zrath

The third Saturday of May 2007 marked the 30th anniversary of the C/FO (Cartoon/Fantasy Organization), one of the first
animation fan club in the world. It was founded in 1977 by Fred Patten, Mark Merlino and some other folks.
I was a member from about 1984 to about 1996, then I lost interest in anime because, after a while, it's all the same.
I still go back once a year for the anniversary meeting.
Some of you may have heard about some guy named Randall Stukey taking over the Texas C/FO and turning it into a
dictatorship, or something like that, and the club subsequently desintegrating. At one time, there were multiple
chapters of the C/FO, all over the US, even multiples chapters within the Los Angeles/Orange County Megapolis.
But the original chapter, the Los Angeles chapter, is still operating to this day, albeit with reduced membership.
Another reason I go to the anniversary meeting is that my buddy Mitch "Fat Rat" Beiro is almost always in town for it.
And I just don't get to see him very often, since he lives in Tucson, AZ.

So Friday rolled around and I was waiting for Mitch to call me to indicate that he was in town. He never called.
I was getting a little worried, and I didn't have a contact number for him in L.A., so I couldn't call him.
I figured he would call me Saturday and I went to bed.
My brother walked into my room at 08:30 Saturday Morning and announced "your friend is here" (in French, of course).
And sure enough, standing behind him was Fat Rat, who had decided to just show up unannounced.
At 08:30. On Saturday Morning. WHEN I'M ASLEEP!!!!
Blargh.
So I got up, showed him some stuff on the computer, then showered, dressed, we had breakfast then headed out at about 11:00.
We made a sidetrip to Gameplay/Disc Fusion so I could recycle my PS1 Mad Catz steering wheel (which I have used exactly
three times since I got it) plus a couple of PS2 games and DVDs. I got enough store credit to get used copies of both
Volumes 1 and 2 of "Star Wars: Clone Wars". And I scored an extra used DVD since they were having a B2G1Free sale.
I picked up the 2-disc edition of John Frankenheimer's kick-ass "Ronin" flick with Robert DeNiro and Jean Reno.
Mitch and I got back in his truck and headed North on the dreaded 405 freeway.
Traffic was, in fact, not too bad. The transition to the 101 was pretty heavy though, so we kept going on the 405 then
exited at Burbank Blvd., and took that East to go to the LASFS Clubhouse, where the C/FO meetings are held these days.
The meeting was a little under-attended. Warren (no LJ) didn't make it because of his working Renn-Faire.
Fred Patten wasn't there either, probably due to medical reasons.
The program consisted of classic anime like "Ranma 1/2", "Urusei Yatsura", "Project A-Ko", stuff like that.
There was cake, and here's a picture of it. Devil's food with strawberry filling. Tasty!
Frosting design was by Mitch, as usual. Here he is enjoying his slice of cake a little bit too much.
There also BBQed burgers and hot dogs and chili and stuff.
There was a lot of hanging out and chatting and watching anime and not watching anime.
I found a tradepaperback of Adam Warren's "Empowered Volume One" laying around so I picked it up and read it cover-to-cover.
It lampoons current superhero comics with a superheroine whose costume gives her superpower but is horribly fragile.
Anything can rip it, including thorns from a rose, and the more torn up the suit becomes, the less powerful she becomes.
So, in most intances, she winds up captured by the bad guys and bound and gagged. Oh, and she has low self-esteem.
The book is funny in a "it's funny 'cause it's true" sort of way. It's sad that, eventhough I haven't read any superhero
comics since about possibly 1997, I still know all the tricks and all the mysoginistic asshattery going on.
I'll stick to watching the movie/TV/cartoon versions and not read the actual superhero comics.
The meeting kinda desintegrated at around 7pm, and Mitch was tired, so we bailed.
He drove me home then headed North to see his mom in the wilds of Onyx, CA.
The End.