Alizée and Yelle: Two great tastes that taste great together!

Image courtesy of Operation LTNY

More info after the jump. (Get it?)

Just a quick reminder that Operation: Disque Drop is still looking for remote operatives to "infiltrate" the upcoming North American tour of French MySpace singing sensation Yelle. If you're a fan interested in promoting Alizée in the United States (or Vancouver, BC), this is a great way to get involved for zero dollars--I'll ship you the disques you need to do the job, free of charge, if you'll provide the manpower and the legwork to get it done!

I've only been recently exposed to Yelle, myself--having just learned of her when NarutoSoul first posed the infiltration idea this week--but from what I've heard of the music on her MySpace, going to see Yelle would be worth it just for the experience of seeing Yelle. It's very fun, poppy and catchy. I'd definitely be hitting up one of the shows myself if they were playing in my town, but unfortunately it sounds like they were already here earlier this year before I knew of them. Even if you're not interested in pimping Alizée and Op Drop--which makes me a sad panda, indeed--I'd still recommend checking them out if you're a fan of Alizée, or French pop in general.

Also, if you're a New York-area Alizée fan, and you're going to be free on October 14th, Operation LTNY would really like to hear from you.

United States of Alizée

"Some days, you just can't get rid of a bomb..."

Sorry for the lack of update this morning, folks. Operation: Disque Drop is experiencing some technical difficulties as I monkey with the Batcomputer to perform what I expected to be a fairly painless upgrade. It's proven to be more of a hassle than I expected--which is very much in keeping with virtually everything I've done in connection to Op Drop--but it ought to pay off handsomely when it's done. Watch this space early next week to find out exactly how! (Or, if you're really impatient, you might be able to find a little hint--OK, a big hint, actually--in the comments section of this post, here...)

So in lieu of any content that's actually related to Op Drop in some fashion, please accept the following Alizée factoid, which ought to be of interest to North American fans.



Did You Know...?

...that the USA is on the verge of overtaking Alizée's native France as her second-largest fanbase? It's true, at least according to the Google map on her official site. The United States currently weighs in with 220 fans, while France boasts 221. All it would take to tip the scales is for two peeps with a US zip code to access her "secret page" and key in their info to put themselves on the map!

Have no idea what I'm talking about? Didn't know that Alizée's official site even had a secret page? Brother, where have you been?!

Here, let's get Sir Wood from Alizée America to drop some science on you:

Step-by-Step How-To Join Alizée's fans on Google Map: (aka: the "Bonus" page)

1) Go to her official site, http://www.alizee-officiel.com/
2) Left click the big "X" with "Close" next to it.
(Note: This is not the [x] for your browser window.)
3) Tinkerbell should apprear.
4) Left click on an empty space and draw a geometric figure, ie: triangle (only triangle, square or 5-point star allowed).

Drawing tip: You left click to start and stop the line drawing, when you complete the figure a small blinking green dot will show that you've connected the all the lines to form the needed figure. (In vector terms, go "Tip to Tail.")

5) You will then be directed to the Bonus menu.
6) Left click the pink bubble, "Join Alizée's fans - Google Map".
7) Enter your pseudo/online name and e-mail address, then left click "Localize yourself on the map".
8) A new screen pops-up with Google map.
9) Select your country (from the drop down menu), enter your street address, and zip code.
10) Left click "Find out" and move the pointer to a closer location to your address if it's not correct.
11) Once you've completed moving the pointer, left click on "Confirm"

Voila, you're done and you can just bookmark this URL to go directly to the Alizée's fans - Google Map: http://www.alizee-officiel.com/googl...php?version=en

Thanks, Wood! (Can I call you 'Wood'?) Anyway, just an additional heads up from me: I don't know what's up with it, but the map is kinda FUBAR at the moment, with portions of it blanking out or not showing up for some reason. Don't let that stop you--adding yourself to the map will still produce a little stickpin for you, and add you to the total number of fans in your country, even if your stickpin isn't stuck to anything but a blank grey square.

I only mention all this because I heard a rumour once that Americans really like to win at stuff...and right now, you guys are sitting in a distant third. (Mexico is soundly kicking everybody's ass with a hefty 388 fans.) So what are you waiting for?! Get out there and represent!

(And uh...hey, Canadians? We have just 19 Alizée fans, total. Nineteen! That's just pathetic, you hosers! Turkey is pointing and laughing at us! So go sign up already, eh?)


