Skip to main content

Things to Do: Cons

If fantastic art has ever drawn your eye, this weekend offers something special; IlluxCon in Altoona, PA has the biggest talents in the field displaying their work. The Guest List is absolutely staggering, including artists like Boris Vallejo and Julie Bell, Michael Whelan, Brom, Todd Lockwood, Greg Hildebrandt, Jordu Schell, and Bob Eggleton, to name just a few. I have never heard of a more impressive gathering of talent in this century, and will do my best to be there; this is my pick for the Event of Choice this weekend.

The Readercon event would have to be TusCon 36, put together by the Baja Arizona Science Fiction Association. Edward Bryant is the Toastmaster, and the Cosplay competition is Steampunk this year.

Speaking of Steampunk, best SteamCon event goes to WindyCon 36 running this Friday through Sunday in Lombard, IL. Author GoH is James P. Blaylock, while Artist GoH goes to the team of Phil and Kaja Foglio, who amongst many other works create the ongoing Girl Genius.

The MediaCon event for this weekend looks to be NEFanX, the New England Fan eXperience. Headlined with GoH Leonard Nimoy, who is backed up by actors Gareth David-Lloyd (Torchwood’s Ianto Jones) and John de Lancie (who played both Trek’s Q and the real scientist Nikola Tesla in Legend), writer Wen Spencer, and Devo Spice, this is an impressive collection of talent.

There are a bunch of Anime Cons this weekend, and one of the best of them is EirtaKon, which identifies itself as Ireland’s first Anime convention, and the largest of it’s kind on the island, from the 13th to the 15th. Nearby, and much smaller, is the Anime League Club London, London’s little Anime convention, at just 5 pounds for entry on its single day.

In Canada, OtaFest Lite takes place on Saturday only, reproducing the event look-and-feel of the early days of the University of Calgary’s major Otaku Festival. Dot Con happens in Toronto, to include Junko’s Shamisen. In the US, Izumicon happens from the 13th to the 15th in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with all the usual events. Yet another one day Con, Kaji Con, happens in Georgia on the 14th. At some point these details get too complex to track.

And then there is EuroQuest, a Gaming Con from the old country. And there are others…

Things To Do

It occurs to me that every week I hit Friday and then look around to see what there is to do that weekend, and often I miss the chance (event tickets sold out, too late for airplane or hotel bookings, etc). So I thought that if I checked it out on Wednesdays instead, that additional 48 hours might increase the number of things I actually managed to get to. Since I already know I have issues with scheduling time for new tasks (I don’t really have any problems with scheduling new tasks; just with following through on the tasks once they are scheduled), it would be useful if I re-purposed a task I am already in the habit of completing on that day. So my Wednesday blog entry now becomes my Events/Things To Do task for each week. I’ll figure out the format, included events, structure, and organization as I go along. For this first one, I’m just going to throw events into the entry will-he, nil-he and observe the results with an eye to improvement.

In a few weeks the Sci-Fi London Oktoberfest film festival will be happening! This one is world-class, and all about Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Anime/Horror. Most film festivals have some SF/F/Anime/Horror films involved, so it’s worth noting that this weekend is the start of the Pusan International Film Festival (it runs for a week), and yes, there is a choice of English on the site, for those who can’t read Korean. A few of the more interesting movies are Running On Karma, Tokyo Taxi and 15 Malaysia.

There are also some conventions worth mentioning. In Huntington, WV, Tsubasacon runs from the 9th to the 11th, an Anime Con. Just to the east is the Baltimore Comic Con, a comic and sci-fi event. In Philadelphia, also from the 9th to the 11th is VGXpo, a video gaming convention. Orlando, Florida has the Spooky Empire Ultimate Horror Weekend, while St. Augustine, FL, has EXPCon, a combination Gaming/Anime convention. In the southwest, a gaming convention called RinCon happens in Tucson. In Romulus, Michigan, which is really the Detroit airport hotel center, ConClave 34 takes place, a Sci-Fi Con also celebrating the International Year of Astronomy.

I don’t see much interesting opening in movie theaters this weekend, except perhaps that Zombieland will expand to more screens in more towns. Going to think about this bit; a movie is definitely something you go to, but do VOD and DVD releases new that week count? They are Things To Do, but not events you have to go somewhere to join in on. And where do new TV/Radio programs fall into the grid, be they broadcast, cable, or online? I have a week to figure it out before I try to do this again; any recommendations anyone feels like passing my way would be appreciated.

More Worldcon, Please!

More awards have already been handed out at Worldcon, according to the 5th AnticipationSF Newsletter. The Aurora Awards have been handed out, and while I have read many of the nominated works, I don’t know a single one of the winners; which means I have a lot of excellent new science fiction to add to my To Be Read list. Also handed out were this years Sidewise Awards for Alternate History, and congratulations to Chris Roberson for his win with The Dragon’s 9 Sons, a very impressive book in a well built new universe; he also has a lack of speech statement about the award. Again, I am adding every book and story nominated that I haven’t already read to my list, and you might want to do the same. They also gave the results of the Ningen-Senkan Sensuikan (aka human battleship) contest, and I was very pleased to see Girl Genius listed under the Webcomics You Should Be Reading header, since it is my all-time favorite. And again, I will be checking out everything listed that I am not already familiar with, since that is one of the most important functions of Worldcon; making us all aware of what our peers think is worth some interest.

Imaginarium Trailer, Martin Interview, Hugo Live coverage

SciFi Cool has posted the first trailer for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassu, along with a brief synopsis of the story. This is the first new film in a while from Terry Gillium, and it looks really good. There is also an international trailer available, which looks fairly similar. In Worldcon-related news, Suvudu has posted that George R. R. Martin was interviewed and the results podcast. If you missed last weeks Eisner Awards Winners, you will find the list at that link. Tomorrow are the Hugo Awards at Worldcon, which will (technology willing) be covered Live by Cheryl Morgan, in conjunction with SF Awards Watch and the folks that seem to have the best Con coverage I have found so far, Con Reporter. They also are running a Live Celebrity Tweets compilation continuously, with input from people like Lou Anders, Cory Doctorow, Neil Gaimon, John Scalzi, and many others (yes, that was in alphabetical order; good of you to notice).

Worldcon tomorrow!

It’s party time again! Thanks to the World Science Fiction Society, Worldcon 2009 is about to happen, from the 6th to the 10th of August. This time around, it takes place in Montreal, Canada, and goes by the name AnticipationSF. As always, it will include presentation of the Hugo Awards and the Campbell Award, as well as the Chesley Awards (and you might enjoy reading the Crotchety Old Fan’s Hugo Winner Prediction). Since this years Worldcon is also Canvention 29, the Aurora Awards will be handed out there as well. There will be the usual world-class writers workshops, the rather insane Masquerade, and so much more I can’t decide what to mention next. So I will just do the Masquerade historical reminder; Cosplay was invented by Forrest J Ackerman and his friend Myrtle R. Jones at the very first Worldcon in 1939. He came dressed in a space suit, while she wore a gown recreated from the classic 1933 film Things to Come (written by H.G. Wells, the movie was staged for 1936, and only 6 years in the past at the point the convention occurred). Neil Gaiman is the Guest of Honor this year, and Tom Doherty is the Publisher Guest of Honor. You gotta love Worldcon!!!