CatBusRuss headed to GalaxyCon Des Moines to see if the capital of Iowa could help determine who was the baddest action hero(es) from forty years prior. 1985 was the last year where action movies were celebrated solely for being violent. One liners are fun, but chaos reigned supreme.

Sylvester Stallone may have had the box office with "Rocky IV" and "Rambo: First Blood - Part II", but this may have been the dawning of Arnold Schwarzenegger taking over the action hero crown from Sly. But is there a dark horse?

The Cannon Group may have only survived as long as it did because of their low-budget action flicks. Michael Dudikoff and Chuck Norris bring the martial arts while Charles Bronson returns to the Death Wish franchise.

And to make sure CatBus is not looking over any of the action legends, he reviews Sho Kosugi's fourth ninja film of the eighties, "Pray for Death". After the Golan-Globus replace his with the girl from "Breakin'", he started making hooded assassin flicks just to spite them.

Russ provides a TED Talk energy to this panel. Without having a cohost for the panel, our podcast host talks a lot and goes on some very pertinent tangents. These were the movies that Ronald Reagan loved. Are these movies truly more than right-wing escapism? Is this the machismo that modern male influencers trying to capture?

In the end, was it a good thing that PG-13 action movies would dominate the next 35 years? Are we mature enough as a society to know that these ultra-violent affairs should not be taken seriously?

There is a charm to these films. They are mindless crazy flicks. Please leave your brain at the door.

CatBusRuss originally thought that this week would be a simple #RewindWednesday release, but as he was going through the "NinetyForChill dot Com - The Podcast" archives, he noticed that he had crammed a couple of classics from John Carpenter into the summer of 2022. So every other week this November will be dedicated to "The Horror Master", and this podcast will kick the theme off with what his friends would call his masterpiece, "Big Trouble in Little China".

It is may be safe to say that Russ and his guests Andrew "Baking While Baked" Tiede & "Not a Strong Start's" Jorge Marrero would agree. If not Carpenter's masterpiece, perhaps Kurt Russell's.

Like most Carpenter films, it was under seen upon release. Thankfully, VHS and HBO has made this a must own feature. The film proves the West is fascinated by Eastern culture, so it only seems appropriate for CatBus to attach his review for the children's version of "Big Trouble", "KPop Demon Hunters".

Next week, "I Dig Crazy Flicks" will return to GalaxyCon Des Moines for the second "1985 Action Movie Triple Threat Match". Then the week of November 16 will have two episodes dedicated to the first great starring performance from a pro-wrestler with Roddy Piper in "John Carpenter's They Live".

CatBusRuss & Faydra Black were going to amuse an ATL Comic Convention audience by gushing over the film that features Brandon Lee's final and finest performance, "The Crow". It is safe to believe that neither of them expected a packed room, but as our podcast host arrived after just concluding his first "1985 Action Movie Triple-Threat Match", he was surprised by the turn out. And then a FanX representative told the two that they would be hosting a Q&A with the comic book's creator James O'Barr and stars Bail Ling, Rochelle Davis, and Laurence Mason.

No wonder Bai Ling was insisting to CatBusRuss to ask good questions when he met her the day before.

Ms. Black handled the questions from the audience as Russ tried to seem cool sitting by the guests. Hopefully, he does not embarrass himself too much when he wanted to speak about the soundtrack.

This panel was a love letter to the late Brandon Lee, and the cast and writer speak about how this is THE ONLY "CROW" MOVIE. So, yes. We get to hear about their unified disdain for the 2024 remake. It just does not have the heart of this masterpiece. When you hear everyone's tales of Brandon, be it Brandon insisting to Bai that his dad was a huge movie star in China or borrowing Rochelle's Game Boy, it is clear this property should never have been filmed again.

There is nothing but great stories from this panel, and it might be Russ's greatest honor of 2025 to share the stage with them. Hope you enjoy the episode.

CatBusRuss had a four-movie marathon of sub 100-minute features that he intended to kick off the last week of spooky month. But since he currently has only one retailer to be responsible to, he had time to watch a longer flick or two. Lets just say Ryan Coogler's vision changed that plan. And our host had promised to go back to the Grid while it was still in theaters.

It cannot be the "Ninety For Chill: Discovery of 2025" with its extra 37 minutes, but Russ will be very disappointed in the Academy if "Sinners" does not take home best picture. He needs to see "One Battle After Another", but there are just three too many Oscar winners to tell me that they should receive one more. Never mind that it is 24 minutes longer than Coogler's film while lacking a time-traveling musical number, and, most importantly, anti-Klan vampires.

