FPcast for June 25 2018: Jurassic Park Fallen Kingdom!

This week we review Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, plus we chat about our experiences at Perth Supanova. And there's plenty of deep-diving philopsophical/existential nonsense about nerd culture in general so look forward to filling your face up with that!

Download here! (click to stream, right-click to save)

And be sure to SUBSCRIBE to us on iTunes because we do this every week! And join the discussion in our friendly Facebook group! And you can now get bonus episodes by subscribing/supporting us on Patreon!

FPcast for July 3 2017: Transformers Last Knight!

This week we endure the 5th instalment of the never-ending Transformers franchise: Transformers: The Last Knight. Plus we let you know why we didn't cover Supanova this year, and catch up on a missed week of news and trailers. And we're both still sick and one of us won't make it through the show! INTRIGUE!

Download here! (click to stream, right-click to save)

And be sure to SUBSCRIBE to us on iTunes because we do this every week! And join the discussion in our friendly Facebook group! And you can now get bonus episodes by subscribing/supporting us on Patreon!

FPcast for June 27 2016: Perth Supanova!

This week is all about our adventures at the 2016 Perth Supanova. We talk guests, art, cosplay, shopping, and get very real about what it means to be famous or a fan...

Download here! (click to stream, right-click to save)

And be sure to SUBSCRIBE to us on iTunes because we do this every week! And join the discussion in our friendly Facebook group! And you can now get bonus episodes by subscribing/supporting us on Patreon!

FPcast for June 29 2015! Supanova 2015!

This week is all about our adventures at Supanova 2015! We talk about Nathan Fillion, Elizabeth Henstridge, Adam Baldwin, Jason Isaacs, Billy West and a whole lot more! Plus cosplay, shopping and our candid thoughts on what went well and what could have been better!

Download here! (click to stream, right-click to save)

And be sure to SUBSCRIBE to us on iTunes because we do this every week! And join the discussion in our friendly Facebook group! And you can now get bonus episodes by subscribing/supporting us on Patreon!

FPcast! The Fruitless Pursuits Podcast for February 2nd 2015! Pop Culture Fight Night!

This week we get liquored up and tackle pop culture's three greatest controversies (for the past week)! The ALL FEMALE Ghostbusters, the Fantastic Four reboot, and Adam Baldwin's invite to Supanova! Will we get to the truth or will we descend into rambling incoherence? Only one way to find out...

Download here! (click to stream, right-click to save)

And be sure to SUBSCRIBE to us on iTunes because we do this every week! And join the discussion in our friendly Facebook group!

Supanova Perth 2014 Review - Day 1

This weekend Supanova hit Perth with force and convention goers came out in droves despite the bad weather. There was plenty of cosplay, plenty to spend your money on and plenty of fun. Your Fruitless Pursuits Perth crew were there to check it out and report some of the highlights!

Follow me under the cut for a re-cap of Day 1 including Jamie Bamber (Battlestar Galactica, Hornblower, Law and Order UK), John Barrowman (Doctor Who, Torchwood, Arrow) and Katie Cassidy (Supernatural, Arrow).

FPcast! The Fruitless Pursuits podcast for June 23rd 2014! Perth Supanova!

This week we share our many adventures from massive pop culture expo, Supanova, including our three-on-a-couch interview with Battlestar Galactica's Jamie Bamber! Plus the joys of meeting Rose McGowan and John Barrowman, listening to how Agents of SHIELD's Ming-Na Wen kicks ass, artist/toy designer extraordinaire Ashley Wood, cosplay, shopping and MORE! And if all that wasn't enough, we wrap things up by discussing the season finale of Game of Thrones! Shove this into the welcoming holes on the side of your head!

Download here! (click to stream, right-click to save)

And be sure to SUBSCRIBE to us on iTunes because we do this every week! And join the discussion in our friendly Facebook group!

Supanova 2013: Weta Wonderland

It's been a week since Supanova, and we can only imagine you're pining for it as much as we are. Luckily, we have one last Supanova-inspired post to tide you over until, well, this time next year I guess. We all totally fell in love with the folk of Weta (or 'Wita' to the locals) and their incredibly impressive stall, so let's head below the cut to have a bit more of a look at some of the wares they had on show.

Haven't already seen a million pictures of Gollum on Instagram? GREAT. Have another one.

Supanova: Comic Guests Recap

Supanova is a great place to be for a comics fan. While the majority of folk are losing their minds for a glimpse of Karl Urban or spending all day in a queue to get Carrie Fisher to scribble on something I was getting a lot of time talking to legends of the comics world. They may get a little less attention than the stars of film and TV over the weekend but this just means dedicated fans like me have less queueing and much more one on one time with our heroes.

