Water + Otakon = Meme?

“I got your ice cold water! And it’s only one dollar!”

If you were at Otakon 2011 for any length of time, you are not only familiar with the above words, but they are tattooed onto your brain.

From Thursday through early Sunday afternoon, one of the numerous beverage vendors lined up along Pratt Street outside of the Baltimore Convention Center is standing out from the rest. More ripped than Major Armstrong, clad in sunglasses, shorts, and (why not?) a weight belt, the vendor enthusiastically sings over and over into a bullhorn the following chant:

“I got your ice cold water!
And it’s only one dollar!
I got your ice cold water!
And it’s only one dollar!
I got your ice, ice,
Cold, cold
Ice, ice
Cold, cold
I got your ice cold water…”

The chant appeared to be set to the theme from “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.” Peddling nothing more than half-liter bottles of Nirvana brand water, his simple yet unique approach to advertising drew crowds and their cameras. At one point, even Otakon staff members were seen filming his pitch for inclusion on the website.

“Can I autotune you?” an attendee in the crowd asks, his Droid already recording.

The man behind the bullhorn goes by the name of Josh. He and his wife Candice, who assists with sales, are Baltimore residents and were also present at Otakon 2010, sans musical chant. During their four sixteen-hour workdays outside the convention center, the couple estimates that over 100 cases of water were sold. “Honestly, I’ve lost count,” Candice says. At twenty-four bottles to a case, this translates to a gross profit of close to $2500, minus the Baltimore street vendor fees.

During Otakon’s hiatus, Josh’s day job is living proof as to why he is so overzealous about hydration.

“Personal trainer,” he says before turning away to complete another sale.

He may be a quiet man when it comes to conversation, but Josh was noticeably appreciative of his new fans. He posed for photographs, performed for rolling video cameras, and never forgot a “thank you.” Before long, otaku passing by were giving the pair loose singles simply because of his notoriety.

His chant was being repeated by attendees. Pro- and anti-“ice cold water guy” messages were filling up Twitter, Tumblr, and Facebook. Weight belts were flying off of local sporting goods store shelves, quickly becoming part of last-minute cosplay outfits.

OK, I made that last part up. Nevertheless, the fact that Josh and his catchy chant were circulating around the Internet like Google Plus invites could only mean one thing: he’s on his way to becoming the next meme. Cries of “ice cold water!” could very well replace “Marco!” or “Buttscratcha!” at future conventions. Heated, misspelled forum and Twitter debates will form over the exact words in the chant and to what melody it was set. And finally, Otakon enjoys a new stake of popularity that is NOT a fire alarm.

Meet Rachel, an attendee from Allentown, Pennsylvania. She has the distinction of purchasing the very last ice cold water from Josh and Candice. She laughed and admitted no real reaction when informed that she helped close the chapter of the net’s latest celebrity.

As for Josh and Candice? The batteries were removed from the bullhorn, the cooler’s lid was shut, and off they walked, presumably to watch “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.”

(Very special thanks to Lauren Orsini, who helped me out immensely with this post; do yourself a favor and check out her site, for her writing pwns all that is pwnable)

PinHat

Wizard World East 2011 may now be part of the past, but few people know that, out of it, something new was born.

Whenever I travel to conventions (or pretty much anywhere), I inevitably come across pins or buttons. Sometimes they’re free, a form of promotion. Other times, they cost a very low price (I’ve seen tables offering anywhere from one to ten pins/buttons for $1). As a result, I’ve managed to get my hands on a number of these things, all of which I swear I will add to my apartment’s Pee-Wee-Herman-meets-Ernest-P.-Worrell decor. Aside from a few comic book-related pins (proudly residing in my comic book-themed bathroom) and a set of buttons displaying Bowser and his seven offspring (who knew the “Super Mario Bros.” villain was one Koopaling away from being Mushroom World’s OctoKoop?), the majority of my pointy souvenirs have collected dust on various structures in my room.

Well, I’ve decided to change all of that.

I went into a thrift store close to Wizard World’s downtown Philadelphia location and bought the following hat for $3

A close-up of its price tag:

The apparent lack of a decimal point on the store’s pricing gun initially makes this felt accessory seem a hell of a lot more expensive than it actually is. I considered leaving it on there until I realized that ACTUAL $300 hats out there probably wouldn’t be marked so with such pricing stickers. Also, they wouldn’t have the scent of discontinued brand soap permanently engrained into their fibers, a dead giveaway that the item came from a store with the word “dollar” and/or “thrift” in its name.

I’m going to attach all of my pins to this hat. The same goes for any pins I may acquire at future conventions or elsewhere.

When the entire hat is covered in pins and buttons, I will retire the “Blinky” hat, which has been a staple of my Inochiblog wear up to this point, and don this ridiculous accessory at each and every convention I cover in the future.

So far, the pins in my possession are the following:

Needless to say, they won’t do the job of completely covering the hat. With Otakon coming up in about a month and Intervention in September, my pin and button collection is certain to grow. My goal is to debut the hat at Anime USA 2011, assuming I have an appropriate (meaning embarrassing) amount of metal attached to it.

I’ve already started:

Pictured is a Link pin I acquired from Zenkaikon IV that originally joined the Blinky hat in my official Inochiblog costume. I figure it (and perhaps a soon-to-be-acquired Blinky pin) will be appropriate front-of-the-hat signage.

Wish me luck!