As I sat down to put together this week's Geek in Review, I was faced with a choice: scream and rant and rave and foam at the mouth for two thousand words about how fucking evil and stupid the RIAA is for effectively destroying internet radio, damning many of their artists to obscurity and alienating their customers in the pathetic effort to return the music world to the 1970s, or share an entertaining memory about signing autographs at the 35th Anniversary convention in Las Vegas which I first wrote about in my book Dancing Barefoot.
I don't want to go to this well too often for the Geek in Review, but everyone seems to enjoy these stories, and I have to be entirely honest: I have a really, really great time telling them.
Over the years, I've learned something from being on both sides of this table: it's never about the signature. It's about that brief moment, that brief encounter with a Star Trek cast member, that is so important to the fans. That 30 seconds or so of hopefully undivided attention is what they're really paying for, and I always do my best to make sure they get their money's worth. Contrary to popular belief, sitting at a table signing hundreds of autographs for several hours without a break is hard. It's not just mindlessly scrawling my name; It's stopping and listening to the always excited, sometimes shaking, always sweating, sometimes scary dude who wants to know exactly why I did "X" on episode "Y" and would I please sign his picture in silver . . . because Marina signed it in gold and now I want the men in silver and the women in gold, and I hated your character and here are 25 reasons why and I expect an answer for each one of them and I'm not leaving until I'm satisfied.There is, as they say, much more at the Geekwire.
And speaking of Star Trek, did you know that TNG turns 20 this Fall? I just got home from a meeting which was all about that. Oh man, there is some really, really cool stuff on the horizon. Without saying anything that will get me into the kind of trouble that results in the hands on touch you only get with hired goons, I would like to point out that this is going to be a great year to be a Trekkie.
