Merry Quizmas! The Quarterly Pub Quz at the MAC

Manic is one word to describe the first 'Quarterly Quiz' at the MAC. Fun is another. As you walk in you are greeted by the sight of a roaring fire being projected on to a screen that occupies most of the reception desk - an electric guitar, pedals and amp are there too. Also there are fairy lights, a small table, a chair, a pint of Guinness and local comedian Paul Currie. It's at this point you feel under dressed. Starting at the floor he is wearing a pair of perfect white cuban heels and a Ron Burgundy style suit (only in blue). He has teamed all this with shoulder length hair and a wonderful beard. Standing at least 6 feet tall, he is, quite literally, a feast for the eyes.

The Quarterly Quiz happens every 3 months (hence quarterly) and is £5 for a team of 5. It started about 8:30pm on Sunday night, finishing about 3 hours later (for a full nights entertainment it was certainly value for money). As the Quiz started, Paul revealed that he had a different prop for each round.  He had a snow hat and goggles for the Geography round (as he made wind noises into the mic and quoted Captain Scott) and a visor and sunglasses for the film round - oh and a rubber hand on a ten foot pole for the "draw a horse" round. Yes thats right, there was a draw a horse round and the results were quite surprising, in a good way. Our team won this round with help from our friends over at The Skeleton Blog, as the rubber hand of fate picked our flying horse to be the best.

Guitar Intros

The other rounds consisted of film, Geography, culture, general knowledge, picture rounds, guitar intros and sport.  The picture round, rather ingeniously, consisted of pictures of various bar staff behind their respective bars and you had to guess what bar it was. Extra points if you knew the bar person's name.  The usual "guess the intro" round was replaced by the intros being played on an electric guitar.  It's always great to bring a bit of live music in when possible and this was a fun round.

Currie also conducted the sports round in a "spide" accent the whole way through, like. Because who loves sport more than spide.

Wall of Horse

We didn't win the overall quiz, but the awarding of the prizes was no less frenzied than the previous 3 hours. The first place winners were disqualified from winning prizes because they had sneaked more than 5 onto their team.  The second place winners were also exempt from winning prizes because they were made up of MAC staff. So the 3rd place winners won the 1st place prize and 4th place won the second place prize. Stop me if any of this is making sense...

The prizes consisted of jotters, Lowry prints and colouring in books, tickets to shows at the MAC and vouchers for meals at the MAC restaurant.

The winning Horse

All in all it was a brilliant evening. I was designated driver so ne'er a drop passed my lips all evening and even stone cold sober it was a brilliant time.  We'll be back in 3 months, you should probably get a team together and do the same.

NERD FEST

On the 19th February I was knee deep in nerds, and not for the first time. 

 Pastie Bap attended the ImagineNation & Heroes & Legends Con at W5 in Belfast on the final day of its three day exhibition in the Odyssey Arena. The event was held by The Emerald Garrison and ran from the 17th to the 19th February and was a veritable feast of movie, comic and tv show magic. Their official website states:

"As part of ImagineNation we celebrate the incredible creativity of movie fans when Emerald Garrison return to W5 with Heroes and Legends Con and a host of new costumed characters, sets and props. If you have been to any of our Invasion Belfast events you will know this is an event you will not want to miss! This is an event created by fans for fans and will cover all aspects of Sci Fi Film and Fantasy. Taking over our temporary exhibition space will be displays featuring costumed characters and recreations from many iconic movies. These will include a "Back to the Future" Delorean, a Tardis, an incredible 24ft tall Optimus Prime and much, much more!"



Pastie Bap's own Chris Caldwell enjoys The Throne

 Game of Thrones

The exhibition consisted of five levels of nerd-dom with traders stands on the ground floor selling an array of figures, costumes, graphic novels, lightsabers, broomsticks (Harry Potter-esque ones, not just for doing the sweeping) and clothing. Forbidden Planet even had their own stall which was positively laden with the shops' products.

The second level featured the Go Demo Area which housed the real reason why Pastie Bap was there - the Game of Thrones Throne. This was a full scale replica of the Throne seen in hit HBO series Game of Thrones. 



The Emerald Garrison

This level also contained a series of special guests in the Atrium featuring comic book artists, actors and costume designers. These guests were available to chat to and to sign/sketch your comic/arm/leg/eyeball, anything you want.

On the fourth level of W5 was the Exhibition Space which featured The Emerald Garrison's Heroes and Legends exhibition. This contained a series of impressive props and sets built by Emerald Garrison members. Sets included Lord of the Rings, Aliens, Star Trek, The Muppets, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Batman, Spiderman and Ghostbusters; while props featured massive 24ft  Optimus Prime, Tardis, Daleks, a Delorian and a full size US WWII Jeep.


Sets and Props

An interactive sorting hat experience!

The quality of these sets and props were excellent andeveryone could enjoy the sights to behold, both young and old. Some of the sets were manned by people dressed up who were on hand for photos, alongside members of the public who just dressed up for their own amusement. It's quite surreal walking around W5 alongside Doctor Who and Rorschach from Watchmen, and then watching Robocop pose for a photo with Gonzo from the muppets.

Throughout the day, a series of events were being held in the lecture theatre on Level 5, and on the Sunday there was a Q&A with Patricia Tallman and Claudia Christian, then a Q&A and drawing live with PJ Holden.

Baby Boba

Cosplay

The final event of the day was the Cosplay competition, where members of the public were invited to dress up as their favourite characters and be judged by a panel of judges. I was a bit sceptical as we sat down in the lecture theatre alongside about a  few dozen men, women and children in costume; but was delighted to see an array of well made costumes (and a few 'thrown together') and everyone seemed to be having a good time. A young Boba Fett won the under 10's section, with two Anikin Skywalker's a close second (both if which received an audible 'aww' from the audience of course), while Predator won the adults section. All in all the day was excellent and was a good dose of good clean fun, a perfect way to end the weekend and cure that hangover!