Zoos, Bowling, and Toasting the Lady who Lunched

I was going to share the following in a podcast, however my throat is a little sore and I wasn't up to talking for that long. So I'm going back to the old writing ways. All the fun of the story without my voice reading it for you.

It's been a very active week for me, and not in the whiny "I work all the time" way. I've actually been doing things for fun that also happen to take place outside the house (shocking, isn't it?). It's been an eventful week so let's get into it.

I freakin' love elephants.

On Sunday I spent my morning at the Pittsburgh Zoo. My cousin and her family (husband and three kids) came up to go to the zoo and invited me along. It was a fun time, mostly because I hadn't seen the kids in a while. They are getting big: one of them is nine, another is seven, and the baby is...I wanna say two. If it's not obvious, I don't see them that often. But I love 'em. They're getting into that fun age where they talk and say funny stuff. I mean babies are cute and all but I prefer little smartasses I can trade jokes with. Even the two-year old (I'm committing to two) cracks me up: when I got in the car I said to him "How you doin, Kabe?" and he blew a raspberry at me. Precious.

I'm really not a big "zoo" person. It's a fine time, don't get me wrong, but it's one of many things I think I'd enjoy more if there weren't so many people around. Now this isn't a general "crowd" issue because it never feels too overwhelming. It's more like you just know you're going to encounter a lot of people who walk too slow or crowd around you or say dumb things. For example when we were entering there was a sign that said "Giraffes not on display today." and I heard a man ask the girl at the gate "Why are the giraffes not out, they sick?" Yes, sir, they all have strep throat. It's pretty ugly.

A flamingo enjoying a soda...

I'm very torn on how I feel about zoos. On one hand it is nice to see these animals most people would never get the chance to otherwise. I personally could look at elephants for hours and there were a lot of very interesting looking fish in that big aquarium of theirs. But then I also wondered about how unpleasant the world must be for animals in zoos. They don't have the most space to run around in and most of them are quite far from their natural habitats. They spend every day walking around eating and shitting while group after group of people stand and point at them. We personally wouldn't like it as human beings, but who can say if the animals feel imprisoned or not? Maybe they're happy being somewhere where they get fed daily and don't have to worry about predators.

But you can argue moral problems with zoos in your own time (side note: fuck circuses). On Monday I went bowling with some co-workers and we had a great time. I enjoy bowling: it's one sport you can play if you're in no shape whatsoever and you don't have to touch anybody. Plus, there's drinking. Out of the four people on our lane I didn't do too bad. Ok I lost the first game and there was a three-way tie in the last game. But on the second game I came in second by one point, and I broke one hundred points for the first time to my knowledge (which is nothing to people who bowl regularly, but I was please). I'd like to go bowling more often than every three years or however long I wait. It's a good release: I like knocking things over.

My score is 113.

On Tuesday I saw a screening of the indie film Coherence, which star and Buffy alumni Nicholas Brednon attended and did a Q&A afterwards. It's my third time seeing him in person (we've been to a few cons here and there) and he was lovely as usual. I'll talk more about the film in a review I'll write later.

Wednesday I went to my first ever bar trivia night, once again with some coworkers and some new folks. I didn't have a whole lot to contribute. There were categories like "Country by last three letters of the name" and "20th century quotes" that I just didn't know anything in. One category was movies by the first screencap and I sucked at that one as well. I was beginning to think it wasn't my night, but then in round 2 there was the "TV shows by last line of their theme song" category, and I got us four points there easily. Luckily my team was full of intimidatingly smart trivia people so our group won (mostly because of them, but hey four points is four points.).

Then on Thursday the great Elaine Stritch died and that was sad. I went home after work and watched the fabulous documentary on her life Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me. It was a beautiful look at her life and I loved watching it and enjoy what little work of hers I've seen. I mostly know her from the show Company, but she also played Jack's mother on 30 Rock and Mary's mother on 3rd Rock from the Sun. She was a hilarious woman and she'll be missed.

So that was my week. Next weekend I'm going to a family reunion which will probably supply me with some good stories for y'all. I'll leave you with Stritch and the Ladies Who Lunch.

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.