RSS

Montreal Comiccon has come and gone, but we've got more recaps right here in the CJLO Magazine for those who missed it. Philiam from Turn on the Darkness takes us through day two of the conference, with quick game reviews and funny anecdotes from the Star Trek 50th anniversary panel. Main photo by Brian 'Döc' Holidæ from Geektastiq Cypha. Check out our Instagram @CJLO1690AM for more photos Montreal Comiccon cosplayers!

Saturday morning began with Ubisoft showing off their newest IP, For Honor. They showed a new trailer and a demonstration with an extra 20 minutes of unseen footage that showcased more of the combat mechanics, enemies and bosses, and gameplay that reminded me a lot of Dark Souls. Unlike Friday, where it was quiet and you were able to move around freely, the show floor was packed on Saturday and it was harder to go from point A to point B, which was a little overwhelming.

I managed to also get a hands-on with the HTC Vive, the game I played was called First Impact: Rise of a Hero by Red Meat Games. It was a unique experience trying VV for the first time. The goal of the game was to be the hero, performing regular super hero duties throughout the city using different abilities. I got a little bit dizzy, but it seemed to stop after a minute or so. Nevertheless, the visuals were pretty impressive for VR, and I was glad to experience it. First Impact felt like a whole other world.

I headed to the Yaya Han and Kamui panel around noon. It was an interesting cosplay Q&A about how they got into cosplay, their influences, good and bad, and embarrassing stories. After scouring through crowds on my way to the Vic Mignogna panel, I got lost along the way and missed it completely, so I took a break from everything and watched a Counter Strike: Global Offensive competitive match. It was interesting to see the game in a tournament setting with a big crowd in the esports room.

The second-to-last panel of the day was an Anime Dubbing Contest where an assortment of weird things happened, in a hilarious, and cringe-worth matter.

The last panel of the day was the Star Trek 50th anniversary, with William Shatner, Brent Spiner, and Kate Mulgrew. The panel opened with a montage of the Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Voyager intros. There was a homage to the late Leonard Nimoy and the recently-diseased actor Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in the reboot series.

Shatner told funny stories about being on set, and how his role as Captain Kirk from the first Star Trek series changed his life. Brent Spiner and Kate Mulgrew had their share of interesting stories about being on the bridge as well. In Star Trek: Voyager, Kate said that there was a lot of testosterone in the room, and not enough ladies on the bridge to keep her company. Shatner made a few inappropriate, sexist jokes, which lead the crowd to boo him, and Brent shared some memories about Leonard Nimoy, and how he was a great person to work on set with. Shatner explained how he was going to meet Stephen Hawking, he wanted an opinion on certain things that he's doing, and other Star Trek related things. He also had a story about their invitation to meet Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre in the morning. As they were on their way to meet Coderre, there was a man blocking the road who seemed to be a bit discouraged to pick up after his dog. Shatner got out of the car, yelled at the man, "Hey, pick up your dog's feces! PICK UP YOUR DOG'S FECES!" The man then picked up after his dog, and walked off.

--Phil Aveline hosts Turn on the Darkness, every Tuesday at 2PM.

Final day.

No convention is complete without dressing up in cosplay for at least one of the days. Today was my day. I'm used to dressing up for all three, but due to constraints this year, I had no time to make my costumes, so I went with a quick and simple solution: Sans the skeleton from Undertale. With my make-up on and hoodie zipped, I boarded the 105 and made my way to the Palais de Congres for the last time this weekend.

The first panel I got in to see was the Z'isle conference, hosted by Lateef Martin- who readers will remember from Day 2's panel on Diversity and Sexuality- and Isabelle Duguay.

Z'isle is best known for it's recycled weapons: bows made of bike parts, stop sign shields and bike gear maces. But what Z'isle is, is a comic series based in Montreal seven years after a zombie apocalypse, where the island is infested with zombies known as “Feeders” and the remaining boroughs “have restructured their neighbourhoods into fortresses against the onslaught of the undead and formed alliances with complimentary communities.” The recycled bikes make more sense now- because what else does Montreal have in abundance?

