Phoenix Log

Sci Fi Fans Input Wanted

2011-05-12T18:45:00.000+12:00

Passing on a post from here: http://wellingtonnz.livejournal.com/723090.html?style=mine

"I'm working on a project with an outside organisation, and I need some feedback from devoted SciFi readers.

If a SciFi author were to be brought here to Wellington, who would you most like to hear speak or talk to?

It can be an emerging author (with, say, two or three successful books published), or an established author. It also needs to be someone who has been reviewed well in either general reviewing sources, or in specialist magazines like Locus.

Please give me your suggestions and the reason why they appeal to you, or might appeal to others. I have a few suggestions of my own, but I'd really love to hear yours."

Radio New Zealand: SciFi Author Julie Czerneda Interview

2009-07-05T09:32:00.003+12:00

Julie Czerneda

An interview with Canadian SF author Julie Czerneda's on Radio NZ's Nights programme will air Monday 13 July 2009 at 7.20pm. The audio will then be available for seven days to be listened to and/or downloaded from radionz.co.nz/nights.

Ms.Czerneda was the Literary Guest of Honour at Conscription 2009 held over Queen's Birthday weekend. This interview is likely to be of interest not only to avid science fiction readers, but also teachers and educators working with science curriculums. Ms Cserneda has a strong interest in the links between SciFi and science education.

For more about Julie Czerneda, visit her website: http://www.czerneda.com/

Anno Domini 2000; or, Woman's Destiny

2009-06-25T20:05:00.005+12:00

Cover, Anno Domini 2000 - A Woman's Destiny.
Image courtesy of New Zealand Electronic Text Centre of Victoria University.

In 1889, Sir Julius Vogel wrote what was probably New Zealand's first full-length science fiction novel, Anno Domini 2000 - A Woman's Destiny. The book describes a New Zealand in the year 2000 where most positions of authority are held by women - at the time of writing, a radical proposition. In 2000, New Zealand's Head of State, Governor General, Prime Minister, Chief Justice and Attorney General were all women, as was the CEO of one of the country's largest companies, Telecom. Vogel was a prominent New Zealand journalist and politician, and he himself served as Prime Minister of New Zealand in the 1870s.

For those of you who have not read it yet, and who are tolerant of the idea (and the practical challenges) of reading an "eBook", you can download Sir Julius Vogel's futuristic novel from the webpage of the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre.

Portrait of Sir Julius Vogel
Image courtesy of New Zealand Electronic Text Centre of Victoria University.

The Sir Julius Vogel Awards, which are administered by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Association of New Zealand, were created in 2001 to honour New Zealand writers and artists. You can see a list of the award winners for 2009 by clicking here.

2009-01-17T15:08:00.001+13:00

I thought this video was really funny, though I do suspect there are some serious Star Wars fans somewhere in the world who would be offended and/or upset by this :) Star Wars: Retold by someone who hasn't any of the movies!

GUFF Nominations Now Open

2008-08-26T14:23:00.001+12:00

Announcement from Damien Warman
"The next Get-Up-and-over Fan Fund is now open for nominations. If you know what this means, are an Australasian fan, and have a desire to attend the sixtieth British Eastercon, LX, then you need to contact me. You'll need to find three nominators in Australasia, two nominators in Europe, and send me a 100 word platform and an AUD25 bond.

Nominations will close on or around 8 September, and ballots will be immediately distributed. Voting will run until shortly after Novacon (14-16th Nov).

Please disseminate widely."

--------------------

Notes from Ross.
GUFF is the fan fund which sends fan delegates between Australasia and Europe. Many of you will have met the current European delegate Ang Rosin when she attended Conspiracy 2 last year. The current Australasian delegates are Damien Warman and Juliette Woods from Adelaide.

I’m helping Damien out with the logistics this side of the Tasman, so if you want to run or just have any questions about GUFF or fan funds in general let me know.

Favour?

2008-07-19T13:19:00.001+12:00

It is possible to bookmark a link to Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk completle with my refferal code in it. I'd deeply appreate it if anyone who buys anything from either site would bookmark these links - Amazon.com link and Amazon.co.uk link. I know they work as Ross is already using them. Thanks :)

2008-06-16T15:43:00.002+12:00

Just a quick note to make sure that everyone has my current email address, given that Lynelle has already been forced to ask for it! Anyway, it's geraldine.stokes@gmail.com rather than my old elrond address.

Call for Writers: Fairy Tales for real girls/women

2008-02-19T14:58:00.001+13:00

(Reposted from: http://debzter.livejournal.com/)

I’ve been toying with the idea of organising and editing a collection of short stories. The overall concept is to write fairy tales that feature interesting, whether admirable or flawed, female characters who are the heroes of their own stories. I want to include stories that fit into the broadest possible interpretation of the fairy tale genre: dark, humorous, modern, traditional etc. I prefer the idea of original stories with original characters as there are many revisionist fairy tales out there already but if someone has a great idea for a spin on a traditional tale or character, than that’s great.
My ideal timeline would be to have a writers meeting in the middle of the year (around June) for everyone to meet and read the stories as a group (whether first drafts or polished versions) in a spirit of mutual praise, support and constructive criticism/suggestions. Anyone who wanted to be included in the project but couldn’t attend the meeting could email me their stories.

A deadline for finished versions of the stories would be set for two months after that meeting.

Guidelines:
1. Absolutely NO naïve waifs or victimised princesses as main characters. Protagonists can be any age or species but any happy endings must be the result of the protagonist’s actions not merely being rescued by a Prince Charming type or any Fairy Godmother cheesiness (although the latter would be fine in a tale told from the point of view of a Fairy Godmother.)

2. Editorial preference would be given to tales with female protagonists although I can see how stories could have male protagonists and still be in keeping with the tone of the collection. For example a tale about Prince Charming being fed up with rescuing Princesses and finding true love with the strong and financially independent Blacksmith, Gertrude Strapping, would be entirely in keeping with the project. Obviously it is open to authors of either gender.

Comment if you are keen to be involved in the project or have further questions or thoughts.

Debbie

2008-01-12T16:08:00.000+13:00

In honour of January's poll question theme, I share this link to another quiz designed to determine just how evil you really are...Are you a science fiction villain?

Upcoming Conventions

Kapcon XVII is right around the corner (19-20 January, 2008--over Wellington Anniversary Weekend). As usual, they've got an awesome programme that no gamer will want to miss. If you're interested in trying out different games, this is a terrific way to do it. With nine streams on offer, you can sample a little bit of everything. It's a great way to meet other players, too.

Also, wanted to plug the upcoming 2008 NZ Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention, Conjunction. The event will be held 21-24 March (Easter weekend) at the Copthorne Plimmer Towers in central Wellington. If you are a science fiction fan and have never been to a convention before, this is a great opportunity to get out there and meet the community!

The guest list includes Peter F Hamilton, author of the "Night's Dawn" trilogy and other popular SF novels, along with Elizabeth Moon who brought us the Nebula and Heinlein award-winning author of "Speed of Dark", among others. From New Zealand will be Philippa Ballantine, author of "Chasing the Bard". Doctor Who fans take note--we have Kate Orman and Jon Blum, writers of many of the most popular original Doctor Who novels.

Activities at the convention are being finalised now, and the convention committee (of which I am affiliated) want to hear from you! Please send us an e-mail if you would be interested in running a programme event or participating in some manner. We need volunteers to help with all aspects of the convention.