"TRON: Ares" also lacks the vampires, but a Nine Inch Nails soundtrack and a love for Depeche Mode checks off all the boxes to amuse this CatBus. It does what "TRON: Legacy" forgot to do, play to the nerds. Jared Leto is no Michael Sheen, but he does not mess up, and the geeky fanservice made it a fun two hours. And since it is the son of "TRON" (runtime 1:36), it does qualify to be the NFC D25.

The idea of Jared Leto is scary, but to make sure this bonus episode of "I Dig Crazy Flicks" fits the spooky tone, Russ revisits four movies that he covered in 2022. We will transition to more fun special effects with "Puppet Master (1989)" and then maintain a no budget vibe with emo-vampire flick "Quench (2007)".

And to test your threshold of pain (Let's see how long you last.), the podcast will conclude with movies our host may have misunderstood. He doubts it, but you cannot hate the idea of a Hilary Swank and Idris Elba movie on paper. Not be the religious type, "The Reaping (2007)" may never have been up his alley. On the other hand, Peter Weller possibly portraying the devil, is a premise that you cannot deny the potential. Does "Shadow Hours (2000)" deliver?

CatBusRuss went to GalaxyCon Des Moines to once again preach the gospel of "Ninety For Chill". He is joined by Jess McCord from "Skies of Fortune" to further back his stance that modern movies are just too damn long, and to promote Jess's panel "A24: Horror Goes to the Art House."

It is a fun conversation that celebrates a shared love for cinema, so much so that there is not much space for audience participation. That may have been a bad thing as the Jess proposes that flicks with a runtime between 70 and 100 minutes are not respectable. Why else would there be a lack of Best Picture Oscars for cinematic offerings of the ideal runtime? Russ takes a literary approach to this concept.

Which films get the capital F and which films are spelled with a lowercase F? Perhaps, Russ should have let the audience decide. A note for next time.

If the argument that our host takes on tour has been overplayed, to keep up the spooky month vibes, CatBus watched the highly praised A24 feature "I Saw the TV Glow". This was a challenge for him. He was skeptical having watched Jane Schoenbrun "We're All Going to the World's Fair", and not being overly impressed. How does Schoenbrun's sophomore personal tribute to 90s Nickelodeon fair in comparison?

The past two Octobers have been tough for CatBusRuss. He stands by the concept, "If it's Halloween, it must be Saw", and after the brilliance of "Saw X", it sucks that we are still waiting for the 11th installment to what might currently be the most profitable horror franchise. Our host is hoping that going back to episode three of the original "NinetyForChill dot Com - The Podcast" feed will serve as metaphorical methadone for his Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, and Costas Mandylor cravings.

Russ was joined by @QuidPro_Joe Joe Golwitzer to discuss the best cinematic series that James Wan and Leigh Whannell have gifted us. The two discuss the first eight films in the franchise and its evolution from gory police procedural to the epitome of torture porn. At least for the CatBus, that is a sweet spot for his taste in cinema.

Don't you threat. This podcaster has included reviews of "Saw X" and "Spiral: From the Book of Saw" in this podcast feed. But if you are looking for current movie chatter, CatBusRuss is joined by ThePoeticCritic before we get into John Kramer's world.

Russ's big sister is still maintaining an anti-Disney IP stance and is reveling in the disaster of "TRON: Ares". She hopes this will finally make The House of Mouse go back to work to creating "original" masterpieces instead of efforts to promote theme-park rides. Having participated in a "TRON" panel at Indiana Comic Convention, this is a beloved franchise by at least 40 nerds. If there is anything trashy about the series right now, the two siblings agree it is the idea that Jared Leto can be a box office draw (alongside his music and public attitude...and...).

Speaking of trashy, Russ's older sister manages to scrounge up some Halloween PTSD when she brings up a slow, drawn out, biassed documentary about the man who sold licensed "costumes" that were just a stamped mask and plastic tunic. For the parents and OCD-riddled kids who hated applying excessive makeup, there were Ben Cooper outfits, and "Dressing Up Halloween: The Story of Ben Cooper, Inc." is that celebration.

