Fan Expo Vancouver is fast-approaching as enthusiasts prepare to flock to the Vancouver Convention Centre for April 20th and April 21st. Fan Expo is Comicon Hollywood North – bringing authors, artists, storytellers, filmmakers, actors, under one roof to celebrate anime, manga, comics, sci-fi, gaming and horror.

Special guests confirmed so far include:

• Stan Lee (Spider-Man, X-Men, Iron Man, The Hulk, The Avengers)
• Norman Reedus (The Boondock Saints, The Walking Dead)
• Sean Patrick Flannery (The Boondock Saints, Young Indiana Jones)
• Tia Carrere (Relic Hunter, Wayne’s World)
• Elvira (Mistress of the Dark)
• James Marsters & Juliet Landau (Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
• Soska Twins (American Mary)
• Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter)
• Sean Astin (The Goonies, Lord of the Rings)
• Jonathan Frakes (Cmdr William T. Riker in Star Trek: The Next Generation)
• David Prowse (Star Wars)
• Michael Hogan (Battlestar Galactica)
• Robin Dunne (Sanctuary, Space Milkshake)
• Dean Redman (Smallville, Tron: Legacy)
• … and more!

Other attractions include autograph and celebrity photo sessions, The 501st Legion: Star Wars Photo Session (Darth Vader, Boba Fett & Stormtroopers), Q&A sessions with celebrity guests, sci-fi fantasy author book signings, gaming tournaments, cosplaying (props & weapons policy in effect), artist competition (“Sketching Duels”), workshops & seminars, artist alley, kids activities, exhibitor & retail areas, anime game shows, and more. There will also be a Student Special F/X Makeup Competition on Saturday, April 20th and the Canadian Videogame Awards will be later that evening at the convention centre as well.

Tickets are now on sale for Fan Expo Vancouver happening April 20th and April 21st, 2013 from 10:00am to 7:00pm on Saturday and 10:00am to 5:00pm on Sunday.

Norman Reedus Contest

Norman Reedus (The Boondock Saints, The Walking Dead) will be the feature of a question and answer panel at Fan Expo Vancouver and I have a family pack of tickets to give away to this unique opportunity. The family pack includes 2 adult tickets and 2 children’s tickets (10 and under) to Fan Expo along with priority seating for 4 people at the Norman Reedus Q&A.

Here’s how you can win tickets to see The Walking Dead’s Daryl Dixon in person at Fax Expo:

• Leave a comment on this post (1 entry)
• Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)

I will draw one winner next Tuesday, April 2, 2013 at 12:00pm. Child passes not transferrable to adults. No cash value. Follow along on Facebook and Twitter for more exciting announcements and event information in the weeks to come.

Update Unfortunately Norman Reedus is no longer available to attend Fan Expo Vancouver however there will still be a Walking Dead panel with Michael Rooker.

The contest winner is: Mae!

I started the Miss604 Flickr Pool in 2008 and for the last four years I have been publishing weekly collections of the shared photos with the group. One name you’ll see frequently in the photo credits and captions in Clayton Perry Photography. Clayton has contributed over 1,000 images to the Miss604 Flickr Pool, sharing his keen eye, bright colours, and unique vantage points through images of Vancouver and his hometown, Steveston.

Vancouver

Clayton Perry Photography

Clayton Perry Photography

Clayton Perry Photography

Clayton Perry Photography

Clayton Perry Photography

Steveston

Clayton Perry Photography

Clayton Perry Photography

Clayton Perry Photography

Clayton Perry Photography

Clayton Perry Photography

Clayton Perry Photography

Clayton Perry Photography

Clayton Perry Photography

Clayton Perry Photography

If you would like to purchase prints or talk to Clayton about his photography services, he can be reached through his Flickr or Facebook accounts or by email:
clayton[at]claytonperryphotography.com. He’s also on Twitter @CJPPhotos.

The fashionable women’s retailer, LOFT, has recently opened up international shipping to over 100 countries including Canada. With their spring collection now available online, stylish ladies from Vancouver to Halifax (Germany to Indonesia) can browse, shop, and ship.

