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Kenilworth, Ayacon, HP7pt2 and Zapp
Sunday, 4 September 2011 12:23It's been a busy month!
In the middle of August was Ayacon, an animé convention that proved fun last time as well as a good excuse to meet up with Luke & Co (I should probably stop referring to the group like that but I lack a better term). I decided to take the opportunity of going OOP NOORF (or, well, UP MIDLANDS at any rate) to stay in the countryside for a few days for some R&R for a few days beforehand.
Kenilworth
I spent two nights in Kenilworth, a small town about an hour outside Coventry, in the lovely Castle Laurels Guest House, named after the medieval Kenilworth Castle, which it was a five minute walk away from. Kenilworth itself was a nice town, and reminded me a little of Canterbury insofar as it having a historic area with old buildings and the like, contrasted with a new area with a decent shopping area. Rather like how I imagine Dartford would be if anyone actually invested in the area.
The main purpose of my visit, along with the scenic castle, was that I'd spotting a couple of series of geocaches that made an ideal walking route through the countryside. They mostly coincided with local walking routes, but I quite like having a purpose for going out and about, rather than just rambling for the sake of rambling. I had one full day in the town and I took a 20km circular walk to nearby Honiley and back again, via some entertaining place names. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the countryside, with friendly locals and places where you can see for miles without any built-up areas.
Anyway, I made a video of my geocaching exploits, since I was counting down to my 100th geocache at the time. It's ten minutes long so I don't blame you if you don't want to watch it! For the curious, here was the route I took.
[http://youtu.be/WSgZLAFrTu4]
And that brings me nicely on to...
Ayacon
After collecting the Warwick Union Cam webcam cache (thanks Emily!) on Thursday afternoon, I checked into my en suite campus accomodation (it had a bath! Those lucky Warwick Uni students) and by good fortune bumped into Matt and Hope who were also staying on campus for the convention, unlike the rest of the GANG.
Ayacon itself was as great as I remembered it from 2009, which made me happy. This time I tried to do as much as possible that appealed to me, as I'd missed a few opportunities in Amecon last year and ended up a bit bored. The highlight of the long weekend was easily Superfun Iron Cosplay Time, a workshop where four teams were given some rudimentary cosplaying bits and bobs (materials, gaffa tape, and cardboard boxes, mostly) and each given half an hour and an Internet meme, with the aim of coming up with a character that would battle its physical presence in some horrific final showdown. Fortunately my team weren't the one which had to fight goatse. Anyway, watch and learn. I made Waffledog's hand. *nod*.
[http://youtu.be/JtmGf7vbk_g]
Another highlight of the weekend was Matt Mercer, voice actor and director of There Will Be Brawl, who is entertaining and funny enough for a three-hour Q&A panel with him to fly by.
Surprisingly I also slept really well in the Warwick accommodation, which also made the whole experience a lot more enjoyable! Full photos here.
Harry Potter 7 Part 2
I finally got around to watching Harry Potter last weekend, looking forward to what I'd found a rather emotional final book. However, I was left a little disappointed. The film lacked any kind of emotional punch, despite so many characters getting killed off. It felt like there was just too much going on for any kind of atmosphere to be built up, and considering they split the book into two films to avoid this, wasn't really excusable. Still, there were some good lines and it didn't feel like it was a complete waste of time spent.
Zapp
What makes a man turn neutral? Who knows, but I have a new desktop computer now, replacing an ailing Zoidberg who keeps on overheating when I try to do so much as watch video or use Google Street View (Decapodians - cold blooded and so unable to regulate body temperature). To replace it, I got a shiny barebones PC from Novatech, then padded it out with hard drive and graphics card to turn it into 
Zapp. Hopefully it won't mutiny against me too much.
Right, that's about all for this month! Stay tuned for more TALES OF INTEREST.
In the middle of August was Ayacon, an animé convention that proved fun last time as well as a good excuse to meet up with Luke & Co (I should probably stop referring to the group like that but I lack a better term). I decided to take the opportunity of going OOP NOORF (or, well, UP MIDLANDS at any rate) to stay in the countryside for a few days for some R&R for a few days beforehand.
Kenilworth
I spent two nights in Kenilworth, a small town about an hour outside Coventry, in the lovely Castle Laurels Guest House, named after the medieval Kenilworth Castle, which it was a five minute walk away from. Kenilworth itself was a nice town, and reminded me a little of Canterbury insofar as it having a historic area with old buildings and the like, contrasted with a new area with a decent shopping area. Rather like how I imagine Dartford would be if anyone actually invested in the area.
The main purpose of my visit, along with the scenic castle, was that I'd spotting a couple of series of geocaches that made an ideal walking route through the countryside. They mostly coincided with local walking routes, but I quite like having a purpose for going out and about, rather than just rambling for the sake of rambling. I had one full day in the town and I took a 20km circular walk to nearby Honiley and back again, via some entertaining place names. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the countryside, with friendly locals and places where you can see for miles without any built-up areas.Anyway, I made a video of my geocaching exploits, since I was counting down to my 100th geocache at the time. It's ten minutes long so I don't blame you if you don't want to watch it! For the curious, here was the route I took.
[http://youtu.be/WSgZLAFrTu4]
And that brings me nicely on to...
Ayacon
After collecting the Warwick Union Cam webcam cache (thanks Emily!) on Thursday afternoon, I checked into my en suite campus accomodation (it had a bath! Those lucky Warwick Uni students) and by good fortune bumped into Matt and Hope who were also staying on campus for the convention, unlike the rest of the GANG.
Ayacon itself was as great as I remembered it from 2009, which made me happy. This time I tried to do as much as possible that appealed to me, as I'd missed a few opportunities in Amecon last year and ended up a bit bored. The highlight of the long weekend was easily Superfun Iron Cosplay Time, a workshop where four teams were given some rudimentary cosplaying bits and bobs (materials, gaffa tape, and cardboard boxes, mostly) and each given half an hour and an Internet meme, with the aim of coming up with a character that would battle its physical presence in some horrific final showdown. Fortunately my team weren't the one which had to fight goatse. Anyway, watch and learn. I made Waffledog's hand. *nod*.[http://youtu.be/JtmGf7vbk_g]
Another highlight of the weekend was Matt Mercer, voice actor and director of There Will Be Brawl, who is entertaining and funny enough for a three-hour Q&A panel with him to fly by.
Surprisingly I also slept really well in the Warwick accommodation, which also made the whole experience a lot more enjoyable! Full photos here.
Harry Potter 7 Part 2
I finally got around to watching Harry Potter last weekend, looking forward to what I'd found a rather emotional final book. However, I was left a little disappointed. The film lacked any kind of emotional punch, despite so many characters getting killed off. It felt like there was just too much going on for any kind of atmosphere to be built up, and considering they split the book into two films to avoid this, wasn't really excusable. Still, there were some good lines and it didn't feel like it was a complete waste of time spent.Zapp
What makes a man turn neutral? Who knows, but I have a new desktop computer now, replacing an ailing Zoidberg who keeps on overheating when I try to do so much as watch video or use Google Street View (Decapodians - cold blooded and so unable to regulate body temperature). To replace it, I got a shiny barebones PC from Novatech, then padded it out with hard drive and graphics card to turn it into 
Zapp. Hopefully it won't mutiny against me too much.Right, that's about all for this month! Stay tuned for more TALES OF INTEREST.
