AlienCon Pasadena 2018
A friend sent me a link to the AlienCon website and suggested the event was in my wheelhouse. I am not bothered that when friends see such events; they think of me. I’m honored.
I wrote the date down in my travel/event/idea calendar. Yes, I keep a small calendar, so on the odd weekend that the family is not overbooked, we can plan an adventure. I write a lot of items in the calendar, but I don’t get to most.
When trying to decide on birthday gifts and Father’s Day gifts a couple months later, I perused my calendar and AlienCon became the perfect birthday gift for my brother and a perfect Father’s Day gift for my dad.
On Saturday, we headed out to Pasadena Convention center. Interestingly, Chalk-Fest and ReptileCon were taking place at the same time. This only added to the wildness of the day.
After parking at the Paseo (tons of parking), we walked over to the convention center and checked-in and received a nice little green bag with swag and a slick convention guide. My dad was overwhelmed. This was his first convention. We collected ourselves by standing next to the ‘Step and Repeat’ wall where I generously took multiple pictures for people. I’m the guy you always ask to take photos, not sure why, but I’m comfortable with it
After my dad climatized to the environment, we headed off to the alien abduction panel. It makes perfect sense to start AlienCon with such a panel. As an aside, my father is easily embarrassed. And as a result, his children seek every opportunity to embarrass him. Call it cosmic karma. So, when the panel asked “who has had an experience with aliens or ufos”, my brother and I raised our hands as did many people at this panel. My dad under his breath said, “come on guys put your hands down”. Every question from the panel to the audience afterward our hands shot up. It’s the small things in life.
After the first discussion, we visited the dealer room. The space was smaller than I expected and crowded, but we persevered and wandered the aisles. From authors, to jewelry, to artwork, to tour services to Area 51, the room had everything an alien/ufo convention could need. We stopped by David Childress’ table and purchased a couple signed copies of his books and two World Explorer magazines.
After our spending spree, we strolled down to CalliBurger for lunch. Free advice to CalliBurger, next time a convention is in town, get a staff handing out discounted “alien” burgers. Marketing 101. During our nosh, we made plans for the rest of the panel discussions.
We went to panels on the reboot of Project UFO and In Search Of. I was a fan of the both these 1970s series and was interested in the modern incarnation. Kudos for Zachary Quinto for his hosting of In Search Of.
We ended the day with a climatic panel: Erich von Däniken and George Tsoukalos.
I remember as a young child my father had Chariots of the Gods on his bookshelf, so it was cool to see the man in person.
Overall, we the day was fun and interesting.
Next time the convention comes to the Southland, consider checking it out.