New York | Geekscape

Horror Movie Night – Episode 58: Maniac Cop (1988)

by SaintmortSeptember 2, 2016

The masses have spoken, and we have answered: we bestow upon you a parable of prolonged police persecution in the bustling beaurocracy of the burgeoning Big Apple, also known as 1988’s Maniac Cop! Highlights are Bruce Campbell and the lady cop’s undercover prostitute hair; definitely not the plot. Cross the thin blue line, thrill me and borrow your cellmate’s shank, it’s Horror Movie Night!

Feel free to join in discussion at on our Facebook Group or in the comments below.

Do you have a movie suggestion for us or just want to tell us stories about your experiences with the movies we’ve watched? Send them to us at HMNPodcast@gmail.com

Also subscribe to our podcast on Soundcloud and iTunes

New York’s Nintendo World Schedules A Gigantic Facelift!

by Natalie KipperJanuary 6, 2016

If you have a particular fondness for the way Nintendo’s Rockefeller Center-based Nintendo World Store is now, you had best visit before it closes for a remodel on January 19. The store will reopen on February 19 under a new name, Nintendo NY, and will feature an overhauled look.

The updated interior will have a 15-foot gaming screen, brand new demo units for both the Wii U and the Nintendo 3DS, and additional surprise elements. The store’s new tagline, “Where everyone comes to play,” will be emblazoned on a bronze coin at the store’s entrance.

The grand opening weekend for Nintendo NY, February 19 through 21, will host special activities, giveaways, plus the chance to see costumed versions of Mario and Luigi. Collectors take note: several exclusive souvenirs will be on sale this weekend only, such as limited editions shirts featuring Link or Mario.

Who’s planning on paying a visit to the updated Nintendo NY when it opens? I know I wish I had a plane ticket!

Geekscape’s Book Report: BookCon 2015!

by Eric FranciscoJune 1, 2015

This weekend was the second BookCon in New York City, and probably the last one for now. The convention just announced a few hours ago it will be moving to Chicago in May 2016. That’s one less convention I’ll be at in the Javits Center.

Like Comic-Con, BookCon is a celebration — a slightly controversial one, but still a gathering place for fandom to gush about stuff.

Unlike Comic-Con, it’s quiet.

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The largest difference of course is BookCon’s attention towards books. That includes all kinds of books: literature, young adult, cooking, comic books, autobiographies, memoirs, how-tos, parenting, all books! And that’s great, and makes me wonder why something like BookCon didn’t take off sooner. Books formed the first fandoms after all.

But because of that, there’s a notable — and refreshing — exclusion of “everything else” that Comic-Con has come to include. Video games, movies, TV, they were next to absent. There was maybe one movie that was being promoted the whole time. Any TV guest, like Aziz Ansari, Khloe Kardashian, and Mindy Kaling, were actually there to promote books.

And as much as I love cosplay, you can always expect foot traffic to slow down because someone is a god damn t-rex or Transformer. Almost everyone attended in casual, normal attire.

Maybe there’s just something in its nature, but New York Comic-Con can be best described as overwhelming. There’s just so much going on at once, it can be hard to do something as simple as talk to somebody. There’s always music, some douchebag on a microphone, live game demos with surround sound, screaming and yelling and lights and colors and sound and more sound. It’s an ADD nightmare.

BookCon was exactly the opposite. Books are a naturally quiet activity unlike video games, but there were no d-bags on a microphone telling people to tweet with a hashtag, no booming music, nothing. Just publishers with nice displays and authors with tables with copies of books ready to sign. It’s easy. There’s room to walk. Room to breathe. I could do a jumping roundhouse kick and not hit anybody.

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I didn’t think much about how different of a breed book nerds are versus the typical, mainstream image we know today. I was accompanied by friends who have been to Comic-Con or are regulars, but they too noted how easy BookCon felt.

New York Comic-Con raised some ire this year due to complications with their ticket registration. BookCon — simply because there’s less people — was about as simple as it can be. I waltzed right into the Javits Center, walked up to press, and was on the floor in seconds.

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That’s not to say BookCon isn’t hassle-free. The largely volunteer staff is still uninformed of important, basic questions, like “Where can I go for ___?” I noticed a lot of people getting frustrated at autograph panels simply due to logistical cross overs.

But it wasn’t bad. If you’re used to the pandemonium that is Comic-Con, BookCon was a breeze. But since BookCon is attracting a generally non-Comic-Con crowd, those guys might be in for a rude awakening.

But it’s important to remember that BookCon is still a convention. It’s laid out exactly like you come to expect Comic-Con to be: There are the big publishers, like Macmillan and Penguin, and some offer free books if you sign up for newsletters, or just for shits and giggles. The smaller publishers are off to the side, and the self-publishers have their own tables. There were some comic book publishers there, and there was a significant Marvel presence, but nothing on the scale they would be at for Comic-Con. IDW was there. DC wasn’t.

