Review FANDOMEDIA 2006 Hunger. Perth Sept 30 + Oct 1
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I hereby consent to this review being reproduced in other publications
which are not primarily intended for profit. Such is likely to include club
newsletters, websites 'blogs and newsgroups, and small print run fanzines or
books.
FANDOMEDIA 2006 "Hunger"
Recently I attended the second Fandomedia mini-convention, held at the same
venue as last year's, being The Emerald Hotel in Perth (a most excellent
venue for
such conventions)
Not to be confused with Perth/WA's main annual Science Fiction and Fantasy
convention ("Swancon") this was intended only as a much smaller affair.
For 5 years running a mini-convention has been run, at about this time of
year, at The Emerald. This year, a first, the 'Con actually started Friday
evening. I was unable to attend then (as I's staying at Rockingham where
only a
skeleton bus service operates), however I did get to ask "Ju" (the un-ending
bundle of energy who is the Convener of this 'con) on the
Saturday what sorta turnout they had had for the Friday evening and she
said
they'd gotten off to a terrific start with somewhere between 40 and 50
attending then (sorry I missed it).
I arrived Saturday morning well before the 10 am start time of programming.
Quite a number of fans had arrived already, Rob Masters and Alicia Smith
were already at a table gaming with several others (and yes they had even
more new games, including "Not Tonight Josephine").
Someone had brought along a THERIMEN and I had a brief play with it. This
had been assembled from a Dick Smith electronics shop kitset, although they
have existed for over 70 years (originally they ran on valves aka vacuum
tubes and were the size of a large valve radio, nowadays they're little
bigger than a 500 gram block of butter.
A THERIMEN is of course the only musical instrument you play, without
touching it at all. It's actually a kind of electronic sythesizer, with 2
small radiowave antennae. By moving your hands and fingers closer and
further away, from the antennae, you affect the sound output. Not commonly
used in commercial music, the Beach Boys used one in their 1960's hit song
"Good Vibrations".
As a mini-convention Fandomedia ran 2 full time panel-room streams, plus a
part time video-room, so there was always plenty going on. Plus there was a
lounge area with several tables setup, for Gamers or folks with stuff for
sale. I bought a couple of Grant Watson's latest comic creations, but also
present over the weekend was Sally B. and other cohorts representing ASIM
(Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine), Russell Farr and his wife .. (er
"Mrs
Farr" ?) with some specialist clothing items and a large presence by
Fantastic Planet bookshop (thanks for supporting this event guys). Sorry I
don't have url links for the above already imbedded in this review, I might
try to get them sorted later. But they're located at Shop 8 Shafto Lane
just a short walk Westwards from Perth's central mall. Also available in
Shafto Lane are CRUMPLER BAGS ( www.crumpler.com.au ) who were also present
supporting the convention
I wasn't very well for much of Saturday so when the hotel had a room ready
for me about noon, I crept upstairs for an aspirin and a nap.
However I did attend part at least of each panel stream, ducking next door
to just do a head-count on the panels I unavoidably missed.
The numbers attending hovered around the 50 count, adding all rooms together
and including those Gaming or just socialising around. There were still
some 53 folks around for the brief wrap-up and thanks ceremony at the end,
Sunday evening. Some people could only attend on one day or the other due to
work commitments, and I know of other fans who because of commitments were
unable to attend at all. Hopefully the numbers worked out and the
convention broke even with costs, any small surplus returning to WASFF
funds.
The main guest from Interstate was MARIANNE DE PIERRES. She's originally a
sandgroper but now resides in Brisbane, Queensland. She's written a fair
bunch of stuff in the past.
Local guests were Lyn Battersby and Elaine Kemp, both well known in
Perth/WA SciFi fandom circles.
So for those of you who didn't make it along, I'll tell you a few things
that went on. Note that this list is not intended to be a complete rundown
of what happened, just to give you anoverall impression of what went on.
"The Way The Biological Clock Ticks" was one item Saturday morning, the
panel upfront hosted by Sarah Xu (with a suckling babe-in-arms at the time)
the, well known in WA fandom "almost doctor" Cathy Cupitt (....but wait,
there's more, she now *IS* THE Doctor Cathy Cupitt PHd, congratulations
Cath) Elaine Kemp and Shay. Shay, (who's surname I fear escapes me) gave
the panel some male perspective. The audience at this item got to learn more
about IVF and embryoes and cancer and more.
