Eating Muffins in an Agitated Manner

Åcon 5, part II

I have lots of books and films and whatnot to write about, but my brain has turned to mush, thanks to Åcon crud. Though in the interests of full disclosure I think patient zero in this case was either my mom or Jukka, so I most probably would have had this plague even without awesome Åcon. Also apologies for other suffering people for spreading the germ.

I have little - well, a lot - to add about this con to Jukka's report. I love the concept to bits, and have never had a bad or even mediocre Åcon. As noted in earlier reports Åland as a location rules, weather was was sunny if not warm, and the trip was pleasant and well organised (thank you again Hanna!). On the minus side hotel and bar were exceptionally sloppy with us this year. I kind of like the little dilapidated 1980s thing the place has going on, but room assigments were not done as per request which lead to all kinds of difficulties. I can also understand that the bar was overwhelmed with both ice hockey WC and us, but again, if you charge good price for the high end stuff then it would be nice if you could make sure you have the stuff to sell. It is not like this was the first time Åcon was in Adlon.

As for the content, our Guest of Honor Catherynne M. Valente was funny, smart, engaged, enthusiastic and our kind of people. So that was kind of nice. Also, she is an excellent writer. For me, the absolutely best thing about her work is that (maybe because of her backround as a poet?) that she engages in trying to transmit how things feel, what it is like to touch. As one of those people who do not see stories in their minds eye, that approach is extremely satisfying.

Programming, well, um. OK, the thing is I don't much care for panel programs. I like to listen to a well argued paper or clear lecture, or take part in group discussions. But panels, not really my thing. Thus my normal Åcon consists of catching few programming Items, doing my own stuff and spending the rest of the time in the bar or at the patio with friends. This time, the programming was on time, there were no real breaks and obviously the programming was interesting enough that people spent most of their time watching it. Silly things. Also the stupid awning was down all the time so it was cold on the patio, and thus the hanging out part of the con was a bit truncated.

I saw Never Mind the Bus, Aldrin, absolutely mad props to Ben for saving the day, well done. Cat's reading was also very good, both the story and her reading of it Nene, as I knew from Eurocon, is an excellent interviewer and she and Cat seemed to find each other well in the author interview. Loponen's Sapir Whorf paper was good stuff, mapping as it did, the ways SF-writers use Sapir Whorf on top of how the position of the hypothesis has changed in linguistics. Mekku does pretty complicated literary philosopy, that relies on very specific vocabulary, and heavily engages with work of others in the field. And twenty minutes is not enough time to open that up for people not familiar with it. But at least it was exactly what was ordered :-)

What else: the panel on postmodern fantasy. Look, obviously the panelists all had slightly different views on what constitutes postmodernism, and that is fine (as it is actually one of the hallmarks of postmodern thought to constantly question the nature of everything), let postmodernism defy all efforts to pin it down, let it float and sting, flollop and vollue around us. But if the panelists do not have a working definition for modernism when they talk about postmodernism, confusion ensues. Now I was left with a feeling everybody understood modernism a bit differently and then tried to discuss postmodernism through their own understanding of modernism which lead to people talking past each other.

Actually, I would really love to read a paper on modernism in fantasy. It seems to me that early genre fantasy (Tolkien, Dunsany etc.) and modernism were born both as hugely different reactions to realism and naturalism. Modernism reacting to and developing from naturalism, going from outside world to inside of human mind, and developing stylistical tecqhniques to break down and reshape narrative, and Fantasy marrying the novel form to old medieval romance. So if that is the case (and even if it isn't) where is modernistic fantasy? Where are Proust, Joyce, Woolf or Faulkner of fantasy?

In the mornings we again took dogs and Jeeves and went around the island. Eckerö post and customs office does look incredible all on its lonesome, and both Martti and Mogens got lovely long walks on the rocky beaches. I did take part on organised excursion to Järsö island at the southern tip of the main islands where there is a lovely café and handcraft store Stickstugan. It sells both yarn and stuff you can make from it. The yarn is lovely, hand-coloured and spinned from the wool of Åland sheep. It is a bit tricky to knit as hand spinned yarns often are, but end result is gorgeous. Next time I need a proper budget.

