I Went to Horror Realm Con (and met Xander!!!)

Here's something you may not have been expecting: this morning I want to a horror convention. More specifically, it was Horror Realm Con, a convention held in Pittsburgh (at the Crowne Plaza) for people that love all things involving zombies, B movies, blood and much more. It features many different vendors (like most conventions do), celebrity guests, and video screenings.

My good friend Gailyn and I decided we were going to go to this. Because we worked Friday and Saturday, we went this morning for the last day. And damn did we have fun. Here are the picture highlights:

First off we visited with PJ Soles, known for her roles in Carrie, Halloween, and Rock N' Roll High School. Gailyn and I are both socially weird people, but Ms. Soles was a very friendly and sweet woman who chatted with us for a bit before getting pictures.

Next up we saw Amanda Wyss, who you probably know from A Nightmare on Elm Street. She was also incredibly sweet, asked us about our majors and said we both looked 14 (which I was later told was laughable in my case). We told her that we moisturized and talked about theater a bit.

I'll confess now, the main draw of this convention was that Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander for 7 years on Buffy the Vampire Slayer (my favorite show) would be in attendance. I actually learned of the event through his twitter account, so I will never mock Twitter as useless again.

He was a super sweet guy, who generally seemed happy to see and talk to fans. We each got a picture, Gailyn got an autograph (I'd spent too much already for an autograph, but I wasn't mad.), he gave us multiple hugs. We were very happy campers.

I usually don't fangirl with the potential of seeing a celebrity in person, but for a Buffy cast member (and he was one of THE BEST characters on that show) I'll make an exception. We managed to keep our composure at a mostly not embarrassing level and when we left we had to sit down for a bit.

We saw a few other people, some from famous (or infamous) horror movies, some makeup artists. Nivek Ogre (from the band Skinny Puppy or the film Repo! The Genetic Opera) walked by me in the hallway and said "hey you" even though we hadn't met earlier. So that was pretty cool.

We looked a lots of different items, like T-shirts, movie scripts, posters and blades (I resisted spending money I don't have on a sword). Then we got some cookies from a place called Stop and Smell the Flour that make cookies/cupcakes for various events. Check them out!

And finally, I will present to you my stash. This was what I came home with:

Starting from the left: A drawing/business card for Angry Gnome Comics. (Not pictured but deserving a shoutout was the work by artist Byron Winton.) A Power Rangers comic and a Phoenix comic. A solo role-playing game called "Zombie Death Town" and a book of zombie stories called "Zombies! Fuck!". The little vial contains fast-drying blood that is also edible. Two DVD's, one of Carrie the musical and one of Evil Dead the musical (both filmed stage versions of average quality. And a The Cabin in the Woods poster. Looks like a lot, but for the record nothing in this picture cost more than 10 dollars.

So that was my day. It was pretty freaking fantastic and I'm so happy I got to experience it.



 

What's With Selfies?

Here's something I've been wondering about lately: why do people take selfies?

If you don't know, a "selfie" refers to when a person takes a picture of themselves with their camera/phone and puts it on the internet.

This is what every selfie looks like to me. Do we really need more of these?

Now of course there are obvious reasons why you'd do this. Nobody could be around to hold the camera for you, you might just want a new profile picture, etc. My favorite is when people are on vacation and take a selfie and say "Can't believe I'm here", but we don't know where "here" is because 95% of the picture is taken up by their face. But I'm talking about the people that post pictures of their face on a regular basis and my question is why.

I have a few friends that post selfies regularly, and let me clarify right now this blog is not directed at any one person specifically. These are just my feelings towards the entire ordeal.  I put up on my twitter and my facebook a question "Why do people take selfies?" and no one bothered to answer me.

Of course, no one probably cared enough to answer, which is totally fine. I'll openly admit this is a dumb topic to talk about. But the people who do take selfies didn't answer me and you know why? SHAME. They don't have a good reason.

So here's what I think. I think a selfie is the internet's version of grabbing someone by the shoulders and yelling "TELL ME I'M PRETTY!!! TELL ME!!"

