First let me start by saying that Made in Asia is a fun convention. It has a wide variety of Asiamania subjects and it’s the only event of this kind that focuses on other countries on the Asian continent aside from Japan, even though the Land of the Rising Sun is still the unavoidable main focus. Mainly China and Korea had a few stands dedicated to them, which made for a nice change from just J-culture. Continue reading “Made in Asia”
On Saturday the 8th of March it was once again time for one of the Gothic gala events with international fame. Goths and Fantasy affectionados from all over Europe gathered for this year’s edition of Gala Nocturna, themed La Belle et la Bête, inspired by Jean Cocteau’s 1946 movie “The Beauty and the Beast”. After previous locations Chapel of Altena in Kontich and the Saint Antonius church in the heart of Antwerp’s old town they now moved to the Antwerp Zoo’s Marble Hall, a beautiful Belle Epoch building part of the Zoo’s Edwardian structure. Continue reading “Gala Nocturna, La Belle et la Bête”
For the 11th time already, Midwinter Fair took place at the archeological park of Archeon on a cold December weekend. This year we were in better luck than the last, as there was no snow and persistent rain. Other than some drizzle on occasion, the weather stayed bright and lovely, which was a distinctive bonus when it came to exploring the domain, which really is awesome and very suited to events like these. Continue reading “Archeon Midwinter Fair”
While it is true that Emporium Vernesque is a bonafide steampunk convention, one of the two held annually in The Netherlands (the other being D.E.S.C. end of July in Meppel), this convention is very welcoming to everyone interested in steampunk, whichever interest (literary, fashion, cinematographic, you name it) that may be. It comes as no surprise that you see all manner of steampunks together with people in normal clothing or outfits belonging to other subcultures gathering together at the Willemeen venue whenever the event is happening.
Once again the organization managed to put up a well varied and very welcoming event, with a program that was bound to contain something for everyone. Continue reading “Emporium Vernesque”
Japan Expo Belgium, the Belgian subsidiary convention of the near legendary Japan Expo that is held yearly at Parc des Expositions Paris-Nord-Villepinte in July, has already gotten to its third year, and is, we are happy to note, not breaking it’s streak of improving every single year, growing into a bigger and better version of what it was the year before. Continue reading “Japan Expo Belgium”
The past edition was a major anniversary for FACTS as the convention was celebrating it’s 20th anniversary. Their website and on site brochure promised a lot of fun, ranging from workshops to lectures, meet and greet with famous people from movie and art industry, a cosplay competition, gaming area, etc, …
In short: plenty of things to see and do and if you had spare cash to in your wallet: a wide variety of vendors to spend said money. Continue reading “FACTS”
This latest edition of Elfia Arcen, themed Dragons & Hobbits, once again took place on the beautiful grounds of the Dutch Arcen castle. Despite of the weather not being as good as anyone had hoped, masses of costumed and regular dressed guessed braved the wind, occassional rain and mud for a fun fantasy weekend. Continue reading “Elfia Arcen”
Seeing that this event was a combination of the FantasiaFest fantasy fair and the very first edition of The Dutch European Steampunk Convention, or D.E.S.C. for short, I will start with the fantasy and work up to the good stuff: the steampunk people are no doubt waiting for, this being a steampunk blog and all ^^. Continue reading “FantasiaFest and the First Dutch European Steampunk Convention”
Last weekend FantastyVal took place near the city of Roosendaal, one of the significantly sized cities nearish the Belgian border.
From Thursday July 4 to 7 the annual double extravaganza that is Japan Expo and Comic Con Paris was held at Parc des Expositions de Paris-Nord-Villepinte. A ticket for either one allowed you entrance to both, and the conventions mingled into each other quite easily at the border area between both so it’s best to review them together as a total. Which I shall do indeed. Continue reading “Japan Expo and Comic Con Paris”