Asylum 2009 Report Part Two - Saturday A.M.
Wow... 3,571 words and this is only up until lunch!
Overall, a very good day (apart from my sister getting a bit ill at lunchtime, it's hard work making people you know!) and Jared and Jensen were both WONDERFUL. The undisputed star of the day, however, has to be Malik, whom I now LOVE.
Right, where were we? Oh yeah... not sleeping...
I got maybe a maximum of two hours sleep on Friday night. That made my total since Tuesday night about six or seven hours. I was TIRED on Saturday morning! L and I had decided we couldn't deal with the stress of queuing all weekend just for seats near the front (especially since L wouldn't actually be able to queue with me), so we went down for brekkie at about 7.30 with the plan being for me to get in the queue at about 8 (we were assuming the doors would open well before the 9am start time). Anyhoo, we had a very nice breakfast (although L couldn't eat much - she needs to monitor her blood sugar and there wasn't a lot of suitable stuff there!) and then wandered round to the queue for the main hall. Which was HUGE (the queue I mean, not the hall) and was doubling back on itself... I told L to just sit down and wait until she saw me getting somewhere near the front but she was worried about getting in people's way so she went over to a group of Red Shirts in front of the door to ask where would be a good place for her to wait.
Now, I couldn't hear the conversation from where I was (and I can't remember exactly what L told me was said) but the Red Shirt she was talking to looked at her, looked over at me (L and had pointed me out) looked back at L and presumably said something along the lines of 'What the hell are you queuing for you dopey woman? You're heavily pregnant!' she beckoned me over and told us to go straight in and go sit in the disabled/staff section at the front. I asked them if they were sure if it was OK for me to go too (I didn't want L to be on her own, but I didn't want to take the piss either), and they said of course. As we got to the front of the room I hoped the guy at the front would believe us we'd been told to come to the front but I needn't have worried - he took one look at L and said "You two, sit here" and pointed to where he wanted us (I can't remember his name but it wasn't Doug or Paul or Wayne. That's actually going to bug me now... what was his friggin name??).
Anyhoo, gist is, we got to sit right at the front (to the side) and even though I did feel a bit bad for the people who'd had to queue, the amount of health trouble L had even with being able to get out to the bathroom really easily and not having to stand up for too long made me immeasurably glad that we got to sit there. Also, it meant we could sit with C, J & C2 for a lot of the talks, which was great!
The first half of the Saturday schedule (they moved everyone out at lunchtime in an effort to be fair, there was a fair bit of complaining about that I think but I didn't really hear much about it). Anyhoo, on Saturday morning I was sitting next to one of the Red Shirts Who Weren't Wearing Red Shirts (a lot of people got asked to work who weren't expecting to, and all of them were great). Anyway, I'm very embarrassed to say I can't remember the name of the girl I was sitting next to but she was very friendly and every time she saw me over the rest of the weekend she asked after L (who got a bit ill Saturday lunchtime cause of the delays meaning she ate lunch WAY too late). She also made sure L didn't have to stand in queues if she was around to prevent it. (If you're reading this and recognise yourself, thanks so much!).
So. They did the intro bit and it occurred to us we were sitting on the side they'd be coming from! Everyone ran out on to the stage right past us! Including at least 3 bodyguards (there might have even be four?) when Jared and Jensen came out!
I'm not going to say a massive amount about the first talk because there's not much to say - the mic got high jacked by people who apparently just wanted to talk about themselves rather than ask questions, the few questions that were asked were pretty good though but Jensen had to keep helping Jared out cause he was so Jetlagged! He wasn't understanding half of what he was being asked which was (in my humble Jared!Girl opinion) one of the best and funniest parts of the weekend - he kept getting this really confused look on his face and then laughing, he obviously felt bad about how much trouble he was having understanding people, and every now and then he just had to answer the question he assumed was being asked! It was so cute...
Jensen was helping him out though, which was an adorable (and very interesting) twist on previous cons where it's been the other way round!
At one point early on, Jared said he'd had a bath that day for the first time in about 10 years, there was a bit of banter which ended with Jensen explaining how Jared couldn't fit in normal baths and would be all folded up (he did a mini demonstration) and I giggled my head off at the fact that he'd just explained to us what Jared looks like in the bath... he OBVIOUSLY was just making a joke, but all I could think was 'you kind of ASK for a lot of those silly rumours, don't you?'
