Hearing Ray Harryhausen speak is awesome. Went to a talk/signing a few years back (actually called in sick to go) and he was very cool about photos and signing and what not after the talk. Basically, if you were in line, he was determined you'd get to see him regardless of how long he had to stay.
As for the CG not feeling as personal, well, that's the downside of being able to deliver the insane numbers of VFX shots in the typical summer tent pole nowadays. There are so many hands on any given shot it's hard to say that it really represents the work of any one artist. Of course, the publicity departments are always happy to give all the credit to a single director or supervisor.
Harryhausen had such a small group--he didn't work alone even though a lot of the literature makes it feel that way--that he was able to put a stylistic stamp on his creatures/characters.
To this day, my favorite Harryhausen moment is in 20 Million Miles to Earth. There's a moment not long after the Ymir has hatched, when someone turns on the lights and the little guy recoils and rubs his eyes to adjust. There's just so much damn character and emotion in that shot. You can see it here, at about the 3:20 mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBz3S0QwtGI&NR=1
A phenomenal scene.
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jJ