Eating Muffins

Posted by jukkahoo

(OK, Typepad seems to be fucking this up big time now. Sorry about all the weird shit, not to mentioning the length of this entry…)

I’m back
from Plzen and
Parcon. And let me tell you, I had fun. Parcon is the Czech and Slovak national
SF-convention. Named after the very first such occasion in 1982 which was (or
should I say were, as the first few were) held in Pardubice.

This year
the gathering took place in Plzen,
which is the world famous home of pilsner, namely Urquell, pretty much one of
the proper kings of beer.

Plzen is the 4th biggest city in Czech Republic and has about a) 30-50 000, b) 150
000 or c) 300 000 inhabitants. These were the figures we got from three
different local fen. The one closest to actual number of about 170 000 was the
young femmefan, Teresa, who was also Hal Duncan’s minder. 

Yes, Parcon
had Guests of Honour! Hal Duncan, Jeff and Ann VanderMeer (special guest), Ian
R. MacLeod and Les Edwards/Edward Miller were all there, nicely fitting to the
theme of the con: New Weird. Fancy me going to a con where focus is on new
weird? What this really meant, was that every GoH had a presentation called
“New Weird”, where they pretty much did what they wanted: read fiction, gave
interviews, gave a speech and so on.

The more
prominent New Weird –thing was the local publishing house of Laser Books, who
has this amazing series thusly named, where they have so far published some
twenty books of New Weird persuasion: China Miéville, Steph Swainstonova, K. J.
Bishopová, Jay Lake and all guests of honours. Especially Edward Miller, whose
artwork glorifies every single book in the series. They even took the
typography from his first and probably most known work, the cover for Chiina's Perdido
Street Station. These books look good.

Even Yours
Truly has made the series! The VanderMeer’s New Weird –anthology was just
published in Czech, with my tiny contribution included. Trochu divná
fantastika!

How did
this happen? And why was I in Plzen?

It’s all
Tero’s fault. I first heard about Parcon last year at the Copenhagen Eurocon,
where Peter Pavelko asked the status of Euroconference for the national Czech
and Slovak convention, while Finncon 2009 seeked the Eurocon-status and didn’t
get it. Peter and Parcon were however more luckier. The idea of a Czech SF-con
sounded like a plan, not the least because of the theme. Many Finns seemed to
be enthusiastic about it, but in the end (even after the GoH’s were finally
made public) only the three of us went. Tero had decided early on, but I had
the usual doubts, money and work. Then Juha Tupasela decided to join the team
and I knew I had to go. Maybe I actually decided earlier, but anyhoo.

Juha is a
great guy, intelligent and fun (remember to ask his of his Michael Jackson
–story, it’s a KILLER!) person to have around. And despite only recently
getting to know the Finndom (he was at Åcon2), a fully faannish bloke.

We managed
to get straight tickets to Finnair flights, they were slightly more expensive,
but well suited for our timetable. Nothing happened on the flight (which makes
it the best kind of a flight) and we arrived to Prague airport at about 10AM,
well in schedule, but since my intrepid companions managed to spend eternity at
the baggage conveyor belt, we were seriously lagging when we finally managed to
coach our way to Zlicin, which is (probably?) a suburb of Prague,
where our bus left for Plzen.
Pretty darn close call with the final bus, which we made in time, and with two
minutes to spare. And luckily there were three seats left for us.

Apparently
buses are very popular in Czech
Not only are they new (or at least the ones we used were), they are also
cheaper and faster than railways. Fancy that. And they serve stuff there: tea,
coffee, news papers, Czech pop videos… And they may even have WiFi, though that
probably is a misinterpretation of the brochure, which was in Czech. No
translation available. All this for four euroes in total. Cheap.

Pátek

In Plzen we were greeted by
Peter who had the fun job of being the foreigner liaison, with only a handful
of foreigners out and about. We saw quite a lot of Peter, which was fun, since
he is a nice guy and looks a lot like a Helsinki
fan! We managed to check-in, realise we have no towels, and very hungry. Plan
was to seek out a store that sells goods ie. towels, but we only managed to get
to the nearby restaurant, called Knight Lochoty. We tried to order something to
eat and ran into the biggest problem of the trip: Czechs are very nice people
and they treat you well, but they do not speak very good English. Not that I
think myself as that much linguistically superior, but if I’m to believe Peter
(and some other knowledgable Czechs – OK, backup here, Peter is a Slovak…) only
about 15 percent of Czechs speak good English. I’m somewhat ready to believe
that with my limited experience.

