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locker_monsterSo, CCEE 2011. Much better than last year, not because of the calibre of guests they got but because they listened to the complaints from last year and actually improved things. Bigger exhibit hall and more space to walk through it, bigger main panel room, and organized lines (for the most part). Some things still need tweaking, like their photo-op process (don’t get me started on that), but everything seemed less chaotic.
Well, there was some chaos. George Romero had to cancel last minute because he took a bad fall and broke this arm. Can’t blame the guy for not making it then. So they had all these events organized and he was supposed to be the guest of honour. The schedule definitely got shuffled around and things were cancelled. Among them, as I mentioned, a flash mob of zombies dancing to Thriller. My friend and her boyfriend were super thrilled, pardon the pun, to do this, and they were bummed out when they heard the news. It sounds like they still filmed the dance and they’ll show the video next year when Romero comes. So Sunday there were a lot of zombies wandering around.
Brains…
There was even a zombie walk, but I missed it because I went to a panel to see Rob Paulson, Jess Harnell, and Maurice LaMarche. Who are these guys you ask and why were they panel worthy? These guys basically voiced my childhood. All three of them worked on Animaniacs as Yakko, Wakko, and the Brain respectively. I loved Animaniacs as a kid. I think it helped to shape my weird sense of humour. But I got a real thrill hearing these voices again, and live, too. The highlight of the panel? Well, they were two moments. One, Maurice LaMarche belching out “Blue Danube”. Yes, this sounds odd, but if you watched Animaniacs you know what I’m talking about. And two, Rob Paulson singing “The Country Song”. From memory. This is a huge deal since the song lists every country in the world. Look it up on YouTube; it’s awesome. I’d love it if next year they got Billy West or some of the other guys from Futurama.
Ed the Sock and Liana K were also back this year, as last minute guests I think to fill the gap Romero left behind. Liana K wasn’t in costume this time for their mini show, which was a bit weird, but she was dressed up as Quorra from Tron: Legacy on Friday. I find Ed to be kind of funny, but I suppose other people don’t. He can be crass, but that’s the character. The crass sock puppet with green hair and the cigar. It’s strange to hear him discussing geeky things with Liana; he actually knows what he’s talking about. Liana is definitely the bigger geek of the two though.
They only had time to interview three guests this year but I only cared about one: Michael Hogan! You can tell this guy loved being Tigh. When he came out on stage, he was saying things like Tigh and making Tigh noises. And we got to shout “So Say We All!” again. No prompting yet again. I suppose in twenty years time he might be sick of saying it, but it’s still fun for now, especially when the actor is so into it.
And “So Say We All” is totally the BSG equivalent of Star Trek’s “Live Long and Prosper”. I can’t think of any other sci fi shows that have a four word saying that the fans just love to say.
Next up was Jonathan Frakes and I felt kind of bad for him, having to appear the day after Shatner. I’d say the room was half full for his panel.
But like I said, he had fun and that made the difference. His reading of the oath was more energetic and he messed around on the couch. He said it was comfy.
And then promptly took his shoes off and laid out for a mock nap, with the cowboy hat covering his face:
I can’t quite remember what the original question was, something about Riker always entering the bridge with one shoulder slumped or something, but that led to Jonathan demonstrating the position and he walked back and forth across the stage a few times. And then he did a full Riker! And no, that’s not meant to sound dirty. That’s the phrase he used to describe Riker’s usual pose on the show: one foot up on, either on the bridge railing or the helms console, and one arm resting on his knee. He even did it while wearing the cowboy hat. I get to see him and Shatner again in August when I’m in Las Vegas for a Star Trek convention. God, I’m going to be broke by the end of the summer.
And the last panel of the day, the best for last, was the Guild. The moderator for their panel was lame. He didn’t interact with the cast at all. He just sat there and said, “So and so over here has a question.” I don’t see why the Guild didn’t rate one of the guys from InnerSpace.
