Thursday, January 31, 2008

Quickie

Just a quickie since I appear to have caught a head cold (I blame the dastardly Jonathan Woodward) and am currently sitting here with my nostrils plugged with tissue....attractive, and yet also slightly comical (no picture sorry, you'll have to use your imagination)

Torchwood Episode 3....Awww how sweet for Tosh and Wowzer at about 34 mins and 34 seconds....somebody throw a bucket of water on 'em (second thought make that chocolate sauce and whipped cream..... *whistles innocently*)....and by the way was this episode made at the end of the filming schedule....big end of the world scary time rift thingy = very, very bright light in face of actor...c'mon beeb, who you trying to kid!

For those who missed it earlier (and dad look away)

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Wolf Pegasus Three, Part 1

So, now that I am all caught up with my beauty sleep I thought I might share with whoever cares just how my weekend went.....for that matter how did your weekend go...get all those odd jobs done which have been nagging since forever? visit family/in-laws/friends? did sod all and watched Dancing on Ice?....all the while I was meeting and laughing with some of the nicest and entertaining people I have ever met.



Yes people it was convention time again...has it really been a whole year?...and with the ever dependable, yet slightly befuddled, father in tow it was off to London for Wolf Pegasus Three.

This year we both had tickets under the 300 mark so I shall start with the meet and greet which was on the Friday night.....you sit at a table with around 8 or 9 other people and guests are shuffled round the room spending, in theory, 5 minutes with each table. This is when I learnt that it pays to be a bit more outspoken than I usually am, else you'd never get a word in edgewise.

I guess this would be a good time to mention who the guests actually were: Andee Frizzell, an amazingly tall woman who plays the Wraith Queen (s) on SGA and had stepped in at the last moment when Kate Hewlett had to cancel, Dean Marshall (Sgt Bates), Torri Higgison (Weir), Kavan Smith (Major Lorne), Paul Mcgillion, (Carson Beckett) and bonus guest Jonathan Woodward (mostly known for being in Buffy, Angel and Firefly).

I soon realised, during the time which our table spent waiting in between guests, that to have any quality time to talk you need to bring lots of 'party' stuff and 'hog' said guests so that the time spent with other tables is dramatically reduced.....A snippet of conversations I managed to have:

Dean Marshall will be returning as Bates and has woken up from his coma and is now NID, Andee Frizzell loves British comedy especially Little Britain and plans on looking up The Mighty Boosh, Paul Mcgillion hinted that Carson may pop up in season 5 and thanked the men at the table for showing up (95% of people at the con are female), Kavan Smith finds travelling in Europe with a five month old baby more sucky than he thought he would, Torri Higginson had fun making an episode of NCIS and Jonathan Woodward...well Jonathan was a little worse for wear (he had already spilled a full pint of beer over himself and his chaperon as he attempted to drink it from a crutch)....he asked everybody's name round the table and upon hearing my name was Emma stood up, walked all the way round and gave me a hug with a double cheek kiss (leaving me somewhat flustered)....not quite sure why he decided I was so special, but I'll take what I can get.

The whole process went on for around two hours (ish) and then the room emptied to make it ready for the first party of the weekend. Dad and I vacated to the bar where we ran straight into two lovely ladies who I'd met and chatted with much of last year (they helped me out with rules and regs being a con-virgin last year). I hadn't seen them before I'd left last year and hadn't exchanged details...but there they were.....seated with a Bacardi Breezer in hand, much like they had been when I'd last seen them when I come to think of it...Nicky and Ann (absolute legends and a couple of devils when in possession of a pack of balloons in a crowded room).

Much fun was had with these two and Jo at the parties...people watching, learning dances (I apologise to anyone I crippled during the Doctor Who dance and the ultra fast and difficult Swamp Thing dance) and generally behaving like a bunch of kids on Hairbo....and fawning/drooling over the bar staff and security guards...as if there wasn't enough good looking blokes on the guest list.....but I digress.

Which leads me smoothly to; the guests....I would attempt to write a full account of what each guest had said during each of their talks but between the taking pictures, rushing out for photo shoots and all the laughing I can't remember so I will do little write up of each guest.

Andee Frizzell - What an incredibly energetic and naturally funny lady. I didn't know anything about the woman except for that she plays the Wraith Queen, but as soon as she got out on the stage she had the room in the palm of her hand. She seem surprised that so many people had turned out to see her on the Sunday, expecting everyone to still be in bed with a hang over and had planned on teaching some yoga moves...she did display some amazing feats of flexibility which if I had even partially tried out would have ended up in A & E with limbs being prised apart with a crow bar.