UPDATE, 12:40 AM EST:

The USA has now successfully surpassed France, 225 fans to 221. Well done, guys! Mexico is still holding strong at 389...but toppling them can be done! Let all the American fans you meet to put themselves on this page, on every Lili forum and YouTube video you frequent! (Let them know there's some sweet desktop wallpapers in it for them on the bonus page, too!)

Meanwhile, Canada is...still at just 19. C'mon guys, you're makin' us look like jerks, here...

Op Drop at Fan Expo: Dia 3

Are we there yet?

Friday’s Op Drop at Fan Expo had surpassed all expectations, despite it being the shortest day. Saturday’s performance had been underwhelming, in spite of it being the longest and best-attended day of the convention by far. This had all run exactly counter to what I’d predicted—it was like I’d somehow wound up in Alizée Bizarro World. Given that Sunday historically fell somewhere between the two, both in terms of length and attendance, I wasn’t sure what to expect anymore. All bets were off at this point.

The only two things I knew with certainty were a) that I had only to drop a little over 20 disques in order to reach my goal of 100, and call it a day, and b) I was so exhausted that I desperately couldn’t wait for it over and done with, so I could call it a day. And looking around at my nerd and geek brethren, I could tell I wasn’t alone. Even the ubiquitous cosplaying teenagers were beginning to look a little haggard and rough around the edges. The con fatigue had definitely set in. There’s only so much unrelenting nerdery (and nonstop advertising) a body can take, after all.

You can see where this might have created a bit of an obstacle for Op Drop. Though there was still a relatively steady (if thin) trickle of Expo virgins heading in from the registration tables, the vast majority of the attendees were tired, two-day veterans who weren’t in the mood to pick up or look at anything, anymore. Discarded posters, fliers, postcards and promotional materials of all kinds littered the con floor, and every available surface. And this was the environment that I was trying to drop twenty more disques into. It wasn’t exactly a winning strategy.

Still, I set about doing what I could, clearing obvious piles of garbage off chairs, tables and payphones and replacing them with freshly-dropped disques. This earned me quite a few thankful—if puzzled—looks from the maintenance staff, and at least one stern talking-to from a security guard (who had apparently noticed me on and off all weekend—whoops—and assumed I was trashing my competition’s advertising in favour of my own).

It was kind of a dicey moment, especially when I admitted that I didn’t have a vendor’s pass and hadn’t been authorized to distribute promotional materials by the convention’s promoter…but after I showed him one of the disques, and he read the message on the back, he surprisingly gave me the thumbs-up to carry on, as long as I continued not to harass anybody or interfere with the paid advertising. He even went so far as to give me his name in case I got stopped again, so his colleagues could check that I’d cleared it with him. I just wish I could remember it so I could thank him here—he was very cool about the whole thing, much more than he had to be, or than I had any right to expect. Couldn’t convince him to keep the disque and give it a try, but at least he smiled and wished me luck as he handed it back.

(I sincerely doubt he’s reading this, or even remembers that the exchange took place, but just in case he is—thanks for being Commissioner Gordon to my Batman, sir. You rock.)

Emboldened by my new quasi-almost-official endorsement, but still desperately needing to unload almost twenty disques, I immediately set about pushing the boundaries of it. Though I’d stayed away from the registration area so far, heavily patrolled as it was by security guards and convention volunteers alike, I was beginning to sense that appealing to the Expo virgins right as they walked in the door might be my only hope. Fortunately, with the influx of newcomers being much more manageable compared to the endless sea of humanity that had been fighting to get through the doors on Saturday, the registration staff had been pared down to just two volunteers. Even more fortunately, they appeared to be much more interested in flirting with each other than in anything I might be doing, making it very easy for me place an Alizée disque or two next to each pile of registration forms.

The next several hours passed slowly as—bored and broke—I paced up and down the convention’s three floors, checking on the status of the disques I’d dropped, replacing the precious few that had been picked up, and recovering and re-distributing those that had gone hours without seeing any interest. I cursed when I returned to find one disque sitting bare on a payphone, after hours of not being touched, having been stripped of its cheap vinyl clamshell case and discarded. (Oddly enough, though, after deciding to leave the bare disque there and see what happened, I returned an hour later to see that it, too, had been picked up.)

