Convention Pre-Planning – Part 4

Ok, I’m back from DragonCon, rested and ready to get back to Blogging!

I touched on Costume Contests last time, and I think that’s a topic that needs to be visited again.

So this week will be all about how to win a Costume Contest!!

The most basic rule of contests is to know your Contest. What are the rules? What are they judging you on? Who are the judges?

First off, make sure you actually sign up for the contest!! You have no idea how many people in amazing costumes never get to win a Contest because they never actually signed up!!

Also, make sure that you sign up in the right category. Some contests have different skill levels of competition. Some are just open to everyone and they judge everyone against each other, while others break the contestants up by “first timers”, “Journeyman” (meaning that you’ve competed before and know what you’re doing with costumes), “Expert” (meaning you’ve won a few contests before, or make costumes professionally), and “Master” (meaning that you win all the time). Make sure you sign up in the correct category, as you may get disqualified if you sign up as a beginner when you’re really an expert. Bad form!

Also, some contests divide the costumes up a bit more as well, to keep the superheroes from competing against the Sci Fi guys. If you’re not sure what category your costume belongs in, be sure to ask!

Also, don’t sign up for the Kids Costume Contest if you’re over the age requirement! That’s cheating!!

The next thing to consider is what are you actually being judged on? Is it a workmanship contest where the judges are going to be examining every seam and stitch on your costume to make sure it’s perfect? Or is it a skit contest where you have 3 minutes to do something on stage, and the better your skit, the better you score! Or, is it just a simple contest where they’re just judging your costume.

If it’s a Workmanship one, you had better make sure that your costume is perfect! If you’re wearing a period costume, make sure you’re not using plastic buttons on it!

If it’s a skit contest, the best way to win is to make the judges laugh!

And if it’s a standard costume contest, then you need to make sure that your costume blows the judges away!

And lastly, make sure you know who your judges are!

If you’re being judged by professional costumers, then you’re costume had better be up to snuff!

If you’re being judged by convention celebrities, then you need an attention grabbing costume.

And if you’re being judged by “Audience Participation” (my least favorite type of contest), then you may have to do something crazy to win!

So, here are some basic types of contests and what types of costumes work best for them:

First off – The Local Bar or Nightclub Halloween Costume Contest.

This can be a tough one to win. These are usually judged by the audience, and the audience is usually drunk. So you have to be very over the top with your costume to be able to grab their attention long enough to win.

Generally, the winners of these types of contests are hot chicks in skimpy outfits (naughty nurses, naughty cops, naughty cowgirls), people who do some kind of topical and current events related gag costume (a guy in a really bad mosquito costume calling himself “West Nile Virus”, a guy dressed as Bill Clinton with a “blow up” intern attached to his crotch, a person in a giant cardboard sandwich board with holes in it with a tag reading “Hanging Chad”), or some really awesome costume that is universally known (Robocop, Predator, KISS).

There are also variations that work well, like when there’s a team of hot chicks who dress up as KISS.

One Halloween I walked into a club here in New York and I was dressed as Robocop. I walked up to the bar to get a drink and someone handed me an envelope. Since the Robocop gloves make it impossible to open an envelope, I asked him what was in it, and he told me, “$200″. I asked what it was for, and he told me that I won the costume contest. I told him that I didn’t enter the costume contest, I just arrived. He told me he knew that, but that he also knew I was going to enter and was going to win. So I won the contest without ever even entering it.

There’s a pic of me as Robo with Mr. Paul Reubens!

Now, you may think that I win every costume contest with that suit, but you actually have no idea how many contests won’t let me enter! They see an awesome costume like that and assume that it’s store bought. You show me a store that sells Robocop suits like this, and I’ll eat it!

But that does happen all the time. Some contests won’t let store bought costumes in even if the costume isn’t store bought, but looks like it is. Right after I was rejected from getting on stage with my “store bought” Robo, a friend of mine got on stage and won the contest in his actually store bought Chewbacca costume.

You have to learn not to let those kinds of set backs get to you.

