PopCult Rudy Panucci on Pop Culture

The PopCulteer
November 8, 2019

We find ourselves at the end of the week, and we have a few cool things to tell you about.

First, however, I need to explain what’s going on with the 2019 PopCult Gift Guide. Some technical issues on my end have slowed down progress on the Gift Guide, and we haven’t been quite as prolific as planned. Later today we expect to publish a couple of new posts, but over this weekend we’ll probably cut down to one gift guide post per day, before kicking into high gear next Monday.

So bear with us. We already have several great gift suggestions posted for you, and we’ll be bringing you dozens more before we wrap things up on Thanksgiving.

Now, if you want to do some early holiday shopping, then check out the first of three cool weekend events happening in the area that I’m telling you about today.

The 2019 Mountain State Pop Expo

This one almost snuck up on me. Every year Dave Humphreys and his crew organize a celebration of pop culture featuring cosplay, comics, toys, collectibles and panels! All proceeds from this event go directly to the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia.

This year, as in previous years, it’s happening at the Holiday Inn & Suites Charleston West, located at 400 2nd Avenue SW, South Charleston. Oldtimers like me will remember this as the former Ramada Inn by the Interstate , not too far from “D” Street.

This year The Pop Expo is spread over two days. There are now two tabletop gaming areas (and you can buy custom MSPX dice). There’s also a raffle, with tons of fantastic items you can walk away with, like a cover sketch by Glen Brogan, a gift basket from the Flatwoods Monster Musuem (seen below), hand-made jewelry, gift certificates for stays at cool places and much, much more. There will also be door prizes given away every hour, with gift certificates from several local restaurants.

MSPX Panel Room Schedule

Saturday Nov. 9

10am-11am “Cosplay on a Budget – Making Great Cosplay Without the Great Expense” w/ Christian Foster
11am-2pm Advancing Wall of Doom’s “Ballroom Hoedown!”: Class & Party
2pm-3pm Third Floor Comics *LIVE* “Fantastic Floor Nerdcast”
3:30pm-4:30pm Final Form Fusion *LIVE*
5pm-6pm MSPX 2019 Cosplay Competition
6pm-Close The No Pants Players *LIVE*

Sunday Nov. 10

10am-12pm Untitled Goose Game *Live* Twitch w/ Advancing Wall of Doom
12pm-1pm MSPX 2019 Cosplay Lip Sync Battle
1pm-2pm MSPX 2019 Kids Costume Contest!
2pm-3pm Ghostbusters – West Virginia Division
3pm-4pm “World Building & Character Creation” w/ Joshua E.B. Smith
4pm-5pm IWA East Coast “*LIVE* Wrestling Round Table Discussion”
5pm-6pm RAFFLE TIME!!!

MSPX is always a fun time, and you can find lots of great holiday gifts for the cooler people on your shopping list. All the proceeds go to a great cause, and it’s only ten bucks to get in. (fifteen for both days)

What more do you need to know?

IWA East Coast Presents “American Psychos”

Friday night at the Kings Way Outreach Center in Nitro, just a day before their panel at the Mountain State Pop Expo, IWA East Coast runs another great wrestling show.
UFC Hall of Famer “The American Psycho” Stephan Bonnar will be in action. “The Reaper” Matt Conard defends the IWA: East Coast title against Jason “The Gift” Kincaid. IWA:East Coast tag champs Smokey C and “The Dark Child” Chance Prophet defend their titles against The Gym Nasty Boys. Chance Rizer faces Kobain, all this and more!
Check out the graphic below. It’s going to be a hot show.

 

All Star Wrestling’s Welcome to Badstreet USA

Saturday evening, you can head down the road to Madison for another night of great independent wrestling.

The Law Office Of Steve New State Farm Agent Scotty Brown and New Haven Church presents WELCOME TO BADSTREET USA, Live at the Madison Civic Center Madison WV.FEATURING WWE Alumni stars Carlito, James Ellsworth and The Man they call Gilberg!

Can you imagine the awesomeness? How can one arena hold both Gillberg and Ellsworth?

Also SRO, The Ugly Ducks, Huffmanly, Vance Desmond, Jack Manic, Dustin Alexzander Casey King and many more! Check out the graphic for more details.

 

And with that, your PopCulteer wraps up this week’s column and prepares to bring you more entries in The 2019 PopCult Gift Guide, along with all our other regular features.