Category: Events

Last weekend, I attended a comic and film convention at Earls Court with a friend. I’ve managed to persuade him to go to the show when I mention that Bumblebee will be there! Not the actual Transformer mind but the 1976 Chevrolet Camaro as featured in the Michael Bay movie.

When we got there, he noticed the American car immediately and started taking photos! I was more interested in meeting the stars from hit television show Heroes. In fact, four of the cast members (Hayden Panettiere, Jack Coleman, Milo Ventimiglia and Adrian Pasdar) were available and I was determined to see the cheerleader!

I didn’t get to see Hayden Panettiere until later that day, as you had to take a so-called ‘virtual ticket’ when queuing up to get her autograph. Obviously, she was one of the most popular guests at the expo and with this virtual ticket – you can wander around the show looking at the many different stands until your number comes up. When this happens, you go to the signing area, flash your ticket number and then queue up again(!) to meet your stars.

And you can guess that this method backfired immediately as the virtual tickets were oversold to meet Hayden. It didn’t help that there was a simple wipe board in front of the queuing line displaying the numbers in order to meet her. My virtual ticket was in the high eight hundreds and by mid-day she had met around 200 show visitors…

I’ve lost the number of times I had to visit the signing area to see how far she has signed up to but luckily, I got there in the end! When my number flashed up I was there instantly and that was when I meet Claire Bennet, the cheerleader.

Hayden Panettiere looked absolutely gorgeous in the flesh (so to speak!) and it was nice of her to meet the many fans here in the UK. She was signing away and it was at that moment I was struck by her beauty. I said ‘Hello’ and she looked up and gave me a warm smile. That certainly made my day!

She managed to sign some photos and you can see the result in this post. After signing, she said ‘Thank you’ and gave me another smile. After that, I checked my other virtual tickets to see if I had the opportunity to meet the other Heroes. I had two for Milo Ventimiglia (Peter Petrelli) and Adrian Pasdar (Nathan Petrelli) but it was coming to the end of the day and I had to make a choice on whom to get next.

So it was a case of checking the boards again and praying that your numbers come up! This method reminds me of Argos. You made your purchase. Got given a ticket. Wait for your item to be processed and collect it when your number flashes up!

And this Argos-style system was used at the expo to mixed affect, as people who had higher numbers didn’t get to meet the starts. Luckily for me, I got to meet Claire and also Nathan Petrelli.

So overall, did I enjoy my time at Earls Court? I say 60/40 with more negativity than positive as I found the venue horrible. It was dark, overcrowded and expensive. Yes, meeting the stars from your favourite television show and films are the highlights but I was become more stressed out as the hours went by…

Still the opportunity to meet the cheerleader made me feel all happy inside and I left Earls Court with a big smile on my face (plus some cool gifts I purchased at the stands including a DVD-box set to the whole of season one of Heroes and Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof).

Last night at London’s impressive Wembley Stadium, I witness a truly spectacular show by Muse.

They are considered to be the most amazing rock band when performing live and the sell-out gig certainly lived up to its expectation with fantastic set pieces and lighting displays.

Matthew Bellamy, the lead guitarist who also provided the vocals, was incredible. He was certainly enjoying himself as he rocked with his band members – Chris Wolstenholme (bass guitar) and Dominic Howard (drums) – in front of an enthusiastic 90,000 capacity crowd.

The highlights include the opening song to kick-start the fantastic two-hour live show with Knights of Cydonia. The crowd in the ‘mash pit’ went crazy with the guitar riffs in this awesome track from the band’s fourth album, Black Holes and Revelations. In addition, the magical trapeze artists suspended from large balloons when Muse performed during Blackout.

I certainly had a great time out at Wembley and would love to see the best British band playing live again. Will upload a collection of images and video clips onto Facebook and YouTube soon.

At London’s Tate Modern, a new sculpture is on display that allows visitors a new way of experiencing a piece of modern art.

The ‘Test Site’ is a piece of impressive engineering created by Carsten Höller.

I had the unique opportunity to try out the slides with a friend during a visit to the popular art gallery. The slides are truly magnificent when you see the large artwork up-close in the cavernous space of the Turbine Hall.

We went on the two ‘smaller’ slides for starters and it was quite good fun as you spiral down inside the glass and metal tube.

Later on, we went to the fourth floor to experience the second highest slide… It took around 10 seconds to travel down four stories in Tate Modern and it was fantastic as it dips and turns in a spectacular rate.

Next time, I will have a go on the highest slide on the fifth floor…

After work, I had the opportunity to attend a book signing at my local Waterstone’s bookshop, featuring the creators of the Gorillaz cartoon band.

The new book, Rise of the Ogre, is a superb autobiography based on the group. The illustrations by Jamie Hewlett are excellent and after seeing his work in a recent Design Museum exhibition earlier this year, I have become a big fan of his work.

Blur singer Damon Albam and the author of the book, Cass Brown, were there alongside Hewlett to sign my copy.

Last weekend, was the London Anime Expo. It was the perfect opportunity to meet the members of the Eternal Sunset and ToykoToys forums by going to this social event.

