Middle Earth Comes to Calgary

To continue my recap of the Calgary Comic Expo at the end of April, I recount what might possibly have been my favourite bits: Billy Boyd (Pippin in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and three of the dwarves from the Hobbit. Jed Brophy (Nori) Dean O'Gorman (Kili), and Mark Hadlow (Dori) were the dwarves who came, with the bonus of Jed's son Sadwyn Brophy, who played Aragorn and Arwen's son in the Return of the King.

Billy Boyd was HILLARIOUS. SO FUNNY. If you ever go to a Q and A and get a chance to ask him a question, start by telling him your cat/dog/hamster/whatever is named Pippin. Apparently he gets that a lot. :)

Billy's interviewer was a lady called Greendragon, a moderator of the biggest LotR fansite, The One Ring. I forget her real life name, but she moderated all of the Middle Earth panels, and she was fab. Kirsten, maybe?

 



My brother getting a henna tattoo, in Elvish.

The Being Dwarvish panel. It was SO MUCH FUN.

 

Sean Astin

Sean's panel turned into a bit of a bummer, because somehow the topic got onto bad experiences he had working on the films, and it was a bit depressing!

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find any good videos of any of the panels, but I assure you, Billy and the dwarves were a barrel of fun. (Ha!) My only disappointment was that because of the special Middle Earth super-panel that you had to pay extra for, Billy wasn't allowed to sing at his Q and A, and at the dwarvish panel, the actors didn't want to re-tell stories that they'd already told at the super-panel. It's one thing to sell tickets for this extra-special multi-media event, but another thing to take away from the main event to do that. So that was sad.

The only thing missing was Martin Freeman, who'd been in Calgary filming Fargo for most of the winter, and who left just weeks before Expo started. So sad! Depending on how the season of Fargo ends, maybe he'll be back next year...hint, hint...

Ok, I think that's it for my Comic Expo re-capping this year - we also saw Garrett Wong, Adrian Paul, and Tom Felton, but alas, my memories are fading and I'm not sure I have anything to share at this point. It was nice that Tom finally made it to Expo though! :)

Doctor Who Comes to Calgary

Doctor Who has been on my to-watch list forever, and in January this year, thanks to a gift of season 1 and 2 on DVD, we finally got started with the ninth doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston, and now we're into season 6 with the eleventh doctor, played by Matt Smith.

Well, we started with Eccleston, but couldn't really get into it, so we skipped ahead to David Tennant. I already knew him as my favourite Hamlet - he's a fantastic Shakespearean actor - and it was an excellent strategic decision. Then we went back and watched Eccleston once we cared more. I have a lot of feelings about Doctor Who now.



David Tennant as Hamlet. Patrick Stewart co-stars as his dead father/crazy uncle.

The tenth Doctor is definitely my favourite, although I do also like the eleventh. The ninth; not so much. His habit of calling people "stupid apes" really got on my nerves.

I've been applying serious effort to choosing a favourite companion, but I can't decide - I like them all! I really ship Rose and Ten, and I related to Martha. Donna and Amy are both so spunky and outgoing and totally unlike me, so that I enjoy watching them do crazy things I would never do, and living a bit vicariously. I love Mickey, but he doesn't really count as a companion. Amy's my brother's favourite, so I can't decide - maybe it'll be Clara when we get to her?

And in April, Matt Smith and Karen Gillan were at Comic Expo! We hadn't gotten to their time on the show yet, but we went to their panel anyway. They were so fun - it made me not dread quite so much the transition from the tenth to the eleventh doctor that I knew was coming. I still bawled like a baby when it happened, but that's beside the point. Trevor said that Matt and Karen basically spent the whole panel flirting, which I think is an accurate depiction of their relationship. It's sort of bad form to ship real live people, but I don't think that either of them is in a romantic relationship with anyone else, so I totally do ship them.

Anyway, here's a video of the Q and A portion of the panel, if you're interested.



Bonus Lego Dalek



Matt and Karen being ridiculous.

Epic backdrop for the panel

Here's another video, it's part one of four of the whole panel, which is nice, so I can relive the memories. :)

Here's a Twitter roundup from someone who live-Tweeted the panel:

Anyway, it was a FAB panel, even thought a lot of the references went over my head. Even just six weeks and a whole season and a half of Doctor Who later, now that I'm re-watching the panel I'm getting more of the references. Hopefully we'll see more Doctor Who guests at Comic Expo in the coming years...hint, hint! :)

I can't quite put my finger on what it is about the show that I love so much - it must be the characters and the character-driven story lines. And I LOVE the episodes set in the past, like the one with Agatha Christie, and the one with Shakespeare. I'm also entertained when I notice guest stars that I recognize from somewhere else - the episode we watched tonight guest-starred the Earl of Grantham from Downton Abbey as a pirate captain. So if the estate goes bankrupt, he can always turn to piracy. Arrr!

