Fusion Gaming Convention aka. FusionGC is a Video Game convention located in Roanoke, VA. It is an annual video game convention and tournament featuring many different games and guests.
Tournaments
The central feature of Fusion Gaming Convention is cash prizes for placing well in tournaments. Fusion runs tournaments in a variety of games, although almost all of them are regularly used tournament games. Players pay a $5-$10 fee to enter the tournaments, and the money is distributed to the winners as follows:
*1st place: 60%
*2nd place: 30%
*3rd place: 10%
History
Fusion Gaming Convention was conceived in 2001 by two high school sophomores as a small six person LAN party, under the name MegaLAN, for the PC game Counter-Strike. Inspired in 2002 by MAGFest, it has grown progressively through the years into an all-encompassing three-day event. Fusion involves all types of video gaming and video game aspects, including tournaments, video game enthusiasts, musicians, and many others.
Megacon
Before Fusion was held at the Ramada inn, it was held in a small warehouse in south-east Roanoke. This was a small local event, with no out of town attendance. Admission was free, but to generate revenue the owners took 10% out of all tournament entries. Attendance at this event was officially announced at 100 people. Shortly after MegaCon ended, the convention was forced to change their name as the result of a pending lawsuit from Florida based convention, Megacon.
Fusion 2005
The attendance at Fusion in 2005 was officially announced at 230. Fusion gave out over $1700 cash and about $2000 more in prizes including Street Fighter Arcade Sticks, Street Fighter Controllers, Soul Calibur & Tekken 5 art books, and an X-Arcade Stick. They also held other events throughout the weekend such as a video game themed Jeopardy game show, a guest panel by Robert Aldrich, a short piano concert by Koaltahk and an auction.
Fusion 2006
The attendance at Fusion 2006 was officially announced at 275. In 2006, Fusion gave away $2000 cash and about $1500 more in various prizes, including energy drinks, D_skins, and a Nintendo Entertainment System with 100 games.
In 2006, Fusion hosted the following console tournaments:
*Halo CE
*Halo 2
*Tekken 5
*Guilty Gear XX
*Marvel vs. Capcom 2
*Capcom vs. SNK 2
*Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
*Street Fighter II: Anniversary Edition
*King of Fighters 2002
*Soul Calibur III
*Super Smash Bros. Melee
*Madden 2006
*
*Mario Kart DS
*Dance Dance Revolution
*Guitar Hero
*Magical Drop III
*Tetris
Trophies were distributed to all 1st place winners.
Concert
Fusion also had a concert on the first night of the event featuring the following bands:
*Red Light Syndrome
*K-1 Royal
*Trashbag Ponchos
*Entertainment System
*This Place is Haunted
The last two bands of the night, Entertainment System and This Place is Haunted, provided covers of some famous game music such as Metroid and Castlevania.
Important People
Staff
*Overseer/CoWebmaster: Andy Roberts
*Sponsorship/Prizes: Shan Shapiro
*Webmaster: Clay Davis
*Gameroom Chair: Derek Shelton
*Tourney Chair: Brett Hensley
Interns
*Joe "VampJoe" Williams
*Robby "Rollz" Price
*Max "MadMax" St. Clair
*Justyn Dooley, Usually referred to as "Dooley"
*The John Yamine
Guests
Fusion plays host to a few video game related guests each year. In 2006, Fusion had their cardinal guest, Robert "Bob" Aldrich. He had the first and second book of his flagship series "Crossworld" on sale throughout the convention. He also hosted 2 panels, one on the video game industry and another about his books, the Jeopardy esque gameshow and the raffle throughout the weekend. All of which were made increasingly funny due to his public speaking talents.
Empire Arcadia also showed up to host the Empirial Breach and win various tournaments throughout the weekend. They took home well over half of the trophies home with them on Sunday.
Another guest was Fizz Man (Ben Howard) is the founder and CEO of Fizz Man Industries. A gadabout and racanteur by nature, he frequents the video game convention circuit with his hand crafted video-game-esque figurines.
Tournaments
The central feature of Fusion Gaming Convention is cash prizes for placing well in tournaments. Fusion runs tournaments in a variety of games, although almost all of them are regularly used tournament games. Players pay a $5-$10 fee to enter the tournaments, and the money is distributed to the winners as follows:
*1st place: 60%
*2nd place: 30%
*3rd place: 10%
History
Fusion Gaming Convention was conceived in 2001 by two high school sophomores as a small six person LAN party, under the name MegaLAN, for the PC game Counter-Strike. Inspired in 2002 by MAGFest, it has grown progressively through the years into an all-encompassing three-day event. Fusion involves all types of video gaming and video game aspects, including tournaments, video game enthusiasts, musicians, and many others.
