Hal-Con 2013 Auction with Garrett Wang

Last year I totally fell in love with the auction experience at Hal-Con. I had no idea that the experience could be improved... Until Garrett Wang (Harry Kim from Voyager) took over as auctioneer and blew my mind.



In this video you will see photo highlights and Khan fighting to win the set of Terry Brooks books. Garrett Wang was absolutely entertaining and fun, not to mention, an excellent auctioneer.



There were many treasures being sold this year! The Tauntaun sleeping bag and the Wookie coat were hard not to bid on but the prices were quite high. Everything went to charity though and people were very generous.



This was the item I almost could not hold myself back from, a Firefly Jayne t-shirt! But I was good.



I loved getting to see all the artistry people put into their items, it was amazing and the creative possibilities were endless.



I absolutely have to crochet a Star Trek insignia scarf now! It looked great on Garrett Wang who modelled it for the potential bidders.



I am happy to report that Khan won the autographed Terry Brooks books and...



Got them personalized by Terry Brooks himself! One of Khan/Reg's fantasy fiction heroes. Happy Birthday Reg!



This year at Hal-Con Garrett Wang was the man! We saw him just walking around in the upstairs vendors' room and yelled "Khan!" as soon as he saw Reg. At the closing ceremonies he popped up on stage to spontaneously thank everyone and in the Hal-Con Facebook Group there is a big rally to make sure he comes back next year. I really hope he does! He fits right in.

Supernatural Discussion Group at Hal-Con 2013

On Sunday I barely made it in to the Supernatural Discussion Group at Hal-Con. It was absolutely packed with people! Major Supernatural fans with lots of uber love going on for the show.



In fact, I found it more of a love fest than a discussion group. As someone who has watched Supernatural from the beginning, I am a huge fan. It is one of my favourite shows of all time but it is far from perfect. No, this get together was more about sharing what you love about the show.

I wanted to ask why witches were portrayed so badly? Why is the show now overwhelmed with angels and Christianity? How about the negative portrayal of women and the fact that they never fair well on the show?


LOVE that people dressed up as Cass! This guy was awesome!

What happened instead was a lot of discussion and theories being thrown out about is god going to show up? What about their biological brother in hell? Is Chuck god? I suddenly started to freak out. I personally did not want to discuss these ideas because I may figure it out and this is one of the few shows I want to unfold for me, not unravel all the mysteries.


OMG, look at the halo above his head! LOL

There were a few great lines people threw around, such as, that when it comes to angels Cass is a Turducken. Someone also shouted out, "Angels are dicks!"



A highlight for me was a woman dressed as Meg (from season 1) sat down right next to me. She looked so much like her! She shared with me that at Supernatural Cons (OMG, there is such a thing?) that you buy a ticket for a particular seat so it is guaranteed to be there for you and you can come and go as you please. Yes please!

It was wonderful people around other Supernatural fans. The ones in this group love the show and especially adore Charlie, who I am personally not a fan of (although I adore Felicia Day). I did appreciate that no one was allowed to talk about the last two episodes of the show just in case it might spoil it for others which was very thoughtful.

It was lovely to bask in love of the show. It did make me realize though that I prefer looking at it critically with Shannon on Hexed. That is our personal style of discussion so I just kept my mouth shut and hung out with some serious cool people.

Ep 146: Hal-Con 2013 & Paranormal TV Nov 5 - 11, 2013

It's ALL HAL-CON, ALL THE TIME on this weeks episode of Hexed as Suzie share her Hal-Con 2013 experience! It's so exciting to hear about all the workshops, Q and As, amazing costumes and people she met in person!

With all the awesome Hal-Con-ness, we do scale back a bit on the news and the shows this week, but chat our regs of The Walking Dead, Grimm, Supernatural, Sleepy Hollow and the Season 5 Finale of Face Off.

We'll be back next week to chat the Season 4 premieres of Lost Girl and Haven; along with our regs of Ghost Mine, Vampire Diaries, Dracula and so many more. We'll even do our best to fit in the series premiere of Almost Human. It's an awesome time for TV!

Show Notes

• Hal-Con 2013
• See Suzie's awesome Hal-Con coverage including Yaya Han Q and A, Yaya Han's Evolution of Cosplay Workshop, Jewel Straite's Q and A, Billy Dee Williams Q and A, Richard Hatch Q and A, Zombie Makeup on a Budget, J August Richard Q and A and much, much more to come!
• Hexed's YouTube Channel
• Helix begins Friday January 10, 2014 at 10pm on Showcase
• Our reference for Paul Revere

Time Coding
0:00 - 1:26 Intro
1:26 - 4:30 News
4:30 - 41:44 Hal-Con 2013!
41:44 - 53.20 Face Off S5 Ep 13 (Finale) Swan Song
53.20 - 1:00:10 Grimm S3 Ep 3 A Dish Best Served Cold
1:00:10 - 1:07:00 Sleepy Hollow S1 Ep 7 The Midnight Ride
1:07:00 - 1:17:30 The Walking Dead S4 Ep 5 Internment
1:17:30 - 1:27:00 Supernatural S9 Ep 5 Dog Dean Afternoon
1:27:00 - 1:30:20 Paranormal Witness S3 Ep 17 The Visitors
1:30:20 - 1:35:45 Outro


The Fine Print (spoiler notations)
We talk about the shows in depth, so please watch first and then listen. We don't look ahead or watch trailers, teasers, look at casting info, so any predictions and commentary are from our own minds.


