Bristol Con, innit

It's been a while since my last entry, which is mostly because I wrote an amazingly fucking huge one on LJ (which I would then copy and paste over here) and LJ ate it, never to see the light of day again. And, being the lazy tit that I am, I couldn't be arsed to type it all out again. So, an abbreviated version of that post follows here: I saw Observe and Report and thought it was weird, then I saw Wolverine and fookin' loved the pants right off of it, then I saw Devo in London and it was so amazingly awesome that I hurt myself in two different places dancing like a special. There was other stuff, but I've forgotten what it was which means it probably wasn't very informative or entertaining anyways.

Which brings us to Bristol Con. I apologise in advance for the general lack of detail and interesting commentary here; I am now back home, in my PJs at my PC but my brain hasn't properly recovered yet. Rich and I got down to Bristol at about 2:30pm on Friday, and managed to find an O'Neill's we could stuff our faces for cheaps in, and we spent a small part of the evening in the Ramada bar. Due to credit crunchiness and the general downsizing of this years' con, the bar was much emptier than usual, and after a few relatively quiet drinks with some mates, Rich and I were back in our hotel room by 11:15pm(ish). I watched a little High Fidelity before falling asleep. In retrospect, it was probably a very good idea to have a relatively quiet Friday night, as I was well rested for the Saturday drinking madness :P

So, on Saturday we met up with Iz, Rich and co in the Ramada bar before getting our tickets and heading into the con. Paul Cornell joined us for a while and we had a nice chat with him. The con itself was absolutely dinky, but to be honest, I didn't have much of a problem with it. I never really pick up much in the way of comics and toys and that at cons because there aren't really any bargains at British cons, I've noticed, and so I wasn't that bothered by the lack of stuff to buy. I don't see the point in buying full price stuff and lugging it around the con with me all day when I could just get it from Forbidden Planet on the way home from Richs' some time, really... I don't tend to get many sketches either, partly because I often can't be arsed to wait around for 'em and partly because I'm a bit too scared to approach the artists! We'd pretty much seen the entire main part of the con by 10:30am (after entering it at about 10:00am, and I actually bought something, too!), so we headed over to the Mercure where the Small Press Expo was happening. This was actually a bigger exhibition, and better laid out, in that people could quite freely walk around the rooms even while others were standing at the tables chatting to creators and getting signatures and sketches and that. I picked up my copy of Cancertown, which I'm very much looking forward to reading, and hung about the Geek Syndicate area for a bit, mostly hugging Geek Syndicate Dave :P A few of us headed back over to the Ramada for the DC Nation panel, which was when we discovered the daftest placing of a panel ever; it was due to take place in a room which only had one entrance, which opened onto a corridor lined with tables, so between us queuing at that door for the panel and people showing an interest in the stuff going on at the tables, there was no room for anyone to really move... The panel was awesome though, so I shouldn't really complain. I was quite proud of myself as Dan DiDio (EIC of DC comics) started by running through some of the main DC titles, asking us to raise our hand if we read them, and then asking peoples opinions on them. I raised my hand at everything he asked, though he never picked me to ramble at him (which is probably a good thing, as I may have buckled under the pressure and ended up mumbling some incoherent nonsense...) He followed with a Q & A, and some interesting stuff got discussed. Iz and I managed to corner him for a few moments afterwards, so I could shove a Comic Racks leaflet into his hands (a decision I am beginning to regret...) and get a quick photo.

The Racks with none other than Dan DiDio

After that, we hit The Knights Templar Wetherspoons for a spot of lunch, before returning to the Ramada for the Geek Syndicate panel. The panel, called Two Drunk Guys in a Panel featuring Tony Lee and Dan Boultwood, may never see the light of day as a podcast, even though that was its original intent. Dan Boultwood excelled himself in living up to the "drunk" part of the panel title, and was ramble-y, offensive, and downright fucking hilarious. Even though I was stood at the back, I'm almost certain my maniacally loud uncontrollable laughter will have been picked up by the Geek Syndicate lads' microphones. Iz and I had originally been offered the chance to do the interview as a podcast, but this was at the time when I thought Cymru Con was still gonna happen, and therefore wasn't gonna go to Bristol. In a way, I'm rather glad I wasn't hosting the panel as I may have just died of laughter right there in front of everyone! I swear, if the Syndicate don't put the episode out, I have to ask them to at least send me a copy to listen again, it was fantastic. After that, it was back to the Wetherspoons, solely with the intent to get very drunk very cheaply, as both hotel bars charge extortionate prices. So, after a quick bottle of Kopparberg cider, I went for wine. Now, many of you may already know this, but I cannot drink wine without becoming almost instantly sozzled. Stick ten double Southern Comfort and lemonades in me and I'll be a bit drunk, but one glass of wine and I am gone. So, I got me a bottle of rose, and was pleasantly toasted within the hour :P Other started to join us as I started to make more and more of a drunken tit of myself, and I stole Gavin's hat, which I thought looked rather fetching on me...

