"you dunno owt jon snooooooooooooooow!" (or: London Film and Comic Con 2013)
Normally I would have posted this sooner, except I have instead been SUPER SOCIABLE. Despite London still being in something of a heatwave, I am spending this evening by my lonesome, in my pajamas. I am way too old to be sociable for extended periods of time!
All this said, I had been looking forward to LFCC all week. It meant I had people coming to stay, and fun times, and general awesomeness. I hadn't taken into account the fact it was going to be about a squillion degrees. Argh. Still on Friday I came home to Louise and Fiona, who had been let in by Richie rather than enjoying some very discreet burglary. I cooked for all three of us, and we had a quiet night in which was actually quite nice. Well, it was 'quiet' except for the bits when Louise was shouting abuse at the tennis.
Later on, Richie, Tali and Ann came home - they'd been at a radio recording - and we had a good gossip and catch up before heading to bed.
We woke up very early on Saturday morning. It was very odd to wake people up from my living room rather than a Travelodge room, but at least I know how the showers work here! After blearily eating and drinking tea, we strode out into the already sunny day, and met Fiona on the Tube on the way in. The Tube in a Star Trek uniform is a unique experience, I must admit!
When we got there, we saw that the queue was enormous. To our mild horror, it was in fact the queue for the early bird, pre-paid tickets. As we applied sunscreen and settled down to wait, we at least got to enjoy watching all the cosplayers going by. I've never seen so many - it was an awesome sight to beold, and I was pleased to see that at least other people got to suffer the horror of non-natural fibres on a roasting hot day.
We got in before too long, enjoying the bliss of air conditioning. Aftwe we got our virtual tickets, I was saddened to see Robert Rankin without anyone queueing up to see him. As Robert Rankin is MADE OF AWESOME I decided to rectify this and go up and get his new book and have a chat. He was wonderful and chatty ("You've come from the other side of the galaxy to meet me!"), despite me burbling at him how big a fan I am before asking him to sign the book to my dad. (Dad is a big fan too, and it's his birthday next month. KARMA.) His wife was lovely too, and generally it was a Good Omen for the start of the convention. Afterwards I phoned Dad and burbled about how lovely he was. It's the first time Dad has ever been marginally impressed at anyone I've ever met at a convention.
We went to the Doctor Who talk after this, which was distinctly odd. There seemed to be some kind of mix up and a bloke from Texas Chainsaw Massacre ended up joining in. ("I must admit I'm not familiar with Doctor Who?") but once they got rid of him it was a good line up and well compered, although I think that 8 guests is too many for a 45 minute session! Particularly when you include like the legend that is David Warner.
After this we went over to meet Avery Brooks, who was really lovely! He shook everyone's hand, marvelled at the size of my crew, and generally chatted with all of us. I particularly enjoyed his good-mannered taunting of Louise. I also met Nana Visitor, who was also splendid and I got a wonderful photo with her. YAY FOR DEEP SPACE NINE CAST.
It was unbelievably busy on the Saturday, so we spent a lot of the midafternoon period trying to see where the virtual queues were up to for the Game of Thrones guests, mostly being Lena Heady and Peter Dinklage. Fortunately both were entirely worth the wait. I didn't get their autographs - too many Deep Space Nine guests, not enough budget for both. However, Lena Heady was beautiful and surprisingly delicate, with some lovely tattoos on her arms. Peter Dinklage was, it must be said, quite hot. We all swooned a little! (Okay, a lot. But seriously, the TV doesn't come near to doing him justice.)
We tried to find somewhere for lunch outside the venue, but it was roasting hot and we really struggled to find anywhere. On the bright side we did get to have lunch at the graveyard Emmeline Pankhurst was buried in - it was quite pleasant to sit in the shade and listen to the birds, although it retrospect we should have stayed inside for the air conditioning!
Argh, I know I must be forgetting so much. I seem to have mislaid my camera cable so I can't upload my photos, which is what I normally use for a memory jog, so some of this may be out of order! We saw loads of awesome cosplayers on the Sunday. We apparently missed out on the memo that said Saturday was Avengers day. We even got to see a boy!Black Widow, which was splendid. And a Ghost Rider! ("Make a crazy Nick Cage face!")