The disques in the registration area seemed to be moving better than the others—and the two volunteers had progressed to a full-contact tickle war—so I gradually began moving all of them up there…until finally, at about five thirty, a half hour before the convention was set to close, I did one last circuit of the show floor, and discovered that there wasn’t a single one of my disques left to be found.

I’d actually done it. 100 disques dropped in three days. Picked up by one hundred people who (hopefully) took it home and let it infect them with Alizée-fever. It seems like such a paltry amount—less than 1% of the over 50,000 people who reportedly attended the show—but it was surprisingly hard work.

Was it worthwhile? Will Alizée-fever take hold? Will it spread? Could this be the humble beginning of a Lili-demic? Only time will tell…

(Well, time and you. If you’re one of those 100 people who picked up a disque at Fan Expo, please do speak up…either in the ShoutBox to the left or the comments below, or email me at disquedrop@gmail.com. Let us know where you found it, what you thought of it, and what you’re planning to do with it next.)

Vive La Resistance (d'Alizée)!

Hey, Amigo!

You may remember, back on Monday, when I called out any Alizée fans who might be following Op Drop's progress from the west coast:

P.S. A Message to West Coast Alizée Fans:

Last weekend, Operation LTNY:

• 300 Cards
• 40 CDs
• 15 Posters
• 3 People
• 2 Days

This weekend, Operation: Disque Drop:

• 100 CDs
• 1 Dude
• 3 Days

You West Coast folks have some catching up to do.

I’m just sayin’…

Well, it looks like I just might have to eat those words, as it appears not everybody on the Left Coast has been content to sit back and wax their surfboards while us Easties do all the work. Check out this post from Amigo! over a the Alizée America forums:

Well New York City isn't the only town getting a dose of Alizée (Better late than never eh?)

It is finally time to hit the west coast of the US



I already begun the campaign the previous weekend by placing several business cards (see image below) In many places throughout the heart of the city (e.g the union square area, market st. area, which include the virgin megastore and various restaurants) This was for the most part, a trial run to scope out even more areas to promote Lili. This coming weekend I will be hitting the heart of the city once again and expanding to different neighborhoods throughout the city. (and this time take at least one... picture... )

Here are the items I will be dropping and handing out...

* Business cards on the left (Front and back)

* The CD's : Track listing...
1. Par Les Paupières
2. Lilly Town
3. Mon Taxi Driver
4. La Isla Bonita
5. Mademoiselle Juliette
6. Fifty Sixty
7. Mademoiselle Juliette (Push Up Plump DJ's Remix)

I wanted to concentrate on Psychédélices rather then mix songs from all the albums. And all tracks are only about a min and a half except for the remix which is about two and a half min.

* The Posters on the right (Some of which are printed on Sticker Paper to prevent easy removal )




And yes... I am planning to "infiltrate" Yelle's concert in SF on october 31st to bring some of their fans on over to our side

Yes, it will take a lot more work, but in the long run if I at least get some new fans here, it'll be worth it.

Pretty cool, huh? It's awesome to see somebody taking the LTNY model and running with it in their home city. I'll be watching LTSF closely and reporting on its progress here. Hopefully others are inspired by Amigo's example and take up the charge elsewhere!

And speaking of taking a model and running with it, it looks like Lefty12357 (who produces most of the music heard in the most recent episodes of the Alizée America Podcast) has undertaken a few Op Drops of his own, in the wilds of Minnesota!

I've been using the disc drop method in my area. So far I've dropped about a dozen CDs in the last 2 weeks. I just copied Snatcher's design and track layout. I hope to keep it up at a steady pace.

Man, I can't tell you how excited this makes me. It's not just a one-man operation anymore, or two guys working seperately but in parallel in different cities. Granted, there's still only four of us...but I guarantee you that this is only the beginning.

Remember, if you want to get involved, it's not hard to do. It won't even cost you anything! Operation: Disque Drop is looking for remote operatives to perform Op Drops in and around the venues for Yelle's upcoming North American tour. Check out Yelle's MySpace for dates and venues near you, then either drop me a comment or shoot me an email to let me know you're interested. I'll supply the disques, and even ship them free of charge, if you'll supply the manpower and the legwork!

Op Drop at Fan Expo: Dia 2

Hail to the Geek!