Next Åcon is 9.-12.5.2013, GoH Tricia Sullivan. Sign up, you won't regret it!

Åcon 5

Posted by jukkahoo

It has been a while. There are number of reasons, the most obvious one being the lack of need for the original purpose for this blog ie. The Sickness. SoMe is also to blame. And one should never under estimate the power of Lazy. Or work.

The last one is really depressing. Not as work, that I can handle and mostly get by with. It's just the realization that work takes so much more of my time than it used to. In the Olden Days, when salad was green and less rockety, I could squeeze in some personal stuff to the daily humdrum of work place. Today, less so. A lot less. And back home I'm often far too tired to do that Fun Stuff as much as I'd like to. Bummer.

But.

I got back here to talk about Åcon 5. Which was excellent, though not brilliant. For that, I blame myself and/or whomever gave me the blasted cold I'm still having. It is possible that I may have given the bug a way in previous Monday when I decided that it IS Summer and strutted in the city in shorts. When it most definitely was not Summer. Sunny? - yes, but other than that, bloody cold.

Therefore, Åcon 2012 was "just" excellent. The weather could've been a bit better ie. sunnier and warmer. There was fairly little in the way of sitting in the terrace, sipping malted drinks and smoking cigars. And what was that deck cover about? Was it ever open? Did anyone ask about that?

Adlon was as usual: shabby, erratic and challenging, but friendly words and pretty smiles are often all it takes to make customers happy. Though service is always appreciated. The Sports Bar another thing altogether. Again thay managed to fuck up their cider and beer orders, prices seemed to have been amped up to mainland level and closing time came way before the time we had agreed upon. Essentially, nothing has changed.

Since I was pretty fluuey during the con, I slept through most of the ferry trip and later didn't see much of Mariehamn, other than Saturday dinner at Indigo (muy tasty, muy expensive). Which was a bit of a shame. Next time, then.

I did witness most of the programming items (when I was asleep), since I was sort of in charge of it. Though we did spent quite some time thinking about it during our Åconplancon cruise a month or so ago. Otherwise we wouldn't have seen for example Torill Kornfeldt or Karin Waller on stage. Which would've been most unfortunate.

I'd like to thank each and every program participant. I was most impressed by the way you guys took the stage and delivered your parts, hooray! I belive that this year's programming was the best I've been involved with and I'm looking forward to seeing you all in many a future cons! Special mention must go to Ben Roimola, who took the torch and handled presenting Never Mind the Buzzaldrins like a real pro, after I realised I was in no condition to do it myself! I may have to start scripting these things more, it was great to be in the audience for change!

In hindsight, It might've been wise to let someone else do the Just a Speculative Fiction Minute as well, since I was pretty close to collapsing afterwards. Or on Monday. 'Twas fun, though.

But what can I say about our Guest of Honour? Cat Valente was brilliant, funny, charming, interesting, interested and all-encompassing force of nature. Jetlagged, as one might expect, but eager to hear things, lear´n new stuff and meet new people. And there was hardly a program item she wasn't witnessing or participating: "What, you have knitting program! Can I be in that, too?" :)

Bless.

All in all, a lovely con with lovely people. Excellent con committee and GoH. Brilliant program participants and general attendees. Win over USA. Lemsip Lemon. NoFF auction. Lavender Man. Jura Prophecy. Sleep. Must do this again.

Yes, we must do this again, soon. Hey, how about THIS!

Tauko

Posted by jukkahoo

On ollut. Taukoa. Ho-hum.

Ei etteikö olisi ollut kirjoitettavaa. Kaikkihan lukevat mielleään kertomuksia hammaslääkärillä käynnistä. Sitten viime 'näkemän' olen vieraillut moisella viisi kertaa. Ensiksi halkesi takahammas ja sitten etu. Hitto soikoon.

Kirjojakin on luettu. Jopa sähköisiä. Ostin nimittäin iPadin. Mahtava lelu! Aivan paras leikkikalu konsaan.