Conventions like Kapcon and Conjunction are run byfans, for the fans. The more people participate, the more successful the event will be. So, if you haven't signed up yet, I hope you will do so soon and I look forward to seeing you at the Con!
.
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Book Launch in Wellington - Newtons Sleep

2008-01-08T11:45:00.000+13:00

SF genre book launches don't happen in Wellington very often, so you really should know about this - some release info quoted below:

"Newtons Sleep will be officially launched at 1pm on Saturday 12 January, at the Toi Pōneke Gallery, Wellington Arts Centre, 61 Abel Smith Street (near Real Groovy), Wellington, New Zealand. The author will be attending the launch via video linkup, and works by cover artist Emma Weakley will be displayed.

Also, a short Prelude for Newtons Sleep is now online in pdf format. This serves as a teaser for the story, and will not be part of the actual book.

Faction Paradox started off in the Doctor Who novel line, but subsequently split off into a separate continuity and its own book series. The Faction-related DW books were amongst the most interesting, most controversial, and best written books in the series, and the separate Faction universe stuff has been uniformly excellent"

Three Monkeys note - I don't know anything about this specific work so don't hassle me aboth the apostrophe, but it is a genre publication and it is being published by a well known Wellington SF identity who you will probably know. For this reason, I think it is worth supporting.

End of year quiz

2007-11-16T09:04:00.000+13:00

I am doing the end of year quiz again and have finished my first cut at it. Reviewing it, it looks fairly challenging (i.e. hard). Not impossible by any means but it will stretch you a bit in places. Now I can dumb it down if you like, but I'd like feedback please.

So the question is: do you want a quiz that pushes you or do you want a fun style end of year deal that everybody can get most of the answers?

Ross

"Doctor Who" calendar?

2007-10-15T16:54:00.000+13:00

Has anyone seen the new "Dr Who" Calendar anywhere in Wellington yet? That's assuming it turns up here at all of course :) Mind you I am assuming we will be able to get it here at all :P (I don't want to go all the extra expense of getting it from Amazon, given that it's just a calendar...)

Kiwi Conventions Article on SF Dimensions

2007-09-02T11:05:00.000+12:00

Hello everyone. I wanted to share this link to an article about New Zealand conventions, written by our very own June Young, SFFANZ Publicist & Press Officer.

Sci-Fi Dimensions is an online science fiction magazine, created by editor John Snider in 2000 as a creative outlet for SF fans and enthusiasts both in the Southeastern U.S. (where he's based) and abroad. I met John through the Atlanta Science Fiction Society when I lived there. SF Dimensions features articles, reviews and commentary on a number of subjects relating to genre fandom. Well worth a visit.

~William

stencil art

2007-09-01T16:52:00.000+12:00

seen at the band rotunda, Oriental bay while on a Flickr walk

Old and Spiteful, but still the Greatest

2007-07-31T20:44:00.000+12:00

Vermithrax, the vicious fire-breathing wyrm from the film Dragonslayer (1981), was the winner of the last poll ("Vote for your favourite movie dragon"). The full name of this dragon was Vermithrax Pejorative, which roughly translates from latin to "The worm of Thrace who make things worse". Indeed, this dragon is the meanest of all the ones in our lineup, rivaled perhaps only by Smaug of Lonely Mountain.

"In fact, if it weren't for sorcerers, there wouldn't be any dragons. Once, the skies were dotted with them. Magnificent horned backs, leathern wings... soaring... and their hot-breathed wind. Oh, I know this creature of yours... Vermithrax Pejorative. Look at these scales, these ridges. When a dragon gets this old, it knows nothing but pain, constant pain. It grows decrepit... crippled... pitiful. Spiteful!" - Sorcerer Ulrich of Cragganmore.

Thus begins the story of Dragonslayer, as a delegation of villagers from Urland seeks the help of the last known sorcerer to rid their village of the reptilian pest. Dragonslayer is notable for being one of the few fantasy films to present a reasonably accurate portrayal of life in the middle ages (with the exception of magic and dragons, of course!). The clothing, weapons, villages and landscapes are gritty and realistic. Carefully intermixed are plot threads that remind us that we are at the heart of Britain as it shifted from paganism to Christianity. This could have actually been a real place, making the threat of the dragon that much more real. With the possible exception of Peter McNicol, who does not quite seem right for the role of the sorcerer's apprentice, the cast is excellent. Both heroes and villains (especially) are multi-dimensional, complex and conflicted. Ralph Richardson is quite convincing as Ulrich, while King Casiodorus Rex (played by Peter Eyre) is exactly the sort of purple-slippered monarch you would expect to be making deals with dragons.

Vermithrax prepares to breath fire

The special effects for Dragonslayer featured a mixture of animation and live action puppetry (on a very large scale). The conceptual design for Vermithrax was done by artist David Bunnett. Industrial Light & Magic's Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston and Phil Tippett oversaw the miniature SFX, while Disney's special effects shop, with Danny Lee and Brian Johnson, produced the life-size dragon props. Dragonslayer is notable for being the first film to utilise go-motion, a variation on stop-motion animation which was developed by ILM. The technique improved upon traditional stop-motion because it enabled the puppet to be filmed in real time, creating blur and making it appear more lifelike.

For those of you who are really into modeling and really into dragons, this might be the model kit for you...

Magical morning coffee

2007-07-24T19:56:00.000+12:00

As the tsunami that is Harry Potter starts to recede, and we survey the aftermath around us, there is still time for a few more segments on the morning news! Fortunately, it seems that Harry Potter loves to cook breakfast. Who knew?

Today's TVNZ's Breakfast show yet again featured another look at the franchise, this time from an academic point of view. Guest Claudia Marquis, of the University of Auckland's English Department, joined the show to talk about her thoughts on the book, the long-term impact on children and reading, and its status as a piece of legitimate literature. Generally she was complimentary of the Potter tales and felt that the characters offered good role models. As to the lasting effects of readership as a result of all this, she was more a little more dubious.

When asked about the popularity of the series, she suggested that it was 'in the right place at the right time." To paraphrase: 'At the time the first Harry Potter book came out, the divorce rate in stories for children had actually exceeded the real world divorce rate. Kids were looking for something fun and wanted a break from reality.' On the question of the academic merits of Rowling's work, she was diplomatic and acknowledged that Rowling has grown as a writer with each book. As so many others have suggested, Claudia felt that Rowling could occasionally benefit from a stronger Editor (Order of the Phoenix needed to shed about 200 pages).

Claudia did take the opportunity to highlight some writers she liked more when it came to junior fiction. Philip Pullman was mentioned for his 'His Dark Materials' trilogy, as well as some Kiwi authors including Vicky Jones and Margaret Mahy.

And, on that note, I'll end this post with a link that may be of interest to you aspiring writers in our ranks. I Should Be Writing is a podcast/weblog site by writer Mur Lafferty who's spent the last few years navigating towards getting her works published. Admittedly, the publishing landscape in the United States is different than in New Zealand, but may still be worth a listen.

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Blogosphere Fluxations

2007-07-21T17:46:00.000+12:00

Hi everyone,

I'm having trouble getting the customised layout for the Phoenix log to show up properly in every browser. I use Firefox, and it shows up fine there, but in MS Explorer there are layout problems (missing background, text errors, things out of alignment). I did not notice this until I loaded it at work the other day.

At any rate, sorry about that and I'll keep working on it. I would like to get the page looking at least acceptable in every browser. If anyone out there has experience with XML and would be willing to assist me in this, it would be hugely appreciated.

Otherwise, I have managed to add a few widgets and content features to the sidebar, and am going to work on keeping a Google Calendar as well. Please let me know if you have anything to add to the calendar, any suggestions for content in general, or thoughts about ways to make the blog more engaging and useful to our membership.

Along these lines, I encourage you guys to post some things! Even if it's a link to an interesting article or book review you saw on the web, or a neat piece of SF/Fantasy artwork. Longer articles and stories are best saved for Phoenixine, but it would be good to have some activity on the site as well. Besides, if I am the only one posting it looks rather silly and I am starting to feel a bit self-conscious...