CatBusRuss went into GalaxyCon St. Louis a little bit on edge. He had the "Ninety For Chill: The Panel" and the third edition of the "1985 Action Movie Triple Threat" to prepare for with a virtual stranger who was crashing at his hotel room in Nix Eclips. Unlike GalaxyCon Des Moines, this podcast host did not have a day to relax, especially when he wanted that groovy autograph from Bruce Campbell. Good thing the man who was Ash Williams was there to verbally slap him in the face to get his head on straight.

It was a bit of a rough trip to get to GalaxyCon. Russ's mind was all over the place and poor hotel service did not help him out. He also may have had too many goals to accomplish. This was the first convention since he started taking "I Dig Crazy Flicks" on the road where he was looking to interact with celebrities.

Managing time was a worry for him. Horrible parking left him in a virtual food desert. If he was not ready to get the most out of all the panels he participated in, this trip may have been a bust. Of course, he is a podcaster, so getting a chance to hear his own voice gave him some comfort.

With the exception of 5:15 pm to 6:15 pm on Sunday, panel room one was the place to be at the America's Convention Center. He tried to be the smartest person without a doctoral thesis at Ruby T. McCoy's panels about the psychology behind "The Boys" and grief with "Calling in Sick Because my Favorite Character Died". CatBus also sat in on a history of "The Addams Family" panel hosted by animation legend Joe Wos. The point is, there was plenty of fun to be had if he would just relax.

Too make sure he got the names straight in regards to everyone who impressed him, CatBus does take a break in the recording to throw in his movie review for Lamberto Bava's "Demons 2". This film was suggested to him from his appearance on Jamie Ray's "Fave Five from Fans" podcast since it was produced and written by his favorite horror auteur, Dario Argento. It is a film that is also "Cinema Shitshow" approved.

CatBusRuss was given the honor to be a panelist at the first GalaxyCon St. Louis. For the second day of the convention, our podcast host is joined by 'Cinema Shitshow's' Nix Eklips to have another go at "Ninety For Chill: The Panel". And this time, they come sporting punch and pie.

Nix dedicated the day to worship at the altar of Bruce Campbell, but the queue was so long that he tried to cut some deals with those stranded in the line to get him some merch. Russ on the other hand was able to finish much of his Christmas shopping, reconnecting with the associate producer of "Galaxy Warriors", and bugging "KPop Demon Hunter's" Danny Chung on behalf of his niece.

And of course, the two podcasters did check out some panels like another installment of the "None of this Matters" podcast and the psychological draw towards "The Boys". CatBus tells his tales of the day while trying to deal with the Cubs efforts in the final game of the NLDS.

Hopefully, the crowd was impressed enough to come to Day 3's "1985 Triple Threat Match". They will need it since it was scheduled in the "let's beat traffic time slot".

It was CatBusRuss's pleasure to be invited to be a panelist on Jess McCord's panel at GalaxyCon Des Moines. The topic of said panel, A24's rich horror movie history and influence. But, perhaps, more importantly, is calling it "elevated horror" a good thing?

One half of the "Skies of Fortune" tabletop, role-playing game team put on quite a presentation, and must have his finger on the pulse of what nerds wants to chat about. The crowd of 40 people is not something a CatBus panel is accustomed to. In other words, if you have issues with the audio from the panel, that and a powerful air conditioning system are to blame.

Jess offers up clips and Joe Bob Briggs commentary to try and do away with the term of elevated horror. Russ is there to defend those who think certain horror movies are high brow, like A24 offerings, when compared to the horror movies that Gen-Xers and Millennials group up with. Our podcast host also offers reasons why arthouse does not equal box office since A24 has yet to distribute a feature that has made over 100 million dollars when other studios are desperate for one billion dollar box offices.

Elevated. Emo. Neuro-Spicy. After this panel, hopefully we can all determine what kind of horror A24 truly offers.

Comic book writer and novelist Josh Nealis is on a virtual promotional tour for his latest book, "Cocaine-Stripper Stronghold: Issue 2", so a podcast called "I Dig Crazy Flicks" seems an obvious production to reach out to. His project's wild premise makes him seem like the ideal guest for CatBusRuss, but can these two demented minds talk about films that can reach the lofty expectations they carry with themselves?

Josh is obviously a passionate man, and that took priority when he offered the podcast's host one of his favorite films, 2002's "The Count of Monte Cristo", Alexandre Dumas's tale of long-gestating revenge in post Napoleonic France. The film has many supporters, but it is a half hour too long for "Ninety For Chill" and is pretty grounded in the historic environment. Director Kevin Reynolds may have given us "Waterworld", but this podcast needs some insane idea(s) like that Kevin Costner flick to work.