Ann ja Jeff kävivät vierasilla. Kierreltiin hieman maita ja mantuja. Juteltiin mukavia ja suunniteltiin isosti. Toivon mukaan siementen itäminen on hyvällä mallilla ja satoa saadaan korjata ennen pitkään. Hyvää toki kannattaaa odottaa.

Kävin kuukausi sitten Tukholmassa kunniavierailemassa. Suosittelen kaikille, harva asia on itse asiassa aivan yhtä hauskaa kuin kunniavieraana oleminen. Ehkä jääkiekon maailmanmestaruus on aika lähellä, muttei ihan. Suomen mestaruus on tosin ihan siinä rinnalla. GO REDS! Euroconista olen koettanut kirjoittaa raportin tynkää, mutta jokin tökkii. Jos tässä loman aikana vielä saisi jotain valmiiksi, niin ehkä sen tännekin törkkäisisin.

Finncon oli Turussa. Siitä olisi myös sanansa sanottavana. Olen kuitenkin yrittänyt välttää julkista kommenttointia, koska en ole vieläkään oikein osannut saada aikaan koherenttia kokonaisuuttaa siitä, mikä minusta olisi soveliasta kritiikkiä ja mikä aiheetonta ränttiä. Sanotaanko nyt näin, että aika moni ihminen on nähnyt asian kohtuullisen paljon samalla lailla kuin minäkin: Finncon 2011 ei ollut maailman onnistunein Finncon. Itse asiassa, minusta se oli käymistäni (kaikki miinus 1986 ja 2001) Finnconeista heikoin. Jonkinlaisen kuvan saanee, jos lukee vaikkapa seuraavat palaute-ketjut:

Aniki

RIsingshadow

Babek Nabel

Henkilökohtaisia näkemyksiä löytyy myös erilaisista blogeista, anime-henkisiä kannattaa etsiä vaikka täältä. Vanhojen ja väsyneiden partasetien sanallisen arkun avautumista odotellaan vielä. Omalta kohdalta isompi raportointi saattaa jäädä väliin, sen verran epätasapainoon viime viikonloppu meikäläisen Con-shuin saattoi. Kun yllekirjoittanut hukkaa Finnconin aikana con-fiiliksen ja arpoo ankarasti lauantai-aamuna sen välillä, jäädäkö hotellihuoneeseen pelailemaan Vihaisia lintuja vai mennäkö conpaikalle pitämään ohjelmanumeroitaan, niin minusta homma ei mene ihan niin kuin Strömsössä.

Loppupeleissä minulle jäi tapahtumasta haalea fiilis, jos kohta plussa-merkkinen sellainen. On enemmän kuin hauska ta-va-ta vanhoja kamuja (mahtava nähdä Eevaliisa Tenhunen ja Ronnin Tapsa!) ja ylipäänsä smoffata. Viikonlopun anti tulevaisuudelle oli toivon mukaan kohtuullisen antoisa, sen verta monta hyvää ideaa ja ajatusta sen aikana syntyi ja jalostui.

Kaikesta huolimatta haluan sanoa järjestäville tahoille voimalliset kannustuksen sanat: kaikesta oppii. Eikä tämä nyt kokonaisvaltainen katastrofi ollut. Kävijäpalautteesta voi lukea, että suurimmalla osalla vierailijoista oli ihan hauskaa, ohjelmista pidettiin ja vaikka kritiikkiä annettiinkin ihan kunnolla, niin myös kiitoksia on tullut ihan mukavasti. Kiitokset kaikille niille, jotka tämän saivat aikaan!

Näiden sanojen jälkeen on hyvä muistaa, että tässä saa itse kukin lähteä rakentamaan tulevia coneja hattu kourassa ja avoimin mielin. Ensi vuonna olisi tarjolla Åcon 5 ja 2013 Helsinki olisi tarjoilemassa oman versionsa Finnconista. Leopardihattu pyrkii tekemään parhaansa, että homma pelittäisi perinteitä kunnioittaen ja uutta luoden.

Ensi kertaan. Nyt pakenen suomalaiskansallisesti maalle viikoksi.

