Collectormania report!
Okay, I should write my report, only I haven't got a friggin clue where to start. I suppose the beginning would be good. This could be long so bare with me, or it may be relatively short as I for one can't remember a whole lot about the weekend. Especially the screenings so who knows. But here we go.
Day 1
Let me just say that I hate train journeys, especially when I had to get on one train, then two different tube trains and then another one to get to Milton Keynes. Eh, well, I guess it wasn't that bad. I didn't get lost. Met Aqui at Euston, and we got on our train. We were both pretty excited so babbled about lots of stuff. Don't ask me what cause I don't know.
We arrived at MK, got a taxi to the hotel, checked in and went off to the shopping centre. We thought it was best to check everything out then, so that when Sunday came we would know where to go. MK shopping centre, is fucking huge! We wondered around for ages, in a circle, getting completely lost. We checked out a few of the maps they had up and eventually found our way to Middleton Hall (was that the name? I don't remember) Anyway, the place was heaving! Jesus, it was hard to move.
But we had a brief look around the stores and found out where Sean and Andy were going to be. And we saw Lawrence. Who had on leather pants! *squeak* And we saw Sala, who started wandering around the place. He walked past us twice so that was kind of cool.
We couldn't figure out where Elijah and Dom were going to be, so we asked people at the help desk. Haha we must have gone to that help desk about 50 times. But we found out where they were going to be and sorted out which doors we were going to queue at on the Sunday so we could get good tickets.
After figuring that out. We went to the first screening/q&a talk, so we could queue up. We went about 5ish. Thinking we'd get there early but it seems a few people had the same idea so we got sort of far back, granted we were in like the third row or something but we were at the side and couldn't see much. So I'm glad I took my glasses otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see anything.
We were only allowed to use the flash on a camera for the first 5 mins, which was annoying but understandable. I doubt any of my pics came out during this talk, though. But anyway....
We sat in there for about an hour and a half, talking to some girls who were sat next to us and singing the Hobbit drinking song. And then they arrived. We of course didn't know who we were going to get. So when the guy announced who we were getting and then Elijah and Sean Astin walked through the doors, everyone screamed, including myself. It was absolutely mental.
After that though, I don't remember a whole lot, everything's pretty much a blur. I do remember they were both tired, having just flown in that day and having just gotten up. Hence Elijah, getting wake up calls from the other hobbits and he kept picking the phone up and then hanging up straight after, cause he didn't know what was going on. Bless him.
But they were great even if they were both exhausted. Elijah is very flirty with the ladies, I remember that. I remember one lady asking if he was going to the Belguim/Berlin? premiere for ROTK and he said "are you going?" she said yes and he said "then I'll definitely be there".
They both have really filty minds, which was fantastic. It was funny as hell. Especially when they were talking about "nocturnal activies". Ie, wet dreams. Apparently they were talking about it on the flight over. Astin was saying he'd never had one, etc.
I remember Elijah giggling, alot. And the crowd totally cracking up every time he did. It was so funny. And his giggle is just so cute.
God, what else. I can't really remember much else. They got asked the normal questions. Who would they love to work with, ect. I think Elijah said David Lynch? I don't know. Oh and if they'd ever consider theatre. Elijah said he would love to execise that muscle. *coughs*
There were a lot of American fans there. And at one point Astin asked the audience if there were in fact an British people here. A massive scream went up. Yay for us.
Oh yes, he was wearing his tan jacket. Guh. And someone asked him about it and called it "the tan jacket of godliness" or something like that. And Elijah loved that. He repeated what the woman had said "The tan jacket of godliness?" and then "Wow. I'm never going to take it off." Eehehe. Love that jacket.
Showed off his tattoo and his scars. Couldn't really see them all that well from where we sat but Elijah!belly. Eeeee! He went one side, the opposite side to us and showed the audience and then was going to sat down, but we all yelled "we can't see it" haha. So he came to our side to show us. Which was cool.
Describing the other cast members; Karl - Astin said "sexeh" Which basically started this whole thing off where they just described all the cast members as sexeh, or John Rhys Davis as "very sexeh". It was funny. They only described about five people though.
At the end they sang the Hobbit drinking song. And Elijah has the sweetest, cutest singing voice ever. He's adorable when he sings.
I don't remember anything else. It'll probably come back to me later.
After they left we got to watch FOTK. And there were some really annoying American fans there who kept speaking... well more like yelling along with the lines of the film. It really bugged me. I was tired and cranky and just wanted to watch the film. They got told to stop after a while but talk about ruin the movie.
We left after the film, it was about 10:45 at night, walked back to our hotel, and basically went to bed. Because we wanted to be up at 6/6:30 so we could go queue the next day to see Hobbits.