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I didn’t meet a lot of the celebrity guests in attendance, nor did I attend any of the panels. I only had one day and I had meetings with publishers and friends, couldn’t spend a lot of time to sit and listen. But I did notice a few things: For one thing, one of their main panel rooms was right on the floor, something New York Comic-Con had to ditch entirely. If you remember the 2011 NYCC when the cast of The Avengers were there, it was like that but with, again, less people. It could seat maybe fifty people max. And despite the generally chill atmosphere of BookCon, it was still difficult to clearly hear the panel (in the five or so minutes I hung around it).

I didn’t bother with panels for guys like Nick Offerman or Mindy Kaling. I had friends who attended and had fun, but I wanted to see the convention and their wait times were too long.

There’s really not a whole lot else about BookCon I can say except that it was a wonderful, fun convention that produces less stress and feels far less overwhelming than any Comic-Con I’ve been to. Even the smaller, lesser-known conventions I’ve been to had more foot traffic and business than BookCon, and the whole thing was honestly refreshing.

The Internet got a little mad at Simon Pegg awhile back when he lamented how “geek culture” is making us a little childish. Perhaps he didn’t word it right, but there’s merit to his words. BookCon was a nice palette cleanser to the exhausting, commercializing, totally bombastic geekiness that has surrounded us. Yes, I love comic books, and yes, book nerds are still nerds. I have no doubt anyone who was at this con wouldn’t be willing to talk about X-Men or Doctor Who or Mass Effect.

It was just nice to be in a place where it wasn’t expected for once.

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BookCon Moving to Chicago in 2016

by Eric FranciscoMay 31, 2015

This weekend’s BookCon is winding down, but already they’ve announced some big news. Next year, the convention will be moving from New York City to Chicago, and for what appears to be one day only.

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Some people are naturally expressing disappointment, but I think a change of scenery could do some good. It’s nice to know that fan enthusiasm can be applied anywhere, beyond comic books and movies.

When I told people I was going “to a BookCon,” I had to tell them it’s basically Comic-Con but, you know, not. This is how we break stereotypes, people. By expanding.

My full post-con report from this past BookCon is coming shortly, and I had a blast. It’s a different atmosphere than Comic-Con. It’s far more relaxed and low-key, but the enthusiasm is the same and you meet the same kind of people. They’re just not in Doctor Who cosplay.

Did you go to BookCon this weekend too? Or are you in Chicago and marking the date on your calendar? Let us know.

Geekscape Interviews: Subway Cinema on Ninjas, MORE Ninjas and Old School Kung-Fu Fest 2015!

by Eric FranciscoApril 17, 2015

Ninjas are cool.

Sure, they killed people. But they were primarily spies that used incredibly intricate tactics that not even agents of shadowy, 21st-century governments have the patience or discipline to employ. Their mystery and danger have mythified them in pop culture as they have become heroes of lore, defeating demons and dragons and all kinds of bizarre creatures of fiction. Surely they would be great subjects for cinema, right?

Well, they are! But they aren’t celebrated nearly enough. Unlike samurai and kung-fu films, ninja movies tend to be clustered within “grind house” circles. While that’s perfectly fine, it also means their merits are dismissed. Film snobs grossly turn their nose up. Mention it in a film class and your professor’s eyes will glaze over. It’s hard to see a particular genre of cinema seriously when their titles evoke a Super Nintendo game than a film.

Bring up samurai in film and you’re given Akira Kurosawa, Zatoichi, or Takashi Miike’s 13 Assassins. Discuss kung-fu and you’re directed to Sammo Hung, Donnie Yen, Jackie Chan circa ’80s and ’90s. Oh, and a guy named Bruce Lee.

But when it comes to ninjas, can you name even one movie?

This weekend in New York City will be the Old School Kung-Fu Fest held by Subway Cinema, the badass nonprofit that promotes and exhibits Asian pop culture with year-round festivals and events that bridge both sides of the Pacific. This year’s festival theme? The badass, brutal killers of an era long gone by, the ninja.

While they are most notable for the New York Asian Film Festival every year, in the last few years they have unleashed the Old School Kung-Fu Festival to the delight of all action film enthusiasts living in the world’s greatest city. I recently spoke to Subway Cinema founder and Executive Director Goran Toplavoic, Co-director Samuel Jamier and Director of Operations/Associate Programmer Rufus de Rham about their upcoming festival this weekend and just what it is we find so cool about ninjas.

Let’s start from the beginning. How did the Old School Kung-Fu fest begin? What is its origin story?

Goran: The basic idea for the Old School Kung Fu Fest was to share some of our favorite classic Hong Kong martial arts films, screened from the original 35mm prints whenever possible, with an equally appreciative audience, and to bring back the grindhouse experience reminiscent of the old 42nd Street and Chinatown theaters. The first edition was held in December of 2000 at Anthology Film Archives, right after our very first official event as Subway Cinema (Expect the Unexpected: Johnnie To Retrospective in September 2000). We sourced the prints from private collectors, and ended up with an eclectic program that included Sammo Hung’s

We sourced the prints from private collectors, and ended up with an eclectic program that included Sammo Hung’s The Victim (1980), Chang Cheh’s Crippled Avengers (1978), and Lau Kar-leung’s Martial Arts of Shaolin (1985) featuring Jet Li in one of his early roles. We did another edition in 2001, but at that point our attention was shifting towards more contemporary Asian genre films, which resulted in When Korean Cinema Attacks! (the first New York Korean Film Festival) in 2001, and the launch of the first annual New York Asian Film Festival in 2002. For the next 12 years, we have been primarily working on growing NYAFF, and there wasn’t going to be another Old School Kung Fu Fest until 2013.