After lunchbreak "Escaping The 2 Headed Monster" was fronted by Elaine Kemp
(longtime partner of reknowned author Stephen Dedman) and Lyn Battersby
(married to Lee Battersby at a past Swancon, some 2 years back, also held at
The Emerald Hotel). Both Elaine and Lyn (previously Lyn Triffitt) are
accomplished authors in their own right, but have partner authors of higher
public profile. Unfortunately I missed this item as I's not well and had to
retreat upstairs for more aspirin and another nap.
An "Erotica Writing Workshop" took place and I arrived at one panel room
just as "Breaking News On Computer Games" was wrapping up, so missed that,
however it was well attended and I'm sure that Grant (Watson?) and Greg (?)
did a great job. Anna H. was wandering around barefoot as usual. Her
offspring had shoes on at one stage, but clearly it's a genetic thing, as
that state of affairs didn't last long. A fluctuating number of toddlers and
young children were around, it's good to see that SciFi fans are helping to
breed up a new generation of SF/F fans.
Just before the dinner (tea) break on Saturday arvo/evening was scheduled
the one item that was clearly indicated as unsuitable for children. It was
Elaine K reading some excerpts from her recently web published erotic work
"Bad Case Of Loving You". The small but fluctuating number of children and
toddlers present were catered for by an excellent piece of
programming, a very much child-friendly event was scheduled opposite
Elaine's reading, in the other panel-room. There were more adults than
children present there, but I commend the 'con organisers/programmers, for
this alternative being available.
The part-time video stream was poorly attended, there's simply no denying
it, but
it was well organised and run, and the programming itself was perfect. A
few old classics, a few brand new items some just days from
their first USA screenings, and with some short "filler items" of cartoons
and musicvideos.
Several times as I passed by I stuck my head in the door (of the small room
used for the video screenings) to do a headcount and the count was zero,
yep, no-one present at all. However the guy running the video-stream (sorry
I don't know his name) was only ever in a room next-door, and would check
back regularly and always kept items
running on schedule, so a really big thanks to him. Sorry I don't know his
name but he's a top dude and is often seen at 'cons helping out.
I actually watched several items on the video program, sometimes I was alone
in the room, sometimes there was upto 5 others present. Perhaps more people
would have attended if a video timetable had been part of the
panel-room-timetable given out as conventioneers arrived, so hopefully 'con
organisers will consider that in future. However I think it was simply the
fact that there was plenty of other interesting stuff going on. Nobody can
be everywhere at once, so you've gotta miss something to attend something
else. The room could have seated more than a dozen fans, and another
half-dozen could have sat on the floor upfront, if needed. I would
recommend that the next mini-convention (NIGHTS EDGE 10 and 11 November
2007, http://nightsedge.blogspot.com) does also run a video program, even
just if only part-time.
On Saturday I watched both NEAR DARK an almost classic Vampire movie set in
the US MidWest Farmbelt area and later HOMECOMING (a new film, dead US
military personal killed in Iraq, return to life as zombies to vote Prez
Bush out of office)
Later on Saturday night I's invited upto someones hotelroom where we watched
the pilot double episode of EUREKA. Yep someone had brought a DiVX disc
along, and a $49 cheapie Woolworths miniature dvd player which worked fine
connected to their in room hotel telly. Golly I want one of them dvd
players....unfortunately they were only available for a limited time.
Looked a bit like a giant butterfly trying to take-off, fantastic, I've
never seen a home dvd player before that looked like anything, other than, a
rectangular box.
Sunday morning I returned my room key-card and the first panel item I
attended was absolutely engrossing without actually being gross-out. Titled
"Blood Lust, a presentation of Parasites and Invertebrates" the presenter,
who I know only as "Dr Hoz" gave a factual but throughly entertaining talk,
accompanied with various slides on a big screen. There were Rabbits,
"Zombie" crabs, domestic cats that infect human brains with deadly virus and
a whole lot more. I was humming and har-ring about attending this item as I
thought it would be all yucky and gory, maggots and worms and things, but it
was not ! Swancon is well known for having a serious "academic stream" as
part of it's programming and even mini-cons like Fandomedia and Genghiscon
(www.genghiscon.org) often have some factual items in amongst their
programming.