Yesterday we watched the arc with the Silence and I realized why cats always seem to stare at random things that no one else can see...it's because THEY can see the Silence! That realization creeped me out. I'm also now wary of garden statuary. It's such a good show - if you like Firefly, Stargate, Star Trek, or Star Wars, and haven't watched Doctor Who yet, than what are you waiting for? Allons-y!

The Fourth Season of Hell on Wheels

The Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo was a MONTH ago already! How did that happen? I still want to recap with whole weekend, because it was an epic one, but I'm going to start with a Hell on Wheels roundup.

Hell on Wheels was not only renewed for a fourth season, they're doing 12 episodes instead of just 10. The cast and some assorted behind-the-scenes people did a panel at Comic Expo, and it was about time! Unfortunately it started rather late, and because there were so many people on the panel (which was great, but...) it was logistically complicated and there wasn't as much time to hear them talk as would have been nice to have. There were some spoilers for season three, which I haven't seen because it's not out on DVD yet, but I was kind of expecting that might happen. The cast did a free autograph signing (mostly you pay for autographs at cons) after, but I had to go get in line for Tom Felton so I couldn't go. I hope they come back again next year!

Also, I don't know what it is about Comic Expo lighting, but you're not allowed to use a flash (which makes sense, but...) which means that unless you're a professional or at least a serious photography hobbyist, your photos don't turn out very well. Sigh...

I totally approve of Dohn's Darth Vader shirt.

Anson brought his new dog, Mac, who's basically now the star of Anson's twitter account.

 

I realized as I was sorting through these that I took a disproportionately high number of pictures of Chris...

Feel the bromance!

And most importantly, I give you a massive roundup of tweets going back through March - all about Hell on Wheels! And thanks to Suzette Chan's live-tweeting of the HoW panel, most of the highlights are here too. It's been a busy spring for them. I'm very excited for season four! And to see season three when it FINALLY comes out on DVD in July...

Steampunk Details!

Once upon a time I read this blog post by Jen at Epobt, and I thought it was one of the coolest things ever. I'm no where near as crafty as Jen and John are (although Trevor could be if he had as many cool toys as they do!) but I thought I'd give it a try. It took pretty much two years to pull together, thanks to school keeping me busy and me being a perfectionist whose fine motor skills don't function to perfectionist standards, but I went steampunk on the Sunday of this year's Calgary Comic Expo.

My friend Teresa Rehmann asked if I was interested in doing a photo shoot, so I ended up with some waaay better photos then I would have gotten doing them myself. :) (And she made us dinner!) All of the photos of me in this post are by Teresa! If you want to see some behind-the-scenes shots of the shoot, I've posted some here.




The ray gun is super fun! Trevor gave it to me for Christmas in 2011 - he bought a toy gun, took it apart, and spray painted it, and we added the gears on later. It makes very non-period-accurate noises, but I like it. :)
My earrings I got at Comic Expo, but I'm not entirely happy with them. Modifying them before next year is on my to do list...
I'm also wearing a watch on a chain that you can't see - Mom gave me the watch, which actually does keep accurate time, and I got a chain from Value Village for it, so I didn't keep pulling out my anachronistic cell phone to see what time it was. :)
And the hat! My mother-in-law picked it up somewhere, and while it was the general look that I wanted, what a lot of work it was trying to figure out a way to wear it...it's a burlesque dancing hat, and came with an elastic chinstrap, which was not at all the thing.



I ended up sizing a paper bowl to the opening of the hat, sewing a headband to it, and then Trevor glued it inside the rim of the hat. It took like, a year of thinking to come up with that... Sadly in the end, the hat was too heavy to stay on very well, so I only wore it for the photo shoot when I wasn't moving around much! I have NO idea how burlesque dancers would have been able to keep it on...hopefully I'll come up with a better solution in the future!
(Dax wants to know why I'm trying to take a picture of something that isn't her...)



I really like this one...it's my second favourite! This is an old building in Union Cemetery.
I'm thinking about how nice it'll be to go back to my airship and have my clockwork butler serve a cup of tea just the way I like it. :)



This one is my favourite - I love the light!
My cuff bracelet is one of the pieces I'm most happy with. I got it for a few dollars from Value Village, and it was just a tacky, battered, faux-silver discard. Add a coat of copper paint, glue on a few gears and a key charm, and voila! EXACTLY what I had in mind. The glass amber beads on copper wire, on the other wrist, were also from Value Village, and all I had to do to them was wash them. :)
The goggles were never really meant to be worn. They're the flippy-bit off a pair of welding goggles my brother gave me, painted copper (seeing a theme here?!), with some added gears, and a brass button with a military-ish logo on it. I glued gears to the sides and sewed a brown ribbon to them, for hanging them from my belt.

