Fan Expo 2012

It's another year of the Fan Expo! I am going to just call it the Unofficial Fae Con :P because 1) I wasn't planning to go this year even with Gillian Anderson (not a fan of X-Files... SORRY!), 2) it's $45 + $5 service charge (really? service charge?) and 3) I would only be interested in Kate Mulgrew, Captain Kathryn Janeway.
BUUUUTTT... lo and behold, they announced the cast of Lost Girl will be making a repeat appearance. Really? Fan Expo decided to repeat the awesomeness of Lost Girl from 2011? Ok, you win. I cannot say no to Lost Girl.

Let me split this blog into 3 sections, so if you want to skip my non-Lost Girl and swag rambling, feel free to click on "Lost Girl" and move onto the important part.

• Fan Expo
• Swags
• Lost Girl

Lots of happening at Fan Expo like they do every year. So, I woke up early and drove down and what do I see on the highway? A police car... but not JUST any ordinary police car... It's...

A Chamberlain County Sheriff cop car? Where is Chamberlain County? It's definitely NOT in Canada since I've never heard people use "Sheriff" here. It must be a movie set car! And the tow truck did say something about Film Tow...

A little advice for you, if you plan to visit Toronto for the Fan Expo. Buy your ticket in advance and either have them mailed to you (there was an extra charge) or pick it up advanced! I had purchased my tickets a few weeks before (once Lost Girl was confirmed) and had picked it up at the advance booth earlier in the week. Why? See this:

This was the lineup for already purchased ticket. Now, there was a TOTALLY different line for buying tickets... this picture courtesy of @ri_docculus. Having said that though, the line up to get in was smooth. It moved along at a pace that it took only 15min to go through the snake line. Have to give credit to the Fan Expo organizer for quickness and organization. It could have been disaster like a few years ago. Here's another image from the top of the massive amount of people who had pre-purchased tickets.

And as a bonus picture, I saw Chainsaw Lollipop (the video game) line up...

As usual, there are LOTS of things to see... lots of vendors, previews and samples. If you collect comic books or action figure, this is the place to be since most vendors do have back issues or special editions. I didn't even bother looking at the stuff... I could spend hundreds of dollars trying to find Xena collectibles. As I said, LOTS of things to see... I guess this is the reason why they called this the Comic-Con North! There's this...

and then Lego Hulk... just look at the size of that kid!!

And... DarthMaus?

And my favourite SHE-RA!!!!! Oh and the Batman guy...

And Back to the Future car!

Other notables that I seriously can't take all the pictures of includes: Sailor Moon, Star Wars Troopers, Star Trek, Princess Leia, Steampunk, Doctor Who, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Spartacus, Megaman, Portal (video game) and a host of other anime stuff.

End of the Fan Expo rambling! Now for some SWAAAAGS!

Another thing I love about going to Fan Expo is to see new things and to get freebies. Who doesn't love swag? No, please do not call the swag police (Rizzoli & Isles reference. lol)

There were plenty of things available. CTV were giving out t-shirts to promote their tv shows but I missed out on them. But I did pick up other stuff. A bag from EBGames (no picture, it's just a bag...), these "ROXX" thingies which reminds me of a lot of Pogs back in the days...

Then there's this Marvel spintop beans thing and a Michael Jackson Experience disco ball keychain and free itune movie/comic/music (1 time use) but I don't have an itune. I just wanted the card.

Of course, you can't forget the comic books (I only picked up 1 and a Lego one)

Also picked up 7 buttons for the main characters of Once Upon a Time

And I must toss in a game related stuff. Picked up an Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Assassin's Creed card for the voice actors to sign but I just wanted them cause I like the games and it's neat! lol

So, are you still with me? Or did you just skip everything above and just clicked on Lost Girl? I know it's long, I don't blame you.

And now, I present the most important and the reason to be Fan Expo...

At Hall G at 12 noon!

The Q&A officially started at 12 noon but I got there around 10:30am. 1) I'm over excited, 2) beat the crowd and 3) I want a better seat then I had last year! And I did meet up with Lost Girl tweeps! @Faenonymous, Tim and Sue of @MindReel, @jorjafoxluvr, @Byflutterby, @QuickLookBusy, @mpleaf67, @NellyFFan, and I have to mention these 2

@smellycat1304 and @rocarangi for coming ALL the way from France to be here! I hope you gals had an awesome time!

I probably left out a few people... sorry!!

One thing the Lost Girl fan reminds me is the Xenaverse. The fans are just fantastic people and great people the be with. The cast themselves are just very humble, very friendly and faetastic people. I love Lost Girl for the show, the cast, the fans and the story. I am forever a Xenite and a Faefan!

Oh right... the actual Q&A

And the wonderful @thetelevixen moderating the panel

The cast of Lost Girl

Ksenia Solo and Anna Silk... Is Ksenia tweeting?

