Hello everyone, it has been a few weeks since my last blog, as it has been a pretty busy three weeks for me.
Sci-Fi-London 9 started on Wednesday 28 April. The first night was very insane, as we have the Arthur C. Clarke Science Fiction Book Awards and the UK Premier of 'Splice', both of which meant the cinema was packed with VIPs (Novelists, Judges, Actors, Movie Writers, Directors and Reviewers) all wanting their free food and drink before they go into their screens. The Apollo is not the biggest cinema in the World, despite being by far one of the coolest, so trying to get trays of food and drink through the crowds can be very close to impossible sometimes. Once this period of madness stopped it was very relaxing, as we just had to tidy up the mess in the halls, get everything cleaned and packed away.
Thursday was a pretty boring day. Nothing was really going on that evening, we had far too many volunteers, and when stuff needed to be done the newbies rushed to do it and done it quickly (they will learn). I did however get time to talk to the newbs with all this free time and they were all pretty cool nerdy people. I also had the opportunity to work the spot light, during a Q&A session after the first of our Polish films 'The Hospital Of Transfiguration', but sadly we did not have an extension cable (error one)...so I just sat in and watched the film and Q&A. The film was very strange, manly because it was a factual World War II film and I was not expecting that during a science fiction film festival, but Stanislaw Lem - who also wrote 'Solaris' wrote the book upon what this film was based on. Despite being confused by the lack of science fiction it was a very interesting and dark movie. After a very dull day a few of us headed off to the pub to continue our random geeky conversations, where I wore my newly purchased Blade Runner tee.
Friday I was not volunteering but I did go to the festival, as a punter to see two films, '8th Wonderland' and 'Depositarios'. EVERYONE MUST SEE '8th Wonderland', I cannot praise this film enough, it was cleverly writen and the ameture cast made the film very believable. 'Depositarios' was a very interesting film, described as a Mexican and improved version of 'Surrogates', I could see why but it was not just a Mexican 'Surrogates' there was much more to the film. One downside to 'Depositarios' was that sometimes they spoke quickly, in Spanish, so it was hard to read the subtitles.
The morning to early evening of Saturday was very much like Thursday, just with more things actually going on at the festival, which meant there were opportunities to sit in on screenings and "Lab Events" whenever we wanted. James and I sat in on "What A Marvel", where four members of Marvel UK spoke about their time in the company and how it has changed over the years, which was very interesting and there were some amazing artwork on the slides throughout. Later a bunch of us HAD to sit in on another lab event because no one wanted to go and we were sent in to make up numbers so the speakers didn't feel like they had wasted their time, it was called "Mixed Metaphor 2050" and was about how new technology will change the way we view all types of media in the future, as interesting as this sounds it was simply not. After this we had our "headlining" film, 'Love Story 2050', which is a Bollywood movie we based the whole "Life In 2050" theme on...and the film was dropped just outside the projection room, so that was fucked, and the back up DVD would not work...Yes, That's Right, the biggest film we had did NOT get shown but they did get too '8th Wonderland' instead (error two). Then our quickest selling out film, 'Timer', had loads of issues (error three) but did get sorted quite quickly so this was not too bad.
Now the All-Nighter begins and I spent most of the beginning of it upstairs at the help desk, with Raff and Lucy, as it meant we avoided the mayhem downstairs as all the punters turn up and pack the hall before the screenings start. Throughout the all-nighter there were multiple errors, mainly within one of the Anime screens, but by this time we were just used to things going wrong. As always the all-nighter was lots of fun, LOADS of random conversations with great people, but the highlight was during the second shift at the help desk where Robin, Anthony, Lucy and myself ripped into Raff's teen mags that she had brought with her.