This is my third favourite shot! I'm aiming for the airship piloted by my arch-enemy, that French scoundrel called Jacques Pierrot.
My blouse I had in my closet - bought on a whim and never worn. The navy velvet skirt was Mom's, passed down to me randomly, and also in my closet, never worn. The black velvet vest is a total credit to my mother-in-law, who modified it from a weird sort of housecoat with odd sleeves (bought at Value Village for a few dollars...) into what is now EXACTLY what I had in mind. Why not a corset, you might ask? Well, have YOU ever tried to fight off airship pirates in a corset?

This little hat I adore - I got it at Claire's pretty cheaply, and liberally adorned it with dollar store feathers. It came with really awful fake pearls, so I chopped them off and replaced them with buttons that are shaped like gears. My friend Shelli found them in a button store in Vancouver! (She also brought me a large antique silver belt buckle that I love, but haven't found a use for...yet...)
The earrings I'm wearing in this one were a gift from my mother-in-law as well, 'Demure' by lia sophia. They're not exactly steampunk, but I like them!
I'm also wearing a vintage cameo pin, which I think Mom must have given me, but I'm not sure of its provenance at the moment.
The 'silk' parasol I got in Chinatown on a memorable rainy day...and Trevor sawed off the bamboo handle and attached a brass candlestick, and added an eye hook on the end so I can clip it to my belt or bag. (He's SO HANDY!)

The slightly 'Oriental' aspect of the costume was influenced by (a) finding a velvet jacket-thingy with a mandarin collar and clasps, (b) watching Firefly, and (c) the fact that the Opium Wars are frequently steampunked, so it all seemed to fit together rather nicely!

I still have lots of things I want to do. I'd like hot air balloon earrings like these, or maybe earrings from this Etsy vendor, I'd like to turn an old powder compact into a gage, kind of like this:

I'd like to turn some of Dad's old air force pins into a medal,

I'd like a cloak, and a white lace petticoat,

And a chatelaine,

adorned with keys and little vials, like this!

Shoes that are more steampunk would be nice too - I quite like these!

And last but not least, I would love an arm bracer! I haven't been able to find a picture of one that's exactly like what I want, but this should give you an idea, if you don't know what I'm talking about. :)

I have this 'leather' holster in brown, and I got it on a heck of a sale, but I don't love it. It's a smidge big for my ray gun, and you can't really see the gun when it's in it. So if you have any ideas on modifying it, I'd love to hear them!

Ok, there's my steampunk life! Now, back to student life...midterms start tomorrow!

Calgary Expo 2013 - More Thoughts and Some Links

May 1, 2013, 10:20 am, edited: to add this link from a blog reporter's point of view.


Since it's blogging Wednesday, and since other then write my last final of the semester and buy a new bed (after almost 11 years of marriage we're finally getting a king-sized!) I haven't done much of interest, and I'm still thinking about Comic Expo and watching the comments roll on in their FB page, I still feel the need to write about some things, and link to a few things.

I should say that as someone who does quite a bit of conference planning (but on a smaller scale, maximum 150 people) I can't even grasp the amount of work and number of lists that go into putting this one - 1000 volunteers to manage is a dizzying number - and the expo staff do a great job. But with every conference, no matter how well it goes, there are always things you could do differently next year, and the expo people are great about taking fair suggestions of things to change. Lots of people don't make fair suggestions (where in Alberta could they possibly find a bigger venue then the stampede grounds?!) but they're good about listening to the reasonable ones.

There's a vocal minority who think that line-saving isn't fair, and to some extent it isn't, but how could they possibly police that without being overly harsh? You'd end up splitting family groups and making a large majority of people who come with other people unhappy. If mom takes kids to the bathroom while dad waits in line, and then you didn't let them in line together, and dad gets into the panel and the rest of the family doesn't, you have a bit of a disaster situation for that family. I don't know if there's a better way to do it, except...

I think the trick to managing line-saving (and also room-camping, as mentioned in my previous post) is to have people register for panels beforehand. This could be tricky, because the panel schedule was still changing on the Friday, but I'm sure they could think up some kind of system! This would allow them to put panels in the appropriate-sized room, and avoid the chaos and angst that comes with filling up a panel and not letting anyone else in. For instance, if they'd known that Nathan Fillion was going to be so insanely popular, maybe they could have put just that one panel in the Saddledome?!

Another problem with the panels the way they are now is that they often start 10 to 15 minutes late, and they still have to end on time to clear the room for the next one, so having more flex time between each panel might be a good idea, whether you have people sign up ahead of time or not. When you line up for an hour to only see the actor for half an hour, it can be a bit disappointing! Sometimes it can also take a bit of time for the crowd and the actor to warm up to each other, and then it's just as the panel is ending that the ice is finally broken and the good Q&A is flowing freely.

Next year it would be nice to see the con start Thursday night with a limited sneak-peek opening, and then scheduling all day Friday. For the number of people that come from far away, I think that would give them more bang for their buck.