Later in the afternoon, as the crowds thinned a little, I ended up getting the autographs of all the Ferengi from Deep Space Nine, as well as Andrew Robinson. All three were magnificent and wonderful people - I had a reallylong chat with Armin Shimerman, Max Grodenchik drew an exquisite autograph (it says 'Much profit!'), and Aron Eisdenberg came all the way around his table just to get a photo with me. So lovely!
Still, as the day wore on, it was time to head out into the still-blazing sun. Richie wasn't at the convention as basically it's not his idea of a good time (he gets annoyed at the crowds in the supermarket on a weekend, I think a busy convention would kill him) but he had kindly packed us together a picnic and we met him at Kensington Gardens, where we law on the grass and complained about our feet and drank an awful lot of sangria, as well as watching some squirrels. It was enjoyable, and meant we at least got a wee bit of the weekend's sunshine!
After this, though, it was back towards the house. I fell into bed rather early. I feel quite guilty about this, as I kept abandoning people to go to bed early. This is because I have work this week, and I need to try and keep as much sleep banked as I can. Given how knackered I am by today (and it must be said that I would be in bed now if it wasn't for the interview round of the Apprentice being on) it was a good idea, but still. Sorry everyone!
Probably best I went to bed early, given that I was woken two hours later by Richie coming to bed and not long after leaving bed to throw up the large amount of whisky he had drank. Oh dear.
We woke up again ridiculously early, this time in order to look more like SUPERHEROES! Well, sort of. It was even warmer on the Sunday, so it was obviously entirely sensible to put on all black as well as a corset. Oh dear. Still, it made for great fun on the Tube, particularly when we picked up Fiona as Nick Fury and she handed over the shield to Ann as Captain America. I don't know what I enjoyed more, whether it was my cape fluttering in the wind or the horrified looks of other people on the Tube.
The queue was much shorter on the Sunday, and we got in with a lot more time to spare. Stupidly, Ann, Fiona and I signed up for the cosplay competition. THIS ENDED UP BEING A MISTAKE.
Having already got my autographs the day before, I ended up wandering with everyone else to their guests. It meant I got to see the delightful Lalla Ward, who is and remains splendidly beautiful and graceful. I also went with Louise to see Alexander Siddig. I already have his autograph for various convoluted reasons, but it was good to go up and have a wee nosy at him. ALSO FINN JONES. I love Finn Jones and his beautiful face. This has been noted before. HE'S SO LOVELY THOUGH. Jimmy was also about in the morning - haven't seen him for a bit and it was good to catch up!
(As a side note, he was sat next to Nana Visitor and was charging £5 more than her. We did morbidly wonder if it was awkward.)
Mostly, it must be said, I sort of kept my head down and had a look at cosplayers. We saw some magnificent ones, including a great set of All The Avengers Who Weren't Us (Pepper! Natasha! Coulson! Loki!) which was lots of fun. Plus there was a really cute tiny Captain America who was fascinated to see so many other girls dressed as Captain America. That was one thing I really enjoyed about this convention - lots of children seeing a lot of genderswapped costumes and kickass women. Still lots of women without pants getting a lot of attention, but a good mix nevertheless.
We also spent a lot of time shouting "YOU KNOW NOTHING JON SNOW!" at Game of Thrones cosplayers in increasingly loud Northern accents, until we sat down and realised that a proper Northerner would say 'You dunno owt!' so we shouted that and probably confused a lot of people...
Also! Tali bought an awesome hat! This should be noted, as it's an awesome hat. Purple top hat!
At about 2.30pm, we took a moment to sit down before being hauled over by the cosplayers. This was a moment of terror, as I had a photoshoot with Finn Jones booked for 2.50pm. The people organising the cosplayers hadn't told us how early we'd needed to be there and weren't being particularly helpful about the clash. Argh. Fortunately, Showmasters were wonderful and pushed me and another cosplayer to the front of the queue for the photoshoot, so I still got my lovely photo! Finn Jones asked what was with the cape, and then did an awesome pose. It is a BRILLIANT photoshoot. I am delighted with it! Even though immediately afterwards I had to sprint over to the cosplay. Imagine my annoyance when it was running ridiculously behind, particularly as I didn't have the chance to say goodbye to Tali. Boo.
We had managed to work out a little routine while waiting backstage ("In! Out! And FALL!") and we didn't make too big fools of ourselves, although unsurprisingly we didn't win. Oh well.
