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.