get/together

Placeholder: Digital g/t 2021

arysteia — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 01:55:39 GMT

This is a placeholder for a report on last year, and also an announcement of the shiny new comm, get_together (with *one* underscore, not our beloved historical two) at dreamwidth. :D

Book recs (2019 AND 2020)

sixth_light — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 22:18:38 GMT

Hi friends, a few of you have asked for the book recs from my presentations in 2019 and 2020. Here they are!

2019 (So Your Watch Is Ended: Epic Fantasy Beyond Game of Thrones, By (Mostly) Ladies)

The Poppy War and sequels (R F Kuang)

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (N K Jemisin)

Crown of Stars series (Kate Elliott)

Cold Magic trilogy (Kate Elliott)

Range of Ghosts + sequels (Elizabeth Bear)

Daevabad Trilogy (S A Chakhraborty) *STICKS THE ENDING*

The Tiger's Daughter + sequels (K Arsenault Rivera)

The Empire trilogy (Janny Wurts ~~and Raymond Feist)~~

The Curse of Chalion (Lois McMaster Bujold)

The Kushiel saga (Jacqueline Carey)

Bonus I didn't rec then but which fits in: Realm of Ash (Tasha Suri)

2020 (Books That Embrace Fanfic Feels And/Or Are Straight-up Fanfic):

Trope-tastic fanfic feels:

Anything and everything by K J Charles (queer historical romance)

The Locked Tomb trilogy (Tamsyn Muir)

Bonds of Brass (Emily Skrutskie)

The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected In Water (Zen Cho) (& anything else by her)

Unconquerable Sun (Kate Elliott) (I haven't read it yet)

The Old Guard (the movie, NOT the comics)

Bonus I didn't rec but v good if you're into BDSM/dubcon tropes + interrogation thereof: Docile (K M Szpara)

Actual Fanfic For Real:

Angel Mage (Garth Nix)

Empress of Forever (Max Gladstone)

The Angel of the Crows (Katharine Addison) (I haven't read it yet)

Black Sails (the TV show)

Venues 2020

arysteia — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 00:46:12 GMT

Friday Brunch: Elements Cafe 11am
-- 144 Onepu Road, Lyall Bay

Friday Drinks: Lulu Bar 3pm
-- 31 Courtenay Place, Te Aro
Come as and when you arrive, we'll be here

Friday Dinner: Oaks Noodle House 7pm
-- upstairs at the Oaks Complex, 71-81 Cuba Mall
No bookings here, arrive and be prepared to grab your table, we'll terrify the rest of the clientele before long; newbies be warned, it's the cheapest, cheerfullest place in town, BYO ambience

Saturday/Sunday: Seatoun Village Hall
-- 27 Ventnor Street, Seatoun

Sunday Dinner: Spirit House 6.30pm
-- 1 Park Road, Miramar

Monday Breakfast/Second Breakfast/Brunch: Fidel's Cafe 10am
-- 234 Cuba Street, Te Aro
No bookings here, arrive and be prepared to grab your table, we'll terrify the rest of the clientele before long; we'll also linger a good long while as people drift off to the airport, so expect multiple shifts and come hungry

Most preliminary of preliminary timetables

arysteia — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 00:28:41 GMT

Seriously, watch out for falling masonry as I shift stuff around.

Friday

11am: Brunch
-- Elements Cafe, Kilbirnie

3pm: Cocktails
-- Lulu Bar, Courtenay Place

7pm: Dinner
-- Oaks Noodle House, Cuba Mall

Saturday

10am: Doors Open/Set-up of Hall
10.15: House Rules/Safety Briefing
10.30: Drift Compatible Ice Breakers (shihadchick)
11.30: The Untamed/The Historical Context of Xianxia (jocondite and stickmarionette)
1pm NZ, 10am AUS, 7pm CHICAGO: LUNCH AND LIVECHAT
2.30: Dragon Prince (sixth_light)
3pm: That A/B/O Lawsuit: What's up with that?
3.30: Discussion Panel 1 (labellementeuse)
the difference between censorship and making fandom unwelcoming, and what AO3 could do differently/better?
tagging and summaries and what people want from each as readers?
5.30: Vid Show 1 (maudlinrose)
6pm NZ, 3pm AUS: Pizza and Pub Quiz (china_shop or possibly ringer cyphomandra)
7.45: Quick Clean Up
8pm: Doors Close

Sunday

10am: Doors Open
10.30: Nobody Cares About the Sewer Clown (maudlinrose)
11am: Fire Emblem (stickmarionette and aworldinside)
11.45am: Letterkenny (shihadchick)
12.30 NZ, 10.30am AUS, 6.30pm CHICAGO: LUNCH AND LIVECHAT
1.30: 2020 The Year Fanfic Tropes Took Over Mainstream Fiction (sixth_light)
2pm: Witcher TV v. Games (blademistress)
2.30pm: Because That’s What Heroes Do (arysteia)
3.30: Discussion Panel 2 (labellementeuse)
Defend your theses (sixth_light, arysteia)
4.30 NZ, 2.30 AUS, 7.30pm CHICAGO: Sunday Night Vid Show (crowdsourced)
5.30pm: Thorough Tidy Up
6pm: Doors Close

6.30pm: Dinner
-- Spirit House Thai, Miramar

Monday

10am: Brunch
-- Fidel's, Cuba Street

Virtual Hub 2020

arysteia — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 01:47:08 GMT

(This is draft 1.0 and will be added to throughout the day as I figure out more details, also as I ask Blade if I’ve got the tech deets right.)

Welcome, friends. You are in our pockets, on our screens, and in our hearts.

This post will serve as the Virtual Hub for online get/together 2020. Bookmark this one, and I’ll keep it updated with changes as they happen. Old hands will know that the scheduled timetable often blows out because we can’t stop talking, but I’ll try to keep the anchor points solid so that you can pop in as and when you want to. Lay in provisions, kick back with an espresso martini (or aperitif of choice), and enjoy. (And please pardon any technical glitches.)

1) What technology do I need? How will it work?

We will be meeting on Zoom. Open it up on your laptop or your tv and you’ll be ready to go. You will be sent a private link, which is the only way to join the stream.

