This is sad to hear. :-( When Worldcon was in Toronto in 2003 (a horribly under-attended and disorganized affair), someone introduced me to a genteel, lively old man and whispered to me that he'd been in science-fiction fandom since its very beginning. My memories of the encounter are short and extremely dim, but I wonder if this was the fellow.
We walked along for about a minute while he spoke, and all I can remember now is having felt strangely young in his presence, and inadequate as someone to talk to about science-fiction, as I was but a dilletante, not a true fan. I made what polite small-talk I could.
In one huge part of the con space was a retrospective of previous Worldcons, documenting the history of the con itself. And sadly almost no one paid it much attention, including myself. But here we were, strolling leisurely among tables. In one section there was a con book from each Worldcon that had ever existed - sixty of them at that point. The earliest one, from 1939, used the term "Science Fictional".
What amazed him the most, and this was a compliment to Canada, was that there was no security guarding this stuff. It was there, in the open for hours on end, free to touch or to browse through, and no one had stolen anything.
Later in the con, before the masquerade, a video was projected on the wall - a CBC television news item from Worldcon's previous visit to Toronto in 1973. There was Isaac Asimov. There were people in weird costumes. In some ways, things never change. Then it showed a bunch of gangly, heavily bearded fellows huddled around a large, ugly beige metal box on a table, with a tiny, crappy display screen.
Reporter: Now, what is this you've got there? Hacker: Oh - this, is a 'computer'...
And at that point the whole audience burst out laughing.
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Date: 2008-12-06 03:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-06 03:24 am (UTC)::B::
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Date: 2008-12-06 04:27 am (UTC)Such a gentleman.
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Date: 2008-12-07 01:33 am (UTC)We walked along for about a minute while he spoke, and all I can remember now is having felt strangely young in his presence, and inadequate as someone to talk to about science-fiction, as I was but a dilletante, not a true fan. I made what polite small-talk I could.
In one huge part of the con space was a retrospective of previous Worldcons, documenting the history of the con itself. And sadly almost no one paid it much attention, including myself. But here we were, strolling leisurely among tables. In one section there was a con book from each Worldcon that had ever existed - sixty of them at that point. The earliest one, from 1939, used the term "Science Fictional".
What amazed him the most, and this was a compliment to Canada, was that there was no security guarding this stuff. It was there, in the open for hours on end, free to touch or to browse through, and no one had stolen anything.
Later in the con, before the masquerade, a video was projected on the wall - a CBC television news item from Worldcon's previous visit to Toronto in 1973. There was Isaac Asimov. There were people in weird costumes. In some ways, things never change. Then it showed a bunch of gangly, heavily bearded fellows huddled around a large, ugly beige metal box on a table, with a tiny, crappy display screen.
Reporter: Now, what is this you've got there?
Hacker: Oh - this, is a 'computer'...
And at that point the whole audience burst out laughing.