big thanks to anyone whose noticed me not posting for the last 4 months ...
erm, yeah, I'm back for a bit.
Spent the week before Uncon in Rosslyn Castle with Cider, Pea, Feeps, Anome, Sally, Lizard23, and Magical Trevor. We found the grail, obviously, but we're not telling you where we've put it
fLeebLe also snores louder than me, whatever he may tell you otherwise, he is also to blame for everything, ever
Thanks to Gordon for electrocuting me in Edinburgh, and congratulations to him and Min
The drive from Rosslyn to Doncaster was made so much better by having to drive down some dodgy country roads to avoid most of the A1 traffic jam. Could've met up with Cider, Pea & Anome's train if it weren't for that.
Big Hello's to Zarathustraspake and Cassandra, who I haven't met before, and the guy from Solihull and the two women he was with, whose names and presence on this board is unknown.
Hello to the other people I met (Timble, Stormkahn, Swan, Kitty, Elffriend and Sister, Colin & his girlfriend), and Bullseye and Faggus, who I didn't, and to Mana, who turned up to the pub rather than the talks and then suggested I was letting the side down by not being drunk (I had a very dodgy fried chicken & rice and ended up missing the nightclub to go and be sick, hopefully Colins g/f didn't suffer the same thing).
Hello to all the ftmb mods who turned up and didn't make themselves known to us, we don't all smell y'know. Was a bit disappointed by the turnout considering we couldn't go on the upper galleries where there was some air in the hall.
So, yeah, umm, the talks and stuff then.
Priory of Sion - I ended up walking out of this, a nice bit of showing off about meeting Tom Hanks and Dan Brown (not much to show off about, really) and being in some fishy-sounding film (Da Vinci Cod?) didn't impress. neither did the slightly muddled sounding Priory of Sion part, and from what I've heard the Turin Shroud thing didn't sound that impressive.
Call of Cthulhu - The HP Lovecraft Historical Society silent movie version, very good for something recorded on zero budget in someones back garden. Most of the effects were very good, apart from the boats in the sea ones, and the monster itself was a very early horror movie style, which worked in the style they decided to film it, perhaps owed some debt to Nosferatu and similar films.
Missed the next few hours.
UFO's and the Hippy Movement - This sounded crap on paper, but was a very interesting talk on the use of drugs in the English Underground movement, and how flying saucers fitted in with this. Didn't mention Sun Ra till the questions though.
Witchfinders - Another good talk, I got the book which is also a good read
Evolution and Pop Culture - After a hesitant start this also turned into an interesting talk on Creationism and the Scopes trial in America. The tunes done on the ukelele were entertaining and a good way of breaking up the talk into something more listenable.
Evolution vs Intelligent Design - Another good talk that covered some of the same ground as the Pop Culture talk
Will the real Ogopogo please rise up - Thankfully we were spared the Eminem impression, but another good talk that pointed at some of the holes in the reporting of Ogopogo
Rennes lc & the Holy Grail - Entertaining, although covered little that wasn't in their book, which I read several months ago. Rat could've backed off the mic a bit, and the sound effects were a bit too loud. Didn't get chance to tell him who has the grail and what milkshake they're keeping in it, but that's an in-joke that about 6 or 7 people will get
Magic Lanterns - Informative, fun, and I'm only sorry i couldn't go to the museum to see more of them
Fairies and Angels - Not really my thing, went on a little too long for the point that was being made. About half way through I became convinced that a lot of the people who'd crept onto the balconies had done so for GNA's corset rather than the actual talk, although this may be a result of the cynicism resulting from a sore arse after having sat in the chair far too long.
Sadly I missed Doug Skinners Musical Curiosities, I was intending to go and see it, but I really had to have dinner by the time it was due to start.
Think thats about it, same time next year?