Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Post 2150 - Is it Friday Yet?

No.   It's only Wednesday.   Damn.

It was a long day at work today.  I had Toastmasters tonight.  I got home around 7:45.  Newbie was in the window looking out at the driveway, no doubt waiting for me to get home.  Not because he likes me or anything.  He just wanted more food.

Tomorrow is my Friday.  I will be busy all weekend volunteering for Hal-Con.  I am looking forward to finding my inner geek for the weekend.  I am always surprised by the people I find there who are embracing their nerdness for a weekend.   I will be sure to get lots of pictures of folks in costumes for the blog and for the Hal-Con website and Facebook page.  Only in its third  year, in this incarnation, Hal-Con has already become the largest SF/Fantasy/Comics convention this side of Montreal.

I went to HalCon in the 1990's a few times.  The last gasp of it was in '96 or '97.  The people running it didn't give a shit about it, and there was talk of some shenanigans best not discussed here.  The convention went away until 2010, at which time it took off like a rocket.  This year, they are occupying 3 levels of the World Trade and Convention Centre; they had 2 last year.  They are booking folks for 2015.

I remember their being a pretty convention in the Annapolis Valley in the late 1980's through to '96.  It was called Wolfcon because it was originally house at Acadia University in Wolfville.  The Dean of Arts at the time was so contemptuous of Wolfcon and what it represented (it wasn't 14th century Romantic literature or anything) that she went out of her way to inconvenience the producers as well as the attendees.  They got the hint.  By 1992 it was being held at the Old Orchard Inn in nearby Greenwich.  It was marvellous, that convention, and I miss it to this day.

In 1992, they somehow managed to book Chris Claremont to come to the event, which was held in the Winter when the weather was crappy.  Claremont is best known as the primary writer of the X-Men comic books for many years.  He may yet be writing some X-Men material for all I know.  But Claremont had written some SF novels in the late 1980's.  I took those with me, and he signed them for me.  I still have those books.  He told me that at least one of them was a first edition.

By 1996, I managed to convince Patricia to go to the Con with me.  She greatly enjoyed herself.  The vampire panel was fascinating to both of us, and the playing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight one night was the piece of resistance for me.  I had never seen the movie with an audience.  Watching it on tv at the cottage doesn't do the trick at all.

The 1996 Wolfcon was the last one.  But it would be neat beyond measure to see it come back in some form.  With Hal-Con doing so well, can Wolfcon be far behind?   Maybe Portcon, taking place in Port Williams at the community centre, would be a successful event.

Ah!  A guy can dream.

Anyway, if you are in the Halifax area this coming weekend, please consider going to Hal-Con.  If you see me there, say hello.  I always like meeting my fans.

"Arrow" is about to start.  Can't miss it.

See you tomorrow.

Bevboy

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