:17 am

i went to ALA a couple of years ago, the cosplay scenes are totally different but both great in their own ways. (:

By Highlander. 05/01/13, 10:40 am

Where about in NZ would you be moving to? And when?

Also would a ChibiBubbleNinja float in the air?

By Pura. 05/01/13, 11:31 am

Hey! We're a pretty small community compared to overseas, but we're all really tight-nit. Like we're all friends with each other pretty much Very Happy

. It's a really great community. We've had no drama for years, we all help each other with our problems and because we're a small country most of us travel around to the conventions so we all get to hang out in person (: (seeing as NZ is the size of California, haha).

A few people here have been to Anime Expo, Icarus is one of them. I'd love to go one day, but California is a long way away, haha Razz

By Hannah. 05/01/13, 12:19 pm

Welcome!
You'll probably notice our community is much smaller than overseas but don't worry! we're friendly and always happy to help with any questions you may have.

What lead you to want to move to lil ol' NZ?

By Epiales. 06/01/13, 06:31 am

Hello there Catherine and welcome to the forum :)

By Rolly. 06/01/13, 06:42 am

Hello there and welcome! Like most people said here, we're a small but tight community. Everyone generally knows everyone.
You might also not be able to get materials here as easily as in Cali, though, which is a pain. There's probably also not as much conventions here as CA, and they're not so big venue-wise to the extent of AX.

By Highlander. 06/01/13, 09:44 am

We don't have many specialist cons. Various towns have Japan Day/Sakura Fest or Chinese New Year, which a small number of people may cosplay to. There is one steampunk convention, and one sci-fi convention nationally, and various cities have their own steampunk events. Canterbury University has a multi-club convention including a small cosplay element. And Auckland has a Doujin event.

But other than those the National Convention circuit is currently dominated by Bill's conventions, which he keeps tinkering with. Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington get large Armageddon (popular culture) Expos, which cover a lot of stuff, including large cosplay events, including international guests. Dunedin and (due to the earthquake and lack of venues since) Christchurch get a cut down mini Armageddon. And in Auckland he is trying out a couple of special events, like I think an anime and a music event? The cosplay competition is strictly judged, mostly on the construction of the costume. Skits are pretty time limited. And the standard of the better costumers I think is pretty much as good as anywhere.

So no multiple Anime only or cosplay only comic only events to chose from

People do organise some private events, mainly in Auckland. But people seem to have been pretty slack the last couple of years. Private photo shoots have started becoming a little bigger.

By Chibibubbleninja. 06/01/13, 10:16 am

Highlander wrote:: Where about in NZ would you be moving to? And when?

Also would a ChibiBubbleNinja float in the air?

Hello Highlander,

I almost feel over when I hear this very funny :grin:

I am thinking of maybe some where near Wellington or the upper part of the South Island.....not really sure yet. Will know more after I actually visit. So not sure when I would be able to move there....looking at the whole visa process right now.

If you don't mind chatting more about it you can PM me :)

By Chibibubbleninja. 06/01/13, 10:19 am

Thank you all for the warm welcome! I do enjoy the tighter knit groups myself :)
That is fun too that you even sometimes get groups together to travel to other Cons cheers

I look forward to chatting with you all more and maybe I can see some of you if you are in LA for the cons Wink

By Chibibubbleninja. 06/01/13, 10:21 am

Hannah wrote:: Welcome!
You'll probably notice our community is much smaller than overseas but don't worry! we're friendly and always happy to help with any questions you may have.

What lead you to want to move to lil ol' NZ?

Hello Hannah,

Thanks for the welcome!
I am already in love with the beauty of New Zealand- and I haven't even made a visiting trip yet...
so I figured I would check out the community because I am pretty sure after my visit I will not want to leave :)

By Chibibubbleninja. 06/01/13, 10:23 am

Oh and anyone who might want to chat more about living in NZ go ahead and drop me a PM- don't want to clog up this forum with non-cosplay chatter :)
Unless you are all ok with it- then I am too Smile

By Rolly. 06/01/13, 10:32 am

It is A-OK to clutter with non cosplay chatter! We talk about general things too!

