Peak Nerd

Had a great time, wish you were there:

So there I was at the Motor City Comic Con, in my Kingdom Come Superman shirt, waiting in line to have Shatner sign the Breyer Lafayette I have stuffed in my Hello Kitty messenger bag, and the thought occurred to me: have I achieved Peak Nerd?

I came to the conclusion: probably not. I think I would have needed either a sword/lightsaber, or a full-on cosplay to complete the superfecta. But considering that I had been wavering about going all week, I think I did alright.

I had wavered because, well, I have a lot on my plate right now: I have to finish getting my garden in, I haven’t even started my BreyerFest paperwork, and there’s a live show this weekend I haven’t done much to get prepared for yet. 

But the news of Liz’s passing made me realize how important these kind of events are for my mental and emotional well-being: although I am not the most social person in the world, from time to time I need to be in the presence of people I don’t know with whom I can have long conversations about nerdy things. 

It’s been nearly three years since the last in-person BreyerFest, and I don’t know how long since my last visit to the Motor City Comic Con. It was time. I had to be brave. I had to go. 

I won’t go into the details of my experience today – maybe I’ll save it for the Sampler? – but it turned out pretty magical. One of the very first people I had a conversation with, for example, wasn’t a stranger at all. And I wouldn’t have had that chance meeting if someone didn’t gift me a free ticket right there in the parking lot of the Suburban Collection Showplace.

(I was seriously verklempt.)

But anyway, I’ll probably be pretty scarce for the rest of the week because that adventure really did put a kink in my plans. (I’ll deal. I always do.) 

Be excellent to each other while I’m away, okay? All we have is each other, you know. 

That Article

Lots of stuff happened in the past few days – yes, I’m aware of the new releases and I’ll have something about the “Gold Chestnut” Valegro next post – but this apparently showed up today and it’s worth a dissection here:

http://gizmodo.com/72-hours-in-model-horse-mecca-1785804589?utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_twitter&utm_source=gizmodo_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow

Yes, an article about BreyerFest on Gizmodo, of all places. Although I have been interviewed and filmed for media pieces before, I wasn’t for this one. My social media profile is a little outside of Gizmodo’s comfort zone, I guess: I don’t have an Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube account, and not really interested either.

Which apparently makes me some sort of dinosaur? I was busy trying to have a good time. (Mostly a success.)

As you may know, I do not “hide” my participation in this hobby; if anyone asks me about it, I tell them about it in the same tone and terms any one would use to describe any other avocation, like knitting, sharpshooting or baseball card collecting.

If you act ashamed about something, people are going to assume – rightly or wrongly – that there might be something there to be ashamed about. But there isn’t and I’m not.

Sure, there’s lots of weirdness, and arcane language, and some people do have a hard time wrapping their heads around the concepts like live showing and breeding (pedigree assignment for you noobs). But you get that with any activity.

I’ve been to my fair share of Comicons and conventions for other things. I’ve seen stuff.

That being said, the article was … interesting. It was better than most “an outsider looks in” articles I’ve seen (I have a collection of those in my archive, too!) though there was strange thread of tech-shaming in it – which is a bit odd, considering the hobby’s early and enthusiastic adoption of the Internet.

Just because a chunk of us don’t participate in whatever social media form is the “it” medium of the moment doesn’t mean we’re irrelevant or Luddites.

Some of the details were wrong – that isn’t that big a deal really – but some of the interpretations and observations were a little out there, and that was. (I’m not sure if they spoke to any actual Breyer/Reeves people? I couldn’t tell.)

And the tone – well, I’m one of the few that apparently saw it as a little off; trying a touch too hard to be clever in sort of a slightly detached anthropological way. 

Articles of that type have a tendency to objectify people or groups into odd little curios to be studied, which is generally not a good thing. Especially since this hobby, in some ways, is about exactly the opposite: investing personalities and life into our “curios”.

The comments are the usual minefield, too. (More “Breyers were better back in the day” nonsense? I can’t even… I was there dudes, no they weren’t!)

But it was mostly okay. A good jumping point, if you will: if anyone has come here from there, feel free to peruse mine, as well. It’s a little weird and obsessive at points, but it gives me joy, sometimes at the most unexpected moments.

Gift Policy

The weekend did not turn out as planned. This probably should not have been a surprise, since it is October, after all. I always have a problem with October.

