LLOYD PENNEY
Thank you for the newest Beam, naughty bits and all. It’s a cold day out (supposed to be spring, but…), so staying inside to write locs sounds pretty good right now. I have a dental appointment later in the day, so time to get this done, keeps my mind off the drill.
Hope everyone had a great Eastercon…I know of at least three Torontonians who were there, one’s come back, the others are still in the UK and environs, doing touristy things. One fine day, I will get to an Eastercon, but next year’s Loncon is more likely.
There’s been lots of TAFFish chat here and there, and that’s good to see. Nic, do you think Yvonne and I made a mistake in withdrawing from the 2014 TAFF race? We’re thinking about things, and wondering aloud.
I think there’s many of us who have sighed in frustration, and wondered aloud if gafiation is in the cards…I know I have. I don’t know if it’s a lack of patience or just being fed up with all the nonsense, and the lack of getting things done and any sense of accomplishment. Don’t go, Kat, you’re needed. Words like ‘trufandom’ can be misused to be exclusive, or generally say that I’m more of a fan than you are because I don’t like what you like. My own fannish career has been varied…Trekfan to start, convention fan (on the committee for 30 years), costuming/masquerade fan (took part in six or seven Worldcon masquerades), and of course, 30+ year in the fanzine locol. I have gone where I like what’s happening, that sometimes meant dropping one interest, and increasing involvement in another. Yvonne and I have embraced steampunk, and there is also a burgeoning fandom connected with the Canadian show Murdoch Mysteries. Who knows what we may decide, what we may say goodbye to?
Good to see so many faces, some of them even familiar. I had no idea party hats were so entertaining.
Great report from Alan White…Yvonne and I were FanGoHs at that same Loscon, and we had just the best of times. I’m slowly but surely writing up my own report, and I’ve promised it to that mucho loco faned, Chris Garcia. Never did find out about Keith Kato’s Chili Party, though… You’re right, Alan, it is great to be a guest.
I hope everyone enjoys Corflu XXX (Boomchikawawa), and with some luck, one of these days, Corflu will come close to where I live again. Portland’s just too far away, and I’m afraid so is Richmond.
I do like the idea of various formats of e-zines, but I will play devil’s advocate here…I wonder how many people have stumbled across eFanzines.com and joined in with our group. Fanzines were once found at conventions, and handed out, but now are mostly found on a single website, like a needle in the proverbial haystack. Have we hidden fanzines away by doing that? And now, that you might need a particular reader to see those zines, have we hidden them away even more? I’d still like paper, but I hope that while we might experiment with the mobi and epub file formats, we would stick with .pdf with fairly common software that would open those files.
Robert Lichtman is right, one not need describe every meal eaten while on fannish safari. Who you ate with is more interesting. Folding George Washington into a mushroom on a one-dollar bill isn’t as destructive (or amusing) as drawing Mr. Spock onto the portait of Sir Wilfrid Laurier on a Canadian five-dollar bill. There must be hundred in circulation. I’ve drawn a few myself.
I like the fact that Briticisms like “brilliant” meaning “fantastic” instead of “smart”…with Scottish grandparents, I grew up with Briticisms, Americanisms and Canadianisms, so to speak, and I can understand them all. I heard on the radio a crash course in Cockney the other day, hope we don’t go that far here.
Page 44. Well, look at that. Brad Foster has made my day, my week, my month, my year with that illustration. There’s egoboo to last a very, very long time. I fear I might have repeated much of that loc in this loc… I met Mike Jittlov many years ago at a local convention I was helping to run, and he is a very private guy, but Yvonne made a replica of the Wizard of Speed and Time costume for a friend, and Mike was impressed, and even offered a tip or two about how he made his own green wizard.
A page and a half isn’t bad, hm? I have to start getting ready for the dentist (ick), so I will fold up here and get this to you. Our local con, Ad Astra, starts this weekend, we’ll be there on Saturday only, and we have people to drive around and a great antique and vintage show to go to on Sunday. It’s a little early, but both of you have yourselves a great weekend, and see you next Beam.
Hello Lloyd
You asked Nic what he thought about you and Yvonne withdrawing from the TAFF race in 2014. I’m going to butt in here with a few comments on the subject. I think I remember that you were worried about health issues and whether you’d be able to do the rushing about that other winners have done as they swarm across Europe trying to visit every fan they’ve ever heard of. While this is laudable not everyone will be attempting grand tours of every corner of the continent. I think that if you’re worried about what you can and cannot do then those details should be part of your TAFF campaign so that everyone knows what you intend to do on your trip. I think that your trip can be almost anything that you decide it is as long as you attend the appointed convention. The important part is to ensure that the voters know what it is that they are voting for.