Vox et Praeterea Nihil

Update

As is fairly obvious, Vox is not my primary online presence, although it does have a number of facilities I wish would be adopted by LiveJournal (mainly video archiving). The best place to catch up with my work is The Shadow Library.

-- Steve

Back to the Future

 

DSC00361

Got back a litle earlier from the George Hotel in Kettering, where I'd spent the weekend in 1958  -- or rather at Cytricon V, commemorating the events at that same hotel a half-century ago which led to the creation of the modern British Science Fiction Association. Much fun ensued.

Pictured: Cytricon V chair Peter Weston chats with guest of honour Ina Shorrock, who also attended Cytricon IV a mere four decades ago. Her fellow guest, Peter Mabey, was active in British sf fandom during that same period, but never actually made it to any of the Kettering conventions.

2008 Tour Dates (updated)

Microcon 28, Exeter, 1-2 February: Gosh, that was fun. Report to follow in Christina Lake's and Doug Bell's fanzine Head.

Timewarp Caption, Oxford, 9-10 August: Will definitely be around, but no word on any stage stuff as yet. [Edit: unable to attend]

3rd Birmingham International Comics Show, 4-5 October: Still no word on what I'll be doing this year, but I don't usually hear until nearer the event; most likely chairing a panel on the Saturday. [Edit: unable to attend]

19th Festival of Fantastic Films, Manchester, 17-19 October: Entries for the amateur film competition (Saturday morning) are a little thin on the ground, though the deadline's still three months away. Have also been asked to interview actress / presenter Emily Booth, whom I originally as a guest more than two years ago.

Novacon 38, Walsall, 14-16 November: I'm now helping Martin Tudor out on publications, but fully expect to have some involvement with the Friday programming and -- maybe -- any film programming over the weekend.

2008 Tour Dates

Microcon 28, University of Exeter, 1-2 March: I've been invited along as a guest speaker, in part at least because I was at the very first Microcon back in 1982. Sadly, my companion on that occasion, Kevin Clarke, is unable to join me, which is a mite unfair seeing as Microcon was his idea in the first place.

19th Festival of Fantastic Films, Manchester, 17-19 October: My usual gig hosting the amateur film stream on Saturday morning.

3rd Birmingham International Comics Show, 4-5 October: I've not had the nod yet from the organisers as to what I'll be doing this year, but there'll be a panel somewhere with my name on it as moderator.

Novacon 38, Walsall, 14-16 November: Again, the programme's still in flux, but I've already been approached ref my regular Friday evening chatshow gig.

Novacon 37: Officially Over

People seemed to enjoy themselves, even the committee. Is good.

Delta Film Award 2007

Well, we've whittled around fifty entries for this year's Delta Film Award down to a mere thirteen (which still adds up a formidable 155 minutes). The finalists (to be screened at the 18th Festival of Fantastic Films on 1 September) are:

Alicia

Cedric Bourgeois (Belgium, 8")

 

Chainmail

Richard Chance and John Chance (UK, 26.5")

 

Contretemps

Jean Luc Baillet (France, 14")

 

Delendra Est Genesis

Rafa Dengra (Spain, 20")

 

Flyer

Helmi Yusof (Singapore, 21") 

 

Halfway

Karl Holt (UK, 6")

 

It Came From Beyond

Ian J Simpson (UK, 4")

 

Missing Connection

Ross Shepherd (UK, 5")

 

The Morality Game

Jim Walker (UK, 11")

 

No Fear of Death

Matthew Swain (UK, 10")

 

Recently Deceased

Chris McInroy (USA, 12")

 

Shelter

Stephen Hedley and Nick Light (UK, 2.5")

 

Son of the Dawn

Robert Mann (Eire, 15")

 

Edit: The competition was won by Jean-Luc Baillet's Contretemps, with Helmi Yusof's Flyer "highly commended". Special mentions were also made of Karl Holt's Halfway and Jim Walker's The Morality Game.

Killer Muppet

Those of you who attended the Saturday evening filmshow I put together for Novacon 36 will undoubtedly recall Karl Holt's hilarious horror-comedy Eddie Loves You. What I hadn't realised until tonight was that Karl had filmed the audience* when it was screened at the 17th Festival of Fantastic Films, to put together this trailer.

*[Eagle-eyed viewers will spot Hilary & Mike Simpson, Ann, myself and Ray Holloway. And no, I wasn't rubbing my eyes in disbelief: I was simply knackered from watching all the stuff we had to leave out of the Delta Award shortlist.]

Independents Daze 2007

Well, the flood has begun. I've already received entries for this year's Delta Award from the UK, the USA, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Eire...

When Franchises Collide

 

batman dead end

I've seen some pretty amazing "samizdat" movies over the years, cheekily lifting characters and situations from existing films or tv series and dropping them into an entirely unofficial plotline, but Sandy Collora's 2003 mini-epic Batman: Dead End ranks as one of the best. Of course, it kinda helps that Collora is a professional sfx designer (he worked on Predator 2 and with Kevin Smith on Dogma).

Thrilling War Stories

Captain Jack Maximum

Whilst I wouldn't suggest Matthew Doll's 2005 short Captain Jack Maximum in "The Reich's Metal Man" is particularly innovative, I do find interesting its attempt to echo the manner in we interact with traditional comic books. How much this is down to Doll and how much to his lead animator, Aaron Cripps, will possibly become clearer when this former student at Rochester Institute of Technology unveils his next project.

Edit: There seems to a problem with the sound on this (not the first time Vox hasn't loaded a working file properly. The link's above.