Thru hand
signals, Really Old English version of the Menu and my ingenious phrase book
(more of that later), we finally got something. Mostly meat, but that was good.
And beer. Cheap, good Gambrinus. Only when Peter came to pick us up, we were
told that the big, boldly written lines of incomprehensible Czech meant that
the restaurace was also a brewery and had its own brew. We remedied that
mistake the next day.

Belly full,
we headed toward the City. You see, there is this pub. NO, let me rephrase
that. There is The PUB. The PUB stands for Pilsener Urquell Brewery (or
something to that effect) and has this amazing contraption: taps in the tables!
You goes in, get a glass and pour your own pint. Apparently the beer is some
extra special Urquell, non-pasteurized and whatnot, and really clean, crisp,
cold and yummy. And costs about €8 for six pints.

Before we
hit the joint, where Peter had reserved a table for the duration of the con, we
run into the VanderMeers. They insisted on coming with us, and since we’re
pretty easy-going bunch, we let them. Which led to the first Battle of the Beer Masterhood. You see, not
only does the place have beer taps on the table, they also have this
scoreboard, where you can see all the other places where such tables are and
how much they are drinking. It’s a Beer-Drinking-Game! And were Finns! What to
do…?

During the
short time period we had to spend there, before the Opening Ceremonies, we
Ruled the score board, until the Brnoans came in. Damn you Brno10! You
drunkards! We decided to come back the next day, only this time with Hal
Duncan. Shurely we would be invincible?

We headed
back to the school (Parcon was held in some kind of a secondary school where
you learned stuff about traffic, apparently) at 7PM. There we run into Hal and
Les Edward/Edward Miller and some two hundred Czechs and Slovaks – and an
opening ceremony, where everything was in Czechs SO, pretty much a Swecon
kind of opening. We had a moment to look at the dealers, who were pretty much
selling only Czech books, but just looking at them was a real treat. So much is
being translated into local brogue, that it makes one ashamed to being a Finn.
Some 300+ books are being translated every year and the local talents manage a
substantial amount of books as well. I was especially interested in some Czech
Conan novels, but couldn’t find anyone, who had both read them and spoke
English as well.

At 8, we
headed to Tero’s surprise appearance as the Guest Lecturer. Somehow, he’d been
included into the programming unbeknownst to him. Furiously, me and Juha were
rummaging thru the program leaflet, but evidently we had registered so late,
that they hadn’t managed to put us into any program items. After a nice
40-minute chat with a dozen or so people, we headed to the Non-Stop Pub with
Juha. Tero managed to find the only Frenchman at the con, who was curious about
this many Finns.

Non-Stop
Pub was fan-run joint, where you could buy beer, booze, food and other stuff,
like t-shirts (200 korunas, €8). Language-block was evident, but we managed to
decipher the menu and buy few beers and baguettes. Syr and sunka is cheese and
ham. Pivo is beer. Dékuji is “thanks”. Lesson over.

We met
Tomas, who seemed to be a media-fan, looked apparently like Juha’s
ex-girlfriends non-existing brother and worked as a bodyguard at a German movie
studio in France.
As far as I know, the only thing that’s certain, is that his name is Tomas
(more or less, don’t know about the ´ and ` and such), the rest is debatable.
We also met Hal, who seemed happy, and why not, the man has gotten engaged! He
is also skint, so I bought him a beer. And then Peter came and sat on the table
with a gallon (could’ve been two) filled with honey mead. Sweet, 18 percent and
gives you a headache in the morning. Or so Juha says. We all liked it and when
I say all, I mean pretty much everyone, since Peter gave cups to everyone who
had the temerity to ask a swig. Hal and Jeff seemed to have been really
enthused about the mead. And why not, it was good.

Sobota

After we
had slept good few hours (I guess we left the pub after 1AM and woke around 9),
we decided to finally seek out some towels. Passing the local Lidl, we checked
first supermarket Albert, but they didn’t have any towel-like products. I
bought a bottle of local cola (Cofula?) which had a strange side taste to it.
Not for me.