OK there's my combined lecture/plea. Hope you guys are enjoying the polls. Ideas very welcome for those as well!

Cheers,

William

Robby, King of Robots

2007-07-19T17:46:00.000+12:00

The official winner of the last poll, with a rousing 2 votes, was Robby the Robot! It’s a wise choice, considering the extensive CV offered by this former resident of Altair IV.

Robby the Robot was constructed by Dr. Morbius, utilising technology left behind by an ancient civilisation called the Krell. Robby can synthesize artificial gems of large size and analyse or duplicate any food or chemical mixture, all within the space of his body. One scene from Forbidden Planet features Robby making fifty gallons of liquor for the chief chef of the United Planets Cruiser C-57D. The man's excitement can hardly be contained. Robby is also capable of defending himself, and those around him, so long as it does not conflict with his primary programming to not harm humans.

Robby’s sterling reputation, flashing dome lights and valiant efforts in the fight against alcoholism have not gone unappreciated by robot fans. In 2004, Robby was officially inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame. You can view his honoured place in the lineup by clicking here.

POLL RECAP:

If you were stranded on an alien world, which of these artificial lifeforms would you want with you? R2-D2, Robbie the Robot, Data, Model B9 or Number Six?

Keyring

2007-07-15T20:42:00.000+12:00

Someone asked for a keyring for Phoenix...
I thought this might be what a hypothetical key ring would look like...

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The Martians are Coming

2007-07-13T19:20:00.000+12:00

Dead London, by Geoff Taylor from the album

"Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of the War of the Worlds"
Ollie Record Productions, 1978

The friendly rivalry between Wellington and her northern sister city continues! In addition to slightly higher temperatures, Aucklanders can soon lay claim to one other thing that Wellington does not have: a live performance version of Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of the War of the Worlds is coming to Auckland's Vector Arena on Friday, 28 September.

The ironclad HMS Thunderchild is destroyed by a martian
war machine in this original artwork by Mike Trim from the 1978 album

The show, which apparently features a giant martian war machine, sold out to huge crowds in the UK and has also been touring Australia. Even if you can't go see it, I encourage you to check out the official website for live show production, especially if you haven't heard or seen the original album before.

In addition to information about the live tour, it features heaps of information about the original production, including artwork from the album. Some of the artwork by Peter Goodfellow, Geoff Taylor and Michael Trim was quite spectacular. Perhaps best of all, the site features a stream of the music (classified as 'progressive rock' by Wikipedia) from the original album, complete with narration by Richard Burton.

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Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

2007-07-12T07:02:00.000+12:00

Babylon 5 will soon return to the small screen with a direct-to-DVD film! This is the first in a proposed series of anthology format direct-to-DVD releases. The DVD contains two interwoven stories featuring three B5 universe regulars (Sheridan, Lockley and techno-mage Galen) and some new characters, including a Centauri Prince. Below is the short description from the official site:

Times change. Dangers remain. 10 years after he became President of the Interstellar Alliance, Sheridan prepares for a fateful Babylon 5 reunion that could prevent Earth’s impending doom…if he will also compromise his core principles. Meanwhile, commander Lochley confronts an unexpected interloper on the way station – a being whose presence makes the B5 freeport the crossroads between heaven and hell.

In Voices in the Dark, Series creator J. Michael Straczynski reunites with stars Bruce Boxleitner and Tracy Scoggins in two richly imagined stories set after the events of the original series. Richly imagined, too, is Straczynski’s vision of the 23rd century (including a dazzling New York City) – a vision made more spectacular via filmmaking technology unavailable during the original series.

You can visit the Babylon 5 Official Website to view the official trailer, get information about the production, and view the Great Maker's video logs. The Lost Tales can be pre-orderedat a discounded rate on Amazon, as well as from the official site.

Sir Julius Vogel Awards 2007

2007-07-12T07:00:00.000+12:00

Sir Julius Vogel Awards for 2007
(representing works for the 2006 calendar year)
For a complete listing of nominations, visit SFFANZ web site

------

BEST NOVEL:
The Assassin of Gleam
by James Norcliffe (Hazard Press, 2006).
ISBN: 1-877270-99-7

BEST SHORT STORY:
“Western Front, 1914"
By Peter Friend
(Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, March/April 2006)

BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION, LONG FORM:
Maddigan’s Quest
Produced by South Pacific Films Ltd

BEST FAN WRITING:
Alan Robson
For his column “Wot I Red On My Hols” published in Phoenixine.
Alan’s work can also be viewed by clicking here.

BEST NEW TALENT:
Douglas A. Van Belle
Doug has had “Small Blue Planet for the Pleasantly Insane” published in issue 16 of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine (2004/2005) – this story will be reprinted in the inaugural ASIM Best of SF anthology in 2007. Doug also had “Slag Fairmont: Psychic Zone Ranger” published in issue 27 of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine (2007). Additionally, Doug had a story “Aliens don't poop” in Antipodean, and a serialized novel that used to be on Quantum Muse

FOR SERVICES TO FANDOM:
John and Lynelle Howell
For their sterling work editing Phoenixine

Alien Conspiracy Exposed!

2007-06-30T15:02:00.001+12:00

The 28th National Science Fiction Convention of New Zealand.

The convention gets underway at the
Opening Ceremonies on Friday night

Wellington was the site of this year's national SF convention. The guests of honour included sci-fi and fantasy writer Eric Flint, comics author and artist Dylan Horrocks, cyber punk author Marianne de Pierres, fantasy writer Isobelle Carmody and web comic author Fred Gallagher (aka Piro). Fan GoH was Barbara Clendon of Barbara's Books.

It started out friendly enough...but then things went sour

In what was a major revelation that threatened to destabilise our society, the Convention Conspirators announced to a stunned audience that aliens were in fact real and that they had been invited to the Con. Moments later, each con-goer was joined in the seat next to them by a bubble-eye creature. Although startled, SF/Fantasy fans tend to be open-minded sorts and they extended their hands in friendship. Unfortunately the aliens consider it a major insult to perform this physical act, and some of them responded by vaporising the offending parties. While this put a slight damper on the Con, all was forgiven when the aliens promised to put on a sparkly light show that was guaranteed to dazzle the con-goers. Hmmm...sparklies.

Programming at the con was full of interesting subject matter, ranging from writer's workshops to radio-controlled battle tanks. It offered a good mix from several sub-genres that would appeal to a broad fan base.

Unfortunately, you cannot attend everything, but the events I did attend were very enjoyable. I particularly liked Dylan's mini-workshop on drawing, as it has since gotten me off my arse and I have taken up artistic endeavors again after a long pause. Also of mention were two panels that took me by surprise: Alan Robson's Handle on Heinlein and Geographies of the Imagination presented by Russell Kirkpatrick. I have a renewed interest in picking up some Heinlein after Alan's talk, and I was simply fascinated by the darker side of maps as revealed by Russell. Ross's Across the Tasman was an excellent bridge to learning more about SF/Fantasy fandom goings-on in Oz, and his quiz was (as usual) a good opportunity for all of us finally have a use for all that carefully-accumulated useless knowledge about all things fantastic.

Great costumes--well done!

Special events included a costume contest, where the audience members were also required to wear masks (or be forced to wear a government-provided 'silly mask'...I brought my own). The costumes, though perhaps few in number, were all of very high quality and imaginative. It was also nice to see so many young people in the contest, and at the Con in general. The future generation of Fans...

Some people improvised with newspaper when it came to the masks.
Others killed cows and took their heads, which seemed rather drastic at the time.

Lastly, of most special note was the announcement of the winners of the Sir Julius Vogel Awards. There were many great nominees and the suspense was huge. Unfortunately, I don't have all the information in front of me about who won! But, look for that to be added as an edit to this post very soon.