The stream will be view only during presentations, which may be in the form of video or powerpoint type slides, with presenters talking into a microphone. There will not be video of the hall, the presenters, or the general attendees, at this point.

You can interact with what’s going on -- comment, ask questions, just squee -- by tweeting at the community twitter handle @get__together. Note the two underscores, a hark back to the days of livejournal’s lack of dashes, and a horrible name squatter who didn’t even use their journal. :-) The feed will be projected on a second screen so that everyone in the hall can see your tweets, and the extremely online among us will no doubt respond to them.

2) What other interactions/activities will there be?

We’ll flip to two-way at lunchtime so that we can have a good chat and catch up. I’m thinking Saturday will be a general all purpose gossip session and 2020 stitch and bitch, and maybe on Sunday it could be more fandom/con focused. We’ll see how that goes.

Pub quiz will go ahead in all its glory on Saturday night. We’ll be eating pizza and working together in table groups, you will all be one virtual team, and can make yourselves dinner and cocktails in the comfort of your own homes. There will be a two-way invite for this too, so you can hear the questions and the screams of agony. We’ll mute the hall during deliberations though, so you can all collaborate remotely. Answers will go into a gdoc for submission.

Discussion panels will be listen only, unfortunately, as they’re hard enough to moderate in person, let alone with tech issues as well. Tui (labellementeuse) will be modding however, so I will be acting as roving Australian (and Extended Aotearoa) Ambassador, and picking up any questions/comments from twitter.

Vid shows should be able to live stream, but we’ll stick a playlist in the gdrive folder as a back up.

3) Day 1

Anchor Point: 1pm NZ, 10/11am AUS^, 7pm CHICAGO*: LUNCH AND LIVECHAT (90 minutes)
Anchor Point: 6pm NZ, 3pm AUS: Pizza and Pub Quiz (Saturday night)

* Don't forget it's the day before in Chicago. So Friday not Saturday, Saturday not Sunday.
^ Lol, apparently DST kicks in on Sunday, just to further complicate things in Oz.

3b) Day 2

Anchor Point: 12.30pm NZ, 10.30am AUS^, 7.30pm CHICAGO*: LUNCH AND LIVECHAT (60 minutes)
1.30: 2020 The Year Fanfic Tropes Took Over Mainstream Fiction (sixth_light)
2pm: Witcher TV v. Games (blademistress)
2.30pm: Because That’s What Heroes Do (arysteia)
3.30: Discussion Panel 2 (labellementeuse)
Anchor Point: 4.30pm NZ, 2.30pm AUS^, 10.30pm CHICAGO*: Closing Vid Show (Sunday Night)

4) Great! I’m sold! How do I sign up?

Please copy/paste the following mini-template into a comment reply to this post. If you don’t have a surviving livejournal, then anon is fine, just put your user name in the subject line. Don’t stress if Frank the Goat screens your reply, I’ll come through and unscreen everything promptly.

Then go make sure you’re following @get__together, and maybe set up a list column for it in tweetdeck where you can see all replies.

Unified Theory of Everything Post 2020

arysteia — Mon, 14 Sep 2020 04:01:01 GMT

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your reckons! I come to use livejournal as an archive repository, not to overwhelm it and crash the robust, Russia dwelling, servers.

THIS WILL BE THE ONLY SIGN UP/REGISTRATION/VOLUNTEER/RESTAURANT BOOKING/PIZZA ORDER POST OF 2020. DO EVERYTHING HERE.

There will be a hard cut off of Thursday October 1 to sign up, order pizza, confirm attendance at dinner, pay your subs etc. This is not a drill, if you are habitually late signing up or rsvping for things, do not do that this year. I am not willing to make extra difficulties for essential workers in this year of our trials and tribulations 2020.

There will be an update email going out shortly, and likely another later in the week, and as always up to the minute updates will go out on twitter. There will also be at least one more post here with final confirmation of times, venues, and event timetables.

Please fill out the following form as a top level comment to this post. (You can, of course, converse as you wish in replies to each other.) If you can't log in, just put your public pseud in the subject line. Don't worry about overthinking stuff, it's just rorshach blots and pub quiz fodder. Obviously if your presentation is still evolving you can give a general indication here and add detail later.

Subs are $33, same as always. Bank account details are in the email.

Registration Form 2020

The All and Sundry Section

Public pseud:

Current favourite fandom:

Current OTP (or OT3 etc):

One true undying, always returning, forever fandom and/or OTP:

Fandoms cruelly cast by the wayside:

The best fic of all time is:

The best vid of all time is:

Three characters that represent you in some way (no explanations, let us figure it out):

The First Timers Only Section

I discovered fandom by:

I discovered g/t by:

I am a writer/reader/artist/podficcer/reccer/archivist/lurker etc:

I do the bulk of my fannish activity at x platform(s) and my pseud(s) there is/are:

My favourite tropes are:

My most hated tropes are:

The All Important Volunteering Section

I would like to do a presentation on x and I need 10/20/30 minutes to do it:

My presentation has either huge spoilers or possibly triggers and therefore should run into a lunch break:

I have an idea for an icebreaker game to finally end slash pictionary's fifteen year reign of terror:

I have an idea for something I would like us to discuss and I would like to run the discussion myself:

I have an idea for something I would like us to discuss and I would like it to get into the main panel section(s), run by Tui:

I'm going to kick back and enjoy everyone else's passion this year.

The Arguably Even More Important Food Section

My Hell Pizza order for Saturday night is (please bold or all caps any allergies/intolerances):

It costs this much, which I will add to my subs when I pay those:

For reasons that don’t need exploring at this juncture I won’t be staying for the pizza party.

I'm coming to dinner at the Thai place Sunday night, Y/N:

More crudites, more chips, or more biscuits?

Hummus or sour cream dips?

Coke or juice?

I said coke and my preferred version is:

I said juice and I prefer apple/orange/other:

Coffee or tea?

Whole fat, half, or trim milk?