Rufus: So three years ago we wanted to bring back some of the fun and focus again on what got us into Asian film in general. As NYAFF was focused more and more on the best and brightest in recent and contemporary Asian films, we needed a place to showcase our favorite classic films. Old School Kung Fu Festival was resurrected at the place where it all began: Anthology Film Archives.

This year will be the fifth year of the festival. In what ways has the Old School Kung-Fu fest surpassed your expectations from when you started five years ago?

Goran: There’s never been any grand ambition with respect to the Old School Kung Fu Fest. The very fact that we’re able to find these old films and show them again in a movie theater with an audience – the way they were always meant to be seen – is already a success.In what ways has it fallen short, if at all?

In what ways has it fallen short if at all?

Goran: While the event hasn’t fallen short in any respect, we increasingly want to venture beyond just the martial arts cinema, and to explore other genres in the future editions of the fest, such as Hong Kong’s infamous Category III films, Asian action movies featuring Western actors, Indonesian exploitation, Girls with Guns, and so on.

Samuel: Yes. So maybe a move from Old School Kung Fu, to Old School Asian in general.

This year’s theme is ninjas. How did you decide to showcase this particular genre this year?

Rufus: I was arguing for ninjas since we decided to reboot Old School. Mostly so we could showcase Five Element Ninjas (aka Chinese Super Ninjas), which has been a favorite film since I was a kid. Also ninjas are just cool. Of course they don’t quite fit in with the Old School Kung Fu label but we’ll likely be transitioning the title to plain Old School Fest, so that, as Goran mentioned, we can expand and show more classic genre films from all over Asia.

What is it about the ninja genre that you wanted to show audiences at this year’s festival? What did you want them to know about it versus other subgenres of martial arts movies? Any stereotypes you hope to shatter?

Goran: This has nothing to do with shattering stereotypes. Most of it is simply nostalgia – being able to watch again on the big screen all the fun films that we grew up with, regardless of how accurate their portrayal of ninjutsu was, and how laughable some of them may look now from the contemporary perspective. However, we also wanted to show our audience some of the more serious depictions of ninjas in the rarely seen Japanese films from the 1960s.

Ninjas in cinema certainly haven’t been shown in any historically accurate way, almost ever. Why do you think ninjas have such a mythical power in pop culture?

Rufus: Ninja clans cultivated a lot of these myths themselves, and this has been maintained through the history of art, theater, literature and film. Who doesn’t love clandestine warriors? They have become part of the national Japanese folklore, and much of the exaggeration is in the same vein as any national myth building (the US and cowboys, for example).

Samuel: The appearance, the outfit, the mask, the esoteric martial arts practice certainly contributed to their mythical power. Visually it’s quite striking.

Why do you think ninjas are not as prevalent in the cinema the way other genres are? Samurai movies are hailed by critics and kung-fu smashes the box office. Why then are ninjas a part of the “grind house” culture?

Rufus: I think they are extremely prevalent, but maybe not as critically lauded. Why? One word. Cannon. This is really where the ninjas and grindhouse came from. Also I suppose Godfrey Ho did his noble part in the ninja grindhouse experience. Also you have to take into account Teenage Mutant Ninjas Turtles (1990) which was, for a long time, the most successful independent film ever made. The four heroes in a half-shell exploded ninja culture in a way that it became super successful, but it was also seen maybe as a juvenile fantasy. Anime took off at the same time and it was filled with ninjas and now we live in an age where one of the best selling series of all time is Naruto.

What movies are you most excited about this year? Any personal favorites?

Rufus: I’m most excited to see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the big screen. Also Five Element Ninjas is going to be great. I’m very much looking forward to the rarities like Seventeen Ninjas and the Shinobi no Mono films.

Samuel: Seventeen Ninja, Shinobi no Mono, and Shinobi no Mono 2. These are pretty realistic ninja films, rarely theatrically screened, and are actually incredible films. So for those that want a break from elemental powers and the supernatural these are the films for you!

Goran: Definitely Five Element Ninjas, which is arguable director Chang Cheh’s masterpiece – we got a nice looking 35mm print from Dan Halstead, who’s a programmer and print collector at Hollywood Theater in Portland. Also Duel to the Death, which features giant ninjas! – it was the first film from one of Hong Kong’s great action directors, Ching Siu-tung, who later went on to work on A Chinese Ghost Story, Swordsman II, Hero, and House of Flying Daggers.

What was the hardest movie to secure for screening?

Samuel: Seventeen Ninja!

Goran: We also tried hard to find Corey Yuen’s Ninja in the Dragon’s Den (1982), starring Hiroyuki Sanada and Conan Lee, but we had to give up in the end. One trail lead us to the Brussels Film Archive, but the print they had was in too poor of a condition to be screened.

Samuel: And speaking of films we didn’t get: Ninja Scroll. It was too expensive.

