Posts
Plokta and the Physics of the Impossible
On Friday I wandered down to Cardiff for the Doctor Who wrap party, to thank David, Russell and Julie for all their efforts on the show, now that they're departing together. It was a private party, so I won't offer a report, but suffice it to say: I had a wonderful time and caught up with a lot of old friends; the three stars got a send off that demonstrated how loved they are by the troops, and the whole lavish spectacle was paid for by Julie and Russell, none of it coming out of the licence fee. Which is typical them, really.
I got back to my hotel in the wee smalls, and managed a whole three hours of sleep before heading on to Sunningdale, near Ascot, where the Plokta convention was taking place. The event proved to be as cosy as the fanzine of the same name, and by the end of the weekend I felt thoroughly cosseted. Still being ill (I have no idea what this is, just that I now seem to carry flem around in the manner of a cement mixer), the opportunity to sit on sunny grass slopes and throw balls to toddlers was just what I needed. I participated in panels about Young Adult SF, and rebooting franchises, I read from the novel in progress and my short stories, I took part in a genuinely mind-boggling game of QI (came second, thanks for asking, with -28) and delivered a Guest of Honour speech that was more of a feverish wander through my workload. Still, the audience were kind enough to laugh. My favourite parts of the convention, however, were the outdoor events, like the live action video game charades (imagine a team impersonating Space Invaders on a hillside) and the glorious launching of Chinese lanterns into the early summer evening sky. Sitting out there with Third Row Fandom, eating delivery pizza, I found myself considerably more relaxed than I've been for a while.
Speaking of mind-boggling, on Wednesday night I'm delighted to be contributing to a talk by the famed Michio Kaku, on the subject of his latest book, Physics of the Impossible. Myself and Mark Brake are there to offer short commentaries once Prof. Kaku has delivered his lecture. The event takes place at the Science Museum's Dana Centre, and I haven't mentioned it before because it sold out before I got onboard. So I probably won't be seeing you there. My own contribution will probably consist of frantically making notes, then going 'well, phew, yes, hmm, physics, eh?' But I'm sure Prof. Kaku's lecture will be fascinating.
Finally, Psych Ward, Marvel online's regular feature that psychoanalyzes one of their characters is this time devoted to Pete Wisdom, and Tim Stevens does a rather wonderful job of getting under his skin, I think:
Until next time, Cheerio.
Labels:
Captain Britain,
Doctor Who,
Michio Kaku,
Plokta
|
Just a thought Paul, but do you suffer from Hay-fever? The pollen has been mental this last week, and while I (As a regular sufferer) have not had very much in the way of actual sneezing I've been feeling rather like I've had a really heavy head cold or a light smattering of flu.
Not nice.
I winced at that phlegm description. Graphic. You should make sure to not use your descriptive writer powers for evil, Paul.
Enjoyed talking with you at plokta.con and listening to your off-the-cuff GoH speech, which went down extremely well with the crowd.
Incidentally, you seemed surprised that Tolkien fandom was one of those that branched off from SF fandom. I researched and wrote up the history of UK SF fandom in the late '80s/early '90s, and turned up all manner of interesting cultural connections, including which other fandoms budded from SF fandom, and when. Should you ever be interested in finding out more about this stuff, there's a link to that history here:
www.fiawol.demon.co.uk/rob
Cheers,
- Rob Hansen
You might have a point there, Mr. Sword, thanks. Mark: if only I could spell phlegm! And thanks, Rob, that's interesting stuff.
Get your GP to get your titre level checked in your blood if you're carrying loads of flem the whole time. I have the same thing, and a load of tests later finally indicate a supposedly non-serious adenoid/tonsil problem. Worth checking out if you can't get rid of the problem.
See, you show up at Plokta and of course you find yourself giving a brilliant GoH speech and the audience loves it and the next thing you know you're giving a talk alongside Michio Kaku and then you're winning a Hugo award and Kate Bush is in the audience applauding, but you get called away to help out at the LHC (Kaku having tipped them off you're the most gifted new thinker he's ever met, and just the chap to help them out of that nettlesome theoretical jam they're in) and don't you know this is exactly how Plokta's illusions work?(Seriously, though: awesome that things are going so well in these areas, and hope you're feeling better!)
That's good advice, DGG, thanks. I'd suspect that, Rab, if not for the phlegm.
There is no cure.
I, too, once GoHed at Ploktacon. Since then, everything is different.
But hey, you talked to Michio Kaku, who's a cool dude. You know he hallucinates equations in colour?
I hope you had as good a time as I did. That was a special weekend.