Russ still has his skills that will allow anyone to talk about any movie they want on the podcast, so he decided to offer up a movie with similar themes, but with monsters and a manageable runtime. Someday, he would love to discuss Timur Bekmambetov's Russian action-monster movie hybrids that got him to the Stateside attention, but "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" may be a great jumping off point to this director's filmography.

CatBusRuss met the founder of Cutthroat Comics & Publishing at Capital City Comic Con 2025 in Lansing, Michigan. Josh's table on artist alley featured comic books and novels with titles that will grab your attention like "Pedoman and Kid Friendly" and "Stuffed Squirrels & Porcelain Angels", so our host could not resist talking shop with this talent. Comics were bought and information was exchanged. And now its Russ's turn to make something from this new friendship.

After the small audience at the Indiana Comic Convention "Ninety For Chill: The Panel", circumstances prevented screenwriter Chuck Thomas from "Atlanta Film Chat" meeting with CatBusRuss for a panel at ATL Comic Convention.Russ still wanted a chance to chat with one of Atlanta's best movie podcasters. So, it is only fitting for Chuck's cinematic wisdom to select a feature that fits the "Ninety For Chill" parameters and star an actor with quite the outrageous career, Eric Roberts. Throw in James Earl Jones and Chris Penn, and you have to call this a crazy flick. This film is Taekwondo's answer to Karate's box office dominance, 1989's "Best of the Best".

These two podcasters had a ball to start since Chuck wanted to find out about what he may have missed from the convention, and Russ was fascinated by his guest's PROPER football scarf selection. It serves as a preview of what will become of this year's Devil's Night's podcast with the cast and creator of "The Crow". With so many similar interests, the language is a lot looser than usual, so ear muffs for the kids, please.

Despite the similarities of these talking heads, CatBus was not impressed by this feature. It may have brought up past trauma from "Over the Top". But again, Chuck has a great mind for movies, and like our host, raised on "Mystery Science Theater 3000". Thus, it may not be too challenging to turn Russ's opinion around on the first chapter of Phillip Rhee's franchise.

CatBusRuss was too worn out to catch the "Josie and the Pussycats" reunion panel with Rachel Leigh Cook & Tara Reid, but he still had a handful of "I Dig Crazy Flicks" buttons to give out, so he made it to day three of GalaxyCon Des Moines. Just in time to catch the Q&A with Brian O'Halloran⁠ the star of "Clerks".

This was an insightful panel where our host was impressed about how active he is in film and television, and every actor's fascination with Jason Mewes. It also gave CatBus a sound byte to open this episode with. If Russ is not tempting the Hollywood big wigs to start sending out cease and desist letters, is he putting enough effort in promoting this podcast?

Our host also ran into Jess McCord at that panel and the two stuck around to check out the "Inglourious Treksperts" panel/podcast recording with Bret Spiner. It was a fun panel that pretty much ignored the series and films that are the actor's claim to fame, "Star Trek: The Next Generation".

With October coming up, CatBus has been trying to figure out when to release all of his banked podcasts/panels (Hopefully to coincide with Spooky Month). While he was figuring out that schedule, he decided to post up a review for the latest feature from Dario Argento, "Dark Glasses". Russ is going to be on Jamie Ray's "Fave Five from Fans" podcast where the two will discuss all elements of the Italian auteur's career some Friday in the upcoming weeks, until it doesn't.

CatBusRuss may have missed the "Speed Friending" event as he recovered from the stress of making it to day one of GalaxyCon Des Moines (Never mind the stress of his personal dramas.), but he worked his promotional butt off and is damn near out of the con's "I Dig Crazy Flicks" buttons. This is thanks to the help of Jess McCord of the tabletop RPG "Skies of Fortune". The two guested on each others' panels respectively and had so much fun, Russ nearly lost his Yeti microphone.

But ThePoeticCritic may think that is justified because he was in a rush to get to see his first John Barrowman panel. It was a fun show, but Barrowman's lack of humbleness leads our host to believe he getting paid way too much to frolic around and curse at conventions. If only the appreciative Karen Gillan's panel would have followed his instead, CatBus may have felt better about his love for the country that is cool with the C-word.

Russ also had fun running into some familiar faces from his travels this year, and if it was not for his hard out, Darby Harn from ScreenRant (Check him out on the "The Last Jedi" episode.) would have had him as a guest on his "Humanity of Superman" panel. Perchance this professional nerd gig may pay off for this kid from Peoria.

