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Post by wrigglerosie on Sept 8, 2008 21:44:44 GMT
;D ;D ;D * THUD* ;D ;D ;D WOWiz speechless Now thatstthe kind of reaction I was hoping for! Aren't they super fab - and hes so loverly about doing anything you asked - within reason! (well on the last day I did suggest lying down...! ) made it easier than him thinking poses up. So going to have them enlarged! And it will be all change in the mad stalker room!! ;D ;D
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Post by nightnurse on Sept 9, 2008 1:11:22 GMT
Cracking photos Rosie ;D You can tell James feels comfortable with you , the different poses are amazing !
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Post by wrigglerosie on Sept 9, 2008 21:36:59 GMT
Just to let you know - I am writing up the party right now - but so far I have written 6 pages and Ive only just done James's gig - havnt even got to the talk on the tables yet!!! Theres so much detail to get in - at this rate I may be posting the party in two parts... so bear with me folks! (I decided to abandon SV to write it up - not like theres any James to be missing... ;D) Hope it will be worth the wait! ;D PS - have you managed to get into my photobucket yet PK?
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Post by wrigglerosie on Sept 10, 2008 11:28:24 GMT
so - here is the first part - and its taken me HOURS so far! Rosie goes to see James at DragonCon – The Party! (part 1) When we got to Max’s, there seemed to be a problem straight away – they didn’t seem to know what to do with us. So we went upstairs to the bar and where the room we thought we would be in was and waited. Gradually more and more people arrived (a lot of whom I recognised!) and then there was SteveH looking harassed. After a bit, we were all sent downstairs, out the back and onto the patio, which was covered with a high ceiling and some rather ineffective fans, but otherwise, we were outside – in Atlanta. In August. And it was HOT! SteveH was collecting our tickets and I asked if we could have them back later as I wanted to keep mine! (he said yes) As I was one of the last ones in – I had been waiting for Squirrel to get down the stairs – there was a general scrambling for seats – the tables were very crammed in and it was certainly going to be intimate! Stephen got Squirrel a seat on the end of one table and I spotted 2 seats right in the corner against the wall, so we climbed (and I do mean climbed!) into them – once we were in, it was going to be hard to get out again! SteveH got on the mic and apologised for the change of venue – it wasn’t what he had booked and he said he and the team would do their best to make it all run as smoothly as possible. He said he knew he should have expected this when he put the t shirt he was wearing on – it said “Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t” (and I’m sure he wore it on purpose…!) then he said – “Now I know some of you don’t want to eat in front of James and Gareth” so we would eat first and then they would be out. He also said that Froggy the photographer was coming along and would take pictures of each table with the boys and we would all get a copy as a memento. James then came out briefly just to say “Hi” to everyone and told us to enjoy the food and talk to the other people on our tables as it was about making friends as well and he was going to get a drink and they would be back in a bit (he was back in the black striped shirt again and showing a bit of chest - !) So we had food – Stephen and I had to mountaineer our way out of our corner to get to the buffet (nice garlic potatoes and spicy chicken and big choc chip cookies!) As we ate, we talked with the others on our table. We had 3 Gareth fans – 2 English, 1 French, 2 of whom were pretty quiet, then I had Katie next to me who I had seen around in the last couple of days; Janet and her friend Ritchie (who was there to accompany her as she is deaf, but he said he was rapidly becoming a serious James fan!) and another couple who were very quiet and didn’t really say anything. Before long – there was James and Gareth back out amongst us and Froggy was there to take the pictures of each table (and at this point had lost his voice almost completely so had to mainly do hand gestures!) We were the first table to be photographed, James and Gareth stood at the end, James with his arm round Gareth’s shoulders, and Froggy was trying to get us all in closer. So I climbed out of my chair and went and stood by Gareth and leaned on his shoulder. As Froggy was taking pictures, I realised that right by my face was James’s hand on Gareth’s shoulders. So I asked – “Is that your hand James?” and yes I did take hold of it – more like linking first 2 fingers really and I hung on till Froggy finished – got a little squeeze from James! Yeah – I know, it’s a bit sad, but I couldn’t resist! They moved on to the next table and I was able to grab my camera and start taking pictures. Before long, Gareth settled on the steps and James and SteveH were having a conflab by the mic – I think they were discussing if they could change the set up to make it easier for James, but it seemed like nothing could be done. Whatever they did, it was going to be difficult for James