Jim's Sci-Fi Blog: My Weekend - OSFest 7 - Omaha, Nebraska

Notice...

The purpose of this blog is to have a little fun. It is NOT to start arguments. I don't profess to be an expert on Sci-fi, nor do I aspire to become an expert. You are welcome to comment on any and all content you find here. If my opinion differs from yours, as far as I am concerned, it's all okay. I will never say that you are wrong because you disagree with me, and I expect the same from those that comment here. Also, my audience on the blog will include some young people. Please govern your language when posting comments.

Posts will hopefully be regular based on the movies I see, the television shows I watch, and the books I read as well as what ever strikes me as noteworthy.

***SPOILER ALERT***
Spoilers will appear here and are welcome.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

My Weekend - OSFest 7 - Omaha, Nebraska - August 1-3, 2014

My Weekend at OSFest 7
August 1-3, 2014

There are many conventions that are larger out there, but I cannot think that, at least for me, there are any that could be called better than the Omaha OSFest. You may find that to be a debatable point, and that is your right. As for me, I love OSFest.

It was a busy weekend for conventions when one takes into account that Shoreleave was taking place on the East Coast and STLV was raging out west. Someday I might be able to get to one of those huge ones, but I really enjoy Omaha’s hospitality and being able to hobnob with friendly people the likes of which seem to be very common in Nebraska.

Anyway, it seemed that this year’s OSFest attendance was down a bit from last year’s event (read my blog post from OSFest 6 HERE). As I visited with people also attending, there were many ideas, rumors, and speculations as to why this was, which I will not go into here because there is really nothing substantial to talk about. The atmosphere was also more subdued then last year’s event; far more relaxed and not so hustled. That, I am sure, is due in part to the fact that I had been there before and the experience wasn’t new as it was last year. However, in light of what I just said, it is not to say that there wasn’t plenty to do. There were wall to wall activities, displays, demonstrations, and panel discussions, and all on numerous subjects that should have been able to appeal to everyone.

On Friday night, I participated on a Dune panel that I had proposed earlier this year. I was joined on the panel by John Shoberg of the IKSRaptor’s Heart group and at the last minute, was also joined by Patrick Kennedy of PoKoArt (if you are a Dune fan, Pat is an artist who produces some very beautiful art and due to how Dune has influenced him, much of his art reflects this). The Dune panel was patterned after a panel discussion held at this year’s Farpoint convention by my Dune Saga Podcast partners David Moulton and Scott Hertzog (access that panel discussion HERE). I designed the Dune panel to be a broad discussion with audience participation to discuss the books and films. It was well attended and some of the audience did indeed participate. It was fun and I am hoping to do another panel next year on the same subject, however, as my partner John suggested, it will be a bit more focused on one aspect of the Dune universe.

After the panel was done, I found a room party to attend where Pat Kennedy and I discussed Dune some more; a lot more actually.


Maggie Egan at Opening Ceremonies.

Saturday was another busy day. The Media Guest of Honor was Maggie Egan of Babylon 5 fame. If you are not familiar with Maggie’s work, she appeared as Jane, the Interstellar Network News anchor in ten episodes of Babylon 5 and also came back in the same capacity in the Crusade series. She has also appeared in numerous other shows and about 600 commercials. What a pleasant person she was to listen to as she told her stories. I was able to score an interview with her in the afternoon which will appear in a future episode of The Babylon Project Podcast hosted by Raul Ybarra and me. I also attended panels with Maggie and got two autographed photos, one for me and one for Raul (I couldn’t very well leave out my partner, could I?).


Troy Rutter with a license plate signed by Jason Carter

I also met with Troy Rutter. Now his name may not be as familiar, but he was also (and continues to be) a part of the Babylon 5 family. Troy was the man responsible for all of the internet media that was involved with the show. Long before Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, he was pioneering what we now take for granted today. I was also able to have an extensive interview with him which will also appear on The Babylon Project Podcast in the near future.

By Sunday, I was pretty wiped out. I attended a panel on the Philosophy of Star Trek which we discussed the extension of sentience to beings other than humans. This panel was hosted by Natasha Mohr and Matt McKeever. After that, it was time to head home.