Finncon wrap up

Posted by Sari

So, after a month of procastinating, here is my Finncon 2010 report. This, the first Finncon without Animecon since 2001 (which incidentally was the only Finncon I have missed since 1991)  was, I think it is safe to say,  a success. To my eye the attendance seemed to be around the same as it was in 1990s Jkylä cons. Uncle Alvar’s non-functional University main building was crowded but not over-crowded, and all the programming items I attended in one capacity or another had plenty of audience. It is time and work intensive to get accurate attendance numbers for free event such as Finncon, and the way Finland Festivals wants the numbers tends to inflate the head count, but be that as it may, a good attendance.

From personal point of view as a program participant and a gopher the organisers did a good job. I knew where I was supposed to be, when and doing what. The info mails arrived on time – well more or less – and had all the info I needed. Tech team answered my queries promptly, and gave good and clear instructions on how to use the gadgets. Even my most technologically intensive programming item where I was using Youtube, Powerpoint and two computers got off on time without tech problems.

As for programming on general, I am the wrong person to say much about it. My standards for speech programming are ridiculous. I can’t for example watch interviews or discussion programs from television because the muddled arguments and lame questions annoy me to no end. Thus I have yet to meet a discussion item on any con I thought was better than  quite nice, and that includes my own programs which I really don’t ever want to see taped. Even though quite paradoxically I like doing programming, I am painfully aware that according to my own standards I suck. I tend to prefer speeches and lectures because there at least should be a coherent argument, or round-table discussions which allow all to participate. That said, I thought the topics for this year’s con were interesting, and have already said something about the ones I saw in earlier posts.

On Sunday my sole effort was a panel about building a dream con with Johan and Carolina. We definitely could have been more structured and talked more about the differences between dream con as an attendee and a dream con as a conrunner – very different animals – but even so, it was an interesting topic and something I would like to revisit it at some point in this blog.

What we did agree on in our dream con panel was that for a non Anglo-American con which does not get many professionals as members/visitors, the guests of honour mean a lot. And at least for me, Jyväskylä hit a jackpot with Ellen, Pat, Sari and Liisa, all wonderful, funny and interesting women with worth while things to say and write. And I have to admit that since Jyväskylä announced Ellen as GoH I had been doing a little happy dance because I was hoping Delia would come along as I have been fan of her work for years. So A++++ for Finncon for the guests.

The socialising aspect of the con suffered a bit because a) I had lots do do and b) it was freaking hot. Even with Hello Kitty fans, spray bottle fans and old fashioned lacy fans, sitting in Sohwi meant dripping sweat in your mediocre beer. Even so it was lovely to see old friends and make some new ones, even if I had to give my mind a good scrub because of certain Twilight interpretations…

So Yay for Animeconless Finncon. I know there are people who miss the colourful costume carnival atmosphere animefandom brings along, and still believe SF-fandom could siphon some young blood from animefandom, but I am pretty sure a generic anime-event concurrent with Finncon is not the way to go. If people want to have a colourful carneval – which I don’t – we should do the dressing up ourselves: animefandom is not there to make our con more exotic. If people want to do a recruitment drive, we should program stuff younger people are interested in and advertise in anime- and roleplaying events, maybe even Assembly. Those who have an interest in SF and Fantasy but are not fannish about it, might wander in to a free event if it happens to be in their city, and few might even get fannish about it as a consequence. Not that I am especially worried about the future, people have been moaning about the lack of new blood for the almost twenty years I have been in fandom and yet somehow every year I meet new faces in SF events.

Next year we are in Turku, with the big fare-thee-well separation party with Animecon. The logistics seem at least on paper quite doable, and Nalo Hopkinson and Richard Morgan are an interesting pair of GoHs. So looking forward to returning to the birthplace of Finnish fandom next summer. See ya there :-)

Finncon 2010 ramblings part 3: Saturday

Posted by Sari

I promise to post something like a coherent review of the con later, consider these posts like a very middle-aged woman's  record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication. Saturday was my busy day at the con. First I was on Tähtifantasia award panel, which I thought went OK. I love the concept. Because obviously the judges already know which book won, and might have had a lot of constructive discussion before deciding on a winner, a panel with them would be really stilted. Thus four other people giving their opinion on the nominated books moderated by the judging committee chair gives - I think - a more interesting perspective on the things.

