Hello! Last Saturday, June 16th, I attended AlienCon held at the Pasadena Convention Center here in Southern California. It was the first Alien themed convention to be held in Los Angeles so I was very excited. Finally! L.A. gets an alien-themed convention. I had been waiting for this as they seem to have conventions for everything else.
It was a great turn-out. In my opinion, they might need a bigger venue next year. I only attended on Saturday even though the convention went for three days starting on Friday and ending on Sunday. Durning the time I spent there, the crowd seemed friendly and supportive of one another, sharing their love for everything extraterrestrial. Strangers were even trying to help each other find out what lines they should be standing in. The lines were a bit confusing. They weren't that long compared to other conventions I've been to and moved fairly quickly, but there were no signs indicating which lines were for what and who. Some people were waiting in line for autographs, some waiting to get into panels and others waiting for photograph ops with their favorite celebrities. The lines were a little mixed up and some of the staff, when asked "What line is this for?" actually gave incorrect information. Some people found themselves waiting in a general line for nothing! A con-goers worst nightmare.
Since I did not purchase any autograph sessions or photo sessions with anyone, (yes, the autographs and photo sessions cost money ranging from $10 to David Duchovny who was $100!) I got into the first line I saw that was headed into a building for a panel. With my luck, it happened to be a panel with Linda Moulton Howe about Alien Abductions! Perfect. I was pleasantly surprised though, the talk ended up centering around the metaphysical and how it can relate to extraterrestrials. Towards the end of the panel, audience members were invited to go up to a microphone and tell their stories or ask questions. I was most intrigued by the audience's experiences. As some of what they described were similar to my own in terms of seeing UFOs, glowing orbs or floating lights until a man went up to the microphone to mention he had been abducted strictly to have sexual relations with aliens and then the panel came to a polite, but an abrupt end. "Ok, thank you, everyone! That's all the time we have right now!" said the panel.
The other panel I attended was for Ancient Aliens with speakers, author, Erich von Daniken and TV personality and publisher, Giorgio Tsoukalos. It was a more mainstream event held in the concert hall. The whole place was filled! There were even people standing without seats. All these people wanted to know more about aliens. It definitely felt like I was seeing the very beginning of a consciousness revolution. Von Daniken is a wonderfully engaging speaker. He talked about how he was inspired to write his books and in some ways, it felt like I was attending a religious gathering as he spoke about God and beings coming down to help humans on Earth, but all with a positive and inspiring undertone.
The last thing I did was walk the convention grounds in the main hall. I thought there would be more booths advertising things or selling books. There were very few booths. Some people were selling their independent publications, some advertising psychic readings and holistic health and some people were selling hippie-like accessories, rocks and shaman sticks.
I enjoyed looking at everything, but hopefully, for the next convention, the con gets more vendors. I was thinking maybe it just wasn't advertised enough to gather a wider variety of professional vendors. I did appreciate the original art that was being sold by artists. It definitely wasn't the type of pop culture art you come across every day. Being that the subject matter was alien and sci-fi themed, the pieces were highly creative.
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| Books about fairies and gnomes by mystoftheoracle.com |
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| Artist Carol McLeod from Starfeild Foundation |
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| CBD oils booth |
Although the con seemed to focus largely on fans getting the opportunity to get autographs and photo ops, this con surely was buzzing with the energy to grow. I had a pretty great time! My favorite part was definitely the panels. As always, feel free to leave your thoughts below or you can tweet me @SaucerTime on Twitter.com