By Highlander. 06/01/13, 10:35 am

Well it is your intro thread rather than the cosplay part of the forum.

So, like you have not visited NZ, but you decided you love the scenery enough to move here. Sounds like you have watched to much Lord of the Rings?

By Pura. 06/01/13, 11:05 am

Haha, I marathoned all three Lord of the Rings movies (extended) yesterday and we spent the entire time pointing out where each place was filmed xDDDD If not cause of LotR, how did you get into liking New Zealand? Very Happy

If you move to Wellington then we're the capital, so it's pretty cityish (but still pretty small compared to overseas) and there's always stuff on. And it's also quite windy, haha. Upper part of the South Island actually hasn't got much there. There's Picton, Blenheim and Nelson are the main places. Picton is tiny and is pretty much only a ferry link to Wellington Razz

(that said I do love Picton) and Blenheim is bigger, but not by much. I've never been to Nelson though, but it's a few hour's drive from Picton, and nothing else much around (although very sunny Razz

). South Island has extremely nice scenery though, I don't like the North Island much, only Wellington and Auckland, haha. (I grew up in the South Island, so I'm biased Razz

But been in Wellington for most of my life otherwise xD)

By Highlander. 06/01/13, 12:16 pm

Some of the best beaches in the world west of Nelson. Though they cop the best and the worst of the weather.

By Chibibubbleninja. 07/01/13, 03:44 am

I will admit it was LOTR that made me think it would be nice to wake up to such a beautiful place every day. But I am also frustrated that the government here is doing the things they are.

It was actually LOTR that made me move from my small country town in Michigan to Los Angeles :) (To pursue acting and modeling)

I am really drawn by the more laid back and inviting attitude the NZ is said to have.
One thing I like is that that GMOs are not grown commercially- here the US we are devastating the soil and peopled health and because the government and CEOs are lining there pockets it doesn't matter. I mean there is a problem when the cafeteria for the government office and the Monsanto cafeteria are strictly organic and will not eat any GMOs.
Entrant:

But there are a lot of thing that I have found out that make me like it more at more.
One thing I wish that was legal was medical cannabis...I don't partake but others in my family do for medical purposes and I would like it available if I (knock on wood) had a devastating disease. But from what I hear is that they are trying to pass regulations to have it used medically.

Another thing I would like to know is natural disaster preparedness.
Like here in Los Angeles we have the threat of earth quakes but there it would seems I would have to be worried about volcanoes and tsunamis as well.

Last thing is the entertainment industry.
I think there is a lot more in the way of productions going on these days in NZ. So I am thinking there would still be the opportunity. And most likely I would be making my own work if I don't get cast in parts I am going out for.

Glad no body minds if I clog up the boards Razz

Glad I found this group :)

By Highlander. 07/01/13, 04:36 am

Chibibubbleninja wrote:: But I am also frustrated that the government here is doing the things they are.

One thing I like is that that GMOs are not grown commercially

Another thing I would like to know is natural disaster preparedness.
Like here in Los Angeles we have the threat of earth quakes but there it would seems I would have to be worried about volcanoes and tsunamis as well.

Last thing is the entertainment industry.
I think there is a lot more in the way of productions going on these days in NZ. So I am thinking there would still be the opportunity. And most likely I would be making my own work if I don't get cast in parts I am going out for.

We are frustrated that the Government is doing what they are doing. But at least it's not the states. We do have a green party in parliament, and one decade or other they may figure out how to be an effective conscience for parliament? It looks like the labour party is starting to stir a little bit and may yet get back to it's roots with the people, maybe? Also we only have one house, and we have proportional representation. I'm not sure about the GMO's. We do research them, we do want them for some things. But we do now have extremely strict protocols for introducing them. So I'm not sure how much if any is in use. And of course imported foodstuffs, well who knows.

