A Lack of Conventional Wisdom

[vovat]

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.