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AX2002 Karaoke Contest

Preliminary Rounds Listing...
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PRE-Prelims hijinks?/Warming up the camcorder...

    First up... let me introduce these guys who follow the golden rule:

    If the chair is empty... sit in it!

    These 4 seats were just some random left over seats way at the front of the room...
Say "Hi" guys...

Pixie Stix!!

    Comments removed per request

    Then came the reading of the rules:
    ... just go read the FAQ, if you're interested

    Dom: "Assuming no "no-shows" which is a pipe dream...
    ... we have 39 individual and 11 group entries this year"

    ... and in the end? The final count was 34 individuals and 8 groups
The Prelims Judges
Tanzy


Tommy


Evelyn
    And the judges are:

  • "Our first judge is Tanzy" of Strange Candy
  • "Next, our gender confused judge, Tommy"
  • "In the middle we have the lovely Evelyn"
  • "Next up, Mandy Lee, last year's individual winner"
  • "and finally, we have Van from Otaku Generation"

    Dom: "There is no contesting the judges' decisions"
    Luke: "The MC's have no power..."
    Dom: "Thank god for that..."
    Luke: "... because I'm tone-deaf"
    Dom: "... and I'm nucking futs"
    Luke: "and he meant it in a family friendly way..."

Mandy


Van
The MC's field some questions...

    LEFT: Dom... RIGHT: Luke, the prelims MC's Why does this [karaoke] room keep shrinking every year?

    Luke: "Usually we don't get this many people for prelims... but you know... karaoke rocks!
    (I love this answer because I am the AX Karaoke Junkie...)

    Just out of curiosity, how far are you allowed to strip?

    MC's: ... (dramatic pause) ... "PG-13"
    (um... Ami-chan asked this one... scroll down to see this crazy girl)

    (garble garble) are you single (garble garble)?

    Luke: "We might sing, if..."
    Dom: (interrupts and clarifies the question for Luke) "... s-i-n-g-l-e... as in married to porno"
    Luke: "we like to make ourselves available to our fans..."

    What's your favorite anime?

    Dom: "My favorite so far is GTO... because GTO is a cosplayer"
    Luke: "...and I love Ranma"
    Dom: "Ranma?"
    Luke: "uh... it's a dude that turns into a chick..."
Finally... The Prelims (Group 1)

  • Contestant: Nightscape
    AKA: "Naveed" & "Athena"

  • Song Entry:
    • Daijoubu
      Kodomo no Omocha (OP)
Setting the bar...

Raising the bar!!

  • Contestant: Alice Chiao

  • Song Entry:
    • Tsubasa
      Battle Athletes (TV OP)

  • Contestant: Himeka
    AKA: Catherine St-Onge

  • Song Entry:
    • Fukai mori
      InuYasha (ED)
She lies! She's pretty
AND she can sing...

Doraemon impersonating
Megumi's part...

  • Contestant: Doraemon
    AKA: Jaimy Dixon

  • Song Entry:
    • What's Up Guys?
      Bakuretsu Hunters (OP)

  • Contestant: Kaitlyn Robrock

  • Song Entry:
    • Midori no hane
      (Game) Napple Tale (Shiori's Image)
The first "I have a last minute change" person

This girl is crazy ^_^

  • Contestant: o Amichan o
    AKA: Amy Pan

  • Song Entry:
    • Vector
      Tenkuu no Escaflowne (Movie Insert)

  • Contestant: Spitfire

  • Song Entry:
    • Baby! Koi ni Knockout
      PucciMoni (JPop)
Energy-charged!

baka baka baka baka
bakabakabaka!!!!!

  • Contestant: Hitori Shiroi Ohki
    AKA: Serena El-Farra

  • Song Entry:
    • Yasashi, ii koni narenai
      Ranma Nibunnoichi (Akane's Image)

  • Contestant: Miriya & Kaoru

  • Song Entry:
    • Over the Fantasy
      Final Fantasy: Unlimited (OP)
I can't believe they didn't make semis!

Everybody say Be-earlied
Happy Birthday

  • Contestant: Victoria Erica

  • Song Entry:
    • Daydream Believer
      Shonen Knife (JRock)

  • Contestant: Yui Miyamoto
    AKA: Mary Ann Gutierrez

  • Song Entry:
    • Blind Game Again
      Gravitation (OP)
Aw.. and she had this yellow Shuichi like raincoat thing on...