I cannot for the life of me guess the movie that is the “Super Special Secret Screening.” Can you drop us any more hints? Pretty please?

That’s why it’s called Super Special Secret Screening!

The full schedule of films can be found on Subway Cinema’s website here. I can’t wait to see all you New York ninja freaks this weekend and next! Count me in for Five Element Ninjas, Ninja Turtles, and Seventeen Ninja.

Any guesses as to what the secret screening will be?

Hey, New York: Subway Cinema & Anthology Archives Will Unleash Ninjas at OLD SCHOOL KUNG FU FEST 2015!

by Eric FranciscoMarch 24, 2015

Do you walk the streets of New York past coffee bars, vegan bakeries and craft beer pubs while thinking to yourself, “This city needs more ninjas”? You’re in luck. Subway Cinema, the nation’s leading nonprofit dedicated to the celebration and exhibition of Asian pop cinema, has just announced the full program of this year’s Old School Kung-Fu Fest with a deadly theme: NINJAS.

From April 16 to April 19 at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City, you can check out a slew of old school ninja movies from the 1960s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s! Best of all, most of the films will be screened in beautiful 35mm prints!

From the press release:

New York, NY, March 24, 2015 – The Old School Kung Fu Fest, a four-day celebration of the rarest, wildest, and most incredible martial arts and action cinema from the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s is back at the Anthology Film Archives for its 5th edition, which is dedicated to the deadliest fighter of them all…the ninja!

Since the dawn of time, man’s natural predator has been the ninja. Hiding in your shower, crouching behind your laptop, clinging to your back — the ninja is everywhere. What killed the dinosaurs? Ninja. What battles great white shark? Ninja. Who is buying flowers for your mom? Probably ninja. But ninja is not vampire! Ninja can be filmed! This year’s Old School Kung Fu Fest examines this crazy natural phenomena of ninja with 14 movies that show you this sneaky fighter in the only place where he cannot shoot throwing stars into your eyes: on the movie screen!

There are serious black-and-white ninjas in the original ninja films Shinobi No MonoParts 1 & 2 (1962 and 1963), super-noir ninjas in 1965’s Samurai Spy, party-colored crazy ninjas from the go-go 80s likeAmerican Ninja 1 & 2 and then be entered, revenged, and dominated by Cannon’s essential ninja trilogy: Enter the Ninja,Revenge of the Ninja, and Ninja III: The Domination. Watch brave Chinese people fight ninjas with their guts in Shaw Brothers movies like Five Element Ninjas! See ninjas fly on kites in Duel to the Death! You must see all the ninjas! Because to fight ninja, first you must understand ninja.

Forgive my French, but this is so fucking awesome. I am so there, so if any New York Geekscapists want to check this out with me, reach out to me on Twitter or on our Facebook.

You can check out the entire program here, but I’ve highlighted a few select choices below.

ENTER THE NINJA (1981, USA, 100min, 35mm) Directed by Menahem Golan

Starring: Franco Nero, Susan George, Sho Kosugi, Christopher George.

This landmark Cannon Films production launched the ninja craze of the ‘80s and revitalized the martial arts film in America after it died in 1973 with Bruce Lee. When 20th Century Fox announced they were shooting a $20 million adaptation of best-selling novel, The Ninja, Cannon flipped out and bought their very own ninja script from martial artist Mike Stone and rushed this movie into production. Starring Frano Nero (the original Django) as a white ninja with a thick Maurizio Merli mustache, it’s shot in the Philippines where Nero helps an old buddy (and his old buddy’s hot girlfriend, Susan “Straw Dogs” George) take on evil real estate developer, Mr. Venarius (Christopher George). Only a ninja can defeat a ninja, so the bad guys hire Sho Kosugi, who got his start as an extra on this film before his martial arts abilities earned him the role of the evil ninja. Showtimes: Thu, April 16 at 6:15pm.

REVENGE OF THE NINJA (1983, USA, 90min, Digital projection) Directed by Sam Firstenberg

Starring: Sho Kosugi, Keith Vitali, Virgil Frye.

Cannon followed the box office success of Enter the Ninja with Revenge of the Ninja, the first American movie to give an Asian actor sole star billing (even Bruce Lee had to share billing with his co-stars in Enter the Dragon). Sho Kosugi (a ninja!) returns home from an afternoon stroll to find his family massacred by evil ninjas. With his mother and infant son in tow he flees Japan for Los Angeles, vowing to forsake the ninja life forever. With the help of his friend and business partner, Keith Vitali (a karate legend who fought onscreen in several 80s Hong Kong movies), he opens an art gallery, specializing in fancy Japanese dolls. What Sho doesn’t know is that his friend is actually an evil ninja who wears a silver demon mask and is smuggling heroin into the country inside the dolls! Sho is just trying to raise his ninja son (played by his real-life son, Kane Kosugi), but now he has to deal with a grindhouse full of dead bodies, fountains of blood, cheap 80s sex scenes, mafia stereotypes, and dueling ninjas!

Showtimes: Fri, April 17 at 6:00pm.

