Rachel's Blog: Conventions

C6: Report from the Art Dept

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:56:31 +1100

Immediately after C5 last year I begged Chair-of-C6 Hespa to let me edit together a video for the opening ceremony for C6. She then asked me to do some decorations for the venue, to give the con an apocalyptic flavour. This was quite probably too much for one person. For the last few months I have neglected everything else going on around me, but I'm pretty sure I pulled it off.

There are photos of the props I made, which got a lot of comments, especially the zombie cat and giant computer, thank you! And photos of the Maskobalo set-up, which I also coordinated (Mikee did all the lighting).

The video, however is my pride and joy. I spent literally hundreds of hours on it. I hope you like it.

I have to publicly thank everyone who responded to my Twitter cry for cardboard boxes - Deb Kalin, Chris Miles, my brother Alex and Amanda. For enabling the video, thanks again to Alex, Chris, Dougal Scott and my local video store. Thank you to my parents for letting me raid their attic, shed and garage for EXPLOSIVES signs, CRT tvs, truck turn signals, lights and the oscilloscope. Everything else came from Reverse Art Truck and the mistint shelf at Bunnings. Thank you also to Fran La Fontaine who schlepped everything to the venue with her cunning skills in truckbed tetris.

But the person who really let me get away with this was Richard. Thank you. I'll clean up the paint and cardboard now.

Continuum 6: Future Tense

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 13:52:58 +1100

I woke up this morning completely drained of adrenaline, which is what I have been operating on for the last couple of months. BUT IT WAS WORTH IT.

C6 was a great con and I will write more about it once I regrow my chewed-out brain.

Let me just leave you with this. DJ Omega and I conspired to bring about the highlight of the Saturday night Maskobalo.

A Sci-Fi Christmas Cracker!

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 11:01:55 +1100

I may have signed up for Nanowrimo last month but what I did instead was edit together a giant collection of hilarious videos for the inaugural Continuum/MSFC Christmas Party. Song! Dance! Jokes! Poor taste! Dragons! Inappropriate humour! You'll be rolling in the aisles - in pain!

There will also be delectable edibles and loads of silly season silliness.

When: Friday 11th December
Doors open at 8pm, excitement begins at 9pm.

Where: St. David's Uniting Church Hall
74 Melville Road, West Brunswick
(Melways ref 29 C5, or catch a #55 tram from William Street in the city, to tram stop 36).

Cost: MSFC and Continuum members free, otherwise $2 at the door.
Gold coin donations for food and drinks.

We apologise but due to the nature of the venue no alcohol is permitted on the premises.

Continuum Presents: Halloween Trivia

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:30:40 +1000

C5: Galaxies by Gaslight - A Co-Chair's Perspective

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:40:05 +1000

Thursday
We had a pre-con event on Thursday evening; a Hangman's Tour of the Old Melbourne Gaol arranged and performed by Heath Miller. I was kind of afraid it would be a bit cheesey, but I was very wrong. It was a little creepy, but mostly it was about getting the information across and a bit of imagining what it was like being imprisoned. (Not nice, by the way, really not nice.) Terrific tour, highly recommended. It also gave a good chunk of the committee a chance to meet our Guests of Honour Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Narrelle M. Harris. There was a bit of discussion about the set up the next day as we had limited time to get everything in place before the doors opened. Much sleeplessness resulted.

Friday
Our fears proved unfounded and we were able to set up a little early and in record time and then it was all on! Most of the daytime events during the weekend are a blur, but oh my god, the committee. There has never been a committee like the C5 committee. Every person on it knew what to do, where to be, who to talk to. It ran like clockwork, which for a steampunk con was appropriately fortunate.

The Introduction to Con Going panel was brief, but I hope we said a few useful things for the first-timers. The Opening was also brief, but then things really got going with Richard Harland's Worldshaker launch. Jack Dann again hitting the mark with his sales pitch and Richard gave a terrific reading. Then cocktails and talking, (so much talking!) until Thank Cthulu You're Here. George Ivanoff ably wrangled Narrelle Harris, Danny Oz, Scott Pollard and Paul Poulton in theatre sports. I acted as a last minute stand-in judge, but I'm afraid I was enjoying the show so much I didn't contribute any actual funnies. Early to bed, but then so much more brain-churning that there again wasn't much actual sleep. Which did not set me up too well for

Saturday
First in the door at 8am so the Dealers could finish setting up, then running around chatting, fixing, addressing, whatever needed to be done. The Dollhouse panel with M1k3y and Heath was a hoot. I hope the audience had as much fun as we did talking about the inherent Godishness of Joss Whedon and arguing the finer points of Eliza Dushku's acting chops.

