That's a weird subculture of fandom - the person who wants to belittle the one they sought out. I see that a lot. They roll up to a guy/gal's autograph table and ask a smirking "so what have you been DOING?" or "where've you BEEN?" The dime store psychologist in me figures it's a bit of a power rush - they feel empowered having belittled the "big famous" person. It's classless and gross.

"...My dear, how else does one command the viewers' attention away from someone else speaking? I'll be pulling off these gloves straight into the commercial break."

Nancy's comment about fest attendees not spending money in hotels is in general quite true, and not confined to DS fandom. There's a large horror con near my house, and I know many many folks (including vendors!) who balance the cost of just GETTING to the fest by being frugal in other areas.  In my experience at other gatherings, it's often been difficult to get fellow fans to hit a restaurant that doesn't have a dollar menu, or to patronize the hotel bar any other time than happy hour. I kind of take for granted that I can drive to these places and am not incurring the expenses that other fans are. If I had to buy a plane ticket, it'd be another story.

I attended my first DS fest last year, and was frankly ASTONISHED at how many cast members were there. I guess it's expected by some of the veteran fans, but coming from other areas of fandom and being new to DS fests, it really was kind of amazing to me that you guys get to see practically the ENTIRE surviving cast every year. The phone call from Frid last year was really something to me, and at the time I assumed it was the closest I'd get to seeing him at one of these shows. I feel very fortunate that Frid is appearing at an event at all, let alone after 14 years of declining.

So whether I'm less jaded, more easily impressed, or in general just not that bitter at any of the entities involved, I think it's close to a damn miracle that I'll get to see the "core" love triangle of the show appearing together in person, and I think it's important to keep the rarity of such an occasion in mind. I'm grateful to be attending, thankful to those who orchestrated it, and really excited for a fun weekend. My only disappointment is the absence of dealers' tables, but if I'm itching to buy stuff, there's always the internet...

Hey guys - any idea when we will know about event tickets going on sale? I'm not subscribed to any newsletter, so if that's the way to get it, can you point me toward where I would subscribe to such a thing? Thanks, much love-

HC

Awesome! I hope I get to say hi. 

Congrats on your article! I'll keep an eye out.

I WILL be glad to be able to bring my own bottle of WATER on the plane with me (plane water--EW!!!).

AS long as you buy it after security's checkpoint. There are recent regulations about bringing liquids. It's a pain.

With certain exceptions for prescription and over-the-counter medicines, baby formula and breast milk, and other essential liquids, gels, and aerosols, the following rules apply to all liquids, gels, and aerosols you want to carry through a security checkpoint.

All liquids, gels and aerosols must be in three-ounce or smaller containers. Larger containers that are half-full or toothpaste tubes rolled up are not allowed. Each container must be three ounces or smaller.
All liquids, gels and aerosols must be placed in a single, quart-size, zip-top, clear plastic bag. Gallon size bags or bags that are not zip-top such as fold-over sandwich bags are not allowed. Each traveler can use only one, quart-size, zip-top, clear plastic bag.
Each traveler must remove their quart-sized plastic, zip-top bag from their carry-on and place it in a bin or on the conveyor belt for X-ray screening. X-raying separately will allow TSA security officers to more easily examine the declared items.

Here's the guy who made the book:

http://www.gregkucera.com/bennett.htm

Here's the book:

http://www.amazon.com/TV-Sets-Fantasy-Blueprints-Classic/dp/1579121071