Another thing you will quickly learn about Bar and Club costume contests is how fickle the audience can be. You can have the whole room chanting your name while you’re on stage, and be about to win the contest, and then up comes a guy wearing a store bought Ghostbuster Jumpsuit. The DJ starts playing the Ghostbuster song, and next thing you know, I’m going home empty handed. It happens all the time.

Ok, that’s it for this week. Next week we’ll move on to costume contests at smaller conventions with celebrity judges!

As I leave, let me regale you with a story of meeting Ted Raimi in Philly. I’m a huge fan of his, and mentioned that I loved his character on Xena.

I still have no idea why Joxtrap would be so upset! I’m sure I pronounced Xena correctly!!

Until next week!

-Spat

Convention Pre-Planning – Part 3

Now that the Con Recovery phase is all done, it’s time to get back to planning for a convention!!

Ok, we’ve covered a lot so far. And there’s always more to cover! This Con Pre-Planning Blog can go on for years! But it probably won’t. Mostly because I get bored easily and will want to write about something else soon. Probably something to do with kittens and how they’re evil and must be stopped. With extreme prejudice. But in the meantime, we’re talking about Conventions.

So far we’ve covered hotel, flight, parking, passes, food, bags and where to spend your money. This week, let’s talk about the free side of cons!

You already should know how to spend your money at the show (we covered that last chapter), but what is there to do at the con for free?

First off, there are panels. Panels are one of the greatest inventions of the Con. It’s a giant room where you can sit down and be entertained by all your favorite actors, writers and artists, just like they were on TV in front of you. AND you get to ask them questions. And unlike the boring TV, here they actually answer you.

And you can ask just about anything you want! Most of them will have amazing stories about working on this movie, or that TV show, or writing or drawing this or that comic. It’s priceless stuff. And it’s FREE with your admission to the con!

The Comic Book guys will also hold classes and teach you some basics of how they draw/paint/color, etc. These kinds of experiences are completely unique, and you never know what’s going to happen next, or who might just pop in to join the conversation, or what awesome announcement or exclusive video clip you might get to see.

Another great free area is also a great pay area. It’s the Autograph Area!

As much as our guests would love for you to come by and buy an autograph, a lot of people forget that you can actually just walk up to the guests and say hi. Tell them you’re a fan, ask them a quick question, or even just shake their hand. Of course, if they have a line of people waiting for autographs, you do have to wait!

One thing I hear a lot from doing so many conventions a year (literally between 10 and 14 a year) is the obligatory “I just met that actor (So and So), and he was very rude to me.” At the end of every con, there are people who have a list of actors and actresses, and artists and writers that they now hate because they were rude, or gruff, or dismissive. I hear it all the time. And then, after they say it out loud, there’s always someone else who will pipe in with, “Really? I met (the same So and So) this weekend and he was super nice to me.”

Try to remember that the guests, though often actors, are people too. And as people, they have good days and bad days. You don’t know if they just got to the con after spending 4 hours sitting on a plane on the tarmac waiting to take off, landed 2 hours late due to bad weather, the airport lost their luggage, hotel bumped them because they were late checking in, the convention sat them right under an A/C vent and they’re freezing to death, it goes on and on (and I’ve actually heard all of this happen, many times, though never all of it to one person at one time). I’ve personally met many actors and actresses at cons over the years and absolutely hated them because of how rude they were. Then met them again, and they were super sweet. It really does all depend. Just like they say, “Never judge a book by its cover”, my rule is to meet someone three times. Best two out of three tells me if they’re actually nice or actually mean.

Remember though, if you’ve gone to any amount of conventions over the years, you’ve heard those horror stories about some guest who is rude and should be avoided, and I’m sure you’ve told your friends that you heard how rude someone was. And I’m sure you yourself have met one of those people and been surprised that they were actually nice. So my advice to you is simple. Please don’t go around and talk trash about con guests after only having met them once. Word does travel fast, and it’s not nice to gossip about guests that you’ve only met briefly, or only heard were mean.

That’s enough of that rant, just wanted to get it off my chest.

Another thing that’s (sort of) free to do is… COSTUME CONTEST!! Not only is it free (as long as you don’t count what it costs to make your costume), you have the chance to win stuff!

So, the question always is… how do I make sure I win…

Simple! First – get the most amazing costume ever. Second – win the contest.

