Come To Calgary if You Want To Live

We leave for the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo in just over 4 days. To say that I'm excited would be an understatement. I attended the show in 2011 and it's the Western Canadian pinnacle of pop culture, comics, entertainment, art, and collecting. It's fanboy heaven and chance's are that there is a celebrity guest at this year's show that would interest anyone who ever watched a movie or turned on a TV, especially if you are a fan of science fiction.

Now, I'm not a Star Trek nerd or a Star Wars freak. I'm pretty selective of the comics and books I read and I really don't watch a lot of TV except for some hockey and wrestling. I maybe see a movie in the theatre once or twice a year. Basically, besides my video game collecting obsession, my other pop culture interests are more discerning and selective.

...but goddamn-holy-shit-mother do I love anything to do with The Terminator...

The first Terminator film is my favorite movie of all time. I love Aliens, Evil Dead, and Hellraiser too, but in the 1980s nothing could top The Terminator for me. I watched it on Betamax until the tape looked like a snowstorm. It was the first VHS tape I ever owned and I even started collecting Arnold Schwarzenegger movies because he was from The Terminator. I wouldn't call myself a huge Arnold fan, but he just happened to be in some of the best 1980s action films. I watch Predator, Robocop, Total Recall and other classics a few times a year and they never get old for me.

I made the decision that I had to make the 13+ hour drive to the Calgary Expo when I saw that Linda Hamilton (Sarah Connor) and Michael Biehn (Kyle Reese) would be appearing. Not many celebrities would I sit in a car full of ball-sweat and farts for 13 hours to meet, but I had such a crush on Linda Hamilton in the 1980s, that getting an autograph and a picture was too good to be true. Robert Patrick (T-1000) will also be there, as well as Kristanna Loken who played the Terminatrix (T-X) in Terminator 3. I have met Summer Glau before from the Sarah Conner Chronicles TV show, and this year's show will also feature Lena Headey who played Sarah Conner on that show. If I could meet two Sarah Connors, Kyle Reese, and Hicks from Aliens all in one day I think my nerdgasm may flood the whole West coast of Canada. 

The rest of the celebrity guest list is pretty stellar with names like Casper Van Dien, Gillian Anderson, John Carpenter, Peter Dinklage, Norman Reedus, Eliza Dushku, Carrie Fisher, Nathan Fillion, Edge, Stan Lee, and many, many more! Check out the full list and details of the show here:

http://www.calgaryexpo.com/     

The whole trip is going to be a weekend of game chasing, convention crawling, celebrity gawking, and probably a lot of beer and deep dish pizza. We have planned and saved for months now and can't wait to hit the road on Thursday morning. We plan to update Twitter and this blog when we can while we are there and I'm sure there will be a full episode of the Two Crude Dudes podcast dedicated to the trip when we return.

When I think of major players in the Terminator (and Aliens) films that I'd like to meet, it does choke me up that I missed out on Lance Henriksen last year...and that Tommy got to meet him. Other than that, I'll be able to knock so many Terminator celebrities off my list in one convention. Hmmm, it kinda seems like I'm missing someone...

Was he killed by a Predator in "Indian Summer"? I can't remember...

That's all for now! Keep watching this space and Twitter for updates during the big weekend! We also plan to hit some pretty dark corners of Canada looking for retro games on the way there and back, so you can count on us to deliver some interesting finds...

See you soon! No fate, but what we make, bitches!