Winter Magic Festival 2011

Steam Train at Katoomba Railway Station


A dragon leads a group from Katoomba Public School (pic courtesy of Maxine)


Bad bunny in the street parade


A busker with his two puppets


Wolf in Grandma's clothes


Shop window white spiders


And my souvenir of the day:


Argon the dragon, bought from Rod and Eryn
of www.weefolkgardenart.com

Is this Thorin Oakenshield?

Today I was invited to speak about "the old days" of science fiction media fandom at an event called Freecon, held at Hotel Gearin in Katoomba.

Now, this hotel is famously owned by iconic Australian actor, Jack Thompson - and he was there! Not only was he not charging us for the use of his pub's facilities, but he happily talked about his role as Cliegg Lars in "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones".



It was great catching up with acquaintances and friends from my early days in fandom: model-maker Lewis Morley, his partner, artist Marilyn Pride, and cover artist and Archibald Prize finalist/exhibitor, Nick Stathopoulos, among others.


Glowing-eyes Yoda bust, Lewis Morley and Nick Stathopoulos at Freecon.

Freecon attracted about 25 science fiction fans and hopefully will lead to the development of regular events in the future. Many of the attendees are currently planning for the upcoming Worldcon, Aussiecon 4, in Melbourne later in the year.


Jack Thompson discusses his role as Cliegg Lars in "Attack of the Clones".


"May the sauce be with you!" - Jack promotes his own brand of steak sauce.


Jack discusses with Freecon host, Garry Dalrymple, Jack's (hopefully) upcoming role
as Thorin Oakenshield in "The Hobbit", which will be
directed by Guillermo del Toro.

Jack's name isn't on IMDb for the project as of this post, so this news might just be an exclusive! ;) Sounds promising, anyway.

In other exciting news, SF fan Laurie Strathdee is planning a science fiction movie and TV festival in Lawson, in the Blue Mountains, later this year! Watch this space!

Captain's Log: Supplemental. "The Hobbit" scoop about Jack Thompson as Thorin - from my own blog site - has apparently been carried by "Ain't It Cool News" this week, which gave me a bit of a thrill but, yesterday, I noticed that "The One Ring" at theonering.net/torwp/category/hobbit/hobbit-movie/hobbit-casting/ was acknowledging it as some kind of "Ain't It Cool News" scoop by Quint(?) and even running one of my own pics!

Credit where it's due, please, guys. My name is Ian McLean, aka Therin of Andor. Jack Thompson is a huge star in Australia, a recognized talent in TV and film since the 60s. We are very proud of him. I'm a little surprised so few people here seem to be aware of him, but I guess many Aussie films aren't as well known internationally. Check his extensive credits on IMDb sometime.

Thank you!

Captain's Log: Even more supplemental. I've been asked to elaborate a bit on the "scoop" (which has now been hyperlinked back to here from AICN, I'm glad to note). Firstly, none of us in the small audience realized we were going to be hearing any kind of scoop on "The Hobbit". Jack was there to discuss his participation in "Attack of the Clones" - and "Spyforce" (the 60s TV show he did with fellow Australian, Peter Sumner, himself a "Star Wars" alumni) - and I fully expected to see Jack's name on the IMDb "The Hobbit" web pages, when I got home, at least.

Jack Thompson already has a connection to Guillermo del Toro. Jack has been working with the man during the lensing of "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" in Melbourne. It's currently in post-production, and del Toro supposedly pulled Jack aside and said, "I want you to be my Thorin Oakenshield".

There really wasn't much more revealed in Jack's "Freecon" talk about the role, although we did sort of mob him after he left the podium, to congratulate him and wish him well in the upcoming role. It was a weird experience because, after he finished his spiel, he was suddenly "Jack Thompson, local publican", very much at home in his own pub, so it felt a bit like hotel gossip.

Jack did say to me, personally, after I mentioned that I was really looking forward to his Thorin performance, that "You know what it's like in show business - anything could still go wrong..." Here's me hoping he's already signed a contract. None of us thought to ask crucial stuff like that, not realising we were hearing such totally unknown "news".