to sing – what with being outside on a street corner effectively, the noise of the waterfall behind him (kind of appropriate though now I think about it…!) traffic noise (and the odd siren) the patio being an odd sort of L shape and the fact that it was hot! I realised I was in a great seat for taking pictures – I was facing the right way (I always like to be seated with my back to the wall so I can people watch!!) and having no one behind me meant I could stand up (well – kneel on my chair – wasn’t really room to stand up….!) and not block anyone’s view. It would have been nice to be closer but it was a great place for pictures. James gots on the mic and his guitar was handed over to him and he introduces us to Pancho, his new guitar. He asked if anyone who was amongst the people who bought him Crystal the blue guitar was here and when it was negative he said he could tell us that she had her neck broken down in Mexico whilst he was filming Dragonball. He made a great comment about her being a good tour guitar because she was a bit cheap and easy (!) and he’d left her behind in a Mexican jail. He then proceeded to apologise (a lot!) for the fact that it wasn’t an ideal situation for performing and the fact that the guitar wasn’t amplified and was going to be difficult to hear. James started off singing “Katie” which was lovely – he did seem to be finding it a bit awkward since he was squeezed into a tiny space, practically on top of the tables and trying to sing into the mic without Pancho banging against it. Next up was “Smile” (always a favourite of mine even if he did mess the words up a bit – hey the guy is human!) and then “This Town” James had to keep consulting his set list which he’d put on the closest table probably cos he was having to change what he sang to fit in better with the unamplified guitar. After “This Town” he said he wished we could hear Pancho and then leaned down to the set list and got some vicious feedback on the speakers– so he laughed and said “that’s them trying to help me!” and consulted his set list again and said “ oh this is a good song – oh! – shit! – this is the new song!” At this point SteveH walked over to try and alter the mic amp and James said “You trying to fix it?” “I’m just trying to fix it” says SteveH walking away again. Grinning, James tells us “ When he tries to fix it – I’m in trouble.” Pause “When he cuts his hair really short I’m in trouble!” which made us laugh. James told us the new song is called either “On the Moon” or “Song for Buzz”, he hasn’t decided yet . he wrote it in Lithuania whilst filming Moonshot and then went on to tell the story about Buzz punching out a journalist half his age that was harassing him and then suing the guy and winning! So James is worried that when Buzz sees his portrayal of him, he’s going to come and deck him! Said the song wasn’t really about Buzz at all – it was more about the day he threw up in his Zero G helmet and had it all come back in his face!! He said he had a temperature of 102 F most of the time he was filming and thought he was dying! (Hey – James gets Man Flu too!) – So although I didn’t really listen to the lyrics properly (yes I know, I should have!) seemed to be more about missing his girlfriend and being lonely when he was . But I did like the song. I was getting some great pictures – trying out with and without the flash on my camera – that was one of the good things about being outside, easier to take pictures although it was starting to get darker now – luckily my camera works well even in a low light. James then says “I normally start my gigs with this song because I’m comfortable with it – its called Not A Millionaire….” And then he proceeded to sing the first line “I threw a pastry….” (First line of “Katie”) stopped and said crossly “Damn!” and we laughed (not in a bad way!) and James apologised and said that was the problem with writing your own songs – I’ve always thought those two sounded very similar! He gave up with Millionaire and went on to sing “Looking At You” - there was a bit of singing along with this one but nothing very loud as I think we were all listening hard. James kept giggling and laughing whilst he was singing this one – kept on catching people’s eyes and grinning and then laughing and we are all laughing along with him. At the end of the song he said to ( I think it was marstersgirl) who was sitting right in front of him “ You aint buying it baby!” then to the crowd “ she’s saying – why don’t that guitar have a mic?” and he wished we could all hear Pancho – several times he held him up for applause!! - I could hear the guitar fine most of the time from where I was sitting – James joked several times that he could be rubbish on the guitar and we wouldn’t know – he could be playing anything (not true!) Next up was “Don’t worry Son” which James said was “the hardest song I have ever played in my life, by the way. I wish I could be sitting down right now, but – hey! Screw it!” which got a cheer. He then started playing – then stopped again and said “You can’t even hear the guitar!” We are all shouting back “yes we can, its fine” and he laughed and said “Eric Clapton asked me to help on his new album. I said “Eric man – I’m too busy!” Which had us all giggling! He was having problems