Day 2
Got up at 6:30, got ready, left the hotel and we were at the shopping centre by eight. There was already a massive queue. And we only had to wait an hour before we got let in, where we had to do more queuing to get tickets so we could see hobbits. So we queued for Elijah's first and got in the 180's. Then we could for Dom's and got somewhere in the 200's. Then we went to get Andy's just incase and then we went back to where Elijah and Dom were doing there signing and waited around for the Hobbits to show up.
And wow, you instantly knew when they were turning up because everyone screamed. I didn't see them arrive, and I was standing up high on a marble ledge thing (I spent a lot of my weekend standing on marble ledges, trying to get glimpses) trying to catch sight of either of them, but there were too many 'tall' people around so I didn't.
I think the first time I saw him that say was when Elijah went for a fag, and he had to be escorted down through the crowd. He had security around him and stuff. He bloody needed it. Because the fangirls ran after him, screaming. I am not kidding you. It was like the Beatles, where they would run and they would have fan girls running after them. It was chaos. Must have scared them half to death. lol. It would have done me.
So we hung around, waiting for Elijah to come back. Aqui made me move from a good spot on one side, cause she said he'd come down this side. Of course he went down the side, I'd been standing on previously. lol. Typical.
Then Dom went for a break and didn't get many screams. I felt a little sorry for him. Awww.
Elijah was wearing a Ramones t-shirt. Dom had on a green scarf. It was so odd. The green scarf. Not the Ramones tee-shit. I'm being random. Moving on.
We hung around some more and then it was our turn to see Elijah. We went to queue. Got a picture for him to sign. Then waiting till our turn. I went first and he said hi, I said hi back and he asked me how I was. I said I was fine, and asked him how he was. He said he was good, then signed my photo with just his name. Didn't have time for a dedication that day. I said thank you, and we said bye to each other and then I went. And waited for Aqui, and when she met me, we both practically squealed because we had just spoken and met Elijah, even though it was for about 30 seconds. But god, I was shaking anyway. Jesus.
He's so perfect. And gorgeous and sexy and wow. He's so small and delicate too. He's so amazing. I love that boy. And I love his mohawk. It's so much better seeing it in real life then in pictures. It suits him. He's beautiful.
Anyway, now all we had to do was wait for Dom's auto. And we had a pretty long wait, so we went off to the help desk and asked for any Fellowship screening. We wanted to change because we wanted to see Elijah again. And we were very lucky I think, they had a boxful or tickets for the Fellowship screening. So we got one. And we managed to sell our Two Towers screening tickets to someone else. So we only lost about a fiver. Pretty good.
After that we decided to give up on Dom's auto for the day because we wanted to get to the cinema and queue for the screening so we could get front row seats, and anyway Dom had gone to lunch and god knows when he's be back, so we gave up on the rest of the auto's for that day and trotted off to the Xscape (which was where the screenings were held).
When we arrived, there was about seven people in front of us, which wasn't bad. So we sat down and waited the three hours to be let in. I even sneaked into the cinema which it was being held in, to count how many seats there were for the front row. I counted wrong, well no I didn't, I counted right but I counted the back rows and on the front row there are less seats. Stupid row. So when we got let in, we were one seat short.
So Aqui and I got seated in the second row, which I think was better anyway and we had a good fucking view. And Elijah was going to be about ten feet away from us. So, anyway we waited another hour and a half for them to come in. They were late. lol. They were taking a break, because they'd just finished signing or whatever so needed a few minutes, which was fine.
So we waited.
Then they came in, through a different door this time and Elijah ran around the theatre about 5 times. God knows where we got his energy from, but he just ran around. It was so funny. I think Astin ran around too, though not five times, and I didn't notice because I was laughing and watching Elijah. But he must have ran around too because when they stopped Elijah said "why did we just do that", in which Astin replied "I don't know".
The second talk, was by far better then the first talk, for one it went on for half an hour longer, they said they could have gone on all night. Which I wouldn't have minded one bit. Two, we got to see Elijah's tattoo even closer because he got asked to show it again, and he did. Mmmm nummy tummy. (they're blaming Ian Mckellen for breaking the tattoo pact at the moment) And three there wasn't so many annoying teenyboppers on this one.
Elijah giggled a whole lot more in this one. He actually got a giggling fit at one point and had to look away from Astin and cover his mic up. It was fucking hilarious. I was laughing so hard. I can't remember what he was laughing about. It was either about what Sean felt was his worst film (Kimberley, which I have never even heard of) or... I think actually, it was when someone asked Astin why he made The Long and the Short of it... "because didn't he have another stuff do anyway". I think that's why Elijah started cracking up. God it was amusing though.