After some
rather longish walking and cool-looking somewhat-Soviet-era blocks of flats, we
found Hypernova. Name says it all: not big, not super – hyper. Bought some
necessities, like breakfast and Cherry Coke and the towels, and headed back
home. Shower-fresh, our trio headed down in order to look at the programming.
We listened through the “Czech and Slovak fandom history”, which resonated well
with Finnish experience, even if our national conventions are way different.
First Parcon attracted some 400 members, which were diligently divided among
all 40 or something Czechoslovakian SF-groups. The presentation could’ve been
better and I was especially looking forward to more anecdotes, like the one
about the club-president, who later formed the Moravian Independence Party!

Like we,
the Czech have also co-operation meetings (and evidently the Poles do this
too). They have them twice a year, but if I understood correctly, they also
have some party-poopers, like this one guy, whoa had organised a media-con in
Chotebor same time as Parcon. This had likely a lot to do with lower than
expected attendance numbers. Skoda.

I mentioned
the 300+ translations per year. A nowadays bestseller would sell something like
10 000, while median is somewhere between 1000-2000 copies. The print numbers
are getting down, for example the 1980’s translation of Frank Herbert’s Dune
sold more than 100 000 copies! Now that is a Bestseller!

I went and
listened to Edward Miller after this. He seemed like a nice chap and clearly
the most eagerly-awaited GoH as he was always somewhere else than the rest of
the GoH’s, who seemed to gravitate towards us Finns. After Miller time, there
was an autograph-session. I’d gotten my copy of the Czech New Weird anthology
and asked scribblings from all contributors present. Later we ran into Alastair
Rennie, one more author from the book and also a Scot living in

Italy

and a surprise visitor at Parcon.

We had
decided to go back to Lochoty and order some food, while looking at a 1963 film
Ikarie XB-1. Never happened, as we our table was invaded by the GoH-cohort, in
search for English-speakers. Apparently the movie is excellent! As was the meat
skewer I had for lunch. Delicious. This time we were able to order the
homebrewed. It was a bit sweet, but good.

I skipped
Hal’s reading, where the translator read same shit in different language after
Hal stopped to take a breath, and headed to Ian R. MacLeod’s beseda. This was
apparently local for kaffeeklatch. Hal was late and there was therefore only
three of us at the beginning of Ian’s answer, which went well into the next
hour. Interesting monologue of his writings, stories, coming works and whatnot,
which made me want to seek out more of Mr. MacLeod than just his Light Ages.

Funny
detail: Ian’s beseda was marked down to the program list as taking place at the
room Ctyrka. Which is evidently “Fourth” in Czech (or isn't, see the comment section) Which is also the room
number of the room with a big orange plaque that says something like “Virtualni
Cajouna”.

I headed to
the Big Hall in order to listen to Jeff, but as every single time before that,
the previous number was still on, running late. This time there were three
people on stage, talking Czech and giving out liquor. There was also a yapping
dog. Truly alien feeling.

Jeff gave a
very funny (what else?) speech that was fact-based, yet unbelievable. One thing
that he also mentioned was that New Weird has sold so well, that Tachyon is
taking a second print! Wahey, this means, that they are also able to pay to
those that were left out in the first round, namely us European editors. My first
American sale! I explained that I wasn’t looking forward to a check, as that
would more than probably mean that in order for me to claim the check, I’d be
forced to pay more money than the check was worth. Or that’s my guess anyhow as
I cannot believe I’d make too much money out of this one.

And then we
headed back to The PUB. We were ten-strong, with us three Finns, Jeff& Ann,
Hal, Alastair, Ian R., Fredrick the French and Teresa, Hal’s minder. We ate, we
drank and after some heavy drafting, we had managed to climb all the way up to
4^th spot, when we had to get back to the con-site. Late already,
Jeff, Tero and I were want of a cigar. Teresa told us of a tobacco shop that
was open 24/7 and promised to guide me and Tero there. We must’ve walked to the
other side of the town (OK, could’ve been a kilometre or less), but finally we
found the place.

And run
into the problem le weekend. After some serious discussions and pointings, hand
gestures and communication mistakes, we finally learned that sometimes a cigar
is not a cigar. Especially when it is doutnik. After this bit of Czech language
course, we were able to purchase nice, smooth and mellow Dominican churchills
for 110 korunas a piece. Huge, monstrous cigars that take forever to smoke,
which we three and Juha and Hal (we got five cigars) did later that night.