during this song again – kept having to hitch the guitar up mid-song as “Don’t Worry Son” is mostly played high up on the fret bar. He was still laughing through this one as well as he was catching people’s eyes. At the end he muttered – “My kingdom for a mic” with a laugh. Consulting the set list again (no feedback this time!) he said – “oh – this is a pretty song – I’ll play it very loud!” and then went on to say about how it was about making up with your partner – “ Thank God I’m a musician – I can make it up in a song” – it was London City. Then he sang “Button Down Vandals” (always good!) and then he said “ this is the dirtiest song I ever wrote” and proceeded to start singing “ Looking At You” – again! There was some quiet general murmuring as we realised he had already sung it, but no one yelled out. About halfway through the first verse, James realised what we were saying “James, you’ve sung that” and stopped playing. And then said “Fuck!” very loudly down the mic which had everyone cracking up laughing! So he went onto sing “Birth of the Blues” instead to finish on. We whooped and hollered him because he did such a great performance in such very difficult circumstances. I was just so glad to hear him sing! James asked if we wanted more singing from him or more time to talk – I think the opinion was split – but James and Gareth were going to sing together – they had been practicing. But James had busted a string on the guitar on the last song (though Jean said it was actually the tuning screw that had broken so he wouldn’t have been able to just change the string) and it was a vital one for rock and roll sound and so couldn’t play. ! James said “We were going to sing for you, but we’re going to try and make it up to you with charm” to which Gareth added “Well, James is going to make it up to you with charm – I’m going for a cigarette!” They asked if anyone had a guitar – someone said ‘yes’ – “on you?” asked Gareth. When the reply was negative - he sarkily said – “well that was pointless, wasn’t it! Jeez!” whilst we were all laughing and shouting out – “sing it anyway!” Then someone called out “If you boys want to come back with me, I can show you my guitar!” to which James turned to Gareth grinning and said clearly down the mic “well, we have something to do tonight!” They then had a discussion off mic, but I could kind of hear James saying “any of the other strings would have been fine, but not that one – I can’t do it, not for that rock and roll sound” and although we were all still shouting “sing it anyway|”, Gareth said that it was all filled in with guitar playing and it would sound awful, so they wouldn’t do it which was disappointing. “Better not to do something that sucks” said James Part 2 to come!
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Post by DeeDee on Sept 10, 2008 11:49:17 GMT
Yay thanks for the report Rosie I feel as though I was there ;D ;D And your wonderful photos I love them all ;D ;D
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Post by Ditto on Sept 10, 2008 18:42:51 GMT
Bloody shameless I call it. You are a card Rosie. Fantastic reports.
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Post by marilyn on Sept 10, 2008 19:43:52 GMT
Wonderful pics and your reports are even better. Can just picture it all! So glad you had a great time....and even endured some real southern heat, lol! (I keep telling myself it wasn't meant for me to go, cos I woulda booked it all only to have to give it all up anyway cos of shitty Gustav...had Gabe to watch and wouldn't have been able to get back to NO until Wednesday...if then....sigh...so that's what I keep telling myself.... ) (Care for a little cheese with that whine, M??)
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Post by djf617 on Sept 11, 2008 23:47:54 GMT
Eh?! What's that? Pixie Stix are a thin straw-like tube filled with colored, flavored powdery sugar. ;D Popular candy here. I used to like it as a kid, except the sugar clumps up when the straw gets wet. Blech. Rosie, it sounds like you had a great time. Your pics are AWESOME!!! I would have been so totally fangirl-y if I knew GDL was on the same flight as me. ;D
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Post by wrigglerosie on Sept 12, 2008 10:32:21 GMT
aww - thanks djf617! I have written up the second half of the party - it was so quiet at work yesterday i did it then. And then left it at work! Got it now, so will type it up later tonight. (once I have collected my hire car.... eek!) Then I have to do Sunday. And Monday... Nothing like dragging it out! ;D PS Got the prints of my Monday photo ops in the post yesterday - man - Froggy is such a good photographer!!
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Post by Ditto on Sept 12, 2008 13:51:28 GMT
James gorgeous in every pic of course, but that pic of Gareth gah! Gotta be the hottest pic of him I've ever seen. Hubba hubba.
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Post by PokerKitten on Sept 12, 2008 14:13:17 GMT
No, it hates me. And as soon as I've posted this commented I'm gonna have to reboot the comp because having just tried again it's treacle-ised everything Ewwww! Now you're just torturing me! Rosie, any chance of posting a few choice pics in the actual thread?
