Time to dust off your cosplay wigs: Hal-Con is back. While this year’s slate is significantly smaller-scale than past Cons, it still packs a wallop, particularly for the bookworms in the crowd: Author of the Governor General Award-nominated The Grey Sisters, Jo Treggiari, is one of several noted sci-fi/fantasy/YA authors on the 2021 event guest […]
Hal-Con
Posted inArts + Music
Five Nerdy Things You Can Do at Hal-Con This Year
Hal-Con October 26-28 Halifax Convention Centre 1650 Argyle Street free-$125 hal-con.com 1Nerds in Intersection The white male empire has fallen: Meet activist cosplayer Akakioga and multidisciplinary Wolastoqikyik/Canadian artist and animator Tara Audibert. They’ve stormed the gates and raised their flags, and we’re all better for it. Sun, 10:45am 2Librarians: The Myth, The Mystery, The Misconception […]
Posted inArts + Music
Kiss a Frog’s cos and effect
One would think that nerds would be the most welcoming of people, however, when we get into the realm of cosplay things can take an ugly turn. Oftentimes Black cosplayers are on the receiving end of sickening vitriolic racist comments. And, when we add body politics to race, we get a whole other volatile kettle […]
Posted inArts + Music
X man, Mitch Pileggi
T wo things about Walter Skinner on The X-Files stand above the rest: He was the badass of all badasses; and Scully kissed him. She kissed him on the lips. Skinner was that recurring character that when first introduced, we were not sure if he was one of the good guys. But season after season […]
Posted inNews + Opinion
Hidden Haligonians: Nathan DeLuca
Nathan DeLuca started off cosplaying just for fun, making appearances at nearby geek gatherings such as Hal-Con and Animaritime. These days, most of his time is spent travelling to conventions and crafting costumes. “I just really liked being a nerd, I guess,” DeLuca says of his initial interest in cosplay. On top of that, making […]
Posted inArts + Music
Breaking: aliens attack
The War of the Worlds Friday, November 4, 8pm The World Trade and Convention Centre, Summit Suite, 8th floor $20 You will have already heard the news by the time you read this. What began as a strange object landing on a farm in the Annapolis Valley, has, within hours, turned into a world-awide alien […]
Posted inArts + Music
Photos: 2015 Hal-Con Sci-Fi Convention
Today is the second day of Hal-Con Sci-Fi, Fantasy & Comic Convention at the Scotiabank and World Trade and Convention Centres and this year, Hal-Con is bigger and better than ever: the trade-show is located in the Scotiabank, there are gaming, pinball and arcade stations, there are panels and contests and tournaments and, of course, celebrity […]
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A day at Hal-Con
A little Hodor goes a long way. Hal-Con is quickly gaining ground as one of the premier comic book conventions in Canada with a keen focus on Canadian-based comics. After the packed, chaotic crowd from last year, Hal-Con organizers made a few changes that helped in having a smooth, pleasant environment. No more long lines […]
Posted inArts + Music
Playing dress up at Hal-Con
With its origins in Japanese fashion, cosplay has become a comic-con phenomenon and a form of art and design that reaches competitive levels. Hal-Con’s own Costume Contest has strict criteria and various categories of awards depending on the intensity of fabrication. For local cosplayers, it’s game time. “I started going to Hal-Con in the ‘80s […]
Posted inArts + Music
Comics’ lost stories
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…Nelvana? Nelvana of the Northern Lights is Canada’s first superwoman, an Inuit demigoddess whose job was to protect the Arctic in the 1940s. Her history, including her adventures, was forgotten until Hope Nicholson and Rachel Richey resurrected her story. This tale of Canadian comic book history is part of […]
Posted inArts + Music
Hal-Con wrap up
Long lines, dozens of Doctor Who costumed fans and one funny Billy Dee Williams. Hal-Con was a maddening convention that was the most successful in the city’s history. More than 10,000 attendees, mostly dressed in costume, stood in long lines to meet their heroes. Volunteers and staff were overwhelmed as large crowds were forced to […]
Posted inArts + Music
Nyan Cat flies into Halifax on a pop tart rainbow
From today’s exciting announcement from Hal-Con: “We’re excited to welcome the creative genius behind one of the internet’s most famous cats to Hal-Con this year (Nov 8-10, WTCC). Christopher Torres’s 8-bit creation of an intergalactic feline with a toaster-pastry body who flies through space on a rainbow trail exploded onto the web in 2011 and […]