AussieCon 4

[Inquisitor]

Hey guys, just wanted to say that dinner was awesome! Thanks to Stubby for inviting me at the last minute, and to everyone else for being so welcoming to the noob. I have to say that I never expected to spend my birthday having dinner with George freakin' R. R. Martin.

Looking forward to tomorrow!

[Stubby]

Dinner was great! Thanks to GRRM & Parris and everyone who came for making it such a fun night. Ski got prove that he is indeed 'Riverside' (pics will follow) and we all had some awesome food.

Tomorrow brings another busy day that will be played by ear for some of the time and we'll see what happens.

Inquisitor, happy birthday! You let that one slip by us unannounced!

[theMountainGoat]

He did mention it was his birthday but that was only when we were walking back from La Camera to the Hilton Bar so not many people heard it.

By the way Inquisitor we will be sending someone round to collect your kidney this afternoon. Please do not eat or drink anything this morning so that it is in peak condition for us when we collect. Your organ will be fenced on the black market later this evening to help cover the cost of the party. Thank you for your kind donatinon.

[Maltaran]

I have to say that I never expected to spend my birthday having dinner with George freakin' R. R. Martin.

It was your birthday?! You should have said something! Happy birthday.

Snapshots from last night:

George has seen the "Fuck me Ray Bradbury" video.

Cam and Paxter know a lot more about cricket than I do.

George also told the story of how mystar asked him to get us to stop bashing Goodkind.

[theMountainGoat]

Photos from the last couple of days including evidence of last nights BWB dinner with George and Parris now in my Photo gallery

[Ran]

Thanks, SMG!

[Maltaran]

The Crowne Plaza is completely fucking over the entire con regarding parties. There is a BWB crisis meeting happening right now, but at the moment everything is still up in the air - dates, locations, maybe even whether we get a party at all. Nothing is certain yet, so watch this space for details.

These people obviously know nothing about fandom - there's going to be 1500 bloggers and half a dozen publishing houses trashing them for the next few weeks over this. Good luck ever getting a con again, hotel guys!

[Maltaran]

IMPORTANT UPDATE

There is no party tonight - repeat, no party tonight. However, we do have a party for Saturday night. We have, through the good offices of the con, managed to get a private room at a nightclub called Co, which is in the Crown entertainment complex across the road from the convention centre, and across the river from the Crowne Plaza hotel. There will be a quest for all the noobs, and the room will be decorated, and the raffle will happen. As a bonus, this is a private room at a nightclub, so if anyone feels the need to dance, they can go out into the main area and strut their stuff (we have been assured that the speakers in our room will be turned off).

We have to thank the con committee for arranging this for us after being shafted by the hotel, and especially a guy called Julian (I'm afraid I didn't catch his surname).

Also, a final point - Stubby has run out of prepay on his mobile and cannot call anyone - you will have to call him if you need to get in touch.

[Jake Stormoen]

Thanks so much for the update, Malt. Did we decide if we're all having dinner/drinks tonight though?

[Filippa Eilhart]

The Crowne Plaza is completely fucking over the entire con regarding parties.

that sounds even worse than the Montreal elevators! :stunned:

[Inquisitor]

Hey guys, just got back to my apartment and saw the update... Sucks that I won't be able to party with everyone, especially since I won't be around for the remainder of the con. Regardless, today was pretty damn cool, so thanks to everyone for making me feel welcome.

Also - thanks for all the birthday wishes. =)

[Jebus]

Last night was the motherfrickin' BOMB! I'm gonna steal Parris from George, I think I'm in love! ;)

George was so nice and awesome, the HBO talk today was cool (but sadly with no new media, ah well we expected that) and I'm really looking forward to the Dance reading and signing tomorrow.

Today I got some books signed bu John Scalzi - seriously nice guy, then went to a panel with him and Cory Doctorow, an author I've been meaning to check out and now definitely will, that dude is smart.

Final panel today with China Mieville about race in SF was really quite fascinating, no other panles today really stood out for me.

Looking forward to the party, even if it is at Crown, dunno how well I'll go at the quest though, last night's expensive beers at the Hilton have almost beggared me, well worth it though.

BTW guys the next few days are going to be VERY wet and rather cold, be prepared.

[arantius]

Photos or it didn't happen! ;)

I tried loading photos last night, but it wasn't happening for me, honestly! New computer and haven't yet figured out how to resize a photo apart from cropping, will try again ...

Hey guys, just wanted to say that dinner was awesome! Thanks to Stubby for inviting me at the last minute, and to everyone else for being so welcoming to the noob. I have to say that I never expected to spend my birthday having dinner with George freakin' R. R. Martin.

