| Author | Message | ||
     Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.104.135.73 |
'It's official: the 2012 World Fantasy Convention will be held in Toronto, Ontario from 1 - 4 November. The theme of the con is Urban Fantasy and Northern Gothic. Peter Halasz is the Convention Chair, and Christopher and I are part of the committee: we're in charge of Programming, and will be editing/producing the souvenir book. It's going to be an interesting two years!' Happy memories of Toronto 2007. I'd better start saving up :>). | ||
| Barbara Roden (Nebuly) Username: Nebuly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 142.179.14.129 |
Mark your calendars now, folks, and start saving! At one time I was toying with the idea of bidding for WFC in the Vancouver or Seattle area, but being jointly in charge of programming for WFC 2012 will likely be a little less stressful. As I said in my initial posting, though, it's going to be a very interesting two years no matter how you look at it. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.104.135.73 |
Does anyone know where I can find the photos for our trip to Toronto 2007? | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.31.8.83 |
The Toronto Police Department. Ask for the guy in charge of anti-social behaviour. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.180.45.171 |
Ally - there are some here on the old message board:- http://www.wordswork.net/campbell/messages/messages/469/1692.html?FridayApril272 0070650pm | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Oooh, superb...Toronto is beautiful. I had a great time there. Plus, if I go, I'll get to see my beloved Adriana, Donald and Simon Strantzas again.  | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.180.45.171 |
...and Mike Kelly - he was a great help, picking Ally, me and Debs up from the airport, and a lovely chap too. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
How could I forget Mike? Yep, he's a top geezer. A fine editor, too. | ||
| Ian Alexander Martin (Iam) Username: Iam Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 64.180.64.74 |
I'd just to point out that this — to a Canadian living anywhere but in Toronto — is akin to someone saying "Ohhh… Manchester?! I'm in Heaven!!!" Honestly, this is something that would NEVER be heard here. Unless someone completed the statement by falling down laughing hysterically. | ||
| Simon Bestwick (Simon_b) Username: Simon_b Registered: 10-2008 Posted From: 86.24.209.217 |
Oi, don't knock Manchester before you try it. It has a lot going for it, and has the advantage of being far less crowded, overpriced and unfriendly than London. So there.  | ||
| Barbara Roden (Nebuly) Username: Nebuly Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 142.179.14.129 |
Well, as part of the official committee I have to disagree with you, Ian. As a British Columbian whose father, Toronto-born, was asked where he wanted to be posted upon completing basic training in the RCMP, and replied 'As far from Toronto as possible', I see where you're coming from. That said, Toronto has a lot of good points, once you set aside that whole 'Taranna is the centre of Canada' thing. And let's face it: once the con starts, you could be in an aircraft hangar in Montana, for all that that the local delights will register. I was in Austin for WFC in 2006, and people say to me 'I hear Austin is lovely.' I wouldn't know; the con hotel was several miles outside town, surrounded by strip malls and freeways. All I saw of Austin was a blur in the distance as I went from the airport to the hotel. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.104.135.73 |
Thank Mick! Happy days! | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 88.104.135.73 |
I mean...thanks Mick | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Christ, you Canadians are spoilt! I wish the cities in the UK were as clean, litter free, safe, friendly and low in violent crime as Toronoto - seriously, it was spotless. i could've eaten my dinner off the sidewalks (and once, whilst drunk, I'm sure I did). | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.180.45.171 |
...I did get a little unsettled by Donald's description of seeing a bunch of 'men' kicking the shit out of some poor chap in the subway though, so it's not quite all goodness and light. Still, it was a good and interesting place to visit, and only a couple of hours from the Falls, which were amazing. And the glass floor in the CN Tower was fun! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Jesus, Mick, when I was lived in London that happened 3 or 4 times a day. When I lived in Plaistow I'd wake up every Monday morning to police tape at the end of the street and posters of stabbed schoolchildren with a police telephone number underneath. And don't even get me started on the violence in Leeds... | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.68 |
