Fanboy Crush
This weekend I was lucky enough to have to work at the Orlando’s Spooky Empire. I like that they had a few characters from X Files (why I was there, to promote X-Fest, June 6th, 2019, in Schaumburg, packages go on sale Halloween) Sleepaway Camp, House of a 1000 Corpses, and Childs Play, with some individuals as well (Ricou Browning, Soska Twins, Elvira, Peter Criss to name the bigger ones.
They had a good variety of vendors as well, with most of them being from Florida it seemed. A few comic start ups, LOTS of art, custom purses, custom leather, etc. General comics and T shirts seemed very light compared to other cons, but overall, there were items to be had.
I did get to pay $20 to enter in a contest to be killed in a movie, get a tshirt, a DVD, a selfie, and an autographed picture from James Balsamo, so if I ever make the silver screen, I will let you know. I watched part of the movie, and it’s…interesting.
Now to the important stuff. I got to meet the great Ricou Browning. I saw Mr. Browning getting wheeled in, no shoes, and I thought for sure that meeting him would be anti-climatic. I could not have been more wrong. He was very engaging, sharp witted, and put up with me gushing like a school girl for more than a few minutes. Unfortunately, he didn’t want his picture taken, so all I have is memories.
After he autographed my stupid trinkets, we had some time to talk a bit about how much effort went in to create special effects back in his time, being a Universal Monster, and how much of an athlete he had to have been to be able to swim and hold his breath for so long, with a heavy costume on.
Then I gingerly approached him about The Shape Of Water. He lit up, and said he liked the movie but the botched the ending. He did say that he had a nice discussion with Guillermo del Toro about the GillMan, and how Universal refused him to do a remake of the original, so he ended up winning a few Oscars with The Shape of Water. We agreed that GdT was the man for the job, and that he was a wonderful director. Probably one of the best moments of my life.
While there, I also purchased a molding of the head from the Creature sequel. I don’t know if the guy was bullshitting me, but the price was right, and it is cool as hell. I will post pics as soon as my mannequin head comes in, and I can put it on it. It isn’t painted, but still very cool.
I also met the artist Robo Ohno. He was encouraging, very nice, and super cool. I later realized I had seen him play years ago in his band Nonpoint, where he played guitar. Very cool guy!
I promise something interesting soon, not my fanboy crush experiences!
JR