A Lack of Conventional Wisdom

bethje and I ended up not going to Monster-Mania on Friday, since there really wasn't anything much going on that day. For that matter, less than usual happened on Saturday, when we actually DID attend. It seems like, at each successive one of these conventions, there are progressively fewer events. Since there are going to be three of these things in 2007, it seems like the organizers are now going for quantity over quality. This time, not only were all of the panel discussions on Saturday, but there were none of them for a five-hour period in the afternoon. Sid Haig, who was always one of the more entertaining guests at earlier conventions, didn't talk at all this time, even though he was apparently in attendance. I don't know whether the majority of the guests didn't WANT to do question-and-answer sessions, or they just weren't asked, but I would be inclined to think the latter. If I were a celebrity and were invited to a convention like that but not asked to address the crowd, well, I'd probably still do it, but I'd be offended that I wasn't deemed panel-worthy. Not only weren't there enough panels, but the earlier ones were held in a room that was too small, and didn't have microphones for the celebrities. The whole thing shaped up somewhat for the evening, though, and we got to see four better-organized panel discussions, featuring the stars of The Lost Boys (but not the Coreys, although Corey Haim did address the audience via cell phone), women from the Friday the 13th films, a bunch of guys who'd played Jason Voorhees, and some actors from the Nightmare on Elm Street series. Robert Englund was there, and he's always interesting. Beth and I also watched Friday the 13th, Part 5 for the first time. So it worked out pretty well in the end, but I really think they should get back to having more group events. For those of us who can't afford a bunch of autographs or merchandise (and probably wouldn't want them even if we could), they're the main draw of the conventions.

There are some other things I want to say, but I think I'll save them for another post.

Facing the Music

According to this thing that countblastula and zimbra1006 did, ( I look like these people. )

bethje already made a post about the radio station we heard yesterday on the way to Monster-Mania, but I feel I should also point out that they also played an XTC song. Specifically, it was "Me And The Wind," which I wouldn't have expected to hear on the radio. When we came back to the car after the convention, though, the station was playing some crappy reggae music.

Speaking of songs, we went to Boston Market on Friday, and they played "What You Said," which appeared on Laura Cantrell's most recent album. It was so quiet that I couldn't really tell if it was her singing, but since that song is apparently a cover, it probably wasn't. It sounded like her version was quite faithful to the original, though.

And while I'm on the subject of covers, one of the songs they played between panels at the convention was a really lousy version of "How Soon Is Now?", sung by some unnecessarily angry guy. I don't know who it was, but that song is supposed to be angsty, not angry. {g}

I had a dream last night where I was smoking, and I think both cigarettes and pipes were involved. I've had dreams like that in the past, too. I can't recall whether I've actually smoked in the dreams, though, or just remembered having done it in the past. It seems that I generally have trouble smelling or tasting things in dreams, though. I can remember having dreams where I ate something, and it turned out to be totally flavorless. There was another part of the same dream (or possibly a different dream from the same night) that involved Beth wanting to go to South Carolina, but I don't remember anything else about that one.

( Here's a quiz result. )