Meanwhile,
the convention had turned into Czech tourist evening show, with jugglers and
medieval musicians. We run into Jeff at the front door of the school, where he
was suffocating from a sudden case of Giggleitis. Apparently the musicians had
this instrument, which could only be described as “fart-drum” – sweet
instrument, but making unfortunate sounds. We catched the rest of the show and
my impression was that the singers and players were good performers, whereas
the juggler wasn’t more than adequate. Could’ve listened to the minstrels for a
bit more, but apparently they has played a fair bit, before we foreigners
decided to show up… Sorry.

After the
smoking, I chatted with the locals and wondered where the rest of the
foreigners had gone? Finally I managed to dig them out. They were sitting
around a table, filled with beer bottles and a big Finlandia vodka bottle.
Evidently they were forced to accept it as a token of good faith. I joined the
team, which consisted of some very tired-looking people, the usual suspects
plus the lone German who was present at the con. We chatted happily, drank more
and looked at the occasional Czechs who made a brief appearance at the door,
evidently checking whether the English-speakers were still up. At around 3AM we
finally managed to get few Czechs to join us (one of them might’ve been a
Bulgarian?) and after quite a lot of lubrication, the locals managed to speak
the lingua franca. Some where rather good in my opinion, but then again, I
was…very, very drunk at the time.

Nedéle

Following
morning came too soon, and was not definitely helped by Juha’s breakfast of
pickled sausages. I had a packet of chips, while Tero had a nourishing bar of
Twix. All the good stuff had been eaten by the locals, who had more or less
already left the place. Parcon ends properly to the big Saturday boozefest,
while the Sunday is really just the picking up pieces and a few ragtag-numbers
that attract only a few viewers. So now we know.

Guests of
Honours were nowhere to be seen, and since they were heading to a beer bath
later in the day, why not? We decided to catch a relatively early bus to the airport. Peter gave us a
lift to the station. What a lovely guy. If only we’d brought him more presents
than the obligatory salmiakkikossu bottle and Fazer confectionaries. Maybe some
Finnish heavy metal? Peter looked like a guy who might enjoy that /c/r/a/p/ kind of
music.

Trip back
home was uneventful. We had lunch at the airport and paid more for the measly
burgers and pizza slices than we did for the rest of the food during the trip.
In fact, the best food we got during the day was the Tuna pasta we had on the
plane. Really!

Interesting
bit: I didn’t buy a single book on the trip, yet I managed to gain a total sum
of four books and as many copies of Weird Tales.

This was a
good con. Not great, but interesting and fun. As always, Jeff, Ann and Hal were
great Guests and we hanged a lot with the, maybe too much? If I’d been a Czech,
I might’ve taken offense that the bloody foreigners come and steal Our GoH’s!
But I might be wrong, too. It seemed like most of the Czechs were more than
happy to be among themselves and get the autograph and listen to the
GoH-interviews etc. They didn’t try to chat with Hal or Jeff, and Ghu knows,
those guys are willing to talk to anyone, about anything!

Thanks
Peter and all the rest of you guys& gals! Marta, Jolana, Tomas, Pagi, Lukas
and the Unpronouncable (hope to see you some day at the Rally Finland)! I enjoyed
this a great deal!

Posted by Sari

Minäkin olin siinä isossa animetapahtumassa jossa oli
SF-ohjelmaa ja olen siitä jo eri foorumeilla avautunut jopa niin että välillä
vähän hirvittää. Pölyn nyt vähän laskeuduttua ajattelin jonkinlaisen
coniraportin vääntää. Se pakollinen ensimmäiseksi: Tampereen conitea teki
hyvää työtä. Oikeasti. Se mitä minä conista näin ja koin todisti
siitä että juttuja oli mietitty, toteutukseen panostettu ja homma toimi. Aina
toki on ongelmia joihin ei osata varautua, ongelmia joihin on varauduttu mutta
joille ei mitään mahda ja pieniä notkahduksia ja nitkahduksia toteutuksessa. Ne
kuuluvat vapaaehtoistapahtuman luonteeseen ja vaikka niistä sopii huomauttaa
(varsinkin jos on parannusehdotuksia), niitä tulee aina tapahtumaan. Eli tässä
hengessä:

Minulla, niin kuin varmaan kaikilla fandom-aktiiveilla
tuppaa olemaan kolmenlaisia conikokemuksia. Viimeksi Helsingissä ei kauheasti
conissa ennättänyt käydä: olin turistioppaana, parissa paneelissa,
salivänkärinä pari tuntia ja lopun aikaa vänkäröin juoksutyttönä Jukalle ja
paimensin ruåtsalaisia conivieraita. Itse coni jäi katsojana aika lailla
kokonaan katsomatta. Muualla olen yleensä ollut esiintymässä ohjelmassa tai
kahdessa ja aputyttöillyt herraHoolle joten näitäkin coneja olen lähestynyt
enemmän tekijän näkökulmasta kuin kävijän, vaikka aikaa on jäänyt paremmin
ohjelman seuraamiseen ja terassilla hengaamiseen.