Barry Bostwick debuts "Making Megaforce", a documentary/love letter about a bomb of his from 1982.

Standout Adult Swim actors MC Chris & Dana Snyder gain a learning experience from their first attempt to record their podcast, "None of This Matters".

Out podcast host learns he may have to keep up with what the kids love after a well conceived panel, "Eternal Love: Vampire Media Renaissance", out draws those celebrities.

CatBusRuss is putting up his best fight to keep pushing "I Dig Crazy Flicks" to recognition. There has been a lot of drama in his life recently with the state of Illinois, a sibling who is not as cool as ThePoeticCritic, and losing his primary job due to a typing error. That is a lot of stress to leave at home for a short notice opportunity to take part in GalaxyCon Des Moines 2025.

This resulted in a tougher drive to a new convention center which took half an hour to figure out the layout of. No time for the show floor, so the panels better deliver. Thankfully, they have, and he had a decent sized audience for the 1985 Triple Threat Rematch. Things may finally be looking up for the CatBus.

For GalaxyCon Des Moines, CatBusRuss and the Dread Pirate Syzer from Skies of Fortune are going to be guests on each others panels. Our podcast host thinks that maybe DPS got the easier assignment since he will just have to argue that the best movies are over 100 minutes in length at the "I Dig Crazy Flicks Presents: Ninety For Chill - The Panel" (2 pm, Saturday, September 13). Russ, on the other hand, needs to quickly become an expert in A24 movies for the Dread Pirate's "A24: HORROR GOES TO THE ARTHOUSE" (8 pm, Saturday, September 13). Thus, this episode of "I Dig Crazy Flicks" (only one feature fits the ideal runtime between 70 and 100 minutes) focuses on his four-movie, preparation binge.

After receiving a list of movies from the panel host, CatBus was relieved that he had covered many of these films on this podcast ("Saint Maud", "X", "Pearl", "MaXXXine", "We're All Going to the World's Fair"). He also saw "The Witch" when it arrived at RedBox and you know he has seen every Kevin Smith movie, so "Tusk" did not need to be re-queued.

The films that he picked for this binge all had something to entice him except for one. Ari Aster maybe the name best associated with elevated horror, but CatBusRuss was always suspicious of this. When it comes to elevated, Russ thought it meant the runtime in Aster's case. Therefore, he chose to watch "Midsommar", the one with the middle range of his features (148 minutes).

As for the three enticing flicks, the cast of "Death of a Unicorn" is stacked. CatBusRuss has yet to see a bad Alex Garland movie, so "Men" felt like a wise choice. (We may speak about "Ex Machina" at the panel.) Who does not like Hugh Grant's other forays into horror (like "The Lair of the White Worm")? "Heretic" (directed by the Iowan duo of Scott Beck & Bryan Woods) was his final movie choice.

CatBusRuss will come into the capital of Iowa with 11 movies from the studio seared into his brain. That is nearly one per year of A24's existence. Will that be enough to gain the rank of expert?

As for his two panels at GalaxyCon, he will be providing punch and pie to as many audience members as possible. His first panel will be "1985 TRIPLE THREAT MATCH: STALLONE V. SCHWARZENEGGER V. CANNON GROUP" (Friday, September 12, 7 pm). Will we actually declare a winner or will this be another draw like ATL Comic Convention?

CatBusRuss was able to participate in a lot of panels at ATL Comic Convention for movies that he loves, but one of those panels was for a feature not enough people have seen. He was honored to get to chat with the co-creator of the comic "Blood Orange", Tim Avers about Rian Johnson's 2005 debut feature, "Brick". Hopefully, the two were able to convince those who were early for the anime voice actor panel that followed them that they were missing out on a classic.

There was no audience to start, but since the two had a movie that they both adore, who needed them. Johnson sold this story as "A Detective Story", but if you were combing the aisles of Blockbuster in 2005, was Joseph Gordon-Levitt name enough to get you to rent this flick? CatBus really thinks that the ad campaign for this Sundance darling should have really pushed that this is film noir for high schoolers. Both panelist agree that this is a feature that soon-to-be freshmen should watch to better understand the drama of high school.

At ATL Comic Convention, CatBusRuss attempted to hold his own with "Star Wars" experts by being a panelist on "20 Years of Revenge of the Sith". He seemed to have held his own when discussing "The Last Jedi", but this third prequel of the Skywalker Saga may have held a more personal place in the hearts of his fellow panelists.