Martin and Duguay are currently working on turning the series into an RPG video game, which will be available on Steam upon completion, which will act as a prequel to the comics- having players survive the first seven years of the zombie outbreak.

The concept and story-line of Z'isle is truly inspiring, as it is essentially a Montreal-wide project. All of the characters that appear in the series, as well as the video game, are real people who live and work on the island. People are invited to help fund the story, and in return, are given a cameo in the series. So far, this has lead to Z'isle having over 136 unique characters.

People are also invited to contribute story ideas, and can write-in to Z'isles Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/zisleseries/.

The completed series will be a trilogy of seven to nine issues each. At the moment, the series is available only in English- save for some french curse words- but will be translated into french once all the issues have been released.

The second panel I attended was Tom Felton's Q and A.

Felton played in movies such as Get Him To The Greek, The Apparition and Rise of Planet of The Apes, but is most recognizable for playing Draco Malfoy in the movie adaptation of J.K. Rowlings series Harry Potter.

Unlike other Q and A conferences, Felton's was strictly Q and A. No anecdotal introduction, no garlic spare ribs, straight to business. Not completely surprising however, seeing as it was the actors first time in Montreal.

He answered questions such as what his patronus charm would be and what memory he would use to conjure it, whether he enjoyed playing a villain or would prefer to play a protagonist- to which he answered “its always better to be the bad guy”- and which of the Harry Potter movies was his favourite.

The sweetest moments were whenever children would come up to the mic to ask a question. Felton is just great with kids.

He also shared a moment with the crowd from back during the filming of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In the movie, Hermione Granger, who is played by Emma Watson, punches Draco in the face in one scene. While in the break room one day, Felton tells Watson that they should practice the part before filming, which was originally supposed to be a slap. Felton is fully aware of how to throw a fake hit, Watson unfortunately, is not. She ended up slapping Felton across the face, mush to his surprise.

Before the end of the conference, he added a few touching anecdotes about working with the late Alan Rickman.

The final panel of the day was the award ceremony for Saturdays Masquerade. While there were a plethora of honourable mention awards for best aspects, I will stick to the awards for best in divison and how my top three picks faired:

Best in the Novice division: Entry #16 Pit and Dark Pit from Kid Icarus

Honourable Mention for Armour in the Journeyman division: #57 Iron Man Mark 39 from Iron Man

Best Armour in the Journeyman division: #9 Sauron and the Witch King from Lord of The Rings

Best in the Journeyman division: #20 Cosplay group of Alice Through The Looking Glass and #18 Customized Air Nomad cosplay from Avatar: The Last Airbender

Best in the Artisan division: #15 Gender-bent Penguin from the Gotham TV series and #32 Anastasia Tremaine from Cinderella

Best Wings in the Master division: #24 Custom designed cosplay of a Lunar moth

Best in the Master division: #42 Goddess from the Spawn Manga

Best Overall in Show: #32 Anastasia Tremaine from Cinderella and #38 Backstreet Boys cosplay group

Sunday was much more relax than Saturday was and not nearly as packed. I was also happy to get back into my cosplay. I was recognized several times, spotted at least three other Sanses and took a couple of pictures with people. I do believe I have also been thoroughly Pavloved. Every time a bell rings I shout “SHAME.” Don't know how that happened. There's a line in my notes though that reads

“The man with the bell has too much power.”

Sadly to say, I did leave the con a bit earlier than expected. As part of Comiccon tradition with friends, we all go out for sushi and then crash at home. Which is exactly what we did. You can take the cosplayer out of cosplay... but you can't stop them from devouring sushi and passing out from a food coma.

As soon as possible I will follow up with an entire overview of the con and it's events, so please stay tuned to CJLO's Magazine and Feature section for the update, it will be up promptly. Despite whatever post-con depression I may face.

Thank you Montreal!

The Montreal Comiccon pop-culture, comic, and gaming fan convention is in full swing at Palais des congrès, and the folks at CJLO - 1690AM are excited to bring our readers daily recaps and photos of this amazing three-day event! Here's a quick recap of day one, brought to you by Philiam from Turn on the Darkness. Main photo by Brian 'Döc' Holidæ from Geektastiq Cypha. Check out our Instagram @CJLO1690AM for more photos Montreal Comiccon cosplayers!