Megacon
Before Fusion was held at the Ramada inn, it was held in a small warehouse in south-east Roanoke. This was a small local event, with no out of town attendance. Admission was free, but to generate revenue the owners took 10% out of all tournament entries. Attendance at this event was officially announced at 100 people. Shortly after MegaCon ended, the convention was forced to change their name as the result of a pending lawsuit from Florida based convention, Megacon.
Fusion 2005
The attendance at Fusion in 2005 was officially announced at 230. Fusion gave out over $1700 cash and about $2000 more in prizes including Street Fighter Arcade Sticks, Street Fighter Controllers, Soul Calibur & Tekken 5 art books, and an X-Arcade Stick. They also held other events throughout the weekend such as a video game themed Jeopardy game show, a guest panel by Robert Aldrich, a short piano concert by Koaltahk and an auction.
Fusion 2006
The attendance at Fusion 2006 was officially announced at 275. In 2006, Fusion gave away $2000 cash and about $1500 more in various prizes, including energy drinks, D_skins, and a Nintendo Entertainment System with 100 games.
In 2006, Fusion hosted the following console tournaments:
*Halo CE
*Halo 2
*Tekken 5
*Guilty Gear XX
*Marvel vs. Capcom 2
*Capcom vs. SNK 2
*Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
*Street Fighter II: Anniversary Edition
*King of Fighters 2002
*Soul Calibur III
*Super Smash Bros. Melee
*Madden 2006
*
*Mario Kart DS
*Dance Dance Revolution
*Guitar Hero
*Magical Drop III
*Tetris
Trophies were distributed to all 1st place winners.
Concert
Fusion also had a concert on the first night of the event featuring the following bands:
*Red Light Syndrome
*K-1 Royal
*Trashbag Ponchos
*Entertainment System
*This Place is Haunted
The last two bands of the night, Entertainment System and This Place is Haunted, provided covers of some famous game music such as Metroid and Castlevania.
Important People
Staff
*Overseer/CoWebmaster: Andy Roberts
*Sponsorship/Prizes: Shan Shapiro
*Webmaster: Clay Davis
*Gameroom Chair: Derek Shelton
*Tourney Chair: Brett Hensley
Interns
*Joe "VampJoe" Williams
*Robby "Rollz" Price
*Max "MadMax" St. Clair
*Justyn Dooley, Usually referred to as "Dooley"
*The John Yamine
Guests
Fusion plays host to a few video game related guests each year. In 2006, Fusion had their cardinal guest, Robert "Bob" Aldrich. He had the first and second book of his flagship series "Crossworld" on sale throughout the convention. He also hosted 2 panels, one on the video game industry and another about his books, the Jeopardy esque gameshow and the raffle throughout the weekend. All of which were made increasingly funny due to his public speaking talents.
Empire Arcadia also showed up to host the Empirial Breach and win various tournaments throughout the weekend. They took home well over half of the trophies home with them on Sunday.
Another guest was Fizz Man (Ben Howard) is the founder and CEO of Fizz Man Industries. A gadabout and racanteur by nature, he frequents the video game convention circuit with his hand crafted video-game-esque figurines.
Mode One: Let the Women Know What You're REALLY Thinking is a self-help book by Alan Roger Currie.
Development of the Book
When Currie was in his 20s, he developed a reputation for approaching women and expressing his dating desires, interests and intentions to them in a very bold, upfront and provocatively straightforward manner. Currie has stated in his book that he was partially influenced by the highly self-assured, sexually straightforward behavior of a film character named "Jack" (played by adult film legend John Leslie) from the adult film classic, Talk Dirty to Me
. Currie later developed "The Four Modes of Verbal Communication " in October of 1990 and published his first pamphlet in 1998 entitled Mode One: Let Them Know What You're Really Thinking.
In his Currie's 26 page pamphlet, he outlined the general characteristics of each of his "Four Modes" of Interpersonal Communication:
* Mode One Behavior - An interpersonal communication style with women which his characterized as highly self-assured, upfront, unapologetic and straightforwardly honest
* Mode Two Behavior - An interpersonal communication style with women which his characterized as pleasant, polite, cautious and "beat-around-the-bush"
* Mode Three Behavior - An interpersonal communication style with women which his characterized as phony, cowardly, deceptive and fawning
* Mode Four Behavior - An interpersonal communication style with women which his characterized as resentful, vindictive, misogynistic and harshly critical
Currie converted his initial pamphlet into an eBook in 1999 and began selling it over the Internet on sites such as the "Love & Relationships" message board of AskMen.com. Book Author and Comedian Ian Coburn described Currie's principles and philosophies as "refreshing and truly helpful" and Coburn felt that Currie's advice "encourages men to become confident and tells them how to do so." Currie believes, "If you are attracted to a woman, the best way to capture her attention is tell her what your intentions are; She may initially gasp in shock, but she is more likely to go out with you." Currie encourages single men to be very straightforward with women because "You cut through the bullsh** quicker. You get right to the point about your desires, interests and intentions, which in turn enables women to be upfront and straightforward about their desires and interests. Attraction, in large part, is about quickly identifying who is on the same page as you ... as far as your desires and interests ... and who is not."
