Hal-Con 2012 Q&A with René Auberjonois

Getting to go to the Q&A with René Auberjonois was an absolute dream come true for me. From the moment I saw Odo on Deep Space Nine, I adored him. A creature with a mysterious past, all alone in the universe with a strong sense of what is right and wrong... Yup, I thought he was absolutely fascinating and was the reasons I loved the show.



My favourite part of the session was hearing how the love interest between Odo and Kira started. He said that when everyone watched the episode where Odo looks at her with a sense of disappointment and shock, the staff at the show exclaimed, "Oh my god, he loves her!"

In fact, I remember that moment and how the same realization resonated in me too!

The funny thing is the actors had no idea! They were good friends and were nervous to go in that direction and felt it was quite weird but as actors, they committed to it.



René also spoke how Disney was so important to his evolution as a child and getting to play Chef Louis in the Little Mermaid made him realize that now he is doing the same thing for others.

It was funny to hear him demonstrate the "tediousness" of doing the voice in the game Soul Reaver 2 for all the options:

"Go through that door!"
"Don't go through that door!"



I could absolutely kick myself for not going with Reg to meet René. I had to be there for the Inner Space Q&A so I stayed in the hall, waiting as Reg/Khan got to hang out with one of my favourite Star Trek characters of all time.



Sigh... I won't be forgiving myself for that decision for a long, long time.

René was entertaining and is a true actor who puts everything into every character, no matter if it is a Disney character or a gelatinous alien.

Hal-Con 2012 Miniature Painting Seminar by Ed Switzer

Ed Switzer of Ironmug Painting hosted the seminar on miniature panting at Hal-Con. I was excited to go to something more gaming-oriented this year and it was also, believe it or not, kind of up my alley.



Ed has been obsessed with this hobby for 21 years and has been a self-proclaimed professional painter for 4 years. It is clear that he is incredibly knowledgable about the subject, not to mention talented.

He had a lot of helpful advice on how to get the most out of miniature painting with the least amount of effort, discussing the benefits of batch painting for example, which saves on time and cleaning.



He suggested using a big brush for the base colour. Just make sure it is not too thick, more of a milk consistency. Tiny brushes are not always better. As long as a brush comes to a fine point you are good to go.



He mentioned that as human beings we are all prone to shake so brace your elbows on a table. To apply a wash to a miniature, dilute dark paint so it sinks into the details.

From removing years of old thick paint to how to glaze, dry brush and add highlights... Ed really covered it all.

Even though I am not a gaming miniature painter, I do like making my own pendants so a lot of the information was valid for me. I can not imagine how helpful it must have been for people new to the craft.

I found it absolutely fascinating and thought did a great job going over the essentials and basics in his seminar.

Ep 117 Hal-Con 2012 and Halloween Special (Paranormal TV Oct 16-28, 2012)

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• Suzie's Back from Hal-Con 2012 and shares the awesomeness of the experience (see more coverage of the con here), we also check in on several shows including The Walking Dead Season 3 So Far, the season 2 finale of Alphas and recent episodes of Paranormal Witness (including the Season 2 finale!). All that and Halloween and Hal-Con goodness to boot!
Suzie and Reg (as Khan) with John Rhys-Davies (WOW!)

• We'll be back next week to check in on more of our regs of Supernatural, Grimm and Haven. Please bear with us as we spread the awesome out over time.

Time Coding

• 0:00 - 1:41 Intro
• 1:41 - 6:45 News
• 6:45 - 45:00 HalCon 2012!!
• 45:00 - 1:03:30 The Walking Dead Season 3 so far Ep 1 - 3 Seed, Sick and Walk with Me
• 1:03:30 - 1:19:55 Paranormal Witness S2 Ep 11 and 12 The Hollywood Sign Haunting/The Good Skeleton and The Tenants (S2 finale)
• 1:19:55 - 1:27:00 Alphas Season 2 Ep 13 (finale) God's Eye
• 1:27:00 Outro 

Suzie's Hal-Con Coverage 
Overall Coverage

• Costume Contest (including Video and pictures)
• Day 1 Overview (video and pictures including video with Manu Intiraymi aka Icheb of Star Trek: Voyager)
• Day 2 Overview (including video and pictures)
• Hexed Podcast Episode 117 - Hal-Con 2012 & Halloween Episode
• Suzie's Hal-Con Flickrs: Costume Contest and Overall Hal-Con 2012, plus check out Suzie's YouTube channel for Hal-Con videos

Q and A's

• Q and A with René Auberjonois (Odo from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
• Q and A with Brian Downey (Stanley H. Tweedle on Lexx)
• Q and A with Haven's John Dunsworth & Richard Donat (aka Dave and Vince Teagues from Haven)
• Q and A with Inner Space's Ajay Fry
• Q and A with R.A. Salvatore (writer of The DemonWars Saga and Forgotten Realms)