Later "Cooking With Coffee" was fronted by professional Barrista "Kaneda"
ably assisted by Sarah P. I's there for awhile but a head count proved
difficult. as more and more people continually trickled into the room,
obviously they smelt the free sample tasters !
After lunchtime on Sunday I unfortunately missed the panel item "Soylents Of
The Lambs, You Are Who You Eat", but I had a good excuse.....I's in the
video-room watching the very first ep of the brand new show HEROES. Yep
just literally a few days after airing in the USA, here it was. It's hard to
say from seeing just one episode, but this is certainly a series worth
looking out for (especially to my friends LAS +CMW +SB)
All good things must come to an end. I think maybe Ju was hiding somewhere
as this final item started some 20 minutes later than timetabled.
(naughty-naughty, score one
demerit for that ! ) Thanks were given to the guests and sponsors and the
raffle was drawn. Gamers from the other room (still engrossed in conquering
the Universe, or something) seemed to win enough of the prizes and Lee
Battersby managed to win 4 items (3 were going to his kids and the 4th he
gave away)
Mention was made of next year's mini-con, also to be held at The Emerald
Hotel, to be called NIGHTS EDGE the underlying theme to be Cyberpunk, so
pencil that into your diaries folks.
I'm not exactly sure what the definition of "Cyberpunk" is, but I think its
sexy Japanese robots with big space-blaster guns, fighting each other, I
guess I'll just have to, go along to find out. Ju's not organising that
one, she's tuckered out, poor thing, so Sarah Parker will be holding the
reins.
GENGHISCON should be happening again
for the 5th (?) time in January 2007 and SWANCON next in April 2007. Fans
should support these events if possible. Come along and expect to have a
darn good time.
Catherine Jemma
8 October 2006 (minor revision 23 Oct)
Outback Western Australia
this email brought to you by Rubbish-Dump computer-power !
Find me at http://myspace.com/catherinejemma
check my weBlog http://catherinejemma.blogspot.com
Patsy....."So is killing NOT wrong anymore ?"
Trudy....."We don't have to worry about Right and Wrong anymore, ZOOT
decides for us"
................The Tribe episode 2:49
I hereby consent to this review being reproduced in other publications
which are not primarily intended for profit. Such is likely to include club
newsletters, websites 'blogs and newsgroups, and small print run fanzines or
books.
FANDOMEDIA 2006 "Hunger"
Recently I attended the second Fandomedia mini-convention, held at the same
venue as last year's, being The Emerald Hotel in Perth (a most excellent
venue for
such conventions)
Not to be confused with Perth/WA's main annual Science Fiction and Fantasy
convention ("Swancon") this was intended only as a much smaller affair.
For 5 years running a mini-convention has been run, at about this time of
year, at The Emerald. This year, a first, the 'Con actually started Friday
evening. I was unable to attend then (as I's staying at Rockingham where
only a
skeleton bus service operates), however I did get to ask "Ju" (the un-ending
bundle of energy who is the Convener of this 'con) on the
Saturday what sorta turnout they had had for the Friday evening and she
said
they'd gotten off to a terrific start with somewhere between 40 and 50
attending then (sorry I missed it).
I arrived Saturday morning well before the 10 am start time of programming.
Quite a number of fans had arrived already, Rob Masters and Alicia Smith
were already at a table gaming with several others (and yes they had even
more new games, including "Not Tonight Josephine").
Someone had brought along a THERIMEN and I had a brief play with it. This
had been assembled from a Dick Smith electronics shop kitset, although they
have existed for over 70 years (originally they ran on valves aka vacuum
tubes and were the size of a large valve radio, nowadays they're little
bigger than a 500 gram block of butter.
A THERIMEN is of course the only musical instrument you play, without
touching it at all. It's actually a kind of electronic sythesizer, with 2
small radiowave antennae. By moving your hands and fingers closer and
further away, from the antennae, you affect the sound output. Not commonly
used in commercial music, the Beach Boys used one in their 1960's hit song
"Good Vibrations".