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Hexed: Sisterhood of the Supernatural
All Supernatural TV. All the Time.

J August Richards' Q&A at Hal-Con 2013

I could have listen to J August Richards' (Gunn from Angel) Q&A at Hal-Con 2013 all night. He was so personable, genuine and fun, an absolute delight to video and the biggest honour to meet in real life.


You really need to watch the video to see how awesome he is!

He shared a lot about the his auditioning process and what it was like to go in for the part of Angel and then Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. He had Meryl Streep whisper in his ear, he broke his own rules and threw himself into each part.



He could not say whether or not the character Mike Peterson will be coming back to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., especially with my camera rolling. Busted!



From Shakespeare readings at Joss' place to his love of karaoke, J August Richards had a ton of great stories to share. His Q&A was at the end of psycho-crazy Saturday. I was so exhausted and in so much pain (I have fibromyalgia) but during his Q&A we just sat back and listened to him with big smiles on our faces.



When we got our photos taken with him the next day I dared to share my story of watching the first episode of S.H.I.E.L.D. with him. I had dental surgery done earlier that day and was completely medicated while watching the show. The only moments I remembered of that first episode were his. His acting was so strong, passionate and earnest I would pop my head up and say, "Gun!" in my head. I had to rewatch the show the next day again for Hexed because everything else was a blank.

I always adored the character Gunn on Angel and hoped that the actor would live up to my expectations. No problem there, he is an even bigger sweetheart in real life. This was the biggest highlight of Hal-Con 2013 for me. My favourite moment of all.

And there were a lot of great moments! More to come...

Yaya Han's Workshop "The Evolution of Cosplay" at Hal-Con 2013

The opportunity to go and learn all about the evolution of cosplay by the queen of cosplay herself, Yaya Han at Hal-Con, was not negotiable. I was going to go. I felt like I had really gotten to know Yaya thanks to the show Heroes of Cosplay, which Shannon and I have discussed on our podcast for Hexed from the beginning.

Yaya has inspired me so much I signed up for an online sewing course and am determined to get over my fear of sewing! Shannon too has been inspired to get back to working with clothing.

Yaya is the epitome of a self-made superhero if you ask me. When she started cosplaying there was no YouTube or Google. She is completely self-taught and learned everything by trial and error. Now? She is one of the best costume designers and cosplayers in the world.



When she began cosplaying there were no digital SLR cameras. Just crappy point and shoot ones. Then the Rebel camera brought a financially feasible DSLR camera to cosplay-enthusiasts and that changed everything.



Yaya shared screenshots of old sites that were the only way cosplayers had of sharing their photos, ideas and communicating with one another. A lot of the sites do not even exist anymore!

Back then, in order to get your name and image out there you had to enter contests to get recognition for your work. Today? You just need a good photo.

She discussed how the fundamental shift for cosplay occurred when photography and social media became accessible.



She described the golden era of cosplay to have been in the mid-2000s when it was still a small community and cosplay brought a very geographically separated group of people together at conventions.

For today's cosplayers she recommended deviantART as a place for people to connect and to see art you will not see on Facebook.



When asked about her Canadian experience here at Hal-Con she said, "I am escaping the American convention scene." I was personally surprised to hear that the cosplay veterans are losing interest in the contests because it takes up all their time at conventions and winning an award these days no longer makes you stand out. Now it is all about photographs, not awards. As a result, the quality in the contests has gone down.



As a big fan of Heroes of Cosplay I was excited when she spoke of her experiences with the show, at first. Turns out that all the contestants were actually friends of hers but because she often was a judge on the show she could not talk to the contestants like she would usually do. At least when the show started. Then they figured out that this it is normal in the cosplay world, for the judges and contestants to hang out together.

The topic of "sexy girls" of cosplay did come up and she was clear that craftsmanship is number one and that many girls and women are selling amateurish prints of themselves at the conventions. She even said, "I mean, what are they (the customers) doing with those prints?" Why would a guy want a photo of them when the images is blurry, the background has a bucket in it... Have standards. High standards.



On the second day of Hal-Con she wore a Snow White costume inspired by a Korean artist's interpretation of the Disney character. She loved just how cute it was and then made it herself. She loves character and a challenge when it comes to costume-making.