Now into Sunday morning, the all-nighters were going home with their "I Survived The All-Nighter" badges, and I put on mine saying "I OWNED The All-Nighter" as I had just completed a 24 hour shift. I stayed for as long as I could, trying to make it to the Doctor Who related lab events and the screening of "Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD", but I could not do it so I left after reaching 27 hours. When I got home I had a two hour power nap, woke up and packed for my trip, before having a Sunday Roast - what an awesome final meal in the UK before going on holiday!?!
Waking up on Monday was a mixture or excitement and nerves. I could not wait to get to Toronto and finally meet Sarah, a girl I have spoken on the internet for over five years, but I was also VERY nervous about meeting her at the same time. I arrived at the airport, only to find out the flight I booked up did not exist, which got me really worried but I was told to join a Thomas Cook line and without any problem I was given a ticket for a different flight. As great as it was that I had flight ticket, it was for a flight that was an hour after the one I booked, which meant I would arriving later into Toronto than planned and thankfully Sarah was up and got my message so she did not have to wait around at the airport for an extra hour waiting for me to land. When I finally got onto the flight I was informed they had entertainment issues and only two out of the nine channels were working. This really annoyed me, the in-flight entertainment is what gets me through flights, otherwise I get VERY bored and I notice just how uncomfortable the chairs actually are. Thomas Cook has the annoying two-pin headphone sockets, so I had to purchase their headphones but they did not have change for 20 and I was forced to purchase another item, after all this only one socket actually work so I was still only get a mono sound. On top of that I was only able to listen to one out the two channels IN MONO so I could not even pick which films to watch. I was really not enjoying this trip so far. When I landed I was pulled over at every possible point, asked the same questions again and again, had my hand luggage and suitcase checked and overall it took me about an hour to get through customs after landing. Finally I was out and there was Sarah, I could show you dozens of photographs where she looks extremely beautiful, but even her best pictures do not do her justice. She was stunningly beautiful, and I mean Stunning, I was actually taken back when I saw her. After explaining what took me so long we went to the airport bar for a quick drink, which was really needed, and just started talking about what to do with my first evening in Toronto. We opted for going to her apartment, getting settled, then going out for some drinks in her local bar. When we arrived Sarah's place I met her cat Bridget who is very cute and very friendly, especially if you're wearing black or anything her fur would show up on, and we had tea with a cake Sarah made which said "FINALLY" on it. I could not be happier, I was sitting on a couch with a girl I have fancied for five years, drinking tea and eating a homemade cake whilst still be taken back by how beautiful she is in person. It was so cool being able to talk to her in person after all this time and when we got back from the bar we head off to bed and fell asleep with Sarah in my arms - I was right where I wanted to be.
Day Two - Tuesday I woke up with Sarah beside me and even first thing in the morning she looked amazing. Sarah decided that she would take me to their big shopping mall this day, before going to where I would be spending the rest of my nights for my trip, as I was not allowed to stay at Sarah's because her mommy would not be happy. Anyway, the mall was really nice and I was able to finally buy a pair of sunglasses, which ended up being very useless as it started raining as soon as we left the mall to get some lunch in Hard Rock Cafe (where I had to purchase the tee). Sarah then showed around all her favourite alternative shops and tattoo parlors, which I could see why she loved them. Sadly, we went into HMV and I was hoping to get some great blu-ray deals but that didn't have anything, well nothing better than what I could get online. After the window shopping we got a bit lost getting to my lodgings that we had to buy a map, but once we got there I was so happy to collapse of the bed Delfi set up for me. Later that night, Sarah was sadly working, but this gave me time to get know Delfi - who I have also been speaking to online for a few years now - and my temporary flat mate Ian. We smoke a quick joint, grabbed some booze and pizza, headed to a park and hung out with Delfi's friends before going a pub that had a jazz band performing. Overall a great day, saw a bit of the tourist part of town, and then had a laugh out in the party part of town.
Day Three - Wednesday I woke up in not such as a good way as Tuesday, especially as I was hungover, but I had a fun lazy day ahead of me. I went round Sarah's for an afternoon of movie rentals, pizza with more tea and cake, I know I was on holiday but this is what I traveled all this way for and I loved it.
