This weekend is VanCAF, the Vancouver Comic Arts Festival is taking place at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Yaletown May 26-27. Admission is free, and list of artists in attendance is very good! This is the first VanCAF, so there's lots of excitement around this event.
I'll be there releasing my Homeless Quatchi & Friends comicbook! I've been working hard to get this finished!
Oh, and as of this week, I've quietly launched HOMELESSQUATCHI.com. The hub for all things Homeless Quatchi.
Please come by and take a look at the show! VanCAF is doing a great job organizing the event!
The first ever Fan Expo in Vancouver, went off with a bang, that included a large turnout of convention goers, many of whom have probably never been to a convention of this size before.
Vancouver has had for many years small scale cons, for anime fans, and gatherings for comicbook people, but none like Fan Expo originally from Toronto. The Vancouver-spin-off proved popular, enough to bring back next year, at a much larger scale.
As an artist showcasing in the Artist Alley, I didn't know what to expect, but was surprised to see the event packed with people.
Beth Wagner and veteran illustrator/storyboard artist Craig Wilson were my artist alley neighbours for the weekend, which made my time there pretty entertaining.
I had a chance to introduce many con goers to my vinyl custom toys, and Homeless Quatchi made some new friends!
Check out the pics below, and on Google Plus and Facebook.
(I will be at Vancouver Comic Con, Heritage Hall Main st. May 13.)
GDC PLAY 2012 - SAMPLE SUMO AUDIO RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY
So it's been a few weeks since GDC 2012, and I'm finally getting around to going through all the business cards I've accumulated over the week at the conference. With so many social events, it's easy to forget where certain cards came from, but in the case of Sample Sumo a Belgium based tech company, I immediately recalled it was from GDC Play.
GDC Play is a separate area from the the main Exhibit Hall, and Conference area. it is the equivalent of a convention's 'Artist Alley' but for independent developers who wish to display their games and products. Sample Sumo's audio technology demonstration was pretty memorable. Using sounds to trigger gameplay behaviour, the user could either tap, pots and pans, or wood blocks to get the correct sound effect, which the microphone would then pick up.
Being demoed at GDC Play was Cows 'n' Order.
It's a neat technology that could be applied to something like Microsoft Kinect, or Sony Move, or even without a camera, or controller. Seems like all you need is a microphone, and well, sound! Would work well with handheld gaming on smartphones or PS Vita, and Nintendo DS.
The Vancouver Star trek Convention took place last weekend at the Sheraton Hotel, (June 25-27) which brought together Trekkies from Calgary to Portland, and even New Zealand to celebrate their passion for the Star Trek phenomena.
This was my first Star Trek convention, so I didn't really know what to expect, and this was the first time in a long time that the con -- organized by Creation Entertainment -- returned to the city of Vancouver. For many Trek fans this was an opportunity that couldn't be missed, especially with rumors of Nimoy making his last appearance.
Stereotypical hordes of odd, unkept Trekkies typically come to mind when thinking of Star Trek conventions, but to my surprise this con was full of young people dressed as their favorite characters from all Trek series, who made it seem like it was 'hip' to like Star Trek.
Now I've always liked Star Trek, long before the J.J. Abrams revival craze, but seeing the change in Star Trek fan demographics is a welcome sight, and I think it's great that Trek can entertain a larger audience. The idea of a Trekkie is changing, and it isn't as extreme as those depicted in the doc 'Trekkies.'
The Star Trek Auction had fans shelling out big bucks for autographed photos, banners, and other material. Trekkies sure have lots of money! The banners placed around the ballroom and at the stage were sold for several hundred dollars each.
Classic ST uniforms were popular with the ladies (Right). Second place winner of the Star Trek Costume Contest: Mirrorverse T'Pol from Star Trek Enterprise (Left).
The convention was packed on Sunday, the final day of the convention where Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner would be making an appearance as well as photo opportunities with fans.
Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner chat like a married couple. Nimoy whined about Shatner not meeting him for breakfast that morning. Among other things Nimoy spoke about his trip to Vulcan Alberta for the Star Trek tribute, and his 'big women' photography, while Shatner spoke of his experience participating at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic ceremony, with his reward of six Men's Olympic Hockey tickets as well as his passion for protecting the BC wildlife/wild salmon.
Shatner also went on to talk about his future projects such as 'The Captains.'
I also got to meet very briefly Armin Shimerman (Quark from DS9), who was very cool in person, as well as Barry Jenner aka Admiral Ross also from DS9.
Overall I think the Vancouver Star Trek convention was good fun. Though I was disappointed with the vendors and the items on sale (or lack thereof). No phasers, or communicator pins, or uniforms. There wasn't much else going on at the con aside from the vendor room, and main room. It would be cool if there were other things to see like a mini-exhibit of Trek items, or an art gallery of concept art. So in that sense I think this Trek con pales in comparison to say San Diego Comic Con in terms of goods on sale, and things to see. Then again, I'm sure the Trek con is Vegas is a much bigger show.
The 
