Watching LACON III on TV

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As a person overly-interested in media coverage of SF cons, I was disappointed that I didn't see any mention of LACON on CNN or anything like that over Labor Day weekend. However, we recently started getting the Sci Fi Channel, and I stumbled over their Worldcon coverage last night.

I enjoyed the hour, but, of course, the coverage tended to make LACON look more like a media con than like a literary con. Given LACON's location, there were LOTS of media celebrities there, many more than you'd find at a Worldcon. It looked like LACON went very well - the exhibit hall had lots of interesting-looking stuff, and the woman who created dragon/alien heads to hang on your wall just cracked me up. On the other hand, there was little evidence that books were sold in the dealers room, based on this coverage.

I enjoyed seeing Neil Rest, Gavin Claypool, Tina Connell, Drew Saunders and some other fans on the tube. There were also longer interviews with Connie Willis, James White, Roger Corman, Jim Burns, Harlan Ellison and Forrey Ackerman. The interviewer seemed to have at least a passing acquaintance with White's work, too. There were also interviews with Mark Hammill, Armin Shimmerman, Peter Jurasik and Roxana Biggs-Dawson (? Voyager).

Actually one of the funniest interviews was with an actor from Twin Peaks who asked to be on a panel. I forget his name, but when he joined the interviewer on a park bench, he was asked "And what do you like best about this convention?"

"I like a place where I can just fit in" the actor replied (he's a dwarf, and, in among the Klingons, etc., no one noticed him.)

I would love to have heard a little more from a panel that had to do with writer's predictions of the future from 1972. Apparently, the panel was recreated, and the writers had to say where they went right and where they went wrong. Ellison and Gerrold, of course, "guessed right."

There was also a bit of science programming, a little of Connie Willis' Hugo toast-mastering, scenes from the costume show, and a quick visit to the ice cream social. (Though the interviewer made it look like the ice cream social was a typical party!)

Another funny bit - Armin Shimmerman mispronouncing Baen Books. (The media folks mentioned above are writing books for Baen.)