Timetable (Belated)

arysteia — Sat, 05 Oct 2019 08:42:32 GMT

Sincere and profuse apologies for the vanishing timetable this morning, it's amazing the damage a three gig powerpoint can do to a laptop set to auto upload to the cloud. *old lady shakes fist at said cloud*

Friday

10am: Brunch
-- Elements Cafe, Kilbirnie

5pm: Cocktails
-- Library Bar, Courtenay Place

7pm: Dinner
-- Oaks Noodle House, Cuba Mall

Saturday

10am: Doors Open/Set-up of Hall
10.15: House Rules/Safety Briefing
10.30: Slash Pictionary -- fifteenth verse, same as the first (shihadchick)
11.30: Killing Eve (blademistress)
12.30: LUNCH
1.30: X-Men - Goodbye to All That (arysteia and stickmarionette)
3.30: Critical Role: Take Two (sixth_light)
4.15: Schitt's Creek (erilyn)
5pm: Guardian (china_shop)
5.30: Good Omens (cross_stitchery)
6pm: Pizza and Pub Quiz -- Tonight we dine in Hell! (china_shop)
7.45: Quick Clean Up
8pm: Doors Close

Sunday

10am: Doors Open
10.15: She-Ra (shihadchick)
10.45: The D and D Renaissance: Was it inevitable? (labellementeuse)
11.15: Russian Murder Princes (jocondite)
11.45: Jennifer's Body at 10 (blademistress)
12noon: So Your Watch Is Ended: Epic Fantasy For The Post-GoT World -- sixth_light
12.30: LUNCH
1.30: Fandom Sampler
-- Lily's Garden (shihadchick)
-- How to use Pinboard (meelie)
-- Fire Emblem Three Houses (aworldinside)
2.30: Charmed (shihadchick)
3.15: ~Let's Call This Second Saturday~ Vidshow (maudlinrose)
3.45: Discussion (labellementeuse)
5pm: Sunday Night Vid Show (meelie)
5.30pm: Thorough Tidy Up
6pm: Doors Close

7pm: Dinner
-- Spirit House Thai, Miramar

Monday

11am: Brunch
-- Fidel's, Cuba Street

Vidshow II: get together 2018 (COUGH I'M SORRY COUGH)

meelie — Tue, 01 Oct 2019 11:37:44 GMT

LITERALLY A YEAR LATE HERE IT IS
sunday vid show!

everything will be okay

1 - "Guards! Take this primitive to the punishment cells!": Acceptable in the 80's by Carol
Blakes 7

2 - "Congratulations, you have invented a new kind of stupid.": Congratulations by Starlady
Star Wars Prequels

3 - "I've got stamina": The Greatest by bironic Multifandom

4 - "Is this a test?": Brooklyn(Go Hard) by vordeel
Bucky x Steve (MCU)

5 - "Oh where do we begin? The rubble or our sins?": Pompeii by astolat
Star Trek: The Next Generation

6 - "We have all the time in the world. To get it right, to get it right": Avengers Get Ready niyalune

7 - "All I wanted was to break your walls. All you ever did was break me": Wrecking Ball by Jetpack Monkey Charles/Erik, X-Men all media

8 - "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here": Closing Time by trelkez Vale Vividcon (I'm not crying you're crying is how i saved this link)

Registration 2019

arysteia — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 03:53:15 GMT

Belated, but hopefully also streamlined, it’s time to register for g/t 2019. Let’s get this show on the road.

1) As with last year, please just make a top level comment to this post rather than an individual post to the community. If you kept your livejournal you can comment logged in, if you've got a dreamwidth you can use open id (but include your lj name if there's any chance I won't recognise it), if you have neither, or you prefer not to log in for any reason, then anon commenting is fine, but please include a pseudonymous tag so I can tell who it is.

2) We will again be having pub quiz and pizza party on Saturday night. Obviously, if you have to head off earlier for any reason it’s all good, but otherwise I was pleased with how smoothly last year’s ordering process went, so we’ll be repeating that. I will order and pay in advance, on Friday 4 October. In the morning, before I go to brunch. This means that signups and payment of subs has a hard close by Thursday 3 October.

Please visit the Hell Pizza website and check out their menu. Please also make a note of the price of your order. Don't worry about factoring in delivery, I'll sort that out. Can I please suggest that you try to order off the menu if you can, as things start to go awry if there are too many substitutions on a giant order. If you have allergies/intolerances please all caps or bold those so I can make them absolutely clear when I go in.

3) Everyone who came last year is on the mailing list, but if you’re bringing along anyone new can they please fill out this google form with contact details (confidential). If you don't want to include a cell number you don't have to, but especially if you don't have a twitter account I can ping it might be useful to be able to text in case of short notice issues.

Registration Template 2019

Don’t overthink these questions. Treat it like word association. It's only for a couple of games on the day. And don’t look back. I love seeing everyone’s answers evolve. Delete/complete snacks and victuals lines as applicable.

First Fandom and/or OTP:

Current Top Fandom and/or OTP:

One True Undying, Always Returning, Forever Fandom and/or OTP:

Fandoms Cruelly Cast by the Wayside:

Writer/Vidder/Reader/Reccer/Podficcer/Artist/Curator/Other/All of the Above?

Favourite Trope:

Most Hated Trope:

If Only One Fic or Vid Survived the Apocalypse It Would Be:

Three Characters That Represent You In Some Way (no explanations, let us figure it out):

More crudites, more chips, or more biscuits?

Hummus or sour cream dips?

Coke or juice?

I said coke and my preferred version is:

I said juice and I prefer apple/orange/other:

I drink water, I'm not a barbarian like you.

Coffee or tea?

Whole fat, half, or trim milk?

My Hell order is (please bold or all caps any allergies/intolerances):

It costs this much, which I will add to my subs when that email goes out:

I haven't worked out my Hell order yet but I was super keen to sign up anyway, and I will totally comment to this comment with an update very soon, and you have my permission to heckle when I don't.

I'm going to bring my own dinner and take my chances on the kitchen.

For reasons that don’t need exploring at this juncture I won’t be staying for the pizza party.

ETA: Sharp eyed jocondite noticed that I'd left a reference to a subs post in the rego template. I've edited that out now to refer to the mailing list email which was in fact this year's official invoice and has the bank account details.

Team work makes the dream work!

arysteia — Sat, 07 Sep 2019 00:33:32 GMT

It's been forever since a new fandom ate fandom, but I saw plenty of you enjoying plenty of things over the last year. Now is your chance to spread the wisdom, share the wealth, or just plain take advantage of the fact there's no filter on real life to get inside the bunker.