Then I spent an hour gophering at Ellen's guest of honor performance, which I enjoyed even though medieval ballads are not my thing, she projects her own love of what she is doing so well that it draws the audiences in. From the gophering stint I had to literally run to moderate Opera and the fantastic panel. I was sure there was no way we could fill the longer time slot we were given, but lo and behold, the gopher's 15 minute sign came incredibly fast. The panelists and I enjoyed the panel tremendously, and we could have gone on for a long time, so I can only hope some of the enthusiasm was transmitted to the audience.

I then popped in the green room for a bit, and then went over to C1 to gopher Cheryl's informative and funny how to run a masquerade lecture and the masquerade itself which followed straight after. (Special thanks to Ieva for volunteering to help.) Few technical glitches, but I thought that both the number of participants, the costumes themselves and especially the performances were better than any other year I have seen the masquerade. Mad props to all, but especially to Hannele, whose stage presence as always was great.

After the masquerade Mexi and me meandered back to the hotel and cooled ourselves in the swimming pool before heading for the evening party. Lozzi was hot, but the balcony was large and cool. I had a great time talking to guests and friends and left the party far too late. Also I so hope somebody got really good pictures of Maija and Taimi's hall costumes as Holmes and Watson, pure genius, I tell you...

(Edited to ad Facebook link and tags)

Finncon 2010 ramblings part 2: A dollar short and a day late

Posted by Sari

No time for blogging yesterday evening as I was being a very conscientious mod and was preparing my Saturday panel, so you get a brief ramble about Finncon friday on saturday evening while I should be getting ready for the evening party.

My Friday began with a visit to a particle accelerator lab which was coolest thing I have seen since the atomic power plant. There machinery just evokes the science fan in me. I barely understand what is being done, but even that little evokes me the sense of wonder better than many a book. After the visit, I checked out the Hugo panel discussion which I actually enjoyed, especially as the panelists remembered to tell a little bit about what the nominees were about and not just say weather they liked it or not. Also I got to make a little monologue about the related books category which I am always most interested in. I might blog about that more later.

After the hugo panel - the lovely verandah at Kirjailijatalo was taken over by Delia Sherman and Ellen Kushner who were later joined by Pat Cadigan to talk about writing, and I snuck off to the hotel for a lovely bubble bath and air conditioning. Evening was not surprisngly spent at Showi, though we left very, very early, so that I could do some last moment prepairing.

The Friday programming at the kirjailijatalo worked very well as a whole, and it was really a stroke of genious to move everything outside. So a good first day of Finncon. Now, I am off to party and too lazy to proofread. So there, take it or leave it :-)

Finncon 2010 ramblings, part 1

Posted by Sari

The most important things first. We have air conditioning. Also bathtub. Thus the basic requirements for a happy con experience have been met. Go Sokos Hotel Jyväshovi. We arrived yesterday after a pretty monotonous three hour drive, and then spent about twenty minutes driving around Jyväskylä trying to find a route to the hotel garage, and thus were late for the city reception. I want a navigator, at least then I woud have something anthropomorphic to blame when the maps are not up to date. 

We met Mekku at the hotel enjoying the cool breeze  - she told us that the researchers meeting had decamped to a park for the afternoon as it was much too hot inside, and she had decided to skip the reception. Instead we meandered up the hill to Sohwi for some burgers and some exellent swedish company. After a few we picked a nice window between showers and walked back to the hotel pretty early. You have to pace yourself when you are middle aged, you know...

Today program includes visit to a particle accelerator, hugo panel and shoppig. Maybe a nice bath. With champers... I see defenite possibilites.

Tähtivaeltaja Award 2010 to Hal Duncan - Tähtivaeltaja-palkinto 2010 Hal Duncanille

Posted by jukkahoo

It was 25 years ago, when Helsinki Science Fiction Association started giving out Tähtivaeltaja (Star Rover) Award for the best science fiction book of the (published on the previous) year. There are lots of great books on the list at the bottom here: some I'd call brilliant , some I love, some I respect and even some I couldn't care less about. 