See how easy that was?

In all honesty, I’ve judged and hosted a lot of costume contests over the years. And there are a few things that a lot of people miss when putting together costumes for competition.

1 – Footwear. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen an awesome sci-fi, or even historical or fantasy costume that is finished off with a pair of sneakers. Instant fail.

2 – Presence. Be there. Be the character. If you’re supposed to be evil, be evil. Don’t smile and be silly! Cosplay!

3 – Humor. Even evil people can be funny. And making the judges laugh goes a long way towards winning!

4 – Quality. I’m sure the licensed store bought costumes are great, but they’re not going to win the show! And cardboard almost always looks like cardboard.

5 – Originality. Ok, the 400th Rorschach to show up to the con is probably just as good as the 1st, but none of them are going to win the contest.

Well, we’re getting close to the time when the internet shuts down here. So I’ll wrap this up here. And I probably won’t be Blogging next week, as I’ll be down in Atlanta for DragonCon. So if you’re near the Marriott bar, stop by and say hi!

And for those who missed the Saturday Night after party in Chicago, you missed me getting to meet Dan Logan who plays the young Boba Fett in Star Wars Episode 2.

It being a party, we were a bit loose, and I did ask him if it makes him feel like less of a man to know that his character will grow to be the most awesome bounty hunter in the Galaxy and yet will be taken out by a blind guy, and a guy who’s been a Jedi for a week and a half.

I guess I’m not quite as tough as a blind Han Solo and a Jedi wannabe Luke Skywalker.

Where’s a good Sarlacc pit when you need one!

Until next time!

-Spat

Chicago Comic Con ‘09 Wrap-Up!

Well, last week was Chicago Comic Con, and it was AWESOME!! Exhausting, but awesome.

We had higher than ever attendance, in fact, it was our highest number of attendees ever at any convention we’ve ever held!! The dealer’s floor was PACKED! We had 100 more Artist Alley tables than last year, and we had almost 100 Media guests, our highest number at a show EVER!!!

This show absolutely broke records for us, and for a lot of our vendors, and our Artists.

Saturday afternoon I saw two Artists packing up to leave and I asked them why they were leaving so early, and they told me that they sold out of everything. They had nothing left. Unheard of!!

The panels were packed, the Q&A’s were awesome, and the nighttime programming and Meet and Greets ROCKED!!

The Media guests were super nice, and had fans lined up to meet them!

Highlights of the weekend for me….

Getting to introduce and moderate panels for Michelle Rodriguez and Kristanna Loken (both panels are available to watch on www.iclips.net). Both of these ladies are awesome! They both had great stories and are awesome to talk to.

Moderating the Star Wars Round Table. The back and forth banter was hilarious!

Seeing the footage from Mark Millar’s “Kick Ass!”. And the movie actually got picked up by a Studio in Chicago for release!!

Sitting in on the “Shooting the Sh!! with Mark Millar” panel. HILARIOUS!!

Getting a mention on the Thanks page of a comic (The Apocalypse Plan by Transfuzion Publishing).

Actually making it through Artists Alley and meeting (almost) all the Artists!

Well, I could sit here and write for hours on all the things that went on that weekend. Next time, you’ll just have to be there!

And of course, towards the end of the weekend, I ran into a guy that you all know and love, Edward James Olmos!!

I mentioned that I loved him on Battlestar! And then I told him I was a Cylon…

POW!!

Ok, next week we’ll be back with Convention Pre-Planning Part 3!!

-Spat

Chicago Comic CON!!!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Convention Pre-Planning Report to bring you…

A LIVE REPORT FROM CHICAGO COMIC CON!!!!

Of course, the show doesn’t actually start until tomorrow, but we’re here now setting up the show! The Volunteers are stuffing bags and laying out stacks of Wizard and ToyFare magazines, the Registration staff is alphabetizing badges, and the vendors and exhibitors are building their booths! It’s quite the site to see!

So, since we’ll be here this weekend setting up, I thought I’d take a break from the normal blog and just let everyone know that if you’re in the Rosemont/Chicago Illinois area this weekend (August 6-9), you should head on down to the convention center and get check out the con!