And then she zoomed
off the stage o_o"

  • Contestant: Linda Roberts

  • Song Entry:
    • Start In My Life
      Meitantei Conan (ED)

  • Contestant: Daniel Komen

  • Song Entry:
    • Yoru no hana
      Key: The Metal Idol (Insert)
The first casualty of the vocal dampening youma...

*stunned silence*

  • Contestant: Leland McKenzie

  • Song Entry:
    • Coro di Dea
      Aa! Megami-sama (Movie Insert)

    His vocals are AWESOME... that and this is a Hisakawa Aya vocal track (who I absolutely adore!!) Hear this performance on the media page!

  • Contestant: Heather Anacker

  • Song Entry:
    • Aoi Hitomi
      Tenkuu no Escaflowne (Hitomi's Image)
The first contestant to dress the part!

Erk... this was the best pic
I could get -_-"

  • Contestant: Dandan Xu
    AKA: Xing Xu

  • Song Entry:
    • Umi no Aurora
      S.E.S. (JPop)

  • Contestant: Jennifer Chan

  • Song Entry:
    • I'll Be Here For You
      Key: The Metal Idol (ED)
One of the best dubbed songs...
The Prelims (Group 2)

"The Vesper broke down on its way from Chicago..."

  • Contestant: Ayaka
    AKA: Anne Kirn

  • Song Entry:
    • Ride on Shooting Star
      FLCL (ED)

  • Contestant: Nanakaoru
    AKA: Cynthia Davila

  • Song Entry:
    • Kimi ni fureru dake de
      Rurouni Kenshin (OP)
"This song is dedicated to whoever cheers the loudest!"

It's a chocobo... ...
... (no comment)

  • Contestant: Kuroneko
    AKA: Veronica Grijalva

  • Song Entry:
    • Vivid
      Final Fantasy: Unlimited (ED)

  • Contestant: Duo

  • Song Entry:
    • Mokona ekaki no uta
      Magic Knight Rayearth (Mokona Drawing Song)
Orere... Mokona!!

Doremi-chan singing Candy Candy... it just seems so right...

  • Contestant: Anrui Ukimi
    AKA: Elizabeth Morgan

  • Song Entry:
    • Candy Candy
      Candy Candy (OP)

  • Contestant: "Soundsoft Elvy"

  • Song Entry:
    • White Destiny
      Shin Shirayuki Hime Pretear (OP)
I wonder if any of the judges got the Snow White as a servant look thing...

This girl can dance!

  • Contestant: Whitney Richardson

  • Song Entry:
    • Another Chance
      Utada Hikaru (JPop)

  • Contestant: Fushigi Yume
    AKA: Jo-chan, Megumi, Daina, Shampoo

  • Song Entry:
    • Konya wa Hurricane
      Bubblegum Crisis (OP)
A hot and sizzling "harikeen"

"I thought I'd choose a manly song to go along with my manly costume"

  • Contestant: Rosewine
    AKA: Christine Chung

  • Song Entry:
    • For Fruits Basket
      Fruits Basket (OP)

  • Contestant: USA Musume
    AKA: Tiffany-Marie Austin, Kimi Pasamonte, Kimberly Gruenke

  • Song Entry:
    • Morning Coffee
      Morning Musume (JPop)
Shun-kun: "I think I can use a lot of energize... so let's waking up the audience"

Feeling the music...

  • Contestant: Urd, the sexy and naughty goddess
    AKA: Christine Altura

  • Song Entry:
    • Kono sekai de
      Slayers Try (Filia's Image)

  • Contestant: Josh Rubinstein

  • Song Entry:
    • Diggin'
      Cowboy Bebop: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (Insert)
Invasion of the country music...
yee haw...

Ayumi getting the crowd riled up...

  • Contestant: Lauren Penn

  • Song Entry:
    • Desire
      Do As Infinity (JPop)

  • Contestant: Stella Wong

  • Song Entry:
    • Miracle Moon
      Sana (Beatmania Gaming/Pop'n Music 2)
Pretty genki for someone in PJ's... it's not THAT late is it???

