Buffy The Con Slayer

Variety reports that the organizer of Slayercon ’05, celebrating BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER down under, has disappeared with the $500,000 raised by ticket sales.

Edward Schumacher, topper of Scooby Gang Promotions — who organized
Slayercon 2005 in Adelaide for July 2-3 — is under investigation by South
Australia’s Office of Consumer and Business Affairs after dropping off the radar
in late April with all the event coin.

"We are trying to contact him to see if he has a bona fide intention to hold
the convention in October or to see if we can get the money back," said Mark
Bodycoat, OCBA topper. "But it doesn’t look hopeful, in my experience if things
start to happen like this it is not going to happen at all."

Unconfirmed reports speculate that he’s donated the money to the  Colonial Fan Force and their righteous cause.

19 thoughts on “Buffy The Con Slayer”

  1. I came pretty close to a similar situation. A former employee of Paramount blew into town like The Music Man and set up a company to put on a STAR TREK convention here in Cincy. I knew one of the partners and got to work on the convention. They lured John DeLancy and Majel Barrett Roddenberry, and a good time was had by all.
    Until my friend learned the Music Man had bounced a check for a Chicago con to LeVar Burton. Out came his share of the company they’d formed, and the Music Man disappeared a few months later. It was one of the reasons I got away from costumed fandom and conventions of that type. I’m amazed I had the nerve to hit Bcon last year. (Fans there don’t dress up in costumes, and after nearly 40 years, the most anyone really gets screwed on is the convention hotel or the bar or both. More jerkish than illegal and not worth angsting about.)

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  2. There was an incredible scandal involving a couple of con artists and an organization called Bit of Earth. Google Victoria Bitters. Really bizarro story, a gal who managed to lure Sean Astin into the whole mess, ripped off somebody for 10 grand or something and likewise turned herself into a boy, but I couldn’t figure out if she was actually dating herself. Very convoluted tale.
    Weirdly, the FW people could probably explain it better. They followed it very carefully.

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  3. It was a personal attack on you, PM Rommel, just like everything else on this site. The entire planet orbits around your head.

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  4. I was under the impression Lee had something to he wished to communicate, or why post it on his blog? Silly me. Thank you, Jimbo, for clearing that up.

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  5. I think what he was trying to communicate was “hey, here’s an article I found interesting, maybe you might find it interesting too”.

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  6. I think what he was trying to communicate was “hey, here’s an article I found interesting, maybe you might find it interesting too”.

    Yes, indeed, that was my point. But you should re-read my UNDERDOG entry. It’s a metaphor for my views on politics, race and fast-food. It’s also loaded with subliminal commands.

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  7. ‘Unconfirmed reports speculate that he’s donated the money to the Colonial Fan Force and their righteous cause.’
    This comment made me laugh out loud which I needed after reading the last long thread on FF! (I hope no other BSG fans haunt the halls of this blog or else my name will be mud in the fandom 🙂 )

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  8. I think what he was trying to communicate was “hey, here’s an article I found interesting, maybe you might find it interesting too”.
    But what did he (you) find interesting about it: what conclusion are we supposed to draw from it? In other words, why post without commentary?
    PS I didn’t read the “Underdog” entry. I haven’t the slightest interest in cartoon dogs and have never heard of that one.

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  9. PM: Okay, see, this is a blog, wherein the blog owner (hereafter to be referred to as “Lee”) posts comments, links, rants, reviews, or whatever the hell he wants. The thing about the money donation at the end, I think, was his commentary on it, a little joke that some of us found amusing. I don’t know what he found interesting about it, I don’t think it matters – he posted it in case somebody else might find it interesting, because he’s a selfless dude like that. What I found interesting was that some guy scammed a load of Buffy fans, which was both (a) evil and illegal, and (b) kind of funny in a “thank god it wasn’t me” way.
    You may draw whatever conclusion you like from any of these entries. That’s freedom. That’s blogging. That’s the internets (all 6 of em).
    And he was also joking about the Underdog entry. This is known as sarcasm.
    Feel free to ask me to explain anything else on this blog that you’re not sure about. I’m here to help. God bless us, everyone!

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  10. This exchange with PM certainly explains why he/she likes fanfiction…and he/she doesn’t get the ethical arguments surrounding it. Not a lot of reasoning ability in that noggin of his/hers.

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  11. Not a lot of reasoning ability in that noggin of his/hers.
    Not much communicating ability on the part of the rest of you. I despair, really, given that many of you write for money, and and you are unable to explain simply why something is interesting or important in such a way that which someone who does not share your cultural background can grasp it.
    And you are personally insulting as well. Way to go, chaps. That really makes you look intelligent.
    Stop being on Lee’s side, Jimbo, you’re making his side look stupid.

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  12. PM, if you’re easily confused by Lee’s blog, I encourage you to visit mine. Less fan fiction, less name calling (okay, save for me calling people fucktards, but that’s, like, almost a tourettes thing), more general stupidity, different asshole Goldberg, same warm feeling of bon homme.

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  13. “you are unable to explain simply why something is interesting or important in such a way that which someone who does not share your cultural background can grasp it”
    Oh come on! It’s a news article! If you find it interesting, that’s cool. If you don’t, that’s cool too. He shouldn’t have to explain why it’s interesting or important, it’s just a news article that he read and found interesting or amusing or terrifying or whatever. Maybe in future he should put a 5000 word explanation of exactly why he posts a link to any particular news story, just for you.
    “Stop being on Lee’s side, Jimbo, you’re making his side look stupid.”
    And you’re making your side look kind of weird and obsessive. It’s just a fucking news article. Why is this so difficult?
    But hey, there are no “sides”. There are just people. I’m on the side of humanity, PM. Humanity, love, and chronic masturbation. Now pass the lube, would you?

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  14. PM, seriously, calm down. He just posted a link to an article. That’s all. He doesn’t need to explain anything. Take the link or leave it.

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  15. David Montgomery: Why would anyone routinely visit, let alone post comments on, a website that they apparently despise and find uninteresting?
    Way to generalise, David.
    For the avoidance of doubt, I don’t despise Lee, or his blog.
    Some of his friends, however, I don’t have massively high opinions of them, but I don’t hold him responsible for the views of his friends and supporters and I sincerely hope he doesn’t hold me responsible for some of the sillier things said by the pro-fanfic lobby.
    I don’t agree with his opinions on fanfic (but perhaps oddly to you, I do agree with some of the other things he says), but I’m interested enough in them and engaged enough in the debate to drop by from time to time.
    I just wasn’t sure why he’d posted this particular original article; I wasn’t clear what conclusion he was drawing from it apart, perhaps, from, “Look at the funny monkeys in the cages, Daddy, aren’t they funny?” Which I sincerely hope wasn’t his point because it wouldn’t be like Lee to be that peurile.

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