And, as I head back to abuse the Volunteers some more, I leave you with a story from the first time I met Witchblade herself, Yancy Butler. Note to self, don’t call her, Yancy “Fancy” Butler. She apparently doesn’t like that!

Next week I’ll be back with a report from Chicago Comic Con, and the week after, we’ll come back to Convention Pre-Planning part 3!!

-Spat

Convention Pre-Planning – Part 2

Ok, so back for another Blog post! Where did we leave off last week? Ahh yes. Planning to go to a Convention.

We’ve covered the hotel, flight, parking, passes, food and bags.

What else is there? Ahh yes, spending money!

Don’t kid yourself. You are going to spend money at the con. There’s just no way around it. How much and where is up to you, but it’s very difficult to go to a convention and not buy SOMETHING. Well, it’s difficult for me, but I’m a collector. You may have more self control and will power.

Things to get at a show – Autographs, photos with people, sketches, toys, comics, clothes, hats, costumes, props, games, etc. There is just so many things available!

First off, Autographs. I don’t generally collect signed 8×10’s of my favorite actors, I prefer to have a signed photo of me with the celeb, but more on that in the next chapter below. If you’re into collecting, and want to make sure you don’t miss out, be sure to check the convention website to see if you can pre-order the autograph ticket. By ordering it in advance you can guarantee that you’ll get your autograph, and possibly even get to cut the line to get your autograph first! Be sure to check the Convention store, or the particular celebs bio page to see what the details are. If you can’t pre-order, then you’re going to have to wait in line. Remember this simple rule of conventions –

Friday’s for Autographs and sketch card creating.
Saturday’s packed, on lines you’ll be waiting.
Sunday’s for shopping, you little Pack Rat.
And those are the rules of Conventions per Spat!

Learn it. Know it. Live it.

So, get your autographs out of the way on Friday if you can.

Getting a signature on an item you bring from home is also an option. Generally, Comic artists and writers will sign their comics for free. While the Movie and TV actors will usually charge to sign their DVDs and posters.

Now, getting a photo with the celeb of your choice is a different story! Once upon a time that was super easy. Just walk up and ask. But then some of the guest started to only take the pic with their Polaroid camera and then charge you for it. Soon, they began to charge for a photo with them, even if taken with your camera. Then some guests just decided not to take the pics at all, since it usually took a bit of time to do, and if the line was long, taking a pic with every person on it, as well as signing autographs and chatting for a moment just took forever. I would see it happen at every show. The celeb standing there with their arm around a fan while another fan stood there asking, “Which button it it?” “Oops, I think I turned it off.” “Did the flash work that time?” “You blinked.” “Blurry.” Well, you get the idea. It took forever.

So then photographers joined in! We use a guy for the Wizard shows that we call Froggy. Talk to him at the next show and you’ll know why.

Froggy, and his company Froggy’s Photos will take a professional photo of you with the celeb of your choice, in a properly lit photo session at the show. And then they’ll print out a high gloss 8×10 for you! His prices are reasonable, and at the end of it, you have an awesome keepsake to take home with you, or, do what I do, and bring it to the celeb and have them sign it. Some guests do charge to even sign these pics, but some don’t. Be sure to ask first!

Personally, I’ve had about 15 Froggy photos taken in the last few years at conventions, and I love them.

Ok, sketches and then we’ll take a break until next week!

A lot of people who don’t actually spend time in Artist Alley at conventions just assume that it’s the place where artists sell art. There are also artists there who are famous for a comic or character that they created or worked on who will be there signing copies of the comic.

But what a lot of the Movie fans miss out on that the Comic folks have figured out is… the artists will also do custom drawings for you! That’s right! If you’re a fan of a particular character that this artist is famous for (and sometimes even if their not), they can draw it for you. Of course, there’s usually a fee for it, and some of the work is not done while you wait (you drop off your sketchbook and then pick it up later), but it can end up being THE keepsake of the con. You’ll see people rushing towards Artist Alley as soon as the doors open on Friday just so they can get on the list for a commission at the show!

Next time you’re at a con with an Artist Alley, I highly suggest you head over and see what the Artists there have going on.

