A Trip to the Calgary Expo: Part II

Part 1 is here.


I rolled into Calgary at about 7:30am.  I had to kill time until 3pm.  Well, what better way to start an awesome weekend than with some bus station bacon and eggs?  And no they were not as bad as they sounded.  In fact, the bacon and eggs at the Calgary Greyhound station, may have been the best bacon and eggs I have ever eaten.

But bacon and eggs aren’t what you’re here to read about.  Long story short: I met up with Justin (who was mentioned in part 1) and his friend Chad, ditched their wives and were off to the Expo!

So there we were all geared up and ready to go, when we ran into our first (of many) giant ass line.  Now, I knew to expect a line, but never did I think it would be this long.  I mean, this is Calgary, not San Diego, Emerald City, or C2E2.  Well, apparently I underestimated the potential of this con. But I wasn’t alone in this line of thinking, because roughly 50, 000 others did to (but more on that later).  Would we even get in?  Well, I think it’s safe to say that we did because this wouldn’t be much of a story if we didn’t.  The thing that caught me most by surprise all weekend was that all the lines to get into the expo were always moving (that I found myself in, not everyone was so lucky).  There may have been 1000 people in front of me, but the line was always moving.  However, waiting for autographs and photos was a different story.

Once I got in my first mission was to get my Stan Lee autograph, which was booked for 4:30.  I had brought the first issue of a two part Silver Surfer series that he wrote in the 80s.  A lot of people were bringing just any Marvel comic (which is fine), but I had something that he actually wrote.  So I’ll be damned if I wasn’t getting that signed.  But in order to do that, Stan needed to be there; he was half hour late.  Now normally, this wouldn’t be an issue.  Stan Lee can take all the time he wants, but I had a photo op session with him at 6 o’clock and needed to get through this line so I could into that line.  But apparently a half hour isn’t bad.  The fellow in front of me, who was also a volunteer for the Expo, informed me that apparently Adam West was 45 minutes late, and last year Shatner was super late too.

Once Stan arrived the line moved pretty fast.  Then came the moment I had been waiting for.  I was up next for Stan.  I could see that he had been pretty much just signing and passing things off without too much comment, but I wasn’t expecting a conversation or anything.  But then it happened.  I passed my book to the volunteer who was then to pass it to Stan when the volunteer said “Stan! This is the one!  This is that one you were talking about!”  What?  What was special about it?  Why was Stan just talking about it?  Stan looked at it and exclaimed “This one!  I love this one!”  It was at this point in time, my heart attempted to jump up my throat and force me to vomit it out.  The volunteer proceeded to ask Stan if he would tell me a little about it.  Was Stan Lee going to tell me a story?  Could I stop myself from peeing my pants?  These were the big questions that fate was going to have to answer.

Stan looked up at me and said, “I just love this one.  I hardly ever see this it.  Thanks for bringing it.”  Stan Lee just thanked me?  All I could say through my ear to ear grin smile was, “Thank you Stan!”  So, now I like to think that I made Stan Lee’s day, and there is nothing anyone can ever say or do to change my mind about it.

Riding high on my encounter with Stan, my next stop was for my photo op with “The Man”.  However, it was going to have to be put on hold, because the line was already so long that they were turning people away.  I wasn’t worried because I knew there were a couple other chances to get in, but these lines were just the first indication of how many people would be piling into the convention over the weekend.

So what else did I do?  Well, the first thing I did was get a good look at the Adam West Batmobile.  I wanted to sit in it, but every time I walked by over the weekend, the line was huge.  I just kept thinking, “I’ll come back when the line’s not so long”.  That didn’t happen.  

So instead I did one better.  I sat in the Delorean!  And I must say, for as cool as it is, that is one damn uncomfortable car.  If Doc Brown was so smart, why didn’t he go back in time and design a better car?  Regardless,  for a guy who grew up watching Back to the Future religiously, this was pretty amazing.  There was even a hover board.  I think one of my favorite things about it was, that while it cost $20 to sit in the car it wasn't just a cash grab.  It was really just a donation to the Team Fox, and is going towards parkinsons research.  The photographer took one photo of me with his camera, and a bunch with mine too.

There was also some sweet Lego designs that I got a few shots of.

This pretty much wrapped up my day.  I bought some toys.  Looked at some of the other vendors and got a good idea of the lay of the land for the coming days.  Bring on Saturday!

Part III is on the way.

