VanCon 2014: Friday Report

This is the first Con I've been to where they had the house band - "The Electric Waistband" aka Louden Swain. VanCon is a pretty small venue (which will change next year when they move to the Convention Centre), so it's a lot of sound for the room - but it really makes for an instant party atmosphere, which is pretty awesome!

Anyway, let's jump right into the panels....

Host: Richard Speight Jr.

( good-looking, if you're into that kind of thing )

Rob Benedict

( Go back to where you came from. I got this. )

Two Fingers of Matt Cohen

I actually can't remember when this was said, but I think it was before Osric's panel... so that's where I'm putting it. If I'm mistaken, then invision this conversation happening at another time on Friday:

I believe this might have been where they announced that Matt wasn't going to be able to come to Karaoke, because he was working, at which point Rob said that he missed Matt, and his life could always use a little more Matt Cohen in it. Richard joked about decorating the house - "This place needs something... fresh flowers? No... new throw pillows? Nope... oh! Matt Cohen!" and then they got into talking about how MUCH Matt Cohen was a good amount, and Rob responded that he liked "Two fingers of Matt Cohen", meaning to use a whiskey/bourbon measuring technique, but, of course, that statement could have another meaning and that's the one that people ran with for the rest of the Con.


Osric Chau and Lauren Tom

( I can't believe I wanted my own sons to be like you. You're a nincompoop. )

Adam Rose, Dan Payne, and Chad Rook

( Nothing like ending on a Holocaust joke! )

Gil McKenny

( You're going to die, but that's okay. )

Autographs
Only Osric and Adam Rose were included in the Gold ticket. I told Osric that I liked his costume. I asked Adam how he was liking the Con, and he said it was awesome.



Karaoke

I put my name in for a song, but it was a long shot because it's a Canadian classic rather than an American one. So, I wasn't particularly shocked when I was never called.

The actors that were there were all the actors that had given panels that day, except for Dan Payne. Jim Michaels also put in an appearance.

Matt Cohen, as stated previously, couldn't make it, because he was filming a show down in LA. He sent a video from the set with his regrets, and the make-up he was in was a major spoiler for what happens!

His head was bleeding and he had either been shot in the throat or had a tracheotomy

.
There were a LOT of technical problems, unfortunately. Also, some of the words were wrong in the songs.

There was one kid who got up who sang Frank Sinatra's "My Way" - and he was AMAZING. Unfortunately, I didn't get it together to record it until the final verse, but man... I really wanted them to pull him back up on stage at Saturday's Cabaret, but they switched the format of the Cabaret from what I have seen previously, so it wasn't to be. Anyway, the guys name is Matthew Gerard.

Because of the technical problems, they didn't have lyrics, or, at one point, backing tracks... so they asked if anyone could sing A Capella - a girl volunteered to sing Defying Gravity. My friend and I were sure it was going to be a disaster, but we were happily proven wrong and she was also very good! Yay!

Jim came out and talked about how they were starting to film the 200th episode and that they planned, if the numbers stayed up, to beat the Smallville record for most episodes of a genre show.

I ended up leaving during a particularly bad rendition of Thunderstruck, which was the second to last song, I believe... I got home in time to have 4 hours of sleep before I had to be up and heading back downtown for the Saturday panels...