More fetching and carrying and just a little panicking before my reading in the afternoon. Heath and I concocted a genius plan where he would take half my slot to read a story originally written for the conbook, but deemed inappropriate for print (by me - I'm such a prude). This meant I only had to read half as much as I thought. Everybody wins! The readings went well. I really enjoyed Gillian Polack's and Lucy Sussex's readings too. Vindictive dart throwing and books on the rampage. What's not to like?

After that it was all about preparations for the Maskobalo. Hespa and our tech guys - Mikee's Mikes and The Hairy Dude did an OUTSTANDING job with the sound and lighting. Combined with Guttermonkey's props and all the lanterns we could muster the space had a terrific ambience even before it was filled with costumes. And boy, howdy. I could go on and on, but I will wait until there are photos and then link, because really you have to see.

I especially have to mention DJ Omega who generously and skillfully kept us on the dance floor almost without pause. You have seen nothing until you have seen thirty people in steampunk outfits bouncing around to the Monkey Magic theme.

There was still a good crowd at midnight keen to carry on, so it was up to the Coccoon Bar. Excellent conversations were had and it was verrrry late early before I got back to my room.

Sunday
For those keeping tally, by this point I had had less than 10 hours sleep in the last 36. Caffeine and adrenaline, my friends, caffeine and adrenaline. Sunday is a total blur. I know I spent money in the Dealer's room, because I have a beautiful shiny pile of books to read. I caught some of the Steampunk Fashion panel and felt quite underdressed. Cass and Omega went all out and looked gorgeous. The Closing Ceremony went well, I think. After getting out quite efficiently we attempted a Dead Dog party, but I think we were all too dead. Ah, well.

Thank you again to everyone who attended, the fabulous committee, our generous and fascinating Guests of Honour and to you for reading this far.

The Nod.

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:15:05 +1000

It's days since C5 and I'm still on cloud nine. This clip is from Groove, which I highly recommend if you're into dance/electronica.

Continuum Trivia Night

Thu, 14 May 2009 22:56:28 +1000

Conflux 5: A Summary

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:28:51 +1000

Day one: Swung swords, injured no-one. Not sure if this counts as a success or not. Announced C5.

Day two: Went to a panel. Drank. Gasbagged. Frocked up. Ate. Drank more. C5 room party (definite success)

Day three: Sat in dealers' room, sold books. Crashed a dinner party. Drank. Gasbagged. Room party.

Day four: Quite blurry. Sold books. Gasbagged. Drank.

Day five: Saved the world. Came home.

I had the most awesome con experience anyone has ever had. I talked to so many wonderful, funny, intelligent people from all over the place. My eyeballs are still rattling around in my skull from exhaustion and everything I left undone before the con remains undone.

I will write more over the next few days about books and dresses and alcohol (the three major themes of the weekend), but sadly I have no photos. I had my camera, but everytime I attempted to use it, it failed, so I took that as a sign to participate rather than document. Which worked well. Cat has some photos here and if I come across any more I'll point them out. But right now I need Heroes.

Continuum 5 - It's Alive!

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:38:54 +1000

Paul Poulton and I will be co-chairing the next Continuum convention which will be held in mid-2009. We're having a casual meeting shortly and if you'd like to find out what Continuum is all about, you're interested in helping, have some awesome ideas or can bring food, we'd love to see you there. Here are the details:

Sunday 20 April
10am-12.30pm
Carlton Library
667 Rathdowne Street, Nth Carlton.

Ring the doorbell if there's no one about and we'll rush down to let you in!

If you're not able to make this meeting, but would like to put your hand up please email me and I'll make sure you're kept up-to-date. Don't forget there is a Continuum Members Yahoo group and a loosely associated blog at Livejournal.