They got given a lot of presents in this showing. They got given some jelly sweets and just kept munching on them throughout the talk. Elijah loved them and kept calling them "Jelly lollies" for some reason.
They got given glittery cowboy hats, which they put on, which was fairly amusing. Especially at the end up they sang "Rhinestone Cowboy" or whatever that bloody song it called.
Astin's brother phoned up during it. So we asked him questions and he answered. Astin would put the phone to the mic so we could hear Mack/Mac? (how do you spell his name?) answers. The questions were... um, "what was it like to live with Dom?" His answer was "not any different to any other Hobbit". I don't remember what else he was asked, though. Oh who would he vote for? Don't ask me what the answer was, cause it went right over my head anyway.
Astin and Elijah got asked if they'd stolen anything from the set, they replied very quickly, both at the same time -- "NO!". (highly suspicious haha) But said that Ian Holm stole the keys to Bag End. The big and little set.
Oh shit what else?! Um....
Oh yeah, they talked about injuries on set and of course Sean hurting his foot. And Elijah playing with his blood because he thought it was cool.
Elijah says "awesome" alot.
Someone asked about the "gay" thing. I can't believe someone asked that. Elijah said he'd only found out about it about 3 months ago. Astin asked why people always assume that close male friends are gay or something. They both seemed pretty amused by it though. I swear Elijah said something along the lines of it not being true. I'm not too sure now.... oh yeah, he was reeling off all the rumours, like Dom dating Elijah's sister to keep Elijah and Dom a secret or something, which he found ridiculous and amusing.
Elijah swears a lot. He says the word "fucking" lots.
Oh yeah! They talked about Queenstown (is that the right name?) being there fave place in Zid. And how they went bungee jumping, but Elijah never went because he was "too much of a pussy" (his exact words). Astin told him off for saying that. lol. Elijah apologised. Not that I cared that he said pussy. But it was funny.
They talked about going fishing and how Astin got a hook stuck in his thumb and how Orlando said something like "Get my hook out babay" or something a long those lines. I think Aqui knows better then I do because she kept saying it afterwards.
Astin kept making cool sound effects to things. And Elijah went to do one into the mic, but instead burped by accident. I had stitches from laughing so hard.
My mind just went totally blank. Crap.
People started asking for hugs during the talk. Which I found annoying, cause they can't hug everyone and they didn't seem to want to do it because it wasn't fair just to give some people hugs and stuff, but they did a few and people just kept asking and it was annoying.
I just kept taking photo's the whole time. I took about 70 pictures and ran out of camera film before the talk even ended. This time they didnt mention anything about the flash on the camera so I kept the flash on for the entire hour and a half, so I'm hoping for good pictures.
Elijah got asked what it was like to meey Ozzy Osbourne. He said he was really nervous. And then when he finally did meet him, he couldn't understand a word he was saying. Hahaha.
Umm.... oh god, I can't remember anything else about the talk. But it was heaps better then the first one, that's for sure.
We didn't bother staying for the film because we were totally knackered and of course once we got back to our hotel room we couldnt get into our room. *rolls eyes* the key card thing had run out of batteries so they had to call someone out to come and fix it. We got a free meal out of it though, even though we werent hungry and hadn't even eaten all day. I don't think we even managed to eat half our meal but it was free so who cares.
Once our door was fixed, we went to bed because we were getting up -very- early.
Day 3
I got up at 3am and we were at the shopping centre by 4am. There was already a queue. People were there with sleeping bags and shit. Jesus. But we were about 30 people along so it wasn't too bad. Just fucking cold. So we waited outside for about 3 hours? Then they let us in about 7am and we queued up in the Elijah queue for another 2 1/2 hours. Gah, I was getting so annoyed. I just wanted them to give us our tickets. At one point I buggered off to get camera film because I desperately needed it and didn't know when they were giving out tickets. I think panicked Aqui a bit when I did that because she thought they were going to start handing out tickets while I was gone. But they didn't, thankfully.
When they finally did hand them out, we were numbers 37 and 38. Which is very good. They we got into Dom's queue and we're in the 180's. Then we went to Andy's queue again and got tickets for him. We still never saw him though. lol.
So then we had to wait again, for them to show up. I went out for a cigarette and heard screaming. I thought they'd arrived, well they had sort of. They got dropped off by helicopter. God knows where they were staying, but you could see them landing and that was what the screams were for. I missed that. But I saw them walking in. So that was alright. Elijah was wearing his tan jacket of godliness again. Love that jacket and he had a green shirt on, a dark green one. Dom was wearing a blue tee and a tie.
