binnall

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X-Conference 2

3.29.5

The Road to X-Conference

Finding Friedman

April 16th, 2004 ... I'd just arrived in D.C. earlier in the day and after putting my bags away in the hotel room, I ventured back down to the lobby, just wondering what this conference was going to be like. The doors open and I turn the corner and who's there lurking in front of my eyes ? Why, the Father of Modern Day Ufology, Stanton Friedman ! Being the cretin that I am, I, of course, venture up to Friedman and shake his hand and chit chat a bit. I don't recall exactly what we talked about, but it probably consisted of me telling him how great he was. Little did I know that Frieds and I would cross paths again before X-Conference ended.

April 17th, 2004 ... By virtue of my schooling in film and television at Syracuse, I'd managed to snag a AV Pass from the kindly Ted St. Rain of lostartsmedia.com. St.Rain was the genius behind the extensive filming of X-Conference I and, I presume, will be heading up the filming of X-Con II. Perhaps sensing a bit of himself in ol' binnall, he bestowed upon me the opportunity to help out in the creation of the vast catalog of films covering the weekend's festivities. Truth be told, I was not nearly as helpful as I might have looked, being in awe of working with the likes of Jim Marrs, and only really ended up contributing to a handful of projects.

One such project brings us back to the man of the hour, Stanton Friedman. Friedman brought with him an extensive collection of slides for his presentation "Debunking the Debunkers". While there was someone to manage the sound and camera for the workshop, there was no one to work the slide projector. Enter ... binnall. Yes, your fearless correspondant was now up to his armpits in Friedman slides and the entire project, save for Friedman himself, rested upon my abilities to get from slide one to slide two and so forth.

Despite the seemingly daunting task of managing the slides of the "Father of Modern Day Ufology", I remained cool under pressure throughout the workshop. That is until that one pesky slide popped up that was not centered. I debated readjusting the legs of the projector, but, alas, that task seemed like it would take longer than it would take for Friedman to finish his spiel about that particular slide. I hoped that the next slide would be back on center. And ... it was. So all was well for a little while.

And then, like a bad rash that will not go away, another pesky off-center slide. Having been through this routine before, I knew it was only an anomoly and waited for the next one. Unfortunately, Ted St.Rain walked in around then and looked annoyed that there was an off-center slide. Ever the perfectionist, he furrowed about with the slide legs until the picture was centered. Friedman finished up ... and the next slide was now rendered off center by the new leg configuration. So, Ted fixed the projector again and, thankfully, things were on track for the rest of the program.

After Friedman's presentation, I wanted to go over and say something, but he was swamped by people with questions and responses. Sadly, I never did get to thank him for letting me run the projector, like he cares who does it. Nonetheless, I walked away hoping to someday I'd run into Friedman again and get to talk to him about his workshop.

This year, the saga continues as binnall and Friedman reunite at X-Conference II.