For a city that you can walk across in twenty minutes or less if you try, Melbourne always has something going on. Sometimes it has way too much going on, and you have to bend space and time if you want to get everywhere that you want. Or spend an hour scheduling everything to fit and stick to it. This year, for some reason, Continuum, Oz Comic Con, the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, and the Sake Festival were all on at the same time. Ken Liu was the guest of honour at Continuum, Ricky Whittle was attending Oz Comic Con, and Herbie Hancock was performing at MIJF. RIP.
Oz Comic Con
Oz Comic Con surprises me each year, and not in a good way. As usual, there was a big bottleneck getting in. The volunteers tried their best, but there were only so many handphone scanners going around, and everyone had to be scanned. Since Ricky's panel was at 1030am, Mars and I arrived at 10am thinking half an hour would be enough. Haha! No. We ran through MCEC and made it to the panel late, but thankfully it hadn't started. It was also only a third full, probably because many people were still stuck in queue. While we were catching our breath, Ricky burst into the scene. Literally.
This is Ricky running through the audience high-fiving everyone, then rushing to the door to prank latecomers with "D'you know what time it is!?" and high-fiving them too. I have never met anyone with this much energy in my life. At the end of the 1 hour panel, I felt completely drained. In a good way, at least until the inevitable crash.
Great cosplay this year! Given Oz Comic Con takes place in midwinter, I'm always in awe at everyone's dedication.
Continuum
Ken Liu!!! That's all I have to say. Have my doodles instead.
Melbourne International Jazz Festival
No photography allowed, sorry. It's always a privilege to listen to musicians as talented as Herbie and his band. I confess I wasn't expecting the electronica stuff at the start – the only Herbie I've ever heard was from my dad's vinyl collection, but it was still interesting. Someone walked out after a few songs, which was a little surreal.
Upcoming in Melbourne: the Tea Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, and the Melbourne Writer's Festival. See you peeps there.