Mittwoch, 27. Juni 2007

FedCon XVI, Part 1: "So, what are you doing in Bonn anyway?"

The question above was directed to us by the completly unsuspecting driver of the carpool we took to Bonn Thursday morning. "We're visiting a science fiction convention." - "....Well..... EVERYONE has to have a hobby..." Sounds worse than it was, she was actually pretty tolerant but only slightly interested on what a convention is and what's happening there. Nice girl though ;).

Anyway. As you probably have noticed - if not, then you ARE bilingual! - I'm trying to write this year's fedcon review in english (with emphasis on try, please just ignore all the mistakes in grammar, spelling and stuff) to enable a larger audience to enjoy/endure/survive my colorful outpourings. And for my own practice. :) I'll divide my review into five entries, each representing one day of FedCon-excitment (including pre- and post-FedCon days of arrival and departure) written in thrilling present tense style [TM]. I hope I can somewhat translate my very own writing style into a foreign language, so that the few fans I still have after that Germany's Next Topmodel thing won't be disappointed.

We (being Angie and me) arrive at Bonn in the late Thursday afternoon and are picked up by the female dynamic duo of Steffi and Sabrina, the latter being introduced to us and almost instantly initiated into the circle of the Berlin-Bonn-connection (yes, she lives in Cologne, I know. Cologne, Bonn, all the same... ;) ). The act of befriending itself of course is caught digitally by the fastest photographer alive, Steffi, Jimmy Olson's sidekick. So is the act of walking into the tunnel of the train station in Bonn, walking through the tunnel, walking further into the tunnel, coming out of the tunnel into the hall, crossing the hall, venturing to the bus-station, waiting for the bus, entering the bus.... she really likes taking pictures of people who don't like having their pictures taken ;) (yeah, I'm exaggerating. A little.)

We enjoy a completly unphotographed bus-tour to Steffi's student-home, where she lives with a bunch of guys I'll meet between FedCon-schedule. Since that'll be around 7 a.m., they won't be very talkative, but today they're surprisingly awake. And still not talkative. We crash into the room of our host, let loose our stuff and devour a few of Sabrina's delicious muffins, before we leave toward Bonn Hauptbahnhof again, being the central changing point for FedCon-Travellers. We tease our almost native Bonn-inhabitant with comparisons to the much better, bigger, faster, nicer,... Berlin and arrive almost intact at the Maritim at last. FedCon-Excitement!

Well... not so much. The day before FedCon isn't as action-jammed as the convention itself (whoah, who would have thought THAT!). A few Bonners and early birds are chilling in the Maritim lobby, including a supsiciously lonely Dominik. This young man is usually seen beeing on the run from A to B (over C, D and E), chatting with Richard Arnold or some other generic celebrity or dancing furiously at the Piano Bar. Angie uses the opportunity and chats with him about her B5-Videos, only to realize that Dominik is in the video-cutting-business as well. Which doesn't keep him from dropping Angie's CD like ten times in two minutes. While Steffi vanishes into thin air shortly after a somewhat stressed looking Brigitte showed up, we are waiting for the rest of the "Annual Thursday Before FedCon Party"-participants.

Okay, it's more of a dinner, a gathering of sorts. Sabrina, Angie, I and the rest of the bunch invade the biergarten of the Gustav-Streseman-Institut (gsi) located 5 walking-minutes from the Maritim, where most of the 40-50 people can't resist the All-You-Can-Eat-Offer. Well, we can (for we aren't that hungry and feel 9 Euros for one plate of leftovers a little overpriced) and are "rewarded" later on when the evening-menu is opened. We eat a still somewhat overpriced pizza after Steffi finally returns from the Dungeon of the Brigitte's press-office and are soon involved in ground-shaking discussions about essential questions like whether Anakin Skywalker's Ghost at the End of Return of the Jedi should be the young or the old guy. I am attacked with spacedog's (Frank) mobile but soon realize that my good comic-friend equalizer (Jens) is on the line and eager to share the latest developments in the comic business with me.

Steffi urges us to leave around 10 P.M. which isn't the worst idea - considering we won't have much sleep the next few nights (especially with my still hurting leg. Bike accident, don't ask. 10 days of not sleeping through because of very unpleasant pain. yay). Of course the early leave isn't much use - Steffi has to come up with some question for the press conference next day, and we are obliged to be creative. Well, while Angie's creativness consists of "I AM thinking, I really AM!", I enrich the repertoire of our young journalist with questions like "Jewel Staite, do you want to have a private party with my dear friend Batch?". Sabrina helpfully adds "What is your favourite wedding scene in a movie?" before Steffi resigns sighing. We joking around some more before dozing off.


1 Kommentar:

Anonym hat gesagt…

Also sooooo schlimm bin ich auch noch nicht und abgesehen davon sind meine Fotos toll geworden. Aber ich habe mich gerade doch königlichst amüsiert, bitte weiterschreiben! Ich vermisse noch den versprochenen Teil, wo du lange Passagen über meine Genialität verfasst!

Steffi