One of the best parts about Hal-Con is going from room to room to see what is going on. And you never know what you are going to find!
Lenore Zann aka ROGUE of the X-MEN: How I Became a Superhero
I knew ahead of time that I wanted to see Lenore Zann who is the voice of one of my favourite characters, Rogue from X-Men. She immediately worked that husky sexy voice into the discussion and all of a sudden I was back at home watching Saturday morning cartoons with my siblings.
Lennore is an absolutely wild child. Her stories about travelling all over the world kept me fascinated and hearing about going into the business of cartoon voices astounding. She talked about tapping into the million different roles we all play in our lives but using it for characters. That actors get to harness that energy.
She suggested that if you wanted to go into the business to work on your accents and consider appropriate speech impediments. She also advised to never shout at loud parties, have honey in lemon tea and gargle with warm salt water. Keep you and your voice relaxed by working on relaxation techniques.
I found the reconstruction of her image by moving from Toronto to Vancouver with a short haircut and a wardrobe of black inspiring. People from Vancouver told her not to go to the States because if she did and came back because she failed, that it would hurt her career. She responded, those aren't my rules!
My favourite quote from the discussion was her saying, "Only you can limit yourself." At which point I asked about agism in the industry. She said it is one of the few places that what you look like really does not matter. Which totally rocked.
A wonderful highlight of the Con for me!
Grand Assembly – Maritime Heavy Armour & KAG Kanada
I had no idea what to expect at the Grand Assembly. Why they put this one in a small little room with people dressed as GIANT robotic people? I have no idea. There was hardly any space for the members of either group but seeing the promotions given out was very cool.
The Works of Joss Whedon
I was amazed at how many teenagers are now familiar with the works of Joss Whedon. It is clear that Netflix has had a profound impact on a younger generation of watching Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse... In fact, all the episodes are quite new and fresh to them. The emotional impact still strong on their lives, as oppose to us original fans who had those feelings a long time ago. It was quite amazing to re-live the episodes through them.
We discussed favourite episodes, worse "big bad" and how Joss loves to rip our hearts out and reveal that life is very grey. I was happy to hear Faith's name come up as one of the anti-heroes of the show. She is one of my favourite characters of all time. When talking our favourite episodes, we were not allowed to mention "Once More With Feeling" because... duh.
Cosplay 101
We saw the tail end of the talk on cosplay and learned that the difference between cosplay and costumes is that you bring life to a character with cosplay. You are the costume. It is not just something that is on your body, you role play as well. The best cosplay people are those who truly are the role they take on.
The speaker also recommended that make sure to give yourself lots of time for making the costume and focus on your strengths. She suggested not trying to learn how to sew the week before a con.
I love it! Getting to learn so much and be inspired by various people is one of the greatest parts of the Con. I wish I could go to talks like these all year!
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