John Levene – Guest of the Weekend 2011

For those of you who have read my blog you may have heard of the ‘Guest of the Weekend Award’ that has been mentioned for many events that I’ve been to. (If you’ve no ideas what I’m on about click here!)

Me with John at Spring Memorabilia

I’d talked with Tim a while back about making an actual physical award however with the best laid plans it never actually happened...

Not to let a good idea go wasted I instead decided to create an award for the person that really stuck in my mind, call it guest of the year if you want.

Before the idea of the award had really truly formed I already knew who the winner was, there was no decision needed it just felt right.

MCM Expo London Film and Comic Con and Memorabilia - Day Two, And Relax...

Following a good night’s sleep (the free room upgrade the hotel gave me helped!) it was time for day 2 of the madness known as Expo/Memorabilia.

Wolverdoc?

I hadn’t really got anything specifically planned for day two so decided to take the day as it came.

Upon walking in I gave into temptation and bought myself photoshoots with both Alexa Havins and Arlene Tur, they had both been so nice the day before I decided it would be nice to see them again.

Also on the Sunday Tim and Laura debuted their new Cosplays, Laura as X-23 (Wolverine clone) and Tim as Dakin (Dark Wolverine / Wolverines son), I had to try out the Dakin claws and somehow managed to make having talons growing from your hands look camp... Oh well, I guess it’s a talent I didn’t know I had...

Sunday was a nice relaxed day, far less busy than the Saturday which is nice as you’re actually able to walk round and have a proper look at things as well as seeing some amazing costumes.

MCM Expo London Film and Comic Con and Memorabilia - Day One, Martha and The Doctor

My previous post got the moans and grumbles out of the way, now onto the event itself!

Expo and Memorabilia are two very different shows. Expo is all about anime, costumes and ‘free hugs’... Memorabilia is more of the classic signing event; they also differ a lot in how busy they are. Expo is manic (50K plus people) where as Mem attracts far less. Expo also seems to attract a younger crowd (well that’s how it felt to me).

The big draw for Memorabilia for me was Freema Agyeman, she’s never done an event before so this was an opportunity not to be missed. As there weren’t that many people at Memorabilia her queue wasn’t overly long (I’m done moaning about queues now). Freema was fab, she was really chatty and came across as really enjoying the whole experience. Now that she’s done an event I hope she’ll appear at more in the future.

MCM Expo London Film and Comic Con and Memorabilia – There’s Nothing Like an Organised Event...

...And this was nothing like an organised event.

The Doc and Babydoll

Now don’t get me wrong I was really excited about London Memorabilia, to put it simply Freema Agyeman was attending!

But before the good there are a few little moans I need to vent...

One: If you have 50,000+ people turning up to an event you need to have a well organised and managed queuing system... Expo have got most of it sorted, when you buy a ticket online it’s emailed to you and you print it off, simple.

Once you get to the event you ticket is scanned and you’re sorted... Well, not quite.

Once you’ve queued up to have your ticket scanned you then get to queue again to be given a wristband, here’s a really easy tip it you have lots of people scanning tickets (I think there were about 10) then make sure you have just as many giving out wristbands, if not you end up with a bottleneck...

When Did You Feel Comfortable In Your Own Skin?

Bit of a random title I know, the reason for it? It’s a result of the talk that Gillian Anderson did (have a look at the ‘An Evening With Gillian Anderson’ post). Basically, the final question of the night was ‘When did you / do you feel comfortable in your own skin?’

This got me to thinking, what would my answer be if I was asked that question?

Well, as a result I’ve decided to pen (or more accurately, type) a bit of a personal blog post, so here goes...

What you may not know (or believe) it that I’m naturally quite shy (no really its true!). Yes, I know it may seem odd that someone that swans around at events dressed up and posing for pictures could be shy but it’s true.

I’ve found there are two versions of me; there is me and the event attending me... When I’m at events I take on a lot of the characteristics and mannerisms of who I’m dressed as, either 10 or Benedick. Both characters are very outgoing, chatty and funny. I find this is a great benefit when wandering around at events; it lets me chat to people and come across as really confident.

An Evening With Gillian Anderson

Do you remember, back when you were younger, the first person that you bought a poster of? You know, the one that took pride of place in your room, the one that never was moved despite your changing tastes and moods? Yes, good. Then you’ll understand what I think of Gillian Anderson.

Gillian as Agent Dana Scully from the X Files

Back to 1993 (seems like another lifetime, well it was 18 years ago!) the X-files hit the screens and we were introduced to Agent Dana Scully.

To 11 year old me, Scully was the perfect woman, she was beautiful, had a strong character, was clever and was also a geek/nerd. She was my first celebrity crush for sure!

Roll on a few more years and times have changed, the X-files is no more and the Gillian posters had made way to more mature and minimalist room layout.

Then a couple of weeks ago I was told that Gillian was giving a talk at the Rose Theatre in Kingston and tickets were limited and only £6 each. How could I say no to that! (Thank you Sian so much for the spare ticket!)