We liked Toronto! And Manchester, believe us, is a great place to eat, and also has a good deal of superb architecture, a fine art gallery, an excellent arts cinema... We're always happy to go there. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 95.131.110.102 |
Jesus, Mick No-one's ever called me that before! Yes, obviously I know Toronto is very nice, and safer than big cities here, but interestingly, unless my tenuous grasp of mathematics has finally gone, there are slightly less murders per head of population in London than in Taranna:- Toronto (2004) - 1 'homicide' per 55,000 London (2009) - 1 'homicide per 60,000 ...and that's London including the suburbs, currently at a population of 7,550,900 | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
I never trust printed figures. All I know is, I felt safer in Toronto that I do in Leeds. Saying that, I felt safer in london than I did in Leeds. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.31.8.83 |
Then again, there are three times as many people in London as there are in Toronto: 7-and-a-half mill versus 2-and-a-half mill. 3x as many murders in the news makes it feel more threatening, natch. The size of the population isn't factored into that perception. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
That's why i don't trust the figures... | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Toronto is the safest city I've been to (in terms of feeling safe). New York tops the list. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.166.117.210 |
Second safest, I meant. Sigh. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.31.8.83 |
I'd also suggest that the great majority of "homicides" are concentrated in certain areas, rather than evenly distributed across a city. And if you happen to live in one of those areas in a relatively safe city, you're more likely to feel threatened than someone living in a safe area in another city which is statistically more threatening. | ||
| Mick Curtis (Mick) Username: Mick Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.180.45.171 |
The figures I quoted for London covered "Includes offences of Murder, Manslaughter, Corporate Manslaughter and Infanticide". How safe you feel anywhere is, I'd guess, down to a huge number of factors, and actual crime numbers probably come very low down that list. | ||
| Ian Alexander Martin (Iam) Username: Iam Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 64.180.64.74 |
I was told by a man in a newsagent one night in one of the grittier bits of King's Cross (there is variation) that Canada was, in his estimation, "safest country!" [sic] It's true that Toronto has more crime per capita than London, but as pointed out by Gary (not Gary, or even Garry) it's all about what part of a city you are walking around in and how often the crime is shoved in your face (tv/newspapers/scene tape/visceral matter). Additional to that is the sheer area around between things here. Because we settled and built places after we were no longer tiny and no longer rode horses so much, everything's muuuuuch wiiiiider apaaaaaaart. This results in one feeling more at peace and far less hemmed in, thereby avoiding the feeling of claustrophobia. I'm not saying it's better — I'd move to the UK in a heart-beat, probably — this is just how it is here. I found London no more threatening than wandering downtown Vancouver, really. As for clean: yes, we are. We've got all this room, so the litter shows up easier. It's called "responsibility building through shame". I think it's probable that Canadians hate Toronto in the same way people in the UK hate London (and all it's glory-hogging ways). Barbara, you're right: the location of an event matters so little when your total experience consists of 'dealers room', 'panel discussion room', 'bar', 'dining room', and 'bar'. Unless, obviously, you decide to skip an afternoon of the event and walk outside the building... to find you're in the middle of the open prairie and next nearest building is waaaaaaaaaay over there. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.31.8.83 |
If we divide 2,500,000 by 55,000 we get 45 (murders). If we divied 7,500,000 by 60,000 we get 125 (murders). The latter (London) looks scarier, and yet statistically it isn't! So the conclusion is: statisticians are far more likely to get murdered. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.31.8.83 |
In other words, nothing to worry about at all. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.253.77 |
Ian - I love London!It's my favourite city in the UK. I also met my wife down there (when we both worked in an office off Baker Street), so it'll always be special. | ||
| Ian Alexander Martin (Iam) Username: Iam Registered: 10-2009 Posted From: 64.180.64.74 |
Zed: I too love the city of Londinium, yet am aware many do not. ...and I've got a Grocer's Apostrophe in there... damn and blast! |