Since I am still in the middle of several small projects that should have been finished by now, I think it’s a good time to reiterate and clarify my policy on gifts, gifting and other forms of compensation with regards to this blog, since it has become an issue lately.

I consider this blog to be one of my "contributions" to the hobby, so there is no expectation of compensation. I haven’t enrolled in any ad, banner or rewards programs, because I feel the amount of compensation would be far outweighed by the amount of visual (and moral) clutter they would bring.

While I am flattered by the offers of models I am sometimes given, please be aware that my collection is currently in a state where I need to remove items, not add more. The handful of items I would run through a busy intersection for are fairly obscure and not likely in your possession.

If you happen to point me in the direction of one, I’d be happy to venture there myself and negotiate. And if you yourself have it, I want to pay a fair market price for it, whenever possible.

I grew up in a family atmosphere where gifts were never really "gifts", either: there was a price attached to everything, literally or figuratively. This is not said to elicit an emotional response of any kind, I am just explaining that this is how I was raised and constitutes a part of my moral matrix. I have a hard time accepting gifts, plain and simple.

(If sometimes I forget to say "thank you" in response to a gift, it is because that’s not how it worked in my family, weird as it sounds. It’s not a learned reflex: it’s something I have to actively remember to do.)

Information is always welcome, though. As are gossip, history, insider information, ephemera, pictures, and stories of a salacious nature. (More ordinary ones, too!) You should know by now that these are the kinds of stuff I treasure more than physical objects, anyway.

I do provide a Paypal donation button somewhere on the sidebar if you ever are in a giving mood. It’s mostly there because when I did the initial research into starting this blog, all the sites I visited said having one was a good idea. I forget that it’s there most of the time.

I will accept compensation for other services rendered to the hobby, but my schedule at the moment precludes me from doing much beyond rendering opinions on photos or questions sent my way. (And as you may know from personal experience, even that might take a while.)

There are always exceptions, naturally, like providing the location of another Copenhagen Belgian, or being in dire need of assistance and within a not-horrible driving distance from my house. Offers to either visit, or be visited are also welcome and will be accommodated whenever possible, especially if your family and non-hobbyist friends are anything like mine. (Familiar with the "Not the horses, again!" eyeroll?) Because sometimes "talking horses" is an absolute necessity.

I think that covers anything. More actual horsey stuff in a couple of days, I’m hoping.

This, That and The Future

Another dry, dull day at the flea market. Box day at the book sale wasn’t a whole lot better: I’ll probably break even, at best. I did pick up some good reading material, though, and upgrade a few old favorites to hardcover status. (Fevre Dream, woot!)

All is not lost on the horse front: I do have a rather large box that’s currently sitting in my office, mostly unpacked. At the price I got it at, it’ll probably be mostly bodies. I don’t care, because the body box is looking pretty bare, too.

(BTW, I am having way too much fun with my pathetic leftover bodies. They’re still pathetic, just in more interesting ways.)

Since I’m a wee bit short on time again today, I’d like to direct you to a Very Important Discussion going on over at the Blab that you should be paying attention to, or at least driving by:

http://www.modelhorseblab.com/forums/showthread.php?138901-The-future-of-playing-with-imaginary-horses

It was a spin off of a discussion involving the Peter Stone Company’s business practices. (To which I can only say: he’s not going to change anything if you keep throwing gobs of money at him. It’s that simple, people.)

The thread’s title is self-explanatory: The future of playing with imaginary horses. It began as a discussion about the YouTube kids, and whether or not they can - or will - integrate into the greater hobby community. It’s turned into a little bit more than that: a bit of history, a bit of philosophy, some grandstanding, and (perhaps a few too many) personal anecdotes.

I know some of you have an aversion to the place, but honestly, it’s the only place where hobbyists can actually have some serious public discussion about topics like this. Facebook makes people dumb, and is populated by people who are either physically, or mentally, about 12 years old. The Breyer web site forums suffer from the same problem as the Facebook page does, and are barely moderated. The Yahoo Groups are moribund little echo chambers, and the format of blogs simply isn’t designed for it.

I try to stay away from politics here, mostly because it’s irrelevant, but the same point I make whenever I discuss politics also applies to all matters relating to the hobby: if you choose not to participate, you have little right to complain. It’s the people who participate in the process who get to make - or change - the rules.

I’ve pretty much stated my piece over there already (I’m AMG there, if that’s not immediately obvious) though I might throw a few more logs on the fire yet, if and when I can.