I did get a chance to get my photo taken with Yaya but sadly I was near the end of the line and it was all a bit uncomfortable. I later went to buy a calendar from her and got all tongue-tied which is not like me at all! It is rare for me to meet someone who gets me all nervous and gushy. I really feel like Yaya is a superstar and has inspired me in ways I did not think possible. She it the ultimate professional and in my mind, a bit of a superwoman. Too bad I came across as a big goofball but it was worth it!

Jewel Staite's Q&A at Hal-Con 2013

Jewel's Staite's Q&A was very animated and fun to attend. I loved finding out that the actress who played Kaylee on Firefly is a foodie like me! She even talked about the food on set!



She also shared a lot about Nathan Fillion and began with, "Nathan is insane." She proves it by describing a surreal trip he organized with Seth Green and Macaulay Culkin to a haunted house



When she found out that Kaylee lost in the Geeks vs Nerds Debate: Which Engineer Would Get the Millennium Falcon Running Better? Kaylee or Scotty.



She responded, "What the fuck?!" Aptly said, especially since I was at that debate and the argument pro Kaylee was excellent. I am glad no one brought up the use of inappropriate animated gifs and the chronic comments about her swooning over Simon.



When, it comes to Firefly Jewel only has positive associations with the show.

If she could be a superhero, she joked she would be Bacon Girl! Then when she thought about it she said she would like the power to heal but only the people she really liked.



I think my favourite convention story she shared was getting stuck in an elevator with stormtroopers and that one of them was carrying a boom box. Surreal!



When asked about her favourite hobbies I absolutely perked up when she said she was a food blogger. Her food blog is Happy Opu and I absolutely adored the post Oh, You Fancy, Huh?

When I had the chance to speak with her as we were getting our photos taken, I asked her if it was true that she actually snuck a kobe beef hot dog into a movie theatre. She replied emphatically that she did and even got her partner to verify her story.

Seriously, could Jewel's Staite be cooler?! I don't think so!

Billy Dee Williams' Q&A at Hal-Con 2013

The guest I personally wanted to see most this year at Hal-Con was Billy Dee Williams. As a young girl I had a huge crush on Han Solo's best friend and to actually get to see him in person? Nothing could have stopped me.



Right after Reg got to see his hero Richard Hatch (who I of course also adore) we waited to see Billy Dee walk on stage.



This video will show you all sorts of highlights of the Q&A that had the audience laughing and cheering.



Ajay Fry was an excellent host who informed the audience that not only is Billy Dee a wonderful actor, he is an accomplished painter.



When asked if he could play any other part in the Star Wars world he at first said Lando was it for him but after thinking about it, he said he would also consider playing Princess Leia which had us all in hysterics.



Everybody started to "oooo" and "awww" and look at the lineup of people asking questions because Darth Vader was among them! To see that exact moment on video, click here. It's hysterical!



When asked if he had any props from Star Wars he admitted he had an ewok head and that he really wish he had his signature cape.

Regarding the future of movies he shared that he thinks we are heading towards having hologram characters. Fascinating!



There was a huge turnout for the Q&A and we all had such a fun time but it was around this time on Saturday I realized that something was different at Hal-Con this year.



You could barely move from one event to the other. More to come on that later.

We did get our photo taken with Billy Dee and the man is such a sweetheart and a supreme gentleman. In no way did he disappoint.

Hal-Con makes dreams come true.

Richard Hatch's Q&A at Hal-con 2013

The wonderful Richard Hatch, who played Apollo in the original Battlestar Galactica and then Tom Zarek in the reboot, discussed what it was like to work on the new show with a new cast at his Q&A at Hal-Con. It was interesting to hear him speak of finally saying yes to a project and how hard that was for him. How the intimacy of the wonderful group changed his mind. To see clips from the Q&A go here.



For me, what was most moving was his motivational speaking on following your dreams. As he said, step out of this place where you are waiting for life to happen.

Richard is all about putting your heart and soul into a project and going for it. He said, do what you have to but do not expect it to be cheap!



In the video you will see what a wonderful orator and storyteller he is. He is extremely generous when discussing the cast and crew of Battlestar Galactica, especially when it comes to Tricia Helfer and Katie Sackhoff.



It is clear that Richard is a passionate person who put his heart and soul into making Battlestar come back one day, "Life demands us to step into life and commit to it... Step up, you have something to share."



"Everything is about innovation. Find out what your pot of gold is." I mean seriously... So inspiring, I loved this Q&A!

We all know that Apollo in the original series was an absolute hero but what was fascinating to contemplate with Richard Hatch is the question, was Tom Zarek a bad guy? He told the truth and yes, he was all about ego, but was he really a villain?!



Richard is a writer, director and teacher. I hope one day he considers writing an inspirational autobiography about how he never gave up on his dreams.



Reg's favourite hero character growing up was Apollo and he finally got to meet him in person. Talk about having a dream come true!