This year's winner is Vellum, by that inimitable Scotsman, Hal Duncan. Hal just happened to be here in Helsinki, so he was able to receive the honour himself, with the publisher, LIKE. Lovely fella and well worth the recognition! As is LIKE, who keeps on publishing interesting and proper speculative fiction, while the bigger publishing houses are keeping a very low profile. Good for you, peeps!

Here's the press release, in glorious Finnish.

Helsingin Science Fiction Seuran Tähtivaeltaja-palkinto
parhaasta vuonna 2009 suomeksi ilmestyneestä
science fiction -kirjasta annetaan Liken julkaisemalle
HAL DUNCANIN romaanille VELLUM.
Teoksen on suomentanut Nina Saikkonen.


Skottikirjailija Hal Duncanin esikoisteos Vellum (ilmestynyt englanniksi 2005) on kirjallinen komeetta, joka humahtaa lukijan tajunnan läpi ja jättää haukkomaan henkeään. Rikas ja häikäisevä romaanitaiteen taidonnäyte. Moderni mestariteos vailla vertaa.

Vellum on kerroksittaisen kerronnan ja tarinallisen runsauden aarreaitta. Hal Duncan kutoo yhdeksi kiehtovaksi kokonaisuudeksi huikean määrän historiaa, mytologioita, tulevaisuusvisioita sekä kirjallisia viitteitä. Tarinan tasot liikkuvat niin sumerilaisten myyttien, Espanjan sisällissodan kuin rappeutuneen lähitulevaisuudenkin tantereilla.

Jo romaanin perusasetelma on äärimmäisen kunnianhimoinen: taivas ja helvetti ovat sodassa keskenään, ja kenttäsotilaina toimivien yli-inhimillisten unkinien on valittava puolensa tai tuhouduttava. Eräät arkkityyppisistä unkineista kuitenkin karkaavat sodan jaloista ja pakenevat entisiä taistelutovereitaan halki maailmojen ja aikakausien, muotoaan sekä nimeään vaihtaen.

Samaan aikaan päähenkilöt etsivät Kaikkeuden kirjaa, jossa itse olevaisuus määritellään ja kerrotaan auki. Traagisten tapahtumien keskellä vertauskuvat muuttuvat konkretioiksi, myytit todeksi. Kieli määrittelee ihmisyyden olemuksen, vapaus ja tiedostavuus sen arvon.

Teoksen epälineaarisuudesta kasvaa tehokeino, joka pyörittää lukijan yhä syvemmälle henkilöiden koskettavien kohtaloiden sinfoniaan. Aika ja paikka vaihtuvat varoittamatta, ja tarinasirpaleiden sisältämät ajatukset sekä visiot tunkeutuvat suoraan alitajuntaan.

Taitamattomissa käsissä Vellumin rakenteellinen ja älyllinen haastavuus saattaisi muuttua raskaudeksi, mutta Hal Duncan hallitsee valitsemansa tyylilajin suvereenisti. Hänen kerrontansa on mukaansatempaavaa ja äärimmäisen luontevaa, eikä mukana ole vähäisintäkään kikkailun tai itsetarkoituksellisen nokittelun makua.


Tähtivaeltaja-palkinnon asiantuntijaraatiin kuuluivat:
Kriitikko Hannu Blommila, päätoimittaja Toni Jerrman, kriitikko Elli Leppä ja toimittaja Vesa Sisättö



Tähtivaeltaja-palkinnon aiemmat voittajat:

Cormac McCarthy: Tie (WSOY, 2008)
Richard Matheson: Olen legenda (Vaskikirjat, 2007)
Stepan Chapman: Troikka (The Tree Club, 2006)
Risto Isomäki: Sarasvatin hiekkaa (Tammi, 2005)
M. John Harrison: Valo (Like, 2004)
J. G. Ballard: Super-Cannes (Like, 2003)
Ray Loriga: Tokio ei välitä meistä enää (Like, 2002)
Jonathan Lethem: Musiikkiuutisia (Loki-Kirjat, 2001)
Pasi Jääskeläinen: Missä junat kääntyvät (Portti-kirjat, 2000)
Will Self: Suuret apinat (Otava, 1999)
Stefano Benni: Baol (Loki-Kirjat, 1998)
Dan Simmons: Hyperion (Like, 1997)
Theodore Roszak: Flicker (Like, 1996)
Mary Rosenblum: Harhainvalta (Jalava, 1995)
Iain M. Banks: Pelaaja (Loki-Kirjat, 1994)
Simon Ings: Kuuma pää (Loki-Kirjat, 1993)
Philip K. Dick: Oraakkelin kirja (WSOY, 1992)
William Gibson: Neurovelho (WSOY, 1991)
Philip K. Dick: Hämärän vartija (Love Kirjat, 1990)
Brian Aldiss: Helliconia-trilogia (Kirjayhtymä, 198689)
Flann OBrien: Kolmas konstaapeli (WSOY, 1988)
Greg Bear: Veren musiikkia (Karisto, 1987)
Joanna Russ: Naisten planeetta (Kirjayhtymä, 1986)
Cordwainer Smith: Planeetta nimeltä Shajol (WSOY, 1985)

Åcon 4

Posted by Sari

I have always had a great time at Åcon. That should not come as a great surprise, as I have been among the more vocal complainers about the way fandom aspect has been lost into the carnival of Finncon-Animecon, and so clearly have been on the market for a smaller fannish con experience. This year, I think I had my best Åcon ever, everything just gelled beautifully.

This year other enterprising people took care of getting the GoH (the wonderful Geoff Ryman) safely to Turku for the ferry, so I Jukka and Kexy packed Jeeves (our black Nissan Note) with necessary stuff such as laminating machine, plush toys, knitting needles and yarn and Viivi the dog, and started driving towards Turku at the unholy hour of 5 a.m on Thursday morning. Despite Kexy’s efforts to navigate back towards Helsinki, we got on the boat without a hitch, and out of it early enough to avoid the check in queue at the hotel. We also bagged an excellent room from the top floor with a view across the harbour.

What made this con a bit different was that my mom was along for the ride. She spent many a summer at Åland on archaeological digs when she was young and wanted to visit her old haunts. She is also a horror and media SF fan, and heroically listened without complaint when I and my sister read the whole of Lord of the Rings aloud to her when we were fourteen and twelve respectively. Next time I am planning to get her to listen to programming also. Anyway, because I had an expert guide and we had a car in our disposal, we spent the mornings driving around Åland looking at historical sites: all four big medieval churches, a Bronze Age burial mound, a stone age dwelling and ruins of Bomarsund fortress. There was something wonderfully surreal about sitting, hung over, next to the oldest known Stone Age dwelling on Åland and debating the mechanisms of cultural exchange. With one's mom. 

The afternoons and evenings were spent socialising at the bar and catching program items. Geoff showed us interesting excerpts from silent era  movie extravaganzas from Cabiria to Fritz Lang’s Niebelungen. Geography came into play when it was obvious that the film most familiar to this audience was the one Geoff’s audiences usually do not recognize: Aelita. We also saw first half of Lang’s Frau im Mond which was surprisingly captivating: even though the chairs were hard and we had to crane our necks to see the film the audience would have wanted to see what happened after the mad professor Calculus look-alike went off cavorting on the moon with his dowsing rod.

Marianna handled the GoH interview with aplomb, and kept the conversation nicely going through Geoff’s oeuvre, and our GoH was also an excellent reader and entertained us with readings from his forthcoming book. As far as other programming went, I watched “One hit wonders” panel which bogged down a bit when everybody started just naming names and arguing if they fitted the definition. I have to give special thanks to the poor souls roped to Jukka’s Nevermind the Buzzaldrins quiz. As I am usually the test audience for his questions and my stock answer is ‘well, I don’t know’, I was glad to see that the questions proved to be tricky for other people too. I thought the lovely Candy deserved her surprise win.

