Conscription - New Zealand Natcon

 

Report 2009

 

I'm glad I didn't start this convention report last week while I was still in New Zealand; I got pulled up on a couple of aspects of the convention which hadn't made sence at the time. Like the fact there were different grades of “guest”. Authors Julie E. Czerneda & Nalini Sing were the principle guests while Russel Kirkpatrick, and Helen Lowe were guests also but with less obligations.

 

Traditionally, New Zealand's National Science Fiction Convention is held on either the Easter Long Weekend or the (gazetted) Queens Birthday Weekend. (the former's dates changing radically through the earlier part of the year while the latter (the Queens Birthday Public Holiday, which causes there to be a long week end) is the first Monday in June).

 

In the past when New Zealanders held conventions on both Islands, the pretext of starting the convention late on Friday and finishing by about midday on the Monday was to enable attendees from other centres to race up/down Island to get to the host cityⁱ. Nowadays attendees will finish work on Friday, catch a plane and just miss the opening ceremony in time to prop up the Bar and sing a few filks.

 

One of the difficulties of running a convention so far away from the rest of the world (read USA/Canada & the UK) is both the cost of airfare and appearance fees. For many years conventions in New Zealand (and here in Australia) have managed to get guests to waive their appearance fees. In exchange for this key cost saver (with an emphasis that any profit from a convention going to a registered charity) a guest and their spouse will be shown the sights. Some of the guests will also spend a week either side of the convention in New Zealand and thoroughly enjoy themselves.

 

Blogger Tee Morris added a fresh dimension with a number of panels on Blogging, Podcasting & (shudder) Tweeting. I had a fair idea about Tweeting and now that I've attended a panel I'm certain I don't want to “tweet” non stop all day nore be 'tweeted at' either. Yes, I'm on Facebook, I can upload photos from my trip, I can be invited to functions & I can chat when others are on (cheeper than phoning them long distance) and I can do other thing on Facebook, but choose not to. I'm also on Livejournal, but my posts there have been reprints of my Lasfapa contributions (and given how spartin these are...). I've requested to be added to the other Lasfapans on Livejournal, but the requests have gone unanswered. (Facebook with more success).

 

(As an aside, I've added two Lasfapan's on Facebook, Christopher Garcia and Vanessa Schnatmeier)

 

Robbie Matthews was Fan Guest of Honour – it was no secret that he is an old friend of the principle convention organiser and curiously kept a low profile – so much so that most attendees didn't even know that he had a Fan Guest of Honour speech! Which leeds into the list of things that successive NZ Natcons have done wrong (I'd like to call them Fatal Flaws, but they're more like preventable mistakes)

 

• Programming against a Guest of Honour – honestly, if 20 people (out of 125+) don't want to hear the GoH, then why come to the convention? Have an extended break perhaps but don't gripe to the organizers to program events against the GoH!

• Introduce the panels – I've watched professional guests sit and check their watches for up to ten minutes before reluctantly starting their panel without any of the concom coming in and introducing the panel & topic.

• Times Up! - Fairly self explanatory...

• ConCom, where arrrrreee you? - It's really bad form when the ConCom up and leave the hotel during the convention. In 2007, the ConCom left the Hotel part way through the opening ceremony while last year's ConCom took some of the guests to a nature reserve & this years ConCom had a similar off site excursion during the convention as opposed to before or after. (Monday would have been ideal)

• The Masquerade – If it's a Costume Parade, call it a costume parade! There's only been a couple of times that NZ Natcons have had a true Masquerade.

• Traders – Now this one is a rather delicate one, all I'll say is more traders should be encouraged to attend the convention.

• Advertise! - There was a time when you'd see flyers and posters in every book shop for a convention. This year as in the past, I've gone into book shops (read specialty & comic) in the host city and asked about the convention and am treated to the constipation look of bewilderment as though I've just landed on the planet... Convention? Science Fiction Convention???