LOFT online offers apparel, accessories, shoes, swim, maternity, petite, tall, sunglasses, hats, and more for work or play. By selecting Canada as your origin on the website you can view all prices in Canadian dollars, have duties and taxes calculated at checkout, have guaranteed landed costs (no additional charges at delivery) and get low international shipping rates. For a limited time there is also free shipping on international orders of $100 (UD) or more.

To celebrate LOFT’s spring collection and their new shipping options, they have offered up a special gift for one luck Miss604 reader: The Cabochon Stretch Bracelet:

Clustered cabochons and shimmery gems create a vintage-inspired, boldly pretty result. 1 3/4″ width.

Here’s how you can enter to win this bracelet from LOFT online:

• Leave a comment here naming a fashion item you would shop for online (1 entry)
• Post the following on Twitter (1 entry)

I will draw one winner at random from all entries next Friday, March 29, 2013 at 4:00pm. Follow LOFT on Twitter and Facebook for more shopping and shipping information.

Update The winner is Nadya!

Last night, at the Roundhouse Performance Centre, as part of the Vancouver International Dance Festival, Vancouver-based acclaimed choreographer and dancer Barbara Bourget (of Kokoro Dance) performed a very personal, transcendent expression of not just her fifty year creative life in dance, but also of life itself, called A Simple Way.

Photo credit: Peter Eastwood

Accompanied by poetry by friend Elizabeth Dancoes and original music composition by her son, Joseph Hirabayashi (who is also a member of local bands the SSRIs and Aunts and Uncles), who played the grand piano, the performance had a deep, intense familial tenderness. At moments it felt as though the music drove Barbara’s movement and in others it was as though her physicality inspired the notes on the keyboard. I kept trying to figure what drove what, but quickly realized they they each fed and worked with each other and I stopped trying to track it or make sense of it, and just let it all simply flow, which is what the performance’s theme seemed to be centred around.

Barbara went from barely moving to shaking her cheeks back and forth (white powder on her skin making little clouds around her) to what seemed like frolicking through a field, to experiencing the deep sorrows in life. And I realize that as I write what actually happened during the performance through words in this review, I am not giving justice to the piece as words cannot express what happened last night.

Kokoro Dance Theatre Society has been in existence for almost twenty years, with Barbara and her husband Jay Hirabayashi being its founders and at the forefront of the dance scene in Vancouver, Canada, and the world. Influenced by the Japanese modern dance form known as butoh, Kokoro Dance has consistently pushed the boundaries of expressionistic physical movement, redefining what happens when East meets West, and incorporating the concepts of yugen (profound, mysterious sense of beauty in the universe and the sad beauty of human suffering), as well as wabi-sabi (transient and stark beauty of natural patina and aging).

Last night’s performance was one of–if not THE–most profound live performances I’ve ever witnessed in my life, and I wasn’t the only one who thought so, because Barbara and Joseph received a full standing ovation at the end. It was as though, in that one hour, you not only saw every movement possible a human body can do in one lifetime, but Barbara also emitted every emotion available to human existence, while paying homage to her fifty year life as a dancer. It was exquisite.

There are two performances left–tonight and tomorrow night at the Roundhouse Performance Centre at 8:00pm. I highly recommend watching this local legend’s dance of life. Tickets are available online through the Vancouver International Dance Festival or by calling (604) 662-4966.

This morning I was on the ne BC1 talk show AM/BC with Global’s Jill Krop along with another guest, Joel Schat. Joel’s been making waves lately with his Heart of Vancity timelapse video of Vancouver:

In the green room Joel told me that it took him about 4 months to put this video together. Given the ever-climbing amount of views that this video is getting on Vimeo, I’d say it was definitely time well-spent.

Related Posts: Vancouver Timelapse Videos, Old Vancouver Video Collection, Vancouver Video Collection, Vancouver Timelapse Videos Part Two, GigaPixel Timelapse of Vancouver, Another Vancouver Video Collection, Port Mann Bridge Timelapse Video, Video Love Notes to Vancouver.