Also, be sure to support the Indie Comic folk! Yes, always buying comics from Marvel and DC is great, but once in a while, head over to Artist Alley and check out some of the self published stuff! You never know, you may just find a gem, or the work of an up and comer who will move on to working on huge comics soon after! Or occasionally, you’ll find an Indie comic that will soon be picked up and turned into a movie! And then you can brag to all your friends that you have a first printing of that story, signed by the artist and writer. “Yeah, I picked it up at Chicago Comic Con. Then it went all mainstream.”

Ok, we’ll take a break here and come back next week with Part 3!

As I take a break for the weekend, I think back to Wizard World Philly 2009, and the time I met Michael Papajohn (the guy who shot Uncle Ben in Spider-Man). Super nice guy. He mentioned that he had to get to the airport to catch his flight. I asked him, “if you don’t get there in 30 minutes, is the flight free?” He replied with something along the lines of, “I’ll show you how free it is”. And then he robbed me at fingerpoint.

I’m such an idiot. It’s Dominos that has the 30 minutes or it’s free policy, not Papajohns!

Oh well.

One day I’ll learn!

-Spat

Convention Pre-Planning – Part 1

Heading off to a convention can be an exciting, yet daunting task. There’s just so much to get done before the big day! Booking travel, hotels, con passes… Then there’s packing, getting your costume ready, gathering all your singables in one place…

It’s enough to drive lesser people mad! So how do you avoid that last minute burst to get to the con? PLANNING!!

First off, as soon as you spot a convention on the horizon that you might want to go to, BOOK THE HOTEL ROOM!!! Hotel rooms usually can be booked well in advance, and can be canceled up to a week (sometimes a day) before the show without penalty. Make sure about the policy at that particular hotel and BOOK THAT ROOM!! There’s no worst feeling in the world than finally deciding that you definitely want to do a con, and then finding out that the hotel is sold out.

Next, start looking at travel. Flights are trickier, and tougher to cancel, but there are some websites out there that can track airfares and will let you know if the price for the ticket will be going up in the future, or going down. So keep an eye on that scale, and when the price hits rock bottom, book it!!

Of course, if you’re driving, or the con is super local to you, then you don’t have to worry about it. Though parking is another expense that you’ll need to keep in mind in that case. Hotels usually charge anywhere from $10 to $30 per day for parking, so keep that in mind!

As for passes to the show, these can run anywhere from $10-$20 for the day, all the way up to over $1,000 for a super awesome VIP Package. As with booking a room, ordering your passes in advance can save you a lot of money, and a lot of hassle. Ticket prices are usually cheaper if you buy them in advance, and ordering them in advance generally saves you from having to wait on the dreaded Ticket Buyer’s Line!!!

So, now you’ve got your hotel set, your flight, and your pass to the show! What else do we need?

FOOD!!!

Don’t kid yourself, keeping fed and hydrated at the show is super important! And I’m not talking about just fast food that you can grab and go with, I’m talking about something a little more substantial.

Another great help at the show are Granola Bars. They come in all sorts of awesome flavors, they fit in your pocket, and they can help tide you over until your next chance to sit down and eat.

Bags, Tubes and rubber bands. All weekend long you’re going to be picking up freebie items, goodies, posters, magazines, toys, artwork and who knows what else! A BIG shopping bag will help you carry a lot of stuff, and some rubber bands will keep the posters at bay. Don’t forget to bring one of those Poster Tubes to hold them in so they don’t get destroyed! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up an awesome movie poster at a con, only to unroll it when I get home and find it’s been trashed! Poster tubes fix that problem!

Ok, we’ll take a little break here and come back and continue the list next week!

And to close this week, here’s a pic from when I met Doug Jones! He’s one of our guests at Chicago Comic Con in a few weeks. I met him at another show and just had to tell him how big a fan I was of him when he was on the Monkees!

Apparently, DAVEY Jones was a Monkee. DOUG Jones is a Lefty.

Until next week!

-Spat

Volunteering 101

Greetings Volunteer. You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada.

Or something like that.

So, you say you love going to conventions but you hate standing in line? Well you know who doesn’t spend all their time at the con standing in line? The Volunteer staff. They’re the ones who make the lines!