But anyway, the pyrotechnics. I should say they weren’t as awesome as they sound. Nothing like you get in rock concerts. Just some big sparkler type things and jets of flames, but not huge explosions. Then it was followed by some CO2 blasts, just in case anything was on fire. Here’s where sitting right in the front is bad: you get a wave of smoke afterwards. I was all hoarse and stuffed up the next day. But oh, then you think, “The cast walks out in a cloud of smoke, all cool.” Nope, they had to wait while the pyrotechnic gear was cleared off stage. So you could hear some of them saying, “Can we come out now?” And they did wait but I think Felicia was like, “Screw it, we’re coming out!” But the cast seemed genuinely surprised that they got pyrotechnics.
Lame moderator aside, it was great to see the entire cast. Obviously a lot of the questions were for Felicia, but each cast member did speak at some point. And while I knew Felicia could play the violin, I did not know she has a mathematics degree. Yeah, that degree came in handy. Plus she’s super smart, too. She was the only person in her group theory class that got an A. I have no idea what group theory is, but it sounds hard and boring. It’s encouraging to know that even celebrities don’t use the degree they studied for later in life. I’m not alone!
And I do believe that Felicia was one of the few guests who bothered to explore the city. My sister saw her and Jeff Lewis outside a coffee shop downtown, they visited Jelly Modern, a really awesome, so I hear, doughnut shop, and they got cupcakes from the local cupcake company, Crave. The cast even had poutine while they were here. There’s a picture of Felicia at Jelly Modern on her Twitter. It’s great she can get excited over doughnuts. She also ate too many Crave cupcakes.
Oh, and I ended up wearing my Left 4 Dead costume twice. I wore it Saturday, as was the plan, but I also wore it again Sunday. I should have just worn it Sunday as I was in panels all Saturday and no one really saw me. I did see a Witch on Saturday and she might have seen me, but I didn’t stop and see (which is kind of how it is in the game; I got past without disturbing the Witch! Yes!). Apparently, though, enough people saw me that on Sunday a girl stopped me and asked if she could take my picture. She had gone as Louis on Saturday and had heard there was a Zoey walking around. I was convinced that she was talking about someone else, but my brother-in-law, who walked around the hall more than I did, assures me he saw no other Zoeys. So cool, people were talking about me.
But man, it takes dedication to go in costume. I don’t know how people carry all of their stuff, even little things like wallets. I managed with a smaller wallet but I still had other things like keys and my allergy stuff that it’s impossible not to have a bag with you. If I could sew, I totally would have made my med kit out of red canvas and made it a legitimate bag I could put stuff in. If I ever dress up for the expo again, I think I’d have to have other people with me. I think it’s more fun with other people.
And speaking of costumes, I saw some good ones this year. There were a bunch of Elevens walking around. I think I saw about three with fezzes. Only one Eleven cosplayer looked really good and he had a proper tweed jacket and everything. In contrast I also saw maybe two Tens. Why the sudden proliferation of Elevens? His costume is easy to pull off, I think. Every guy should own a nice dress shirt, black pants, and black boots. It’s the bow tie and the jacket that are less easy to find, but I imagine you could find a bow tie for cheap and a decent imitation tweed jacket. And keeping with the Doctor Who theme, I also saw a Four and a femme!Four. If there were others, I probably didn’t see them.
But these two take the cake:
Chell from Portal.
Zapp Brannigan and Leela from Futurama, complete with a Nixon head in a jar. The girl who was Chell even had a portal gun and the long fall knee replacement braces. But the Futurama pair was my favourite. The Nixon head was a great addition. The guy who was Zapp got noticed during the animation panel by Maurice LaMarche, who voices Kiff on Futurama, and he pointed out the guy to the audience. After the panel, the Zapp cosplayer was mobbed for photos. As I was walking away, I saw a guy dressed as a zombie Green Lantern, possibly a zombie Guy Gardner, and he had the Nixon head raised over his head and he had a “Yay!!” face like the zombie Green Lantern Corps had just stormed the White House and claimed Nixon’s head as their own. :-)
I know Katee Sackhoff and George Romero will be at the expo next year and the expo people teased some Whedonverse actors, too, but how do you top Captain Kirk? Captain Picard? Captain Tightpants? Captain Jack? Oh man, they need to get some Doctor Who actors. Then I’m sure the Doctor Who fans would be out in force. Ooh, that’d be so cool…
Well, there was some chaos. George Romero had to cancel last minute because he took a bad fall and broke this arm. Can’t blame the guy for not making it then. So they had all these events organized and he was supposed to be the guest of honour. The schedule definitely got shuffled around and things were cancelled. Among them, as I mentioned, a flash mob of zombies dancing to Thriller. My friend and her boyfriend were super thrilled, pardon the pun, to do this, and they were bummed out when they heard the news. It sounds like they still filmed the dance and they’ll show the video next year when Romero comes. So Sunday there were a lot of zombies wandering around.