A Trip to the Calgary Expo: Part 1

It’s hardly a little known fact that I love all things comics and pop culture (well, almost all things pop culture, but that could be another epic post for another time).  For the better part of the last decade, every summer I go online and follow the all the goings on, and up to the minute breaking news at the San Diego Comic-Con, because hey, where else better to get comic book news.  If something big is going to be announced, it’s going to happen there.  I’ve always wanted to go, but have become very realistic and come to terms with the fact that unless I miraculously shit out a golden ticket like some kind of fecal version of Willy Wonka, I’m just not going to get there.  Ticket sales are ridiculous.  My co-worker’s sister logged on to get tickets this year, the minute they went on sale and ended up being something like 20,000^th in the que.  So yeah, perhaps I’m being pessimistic about the matter; more likely realistic.  Really I had kind of given up hope of going to any kind of comic convention.  It was a bummer…that is until I went to the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

Let me backtrack because there’s a definite hole in my storytelling there.  Let’s go back to, oh let’s say, early February (I’m pretty sure that’s when it was). 

Back in February my friend Justin had been tweeting about wanting to go see Will Wheaton, who making an appearance at some convention in Calgary.  So out of curiosity, I checked out the link he had posted, which introduced me to the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.  From what I saw it look pretty cool, the price was right ($40 advance for a 3 day pass), and it was good excuse to get the hell out of town for the weekend.  Sounds like a decent time right?  At the least perhaps I could run into Will Wheaton and attempt to become his nemesis, right? Well it was very soon after that the Expo had made their big announcement: they would be hosting a full cast reunion of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  Que nerds heads exploding all across the country side!  Suddenly, a pretty decent time, turned to holy @#$%ing $hit I need to go!  The only problem for me was that I needed to get there and find a place to stay.  My car was not worthy of the trip, and I didn't want to just impose myself on Justin and his family.  For starters he lives   in another town about 250km away from me, and I didn't know if he was taking his wife and kids or what.  Plus going on my own would cost too much for me.  Things were looking grim.  But suddenly there was a glimmer of hope.  My co-worker and her sister, who I mentioned earlier, where thinking of going!  My spirit was rejuvenated.  It was going to happen….or not.  Apparently, where her sister works, giving two months advance notice isn't enough to get time off.  Plan foiled once again.  I was back to thinking I would never get to a con.

Fast forward to late March: I’m in my local comic book store, trying to get myself out an unrelated funk, by purchasing an obscene amount of nerd gear and comics, when I hear the clerk ask a customer if he’s going to the Expo in Calgary. “No”, he says.  “It sucks, because I’d love to meet Stan Lee”.

Wait...

Stan Lee...

Stan.

Lee.

Well, if I didn’t feel like crap about not going before, I sure as hell did now.  Stan ‘The Man’ Lee.  The greatest name in comic books was going to be there, and I was going to miss it.  Great.  Grand.  Wonderful.  So I left the comic book store.  Went to the pub, and proceeded to pound back a pint of Guinness or six.

That weekend, over an uncomfortable breakfast, consisting of a skillet that looked like a brick of meat and cheese, with a friend of a friend that I don’t exactly care for, I brought up my dilemma with Stan.  “What do you mean you’re not going”, he said.  “How can you not go?  Stan’s not going to be around much longer.  You need to do this."  So here I am, in some shitty dinner, eating something that would guarantee constipation, taking advice from this guy that I don’t even really like.  But it all made sense.  I didn’t know how I would get there.  I didn’t know where I would stay.  But after that breakfast, I went home and bought my tickets for the Calgary Expo.

And you know what?  After getting tickets, everything fell into place really easily actually.  I got ahold of an old friend from high school who lives in Calgary, who was more than happy to put me up.  I found a cheap bus ticket that cost as much for a round trip as it would for me to drive there one way.  Don’t you just love it when a plan comes together?

Part II is almost all done and on the way.

5 Good Ones: Cover Songs

When you get on the topic of cover songs, I think you'll find that more often than not a lot of people will refer to it with negative connotation.  You'll hear things like: "it's not as good as the original"; "I can't believe that someone would rip that song off"; or the ever classic "who is raping my childhood now?"  Now don't get me wrong, there's plenty of great songs that have gotten some pretty rotten treatments (I'm looking at you generic-shitty-punk-band)  But what so many people forget, or conveniently overlook, is that rock and roll really got started out of on cover songs.  The classic example being that Elvis Presley did not write Hound Dog.  Therefore, it's plausible to assume that even Elvis is not innocent of raping someone's childhood.  So, lets not get too critical of artists doing covers.  Clearly they can't be all bad.  There has to be at least five good ones right? (see what I did there?)