So then we had to wait a little more, and then it was our turn to go up. We queued for a while longer, snapping pictures and at one point, I was looking at Dom, and he looked at me and I smiled and he said "hiya" and I said hi back, then babbled about having just said hi to Dom for about 2 minutes. I think that was the most excited I got about Dom. lol.
We eventually got to the beginning of the queue and Aqui went up to see Elijah and I'm sure she'll write about it. I was getting nervous by this point and getting bored of standing around. I was totally knackered. So when it was my turn I went forwards, bent down and literally lent on the table so that my face was inches from Elijah. I don't know why I did that. :-/ lol.
We said hi, I asked him how he was, he said he "was good", asked me how I was. I said "I was okay, but a little tired." He said "I bet". Then the girl next to him asked how long I'd been here. I said I'd gotten up 3am and had been here since 4. Elijah said "wow, you've been waiting a while, or you've been up a while" or something. Then he asked me what my name was so he could sign my photo. I told him, then spelt it for him and still bodged it up. lol. But said "imperfection is always the best". I agreed for some reason.
Then we said something else and I can't for the life of my remember what it was. But then I said "aww, come and give me a hug please". He got up, came around the table and wrapped his arms around me in the tightest, biggest hug I have ever had. And it wasn't a quick hug and then pull back, we actually hugged for a while. It was probably 30 seconds, a minute tops but it felt ages to me.
Then he pulled back, kept his arm around me and said "let's get a photo". I was shaking at this point and when I'm nervous and shaking I can't smile properly, so I'm going to look terrible in the pic. But we had a pic taken of my arm around his, and his around me.
And when his arm slipped away from around me, I took my camera back and said like an idiot. "oh my god, I'm shaking". Why did I say that? I have no idea but I did. :-(
I thanked Elijah. I think I thanked him about five times. He said I was welcome. I told him to have a good day. He said the same to me and told me to get some sleep. I told him I would and we said bye. And he watched me leave and that's so sweet how he does that. Others would just turn to the next person, but he watches you go. I think that's lovely.
Oh and yes his eyes. I know, everyone talks about his eyes. But bloody hell they are the bluest eyes I have ever seen. I didn't pay much attention the first day but yesterday I did and wow. Fucking amazing eyes.
So yeah, that was my hug and my Elijah experience and I'm sure I'll never forget it. I can't wait to see my photo's.
Then we went around to see Lawrence because Aqui wanted his auto. I didn't but I went up anyway to take photo's of her and Lawrence. He's huge. And was wearing his leather pants again. So she met him, got his auto, I took pictures and afterwards he shook my hand and asked me my name and said it was nice to meet me. Awww. He's lovely.
Next up was Dom. We had a little bit of time to wait before we could see him. And we had to check out of our hotel at 12. So went back the hotel and checked out. The really annoying thing about our hotel was the fact that we couldn't leave our stuff there, even though on the phone they said we could. So we had to lug all our shit to the mall, and god we had standees and everything with us. Nightmare.
So we decided to go up and see Dom seperatly, while someone looked after the bags. I went up first and got his autograph a couple of times. I wasn't excited. It was just Dom to me. We said hi and asked each other how we were. He asked me where I was from. And that was about it. I didn't know what to say to him so I stood there like an idiot while he signed his name. I couldn't even be bothered to get my picture taken with him either. He wasn't hugging at that point or giving personalised pictures and by this time I seriously just wanted to go home and go to my bed. I was so tired.
He has big hands and a big head. That's what I remember most about him. He didn't seem to have much energy either. Not like Elijah who was still perky and bouncy. But then again I don't think I'd have much energy sitting around signing your name thousands of times.
Anyway, then Aqui went up, I looked after our stuff. She came back. We decided not to bother with Andy. Not when we had all our bags. And we left.
And that was it. The most amazing weekend I have ever had! And I am sure I have missed out a whole heap of stuff. But at the moment I just don't remember it.
This has just taken me two hours to write. I rambled. I'm sorry. If you made your way through this you deserve a prize.
I promise photo's in a weeks time or so. Have to send them off.
Edit: I forgot to mention that apparently Orlando was around Milton Keynes and the shopping centre. Now, we know that he came over on the flight with the Hobbits and they asked him to come and he said no. Anyway we were at a stall and the bloke behind it said that Orlando Bloom was around somewhere. (this was in the Saturday? Sunday, maybe. Dont remember) I was all like, yeah right. Didn't believe the guy at all. And he said no, I swear on my life that he's around. Of course Aqui got excited and started squealing in my ear, which she has a habit of doing.
Then someone else told us they'd seen Orlando walking around in a bobble hat. I'm not sure whether to believe he was around or what because Orlando would get mobbed. So... *shrug*
We also got told that Viggo was spotted in Milton Keynes on the Monday. But once again... *shrug*
I can see myself editing this post, a lot.