She talked about the make up process and that many of the cast a crew have no idea who she is when they have the wrap party, until she growls and does the Wraith hand thing. One particularly funny story involved her bumping into Joe Flanigan (John Sheppard) and his wife one day and saying hello...no recognition from Joe, Joe's wife asking him if he knew her...and Andee saying "we spent the weekend together....I had you on your knees...."

Toward the end of her talk, on the Sunday, there was much hilarity which she let slip a bit of a spoiler for the the season four finale....she realised what she'd said straight away and the look of shock and surprise on her face followed by some mock "while that's me fired" and skulking towards the door had the room roaring with laughter....sorry though the spoiler stays at P3.

Someone asked her who she'd like to suck the life out of and she said she'd have to think about it....later she was asked about her role in Supernatural (Folsom Prison Blues) at which point she said "I'd like to go back to the sucking the life out of question....but in a good way" (referring to Jensen Ackles)....lady after my own heart there.

What else do I remember about Andee...Oh, she loved my Goonies T-shirt (the woman has great taste in films then), she fell asleep in her room Saturday night when she meant to go the party and woke up still clutching her camera, pronounces it "arse" instead of "ass", used to hate being so tall as a kid until she got given a alcoholic drink meant for her cousin at age 11 and refers to the Wraith feeding thingy as a "hand-gina".

Next up Jonathan Woodward - The bonus guest as he was in town for a Buffy/Angel con next weekend.....hmmmm, now what to say about Jonathan....I personally found him highly entertaining mainly because he was completely off the wall and the insanity of it all had me in stitches. It's safe to say he was a little worse for wear during his talk on the Saturday (Jet lag/hung over/still drunk...delete as appropriate) but I have to give him props for appearing in front of a crowd the majority of whom didn't know who he was. He was fascinated by the lady doing sign language at the front of the stage and tried to catch her out by saying difficult words and messing about behind her...until she pointed out that she could see everything he was doing in a very large mirror at the other end of the hall....very funny.

My funniest moment with the bloke has to be when I was getting an autograph....whilst in the queue he was giving everyone a shot a whiskey...the poor guy in front of me is obviously not a whiskey drinker, especially neat, and I did giggle to myself when he coughed and his eyes watered....the next two people didn't take up the offer and when it got round to me I dutifully downed the shot (closer to a double I might add) ever the professional alcholic student.....I pondered for a second before announcing "Mmmmm, Bells" at which point Jonathan looked up agog saying "Wow, that's amazing" shaking my hand impressed that the, innocent looking, lass in front of him had guessed the brand just from the taste (I neglected to mention I had seen the bottle when the glass had been refilled from the guy in front).....bless him....he was also partial to my Goonies tee, actually offering anything I wanted in exchange....was I tempted?......No bloody way...The Goonies T-Shirt is sacred.

What else from the delightfully mad as a hatter world of Jonathan....well he apparently hates the abomination that is Roast Chicken flavour crisps, gave us a sermon as the Rev. Johnny Wallet (Johnny Cash was already taken) and finally......ahem....."Caaaaaaan Yooooooou Diiiig It!!!"

Okey Dokey....moving on and finally for my post today me thinks....Torri Higginson - Obviously there was a huge cheer for Torri when she came on stage, due to the recent decision by TPTB to remove her character from the show....a controversial decision in a year of controversial decisions in SGA...Torri was quite adorable, thanking a group of fans for their 'red shirt' campaign to bring back the character (well it worked for Carson).

I did miss some of Torri's talks due to the inevitable photo shoots and there appeared to be many people interested in Torri's opinion of the moralistic issues in the story lines of SGA, which did become a little tedious, but a couple of funnier moments were Torri talking about her nervousness when first filming with Richard Dean Anderson (I mean it's Macgyver for crying out loud) and that her education in Britain had caused her to pick up a few choice phrases. When filming a scene in a corridor Torri flubbed a line and exclaimed "Bugger me," at which point RDA dutifully threw her against the wall and attempted to do just that.....I'm sure his actions enabled Torri to then work fluster free for the rest of the day......next time I bump into RDA I may try a similar thing and see what happens, the phrase I utter may be a little different to BUGGER me however.

Another funny moment was when Torri was asked to describe her fellow cast members in just one word...something which proved quite difficult until aided by the trusty hyphen......can't for the life of me remember what the words were for each cast member in the end, but when describing Jason Mamoa (Ronan) she mentioned about how fit the man is exclaiming "I don't know just how that boy keeps it up.".........Queue room full of women with mind in the gutter bursting into raucous laughter...Torri, realising what she'd said, quickly tried to move along the conversation by saying that she meant his energy when he's constantly "jumping over Joe"....Queue more gutter induced hilarity. Torri again tried to rectify the situation by saying "I said jump over him not ON 'im".....Torri my dear the fans will hear what ever they wish to hear if you plant the seed close enough.....or a mile away for that matter.

