Somehow, despite a reasonably active week, I just don't feel in the mood to discourse on anything at length. Here are a series of disjointed thoughts, then.

I just learned, night before last, that Bill & Barbara Blackbeard are in the process of moving up to San Francisco. I'll miss seeing Bill around L.A. fandom, even if he hasn't been attending too many local fan doings lately. I'll particularly miss him because he's the only other fan I've found who's interested in French-language comic books & strips, and we've both learned a lot from each other by comparing notes from time to time. I hope Bill enjoys Bay Area Fandom.

MANEKI-NEKO #2 is out; see me for a copy. The price is the same: a 25¢ donation to the TOFF coffers. Have we mentioned yet that we promise to have the Pan-PacifiCon Proceedings published? Well, we do. These will probably be the first Proceedings since the DisCon's, five years ago, unless NyCon III has its published -- I don't believe they've made a statement on the subject yet, have they? -- or unless one of the projects to transcribe the tapes of one of the intervening WorldCons is actually finished between now & then, which doesn't seem too likely as things stand right now.

I've recently seen one of the stills from "Doctor Doolittle" showing the pushmi-pullyu, which looks like two llamas cut in half with the front ends stuck together. On the whole, it could be a lot worse. Nothing I've heard about the movie has turned me against it yet.

I had my first experience on Saturday in trying to get to Pasadena from Santa Ana, by taking the Long Beach Freeway in from the Santa Ana Freeway where they cross. It's a most interesting route, but the freeway disappears so quickly -- leaving you to get through Alhambra and San Marino by the surface street of Atlantic Blvd. and Los Robles Ave. -- that I wonder if it wouldn't be just as fast to come all the way into downtown L.A. by the Santa Ana Fwy. and then take the Pasadena Fwy. into Pasadena? Has anyone travelled by both routes, and can they recommend one over the other?

My back lawn was just mowed today, and it's beautifully set up for a croquet match. A Blackguard croquet tournament, anyone? Does anyone have a croquet set?

Roscoe, our last three Dist'ns have tied at 39 pages each. I think that sets a record for continuity, doesn't it? ## A very nice cover by Jim Lanctot. Too bad he dropped out of fandom; he was one of the best outré artists around.

Tom Digby -- I'd like to see the golf course built on the beach that would stand up under even one Blackguard round of golf, much less last out the whole day. Maybe we could have a Blackguard tournament in building sand castles, though? With prizes for the biggest, most delicate architecture, best defenses (against incoming tide), etc. That's something to think about come Summertime and beach party climate again. ## I think it can be considered as a general rule that any book that the public library wouldn't buy, it wouldn't be interested in getting free, either. This is an oversimplification of the case, but since the stated reason for not buying them in the first place is that "nobody will be interested in reading them", the library isn't really interested in putting forth the effort to catalog & keep track of such books if donated free, either. A lot of gift material is either discarded as not worth integrating into the library's collection, or put out as a sort of "unofficial" book, with just a book pocket or date slip, and no catalog records -- if it's not returned, the library doesn't care. You'd do better to try to convince the library that there is a demand for these books, then let the library go out and get them. There have been fannish campaigns proposed before, to get libraries to stock more s-f. I see that Ted White has one starting in the latest NyCon Progress Report, in fact, to get more original paperback s-f into the libraries.

Bĵo Trimble -- I don't think there's too much mania over "The Avengers" down here, at least. A lot of fans seem to watch it, but it's not a standard topic of fannish discussion as "Star Trek" is. "Star Trek" is popular here, of course, but again I don't think it's to the point of mania. Now that the reruns are starting, we are waiting to see if the club's attendance will pick up any. It should, both because of the rerun situation, and because of the programs Bruce has lined up for the club over the next few weeks.

John Trimble -- Yes, I've been finding out about promises to conventions, through experience in making the rounds to select the Pan-PacifiCon's hotel. Everybody promises all the help and cooperation in the world,, but when you try to get down to specifics and guarantees... One hotel that was particularly lavish with the generalities hasn't come through with any guaranteed specifics other than the promise of a fancy scroll signed personally by Mayor Sam Yorty inviting the WorldCon to L.A.; an item that practically any hotel can promise, if it has any contact with the Chamber of Commerce at all. Contrariwise, if we ask the Chamber of Commerce, I'm sure it will be glad to get us one of those fancy scrolls signed by the Mayor, no matter what hotel we pick -- but that wouldn't bind the hotel to a thing. I agree; I'd like to know what the Las Vegas WesterCon bid has to offer other than the fact that the CofC there is on the ball? ## Sure, I remember being in Vegas. You know, I think we could spend an enjoyable time in that area, since we share an interest in camping out, climbing around mountains and deserts looking at scenery, and the like. But how many other fen have these same interests? I find it interesting that Las Vegas didn't "just grow"; it was created in 1905 specifically as a railroad/real-estate project.

Lord Triffid III -- Speaking of Gurgi, I suppose you know that Taran Wanderer has just been published? With the usual promise of more to come.

Jim Schumacher -- My specific thoughts on the cover of Apa L #130 were that the drawing was crude and didn't really seem to have a subject. I thought you were experimenting in using large masses of color instead of fine line work to draw a picture, and the result was -- to me -- bulky and unattractive, if fairly colorful.