Via the email list that SHALL NOT BE NAMED – the DragonCon Parade video, courtesy of Isaac Alexander.
Also Pac*Fen’s Denvention interviews are now up.
Gotta make my wife’s lunch before we leave for work, so I can’t critique right now – but – comparing the two – I’d much rather have been at Denvention this year.
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Lunch is made (more on ‘stupid’ sandwiches later): turkey and cheese on pumpernickel with spicy mustard.
Brian Richards (I think) announces and does some crowd interviews at the beginning of the annual geek parade at DragonCon.
He starts out well but – dude. When you’re interviewing, like, have your questions ready. And have MORE questions than you have airtime for cause, you know, some people are camera shy and others sometimes give really short, annoying, unresponsive answers and you might just have to fill a few seconds.
As for the parade? Can’t watch it. Seriously. Yes, I’m an SF fan and have grown used to seeing people in strange costumes walking the streets in daylight, but…
I’m sorry, but the whole thing just makes me laugh and reminds me of the days when people used to have to hide their science fiction magazines inside brown paper bags or textbooks in order to avoid public ostracism.
Look, I know that costumery is a big thing with some fans and represents an ‘ultimate’ expression of their love for and immersion in a particular fantasy world, but every time I see this kind of thing, one and only one image pops into my head:
I was attending a Star Trek con in 1976, sitting quietly in the hotel lobby pouring over my recent ascquisitions from the Huckster’s room, when not one but TWO ‘Captain Kirks’ went running by (mustard yellow command shirts emblazoned with embroidered medals), shooting each other with water pistol phasers and each declaring themselves individually to be the ‘real’ Captain Kirk.
I’d estimate they were both in their mid-thirties. The thinning hair and pot bellies kind of, sort of, lent the lie to their declarations.
I packed my stuff up and headed for home. The following month I attended my first REAL Science Fiction convention.
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Speaking of REAL cons (you know, the ones where the work is more important than the actors, where someone isn’t trying to make a buck off of your geekdom, where the average age is ‘mature’ and the average intelligence of the participants actually shows up on a graph), J.C. of Pac*Fen finally posted various interviews conducted at Denvention 3, the 2008 Worldcon (where they give out the important awards called Hugos and Campbells and…).
He’s got bits with Harry Turtledove, Kevin Standlee (WSFS IP Poobah and master of all things statistical *breathe* and co-creator of the SFAwardsWatch website), Phil Foglio (hi Phil! – I’m still keeping watch over the Keeber Factory), Francis Hamit, Jim Strickland, David Boop and Marc Zicree.
Zicree’s interview (who? – TV writer/director/Hugo nominee) is actually kind of interesting, as are the others. Give em a listen.