As always, reminiscing about old fandoms is also welcome, whether they've gotten a reboot, you've recently done a rewatch, or you're simply feeling nostalgic for some reason. Got your own version of my Inevitable Smallville Renaissance? (I think stickmarionette and I might be Inevitably X-Men-ing...)

Got a hot topic to discuss? Mod a discussion yourself if you want to, or just brainstorm questions you'd like to see considered. I'll allocate more time if there's a lot people want to cover, though you all know how the timetable tends to buckle by Sunday afternoon.

Fannish taster platters: Over the last couple of years we've had a few cool "mini" pimps, maybe for first timers who've never presented before, or for little tidbits you want to introduce but don't think you can put together a whole presentation on. Please do think seriously about whether your five minutes is going to morph into ten or fifteen, in which case you should snag a proper slot, but if you've got something teeny you want to throw out there without any pressure, then let me know.

Volunteer in comments to this post, or @ or DM me on twitter.

Please also feel free to think outside the box – we've had a few quite different presentations recently, in the form of historical/literary primers, art and audio presentations, monsterfucking polls, etc, all of which were wonderful, and warmly received. The official g/t definition of fannish content is "friends and fellow fans will be interested in seeing/hearing this", so if you're not sure please do ask.

*****

Pictionary -- shihadchick
Pub Quiz -- china_shop
Saturday night vidshow -- maudlinrose
Sunday night vidshow -- meelie
Goodbye to All That (Fox's X-Men) -- arysteia
What does sacrifice/altruism mean in modern superhero movies? -- arysteia
*cough* This really does depend on how busy I am the next few weeks, but I wanna *cough*
Killing Eve -- blademistress
Jennifer's Body at 10 -- blademistress
Good Omens -- cross_stitchery
How to use Pinboard -- meelie tbc
Rasputin Murder Boyfriends -- jocondite
Critical Role: Take Two -- sixth_light
The DnD Renaissance (was it inevitable? ;-p) -- labellementeuse
So Your Watch Is Ended: Epic Fantasy For The Post-GoT World -- sixth_light
She-Ra -- shihadchick
Charmed -- shihadchick
Guardian -- china_shop
Schitt's Creek -- erilyn

Cutting things close, good thing we're a well oiled machine...

arysteia — Fri, 06 Sep 2019 21:13:23 GMT

Exactly one month to go, which I was going to panic about, but apparently the record for lateness goes to 2017 where the big post flurry took place only a fortnight out. Well done, 2017 me!

1) Restating for the record, as announced on twitter and to the mailing list earlier in the year, this year's get/together will, of course, be the weekend of October 5 and 6, with Friday 4 and Monday 7 as always for those who can make it/stick around.

2) Another year, another new fannish platform that didn't really take off. No disrespect to pillowfort, but most of us didn't do more than name squat there. On the other hand, I quite like the mailing list, it's been easy for me to use, so once again I'll be sending out wakeup emails and critical reminders, while continuing to use this livejournal as an information repository/hub. The best way to get up to the minute updates is still, of course, the twitter account. Even if you don't use twitter actively, it's worth checking out the g/t feed for up the minute news.

3) Taking signups as top level comments to the registration post seemed to work last year, so we'll stick with that. As always, open ID or (pseudonymously) signed anonymous comments are fine.

4) Everyone seemed to enjoy late night Saturday, vidshows, pub quiz, and pizza, so unless I get feedback to the contrary in short order, assume we're sticking with that. The pizza delivery went almost perfectly last year, so orders will again be finalised and paid for together with your registration and subs.

5) Subs will almost certainly be the same as last year, ie $33. I'm just waiting on the official invoice.

Expect a bunch of informational posts over the next few days, but if you're an old hand you can also expect not much to have changed. :-)

Vidshow I: the minor fall, the major lift

maudlinrose — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 23:44:00 GMT

1. Star Wars - Let's Get It Started by bessyboo

2. Rivers of London - Put A Lid On It by odessie

3. Atomic Blonde - Blonde by cupidsbow

4. Harry Potter - Runner by astolat

5. Rome - Virgin by obsessive24 (you have to scroll but GET EVERYTHING)

6. Arrival - The Scientist by violace

7. Sense & Sensibility - All This And Heaven Too by SillyCleo

8. Tango & Cash - A Man With A Gun by franzeska

9. The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls In Love - This Love by AurumCalendula

10. Three Men And A Baby - Don't Stop Me Now by Sholio

11. A Tribute to Jackie Chan - I Don't Feel Like Dancin' by jetpackmonkey

12. America - Battle Cry by absternr

Some of these videos are only available streaming on vimeo; I had to do weird shenanigans with a dubious Chrome extension (that I then immediately deleted from my computer) to get a copy. But I can hook you up next time I see you if there's something you particularly want.

Timetable we'll totally follow to the letter... ;-p

arysteia — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 09:08:53 GMT

As usual, time stamps are indicative, and some leeway has been built in in places to allow for inevitable overrun. (Version 1.0)

Friday

11am: Brunch
-- Elements Cafe

4pm: Cocktails
-- Library Bar

7pm: Dinner
-- Oaks Noodle House

Saturday

10am: Doors Open/Set-up of Hall
10.15: House Rules/Safety Briefing
10.30: Slash Pictionary (shihadchick)
-- ~~second~~ fourteenth verse, same as the first
11.30: Black Sails (arysteia)
-- Incredibly angry queers, and a surprising amount of intersectionality for a show about pirates
12.30: LUNCH
1.30: Miss Sherlock (stickmarionette)
-- Everything's better with more ladies
2pm: Lucifer (dewey3067)
-- xxx
2.30: So you want to PRINT that fic as a book/zine (tyellas)
-- xxx
3pm: Panel I (china_shop)
-- How do you fandom crush?
4pm: AFTERNOON TEA
4.15: Critical Role (labellementeuse)
-- The new campaign
4.30: Cagney and Lacey (arysteia)
-- and a bunch of random 80s nostalgia
5.15: Set Up for Dinner and Quiz (tables and teams)
5.30: Pizza and Pub Quiz (china_shop)
-- Tonight we dine in Hell!
7pm: Vid Show I (maudlinrose)
-- the minor fall, the major lift
7.45: Quick Clean Up
8pm: Doors Close

