Monday, April 30, 2012

Captains Log: Sunday 4/29/12 Calgary




Hey there friend thanks for checking out the blog. Thanks to social media outlets Facebook and Twitter I was able to document my recent trip to the Calgary Comic And Entertainment Expo 2012. It was quite the quest filled with misadventure, good times and a few bad. Among my many activities that weekend it included the fact I got drunk with 'The Honky Tonk Man', I got to meet Stan Lee and most of the cast of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', and I had a talk with comic book writing icon Peter David. 
Captains Log: Sunday 4/29/12 Calgary

The following is a log of each days activities with pictures included, with more blogs and pics later in the week. Enjoy and please leave a comment!

* Another day begins. Leaving for the con 2 hours a head of time so I can actually get in, even though I have a 3 day ticket and pre-paid photo tickets for today... Apparently that doesn't matter to the organizers...

Chris Lockhart We're in. Just have to sit and wait till 10 am now, but we're in!

* Brief Re-Cap of Last Nights Star Trek TNG EXPOsed Show:
Chris Lockhart It opened with a awesome band playing Sinatra and swing band style music, kinda like Michael Buble. Then a recorded message from the Mayor of Calgary. Then the introduction of 'Emily Expo', the cons super sexy mascot. Then a video of Emily interviewing other sci-fi stars at the 'Emerald City Con' about TNG. Those interviewed included Christopher Judge (Stargate), Edward James Olmos (BSG), George Takei (Sulu), Walter Koenig (Chekov), Robert Picardo (The Doctor from 'Voyager') and others who I didn't know, mostly voice actors.Then Garret Wong (Ensign Kim from 'Voyager') came out and had a funny story about why he likes TNG, and he did a great George Takei impersonation. Then one of the original TNG crew workers was there to say some words. He apparently works on the TV series 'Hell On Wheels' now and said Colm Meaney sends his best. Meaney was Chief O'Brien and stars on 'Hell on Wheels'. Then they unwisely had a 30 minute intermission...Then the TNG cast came out. 


It was a great show, moderated by the Innerspace Crew (Teddy, Ajay and Cynthia) and guest appearances by Aaron Douglas (Tyrel from 'Battlestar Galactica') and John DeLancie (Q). They asked Patrick Stewart who his favorite villain was and he said 'Damon Bok', then from the back of the arena someone yelled 'Hey wait a minute!' And in walks John DeLancie. He came on stage and sat with the crew and Stewart admitted it had to be Q. Wil Wheaton had some great comments, the whole crew were funny to watch. 


Chris Lockhart Wheaton discussed how he felt bad leaving the show when he did. And Gates McFadden thanked fans for getting Dr Crusher back on the show after the Producers decided to get rid of her in Season 2, she returned in season 3. I was not aware that is why she was taken out.  It was a great show. Hopefully it was filmed for release because I would like a copy. There was a film crew there. If they were smart they would sell that on DVD or on iTunes.



*Just saw a very hot 'Wonder Woman' who basically was wearing underwear...VERY NICE!!! X a million!!!

* got Denise Crosby's autograph and now in line for Marina Sirtis

*in line to meet Worf



*in line to get my pic with Data at 12:30
-Chris Lockhart This will sound bad but I wish I had a wheel chair to sit in. My legs are so sore and a wheel chair would give me the mobility I require...
-Chris Lockhart Got our pic with Data. Amazingly nice guy!



*some guy had the nerve to ask if he could jump the line ahead of me. Felt like saying FU(K u! But I politely refused. Don't complain to me about long line ups!
-Chris Lockhart Some people... Its amazing how many people try to butt in line...
-Chris Lockhart And it's amazing how pushy people get.

*Just seen a guy dressed up as the A+W Manager from the commercials... At least I hope he's dressed up...
-Lori Flood I love that guy
-Chris Lockhart This guy wasn't as handsome...lol

* having some lunch at the con. Just talked with The Honky Tonk man again and got his autograph. Real nice guy.

