I remember when sci-fi cons and the like were just for the 'geeks' and hardly got much press except for a write up in the Lifestyle section of the paper. With the onset of the Internet, which is both good and bad for our genre, the press coverage of Comic Con is outrageous!
Initially, way back when I was glad. We, the sci-fi and fantasy lovers were finally coming main stream. But now; with some of the slop of sci-fi movies/remakes etc of comics, video games or toys (I heard they were suppose to be making a movie about Rock'em Sock'em Robots... I don't know if what I heard was a joke or not, but now a days I can see them doing that) its not pretty.
I am glad to see the 501st of Star Wars fame getting press... but now as I was telling someone, its gotten outrageous. The famous of yesterdays are hardly remembered.
Maybe I just woke on the wrong side of the bed or universe or whatever, but this shit pisses me off. I'm as hopped about this as when Bryan watches soccer (office co-worker).
Why? Is is that they, the newcomers, have no idea where us old timers had to endure to get here. We endured the bullies, without killing ourselves or anyone else and we turned out fairly normal. We had parents who loved us and were involved with us and indulged out little hobbies as they saw this as what it was, an outlet like sports or anything else. Some of us outgrew them, some moved on-while retaining some like for the stuff, and then a few of us continued. Some of those that continued were still not totally 'indoctrinated' (yeah I know, scary word, but can't think of any other way to say it) and some, like I would say I am, moved beyond this as a hobby and, as some sports fanatics; its wrapped up in our DNA. This takes us beyond those who just have the costumes (they are uniforms, as that is what they are). It does NOT make us better than them, it just makes some of us, more determined to make sure that those that went before, in all sci-fi and fantasy, be it literature, movies, games or even music, are not forgotten. Before CGI and political correctness ruined some. Hey, I still have Trek uniforms hanging in my closet-I am going on 23 years in STARFLEET and have held numerous local, regional and Fleet level positions. For 10 years I owned a game and comic store and even had a d20 module published. I have attended many conventions and even put on some. I have paid my dues when, while growing up, people thought I was a freak for believing in UFOs. Then the X-Files came out. I was into that stuff before Chris Carter could spell "X-Files."
An old friend I hadn't seen in years asked me if I was still into that. Unfortunately not I told him. Before, no one knew what I was talking about and now adays, I have seen people advertising "paranormal investigations" and there are all those shows on TV; Ghost Hunters, etc. The fictionalized stuff is fine: X-Files, Supernatural, Harry Potter... but these people... I am sure some are well meaning, hard corps enthusiasts. Others are out to make a buck. But unless I missed something, everything that has been recorded, seen, or felt... nothing has shown concrete proof to the scientific community or either life after death or intelligence life in outer space. And with out illustrious president cutting NASA's money, will we ever?
Needless to say, that I am a dinosaur in this aspect also. With the passing of Frezatta, and others... the corp groups are slowing dying off. To be replaced with....what? CGI? Stories with holes in them that you could drive a super star destroyer through? (Avatar) Remakes that use the name and very little else to try and revive a franchise instead of a decent story? (Star Trek). Or a new edition of a classic game that is so far from what the creators dreamed up that it bares little resemblance to it but the name and idea? (4th ed D & D)
I have paused. Ok, maybe I DID wake up on the wrong side of the universe, but this has been building for sometime, and like a safety valve I just had to blow. I am calm now. I now return you to your regular scheduled blogs, already in progress.
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