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Post by wrigglerosie on Sept 12, 2008 18:29:44 GMT
Rosie Goes to See James at Dragon Con – Party! (Part 2)
Now it was time for both the boys to come round to the tables. James went to the table by the mic first and we got Gareth first!! Have to say – he is a bit of a sweetie - quieter in this situation than on stage, but lovely. We had to keep asking questions to keep him talking – not like James who you just point in the right direction and let him run!. We mostly let the 3 Gareth fans do the talking, cos that seemed only fair. They asked him the name of the only decent pub in Newport (according to Gareth) and the night out with James. They gave him a couple of Blue Gillespie T shirts they had made which was sweet. Poor love was in a bit of pain as he said he had hurt his arse a few weeks before in the gym – had a bit of an accident with the weights, so Lisa got him a stool to sit on instead of a chair! I asked him about what work he had coming up and he said filming Torchwood until Christmas and then he hoped to be coming to the States in January. I got some shots of him sitting there – in his woolly beanie hat despite the heat. He said he found it in his pocket so he put it on – it was made for him by a fan.
Then it was all change time. We had a gap as the next table along had James – he was sitting facing me so I was able to take quite a few shots from where I was. He was just being so animated and enthusiastic…!
It didn’t seem very long before James was approaching our table. He sat at the end where Gareth had been so he was across diagonally from me (not that any of us further down the table could have moved if we had wanted to!) Janet had to fix the mic of her audio recorder onto James shirt – not that I was complaining because it pulled it just a bit more open and we got a lovely view of even more chest… (Not that I’m shallow or anything…!)
And then, James being James, he was off an running – saying he had been talking about Helium 3 on the other tables and then went off into full-on Geek James about the different countries that are fighting to go to the moon (I think..!) – He was very enthusiastic, using his hands a lot and using the odd expletive. We must have all looked a bit blank and shell shocked!! (though I adore geeky James) So then we talked about Moonshot – James retold the Buzz story and said he now really understood the amount of crap astronauts have to go through – and also added that he had changed his mind about the caveman vs. astronaut argument – the astronauts would win every time – especially if it was Buzz!!
He loved working with the rest of the cast and the director and felt they really did become a team – became a very close knit unit with the other two astronauts, they would watch each others backs and look after each other. He then told us a story about the monkey on the set ( I assume its to do with the monkeys they sent into space) James didn’t like the monkey cos it crapped everywhere on the set – but the monkey handler was about 65 years old and turned up each day with a scantily clad teenager. James said they (the actors and crew) weren’t a bit subtle - “who ordered the hooker?” because she was dressed that way. Then they discovered she was 16 years old and she was the guy’s wife…! James did a HUGE “bleah” shiver at that one!
And writing this, I’ve just remembered something else he said after that – in Lithuania, at first the men were really friendly with him and the woman were cold and stand offish. But once he started talking to them, they got really animated and friendly (uh - James – that might just be because it’s YOU!) and the men got colder. He then found that the men treated the women like shit, more like a possession and so they were expecting him to be like all the others, and then opened up when they found a guy who would talk to them as an equal and a human being.
One of the Gareth fans as talking about Buzz’s punch again and technique and James was disagreeing with her about the technique, and then there was a pause, so decided it was my turn to dive in So I said “ok – now Im going to trivialise things a bit but I have to ask – if you went to someone’s house and discovered the place was covered in pictures of you, would you be running away very fast?”
James laughed and said “No – not at all. I’d be cool with that. Hell, I used to have Leonard Nimoy all over my room!” to which I replied – “oh good, so I don’t need to take all the pictures down before you come round!” and he grinned.
Then Janet caught his attention (she was sitting on his left) but it was to do with the mic, so whilst she was fiddling with it, I asked “James, are you going to wear that shirt for the photo ops tomorrow?” and he replied “ Do you want me to?” to which me, Stephen and, I think, Katie said “YES”!!
Then he explained that as he wanted to do nice clear autographs for everyone, he was always shaking the pens and tended to get ink everywhere, which is why we always saw him in the old shirts for autographs. He said it was the nicest shirt he owned and he didn’t want to get ink on it. I think I might have said “oh please?” or something at this point. I told him he was looking really good and he replied that he had just had 4 weeks off so was feeling so much better after the continuous year and a half with no days off “ and I mean no weekends, no Saturdays” to emphasise his point. And then added – “You should have seen me 4 weeks ago – I looked like shit!”