• Don't turn down offers of help! - At last years convention and again at Christmas when I was over, (and in January after I returned home) I offered to run a couple of panels along the lines of the ones I'd run last year. There were murmurs of acceptance along with “Send me an email” but the offers of panels ultimately fell on deaf ears.

• The ConCom shouldn't air it's crisis' in public. The last convention in Christchurch is a clasic example. (This years was kept under wraps)

 

A few of us had gone to the restaurant next door (a wonderful Indian venue) and took a little too long and hence missed the extraordinary costumes that were presented this year.

 

Julie E. Czerneda & Nalini Sing were good value guests – they are both quite lively & tell wonderful yearns of the traumas they went through to get published (and follow up publishings). The wonderful thing about NZ Conventions is that the literary guests are usually people I've never heard of before and so when I buy their books I am treated to refreshingly different writing styles. (And they're from Commonwealth Countries so they can't be that bad...)

 

There was a concerted effort to have three streams of programming on the Sunday, however, for the Friday & Saturday the third stream was role playing / board games (every time I wandered past, there was no-one there). A couple of years ago, some roleplayers / board gamers took over a conference room when it wasn't being used and played games, but didn't take part in the actual convention programs, this year although time was set aside for them, no one turned up.

 

A masterstroke of programming however was a three hour demonstration by a number of re- creationists groups; there were Romans from the time of the Emperors and a frantic display of sword fighting from the 1500's through to the end of the 1800's. However, this would have been a better time to program the off site excursion which took place the following day.

 

Next years convention is being held in late August to coincide with the impending World Con in Melbourne. At this years convention, a progress report was given by Au Contraire's ConCom with the venue, costs and anticipated programing items being announced. As with last year when Au Contrair's bid was placed there was a lot of boo-hooing from people wanting programming on the Monday. Au Contrair has made it quite clear from the outset that their programming will run from Friday afternoon and close Sunday night.ⁱⁱ

 

I myself agree with their stance - if you look at the Monday programming for quite a few years now, all that has occurred on the Monday is the SFFANZ business meeting, the bid to ratify a future NatCon & the closing ceremony. In the past, there has been a full program on the Monday morning with the SFFANZ Business Session starting after lunch. There's no reason nowadays why there can't be a full program on the Monday with a closing ceremony coinciding with the Banquet???

 

As to the choice of guests, all were Litterary Guests with a full week writers workshop which had been well attended from what I gather.

 

Sadly, the benchmark for conventions was set very high a decade ago and has been on the decline since. I'm pleased to say that this years convention has reversed some of the recent decline and I hope that the organisers of this years con will put their hands up in the future and run another one.

Current Location: Auckland NZ
Current Mood: chipper

The 4^th season of Doctor Who has just finished here, I’m not sure that I liked how the series was wound up, quite a lot of story lines were concluded so there's not going to be any clear follow-on into the next season even though there were some big hints at future storylines (Professor River Song especially). I know that David Tennant wants to take two years off to play Hamlet on stage; I just hope the producers manage to keep the momentum going upon his return.  I was most impressed with Catherine Tate’s acting.  She’s a well known comedian in the UK at the moment & her serious acting in the 4^th series was exemplary.

 

--Minor Update Jan 2009 – David Tennant’s replacement has been announced.  They’re defiantly going for the drongo look these days… At any rate, the sneak peek of David Tennant’s Doctor during the regeneration sequence at the end of the 1^st series had me cringing, however, after watching the first episode of the second season, I was most impressed.  I’m still not sure how lore of old (the trial of a time lord Mk 2 & the Valyard turning out to be the 12^th Doctor alluding to happenings around the time of his 9^th (Tennant’s) incarnation), Means we’ll just have to wait and see.

 

I do hope we get to see both more of the inside of the Tardis and the inside of another beavy of female assistants. J

Current Location: Gallifrey
Current Mood: disappointed
Current Music: Cloister Bells

Get Smart, like Abba have cult status here in Australia and I had quite a bit of trepidation when I first saw a movie poster promoting the movies release. I was pleased that the makers of the Get Smart movie had actually studied some of the workings of the original series, but there were a number of scenes that were just begging for some of the snappy one liners that made the series unique.

