Meanderings

Sunday

Nebuloid's day - with the first panel of the day being Myths of Warfare, clearing up some of the myths and misinformation about Medieval Warfare.

I missed it due to being very asleep. In fact, I missed the entire morning due to being asleep, and then going on a hunt for vegan foods...Found a lovely tomato soup and some great coffee, you'll be glad to know.

At 1pm, there was a special screening of Neil Gaiman's "A Short Film About John Bolton", which was fantastic. Very funny, very cool, very weird - I must own it!!

I missed Poppy Z Brite's Guest of Honour speech, due to a filthy filthy headache. Nebuloid popped over to the What's New in Anime panel. I crawled downstairs, headache slightly abated, for the Reinventing the Creation Myth: Gods and Monsters panel, and found Nebuloid and Nic.

I had hoped for more of a concentration on creation myths, rather than the what are gods? what are monsters? tack taken by the panel, but hey...it's their panel. The moderator, poor man, seemed to be out of his depth, and kept trying to draw the panel into a discussion on religion and belief within the real world, rather than concentrating on myth and fiction. These attempts were eventually rather irritating, and there was a certain amount of satisfaction to be had when Neil delivered upon the moderator a charming and insightful yet slightly uncomfortable making smackdown. It was effective, however, and the last third of the panel was much more interesting than the first two thirds had been.

Nebuloid snagged front row seats for the Young Adult fiction/genre writing: the crossover novel panel (there was a certain amount of eye rolling when I squeaked about being sooooo close to Neil). The panel were: Robin Hobb, Richard Harland, Russell Blackford, Tony Shillitoe, and Lili Wilkinson. The panel was examining how you make the crossover, what constitutes young adult fiction, what's appropriate and what is not. Tony Shillitoe brought some really interesting perspectives to the panel - the idea of embedding the issues that a young person can go through into the fantasy world. Not a new idea, but he was very passionate about fantasy and speculative fiction having that role for young people.

The discussion also ranged over what is appropriate for a young adult novel. Should there be concepts that a young person won't understand at the time, experiences that they haven't yet had? I made a comment about Tove Jansson's Moomintroll books - they were my favourite books when I was a child, and I still adore them. There are some dark concepts and journeys in these books, and I think that's why they are so good. I got a Woo! from the back of the room when I mentioned the Moomintrolls, and Richard Harland commented that he loves them too. Which was cool, because so many people don't know the books. Also, Lili Wilkinson noted that they have been rereleased, which is great, because everyone should read them. They're tops. Plus, it means I can finally own all of them again...

Stayed in my spot for the Worst Ever Panel, and was joined by Nic. Nebuloid went to the Slash: An Unnecessary Evil? panel (which I'm told was great fun!) Nic had been to the Dealer's Room and was very excited to have found herself some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles goodies, including a laminated movie poster.

The Worst Ever Panel was shambolic fun - basically, the panel were to discuss what, in their estimation, were the worst ever books, movies, and comics. Neil had a head start on the rest of the panel, having, in his misspent youth, cowritten Ghastly Beyond Belief. Neil noted that Ghastly Beyond Belief had been remaindered to Australia, as seems to happen often, and that this "explains a lot about Australian fandom." There was much hilarity to be had during this panel, including Kirstyn McDermott sarcastically commenting that she read a lot of dark horror as a kid and that it had no lasting effect upon her. A roar of approval met this remark, and Neil wailed "People, look at yourselves!!"

After the panel had ended, and the room was being cleared for the Closing Ceremony, a small cluster of people had gathered around Neil, who was standing on the stage. I finally screwed up my courage to say hello to him. I had the whole thing I wanted to say to him planned out, and it was going through my head like a mantra.

So there I was, in a little slow motion world , thinking: Thank you for inspiring me to write for the first time in over a decade; Thank you for inspiring me to write for the first time in over a decade; Oh god I can do this; Thank you for inspiring me to write for the first time in over a decade; Thank you for inspiring me to write for the first time in over a decade; Neil Gaiman's crotch is at my eye level; Thank you for inspiring me to write for the first time in over a decade; Stop staring at Neil's crotch, he's going to notice; Thank you for inspiring me to write for the first time in over a decade; Thank you for inspiring me to write for the first time in over a decade; Even if Neil doesn't notice, other people are going to; Thank you for inspiring me to write for the first time in over a decade; Thank you for inspiring me to write about your crotch; No that's not right; Neil's crotch is a decade; Oh gods I'm going to make a complete fool of myself...

Whilst behind me, Nic is poking me in the back with her rolled up TMNT poster, saying "Come on, come on, he's still going to be here, he's not going to turn into a pumpkin!!"

...Thank you for inspiring me to write for the first time in over a decade, pumpkin; There's a pumpkin in the decade; Have I stopped staring at his crotch yet?; Oops there goes the brain implosion.

I allowed Nic to drag me from the room, which, all things considered, was the wisest thing I have ever done.

(Could I just note here that I am blushing as I write this? Oh dear...)

We were let back into Ballroom 3 for the Closing Ceremony. Nic had found some seats at the side. The ceremony was long but fun. Kirstyn McDermott made a lovely speech thanking not only the guests, but all of the volunteers who had made the convention run so smoothly. Each of the guests got presents, and said a little something.

Richard Harland gave an impassioned (does he have any other mode??) and wonderfully heartfelt speech to the effect that the fans are why conventions are so wonderful, and that we should give ourselves a rousing cheer and round of applause - which he led by clapping his hands over his head. Poppy Z Brite, who had seemed withdrawn during the convention, stated, in her husky sarcastic drawl, that this had been "the best convention in the best country" that she had attended, and that she had had a wonderful time. Neil Gaiman got a standing ovation, and wandered over to the lecturn to say "I didn't think it was possible that I could get any more embarrassed", which was sweet. Robin Hobb, who was actually the special special guest, seemed perfectly happy with her status being usurped by Neil.

Said goodbye to Nic, and Nebuloid and I wandered off to have Malay for dinner. We grabbed a whole bunch of snacks and went back to the hotel and watched Constantine - which didn't suck as much as I thought it would. I actually quite enjoyed it (please don't throw things). Wanna read the comics now, of course.

After all of that, I offer to you my highlights of Continuum 3:

The Great Debate
Richard Harland's GoH speech
Neil Gaiman's Anansi Boys reading
Neil Gaiman's signing
Dancing to Firestarter and Groove is in the Heart with Nebuloid
Lord of the Rings in the style of a Western
The Worst Ever Panel
A Short Film about John Bolton
Seeing Richard Harland be enthused about everything

And my regrets (I've had a few...):

Not speaking to Neil Gaiman
Missing Poppy Z Brite's GoH speech
Not going to more of the small panels
Missing Dr Who and Firefly in the AV room
Not having been to a convention before
Not taking photos of myself and Nebuloid in all of our Maskobalo frippery

And there you have it. Neil Gaiman's crotch.