All the time he is talking to me, James is looking me straight in the eyes across the table and I was really aware of his beautiful cheekbones – the shadows were just catching him right. I had to give myself a little mental shake – “this is James across the table. It really is James who you are looking across at and having a conversation with!” which is probably why I don’t remember some of what was said – there was too much to take in at once.!! Gorgeous sight, gorgeous sound!
James was talking to Janet again then – he had to turn towards her so he could lip read, and I couldn’t hear the question, but I think she must have asked him about toys/action figures from Dragonball – because James’s answer was “a Piccolo dildo”!! I think we all did a double take, thinking we hadn’t heard it right – and then James had to repeat it again slowly for Janet “a Piccolo dildo” – so we weren’t hearing things – (but I wish I had heard the question.!) Addressing the whole table James said the toy he would really like to se was a life sized head of Piccolo which if you tried to put anything in his mouth would say “Bite me!” – go figure!
Then I got in again and said – “most of us discovered you because of Spike. Until I met you for the first time, you were James Marsters, Spike from Buffy, but as soon as I met you, immediately you became 2 completely separate entities. There’s James” and I indicated one side “and there’s Spike” indicating the other. James was grinning and said that Spike was not like him at all – he had an IQ that was about 50 points lower than James. “Not stupid - he wasn’t stupid, but I had to do a lot of thinking (made appropriate ‘thinking’ face!) on set”. And I do remember something about Spike being very petulant and sulky – and me adding with the maturity of a 12 year old! James then said he had had 5 perfect roles in his acting life so far – 4 of them in theatre and probably seen by a total of 10,000 people altogether – and Spike. I told him that now I often forgot it was him playing Spike as I think of them as so different now – “ I have to remind myself “ that’s James” on screen” – which he appreciated because I don’t think of him and Spike as one and the same . I think I got a definitive head bob (you know the one he does!) with a “yeah” in answer as well, which makes it definite!
I asked him what work he had coming up and he said Dragonball and Moonshot, but I clarified “ anything new?” and he replied nothing at the moment – there’s nothing in the pipeline.
It was about now that Helen came over to try and extract him to go to the next table, but we were still keeping him talking. As he got up, Katie asked him about a new album and he replied with a grin – it cost me forty thousand dollars for the last one, so it needs to make more money!” and the laughed and was gone to the next table.
I quickly yanked out my notebook and saying to Stephen “quick – what did he say?” and he was prompting me as I wrote notes (the ones I’m using now!) I was able to take a lot of pictures whilst he was at our table – but not whilst he was talking to me (as that would have been rude!) Got up to talk to Patti a the next table as they had had James there already and then was talking with her and SteveH – who then showed us that he can do the trick with the cherry stem – tying it in a knot with his tongue!! SteveH has hidden talents!! I had a photo with him taken by Patti and then we were talking about all the stuff that has been going on, on the internet and SteveH said he just couldn’t win – all he could do was laugh. I said to him what Patti and I had been talking about earlier – if James drank at the party, then he had a problem and if he didn’t drink, then he was on the wagon and so had a problem. We were pleased James was drinking (one glass of red wine that lasted him all evening) as he is a grown man and can make his own decisions!
After that (having made some more notes of things as I remembered them) I was talking to Lisa in the middle of the room – she was keeping an eye on the table that James was now at (the last one at this point) – she said “ as long as no one jumps him on this last table, we’re home free” and then added “ yes, I know he’s a big boy and he can take care of himself, but it’s on my watch!” We talked a bit about the groping and inappropriate touching and Lisa said mostly it was people not realising what they had done and being mortified straight after – something seems to come over people in that situation. They hadn’t really had any problems this time as the photo room was big and light and open (not a closed in little space like at Milton Keynes) and Froggy was quick – but firm and polite. Seems to help stop people when it’s a much more open and exposed environment (do people think that if others can’t see it happening, they can get away with it? Um - I think James is going to know!!)
I wanted to get my ticket back – Lisa understood about that, wanting it for the scrap book as a memento – so I asked SteveH and he gave me mine back and yelled out if anyone else wanted theirs back to keep – a lot of people did!