Currie now has two books sold on the Barnes & Noble website as well as Amazon.com: Mode One: Let the Women Know What You're REALLY Thinking (2006) and Upfront and Straightforward: Let the Manipulative Game Players Know What You're REALLY Thinking (2009)
Criticisms against Pickup Artists and the Seduction Community
Currie has resisted having his name associated with the well-known Seduction Community, which features authors, dating coaches and seduction gurus such as Neil Strauss, Mystery, Ross Jeffries and Tyler Durden, among others. Currie is quoted as saying, "The main weakness in most of the behavior of the typical Pickup artist (PUA) is they tend to be deeply afraid of harsh, subjective criticisms from women, as well as abrupt rejection. When you are afraid of negative responses and/or harsh criticism, that puts you into Mode Two Behavior; when you are afraid of being rejected and/or indefinitely ignored, that puts you into Mode Three Behavior. PUA’s are manipulative in their behavior, which in turn, opens them up to be easily manipulated." Currie is very critical of attraction and seduction techniques which emphasize or utilize misleading or manipulative tactics. Currie said, "Manipulation can provide benefits in the short-run, but very rarely if ever in the long-run. At some point, your real, true self will come to the surface. That's problem #1. Your true desires, interests and intentions will always eventually be exposed. Secondly, when you attempt to manipulate others ... you actually become more vulnerable to being manipulated yourself. This is the key point that most men and women don't realize."
Development of the Book
When Currie was in his 20s, he developed a reputation for approaching women and expressing his dating desires, interests and intentions to them in a very bold, upfront and provocatively straightforward manner. Currie has stated in his book that he was partially influenced by the highly self-assured, sexually straightforward behavior of a film character named "Jack" (played by adult film legend John Leslie) from the adult film classic, Talk Dirty to Me
. Currie later developed "The Four Modes of Verbal Communication " in October of 1990 and published his first pamphlet in 1998 entitled Mode One: Let Them Know What You're Really Thinking.
In his Currie's 26 page pamphlet, he outlined the general characteristics of each of his "Four Modes" of Interpersonal Communication:
* Mode One Behavior - An interpersonal communication style with women which his characterized as highly self-assured, upfront, unapologetic and straightforwardly honest
* Mode Two Behavior - An interpersonal communication style with women which his characterized as pleasant, polite, cautious and "beat-around-the-bush"
* Mode Three Behavior - An interpersonal communication style with women which his characterized as phony, cowardly, deceptive and fawning
* Mode Four Behavior - An interpersonal communication style with women which his characterized as resentful, vindictive, misogynistic and harshly critical
Currie converted his initial pamphlet into an eBook in 1999 and began selling it over the Internet on sites such as the "Love & Relationships" message board of AskMen.com. Book Author and Comedian Ian Coburn described Currie's principles and philosophies as "refreshing and truly helpful" and Coburn felt that Currie's advice "encourages men to become confident and tells them how to do so." Currie believes, "If you are attracted to a woman, the best way to capture her attention is tell her what your intentions are; She may initially gasp in shock, but she is more likely to go out with you." Currie encourages single men to be very straightforward with women because "You cut through the bullsh** quicker. You get right to the point about your desires, interests and intentions, which in turn enables women to be upfront and straightforward about their desires and interests. Attraction, in large part, is about quickly identifying who is on the same page as you ... as far as your desires and interests ... and who is not."
Currie now has two books sold on the Barnes & Noble website as well as Amazon.com: Mode One: Let the Women Know What You're REALLY Thinking (2006) and Upfront and Straightforward: Let the Manipulative Game Players Know What You're REALLY Thinking (2009)
Criticisms against Pickup Artists and the Seduction Community
Currie has resisted having his name associated with the well-known Seduction Community, which features authors, dating coaches and seduction gurus such as Neil Strauss, Mystery, Ross Jeffries and Tyler Durden, among others. Currie is quoted as saying, "The main weakness in most of the behavior of the typical Pickup artist (PUA) is they tend to be deeply afraid of harsh, subjective criticisms from women, as well as abrupt rejection. When you are afraid of negative responses and/or harsh criticism, that puts you into Mode Two Behavior; when you are afraid of being rejected and/or indefinitely ignored, that puts you into Mode Three Behavior. PUA’s are manipulative in their behavior, which in turn, opens them up to be easily manipulated." Currie is very critical of attraction and seduction techniques which emphasize or utilize misleading or manipulative tactics. Currie said, "Manipulation can provide benefits in the short-run, but very rarely if ever in the long-run. At some point, your real, true self will come to the surface. That's problem #1. Your true desires, interests and intentions will always eventually be exposed. Secondly, when you attempt to manipulate others ... you actually become more vulnerable to being manipulated yourself. This is the key point that most men and women don't realize."