Disaster preparedness is never enough. We are on the edge of the pacific rim, and so earthquakes are by and large the biggest threat to NZ, just like LA. We currently have active volcanoes in the centre of the North Island which are monitored, and which have erupted lately. They can threaten trampers, road and rail links, rivers and air travel. Tsunamis potentially are a problem, as people live on the coast. But we have never had any deaths I think, even with the large one in the 70's? Scrub fires can be a risk depending on where you live, but nothing like California/Australia. Flooding is also a common cause of damage in much of the country.

The plate boundary leaves the North Island to the east of Wellington, and so the top half of the North Island, and much of the west coast of the NI are relatively free of the threat of large quakes I think. Christchurch of course has had a very long series of 5-8 magnitude earthquakes, and been severely damaged, along with losing over 200 people. We have used our very strong contracting network, and massive mobilisation of our emergency services, including allied organisations like the Military, Salvation Army Church, the Red Cross, etc. Still we had a massive influx of USAR teams, engineers and demolition companies from around the world very quickly, many of whom are still here. We learnt some hard lessons on what was done well, and done poorly.

The entertainment industry. There are others on here that are closer to it that can advise better. But remember that it is likely to competitive. And not continuous work either. Even Weta Workshops does not have continuous work. I would say living in Auckland, or the ability to commute to Wellington for a period of time would be a good start. And never neglect the local stage companies as a way to get work/experience/Jobs on the CV. You can expect a few films and the odd TV series in NZ each year at a guess. There is a usually low budget NZ movie making too, which can be very interesting.

By Chibibubbleninja. 07/01/13, 04:55 am

Can I ask is everyone NZ native born? Just wondering :)

By Chibibubbleninja. 07/01/13, 05:05 am

Highlander wrote:

Chibibubbleninja wrote:: But I am also frustrated that the government here is doing the things they are.

One thing I like is that that GMOs are not grown commercially

Another thing I would like to know is natural disaster preparedness.
Like here in Los Angeles we have the threat of earth quakes but there it would seems I would have to be worried about volcanoes and tsunamis as well.

Last thing is the entertainment industry.
I think there is a lot more in the way of productions going on these days in NZ. So I am thinking there would still be the opportunity. And most likely I would be making my own work if I don't get cast in parts I am going out for.

We are frustrated that the Government is doing what they are doing. But at least it's not the states. We do have a green party in parliament, and one decade or other they may figure out how to be an effective conscience for parliament? It looks like the labour party is starting to stir a little bit and may yet get back to it's roots with the people, maybe? Also we only have one house, and we have proportional representation. I'm not sure about the GMO's. We do research them, we do want them for some things. But we do now have extremely strict protocols for introducing them. So I'm not sure how much if any is in use. And of course imported foodstuffs, well who knows.

Disaster preparedness is never enough. We are on the edge of the pacific rim, and so earthquakes are by and large the biggest threat to NZ, just like LA. We currently have active volcanoes in the centre of the North Island which are monitored, and which have erupted lately. They can threaten trampers, road and rail links, rivers and air travel. Tsunamis potentially are a problem, as people live on the coast. But we have never had any deaths I think, even with the large one in the 70's? Scrub fires can be a risk depending on where you live, but nothing like California/Australia. Flooding is also a common cause of damage in much of the country.

The plate boundary leaves the North Island to the east of Wellington, and so the top half of the North Island, and much of the west coast of the NI are relatively free of the threat of large quakes I think. Christchurch of course has had a very long series of 5-8 magnitude earthquakes, and been severely damaged, along with losing over 200 people. We have used our very strong contracting network, and massive mobilisation of our emergency services, including allied organisations like the Military, Salvation Army Church, the Red Cross, etc. Still we had a massive influx of USAR teams, engineers and demolition companies from around the world very quickly, many of whom are still here. We learnt some hard lessons on what was done well, and done poorly.

