It is always tricky to decide which day to arrive and how long to stay for a convention, especially when its in a place you want to explore. Aside from the obvious considerations around money and time, you have to balance the fear of missing out with the human limits if endurance. Particularly if you are friends with the harder drinking fans! ,We arrived on the Friday, by which time our social media feeds were already knee-deep in excited posts and envy inducing photos. We flew direct from Newcastle, which was nice and easy but did require getting up at …
Belfast: Good Eats, Great Drinks
We had the very great luck of booking at the Bullit Hotel, about and eight minute walk from the ICC and Hilton where the convention was taking place. Obviously there is always a risk of being off-site leading to missing out, or at the very least making one feel like they are missing out. But the Bullit had a bunch of other fans there, including lots of close friends. The hotel breakfast was truly excellent, but even if it had not been, the company would more than have made up for it – on various days we were able to …
Belfast Eastercon and so much more.
in order to do justice to our wonderful time in Northern Ireland, I think it is best to split my con report into three parts covering the city, the food and drink, and the convention separately. There will be overlap, but I fear becoming a bit overwhelmed at the size of the post if I try to cram it into one chronological post. But suffice it to say that we had an absolute whale of a time, and are excited to go back at some point – either to a convention or just a visit.
Hugo Finalist
The list is out and I’m delighted to be on there for fan artist again, along with a really solid roster. Most of the categories look really strong, and even some of the ones I usually pass over (out of lack of knowledge, primarily) have some interesting things – and look at Tchaikovsky inching up the charts! First time in novel and he manages two slots, what a machine! Sadly we won’t be traveling to Seattle, for the obvious reasons. In the scheme of things I’m aware it’s a small thing, but it makes me sad and angry all the …
The Farrell Centre
On Saturday we popped into town to The Farrell Centre to check out their Concrete Dream exhibition, which looks at the big urban planning projects of the 1960s and 70s in Tyneside. Side by side with Brasilia of the North (which I sort of thought was part of the same exhibition if I’m honest) it uses photographs, artifacts, but especially some really lovely models, to show the range of projects from an era of transformation for the area. Some smaller ones that are part of the landscape today, and some hugely ambitious ones. The proposed Tyne Deck, which would have …
Got my noms in!
I started filling out the form last week, so I shouldn’t be up late trying to get a tiny bit more reading/reasearching in but of course I am. Every year I saw next year will be the one where I keep better track of the things I might want to nominate, and do more [fill the blank with the category you feel guiltiest about] and who knows, maybe next year really will be. What would help? More recommendation posts, people! There used to be so many! If the blogosphere really is reviving well that’s something it can do very well, …
Fifty
O_O
Digital arting
I quite enjoy fiddling with Procreate and the Affinity suite, but perpeturally find myself in the position of having set them aside for long enough that I’ve forgotten a bunch of things (which to be fair does happen with some traditional mediums as well) and it takes several days of figuring out what I actually remember that is still correct, what has been upgraded and works entirely differently lo these many months later, and all that can’t even start till after several rounds of updates and installs. Which is to say, these tools are basically magic but of course that …
London Adventures!
Last weekend we went down to London for two live experiences (now that we live further away we do try to pack in as much as possible when we visit). Saturday was Phantom Peak, which describes itself as a Immersive Open-World Experience. What that translates to in practice is that they have turned a warehouse into a small town with its own lore and history in which you interact with the local population, played by actors, to solve puzzles related to an ongoing plot. On first entry the physical space and vibe reminded me a bit of the Bay Area’s …
What a year, huh? And so on.
End of January, mostly recovered from that bug and enjoying sunlight that almost lasts till the end of the work day. On the other hand, some new fun projects coming up and a calendar with some conventions to look forward to. Huzzah.