I should have dressed up as 'The Hamburgler' so I would have an excuse to steal someone's hamburger... If I got caught I would just laugh it off and say I was in character and all would be forgiven...maybe next time...



* Peter David quote "I would take Dick Clark with a stroke over Ryan Seacreast". Freakin hilarious!!

got some more classic 'He-Man' toys in my quest to rebuild my lost collection from my youth.



Note to self: buy bigger pants so I can carry a bottle of water in my ass pocket. (Probably glad I put 'pocket' in that sentence...)
Chris Lockhart Waiting in line for my 'Fringe' photo!!
-Allison F. VanderGriend Cool can't wait to see that picture!!!!!! :D Yes that was a good idea....the pocket that is!...lol
-Chris Lockhart Legs so sore... Feels like I ran a marathon...
-Allison F. VanderGriend yea i can see that...lol well todays your last day right? How did bailey( i hope I spellled it right) like it?
-Chris Lockhart He's good. And it is the last day!
-Chris Lockhart The Fringe guys were very nice. Can't wait to post all my pics!! Monday or Tuesday!!



*got Aaron Douglas's autograph and now going to get Hayden Panettiere. Then back to the room! Day over!


-Chris Lockhart Done and done. Aaron was very nice. Hayden was nice enough, but she seemed a little high maintenance. But very beautiful!! We're back at the room. Gonna have some supper then swimming at the pool. It has been a great weekend spent with my son!
-Chris Lockhart Just had a half hour cat nap. Feel much better!

* I can officially say that I have met every regular cast member of Star Trek: The Next Generation!! Thanks Calgary con! Despite all the problems, line-ups and frustrating moments in the end it was all worth it!
David Fitzpatrick Did the Geek get his mother her gift?
Chris Lockhart Nope I didn't. The line up to get the Weasley twins autograph was unbelievable. They were getting as many people in their line as Patrick Stewart and Stan Lee. Pottermania lives on!
-  Jeff Torvalson Was nuts in there
Chris Lockhart Sorry we missed u Jeff. We'll have to exchange stories sometime!
-Jeff Torvalson Yeah... Got some good ones
-Chris Lockhart Did you see that 'Wonder Woman' in her underwear? OMG nerdgasm!!

*Bailey just shook hands with 'The Million Dollar Man' and 'Jake The Snake' is here in the restaurant too!
-And Bailey got Jake The Snakes autograph and shook his hand.
-Another wrestler came in. Not sure who he is but he said 'Hi' to Bailey. Guess Bailey made quite the impression on the Wrestlers at the Expo. He's a cute little dude who loves wrestling.

Peter David just walked past our table at the lounge. Didn't know he was staying here too, would have loved to have had a beer with a Comic Book writing legend!

*didn't see any 'Innerspace' people this year. Too bad they were very nice to meet last year. Too many celebrities this year to meet I suppose...
-Melody Warman So did you like it? Did you come and play in my transporter room transit shelter?
-Chris Lockhart I saw it but didn't have time to stop in. You made that?
-Melody Warman Yep!! We had 2 on the street downtown Calgary. Used augmented reality in the poster design and using an app on ios platform it actually had a transporter 'beam' and you would disappear and then beam back reappearing...uber cool! Ppl could share on facebook too!
-Chris Lockhart Sorry I didn't try it. It sounds awesome. Too busy standing in lines this weekend...
-Melody Warman Lol yep par for the course...soooo busy!