In a little change from previous years, the bigger comics guests weren't down in Artist's Alley but rather up in the main hall with the other big guests. There was much more room to breathe and they got equal standing with the Urbans, Fishers Tudyks of the con. Although I think Tom Taylor wasn't a huge fan of the change. Every time I saw him he was itching to be down on the floor with the people (and he did escape a few times down to the Gestalt booth).

So join me after the jump for a recap of of my time spent at the tables and in the seminars of comics pros George Perez, Chris Claremont, Mark Brooks, Tom Taylor and Alex Saviuk.

Perth Supanova 2013: Interview with Greg Cipes! Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Clone Wars! Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll!

Greg Cipes is a total rock star. He's Michelangelo in the current Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, and has a wealth of credits both as a voice and on the screen. Getting the chance to interview him at Supanova was such a thrill because from the moment he walks in you can tell he's the coolest guy in the room (even though there was just two of us). Greg has a wonderful warm, energy, is extremely funny, and I wish we had a photo from the event because he was the best dressed person at the entire convention. He looked awesome! And I'm especially intrigued by the future projects he hints at.

Many thanks to Greg for letting me hold him up so long! I was so fascinated by what he was saying, and so comfortable chatting, that I completely lost track of what else was going on. Listen for yourself, and you will instantly become one of Greg's disCIPESles. (Sorry)...


Click here to stream audio (or right-click to save!)

Perth Supanova 2013: Interview with Clare Kramer! Buffy! GeekNation! Helicopters!

Can you folks believe that at this weekend's Supanova expo in Perth, I actually got to sit with and interview Buffy the Vampire God Clare Kramer, also known for her role in Bring it On, AND she runs GeekNation  a far better pop culture site than this one!

Clare could not have been friendlier or more welcoming, so before we lose you to her fantastic site, please listen to our very special interview...

Click here to stream audio (or right-click to save!)

Perth Supanova 2013: Interview with Lauren Tom! Futurama, Bad Santa and More!

Now here's the really exciting part! Thanks to the team at Supanova I had the opportunity to speak to the extremely talented, bubbly and delightful Lauren Tom! We all know her as Amy Wong in the long-running (then halting, then running again) hit Futurama, but I most adore her as Lois in my favourite Christmas movie of all time, Bad Santa, where she was super determined to get that loofer!

But enough of my gushing and rambling! You can listen to me gush and ramble directly to Lauren by clicking below... (and I still don't know what you have to do to get into that Joy Luck Club!)

Click here to stream audio (or right-click to save!)

Perth Supanova 2013 Round Up: The A to Z of Supanova!

So pop culture expo, Perth Supanova 2013, was a rollicking success that we still haven't quite recovered from. It's an overwhelming amount of craziness to cover, so - seeing as how we're one of the few semi-literate sites left on the 'net - we're going to start by getting all fancy... and do an A to Z of some of our highlights from the weekend. Jacinta and I took a hell of a lot of photos, so from Ariel to Zombies we have you covered...

Full images and commentary after the jump! Hopefully it will tide you over until our more in-depth coverage and supastar celebrity interviews start landing very soon. 

ONWARD! There's something here for everyone...

Perth Supanova 2013 - Day 1 Teaser: The Hoff! Urban! Cosplay!

STOP! 

Supanova has finally exploded all over Perth's Claremont Showgrounds and we are deeply embedded in the pop culture trenches! We braved scratches from foam weapons and giant wings to bring you the best local coverage possible, a lot of which we will roll out over the following days as we are all super listless and yawny now. 

But we do have a bunch of photos to get things rolling and give you a taste of what went down on the first day. Including that crazy picture above of Kroton, the obscure Cyberman from the comics who retained his emotions and probably even cried or something! Did you know that under all that armour is our very own Courtney Coulson, frequent guest host of The Book Was Better and writer of Costume Critiques?! That is just one example of the great lengths our team will go to in order to assimiliate.

Much more... maybe even a photo of you... after the jump!

Supanova: George Perez's Comics Masterclass

Supanova is upon us once again. The really dedicated geeks amongst us descended upon Claremont Showgrounds in the cold for Preview Night. It's a chance to see some of the guests a little early at the official opening, see a couple special panels and get a head start on autograph tokens.

For me it was a chance to get some time with a living legend of the comics world. George Perez hosted an intimate little seminar, his comics masterclass. It was an opportunity to watch him explain his craft both verbally and physically as he sketched some rough pages live in front of the audience.

George of course is one of the legends of the industry. Having broke his teeth on The Avengers in the late seventies he moved on to such seminal works as The New Teen Titans, Wonder Woman, Man of Steel, The Infinity Gauntlet and the true classic Crisis on Infinite Earths. Personally, my favourite work was his late nineties run on The Avengers with Kurt Busiek. This is still, to this day, the definitive run on Earth's Mightiest Heroes in my opinion

So what did I learn from the old master tonight?  Hit the jump and find out!