Also, while Jared was telling us all about his bath, Jensen eventually interrupted and said "We'll get onto the story of my morning shower in a minute" *G* (not a direct quote, just my memory of it).
Someone mentioned the bloody Yellow friggin Fever thing with Eye of the bollocking Tiger and I did the biggest eye roll I could muster and thought to myself "why can't people just get over this?" - about 5 minutes later, Jensen said the same thing. Finally.
People were goading him trying to talk him into doing it and he kept saying (VERY politely and being nothing but nice about it) no. So then a couple of people actually started booing! Now, the impression I got was that it was in a funny 'we're not booing YOU, we're just trying to get you to change your mind' kind of way, but still. Fucking Rude. So Jensen said "Oh get over it!" (Again, he didn't say it in a shitty way, but he was being firm about it, and I and the people all around me all said "Yes!!"
Overall, Jensen was so charming and funny and engaging during the J2 talk that I didn't mind so much about the inane questions and silly booing etc. And, shallow and pathetic though it may be, Jared being so FUCKING GORGEOUS and sat TWLEVE FEET AWAY FROM ME made me not care in the slightest that he wasn't being quite as chatty as normal.
Highlights (apart from "Get over it") were the DIY conversation (if you see vids of Jared referring to DOI, it's cause it took the two of them so long to understand the term 'DIY' that they'd gone through quite a few variations before someone eventually told them what it meant (we were actually all shouting out various things like 'putting up shelves!' and 'decorating!' but it didn't really help...).
In case you wondered (although you've probably already read it a million other places), the last DIY Jensen did was to assemble the gym equipment in Jared's house, which he has subsequently never used. They also both said they never cook and hardly ever drive (Cliff does it all!).
Oh, I forgot! The FUNNIEST thing happened just before the J2 talk! Doug was reading out the raffle ticket numbers for the people who'd won coffee lounges and Jared and Jensen were both pissing about behind him and looking REALLY confused as to why the FUCK he was reading out a long list of numbers (they hadn't been there when he'd said what he was doing), eventually Jensen took out his phone and started miming typing the numbers in, and then when Doug (quite wisely) gave up, Jensen said "That is the LONGEST European phone number I have EVER heard!". We all laughed. Mind you, we were all already laughing quite a lot. Poor Doug, he really was trying very hard to get through it but with every new number came a new funny look from Jared and Jensen and it was just cracking us all up!
Also, at one point early on, Jensen went to lean forward slightly and his whole chair went with him, he put his foot out in time but looked really sheepish and said into the mic "well that was graceful!”
Jensen said he'd been hanging out with Jeffery Dean Morgan and that he sent his love! He also apparently said he was gutted he wasn't able to come with them!
There were probably a million other things said but I don't remember everything in detail I'm afraid and there are probably a tonne of videos by now!
Jensen made a crack about wanting to be a security guard (he actually had quite a bit of fun referring to his security guard throughout the weekend - him and his guard were quite the double act at one point). I would actually be really curious to know what those guys (the security guards) thought of us all!
Anyhoo, from where we were sitting it actually looked like Jared and Jensen were sitting a lot closer to each other than they actually were (I've seen a couple of pictures today), and from where I was sitting they looked like they were having so much fun with each other, it was really sweet!
My abiding memory from this first talk is that both of the guys were on very good form (even though Jared was clearly a bit out of it) and they both looked bloody STUNNING. Jared was sitting closest to us and every time someone on our side asked a question it seemed like he was looking right at me and I couldn't stop grinning!
Once they were out of the room things calmed down slightly (although me and L and everyone sitting around us were all a bit disappointed by the questions, I feel pretty sure everyone had enjoyed it overall), due to all of the delays in the morning (things kicked off about an hour late for some reason) they moved right to Richard's talk after the J2 one and I was a bit worried I might miss the end for my photo-op (I was number 200 and something but they were moving pretty fast!), but in the end I didn't so \o/
Richard was very cute and interesting, he told a couple of stories about Band Of Brothers and his previous trips to the UK and Europe (he made the same point as everyone else about how cool it is that there are so many countries over here so close together) and he got us all to say 'Hi' to his wife while he filmed it. He also told the story about Jared's dogs again - he apologised to anyone who'd heard it before but since he was asked I think he thought it'd be rude not to tell it. And even though I HAVE heard it, I was glad he told it again cause it's much funnier in person! He said he's never actually told Jared about it and hopes he doesn't know (although I'm pretty sure he does by now!).