FIVE ELEMENT NINJAS, aka CHINESE SUPER NINJAS五遁忍術 (1982, Hong Kong, 103 minutes, 35mm, in Mandarin with English subtitles) Directed by Chang Cheh

Starring: Ricky Cheng Tien Chi, Lo Meng, Lung Tien-chiang

In the 80s, Shaw Brothers was losing audiences to TV, so it unleashed Chang Cheh (The One-Armed Swordsman, Five Deadly Venoms) to direct his most insane movie ever. A Chinese martial arts clan is fighting everyone and winning but then they fight ninjas. Ninjas who know Five Element Formation! So secret! So deadly! The only survivor learns that in order to beat ninja…he must become ninja! Ninja fights using Gold Powers, Wood Powers, Water Powers, Earth Powers, Fire Powers! Chinese martial artist fights using Hitting Ninjas in Face Power! Trees bleed. Crotches are stabbed. Guts are extracted. Every second of this movie is high-octane man-against-ninja action and it does not end until every inch of the screen is covered in dead ninja. Screening will be introduced by Dan Halsted, who will tell the story of how he unearthed a massive collection of extremely rare 35mm kung fu films in 2009, which included the print of Five Element Ninjas. Showtimes: Sat, April 18 at 5:00pm.

Presented with the Hong Kong the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York.

SEVENTEEN NINJA (1963, Japan, 98min, 35mm, in Japanese with live English subtitles) Directed by Yasuto Hasegawa

Cast: Kotaro Satomi, Jushiro Konoe, Yuriko Mishima, Ryutaro Otomo.

Toei’s star-studded response to Daiei’s hugely successful 1960s franchise, Shinobi No Mono, this nocturnal, cynical game of chess between two master manipulators is an amazing and underseen ninja movie that we’re presenting with live subtitles since no English-subtitled version exists. As the ruling Shogun lies on his death futon, seventeen Iga clan ninja are trusted by theirmaster with an impossible mission: to infiltrate the impregnable fortress where his youngest son plans to take both Edo Castle and the supreme power by force. They have two options: to steal the scroll that will grant legitimacy to the usurper’s claim, or to assassinate him. Before they can even reach the stronghold, a vicious ninja hunter thwarts their every move. As the Iga ninja fall, the success of the mission falls in the hands of one young and inexperienced ninja. Showtimes: Sun, April 19 at 1:00pm.

Note: Seventeen Ninja is a super hardcore rarity that very, very few human beings have watched!

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (1990, USA/Hong Kong, 93min, 35mm) Directed by Steve Barron

Starring: Judith Hoag, Corey Feldman, Elias Koteas, Sam Rockwell

For years Michaelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael have lived deep in the sewers of New York, learning the art of ninjitsu from their mentor, Splinter… ok, we all know the story by now about our favorite pizza-eating humanoid turtles, but the best way to forget about Michael Bay’s lazy and tedious franchise reboot is to come appreciate the first, and still the best, version. Produced by Hong Kong’s Golden Harvest studios (home of Jackie Chan), with the Turtles lovingly brought to life by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, edited by Sally Menke (the editor of every single Quentin Tarantino movie before her untimely death in 2010), and with a theme song by MC Hammer, it’s lean, green, and on the big screen – a CGI-free dose of ninja turtle power! Showtimes: Sun, April 19 at 3:15pm.

There are loads of history to be experienced in the full program, but I highlighted some that I’ll fight tooth and nail to attend. Yes, even Ninja Turtles, which has more merit than one would assume.

I’m so excited, and I am all about Subway Cinema. To celebrate bizarre cinema is my Kool-Aid, and I jumped for joy when this came in my email. From Sho Kosugi to Five Element Ninjas, a staple amongst my cousins and I growing up, I can’t wait for the festival to start. I’ll see you there. Ninja wanisu! [vanishes in thin air, reappears right in front of a moving truck]

I Survived Walker Stalker NYC/NJ 2014: Post-Con Report!

by Eric FranciscoDecember 22, 2014

Saturday, December 13, roughly 1:30 PM. It’s a brisk December afternoon, the kind where the sun warms you but the cold air bites the skin. I’m sitting in the backseat of my friend’s SUV, his wife is sitting in the passenger seat. We drive past MetLife Stadium, and I tell them about seeing WrestleMania XXIX there last year.

Going to the convention, I didn’t know what to expect. Walker Stalker as far as I knew was a convention tour started by two dudes of The Walker Stalkers podcast. As a moderate fan of The Walking Dead, I was looking forward to being amongst other fans of the show and meeting a few of my favorite stars. I thought it would just be a fun way to spend the afternoon. I was looking forward to just kick back a few weeks before Christmas.

Yeah, no.

In hindsight I was an idiot. The Walking Dead is the highest-rated basic cable show today, and I live in a major metropolitan area. Did I actually expect to kick back and have a relaxing chat with Lauren Cohan about, like, Rutgers fat sandwiches? What the fuck was I thinking?

As the sole New Jersey/New York resident of Geekscape, it was practically my obligation to attend the first-ever Walker Stalker NYC/NJ convention at the Meadowlands Expo Center last weekend. I went in expecting a fun convention in the off-season. I came in to a live episode of The Walking Dead.

