First up is a fan con for my favorite soap opera starring a vampire.
Dark Shadows Festival, the official Dark Shadows Convention held annually since 1983, usually in New York or Los Angeles, features appearances by cast and crew in question and answer sessions and autograph sessions, a banquet with the stars, a memorabilia room of Dark Shadows merchandise for sale, performances by the stars and more. We are fortunate that so many of the Dark Shadows actors are able and willing to participate in our annual celebrations.
(July 18 – 20, ‘08)
Marriott Burbank Airport Hotel & Convention Center, Burbank CA
Guests: Jonathan Frid, Marie Wallace, Robert Rodan, John Karen, Lara Parker, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Bob Cobert, others
Memberships: $30
See www.darkshadowsfestival.com for all the details.
From the Readercon website:
Readercon is, depending on your point of view, either an annual literary conference (except it’s infinitely more fun than that) or an annual science fiction convention (except we’ve stripped away virtually everything except talking about and buying books). In the course of its twenty years, it has become the standard bearer and role model for conventions that focus on the literature. A typical Readercon features well over 100 writers, editors, and critics (attracting prominent figures from Canada, the U.K., and occasionally even Australia) and more than 400 of their readers. Readercon is the only small convention regularly attended by such giants of literary sf as Samuel R. Delany, John Crowley, Barry N. Malzberg, and Jonathan Lethem.
Readercon (July 17-20 ‘08) Burlington Marriott, Burlington, Massachusetts. Guests of Honor: Jonathan Lethem, James Patrick Kelly; Memorial Guest of Honor: Stanislaw Lem. Details: http://www.readercon.org/
.gif)
Lazy Dragon Con (July 18-20 ‘08) Quality Inn, McKinney TX. A Sci-Fi/Fantasy themed Party Con. Author guests include Lee Martindale, John Moore. Details: website www.lazydragon.com. E-mail: bendaw@lazydragon.com.
And now for the most anticipated and most hyped movie of the Summer . . .
With the death of Heath Ledger some wondered if the Dark Knight might follow suit. However, Ledger’s turn as the Joker along with the studio’s decision to sally forth and market this film heavily based on what some are calling an Oscar worthy performance from the late actor, this film might actually end up being a decent sequel to an excellent restart of the Batman franchise. With this in mind I’d like to direct you to a couple of posts to get you ready for the film.
First, Topless Robot has a very funny post entitled “The 10 Mental Illnesses Batman Indisputably Has“. Batman certainly isn’t playing with a full deck (more than the Jokers are absent I think), and this post proves he’s as crazy, if not nuttier, than the criminals he fights.
Next, Heath Ledger, who might just have turned out to be one of the greatest actors of all time if he had lived, isn’t the only actor whose untimely passing has sent studio execs into a panic. Philip Wunch has compiled “Hollywood’s Bucket List of Stars” – a list of dead actors like James Dean and Natalie Wood whose films have become legendary as stinkers or amazing pieces of film history. Yes, this list might just be a little tasteless, but then so am I. What do you expect?