You know what the expo REALLY needs next year? A designated area for cosplay photos. For some people seeing the costumes and collecting photos of them is a huge con pastime, but it can be a pain in the neck for people who are trying to get somewhere, but who are too polite to walk through someone else's photo. If they had a nice area with some backdrops and places for people to stand, and even approximate times of day when cosplayers from certain fandoms would be in the area, it would make everyone's lives a bit easier.

I am curious about if they had a lineup plan for bad weather - it was snowing like crazy on Monday, and I wondered what they would have done with the thousands of people lined up outside on Sunday if the weather had been like that then? And speaking of lineups, I heard about how some people went over to the Big Four building to the 'food court' (which is a grand title for what amounted to three food vendors) or the photo ops, and then had to re-join the massive entry lineup again, which seemed rather unfair, and meant that I avoided the Big Four until late Sunday afternoon, which is apparently where all the seating was...

And I know that empty space with seating doesn't pay the bills when that space could be rented to a vendor, but for the love of people's sore feet, I hope they have more next year! I miss sitting in the cushy chairs in the Palomino area and people-watching!

The system with the photo ops seems well-organized in theory - you buy your ticket and a time slot online ahead of time - and then you line up 15 minutes before the appointed time with the other people who are in that slot. I haven't done a photo op in years - since the bad experience with Shatner (if you're going to spend $80 on a photo, you should at least get eye contact) - so I don't know if it's still the same or not. I've seen a lot of great photo op moments online this year, so maybe it depends on the actor.

Anyway, I think they need to have a ticket system for the autographs. If an actor can provide their photo op rates ahead of time, why not autograph rates? Then you don't have as much problem with lines that are too long, and people who don't get an autograph after standing in line for ages. Then you can plan your budget because you know what they cost, and you'll know if they charge extra for a photo at the table. Also, if you bring something of your own to sign, it's the same price as if you buy one of their photos, which seems a bit unfair. I think the autograph system that they have right now could use some work! I wonder how other cons do it?

Here's my friend Shelli's blog post about the Calgary Expo. I thought she had a picture of me dressed up, but apparently it was too unflattering to post...eeep! :)

Here's an interesting article from the Calgary Herald, and a large portion of it is an interview with Lexa Doig, who's panel I quite liked.

This is a blog post from someone who managed to get into the Game of Thrones panel, which I didn't. :(

And here's the perspective of someone who had a VIP pass and managed to get into Fillion's panel when it seemed that all hope was lost. Jealous! But at $300/pass it's just not really an option for me. :P

It's funny - I remember my first expo, in 2010, back when it was just a small vendor hall and the Palomino rooms, and how overwhelming and fun it was. Then 2011 was bigger, the year of the Shatner and the photo op gong show, and 2012 was the year of disaster for most people (although not really for me - it was definitely my favourite year, guest-wise), and I did a blog post for each day. Each year seems to have a different 'flavour', and I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with next year!

This is the high point of every expo ever:

A massive Stargate or Stargate Atlantis reunion next year would be AMAZING! :)

Calgary Comic Expo 2013

(This has turned out to be really long, so feel free to skip to the steampunk video at the end. :)

Comic Expo last year was a great experience for me, because I'm driven to be early and organized, so we didn't have any problems with the lineups and getting locked out that other people did. I found the crowds overwhelming, and the Sanctuary panel was too short, but otherwise it was pretty good. This year they capped the ticket sales, which was a good plan. The tickets were more expensive, but I figured it was worth it for small crowds.

 

I went down on Thursday for the early badge exchange - trading in the paper ticket for a wristband and badge. I got there about half an hour before it started, and there were already a ton of people in line. They started moving us in only a little late, and the process went pretty smoothly.

 

On Friday I had a final in the afternoon, so I only went for about an hour. The doors were to open at noon and I got there about 11:30, I think. The line up was crazy long, the farthest back I've even been from the doors, but I was still in by about 12:20. My goal was to check autograph prices and do a bit of shopping, since Friday is traditionally a slower day and I thought there'd be fewer people. IT WAS SO CROWDED. And I noticed that people who checked in for their wristbands on Friday got shopping bags of stuff that people who checked in early on Thursday didn't get. Blergh...

 

Anyway, signs for autograph prices weren't up (after the repeated loud demands for them last year, I figured they'd have them for sure this year). I did see Cary Elwes sitting at his table, which made me happy/sad since I was missing the Princess Bride panel for my final. I commissioned a pair of steampunk earrings from a vendor, and then I got out of there and headed for school. I think I did ok on my final...I guess we'll see. :)

 

Saturday morning we got there around 9, for doors opening at 10. We were a lot closer to the front then I'd been the day before, and we were in the hall by shortly after 10. I tried to check autograph prices again, but there still weren't signs for most tables - just a few handwritten ones. (So frustrating to try to plan around a lack of information! Apparently it's due to the actors' managers setting the prices, which apparently are subject to changes based on how the manager is feeling that day, and apparently there was one person who's rates even changed over the course of the weekend!)