Day Four - Thursday did not go to plan, initially I was supposed to go to the museum with Sarah but to some technical faults (we were not receiving each others texts) we could not arrange the meet, so instead we just had another movie night in and once again it was really nice.
Day Five - Friday I met Delfi in the early afternoon, where she showed me around more of the city, and I saw an amazing umbrella that had a Samurai sword handle as it's handle but it was pretty expensive and would not fit in my suitcase. It was a really fun afternoon, despite the heavy rain, especially going into a Canadian fish n' chip shop where they still called the chips fries??? The evening did not go according to plan, because Iron Man 2 was supposed to come out on May 7 (that day) in Canada but when Sarah and I got to the cinema they said they were not screening it, so I took Sarah to watch Kick-Ass instead...and what awesomeness, the cinema we were watching Kick-Ass in was the cinema that was used in the film, then I got even more excited when Sarah told me she could take to the place he gets his ass-kicked tomorrow.
Day Six - Saturday. I spent the day just having a wonder around the city and went to get Sarah a thank you gift for being, well her, so I got her a Germany international football shirt as her family originated from Germany and I know she really wanted one but could not afford it. Sadly I was not able to see the place that Kick-Ass got his ass kicked, as we were supposed to go to one of Sarah's friend's place for a party in that area, but Sarah was feeling poorly after having such little sleep because she worked night shifts and wanted to spend time with me while I was in the country. So I had a night out with Ian instead, where he managed to get free tickets to a documentary movie about a miracle drug that could stop you being addicted to other drugs, and it was pretty interesting but very strange too.
Day Seven - Sunday also did not go plan, I was supposed to stay over with Sarah for my final night but her sister had to stay the night, and there was not room for us both. I did however have a nice evening in, watching more DVDs and drinking tea with Sarah, so I was extremely happy with the time I had. That night I went to the pub and had a few drinks as I started to note down some lyrics about my trip, later Ian joined me, we picked up a pizza and some weed whilst we ate in the apartment. Not the final night I had planned but still very fun.
Day Eight - Final Day - Monday I said my goodbyes to Ian, thanked him for letting me stay at his place for such a good price, and made my way to spend my final hours (for quite some time) with the girl I have fallen deeper and deeper for through out this trip. Sarah, her sister and myself chilled out in the living and watched Buffy Season Three. When Sarah's sister left I got myself packed ready for my flight back and soon as that was done I got as many hugs and kisses from Sarah I possibly could. Sadly Sarah was working that night and needed to sleep so did not accompany me to the airport. When I arrived at the airport annoyingly I had the same issues, non-existent flight, put onto a later flight and instead of restrictive in flight entertainment we had none.
Tuesday morning I landed back in London, planning what I would say in my complaint letter to ebookers and Thomas Cook, as what happened was ridiculous and I deserve to be compensated. When I landed the first thing I did was ask my folks if we can order in a curry for dinner as I need cheering up. As soon as I got home I got into my PJs, brought my duvet downstairs and started to catch up on all the TV I had missed, and of course the first show I watched was Doctor Who. I missed "Flesh And Stone" because of the film festival, then "Vampires In Venice" because of my trip, both episodes were great and I loved the opening to "Vampires In Venice" I was laughing through the opening credits and had to stop when the show started again.
I have now been back for almost a week and I have been spending most of time catching up on the shows I have missed over the past couple of weeks. It is great to be home, in my own room, my own bed but I hate not being able to hang out with Sarah anymore. I miss her so much and I am trying to figure out when I can fly over there again.
Sorry, I know that was one very lengthy blog, but like I said I have not blogged for three because I have been pretty busy. I just hope that all makes sense, as I know I am not one of greatest writers in the World.