Sunday

10am: Doors Open
10.15: The D and D Renaissance (labellementeuse)
-- Was it inevitable?
10.30: Morgoth is why we can't have nice things: the endless suffering of the Silmarillion (jocondite)
-- In conclusion, cousins
11.30: Buzzfeed: Unsolved (shihadchick)
-- IDK, spooky stuff? A BU investigation.
12noon: Stephen Universe (chruskit)
-- xxx
12.30: LUNCH
1.30: Star Trek Retrospective (mab_browne)
-- xxx
2pm: Points Novels (kiwisue)
-- xxx
2.30: So we're going to have Worldcon in Wellington in 2020 (tyellas)
-- xxx
3pm: Jurassic Park III (blademistress)
-- Billy, don't be a hero
3.30: Riptide (tinx_r)
-- They share a room!
3.45: Open Doors (meelie)
4pm: Panel II (arysteia)
-- platforms etc
5pm: Vid Show II (meelie)
-- She'd tell us but then she'd have to kill us
5.30pm: Thorough Tidy Up
6pm: Doors Close
7pm: Dinner
-- Siam Thai

Monday

11am: Brunch
-- Fidel's

Food Options

arysteia — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 10:45:39 GMT

Friday:

Elements does a traditional brunch menu as well as some nice lunch options, tea and coffee and cakes.

The Library does fantastic cocktails, and some cool finger food if you're feeling peckish.

The Oaks does an eclectic mix of non-specific Asian cuisines, from tom yum to roti to Hawaiian fried rice.

Saturday and Sunday:

We usually have a one hour (tbc) lunch break scheduled on both days. The Dundas Street shops are fairly rudimentary -- the Four Square is definitely a superette rather than a supermarket, so good for snacks/sundries but not great for food shopping. There is a fish and chip shop (very nice, also does excellent burgers), and a cafe (good but slightly pricey) in the immediate vicinity. I'm told the dairy opposite the Four Square is branching out into hot food, but cannot confirm by personal experience.

If you're up for a ten minute walk then it's an easy stroll back to Strathmore (just through the tunnel) where there is a bakery/cafe, another fish and chip shop (more run of the mill, does a fairly good souvlaki though), a Chinese takeaway, and an Indian place. Obviously you can also bring a packed lunch from home if that is your preference, and we will have our usual assortment of snacks (chips and dips, crudites, biscuits, soft drinks and juices, tea and coffee) available throughout the day.

Everyone's made their Hell pizza order by now, so that's Saturday night taken care of, and we'll be following last year's innovation of setting up tables properly rather than perching.

Siam Thai has a large menu and does all the usual faves, some less common dishes, and excellent banana fritters for dessert.

Monday:

Fidel's does all the usual brunches, cafe style lunches, counter food, coffee and cake, good milkshakes, and a decent bloody mary.

NOT THAT WE ARE ALL ABOUT FOOD OR ANYTHING.

Venues

arysteia — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 10:10:58 GMT

Where to go and when. All brunches, dinners, drinks, etc are optional, of course, so feel free to attend as many or as few as you feel like.

[Minor edits to follow when I figure out the new bus routes.]

1) Main venue for weekend festivities:

Seatoun Village Hall: 10am – 8pm Saturday, 10am – 6pm Sunday
22 Forres Street, Seatoun

Previously known as the Saint Christopher's Parish Hall, but still the same place. The church (no longer yellow stickered but sadly deconsecrated) is on the corner of Forres and Ventnor Streets, the hall is next door. There's plenty of parking in the street outside for anyone driving. ~~Anyone getting the bus from town should get the Seatoun 11, and get out at the Dundas Street shops.~~

2) Leisurely brunch on Friday, which often involves first and second breakfast for some of us hobbit types as successive waves of people drift in from the airport/elsewhere:

Elements Cafe: 11am Friday
144 Onepu Road, Lyall Bay

~~Get the number 3 bus from town, or walk down Onepu Road from Kilbirnie.~~

3) Cocktails, where we will again start early and wait for other poor souls to finish work:

Library Bar: 4pm Friday
53 Courtenay Place, Wellington (upstairs)

Join us for after work/after flight/pre dinner cocktails. Roll up as and when you prefer. We'll head out again about 6.30.

4) Traditional "cheap and cheerful" introductory dinner:

Oaks Noodle House: 7pm Friday
71 Cuba Street, Wellington (upstairs)

Newbies be warned, this place has no ambiance, but we've been going here for fourteen years now. The food is good, and lightning fast, and they happily put up with a racket.

5) Closing dinner, another old haunt and the winner by popular (ie twitter) vote:

Siam Thai Restaurant: 7pm Sunday
64 Kilbirnie Crescent, Kilbirnie

6) Farewell brunch for those still in town and/or avoiding work:

Fidel's: 11am Monday
234 Cuba Street, Wellington

We'll malinger here until all the out of towners have wended their weary way to the airport or train station, and then that's it for another year. Remember to wear a jumper, it can be windy outside!

Registration and Sign Ups 2018

arysteia — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 04:35:29 GMT

Welcome, one and all. It's time to register for g/t 2018. Hopefully a speedy and streamlined process, though with one important addition this year.

1) As with last year, please just make a top level comment to this post rather than an individual post to the community. If you kept your livejournal you can comment logged in, if you've got a dreamwidth you can use open id (but include your lj name if there's any chance I won't recognise it), if you have neither, or you prefer not to log in for any reason, then anon commenting is fine, but please include a pseudonymous tag so I can tell who it is.

2) It's pizza party time! Well, not really, but in the interests of avoiding hell on earth over the phone Saturday night (you see what I did there) I am going to order and pay in advance, on Friday 5 October. In the morning, before I go to brunch. That means there's going to be a hard cut off for registrations and subs this year! No retroactive signups. Not that I'm looking at any perpetual latecomers in particular. You can edit your order between now and then, obviously, but when I call a hard close I'm gonna mean it. :D

Please go directly to hell, I mean visit the Hell Pizza website and check out the menu. Please also make a note of the price of your order. Don't worry about factoring in delivery, I'll sort that out. Can I please suggest that you try to order off the menu if you can, as things start to go awry if there are too many substitutions on a giant order. If you have allergies/intolerances please all caps or bold those so I can make those absolutely clear when I go in.