If you put Hanna and Johan J. in a same hotel room, that room automatically becomes party central. Also Hello Kitty central. For some totally contrary reason the fact that I had to get up in the mornings to do the touristy bits helped me to stay up long enough to enjoy the record breaking cigar club meeting (was it ten or eleven participants?), commemorate the fall of Martti Miettunen’s minority government May 15th 1977, help to transform Pasinen into the golden boy, to have a taste of absolutely foul spirits called “Girl” (lychee fruit, raspberry, cognac and vodka), and figure out some unorthodox uses for Hello Kitty ping-pong rackets.

So, I had just about a perfect con, and now my Åcon love knows no bounds. Next year there will be no Åcon because of scheduling problems, but next year I am sure it will be even more epic than ever before.

Cleaning the cobwebs

Posted by jukkahoo

Sorry about the mess. Well, perhaps not mess, but the dust and cobwebs and them tumbleweeds. We haven't had time to clean up.

I say "time". I mean "energy". Finncon 2009 was somewhat exhausting experience, which took the wind right out of my wings. It didn't help that I managed to crop up some extra activities beside, I co-edited two books; Ulkomaisia fantasiakirjailijoita 2 ( "Foreign Fantasy Authors" with Vesa Sisättö and Toni Jerrman) and Historiallisen romaanin taitajia 1 ("Masters of Historical Novel" with Juri Nummelin and Sari); did some serious overtime at work; and tried to keep sane at the same time with various other things, that I'm not going to mention here.

After this (wot? six weeks?) time I should be ready to say something about the con itself, but as I think about the long weekend, I can only remember a flurry of motion and some scattered panicky moments, when something or the other was at miss. Not the Guests of Honours, who were just superb! Or the mega-brilliant Staff, who managed to keep the con ship afloat amidst the Sea of Overwhelming Obstacles. Youse gyus rokkkk!

So, no real con-report, I'm afraid, as I didn't really see all that much. "But you saw the thing from within, sir?", says the wild-eyed person with a fluttering set of hands.

Well, yeah... so I did. So, I might have something to ponder about. And I do. I'll try to put to paper... erm, type to screen... write something about that, OK? Together with some thoughts about the Finncon and the future of Finncon in particular. 

Since we are heading toward something new - and old at the same time. 2010 will be a whole different ballgame and mindset. 2011 is trying to do something, which to my mind, is very difficult and probably not worth it. I think we've seen what Finncon/Animecon is and it is a mess of of a thing, that needs to rest in its laurels and be no more.

But what is Finncon? What kind of a convention should and could it be? It seems to me, that if we want to keep the original idea of "spreading the gospel" of SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY to the mundane masses and, of course, the occasional fans and interested parties, we need to think this through. Is it a literary convention, with emphasis on books, writers and science on the side. Or is it a more general kind of an event, where you can sample little bit of everything? Should it be exclusive or inclusive? Or something in between?

If you ask me (well, since this is our blog, you don't really have a say on this, so here goes) the answer is there in the middle of everything. I believe Finncon should be a literary-oriented sf/f con, with interesting program items from various and sundry fringe mediums (like comics, games, TV/films, horror, slipstream, science, tomfoolery etc). The emphasis should be on booksies and authors of those books, but it shouldn't be all sercon and dry. There should be games and interactive programming, stuff for beginners as well as advanced weir... members of fandom.

I've heard people say, that they'd like to see more media-oriented programming and GoH's. Well, duly noted. Not impossible, nor totally out of the question, but unlikely.

Finncon is a literary-oriented con. Has been. Will be. Despite being arranged together with Animecon, the Finncon-part has always been pretty heavily veered toward literary side of things. And as I see it, the core of the people who have been organising the event in the past, are literary-minded fen.

Shurely we enjoy media. I know I do. But not as much as I like them books. If someone would arrange a mediacon in Finland, I could see me going there. I might even pay for it. A bit. Especially if the Guest(s) would be interesting.

OK, they'd had to be interesting. That's my caveat.

They wouldn't be cheap. Compared to them, George R. R. Martin was cheapo. Heck, Harlan Ellison would've been cheaper, and he was expensive as hell (which, by the way, was the reason he has never been to a Finncon)!

OK. Rant-like part of this entry over. As is this entry. But I have only skimmed the surface here. I'll be back. In a day or two. More thoughts on Finncon, 2009 edition of it and the future of. Feel free to comment.