*My Mom likes to say the word 'Darlin' a lot in sentences, for example "How are you darlin?" Is something she would say. Keep that in mind for the following comments:
-Anyway as a young lad Denise Crosby was one of my boyhood crushes. She played Lt Tasha Yar in Star Trek TNG. Google her outfit from the episode 'The Naked Now' to see why she had my attention. She seduced Data! Anywho I got the chance to finally meet her today. This woman who attracted me so long ago. And she says to me "Hi Darlin, how are you today?". And she ended our conversation by saying "take care darlin"... One of my boyhood crushes now sounds like my MOM!!! I don't know what to make of that. Bizzare perhaps? I was happy to meet Denise Crosby, in fact I think she posed for 'Playboy' pre-TNG if I remember correctly, and I wondered if meeting her would 'do' something for me... But when she said "Darlin" I can never think of her ever again in that way. Very weird vibe is what I felt this morning. But that didn't stop me from getting her to autograph a photo of her from 'The Naked Now' episode. I'm actually not sure why I'm sharing this story...they say honesty is the best medicine and I need some healing!! Did someone actually say 'Honesty is the best medicine" or did I just make that up? I don't know anymore. Down is up and up is down at this point.



*Thanks to all my friends and family for reading my facebook posts and for leaving comments as I undertook this mission into Geekdom. This is my best weekend of the year!! Special thanks to my wife Crystal, for letting me go to this thing.
-Chris Lockhart And thanks to my Mom for helping me to get my ticket to the TNG EXPOsed show.
-And thanks to my son Bailey for joining me on this trip. Had some great time spent together here.

*Comic Book Writing Icon Peter David just tweeted me!! My geek weekend is complete!!

Captains Log: Monday 4/30/12 Calgary-Barrhead

*Well it's Monday and my Geekend is over. Wanted to sleep in but the Sun (our closest star, not to be confused with my Son Bailey) woke me up at 6:18 this morning...
-Chris Lockhart As soon as sunlight hits my eyes I'm wide awake. I forgot to seek out a night mask last night. Plan on checking out between 10-11, that way we should avoid the bulk traffic. I seen a news story last night on the Calgary News about the Calgary Con. Guess next year they are going to be pre-selling their tickets only. That way people won't be turned away at the door because no tiks will be sold at the door. That would be an improvement. But they need to expand the days, expand the hours and hire more photographers for the Photo-ops. The photo-ops are a gold mine and I know they made a lot of money, but so much more would have been made. I've actually prepped a letter to the Organizers with my suggestions, which I will post on the blogs later this week. But despite all my rants about my experiences this weekend I had a great time. Hopefully they learned from this year and will make improvements to the event next year. I haven't heard who they plan to bring next year, but I'm hoping for Matt Smith (The Doctor) and other cast mates from 'Doctor Who'. Maybe some 'Game Of Thrones' and 'Walking Dead' people too?   But I am so tired today, but just can't sleep. Feel like I ran a marathon. Legs are so sore. Plus I still have a chest cold which hasn't helped, but I haven't allowed it to slow me down. I wanted to buy a 'River Song' sonic screwdriver this weekend, but it wasn't meant to be. But I did get a prop medieval sword which I will wield while watching 'Game Of Thrones'.  

Out of Calgary, on Highway 2 on our way home

When ever I see the word 'Balzac' (the place in Alberta) I think 'ball sack'. Lol
-Chris Lockhart And I giggle with boyish glee
-Jamie Gronlund-Moebes Ditto! I'm giggling now! :)

*driving past Bowden and there is a guy hitch hiking with an orange jumpsuit. Maybe I will give him a ride... (Bailey is writing this for me)
-Brianna Lockhart Rydvall personal secretary!!!!!!! How much is he getting paid??? lol
-Chris Lockhart He got lots of money to spend this weekend!

*Home Sweet Home. Chris Out.


Captains Log: Saturday 4/28/12 Calgary


Hey there friend thanks for checking out the blog. Thanks to social media outlets Facebook and Twitter I was able to document my recent trip to the Calgary Comic And Entertainment Expo 2012. It was quite the quest filled with misadventure, good times and a few bad. Among my many activities that weekend it included the fact I got drunk with 'The Honky Tonk Man', I got to meet Stan Lee and most of the cast of 'Star Trek: The Next Generation', and I had a talk with comic book writing icon Peter David. 

The following is a log of each days activities with pictures included, with more blogs and pics later in the week. Enjoy and please leave a comment!

