Lucius Malfoy, Weird Al, and Fluffy Little Bunnies

November 2nd is a great time to blog about summer, I say!

The beginning of my summer wasn't the greatest. My grandma passed away. We had a memorial. I did a lot of things to help with the service, including writing the obit and the info. for the program, writing a bio speech for my brother to present at the service, and preparing a display for the reception. And I miss her.

But summer went on, and I had a pretty good one. Aside from going to Alaska and California, I had some fun adventures close to home as well.

In July, I dog-sat in Eugene, OR, and spent an afternoon at the Lane County Fair...

One of my favorite things was the exhibit on objects found with metal detectors...

As someone who has thus far only unearthed crowbars, rusty nails, and a singular dime with my metal detector, I was impressed.

Of course, I spent lots of time with the animals...

And I observed, but did not go on any rides...

* * *

In August, I attended a Weird Al Yankovic concert at McMenamics Edgefield.

I'd actually bought the ticket back in 2018, and the concert eventually sold out.

I chose to purchase one of the "chair" seats (rather than sit on a picnic blanket on the massive lawn). On one hand, this afforded me a pretty good view of the stage. But as the chairs were packed so tightly together, this arrangement was a little bit uncomfortable.

The show began with three orchestral numbers from movie soundtracks. Then Al got up and did about a dozen numbers. It was a fun show and I'm glad I went. Next time, though, I'll just chance it with a picnic blanket...

* * *

In September, I attended the Rose City ComicCon...

The LEGO club I'm a part of has put on a display for several years, and I joined in...

Since three actors from The Princess Bride were going to be in attendance this year, I thought it only right to make a couple of PB-themed MOCs...

I also made a few new BrickHeadz, representing the Harry Potter universe actors who were scheduled to be there: Bonnie Wright (Ginny), Matthew Lewis (Neville), Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski), and Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy).

 Bonnie Wright ended up canceling, but I let her BrickHeadz come anyway.

The crowds at the con were enormous this year...

I went to three panels. One was a split panel, with actors from The Princess Bride. First off was Wallace Shawn....

Then Cary Elwes and Chris Sarandon...

Later, there was a panel for three aforementioned Harry Potter universe actors in attendance...

I also attended a panel with just Jason Isaacs on Sunday. I was pleased that in both sessions, he briefly talked about Peter Pan (2003), a movie that's close to my heart. Apparently he's quite fond of it, too.

 Some of things he mentioned:

*The film was mostly shot in Australia. He got to stay in a large house by the beach that was supposed to be for an A-list actor doing another movie, but that actor backed out, and Jason got to move in with his wife and baby daughter. They invited the Lost Boys over to hang out.

*During the course of filming, several people on the beach were attacked by sharks, but the Australian crew members kept assuring Jason that it was perfectly safe to swim in the ocean. After the third attack, Jason decided to stay out of the water.

*The production went over-budget and the shoot went longer than anticipated. Jason didn't seem to mind this, as he got to continue living in this mansion by the shore.

*The reason Hook and Peter have their final battle while flying was to help disguise the fact that Jeremy Sumpter had grown so much during the course of filming, and was now nearly as tall as Hook. (I already knew they'd had to adjust the size of the Darlings' nursery window to accommodate his growth.)

*The harnesses used for flying were uncomfortable, sure, but in one scene, they were really uncomfortable. There's a particular look of pain/horror on Jason's face for a brief moment that remains in the film... in which he wasn't acting.

*That first scene with Hook was actually a body double. (Nooooo!)

Good movie, by the way.