On Saturday, I’ve planned to meet Yas at Covent Garden in the morning, before joining Mike, Jason and Josh at the Expo in Docklands. I got to Covent Garden around 9am and I noticed a young man waiting outside the Tube station… I thought: “Hmm, I wonder where Yas is?”

I picked up my mobile and called him. Yas answered and at the corner of my eye, there was a young man across the street picking up his mobile at the same time! I said to Yas: “Where are you?” He replied back: “Hi Leaf, I’m in Marks & Spencer. I will be out in a sec.”

I gave him five minutes waiting for him to appear from M&S. At that time, the young man across the street approach me and gave me a look… I think he might recognise me but wasn’t so sure… After five minutes I called Mike and told him that I was meeting up with Yas. When I hanged up the young man who was waiting all this time said to me: “Hi Leaf?” It was Yas all this time!

After a formal introduction, we made out way to the Expo in Docklands. Getting there proved to be a nightmare as there was planned engineering works on the DLR (Docklands Light Railway). We planned to meet Mike, Josh and Jason at the show around 10am and considering they had a head start, expected to get there before us.

In the end, we beat them because Mike got on a wrong train and had to start from the beginning! We finally met up around 10.30am and it was nice to see little Josh and Jason in person!

The Expo was very busy on Saturday, and with so much to see it, we needed to plan out what to do. I told Josh that the signing for Hot Fuzz (with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost) would take place around 2pm. So in the mean time, we just went to each stand and look at the merchandising on display.

Mike brought a few stuff while Yas recording some pictures on a digital camera and camcorder. As two o’clock approach, we head to the main Hot Fuzz stand to grab the perfect spot for autographs. Unfortunately everyone thought the same thing and there was quite a crowd. And then, a member of security told us that we couldn’t get an autograph unless you visit the Q&A session beforehand. I think it was a deliberately act of moving the big crowd away from the area…

Jason, Josh and I went to the Q&A but it was packed and we had to stand at the back. The session was quite good showing video clips from the new film and it was amusing to see Simon Pegg and Nick Frost answering questions and then throwing free Hot Fuzz t-shirts to the crowd!

After the Q&A, we hurried back to the Hot Fuzz stand for the signing. Already there was a queue… It was badly organised with a lack of security guards prevent people queue jumping but Josh and I were in the line. After queuing up for 15 minutes, we got our Shaun Of The Dead stuff signed by the two stars and the look on Josh’s face was filled with joy and happiness!

We met up with Mike and Yas later on to tell him the good news. He was impressed by our efforts.

In the afternoon, we were joined by Kerry and Matt (from the ToykoToys forum) and it was nice to meet them in person. They were dressed up for the occasion!

After the Hot Fuzz signing, I decided to take the two boys back to Central London. Mike and Yas decided to stay behind at the Expo so that they could attend the Cosplay show. It turned out to be very bad, as you needed a ticket to get in… So Mike sneakily filmed the whole show with his hidden camcorder standing at the back…

I took Josh and Jason around the many shops in the West End, including Playlounge. After going around the different places, the two boys become hungry so I took them to a food hall to grab something to eat.

By now, we were all feeling rather tired so we sat down in the Apple Store to relax (we wanted to play on the new Macs but there were all taken by people writing their emails).

Around 7pm, my mobile rang and it was Mike saying he was at Piccadilly Circus. He had left the Expo show and was now waiting for us.

We met up with Yas and Mike at Piccadilly and I asked him how was the show. “Don’t ask…” Mike said.

Yas and Mike were now hungry after spending all day at the Expo. We needed to go somewhere to eat. Yas mentioned Covent Garden so we decided to make our way there.

We had a nice dinner sitting outside in Covent Garden. We would then joined by two of Mike’s close friends afterwards plus Kerry and Matt, who came straight from the hotel.

By now, it was approaching 9pm and Kerry wanted to go to the pub. But for Josh and Jason, it has been a long and tiring day… Mike asked them if they wanted to go back to the hotel. In the end, we decided to let them tag along and jokily we said we would sneak them in!

We went to this pub near Tottenham Court Road and had a nice friendly chat over a pint of beer. Afterwards, we made our own separate ways back home.

On Sunday, we decided to visit the Science Museum and check out the Game On exhibition. I met up with Yas first at Charing Cross and then join the others at the museum itself.

Spent the next two hours playing classic/modern games such as the Bomberman, Super Mario and Jason’s favourite Halo. Mike thrashed me on Super Mario Kart!

We also jammed on Guitar Hero, which had the main image projected on the wall so that everyone can see our rockin’ performance!

After the exhibition, we made our way to Knightsbridge and had a spot of lunch in a nice Italian restaurant. Everyone had pizza while I had the ‘seafood’ spaghetti. There was even a large pawn on my plate and I didn’t know how to eat it!

We then spent the last few hours in Forbidden Planet, and I noticed Jason was buying so many things as he had a large bag of goodies!

As the day draw to a close, we said goodbye and made our way back to the train station. It had been a really good fun weekend and I said to Mike we should meet up again sometime soon.