SMASH! News

When we managed to secure three international guests we really wanted to make a big announcement about it. So the first thing we did was swear everyone on the committee to secrecy. I’m not saying there was a blood oath but I’m not not saying there was a blood oath.

It was hard not to blab to everyone we knew. We all have friends who don’t work on the convention and you know what it’s like: as soon as you have some cool news you want to tell everyone. But we wanted it to be a surprise and in the age of Twitter and Facebook just telling your friends means just telling everyone.

When it came time to work out how we were going to do things on the front page we thought through a few different ideas. We could’ve just splashed the announcement on there, but we felt that if we did that people might not read the blog post. They’d just see the picture, close the tab. No, we wanted something to draw people in. But how do you do that without it looking like a pathetic tease? You don’t just want to put something in big type.

The idea of a 50s news announcement came up and, well, we couldn’t help ourselves. This is the best part of working on SMASH!. We really spent a good hour or two doing this which, when you think about it, was probably a waste of time. And then again maybe it’s what makes the difference.

SMASH! 2010 is coming to Sydney Town Hall on Saturday August 7th!

Wait, that’s not the right line…

YŪKO MIYAMURA and TIFFANY GRANT are coming to Sydney Town Hall on Saturday August 7th!

Yeah, that’s better.

The Japanese seiyū and the American voice actor for Evangelion’s Asuka are our VIP Guests at SMASH! this year. Neon Genesis Evangelion is a landmark in anime history, and SMASH! is honoured to bring you the voices behind this ground-breaking series.

We’re also proud to announce as a special guest MATT GREENFIELD!

Matt is a co-founder of ADV Films and one of the pioneers in the Western anime industry. ADV Films was responsible for releasing Neon Genesis Evangelion, Hellsing, Rurouni Kenshin, Azumanga Daioh, Noir and many, many more.

Tickets for the convention will be $20 for advance sales and $25 for at-the-door. We’ll have an announcement about when tickets go on sale soon. There’s still lots of exciting news about this year to tell you, so keep your eyes on the blog, join our DeviantArt group, friend us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter (social media whores).

Why are we one day? Dreading the idea of the Town Hall dungeon again? You need to read the FAQ! http://www.smash.org.au/2010-faq/

Yesterday we locked in our venue for 2010. So that’s pretty exciting. Of course, not as exciting as Monday! Why? Because who doesn’t like going back to work! Oh, and our announcement. Our announcement is on Monday. It will be huge.

In the meantime, how about being a SMASH! volunteer sidekick? Everyone loves trusty sidekicks, right? They’re those indispensable guys and girls who stop the hero doing something mind-numbingly stupid at a critical moment.

The SMASH! organisers are like those dumb heroes sometimes. There’s no telling when some staff member is going to lean against the Fire Alarm switch, choke on a pretzel, or fall off the second-storey balcony while trying to do up his or her shoelaces.

Join the cadre of SMASH! Sidekicks and help stop us screwing up the convention! Follow in the proud footsteps of awesome sidekicks who have gone before you. Memorable characters like Watson, Chewbacca, Smithers and the fat kid from Initial D. You know, the one with the face that looked like a pancake. No, the other one.

OK, maybe not him.

Today SMASH! managed to secure the username smashcon for our nascent Facebook page. I say nascent because: (1) I almost never get the chance; and (2) it will be nascent no more!

As part of our continuing efforts to keep you up to date with the latest and greatest SMASH! news, you’ll now be able to hit up the SMASH! Facebook page and become a fan. Doing so get you loads of benefits like… being part of the socially networked real-time web 2.0 user-generated content… revolution.

Be a revolutionary! Become a fan!

We inspected the venue for 2010 today.

We’re not quite ready to announce the dates and other details for SMASH! 2010 but we are close. I’m pleased to say that we have never been as advanced in our planning as we are this year.

And already we have a bunch of cool things organised (and it’s only February!). But because we’re organised we have a plan for promotion and the plan says we mustn’t talk about Fight Club. If I do, Nadia comes and breaks my face. (I may be the President but she’s the Promotions Director and, I’m told, therefore far more important than I am.)

So you’re just going to have to wait until February 15. So set your phone alarm and check back then for our official announcement about SMASH! 2010.

In the meantime, we inspected the venue for 2010 today. It looked good. *glances nervously at Nadia* That is all.