Workshops and Seminars

• Cosplay 101
• Grand Assembly – Maritime Heavy Armour & KAG Kanada
• Lenore Zann (aka voice of ROGUE of the X-MEN): How I Became a Superhero
• Miniature Painting Seminar by Ed Switzer of Ironmug Painting
• The Works of Joss Whedon

Vendors and Events

• Geeks versus Nerds: Green Lantern Corps vs Jedi Order
• Have Yourself A Gothic Little Christmas 2012
• Erika of StoreEnvy

More Hexed Show Notes

• Hal-Con
• Check out Suzie's Hal-Con coverage here at Hexed and also on her YouTube Page
• Mockingbird Lane Pilot aired on Oct 26, 2012 on NBC and Mockingbird Lane images
• Shannon HIGHLY recommends checking out Primeval New World
• Space Channel has a YouTube Page for their vids - Primeval New World Trailer & Cabin Fever Double Bill. We really hope they add their commercials (like Shockoberfest) because they'd be fun to share with folks.
• Netflix.ca has all 3 seasons of Misfits
• Taylor Kinney (who played Mason on Vampire Diaries) is on the new firefighter drama Chicago Fire
• Shannon's 31 Days of Horror, including Halloween III: Season of the Witch
• We mention out stART Sisters podcast, video show and blog
• We mention the return of the The B-Movie Shelf Podcast and The B Movie Nation Website
• Suzie's Ectoplasm Popcorn
• Suzie mentions the film The Disappeared with Brian Downey
• Shannon mentions the show Collection Intervention, which airs in Canada on Slice
• We chat about the show InnerSpace on The Space Channel
• We mention the TV Show Sanctuary
• Rachel Caine and The Morganville Vampires Series
• Geeks versus Nerds, the Geeks versus Nerds Podcasts (4 season so far!) and the Geeks versus Nerds YouTube Channel
• Have Yourself a Gothic Little Christmas
•  
• Subscribe in a reader Hexed: Sisterhood of the Supernatural All Supernatural TV. All the Time. 

Hal-Con 2012 R.A. Salvatore Q&A

R.A. Salvatore has written over 52 novels, 24 of which are New York Times Bestsellers. He has written for Forgotten Realms, The DemonWars Sage, and even the Star Wars universe.



I loved hearing Robert Anthony Salvatore describe how he does not control his characters, that they reveal the story and who they are to him as he writes. He has been writing some of his characters forever and to kill any of them off is brutal. "It's awful," as he said in his gruff voice. It has turned him into a miserable wreck at times.

An absolutely dedicated writer who has inspired so many.

Hal-Con 2012 Workshops & Discussions

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!

Hal-Con 2012 Q&A with Brian Downey

What an absolute delight it was to meet Brian Downey who played Stanley H. Tweedle on Lexx. One thing we had to know was about the early use of CGI in a TV show that started in 1997, way before other shows started using it. Not just that, the entire show was pretty much filmed with CG. He replied:

"There was more CG in Lexx than an entire season of other shows."

Not only that, the longer the show went on, the CG got more intensive over a time. The show began taking six months a season and later on it was more like a month per hour.



I was happy to see Lexx represented at the con with these original costumes on display for sale. One of them was almost entirely made of non-slip rubber matts!



It is clear just how much Brian loved being a part of Lexx. When asked what his favourite moment being on the show was he answered:

"My favourite moment? Was going to work every day."

Although perhaps not the day he had to jump into fish batter. He was supposed to sink but the batter kept pushing him to the surface. He eventually had to hold on to a bar at the bottom of the vat to keep from floating. He ended up with lumps of glue in his ear!



I was so excited to get my photo taken with Brian and have a chance to speak with him a little about Haven. During the Q&A he had said that a good crew was essential and if you are not part of the team, you might not get hired again. Which sounded awfully familiar. In fact, John Dunsworth had said a similar comment. No tolerance for troublemakers, I love it.

Brian also revealed that after playing Sal Fortuna on the episode Resurfacing (which happens to be one of my favourites), it aired while he was driving back home to Newfoundland! What a difference from Lexx. Amazing.

Lexx was a very racy show which kind of always kept me from falling completely in love with it. I was so relieved to hear Brian say that any inappropriate behaviour around the actors was not tolerated for one second. So now I can fall in love with Lexx completely.


The Disappeared



I was absolutely engaged when Brian talked about the film The Disappeared. A story about six guys, the ocean and the sky with no score. He said it was the last movie to use film, the last movie to be film processed.

When he described what the weather conditions were like, it sounds like they were hit with just about everything Mother Nature could throw their way. Going from scorching heat to snow. It does not appear to be paranormal but I must admit, in this case, I don't care. It sounds like an absolutely compelling story and Shannon, I know you love all ocean movies! I think we are going to have to watch this one.