Tänä vuonna ekan kerran pitkään aikaan olin paikalla vaan
katsojana. Me matkasimme Tampereelle jo torstaina. Kävimme poimimassa Mekun
joka oli ollut tutkijatapaamisessa ja matkasimme 90 kilsaa itäkoilliseen Teemun
mökille grillattiin ja saunottiin suomalaiskansallisen asiaankuuluvasti. Mekku
purkasi tutkijatapaamisen antia. Itse kun en ole spefitutkija en ole koskaan
tapaamiseen osallistunut vaikka aiheet usein kiinnostaisivatkin. Minusta olisi
kovasti kivaa jos tutkijatapaamista voisi kehitellä niin että
feedback-sessioiden lisäksi siihen kuuluisi yleisölle avoimia paneeleita ja
esitelmiä. On varmasti muitakin harrastajia joiden omat tutkimusintressit tai alat
eivät natsaa niin että olisivat paperia esittämässä, mutta joita kiinnostaisi
kuunnella vähän teoreettisempaa pohdintaa genren tiimoilta. Ja koska Helsingin
coni lähtökohtaisesti tullee olemaan kolmipäiväinen tämä on ehkä vähän turha
huomio mutta tulevaisuutta ajatellen perjantain ohjelma pitäisi olla
ohjelmakartassa siinä missä lauantain ja sunnuntainkin.

Perjantaina kuten Jukka totesi sukuloimme Kangasalla ja
päädyimme Tampereelle vasta illalla Telakalle seuraamaan Finncon-kamppenia ja
tapaamaan muita kaupunkiin eksyneitä fandomin edustajia. Hauskaa oli, paikka
oli mukava ja ruokalistakin testanneiden mukaan toimiva. Alkoholiton olutkin
oli ihan juotavaa. Myös kunnioitukseni ralliajajia kohtaan nousi huomattavasti
kun köröttelin matkalla majapaikalle noin 40 kilometrin tuntivauhdilla entistä
Ouninpohjan pikataivalta joka poistettiin Suomen rallin ohjelmasta liian
nopeana kun keskinopeudet kohosivat 130 km/h tietämille. Illan päätteeksi
leikkailin kaasulampun valossa James Liptonille kysymyksiä. Kovin idylistä.

Lauantai olikin sitten jo vähän toinen juttu. Minähän
tunnetusti olen se spefifandomin paha natsi jolle paikalle sankoin joukoin
ilmaantuneet teinit aiheuttavat verenpainetta ja totaalisesti tappavat kaiken
coni-ilon. Tämä nyt lähtökohtaisesti johtuu siitä että minä en pidä lapsista en masse, liikkuivat ne sitten pukautuneina Narutoiksi, stormtrooppereiksi
tai sitten ihan vaan t-paidassa ja farkuissa. Minä en myöskään tykkää karnevaalimeiningistä
conini käytävillä. Pukuilu on kivaa – naamiaisissa. (Mutta minä siis edustan
vaan ja ainoastaan itseäni ja kellekään ei ole mitään velvollisuutta tehdä
sellaista conia jonka minä haluan. Fandom on iso ja toivottavasti pystyy
rakentamaan jonkinlaisen kompromissin jossa yksi näkemys ei nykymenon tapaan dominoi
vaan niin me tylsäilevät akateemiset pilkunnussijat, pukuileva hubajengi kuin
myös tylsä pukuileva akateeminen hubajengi kaikki tuntevat olonsa kotoisaksi.)