I was going to put up a yaoi moment... but decided to save that for later o_O"

  • Contestant: H0-Con
    AKA: Mikey Pham & Ben Hul

  • Song Entry:
    • U+K
      Gackt (JRock)

  • Contestant: Jennifer Bowman

  • Song Entry:
    • My Will
      InuYasha (ED)
I wonder if the Kenshin on her shirt can beat up the UFO InuYasha she was holding earlier...
Intermission #1

Woo... you should've seen his classic DDR 4-step turn!

    Luke said we're gonna take a 5 minute break...
    ... so we took a break
    ... for 20+ minutes -_-

    To fill in the gap, Mandy decided to entertain us by singing Star from Fushigi Yuugi, while Tommy (in his own words) "dance like an otaku instead of a real person". And to add hurt to injury, this was dedicated to "every d*** otaku who thought they could learn to dance from DDR"

    (Editor's note: But at least they learned what a BEAT was from DDR... imagine no-rhythm otaku's undulating randomly to actual dance music. Oh wait, that's why I don't dance -_- *goes hide under a rock... yet again*)

    KONAMI

    Luke: "We would like to thank Konami... The Official Anime Expo 2002 Preliminary Round Karaoke Sponsor... giving us various games like Yugioh..."
    Dom: "Even better... Castlevania"
    Luke: "Thank you, Konami"
    Dom (arcade VO voice - ON): "This is a great Konami beat!"
That Yugioh game was the Judge's Choices award.
Luke, waving to all his fans...




Dom, ph33r!!!




Rob, the tech monkey
    THE STAFF

    For the video, let's say who we are...

    Luke: This is Dom
    Dom: This is Luke... and together we are
    Audience: Dom and Luke! (the audience was very well trained)

    Luke: And these are our friends and associates

    Dom: There's Rob... known for his horrible horrible brain damage inducing jokes...
    Luke: ... we call him our tech monkey
    Dom: ... we also call him the death of the party

    Luke: Next is Hank, our fearless leader
    Dom: ... the Admiral of Karaoke

    Dom: Over there with the 7-Up box almost on her head, Stephanie Chang

    Dom: Next is Karen... the giver of chocolate covered expresso beans

    --- Random quote ---

    Dom: I do not take off my pants for expresso beans...
    I take off my expresso... err.. pants for meeeeeeeeeee.....
    Luke: Pants are the enemy of Dom
    Mikey: Hey... I wear pants less than Dom does...


'You da man' Hank




Stephanie (I'm a Leaf Village ninja, watch me fit into this 7-Up box)... people go read Naruto




Karen taunts you with chocolate covered expresso beans...
The Prelims (Group 3)

    ATTACK OF THE NO-SHOWS!!! Although there have been a few no-shows thus far, this bit takes the cake because the first SIX entries from Group 3 didn't show...

    Luke: We killed all this time and they didn't even show up
    Dom: s** of a b****
    Luke: We mean that in the nicest possible way... we still love you guys...
    Dom: Don't worry I forgive all you s**'s of b****'s

    Luke: We know you're not here because you're... b.. a.. d.. pee.. ple...

    Dom: Are you "so and so"?
    Luke: Do you want to be "so and so"?
    Dom: Did you take the cookie from the cookie jar?
    Luke: Who me?
    Dom: Yes you
    Luke: Not me
    Dom (with half the audience joining in): Then who?
    Luke: "so and so"
    (The contestant name have been removed from this bit to protect them from no-show flames :P)

    Luke: Maybe they're at the old karaoke room...
    ... would someone run over there from last year?
    ... not the judges
    ... although we might not need you anymore

I need to play this game...

  • Contestant: Sakura
    AKA: Casey Jackson

  • Song Entry:
    • The Boat Song
      Lunar: Silver Star Story (Game Insert)

  • Contestant: Sherry Weng & Stephanie Yanez

  • Song Entry:
    • Smile Smile
      Love Hina (Insert)
Double dose of kawaii ^_^
The Prelims (Group 4 - The Waiting List)

Oh my god!! O_O

  • Contestant: B-chan

  • Song Entry:
    • Fugue in G
      Nazca (OP)

  • Contestant: Chocolate
    AKA: Jennifer Smith

  • Song Entry:
    • My Only Star
      Initial D (Insert)
She was cold... wouldn't you be?

