I saw Bruce Campbell.
I spoke with Bruce Campbell!
I got Bruce Campbell's autograph!
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
But let's back up a little first.
Yes, today was the second and last day of my first ever Fan Expo experience, and it was just as memorable and eventful as Friday night.
Well, not right away. The first part of my day was spent waiting in line. After packing up my things, putting on my Victorian shirt and Spike heart necklace and slicking my hair back with styling cream that turned my normally brown locks pink, I had arrived in Toronto at about 10:30am, and was at the south building of the Convention Center at about quarter to 11...to find a nice long line just to get into the show room. A half hour later I was finally inside, and immediately went to the celebrity autograph section to get a sense of the line up for the first autograph session of the day with Mr. Campbell. I got there just as the guys running the booth were explaining to other convention goers that the tickets had been sold out, but once hearing that I had a ticket they ushered me to the line up off to the side. At first glance the line didn't seem so long; but then I realized it continued behind the curtain and snaked all along the wall. So I got on the end of it, determined to wait it out (hey, this is why God invented video iPods). Nearly two hours I waited as the line slowly snaked it's way around. While we waited the volunteers at the Expo wrote down our names on post-it notes to put on the items we want signed (the woman behind me had an action figure from Army of Darkness that was maybe a foot tall; I don't know how anyone could sign that) and gave us some guidelines; no personalization's, no pictures, etc. But then we were back out from behind the curtain, and the man of the hour was in view.
Now, for those of you unfamiliar with Mr. Campbell's work, he's been in movies and television (currently he's in the TV show Burn Notice) and he's written two books. But his biggest claim to fame is starring in the Evil Dead trilogy, directed by Sam Raimi. I love those movies, and I've been a big fan of Mr. Campbell ever since. I was not alone; from what I hear he was one of if not the most popular celebrities there that weekend, with the event organizers adding another block of tickets while we were all in that first line. And I was fine right up until only maybe four people were ahead of me. That was when the nerves started to hit, but also a lot of excitement. I had my book ready, one of his, entitled Make Love* The Bruce Campbell Way, a novel about him trying to make it in an A-list movie (it's very funny, I'd definitely recommend it). And finally it was my turn to go up. And you know what? He was totally cool. Well, the first Evil Dead movie came out the year I was born, so you gotta think he's been doing this kind of thing for a long time. The first thing he said to me was "Hi there sweetheart", and when he saw what I had for him to sign he complimented me on my choice of books. He chatted me up as he signed it, asking what I did for a living, and I rambled something about being a librarian and reading stories to kids. He asked if I get a big crowd for that sort of thing, and I replied that we get a fair size. He said he's glad libraries are still around, and I said yeah, thank God for that (or something silly; like I said I was nervous). He handed back my book, said "Thanks dear", I thanked him very much and moved off to the side. It was all of twenty seconds, if that, and as I moved away I had a moment of Holy cow, did I really just do that? I stopped to look at my signature on the inside title page of my book. It is indeed there, written in blue. Again, EEEEEEEEEEEEE! And I knew that anything after that would just be gravy.
Still, by that point it was 1:30pm, and there was so much more to do! After refuelling with a slice of pepperoni pizza I wandered around the convention, looking at the wares of the vendors, helping myself to free comics and goodies at the booths for DC, Marvel, etc., checking out the gaming stations. The TVs that aired Big Bang Theory on Friday were now showing Supernatural. So much to see. But I kept an eye on the time, because there was one more thing I wanted to participate in; a panel discussion on vampires in fact and fiction (no surprise there).
I had to leave the show room and go up a floor to get to the room holding the discussion. It was about 10 to 3, and there was a line. Seeing how small the room was from an open door I had a moment of panic; would they be able to fit us all in? Fortunately, I managed to get a chair way off to the side. Unfortunately, from where I was sitting I could barely see the table with our panelists. There were five women seated up there, one of whom was an editor for Rue Morgue magazine, and she was the one who led the discussion. The four panelists consisted of Elizabeth Miller, a former professor and an expert in vampire literature; Nancy Kilpatrick, who wrote the Power of the Blood series; Karen Dales, who wrote Angels of Death; and Karen Armstrong, who wrote Bitten. (I could not see Ms. Armstrong at all from where I was sitting. Only when she leaned forward could I catch a glimpse of her.)
Despite my visual problems it was a very interesting discussion. The authors had different ideas on what makes a vampire a vampire, like whether or not to focus on the horror aspect of it or the fantasy. Many points were brought up that I hadn't considered before, like the vampire being the only acceptable portrayal of the alpha male or alpha female in fiction, or that some publishers argue that when a democrat is president then vampires are popular, whereas if a republican is president werewolves are in. Many of these writers were not big on the romanticizing of vampires, like in Twilight ("Sparkle Vampires"). Their argument was why bother making Edward a vampire if you're going to take the bite out of him? (Hear Hear) I was very impressed with Ms. Miller in particular; I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who knows as much about vampire fiction, and particularly about Dracula, than her. She shed light on a few pieces of information I didn't know, like how Dracula didn't really become famous until the 1920s, long after Stoker had died, and that Stoker definitely did not base Dracula on Vlad the Impaler, only borrowing the name. I may have to read her book.
When the floor was opened for questions most people asked the authors what they thought of different versions of the vampire story from books or TV shows. We actually went over the time limit, and another event organizer had to kick us out.
I spent another hour back in the show room, taking one last look around. So many people were in costume (anime characters, a few Princess Leia's, a few Disney princesses, super heroes, a Doctor Who, a Halo soldier, a Pikachu, etc.) Looking at t-shirts my pick for the best slogan was "And then Buffy staked Edward. The End." So many cool things, but eventually, perhaps inevitably, my stamina had worn down. So a little after 5 I took one last look and then left the show room, making the slow accent to the surface and natural light, to rejoin the real world and all the Jonas Brothers fans roaming the streets of Toronto just as I was leaving.
So now I'm back home; the pink has been washed out of my hair, the glitter and mascara taken off my eyes, and I'm sipping on my can of Slurm as I type. My signed book is resting in my Expo bag, and I have shown it to everyone who will look.
All in all, it was an awesome day, and an awesome experience. I will be back next year. Maybe I can get the whole weekend off.
Was anyone else working the Expo this weekend? Have you ever been to a convention like this? Feel free to post your thoughts. Oh, and here's a couple more shots.
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