British Columbia Archives | Otaku No Culture

Fan Expo Vancouver’s Rollout of Guest Announcements is Looking Good!

What who’s on first at Fan Expo Vancouver is a good start, but can we guess what’s on second? (borrowing from Abbott and Costello)

FAN EXPO Vancouver (FXV) has unveiled its first round of exciting guests for their 2025 show and more is expected in the coming weeks! Alan Tudyk, known for his roles in Firefly, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Resident Alien, and A Knight’s Tale will appear on Saturday and Sunday of the con as a featured guest.

Fans of Tudyk’s impressive career won’t want to miss this chance to meet the beloved actor, whose work spans TV, film, and animation.

Additionally, appearances from three voice actors from the popular animated series Hazbin Hotel were announced last week–with Erika Henningsen, Blake Roman, and Amir Talai also making their way to Vancouver this February (the first time they’ve appeared at a con in Canada together!)

Hazbin Hotel Cast

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What’s on Stage for Halloween Victoria 2024? The Scares Don’t Have To Be Real

Instead of offering the usual list, the focus here is what live theatre performances are being offered this year for a fun filled Halloween Victoria, BC

Halloween Victoria at the Legislature Buildings

Just what has changed this year for Halloween Victoria is that there are some new acts involved in celebrating the season and some fond returning staples. While this list is not meant to be comprehensive, the focus is with what live theatre performances are being offered over the same ol’ same ol’.

In a nutshell, they include Discover the Past’s Ghostly Walks, Galey Farms’ Festival of Fear and Ocean View / Saanichton Corn Mazes Fright Nights. It seems some local neighbourhood style events have disappeared, and they might make a comeback when nobody is worried about Covid. But as for other semi-regular shows, they are mentioned in the Honourable Mention section.

Also, thanks goes to the Theatre Victoria Facebook group for helping me compile this list. Presented in alphabetical order are:

ATOMIC VAUDEVILLE PRESENTS:
CABARET #88 CRONE-O-PHOBIA

Join Victoria’s own Wyrd Sisters Kelly Hobson and Amanda Butler on a journey to the Crone Zone featuring cats, tradwives, and a bucket of pig’s blood. They will be asking questions like: Who is Perry O’Menopause? What comes after Brat Summer? And what’s that Blood Moon all about?

All this and more in Atomic Vaudeville’s first Halloween Spectravaganza at our new venue, Fellowship Hall!

Atomic Vaudefille Crone

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Dave Morris’ Sentimental 52 Stories Returns For a One Night Engagement

In what makes this live-theatre monologue style show special is that Dave Morris has 52 Stories to tell, and he manages to breeze through them all in a tight act!

Playing Oct 5, 2024
Georges P. Vanier Secondary
4830 Headquarters Road
Courtenay, BC

Tickets available through Eventbrite

Who needs the Bard of Avon when Dave Morris is around? After a successful run at the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival, he’s confirmed his latest work, 52 Stories, will not be shelved, but rather be transformed into an autobiography, and he’ll bring this show back upon request and quite possibly when his book is ready to hit shelves!

Although most of his improv and Paper Street Theatre productions are offered to residents of Victoria, BC, first, there’s a handful of acts that do tour, depending on when he’s been asked to guest lecture elsewhere or hired to. His stage presence can only be described as down to earth, and the tone he uses to engage audiences with his tales is melodic. Whether he uses that in his magic act, or during an improv moment, it all depends on engaging the audience in amusing ways. And when he’s a hard core nerd, that helps a lot too!

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Surviving The City Can Be Rough. In Volume 3: We Are the Medicine What’s Examined is Based on Real Life.

In this graphic novel series, Surviving the City, isn’t just about how one culture is dealing with colonialism, but rather with how many other lives can get affected at the same time.

HighWater Press
Spoiler Alert

Some knowledge of what the graphic novel series, Surviving the City, wants to educate is required to acknowledge what the latest instalment Volume 3: We Are Medicine, hopes to heal. Ever since the news about finding a mass grave of children near a former residential school in Kamloops broke out in 2021, there were a lot of protests and finger pointing. The world blamed people in prominent positions of power of the atrocity. Even now, the after-effects are still ongoing. Some reconciliation has happened since, but what’s presented here as fiction is coming true in the real world after reading “Chief says grave search at B.C. residential school brings things ‘full circle’” from the Kelowna Capital News.

This story by Tasha Spillett (pictured above left) makes up the backdrop where Miikwan and Dez are thinking about their futures. This author/educator/public speaker strives for a world where multiculturalism is embraced and everyone is treated with compassion. It’s basically what Gene Roddenberry envisioned for Star Trek, and everything Sisko would fight for when he travelled back in time and became part of the protests for equal rights in “Past Tense, Parts One and Two (Deep Space 9).”

In this story, these youths want to make the world a better place. They will soon graduate, and instead of figuring out what to wear for their last prom, these two indigenous teens change their plans and want to help after this news broke out. These are wonderful kids. Even Dez, the protagonist from the first two books, gets involved! After her own dealings with “The System,” how she deals with authoritarianism is important too. Continue reading “Surviving The City Can Be Rough. In Volume 3: We Are the Medicine What’s Examined is Based on Real Life.”

When These Cursed Waters Aren’t As Scary. Why Do We Love The Creature of Lake Okanagan?

Now available to view on Prime Video (USA) and purchase on the official website.

Small Town Monsters is taking a break by doing something different. Instead of searching for Bigfoot in Cursed Waters: Creature of Lake Okanagan, they are investigating the legends and recent sightings of Ogopogo! This creature that’s the mascot of Kelowna, British Columbia has been sighted several times in recent years, and it seems that’s holding steady.

Ever since it was “discovered” as early as 1872 (by settlers), and perhaps longer by indigenous tribes, what makes this documentary compelling is with what locals believe it represents. This work is better because what’s presented here differs from what Josh Gates offered when he visited back in 2009 (with the episode airing in 2010), and also the TV series Monster Quest.

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The Vintage Tempest’s Fan Expo Vancouver 2024 Diary, Convention Report and Thoughts

Not every guest celebrity was easily accessible at Fan Expo Vancouver 2024, and thankfully one moment made this year memorable.

Fan Expo Vancouver 2024 is over, and it took a while for me to unpack everything that I had enjoyed from it. This event’s 15th anniversary is approaching, Informa Connect has not started planning or taking in suggestions on what to offer. Maybe they don’t want to announce plans have started because this is their 13th show and there’s a superstition with this number. A year was lost due to the pandemic

Although not everyone noticed, the sections where the stage, photo ops and autograph tables are located was changed around. The shuffling was done because there’s more space to relocate some things. Perhaps the more noticeable aspect is more anime and k-pop style content. As for why there isn’t as much industry support and sponsorship, perhaps that’s because they’re not what the organisers want to focus on. Instead, they want to be engaged with the local groups and communities that exist in those cities this company has an annual show.

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