Happy Birthday Ray

2007-06-30T14:31:00.000+12:00

Happy 87th Birthday to Ray Harryhausen!

For those of you who don't know much about Ray's work, you might like to heck out his new website! - William

2007-06-27T07:24:00.000+12:00

Hi there. Does anyone have any recommendations for buying a telescope? Want to look at the moon and planets mainly. thanks
Pam

Bull in an HTML China Shop

2007-06-01T21:07:00.000+12:00

Hi everyone -

I'm switching the Phoenix (B)log to the new Blogger templates, and will be doing some work on restoring the appearance of the site to what you are used to. This will likely take me a couple days of blundering about with HTML specialisations, so I wanted to warn you. Speaking of this, if you have any suggestions for widgets or other improvements to the site that you would like to see added, now is a good time!

Cheers,

William

Birthday Party

2007-05-09T10:45:00.000+12:00

Hi all,

I am turning 30 soon, and am having a party so that people can help me celebrate or commiserate as takes their fancy. All Phoenixers are, of course, invited.

Saturday, 26 May
7pm until whenever
My house. Or Norman's house if you prefer. Email me at stephanie.pegg.nospam@gmail.com if you don't already know where that is. ;-)

See you there!

Stephanie

Pics from Armageddon

2007-04-26T21:34:00.000+12:00

A few snaps from last weekend's pulp expo event...

Left: The cue is entertained by some swashbuckling. Right: Just inside the door, giant stacks of cheesy mac greeted hungry fans...I saw several people walk out with armloads of this stuff!

Interesting mix of hucksters at Armageddon, which included Universities, Tech Schools, NZArmy, book dealers, RPG gaming (paper and computer) suppliers, WETA workshop, reproduction weapons, anime, comics and poster dealers, and wrestling memorabilia (or, as we Yanks call it...wrastling. No matter how you pronounce it, it's still disturbing)

Young dark Jedis and their role models put on a show

April Meeting - CHANGE OF PLAN

2007-04-06T09:51:00.000+12:00

There is a change to the originally scheduled event for the meeting on the 11th April. Our guest speaker is now unable to attend. He was going to talk about new developments in nanotechnology. We intend to follow along from that ourselves and talk about new stuff in nanotech and science generally that is hitting the news at the moment. If you have recently read something cool on the scientific front, bring it along to share with the group. The more people bring, the more we have to talk about.

April Meeting - nanotechnology

2007-04-02T08:43:00.000+12:00

The Main meeting for April will feature a talk by Dr Andreas Markwitz from the Institute of Geological and Nuclear sciences. His subject is "What's new in Nanotechnology." There was an international conference on Nanotech held recently in New Zealand. Dr Markwitz was there and so will be able to share the very latest in new developments in the field.

As usual, the meeting will be held at Turnbull House, Bowen st - Wednesday 11th April, 7.30pm.

Please pass this information on.

Sir Julius Vogel Award nominations

2007-03-25T10:57:00.000+12:00

Nominations for the Sir Julius Vogel awards close on the 31st of March. That is less than a week away.

For more information including details of the categories, have a look at the SJV info on the SFFANZ site. Voting and presentation of these awards will occur at Conspiracy 2 in June.

Dalek Chocolate cake

2007-03-05T21:48:00.000+13:00

For your interest, here is a design for a Dalek chocolate cake. I know there are people in Phoenix who can improve on this. Think of it as a challenge for the next PIG.

March Meeting

2007-03-02T21:46:00.000+13:00

The main meeting for March is on Wednesday 14th March at 7.30pm, Turnbull House, Bowen St.

This month we have a panel discussion "Just how big is our genre?" Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Alternate history, slipstream - the whole shebang. Just what is the scope of what we profess to be fans of?

phoenix eats out

2007-02-06T17:46:00.000+13:00

these are from the jan meeting at leuven on featherston st

February Meeting

2007-01-28T17:00:00.000+13:00

The main meeting for February will be on Wednesday 14th February at 7.30pm at Turnbull House, Bowen street.

This month we are going to try out a magazine format style meeting. We will be showing clips of upcoming TV and movies as we have done before, but this time we also plan to discuss upcoming books, comics, games etc. There will also be some information about various events in the region. Chances are we will not cover everything, so if there is stuff you want to share, this will be the best meeting for it.

Like any magazine, there will be advertising. Which is to say, we are encouraging you to bring along any items you have been thinking of selling. Like a combination classified ads and flea market.

Another e-zine

2007-01-22T18:26:00.000+13:00

Every few months, it seems that another e-zine is launched giving local writers another possible entry-level professional market. Hot on the heels of New Ceres comes an e-zine aimed at the Young Adult SF&F market. Shiny is currently taking submissions.

January meeting

2007-01-04T11:57:00.000+13:00

Happy new year everybody.

In case you were wondering, the January 07 main meeting of is being held in Leuven on Featherston street. For those of you new to the club, we usually hold the January meeting at a pub - the idea being to start the year on a jovial note. We will be back in Turnbull house in February.

2006-12-15T01:56:00.000+13:00

As promised here are links to some of the online role playing games I play
for those who are interested in them

Gaia online

GAIA Online is the largest forum community on the Internet! What makes GAIA Online so unique is that each user can create their own virtual character and customize it through clothing and accessories located in virtual shops throughout the site. With constant updates and events, as well as an ever-growing community, there is always something fun to do or someone to talk to!

It's a fun new way to spend time online with your friends while making new ones through our unique and constantly expanding virtual world. Searching for anime and videogame links on the web, while interacting with those who share the same passion for Anime/Manga and Videogame related entertainment has never been more fun! The best part is SIGNING UP IS ABSOLUTELY FREE!

Endless Online
endless faq
Endless is a 2d anime based online mmorpg.
Once playing our online rpg you can become rich and famous,
fight evil monsters, become a hero or live as a normal citizen.

B5: The Lost Tales (Update)

2006-12-04T08:22:00.000+13:00

I thought some of the B5 fans out there might enjoy this link to an update on the making of the show. Even includes some photos!

December Meeting

2006-12-01T20:30:00.000+13:00

The December Phoenix meeting is on the 13th at the usual time and place. It is our annual end of year party and quiz. Bring along something to eat & drink for the party and bring your brains for the quiz.

A special quiz hint for blog readers. The superb Dead Like Me starts on Wed 6th at 9.30pm on Prime. It is worth watching in its own right, but if you need extra incentive, I can promise that there will be a question on it in the quiz. Give yourself an extra edge.

The Hobbit

2006-11-26T11:10:00.000+13:00

fans not already familiar with the Dork Tower comic strip - http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/dorktower/index.asp - might want to check out their current theme - alternate possible directors for The Hobbit movie. Rather amusing...

Meeting Confirmation?

2006-11-03T10:15:00.000+13:00

Can anyone confirm, or deny, that the next Phoenix meeting is Thursday, 8 November?

Parlez-Vous Klingon?

2006-10-25T18:10:00.000+13:00

The producer of a film about Star Trek fans who have learned to speak Klingon and who come together in annual conventions to converse in their second language has come to their defense. In an interview with the sci-fi publication Fortean Times, Alexandre Phillipe, who shot his film Earthlings: Ugly Bags of Mostly Water at a 2003 qep'a' (conference), rebutted those who accuse the Klingon speakers of wasting their time.

"Are sports fans wasting their talents watching football on TV? I don't think so," he said. "If it's meaningful to them to learn Klingon -- because they have a good time, because it's a great intellectual exercise, or because that's how they want to make friends -- who are we to say they're wasting their time?"