And I know what you’re saying, “This elite team of super beings would never let me into their group, there must be a waiting list and a hell week or some kind of body altering hazing ritual where you get abused to no end to join”.

And you’re wrong! Well, except about the abuse. There’s plenty of abuse. But everything else is wrong.

The fact is that the average convention rarely ever has enough Volunteers! I mean, can you ever really have too much free labor?

So what are the perks of being a Volunteer (aside from being abused)?

Glad you asked! You get:

Free admission to the show.
A free Staff t-shirt.
A bag of swag.
A chance to hang out “behind the scenes” at the con with all the cool staff members, artists, and celebs.
Abuse, and lots of it!

And all it costs you is a minimum of 10 hours of your time!

Some things you might find yourself doing at the show include –

Line control, guarding tables while Artists and Media guests attend panels or take lunch, sitting with Celebrities while they sign autographs, escorting Artists and Media guests to and from their panels, organizing and running panel rooms, human pincushion, working at registration checking in attendees, crowd control, human punching bag, making gift bags for the VIPs, signing in new Volunteers, food tester, door duty, restocking the free swag table, human petri dish, and washing windows.

It’s hard work, but it’s very rewarding. Most people who Volunteer for conventions don’t enjoy going to shows as a paying attendee afterward. It’s just not the same. Being in the mix with the action and hanging out with the celebs and guests makes standing in line for an autograph or a panel just seem like a lot of work.

So, if you’re interested in becoming one of Wizard Worlds “Elite” Volunteer Strike Force Gamma 700 members (I just made that whole Strike Force Gamma 700 thing up, but it totally sounds cool, huh?), head over to the Volunteer Page and follow the instructions there. Just keep in mind that this is the Chicago Comic Con 2009 page. But there’s a new page for every one of our Wizard cons on the Registration Page.

Volunteer Page

Would you like to know more?

Just remember, getting close to the celebs at the show is not always a good thing. Like the time I met up with Luciana Carro from Battlestar Galactica. I made one comment about her wearing a white tank top (is that now known as a “Husband Beater”), and she took me out!

But don’t let that discourage you! Sign up to be a Volunteer! You’re our last hope!!!

-Spat

Wizard World Philly After Report

Well, it’s been a few days since the show, and it’s been a couple of weeks since I posted here, so I figured now was the time!

Sorry about the gap in Blogs, all six people who read this, but as the Coordinator for Wizard World, the last 2 weeks before the con are the absolutely most insane!

So, here’s what I learned at Wizard World Philly….

No matter how much you plan for a show, there are a million things you forgot to even think about.

Overall, I was hugely impressed with everyone at the show! It seemed to me that all the fans, media guests, artists and creators, vendors and dealers and my volunteer team and the Wizard staff – all had a great time. So that’s a plus.

Can we do better next year? Of course! I have so many new plans for next year to make it 10x better than this year.

Hopefully everyone reading this was there, and enjoyed it. Be sure to head on over to YouTube and look for some video from the Costume Contest, where I abuse one of the Wizard Staff Members, Larry. It’s HILARIOUS!! I almost feel bad about doing it. Almost.

Let’s see, what else did I do at the con…

Wandered over to the Hotel Bar Friday night and bumped into Mixed Martial Arts Fighter – Matt Serra!

He was so nice! I commented about how I thought he’d be bigger in person…

And that’s the last thing I remember until Wednesday.

Odd.

Anyway, I had a great time in Philly, hopefully I got to meet a few of you Blog Readers! And don’t be afraid to stop by and say “hi” at the next one!

-Spat

Con First Timers

I get asked this a lot from people I meet who have never been to a show, “What are Comic Comic Conventions really like? Will there be anything for me to do? Will I get bored?”

Really?

OF COURSE THERE ARE THINGS TO DO!! You have to try really hard to get bored at a convention.

But remember, the convention isn’t going to walk up to you and just hand you a list of things to do.

Oh wait, we actually DO hand you a list of things to do! It’s called a “Program Guide”! in there you’ll find a list of all the people there signing autographs, all the artists who’ll be around sketching for people and signing comics! It also has a list of special exclusives (that everyone else is going to buy and pop up on “The ‘Bay” that night) and… Programming!!