Stephen had slipped SteveH a note saying could we sing Happy Birthday to James at the end, so when both boys had come to the mic, SteveH told him that Gareth was going to lead everyone in singing “Mr Marsters” Happy Birthday. He made James come to the middle of the room, which he did with good grace even though he was protesting – and decided to go the whole hog by standing on a chair whilst we all sang. – When we got to his name, Gareth sang “James Marsters, Spike from Buffy” (it’s become James clarifying title now – JamesMarstersSpikefromBuffy, all one word!) This is the only time I have seen James look a bit embarrassed – he was laughing as he called across “I am so going to kick your ass” but I’m not sure if he was addressing SteveH or Gareth!
And then it was nearly over – James laughing and exchanging a few comments with people and then he was going – I called out “ goodnight James” as he went – there is no way I could have got out of my seat to get any closer, so just took hasty pictures.
It was great – I loved it. Every minute of it. Loved to hear James sing, fantastic to have him to talk to and not feel rushed to just gabble a question or two. This was my first (and hopefully not last) intimate event with James and I loved it – it was worth every damn cent. I felt so happy afterwards, going back in the taxi – we weren’t really talking, just remembering bits from the evening.
Up to now the weekend had been so great – and it just kept on going! Outside Stephen and Squirrels hotel, I met Merce, a Spanish James fan whom I last saw at MK – I didn’t know she was going to be here so that was a nice surprise. We had a bit of a chat – she was really at D*C for writers workshops - and hoped we could find each other again the next day. Once back at the hotel, I had a quick flip through my pictures and pulled a few off the camera to post so people could see what it was like. I was wide awake and still bouncing and squeeing all over the place – because still had another panel to go in the morning, and more photo ops and autographs the next day – AND a bit more on Monday too! A wonderful, long weekend in the company of so many lovely people and most importantly, the most wonderful, gorgeous man on earth!! (That’s James in case you were wondering……!)
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Post by wrigglerosie on Sept 12, 2008 19:00:43 GMT
[ Now you're just torturing me! Rosie, any chance of posting a few choice pics in the actual thread? If i knew which pic Ditto meant... but for you PK - I'll dig a few out..
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Post by Rainbow on Sept 12, 2008 21:08:03 GMT
All lovvverrly pics of Gareth! Hope you're getting on OK with the hire car Rosie
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Post by wrigglerosie on Sept 12, 2008 22:09:44 GMT
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Post by PokerKitten on Sept 12, 2008 23:10:10 GMT
Cheers Rosie I really like the beanie one, but he does look, um, good in yours *why did I pack the fan away?!* Looks like some serious knee bending was going on...
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Post by wrigglerosie on Sept 13, 2008 0:30:35 GMT
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Post by wrigglerosie on Sept 13, 2008 0:34:16 GMT
Couple more for you PK - hope its not taking up too much room!!
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Post by Pluto7077 on Sept 13, 2008 9:17:28 GMT
Thanks Rosie, an eyeful of Gareth is a lovely start to the day
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Post by wrigglerosie on Sept 16, 2008 7:56:59 GMT
Rosie Goes to See James at DragonCon – Sunday
I was awake early again but not so bad this time – still having a ball so I sat in bed and looked through my photos on my camera and squeed a bit (ok – a lot!) fell asleep again for a while so had to rush breakfast to get over to the Marriott again – same room as the day before – for the Smallville panel queue. I was fairly near the front again, but al the usual suspects (Patti, Becky, Stephen etc) were already there. Different people to talk to this time – we all sat on the floor and talked to Smallville fans and Michael Rosenbaum fans so no hardship in queuing again. They didn’t let us in until much later this time and nobody dared go to the loo after the trouble the day before! It was every woman for herself again - I aimed for the far side of the hall and got in the second row – 3 in from the aisle. James was going to be seated on the other side unfortunately and this time those wretched water jugs were getting in the way of my view of James. I should have asked to have them moved like Becky did the day before - or they could have something less intrusive – I lost a few shots because of those cursed water jugs – grrr!
Again – this panel ahs been reported in detail elsewhere, so I’ll just put in bits I remember. It was great fun! James and Michael together are hilarious. Michael was feeling a tad delicate I think – he looked a bit rough but in an endearing way. James looked gorgeous (of course) and was in the black shirt again – yay! It all started off fairly sensibly but then went off all over the place – James peered down the microphone on the table and said “ I feel like a astronaut at a press conference” and then crossed his hands and did the serious frown look (like that promo shot from Moonshot!) I loved their re-enactment of the arrival of the T-rex in Jurassic Park using the water glasses and banging on the table a lot! James was doing his science bit about the formation of the ripples (Geek Boy!) and Michael decided they could have saved Spielberg millions of dollars! James “Do you want to hear my great idea?” – Super Geek Boy James with his idea about energy renewal – which did make a lot of sense – man, I love it when James gets all enthusiastic and geeky about something and is talking fast with lots of hand gestures – he is (as Jean put it ) adorkable!