3) If you didn't do it last year, can you please fill out this google form with contact details (confidential). If you don't want to include a cell number you don't have to, but especially if you don't have a twitter account I can ping it might be useful to be able to text in case of short notice issues.

Registration Template 2018

Try to pick ONE answer, maybe two, if you can, not your entire fannish history. And don't overthink some of the questions. Treat it like word association. It's only for a couple of games on the day.

First Fandom and/or OTP:

Is there a fandom you didn't know was a fandom when you were tiny, but it totally was?

Current Top Fandom and/or OTP:

One True Undying, Always Returning, Forever Fandom and/or OTP:

Favourite Trope:

Most Hated Trope:

Three Characters That Represent You In Some Way (no explanations, let us figure it out):

If Only One Fic Survived the Apocalypse It Would Be:

More crudites, more chips, or more biscuits?

Hummus or sour cream dips?

Coke or juice?

I said coke and my preferred version is:

I said juice and I prefer apple/orange/other:

I drink water, I'm not a barbarian like you.

Coffee or tea?

Whole fat, half, or trim milk?

My Hell order is (please bold or all caps any allergies/intolerances):

It costs this much, which I will add to my subs when that post goes up:

I haven't worked out my Hell order yet but I was super keen to sign up anyway, and I will totally comment to this comment with an update very soon, and you have my permission to heckle when I don't.

I'm going to bring my own dinner and take my chances on the kitchen.

What's that? Some new fandoms at last? Let's hear about them!

arysteia — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 00:14:48 GMT

Word on the street is a few of you are very excited about your new fandoms. I hope that means you've got follow through and are going to pimp them to the crowd. Now is your chance to volunteer!

As always, reminiscing about old fandoms is also welcome. Got your own version of my Inevitable Smallville Renaissance?

Got a hot topic to discuss? Mod a discussion yourself if you want to, ~~demand~~ suggest someone else do so if you prefer. Feel free to just brainstorm topics too, as I will allocate more time if there's a lot people want to cover.

Got a character that everyone would love if they only knew them? Or someone we already love but would enjoy being reminded about? Got a vaguely fannish game to play?

Please volunteer in comments to this post, or @ or DM me on twitter.

Last year we experimented with "two minute pimps", ie low pressure starter pimps, maybe for first timers who've never presented before, or for little tidbits you want to introduce but don't think you can put together a whole presentation on. Please do think seriously about whether your two minutes is going to morph into ten or fifteen, in which case you should snag a proper slot, but if you've got something that's around five, say, then let me know and I'll measure the slot needed for the hors d'oeuvre platter.

Please also feel free to think outside the box – we've had a couple of quite "different" presentations the last couple of years, in the form of historical/literary primers, art and audio presentations, etc, all of which were wonderful, and warmly received. The official g/t definition of fannish content is "friends and fellow fans will be interested in seeing/hearing this", so if you're not sure please do ask.

*****

Pictionary -- shihadchick
Pub Quiz -- china_shop
Black Sails -- arysteia
Cagney and Lacey (and a touch of 80s nostalgia) -- arysteia
Critical Role (the new campaign) -- labellementeuse
The DnD Renaissance (was it inevitable? ;-p) -- labellementeuse
The Silmarillion -- jocondite
Miss Sherlock -- stickmarionette
Saturday night vidshow -- maudlinrose
Sunday night vidshow -- meelie
Steven Universe -- chruskit
Star Trek Retrospective -- mab_browne
Buzzfeed: Unsolved -- shihadchick
Lucifer -- dewey3067
Points Novels -- kiwisue
So you want to PRINT that fic as a book/zine -- tyellas
So we're going to have Worldcon in Wellington in 2020 -- tyellas
Jurassic Park 3 -- blademistress

*****

Potential Discussion Topics:

Early days on pillowfort from early adopters
How do you fandom crush? -- china_shop

Housekeeping and Preliminary Updates

arysteia — Mon, 03 Sep 2018 21:51:06 GMT

Five weeks (okay, four and a half) to go, which puts me a full fortnight ahead of last year. *\o/*

1) I realise now that I tweeted out the confirmed dates for this year, congratulated myself on booking early, and then forgot to ever post them here. Apologies to anyone who's been waiting in anticipation. This year's get/together will, of course, be the weekend of October 6 and 7, with Friday 5 and Monday 8 as always for those who can make it.

2) This livejournal is going to stay the archival repository of all information posts. Everything is going to be mirrored at pillowfort if you've got one, and if it takes off as a fandom platform that might become the main hub next year. The best way to get up to the minute updates is of course the twitter feed. I'm going to send out a wakeup email once I've got all the ducks in a row, and will probably continue to do this for a while for people that have deleted or abandoned their ljs and don't get updates anymore. Feel free to forward this email to anyone you think might not have got it and would be interested.

3) Signups will be taken as top level comments to the registration post rather than as individual posts, as we did last year. Open ID or (pseudonymously) signed anonymous comments are fine.

4) We're sticking with the extended hours on Saturday, which seemed to work well last year. One obvious fine tune I thought of almost immediately during the chaos is that Hell orders for the pizza party will have to be finalised and paid for together with your registration and subs. Sorry if this kills spontaneity, but phoning in the order last year almost killed me. Also, china_shop will be running Pub Quiz this year, which will both be awesomely entertaining, and take some of the evening pressure off me. Huzzah.

5) Subs will be the same as last year, ie $33. I know that's a stupid sum, but it's a fine line between covering costs and not wanting to make a profit. If there is any change, I will be dumping it in the heating gold coin cup.

The rest of the posts you're champing at the bit for (and jocondite so charmingly asked for) will be going up over the course of the day, mirrored shortly thereafter, and tweeted out as and when.

Rivers of London short story links

sixth_light — Wed, 18 Oct 2017 07:03:26 GMT

IIRC a couple of people were interested, so here are the links to the other RoL short stories:

The Home Crowd Advantage (legal! and everything!), set between the first and second books, no spoilers: http://temporarilysignificant.blogspot.co.nz/2014/10/the-home-crowd-advantage.html

The Domestic, short story included with the third book, set sometime during the first and second books, no spoilers: http://thebaconsandwichofregret.tumblr.com/post/158676426830/whispers-under-ground-the-domestic

King of the Rats, short story included with the sixth book, provisionally set between the fifth and sixth books (no spoilers but includes a character introduced in book 3): http://maple-clef.tumblr.com/post/115253969952/king-of-the-rats-transcription

The other two short stories are "The Cockpit", set sometime during the third or fourth book (light spoilers for the second book), and "The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Granny", an immediate follow-on to the fifth book (and spoilery for it).