As a mini-convention Fandomedia ran 2 full time panel-room streams, plus a
part time video-room, so there was always plenty going on. Plus there was a
lounge area with several tables setup, for Gamers or folks with stuff for
sale. I bought a couple of Grant Watson's latest comic creations, but also
present over the weekend was Sally B. and other cohorts representing ASIM
(Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine), Russell Farr and his wife .. (er
"Mrs
Farr" ?) with some specialist clothing items and a large presence by
Fantastic Planet bookshop (thanks for supporting this event guys). Sorry I
don't have url links for the above already imbedded in this review, I might
try to get them sorted later. But they're located at Shop 8 Shafto Lane
just a short walk Westwards from Perth's central mall. Also available in
Shafto Lane are CRUMPLER BAGS ( www.crumpler.com.au ) who were also present
supporting the convention
I wasn't very well for much of Saturday so when the hotel had a room ready
for me about noon, I crept upstairs for an aspirin and a nap.
However I did attend part at least of each panel stream, ducking next door
to just do a head-count on the panels I unavoidably missed.
The numbers attending hovered around the 50 count, adding all rooms together
and including those Gaming or just socialising around. There were still
some 53 folks around for the brief wrap-up and thanks ceremony at the end,
Sunday evening. Some people could only attend on one day or the other due to
work commitments, and I know of other fans who because of commitments were
unable to attend at all. Hopefully the numbers worked out and the
convention broke even with costs, any small surplus returning to WASFF
funds.
The main guest from Interstate was MARIANNE DE PIERRES. She's originally a
sandgroper but now resides in Brisbane, Queensland. She's written a fair
bunch of stuff in the past.
Local guests were Lyn Battersby and Elaine Kemp, both well known in
Perth/WA SciFi fandom circles.
So for those of you who didn't make it along, I'll tell you a few things
that went on. Note that this list is not intended to be a complete rundown
of what happened, just to give you anoverall impression of what went on.
"The Way The Biological Clock Ticks" was one item Saturday morning, the
panel upfront hosted by Sarah Xu (with a suckling babe-in-arms at the time)
the, well known in WA fandom "almost doctor" Cathy Cupitt (....but wait,
there's more, she now *IS* THE Doctor Cathy Cupitt PHd, congratulations
Cath) Elaine Kemp and Shay. Shay, (who's surname I fear escapes me) gave
the panel some male perspective. The audience at this item got to learn more
about IVF and embryoes and cancer and more.
After lunchbreak "Escaping The 2 Headed Monster" was fronted by Elaine Kemp
(longtime partner of reknowned author Stephen Dedman) and Lyn Battersby
(married to Lee Battersby at a past Swancon, some 2 years back, also held at
The Emerald Hotel). Both Elaine and Lyn (previously Lyn Triffitt) are
accomplished authors in their own right, but have partner authors of higher
public profile. Unfortunately I missed this item as I's not well and had to
retreat upstairs for more aspirin and another nap.
An "Erotica Writing Workshop" took place and I arrived at one panel room
just as "Breaking News On Computer Games" was wrapping up, so missed that,
however it was well attended and I'm sure that Grant (Watson?) and Greg (?)
did a great job. Anna H. was wandering around barefoot as usual. Her
offspring had shoes on at one stage, but clearly it's a genetic thing, as
that state of affairs didn't last long. A fluctuating number of toddlers and
young children were around, it's good to see that SciFi fans are helping to
breed up a new generation of SF/F fans.
Just before the dinner (tea) break on Saturday arvo/evening was scheduled
the one item that was clearly indicated as unsuitable for children. It was
Elaine K reading some excerpts from her recently web published erotic work
"Bad Case Of Loving You". The small but fluctuating number of children and
toddlers present were catered for by an excellent piece of
programming, a very much child-friendly event was scheduled opposite
Elaine's reading, in the other panel-room. There were more adults than
children present there, but I commend the 'con organisers/programmers, for
this alternative being available.
The part-time video stream was poorly attended, there's simply no denying
it, but
it was well organised and run, and the programming itself was perfect. A
few old classics, a few brand new items some just days from
their first USA screenings, and with some short "filler items" of cartoons
and musicvideos.
Several times as I passed by I stuck my head in the door (of the small room
used for the video screenings) to do a headcount and the count was zero,
yep, no-one present at all. However the guy running the video-stream (sorry
I don't know his name) was only ever in a room next-door, and would check
back regularly and always kept items
running on schedule, so a really big thanks to him. Sorry I don't know his
name but he's a top dude and is often seen at 'cons helping out.