Captains Log: Saturday 4/28/12 Calgary

Seriously how many people can say they partied with The Honky Tonk Man?? I can!!! 12 hours ago I never would have imagined me using those words in a sentence!
Chris Lockhart Calgary Expo: where dreams you never imagined come true...

After a night of having beers with The Honky Tonk Man and only getting 4 hours of sleep I'm ready to tackle another day at the Calgary Comic Expo. Gonna get my pic with Stan Lee and Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard)!!
-Chris Lockhart Wish I could have slept longer but when that sun light hits my eyes I'm done. Plus this room is too warm. Plus I'm getting older and I like to complain about stuff.

Nice and sunny in Calgary!

Watching a chick dressed as 'Wonder Woman' sing and 'Super Mario' play guitar on stage at the Corral. They are actually good!

Got my pic with Stan Lee!!!



had to give up on getting a pic with Patrick Stewart today. Waited in line for an hour and a half for nothing! In line for my Fringe pic now
-Chris Lockhart Will try again tomorrow, but I definitely won't be getting as many pics as I wanted because they are poorly organized here!
-Chris Lockhart And now the Fringe line cancelled! Pissed off much!
-Chris Lockhart Back in line for Patrick Stewart...
-Brandy Stecyk-Sarapuk Wtf are they doing there? Why did you have to give it up? I woukd have raised the roof! !!
-Chris Lockhart I felt like it. Very poorly organized photo ops!
-Brandy Stecyk-Sarapuk shit man I should take my photography down there and run the show !! ......
-Chris Lockhart I don't know why they don't have more photographers here in multiple locations. It would be a gold mine!



* Captain Picard said "well done" to me!
-Chris Lockhart Meeting him was AWESOME!
-Chris Lockhart Very nice guy. Was worth all the hassle and 3 hour wait in line!!!

back at the room for a couple hours. Then off to the Star Trek :TNG EXPOsed show!!! Bought a few items, got to meet one of my comic book writer heroes, Peter David. He autographed some Hulk comics and novels for me.


-Will Kuhn Will they let you back in later? We were told once you left you can't get back in
-Will Kuhn We couldnt get in at all
-Chris Lockhart Crazy amount of people. My legs are so sore right now! Had to refund some of my photo ops because there is no way they can organize photo ops. Problem is they over sell and give no thought as to having enough time for everyone. Tomorrow getting my pic with Data (Brent Spiner) and the Fringe stars (John Noble and Jasika Nicole)
-Chris Lockhart I'd assume so. The TNG thing is a separate ticketed event.
-Will Kuhn Oh ok
-Chris Lockhart TNG EXPOsed is through Ticketmaster, not the Calgary Con. So they better let me in or there will be hell to pay! With all the money they make why don't they hire some people to actually run this thing efficiently?
-Will Kuhn I don't know, they must of turned away 3 to 5 thousand people

*No partying with 'Honky Tonk' tonight... I am so tired!!! Waiting in line to get into the TNG EXPOsed show!
-Chris Lockhart I think I should volunteer here next year. You don't do much, you get to have 'authority', you get to meet the stars for free and all the free pizza you want (apparently).
-Chris Lockhart But I am curious what celeb's may be at the lounge tonight...

*Finally at my seat for the show. Johnny Summers and his band is playing 'Sinatra' before the show starts.

wish they would have Brent Spiner come out on stage and sing some tunes.

*MOM; haven't had a chance to get an autograph yet from the 'Weasley Twins'. You wouldn't believe the line up they had!
-Darcy Lockhart Keep trying please

*Jailhouse Rock, swing band style!

*now Queen!! This band rocks!

*now some tall dude has to sit in front of me!! Chris Smash Now!!