Morning

At the dawn of Montreal Comiccon I could not sleep due to excitement. I finally fell asleep at about 4:30 in the morning, knowing I had to be up at 9-10ish. Took a shower, saw it was 10:45, and realized I was running late to get to my 425 express bus, which I usually take downtown. Thankfully, I made it caught the bus on time. Let me tell you, nothing beats the morning and wakes you up like listening to Steven Wilson's Hand. Cannot. Erase. and some Opeth tunes.

I'll possibly see some cosplayer once I've reached Dorval circle. Like every year, it's always interesting to see the new cosplays from newer series that people have been working on.

Made It to Comiccon

Finally at Comiccon, and patiently waiting as the doors open for media and guests to arrive, I saw a few cosplayers that looked gorgeous, saw a Ray from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a gorgeous D.Va from Overwatch that I wanted to speak to—my heart literally started to pound like crazy because of how beautiful the cosplay was, sorry I'm obsessed with D.Va.

Eating a Tim Hortons cinnamon roll to get a little boost, even though I am feeling excited and nervous at the same time, I know it will be a great time today. Don't think I'll have anything else until maybe 8:00 later tonight.

Inside the Conference

Comiccon has been a real blast all day. there is a ton of people on the show floor this year, and that hasn't really been happening in the last couple of years. I first started to play the soon-to-be released game called Gravity Rush 2 on the PlayStation Vita. The game has a very interesting concept using gravity and unique gameplay mechanics. My square button wasn't working to attack, but either way I didn't know what was wrong. VR also caught my attraction but I wasn't able to get a chance to play.

Despite the lack of panels today, I know it's only the start of what's to come on day two of Comiccon. I am definitely going to try out some of the HTC Vive stuff in the indie games section, and try out more indie games. THEY'RE SO COOL. I would also like to give a shout out to the whole crew that has been working here all day, they're doing a fantastic job!

Day 1 of Comiccon has been a success. Keep on tuning for more coverage on day two, right here in the CJLO Magazine.

--Phil Aveline hosts Turn on the Darkness, every Tuesday at 2PM.

Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn

There have been films in the past that have unravelled the Los Angeles dream myth, and that show the seedy darkness that encapsulates the city of glitz and glamour.

There is David Lynch's film noir Mulholland Drive, and David Cronenberg's dark comedy Maps to the Stars. This is not the first time Nicolas Winding Refn has explored the dark side of Los Angeles, with its criminal underworld showcased in his 2011 film, Drive. The Neon Demon explores the dark side of the glamorous modelling industry. Refn dissects the industry though exploitation, set to a jarring hardcore-eighties synth score by composer Cliff Martinez.

Jesse (Elle Fanning) is new to the Los Angeles scene, and is trying to break into the modelling business, making new contacts along the way. Jan (Christina Hendricks) and Ruby (Jena Malone) are two adults that give her advice on how to fit into the world, despite being under age. As Jan puts it, "Say you're 19. Always 19". There are a lot of misconceptions about Ruby, who works as make up artist and extends her talents to the morgue. Los Angeles hosts some unsavoury characters from a shady hotel manager that preys on women (Keanu Reeves). Rival models Sarah (Abbey Lee) and Gigi (Bella Heathcote) are trying to stay forever young, and enviously give the stink eye to Jesse with every promotion she gets. Under the glitz and glam of the model industry is its seedy and exploitative nature, which Refen does not shy away from with the 16+ rating. The film becomes a psychological horror thriller that has to be one of the most disturbing endings to a film since the Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin. 

The Neon Demon enthralls, captivates, and disturbs the audience all at the same time. At times you want to look at the beauty on screen in the deep tonal blues or neon pink, but the deep vibrant red will disturb some audience members. As well, a note that there are sections of the film that have strobe lighting effects, for some audience members who feel uncomfortable. Without a doubt, The Neon Demon is devastatingly beautiful to watch as Cliff Martinez pulsates one of the best scores of this year into the film. 

Rating: 4.5/5

--All of what is new and out! Tune in the At the Movies (with Iconic Sounds), every Tuesday at 8AM, only on CJLO 1690AM.