ahead of the curve

[davemerrill]

I quit going to Dragoncon a while back. I am not interested in role playing games, B-list celebrities, goth-horror-fantasy for fantasticly horrible goths, Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord Of The Rings, parades of storm troopers and Klingons, or crowds of attention-hungry costumers posing for photos. I don't enjoy any of that stuff enough to want to cram myself into a downtown convention facility and have them breathing in my face for three days. I quit going before we ever moved to Toronto; the main reason I DID attend was to promote AWA, and I was under the impression that Dragoncon was comping our badges, which it was not.

So I am not in a position to have to take a position on whether or not to boycott Dragoncon. I wasn't going anyway.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/01/28/nancy-a-collins-calls-for-a-boycott-of-dragoncon-over-edward-kramer-charges

Nancy Collins is calling for a boycott of Dragoncon because of its connections to Ed Kramer, who still recieves a salary from the show's profits. I'm of two minds about this. Certainly people should take this into consideration when choosing to purchase a membership for Dragoncon. Dragon's been less than forthcoming about it, which is no surprise. However it's something that customers deserve to know. They're a business and they need to be professional about this. Nancy has been on this since day one, giving interviews and reportedly suffering personal and professional distress because of her position; I haven't seen any examples of this but I don't move in the horror/fantasy circles where such things would be discussed. It was a 180 degree turn for her and her then-husband; they were guests at Dragon, and while I don't know what kind of treatment Nancy got, but her then-husband was allowed to commandeer our video room for empty-room screenings of his terrible short films on numerous occasions.

At the same time, I'm selfish enough to not want Dragoncon to go away. Dragoncon serves a valuable purpose in that it acts to siphon away a lot of really annoying fans who otherwise would be coming to AWA. I'd rather they go to Dragoncon and let that be their convention experience, rather than show up at AWA with the expectation that AWA is going to be just like Dragoncon.

(edited because obviously I DO care, otherwise I wouldn't be wasting my time writing this)

Comments

[sixstop.livejournal.com]

i dunno... even with AWA's older than average anime fan demographic, it is not the same age group as D*C i've noticed.

i'm sure how much crossover there would actually be. I mean, Wes Tillander still buys a booth at AWA, so i could be completely wrong...

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

There's not a lot of crossover, and I want to keep it that way.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

and to clarify, I have had actual conversations with super annoying fans who told me "I can only attend one convention, and unless AWA does X and Y, I will go to Dragoncon." Which is a great argument for us to NOT do X and Y, in my opinion.

[footyfoot.livejournal.com]

Take the food source away, the vermin leave :P

[warpig1979.livejournal.com]

...her then-husband was allowed to commandeer our video room for empty-room screenings of his terrible short films on numerous occasions.

I would say that you seem unduly bitter for so often bringing this up, except I've seen Joe Christ's movies, and so I understand completely.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Even if they were good movies, which they weren't, it shows the level of accomodation that Dragon was giving him. Suddenly he's under arrest and it's like a switch has been thrown. I realize distancing yourself from someone accused of crimes of this magnitude is a normal reaction, but making it your mission to tell the world, that's another thing entirely.

It also demonstrates the total disrespect the convention had for Japanese animation at the time. We were in tiny rooms far away from the main areas, squeezed between two dances, pre-empted for anything and everything.

[warpig1979.livejournal.com]

I was talking to a friend of mine who just discovered the whole imbroglio yesterday and trying to explain why Kramer got the benefit of the doubt from so many people for so long. Part of it, I noted, is that Collins and Christ were, to put it politely, not quite the most credible accusers, and to put a fine point on it, fucking loons.

Aaaaaanyway. Like you I am happy to have all this simply provide the cherry on top of all the reasons I don't wanna go to Dragoncon again.

[sixstop.livejournal.com]

some people demonstrate their need to be relevant by the way they resonate with what they perceive to be the most impactful component of a situation.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Also: potential book deal (that was their plan in 2001, anyways). I do look forward to reading the no-doubt entertaining book somebody will get out of this whole thing, but Collins probably won't be writing it.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I don't think Joe Christ was nuts, he knew exactly what he was doing, at least in terms of his filmmaking and his other artistic projects, in that it was calculated and (to my mind, anyway) fairly artificial 'shock' designed to freak out the squares and deliver notoriety. Spoke to him a couple of times and he was polite and interested in his surroundings. Have never met Collins but she at least can write and meet deadlines like a professional.

Their reaction to the Kramer situation pretty much destroyed "Joe Christ" as a brand, though. When you make your public persona as a horrific shock filmmaker and then suddenly you start viewing with alarm and crying "Won't somebody THINK OF THE CHILDREN???", your days as a bloody super freak are OVER.

[footyfoot.livejournal.com]

Joe Christ festered in Dallas- aka Plastic City- for quite a few years before he wore out his welcome and scarpered for Atlanta. Nobody was sorry to see him go. I guess there were only so many people he could trick into watching those shitty, shitty 'movies' here...

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

there's more data from Collins in the comments here: http://www.themarysue.com/dragoncon-boycott/

Ed Kramer spent a great deal of time grooming me and my ex-husband (we've been divorced nearly 10 years, and he's been dead almost 4) in order to gain access to my younger stepsons as well as other family members (all of whom were 10-12 year old boys at the time). Happily, he never got his way--but not for a lack of trying. When he was busted in 2000, I discovered that he had been previously arrested for child molestation in 1996, but had succeeded in keeping it out of the papers so that no one knew about it. Had I known about the 1996 arrest, I would have kicked the man to the curb faster than the speed of light. I was determined not to allow him to slip under the radar again, and made it a point to call attention to the situation. Sorry if I take someone stalking the children in my family personally.