Day 1
Let me just say that I hate train journeys, especially when I had to get on one train, then two different tube trains and then another one to get to Milton Keynes. Eh, well, I guess it wasn't that bad. I didn't get lost. Met Aqui at Euston, and we got on our train. We were both pretty excited so babbled about lots of stuff. Don't ask me what cause I don't know.
We arrived at MK, got a taxi to the hotel, checked in and went off to the shopping centre. We thought it was best to check everything out then, so that when Sunday came we would know where to go. MK shopping centre, is fucking huge! We wondered around for ages, in a circle, getting completely lost. We checked out a few of the maps they had up and eventually found our way to Middleton Hall (was that the name? I don't remember) Anyway, the place was heaving! Jesus, it was hard to move.
But we had a brief look around the stores and found out where Sean and Andy were going to be. And we saw Lawrence. Who had on leather pants! *squeak* And we saw Sala, who started wandering around the place. He walked past us twice so that was kind of cool.
We couldn't figure out where Elijah and Dom were going to be, so we asked people at the help desk. Haha we must have gone to that help desk about 50 times. But we found out where they were going to be and sorted out which doors we were going to queue at on the Sunday so we could get good tickets.
After figuring that out. We went to the first screening/q&a talk, so we could queue up. We went about 5ish. Thinking we'd get there early but it seems a few people had the same idea so we got sort of far back, granted we were in like the third row or something but we were at the side and couldn't see much. So I'm glad I took my glasses otherwise I wouldn't have been able to see anything.
We were only allowed to use the flash on a camera for the first 5 mins, which was annoying but understandable. I doubt any of my pics came out during this talk, though. But anyway....
We sat in there for about an hour and a half, talking to some girls who were sat next to us and singing the Hobbit drinking song. And then they arrived. We of course didn't know who we were going to get. So when the guy announced who we were getting and then Elijah and Sean Astin walked through the doors, everyone screamed, including myself. It was absolutely mental.
After that though, I don't remember a whole lot, everything's pretty much a blur. I do remember they were both tired, having just flown in that day and having just gotten up. Hence Elijah, getting wake up calls from the other hobbits and he kept picking the phone up and then hanging up straight after, cause he didn't know what was going on. Bless him.
But they were great even if they were both exhausted. Elijah is very flirty with the ladies, I remember that. I remember one lady asking if he was going to the Belguim/Berlin? premiere for ROTK and he said "are you going?" she said yes and he said "then I'll definitely be there".
They both have really filty minds, which was fantastic. It was funny as hell. Especially when they were talking about "nocturnal activies". Ie, wet dreams. Apparently they were talking about it on the flight over. Astin was saying he'd never had one, etc.
I remember Elijah giggling, alot. And the crowd totally cracking up every time he did. It was so funny. And his giggle is just so cute.
God, what else. I can't really remember much else. They got asked the normal questions. Who would they love to work with, ect. I think Elijah said David Lynch? I don't know. Oh and if they'd ever consider theatre. Elijah said he would love to execise that muscle. *coughs*
There were a lot of American fans there. And at one point Astin asked the audience if there were in fact an British people here. A massive scream went up. Yay for us.
Oh yes, he was wearing his tan jacket. Guh. And someone asked him about it and called it "the tan jacket of godliness" or something like that. And Elijah loved that. He repeated what the woman had said "The tan jacket of godliness?" and then "Wow. I'm never going to take it off." Eehehe. Love that jacket.
Showed off his tattoo and his scars. Couldn't really see them all that well from where we sat but Elijah!belly. Eeeee! He went one side, the opposite side to us and showed the audience and then was going to sat down, but we all yelled "we can't see it" haha. So he came to our side to show us. Which was cool.
Describing the other cast members; Karl - Astin said "sexeh" Which basically started this whole thing off where they just described all the cast members as sexeh, or John Rhys Davis as "very sexeh". It was funny. They only described about five people though.
At the end they sang the Hobbit drinking song. And Elijah has the sweetest, cutest singing voice ever. He's adorable when he sings.
I don't remember anything else. It'll probably come back to me later.
After they left we got to watch FOTK. And there were some really annoying American fans there who kept speaking... well more like yelling along with the lines of the film. It really bugged me. I was tired and cranky and just wanted to watch the film. They got told to stop after a while but talk about ruin the movie.
We left after the film, it was about 10:45 at night, walked back to our hotel, and basically went to bed. Because we wanted to be up at 6/6:30 so we could go queue the next day to see Hobbits.