Brains…
There was even a zombie walk, but I missed it because I went to a panel to see Rob Paulson, Jess Harnell, and Maurice LaMarche. Who are these guys you ask and why were they panel worthy? These guys basically voiced my childhood. All three of them worked on Animaniacs as Yakko, Wakko, and the Brain respectively. I loved Animaniacs as a kid. I think it helped to shape my weird sense of humour. But I got a real thrill hearing these voices again, and live, too. The highlight of the panel? Well, they were two moments. One, Maurice LaMarche belching out “Blue Danube”. Yes, this sounds odd, but if you watched Animaniacs you know what I’m talking about. And two, Rob Paulson singing “The Country Song”. From memory. This is a huge deal since the song lists every country in the world. Look it up on YouTube; it’s awesome. I’d love it if next year they got Billy West or some of the other guys from Futurama.
Ed the Sock and Liana K were also back this year, as last minute guests I think to fill the gap Romero left behind. Liana K wasn’t in costume this time for their mini show, which was a bit weird, but she was dressed up as Quorra from Tron: Legacy on Friday. I find Ed to be kind of funny, but I suppose other people don’t. He can be crass, but that’s the character. The crass sock puppet with green hair and the cigar. It’s strange to hear him discussing geeky things with Liana; he actually knows what he’s talking about. Liana is definitely the bigger geek of the two though.
They only had time to interview three guests this year but I only cared about one: Michael Hogan! You can tell this guy loved being Tigh. When he came out on stage, he was saying things like Tigh and making Tigh noises. And we got to shout “So Say We All!” again. No prompting yet again. I suppose in twenty years time he might be sick of saying it, but it’s still fun for now, especially when the actor is so into it.
And “So Say We All” is totally the BSG equivalent of Star Trek’s “Live Long and Prosper”. I can’t think of any other sci fi shows that have a four word saying that the fans just love to say.
Next up was Jonathan Frakes and I felt kind of bad for him, having to appear the day after Shatner. I’d say the room was half full for his panel.
But like I said, he had fun and that made the difference. His reading of the oath was more energetic and he messed around on the couch. He said it was comfy.
And then promptly took his shoes off and laid out for a mock nap, with the cowboy hat covering his face:
I can’t quite remember what the original question was, something about Riker always entering the bridge with one shoulder slumped or something, but that led to Jonathan demonstrating the position and he walked back and forth across the stage a few times. And then he did a full Riker! And no, that’s not meant to sound dirty. That’s the phrase he used to describe Riker’s usual pose on the show: one foot up on, either on the bridge railing or the helms console, and one arm resting on his knee. He even did it while wearing the cowboy hat. I get to see him and Shatner again in August when I’m in Las Vegas for a Star Trek convention. God, I’m going to be broke by the end of the summer.
And the last panel of the day, the best for last, was the Guild. The moderator for their panel was lame. He didn’t interact with the cast at all. He just sat there and said, “So and so over here has a question.” I don’t see why the Guild didn’t rate one of the guys from InnerSpace.
