MediaWest*Con 29 -- Day 2

[the_other_sandy]

Today started way too early in the morning with a 9:00 a.m. panel on how we fans would improve the SciFi Channel if it were up to us. Obviously, it was not a business-oriented panel so our ideas may not be money-makers, but we would definitely like to see more actual sci fi programming on the SciFi Channel instead of wrestling or Z-grade monster movies like Mansquito. People also thought it was kind of sad that most of the innovative science fiction programming airing right now is not on the one station that specializes in science fiction.

The next panel I attended was on the disappearance of Babylon 5 fandom. Unfortunately, it seemed like the least articulate people were monopolizing the floor, so I went next door and sat in on a panel about how the character of Darth Vader was ruined by the second trilogy. Some people thought his uniqueness was destroyed by the creation of other Darths in the series. Personally, I thought the character was destroyed by turning him from a personification of evil into a whiny mama's boy with abandonment issues, but maybe that's just me.

After those two panels, I made a pass through the art room. You can definitely tell this is a slow year. Most of the outside tables were empty as were the back sides of the free-standing walls. Leah Rosenthal turned in her usual collection of hysterical cartoons. There's no con bonding experience quite like bursting into laughter at a fannish cartoon, only to have the stranger next to you start laughing at the same cartoon at the same time.

I also made another pass through the dealer room. I didn't mean to buy anything, but jennetj was selling badges to order with whatever picture you want on them. I got a Capt. Jack Harkness one to hang on my badge lanyard at work.

The big purchase of the day was my pre-order from Agent With Style. I bought 15 zines: 7 Supernatural (Hunting Trips 4, Road Trip With My Brother 6-9, Mockingbird, and Supernatural Special Gen Collection 2), 1 Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (Coming of Age 8), 1 Magnificent Seven (Seven Card Stud 15), 1 Emergency! (The Best of KMG-365 2), 1 V (Vive La Resistance! 1), 1 Man from UNCLE (Worlds Enough 1), 1 MFU/NCIS crossover (Ducky's Pain), 1 Stargate SG-1 (Homeworld Security Daycare), and 1 Simon & Simon (A Family Affair). Would now be a good time to confess that I'm a multifandom ho'? Anyway, poor Mysti was having trouble with her credit card machine. It kept dying while trying to send my transaction, and the line behind me kept backing up. I finally took out my checkbook and a pen, waved them over the credit card machine, and told it I'd abandon it in favor of my checkbook if it didn't straighten up. As soon as I said that, the transaction went through. Hee.

After I lugged my giant pile o' zines out to the car to put in the trunk, I went to a panel on the most recent X-Files movie and why it failed. The general consensus seemed to be a lack of advertising and a release date the week after The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight was just so huge that it overshadowed everything. The original topic was pretty much talked out by halfway through the panel, so we also discussed what we liked and didn't like about the movie and what we'd like to see in a third movie should there be one.

The next panel I went to was on Stargate Universe. Not a lot of spoilers have come out, but most people don't seem to have high hopes for it because it's being written by the same writers who hit the bottom of the creativity well on Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. Most people were willing to give it a shot, many of them for Robert Carlyle, but no one was actually excited about the new show. We also started taking bets on how long Lou Diamond Phillips's character is going to last before he gets killed.

After dinner, I went to Holy Mother Grammatica's annual 2-hour grammar panel. It was a combination of grammar pet peeves and grammar instruction. I also read some of the fic bloopers I've collected. Susan made me come up and sit at the front table. Most of the bloopers have been posted separately on my LJ before. The only new ones I had for this year were:

"The Curator's eyes, completely white, rolled into the back of it's head and slumped onto the ground."

and

"He shrugged your shoulders."

The whole batch seemed to go over well.

About the only thing I haven't done yet is watch the competition vids. I'll have to catch those tomorrow.

Comments

[craftypug.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the con reports! I have enjoyed reading them, although it's rather sad to hear there are less dealers, less artists and just less in general.

The art show. I love Leah's work and yes, know exactly what you mean by laughing at a toon and the person next to you laughs at the same one. :) Did you notice if Jesse McClain has anything this year? Last year she didn't do anything for the show, and I'm paranoid that the year I can't go she has some fantastic Torchwood piece. I don't even want to know about Cats Meow. I already know I'm missing Obelix's stuff.

Enjoy the weekend!

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I don't remember if Jesse McClain was showing anything or not. Cat's Meow had some great Supernatural stuff though.

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

I checked the listing of artists outside the art room this morning and I saw Jesse McClain's name there. I couldn't describe any of the pieces though.

Re: Jessie McClain

[(Anonymous)]

Jessie McClain had about seven or eight small pictures in the show. There were a couple of cats, a Harry Potter, a Legolas and Aragorn dual picture. Nice enough but there was nothing epic.

The entire art show was very small this year, and unless something happens it'll only get smaller next year. I think the room was only half filled, if that. Most of the tables along the right side of the room were empty, as were all of the backs of the hanging grid frames on the left side.

And did anybody else notice that the hall dealer on the second floor with the giant inflatable glowing palm tree left sometime early Sunday morning and left a note indicating that they won't be back? I think the names were Bill and Barbara, they had the big Barbossa standee in front of their room and sold all the stills and Egyptian-type stuff. On Sunday morning it was all gone. Their note said 'Thanks for all the years of patronage' and someone noted 'We'll miss you!'. I think they might have decided it wasn't worth it to stick around or come back next year? It's a shame, I seem to recall they were one of the more visible hall dealers...

Re: Jessie McClain

[the-other-sandy.livejournal.com]

And did anybody else notice that the hall dealer on the second floor with the giant inflatable glowing palm tree left sometime early Sunday morning and left a note indicating that they won't be back?

I did see that, but I'd never been able to go into their room. They always had some strongly scented something (candles? incense?) in the room that I couldn't cope with. It's a shame they won't be back though. Pegasus Publishing hasn't come for a couple of years, and Neon Rainbow Press didn't come this year either. Remember when the hall crawl took hours because most of the rooms had a dealer or a fannish garage sale going in them?

Re: Jessie McClain

[wraithfodder.livejournal.com]

I beileve that's the dealer room which is traditionallly Jerry ohlinger's 8x10 stills. Alas, 8x10 still sales in general have been tanking due to the fact that fans get a hi-rez .JPG and make their own 8x10s now. My friend and I discussed this on the long long drive home and think that's the reason.