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.

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/

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.

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’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.

No more! The IT Nazis have decreed that it’s time to look a little more professional. We’ve got an official naming scheme happening and today we finally cleaned up all our old email addresses. If you send something to an old email address it will eventually make it to the right person, so fear not. Just don’t be surprised if the reply comes from tutu.smith@smash.org.au.

We realise, on one level, that being all professional is not as much fun as just winging it but, you know what, neither are pants. And there comes a point at which society looks down on you when you go outside with pants. Why? WE DON’T KNOW.

That’s right! 2009 SMASH! attendance figures, for all you curious statistics checkers. Over the weekend of August 8+9 last year, we had 2709 unique attendees come through our doors. Breakdown as follows:

General attendees: 2330
Artists and helpers: 82
Vendors: 115
Media: 33
Guests: 38
Committee: 45
Volunteers: 50
Other: 10

Saturday total: 2025
Sunday total: 1401

Total weekend attendance (spread): 3426

Stay tuned for more SMASH! 2010 news as it becomes available! We’re looking to return in early August as usual, and will let you know when our date and location are confirmed. And for all you newly graduated HSC students, be sure to check out the many University Anime clubs that are out and about. You can find links and more information at the AnimeSydney forums.

This time of the year causes me to reflect on the community of people we all know and love, who share our passion and our interests. It is because of these people, it is because of you, that we as a convention exist and because of your dedication and your spirit we are not, in my mind, just a group of people with a shared interest – but a community.

Every year due to events such as ours throughout the year, I’m happy to say I meet more and more wonderful people who I consider to be friends. For many of your I know this is similarly the case.

So now it’s Christmas and while reflecting on all we have, I’m grateful to each and everyone of you for helping foster this good hearted community that is open, welcoming and encouraging.

I want to on behalf of myself and the entire team behind SMASH! wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. However you choose to celebrate this time of the year, I hope that you have a safe and relaxing break and can enjoy it with those closest to you.

Have you ever wanted to help run an anime convention? Are you a student interested in event management, design, hospitality, human resources, publicity and promotion or marketing? Are you brimming with lots of crazy new ideas that you think everyone should enjoy and experience?

Whatever the case may be, in a few days we will be opening the doors so that you can apply online to fill any role at SMASH! There are a lot of jobs to suit you depending on your interests and you can select as many or as few as you like. Unless otherwise specified, no experience is necessary. We appreciate many of you will be doing this for fun and to get experience. We want to make 2010 better, bigger and bolder and to do that we want to hear from you and get a whole new wealth of experience and ideas.

All roles are voluntary and unpaid. All applicants must be available for the dates selected for SMASH! 2010 when they are decided. All applicants must be aged 17 or over by Jan 1, 2010.

Gencon starts this Friday the 18th, and continues with merry gusto through to Sunday, with a sprawling array of exhibitors and events covering video games, miniatures, RPG, tabletop games and more. Gencon also welcomes special guests Robert Picardo (Stargate and Star Trek Voyager), Kate Vernon (Battlestar Galactica) and Sam Witwer (Smallville, The Mist and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed) as well as authors and games developers who will speak on topics of interest to the ever-growing gaming community.

Hit up the Gencon website to find out more: www.genconoz.com