Day 2
Got up at 6:30, got ready, left the hotel and we were at the shopping centre by eight. There was already a massive queue. And we only had to wait an hour before we got let in, where we had to do more queuing to get tickets so we could see hobbits. So we queued for Elijah's first and got in the 180's. Then we could for Dom's and got somewhere in the 200's. Then we went to get Andy's just incase and then we went back to where Elijah and Dom were doing there signing and waited around for the Hobbits to show up.
And wow, you instantly knew when they were turning up because everyone screamed. I didn't see them arrive, and I was standing up high on a marble ledge thing (I spent a lot of my weekend standing on marble ledges, trying to get glimpses) trying to catch sight of either of them, but there were too many 'tall' people around so I didn't.
I think the first time I saw him that say was when Elijah went for a fag, and he had to be escorted down through the crowd. He had security around him and stuff. He bloody needed it. Because the fangirls ran after him, screaming. I am not kidding you. It was like the Beatles, where they would run and they would have fan girls running after them. It was chaos. Must have scared them half to death. lol. It would have done me.
So we hung around, waiting for Elijah to come back. Aqui made me move from a good spot on one side, cause she said he'd come down this side. Of course he went down the side, I'd been standing on previously. lol. Typical.
Then Dom went for a break and didn't get many screams. I felt a little sorry for him. Awww.
Elijah was wearing a Ramones t-shirt. Dom had on a green scarf. It was so odd. The green scarf. Not the Ramones tee-shit. I'm being random. Moving on.
We hung around some more and then it was our turn to see Elijah. We went to queue. Got a picture for him to sign. Then waiting till our turn. I went first and he said hi, I said hi back and he asked me how I was. I said I was fine, and asked him how he was. He said he was good, then signed my photo with just his name. Didn't have time for a dedication that day. I said thank you, and we said bye to each other and then I went. And waited for Aqui, and when she met me, we both practically squealed because we had just spoken and met Elijah, even though it was for about 30 seconds. But god, I was shaking anyway. Jesus.
He's so perfect. And gorgeous and sexy and wow. He's so small and delicate too. He's so amazing. I love that boy. And I love his mohawk. It's so much better seeing it in real life then in pictures. It suits him. He's beautiful.
Anyway, now all we had to do was wait for Dom's auto. And we had a pretty long wait, so we went off to the help desk and asked for any Fellowship screening. We wanted to change because we wanted to see Elijah again. And we were very lucky I think, they had a boxful or tickets for the Fellowship screening. So we got one. And we managed to sell our Two Towers screening tickets to someone else. So we only lost about a fiver. Pretty good.
After that we decided to give up on Dom's auto for the day because we wanted to get to the cinema and queue for the screening so we could get front row seats, and anyway Dom had gone to lunch and god knows when he's be back, so we gave up on the rest of the auto's for that day and trotted off to the Xscape (which was where the screenings were held).
When we arrived, there was about seven people in front of us, which wasn't bad. So we sat down and waited the three hours to be let in. I even sneaked into the cinema which it was being held in, to count how many seats there were for the front row. I counted wrong, well no I didn't, I counted right but I counted the back rows and on the front row there are less seats. Stupid row. So when we got let in, we were one seat short.
So Aqui and I got seated in the second row, which I think was better anyway and we had a good fucking view. And Elijah was going to be about ten feet away from us. So, anyway we waited another hour and a half for them to come in. They were late. lol. They were taking a break, because they'd just finished signing or whatever so needed a few minutes, which was fine.
So we waited.
Then they came in, through a different door this time and Elijah ran around the theatre about 5 times. God knows where we got his energy from, but he just ran around. It was so funny. I think Astin ran around too, though not five times, and I didn't notice because I was laughing and watching Elijah. But he must have ran around too because when they stopped Elijah said "why did we just do that", in which Astin replied "I don't know".
The second talk, was by far better then the first talk, for one it went on for half an hour longer, they said they could have gone on all night. Which I wouldn't have minded one bit. Two, we got to see Elijah's tattoo even closer because he got asked to show it again, and he did. Mmmm nummy tummy. (they're blaming Ian Mckellen for breaking the tattoo pact at the moment) And three there wasn't so many annoying teenyboppers on this one.
Elijah giggled a whole lot more in this one. He actually got a giggling fit at one point and had to look away from Astin and cover his mic up. It was fucking hilarious. I was laughing so hard. I can't remember what he was laughing about. It was either about what Sean felt was his worst film (Kimberley, which I have never even heard of) or... I think actually, it was when someone asked Astin why he made The Long and the Short of it... "because didn't he have another stuff do anyway". I think that's why Elijah started cracking up. God it was amusing though.