*a guy just proposed to his girl and she said yes. While wearing Starfleet uniforms no less!!
Chris Lockhart Amazing stuff happens at the Calgary Con!
-Brianna Lockhart Rydvall Now that is romantic!!! Reminds me of The Terminal!!!!!!
-Brandy Stecyk-Sarapuk Now that is romance of the nerds !!! haha
-Angela Watt Oh man! Love it!!! I'd love to plan a trekkie wedding!! So amazing and takes a lot of guts for public proposal.
-Chris Lockhart I did a public proposal when I proposed.
-Angela Watt Very nicely done then, sir. I tip my hat to you
-Chris Lockhart Not that I'm bragging. But be sure to check out the story in a future installment of my Random Nerdness Blog... Shameless self promotion...
-Angela Watt Do it up! Maybe you could also place it on or do a summation with a link on my event planning blog. Also shameless self promotion. LOL
-Chris Lockhart Very nice! Lol

*now the show starts!!
-Chris Lockhart Garret Wang from Star Trek: Voyager is on stage.
-Chris Lockhart ‎8pm and still no Next Gen crew on stage!!! And now they call a 30 minute intermission. WTF????????? I'm running out of nice things to say about this place!!! Chris Smash now!
-Chris Lockhart Don't get me wrong I do enjoy my time in Calgary but this show needs better organization. There's no need to be pissing people off the way they are.
-Chris Lockhart Gotta pee but it's a 2 hour line up to the urinal...volunteers are turning people away fron the bathroom (lol). May have to man up and pee into my water bottle.
-Chris Lockhart People are getting pushy. May have to hand out some donkey punches...
-Chris Lockhart Seriously a douche with a braided goatee asked me to move to the side... If only I had some scissors to cut that abortion off his chin...
-Chris Lockhart I need a beer. But that won't help with the peeing situation...
-Chris Lockhart Hour and a half into the show and still no TNG cast... Maybe their transporter is broke? Where's Chief O'Brien? And where's Waldo?
-Chris Lockhart Now the shows starting?
-Chris Lockhart Teddy, Cynthia and Ajay from 'Innerspace' are on stage. They will be moderating the show!!

-Chris Lockhart Now the TNG cast is being brought out!
-Chris Lockhart Awesome!


-Chris Lockhart Dr Crusher is talking about Data's on button. She turned him on! Lol
-Lori Flood u are too funny
-Chris Lockhart Wil Wheaton just said something very touching. Very nice guy!

-Chris Lockhart Q just showed up!!! Holy shit!


-Chris Lockhart Wil Wheaton just asked Patrick Stewart about being on X-Men!
-Chris Lockhart Was a great show. Couldn't get any good pics due to poor lighting and a cheap camera. But still great. Hope they air it somewhere or available on iTunes. Couldn't get a cab so I added a half hour walking time. Tomorrow I plan to get my pic with Brent Spiner and Denise Crosby's autograph. Then I'll have met every TNG cast member!



* Watching 'Global Calgary' and they were showing how people were being turned away from the Calgary Con today. Even people with 3 day passes were not allowed in! Very poor planning... 
Chris Lockhart The best is the Organizers are saying they didn't over sell the show. Bullshit!! If it wasn't over sold the fire martial would allow them to let everyone who paid for a ticket to go in. They got greedy, it's that simple.Also that was the problem with the photo-ops too. They got greedy and over sold. It's just a matter of doing the math. Only sell what you can to make it work. I got to meet some cool celebs, get my pic taken, but not entirely sure if I'll be back for next year. Today really opened my eyes to how disorganized they are at the con. I've been told that the Toronto, Vancouver and Seattle Cons are much better organized. I may go there next year instead. We'll see who they bring to Calgary next year...Might make the trek to Vulcan Alberta for 'Spock Days' in june, either this year or next maybe. They get some celebs there too. But Comic Cons are better because people from comics, sci-fi, horror, wrestling and fantasy are included too. Maybe I'm just grumpy cause I'm tired. Well good night my friends and readers. See you in the future! (Tomorrow morning)...On CTV Calgary they reported Con Organizers are considering giving thise who couldn't get in with refunds...well duh!! You sold a service you didn't provide you give people their money back!!
-Brianna Lockhart Rydvall I'd be asking for a refund!!!!
-Angela Watt Wow. Just. Wow.
-Will Kuhn I heard they were doing that this afternoon