So that is me up to date, for now, until next time
ttfn
Anonwhy?mous
Sci-Fi-London 9 started on Wednesday 28 April. The first night was very insane, as we have the Arthur C. Clarke Science Fiction Book Awards and the UK Premier of 'Splice', both of which meant the cinema was packed with VIPs (Novelists, Judges, Actors, Movie Writers, Directors and Reviewers) all wanting their free food and drink before they go into their screens. The Apollo is not the biggest cinema in the World, despite being by far one of the coolest, so trying to get trays of food and drink through the crowds can be very close to impossible sometimes. Once this period of madness stopped it was very relaxing, as we just had to tidy up the mess in the halls, get everything cleaned and packed away.
Thursday was a pretty boring day. Nothing was really going on that evening, we had far too many volunteers, and when stuff needed to be done the newbies rushed to do it and done it quickly (they will learn). I did however get time to talk to the newbs with all this free time and they were all pretty cool nerdy people. I also had the opportunity to work the spot light, during a Q&A session after the first of our Polish films 'The Hospital Of Transfiguration', but sadly we did not have an extension cable (error one)...so I just sat in and watched the film and Q&A. The film was very strange, manly because it was a factual World War II film and I was not expecting that during a science fiction film festival, but Stanislaw Lem - who also wrote 'Solaris' wrote the book upon what this film was based on. Despite being confused by the lack of science fiction it was a very interesting and dark movie. After a very dull day a few of us headed off to the pub to continue our random geeky conversations, where I wore my newly purchased Blade Runner tee.
Friday I was not volunteering but I did go to the festival, as a punter to see two films, '8th Wonderland' and 'Depositarios'. EVERYONE MUST SEE '8th Wonderland', I cannot praise this film enough, it was cleverly writen and the ameture cast made the film very believable. 'Depositarios' was a very interesting film, described as a Mexican and improved version of 'Surrogates', I could see why but it was not just a Mexican 'Surrogates' there was much more to the film. One downside to 'Depositarios' was that sometimes they spoke quickly, in Spanish, so it was hard to read the subtitles.
The morning to early evening of Saturday was very much like Thursday, just with more things actually going on at the festival, which meant there were opportunities to sit in on screenings and "Lab Events" whenever we wanted. James and I sat in on "What A Marvel", where four members of Marvel UK spoke about their time in the company and how it has changed over the years, which was very interesting and there were some amazing artwork on the slides throughout. Later a bunch of us HAD to sit in on another lab event because no one wanted to go and we were sent in to make up numbers so the speakers didn't feel like they had wasted their time, it was called "Mixed Metaphor 2050" and was about how new technology will change the way we view all types of media in the future, as interesting as this sounds it was simply not. After this we had our "headlining" film, 'Love Story 2050', which is a Bollywood movie we based the whole "Life In 2050" theme on...and the film was dropped just outside the projection room, so that was fucked, and the back up DVD would not work...Yes, That's Right, the biggest film we had did NOT get shown but they did get too '8th Wonderland' instead (error two). Then our quickest selling out film, 'Timer', had loads of issues (error three) but did get sorted quite quickly so this was not too bad.
Now the All-Nighter begins and I spent most of the beginning of it upstairs at the help desk, with Raff and Lucy, as it meant we avoided the mayhem downstairs as all the punters turn up and pack the hall before the screenings start. Throughout the all-nighter there were multiple errors, mainly within one of the Anime screens, but by this time we were just used to things going wrong. As always the all-nighter was lots of fun, LOADS of random conversations with great people, but the highlight was during the second shift at the help desk where Robin, Anthony, Lucy and myself ripped into Raff's teen mags that she had brought with her.
Now into Sunday morning, the all-nighters were going home with their "I Survived The All-Nighter" badges, and I put on mine saying "I OWNED The All-Nighter" as I had just completed a 24 hour shift. I stayed for as long as I could, trying to make it to the Doctor Who related lab events and the screening of "Daleks Invasion Earth 2150AD", but I could not do it so I left after reaching 27 hours. When I got home I had a two hour power nap, woke up and packed for my trip, before having a Sunday Roast - what an awesome final meal in the UK before going on holiday!?!
