TDW 1888 - What The HECK Is Dragon Con ?
Transcript
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welcome everyone Adam the whoo here
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pre-registration the day before Dragon
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Con officially begins and I as with many
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others have congregated made the
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pilgrimage here to downtown Atlanta to
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pick up my badge and prepare for the
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festivities of the weekend to begin it's
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my second channel daily vlog channel
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it's the daily rule the early bird gets
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the worm or in this case tickets I've
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learned in recent years to get here the
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day before because tomorrow the line
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will be insane as you can see not too
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terribly bad you can compare this to the
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following days if you've ever been to
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this particular convention you know how
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absolutely wild it can get and I am now
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adequately equipped with my guides and
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programs these come in handy mission
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accomplished
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because of entering the Sheraton I now
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have in my possession of fully armed and
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operational laminates
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now you're probably asking yourself what
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the heck is dragging huh will I see any
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drag that's what you might see but it's
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more or less a clever name originated in
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1987 and has grown into one of the
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largest pop culture conventions anywhere
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in the world or at least in the United
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States started off with just under 2,000
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people and has grown to nearly 80
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and people last year I believe the total
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was 77,000 folks and the first thing I
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noticed as I walk in the Hilton is wow
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this entire area has been completely
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revamped there used to be a Starbucks in
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past years over here in this corner it's
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been removed and over in this area where
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the snack bar is located now used to be
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couches where I would plug my phone in
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and take little naps think they're gone
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even the publicly accessible computers
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that used to sit here have been removed
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but hello are you serving coffee
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are you the oh you just you were hanging
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out by the caffeine I totally totally
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get where he's coming from this more or
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less started has a gaming conglomeration
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to people who are fans of board games
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kind of like Dungeons and Dragons D&D
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for those who know what that is and it
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has grown into this mecca of everything
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every kind of mish-mashed pop culture or
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comic books anything and everything a
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lot of cosplay and it's all intertwined
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in half a dozen different hotels
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it's pretty fantastic oh yeah now this
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is awesome
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a public call box free to use I don't
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know though is this really a a telephone
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could be or is it something else most of
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the hotels are connected by these above
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the road corridors take a good Gander
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because this is about the most empty
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it's going to be over the entire week oh
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I'm now heading up the escalator and to
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what is probably the most recognizable
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of all the locations at this event
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look these stanchions have no earthly
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clue what they are in for those
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particular ones are nicknamed Louie and
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as you can tell even though it has not
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officially begun don't tell it to
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everyone that's already here because in
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their minds oh yes it has bigots whoa
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look there's a alien down there he seems
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to have abducted grumpycat what he come
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back with him come back with him come
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come back there were some very clever
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outfits in recent past of people who
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would go into stealth mode and they
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would slither across the carpets in
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disguise you couldn't see them they were
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in camouflage well the hotel has thrown
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everyone for a loop and completely
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changed the carpeting sad trombone
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laughs
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that's a new parking
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here
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illuminated in all its glory
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I have entered inside the Hyatt Regency
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which is also a another impressive
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structure one day I'd like to stay on
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site at one of the host hotels but truth
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be told they sell out pretty dang quick
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sometimes even almost a year before the
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events staying near the airport is about
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a third of the price just kind of makes
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a little more sense but then again if
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you're dressing up in two or three
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outfits a day I could see we're being
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slightly closer to the action has its
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benefits as warm as it is it would be
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prime swim time but don't get your hopes
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up if they have blocked off every single
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pool in the area most likely because the
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crowds will be so intense and it's throw
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some alcohol in the mix they're just
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there just being on the safe side the
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purpose of this particular vlog is not
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to concentrate on the expansive amount
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of cosplay that will be here throughout
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the rest of
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it's basically just just show a little
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behind the scenes a little
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pre-convention
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look inside a little little tidbit into
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what it's like to get here when you can
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actually walk around you don't even need
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a badge or a ticket or a lanyard or a
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laminate to enjoy this the day before
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the event actually starts you could just
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call this a teaser just a sample of
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what's to come oh my gosh look at this
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is that watchh oh man and the nearly
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half a decade I've been coming out here
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hard to believe half a decade to start
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well this is the start of the half a
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decade experience I have learned my way
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around here I've learned a thing or two
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about a layout of the lands I'm not an
