Tag Archives: Comic Con

#WWAustinCC – Christopher Judge

Christopher Judge, Teal'C of Stargate SG-1

Christopher Judge, Teal’c of Stargate SG-1

For many fans Christopher Judge will always be the stoic Teal’c of SG-1, the lead team of the Stargate franchise.

Over the weekend at the Wizard World Comic Con in Austin, Texas, Christopher Judge’s sense of humor shined through as he shared with fans stories from the filming of the Stargate movies The Ark of Truth and Continuum as well as The Dark Knight Rises in which he performed alongside Christian Bale and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

After 45 minutes of laughing and fielding questions from the audience Christopher Judge leaned over to tell the moderator he had a little something he wanted to end the panel with… a few seconds later Christopher Judge was explaining he had brought with him a script from an episode of Stargate that he would like to auction off to the fans in the room.  It was an unexpected turn of events. He gave a quick explanation that his kids are in school in California, where funds for the arts programs are being cut, that he wanted to do an auction where all of the money would go to the arts program at his kids school, and he was quick to say that he did not know if Texas was a state that had made a similar decision, but this was something he could do to help a school that he knew was suffering as a result of that decision, and he hoped everyone was doing what they could for the schools in their community.

It was particularly nice to see an actor using a keepsake from his work as an artist to raise money for kids and art programs in the schools, and it was a reminder that this was an issue that at one time was a hot button being talked about every time I turned around, and now I hear very little about it.  Admittedly I have no children in school, and the issue does not relate to me personally, but Christopher Judge reminded me this is something I care about, and want to know about.

After the auction Christopher Judge came down from the stage, gave the winner a big hug and thank you and signed the script to him.  It was, without a doubt, one of the most upbeat and positive endings to a panel I have ever seen at a convention.

Christopher Judge @ Twitter.com – https://twitter.com/iamchrisjudge

#WWAustinCC – Katie Cassidy

Katie Cassidy ArrowThere were a LOT of wonderful panels Oct 2- 4 at the Austin Wizard World Comic Con at the Austin Convention Center.

A joint podcast with John Mayo, of ComicBookPage, will be going up soon with a two hour discussion of the countless wonderful moments.  During those two hours we discussed the Katie Cassidy panel, in which Katie not only showed off her biceps, but mentioned that as a former gymnast… well… I’ll let her tell you herself:


Arrow fans, can you picture it? Laurel on the Salmon Ladder? Yes, Season 3 could have a very different arc for Laurel Lance than we saw in Season 2, which ended with her “getting the jacket” as was joked during the panel on Saturday.

Katie Cassidy ArrowTake a moment to watch the video — then share it with your fellow Arrow fans!  Who knows, if the show will bring back the line “You Failed This City!” because it resonated with the fans, maybe we can encourage them to get Katie up on that Salmon Ladder and showing the world that Ollie isn’t the only one in Starling City who fights crime and does whatever it takes to fight for what is right.

Season 3 of Arrow Premieres on the CW October 8 at 8 PM / 7 PM Central.

If you have not already had a chance, check out the joint podcasts with John Mayo, of ComicBookPage, about Season 1 of Arrow, and Season 2 of Arrow.  (Our Season 2 podcast included a discussion about Laurel’s story arc with substance abuse and whether or not that was something that had been seen for her character in the comics, as well as whether or not that was a story arc we had seen coming for her character in particular.)

Links:

Arrow @ CWTV
Arrow on Facebook
Arrow on Twitter
Katie Cassidy on Twitter

(Entry edited to add links to podcasts about Season 1 and Season 2 of Arrow)

Who Is George Lucas?

WhoIsGeorgeLucass260x420I was unsure what to expect from the book Who Is George Lucas?  The title sounded interesting, but the book is clearly intended for a school age crowd.

The moment I started reading the book I was captivated.  A very easy to read page turner the book is filled with interesting facts and stories about the man who went on to play a major role in making so many movies that influenced and thrilled a generation of cinema goers.

From reading about his childhood, and desire to be a race car driver — and how that actually turned him around and inspired him to become a better student, to reading about his teaching college courses to US Navy Cameramen while in college, I learned a great deal about the man who at one time considered making documentaries, and yet even in college was winning awards with his futuristic movies (Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB).

The book presents a well-rounded view of the man who went on to make Star Wars, even when friends were telling him it was a disaster, teasing him about Princess Leia’s hair and the force.  Covering his life, and accomplishments to date, Who Is George Lucas? is a fun and informative read for anyone wanting to know more about the man behind so many movies they’ve enjoyed over the years.

This unauthorized biography Penguin was handing out at San Diego’s Comic-Con International is by Pamela Pollack and Meg Belviso, with illustrations by Ted Hammond.

George Lucas at IMDB
George Lucas Educational Foundation
Who Was Book Series Official Website

 

John Barrowman – Class Act

John Barrowman (known for Dr. Who and currently a series regular on Arrow) turned to social media today to apologize to his fans for oversleeping, missing his flight to Chicago, and as a result missing most of today at Wizard World Chicago.  His apologies were heartfelt, genuine, and accompanied updates on the lengths he was going to to correct the situation, to get onto the next flight, to reschedule events people were looking forward to attending, and through it all he took ownership of what had happened.  No excuses, simple honesty – he overslept, but he would make it right, somehow.

It may actually be an understatement to call him a class act.

Over 20+ years of attending conventions of various sizes and fandoms I have seen a variety of celebrities and situations.  When cellphones were first coming into use one actor called in to a convention every half hour to ask the organizers to give his line a status update on the traffic jam he was caught in and once again apologize for his thinking three hours for what was normally a two hour drive was plenty of time to get to us for his signing.

In contrast, I have shown up at the appointed time for a signing only to be told it was cancelled, the person in question had another commitment come up… when I asked if I should be excited to see them in some upcoming movie or tv show, I was told, “not unless his golf games are being televised.”

Experiences like that later one are few and far between, in fact I can only think of 2 or 3 in all these years of going to at least one convention a year.  But they leave an impression… just as John Barrowman’s posting videos of apology, and live-tweeting from his flight to Chicago leaves an incredibly positive impression.

Barrowman has been re-scheduled so he will be doing photo-ops at the Chicago Wizard World Comic-Con at 8:00 Saturday night, his panel will be at 10:30 am Sunday morning, and he says he will be signing all day Sunday, when not at that panel — and the look of seriousness and determination in his eyes in these videos tells me he means business.

Just as he so often looks serious about having fun, and sharing the joy of life in so many of his social media posts, it is clear the next 36 hours are about putting right what did not happen this morning.

If you aren’t already connected to John Barrowman on social media, you might want to at least bookmark his pages… today was the proof in the pudding that John puts the internet to good use, and cares about his fans, and keeping them informed.

John Barrowman on Facebook
John Barrowman on Twitter