They got given a lot of presents in this showing. They got given some jelly sweets and just kept munching on them throughout the talk. Elijah loved them and kept calling them "Jelly lollies" for some reason.
They got given glittery cowboy hats, which they put on, which was fairly amusing. Especially at the end up they sang "Rhinestone Cowboy" or whatever that bloody song it called.
Astin's brother phoned up during it. So we asked him questions and he answered. Astin would put the phone to the mic so we could hear Mack/Mac? (how do you spell his name?) answers. The questions were... um, "what was it like to live with Dom?" His answer was "not any different to any other Hobbit". I don't remember what else he was asked, though. Oh who would he vote for? Don't ask me what the answer was, cause it went right over my head anyway.
Astin and Elijah got asked if they'd stolen anything from the set, they replied very quickly, both at the same time -- "NO!". (highly suspicious haha) But said that Ian Holm stole the keys to Bag End. The big and little set.
Oh shit what else?! Um....
Oh yeah, they talked about injuries on set and of course Sean hurting his foot. And Elijah playing with his blood because he thought it was cool.
Elijah says "awesome" alot.
Someone asked about the "gay" thing. I can't believe someone asked that. Elijah said he'd only found out about it about 3 months ago. Astin asked why people always assume that close male friends are gay or something. They both seemed pretty amused by it though. I swear Elijah said something along the lines of it not being true. I'm not too sure now.... oh yeah, he was reeling off all the rumours, like Dom dating Elijah's sister to keep Elijah and Dom a secret or something, which he found ridiculous and amusing.
Elijah swears a lot. He says the word "fucking" lots.
Oh yeah! They talked about Queenstown (is that the right name?) being there fave place in Zid. And how they went bungee jumping, but Elijah never went because he was "too much of a pussy" (his exact words). Astin told him off for saying that. lol. Elijah apologised. Not that I cared that he said pussy. But it was funny.
They talked about going fishing and how Astin got a hook stuck in his thumb and how Orlando said something like "Get my hook out babay" or something a long those lines. I think Aqui knows better then I do because she kept saying it afterwards.
Astin kept making cool sound effects to things. And Elijah went to do one into the mic, but instead burped by accident. I had stitches from laughing so hard.
My mind just went totally blank. Crap.
People started asking for hugs during the talk. Which I found annoying, cause they can't hug everyone and they didn't seem to want to do it because it wasn't fair just to give some people hugs and stuff, but they did a few and people just kept asking and it was annoying.
I just kept taking photo's the whole time. I took about 70 pictures and ran out of camera film before the talk even ended. This time they didnt mention anything about the flash on the camera so I kept the flash on for the entire hour and a half, so I'm hoping for good pictures.
Elijah got asked what it was like to meey Ozzy Osbourne. He said he was really nervous. And then when he finally did meet him, he couldn't understand a word he was saying. Hahaha.
Umm.... oh god, I can't remember anything else about the talk. But it was heaps better then the first one, that's for sure.
We didn't bother staying for the film because we were totally knackered and of course once we got back to our hotel room we couldnt get into our room. *rolls eyes* the key card thing had run out of batteries so they had to call someone out to come and fix it. We got a free meal out of it though, even though we werent hungry and hadn't even eaten all day. I don't think we even managed to eat half our meal but it was free so who cares.
Once our door was fixed, we went to bed because we were getting up -very- early.
Day 3
I got up at 3am and we were at the shopping centre by 4am. There was already a queue. People were there with sleeping bags and shit. Jesus. But we were about 30 people along so it wasn't too bad. Just fucking cold. So we waited outside for about 3 hours? Then they let us in about 7am and we queued up in the Elijah queue for another 2 1/2 hours. Gah, I was getting so annoyed. I just wanted them to give us our tickets. At one point I buggered off to get camera film because I desperately needed it and didn't know when they were giving out tickets. I think panicked Aqui a bit when I did that because she thought they were going to start handing out tickets while I was gone. But they didn't, thankfully.
When they finally did hand them out, we were numbers 37 and 38. Which is very good. They we got into Dom's queue and we're in the 180's. Then we went to Andy's queue again and got tickets for him. We still never saw him though. lol.
So then we had to wait again, for them to show up. I went out for a cigarette and heard screaming. I thought they'd arrived, well they had sort of. They got dropped off by helicopter. God knows where they were staying, but you could see them landing and that was what the screams were for. I missed that. But I saw them walking in. So that was alright. Elijah was wearing his tan jacket of godliness again. Love that jacket and he had a green shirt on, a dark green one. Dom was wearing a blue tee and a tie.
So then we had to wait a little more, and then it was our turn to go up. We queued for a while longer, snapping pictures and at one point, I was looking at Dom, and he looked at me and I smiled and he said "hiya" and I said hi back, then babbled about having just said hi to Dom for about 2 minutes. I think that was the most excited I got about Dom. lol.
