Geekfest 2007!

It was okay.

This was the first time that I went 'stag' to this event - my usual geekfest buddies Andrew and Hix not with me ... or possibly I not with them. I think we just didn't get round to organising a 'party' to sally forth into the belly of the beast.

Things of note :


- Billy D Williams.

Lando himself. Very cool to have seen him in the flesh ... and yet ... kinda not as well. The years have not been kind. It's easy to forget that 'Empire' was 27 years ago - and the guy is pretty old now ! He rambled on about this and that. I didn't know that he is an artist ( y'know - paintbrush kind ) of some renown, or that he was in some movies with Dianna Ross. He is HUGE in the US for these apparently ! Go figure. And he doesn't like pimps. Fair enough. Oh - and he loved "Whale Rider".


- John Rhys Davies

Cripes can this guy get off freaking topic !

Audience member: John - if you had a chance to do 'Sliders' again - would you ?

John: You know - there needs to be a ratio of 7 parts per million of copper in water for life to occur ? That's considerably higher than the 5 parts per million that experts USED to think was the acceptable level.

Seraph: WTF ?

He was interesting and all - but jeepers ! Answer the question man ! And stop telling us we need to have more babies while berating us for having an overpopulated planet at the same time you bearded weirdo ! Cripes !

-Aaron Douglas ( 'Chief' from BSG )

Now THIS guy was great ! He was really interesting and funny. Had this great story about his nine year old son getting REALLY pissed off with him when he was taken on set of BSG because he couldn't get a ride ( ie: actually FLY ) in one of the Colonial Vipers. Classic freaking stuff !

Also had quite possibly the DUMBEST question asked of a sci-fi celeb in my hearing : "What's the difference between the engines of the Battlestar in the OLD series and the Battlestar in the NEW series?" Poorly stifled giggles from around the room. Aaron answers "Y'know - I COULD tell you ... but then the Admiral would come on down and kick my ass. Sorry"

- The Orcon girls

What the hell is going on with these chicks ? Why are they strutting around in Lycra superhero outfits handing me leaflets offering cheaper broadband ? Seriously - there's something deeply troubling about this. There was like, ten of them or more !

-Weta Sideshow Collectible Rayguns

*slaver* Oh pretty pretty ! How I wants one ! I think the 'Man-Melter 3600ZX" was particularly cool ! Pity they're so freaking expensive. Sigh. Oh well.

- Evin Shir Boardgames.

Showed my support by purchasing a very reasonably priced copy of "Ticket to Ride", and Conan even threw in a reduced copy of the expansion ! Yay Conan !

Also learned how to play "War-Machine". If I were inclined to get into a war-game ( which I'm kinda not ) I would be into this one. I love the cool sorta steam-powered robots - and the fact that it seems to be more skirmish battles rather than the 'WarHammer' brand of "spend $500 bucks and you can ALMOST play the game ... maybe" warfare is also nice. I would like to paint one of them model robots some time though ...

- Members of the 501st legion ( Vader's Fist )

Ohhhhhhh-kay. Guys who dress up in Star-Wars gear and ... I'm not sure I know what they do once they're in their gear. I'm not sure I WANT to know. I guess if you HAVE to dress up you can do worse than guys from Star-Wars. But still.

- Other people playing dress-up

Okayokay - COSPLAYERS. Happy ? There are always the weirdos ... umm ... overly zealous I mean ... who get dressed up as just about anything from the geekiverse. Of note were a Xena ( great costume - but didn't actually look a lot like Xena ) and a Night-Elf from WOW ( though she might have been Mystique ... it was hard to tell exactly ).

- Playstation 3

I was vaguely tempted to muscle in and have a go at the Sony stand - but the only game they were playing was some stupid racing game. I don't want RACING ! I want BLOOD ! Jeepers ! You would think they could have put on "Resistance of Man", which seems to be the show-pony of the PS3 so far in this country for a bit ... what's that ? Oh - R16 you say ? ... Well, I guess that would explain that then. Knackers.

- WOW stands

This is where you could 'sample' the dubious delights of the worldwide sensation "World of Warcraft". I stayed the hell away ! This game seems to be the electronic version of crack ! It took me long enough to ween myself off of "Diablo 2" - there's no way I'm touching 'WOW'. If they ever bring out a "World of Diablo" - I am seriously screwed.

- Ludicrous lines for Manga voice stars

They were insane ! INSANE I tell ya ! So long ! All day ! I must admit that I have never seen an episode of 'Naruto'. I hear a select group of students talking about it at school - and I've seen ads for it on Cartoon Network. Looks kinda dopey - but hell, I could be wrong. For some reason I just don't like that much Manga stuff. Fans keep telling me that I haven't seen the right stuff ... but I don't think so. I'm just not overly fussed on the whole thing really. I'm as puzzled as the next guy about that - by all rights I SHOULD. Go figure.


Those are the main things that stick in my mindof the event. It was nice to run into a few people I know and talk. I also purchased a collected edition of "Aeon Flux" on DVD. That was cool. I love Aeon Flux ... didn't understand it a great deal - but loved it anyway. I'll be there again next year !

"Doom" - a mini-review

WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH HA HA HA HA HA HA !!!!

Please ! Karl Urban! I KNOW you only did this for the money and exposure - but PLEASE ! I was starting to rate you as an actor after LOTR ! And then you do something like this ! It's "The Irrefutable Truth About Demons" again ! Well - not QUITE as bad, but it gets damn close !

And 'The Rock' ! Oh dear LORD, how TERRIBLE is this guy ? He should have kept his acting limited to the wrestling arena - where I'm sure he's Laurence Olivier in comparison to the other 'entertainers'.

ONLY worth seeing for the 'first person shooter' segment - which was kinda cool, but at the same time ... baffling ! Seriously - play 'Doom3", the plot and intensity are easily ten times better. And I only played it for 15 minutes before I got too scared !

Alchemy

This is one of the reasons I've not written much lately -


It's a painting I did for my sister. It's called 'Alchemy' - all the symbols are do to with substances and processes in alchemy. My sister is a doctor of electrochemistry - I often forget what exactly that means. I know she's done work with conductive plastics and hydrogen fuel cell development. She's awful clever my sister ! Anyway - I hope she likes it.

Coming soon to 'Death From Above" - especially for Jackie Dee, a somewhat belated report on the recent Geekfest ! You know you love it !!!

You say you want a revolution ?

Argh - haven't been able to write much of late ... school - kicking my arse ! ( ... so ... much ... marking ! ... TWO ... nights ... of PARENT / TEACHER interviews !!! ... Freaking ... school ... production ... ARRRGGGHHHHH !!! ). Sorry about that.

BUT. For those who are interested - I have just registered team "Rebel Faction" for this year's 48 Hour Film Competition !!!

I am excited ... and yet terrified !

Jenni ... Hix ... - I'm going to be picking your brains about ... stuff ... very soon I warrant !

I hope I get the educational film genre ! That would be weirdly groovy.