 

When Max and 99 were on the roof top and Max lays into the tall villain with some punches, the scean was crying out for Max to put his arm around the thug and say, “I hope I wasn't out of line with the crack about...” Laraby was portrayed as a bully which again wasn't keeping true to the original, but some of the slickness of the movie was none the less well done.

 

Steve Correll himself either hadn't seen much of the original series, or chose not to emulate Don Addams sense of comic timing. But there were some very subtle nods to the original, have a look at the name of the airline Max and 99 fly, it Yaramie Air, (Yaramie[1] being Don Addams real life Family name) while amongst Max's post it notes there are references to other characters such as the notation “Craw not the craw” Zigfred was played a little too nasty and like the Rocky and Bull Winkle Movie, the overt Nazi parallels were removed. (Uniforms, accents and the like)

Current Location: Cone of Silence
Current Mood: cheerful

Brother can you spare $72 Million Dollars?

 

I'd briefly touched on the financial woes of the world previously and how if I had spare change I'd be buying up some of the now undervalued stocks on offer.  One stock that caught my eye was BrisConnections who are in the process of constructing one of the road tunnels (Bowen Hills to Toombul).  They haven't started digging and won't start to get revenue for some three to four years.  Their shares are now 1/10^th of one cent.  In the past few months, a woman in Melbourne has received special mention from various media commentators who cover the share markets, she'd acquired some 13 Million shares (at 1/10^th of one cent each) for $13,000 and then bought a further $20,000 shares (20 Million shares) to take her total share holding to some 36,000,000 shares or 8.75% of the whole company.

 

Now it would be alright if all she had to do was sit on the shares for about 5 years) until the road was opened and the toll money started rolling in, however the shares are stapled, not once but twice. In April 2009 and about a year after that, she and every other stock holder is required to chough up $1 per share that they own.  So this cleaner from Melbourne has been politely asked more than once if she realises her obligation?  Eventually she disposed of the poisoned shares.  Even after the first $1 instalment is made, the shares are estimated to be only worth 33¢ per share.  My Centro share purchase is a spare of the moment whim, but you've gotta feel for this woman especially given she had to sell her shares at a loss...

Current Mood: blank

Would you burn down a book shop if they had a book you didn't like in it? Was my first reaction upon reading the Australian Government are going to censor the internet by applying mandatory - (not opt-out) filters to many websites based on a list prepared by ACMA The Australian Communications Media Authority.

The mandatory filtering by ISP's before delivering content to subscribers will in effect place Australia's Internet Subscribers on the same teir of Censorship as China, Cuba, Iran and North Korea (source - The Courier Mail Wednesday, October 29th, 2008 Page 5).

That dark cloud on the horizon is a new dark age where Governments decide what you can and cannot see, hear and think.

Current Location: Berlin 1938
Current Mood: cranky
Current Music: Jackboots

I condemn the NSW Polices' raid on Bill Henson

All free to air television stations have aired the 'aledgedly' offending photos with either a black line or pixelation of certain areas of the photos.

Interestingly, the images shown are only of a female, not the male who's image was also taken.

Anyone who has browsed a nudist magazine in a newsagency will have seen identically posed photographs.

Current Location: Berlin 1938
Current Mood: cranky
Current Music: Goose Stepping

 I was in Tamworth NSW this week and went up to the Oxley Lookout to take in the vista, only to find a row of trees blocking the way!

What is it with cities with lookouts with presumably impressive vistas that they will go ahead and plant the tallest trees directly below the balcony or ledge where you are supposed to view from?

The Tamworth Lookout like many others is a rundown empty car park with few picknick spots (and those that are look as though they are in need of a good hose down with disinfectant if you follow my drift).

