http://www.excal.on.ca/cm...amp;task=view&id=6159
There is nothing wrong with being a nerd - they just want to have fun
Blow my circuts, it's Data!
When I went to my first Fan Expo at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre last year, the sheer volume of costumed people present astonished me. This year, I expected to see more of the same and, once again, I was surprised. If one in 20 people were dressed up last year, someone must have sent a memo that I did not receive: it changed to one in 10! The costumes were amazing. They were incredibly intricate and were probably very costly. Everywhere you looked there were Jedis, Storm Troopers, Super Mario Brothers and even Ghostbusters. Extraordinarily, they were all very friendly and willing to pause to pose for photographs.
Mandalorian Mercs out for blood or comic books, either one's fine.
"Everyone who comes to these Expos feels like a part of an extended family, and a sense of camaraderie stems from
that"
- Jen Albert
This year's guest list was made up of an eclectic bunch that included director Wes Craven (Scream and Nightmare on Elm Street), Brent
Spiner (Lt. Cmdr. Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation), Shawnee Smith (from the Saw films), Sean Astin (Samwise from the Lord of the Rings trilogy),
Edward James Olmos (Admiral Adama from Battlestar Galactica) and even Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon! And that was just a taste. There were simply
too many guests to list. I was fortunate enough to be able to meet Brent, Sean and Shawnee, and they were all amazingly friendly, confident and funny!
Surprisingly, during the Edward James Olmos's Q-and-A, Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol of Battlestar Galactica) came on stage. They teased the audience and
gave some slight spoilers about the series finale for Battlestar.
Eward James Olmos and Aaron Douglas discuss life, Battlestar Galactica, and, well, is there anything else?
"The ending is just terrible!" proclaimed Olmos. "The audience is going to be put through the ringer. I literally cannot tell
you anything about it because 'they' would kill me and by 'they,' I mean the audience. It's that shocking!" Although filled beyond
maximum capacity, the session was a mix of lighthearted humour and behind-the-scenes stories. They also reflected on what the show meant to them, and overall
it was an excellent Q-and-A session. Astin, on the other hand, did not have a very enjoyable Q-and-A. He spent most of his time plugging a possible Goonies
sequel (to sum up, no one knows) and explained his reasoning behind writing a book entitled, There and Back Again: An Actor's Tale. Spiner displayed an
abundance of humour, some of which was directed at my photographer brother Daniel, the press in general and myself.
