Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Wishing everyone a Happy Holiday season, and a Happy New Year! I hope that 2012 was a good year for you all and that 2013 brings you nothing but the best.

Merry Christmas! ...and God bless us, everyone.

Remembrance Day

Being the spouse of a Canadian Service Member for twenty years, Remembrance Day will always be an important day for our family. Lest we forget.

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago 
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up the quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields."
- John McCrae, 1915

Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo

Last weekend my wife and daughter along with my son and his girlfriend (although they went down on their own a day early and were doing their own thing most of the weekend) attended the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo. What a great time.

We saw lots of cool stuff, like the Bat-mobile from the 60's TV show, and the DeLorean from Back To The Future. Had our pictures taken with some members of the 501st Legion who where there fundraising. We saw all kinds of cool comics and collectibles at the many vendors. Bought a few cool t-shirts and ate some overpriced food. My Daughter was happy as she got to see a few of her favorite actors including Mr. Adam Baldwin (she is a huge "Firefly" fan), and I got some time to myself to cruise the artists area.

Saturday was a little bit out of control because attendance was way more than they had anticipated. It go so bad that the Fire Marshal stopped letting people in which really sucked for some, because staff where telling some people to go outside and around the building to bypass the congestion. It really, really sucked for the husband of a woman in line behind us whose husband was trapped outside because he was trying to get to the photo op for the entire cast of Star Trek: TNG (Cost of photo op ticket: $495 ). Even after explaining this to the people outside, they would not let him back in.

According to the organizers of the event, it wasn't that they oversold tickets just bad timing as much of the congestion was around the ST:TNG events.  And I have to agree. I mean, I am a huge Star Trek fan, but even I took one look at the craziness around all the ST:TNG cast and thought to myself, "There is no way, as much as I would love to get an autograph from Sir Patrick Stewart or Johnathan Frakes, that I am wading into that mess." And the lines they had for some of their guests were woefully too short like Wil Wheaton (his line was quite short. I don't think they took into account his new found  popularity thanks to "The Big Bang Theory"), as was the autograph line for James & Oliver Phelps, aka: Fred & George Weasley (never underestimate the insanity of Harry Potter fans).

Luckily the promoters did their best to honour tickets from Saturday on Sunday as much as they could and you can still get refunds on their website till the end of May. At the end of it all, I think they handled the overflow as well as can  be expected. Even with all the congestion and the standing forever and long days our family had fun. and we even found the time to visit our daughter who lives in Calgary. Best of all, I had a chance to meet and get a picture with Mr. Stan Lee. All in all a fantastic weekend and we can't wait till next year. Excelsior!

Happy Star Wars Day!

Hope everyone has a great Star Wars day! May the 4th be with you....always.

Thanks For Everything Mr. McQuarrie

The artistic visionary, Ralph McQuarrie passed away at the age of 82.

"The world of science fiction and fantasy art and design has lost one of its true legends as Ralph McQuarrie died today at the age of 82.McQuarrie began his design career after moving to California from Indiana in the early 1960s. While he started out working as a technical illustrator for Boeing, he also found jobs designing film posters and providing animation elements for CBS News coverage of the Apollo space program.

An offer to work on concept art for a film project followed, and his designs caught the eye of director George Lucas, who had an ideal for a little movie about adventures in space. McQuarrie worked on designs for Star Wars before it was even known by that name and, in 1975, was commissioned to provide the now iconic designs for the likes of Chewbacca and Darth Vader, plus many concepts for the sets and ships. His art actually helped convince 20th Century Fox to take a gamble on Lucas’ dreams, making him a key component in one of the most beloved franchises of all time.“I just did my best to depict what I thought the film should look like, I really liked the idea,” he’s since said. “I didn’t think the film would ever get made. My impression was it was too expensive. There wouldn’t be enough of an audience. It’s just too complicated. But George knew a lot of things that I didn’t know.”

Lucas naturally asked him to work on The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, and he even got to appear on screen in the uncredited role of General McQuarrie. But despite his close connection to the Star Wars universe, he declined Lucas’ offer to return for the prequels, commenting that he’d rather hand the baton to a new generation of artists and designers.Outside of Star Wars, McQuarrie worked closely with Steven Spielberg on Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and ET, providing the jaw-dropping designs for alien vessels. He also contributed to Raiders Of The Lost Ark and won an Oscar for Cocoon before moving on to work as either a consultant or the concept artist for such films as Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Batteries Not Included and Jurassic Park.A true original, McQuarrie is survived by Joan, his wife."

Sympathies to his family. Thank you for everything Ralph. You envisioned and influenced a huge and happy part of my youth, and you will be missed.