Snazzy hat, must...steal from...Gavin...nnngg...

Anyhoo, at 7pm(ish) Rich and I headed back to the Mercure to have some food and get changed. I have absolutely no idea how I did it, but somehow in the time it took me to eat a pot of Super Noodles To Go and put on my new dress, I'd almost completely sobered up. I was walking in a straight line and everything! One part of me thinks this is a very good thing, as I think if I'd remained as drunk as I was in the afternoon then I'd have passed out by 9:30pm. As it was, I was like a blank canvas yet again, ready to be painted with alcohol :D Although a party had been organised at the Mercure, Rich and I popped up there at 8:35pm(ish) and there seemed to just be two people at a rather cheesy-sounding disco. Normally, I'm all for cheesy dancing, but I wasn't willing to make that much of a twat of myself in a practically empty disco in front of some people I'd only met for the first time this weekend. So we hit the Ramada bar for the night, and I had an absolutely fantastic time. Iz and I always have a hell of a lot of fun together, and I met some ace new people, including a new Stacey, who is a Geordie and has the most wonderful accent! We got on like a house on fire, busting out the odd Erasure song, plus a bit of the robot every now and then, and giving ourselves the nickname StaceSquared :P Somehow, I did not manage to get a picture of StaceSquared and that makes me a sad panda, but I've decided that just means she needs to meet up with us again at some point soon :P I hung around with Belgium Dave and his bro quite a bit, who are both awesome and who like to rock the party. Highlights of my evening included a two and a half hour chat with Mr Dan DiDio (super nice guy and obviously very passionate about his work, which is good to know), Dan Boultwood still being alive and not being very coherent at 11pm, and anytime any of us burst into a bit of a song.

The Racks plus the somewhat inebriated Mr Boultwood...

I was actually quite glad to have only bought the Saturday tickets for the con, as Rich and I rolled back to our hotel at 3:15am(ish) and therefore I am knackered today, evn after staying in bed quite late. Well, I say quite late, I was awake at 9am and couldn't get back off to sleep, which sucked a little as Rich's drunk-snoring (weirdly, he only seems to snore when drunk or ill) had kept me awake until around 4:30am... Anyways, we checked out of the Mercure, hit a Subway for breakfast (egg, cheese and sausage with tomato ketchup = YUM) and then headed to the Ramada in the hopes of catching a few people on their way into the con to say goodbye. On my way in, Dave (oooooh dear, too many Daves.... This one shall be Waiting For The Trade Dave) told me that Jimmy Bott (awesome artist and regular visitor to the Geek Syndicate and Comic Racks forums) had done a sketch for me. Kindly, WFTT Dave leant me his Sunday ticket so I could pop into the con and retrieve it, and man, it is AWESOME!

Deadpool enjoying Comic Racks a little too much, by Jimmy Bott

We had a little chat for a while and he seems like a really cool guy. It's a shame I never spotted him the previous night in the Ramada bar, as I may have pounced on him slightly tipsily and chatted more. If he comes to Birmingham con, I must remember to stalk him incessantly :P I had to scoot though, to do the goodbyes before getting the train. Twas quite sad saying goodbye to everyone, as it seems the weekend went far too quickly, and sadly I didn't manage to find Geek Syndicate Dave or Belgium Dave to give 'em massive hugs.

So, all in all, it was a very successful con, though I think it may be smarter to skip the Friday next year, as it did cost us quite a lot for the hotel room and that... I cannot wait for June 13th to roll around now; Iz will be visiting Birmingham, hoorah!

My free sketch from Dan Boultwood, that I'm not sure he'd even remember doing!