We ended up in some weird flashmob after this, involving doing some odd Star Wars dance? I have no idea what happeened. They say there will be videos on Youtube, so be prepared.
After a last wander around the stalls (I got a teatowel witha picture of the Hulk holding a cracked cup, looking sad, and saying 'HULK SMASH?') it was the end of the day. Having discovered Frank half way through the day we all ended up coming back to my flat for Chinese takeaway, watching a lot of Psychobitches and Disney films and generally chilling out.
It was a nice way to end the weekend,even if I did have to duck into the kitchen to do my ironing.
On Monday I hauled myself out of bed for work, and went with Louise to the train station. I found myself having errible post con blues in work, a combination of exhaustion and vague sadness to be sat indoors. Plus, I got a test message from Richie at 1.30pm telling me he and Ann were in a pub that was all of a minute's walk from my work. ALAS.
By about 5.30pm I realised he hadn't responded to my enquiries as to location, and remembered that said pub is a basement bar. Based on my knowledge of Richie, I headed over to the pub only to find a slightly tipsy Ann outside. I was RIGHT!
So on Monday night I found myself drinking instead, and meeting with Dee and one of Ann and Richie's old university friends (City drinking! And admittedly I was in my smartest business gear for convuluted reasons so at least I looked good) before going to a German bar for beer and sausages. Well, I didn't have sausages, but there we go. We walked home down the Embankment in the warm evening air, which was a bit of a treat. London is magical at night if its warm and you're a bit drunk.
Tuesday night Ann was still here, so after a long day at work (I am rubbish at this socialising thing) I came home, got hastily changed, and out we all went to a pub quiz at a place in Walthamstow village. Fiona came and joined us, and we ate a yummy tea before getting trounced at the pub quiz. (We did have an awesome name though, of 'You're a quizzard, Harry!') Still, with the warm clement weather remaining it was a pleasant evening.
Now I am going to bed to try and catch up on sleep. Ann has headed off to visit Louise Work social thing tomorrow and then Amanda Palmer on Friday night! (I have taken Friday afternoon off to have a nap. I do not regret this.)
TL:DR? LFCC was splendid. Well organised, good friends, and all guests being wonderful. Despite the exhaustion, I don't regret ANYTHING.
All this said, I had been looking forward to LFCC all week. It meant I had people coming to stay, and fun times, and general awesomeness. I hadn't taken into account the fact it was going to be about a squillion degrees. Argh. Still on Friday I came home to Louise and Fiona, who had been let in by Richie rather than enjoying some very discreet burglary. I cooked for all three of us, and we had a quiet night in which was actually quite nice. Well, it was 'quiet' except for the bits when Louise was shouting abuse at the tennis.
Later on, Richie, Tali and Ann came home - they'd been at a radio recording - and we had a good gossip and catch up before heading to bed.
We woke up very early on Saturday morning. It was very odd to wake people up from my living room rather than a Travelodge room, but at least I know how the showers work here! After blearily eating and drinking tea, we strode out into the already sunny day, and met Fiona on the Tube on the way in. The Tube in a Star Trek uniform is a unique experience, I must admit!
When we got there, we saw that the queue was enormous. To our mild horror, it was in fact the queue for the early bird, pre-paid tickets. As we applied sunscreen and settled down to wait, we at least got to enjoy watching all the cosplayers going by. I've never seen so many - it was an awesome sight to beold, and I was pleased to see that at least other people got to suffer the horror of non-natural fibres on a roasting hot day.
We got in before too long, enjoying the bliss of air conditioning. Aftwe we got our virtual tickets, I was saddened to see Robert Rankin without anyone queueing up to see him. As Robert Rankin is MADE OF AWESOME I decided to rectify this and go up and get his new book and have a chat. He was wonderful and chatty ("You've come from the other side of the galaxy to meet me!"), despite me burbling at him how big a fan I am before asking him to sign the book to my dad. (Dad is a big fan too, and it's his birthday next month. KARMA.) His wife was lovely too, and generally it was a Good Omen for the start of the convention. Afterwards I phoned Dad and burbled about how lovely he was. It's the first time Dad has ever been marginally impressed at anyone I've ever met at a convention.