As with all other 5 Good Ones entries that I've done, these aren't necessarily my favorites, just 5 cover songs I really like.  In fact, these ones in particular I like more than the original.

I Will Survive - Cake

I have one requirement when this song pops up on my mp3 player: the volume must get cranked to 11.  Correction, there are two requirements.  The second is conditional though: if I'm walking around town with my headphones on, I have to focus all my energy into not singing loudly in the street and looking like a crazy person.

Go Your Own Way - Seaweed

I know what you're thinking, "who the hell is Seaweed?"  Or maybe you're not.  Maybe you're all big fans and I'm just waaaay out of the loop.  Anyway, I discovered this little gem on the Clerks soundtrack, and now the original by Fleetwood Mac just doesn't sound right to me anymore.

Darling Nikki - Foo Fighters

As far as I'm concerned, the Foo Fighters do the best covers.  Seriously, I could do one of these lists just about them.  I think my favorite is there cover of Band on the Run, but what sets this one apart for me was that when I first heard this song, I thought I had just stumbled across some b-side from an album.  I didn't even know it was a originally a Prince song.  What really makes it for me is Dave Grohl's scream at the end.

Higher Ground - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Am I putting this on here because it's a great cover?  Yes.  Am I doing it moreso because I'm pumped about buying Chili Peppers tickets on Friday? Absolutely.  Regardless, it's a great song, and legend has it that Stevie Wonder (the originator) was pushing them to cover his own song.  Doesn't get much better than that.  The video I found for this is great, you just have to skip past Arsenio yammering on about who cares?

Viva la Vida - Weezer

At first I thought this was just a youtube video, but they actually put it on an album, and as far as I can tell it very well could be the same recording as what's in this video.  Regardless, I love this version.

For as much as I like comics, over the last few years I've for the most part quit buying single issues, and in turn gotten out of mini-series' and event books. Not that I've never liked them. I loved reading Infinite Crisis when it came out, and really made me love the character of Superboy Prime (eventhough everyone else who reads superhereo comics hates the character). I enjoyed Final Crisis, Infinity Gauntlet holds a wonderful place in my heart, and everything around Crisis on Infinite Earths just facinates me. But as of the last few years I haven't really bought into the events. Mainly, because for as much as the companies say that all you need to read is the main title to get the story, you don't. You need to read the tie ins. And I'm sick of it. Or at least I thought I was.

I thought I swore off these event books, but then Avengers vs X-Men came along. It's Cyclops vs Captain America with Wolverine caught in the middle. If that's not good enough, toss in the Phoenix (which is an X-Men story line that's hard not to love) coming back to Earth. My fanboy heart just couldn't take it, so I made a decision that I would pick up just the main title. Just the main title. That would be good enough. 12 issues, one released every two weeks. That should be good enough. No tie-ins. I don't need them. Screw the tie-ins. Who needs to see the details of who wins in a fight between Colossus and the Red Hulk? Not me...at least I didn't think so. Dammit I do. I am such a sucker.

Or am I? One of the best parts of Infinite Crisis was reading the Teen Titans tie-ins that were written by Geoff Johns (who wrote the main series). It added so much to the story of Superboy and gave so much more weight to his death. They tied so seamlessly into the main title that thinking back on it I can't remember what was main title and what wasn't. The same goes with his work on Blackest Night/Green Lantern. The tie-ins Grant Morrison wrote for Final Crisis (of which he also wrote the main title) were crucial to the over story. Also apparently the tie-ins to Fear Itself written by Matt Fraction (again, the writer of the main title) were just an extension of the main story. So, from that it's not exactly difficult to conclude that if the writer of the main tittle does a tie in, you should probably pick it up because it will actually add to the overall story. But what happens when the book is being written buy multiple writers and they're all doing the tie in? Should I buy them all? Dammit! These are the tough questions I need to answer.

Maybe Marvel knows this and that's why there's half a dozen creators working on this book. In that case, that would mean that this is just me buying into this whole tie in scheme. I'm just another sucker buying into their money making machine. How can I justify spending somwhere around $100 just on tie-ins, when I can spend that on other awesome nerdy things (like I would spend it on anything else)? How can I do this to myself? That's it! Regardless of creators I can't buy any of these damn things. Unless...you know....there's a cool variant cover or something.

So I took a trip...

Guess who who has two thumbs and went on vacation and is going to blog about it? This guy.