The Voice Acting Alliance (also known as the VAA) is an online website devoted to the craft of amateur voice acting and projects. Originally created by Azure, the reins of control were turned over to administrators; graphic designer TamTu Bui and Nikki Wright. The website was created from templates from vBulletin and has since acquired approximately 12,990 members as of June 2009.
Prominence
The Voice Acting Alliance has been known as a jumping off point for those interested in the business of voice acting and features several members who have gone into the anime industry, including Kira Buckland, Cristina Valenzuela, Lucien Dodge, and Julie Rei Goldstein.
As the website gained notoriety, professional voice actors who had already established themselves in the industry, including Kyle Hebert and the late Bradley Lavelle, joined the Alliance, and it soon became one of the most popular websites for anime voice acting and fandubs.
Controversy
The Voice Acting Alliance has been at the center of legal controversy involving many members of their community re-dubbing work from popular anime (both licensed and unlicensed in the United States) including, but not ending with, Naruto, Mermaid Melody, and FullMetal Alchemist. Members generally use the websites YouTube and Putfile to display their works, but if the content is seen as blatant copyright infringement, the work in question is taken down, either by the poster of the work at the request of the website, or without warning by the web administrators themselves.
On the forums of the Voice Acting Alliance, the topic has been discussed by many members of the community, with a majority of the members agreeing that fan dubs are illegal, although the decision is far from unanimous amongst the website.
The Voice Acting Alliance has maintained that they are only a forum board and do not condone the creation of fansubs and fandubs.
Other
In 2006, an article for the website Spoof.com, written by Ron Kieser, mocks the Voice Acting Alliance, with the headline "Amateur Voice Acting Pandemic!".
In 2008, the Voice Acting Alliance began working in conjunction with Echo Fiction, a subsidiary of Dreamseed, LLC, run by audio producer Xander Davis.
Prominence
The Voice Acting Alliance has been known as a jumping off point for those interested in the business of voice acting and features several members who have gone into the anime industry, including Kira Buckland, Cristina Valenzuela, Lucien Dodge, and Julie Rei Goldstein.
As the website gained notoriety, professional voice actors who had already established themselves in the industry, including Kyle Hebert and the late Bradley Lavelle, joined the Alliance, and it soon became one of the most popular websites for anime voice acting and fandubs.
Controversy
The Voice Acting Alliance has been at the center of legal controversy involving many members of their community re-dubbing work from popular anime (both licensed and unlicensed in the United States) including, but not ending with, Naruto, Mermaid Melody, and FullMetal Alchemist. Members generally use the websites YouTube and Putfile to display their works, but if the content is seen as blatant copyright infringement, the work in question is taken down, either by the poster of the work at the request of the website, or without warning by the web administrators themselves.
On the forums of the Voice Acting Alliance, the topic has been discussed by many members of the community, with a majority of the members agreeing that fan dubs are illegal, although the decision is far from unanimous amongst the website.
The Voice Acting Alliance has maintained that they are only a forum board and do not condone the creation of fansubs and fandubs.
Other
In 2006, an article for the website Spoof.com, written by Ron Kieser, mocks the Voice Acting Alliance, with the headline "Amateur Voice Acting Pandemic!".
In 2008, the Voice Acting Alliance began working in conjunction with Echo Fiction, a subsidiary of Dreamseed, LLC, run by audio producer Xander Davis.
Jaclyn Lampkin is an American Dog Groomer who works at Gails Groomerie in Naperville, Illinois.Her boss is Lana Edwards,one of the most famous dog groomers ever.
All American Grooming Show
In August of 2009,Jaclyn Lampkin won Best First Timer,Best Groomed Dog in her class,and Best First Timer against every other Best First Timer in his or her class.In an interview she said "I plan to work for Lana Edwards as long as I live".
Mentor
Lana Edwards is her mentor and trainer,Lana is highly respected in her line of work and has been Grooming dogs for 27 years. Jaclyn loves Lana like a second mother,and they have a friendship that no one else can break.
All American Grooming Show
In August of 2009,Jaclyn Lampkin won Best First Timer,Best Groomed Dog in her class,and Best First Timer against every other Best First Timer in his or her class.In an interview she said "I plan to work for Lana Edwards as long as I live".
Mentor
Lana Edwards is her mentor and trainer,Lana is highly respected in her line of work and has been Grooming dogs for 27 years. Jaclyn loves Lana like a second mother,and they have a friendship that no one else can break.