The entertainment industry. There are others on here that are closer to it that can advise better. But remember that it is likely to competitive. And not continuous work either. Even Weta Workshops does not have continuous work. I would say living in Auckland, or the ability to commute to Wellington for a period of time would be a good start. And never neglect the local stage companies as a way to get work/experience/Jobs on the CV. You can expect a few films and the odd TV series in NZ each year at a guess. There is a usually low budget NZ movie making too, which can be very interesting.

Well as far as government where-ever you are from everyone has frustrations. It just seems like people are more happy with the government and regulations in NZ than in the states. Another thing I wonder about is military force in the event of something bad happening. Although it seems that the states have made a lot more people mad- while New Zealand seems to be more neutral.

Like I said I am not as worried about the quakes as I live with the threat of them here every day. Especially the "big one" we are supposed to be getting any time now. I was a little more worried about the volcanoes. But watching some video on the volcanoes there it seems that they are closely enough monitored that you would get some per-warning and just live out of the way of them :)

I also imagine the entertainment industry is much the same everywhere in the way of competitiveness. Especially here in LA where there are a lot of people- some of the best competing for work. This is why I am also looking into producing my own work. I just set up a date to shoot my first short soon and I am rather excited :)

By Highlander. 07/01/13, 06:02 am

No. It depends on where you live. There is a large polynesian/pacific island population. A large and growing Asian population, most of fairly recent immigration. Also a reasonable number of Europeans, and some Africans and Americans. Probably pretty similar to the US, except for the African/Latin proportion.

CNZ I would say has a considerable number of Asians as you would expect from a cosplay forum. Although it may be hard to tell without asking who is from NZ, and who is from overseas. A number consider themselves to have dual (or even triple) citizenship/residency.

Chibibubbleninja wrote:: Another thing I wonder about is military force in the event of something bad happening. Although it seems that the states have made a lot more people mad- while New Zealand seems to be more neutral.

I also imagine the entertainment industry is much the same everywhere in the way of competitiveness. Especially here in LA where there are a lot of people- some of the best competing for work. This is why I am also looking into producing my own work. I just set up a date to shoot my first short soon and I am rather excited :)

Well I would say much less competition than LA, but I may be wrong. Certainly when they need large amounts of extras then the chances are pretty good. But still not a gaurentee of anything. Congrats on the shoot. Hope it goes well. We have a 48 hour film festival here. As in 48 hours to finish the entire film!

As for the military we are structured around protecting our fisheries, disaster relief and peacekeeping. We have a small SAS special forces component which has been very active in Afghanistan. When you here about the hotels being taken over in Kabul/attacks in Kabul, it was our SAS sent in to deal with it. But other than that we provide patrol aircraft and a small navy for fisheries. The Navy and small air force also provide disaster relief throughout the pacific (as does Australia). We have only a small army, which deploys UN observers all over the world, and deploys to pacific trouble spots, normally with the Australians. Our troops are considered high quality, and keep the kiwi sense of trying to fixing anything, local infrastructure, people, relationships, despite being outside of their specialist job. We tend to see most of the problem as being about mending personal relationships in countries where they have broken down. We are able to work in areas of little to no roads, and bad terrain. We have the advantage in the pacific of having pacific islanders in the military, so we can relate to locals, they trust NZ and Australia, and we can deploy quickly without UN mandates, eg. to East Timor and the Solomon's. We have no fighter/attack aircraft, they are too costly and underused. However our Navy and Airforce are equipped to operate as part of Australian/US/UK/other taskforces. For example what is left of our frigates deployed as part of the UN pirate hunting off Somalia and the Iran nuclear blockade. And even the US (who we alienated by going nuclear free) decided we are so valuable they will let us back into joint defence training recently.

We see no threat of invasion. We do however see very large threats from instability in the Asia-Pacific region, and that tends to be our focus.

By Chibibubbleninja. 07/01/13, 10:32 am

Highlander wrote:: Congrats on the shoot. Hope it goes well. We have a 48 hour film festival here. As in 48 hours to finish the entire film!

