The 2MTL Guide to Soloing Conventions

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There was a moment at Hurricane Who this weekend in which I was trying to decide how much fun I was having.

This has nothing to do with the sterling job Jarrod Cooper and his co-conspirators did in pulling together their first convention. Yeah, there were some problems with the hotel — lack of working Wi-Fi and generally execrable food for starters — but the guests, topics of conversation and entertainment were perfectly scaled for roughly 350 first-timers. Programming and personnel-wise, this was a great convention.

(And, indeed, the reason I came to Hurricane Who was Toby Hadoke, and his currently-penultimate "Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf" performance expressly did not disappoint. I ran into him, pacing and smoking outside, an hour before the show, as the foyer's cash bar was completely failing to fill up with people in that slower-to-gather way perhaps peculiar to American fandom. Would people show up? he asked me. Where are all these people? I managed expectations down: "You'll have a great audience, no matter its size." At least a couple hundred people gave him a standing ovation. And I saw one unnamed writer, despite having seen "Moths" a few times before, shed a manly tear at the end. All right, it was Rob Shearman. But I digress.)

So I had a brilliant experience, got to interview and re-interview wonderful people, and learned more about a show that I love. Got turned on to Torchwood Babiez — YES — snagged far too many toys for a one-child household, and saw formerly respectable entertainment professionals abase themselves utterly in Just a DWNY Minute. I was thoroughly entertained. I would come back in a DWNY minute.

And yet.

Continue reading "The 2MTL Guide to Soloing Conventions"

2MTL 76: Toby Hadoke, Among Friends

More than any other reason, this is why I came to Hurricane Who. The day after his penultimate performance of "Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf," I caught up with Toby Hadoke. (Our prior interview: the two-minute cut, unedited.)

2MTL 75: How Did You Do, Hurricane Who?

Janet Gatsby, website administrator, TARDIS transporter and person-of-all-trades, talks on Sunday afternoon about how the first Hurricane Who went as well as the plans for Category Two next year. (More Hurricane Who interviews to come!)

2MTL 74: Rob Shearman Teases 2010 Doctor Who (TIME DILATION)

World Fantasy Award winner Rob Shearman knows Doctor Who. The longtime contributor to Big Finish's audio range was alongside his friend, current executive producer Steven Moffat, as part of the team that launched Russell T. Davies's series in 2005. What does he know about Matt Smith, Moffat's style, and what kind of Doctor Who we're likely to see?

2MTL 71: Jarrod Cooper from Hurricane Who

"Live" from the first pool party of the first Friday night of the first Hurricane Who convention, here's organizer and chairman Jarrod Cooper. More than 300 attendees came today — a great number for a first-time convention.

2MTL 68: A Time Lady's Take on Rose Tyler

(cough)

(cough wheeze)

Your host is indisposed, so he turns the mike over to his patient spouse, who entered Doctor Who fandom as one of the "not we" (as non-fans or mainstream TV viewers are called on DW fora) thanks to a certain plucky shopgirl.