I haven't really taken a vacation, other than camping, for a good long time. It was overdue. Where did I go you ask? Well, I made my way out to the wonderland of the Canadian west coast. What did I find out there you ask?:

Now, I know what you're thinking: the Woolly Mammoth only roams the east coast of Canada. Well, you'd be wrong about that. This was in a museum in Victoria BC. However, that was not the only wonder I was privileged to witness. I was lucky enough to hear a woman educating her friend as to the origin of the native people of Canada.

-"Apparently, according to the tour guide, these people where here before the Americans came and made Canada."-woman at museum-

There are no proper words to describe that statement, so I'll just move forward...or backward as it were, because just prior to the museum I think I discovered my calling in life. I've decided that I'm going to buy a houseboat, aquire an old dog, and grow a beard. Why am I doing this you ask? Because look at these fucking houseboats!:

And there's sea lions! Fucking sea lions! Right by the boat/house! I have since named this little fellow Ike. Ike the sea lion.

The only real problem being (and yes I don't care what you say, there is only one problem with this plan). I imagine these houseboats are rather pricey and I'll probably end up living in something like this:

Or more accurately, here:

...that is if the locals don't throw my ass, and shanty house off the beach.

12 Image Photo Project

So I know it's been a long time since I've done a post, but Scott Bourne over a Photofocus issued a photo project to his readers that I felt the need to partake in. The project is simple: create a portfolio of your 12 favorite images. Not necessarily your best, but your favorites. So here's mine. Enjoy!

Letters to Strangers in Retail: Inspired(not ripped off) by Schmutzie

Once again, I have been inspired by something that Schmutzie wrote over at Aiming Low, and am doing my own similar piece. I wouldn't call it stealing, I've just been having a creative brain fart for the last while, and I figure anything to get me going should be considered a good thing. Besides, every other blogger does it, it's just that when they do it, they call it a meme (like that's a real word or something..pffst..whatever)

One of the many things Schmutzie does to earn shillings is work in retail, just like me! As someone who works in retail, she has come across many a strange customer, just like me! There's so much you always want to say to these people, but you can't because for whatever reason, you've grown attached to the job and the way it earns your shilling, and if you said what you actually wanted to say you would soon find yourself lacking shillings and be just some broke ass, who's blogging at a 30 minute terminal at the library because your internet has been cut off because you in fact live in a cardboard box because you were evicted for trying to pay your rent in Canadian Tire money....again. (<-greatest run-on sentence ever)

So, what Schmutzie has done is write letters to some of these strange customers. I thought I should do the same. If not to get some of the customer frustration off my chest, then to share with you what may well be the greatest real name I have ever come across. Not all of these are from my current job, because I've worked way to many shitty retail jobs to confine this to just one job. Enjoy!

Dear Lobo Steel:

Never have I met someone whose appearance better suited their name. Please tell me that after you leave my store you are off to plot revenge against Superman.

Tell your parents I say thanks for naming you.

Youngblood

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Dear Elephantman

Quit fuckin' sitting on the egg cooler! That doesn't mean move from the eggs to butter! Doesn't it strike you at all strange that you're sitting on bricks of butter and that people pick them around you?Are you really there? Can only I see you? Are you some kind of egg and butter ghost? At least you're not sitting on the cheese. I need that for sandwiches.

Youngblood

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Dear Hooded Criminal,

You may have caught me off guard when you ran off with that 24 of Kokanee, but I like to think that you shit your pants when I ran up alongside your car and tried to punch through your window to get said case of beer back from you.

I hope it was fun washing the shit stains from your gotch.

Youngblood (I'm the goddamned Batman)

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Dear Creepy Disposable Camera Man

Stop taking pictures of random people you see on the street. It creeps me out. One day the police are going to break down your door and match up your photos to missing persons cases. I'm also sick of seeing naked pictures of your wife, and from the look on her face she's sick of you too.

Youngblood

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Dear Walking Old Asian Man Stereotype,

I haven't quite decided if you're more like Mr. Miyami, or Arnold from Happy Days. Either way, you are a caricature of Pat Morita with a little Hans Moleman thrown in. You may be deaf and I have to yell at you for you to hear me, but it's always a good time when you come in.

Youngblood

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Dear Guy Who's Clearly Pulling Beer for Kids in Rez Every Night:

You're an awesome tipper. Thanks for the rye on Christmas eve and all those beer you left. I hope those kids didn't mind that a few were missing from their case.

Youngblood