People are pouring out of the entrance. It’s a mess. On the far end there is a line wrapping around the edge of the sidewalk. On the other, another chaotic line wrapping itself on the ramp. In between, people are crowding around, standing and looking over each other’s shoulders. People are calling friends still parking blocks away. I sought someone who was a volunteer to ask where press registration was. Three words and my heart sank. “Inside the building.”

This was my view for thirty minutes.

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I don’t have a problem with waiting. I do the occasional midnight release, I wait in tons of lines at Comic-Con, and I once waited two hours under a burning San Diego sun to take an awful picture with Jessica Alba. But what I saw from others was frustration, demands for refunds, and the worst side of people trying to get in. Perhaps because I’m used to conventions running like poorly-oiled machines, but it was clear my fellow attendees were not as experienced. I felt sorry for the lone volunteer who had to man the door, who you can see in my tweet is the gentleman in the navy blue baseball hat and brown jacket. He had the unfortunate job of maintaining order. “Fire marshall just locked out the building,” he said. “I can’t let anyone in unless people come out.” Yeah, that won’t happen for a while. Minutes later, police were posted behind the doors.

It sounds worse than it actually was, but I stress that I’m an idiot and did not expect this kind of attendance density. No one was killing each other trying to get in, but when everyone is trying to get Norman Reedus’s autograph you can bet people will bring out the worst of themselves.

Soon enough, somehow, we were allowed in. I planned to bum-rush to media registration and waltz my way into the con.

It would be another half hour before that could happen.

Shoulder to shoulder like it was Vietnam, I become uncomfortably comfortable with fellow New Yorkers and New Jersiyans sweating through my jacket, feeling the body heat of cosplayers, families, and hormonal teenagers. The media registration booth was empty, only a volunteer there and no one else registering. I was twenty feet and 500 people away. Welcome to hell. Fate, you cruel bastard.

I looked behind me, through the heads and shoulders to the entrance. Hordes of people were in front waiting to get in and being stopped by security. It was then that it hit me: This was an episode of The Walking Dead. I skipped that day in junior high English, but does this qualify as irony?

The Walker Stalker conventions are pretty akin to Wizard World, right down to the relentless touring, but their laser focus is on the AMC television show and tangentially related interests. Like Wizard World, the attraction here are the stars, and Walker Stalker had them in spades; almost all of the actors who play or have played a crucial part in the show were in attendance signing autographs and doing photo-ops. Noticeably absent were Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes) and Danai Gurira (Michonne). I stood in line only for Lauren Cohan, the English actress from Surrey who plays southern belle Maggie and was now signing autographs off Exit 16. (Just did some quick research, apparently she was born in Cherry Hill. Huh.)

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When I finally got in, winter coat draped over my arm, I began to see shades of what I expected before becoming an involuntary extra on the show: a medium-sized fan convention. The usual stuff was there, like the toy vendors, custom t-shirts, overpriced hot dogs, and long lines to meet the stars. But the flavor here was different, and even now I fail to accurately capture it. This wasn’t Comic-Con for sure — this is a dwarf to the giant that is Comic-Con. It was something else.

There was a noticeable absence of anything related to the comics. Outside of a few vendors selling issues and trade paperbacks, it is clear that the television show has dwarfed anything Robert Kirkman originally penned (and still continues to). I reiterate that I’m not a major fan of the franchise in any way, be it the comic book or TV show, and so perhaps I failed to recognize any comics-original cosplayers (in my defense, due to the seasonal weather any sort of cosplayer was easy to spot and the vast majority were TV-inspired). I say this not to mourn the diminishing value of comic books in pop culture, rather I see it from an almost anthropological perspective. It’s utterly fascinating.

The true legacy from the monster success of The Walking Dead television series will be its masterful marriage of two seemingly disparate communities: horror fans and survival enthusiasts. The pop lore of the zombie monster started by George Romero nets all the horror fanatics, while the apocalyptic premise promises a nihilistic wonderland for those who feel typing on a laptop before bed is too boring. These communities were never that far apart; it wouldn’t be uncommon to encounter an outdoorsman with a taste for the macabre, or a horror fanatic who likes to be close to nature. Chris Jericho talked in his second memoir about Eli Roth’s creepy home on the outskirts of a woodland area. Yet, The Walking Dead has managed to make these communities more than just friends. In the middle of Walker Stalker con, I’ve noticed just how much they have become lovers.

As far as the convention experience itself, it is about what you would expect for a niche fandom in the off-season. No, this isn’t Comic-Con, and I reiterate as only a moderate fan of anything Walking Dead that I’m kind of bummed the comic series that started everything is only passively remembered. Instead, space is devoted to autograph booths for maybe the two dozen actors who played a zombie for an hour.

Panels are a waste. There is only one big space for the entire convention, and there are no separate rooms or anything. Panels took place on the main stage, which was roped off with approximately two or three hundred folding chairs for attendees. There is so much noise happening at once, even with the microphones and loudspeakers it was extremely difficult to make out anything anyone was saying. Having experienced something like this at Florida Supercon this past summer, I didn’t even bother. It was a great-looking stage, however.