 

There was a bit of a schmoz with the lines into the Palomino conference rooms where the panels were, and if one more person asked what we were lining up for (the implication being that it was a strange and awkward place to line up, but the doors weren't open yet), I was going to say something rude... :P The first panel we went to was about Lord of the Rings, and there were four guys on it. Craig Parker and Mark Ferguson played elves, and Sir Richard Taylor (who has a pile of Oscars) founded WETA. The other guy's name I can't remember, David something, I think, but he's the head model-builder at WETA. They were very funny, and it was quite entertaining, talking about props and effects for Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit. It was hard to get decent photos because it was a flat room, and despite the very large screen in the corner, they weren't projecting on it, AND the lighting was terrible, and flashes weren't allowed. Anyway, here's the least terrible of the photos... :)

 

LotR Panel
The very dark-haired, tanned guy on the far right is Craig Parker

This is Craig Parker's elf character. I would NEVER have recognized him.

 

Next we went to see Lexa Doig, who we know as Dr. Lam from Stargate. She was really funny. I don't know much of anything about the other shows she's (been) on, although Continuum is my to-watch list, but she was very entertaining. She's married to Michael Shanks, and she had some funny stories about the life of a family with both parents working in show business. (Shanks has action figures and she doesn't...)

 

 

 

 

We caught the end of Stan Lee's panel (he like, invented most of the traditional superheroes) because we wanted to see the one after it, and it was a good choice. He was HILLARIOUS. The man is 90 years old, just had cataract surgery and can hardly see, and he still came. He tells it like it is, and had some really interesting things to say. Someone asked him what he thought about the way comic books seem to be getting darker, and he said something to the effect of the producers of comic books wouldn't make them dark if they didn't think anyone would buy them, which was insightful. :) There's a short article in the local paper about his panel.  



Stan Lee

 

The reason I wanted to be in the stadium so early was for the next panel, Carrie Fisher. It was the priority things on my list for the day, and I wasn't disappointed. She's SO funny, and seems quite genuine. She talked a lot about how fun it was to strangle Jabba the Hutt, and talked about how she and Harrison Ford stayed out all night with the Rolling Stones, "like people do", the night before they filmed the Cloud City scenes. There's some more about her in this article. I would definitely pay to see her again. 

 

Carrie Fisher / Princess Leia

Next up was a Supernatural panel. I don't watch Supernatural myself - I think it looks creepy - but the friend I was with is a big fan, and I wanted to stay in the corral area anyway, and it was a good choice. I know one of the actors (Mark Sheppard) from Firefly, and another (Mitch Pileggi) from Stargate Atlantis, and they were also very funny and highly entertaining, talking a lot about the on-set pranks. 

 

Sheppard, Pileggi, and Misha Collins

 

Then it was Stargate time. Trevor introduced me to Stargate when I met him, and while I haven't yet managed to see all of the episodes, I really enjoy it. I've also been following Michael Shanks in Saving Hope, which is a great medical drama with a twist. 

 

Shanks has great facial expressions.

 

Richard Dean Anderson has changed a LOT. I would not have recognized him.

It was a slightly odd panel, but SO, SO funny. They moved their seats from the middle of the giant stage right up to the edge of it, so they could be closer, which was nice! They took audience questions, and then they'd get silly and go off on tangents. They warned at the start that they might or might not get around to actually answering any of the questions...but I think they did manage to at least sort of answer them all. RDA has gone a bit Shatner - it was hard to tell if he was behaving oddly on purpose, or if he was really odd. He actually seemed to forget Chris Judge's name for a minute! I don't remember most of it now, but there was one fan who mentioned "A-Tapps" in her question, and Shanks took a second to catch up and the he said, "Did you just call Amanda 'A-Tapps'?", which made me laugh. It's the internet fangirl name for her but I didn't realize anyone actually called her that in real life... I wish she'd been there though, that would really have been amazing. Anyway, I heard some people complaining about it, but I was definitely entertained!

 

We wandered around a bit after that. I got Cary Elwes' autograph, which was exciting. He was really nice and shook our hands, and when I told him I hadn't gotten to go to his panel, he said that he'd have to come back next year.

 

If I had to choose between the Princess Bride, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights, I'm not sure I could!

 

Usually when you buy an autograph, if the actor's not too busy, you can ask for a photo and they'll pose for a quick one, but there was a $10 extra fee this year! From the sounds of it, most actors have added that on, which is kind of sad. I mean, I know they need to make a living too, but I assume they get an appearance fee, and then at least $30 per autograph, and at least $30 per professional photo op, and each of those only takes a minute at most, so it just seems like a lot to add one more charge on top of all of that...

