Monday, December 21, 2009

Monday Announcement



Happy Monday! I'm going to be giving some announcements for the next three days, and so I'm hoping y'all come over to check them out! There's been more chatter on the boards on here talking about possible Nik at Nite meet-ups, and how the closest one might be January 2011 in Hawaii. I will be there, and I'm hoping some of you might make it, too. But if that is an extraordinary distance and you're not into academic talk, here's another option:

Polaris is a sci-fi convention in Toronto (in 2010 it runs from July 16-18) that is celebrating its 24th year. It started as Toronto Trek, and was called that until probably 2003 or so? (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.) I attended it a few times, and always had a blast. I remember one year being an author guest with Finding Lost upcoming (sadly, I couldn't sign copies because they weren't out for another two months) and ended up at the Friday night blast-off party talking with one of the actor guests, Mira Furlan (we all know her better as Rousseau!) where she didn't quite understand what I meant by "Lost book." "You mean it's on the show?" "Yes, it's about the show." "No, I mean, someone was holding it on the show?" "Er... no, it's about the show itself, analyzing the scenes and the episodes and the references." "So... wait. It's... what?" Haha! She was very sweet, and didn't realize people were actually analyzing the show in an academic way at all, and once I finally explained it to her thoroughly, she was quite fascinated. Then we talked about other work she was doing at the time and thankfully moved away from the confusing book talk.

I will be appearing as an author guest this year. It's held in Toronto, up near the airport (so you never actually have to leave the vicinity if coming in from out of town!) which means I'll be doing panels and book signings and a reading (don't worry; whenever I do these I never officially "read" from the book... how boring would THAT be?). And I've been told by the programming department that they're going to be attempting to book Lost actors and people affiliated with the show, so we might get to meet stars, too!

This could be a lot of fun. Imagine a panel talking about the finale of Lost, and all of us discussing it IN PERSON! Fun!! We could hang out, do dinner, set up rooms where we can all meet and chat. I'm all for it: who else is in?!

I wanted to mention that my blog placed second in the Canadian Blog Awards (I'd entirely forgotten about it until this morning, d'oh!) and I just wanted to thank everyone for voting for me!! I was so thrilled to make the shortlist, and to place so well. This little blog doesn't just deserve kudos because of me; it is what it is because of the high quality of comments from all of you, here and over on the Lost Rewatch. Thanks to all of you!

Tune in tomorrow for Announcement #2!! :)

14 comments:

poppedculture said...

So did you come in second? It's not really all that clear that they have even tallied the final round. In any case, you are my favourite Canadian blog (and why I nominated you in the first place).

P.S. - When is Polaris?

Nikki Stafford said...

Jer: You were the one who nominated me? Well, thank you, my dear. I've been wondering who did it, and I'm flattered. :)

When I went to the site it appeared to have all of the blogs ranked, so I'm assuming that's showing the winners and how everyone ranked behind them. I was listed 2nd, so I'm assuming that meant I was 2nd. Maybe I should have looked at the page longer... ;)

The dates of Polaris are in the banner at the top, but in case you're reading this in some feed that doesn't show images, it's July 16-18, 2010 (I'll go in and add those dates just in case).

poppedculture said...

Ummm, yeah, it was there, I just didn't read the image. My bad. And I'll always be your nominee for things - always have.

humanebean said...

Toronto in July! Nik at Nite meet-up! Sci-fi convention!! Fantastic with awesome sauce all over it!

Isn't that usually when the International Fireworks Festival is, too? I was there for part of that one year, saw the China presentation. Way cool!

JennM said...

Congrats on the blog award, Nikki! Well deserved!

Batcabbage said...

@Nik: I've been checking the blog awards site, and the Finalists and Winners page isn't really clear. I got the impression that they'd be narrowing the field down from 5 to 3, so I'm waiting for round three so I vote again every day and get you up to number 1! GO NIK! WOOT! BKV, WOOT! (Sorry, that was force of habit :) )

Batcabbage said...

Oh yes,and if I have money by then, I am totally in for Toronto!!!

Anonymous said...

I'll see you there. Maybe we can be on a panel together (I love my panels.) :)

Rebecca T. said...

Oh, I would love to come. I just don't know if I can squeak in both Hawaii and Toronto with grad school looming ........ hmmm.

Verification: PerFoxe - an order given by Foxe

The Shout said...

Well done Nik. Much deserved.Even though you should've been number one, you're in good company - Strawberry Fields Forever only made it to number 2 in the UK charts (beaten by Engelbert Humperdinck's Release Me for ****s sake!).

Ashlie Hawkins said...

Oh boy, I think I can swing going to Polaris this year! It's only a couple hours down the 401 for me, so I should be there!

The Question Mark said...

Oh, I am SO in for this! LOL
Sounds great, Nikki, keep us posted!
And congrats on your Blog's shiny new silver medal!

Zari said...

@ Batcabbage -- Your Haiku on what LOST has taught you:

I'm a bit late on adding to the well-deserved kudos to your terrific entry.

For you and other Haiku Afficionados, check out this 'toon:

http://www.gocomics.com/haikuewe

Word Verification "poxiesse": The aristocratic form of The Pox.

Batcabbage said...

@Zari: Thanks very much! I just checked out that link. Funny!

Verification word: offaving. A time saving contraction. "Where have you been?" "Offaving a good time/my nails done/a high colonic."