Tsukino Con 2015 Update!

By James Robert Shaw

SailorMoon

While attending Fan Expo Vancouver 2014, I had the pleasure of spending time at the table of one of my favourite anime conventions, Tsukino Con. During the three days of Fan Expo only, they were selling passes to the 2015 event at half the price. I parted with the bare amount of $25 for a VIP pass. Mother raised no fool.

But while more than the purchase of a pass was on my mind, I was eager to probe for any information they were willing to part with too. And with what they parted with excited me.

There is a theme to the Tsukino Con (i.e. 2013 was magical girls) every year. In 2015, big boys with mechanized toys will best be served. Boys and girls, it is time to dig out your Veritechs, your Gundams and yes, even your combiner robots. The theme for 2015 will be “Mechs!”

And my second piece of news is unconfirmed, for now, but I heard that voice artist Tracey Moore (Care Bears, Sailor Moon, and George Shrinks) may be a guest at their upcoming con.

I believe there will be as many good guests this year as there was last year and on them alone it is worth the price of admission. ButI have to keep in mind that what will help make 2015 great is what helped make 2014 such a success, and that is the fans themselves.

Contest Alert: My Friend Monster!

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

unnamedmonsterMy Friend Monster is having a delightful little contest. And for this contest all you have to do is to suggest the name for a new “super” monster. If your name for the new monster is picked from a list of entries, you will win a pair of tickets to Victoria’s Ultimate Hobby and Toy Fair.

This fair is presented by Cherry Bomb Toys and will take place on April 27, 2014 in Victoria, British Columbia at the George R. Pearkes Community Recreation Centre.

My Friend Monster was started in 2009 by artist Terri Wild and is the premier friend placement agency for handmade monsters. You can follow My Friend Monster on their official Facebook page.

I Hope One Day, You’ll Find Watership Down

By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)

This is another pleasant Youtube find. This time the video is young Amy Leerae from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Leerae wrote a song based off the works of British author Richard Adams. Although the song Watership Down was originally written in 2012, Leerae has since changed the lyrics.

This writer is hoping that Leerae will one day record this song. I agree with Youtube user Scott Welch, that a cello and violin as backing instruments could only enhance this song. To some this may be a song about finding the one you love but I find it is a message to find a place where you could be happy either physically or spiritually.

I’ve listened to Leerae’s other works and I believe she has a promising career ahead of her if theatre doesn’t work out. She could become a muse by inspiring others to find their Watership Down.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dwOFyPdIPw&w=560&h=315%5D
 

[Fan Expo Vancouver] Rue Morgue Magazine’s Festival of Fear Spotlighted!

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

festival-of-fear

Rue Morgue Magazine’s Festival of Fear, Westcoast edition is set to take up most of the stage at Fan Expo Vancouver 2014. Last year saw the première of Death Do Us Part, a horror film that is very similar to A Little Bit Zombie in theme — where wedding bell jitters can spell doom.

This year’s spotlight will be on WolfCop, a tale of a police officer who ends up with lycanthropy. And just which kind of masters he can end up serving will become the big question of the day. This movie has the potential to make it big in the cult film market, and the filmmakers will be on hand to answer questions along with other guests to fuel the fire for what can be a wonderfully horrific weekend.

Continue reading “[Fan Expo Vancouver] Rue Morgue Magazine’s Festival of Fear Spotlighted!”

Is Rama in The Raid 2: Berandal the next Golgo13 or John McClane? A Movie Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

raid_2_movie_poster_1

The Raid 2: Berandal certainly owes a great debt to North American films like Die Hard, The Godfather and Kill Bill. They created a standard for how to make a gangland movie as violent as hell, and with censorship standards different in other countries, some films from Korea (like I Saw the Devil) can easily show just how man’s inhumanity to man can easily be inflicted on-screen. In the world of Indonesia, life is based on survival of the fittest. This gangland tale is loosely based on the idiom that says, “There is no honour amongst thieves.”

Rookie cop Rama (Iko Uwais) is asked to go undercover in order to find out how far the mob’s influence has reached into his own police force in the city of Jakarta. To go deep will not be an easy task and if he gets discovered, it will put his family at risk.

First he must be made to look like another troublemaker and be tossed into prison. Once in, he has to befriend the son of one of these kingpins, Ucok (Arifin Putra). In a prison riot, Rama saves this miscreant from death and Ucok’s father, Bangun (Tio Pakusdewo), owes a debt to Rama and makes him his son’s new bodyguard.

Continue reading “Is Rama in The Raid 2: Berandal the next Golgo13 or John McClane? A Movie Review”

Canadians can Howl at the Moon for Crowdfunding Wolfcop’s World Premiere

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Wolfcop Poster

Fans of horror can howl at the moon to help bring Wolfcop to theatres. For now, it’s set to make its presence at Fan Expo Vancouver, April 18th to 20th, with sneak previews from parts of the movie. Director Lowell Dean (13 Eerie), Makeup FX artist Emersen Ziffle (Curse of Chucky) and Wolfcop actor Leo Fafard (Hungry Hills, I ♥ Regina) will be on site to answer any burning questions fans may have for this film, and to strike a few poses in between! This will also be the first chance for fans to purchase the golden ticket – a guaranteed seat to see this film when it makes its theatrical premiere, which is still to be determined.

Special “transformations” (a panel discussion) will take place April 18 6pm -7pm; April 19 1-2PM and April 20 1-2 pm during this show. This wolf will trot on over to Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo and Fan Expo Regina next before it hits select theatres in Canada on June 6, 2014.

An Indiegogo campaign will then follow to help build awareness for this film as it makes its globe-trotting debut at film festivals in the coming months.

Details are still forthcoming for US distribution. But interest has been high and it should get a distributor in May!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVd9eTQDbUU&w=560&h=315%5D