Tag: Fan Expo

You’ve seen Aidan’s Saturday photos from Fan Expo Regina. Oh sure, they’re good. But what about Sunday? Huh? What about Sunday? THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT, AIDAN. Fortunately, I have a camera too. Here are my pics from the second and final day of Regina’s Big Nerdapalooza. Okay, there’s one photo by Aidan here. But he took it Saturday, not Sunday. AIDAAAAAN! Continue reading “Fan Expo: More Photos”

This weekend I went to the Fan Expo Regina with Prairie Dog’s CNB (Chief Nerd Bullier) Steve Whitworth and MSE (Marina Sirtis Enthusiast) Carl Johnson. I was there as the official Prairie Dog photographer, and it soon became clear that Steve expected me to actually take out my camera and depress the shutter. Then, just to exert his will, he wrote on Sunday:

Aidan took tons of photos, some of which will land on Dog Blog over the next few days. They will be great.

And they are great. After all, what could be greater than Kay Pike/Jessica Rabbit, Kevin Sorbo, IronE Singleton and Tia Carrere in a row? Maybe if they threw in some cupcakes.

This is a blurry photo, but it shows the unmitigated glory of IronE Singleton’s jacket, which he showed off with unironic glee. “Should I twirl?” he asked. Then he twirled.

Do you have a mental image right now of IronE Singleton driving around town in an airbrushed van? DO YOU? You do.

Also also of note: I can’t post pictures of Tia Carrere because certain people whose names rhyme with Schmeve and Schmarl want to use those photos for their own dark amusements blog posts.

The real attractions at the Fan Expo, of course, were the fans and their incredible costumes.

Continue reading “Fan Expo: My Photographic Odyssey In Photographs”

The sun rose at 5:28 a.m. this morning. Me? More like 11:30. Still, that left lots of time to take in the second and final day of the first-ever Fan Expo Regina. And that’s what me and Carl Johnson did. Here’s a short recap.

-We got to the funky-smelling, overheated concrete warehouse Fan Expo had been slotted into around half past 12 and the place was packed — much busier than yesterday, far as I could tell. From what I could see this event was a gigantic success. I’m optimistic it’ll be back next year.

-After a quick walk around the floor, we went to the badly-lit auditorium where Marina Sirtis — councillor Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation and breaker of hearts — was set to speak. She was great! Hilarious, brash, and happy to insult anyone or anything for a laugh. Topics she covered included menopause, football and its offensive team limricks (she shared a very un-PC one), playing a character who wrecked the Enterprise on the only two occasions she drove it, feminism, the Irish, the French, Star Trek movie directors who are proud of hating Star Trek,  punching fans, being placed on no-fly lists, Patrick Stewart being a flirt, how much she loves her ST:TNG co-stars, why she should be the next Dr. Who, the correct pronunciation of “Regina” and a lot more. She’s a hoot. Easily worth the price of admission on her own.

-Lots of cosplay on day two and holy nerd peer pressure, Batman: so many people were dressed as their favourite comic, anime, manga, science fiction and video game characters that I felt a bit out of place. Next year I’m wearing a Star Trek uniform. Maybe Shatner’s green “fat captain” shirt. Continue reading “Nerd Con, Day 2: The Fourth Was With Us”

Far as I could tell, Regina’s first major comic, science fiction and fantasy convention had a well-attended, sharp and professional first day. Oh yeah, and it was fun too. After a morning media scrum where we spoke to cosplay star Kay Pike and famous actress Tia Carrere followed by breakfast and a quick expedition to ComicReaders for Free Comic Book Day, me, Carl Johnson and Aidan Morgan returned and wandered the showroom floor to look at all the interesting, shiny things and people. Later, we hit the WolfCop panel.

Here are a few scattered thoughts and observations.

-Aidan took tons of photos, some of which will land on Dog Blog over the next few days. They will be great. Among his subjects: the oodles of people who came out in costume. We saw hobbits, stormtroopers, jedi knights, starfleet personnel, video game heroes, manga and  anime characters (including Savannah Hagin as Tyki Mikk from D.Gray-Man), a few superheroes (mostly Marvel, with Iron Man, Thor and Captain America especially well represented), and this one dude in an amazing He-Man costume. He had it all: the face,big muscles and yellow hair, the fur shorts and (minimal) armour, and the perfect shade of orange tan.  Great costume. If it was a costume.

-If WolfCop does well enough to justify a sequel — and I’m guessing it will — it probably won’t be filmed in Saskatchewan. Sounds like the team behind the movie had to bend over backwards to shoot their furry labour of love in this province because the Saskatchewan government’s cancellation of the film tax credit makes shooting any feature film here near impossible. As predicted, that political decision wiped out the industry. Everyone’s moved away now. Game over. Slow clap.

-Tia Carrere is exuberant, ridiculously beautiful and absurdly gracious. She asked me, repeatedly, for a copy of Prairie Dog. Hope she found something to enjoy in our silly paper.

-I want a pet R2 unit.

-I’ve never before had a conversation with anyone who looks like what Kay Pike looks like as Jessica Rabbit. It’s somewhat weird. Still, we’re nerds. She’s a nerd. It worked. Also, turns out Pike’s been through Regina before — and she raves about Wonderland on Broad St. Another typical example of an out-of-towner recognizing a Regina treasure that’s inadequately appreciated by locals? Yup.

–The food options were an embarrassment. Only two flavours of pizza: all-dressed and ham and pineapple? No veggie burgers? What about people who don’t eat meat? Your options for them are “French Fries”? Are you kidding? This is unforgivable in 2014. Total, classic, epic Regina 30-years-behind-the-times failure. Fix it!

-Related: Regina really needs a downtown convention centre for events that don’t involve trucks or livestock and are attended by people who might want decent food. Sigh.

Overall? This thing is great! You should probably go to it tomorrow.