So many things happening this weekend. Today marks the start of Continuum, "an annual Melbourne speculative fiction and pop culture convention celebrating creativity across genre and media". This is its third year and promises to be bigger and better. For one thing, Neil Gaiman, the most celebrated and award-winning creator of the Sandman series and most recently, the upcoming film Mirrormask, will be one of the guests of honour.
I failed to purchase my convention tickets on time. Damn! Not only that, it clashes with my schedule because I have classes later in the afternoon. Grrrr! I won't be able to go to tomorrow's thing as well since it also happens to be the long-awaited release of the sixth book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince! I pre-purchased my copy about a month ago and I'll be damned if I don't get it first thing tomorrow morning!
So, that leaves tomorrow evening. What activities are there left for me to do? Well, the Maskobalo happens to be on from 9:00 pm onwards. It's a Masquerade Ball and costuming should be tied in with Continuum 3's theme: creatures natural and unnatural. So, think gothic, fantastic, science fiction, medieval... this just happens to be right up my alley! Entrance is only $10 a person! How cheap is that!
You think that it's easy for me to say, "Yeah, I'll definitely go?" Nah! Not until I saw on the Continuum website that Doctor Who is touring Australia for the first time! The sixth and the seventh doctor will be onstage discussing with the audience what its like to be a timelord, view classic footage, and discuss several plots used in the show. Of course, this thing starts at 8 pm in a venue nowhere near where the Maskobalo is being held!
Arrrrggghhhh! Can you hear my frustration???
Probably the only event I'll be able to attend throughout this whole sci-fi convention thingy will be Neil Gaiman's book signing at the State Library on Monday. I'll just have to dig up all my Sandman comic books...
*****
My friend Bec mentioned to me just this morning that a good friend of hers has a tattoo on her lower back. She wasn't able to describe the tattoo design to me in full detail, just that it came from a Neil Gaiman comic book - most likely Sandman. She said that when Neil Gaiman came to Melbourne a few years back, she got him to sign her lower back next to the tattoo. She got his signature tattooed on her the very same day! How cool is that? Needless to say, they became pretty good friends after that.
Neil contacted Bec's friend yesterday. They went for lunch together and Neil asked her to accompany him while he shopped for clothes. Since he just came from Manila where the weather was quite hot, he wasn't ready for Melbourne crisp and cold weather. Apparently, he looked a bit "grungy" so when he presented his AMEX platinum card, some of the shopkeepers looked at him funny. Then younger shopkeepers would recognize him and say "It's okay. He's Neil Gaiman, don't you know?"
That would have been a really neat thing to witness, I reckon.
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2 comments:
Got to have my books signed by Neil. He was so cool, and so overwhelmed by the Filipino crowd. Three days of very little rest. It was surreal. He's very nice too, and polite.
I'm in a bit of trouble since Neil's book signing is the same time as my Monday classes! Aarrrghhhh!!!
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