My fingers - and antennae - are crossed.

The fog lifts

The fog lifts

Inspired by Sunday's blog entry, here's an eerie attempt by my niece, Beckie, to restore the Three Sisters through the impenetrable fog.

Thanks Beck!

The foggiest notion

It seemed like a great idea at the time. Leave the dog at home and take a quick trip to Katoomba (via breakfast at Glenbrook again - yummo! Mash coffee shop can be habit-forming) for a bush walk.

We arrived in Katoomba only to hear that the fog had "rolled in" twice already and suddenly, "Here it comes again!"

Undaunted, we headed off to Echo Point to see what remained visible of the Three Sisters tourist attraction. The Japanese tourists were quite perplexed...


If I used Photoshop, I could drop in a postcard of the Three Sisters behind me.

To make me feel even guiltier for leaving Jack at home, we met a Jack Russell terrier in the fog. Well, I think it might have been a Jack Russell. It certainly felt a bit like a Jack Russell.


This tourist dog (above left) was exactly the same colour
as the fog. He looked like a little disembodied head strolling
around the lookout. Ian (above right) desperately seeks the
Three Sisters at Queen Elizabeth's Lookout.
(Click on the photos to see larger versions.)



I didn't have the heart to tell the Japanese tourists
that they were heading in the wrong direction...



One reluctant Sister finally makes an appearance. Her siblings remain shy.



A few nice photos: Ian (above left) at the one visible Sister;
and Leura Cascades Track in the rain (above right).
Click on the photos to see larger versions.

Sunday's magic number: 92.6 - Oh well... Too many distractions last week, including my housemate's midweek homemade bolognaise pizza, and a work colleague's 60th birthday party on Friday night. But I don't feel like I really put on two kgs! Damn that Home Ice Cream truck which drove by last Monday, the public holiday.

Time to get serious again. (Sigh. Didn't I say that last week?)


Bush tucker fit for an Andorian. I assume these are a variety
of quandongs, growing wild at Leura.

Heath Ledger - what?

We just had a radio news flash that Aussie heartthrob actor Heath Ledger - soon to be seen in the new "Batman: The Dark Knight" motion picture as The Joker - has been found dead in Manhattan, New York, USA.

Oh dear.


Vale Heath Ledger. R.I.P.

Captain's Log: Supplemental. Well, this became one of those ultra sad "Where were you when __________________ (insert name here) died" days.

I decided to take a train ride up to Katoomba today; in every shop along the main strip, everyone was talking about Heath Ledger. It was Australia in disbelief, and mourning. I found a discounted copy of his "Ned Kelly" movie (which I thoroughly enjoyed at the cinema) on DVD, and had to buy it. I'd always intended to get one, but now it was essential. The young actor will probably always be intrinsically linked with train rides to Katoomba, second hand book stores, and the novel I finished reading ("The Dominion" story in "Worlds of DS9, Book 3") on the way up. Kinda like how John Lennon is always intrinsically linked with a certain bus ride from Ramsgate to the city, on a date near my birthday.

No doubt details of Heath Ledger's death will be big news for some time to come.

There's no business like snow business

The Year 5 and 6 teachers at school/work took their classes on an excursion to the Three Sisters, Katoomba, today. The radio news this morning warned of icy conditions, a blocked highway at Wentworth Falls, closed schools, and snowfalls.

Although it looked extremely doubtful that they'd be going, especially after two recent postponements due to torrential rain and sodden conditions, they were actually able to depart on time, and were rewarded with clear views from Echo Point. A screening of a Blue Mountains movie at The Edge IMAX theatre replaced the planned bushwalk, but the students were able to scrape together enough snow to have a snowball fight.

The ESL (English as a Second Language) students took the snow in their stride - plenty of snow back in their native lands - but the views of the Three Sisters and Megalong Valley took their breath away, I hear.

It seems it as worth the risk to postpone the previous dates. According to the TV news tonight, this was the first decent snowfall in the Blue Mountains in eight years.

I guess the appropriate response is: Cool!

Too bad I had to stay behind with the younger classes. It's been 15 years since my last snowman (built of actual snow).