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Q: What conventions and events do you plan to attend this year?
A: Well, for that answer...I'll point you to the nifty calendar thing here.
June/July: Anthrocon
July/August: Pennsic War
October: TwitchCon
November/December: Midwest FurFest
A: Part of that goes back to my own fursona as well as the fact that I love foxes and Japanese folklore and mythology. Combine that with the fact that I write about whatever I pretty much feel like and you've got my own little universe here. So, put Kitsune and Universe together and you get "Kitsuneverse". See, pretty simple!
Q: Why do you cover so many different things?
A: Again, it's stuff that fills my life and I enjoy doing. I've been going to various conventions for 20 years now, worked in and around Haunted Attractions for the same time and been watching anime since the 80's. The rest just falls into place around that. When over two thirds of your life has been full of this kind of stuff...you just kinda roll with it.
Q: What kind of equipment do you use?
A: Up until now we've been using a variety of things. Everything from point and shoot digital cameras to DSLR's like the Nikon D70, Sony NEX 3N, Sony A6000, and even our personal phones like Samsung Galaxy S7's (the Dazzle Vision video came out surprisingly good!), iPhone 4's and even Galaxy S5's at times. Recently we've upgraded to include the use of GoPro cameras, namely the Hero 5+ Black Edition and that should really open things up a little more for us.
Q: Do you get paid to go to conventions and haunted houses?
A: Nope, we do not get paid to do this at all. At best we receive comp badges or tickets from events and haunts so that we may do our review and coverage of them. Even then, we don't always get free tickets or badges, despite that we still show up and cover the events that we want to. Why? Because we love what we do. Being comped into an event just means that we are 100% more likely to do coverage of it.
Q: Does getting press badges or free tickets influence your reviews?
A: No. It never has and never will.
Q: How can I advertise with Kitsuneverse?
A: We have all of that information on our advertising page right here. Space is limited, however, and we already have a couple up, so definitely want to act quickly!
Q: How do you manage to hit so many events in a year?
A: Planning. Lots and lots of planning. So much so that we've even covered the subject, at least as far cons go, here. The Haunted Attraction stuff is definitely trickier in nature, but very similar.
Q: Why do some cons or events get more coverage than others?
A: That's an easy, and yet difficult one.
It depends on a few factors actually. The more access to guests, staff, events that we're given? The more we cover. The more people we have with us? The more we cover. So, that's why some get more love than others. That said, we do try to do as much as we can for every event we're in attendance for!
Q: Why and how do you pick the conventions that you cover?
A: We pick the conventions based on a few factors, and really isn't that complicated of a process. Since you asked here's how it works;
First off, size is not one of things we look at contrary to popular belief. While we love the chaos and mayhem of a huge con, it's not the only kind of experience out there and we really enjoy smaller cons as well. Some of the best conventions we've been to have been smaller in nature and we love them for it. We believe in covering all kinds of events since no two are ever the same.
A few other factors that are considered are; the timing of the event, how far it is, and if travel expenses are able to be covered by us or other means to get there. The availability of press credentials for us is also a major bonus as to which conventions we attend. Again, we do not get paid for what we do so every little bit helps.
Q: How about the process for Haunted Attractions?
A: The Haunted Attraction side of things is a bit more chaotic in nature. We always try to find new and interesting places to travel to with our Haunt Tour and hit up as many haunts in the area that we can while there.
Part of that is trying to figure out what new areas we want to head to each year and then we see what haunts are in the area. This is the hardest thing for us as it means we have to travel further and further every year to find new and unique events. It's worth it though, I mean, who wants to see a reviews of the same places year in, year out? Overlap and return trips will happen, that's inevitable, and some places add new things from year to year. So, in those cases we'll be there as best we can to give our take on them. Even with that, we'll still add as many new haunts as possible each year.
In addition to all of that; weather, traffic, and other assorted catastrophies can cause snags in even our best laid plans, but we do try to hit every attraction or event that we contact before and during the season. It's a pretty fluid and bizarre thing so it always keeps us on our toes.
Q: What was your first convention?
A: My first convention was back in 1994, Anime East in New Brunswick, NJ
Q: Do you cosplay and if so, what characters?
A: Yes and that list is always changing and growing.
However, I've done the following characters in the past: Vinyl Scratch (MLP:FiM), Kurz Weber (Full Metal Panic!), Keiko and Kunika (Strike Witches), Leo (VG Cats), Jamie (MegasXLR), Briareos (Appleseed) and my very own OC, Ki amongst others.
CK/Carrie has done: Konata and Kagami (Lucky Star), Minerva Mink (Animaniacs), Aires (VG Cats), Sprinkles and Fizzy (MLP), Queen Chrysalis (MLP:FiM), Maika (Magikano) and many more.
Q: You say you have 35+ years working at haunted attractions, which have you worked at in the past?
A: Well, from the earliest to the latest haunt that I've been employed at, here's the list: Sleepy Hollow Hayrides, Universal Orlando's HHN, Fright Farm and ScareHouse.
Carrie has worked at Magalain's, Universal Orlando's HHN, Sleepy Hollow Hayrides, Fright Farm and ScareHouse.
Q: Is it fun to work at a haunted house?
A: It's extremely fun, but don't forget to realize that it is work. I've often described it as the toughest kind of acting that there is and a true art to master. You're literally doing the same, or similar, act 1000's of time a night and have to keep the energy going the entire time. It's very rewarding though, and to this day the sounds of chainsaws revving up and screams in the night is one helluva adrenaline rush.
Q: Which was your favorite haunt to work for?
A: That's not an easy answer and I really couldn't say any was better to work for than another. I will say that some of my best memories are from Sleepy Hollow though. I was there for 9 years after all. Hard to top that, but I have a lot of great ones from the others as well.
Q: Why don't you review ____ anime series?
A: Well, as you know, it can take time to watch a whole series through or even enough to have a good handle on it to even begin to think about doing such. That's one factor there, but the other is that we only review the shows that we're interested in and enjoy. Sure, that may sound a bit self serving (and it is) but there are many of us on the staff here and we do keep our minds open to new things in spite of that.
That said, you'll only see reviews of anime that we've wanted to watch (for better or worse) or that we found interesting. Also, if we do start watching a series, it will be finished. Even if we hate it or don't find it interesting so we can review it and let you know.
Q: Why Blogger and not some other site?
A: Blogger offers up some great integration tools that go hand in hand with Google+. Things like comments, sharing, photos, etc. It just makes the most sense at this point in time to use it as it is a fairly powerful platform if you know what you're doing. WordPress is really good too, but Blogger just was the right fit for our needs right now.
Also, in the sense of full disclosure, it's free. Again, we don't make any money off doing this (at least not yet). Any ways that we can keep operation costs down is a plus as it allows us more able to travel and cover the stuff you all love reading about!
