The MacGuffin

The MacGuffin covers Emerald City ComiCon 2012. We are joined by a series of guests to talk con highlights, web series, and podcasting.

Starting off by catching up with Aaron Roden from Air-Raid, we share some con experiences. Then we speak to members of JourneyQuest, The Collectibles, and Job Hunters to talk about their web series. Finally, we talk to Ron Richards from iFanboy about the challenges of podcasting.

This episode can be played online via the flash player below or it can be downloaded from here. It is also available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Zune.

I’ve only been to Seattle’s Emerald City ComiCon (ECCC) a few times, but from my point of view, this was clearly the biggest that I’ve seen so far. A convention that celebrates comic books, video games, sci-fi film and television, and just about everything within geek culture, the sheer number of people that come each year has grown exponentially from when I first went. Just to give a bit of insight: I went to this year’s convention with my cousin (who was there for the first time). Around noon we went out of the convention center to grab some lunch. As we made our way down the escalators to the ground lobby, the entire area was completely filled with people. Apparently, ECCC sold out this year, and a whole crowd stood around asking people passing if they could buy their badge for the day. I held on to mine as if it were a golden ticket.

Filmed at Crypticon 2011, interviews include: PJ Soles (Carrie, Halloween), Alex Vincent (Child’s Play), and Jewel Shepard (The Return of the Living Dead).

Filmed at Crypticon 2011, interviews include: Tom Fridley (The Karate Kid), CJ Graham (Friday the 13th Part VI), and David Katims (Friday the 13th Part 3).

The MacGuffin team covers the 2011 Emerald City ComiCon and discuss the crossover between film and comics, before closing out with their DVD picks of the week.

There I was, standing in line at the concessions stand. I hadn’t had anything to eat the entire day, had stayed out way passed my bedtime the previous night, and now was suffering the consequences. A buddy of mine had called me at 9:00am to wake me up, excited about going to this convention for the very first time in his life. Now, 9:00am isn’t exactly the crack of dawn, but when you go to bed around 6:00am that morning, it can be a little tough. But that didn’t deter my enthusiasm for being there. Emerald City Comicon is one of the biggest conventions the Pacific Northwest has during the year, attracting thousands of geeks and nerds out of their parents’ basements, dressed to the nines in their most detailed and extravagant costumes, ready to mix and mingle with their fellow peeps regarding everything in the world of comic books, video games, and sci-fi film and television. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that people can be as passionate about something as these people are; I read comics as a kid but unfortunately not as much now a days. I think events like the ECCC are great and lots of fun, but at that particular moment all I wanted was a bag of peanut M&Ms and a soda.

Filmed at ZomBcon 2010, interviews include: Terry Alexander (Day of the Dead), John Amplas (Martin), and Jeffrey Reddick (Final Destination).

Filmed at ZomBcon 2010, Spencer and John interview Timothy Patrick Quill, Danny Hicks, Adam Deyoe, Betsy Baker and Ted Raimi as part of their Evil Dead spectacular.

The Landlord (2009) is a shoestring indie horror comedy, written and directed by Emil Hyde. It tells the story of brother and sister Tyler (Derek Dziak) and Amy (Michelle Courvais), who have the unenviable task of being the owners of an apartment building that a couple of human-eating demons are treating as a personal buffet. To complicate matters, Amy, a cop, has various dubious street deals going on with a gang of vampire-ish thugs, and Tyler starts to develop feelings for the latest tenant, Donna, (Erin Myers) who will soon probably become a demon snack. And there are some detectives who would like to know a bit more about all of these missing tenants. And Donna is on the run from her abusive husband and looking for an abortion. And Amy is having an affair with her partner. And one of the demons has a bit of a home shopping problem.

The Maelstrom International Fantastic Film Festival (M.I.F.F.F.) takes place every year in Seattle, Washington and is dedicated to screening independent genre films from around the world.  As their website states, “The event was created to offer exposure to films that traditionally are overlooked by the festival circuit from genres including action, fantasy, horror, and science fiction.”  This year the festival was held over the weekend of September 17th through the 19th at the Seattle International Film Festival theatre in the neighborhood of Queen Anne.  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend as many screenings as I’d hoped, the line-up looked great with several blocks of different themed short films playing on Saturday and Sunday such as, Animation, Fantasy, Horror and Action/Science Fiction, followed by four featured length Horror films in the evenings.  I was able to catch the Animation short film block on Saturday which particularly caught my interest since it wasn’t just an animation showcase, which I love, but a showcase of animation films dealing particularly with genre subject matters, which is something I love even more.