Saturday, July 16, 2005

Highly Recommended Reading

Frank Rich on what's really going on with the Valerie Plame scandal.

• Posted at 11:42 PM · LINK

Saturday Report

They have a film program at this convention. This evening, they're showing Hook, Amazon Women on the Moon and This is Spinal Tap, among others. I suddenly find myself curious as to why. Not why they're showing them but why anyone would go to a comic or s-f convention and spend any length of time watching movies, especially movies that are by no means rare or hard to see.

I've never really done that. I've been going to conventions since 1970 and I can only think of one instance where I spent any real time in a film room. It was a late seventies' San Diego Con and they decided to have a late night (starting at 1 AM, as I recall) screening of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. That's a movie that's not so hot when you see it alone but it's wonderful — and I mean that in a genuine, non-camp way — when viewed with a hip crowd. Even then, I might not have gone if it had been earlier in the evening and certainly not during the day. A convention, even a bad convention, is filled with things to do, people to meet, items to look at...all of which are generally unavailable elsewhere. So I didn't go to film programs, even back when I couldn't waddle down to my nearby Blockbuster and rent the same movies for a buck or two, take them home and watch them in (probably) more comfortable surroundings...the way I could now do with Hook, Amazon Women on the Moon and This is Spinal Tap.

But I did go to that presentation of Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. I wanted to see it with my friends and I had no better alternative at 1 AM, including sleep. I found myself sitting next to the great animation director, Bob Clampett. Bob was a pretty hip guy but he kept whispering questions to me about some of the film's more esoteric references and sexuality. He did that up until around 2:15 AM when a deafening fire alarm began to sound all over the hotel.

Interestingly, I didn't notice anyone being all that concerned that there might have been a fire...which at the El Cortez Hotel then, would have qualified as some form of Civic Improvement. As people poured out of hotel rooms — some, even from their own — the main emotion was annoyance at the loud noise which refused to stop. It went on and on for more than an hour, preventing the last reel or two of B.V.D. from being run. My recollection is that around 3:30 AM, it finally stopped. You could hear a loud cheer from all over the hotel, and then everyone went off to dreamland.

The next day, I found myself relating the last twenty minutes of the movie on a panel...and don't think that's easy. The conclusion is so twisted and full of clichés and coincidences that some people thought that I didn't really know; that I was just making stuff up. Heck, Clampett saw the first seventy minutes and thought I was making that up, too. Anyway, that's my one 'n' only filmgoing-at-a-con experience. I've seen no reason to go to movies at conventions, especially in the age of home video. I wonder why anyone does.

Did five panels today, all of which went well, at least from where I was sitting. Didn't go down to the main hall but did hear some folks liken it to being on a large conveyor belt which carries you along with it, whether you want to go or not. There's an odd, not unpleasant mood to the con but I think I'll have to give the matter more thought before I can put into words here what I think it is. Right now, I'm due at a cocktail party that's known to have good chicken skewers and tiny meatballs. So I'm outta here.

• Posted at 7:22 PM · LINK

Friday Report

Friday seemed a little less crowded than Thursday, at least where I was. All my panels went well, though the annual Jack Kirby Tribute Panel turned a bit more emotional and dark than I'd intended. I'll write more about it when I'm not working on my laptop at an odd height on a hotel room desk, and due shortly downstairs for a breakfast meeting.

To those of you who've never attended one of these but see press coverage of it: Trust me. Most people are not dressed in silly costumes...or at least, no sillier than people wear when they go shopping at Costco. Reporters — especially reporters with camera crews — like to seek out the outrageous visuals and I suppose, if I were in their position, I'd do the same thing. But the overwhelming majority of con attendees are not geeks who wait all year for the chance to parade around in public in their Jedi finery. We may be geeks but we're, by and large, plainclothes geeks. Most of us dress normally and even most of those who do don costumes are being paid to do so out of some promotional budget. And actually, apart from when the "costume" is nearly non-existent and on a lady of awesome proportions, it doesn't seem to even attract much attention. Less than ten people yesterday wanted their picture with me in my Catwoman suit.

Let's see what else I can tell you about. Last night, I got on one of the shuttle buses that cart us around town. The sole other passenger was a young lady who did not seem to be affiliated with the convention and who asked me if I'd like to go on a "date" — and she even pronounced the word with quotation marks around it, which impressed me no end. I told her I was on my way to an award ceremony and she said, "It could be a quick date."

Not that the lady on the bus seemed like a good alternative but I found the Eisner Awards (what I saw of them) interminable and impossible to sit through. I am not knocking the winners, although I see now why the televised award shows impose limits on acceptance speeches. I am also not knocking the wonderful anecdotes and remembrances of the late Will Eisner sprinkled throughout the event. And, in all honesty, a lot of folks didn't seem to mind sitting there for around three hours, applauding the presenters and then the nominees and then the winners and then the acceptance speeches of the winners and...well, maybe it's me. I even heard some folks say it was a lot better and swifter than previous years, none of which I was ever able to sit through, either. I couldn't even sit there when there was a decent chance that I was about to win one.

Gotta get to that breakfast meeting and then five (count 'em) panels today. I expect the hall to be crowded with people, most of whom will stop me and explain that Stan Lee is not really working as a mailman.

• Posted at 9:29 AM · LINK