Awesome awesome dinner - thanks MG, stubby and Cam for organising it. And don't worry Inquisitor, we're just about all worldcon noobs.

Also, a final point - Stubby has run out of prepay on his mobile and cannot call anyone - you will have to call him if you need to get in touch.

Ah, so that's why I'm sitting in my hotel room now, it wasn't that you don't care ;) Don't worry I made the most of the freaking massive bathtub here at the Hilton (where I just moved to today), soaking in the luxurious bubbles and reading ACoK.

So I wanted to post a con report for all those poor BWBers around the world who couldn't make it (even those far-flung places like Sydney or Newcastle - you know who you are!!).

My first con is shaping up to be totally brilliant. I arrived on Wednesday and immediately took this massive step and met all these 'weird' people off the interweb thingy, a very cool experience to finally met everyone in person and put faces to names, and real names to board names (see MG's live journal for photos and names, I won't say them all again). We hung out at the Crowne bar and then later went for dinner at an Indian place, yes the food was less than ordinary but it was a nice casual atmosphere to chat with everyone.

Yesterday, I attended the Opening Ceremony which consisted of a movie montage (of various sci-fi/fantasy movies interspersed with aussie films) followed by a relatively short but boring speech. The classic con moment which had me chuckling in my seat was when the US winner of a Fan Fund arrived late and came hurrying down the aisle, throwing his ID over his head and taking his place on the stage wearing a very ridiculous hat. WELCOME to the con! :lol: I'm glad I attended the ceremony just for that.

Stubby had introduced me to George earlier in the day, and it was so fantastic to finally meet him, shake his hand and have a chat. My day would have been absolutely great just with that experience, but wait, there's more ... dinner with George - I'm sat a fair ways down the table away from George, but honestly it was perfect to begin the evening like that. Paxter was sat opposite George and Cam made a joke about whether he would accept $50 to swap spots. Later Parris left the table and Cam had an opportunity to sit next to George for a while. After the meals were eaten, Paxter and Ski got up together (obviously sharing a room featuring a frosted glass window to the ensuite is not enough! :lmao: ) and I said to simhanada "QUICK let's move down GO GO GO!!!" and I ended up getting to sit right opposite George for the rest of the night, so so so so cool!

Today George talked about the HBO series, he said he wanted to show us photos that he'd taken when he was on set for some filming, but HBO wouldn't let him because it showed the actors in costume (oh my! like we can't imagine what they're going to look like!) and bits of set in the background. So instead he just talked generally about the bringing his books to the screen, thought I don't think there was particularly anything that I didn't know. It was good to sit at his feet - literally - Jake, Neal, Mark and myself were in the very front row gazing up at him on the stage!!

I did my best for Jake to get him into the show, at dinner last night I told him in front of George that I could see him as a knight!! HINT HINT GEORGE!!! It's true though - Jake could definitely pass for one of Renly's knights of summer. Oh, and also last night, I was very impressed that George himself brought up that very taboo subject of which we must not speak, and again today in his panel he mentioned it, so I think finishing the series is very much foremost in his mind, even though sometimes it might appear that he's not focussed on it.

So I got my ASoIaF calendar first thing this morning - after hearing last night that they were just about sold out, I was very relieved. George is doing a signing tomorrow after his reading - I'm thinking Valar Dohaerys will look good on the cover.

I went to Shaun Tan's panel where he talked about the inspiration for his illustrations and the process of turning his picture book into an animated short which they screened and it was great! Never heard of him before, but I'm a big fan already, there's something really intriguing about his art that captures your attention. And also off the topic of GRRM, I picked up a Wheel of Time pin from Orbit books in the Dealer's room that says "I know my Aiel from my Aes Sedai". So geeky - I can wear it for the next 3 days, and then what am I going to do with it? But I love it anyway!

Well the word count for this post has probably just exceeded the word count for all of my posts ever put together. So enjoy or ignore, whatever. Bring on tomorrow!!!!!!!

[LugaJetboyGirl]

Sounds like a lot of fun. Thanks for the reports, guys. Keep 'em coming.

[Confalume]

Heyas again, any tips for a noob attending his first ever con tomorrow (Sat morn)?? Really looking forward to the reading/signing in the morning!!!! Toodles and looking forward to meeting some fellow fans on the morrow!!!!!!

P.S. The cats will still win

[arantius]

Photos - inside the convention centre, GRRM is amongst it all.

