The Second Apocalypse
Earwa => General Earwa => Topic started by: Madness on June 12, 2017, 07:39:04 pm
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Alright, folks.
In order to assure that this happens and that people have a chance to organize their lives around a Slog to London, Ontario, Canada, I'm going to go ahead with scheduling without Bakker's explicit confirmation. He has previously committed verbally but not to any specific weekend - though, I picked a date as to avoid the long weekend in August, when he'll likely be at a cottage. I will follow up with him when I'm back in London and I'm almost sure that he'll respond positively but regardless I know at least the Ishoiya crowd from last year's meet-up at Wilshire's are planning on coming.
I just had a fantastic conversation with the event coordinator at the Holiday Inn and I'm not sure that memponti (the moment in conversation) could have yielded more in our favour.
What I need now are commitment responses so I know it's worth our efforts to push forward.
So...
What: Zaudunyanicon 2017
When: August Fri, 11 – Sun, 13
Where: Holiday Inn, 855 Wellington Road South, London, ON N6E 3N5, Canada
It is near the expressway from Toronto (YYZ) but, probably at a prohibitive price, people can also fly into London (YXU). I know a couple people mentioned renting cars in groups from Toronto.
I've been able to tentatively book an event room for 40 people. If positive responses somehow overwhelm that number I will check back in with our event coordinator and she said there are other options to accommodate us, though I believe we had 25ish tentative responses the first time Wilshire and I checked around about this. I will add that she is absolutely thrilled to host an event for book readers, which she thought was a very unique request.
If Bakker commits, I've asked that he plan a talk (with a captive audience of fans in mind, which will be a first for him) followed by a Q&A Friday evening after the majority of people check-in. Either way, there will be a number of us who hit the hotel bar or a nearby restaurant Friday night.
Either way, Saturday shortly after noon, I've planned a sit-down mingle in our event space and we're looking at catering options. If Bakker is in attendance, this will be your opportunity to get your precious preciouses (books) signed. Camlost and I are also looking into cool themed swag ideas, though be lenient with us as we've never tackled anything like this on our own (Wilshire, GJ, Camlost, MG, myself) (though, I've been involved in executing hundreds of these types of events, weddings, banquets, etc, in my tenure as a cook under some of my old chefs).
Late Saturday afternoon/evening again, I think it likely that we'll hit the hotel bar or a nearby restaurant.
Sunday, of course, will be checkout day and everyone will have made plans to flee the city and/or country and slog back to their respective locales.
At 25 people, the approximate cost of tickets will be $35 (which will include food on Saturday afternoon). The more people that confirm, the lower we can make that. The event coordinator did some amazing finagling and was able to get me a group rate on rooms at $109 a night, per person. Depending on the response to this post, I can block off as many as 70 rooms for that weekend with no-obligation withdrawals up to July 11 (one month before the event). I need to confirm with her by June 26th in order to lock everything in so please let me know as soon as possible. After that you'll be able to call the hotel and book with the code "Zaudunyanicon" to be offered the group rate. Both Wilshire and GJ - who may not even attend - have both graciously offered to cover the deposit on the event room/catering and I'll follow up with confirmed attendees in a couple weeks after we lock this down in order to sort out ticket payment.
Whew!
So... sound off! Let's make the first official Zaudunyanicon a real thing!
P.S. Obviously, I will update as soon as I have word from Bakker, one way or another. Bakker confirmed! - link (http://www.second-apocalypse.com/index.php?topic=2278.msg35965#msg35965)
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Sounds so fun. I undoubtedly will not be able to attend unless I can strike gold or win the lottery. Just purchased a new home and go on vacation first weekend of Aug. I would love to attend and mingle with all the great folks I've met here at SA. Maybe, just maybe I could take a small 401k loan and convince the wife it's worth it, to me. Which she knows it is. Yet, at this point my life, with three kids money is a major issue. Maybe I should write a fantasy series, no? Lol. ;)
Anyways, even though I find it unlikely I attend I wish you guys the best and have a great turnout. I find it noble of you guys to take this upon yourself. Maybe one day...
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pail's presence presently planned.
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pail's presence presently planned.
Thanks, pail. "pail's presence presently planned, possibly pending penman's presence." ;)
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Dream to live, MSJ. I would love to see you there :).
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Sounds so fun. I undoubtedly will not be able to attend unless I can strike gold or win the lottery. Just purchased a new home and go on vacation first weekend of Aug. I would love to attend and mingle with all the great folks I've met here at SA. Maybe, just maybe I could take a small 401k loan and convince the wife it's worth it, to me. Which she knows it is. Yet, at this point my life, with three kids money is a major issue. Maybe I should write a fantasy series, no? Lol. ;)
Anyways, even though I find it unlikely I attend I wish you guys the best and have a great turnout. I find it noble of you guys to take this upon yourself. Maybe one day...
