From: Sanity
Newsgroups: alt.fan.pratchett
Subject: [F] Leiden Videomeet Report
Message-ID: <1043667662.591874@zandbak.klijmij.net>
NNTP-Posting-Date: 27 Jan 2003 12:41:03 CET
The Leiden Videomeet Report, on 25 & 26 January 2003.
(This report may contain very minor spoilers for LotR:TTT and Mammoth)
Attendees in no particular order:
Eelco, Rolf, Menno, Uwe, Patrick, Jelmer, Michel K., Rachel C., Jeroen
M., Corinna, Vicky, Jeroen B., Boris, Maarten, Gerbrand, Martin, Leo.
Early 2003, I received word of Patrick, that there would be a Leiden
Videomeet in Eindhoven. I gracefully accepted the invitation, of
course. Transport was easy: Leo would drive Patrick and myself to the
far lands of Eindhoven. I packed my weapons (1 digicam, 1 palm) and
got into my armour (1 drizabone). With a bear minimum of survival
equipment, we left the People's Republic of Gouda towards Eindhoven.
Leo had the poncy car with the fancy navigation system. A sweet female
voice lead us out of Gouda, towards Mordor^WEindhoven.
Getting near Eindhoven, we received new instructions for car-parking
purposes. Mrs. Navigation was appalled. "You always listen to your
friends, but never to me!", "I told you to go left there, but oh no,
Mr I-Know-It-Better is going the other way" and "I'm leaving you!" she
cried. After that, it stayed silent apart from a bit of muttering.
In the Trafalgar Square pub there was the usual drinking, chatting,
and fun. But there was evil around. You could smell it, sense it. This
was evil of the most evil kind. It was A Book. About Furry Creatures.
Quite soon after I sat down, it got pushed towards me. Innocently, I
enquired to the purpose of this. Apparently, the Book wanted me. Even
though I hadn't even punned by that time! To prove the evilness of the
book, it was opened on a page (these people seemed to know *exactly*
what page it needed to be opened at) which was shoved in front of my
face. It was supposed to be a sex scene. It was utterly crap, and not
only because it involved defecation. Or the twining trunks.
So, at that time, we were getting hungry. Food was ordered, and
consumed. During all this, geektoys were checked out. There was the
usual share of digicams and PDAs, some very New And Shiny. My
strokeable and foldable palm keyboard was fondled muchly.
Waiting for the main course, again twining trunks and various human
organs were discussed. So we were in a good mood for the movie: what
other movie than The Two Towers could have been chosen for this meet?
It was the second time I'd seen it, and again it was beautiful. This
time, there was no break halfway through which improved the
experience. This time, knowing the story, I could focus on some more
details, like noticing the Gimli stand-in. I didn't hear any sloshing
noises when the ryirf ng Uryz'f Qrrc were spouting a lot of blah blah
about a frpbaq nyyvnapr orgjrra Zra naq Ryirf. Leo enjoyed the movie
as a movie and was again unhappy about the bits that deviated from the
books, as were some other people. But I think most had a deep feeling
of satisfaction.
After the movie, more drinks were consumed and more talking happened.
The Mammoth turned up again, going round and round but constantly
ending up near me...weird. After much chatter, the goers seperated
from the crashers, and the pub was somewhat empty. We left towards
Geldrop by cab. Our cab driver noticed we'd seen TTT, and didn't like
it. Something to do with the horses, I remember vaguely.
At Eelco's house, some people went straight to couch/mattrass/bed,
while a group of selected few discussed dutch politics. No matter what
happens, it seems unrealistic that these afpers will ever be able to
form a stable government. This went on till about 4am, when people
fell asleep. During the night, several geologists turned up to check
what was causing the apparent earthquake, and people in Eindhoven
complained about the noise. Nothing new.
We all got up in the morning, something I never realised existed on a
Sunday. Eggs were baked, drinks were poured (Can Eelco's mother be
cloned? Please?). Attempts were made to watch some highlights of TTT,
which ended up in random bits of movie for our consideration, and a
plain Blue Screen of Blueness. Playing the
Legolas-horse-jumping-manoevre didn't result in conclusive evidence on
howdidtheydoit.
At about 2am, the meet ended. This time, I couldn't manage to get rid
of the Mammoth (while Martin made the worst pun in the ent), so I
managed to get in into my bag and we set out to the train station. The
Mammoth has tried to escape on several occasions, but I could restrain
it. I did notice it got heavier towards Gouda, though. It also started
to attack things in my room.
It was a Good Meet (tm). I'm currently reading Mammoth, and you know,
it's not such a bad book after all.
Meet pictures will appear Monday evening (Gouda time zone) on
Affordable-Hedgehogs.co.uk.
TTFN,
Michel AKA Sanity
[0] What? No footnotes?
Quotefile
Leo: he's got both internal and external glowing balls.
[Actually three quotes of this nature pulled together]
Uwe^H^H^HRolf: what's the fish called?
Eelco+Sanity: Wanda!
Martin: He's pining for the orcs!
Snow: it's Dutch, Jim, but not as we know it
Rachel: I see Dutch people
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