Am I wrong? People post selfies for the attention. Which is fine, it's what the internet is for. I post little jokes and statuses and I like when people say it's funny or whatever. But what I hate is that maybe 3 people will like a joke I make but hundreds of people will like someone's duck-faced bathroom selfie and comment shit like "Gorgeous". Give me a break.

I get that their argument is probably a confidence issue. I'm no stranger to shitty self-confidence, everyone has to deal with it from time to time. But there comes a point where confidence turns into vanity, and a lot of people have crossed that line.

Because here are my hippie-dippie feelings about it: if you need constant approval from the rest of the world telling you you're pretty, then you probably don't think you're pretty.  And that's the problem. The only person you have to convince that you're attractive is yourself. I know, I know, I'm getting all "Oprah" on you. But seriously, work on that self-confidence. It doesn't come from other people. It's about you. 

Then there's the people who claim to consider themselves ugly but still put selfies on Facebook, in an attempt to look brave and get people's reassurance. Stop that: if you truly had issues with yourself you wouldn't be plastering your face onto the internet for the whole world to see. You're not a hero, you're an asshole.

So I don't know what I want from selfie people. Stop? I guess you don't have to. But really I don't know why you wouldn't. Once you've seen one picture of your face you've pretty much seen them all. So I don't know...maybe acknowledge the fact that you're acting like a teenage girl? Oh whatever, in one ear and out the other I guess. Go to your bathroom and take a picture of yourself giving me the finger. I'm sure I deserve it.

I'm Going to Attempt to Talk About Syria

Alright so if I have any regular readers (Hey guys! ...Mom.) then you already know I tend to talk about stupid trivial things (see last week's Miley Cyrus post or the one before about Power Rangers). I don't apologize for these; they're meant to be silly little things to make people laugh and for me to express feelings.

But now I want to talk about something serious. Well, I don't really want to, just a few people on Facebook were all "why is no one talking about Syria?" so I decided I would do just that. Or I'll at least try my best.

I don't watch/read the news regularly. My grandfather always watched the news and he was always angry about something. Which makes sense; there's always something to be angry about. But in my mind watching the news is just a new way of upsetting yourself so I try to refrain from doing so. So I didn't know what was going on with Syria.

Then a friend on Facebook posted a link that was essentially "Idiot's Guide to What's Going on in Syria", or as it is actually called: "So What's Up with this Whole Syria Thing?" It's a really great Powerpoint-esque explanation of what's happening, and it was exactly what I needed. If you yourself don't know what's going on, take a few minutes, click the link, and get caught up.

The article was written before President Obama's decision (or whatever large group of people makes such decisions, I shouldn't put it on one person) to use force against Syria. And now this is what people get to argue about. Should we use force to make things better? Or is violence never the answer?

Personally, I hate violence and bombs and guns. I play violent video games like Saints Row, because to me that's just fantasy and escapism from the real world. I cannot imagine anything on this planet that absolutely needs to end with killing a bunch of people. I still don't understand why people can't just sit and talk and drink water and work shit out.

But they say war is a part of life. I don't understand why, but it apparently is. So I'll just say this to you people: I have no idea what we should do about Syria.

I don't have the first clue to how war works. Will using force convince Assad to knock it off? Maybe. Will it cause more problems? Maybe! I don't KNOW! I also don't know the first thing about running a country. When I used to play The Sims I would sometimes get bored, lock them in a room with no doors, and watch them starve to death. I'm not someone who knows how to fix things!

So that's it, the embarrassing truth: I'm talking about Syria and I have no freakin' clue what I think. Maybe that makes me an idiot, or maybe I'm just a sheep who doesn't concern itself with stuff outside its own little life. But I'm sorry, this problem feels much bigger than me and I have no idea what to do or say about it. All I'm going to do is hope that the people who are dealing with it will make the right decisions and hopefully one day something resembling peace will be reached.

So I'm sorry people. I hope no one's lost respect for me. The rest of this month's postings will be the usual silliness. And I am concerned with what's happening in the world; I just don't know what to say about it. Chances are a 24-year old theater graduate who blogs in his spare time doesn't have the answers to ending wars.

Peace.