Dinner with George - L-R Inquisitor, Ser Camaris, (non-BWB waiter standing), Jake, Parris, George, Azmure, Lady Azmure, Christine, Pod, Ser Stubby, SerMountainGoat, Maltaran, Neal, Mark, Jewbear, Dean, Paxter, Horza, Ski the Swift, Simhanada, morningsword and out of frame is Jebus and Laoise and thanks to ithanos for camera duty!

Don't mess with the homies on the west side!

George's HBO talk where we sat at the foot of the master.

edit: because I forgot someone

[arantius]

Heyas again, any tips for a noob attending his first ever con tomorrow (Sat morn)?? Really looking forward to the reading/signing in the morning!!!! Toodles and looking forward to meeting some fellow fans on the morrow!!!!!!

You can try the meeting place (which we're calling Fleabottom), look for the curved seating under the big escalators near the entrance which is closest to the Hilton. The BWB have little purple and white badges with the BWB banner on them, and also will probably have a number of ribbons attached to the bottom of their ID badges which say things like 'Winter is Coming to HBO' and 'George R R Martin is not your Bitch'. Or maybe you can make yourself known to us at the beginning of the reading by jumping up and yelling Valar Morghulis.

[Luce_Magoose]

You can try the meeting place (which we're calling Fleabottom), look for the curved seating under the big escalators near the entrance which is closest to the Hilton. The BWB have little purple and white badges with the BWB banner on them, and also will probably have a number of ribbons attached to the bottom of their ID badges which say things like 'Winter is Coming to HBO' and 'George R R Martin is not your Bitch'. Or maybe you can make yourself known to us at the beginning of the reading by jumping up and yelling Valar Morghulis.

It's so nervewracking meeting people off the internet ... I think once I locate you lot I will just start trailing you without you noticing. Yep, that's my plan. Look out for short Asian girl probably with white boots and lugging around a pile of books. Huzzah. I will PM my mobile to a couple of people whom I deem least likely to be axe-murderers - please msg me if you can. Thank you!

[Lupigis]

Oh, and also last night, I was very impressed that George himself brought up that very taboo subject of which we must not speak

So what did he have to say about this subject?

[theMountainGoat]

Just posted a Worldcon report on my Livejournal. Sadly this is yesterday's report meaning I am still one day behind and I really was trying to be brief and yet it is still an enormous post. Crap. Might try again to do a briefer report on what went down today, tomorrow morning, but that might not happen. Maybe.

Good to see other reports from Worldcon, thanks morningsword. Anyone else is free to post about their experiences because each persons point of view will be different. Getting everyone to report their con stories gives a fuller picture so please do add yours, don't feel intimitated by my super long reports. If you can do brief then go for a quick brief report, its cool.

Hey Luga, we're having a good time but this con would have been more AWESOME if you had been here. See you at Octocon next month though.

Hey Confalume. I got your pm, sorry for not replying but it has been a bitch of a day. You can either catch up with us at the reading or if you are here earlier you can join in with the following.

GENERAL NOTICE FOR ALL BWB AT WORLDCON

The BWB are assembling tomorrow at 9 am in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel where we will be selling A Song of Ice and Fire t-shirts to those who want them under the proviso that you will be asked to sell raffle tickets at the convention centre during the day. We don't mean all day, just in between panels and lunchtime when people are likely to be in the hallways. Everybody can attend George's reading at 11, no need for anyone to miss that unless for some reason they don't want to be there, its not compulsory.

With enough volunteers we can do shifts at the selected points in the convention centre where we will be selling tickets from so that everyone gets a chance to go to panels if they want to. There will be posters up on the wall at each selling point for information and we have A5 size flyers that we can give out too.

Regarding the T-shirts they are part of the last remaining stock that there is in the world, no more will ever be printed so this will be the only opportunity for you Aussies to get your hands on these (don't worry Euros and US boarders, I believe Parris still has some left in her stock, you'll get your chance too). We have 4 designs available in a range of sizes from medium to 3xlarge. We have 21 total for sale, some of which have been selected already, the remaining stock is: 6 Stark, 6 Targaryen, 3 Greyjoy, 2 Lannister. It is first come first served unless you call in advance to reserve, once they are gone they are gone. T-shirts are $25. Proceeds of this sale will go towards covering the cost of the party.

Speaking of the party we will require $30 from each member of the BWB please. This will go towards the cost of both Saturday and Sunday parties. Please give your money to Maltaran who is our banker (well he does work for Barclays Bank after all) and he will tick you off the list.

Seems very unusual doing this kind of notice on the board rather than in person but some of you were missing tonight and will probably check here in the morning so hopefully you will and won't miss out.

Anyway, it is late and I should go to bed, goodnight.