 

We did a bit of shopping - I really wanted a Stargate shirt, but I couldn't find any decent ones. There was one vendor that had a couple, but they were $25, which is a lot for a cheap shirt, and the designs weren't that fun. (I mean, I love Amanda Tapping, but I'm not sure I need her face on my front...) So I'll have to keep an eye out online for a good one. We did find seasons 8 and 9 of Stargate, gently used, for a great price, that made me happy. Wil Wheaton actually walked right passed us, wearing one of those giant Doctor Who scarves, which was fun. The vendor area wasn't too crowed, and I didn't have any of the claustrophobia issues I had last year.

 

All in all, Saturday was a fantastic and I was really happy about how it went.

 

We mad a stop at Walmart on the way home because I hadn't found a mini hat or fascinator I liked for my steampunk, so I found a headband I liked, and then I stayed up till all hours finishing steampunking things, which involved gluing gears on things, and then supergluing my fingers together. It took a long time, nail polish remover and isopropyl alcohol to get them unstuck again...

 

Sunday morning we were there about the same time and about the same place in line, or maybe even a bit closer to the front, but the weather was not nearly as nice, and the wind was so strong it was blowing over the metal gates that were dividing the lines. They let us in a bit late, but the line moved quickly once it started, it wasn't too crowded inside, and the doors to the Palomino rooms were open, so we decided to wander around and check out who was signing autographs. They we got told off by a volunteer/security person for loitering (!!!) and as we headed in a different direction, we passed a group of girls with their programs open, deciding what they wanted to do, and they got told to move along too! I didn't realize at the time, but that was a bit of an omen/recurring theme for the day.

 

The first panel we went to was Sylvester McCoy who's best known for playing the seventh Doctor, from Doctor Who. He was also Radagast the Brown in the Hobbit, and the fool in an adaptation of King Lear I watched recently. He was so funny, charming, and sweet, I would just keep him.



 

I mean, look at his hat! And his pinstripes! And his CANE! Dapper!

He talked a bit about Doctor Who, and I know enough that I could follow along, even though I've never watched any (there's 50 years to catch up on, apparently!). He told a story about how a stuntman saved him from a concussion or worse when filming the Hobbit, and he talked a bit about doing Lear with Ian McClellan. He was the only guest we saw this year (or maybe ever?) who came down into the audience in person to walk the mic around and take questions, so I did manage to get some decent pictures, because he was standing right in front of me!

 

We wandered around a bit, and then went to part of a panel with the guys from WETA again, then ducked out early to catch the end of Peter Dinklage's panel (he was in Narnia) and be in the corral for the start of Nathan Fillion's panel, which was supposed to be the high point of my day. We were about half an hour early, which I thought would be plenty of time, because hadn't encountered any lineup issues to that point. Sadly, the corral was FULL and they weren't letting anyone even through the doors in that general direction. So there were a whole bunch of confused people milling around, not sure what to do, and loud announcements being made to the effect of 'move along', and 'no sitting in the concourse'.

We decided to find a place to sit down and eat and regroup, which seems reasonable, BUT THERE WAS NOWHERE TO SIT! Even the area that has chairs had all the chairs turned to the wall, and if someone came and sat anyway, staff came and chased them away. If anyone sat down against a wall anywhere, someone came and chased them away. There were no benches and no eating area (we found one later in a separate building, but that wasn't very helpful...) so we ended up leaning against a wall to eat. Then we went back to the area where Fillion's panel was, and the door was open, so I got hopeful, but then they closed it again.

 

I found out later on Twitter that when Fillion's panel started, the corral still had a ton of seats available. I also found out that the supposedly sold-out Expo had released a batch of Sunday tickets partway through the day. I don't know if the ticket sales are related to the supposed capacity issue, but it does seem suspicious.

 

Anyway, at that point I was almost in tears from sheer frustration and ready to go home, but then we got a message from a friend who was coming and almost at the grounds. So we went outside and finally found a place to sit on a flower bed-wall. And then we got more food. And then I felt a little better, but I was still annoyed. We decided to go back in for one last panel, and as we were walking past a bank of windows, we saw Nathan Fillion go by in a golf cart, so that was as close as we got!

 

The last panel was Ian McDiarmid, who played the Emperor in Star Wars. He apparently doesn't go to cons very often, but I don't see why. He's got a lovely Scottish accent and was very charming and interacted really well. I quite liked him. He'd never been to Canada before, but said he hopes to come back. The room was mostly empty, which was sad, but it was the last panel of the day. I was also sad about the mostly empty room, because if I'd known it wasn't going to be packed, we could have squeezed in going to Walter Koenig's right before. The problem was that they were in the same room, and they clear the rooms between sessions, so if we'd gone to Walter's, then we would have been at the back of the line for Ian, and would then run the risk of not getting in. It was worth staying for though, and I'm glad I didn't run the risk of not getting in.

 

The Emperor! Back in the flat room with the bad lighting...