Waking up on Monday was a mixture or excitement and nerves. I could not wait to get to Toronto and finally meet Sarah, a girl I have spoken on the internet for over five years, but I was also VERY nervous about meeting her at the same time. I arrived at the airport, only to find out the flight I booked up did not exist, which got me really worried but I was told to join a Thomas Cook line and without any problem I was given a ticket for a different flight. As great as it was that I had flight ticket, it was for a flight that was an hour after the one I booked, which meant I would arriving later into Toronto than planned and thankfully Sarah was up and got my message so she did not have to wait around at the airport for an extra hour waiting for me to land. When I finally got onto the flight I was informed they had entertainment issues and only two out of the nine channels were working. This really annoyed me, the in-flight entertainment is what gets me through flights, otherwise I get VERY bored and I notice just how uncomfortable the chairs actually are. Thomas Cook has the annoying two-pin headphone sockets, so I had to purchase their headphones but they did not have change for 20 and I was forced to purchase another item, after all this only one socket actually work so I was still only get a mono sound. On top of that I was only able to listen to one out the two channels IN MONO so I could not even pick which films to watch. I was really not enjoying this trip so far. When I landed I was pulled over at every possible point, asked the same questions again and again, had my hand luggage and suitcase checked and overall it took me about an hour to get through customs after landing. Finally I was out and there was Sarah, I could show you dozens of photographs where she looks extremely beautiful, but even her best pictures do not do her justice. She was stunningly beautiful, and I mean Stunning, I was actually taken back when I saw her. After explaining what took me so long we went to the airport bar for a quick drink, which was really needed, and just started talking about what to do with my first evening in Toronto. We opted for going to her apartment, getting settled, then going out for some drinks in her local bar. When we arrived Sarah's place I met her cat Bridget who is very cute and very friendly, especially if you're wearing black or anything her fur would show up on, and we had tea with a cake Sarah made which said "FINALLY" on it. I could not be happier, I was sitting on a couch with a girl I have fancied for five years, drinking tea and eating a homemade cake whilst still be taken back by how beautiful she is in person. It was so cool being able to talk to her in person after all this time and when we got back from the bar we head off to bed and fell asleep with Sarah in my arms - I was right where I wanted to be.
Day Two - Tuesday I woke up with Sarah beside me and even first thing in the morning she looked amazing. Sarah decided that she would take me to their big shopping mall this day, before going to where I would be spending the rest of my nights for my trip, as I was not allowed to stay at Sarah's because her mommy would not be happy. Anyway, the mall was really nice and I was able to finally buy a pair of sunglasses, which ended up being very useless as it started raining as soon as we left the mall to get some lunch in Hard Rock Cafe (where I had to purchase the tee). Sarah then showed around all her favourite alternative shops and tattoo parlors, which I could see why she loved them. Sadly, we went into HMV and I was hoping to get some great blu-ray deals but that didn't have anything, well nothing better than what I could get online. After the window shopping we got a bit lost getting to my lodgings that we had to buy a map, but once we got there I was so happy to collapse of the bed Delfi set up for me. Later that night, Sarah was sadly working, but this gave me time to get know Delfi - who I have also been speaking to online for a few years now - and my temporary flat mate Ian. We smoke a quick joint, grabbed some booze and pizza, headed to a park and hung out with Delfi's friends before going a pub that had a jazz band performing. Overall a great day, saw a bit of the tourist part of town, and then had a laugh out in the party part of town.
Day Three - Wednesday I woke up in not such as a good way as Tuesday, especially as I was hungover, but I had a fun lazy day ahead of me. I went round Sarah's for an afternoon of movie rentals, pizza with more tea and cake, I know I was on holiday but this is what I traveled all this way for and I loved it.