Though Friday’s Op Drop had surpassed even my wildest expectations, I still had a lot of work ahead of me: I was only roughly a third of the way to my goal of dropping 100 Alizée music samplers and ‘Fan Starter Kits’ before the weekend was out. It was a daunting task, but given how smoothly Friday had gone—with every one of the over thirty disques I’d dropped apparently having been picked up, some just minutes after I’d dropped them—I figured Saturday would be a cakewalk, given that it was traditionally the busiest day of the three.

What I didn’t realize is that this would be both a blessing, and a curse. While it meant more people to whom I could potentially introduce Alizée, it also meant more people, period. A lot more people…people who would get in my way, congregate around (then refuse to walk away from) prime drop locations, “helpfully” hand back to me the disque I’d “accidentally” left behind, catch me in the act and force me into an awkward conversation explaining exactly what I was doing, and generally make it harder to disque drop in the smoothly clandestine manner to which I’d become accustomed.

The sheer crush of humanity—a larger portion of whom were now dressed in bulky and outlandish costumes in preparation for that night’s masquerade—caused traffic patterns to shift wildly, rendering some of Friday’s best drop locations useless and inaccessible. It also brought increased vigilance both from security and from the retailers in the dealer room—more than once, I’d drop a disque on what I’d thought was an unattended table or display, only to have it a volunteer I hadn’t seen hand it right back to me. (Or, in the case of one memorable exchange, actually throw it at my head.) As the day wore, and the building continued to fill up, it became harder and harder to even find an inch of empty space on which make a drop…and then, once found, to manage it without being completely frackking obvious.

Father Christmas vs. The Daylight Detective


(I should probably explain that—I mean, who cares if a half-dozen of my fellow comic geeks notice me dropping it, right? One of them might even be motivated to pick it up out of curiousity. The only explanation I can give is that it violates my personal “rules” of disque dropping as I’ve come to think of it. Discovering one in a random public place is meant to be kind of magical and mysterious…like coming down the stairs on Christmas morning and finding presents in the empty stocking you put up the night before. Getting caught in the act of a drop…I always feel like it robs it of its mystique, somehow…like Batman fighting crime in broad daylight, or something. There’s also the fact that I’m painfully shy around strangers—particularly cosplaying cuties in extremely abbreviated outfits—which makes having to explain a bungled drop somewhat akin to slow torture, but that’s neither here nor there.)

In short, as far as drops went, the day proceeded slowly. Despite my being there nearly twice as long, by the time the doors were set to close on Saturday, I’d barely managed to match the all-time record high I’d set on Friday. And for the first time in my career, I was actually forced to make a few humiliating recoveries, as disques I’d dropped first thing in the morning at what had been prime drop locations the night before had remained there the entire day without so much as being touched. At the end of the day, I actually did better in just five hours on Friday than I had in nine hours on Saturday.

Still, thirty-plus drops in a day was nothing to sneeze at, and I was still on pace to meet my goal of dropping a hundred. All it would take was a little over 20 drops on Sunday, and I’d be golden. Surely I’d be able to drop twenty lousy disques in seven hours, especially given that the hall wouldn’t be nearly as packed as it had been on Saturday, right?

Right?

Op Drop and Alizée shine the Batsignal!

An exciting franchise opportunity from Op Drop...

Over at the Lilly Town USA and Alizée America forums, NarutoSoul (mastermind behind LTUSA's birthday serenade to Alizée) has come up with yet another brilliant idea, this time to promote Lili here in North America:

"The French artist Yelle has a US tour coming up this fall. These shows are a great opportunity for the US fans to get more people interested in Alizée. Wear something Lili-related, drop Alizée materials, have fun! The tour's success would also be something to show Sony/BMG that promoting a French artist in the US is a viable business venture.

Yelle's Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/iloveyelle

See if she'll be performing near you!"

This is indeed a golden opportunity for us to spread the Lili-love to folks who might not be aware of her, but who'd definitely be open to the idea of getting to know her better. Here's the rub though: given the locations and the timing of the shows nearest me, it doesn't look likely that Operation: Disque Drop is going to be able to capitalize on it...which really, really sucks.

So this is where you come in, folks--if you're an Alizée fan who'd be interested in being a remote operative for Op Drop at one of these shows, please leave me a comment here on the blog, or email me at disquedrop@gmail.com. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to distribute as many disques as possible in and around your venue, in the method of your choosing. I'll supply the disques you need to do the job, and ship them to you absolutely free of charge, if you can supply the manpower and legwork to get it done.