Hey MSJ don't be sad, your brother Redeagl can't even attend though he doesn't have a wife nor any children. Who knows? maybe we will both win lotteries and strike gold before Zaudunyannicon :P
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Sounds so fun. I undoubtedly will not be able to attend unless I can strike gold or win the lottery. Just purchased a new home and go on vacation first weekend of Aug. I would love to attend and mingle with all the great folks I've met here at SA. Maybe, just maybe I could take a small 401k loan and convince the wife it's worth it, to me. Which she knows it is. Yet, at this point my life, with three kids money is a major issue. Maybe I should write a fantasy series, no? Lol. ;)
Anyways, even though I find it unlikely I attend I wish you guys the best and have a great turnout. I find it noble of you guys to take this upon yourself. Maybe one day...
Hey MSJ don't be sad, your brother Redeagl can't even attend though he doesn't have a wife nor any children. Who knows? maybe we will both win lotteries and strike gold before Zaudunyannicon :P
MSJ, don't take a loan out of your 401k *shudders*.
I think we should make a pact that if anyone wins the lottery from now till August that said winner will fund the travel of our TSA friends to Zaudunyanicon.
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Wilshire, Redeagl and Madness, thank you all for your sympathies. I doubt I touch my 401k, tbh. Just things like vacation and such are planned well ahead of time and monies also set aside for those things. I'm gonna see if I can finagle a little extra here and there and see what I can do.
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Hey MSJ don't be sad, your brother Redeagl can't even attend though he doesn't have a wife nor any children. Who knows? maybe we will both win lotteries and strike gold before Zaudunyannicon :P
Hey we had a Powerball go off for 450 mil here in the US on Saturday. I had a few tickets, I won 8 dollars combined. I'm setting it aside for MSJ and Redeagl's fund for Zaudunyannicon.
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I''ll check my lottery ticket right now... nope only one number.
Friday next draw.
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ok, my peeps - can't believe I'm actually going down this path given the scratch involved to make it happen, but the wife is on board, so it's possible - and my passport is still good. Has Bakker committed to attending? What is the travel logistics? Better to fly directly into London or fly elsewhere and get cab/public transportation to the hotel? Can someone share the hotel info? I need to call them to see if they can support my dietary restrictions ( lucky me has Celiac - cannot eat gluten, nor can I allow any to get in me via cross contamination ). Not 100% I can go just yet, but looking at the numbers and options. Do we have a headcount yet?
I do not have the time/intellect to read all the shit Bakker and the rest of you have read on philosophy and the like, so this would be an amazing treat for me, I love this stuff ( would be so much fun to hear it from the man himself on how all philosophers have missed the mark given they were attacking without a Mathesis Pin ;) ).
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ok, my peeps - can't believe I'm actually going down this path given the scratch involved to make it happen, but the wife is on board, so it's possible - and my passport is still good. Has Bakker committed to attending? What is the travel logistics? Better to fly directly into London or fly elsewhere and get cab/public transportation to the hotel? Can someone share the hotel info? I need to call them to see if they can support my dietary restrictions ( lucky me has Celiac - cannot eat gluten, nor can I allow any to get in me via cross contamination ). Not 100% I can go just yet, but looking at the numbers and options. Do we have a headcount yet?
I'm actually calling today to finalize our offer, TH.
The hotel information is in the first post of this thread. It's been told to me that flying into London direct is prohibitive but maybe not, I haven't done any research.
Coming from Toronto, it'd probably be smart to arrange with other flyers to rent a car from Toronto to London.
Headcount without Bakker is under the 20ish who first declared when we started this. I'm probably going to block off thirty rooms - I'd be cancelling those unbooked by the day of July 11th - today when I talk to our event planner and then people can begin booking. As mentioned, Tao, in the first post, I highlighted that room rate would be $109 CAN a night, which will be available with the booking with the code "Zaudunyani" (thus precipitating a number of frustrating and hilarious interactions between front desk and guests ;)).
I haven't discussed any food with them yet, I'll inquire today. I do know that the hotel will be able to properly deal with celiac handling.
Bakker has confirmed with me again verbally but that just isn't enough evidence for folks waiting internationally - I totally get it. Hopefully, if and when he actually locks down the weekend, he'll post about it.
I do not have the time/intellect to read all the shit Bakker and the rest of you have read on philosophy and the like, so this would be an amazing treat for me, I love this stuff ( would be so much fun to hear it from the man himself on how all philosophers have missed the mark given they were attacking without a Mathesis Pin ;) ).
Lol, indeed.
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Thank you, Madness - Bakker posts here or in 3 pound brain or elsewhere?
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Thank you, Madness - Bakker posts here or in 3 pound brain or elsewhere?
He does have an account and has posted here - but no, if word is going to come from him directly, it'll be TPB.
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I live in London, Ontario So I will absolutely be attending. Likely can get my brother to come too.
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I live in London, Ontario So I will absolutely be attending. Likely can get my brother to come too.
Awesome. The more the merrier.