I actually watched several items on the video program, sometimes I was alone
in the room, sometimes there was upto 5 others present. Perhaps more people
would have attended if a video timetable had been part of the
panel-room-timetable given out as conventioneers arrived, so hopefully 'con
organisers will consider that in future. However I think it was simply the
fact that there was plenty of other interesting stuff going on. Nobody can
be everywhere at once, so you've gotta miss something to attend something
else. The room could have seated more than a dozen fans, and another
half-dozen could have sat on the floor upfront, if needed. I would
recommend that the next mini-convention (NIGHTS EDGE 10 and 11 November
2007, http://nightsedge.blogspot.com) does also run a video program, even
just if only part-time.
On Saturday I watched both NEAR DARK an almost classic Vampire movie set in
the US MidWest Farmbelt area and later HOMECOMING (a new film, dead US
military personal killed in Iraq, return to life as zombies to vote Prez
Bush out of office)
Later on Saturday night I's invited upto someones hotelroom where we watched
the pilot double episode of EUREKA. Yep someone had brought a DiVX disc
along, and a $49 cheapie Woolworths miniature dvd player which worked fine
connected to their in room hotel telly. Golly I want one of them dvd
players....unfortunately they were only available for a limited time.
Looked a bit like a giant butterfly trying to take-off, fantastic, I've
never seen a home dvd player before that looked like anything, other than, a
rectangular box.
Sunday morning I returned my room key-card and the first panel item I
attended was absolutely engrossing without actually being gross-out. Titled
"Blood Lust, a presentation of Parasites and Invertebrates" the presenter,
who I know only as "Dr Hoz" gave a factual but throughly entertaining talk,
accompanied with various slides on a big screen. There were Rabbits,
"Zombie" crabs, domestic cats that infect human brains with deadly virus and
a whole lot more. I was humming and har-ring about attending this item as I
thought it would be all yucky and gory, maggots and worms and things, but it
was not ! Swancon is well known for having a serious "academic stream" as
part of it's programming and even mini-cons like Fandomedia and Genghiscon
(www.genghiscon.org) often have some factual items in amongst their
programming.
Later "Cooking With Coffee" was fronted by professional Barrista "Kaneda"
ably assisted by Sarah P. I's there for awhile but a head count proved
difficult. as more and more people continually trickled into the room,
obviously they smelt the free sample tasters !
After lunchtime on Sunday I unfortunately missed the panel item "Soylents Of
The Lambs, You Are Who You Eat", but I had a good excuse.....I's in the
video-room watching the very first ep of the brand new show HEROES. Yep
just literally a few days after airing in the USA, here it was. It's hard to
say from seeing just one episode, but this is certainly a series worth
looking out for (especially to my friends LAS +CMW +SB)
All good things must come to an end. I think maybe Ju was hiding somewhere
as this final item started some 20 minutes later than timetabled.
(naughty-naughty, score one
demerit for that ! ) Thanks were given to the guests and sponsors and the
raffle was drawn. Gamers from the other room (still engrossed in conquering
the Universe, or something) seemed to win enough of the prizes and Lee
Battersby managed to win 4 items (3 were going to his kids and the 4th he
gave away)
Mention was made of next year's mini-con, also to be held at The Emerald
Hotel, to be called NIGHTS EDGE the underlying theme to be Cyberpunk, so
pencil that into your diaries folks.
I'm not exactly sure what the definition of "Cyberpunk" is, but I think its
sexy Japanese robots with big space-blaster guns, fighting each other, I
guess I'll just have to, go along to find out. Ju's not organising that
one, she's tuckered out, poor thing, so Sarah Parker will be holding the
reins.
GENGHISCON should be happening again
for the 5th (?) time in January 2007 and SWANCON next in April 2007. Fans
should support these events if possible. Come along and expect to have a
darn good time.
Catherine Jemma
8 October 2006 (minor revision 23 Oct)
Outback Western Australia
this email brought to you by Rubbish-Dump computer-power !
Find me at http://myspace.com/catherinejemma
check my weBlog http://catherinejemma.blogspot.com
Patsy....."So is killing NOT wrong anymore ?"
Trudy....."We don't have to worry about Right and Wrong anymore, ZOOT
decides for us"
................The Tribe episode 2:49
posted by Catherine Jemma at 4:41 pm
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