We went to the Doctor Who talk after this, which was distinctly odd. There seemed to be some kind of mix up and a bloke from Texas Chainsaw Massacre ended up joining in. ("I must admit I'm not familiar with Doctor Who?") but once they got rid of him it was a good line up and well compered, although I think that 8 guests is too many for a 45 minute session! Particularly when you include like the legend that is David Warner.
After this we went over to meet Avery Brooks, who was really lovely! He shook everyone's hand, marvelled at the size of my crew, and generally chatted with all of us. I particularly enjoyed his good-mannered taunting of Louise. I also met Nana Visitor, who was also splendid and I got a wonderful photo with her. YAY FOR DEEP SPACE NINE CAST.
It was unbelievably busy on the Saturday, so we spent a lot of the midafternoon period trying to see where the virtual queues were up to for the Game of Thrones guests, mostly being Lena Heady and Peter Dinklage. Fortunately both were entirely worth the wait. I didn't get their autographs - too many Deep Space Nine guests, not enough budget for both. However, Lena Heady was beautiful and surprisingly delicate, with some lovely tattoos on her arms. Peter Dinklage was, it must be said, quite hot. We all swooned a little! (Okay, a lot. But seriously, the TV doesn't come near to doing him justice.)
We tried to find somewhere for lunch outside the venue, but it was roasting hot and we really struggled to find anywhere. On the bright side we did get to have lunch at the graveyard Emmeline Pankhurst was buried in - it was quite pleasant to sit in the shade and listen to the birds, although it retrospect we should have stayed inside for the air conditioning!
Argh, I know I must be forgetting so much. I seem to have mislaid my camera cable so I can't upload my photos, which is what I normally use for a memory jog, so some of this may be out of order! We saw loads of awesome cosplayers on the Sunday. We apparently missed out on the memo that said Saturday was Avengers day. We even got to see a boy!Black Widow, which was splendid. And a Ghost Rider! ("Make a crazy Nick Cage face!")
Later in the afternoon, as the crowds thinned a little, I ended up getting the autographs of all the Ferengi from Deep Space Nine, as well as Andrew Robinson. All three were magnificent and wonderful people - I had a reallylong chat with Armin Shimerman, Max Grodenchik drew an exquisite autograph (it says 'Much profit!'), and Aron Eisdenberg came all the way around his table just to get a photo with me. So lovely!
Still, as the day wore on, it was time to head out into the still-blazing sun. Richie wasn't at the convention as basically it's not his idea of a good time (he gets annoyed at the crowds in the supermarket on a weekend, I think a busy convention would kill him) but he had kindly packed us together a picnic and we met him at Kensington Gardens, where we law on the grass and complained about our feet and drank an awful lot of sangria, as well as watching some squirrels. It was enjoyable, and meant we at least got a wee bit of the weekend's sunshine!
After this, though, it was back towards the house. I fell into bed rather early. I feel quite guilty about this, as I kept abandoning people to go to bed early. This is because I have work this week, and I need to try and keep as much sleep banked as I can. Given how knackered I am by today (and it must be said that I would be in bed now if it wasn't for the interview round of the Apprentice being on) it was a good idea, but still. Sorry everyone!
Probably best I went to bed early, given that I was woken two hours later by Richie coming to bed and not long after leaving bed to throw up the large amount of whisky he had drank. Oh dear.
We woke up again ridiculously early, this time in order to look more like SUPERHEROES! Well, sort of. It was even warmer on the Sunday, so it was obviously entirely sensible to put on all black as well as a corset. Oh dear. Still, it made for great fun on the Tube, particularly when we picked up Fiona as Nick Fury and she handed over the shield to Ann as Captain America. I don't know what I enjoyed more, whether it was my cape fluttering in the wind or the horrified looks of other people on the Tube.
The queue was much shorter on the Sunday, and we got in with a lot more time to spare. Stupidly, Ann, Fiona and I signed up for the cosplay competition. THIS ENDED UP BEING A MISTAKE.
Having already got my autographs the day before, I ended up wandering with everyone else to their guests. It meant I got to see the delightful Lalla Ward, who is and remains splendidly beautiful and graceful. I also went with Louise to see Alexander Siddig. I already have his autograph for various convoluted reasons, but it was good to go up and have a wee nosy at him. ALSO FINN JONES. I love Finn Jones and his beautiful face. This has been noted before. HE'S SO LOVELY THOUGH. Jimmy was also about in the morning - haven't seen him for a bit and it was good to catch up!