Timetable (WIP)

arysteia — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 21:13:38 GMT

All addresses for venues/restaurants/cafes can be found on the Venues post.

This timetable is even more a work in progress than usual, so frankly, friends, if you're looking at it right now don't expect much. It'll trickle in this afternoon and evening. ;-p

As usual, these time stamps are indicative, and some leeway has been built in in places to allow for inevitable overrun.

Friday

11.30am: Brunch
-- Maranui Surf Club Cafe

4pm: Cocktails
-- Library Bar

7pm: Dinner
-- Oaks Noodle House

[8.30: Dessert
-- Olive]

Saturday

10am: Doors Open/Set-up of Hall
10.15: House Rules/Safety Briefing
10.30: Slash Pictionary (shihadchick)
-- ~~second~~ thirteenth verse, same as the first
11.30: Dirk Gently (blademistress)
-- xxx
12noon: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (maudlinrose)
-- Females are strong as hell
12.30: LUNCH
1.30: Pod Save America (jocondite)
-- The Obama Boy Band
2pm: Moonlight Drawn by Clouds (china_shop)
-- The slash side of an OTV
2.30: Panel I (arysteia)
-- The state of the fannish union
4pm: AFTERNOON TEA
4.15: Battle Creek (cross_stitchery)
-- xxx
4.30: Rivers of London (sixth_light)
-- Now with actual official visual content because comics!
5pm: Supergirl (erilyn)
--
5.15: Set Up for Dinner (Tables and Ordering)
5.30: Pizza and Pub Quiz (arysteia and china_shop)
-- Tonight we dine in Hell!
7.15: Vid Show I (maudlinrose)
-- The policy underpinning this screening has not yet been clearly articulated
7.45: Quick Clean Up
8pm: Doors Close

Sunday

10am: Doors Open
10.15: Quantum Break (blademistress)
-- xxx
10.30: Cozy British TV Murder Mysteries (sixth_light)
-- Why Watching White Brits Die In Unusual Ways Will Make You Feel Better
11am: The Adventure Zone (aworldinside and stickmarionette)
-- xxx
11.30: Smallville (erilyn)
-- Inevitable Renaissance is Inevitable
12noon: LUNCH
1pm: SKAM (jocondite)
-- [cries in Norwegian]
1.30: Wonder Woman (arysteia and stickmarionette)
-- In your satin tights, fighting for our rights...
2.30: Stardew Valley (labellementeuse)
-- Some people only hoard virtually
3pm: The Good Place (shihadchick)
-- Seventh time's the charm?
3.30: Dark Matter (kiwisue)
-- Seventh time's the charm?
4pm: Panel II (arysteia)
-- Identity
4.45: Heads Down Bums Up (erilyn)
-- How well do you know your tags?
5pm: Vid Show II (meelie)
-- She'd tell us but then she'd have to kill us
5.30pm: Thorough Tidy Up
6pm: Doors Close
7pm: Dinner
-- Siam Thai

Monday

11am: Brunch
-- Fidel's

Venues

arysteia — Thu, 05 Oct 2017 20:57:24 GMT

Hi team, for the record this is where and when everything's happening:

1) The main venue remains unchanged, though operational hours are different:

Seatoun Village Hall: 10am – 8pm Saturday, 10am – 6pm Sunday
22 Forres Street, Seatoun

Previously known as the Saint Christopher's Parish Hall, but still the same place. The church (yellow stickered) is on the corner of Forres and Ventnor Streets, the hall is next door. There's plenty of parking in the street outside for anyone driving. Anyone getting the bus from town should get the Seatoun 11, and get out at the Dundas Street shops.

2) Leisurely brunch on Friday, which will probably still involve hobbit types having first and second breakfast as successive waves of people drift in from the airport/elsewhere. We're trying somewhere new:

Maranui Surf Club Cafe: 11.30am Friday
7 Lyall Parade, Lyall Bay

Get the number 3 bus from town, or walk down Onepu Road from Kilbirnie.

3) Leisurely cocktails (noticing a theme?) where we will start early and again wait as other poor souls finish work (or critical Critical Role updates):

Library Bar: 4pm Friday
53 Courtenay Place, Wellington (upstairs)

Join us for after work/after flight/pre dinner cocktails. Drift in as and when you prefer. We'll head out again about 6.30.

4) We toyed, as we sometimes do, with a change here, but a chorus shouted TRADITION and I could not defy them:

Oaks Noodle House: 7pm Friday
71 Cuba Street, Wellington (upstairs)

From the sublime to the ridiculous, our "cheap and cheerful" mainstay of thirteen years' counting. The ambiance is terrible but the food is good, lightning fast, and they happily put up with the racket of fifteen to twenty fangirls who haven't seen each other in months.

4a) Depending on energy levels (mine have been known to flag of late):

Olive: 8.30pm Friday TBC!!!
170 Cuba Street, Wellington

TBC, but night owls/late arrivals have been known to go on for dessert and more drinks after dinner. Play this one by ear!

5) Back to an old faithful, and chosen by popular vote the evening of the not so popular vote:

Siam Thai Restaurant: 7pm Sunday
64 Kilbirnie Crescent, Kilbirnie

A return to Kilbirnie haunts of old.

6) And finally, a farewell brunch for those still in town and/or avoiding work and/or before venturing to D & D:

Fidel's: 11am Monday
234 Cuba Street, Wellington

We'll malinger here as always, but remember to wear a jumper, it can be windy outside!

Registration and Sign Ups 2017

arysteia — Tue, 26 Sep 2017 09:40:07 GMT

We're going to try something slightly different here from past years. Partly because we're in a liminal space where I couldn't quite cut the lj cord fast enough but it's clearly time to say goodbye, and partly because many of us have been coming for a really long time and it's starting to feel silly to gather much of the same information over and over, fun though it is sometimes to look back in nostalgia and/or bewilderment.