We eventually got to the beginning of the queue and Aqui went up to see Elijah and I'm sure she'll write about it. I was getting nervous by this point and getting bored of standing around. I was totally knackered. So when it was my turn I went forwards, bent down and literally lent on the table so that my face was inches from Elijah. I don't know why I did that. :-/ lol.
We said hi, I asked him how he was, he said he "was good", asked me how I was. I said "I was okay, but a little tired." He said "I bet". Then the girl next to him asked how long I'd been here. I said I'd gotten up 3am and had been here since 4. Elijah said "wow, you've been waiting a while, or you've been up a while" or something. Then he asked me what my name was so he could sign my photo. I told him, then spelt it for him and still bodged it up. lol. But said "imperfection is always the best". I agreed for some reason.
Then we said something else and I can't for the life of my remember what it was. But then I said "aww, come and give me a hug please". He got up, came around the table and wrapped his arms around me in the tightest, biggest hug I have ever had. And it wasn't a quick hug and then pull back, we actually hugged for a while. It was probably 30 seconds, a minute tops but it felt ages to me.
Then he pulled back, kept his arm around me and said "let's get a photo". I was shaking at this point and when I'm nervous and shaking I can't smile properly, so I'm going to look terrible in the pic. But we had a pic taken of my arm around his, and his around me.
And when his arm slipped away from around me, I took my camera back and said like an idiot. "oh my god, I'm shaking". Why did I say that? I have no idea but I did. :-(
I thanked Elijah. I think I thanked him about five times. He said I was welcome. I told him to have a good day. He said the same to me and told me to get some sleep. I told him I would and we said bye. And he watched me leave and that's so sweet how he does that. Others would just turn to the next person, but he watches you go. I think that's lovely.
Oh and yes his eyes. I know, everyone talks about his eyes. But bloody hell they are the bluest eyes I have ever seen. I didn't pay much attention the first day but yesterday I did and wow. Fucking amazing eyes.
So yeah, that was my hug and my Elijah experience and I'm sure I'll never forget it. I can't wait to see my photo's.
Then we went around to see Lawrence because Aqui wanted his auto. I didn't but I went up anyway to take photo's of her and Lawrence. He's huge. And was wearing his leather pants again. So she met him, got his auto, I took pictures and afterwards he shook my hand and asked me my name and said it was nice to meet me. Awww. He's lovely.
Next up was Dom. We had a little bit of time to wait before we could see him. And we had to check out of our hotel at 12. So went back the hotel and checked out. The really annoying thing about our hotel was the fact that we couldn't leave our stuff there, even though on the phone they said we could. So we had to lug all our shit to the mall, and god we had standees and everything with us. Nightmare.
So we decided to go up and see Dom seperatly, while someone looked after the bags. I went up first and got his autograph a couple of times. I wasn't excited. It was just Dom to me. We said hi and asked each other how we were. He asked me where I was from. And that was about it. I didn't know what to say to him so I stood there like an idiot while he signed his name. I couldn't even be bothered to get my picture taken with him either. He wasn't hugging at that point or giving personalised pictures and by this time I seriously just wanted to go home and go to my bed. I was so tired.
He has big hands and a big head. That's what I remember most about him. He didn't seem to have much energy either. Not like Elijah who was still perky and bouncy. But then again I don't think I'd have much energy sitting around signing your name thousands of times.
Anyway, then Aqui went up, I looked after our stuff. She came back. We decided not to bother with Andy. Not when we had all our bags. And we left.
And that was it. The most amazing weekend I have ever had! And I am sure I have missed out a whole heap of stuff. But at the moment I just don't remember it.
This has just taken me two hours to write. I rambled. I'm sorry. If you made your way through this you deserve a prize.
I promise photo's in a weeks time or so. Have to send them off.
Edit: I forgot to mention that apparently Orlando was around Milton Keynes and the shopping centre. Now, we know that he came over on the flight with the Hobbits and they asked him to come and he said no. Anyway we were at a stall and the bloke behind it said that Orlando Bloom was around somewhere. (this was in the Saturday? Sunday, maybe. Dont remember) I was all like, yeah right. Didn't believe the guy at all. And he said no, I swear on my life that he's around. Of course Aqui got excited and started squealing in my ear, which she has a habit of doing.
Then someone else told us they'd seen Orlando walking around in a bobble hat. I'm not sure whether to believe he was around or what because Orlando would get mobbed. So... *shrug*
We also got told that Viggo was spotted in Milton Keynes on the Monday. But once again... *shrug*
I can see myself editing this post, a lot.