Miike's "Dead or Alive" & John Carpenter's Fan Expo 2026

<p>It has been a rough month for <a href="https://letterboxd.com/catbusruss" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><strong>CatBusRuss</strong></a>. His new warehouse job is expecting 11-hour days starting at 6 pm, and with every other weekend being mandatory Saturdays, he considers himself lucky to have the strength to check out the last day of <a href="https://fanexpohq.com/fanexpochicago/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><strong>Fan Expo Chicago</strong></a>. Then the convention organizers kicked him between the legs.</p><p>Was it a worthwhile trip? Yes. Our podcast host got to hang out with <a href="https://letterboxd.com/thepoeticcritic" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><strong>ThePoeticCritic</strong></a>, gave out of all his &quot;<a href="https://idigcrazyflicks.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><strong>I Dig Crazy Flicks</strong></a>&quot; promotional buttons and pins, and got to ask <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000118/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">&quot;<strong>The Horror Master</strong>&quot; <strong>John Carpenter</strong></a> a question at the &quot;<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077651/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><strong>Halloween</strong></a>&quot; panel. Unfortunately, if you did not give Fan Expo all your money up front, they could care less about how your experience was. They basically decided that one-day visitors are losers.</p><p><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/catbusruss.bsky.social" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Russ</a> had been to three conventions last year hoping to get an autograph from <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0202966/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><strong>Keith David</strong></a>, and the legend had to cancel all three appearances. Life happens, the podcaster understands that. Unfortunately to Fan Expo, life only happens to celebrities. If you cannot make it to all three days of their attempts to take all your money, you do not matter. The fault for not getting his signature this time solely rests on Russ.</p><p>Sorry you were not in a position to buy a fan experience in advance. It is your fault for not calling in sick to work. And you call yourself a &quot;fan&quot;. A fan will bend over backwards to accommodate <a href="https://store.epic.leapevent.tech/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><strong>Epic Conventions</strong>&#39;</a> income like Russ did at the <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/32uegc