• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Another fine Mo Starkey Cover! It makes me happy that I get to run them! So, there was a BayCon last weekend and it was a great time. The best run convention I’ve ever been to? No, but the GoHs were great, especially Mr. John Picacio and Mary Robinette Kowal. They were both great and I was lucky enough to get to hang with them for a significant portion of the weekend. I doubt that anyone will contradict the statement that the two of them were easily among the best guests BayCon has ever had. Me? I was working one of the days, so we had a Fanzine Lounge only in the evenings. They couldn’t afford to give us a room on the party floor, whcih was far deader than it has been in recent years, so we had a boardroom on the Mezzanine level. Not optimal, but we had a great time, especially on Sun- day when we sat around at various levels of intoxication, played some card games with GoH Mary, recorded some Westerconversations (including one with Dave Gallaher that had me on the floor) and generally had a real good time. It was the people, like Espana, Leigh Ann, Andy, Kevin, Fred Moulton, The Lovely & Talented Linda, Jason Schachat, Bob, Milt Stevens, Digby and so on, that made the place lively. I did a few panels, the best of which being a great panel on Steampunk Literature which just had me and an author and we managed to keep the crowd rolling. I did one on Computer History where Bobby Toland, Steve Savitsky and andother guy had a great time. The best panel I’ve done on books was 5 Recent Books You Must Read. it was on current-ish SF (the last 10 years) and there were four of us, so we talked about impressive books that we loved. I had The Dervish House by Ian McDonald, Perdido Street Staion by China Mieville, The Half Made World by Felix Gilman, Soulless by Gail Car- riger and The Yiddish Policeman’s Union. I would have had Anathem by Neal Stephenson on there, but Leigh Ann had it on her list. Jeremy, the publisher at Night Shade Books, was on the panel too. it was a good bunch of folks. The parties were down, the attendance seemed low, as I understand roomnights were off from previous years. Art Show sales weren’t great. Deal- er’s Room did OK, it seems from the couple of dealers I chatted with. The food in the buffet was hit (the Meatloaf was great) and miss (thin hockey pucks with ketchup for Chicken Parm) and the drinks at the bar were hella pricey. Still, the staff has always been very good to us and the rooms are nice save for the funky bathrooms. Does BayCon need an injection of new blood, new management, new attendees? Yeah, that’d help. The next chair is set (Cruz, who has a Pleasure Cruise concept down) and there’s already talk about getting some new folks into new positions. This is a good thing, but they need to work in three areas: getting a party culture happening again, making a real masquerade happen and making it worthwhile for costumers, and attracting younger attendees. This can be accomplished by having more guests who aren’t in the higher age brackets. Getting the folks from xkcd or Schlock Mercenary would be a start, maybe some significant Cosplayers as GoHs. The Costumers used to be a big part of the event and now it’s a costume dead area for the most part. Still, check out http://johnnyeponymous.podbean.com for Westercon- versations with folks like Milt Stevens and Dave Gallaher and other Audio from the con! Other news is that I’m running another Fanzine Lounge at Westercon in San Jose over the weekend before July 4th! I’m psyched because it’s got a good location and there are so many folks from all over who are comin’ out! I’ve also got a good bit to use that’ll help everyone who is looking for answers. I’ve just finished the Dining Guide, which is pretty good, I think. I’m hoping that I can find another time to use it. It’s been used at three different cons, a Librar- ians meeting and for some friends I’ve had from out of town. I love multi-use materials! Coming up after that is WorldCon and it’s likely I’ll have friends visit- ing before and after. I’m so excited and the events are going great. Of course, there’s a bit of annoyance with the fact that the Big Heart and First Fandom awards aren’t going to be given out at the Hugos. To me, that’s a bad idea, but it happens. We’re working on giving them an appropriate position in the week. I’m not one of those folks who thinks that the Hugos are too long, far from it. I really think that the Hugo ceremoneis aren’t overly long, but they’re not well-filled. I know folks don’t like it when I compare the Hugos to the other big awards (and let’s be honest, the Oscars, Tonys, Emmys and, Ghod Help Me, even the Grammys, are many times bigger), but that’s what we should be shooting for. You put on a few awards, have a segment of tribute, then do a few more awards, then a stand-up bit, then more awards, then a big production number and then the final big awards. It’s a formula that leads to a longer show, but it also makes it Must See Entertainment! Imagine if we got a few good acts to throw in, a chance to use a few more big names to present and interact with the audience. This would make the Hugos a bigger deal to the attendees, and possibly give them more respect for the awards in general. I I’m not saying a 4.5 hour ceremony like the Oscars, but even a three hour ceremony can afford a lot of great stuff to go on. Perhaps even a chance to present a Musical Guest of Honor with some time in front of the biggest audience of the convention. There are possibilities. So You Think You Can Dance is back and I’m enjoying it. I have a new obsession: Princess Lockerooo. She’s an amazing dancer in a style called Waack- ing. It’s related to Vogueing and the House music/dance movement. She put on perhaps the finest bit of high-energy dancing the entire episode. I’ve been following her on YouTube and she’s just amazing. Arms like rubber, face that strikes fear in the hearts of man! I’m going to try to get an interview with her for these very pages because if the Drink Tank isn’t about promoting dance, what is it about? We’re working on several theme issues that you might be interested in. We’ve got the second annual Hugo for the Best Novel issue, which will be fun, and then an issue dedicated to Mr. Tim Powers, Renovation GoH, and one issue of Journey Planet where we’e got a special Guest Editor: Emily McLeay! I’m psyched! Exhibition Hall is doing an issue dedicated to Gail Carriger and The Anubis Gates! Fun Fun Fun! OK, this issue has some Taral Wayne, some photos (on the last two pages) from Craig Glassner (aka Ranger Craig aka one of my favorite people in fandom!), Some art from Brad Foster and Michelle Guerrero and Cousin Claire, a piece from Dann Lopez, and a little more amazingness! Also, this is the episode of 52 Weeks about one of the films that is most identified with the 1950s and film. Invasion of the Body Snatchers! I’ve always had somethign of a bit of a bee in my bonnet about it, and you’ll see why, but it’s one of the best SF films ever made! Letter Graded Mail sent to [email protected] We got lots of letters on Handicapping the Hugos, including some from John Picacio, SaBean MoreL, Judith Morel, Beth Zuckerman, Claire Garcia, and various comments on Facebook and LJ. We’ll be doing some of those with the Hugo for Best Novel issue that’s coming up. Let’s start with Mr. Joel Zakem on issue 281! Chris- Just a few short notes about Drink Tank 281 (and the pictures that ran in 277). I checked with Jeff Beeler and that was indeed Ted Reynolds in the picture on page 17 of the Glicksohn issue. And contrary to Jerry’s sug- gestion, the fact that there is no money on the table and Becca was playing leads me to believe that the people were playing Wizard (a trump game that Mike helped introduce to Midwest fandom) rather than Poker in the picture on page 15. Thanks Joel! I’ve heard of Wizard and it’s a game I might have to find out how to play. Like Jerry, I also discovered Monty Python in Toronto. Fo me, the discovery took place at Torcon 2, when Paul Williams dragged me to see “And Now For Something Completely Different.” which the convention screened. Let’s see, *no top shelf, foreign or mixed drinks* probably leaves out most of the Whiskeys (primarily scotches or bourbons) that I drink. I guess I will have to settle for a decent micro-brew, preferably something with a nice hop kick.

Load more

  16

Copy Link