They talked about roles and an actors input and James talked about how he had learnt his lesson on PS I Love You – boring boring character! - “Good film, but who was that boring guy?” James thought the character could have been so much more. From that he learnt not to just be a good boy on set, not making waves – was going to speak up if he didn’t like it. Said there were three types of movie – written, directed and edited. Can make such a huge difference – everyone has their own interpretation. James went to Dragon ball determined to have input and speak up – said he would rather have been fired from Dragonball than make a movie not true to what he thought it should be.
I did take a lot of pictures again – but as I said – the jug was a bit of a pain – but James was laughing so much throughout that he was sitting back and away from it which gave me some good chances.
Lunch next – (cheeseburger on the steps of the Marriott again – hmm - déjà vu?) and then I went shopping in the dealers rooms. Spent a good long time just looking at all the amazing stuff that was for sale – costumes and clothes etc – didn’t buy much – but did get a whole load of those fictional ID cards – including 3 different ones for Capt. John and a Milton Fine one!
Back to the hotel to drop stuff off and collect my bits for signing later, and then it was off to join the photo ops queue again. It was going to be fun as we were doing the group shots today as well as the James/Gareth sandwich! There was much hilarious planning as people had to do their individual shots and then dash out and straight round again to do groups and then again for James and Gareth. No sign of our tables picture from the party though 4 other tables pictures were there – I kept going back and checking.
As the queue rounded the corner in the photo room and we could see James, I thought “he’s still wearing the lovely black striped shirt – yay!” and he looked so good in it over his jeans. When it got to my turn, I walked towards him grinning and said “You’re wearing the shirt!” and he laughed and said “I suddenly remembered I’d promised to, so I had to quickly change” – so he remembered that I had asked! (Incidentally, when I got home, I had an email from “Dearly Beloved” thanking me personally for getting James in a decent shirt for the photos - she and her friends were delighted…!)
First shot we did was back to back - James asked me if I wanted to do “guns” too and I said yes. James looks SO cool and suave and James Bond-y in this picture and I look a bit like his mentally challenged sidekick – but it’s a great pic! Then I asked if he would do the thing with his tongue (the roll behind the teeth with a smirk) and James was saying “What? This?” and rolling the sides of his tongue up. Yes – I got to study his tongue at close range…! We finally got it right in the end but we need to be smirking more really or leering!
Then I couldn’t remember what else I was going to ask for, so after a few seconds of me dithering madly – I said “oh, just give me a cuddle” – and boy did he! I was all cuddled in close, both of his arms holding me in against him and part of my face is hidden behind James – aww, - was lovely. And the last one we did a profile shot again – so I got to stare into those beautiful blue eyes again. James was holding both my hands though you can’t see it in the picture and he is smiling but got that intense look on his face again – gorgeous! As I shook hands, I said “I’ll see you again in a minute “ and went out to join straight back on the queue with all the members of JMConApps (Stephen, Linda, Magie and me) and JMF ( Stephen, Linda, Patti, Cynthia, Myrlyn and me) for our group shots. JMConApps was up first – I got to be on James right with his arm round me and my arm round him. Then as there was a few changes for the second group, I managed to stay in the same place for that picture too – and that was lovely as it took a while for Froggy to get us all arranged so I got to stand there and hold onto James for a bit….!
Then it was out the door and back round again for the James Gareth picture. This was great fun as James seemed to be encouraging Gareth to play along. The first few pictures were straight forward in-the-middle-arms-round type. Them Myrlyn wanted to be sandwiched in between them (and she was) and the next girl had them all doing a sign with their hands – at this point Gareth called out to the queue – “ get your imaginations going!” and you could tell he was enjoying himself. Patti stood in the middle with the two boys back to back on either side for her picture. And then it was me! I said “ I want to be the filing in the sandwich” and so was facing James with Gareth up behind me – now Gareth must have done some serious knee bending to get into that pose as his head is level with mine and he’s miles taller than me. He was extremely up close too! (hel-lo!) James and I have our heads together and I’m hugging him with both arms and Gareth is looking smouldering behind me! Wow – looks good as all 3 of us were in black shirts.