Wai!! Wai!! It's a Doco group (they needed a Nabiki though)

  • Contestant: Otaku in Crime
    AKA: Marie Anello, Alicia Matheson, Trisha Hopkins, Alie Gibbons

  • Song Entry:
    • Little Date
      Ranma Nibunnoichi (OP)

    Luke: Did I tell you guys I like Ranma? I love Ranma
    Dom: Luke gets the blatant "hoa???" of the night
    Luke: If loving Ranma is wrong... then I don't want to be right!

  • Contestant: Eve Wolynes

  • Song Entry:
    • Secret ~ Dareka no Message
      Slayers (Xelloss' Image)
O, she did Xelloss' voice pretty well...

It's now 11:03pm and I can't think of a caption... caption block!!

  • Contestant: Ayami
    AKA: Marla Johnson

  • Song Entry:
    • Toki ni ai wa
      Shoujo Kakumei Utena (Movie Insert)

  • Contestant: Randy Bautista

  • Song Entry:
    • Overflowing
      El Hazard (OP)
This is "Hardcore anime
karaoke"? -_o

PU!!!

    We got bored as they went through and called a couple more no-shows, so we decided to give Mokona a cameo appearance!

    Why you ask?

    Because... he's cute, he goes "PU!" and it annoys Dom ^_~

  • Contestant: Melissa Anacker

  • Song Entry:
    • Fly Me to the Moon (what mix is this?)
      Shin Seki Evangelion (ED)
"This goes out to Kaji" - from Asuka

Spank the monkey...

    Dom: As punish for your sins Rob wants to inflict a joke on you...
    It's on a napkin if you want to see it... it's that bad...
    Luke: I will read the monkey's joke


    Highlight each box to read the joke... -_-


    Question: Why does Clamp like parabolas?


    Answer: X squared

    Luke: Who thinks we should spank the monkey?
    Audience: Spank The Monkey!!!
    Luke: Mandy will spank the monkey...
The Prelims ends... and then there was more waiting...

    Dom sings some song that's suppose to be the opening to the game Gatekeepers.

    Anyway, he describes it as "a really bad game... before it was made into a cheesy anime..."

    And for those who care... Dom got that shirt he's wearing from some random comic book store in Oregon.

The Ohayou Song??

    Wha' tha??

    Dom, what the heck is this??
    And what possessed me to make an audio file of this?!

    And now for something completely different...

    Luke Gottlieb, Takeuki Kawahashi and Hong Kwon perform for us... Monkey Magic from err... Monkey Magic.

    ... w/ special live-action visual video by Dom.
o/~ Born from an egg on a mountain top... o/~
Judges' Awards!!!

    "Thank you Konami... the official sponsor of Anime Expo 2002 karaoke contest preliminary round. Ko-na-mi..." (okay, Luke has way too much fun saying this -_-)

    Van's Award: Dandan Xu cuz she had a lot of heart when she was singing... and she's cute.

    Ami-chan: I thought you were going to stop singing
    Luke: We can do whatever we want... we got mics and you don't..."

    Mandy's Award: Casey Jackson cuz this girl had moves like you wouldn't believe.

    "Konami the official sponsor of Anime Expo 2002 karaoke Contest Preliminary Round. Thank you Konami"

    Evelyn's Award: Leland McKenzie because he has a gorgeous baritone voice.

    Tommy: First for 3 pixie stix and a Cats on Mars scribble... the violence award for an exciting display of homicide. (to Serena El-Farra)

    Tommy's Award: Catherine St-Onge because she had a wonderful strong voice.

    "Konami the official sponsor of Anime Expo 2002 karaoke Contest Preliminary Round. Thank you Konami"
    Dom: Luke the official sponsor of speaking way too much

    Tanzy's Award: Veronica Grijalva because she was able to sing through her beak.
And the Semi-Finalists are...

    Too lazy to transcribe all the semi-finalists so just go check out the Semi-Finals page.

    The semi-finalists count... 12 individuals and 5 groups

    And just for the hell of it... the NO-SHOW count was
    ... 15 of 50 confirmed entries...
    ... and 12 of 19 waiting list entries...
    ... for a grand total of 27!!
If you have any comments, please mail me at:
duo_kun_2000@yahoo.com