Therefore:

1) Please register in a comment to this post rather than as an individual post to the community. If you still have a live lj then obviously you can use that as usual, if you have a dw feel free to use open id, if you are momentarily amnesiac of all your passwords (or undercover fleeing Russians) then go ahead and comment anon, just make sure to stick one of your recognisable pseuds in your comment so we know who you are.

Use this template if you've been coming for 100 years, including last year:

First Fandom and/or OTP:
Current Top Fandom and/or OTP:
One True Undying Always Returning Fandom and/or OTP:
Three Characters That Represent You In Some Way:
If Only One Fic Survived the Apocalypse It Would Be:

Use this template if you've only come once and/or haven't come for several years:

Reader, Writer, Artist, Vidder, Gamer, Lurker, All of the Above:
Definition of "Fandom":
How You "Discovered" Fandom:
First Fandom and/or OTP:
Current Top Fandom and/or OTP:
One True Undying Always Returning Fandom and/or OTP:
Favourite Trope:
Most Hated Trope:
Three Characters That Represent You In Some Way:
If Only One Fic Survived the Apocalypse It Would Be:

2) Can you please fill out this google form with contact details that I can work with moving forward (confidential). If you don't want to include a cell number you don't have to, but especially if you don't have a twitter account I can ping it might be useful to be able to text in case of short notice issues.

We haven't had anything but maggoty bread for three stinking days!

arysteia — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 22:04:39 GMT

Not that I'm calling us a band of ravening orcs or anything...

But food is a serious business.

One traditional fixture that will never change: welcome dinner at the Oaks on Friday night.

Saturday night: by popular acclaim, we will again be holding a pizza party at the hall, though with minor adjustments to timing and the setting up of tables. In the interests of smooth running, can everyone please acquaint themselves before Saturday with the Hell Pizza menu and think about what they are likely to want, so we can phone in an order during the afternoon tea break. It would also be great if you could bring something approximating the correct money.

Obviously if you're a late eater and you'd rather wait till 8pm and eat after, feel free to do so. Also, there are some kitchen facilities available, so if you would prefer to bring something from home that's fine too.

On Sunday we will be returning to our old haunts, at this stage 98% likelihood of the Thai restaurant in Kilbirnie (tbc once I've booked).

As far as lunches go, we have a one hour lunch break scheduled on both days. The Dundas Street shops are fairly rudimentary -- the Four Square is definitely a superette rather than a supermarket, so good for snacks/sundries but not great for food shopping. There is a fish and chip shop (very nice), and a cafe (good but slightly pricey) in the immediate vicinity.

ETA 2017: I'm told the dairy opposite the Four Square is branching out into hot food, but cannot confirm by personal experience.

If you're up for a ten minute walk then it's an easy stroll back to Strathmore (just through the tunnel) where there is a bakery/cafe, another fish and chip shop (more run of the mill), a Chinese takeaway, and an Indian place.

Obviously you can also bring a packed lunch from home if that is your preference, and we will have our usual assortment of snacks available throughout the day.

Locations for Friday and Monday brunches tbc very shortly.

Let's get this party started!

arysteia — Sat, 23 Sep 2017 21:32:43 GMT

By saying in my last post that I was technically on schedule I jinxed myself and am now, by four days, officially the latest ever in terms of organisation. BUT. You all know what you're doing. So. Expect a barrage of updates today. And then do your part. :D

First up, please, pretty please, on this post 1) confirm your attendance 100% for reals, and 2) let me know what time you're arriving in town (if you're from out of town), or whether you've got Friday and Monday off work (if you're local). I need to know this not for stalking purposes, but so that I can plan brunch/lunch both days as appropriate, and book restaurants for dinner.

So... In a comment below please:

Arrival Time
Brunch Friday Y/N
Dinner Friday Y/N
Dinner Sunday Y/N
Brunch Monday Y/N
DnD Monday Y/N (this is full up at this point)

(If you need to anon comment this for lj shenanigans reasons please do so, just remember to leave me a clue as to your identity, *g*.)

Be like Steve! Volunteer here!

arysteia — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 06:36:01 GMT

Got a new fandom to pimp? (Someone must, surely...)

Got an old fandom to reminisce about? (Inevitable Smallville Renaissance anyone???)

Got a hot topic to discuss? (Mod it yourself if you want, ~~demand~~ suggest someone else do so if you prefer.)

Got a character that everyone would love if they only knew them? (Or someone we already love but would enjoy being reminded about?)

Got a vaguely fannish game to play?

Please volunteer in comments to this post, or @ or DM me on twitter.

THE MORE THE MERRIER!

Also, shihadchick has asked me to draw your attention to this Pictionary Farming poll: https://t.co/vzr8PT16du, so please go forth and submit.

Lastly, a reminder that there was considerable interest expressed last year in "two minute pimps" (which in practice, I think, means "single digit minute pimps" at your own discretion). So if you've never presented before but would like to try in the most low-pressure way imaginable, or you have several small things you'd like to introduce but not bother doing a full presentation on, then please put your hand up for as many or as few as you'd like, and I will sort them into some kind of thematic structure.

Please also feel free to think outside the box -- last year we had a couple of quite "different" presentations, in the form of historical/literary primers, art and audio presentations, etc. The official g/t17 definition of fannish content (by V fiat) is "friends and fellow fangirls will be interested in seeing/hearing this". So seriously, go wild.

*****

Pictionary -- shihadchick
Pub Quiz -- arysteia china_shop
Saturday night vidshow -- maudlinrose
Sunday night vidshow -- meelie
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt -- maudlinrose
That Superhero Thing I've Been Threatening for Three Years -- arysteia
Rivers of London -- sixth_light
Cozy British TV Murder Mysteries -- sixth_light
Supergirl -- erilyn
Smallville Nostalgia -- erilyn
Bright Sessions -- labellementeuse ???
Stardew Valley -- labellementeuse
Adventure Zone -- aworldinside stickmarionette
Wonder Woman -- arysteia stickmarionette
Quantum Break -- blademistress
Dirk Gently -- blademistress
Star Trek Retrospective -- mab_browne
K-Drama -- china_shop
Pod Save America -- jocondite
SKAM -- jocondite
Battle Creek -- cross_stitchery
The Good Place -- shihadchick