What else can I say about Torri....Oh, she was incredibly pleasant at the autograph session and we spoke about her dog, she asked me if I had any pets and dedicated the autograph to my cat Henry, who died two years ago aged 20....she can do the splits (see pic) and does a terrific impression of Flipper.

So, that's it for today folks...writers cramp has set in...will write up the rest in a couple of days

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Worthing's Wood Invasion

Got my computer back...well sort of...it's running ridiculously slow which is very, very frustrating and the story of my life at the moment.

In case you didn't see it on the news earlier in the week Worthing experienced an invasion by the lesser spotted plank creatures...who nearly made a successful attempt at a complete invasion of the town centre until gallant locals took it upon themselves to defend the coast and defeated the invaders armed with saws and hammers capturing and turning them into sheds, decking and occasional tables.....Worthing lives to fight another day.

The only casualty appeared to be...well, me actually...when a huge rock....and by rock I mean shingle....and by shingle I mena pebble.... was thrust unexpectedly into my path...causing a complete balance malfunction.....I have since been nursing a badly sprained ankle and a jean burned knee....and possibly an ego deflation, though I'm sure the builders nearby were laughing at a particularly funny anecdote and had nothing to do with my spectacularly un-lady like display of gravity theory....just what I need the week of P3.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Viruses and Cons

The job hunting continues and I am currently keeping my fingers crossed on a couple of applications I recently put in, but more pressing matters are interfering with my new life in Worthing....namely a warthog of a virus which has invaded my computer.

I've never had a virus before and it has been an annoyance to say the least. I'm fortunate that my files don't seem to have been corrupted thus far and it's a general 'can't use internet'/ 'make computer run really, really slowly' type of virus. Not entirely sure as to why I am worthy of some 'basement living', star wars action figure collecting, geek-a-zoid's attentions as I have little money to sponge and surf nothing more interesting than TV gossip sites and forums rather than the infinately more interesting 'minute by minute on Britney's breakdown' or 'find your secret government codes here' type websites.....I guess the notion that I am special has leaked to the masses and they feel threatened.

So I'm back in Bognor, at least for the night, and hoping that 'da man' can fix the problems so I can return to my meager existence......on the plus side I have read more pages of my Wilbur Smith book in the last few days than I have in the last two years, so every cloud....etc

In other news Wolf Pegasus Three is a week Friday....how quickly has that come round?.....and I am approaching 'excited' mode...though a little less when surrounded by people who have never heard of the guests whom I'm incessantly wittering on about, but what a class act they are to me and other sci-fi geeks like me....top billing has to go to Paul McGillion - the incredibly sweet natured Dr Carson Beckett (on SGA), but credits also include: Smallville, The X-Files, Stargate SG1 and not forgetting Sliders, Next Tori Higginson (Elizabeth Weir, SGA), Kavan Smith (Major Lorne, SGA) and also The 4400, Battlestar Galactica, The Outer Limits, Dean Marshall (Sgt Bates, SGA) also Smallville, The Dead Zone, Da Vinci's Inquest and Tommy Boy (!), Kate Hewlett (Jeannie McKay, SGA) also A Dog's Breakfast, Kevin Hill and Dark Water and, just announced, is Jonathan Woodward who has appeared in Firefly, Third Watch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer...but probably mostly known as Knox in Angel......quite a line up you must agree.....and if you don't *blows big fat raspberry*

Monday, January 07, 2008

Snippet

Decided to pound the pavement for jobs in the town centre today....ended up buying a new bag and a top in the sales instead.....then again I did see a Chav spit into the wind and get a face full of flob so the day wasn't a total loss.

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Another Year Over

Happy New Year.....thought I'd get that out of the way nice and early....It's not really a big deal for me these days....paying extortionate amounts of money to sit in a pub, eat lots of carbs, listen to dodgy DJs play crap music and pay over the odds for a rum and coke lost its appeal many years ago....so i stayed in. As per usual mum was in bed and settled before the 'big event' and I watched the last ten minutes of a completely shambolic live BBC 1 show....It was very cringeworthy television with missed links, randoms blundering into shot, vox pops with people who didn't speak English and others who obviously couldn't give a monkeys and a couple of live performances from people who A) I'd never heard of, B) looked about 12 and C) couldn't hold a note if their life depended on it.......Should've tuned into the Hootnanny on BBC 2 but I only wanted to see the fireworks....which were actually pretty damn good.

So here's to another year.....in which I have already discovered that I appear to be allergic to the special anti-viral tissues mum bought for dad's (man) flu....yep, only I could be allergic to something which is supposed to improve you condition....figures.