Perth Supanova 2013 Preview: The Fruitless Pursuits Stall!

Perth’s biggest pop culture convention, Supanova, is this weekend and Fruitless Pursuits will be there in force! For the first time we will be there with our very own stall and we will have lots of awesome stuff for sale. Plus we’ll be taking plenty of photos of cosplay and events to feature on our site!

You can come and find us at Stall L in Artist’s Alley, but if you’re having trouble finding us, look out for our giant poster showing off our brand new chibi caricatures, created by amazing artist and friend, Linda Foote...

It shows off all six of the Perth team who will be at the stall or roaming the floor, so keep an eye out for us. You’ll see these images (plus images of our American Team) popping up more often on the site moving forward, and hopefully they will assist in you getting to know us.

But in the meantime, check out the actual stuff we have on offer - including original playing cards, books, comics and badges... after the jump!

Supanova Perth - Supastar Guests of Comics! (by Cem Selamet!)

Here's a first post by new contributor Cem Selamet! Please make him welcome and look for more of him on the site soon...

There’s something really electrifying about meeting the very legends of industry who you’ve spent hours, months or years idolising their work. Like me, most fans will find it liberating to talk a writer about a scene that touched them, or an art panel that blew them away, having them turn the page back and re-read it a few more times.

This week in Perth, Supanova Pop Culture Expo will host a phenomenal lineup of writers, artists, and collaborators from the Comic industry. These Silver, Bronze and Modern Age comic creators are a definite must-see.

If you’ve ever been a fan of X-Men stories The Dark Phoenix Saga, Days of Future Past, or even nostalgically recall the 1990s X-Men: The Animated Series, you’ve got to meet Chris Claremont, the writer responsible for so much of Marvel’s X-Universe. Claremont’s time on X-Men holds the record for the longest stint (running from 1975 to 1991), and during this time he created and expanded not only the cast, but also explored a variety of social issues not being covered at the time in the comics industry. Claremont will be hosting a seminar (Saturday 3:10pm), and will be in the Supa-Star Signing Area over the course of the weekend. 

Many more... after the jump!

Capey's Comic Convention Commission Etiquette

It’s 9am and freezing cold out the front of some convention centre. Geeks of all shapes and sizes are queued up, ready to pounce. For some it will be a mad dash to get a chance for a photo with their favourite celebrity, for others it’s to get that first bargain or rarity before someone else snaps it up. For me, it’s a sprint to artist’s alley to meet my artistic heroes of the comic world.

The comic penciler is part artist, part cinematographer, director, set designer and choreographer. In the film industry this would be the job of many talented people. In comics, it’s one supremely talented person. Also, unlike those other professions, you can get an original piece of their work, created just for you.  You can’t go and get yourself an original piece from legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins but you can have an original piece by the immortal George Perez on your wall. It’s really a unique thing in pop culture.

Now I’ve gotten good handful of pieces done and often get questions from people on the cost, how to go about it and so forth. I have commissions from Nicola Scott, Francis Manapul, David Yardin, Mark Brooks and Matthew Clark among others on my wall. I figured with Supanova coming up this week in Perth, Oz Comic-Con in Melbourne the week after and SDCC fast approaching, why not delve into it for you lovely readers.

Supanova Preamble - Preview: Supastar Guests of Television and Film

This weekend Supanova, Perth’s premiere pop-culture convention, touches down and promises to be packed with entertainment. As with previous years there is plenty to see and do for the whole weekend from visiting stalls and buying loot to meeting some of your favourite celebrities.

This year Fruitless Pursuits will be covering many aspects of the convention including Cosplay, Celebrity Panels, Stalls and Comic Artists.

Stay tuned this week for more information about what we will be covering and for all the convention highlights and stories in the week to come.

For now, follow me under the jump where I talk about the Supanova Supastar Guests from the Television and Film world that I’ll be checking out this weekend.

How We Met Christopher Lloyd at Supanova and Awesome Things Happened!

It should be little surprise that the biggest draw at this past weekend’s Supanova was pop culture icon Christopher Lloyd. Fans of Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Addams Family, Taxi, Star Trek III, and Piranha 3DD, formed massive lines for their chance to spend a few memorable moments with a legend. Jacinta and I were a little more lazy, choosing instead to avoid the crowds, but on late Sunday afternoon the line finally parted and a perfect opportunity presented itself! There was Christopher. There was us. It was meant to be.

But how to make the best of this opportunity?

Find out the full story... after the jump!