Day Four - Thursday did not go to plan, initially I was supposed to go to the museum with Sarah but to some technical faults (we were not receiving each others texts) we could not arrange the meet, so instead we just had another movie night in and once again it was really nice.
Day Five - Friday I met Delfi in the early afternoon, where she showed me around more of the city, and I saw an amazing umbrella that had a Samurai sword handle as it's handle but it was pretty expensive and would not fit in my suitcase. It was a really fun afternoon, despite the heavy rain, especially going into a Canadian fish n' chip shop where they still called the chips fries??? The evening did not go according to plan, because Iron Man 2 was supposed to come out on May 7 (that day) in Canada but when Sarah and I got to the cinema they said they were not screening it, so I took Sarah to watch Kick-Ass instead...and what awesomeness, the cinema we were watching Kick-Ass in was the cinema that was used in the film, then I got even more excited when Sarah told me she could take to the place he gets his ass-kicked tomorrow.
Day Six - Saturday. I spent the day just having a wonder around the city and went to get Sarah a thank you gift for being, well her, so I got her a Germany international football shirt as her family originated from Germany and I know she really wanted one but could not afford it. Sadly I was not able to see the place that Kick-Ass got his ass kicked, as we were supposed to go to one of Sarah's friend's place for a party in that area, but Sarah was feeling poorly after having such little sleep because she worked night shifts and wanted to spend time with me while I was in the country. So I had a night out with Ian instead, where he managed to get free tickets to a documentary movie about a miracle drug that could stop you being addicted to other drugs, and it was pretty interesting but very strange too.
Day Seven - Sunday also did not go plan, I was supposed to stay over with Sarah for my final night but her sister had to stay the night, and there was not room for us both. I did however have a nice evening in, watching more DVDs and drinking tea with Sarah, so I was extremely happy with the time I had. That night I went to the pub and had a few drinks as I started to note down some lyrics about my trip, later Ian joined me, we picked up a pizza and some weed whilst we ate in the apartment. Not the final night I had planned but still very fun.
Day Eight - Final Day - Monday I said my goodbyes to Ian, thanked him for letting me stay at his place for such a good price, and made my way to spend my final hours (for quite some time) with the girl I have fallen deeper and deeper for through out this trip. Sarah, her sister and myself chilled out in the living and watched Buffy Season Three. When Sarah's sister left I got myself packed ready for my flight back and soon as that was done I got as many hugs and kisses from Sarah I possibly could. Sadly Sarah was working that night and needed to sleep so did not accompany me to the airport. When I arrived at the airport annoyingly I had the same issues, non-existent flight, put onto a later flight and instead of restrictive in flight entertainment we had none.
Tuesday morning I landed back in London, planning what I would say in my complaint letter to ebookers and Thomas Cook, as what happened was ridiculous and I deserve to be compensated. When I landed the first thing I did was ask my folks if we can order in a curry for dinner as I need cheering up. As soon as I got home I got into my PJs, brought my duvet downstairs and started to catch up on all the TV I had missed, and of course the first show I watched was Doctor Who. I missed "Flesh And Stone" because of the film festival, then "Vampires In Venice" because of my trip, both episodes were great and I loved the opening to "Vampires In Venice" I was laughing through the opening credits and had to stop when the show started again.
I have now been back for almost a week and I have been spending most of time catching up on the shows I have missed over the past couple of weeks. It is great to be home, in my own room, my own bed but I hate not being able to hang out with Sarah anymore. I miss her so much and I am trying to figure out when I can fly over there again.
Sorry, I know that was one very lengthy blog, but like I said I have not blogged for three because I have been pretty busy. I just hope that all makes sense, as I know I am not one of greatest writers in the World.
So that is me up to date, for now, until next time
ttfn
Anonwhy?mous
rdpixie:
Sounds like you had a pretty awesome trip all in all! Coming back to the UK is always a little tough especially when you are leaving someone behind on the other side. *hugs*