Mutta takaisin asiaan. Eli lauantaina Tampere-talo oli
tupaten täynnä ja meteli ja meno sen mukainen. Aamupäivällä yritin pariin
paneeliin mutta kulkeminen oli hankalaa, salit oli täynnä ja kun oma kypsyys ja
aikuinen avarakatseisuus ilmeni lähinnä haluna ruveta tönimään tietä tukkivia
poseeraajia, vetäydyin nopeasti yläkertaan ja korkkasin sen ekan lonkeron jo
dekadentisti varttia ennen puolta päivää. Syömässä kävimme Mekun ja Markon
kanssa ja ennätin jopa hetkeksi yhyttää Jukankin. Iltapäivä sujui aamupäivän
tapaan yläkerrassa ihmettelemässä conin nykymenoa. Kakkoskerrokseen piipahdin
hakemassa Likeltä lisää Reynoldsia ja ihailemassa Helsingin conitean TARDISta.
Oli muuten aivan mahtava kuten koko tiski. Päivän päätteeksi päätin ravistautua
irti apatiasta ja mennä katsomaan ohjelmaa. Yritys oli hyvä mutta katsomon
sijaan päädyin käännösfantasiasta ja kustantamisesta keskustelevaan ohjelmaan
panelistiksi.

Illalla tuli taas todettua se että ei ne baarit koskaan usko
a) kuinka paljon meitä on ja b) että me oikeasti juodaan aika paljon olutta ja
siideriä. Väkeä oli Telakalla sen verta paljon että jalat ennättivät seisoessa
jo väsyä ennen kuin lopulta se yläkerran hiljainen puoli saatiin auki. Ja
yllättäen heti kun istumaan pääsi alkoi smoffaaminen – eipä conissa paljon
muusta tullut puhuttua kuin Finnconin tulevaisuudesta. Takaisin majapaikkaan
päädyimme joskus yhden jälkeen ja menimme pesemään iltabileiden hiet ihanalla
yöuinnilla.

Sunnuntaina oli hiukan väljempää mutta alempiin kerroksiin
uskaltautuminen ei edelleenkään innostanut joten hengasin lähinnä yläkerrassa
jonka aitopaikalta saattoi mainiosti katsoa vaikkapa Jordan-lätkää. Jottei
pääsisi unohtumaan miltä tuo siippa näyttää, kävin katsomassa myös
fandom-kuisin josta propsit Samanthalle ja Keijolle, ja vielä suuremmat
sellaiset Aleksille. Ohjelmanumeron voisi vetää uusiksi vaikka 2010 niin että
vetäjällä on matskutkin mukana, ehkäpä audiovisuaalisin avuin toteutettuna.
Kotiin lähdettiin heti sen jälkeen kun oltiin laulettu niin kovaa kun kurkusta
lähti kiitokset Kisulle, aplodeerattu koko conitealle ja Helsingin
triumviraatti oli saanut sementtisankonsa takaisin.

Joten kiitokset Kisulle ja Karolle, Sandille ja turvamiehille,
Liisalle, ohjelmavastaaville, Ellalle ja Ompulle, ja muille kohtaamatta jääneille työn raskaan raatajille Mutta minun puoleltani kyllä hyvästit tämänmuotoiselle Finnconille.
Ensi vuonna ajattelin käyttää energiani valituksen sijaan tekemällä conia mahdollisimman
paljon ja mahdollisimman positiivisella asenteella, mutta mikäli Finncon jatkaa
siitä eteenpäin nuorisotapahtumana, taitaa se jäädä minulta tulevaisuudessa
väliin.

Pari kuvaa löytyy flickristä

Posted by jukkahoo

FinnconAnimecon2008 is over and we're ("we" as in the conmittee) busily tuning the engine that's called The Beast. Next year's FinnconAnimecon will be yet another huge event. First post-Finncon2008 was held yesterday. Good meeting.

One thing I'll be concentrating quite a lot effort in the future will be the programming side of things next year. You may remeber that 2006 had rather an extensive program, lots of literature and on the edge -things. This time around we'll be concentrating on trying out new things, new program items, new forms, varying the time-slots, lenghts, venues, visuals, technological possibilities, perhaps even late programming. Who knows? Well, obviously the Shadow… More of all of that later.

Parcon is approaching. At least three Finns are going! Why not you? More the merrier! And there's Jeff and Ann VanderAlmostFinnMeer's! And Hal Duncan! And more, much more!

Now, quiet weekend with three doggies. No Ropecon.

Posted by jukkahoo

Very busy weekend, with lots of travelling included. We (that's Sari and Mekku and Teemu avec moi) stayed at Teemu's parents summer cottage, which meant approximately 80 kliks of driving every day. To each direction. Shortened the contime considerably, as we needed to get up earlier as well as leaving the premises somewhat earlier (and in case of some of us, sober…). But it was fun, honestly, I mean, I hadn't really been eaten by them mosquitoes this year! And we got to meet Retu and Tilli. And both Iiku's (mine's a he [uncle] and Sari's a she [cousin]) and Timo Kummeli. Lovely house!