Besides, Phillipe observed, "The Klingon language is indeed a fascinating cultural and linguistic phenomenon. It's the first constructed language based on popular culture that has thrived to the point of being spoken in 55 countries around the world. So to me the question isn't: 'why spend any time learning Klingon when there are so many other languages around?' but 'why not learn Klingon?'"

Halloween in Miramar?

2006-10-14T12:29:00.000+13:00

At the last meeting, someone mentioned to me that they knew of a house in Miramar that gets all decked out for Halloween...I am sorry, but could not remember who it was who told me this...so if that kind soul should see this message, please give me a shout. Would love to go see it!

-William

october meeting

2006-10-11T23:13:00.000+13:00

EXTRA-SOLAR PLANETS

tonight we had John Fields come and give a really fun talk on what is a planet, how they find them and all that stuff
http://www.carterobservatory.org/

here are some group shots just before we started

see ya next time
KATH

Late notice, but for what it's worth...

2006-10-11T22:07:00.000+13:00

In the spirit of tonight's meeting topic, I noticed an announcement in the Dominion Post that Christine Cole Hatley, author of a new book Bright Star: Beatrice Hill Tinsley, Astronomer, will be speaking at the National Library Auditorium tomorrow, Thursday, October 12 at 12:10pm.

The talk is about Ms. Hill Tinsely and other 21st-century New Zealand women scientists, and is presented in connection with the exhibition Butterflies, Boffins & Black Smokers: Two Centuries of Science in New Zealand.

A link to the book review in the NZ Herald:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10402399

-William

for DiscWorld fans, and cake fans...

2006-10-09T20:16:00.000+13:00

http://homepages.tesco.net/~janefisk/discworld/discworld.htm
but did it taste good?

Zombified

2006-10-06T16:30:00.000+13:00

OK, so being unemployed does have it's benefits, including being off on a Friday morning so that I can attend the Wellington Zombie Walk. This is simply too unusual or me to pass up, especially since I am a huge fan of Halloween (being from the midwestern U.S.) and I'm hoping this will give me the monster dosage I need to get through October without it. I am on the fence about dressing up for it, though I could be convinced to wear a spooky skellie mask. Anyone else out there going to attend, by chance?

Here's a link:

http://www.myspace.com/wellingtonzombiewalk

R2D2 Mr Potato Heads!

2006-09-27T17:56:00.000+12:00

Much to my surprise, they're in stock at Toyworld Ballance St, for $29.95. Be in quick, they won't last long...

Attention aspiring reviewers

2006-09-22T16:25:00.000+12:00

The Australian Specfic in focus site is a site dedicated to the aim of being a comprehensive review site for Australian SF genre fiction. There is also a view to expanding this to being an Australasian site - i.e. including New Zealand.

Right now they are looking for reviewers. If you have any aspirations to being a reviewer, why not drop them a line. You don't have to be part of the Aussie publishing scene - in fact being independent is a big plus. It would be a great introduction to the wider reviewing scene, score some review copies and if you are a writer it will also be a way of getting your name recognised by the editing community.

Even if you are not a reviewer but just interested in books, you could just visit the site to read the reviews.

Upcoming Film Screenings...

2006-09-22T14:45:00.000+12:00

There are some film screenings being put on by the Wellington Film Society that may be of interest to club members:

Young Frankenstein - Monday, 13 November @ 6:15pm

Barbarella - Monday, 20 November @ 6:15pm

Kiwi Animation (8 short films) - Monday, 27 November @ 6:15pm.

The films are shown at the Paramount Theatre, 25 Courteney Place. Note that you must be a member of the Film Society to attend. Visit http://filmsociety.wellington.net.nz/ to learn more.

EDIT/ADDITION: Another film of possible interest to fans, this one being screened as part of the NZ International Documentary Film Festival:

John Howe - There and Back Again - Tue, 26 Sept @ 12:30pm, and Thu, 28 Sept @ 8:40pm...showing at the Paramount Theatre.

gerry anderson figures at phoenix

2006-09-14T19:15:00.000+12:00

for those who missed the meeting here are some pictures from the meeting

New Ceres

2006-09-13T23:05:00.000+12:00

A new web 'zine was launched today. Something to read and a new local(ish) market for writers. It has the usual mix of short stories and non-fiction. It has the rather unusual premise, for a webzine, of a common shared universe. This is what they say...

Meet the world of New Ceres, an exciting and dangerous place. Its water is green and its inhabitants are sophisticates. New Ceres is precarious: its New Enlightenment constrains society as well as liberating old thoughts and literature and drinking customs. The planet plays interstellar politics to defend its independence and it recruits refugees from Old Earth and the conquered New Alliance planets to maintain some dangerous habits. On New Ceres you will find coffee houses and highwaymen, drinks, gambling and illegal hi-technology.

Steampunk Rayguns

2006-08-31T13:53:00.000+12:00

Weta's latest offerings will satisfy the evil and nefarious among us...

"Issuing forth from the fetid and possibly incriminating imagination of Weta Workshop designer Greg Broadmore come RAYGUNS: Dr. Grordborts Infallible Aether Oscillators!"

Spotted on boingboing.com

Inspirational posters Star Trek style

2006-08-22T17:10:00.000+12:00

This site has used Star Trek images to give an amusing spin to the much maligned motivational poster. There's a lot of fannish jokes and a couple of very slash-like references.

EXPENDABILITY
Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Ensign Ricky are beaming down to the planet. Guess who's not coming back.

Phoenix in istanbul

2006-08-04T14:04:00.000+12:00

So after nearly a month I have managed to get a few photos loaded from the meeting at cafe istanbul

see ya
kath

Well done Peter!

2006-07-21T11:15:00.000+12:00

I've just received this year's edition of Gardner Dozois' best SF of the year anthology, and again Peter Friend is listed in the honourable mentions section for his story "The Real Deal" published in Asimov's last July.

Well done Peter!

new Wellington game shop

2006-07-13T19:45:00.000+12:00

Wellington wargamers, boardgamers and modellers should check out Wargames Supply, downstairs in the BNZ Centre - go via the Willis St entrance closest to Lambton Quay, do a U-turn at the bottom of the escalators and you'll see it ahead of you).

A good selection of stuff not available elsewhere in Wellington.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BOARDGAME RETAILER! (The last two went broke - so use it or lose it...)

Wellington Film Festival

2006-06-29T13:41:00.000+12:00

Programmes are now widely available, or check out www.nzff.telecom.co.nz . Of particular sciffy interest are:
- The Science of Sleep, from Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)
- A Scanner Darkly, based on the Philip K. Dick's novel, roto-scope animated along the lines of Waking Life
- and as usual most of the Animation section...

Fringe Film Festival (updated 12 July)

2006-06-15T07:41:00.000+12:00

Wellingtonians may be interested in the Wellington Fringe Film Festival in July http://www.fringefilmfest.co.nz/home.htm . (The full programme details won't be on the site until July 1.)

Selfishly, I'd like to point out that my latest animated sciffy film, Hobson's Choice, will be showing on Wednesday 12 July at 7pm (note change in time), as part of this year's Fringe competition - 3 minute short films relating in some way to 'Hop, Skip & Jump' - always worth a laugh.

Update: 12 July - Hobson's Choice won! Woohoo! The prize is professional equipment hire, so next year's film should be even better...

One Off Serenity Screening

2006-06-14T18:03:00.000+12:00

There is a special screening of the movie Serenity being held on Friday the 23rd of June at 7pm right here in Wellington. This is in support of Joss Whedon's favourite charity, Equality Now, and to celebrate his upcoming birthday.

The screening will take place at Reading Courtenay Central. Tickets are $13, and are available through Mike Foster. Mike is the sole contact, you cannot buy tickets directly from the theatre. The contact email address is coravel(at)gmail(dot)com. There will also be t-shirts, costing $30. Because this is meant to be a fundraiser, donations are also welcome. Proceeds raised go to Equality Now. This is part of a worldwide event, check out the official website at Can't Stop the Serenity.

