Daily Archives: April 7, 2012
Fan Expo Heads West: An Interview With Fan Expo Vancouver’s James Armstrong
For many of Biff Bam Pop’s contributors and friends, August is a big time for us, since Fan Expo Canada touches down in Toronto, full of comic book creators, sci-fi and horror celebs and lots and lots of merchandise to be had. A highlight for JP Fallavollita and myself was the chance to meet Stan Lee a few years back – an awesome experience.
Now, the folks at Hobby Star Marketing have set their sights west, with Fan Expo Vancouver, running April 21-22 at the Vancouver Convention Centre. Event Co-ordinator James Armstrong was kind enough to answer some questions via email about the new iteration of the biggest fan experience in Canada.
Andy Burns: Why is 2012 the right time for Fan Expo to head west?
James Armstrong: Our team had several hurdles to deal with in expanding our schedule to include an event in Vancouver. One, is our flagship event, Fan Expo Canada is in August and has grown to one of the largest shows of its kind in the world. It takes about 18 months of planning and hundreds of moving pieces to make FEC happen, so we had to budget our time to make another event happen and that time is best for us at the beginning of the year. As far away from FEC as possible. Secondly, we wanted the Vancouver event to be at the Vancouver Convention Centre, and no where else. It turns out that is the same idea a lot of other events have because it was difficult for us to book space in the facility due to how busy they are with other events! And thirdly, we did not want to conflict with another event out West, especially with our friends at the Calgary Expo. Finally, early this year, all of these factors came together and we are excited to launch April 21-22.
Saturday at the Movies: The Cabin in the Woods (Spoilers)
We’ve been waiting for The Cabin in the Woods for a few years, right? Filmed three years ago, its release was delayed by the bankruptcy of MGM.
For a certain varieties of geeks, it’s a bit of a dream come true. Horror fans will find it to be a paean to their favourite genre, with plenty of scares and and gore to be found. Whedonites (guilty!) will be happy to see Jay Dub’s trademark dialogue and ability to poke holes in genre boxes. In addition, that strange breed of humanity that haunts TV Tropes will probably be all over this like flies on day old watermelon.
Alliance held a screening after Toronto ComicCon in March where a sold out crowd got to watch the film with director Drew Goddard (who is very tall, let me tell you), followed by a Q&A moderated by cinema guru Richard Crouse. That’s how I got to see it. It was uber-fun.
The film is at its core about what’s on the tin. It tells the story of five college students on their way to an old abandoned cabin in the woods. When they get there, horrible things happen. That’s all pretty much common sense, and easily gleanable from the title of the film and a basic knowledge of pop culture. But what follows will be considered spoilers. You can either ignore it and come back after you’ve seen it next weekend (and, yes, if nothing else I say registers, hear this: See it next weekend) or continue on in the interests of scientific inquiry.
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