CatBus was joined by the hosts of the "Full of Sith" podcast, Bryan Young (writer for StarWars.com) and Holly Frey (an executive producer for the iHeartRadio podcast network), and Maggie Lovitt (deputy editor at Collider). After their resumes, Russ acknowledged that he may have only been on the panel for the hot takes. Since he is a pro-35mm film fan and his topical comparisons to current events in the 2nd Trump administration were shutdown, perhaps he served his role.

He felt like he was up against the cult of Lucas, but he could not help but admire the passion for the sixth best "Star Wars" feature (per Screen Drafts). Is the CatBus just another jaded, childless Gen Xer?

CatBusRuss may still be recovering from Fan Expo Chicago 2025. At 45 years-old, jumping into foam-sword combat for 45 minutes was too much since its been six years since his brief indoor soccer return, but not getting to contribute to the convention still pains him as well. Then again, you get to hear the nicest question John Cena has ever been asked in this episode, so he may have still won the weekend.

Our host could not have much to do on the final day at the convention. He had to handle all the hotel terms and baggage for the stays he and ThePoeticCritic had, so he was not going to make the early panels. Shopping was something he did not want to do for the majority of the day, but fortunately, there are holidays, nieces, and nephew to look forward to pleasing. Was too much money spent? Of course, but that is the price of being the cool uncle. He cannot wait to provide them with Geek Punk Store apparel to make sure they are the coolest kids in a small, conservative town with 37 churches.

Fortunately, rocking out to Galactic Empire the night prior and Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen being super cool made up for Russ not getting to take part as a panelist...mostly. It is still tough for him to shake the feeling that Fan Expo cares more about the commercialism than the fans' experience with each other.

If you are a like minded fan, CatBus provides you a break from his convention ranting with a review for "Red Lips", a 1995 lesbian-vampire movie that may have been a mockbuster to Abel Ferrara's "The Addiction". After that watch, our host is ready for the next Vinegar Syndrome sale.

Is it a good thing when a comic convention encourages one to sleep in? As long as the best content is available to a rested podcaster (at the price of $40), CatBusRuss shan't complain.

Our host did not watch "Suits", so he may not have been the best audience member for only knowing Rick Hoffman from "Hostel" and "The Condemned", so his primary goal was to capture the "Hooked on a Feeling with the Cast of Guardians of the Galaxy: Karen Gillan, Pom Klementieff, Sean Gunn, and Michale Rooker" panel. He was kind of let down that they kept the Rook confined to a chair, but how could you not have fun with such talent?

After a blah visit to the show floor, CatBus patiently waited an extra 35 minutes in the query queue for John Cena. He may have been the only one to ask the 17-time world champion an acting question. Thus, he will count that as a W.

And he needed a W as Bootleg Safari topped wicked "Simpsons" masks with the terror of Bruno Mattei's "Terminator 2". Fun was had. Knowledge of the Canadian tax shelter was gained. But reliving any element of that nightmare may have been too much for our host.

So, CatBus fondly remembers his experience watching "Cyber Vengeance", to get over the Italian trauma.

When CatBusRuss is at a comic convention where he is not serving as a panelist, the experience can be about remembering the sweet is never as sweet without the sour. (Anyone want to Zoom about "Vanilla Sky"?) This trip is virtually all inclusive (sans alcohol), so can there really be much to be sour about? Then came the journey of finding a Funko Pop! for an actor who was a last minute scratch from the Fan Expo Chicago line up (after he did the same at ATL Comic Convention).

Fortunately, the cosplay was great for the first day of a con (an anomaly), the visitors and exhibitors were friendly, the booze was easy to find, and CatBus got to end the night wailing on millennials and gen Z kids with foam swords and shields for 45 minutes. Aside from chasing Darkseid, it was a grand time.

There was no tattoo alley at this Fan Expo Chicago (a first), so maybe he will use the extra funds to get that Ewan McGregor autograph.

Hopefully the next day's panels will be as fun as "The Voices of Your Childhood: Bob West, Phillip Glasser, and Kate Micucci" and "Bursting into the Scene with the Cast of Aliens". They better be because its costing Russ's sponsors $40 to see one of them.

For those who cannot be sold on spending a grand for hotel and merch, our host has included a review for a giallo classic, "Torso". As these Fan Expo episodes drop, the films will only get weirder.