 

I'm torn on the clearing the room versus not clearing the room debate. Part of the reason why Saturday was so low stress was that we were in the corral for hours, and didn't have to move around or line up or anything, and you're allowed to eat in the corral. If they tried to empty that space between panels it would be a traffic nightmare, with people being kicked out only to line right back up again. But then you have people who camp out all day on one spot, even if they don't care about the panel, potentially taking seats away from people who really want to see that actor, which kind of isn't fair. I think I'd rather have seat camping though, just because it's so much less stressful, and Expo can be stressful enough as it is! 

 

The no lurking and no taking photos in the autograph area definitely irked me. When you're on a limited budget, there's a lot of fun to be had in just walking around and at least seeing the actors, and maybe taking a few really poor-quality photos from afar, just to say you saw them. The lack of fee signage is frustrating, although I see that that's probably not the Expo's fault. But how hard could it be for publicists to set rates and policies and send them to the Expo ahead of time? Especially when some of these people do a lot of cons.

I think the saddest part of the day was the constant refrain of 'move along, no pictures', and 'move along, you can't sit down'. It just got really old, really fast. It felt like stormtroopers... I guess they were trying to keep more on top of crowd control then they did last year, but it felt like they were being too controlling, and over-compensating. Hopefully next year it'll be a bit more relaxed!

Sunday turned out to be kind of disappointing, although overall the weekend was really enjoyable. There was an article in the paper the other week about how after last year's epic mess the founder of Expo almost didn't have another one, so I'm very thankful, despite the things I didn't like this year, that he continued on with it. When we got home, while we were eating, there was a documentary on about the Queen's mother-in-law, who lived in Nazi-occupied Greece and hid Jews in her home. So that kind of put my problems in perspective!

I only ended up taking one photo of my steampunk...by the end of the day I was just too tired and crabby to care! And there's a few things I'd like to tweak, so I'll do that and then do pictures another day! Now, to study for my last final...


 

My wrist cuff....
Just glue some gears on it, and call it steampunk, that's the trendy fashion nowadays!
 

 

 

Coming Soon...

Guess what Friday is?!

It's my major English theory final...

It's also the FIRST DAY OF COMIC EXPO! I'm so excited! I'm going to go just for a couple of hours before my exam. Sadly the timing of the exam conflicts with the Princess Bride panel. (sad fangirl)

I don't know for sure yet if I'll go in steampunk garb or not...I still have lots of things I want to do, and my hat's not ready, but I have to study! So we'll see...I'm also kind of nervous about it since I'm not going with anyone else in costume.

Anyway, stay tuned for a post or two over the weekend! There will be fangirling galore, no matter what I wear! :)

Not-Quite Spring in Glenbow Ranch

 Last weekend I REALLY wanted to get out of the city. My friend Heather was coming down for the weekend, and my grand plan was to go out to Grotto Canyon. Sadly, when I got up on Saturday morning and checked the weather, there was a SNOWFALL WARNING. Driving out to the mountains was probably a bad idea, so for Plan B we went to Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park instead, which is only about half an hour from home. It did fulfill my need to get out of the city - despite the almost-full parking lot, we didn't see anyone else.

We took Tiger Lilly Loop, starting right at the edge of the parking lot and going down into a nice little forest in a valley. It was actually quite pleasant down in there - the wind wasn't bad, and it hadn't started snowing yet.

Rural decay!

 

Queen Anne's Lace - it was literally taller than me. There were half a dozen stalks of it, like some alien plant on another world.

 

"Frozen Pond & Dead Tree"

Then we came out of the shelter of the trees and into an absolute wind tunnel. We had a picnic we were going to stop and eat, but it was SO COLD. So we booked it up this really steep hill (my shins were sore for two days - next time I do Tiger Lilly Loop I'm going to do it down that steep hill FIRST...) and back to the car in record time. We did see a huge flock of robins, which does give me hope that spring really is on the way...

 

Well, whether or not spring weather arrives, spring is here, because today was my last day of classes! I have exams on the 19th, 22nd, 26th, and 30th, and then I have almost two full weeks off before the spring semester starts. Hooray!

 

And Comic Expo is in a week and half! Ahhh! So much still to do if I want to go steampunk, but I can't even think about it until after my German final on the 22nd. And I'm missing the Princess Bride panel with Wesley and Humperdink on the 26th because it's at the exact same time as my English final, which is inconceivable. :(



 

These are a Few of my Favourite Things about Calgary

I'm not really sure what inspired this...but I've come along way from loathing Calgary the way I did when I first moved here. I've come to find the prairies beautiful, and I've gotten used to sunny winters. I'm not quite used to the cold, but I'm dealing. :)

So, in not really any particular order, here are some of the things I love most about Calgary:

 

 

My church, Foothills Lutheran. I've been going here since November of 1999, a few months after I moved to Calgary, and a month after I met Trevor. And then we got married here in 2002. And I don't really mean I love the building (although after working there for four years, spending weekends sleeping on the floors with the youth, spending hours in the kitchen putting on meals, etc, I do feel a certain fondness for it...) it's the people who make up the church that I love! Whenever we talk about moving back to BC, the first 'con' I think of is that it would be so hard to leave our church family.