I’m always amazed at how many people who attend conventions spend all their time in the Autograph Area, Artist Alley and the Dealer’s Room, but never wander into the Panel Rooms!

Panels are an awesome way to learn about all sorts of cool stuff. You can ask questions of your favorite Comic and Media Celebs, learn how to draw, paint and sculpt like the pros, watch some cool movies, trailers, or premieres, and even check out some really cool contests!

We’ve spent a lot of hours putting together a huge set of panel rooms that cover a full range of topics from Media, to Kids, to Comics, to Toys and we even have something called, “The Wizard School”! Wizard School is where the biggies from the Comics industries come in and teach you how they do what they do! Do you have any idea what these guys could charge for a private painting or drawing lesson? And these panels are included with your admission! It’s FREE (after you pay to get in to the convention)!!

So why not take advantage of it?

And this year, our toy panels are being run and moderated by the staff of ToyFare magazine, and our comic panels are being run and moderated by the staff of Wizard magazine. So this is a great chance to meet in person the people whose articles you read each month in our magazines!

Be sure to head over to WizardWorld.com and click the Programming tab on the top of the page. All the awesome craziness that we have going on there will be listed as soon as we have it written up.

You’ll find all you need to know about movie screenings, parties, events and panels. Check it out and be sure to print out the Pocket Guide and make notes on it, set your alarm, and be sure to be at the panels on time!

Well, it’s about time for me to get out of here for the weekend.

This week I’ll be leaving you with a little story about the time I met John Schneider. I walked up and mentioned to him that I was a big fan of his. He thanked me and asked if I watched his show when I was a kid. I told him I did, and mentioned that “One Day at a Time” was my favorite show growing up, and that he did a lot to make Janitors seem cool.

And he punched me.

I didn’t even get to ask him what Valerie Bertinelli was really like. Oh well.

So, Shcneider the Janitor hates me.

You know, he kind of looks like a younger version of the Dad from Smallville.

Odd.

Oh well, until next week!

-Spat

Motor City Part 2

Well, after a quick jaunt to say hi to some old and new friends at the show, I did marvel at how much bigger the Motor City show has gotten over the years. I think the last one I went to was in 2001 or so, and in comparison, this show was 1,000 times bigger.

The Great Lakes Garrison of the 501st Stormtrooper Legion were on hand to take pics with fans and escort the Star Wars actors.

And I did manage to catch one Star Wars personality taking a break with a great read –

That’s everyone’s favorite choking victim, Richard LeParmentier (Admiral Motti) enjoying a Wizard Magazine!

Another great thing I found at Motor City was the Froggy Photo Booth!

For those that have never seen this, it’s basically a way to get a professional photo taken of you with your favorite celebrity at the con! Froggy then prints it out, and then you can take it over to the celeb and have them sign it! It’s a GREAT souvenir!

I know Froggy has been doing this for a little while, and in April Wizard signed Froggy up to work at all of our 2009 shows! So be sure to head over to his booth and check out the schedule of photo sessions, buy your ticket to the ones you want, and be there at the right time to get a great bit of memorabilia from the show!

Yeah, that was totally a plug for something at a future Wizard show, but I had to write it as the boss was looking over my shoulder.

Anyway.

One thing Motor City did have that Wizard doesn’t is…. Playboy Playmates!

Since Wizard is considered more of a Comics and Family show, suitable for all ages, we don’t have a Playmate area like some cons. Is it a good thing? A bad thing? Who knows.

I wanted to invite some of them to a Wizard show, or at least pretend I was going to invite them just so they would have to be nice to me, but I’m just too nice a guy and can’t do that to them.

Wow, I actually wrote that last sentence with a straight face!

HA! I totally pretended like I could get them a table at other cons! But I’m evil.

One of the models, Josie Lee, actually ended up picking up a Slave Leia costume from a buddy of mine that runs Leiasmetalbikini.com

I got a pic with Josie while she was wearing the outfit. I mentioned before the pic was taken that if she were my slave girl, I would totally be her Jabba…

…so she wrapped the chain around my neck and choked me.

I really have to be more careful about what fantasies I talk about in public, huh?

-Spat