Blogs

I really meant to do this months ago, but got distracted.

Thanks to the miracle of the Internet the video of the full Hugo ceremony is just a click away.

In case it should cease to be available in the future, I though it would be a good idea to transcribe what I said when presenting the best fanzine award.

"I think one of the traditions which is unique to science fiction fandom is fanzines. I know there are fanzines in other fields, bit I think our ones are quite different and unique to us. I think it's something that has really defined us over the years. I think it's got easier with technology, but our standards have got higher. We enjoy each other's fanzines from other parts of the world, so for me it's a great honour to be presenting this year's best fanzine award. The nominees are..."

After a fun breakfast barbecue organised by Sue Ann and Trevor, we headed to Melbourne airport.

I had perhaps been a little ambitious in my packing, and the various souvenirs, and all the fan fund auction stuff put both my main bag and my carry on luggage over their limits. Oops. I slip away to remove a lot of books. I establish that I am allowed a laptop bag, so I get away with a couple of extra kilos that way.

I manage to get checked in on the second attempt, and head for a coffee with Sue'n'Trev. Soon it's time to say goodbye and go to find my plane.

After the security check I make my way to the gate. There she stands, the A380, huge and supreme in the afternoon sun.

It's quite an experience, even in economy class. There are a few neat features like a usb port for charging phones and things, and a network port that suggested internet might be available one day, through I couldn't find anything saying it could be used or what it would cost.

After a pleasant stroll around the Botanic gardens, we ended up in Subiaco library, where Shaun Tan has painted an amazing mural in the children's library. So I thought I should show it to you.

Rottnest Island is a small island 19km off the west coast of Perth (Perth doesn't really have any other ocast). It's 11km by 4.5km at the widest point. And it's populated by Quokkas - a sort of giant marsupial rat (the name rottnest comes from the Dutch explorer who discovered it, and mistook the Quokkas for rats).

Nothing to do with the GUFF trip or fandom, but I thought I'd show off my new hat thanks to McDonalds WiFi. I know it's corny, but I really wanted a crocodile Dundee hat with corks around the brim. But you can't get them apart from crap joke shop ones, so you have to make your own. The only problem is that now I like the hat too much to punch holes in it.

Expect to see it at a con near you.

When I heard about the New Zealand NatCon, Au Contraire, a week before Aussiecon 4, this year's Worldcon, I thought it was a fantastic idea. I thought it was such a good idea that we should do something similar in Dublin for the London Worldcon bid in 2014.

I mentioned this idea to a few people back home before leaving, and got a very positive response. I then mentioned it to some people at conventions down under, and they all said they'd love to come to Ireland. So I guess I was committed to running it.

Then another idea came to light.

For both Glasgow Worldcons, the Eurocon was incorporated into the Worldcon, and I assumed this would also be the case for London. However, since 2005, Worldcon has moved to a 2-year bidding cycle, and at the time when the Eurocon bidding takes place in Zagreb, London won't yet have won the Worldcon bid, so it won't be a convention, and without a convention it can't bid for Eurocon.

(a retrospective entry)

I arrive in Melbourne on an early morning flight, and Trevor very kindly meets me at the airport. I'd got a very early flight, which proved a little unnecessary, as the MUGS meeting isn't due to get underway for a couple of hours.

MUGS is the Melbourne Lego Users Group, a loose gathering of fans of the brick from Melbourne and the surrounding areas (like Ireland). They meet in a community hall once a month, and hald an event called Brickvention every January.

Sue Ann hasn't been feeling well, but she persaveres and heads to the meeting anyway. Unfortunately, she couldn't stay long, so she leaves me in the care of the MUGS members. I feel bad for Sue Ann, as I know she'd been really looking forward to the event.

After a most excellent party at Damien and Juliette's, I find myself back in Adelaide airport at an uncivil hour, waiting to board the flight back to Melbourne.

Today I'll be going to MUGS, the Melbourne LEGO Users Group. It should be a lot of fun, but perhaps staying up past midnight was not the best combination with a 06:50 flight.

For the second time I find myself at Zuma cafe in Adelaide. It'sa really nice cafe in the middle of Adelaide market. I'm having pancake with banana and bacon.

Today I'm going to the train museum, which should be an interesting counterpoint to the last two days of WINE tasting and penguin seeking.

Proper report later.

Note: when I originally said wife tasting, I got it wrong.

One of the great honours of being Fan Fund Delegate was being invited to present one of the Hugo Awards.  I've been very excited about it all weekend.

I popped into the rehearsal during the afternoon, where I was briefed on what to do. I made sure I knew how to pronounce all of the names of the nominees.

I was in a programme item until 6, after which I had to rush back to my room to get changed (I wore a black suit, which was fairly formal, but matched it with a tie covered in LEGO minifigs in an effort to not be too serious), and then rush back to the convention centre for the pre-Hugo reception. This was already in full flow, so I had a drink to make sure I was composed (but only one, so I wasn't too composed), and chatted with nominees and presenters (and others lucky enough to have an invite).