The only vista you can take in is mainly the cityscape and the mountain range some 30 - 40 klms away the open plans between are obscured from view - chop down your trees!

Tags: nsw, travel
Current Location: Tamworth NSW
Current Mood: Peaved
Current Music: Wind in the trees

Went for another bush walk today, this time at the Ewen Maddock Dam in Glenview on the Sunshine Coast.

Parking near the dam wall just up from the Mooloolah Valley Country Club on the Mooloolah Connection Road, there are a number spots along the two main walks where you can either fish or swim with non powered boats also permitted on the lake.

The longest walk (number one) is listed as taking three hours from one end to the other at Gympie Street North in Landsborough - a distance of 9.5 klms.

After setting out, I chose to take every left fork in the road  which enabled me to follow the shoreline of the lake through various types of bush and scrub. The land itself in this area is pretty ordinary with the soil a mixture of fine dirt and dark sand. The scrub at times has tell tale signs of bushfires scorching the tree trunks to a height of about 15 - 20 feet. There are no difficult grades to climb, only an occasional dry water coarse that dips and rises again.

Despite it being Sunday, there were hardly any others on the trails (less than a dozen I counted), however, the sounds of cars, motor cycles and the occasional circular saw (and the trains of course) peppered the walk.

On the other hand, there were very appealing and very delicate fragrances wafting from the surounding vegitation.

I reccomending taking this walk as it differs from the other nearby ones by being fully shaded, flat and well graded.

Tags: bush walking
Current Mood: exhausted
Current Music: Traveling Willburies

 Recently, I walked from Landsborough to Mooloolah through the abandoned railway tunnel in the Dularcha National Park.

Parking at the corner of Beech Rd and Cunningham Ave Landsborough, it's a three minute walk at the back of a row of houses to the entrance of the Dularcha National Park. The dirt track is more the size of a dirt road with tire marks evident after the recent torrential rain. It's a full 30 minute walk along the western side of the railway line with a couple of minor dips where watter courses have partially eroded the track.

About 25 minutes into the walk, the railway line turns to the right on its approach to the currant tunnel built over 100 years ago and electrified in late 1987.

The tunnel entrance and the tunnel itself are in very good shape concidering they haven't been used in over 100 years. The only evidence of wear and tear is a slight crack that runs horizontally on the left hand side of the portal near the top of the arch and follows into the tunnel.

The tunnel is perhaps 200 metres in length (1/8th of a mile) and curves to the right when heading north.

On the 30 minute walk from Beech Road, there are three of four dirt paths that come down the hill on the left hand side with one at the Southern Portal of the Tunnel. This last path leeds to the dirt road that becomes Rose Road (more on that in a moment).

On the Northern side it is scarsly 15 minutes walk until you arrive at the Mooloolah township.the path although graded is a little rougher but still quite easy to walk with the only navigation being leaving the National Park and the walk to Paget Street.

The Northern entrance to the Dularcha National Park is near the corner of Dobson Drive and Paget Street Mooloolah and one quickly surmises that Paget Street was once part of the formation of the old railway line.

From Car park to Mooloolah township is a full one hour walk.

On the Southern entrance to the tunnel, there is a rough path leading up to a dirt road. This will take three or four minutes and once on the road head East for about six minutes where you leave the National Park and a further two minutes you will be above the currant mainline and be able to see trains approaching from both the north and south. Survey your surrounds before walking east to know where you need to return to the tunnel.

All in all, from parking, walking to Mooloolah and return, the walk to Rose Road and return to the tunnel and then the car allowing photo stops and resting for water (advised to take water) the walk can be done in 2 hours 50 minutes for a reasonably fit person not exerting themselves.

Tags: bush walking
Current Location: Dularcha National Park
Current Mood: Walking
Current Music: iPod

Just signed up for Live Journal.  You can blame seraphs_folly (or thank her) if you like for my being here.

I'm only going to be able to post once or twice a week. Hope all goes well.

Current Location: Homestead
Current Mood: hungry
Current Music: TV