Lines for autographs were long, but if they were what you wanted they were manageable. Norman Reedus had the biggest line of the entire convention, which legitimately shocks me considering how many Wizard World shows he goes to. Prices were high, but not unfamiliar if you attend conventions. I paid $60 for Lauren Cohan’s autograph (and it’s personalized), but it would be another $60 for a photo op and I wasn’t allowed to take any cell phone photos with her. Policies change from guest to guest, all depending on their manager. Some of the bigger marquee guests, for example Manu Bennett (The Hobbit, Arrow) had management that wouldn’t allow it, but you totally could with Jon Beranthal (Shane) or the dudes from Comic Book Men. Again, if you attend conventions on even a semi-regular business you know what to expect. I didn’t bother with photo-ops, I kind of wanted to eat that weekend.

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Overall, if you really love The Walking Dead attending Walker Stalker isn’t a bad way to spend a weekend if they pass by your city. I wouldn’t kill to go, but if it happens to be in town and nothing else is going on, it’s a cool thing to check out. The convention organizers probably still don’t know what kind of a beast of an event they have, and so their choosing of medium-sized buildings for a growing convention may cause some crowding problems like I experienced in the near future. But if you can stand that, it’s a fun time. Besides, I said if you really love The Walking Dead chances are you don’t care and actually want to pay an obscene amount for your favorite characters’ autograph anyway. So treat yourself.

December 13th, roughly 6:30 PM. My friends and I regroup and our feet hurt. This isn’t the most time I’ve spent at a convention nor the worst, but I had enough of zombies and people who would wish the apocalypse would occur just to kill a few. Some of the speciality food vendors like the empanadas restocked maybe an hour ago and are officially sold out. And here I am standing, ready to buy a dozen. My friends take one last look through the artist’s alley — by that I mean like three booths — before we call it quits for the night. We would spend the rest of the day drinking at their place, playing giant Jenga (that they made themselves from Home Depot wood) and watching WWE NXT on the WWE Network.

Pro tip: Go with friends.

Check out the gallery below for more of Walker Stalker NYC/NJ 2014!

Take An Early Look At Marvel’s Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. With TONS Of Photos!

by BigyanksMay 30, 2014

Last night I was able to attend a sneak preview of Discovery Time Square’s newest exhibit, Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. Discovery teamed up with NASA to add an educational feel to the mix and give real world explanations on how things function, like what happens to Bruce Banner’s brain when it transforms into the Hulk, or Captain America’s nervous system while defrosting.

The event started off with some keynote speakers, including Marvel’s Senior Editor Nick Lowe and NASA’s Head of Science John M. Grunsfeld, all explaining what we’d expect to see and stressing that this was a preview event. Actually, I heard that a lot before walking into the exhibit, which is weird since the following morning was supposed to be the grand opening. When Nick Lowe mentioned thanking comic book fans, maybe 5 people cheered, and then he proceeded to get heckled by some woman up front just kinda shouting out JACK KIRBY!

First, you should know crews were still working to finish the exhibit. That meant that I wasn’t able to experience the full exhibit because most of the electronics still down and based on the “blacked out” areas a lot of carpentry was still not completed. There were some museum employees dressed as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and employees of the company behind the tech of the exhibit, but they were in regular clothes and so i couldn’t tell who to ask questions about certain stations. So in theory i can only report to you what they told me it would do, according to whatever employee i found wondering aimlessly through out the exhibit.

Once everything is up and running, the tour starts off by you getting your own personalized S.H.I.E.L.D. badge. You can scan your picture, enter some basic info, and you use this to access the different stations at the exhibit. Which was a problem, since they gave no one any ID’s so unless there was an employee in the room to scan a temp ID, you couldn’t access any of the stations. Upon entering the exhibit you are lead 30 at a time, into a white room by some S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, you’re scanned, and you receive a message from Agent Blake (Titus Welliver) asking for you help.

You then enter the Avengers briefing room, where you are given a rundown of what’s happened in the Marvel universe up to the point of the Avengers movie. The volume was really low in this room so i couldn’t exactly hear what was said, but from here on out you just sort of free roam into the the other labs. I have the feeling that this will be a somewhat guided tour to get people to move along and not hog up the different interactive elements of the exhibit. In between the briefing room and the next room is an array of customs from the b-squad of the avengers, Phil Colson, Maria Hill, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Nick Fury.

The second room is an SSR exhibit showcasing Captain America. In this room you are shown the biological changes Cap went through while being defrosted and you can also compare your strength and agility on various workstations. This room also contain various movie props like the Vita-Ray chamber, Cap’s current and retro suits, and shields.

The third room is the S.H.I.E.L.D. Bio-lab, and here you get to examine the science behind the Hulk. Since the main draws in this room were barely working, I was told that you get to stand in front of the Incredible Hulk and he mimics your movement. Some key moves that triggers some vibrations and loud noises are the Hulk’s clap and wall punch. Sounds cool. The other key thing in this room is the Tessaract machine that was on top of Stark Tower. I was told that you get to scan your hand print and it activates the machine, causing loud noises and the room to shake, but you know, it wasn’t working. The only thing working was seeing how Dr. Bruce Banner’s mind alters once he starts transforming into the Hulk.