Rick Howland, KC Collins, Zoie Palmer and Kris Holden-Reid

They were asked about the triangle... soKmReIoSne mentioned a threesome...

KC decided to take a picture of the fans

This image from Rick Howland's point of view.

We really doubled the number of people who came last year. I recall, Anna last year said she was surprised by the size of the crowd because the show was only in Canada at the time and that Lost Girl were at the Fan Expo in 2010 with a booth and asking people to watch it. Anna, your wish came true! Rick's comment from 2011 was "It's the number 2 show being downloaded online." Oh yes, he meant that.

But the success of the show has risen so much that that I'm sure we can do a Fae Con, even fan run and be successful... It's a work in progress. Just look at the crowd!

Back to the Q&A

Lots of things were said... but no secrets were given away. However, we were treated to Season 2 bloopers before the cast game out! Courtesy of underwolrd6667

The Q&A Panel (courtesy of @Kedrie)

Different angle from @faenonymous

Full length version:
Lost Girl Panel @ Fan Expo 2012 by bassistaddict

Text highlights of the Q&A:

• Rick also served water to Ksenia and Anna... oh Rick, the Trickster came out, didn't he?
• KC Collins getting picked on but that's because he loves spooning with Kris Holden-Reid and with Zoie Palmer.
• Zoie wants to have Lauren wear nothing but Labcoat...
• Kris considers himself as the hunk of the show
• Zoie being Zoie... making the perfect timing comments
• Kris and his "French Canadian" accent
• KC keeps digging himself into a deeper hole and the cast just jump on it
• Ksenia living tweeting while in Q&A

I did ask a question... I was the 1st but due to time constraint, I can only ask ONE! I know I'm so greedy... So I asked a question in reference to this:

Hopefully I will get to ask other questions. They are good ones. Trust me! But it will be for another convention.

After the Q&A is OFF to the autographs! It was a long line up. It was great just chatting with random people and I did bump into someone that I didn't expect. He said he watches the show for Kenzi. Sure, Doug... SURE.

Also met Sam, the wonderful Kenzi look-a-like and performing the "Kicking it! I'm the wolfman!" I totally missed filming it and I was going to do it. I can tell you Kris and Ksenia loved it so much... Ksenia wanted a picture with Sam! She titled Kenzi meets Kenzi

Apparently, some fans didn't get the chance for the up close. It is not really the cast fault. If they could, they WOULD sit through how ever many hours needed to meet everyone. It was due to time constraint for the next person to sign (seriously, what can be more awesome then Lost Girl?) I hope that those who missed the chance to meet the case were able to get the signed picture at least.

OH WAIT: Those who missed it... You MUST click this

So what happened when I got my stuff signed?

When it did get to my turn, Rick looked at me and said, "Hi JOANNE" like I did something wrong. A two questions into my mind, 1) why does he remember my name when he meets hundreds if not thousands of fans, 2) what did I do that made him remember me? Was it good? Bad? Nope either, he remembers me from season 2 finale viewing.

Kris remembered me as "the girl who had too many questions." lol

Ksenia, Zoie and Anna signed my photos and asked where they were from. One was from last Fan Expo and the other was from the pre-show taping. I just love Zoie and Anna. If I could, I'd take you home with me!

And of course, I can't forgot KC Collins, he asked how I was doing. I told him "ah... I'm alive?" and I think he laughed - still love his smile. I seriously don't know how to answer that question. I usually give unexpected answers...

The ONLY people missing was Paul and Emmanuelle. I know Paul is funny and Emmanuelle would fit right in! We may request Emmanuelle to do the "Dancing Morrigan." If these 2 were at the panel, I think the roof would have exploded from too much laughter.

So what did I get signed?

8x10 photo signed!

A a bunch of personal pictures! They're from either Fan Expo 2011 or from the Pre-Show taping.

So, let's make this Fae Con happen, give the account a follow. Yes, shameless self promotion. I know we filled out the room... and with hundreds more that couldn't attend. And trust me, if 2 girls would visit from France... just imagine how BUSY and INSANE it would be if it's just Lost Girl ONLY CON at an ideal date!

And for ALL the pictures at the Q&A and Autograph Session, click here. I have 50 photos up (that's not a lot) but if you have photo and want to share, let me know, we'll find a way to group all the pictures and have one ginormous Lost Girl album...




PS: Sorry, some photos aren't in their proper angle cause Blogger is stupid and decided to auto rotate them inappropriately.
PPS: Wow, that was long... hope you enjoyed it though! UPDATE: adding new video from different angles previous video links: Courtesy of msckaren

Another day at the ball park!