 

The view of snow-covered mountains never fails to make me 'awe', especially when the sun is setting behind them. Although I've yet to take a photo of a Rocky Mountain sunset that actually does it justice!

 

 

Heritage Park, from my trip this summer with Shelli.

 

Heritage Park, from my friend Teresa's wedding a few years ago. If Trevor and I ever get married again, we're doing it at Heritage Park. :) I'd spend way more time there if I could - I just love it. For a history geek like me, it's heavenly.

 
 

The Gibson Collection at the University of Calgary library is SUCH a gem. Bob Gibson was a Calgary man who spent his entire life collecting books. Most of them are of the speculative fiction variety, and if anyone thinks I have a lot of books...he had over 35,000 pieces that were donated to the UofC in 2002, after he died. That was 10 years ago, and they're still cataloguing! I had a tour of some of the stuff that's still not catalogued, and there are years and years more of work to do on the collection. The real crown jewel in the collection are Gibson's 500-ish hand-bound anthologies that he put together himself of stories from magazines. He bound each one in paper with a hand-written cover, and kept meticulous records in a card catalogue system. I wish I could have met him!

 

When Words Collide is a Calgary convention for people interested in reading, writing and publishing fiction. 2013 will be the third annual con, and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm always too busy to take pictures - this one is from 2011, with my friends Brittni and Anita at the EDGE party. It's small, and SO well run, and there are always too many interesting panels to see - I'd need a time-turner to do everything I'd like to. :)

 

Riker, Troi and Worf at the 2012 Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

 

A Darth Vader cosplayer at the 2011 Comic Expo.

 

Brent Spiner (Data) at the 2010 Calgary Comic Expo - this was my first con ever, and it was amazing. It opened my eyes to a strange new world of geekery and fandom! They've already announced Michael Shanks for 2013, and I SWEAR by my pretty floral bonnet that I will have my steampunk cosplay ready by then. :)

  

The Calgary Military Museum is fantastic. Again, as a history geek it's one of the best museums I've been to, but also for their annual Remembrance Day service. We decided to go to a different one this year because I wasn't feeling well and wasn't up for all the walking and standing involved, but I do regret it a bit. In a world that's increasingly secular, it's lovely to go to a service with all of the military pomp and circumstance, as well as prayers and hymns. If you've never been, I highly recommend it!

 

Glenbow Ranch Provincial Park is my newest favourite thing. It's only about 20 minutes from our house, but it's outside town enough that it makes me feel like I've been out to the country. The view of the mountains is beautiful, and the prairie scenery is unparalleled. It has lots of different walking paths, so you can go for a long walk, a short stroll, or just a picnic. Beautiful!

 

Heather and me at the Calgary Philharmonic's sci fi tribute, narrated by Robert Picardo (The Doctor) and John DiLancie (Q), a few years ago.

 

Me, Anne (with Bethany the baby bump) and Heather going to a Christmas performance of the Messiah at the CPO in 2007. I think if had to pick just one favourite thing about Calgary it might very well be the CPO. The most recent concert I've been to was last week - it was Songs of the War Years, with the orchestra and a singing group, and it was fabulous. I've only been to one concert that disappointed, and in that case it was the imported group rather than the orchestra who were disappointing. They are so amazing - as a non-musician, it's magical to hear the disparate parts of the orchestra warming up in controlled chaos, and then to hear the harmony when the maestro lifts her baton. Just...just...GO see them, ok?

 

Calgary is home to some fabulous heritage architecture. When I first moved here, while I was struggling with hating this cold, beige city, one of the things that distracted me was the heritage buildings everywhere downtown. I have a list of them saved, and it's still one of my goals to visit every one of them. Maybe there's some way to turn that into a history paper....

 

The red pandas at the zoo are the cutest things ever. I'm not really a fan of zoos, although I've been to it a few times. But the red pandas...they're worth the price of admission, right there! My little brother took this photo last Christmas when he was here. Lookit the cute little red panda TONGUE!

Something that I don't have a photo for is the Morpheus Theater Group. They do four shows a year, and I never miss their Gilbert & Sullivan one in the new year. They perform in the Pumphouse Theatre, which is one of those great pieces of Calgary heritage architecture. They are definitely worth supporting, and their ticket prices are really affordable.

 

So there you have it; some great things about Calgary. If you live here and haven't experienced some of these things, well, what are you waiting for?! Get off the computer and out there ASAP! And if you're travelling to Calgary, make a list of things you want to do, let me know when you're coming, and I'll try to show you around! :)