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The next area is a hallway labeled as the SECURE CONTAINMENT ROOM, this is the only area in the exhibit where nothing was down. It consisted of props of the villains including Hydra, Chitauri, Red Skull and Loki suits and weapon such as Loki’s sceptor.

By this point I was getting kind of disappointed that nothing was really working. Things started to look less and less finished by this point and pieces were “blacked out” and walled off. I only mention this because the official opening was in less than 24 hours and that didn’t seem like something feasible.

The next room was Thor’s room, and NOTHING was working here. Thor’s costume was on display, the light shinning on it was still working. There was supposed to be holographic representation of Mjolnir, and I’m sure it would have looked cool. There are other areas to see here but there was no employee around to tell me what they were supposed to do.

Now onto what i am sure should be the pièce de résistance, which it was not. This could be described as Tony Stark’s workshop, and like a true workshop things are roped off and not fully working. I don’t think the floor was even fully finished, since I saw multiple people tripping over part of the Arc Reactor. The only thing visible was Iron Man’s suite, but it was roped off and you had to be 20 feet away. There was some neuroscan station, but again no employee was around to explain anything to me, nor scan an ID card.

The last room, of course, is a gift shop.

Overall, I think that this will be a solid Marvel’s Avengers exhibit. It is unfortunate that nothing was properly running while i was there, but if it does what they say it will, I expect this exhibit to be packed. The layout of the place is very stunning and cool and clean just how you would expect a S.H.I.E.L.D. lab to look. I overheard an employee say that this was built in a sound stage out in Hollywood and brought over in trailers. There were signs stating this exhibit was opening the next day, but honestly nothing seemed ready and I don’t see how it could be fully functioning anytime soon. i would suggest people wait a month or two before dropping any kind of money on this. On my way out i was given a free pass to return, so hopefully i can see it in all its working glory!

Take a look at the photos I took at the exhibit below, and let us know if you’ll be headed there yourself!

A Convention With Heart and Soul: My New York Comic-Con Experience

by inaudible_mumbleOctober 19, 2013

When most people think of New York Comic-Con they will automatically associate it with the sales floor. Those guilty of doing this are doing themselves a huge disservice. The sales floor is the foundation for the convention, sure, but it is hardly the heart and soul of the convention. I don’t say this in attempt to devalue the importance of the sales floor. The New York Comic-Con sales floor allows you a glimpse at what a lot of companies have in the works (I myself was particularly fond of the display figures for Mezco Toyz upcoming Ax Cop line). The sales floor also allows attendees the opportunity to familiarize themselves with smaller independent publishers who they wouldn’t have normally encountered otherwise.

Axe Cop Mezco — Mezco’s ‘Axe Cop’ figures… awesome.

Attendees, however, are the heart of New York Comic-Con. It’s an obvious concept when you think about it. Without the fans the convention wouldn’t exist, but its more than the people just showing up that makes them the heart of the convention. It’s in the cosplayers that slaved over their costumes for a month in order to make a living breathing love letter to their fandom of choice. It’s the fact that these same people have delved so far into their character that they pull off each subtle character nuance with precision accuracy (I still maintain that Chris Tucker had to have been cosplaying as Ruby Rhod because otherwise that cosplay was just spooky accurate). These people don’t devote their time and energy into their cosplay for the fame. They do it for the love of the genre, and to make the people around them smile when they see their favorite character torn from the panels of their favorite book and fleshed into existence.

Artist Alley is the soul of the convention (Geekscapist Jonathan previously wrote an article about how Artist Alley is the heart of New York Comic-Con, but for me soul feels more fitting). Unlike other conventions like San Diego that doesn’t find it necessary to make a designated space for artists, New York makes it a point to allot them a space in which to operate during the convention. New York understands the importance of these artists, after all, without these people we wouldn’t have the comic books the convention is celebrating. These are the people who have tirelessly worked to bring the characters we love to life for us.

Christopher Uminga Art — Art by Christopher Uminga

At first glance some people may have been disillusioned into thinking that the convention itself didn’t favor having the artists at the convention, which is why they were placed in an adjacent room separated from the main convention through a tunneled hallway. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Putting artist alley where they did was a calculated move which allowed for the artist to not have to compete with commotion of the sales floor. Away from that noise and congestion of the sales floor the artist are given a better opportunity to engage with the attendees at their table.

NYCC has more then just these few things going for it, but these are the things that keep me and countless other people flocking to New York City for one weekend each year.

Matt Banning art from this year's NYCC! — Matt Banning art from this year’s NYCC!

Miis Invade New York!

by Derek KraneveldtNovember 16, 2012

Have you been living under a rock for the past year? No? Then you’re probably aware that Nintendo’s new home console, the Wii U is set to launch in just over 24 hours. You’re probably also aware that it looks absolutely incredible.

Nintendo is understandably, and so are their classic Mii’s, who after six years are finally about to get a new home! As a promotion for the upcoming launch, a lot of Mii characters took over New York City, and the results are pretty hilarious.

Check out the photos below, and let us know what you think! Will you be waiting in line for a Wii U? I know I’ll be picking one up the second my finances allow it!

If anyone is interested in buying a kidney, I’m not opposed to selling it. I’d love be able to pick up a Wii U this Sunday!