As we separated and I shook Gareth’s hand and then James and said something about being the filling in that sandwich and James laughed and said “ We’re just two pieces of toast really aren’t we?” which cracked me up – oh YEAH baby (oo – two hot pieces of buttered toast.. the possibilities are endless!!)
I told Steve H as I was leaving that the party photo of our table wasn’t there yet – but in fact when I went out, it was – and yes, there I was, leaning on Gareth and holding James’s hand – shameless hussy that I am! I was glad to get it as I wanted both the boys to sign it.
I was having so much fun, but there was a little bit of a downer at this point, when I was shown a email that had been sent to one of the boards (from someone who wasn’t even at DragonCon) taking a chunk of the report I had posted the night before about the party and James messing up a couple of songs. The whole report was exactly like these reports – very enthusiastic and upbeat and me loving every minute – but it had been taken as a bad thing and it was being said that James wasn’t prepared or very professional etc etc. I was steaming mad! Turning my words round and making them the opposite to what I meant. I knew I couldn’t leave it so I had to do some damage limitation (and so later I did just that. There was lots of links to my brief reports and the few pictures I had posted on various different boards as it seemed I was one of the few people who had a laptop with them. So I went on one of the boards I was more of a lurker on and wrote a very general upbeat and positive post about the party and what a great job James had done in difficult circumstances, how impressed I was that he performed so well. I wasn’t going to sink to the level of accusations and name calling, just tell how it was here for me – totally brilliant!)
(I am just listening to James singing as I am writing this and I can clarify that the first lines of Katie and Millionaire are almost identical!)
I had met up with Merce again in the photo queues so we were hanging around together and she came in the autograph queue with me and kindly videoed me talking to James so I had my hands free to hold all the various bits – I had my party ticket and the party picture for James to sign..
We shook hands and I said “hi James” and he signed the party ticket first (well, it has my name on it too!) and I must have said something about that because he was laughing with me. As he was signing the party photo, he said “I had a really good time last night” and then added “I really wish I could have done that song with Gareth – we practised!” and I agreed I would have loved to have heard it. Then I said “I loved the new song” and James‘s face went more serious and almost slightly disbelieving and he said “You loved it? Well, thank you!” as we shook hands again – and I added “and I’ll probably like it more when I can hear it better!” and James laughed - he was still holding onto my hand at this point! - and gave me a thumbs up with the other hand as he said “ yeah, when you can hear it!” and we are both laughing. Then I showed him my “For What I Need” necklace and told him it was my favourite song and he leaned forward to read it and said “that’s very nice… that awesome!” and we shook hands again. I said “I’ll see you tomorrow” and James is smiling that devastating smile at me and then I had a very lovely private moment with James which sent me off into mad internal squeeing! (Pause whilst Rosie goes off into some mad fan girl squeeing and shrieking and is totally insensible for a few minutes…..)
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I wanted Gareth to sign the party picture too and as he was sitting at the next table to James and there wasn’t much queue for him, so I went straight there. James had signed on the left of the picture although he was standing on the right, so I said to Gareth “James signed on the wrong side, not the side he’s standing” and Gareth glanced across at James and said in a raised voice “that’s because he’s a TWAT!” which cracked up both me and Lisa who was sitting with Gareth – and I got three ‘x’s’ with G’s signature!
(And would you believe it – even the sign with Gareth’s name over his signing table said “ David Gareth Lloyd” – but I noticed that they had drawn a arrow between the names and an ‘OOPS’ added – wish I had taken a picture…!)
There was still no sign of the photos being back yet – they were having problems s one of the printers had given up the ghost and so it was taking ages for them to get through all the photos. I did get my James/Gareth sandwich picture though which I was pleased about as I wanted both boys to sign it)
Merce and I then just hung out and did some serious catching up until she went off to her next workshop – then I checked for the photos again but it looked like they would be printing all night so they probably wouldn’t be there until the morning. So there was more talking with people and hanging out and then I decided I wanted to have some proper food so went to the Italian restaurant that the |Torchwood fans recommended – only a couple of blocks up – and that was about as much as I saw of Atlanta! Had very nice pasta for dinner and was back at the hotel for a sensible time. I was still a bit squee-y as there was just a little bit more time with James tomorrow, but then I was going to be going home…..:-(
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