So there's a lot of stuff going on at Alcon, but as always entry is not the only thing your ticket gets you.  Alongside your pass and Alcon lanyard (mmm, lanyard...), you also get the conpack.

The conpack is an essential part of any anime convention, and consists of a bag of free and useful items you receive upon registering.  Items included in the conpack this year were the conbook, a convention planner, Alcon badges, an Alcon poster and a box of Pocky.  You were also given the opportunity to buy the limited edition Alcon 2008 t-shirt for just £10 when you picked up your conpack, for more information on the t-shirt read Ami-Chan's review here!

The conbook this year is certainly more varied and a better read the conbook of Alcon 2007.  Last year's conbook contained many fun and informative articles, but some of the articles only

seemed to be there to fill space.  This year's conbook has much more variety in the form of fanart, manga, puzzles, funnier articles and even a fan fiction story of Alcon's mascots (Al-chan & Al-kun).  Due to the variety of the conbook it has something to offer to both new and old con-goers alike, and the articles cover many facets of anime culture.  For example there is an insightful look into the origin of cosplay, a funny piece on attending a Hideo Kojima signing and a reflections on one writer's trip to Japan.

The articles which really leap out of the conbook though are one by Japanese culture lecturer Akemi Solloway and another on the rather different subject of yaoi.

The yaoi article comes in two parts - a man's view on why women like yaoi and a female response to this article.  Like most men I am not a huge fan of this sub-genre, but I have to admit this section of the conbook was entertaining.  It was especially funny that the man offered an in-depth, detailed and, as he put it, a 'Freudian' look into why women like yaoi.  He states that women want what they cannot have, they can fantasise and alter the characters to make the 'perfect partner' and

women have an unerring pleasure to see two men together.  The woman hits back with three straightforward reasons for her love of yaoi - the men are pretty, the men are cute and she is curious to see it.  They both essentially make the same point, but the woman hits the nail on the head quicker.  Personally we were disappointed yuri never got mentioned in the conbook, hopefully next time!

The conbook's all well and good though, but you need somewhere to sit and read it.  This is where the accommodation came in.  Like every convention, Alcon offered its own 'on site' accommodation in the student halls at knock-down rates.  However, unlike other conventions there was actually enough of it to go round!  We were all pretty impressed with the facilities, but read on for an overview from our roving reporter Ami-Chan...
 

"For the second year running Alcon's on-site accommodation was held in the university's Bede Hall.  The halls certainly made me feel jealous as they were far better than any of the accommodation I had while I was at university!

"The rooms provided were of a good size with a single bed, wardrobe, desk and a sink.  We as a group were very lucky as all of us (thanks to good organisation by the Alcon's committee) were put together in one block, which consisted of eight flats on a private corridor.  The block also had a large communal kitchen with a balcony.  The balcony was great

last year as we spent our late evenings drinking and talking outside.  Unfortunately, this year's weather was well rubbish so we spent very little time there!  Finally, there were two toilets and two shower rooms in each block.

"The showers were certainly amusing.  Above each one was the stencilled word "trap".  At first I wondered why but I soon found out!  When you first turned on the water it was freezing, so in order to heat the water you had to turn the tap further around.  This however, causes the water pressure to go up and the shower room began to flood. Is there a way around it I hear you ask?  Yes, unfortunately, it involves jumping into the shower with door closed with the freezing water before turning the pressure/ temperature up!"

___________________________________________________________________________