Tedfest '07

Tue, 09/01/2007 - 07:01 — John Hoare

A Father Ted convention! Fecking marvellous, or something. It's on between Friday 23rd - Sunday 25th February, and costs 130 Euros. Sadly, it's now sold out, as there was only 100 places going - but if you sign up for the newsletter, they'll let you know if anyone cancels.

I was just so pleased when I saw this. For those of you who aren't G&Ters, I go to the Dimension Jump, the Red Dwarf convention, each year - and much as I love it, I always think it's strange that Dwarf gets a convention, and so many other shows don't. Why should the fact that it's a SF show mean that it gets a convention? I remember arguing that there should be conventions for more comedy shows with some people at DJ this year, and I was generally told that I was a stupid bastard, and nobody would go. This PROVES I AM RIGHT, AND I AM GREAT.

Not only is is fantastic news that this is even happening, but it just looks beautifully put together. When the first thing on the schedule promises "plates of sandwiches and lots of tea", you know you're onto a good thing - but when there's a Crazy Golf Championship on at midnight, you know it's been put together by people with a real love for the show. And by "Buckaroo Speed Dating", I was in hysterics. And when you find out that it's being held on a tiny island, Inis Mor... it looks like possibly the best thing in the world ever. EVER.

(It would be remiss of me if I didn't point out that that the website is a bit crap, though. It generally looks beautiful, but the main schedule is one big graphic, which is awful for accessibility, and the site doesn't even render the forms properly in Firefox or Safari.)

Having been to Dimension Jump, there is nothing better than getting together with a group of people who love the same things you do, and generally mucking about and having a laugh. Sure, there's no guests mentioned at Tedfest, and that might be something to think about next year if the convention is a success... but conventions aren't fun because of the guests.

They're fun because you can sit there, get drunk with people like yourself, and talk bollocks. Fantastic.

Comments

John Hoare / Tue, 23/01/2007 - 06:26 / # I look forward to Manchester complaining that Peterbrough is outrageously cashing-in on Red Dwarf. These people complaining clearly don't understand what a convention is.