Payments need to be made by this Friday (the 16th) so that the deposit for the theatre can be paid.

Website Revamp

2006-06-06T15:46:00.000+12:00

(Posted on behalf of Terence White)
Pam and Terence are looking at revamping the Phoenix website. We've got some ideas, but we'd like to see what everyone else wants. If anyone wants to submit ideas, logo's, links or media you can add them to this blog entry or send them to the following temporary address until the end of June.phoenix.sf.ideas@orcon.net.nz.
All mail will go directly to Terence's home email. This address will be disappearing into the ether on the 1st of July if the spammers get hold of it and will be replaced by some other form of communication.
Currently we are looking at a Content Management System (perhaps Mambo), and we see there is lots of interest in blogging, so maybe we'll do something with that. Also, seeing as the golden age of Sci Fi was the 50's, perhaps an obituary section somewhere. Maybe a calendar with upcoming events. And some section somewhere for book reviews. Definitely a space for the SIG's to post their monthly reports.
Cheers
Terence.

Non Con Movie Monday

2006-06-02T12:38:00.000+12:00

This Monday I want to have a movie watching day to celebrate Lizzie's birthday. All welcome, bring any movies you'd particularly like to see. If anyone has the 80s TV series Robin of Sherwood, I've been trying to track down a copy of if.

(26 Halifax St, Kingston)

Cheers,

Stephanie

Driving to Conclave from Wgtn

2006-05-31T17:46:00.000+12:00

I'm intending to drive up to Conclave on Friday morning, leaving Akl on Monday morning (willing to stay for business session etc).

If you'd possibly like to come too, contact me on 021 251 8336 or email me (at work) by 5:30pm at: stevenr at datacom dot co dot nz.

We'd share petrol costs for about 55-60 litres of 95 or 98 (one tank each way), cost you roughly $100 return.

Steve Rose

Top 100 books

2006-05-12T19:16:00.000+12:00

I see that it is time for Whitcoulls top 100 books again. I don't know about y'all but I would like to see more SF titles on that list. How about Dune or Stand on Zanzibar for example. You can vote at www.whitcoulls.co.nz and by way of incentive you get a 50% discount voucher for voting.

Notice of Phoenix Annual General Meeting May 2006

2006-05-01T14:19:00.000+12:00

The Phoenix Annual General Meeting will be held at 8.00pm, 10 May, in Turnbull House, Bowen Street.

2006 Agenda

Apologies
Minutes of meeting held on 11 May 2005
Matters arising from these minutes
President’s Report
Treasurer’s Report
SIG Reports
Election of Officers

General Business Requirements for Proxy Voting

Eligible voters who cannot be present at the Phoenix AGM may elect to vote by proxy. They may do this in two ways:

By stating their voting instructions to the meeting chair/returning officer.
OR
Nominating a person present at the meeting to act as their proxy.

Only eligible voters may vote by proxy.

Voting instructions to the chair/returning officer must be clear and unambiguous, the chair has the right to reject any which do not meet these criteria.

Notification of the proxy may be lodged with the meeting chair up to, but not after, the commencement of the meeting.

Notification must be in writing or by e-mail from an address recognised by Phoenix as belonging to the eligible voter.

For further information please contact us at enquiries@phoenix.sf.org.nz

Special Effects, Horror & SF Film Magazine, Book, and Memorabilia sale

2006-04-27T11:46:00.000+12:00

Peter Hassall is having a Special Effects, Horror & SF Film Magazine, Book, and Memorabilia sale - details at http://www.stuntman.co.nz/forsale.htm

Peter Friend in lastest ASIM

2006-04-26T11:35:00.000+12:00

I have just received the latest issue (#22) of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine and what did I find but a story by our own Peter Friend - Western Front, 1914.

Well done Peter for being published again in what is my favourite magazine.

Flat or flatmate?

2006-04-24T17:55:00.000+12:00

Unfortuntly I'm currently desprite to find a new flat or a new flatmate, as my current flatmate has just annoced he's moving up to Auckland sometime next month. And no he hasn't decided *when* exaclty he's going up, which makes things that much worse of course! So I was really hoping someone out there knows of a fkat that needs a new flatmate or someone who is looking for a new flat. I would be *very* grateful for any help in this matter! Thanks Gerry.

Flat or Flatmate

2006-04-24T17:41:00.000+12:00

Sorry about asking people left and right and center about this, but I am abslotly desprite at the moment. (Yes I am in full panic mode unfortuntly :P ). But my flatmate has just annoced that he's moving to Auckland sometime next month, which means I need to find a new flatmate asap or a new flat. Rent and basic expenises, (other than food of course) in my current place would be about $117.50 a week each which would cover the rent, the power and the phone/staurn bill. There's also a car port which I can't use as I don't have a car! If anyone knows of any flats in the same price range, could you please tell me and please this message on to anyone you know & trust who is also looking for a flat... Thanks :)

Conclave 2006 Update

2006-04-20T11:53:00.000+12:00

Here's an update from Louise McCully and you can find more information and regsiter at their website http://conclave.sf.org.nz/ .

Conclave will be held over Queens Birthday weekend Friday 2 June - Monday 5 June at the Manukau Quality Inn, 477 Great South Road, Manukau City. If you pre-register you'll pay only $80!

We are loaded with a wide variety of guests this year:

Steve Jackson, game designer & role-player.
Joan Vinge, award winning author best known for The Snow Queen trilogy.
Jim Frenkel, senior editor for Tor Books.
Russell Kirkpatrick, NZ SF author & cartographer.
Faye Ringel. US Prof. Of Humanities, in areas such as Medievalism, Tolkien & Filking.
Kevin Maclean, Fan Guest of Honour, published author and experienced Con attendee/past-organiser.

Programme highlights

Friday

Writers Stream, run by Kevin Maclean ,with Joan Vinge, Jim Frenkel.

Game Design Stream, run by Steve Jackson. This will be separated into two topics, Roleplaying games (in the morning) and Board games (in the afternoon).

Register early for these, as there are limited places.

Saturday/Sunday

Some examples of non-guest event items are as follows (more on website):

The Art of writing Erotic Fiction
Bawdy Tavern Songs
WETA Talk
Joss Whedon
2010/2020 Time Capsule
Balloon Sculpturing
As well as the expected Masquerade and Banquet.

Competitions

Lego – build your own spaceship (supported by Lego NZ)Short Story – 2500 words. Topic relating to a Conclave. Due in end of April.
Poetry – Topic SF/F. Due in end of April.
Barbie goes to Hogwarts – Dress up your Barbie as an aspiring witch or wizard
Three Hour Film Challenge - Two teams have one hour to write a short film, one hour to shoot, and one hour to edit.
Munchkin – if you have a copy of the original game bring it along, numbers in the competition depend on how many copies we have of the game.

Sponsors

We have a number of sponsors this year, so consequently have lots of prizes.

Barbara’s Books - donated quite a number of book vouchers, which are being raffled every month. The final raffle will be on sale and drawn at Conclave. Will also be there as a dealer.
Lego – Lending us lots & lots of bricks. All participants get free 1 years Lego club membership.
Hasbro – They have given us a variety of their games to play with before and at the Convention. Jenga will definitely be found in the bar!
NZ Post - NZ Post released two stamps sets, King Kong & Narnia and they are donating several items.
HarperCollins – They sponsored Russell Kirkpatrick to come. Also are giving us a number of books for prizes.
Village Skycity Cinemas - Village will be giving us some ticket giveaways and posters.

Dr Who stars sign for series three

2006-04-09T11:42:00.000+12:00

According to The Register "10th Doctor Who David Tennant and umpteenth companion Billie Piper have both been hired for series three", even though filming for season 2 hasn't yet been completed.