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Living in London I can offer help if you need anything that someone from the city could help.
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Man, up until the fallout from shingles and breaking my foot, I'd been living there since Aug last year...
We could have been talking shop for time already, Vegetables!
I mean, I'm coming back after my foot is healed as I'm still renting a place until the end of August but I don't actually know what I'm doing in September yet.
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Bakker confirmed!
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Darn it, its too late for me now. Never mind, I will try to attend next year :) (in case of such opportunity) Even better, don't you want to do it in Europe as well? ;)
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Sorry VW - we're too poor to host in Europe, and it was hard enough to get Bakker to come even though its within walking distance of his backyard (maybe long walk, still though!).
Double sorry it took soooooooooooooooooooo long to get a response. We've been trying for, literally, months to get even a soft commit to avoid exactly this eventuality. Alas, the world conspires.
Maybe we'll try again when the next book comes out. See you in 10 years :P .
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No need to be sorry at all. I am glad that something like this is going on, even though I will not be able to attend (as I am being poor as well/saving money for trip to japan). But I wouldn't mind meeting my favourite author at some (time) point :)
Next time, I will have to notice this event sooner.
I wish you a great time.
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I have the same situation. Best of lucks with the convention. I hope you post reports of it here.
Do you know if Bakker is going to attend to some other event in Europe in the future?
I mean GRRM is going to be in Helsinki at the WorldCon that starts in a few days. It would be great to see Bakker in other future events here.
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I have the same situation. Best of lucks with the convention. I hope you post reports of it here.
Do you know if Bakker is going to attend to some other event in Europe in the future?
I mean GRRM is going to be in Helsinki at the WorldCon that starts in a few days. It would be great to see Bakker in other future events here.
It really would. I've never been to an SFF convention of any kind (in fact, my convention experiences in general are extremely limited), mostly because they're pretty few and far between in the Nordics. Maybe beggars can be choosers, and I would certainly choose to come to a convention that boasts someone like RSB and one or two others. Henrik Larson and ye olde Swedish author #12 doesn't have the same appeal ???
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The same for me here in Spain.
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Lol - trust me, amicable as he was, it wasn't easy to get Bakker to show up to this and it's in the town where he lives ;).
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Yeah, and it's a pity. :(
As I said in other threads I think he would have more readers and sales doing a little more of promotion.
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Preaching to the choir, friend Woden.
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I know. :)
Best of lucks with the Zaudunyanicon.
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Indeed. Quite excited. Christmas in August ;).
Bakker's brother and/or I will be recording the talk and Q&A tonight to post online (and as per the Q&A thread here, Bakker's brother apparently might be filming portions of tonight and tomorrow for some kind of mini-doc) but Wilshire and I are going to try and figure out if we can Twitch stream tonight as well.
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Bakker's brother and/or I will be recording the talk and Q&A tonight to post online (and as per the Q&A thread here, Bakker's brother apparently might be filming portions of tonight and tomorrow for some kind of mini-doc) but Wilshire and I are going to try and figure out if we can Twitch stream tonight as well.
So, I missed it. Shoot -- it's been quite a month.
Any chance of getting access to footage? Other descriptions for vicarious experiencing?
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Bakker's brother and/or I will be recording the talk and Q&A tonight to post online (and as per the Q&A thread here, Bakker's brother apparently might be filming portions of tonight and tomorrow for some kind of mini-doc) but Wilshire and I are going to try and figure out if we can Twitch stream tonight as well.
So, I missed it. Shoot -- it's been quite a month.
Any chance of getting access to footage? Other descriptions for vicarious experiencing?
Of course :) .
There's a few threads around already. Btw, pail pointed out that there were 9 of us and 9 Nascenti in the books, so the title stuck and we gave those that went that custom title. Ply them/us as you will. (pail, Tividar, Thing Called Sarcellus, arrogantfascist, Hand of Yogmoth, Camlost, Madness, Mrganondorf, Wilshire) ((sorry, some of those names might not be spelled correctly))
Bakker gave us all permission to talk about pretty much anything that was discussed, and even gave the Beta readers (Madness, MG, and myself) permission to discuss parts of the book which might have been in the manuscripts but were cut from the final publication.
Some low quality audio recordings we have are being transcribed by Madness - a task that will likely take a few dozen hours so please be patient there.
Also, Bakker the Younger (Bryan Bakker, Scott's brother), runs a documentary business and does it for a living. He was there, did some interviews, and did audio and video recordings of the two days. He will be editing that and making it look decent. Though I don't imagine its high on his priority list - he's got a business to run and this is just a favor he's doing for his brother. Anyway, that will probably be some weeks in coming.
We have some pictures that we may post pending permissions from those depicted.
We'll get the information out there one way or another, rest assured.
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- Nascenti of Zaudunyanicon (http://www.second-apocalypse.com/index.php?topic=2363.0)
- Next Year's Zaudunyanicon (http://www.second-apocalypse.com/index.php?topic=2364.0)