So, what do you say? Do you have what it takes to be an Alizée Batman? Think about it and let me know.

(P.S.: If you're in the New York area, and considering hitting up the show on October 14th, I'd suggest you contact Ben at Operation LTNY instead, as it sounds like he's already hatching a plan, even as I write this.)

Op Drop at Fan Expo: Dia 1

Holy Cosplaying Cuties, Batm--er, Alizée!

Friday, as indicated by the post I made that day, was kind of a mad panic as I rushed to get the last of that day’s disques burned and labeled before heading out to Fan Expo—40 disques altogether. The stressful state of mind wasn’t at all helped by the fact that I’d decided to change gears at absolutely the last minute, and make half of them the new Mark III ‘music only’ CDs, which necessitated a slight redesign of the labels.

Mark III Back

Mark III Front

As you can see, proofreading was not my strong suit that morning. Nor was it for the rest of the weekend…I only noticed the rather glaring typo in the track listing as I pulled up the image just now. Argh.

I was also feeling surprisingly nervous as I made my way down to the convention, much as I had the night I made my first few drops. Though I’d since gotten pretty good at dropping them inconspicuously, without feeling like I stuck out like a sore thumb, it had always been in relatively small quantities, spread out over large areas. And at that point, my career total of drops had been in the high teens. Dropping a hundred disques over the course of three days in a relatively confined and crowded space was daunting to say the least. Surely, sooner or later, somebody was bound to catch me in the act and start asking questions…and I really, really didn’t want to have to explain to anybody—particularly security—why I wasn’t a terrorist, or something.

Fortunately, I needn’t have worried. Despite all the years I’d been coming to Fan Expo, there were two things I’d overlooked about it: first, that it’s almost impossible to look conspicuous in a roomful of cosplaying teenagers in full Stormtrooper armor or barely-there anime outfits as they strike poses, stage mock-lightsaber battles and play spin-the-Pocky with each other. Second, that if there’s one thing these people understand more than anything, it’s what being a rabid fan of a semi-obscure foreign celebrity is all about! Though I failed my stealth check more than once over the course of the weekend, almost without exception, my stammered and embarrassed explanation invited polite—and in at least a few cases, genuine—interest.

Though Friday was the shortest of the three days, running from 4pm to 9pm in the evening, it was also by far my best day in terms of drops and pickups. After casing out favorable drop points on the show’s three floors—pay phones, food court tables, unmanned booth tables and unguarded displays, and what few precious empty seats were scattered around the hall—I settled on a route that would let me drop disques as efficiently and inconspicuously as possible, while still letting me see everything I wanted to see.

The first circuit, which must have taken me the better part of three hours—mainly because I kept getting distracted by one thing or another—saw me drop about half of the 40 disques I’d brought with me. And as I began my next lap, I was excited to see that virtually every single disque I’d dropped had disappeared, and the few that hadn’t at least looked like they’d been picked up and given a look-over. Encouraged—and foolishly believing this meant the rest of the weekend was going to be a snap—I decided to pace myself and take it easy, breaking off from my mission for long stretches to shop, look around, and attend a few panels.

I’d be kicking myself to that come Sunday. I’m almost certain that if I’d really pushed it, I could have exhausted the supply of disques I’d brought with me, and then some. If I had to do it over again—and who knows, in a year’s time, I just might be—I think I’d aim to drop at least half, if not two-thirds of the weekend’s total payload on that first night, while everybody’s still excited to be there, and before they’re sick to death of having a flier, a promo comic or some other piece of marketing thrust into their hands every thirty seconds. (Lord knows I certainly wasn’t interested in picking up anything else come Sunday afternoon…but we’ll get there.)

I wound up dropping just over thirty disques that first night, right on target to reach 100 drops by Sunday evening, and more than doubling my career total. And it had been so easy, too—I hadn’t been spotted once, and as far as I could tell, every disque I’d dropped had been picked up. I was practically giddy with excitement over how well it was working. As I called it a night and headed for the subway home, I briefly considered dropping my few remaining disques along the way, as had been my standard M.O. up until that point.

“Nah,” I said to myself. “Why waste them? You’ve got the whole weekend ahead of you, and tomorrow’s going to be even easier than tonight was!”

Uh huh. Little did I know what the rest of the weekend had in store…