But, I digress.

As expected, this was another Animecon, with Finncon added to it's side. Fun, but not very fannish. Like many have said in various discussions and blogs, there was a certain lack of fandom. There were plenty many of us, but beside Telakka-parties, did I really manage to talk and interact with that many people? No, not really.

And that's the biggest con (to use the term slightly agaist the idea of this entry) for me at this… con. To me the biggest turn-on of these here gatherings is the meeting of fen, both old and new. I could do with a longer convention, easily, as long as it'd be a bit less hectic that this year's Finncon.

About longer Finncon, I might try writing down some ideas we've been having about next year at Babek Nabel, where you can (and really should) participate the heated, yet well-behaved and rational debate about the future of Finncon/Animecon and Tammere-experience.

As said, my schedule was a bit hectic. I chew a bit more that I should've, especially the promise of doing the Tietoviisaat with Mike. Sorry about that one, really!

I barely managed to stay focused with my own program items. Which isn't really true, as I did made a blunder with my last program item, when I managed to lose half of my questions (the ones about Finncon…) due to haste. Do not put two "gadget"-programs back-to-back, it may lead into trouble.

Ie. I did my "James Lipton" with Mike Harrison just prior to Kuis? and concequently fumbled a bit. Very unprofessional…

We arrived to Tammere already on Thursday, but that was merely in order to leave my mother with my uncle and pick up Mekku from the Researcher's meeting. Friday was also somewhat less finnconnish, as we stayed at cousin Mirka's place the day and only sampled the fan-air at Telakka, which turned out to be the other refuge for the elder generation (the other being the 3rd Floor "bar" at the Tammere-talo). Fun evening, not least by the fact that Peter and Marta and Jelena and Theunpronounceble (OK, probably not that unpronounceble, but I never managed to figure it out) from Czech Republic were present. Tero knew, but didn't bother to inform anyone.

Peter was at last year's Eurocon in Copenhagen, talking about Parcon, which is this really fun-sounding Czech/Slovak national SF-con this year. I'm going, as is Tero, maybe you should too? Hey, there's JeffV and AnnV, Edward Miler and Ian R. MacLeod. And Hal Duncan! Bring your earplugs! As before, Peter was fun to talk to, as were the rest of the crew, too. Unfortunaley, due to the nature of this year's con, I never saw them at the site, only in Telakka. Which was fine, too. I guess.

So, the con?

OK, I guess. I really was only able to see the gist of it: my six program items (three interviews with the GoH's, panel on Tähtifantasia Award [well deserved win for Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Variksen velho!], panel on translated fantasies and the Kuis? about Finncon/fandom) and the parts of the Closing ceremony I was on stage, as one of the Doctors.

Talking about that one: Isn't Our TARDIS the Bomb!?

Can't say too much about my gigs, other that I agree with Tero's comment of the shortness of interviews. I could've talked a lot longer wth each one of them, probably a LOT longer with Mike. We really scratched the surface there with my questions. Panels were ok in my book; we weren't able to get any major publishing house editors to Erkka's panel on publishing, but it went fine, especially when I realised I really needed Sari there to spout her somewhat unorthodox opinions. If only she'd rant more in public the way she does in private. Fun, yet pretty poignant.

The traditionally dualistic Saturday evening party was fun. I'm one of the leading (well, if not leading, then one of loudest) proponents of the "Quiet-party" -mode. I'm there in order to talk with other fen, not to party like it's 1999, which I realise of course is both fun and appeal to a lot of people. I just hope there is always the possibility to enjoy the evening both ways. Country and western.

As we did this time, in the end. The upstairs at Eric's was a nice touch, even if the place opened only around 10PM and didn't start serving there before 10.25 or somesuch. Much appreciated.

We left after the official programming, in order to get home sooner rather than later. (We have a new dog, Martti, but Sari will blog about him later, I'm sure.) I'd love to have been at the Dead Dog Party, but decided against it, after I'd been told that it was really for the organisers and volunteers and Guests. And it was supposed to be a very small place, too. And dog dead by midnight. Well, maybe next time. If there is a next time…

All in all, I enjoyed, but didn't really see too much. Not going to see that much next year, either, but that's life, eh? See you there, right?