But anyway, the pyrotechnics. I should say they weren’t as awesome as they sound. Nothing like you get in rock concerts. Just some big sparkler type things and jets of flames, but not huge explosions. Then it was followed by some CO2 blasts, just in case anything was on fire. Here’s where sitting right in the front is bad: you get a wave of smoke afterwards. I was all hoarse and stuffed up the next day. But oh, then you think, “The cast walks out in a cloud of smoke, all cool.” Nope, they had to wait while the pyrotechnic gear was cleared off stage. So you could hear some of them saying, “Can we come out now?” And they did wait but I think Felicia was like, “Screw it, we’re coming out!” But the cast seemed genuinely surprised that they got pyrotechnics.
Lame moderator aside, it was great to see the entire cast. Obviously a lot of the questions were for Felicia, but each cast member did speak at some point. And while I knew Felicia could play the violin, I did not know she has a mathematics degree. Yeah, that degree came in handy. Plus she’s super smart, too. She was the only person in her group theory class that got an A. I have no idea what group theory is, but it sounds hard and boring. It’s encouraging to know that even celebrities don’t use the degree they studied for later in life. I’m not alone!
And I do believe that Felicia was one of the few guests who bothered to explore the city. My sister saw her and Jeff Lewis outside a coffee shop downtown, they visited Jelly Modern, a really awesome, so I hear, doughnut shop, and they got cupcakes from the local cupcake company, Crave. The cast even had poutine while they were here. There’s a picture of Felicia at Jelly Modern on her Twitter. It’s great she can get excited over doughnuts. She also ate too many Crave cupcakes.
Oh, and I ended up wearing my Left 4 Dead costume twice. I wore it Saturday, as was the plan, but I also wore it again Sunday. I should have just worn it Sunday as I was in panels all Saturday and no one really saw me. I did see a Witch on Saturday and she might have seen me, but I didn’t stop and see (which is kind of how it is in the game; I got past without disturbing the Witch! Yes!). Apparently, though, enough people saw me that on Sunday a girl stopped me and asked if she could take my picture. She had gone as Louis on Saturday and had heard there was a Zoey walking around. I was convinced that she was talking about someone else, but my brother-in-law, who walked around the hall more than I did, assures me he saw no other Zoeys. So cool, people were talking about me.
But man, it takes dedication to go in costume. I don’t know how people carry all of their stuff, even little things like wallets. I managed with a smaller wallet but I still had other things like keys and my allergy stuff that it’s impossible not to have a bag with you. If I could sew, I totally would have made my med kit out of red canvas and made it a legitimate bag I could put stuff in. If I ever dress up for the expo again, I think I’d have to have other people with me. I think it’s more fun with other people.
And speaking of costumes, I saw some good ones this year. There were a bunch of Elevens walking around. I think I saw about three with fezzes. Only one Eleven cosplayer looked really good and he had a proper tweed jacket and everything. In contrast I also saw maybe two Tens. Why the sudden proliferation of Elevens? His costume is easy to pull off, I think. Every guy should own a nice dress shirt, black pants, and black boots. It’s the bow tie and the jacket that are less easy to find, but I imagine you could find a bow tie for cheap and a decent imitation tweed jacket. And keeping with the Doctor Who theme, I also saw a Four and a femme!Four. If there were others, I probably didn’t see them.
But these two take the cake:
Chell from Portal.
Zapp Brannigan and Leela from Futurama, complete with a Nixon head in a jar. The girl who was Chell even had a portal gun and the long fall knee replacement braces. But the Futurama pair was my favourite. The Nixon head was a great addition. The guy who was Zapp got noticed during the animation panel by Maurice LaMarche, who voices Kiff on Futurama, and he pointed out the guy to the audience. After the panel, the Zapp cosplayer was mobbed for photos. As I was walking away, I saw a guy dressed as a zombie Green Lantern, possibly a zombie Guy Gardner, and he had the Nixon head raised over his head and he had a “Yay!!” face like the zombie Green Lantern Corps had just stormed the White House and claimed Nixon’s head as their own. :-)
I know Katee Sackhoff and George Romero will be at the expo next year and the expo people teased some Whedonverse actors, too, but how do you top Captain Kirk? Captain Picard? Captain Tightpants? Captain Jack? Oh man, they need to get some Doctor Who actors. Then I’m sure the Doctor Who fans would be out in force. Ooh, that’d be so cool…