(As a side note, he was sat next to Nana Visitor and was charging £5 more than her. We did morbidly wonder if it was awkward.)
Mostly, it must be said, I sort of kept my head down and had a look at cosplayers. We saw some magnificent ones, including a great set of All The Avengers Who Weren't Us (Pepper! Natasha! Coulson! Loki!) which was lots of fun. Plus there was a really cute tiny Captain America who was fascinated to see so many other girls dressed as Captain America. That was one thing I really enjoyed about this convention - lots of children seeing a lot of genderswapped costumes and kickass women. Still lots of women without pants getting a lot of attention, but a good mix nevertheless.
We also spent a lot of time shouting "YOU KNOW NOTHING JON SNOW!" at Game of Thrones cosplayers in increasingly loud Northern accents, until we sat down and realised that a proper Northerner would say 'You dunno owt!' so we shouted that and probably confused a lot of people...
Also! Tali bought an awesome hat! This should be noted, as it's an awesome hat. Purple top hat!
At about 2.30pm, we took a moment to sit down before being hauled over by the cosplayers. This was a moment of terror, as I had a photoshoot with Finn Jones booked for 2.50pm. The people organising the cosplayers hadn't told us how early we'd needed to be there and weren't being particularly helpful about the clash. Argh. Fortunately, Showmasters were wonderful and pushed me and another cosplayer to the front of the queue for the photoshoot, so I still got my lovely photo! Finn Jones asked what was with the cape, and then did an awesome pose. It is a BRILLIANT photoshoot. I am delighted with it! Even though immediately afterwards I had to sprint over to the cosplay. Imagine my annoyance when it was running ridiculously behind, particularly as I didn't have the chance to say goodbye to Tali. Boo.
We had managed to work out a little routine while waiting backstage ("In! Out! And FALL!") and we didn't make too big fools of ourselves, although unsurprisingly we didn't win. Oh well.
We ended up in some weird flashmob after this, involving doing some odd Star Wars dance? I have no idea what happeened. They say there will be videos on Youtube, so be prepared.
After a last wander around the stalls (I got a teatowel witha picture of the Hulk holding a cracked cup, looking sad, and saying 'HULK SMASH?') it was the end of the day. Having discovered Frank half way through the day we all ended up coming back to my flat for Chinese takeaway, watching a lot of Psychobitches and Disney films and generally chilling out.
It was a nice way to end the weekend,even if I did have to duck into the kitchen to do my ironing.
On Monday I hauled myself out of bed for work, and went with Louise to the train station. I found myself having errible post con blues in work, a combination of exhaustion and vague sadness to be sat indoors. Plus, I got a test message from Richie at 1.30pm telling me he and Ann were in a pub that was all of a minute's walk from my work. ALAS.
By about 5.30pm I realised he hadn't responded to my enquiries as to location, and remembered that said pub is a basement bar. Based on my knowledge of Richie, I headed over to the pub only to find a slightly tipsy Ann outside. I was RIGHT!
So on Monday night I found myself drinking instead, and meeting with Dee and one of Ann and Richie's old university friends (City drinking! And admittedly I was in my smartest business gear for convuluted reasons so at least I looked good) before going to a German bar for beer and sausages. Well, I didn't have sausages, but there we go. We walked home down the Embankment in the warm evening air, which was a bit of a treat. London is magical at night if its warm and you're a bit drunk.
Tuesday night Ann was still here, so after a long day at work (I am rubbish at this socialising thing) I came home, got hastily changed, and out we all went to a pub quiz at a place in Walthamstow village. Fiona came and joined us, and we ate a yummy tea before getting trounced at the pub quiz. (We did have an awesome name though, of 'You're a quizzard, Harry!') Still, with the warm clement weather remaining it was a pleasant evening.
Now I am going to bed to try and catch up on sleep. Ann has headed off to visit Louise Work social thing tomorrow and then Amanda Palmer on Friday night! (I have taken Friday afternoon off to have a nap. I do not regret this.)
TL:DR? LFCC was splendid. Well organised, good friends, and all guests being wonderful. Despite the exhaustion, I don't regret ANYTHING.