Season two starts broadcasting 15 April in the UK.

Phoenix SIGs for April

2006-04-09T11:33:00.000+12:00

Here are the SIG dates and hosts for April:

WRITERS 15 April - Taxi School
BOARD 21 April - Annette
COM & PIG 29 April - Ross

CON BID UPDATE

2006-03-28T12:40:00.000+12:00

Greetings all
Woot first up on the update is that our lovely website is now hosted at radomstatic and sf.org.nz
so please go visit (www.conjunction.sf.org.nz). we have also updated the guest pages and con com page so now you can read all about Elizabeth Moon and Andrew Ivmay, and about who are the mad people who want to run this convention

In other news We will be hosting a bid party on saturday night(june 3rd) in our con-room at con, its a standard pig type event (ie byo) we'll post more info about it on the notice board we hope thay have at con.

and on a completely related note well some how its related GIALIAT will be hosting an LJ party at conclave on the friday night sometime after the wizards hat thing, so all you LJ-ers who will be at con are invited to we can meet and find out who is who again its a byo

Stanislaw Lem 1921 - 2006

2006-03-28T11:25:00.000+12:00

Not a good few weeks for the SF community. USA Today reports that Stanislaw Lem died on Monday in his native Poland. Lem is best known for his twice filmed book Solaris.

where every puppet gets a bargain

2006-03-23T10:35:00.000+12:00

Don't want to turn this blog into an infomercial, but Thunderbirds fans may well be interested to know that The Warehouse is selling the Thunderbirds complete DVD series (8 volumes, all 24 episodes plus some extras) for the ridiculous low price of $66.44 - truly a bargain considering these were selling for up to $30 per volume a year or so ago...

2006-03-11T15:34:00.000+13:00

I'm sure a few people haven't seen this, but a completle copy of the "Star Wars Holiday Speical" from 1978 can be found here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV6pze5YS2w&search=star%20wars%20special%20tv. It's a little over one and a half hours, so does take a while despite the feact that the picture quality is poor...

Octavia Butler 1947 - 2006

2006-02-28T10:37:00.000+13:00

SF writer Octavia Butler died last weekend. She was the author of many acclaimed novels including The Parable of the Sower, Kindred and the Xenogenesis trilogy.

FFANZ Announcement

2006-02-23T08:09:00.000+13:00

I received the below from Maree Pavletich. Congrats to Barbara and Peter who will be great representatives of NZ Fandom at the Aussie Natcon this year..

---

Please update all websites and jungle drums that Barbara and Peter Clendon are the FFANZ Laureates for 2006.

Peter and Barbara have been reading science fiction since they were kids [which, alas, we aren't any longer] but didn't know about fandom until Matthew Pavletich, then a customer at our shop, invited us to bring our bookshop to Conquest in 1998. What a rush: learning that art was as important as the words in a book; that dressing up didn't make you strange, it just makes you interesting. We were hooked, immediately joining Stella Nova and discovering all the different aspects of fandom. As owners of Barbara's Books we have supported fandom in NZ by 'spreading the word', supporting conventions, boosting goodie bags, speaking on panels, and generally helping out at Cons, as well as sharing our love of SF and fantasy books with as many fans as we can reach.

Laureate:
Definition: [n] someone honored for great achievements; figuratively
someone crowned with a laurel wreath
[adj] worthy of the greatest honor or distinction;

Patricia Piccinini's creepy creatures

2006-02-19T19:04:00.000+13:00

Wellingtonians should pop into the City Gallery to see Patricia Piccinini's exhibition 'In Another Life', occupying both ground floor exhibition rooms. (Admission is free.) Of most sciffy interest are her life-sized, very realistic, sculptures of imaginary creatures. As far as I know she's never worked for Weta, but I'm sure they'd take her in a flash...

www.citygallery.org.nz

Serenity Giveaways!

2006-02-15T10:56:00.000+13:00

Universal Pictures Video have kindly offered us 5 double-disk copies of Serenity (official website here) to share with our members, to promote the recent DVD release of the film. Serenity is Joss Whedon's feature film directorial debut and the film has been very well received by critics and fans of Firefly.

"Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran (on the losing side) of a galactic civil war, now ekes out his living aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew, but when Mel takes on two new passengers - a young doctor and his telepathic sister - he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from the coalition dominating the universe, and so Serenity finds itself caught between the unstoppable military force of the Alliance, the horrific, cannibalistic fury of the Reavers - and another danger, lurking at the very heart of the spaceship...

Phoenix is giving away five double disc editions of Serenity (with matching mousemat!) to the first five Phoenix members who respond to this blog entry by emailing the correct answer to me (email address below left) with the correct answer to this question:

Name the actress that plays the traumatised telepath, River.

The DVD edition includes a bonus disk and contains deleted scenes, outtakes, feature commentary and Q& A session from Joss, plus lots of other goodies.

If you're commenting anonymously then make sure you identify yourself so we know who to send the goodies too!

Vid Sig

2006-02-08T19:24:00.000+13:00

The Vid Sig is at Steve Rose's place (Tawa) on the 11th Feb. See the phone book for where and phone number.

More Stargate Atlantis has aired, there is also Aeon Flux (the movie, with actual live people), Dr Who, and I think Norman has something. Suggestions are welcome, of course.

The first to arrive can park next to the yellow electric Mazda in the driveway, everyone else is probably best off opposite.

Alien Love for dogs

2006-01-31T12:10:00.000+13:00

If you just love aliens and you're convinced your dog does too, why not treat them to their very own Alien Love Doggy T shirt?

All together now, ah!

Or should that be aaargh!?

Brainstorming the Death Star

2006-01-19T16:43:00.000+13:00

I think a pink really bad star has some merit as a concept.

Con trip planning

2006-01-17T08:42:00.000+13:00

I realise that it is only January, but it appears that con planning is already in progress. I have just received an email from Robin Johnstone in Tasmania asking if anybody can give him a lift after Conclave from Auckland to Wellington. He is coming to town for a few days before heading to Canberra for Conflux.

Personally, I'm still debating whether to fly or drive to Conclave. I would welcome suggestions.

I am also curious to know if anybody is planning to attend any of the Aussie conventions this year:
Swancon in Perth in early March
Conjure in Brisbane at Easter
Conflux in Canberra the weekend after Conclave
Continuum in Melbourne in August.

Ut Prosim

2005-12-21T20:02:00.000+13:00

At the last Phoenix meeting someone asked what "Ut Prosim Allis" meant. (I can't remember your name, sorry. :-<)

Ut Prosim means "That I May Serve" and is the motto of the School Dental Service. I couldn't find Allis, not even in Lewis & Short, the uber-dictionary, so I probably remembered it wrong.

Merry Christmas!

Best online games

2005-12-11T22:27:00.000+13:00

goodexperience.com has kindly provided a list of the best games available online. So even if you've got no friends you can still have fun in your life.

"The Insiders Guide To Love"

2005-12-10T12:46:00.000+13:00

From the descitpion in the TV Guide I'm almost positve that I'm going to be in the espiode of "The Insiders Guide To Love" that screens on Monday the 12th of December on TV2 at 9.30pm. For those of you who don't already know I'm one of the extras playing a shopper in an asian supermarket, which 2 of the chat=racters set off some fireworks and then rob of a roll of Instant Kiwi tickets.... :) I have no idea how much I'll be in the actual epsiode, but....

Terry P talks about the origin of the Discworld

2005-12-07T09:39:00.000+13:00

Here's a link to an interview with Terry Pratchett on SciFi.com.

Sexterminate!

2005-12-06T22:17:00.000+13:00

The Sun breathlessly reports...