I must say, it is really sad and disappointing that the Toronto Blue Jays are just spiraling and just can't win now. The team is now made up of mostly Triple-A players. They might as well go ahead and temporary rename the Toronto Blue Jays to the Toronto Las Vegas 51s.

The game wasn't fun for the Jays fan. But when you have a team that lost 3 starting picture, your All-Star Home Run champ and a energy spark plug, it is really hard to still compete.

But that's not the point of this blog.

The Blue Jays had a bobblehead doll promotions. I had 2 and of course must complete set. I had a spare ticket and offered it to a twitter friend from Australia. It was actually her second game but who doesn't love getting swag? I asked if she wanted to go to the bobblehead game and she said "what the heck is a bobblehead game?" I should have said "do you want to go to a game where they give out bobblehead."

Yes, I love swags... I am a sucker for freebies...

What's not to love?

You may remember this post from last year...

If not... you just need to see this picture

So, this year's bobblehead promotions were:
Brandon Morrow, Yunel Escobar and Ricky Romero.

First nicely inside their boxes...

Now out of the box

And of course, the back view.

They really made fun of Ricky and his flat brim hat and even Little Ricky Ro had the flat cap and his squinty eyes!

Now I wait for next year's promotion!

UPDATE: I was also reminded of the foul ball we got during the game. It is the first time that I got a foul ball after going to so many games!

Sad Truth of Canadian Olympians

Globe and Mail has an interesting article titled "With eyes of 2016, Canadian Olympic officials weigh price of gold"

The sad truth of Canadian Olympians is they can't get enough fundings. Now amount of government help will help them. There are just too many disciplines that needs the money and there is only so much to spread around.

Canada finished 1 Gold 5 Silver 12 Bronze
a total of 18 medals.

I am not knocking at our athletes. How can you not be proud of our Canadian Women's Soccer team winning the Bronze after a heartbreaking and TERRIBLE refereeing? They deserved an opportunity at Gold. It didn't happen. They said what they wanted and moved on and concentrate on a change a medal.

Or the heartbreak of the Canadian 4x100 men's relay team? DQ only because the tippy-toe of his foot stepped on the line. And have a read of this story. It really gives the meaning to be Canadian.

Why can't we get more corporate support? Is it always get something in return if I do something for you?

The only truly Canadian corporate sponsors for Olympic athletes are; Bell, RBC, Petro-Canada and Rona. Their advertisement were very prominent during the Olympics (I especially love the Rona one - across Canada relay of a screwdriver).

Other sponsors include P&G, Wal-mart but they're not Canadian companies. It's true there aren't that many Canadian own company but what has been a common theme is we, as viewers, aren't exposed to certain events in non-olympic year; gymnastics, triathlets, decathletes etc.. What we do see is the "popular" sports; tennis, soccer, golf, baseball, hockey, etc..

Although sponsorship is one of those interesting things, it's about business. I think there are lots of resource in Canada that can help but because of the politics of business, vast possibility of funds kind of just slip away.

Canadian companies that could sponsor athletes? Telus, Rogers, Home Hardware (but they already sponsor Special Olympics), Huskies, McCain Foods, Maple Leaf Food, Molson (even though it's now owned by Coors Brewery and it's probably not the best sponsor for athletes...), and all 5 major Canadian Banks (TD, CIBC, Scotia, BMO). These companies listed could be tapped for multi-billion dollars resource. But here's the issue; RBC is an official sponsor and in the world of business (as my limited business classes would have me understand is) when one major company has pour money in, it is almost always true other companies will not do anything due to the exclusive rights that they enjoy. The best example will be Scotiabank and the NHL. Scotiabank owns exclusive rights as sponsors of NHL and it is also a reason why you can get custom NHL logo on cheques that other banks cannot provide.

With that being said though, the past few Olympics broadcasts were actually a joint venture between Bell Media and Rogers. This is why you were able to view A LOT of Olympic events on CTV, TSN that are owned by Bell and on Rogers Sportsnet. Were it not for the Olympics, they would be completing for certain rights.

Getting back to my point is that exclusive rights sometimes messes up the untapped funding for athletes. BMO sponsors both the Toronto FC AND Montreal Impact soccer teams of MLS, and Canadian Soccer Association but because they're primary sponsor.

We really need more corporate sponsors on the amateur athletes of sports we don't hear about. How can we expect them to achieve in winning medal when the athletes themselves have to work for their own trainer, nutritionist and etc? Should we be satisfied with just 18 medals and a disappointing ONE gold medal finish? No. And this shouldn't be just about the athletes, the paralympic athletes are OFTEN overlooked.

I hope the Canadian Women's soccer team will be the inspiration that can help capture more corporate fundings for other Olympic sports because A LOT of us will never have an opportunity to experience the Olympic dream. It is through these athletes that we live our imaginations. They're the ones that inspires and brings a nation together.