GalaxyCon Columbus 2025 Photos, Part 2 of 4: Celebrities!

Us doing jazz hands with Ben Schwartz, who's very into it.

Hey, kids! It’s Ben Schwartz, the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

Anne and I enjoy attending entertainment and comic conventions together, whether in our hometown of Indianapolis or in adjacent states (or sometimes beyond). She’s been doing them since the early ’90s, and invited me to tag along as our relationship evolved from classmates to coworkers to neighbors to BFFs to married geeks twenty years and counting. We’re the Goldens. It’s who we are and what we do.

This weekend we attended the fourth annual Galaxycon Columbus in Ohio’s very own Greater Columbus Convention Center. The show returned with another lengthy guest list for fans of all media across the pop culture spectrum…

…though our own to-do list was actually pretty short. After a couple of unfortunate guest cancellations and some hard thinking about whether or not we really want to meet every single actor we’ve ever seen in anything ever, we whittled our checklist down to just three of ’em, two of whom we’d already met before. Quite a few of our photos ended up falling into the “celebrity” category anyway, including pics from a pair of crowded Q&As at the Main Stage.

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GalaxyCon Columbus 2024 Photos, Part 2 of 2: “Weird Al” Yankovic and Everything Else!

Us doing jazz hands with Weird Al, all of us wearing festive tropical-style shirts. Anne is also wearing a Santa hat.

The man! The myth! The master of musical mirth!

Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:

This weekend my wife Anne and I attended the third annual GalaxyCon Columbus in Ohio’s very own Greater Columbus Convention Center. The show returned with another lengthy guest list for fans of all media across the pop culture spectrum…though the two of us didn’t actually do a lot this time for a variety of reasons, and this year’s edition had a few logistical issues. Nevertheless, the show went on…

And what a show it was! We accomplished all our primary objectives, which was a shorter list than usual due to self-imposed budgetary restrictions. Frankly, we’ve had a long year of fiercely competitive, increasingly more expensive comic-cons and some non-geek expenditures we need to handle at fun’s expense. Also, unlike the last two GalaxyCons, there just weren’t a lot of actors on the list we wanted to meet that badly. We’d met several of them before, including the arguably biggest name, former teen star Hayden Christensen, who was at Indiana Comic Con last March. We had a couple of maybes on the list, but ultimately we had to be choosy.

I may also have been more nervous than usual because of an old comic-con war wound.

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An Old Guy’s Very First “Weird Al” Yankovic Concert

Weird Al Yankovic!

Dateline: 5/28/2015 — Just got back from tonight’s “Weird Al” Yankovic concert at Indianapolis’ Old National Centre (formerly the Murat Shrine until new corporate overlords focus-grouped the history right out of its name). At my age, and with many Weird Al albums lining my shelves, you’d think this would’ve been my fifth or sixth time, or that perhaps I spend summers following him and studying his arcane accordion methods. Alas, such is not the case. Despite my inexcusable shame and four decades of poor timing, now I can say I’ve seen him live, and that’s another bucket list item crossed off with gusto.

The royal granddaddy of YouTube musical parodists was here in town touring for his most recent album, Mandatory Fun, much of which longtime MCC readers may remember hearing last year. My wife, a generous and loving woman to whom I owe and offer never-ending gratitude, bought me a ticket as an early birthday gift. She knows it’s rare that my favorite musicians come to Indy, and even rarer that I take advantage of such opportunities. Due to logistical issues I regretfully ended up attending solo, but the magic of modern technology allowed me to show her a couple of wobbly photos from the scene and send occasional confirmation that I was still in one piece and hadn’t been mugged or drugged or stomped flat in a mosh pit or tempted to desert her and become a full-time Weird Al roadie. I’m sure he has a years-long waiting list for that anyway.

Right this way for a few more pics and the complete set list!

“Weird Al” Yankovic’s 8 New Videos in 8 Days: the Full Rundown

Weird Al with Foil!

He’s back! And this time, he’s still weird. Duh.

For those just joining us: last week saw the daily release of eight new videos from the great “Weird Al” Yankovic, whose three-decade music-parody career is cherished by my generation and responsible for inspiring roughly 104% of all internet musical humorists. These and a few other tracks are now available on his latest album, Mandatory Fun, which is on my want-list for immediate purchase as soon as I dig up some spending money.

Right this way for Weird Al’s Top 8 videos of 2014!