BEEB bosses have gone ballistic after discovering the Daleks are starring in a PORN FLICK.
Dr Who's foes capture three naked “disco babes” in the 18-rated DVD.

They chase the girls around their spaceship and grope them with their plungers.

Surprisingly, The Sun chose to bring us a more serious aspect of this sordid tale.

Estate director Tim Hancock said: “The reason the Daleks are still the most sinister thing in the universe is because they do not make things like porn.
“They weren’t ever intended to be sexual creatures. It’s simple, Daleks do not do porn.”

Life-long fan Colin Brown, 44, said: “It’s outrageous to think of them touching up naked women — Daleks just don’t behave like that.”

Phoenix Christmas Quiz & Pig

2005-12-04T20:03:00.000+13:00

Yo Ho Ho and Felicitatious Fraternisations to Ye All.

Roll Up! Roll Up!

To The Annual Phoenix Yule Tide Quiz & PIG

Wednesday December 14th 7:30 pm

Turnbull House, Bowen Street

PIG & Quiz
Never A Dull Moment at the Quiz
Prize for Best and Worst Teams!

A Feast For Both The Phoenix Mind & Body
In Comfortable Turnbull House
With A Spread Laid On By The Members of the Club.

Centaurs - A Plate

More from across the Tasman

2005-11-15T15:38:00.000+13:00

A few months ago, I wrote an article for Phoenixine on the healthy state of fiction in Australia. By way of an update, I received the following press release for today and thought you might be interested:

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Check out ASif! (Australian Specfic in focus!) – launched today with over 50 reviews by 22 reviewers of Australian speculative fiction and comics! The site aims to double review every Australian publication, author and artist of specfic. A big task, but someone’s gotta do it.

The aim is to have all the low-down you need to find out what you want to read and where you need to go to buy it. And for the next month, there are freebie prizes, including a copy of the forthcoming Shadow Box CD, for spiffy answers to the online treasurehunt! What are you waiting for? Click the button!
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I had a look and it seems very promising although they didn't have all their archive material loaded yet, but it was being updated even as I watched.

You might also be interested in checking out the Inkspillers site. It is a resource and information centre for writers in Australia.

Tales of Future Past

2005-10-17T16:07:00.000+13:00

We discussed the perils of predicting the future in a Phoenix meeting Where's My Flying Car?

David Szondy's website has a section Tales of Future Past dedicated to the 20th Century's view of the future. It's packed with some great illustrations from SF's "golden period" accompanied by amusing commentaries David has written around a series of themes.

Another section contains a few classic radio plays of American SF broadcast in the 1950s, from writers Clifford D Simak, James Gunn, Robert Heinlein (gulp!) Frederik Pohl & C. M. Kornbluth and HG Wells. (Real player required).

I also learnt on this site that Hugo Gernsback was the publisher who invented the term science fiction and published the first SF magazine in 1926.

Time machine on Trade Me

2005-10-14T14:51:00.000+13:00

Current bidding stands at $300,000,000,001,999.00. No time wasters please!

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Electronics-photography/Other/auction-36725938.htm

There's some amusing comments at the end of the item.

Like:

Q: Does the eftpos machine work on Pre-pay time credits or pay as you travel? posted by: steve__ (15 ) 3:31 pm, Thu 29 Sep

A: I see you have mistaken the time defliberator for an old eftpos machine. Easy mistake for beginners to time travel to make, they do look similar.

Q: If I am successful with my bid, do you think there is sufficient grunt in the machine to go back to the beginning of this auction, wipe out all memory of it, so I don't have to pay you. posted by: bubbs29 (54 ) 4:04 pm, Thu 29 Sep

A: if the auction doesn't take place, you would never have the time machine, so you would be stuck in the past, with no machine to get back to the present. time is a dangerous thing to play with, and you really need to carefully consider the consequences, before you start mucking with the past, and breaching time continuation.

Q: I cant see where the time is displayed on this device ? posted by: bignoselouie (42 ) 1:44 pm, Fri 30 Sep

A: What do you think this is? A clock?

Q: Hey I was wondering if this machine supports dilithium crystal phasers? posted by: chips19 (0 ) 3:33 pm, Fri 30 Sep

A: I heard those things were being phased out

Serenity review by Orson Scott Card

2005-10-06T09:26:00.000+13:00

He likes it! A lot! He'll let Enders Game be made into a film if it's done this well!!

(Warning: He's careful not to reveal much and there are no spoilers, but he does say who or what the central story is about. If you don't want to know anything at all about the film, stop reading when you reach the para near the bottom starting with "For those of you who love the TV series, keep this in mind")

http://www.hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2005-09-30-extra.shtml

Fifty Fantasy & Science Fiction Works That Socialists Should Read

2005-10-02T22:16:00.000+13:00

China Miéville has a blog and on it he has a list of 50 SF&F works socialists should read.

I checked it through and I've read ... 13! Which is much higher than I thought it would be, some of those titles look quite serious and I am not generally a "serious" reader.

Anonymous comments

2005-09-27T18:17:00.000+12:00

The blog has started to attract automated spam in the form of comments which advertise useless and boring services.

So I've turned on an option that requires you to be a blogger member before you can post to this blog. Sorry about that any genuine anonymous posters (the only one I can recall is Frank who has an intense dislike of the blogger interface haha) but the alternative was to force all genuine posters to go through a word verification process, which was nearly as dull as reading the unwanted spam.

The Harrowing of Hell

2005-09-24T15:26:00.000+12:00

Watch Satan get what's coming to him in a genuine Medieval Mystery Play!

LAUGH at the devil's comic antics.
THRILL at the might of Jesus.
REJOICE at the rescue of those virtuous heathen type people.
JEER at a University lecturer being thrown into the darkest pit of hell.

Thursday, 6 October, 2.10pm
Memorial Theatre Foyer (in the Student Union building), Victoria University
No charge, light refreshments afterwards.
ALL WELCOME.

There was talk of running a dress rehearsal with an audience, so if you're interested but can't make 2pm on a Thursday, let me know and I'll get in touch when I know the time for the dress rehearsal.
(I'm playing Beelzebub. Heh heh heh.)

Stephanie

My old home page & Amazon link

2005-09-22T11:16:00.000+12:00

This is mainly directed at a few people I know in rl who had my old home page bookmarked, so they could use the Amazon link there. (Thanks :) ) Obvously my webpage has been gone - I took it down as I hadn't updated it in over a year, didn't like it anymore, etc etc etc. I am putting a new one up, but I have put a temp page with little more more than the Amazon link on it here - http://chance.slashcity.net/randomlines/nz.html. The rest of the site is rather empty and the moment and I'm currently really only playing around bits, until it looks the way I want it to and a half way decent amount of content, so is rather empty and odd looking at the moment :)

Bright Star

2005-09-12T09:53:00.000+12:00

David Lee-Smith wrote to me to let me know that Bright Star is currently showing at Circa Theatre. David writes

"Phoenix folk might be interested to know about the play Bright Star, now playing at Circa. It is based on the life of Beatrice Tinsley, one of NZ's most brilliant scientists, who became professor of cosmology at Yale University, and who died of cancer, aged 40, in 1981.

Dr Tinsley was born in England, grew up in New Plymouth, did an MSc at Canterbury, and then a PhD at the University of Texas. She revolutionized our understanding of the structure and age of the cosmos and its ultimate destiny. The play is by Stuart Hoar, who authored Rutherford."

David has a particular interest because Beatrice was his wife's sister. He says,

"There will also be two fora connected with the play dealing with a) cosmology and b) the biography by Christine Cole Catley scheduled for publication next April. There is a memoir by Edward Hill, my father-in-law (deceased), called "My Daughter Beatrice," which is available from Wellington Public Library."