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expert by any means but I'm also no
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longer a novice traffic moving in at a
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pretty decent rate down the freeway from
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downtown if you've ever seen any photos
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of all the cosplayers merging into one
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area they usually are here along this
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stairwell and since it is the calm
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before the storm I'll show what I
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brought my backpack my checkerboarded
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backpack conceals the camera that I'm
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going to be using which is the Canon 70d
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I have a little wind mic on there that I
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reverse side to side whether I'm filming
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front-facing or back facing I also have
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my zoom lens which I could use to the
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full advantage and different batteries
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accessories my extra Manfrotto
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for my phone that I'm holding and just
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in case everything else doesn't work out
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I have my half broken g7x which works
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but it will not turn off I have to
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remove the battery to get it to turn off
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completely that's what I'm using
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obviously I'm filming with my phone now
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just to show it off but all day and most
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of the weekend I'll be using the Canon
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70d it looks as if crowd control is in
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full swing the caution tape is being
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blade here's a quick run-through of all
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the different areas that are here the
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Walk of Fame which is where the
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celebrities will be sitting it's at the
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Marriott Marquis in the ballroom the
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Americas mark building floor one is the
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first level of the vendor room
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but then you go to the second floor and
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if that's not enough for your purchasing
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merchandise needs there is a third floor
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continuing on we have the Hyatt Regency
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the Grand Hall East and West you can see
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all the different tables that will be
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set up in there the embassy level of the
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Hyatt Regency over here is the ballroom
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level flipping through a little bit more
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we have the conference center level and
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the exhibit level there's just so much
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now we're over to the Marriott Marquis
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on that level an opposite is the
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international level all this is part of
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the Convention including the atrium
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level which is open to wander around in
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as is the full Lobby experience there's
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also the Hilton that's the first floor
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and there's also something called the
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Galleria level and that's not all we
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just continue to turn the pages third
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floor of the Hilton second floor of the
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Hilton will be congregations of people
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wow there's just I can't even get over
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how many different how many different
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places there are and here's a layout of
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the seven properties to share it in down
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here in the bottom corner to Hilton the
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Marriott Marquis Atlanta the Hyatt
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Regency and the two vendor rooms
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America's Mart building one and two the
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Marta which is basically the subway
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system and the Westin Peachtree there's
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also a smartphone app that you can just
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browse through you never are confused
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about where you need to be you just
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scroll through and it tells you what's
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going on at each location on each day
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hour by hour safe and sound now on the
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good old 47th floor and I say that with
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a veritable grain of salt because look
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at that
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put the zoom lens on just so you can get
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a little bit better perspective on just
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how far down that is close your eyes if
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you're scared of heights just close them
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whatever you do don't look down
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this place always reminds me of the
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inside of a body like a skeleton and the
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more people that congregate in here the
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more it starts to breathe life inside it
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right now is not a good example because
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it is not at its full potential but over
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time over the next few days this whole
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area will be pumped full of energy a
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living breathing beast it almost looks
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like a face you can see the mouth and
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the eyes and the that's that's that's a
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beast I had no idea that Jia was worth
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chess champions I wonder what he's
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thinking right now
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I wonder what's going through his mind
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as he makes a move and now he's
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retaliating hmm a lot of thinking going
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on around that board
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it's born it's born I've heard Shatner's
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around
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I heard Shatner's here beware of Shatner
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he's gonna be here beware of Shatner
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took the elevator down to the nether
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region level of the Hilton to a tiki bar
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by the name of Trader Vic's they have a
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vast assortment of paraphernalia that
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you can purchase specifically for this
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specific location and I have my eye on
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that Aloha mode it seems to be a very
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popular place tonight something's a
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Bruin in there brewed by fire and look
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over to the left there's a storm trooper
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head in a dead pool with this chef's cap
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on this place was even mentioned in a
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cartoon strip Doonesbury I met her
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dumpster diving behind Trader Vic's I
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picked this up not for me but a friend
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of mine really likes collecting tiki
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mugs from different places and he did
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not have one from that particular place
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so I got him one as a little gift
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so far everyone seems pretty friendly
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around these parts everyone seems pretty
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pretty
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currently around
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the Beastie Boys
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night has fallen and I think I'm gonna
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call it a day this weekend is going to
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be quite the extravaganza of fun I'll
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see you tomorrow
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vlog over