As for the military we are structured around protecting our fisheries, disaster relief and peacekeeping. We have a small SAS special forces component which has been very active in Afghanistan. When you here about the hotels being taken over in Kabul/attacks in Kabul, it was our SAS sent in to deal with it. But other than that we provide patrol aircraft and a small navy for fisheries. The Navy and small air force also provide disaster relief throughout the pacific (as does Australia). We have only a small army, which deploys UN observers all over the world, and deploys to pacific trouble spots, normally with the Australians. Our troops are considered high quality, and keep the kiwi sense of trying to fixing anything, local infrastructure, people, relationships, despite being outside of their specialist job. We tend to see most of the problem as being about mending personal relationships in countries where they have broken down. We are able to work in areas of little to no roads, and bad terrain. We have the advantage in the pacific of having pacific islanders in the military, so we can relate to locals, they trust NZ and Australia, and we can deploy quickly without UN mandates, eg. to East Timor and the Solomon's. We have no fighter/attack aircraft, they are too costly and underused. However our Navy and Airforce are equipped to operate as part of Australian/US/UK/other taskforces. For example what is left of our frigates deployed as part of the UN pirate hunting off Somalia and the Iran nuclear blockade. And even the US (who we alienated by going nuclear free) decided we are so valuable they will let us back into joint defence training recently.

We see no threat of invasion. We do however see very large threats from instability in the Asia-Pacific region, and that tends to be our focus.

Thank you about the film- I am so excited :) I have heard of film festivals like that. Sounds stressful but fun :)

So for the military part I guess even though the full force is not located in NZ do you still feel protected as a whole?
And since NZ is nuclear free there are no nuclear plants there? I am sure I could just google that....

Thanks for all the help Wink

I am always looking to learn more!

By Pura. 07/01/13, 11:43 am

As for Earthquakes, Wellington is ride on the middle of two plates, haha. We get a few earthquakes (all small) but everyone was expecting the massive one to hit here, but it actually hit Christchurch two years ago and almost flattened the city, and they are still trying to re-build. But because of that every building in Wellington had to be examined, and at risk buildings have had to be strengthened or pulled down - heaps of buildings have orange or red stickers on them saying that they are at risk, and heaps are currently on the list to be pulled down. So wellington is getting safer. And to be honest, I don't think you have to worry too much about Tsunamis, sure we're right next to the ocean, but most of the suburbs are build on hills, so tsunamis wouldn't reach where I live, haha. (The city is flat and right next to water, but most of the immediately close suburbs are on hills).

As for the film industry we really only have Weta Workshop, which of course made LotR and The Hobbit, but it's extremely hard to work there and they only take New Zealand workers unless it's a skill no one in NZ has.

The government always pisses me off, and the Student Loan and benefits systems makes you want to kill yourself (I'm still not being given my course related costs money and my course starts in a week and i need to buy my equipment, damnit!), but hey, what can you do.

And I'm a native NZ. I'm so native I've never left the country and I want to leave right now, haha. But I can't cause of education and no money to travel ): Okay, the Maori people are the real natives, but they make up about 14-15% of the population, German/England ships discovered NZ, and colonised the place in the 1800's, and so we're mostly european new zealanders, and then maori and pacificans are the next big ethnicity and more and more asians are moving to nz too, especially in Auckland.

About the safe as a whole thing without the military being here ... Well, the military has really no part of my life or keeping NZ safe ... We're just safe in general. We're so far away from anywhere that there is no threat from anywhere, so I consider us safe as a whole even if we didn't have a military Razz

And nope, no nuclear power plants, we just make good use of the sugar honey iced tea loads of wind wellington gets, lol. I can see windmill plants from my house xDD

(Also, CNZ has a creative way of blocking out swear words, as you might have noticed with the ice tea thing Razz

)

By tashamanx1. 07/01/13, 01:26 pm

supsupsupsupsup brooooooooo, welcome to CNZ and you should so move to NZ, its awesome!!!!!!! Very Happy

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