Brian was an absolute delight and quite the card. A fascinating human being and totally down to earth. It was an honour to meet him.

Vendor Profile: Erika at Hal-Con 2012 from Storenvy

Erika was just as sweet to meet as her lovely confectionary jewellery. She wrote down the name of her store but I don't think I have the URL right. Erika, I hope you let me know if this isn't you!



I so wanted that black heart made out of paper clay but it was a ring! In hindsight, I should have just bought it, I loved it so much.



All her work is so adorable and delicious looking. I could not resist!



I bought the pink iced heart pull tag and it is on my purse with now with my MEC turtle. I think I am going to turn it into a necklace though, it just has to be worn.

Erika's paper clay artwork makes these pieces so light, it was amazing. She imports the clay from overseas and is obviously crazy-talented. I bought my heart for only $3 and it is a treasure from Hal-Con I will never part with.

Thank you so much Erika! It was such a pleasure to meet you.

Hal-Con 2012 Q&A with Richard Donat & John Dunsworth from Haven

What an absolute dream come true to get to attend the panel discussion on Haven! One of our favourite shows to discuss on Hexed. In fact, we have been discussing it since it started and Shannon and I both fell in love with it. Wish you could have been there Shannon!


John Dunsworth & Richard Donat





John and Richard were an absolute delight and I was surprised to hear that this year's Hal-Con was their first convention ever.



They were remarkably similar to their characters Dave and Vince Teagues, even when it comes to the quarrelling. Apparently Richard will share lots of garlic with the cast and never gives any to John. Those are John's words!



You will absolutely have to watch the video to get a true feel for the Q&A, particularly the discussion on the Halloween episode and the haunted house they shot in. That was my favourite part. Lucky us we got a sneak preview of the Halloween episode which we got to watch with Richard and John.



I was happy to hear that there is very limited drama on the set and well, if there is... According to Dave, who shared with us in a spooky slightly sinister voice, those characters might "end up dead." Love it, so Haven-style!

Also check out the video because Emily Rose who plays Audrey and Lucas Bryant who plays Nathan show up to say hi to all of us. So thoughtful and fantastic, it was very exciting.

It was an absolute highlight of the convention for me. I even got up and asked them a question about paranormal activity on the set and discovered that the area they shoot in actually has supernatural properties. Watch the video to find out more!

Seriously, does it get better than this?!

Hal-Con Sci-Fi/Fantasy Convention Contest 2012

The costumes for Hal-Con's Costume Contest this year were absolutely phenomenal! I tried to get as many people into a either compilation or my video:



Definitely check out the video to really get a sense of the contest. You also just have to see Reg's performance as Khan! He won the Khhhaaaaannn!! category, LOL.



If your photo is in one of the compilations, you will be able to find that particular shot in my Hal-Con Costume Contest Flickr Group.



You can see the list of winners here.


Congratulations Everyone!

Paranormal Pick of the Week: Primeval New World Begins & Face Off Finale

Image: Face Off Season 3 Contestants with Host McKenzie Westmore

I tried to pick this week but had to go with a tie. We have two extremely exciting shows this week, one beginning and one finale-ing, and I couldn't decide so I decided to spread the love for both Primeval: New World and Face Off.  Here they are, this weeks Paranormal Picks of the Week: 

Face Off - Season 3 Finale (2 Evening Event!)
Tuesday October 30, 2012 at 9pm ET on Space
Wednesday October 31, 2012 at 10pm ET on Space - Live Finale

It all comes down to this! From many contestants down to the final three make up artists to determine who will win Season 3 of Face Off. It's been a wild season spanning so many awesome genres and mediums explored and the gorgeous and gruesome make ups come to life through the challenges. To be honest, they've covered so much ground I'm totally stumped at what they will be throwing at them for the finale! Let's hope it's a good surprize, and I am sure it will be as the season has been spectacular. Temember, it's a 2-night event with the finale live on Halloween. Be ready!


Image: Episode 1 The New World, Evan Cross (Niall Matter) and Dylan Weird (Sara Canning)

Primeval: New World - Series Premiere
Monday October 29, 2012 at 10pm ET / 7pm PT on Space

We've been looking forward to Primeval: New World for a while now, this spin off of the British show is set in Vancouver and stars Niall Matter (Eureka) and Sara Canning (Aunt Jenna from The Vampire Diaries) and has an 13 episode run. Word is that you can jump right into New World without previous Primeval knowledge, but I took up the challenge of watching the original series all throughout October thanks to the marathons on Space, and wow, I had no idea how much I would love it. now I'm even MORE excited for New World. Bring on the dinosaurs!

You can check out more over at the shiny new Primeval: New World website and see the trailer below (on the shiny new Space YouTube Channel or the shiny new Primeval: New World channel. Wow, that's a lot of shiny....). And for our American friends, remember you will be getting this show in 2013 thanks to SyFy.