He also mentioned that he's started watching the show - apparently he got told off for not watching it at a previous convention and figured that if he was going to keep doing cons he should probably brush up on his knowledge. A fan from a previous con apparently works for one of his neighbours so she knows him and went round to his house with the DVD's (he did a funny little joke about her stalking him). He's still on season one but said he's loving it so far (although, what else is he gonna say at a Supernatural Convention??). Every time someone asked him a question relating to the show after that (e.g. which other monster from the show would you have liked to have played) he'd say "Well, I only know season one...." He actually did get asked that question and I can't for the life of me remember the answer! I'm pretty sure he mentioned a couple and then settled on Demon.
He did tell a very funny story about how he's afraid of flying and how he was watching a few episodes on a plane recently (we all started reacting before he got to the punch line, cause it was pretty clear when it was going!), Phantom Traveller is apparently NOT a good episode to watch on a plane, if you're already afraid of flying...
Again, I can't remember every single detail (until something happens to jog my memory) but my overall impression of Richard was that he was genuinely happy to be doing the con, that he really does enjoy chatting to us all, and that he's happy to be a part of the con tradition.
He also looks very cool with the big beard. Although apparently people kept telling him during the autographs that they didn't like it! He did a little straw poll and I think it came out 50/50...
Fred was on after Richard but I missed most of his talk cause my number came up for my Jensen photo op! L's number was right before mine so I suggested she go first and ask the person at the door if she could sit somewhere to wait - they told her to come inside and wait (sitting down) but then eventually changed their minds and told her that she didn't have to wait at all and that she wouldn't for the other photo-ops either (very good news as it was only Saturday morning and she was already getting very tired and her blood sugar was all over the place!). She got out just as I went in so I couldn't find out how hers went before I started queuing (she didn't look very happy...). Anyhoo, the queue was LONG and went into the corner of the hallway and then back again, meaning you got much hotter in the middle of the queue (when you were further away from the external doors). I found myself feeling a bit sorry for Jensen having to sit next to so many sweaty people all morning!
By the time I got into the room I was so tired (I'd only had 2 hours sleep after all) that I'd forgotten to be nervous! That all changed once I got in the room of course! The queue was moving VERY fast (alas, by the time they called my number they'd got VERY strict about no hugging or posing etc.) so it was literally a case of 'jump in the shot' 'jump out of the shot'. I'm not going to let people rush me into being rude though so I made sure to say 'hello' as I walked up to him (he looked RIGHT AT ME and SMILED said 'hiya') then after the picture (which is awful by the way. The ME part anyway... :D) I made sure to say 'have a good day' as I walked away. He smiled again and said 'Thanks. You too!' Again, I have to say, Jensen was wonderful all weekend, he really was. I know some other people are reporting different and it's true that everyone's experience won't be the same, but the whole time I was in that room I was watching him (duh) and he was nice and engaging with EVERYONE.
So, I stumbled out of the room. Finally managed to take a loo break (since we weren't allowed to save seats, even in the disabled/staff bit, we hadn't actually got out of our seats since about 8.15am and this was about 1pm!) and then got back to the room to discover the reason L had seemed a bit weird when I passed her in the hallway was that she was star struck. BIG TIME.
It took her a couple of goes to tell me what had happened! Apparently, as she was walked up to the front, Jensen looked over to her and smiled and then as she walked towards him he saw her T-Shirt...
Saturday's one was the slogan I came up with, black T-Shirt with red block print across the baby bump saying '"IN PRODUCTION: ONE NEW SUPERNATURAL FAN" and when he read it he CRACKED UP! In fact, you can see he's still laughing a bit in her photo! He told her it was great and was nice and chatty and by the time she got out of the room she'd lost her marbles a bit :o)
For the record, there's also a follow up slogan on the back (thought up by her hubby), which says "APPEARING SOON IN A BUGGY NEAR YOU" *G*
Anyhoo...
Last on stage before lunch were Gabriel and Malik. I had no idea what to expect from either as I haven't really watched all that many videos of them at cons before. I cannot even BEGIN to relate to you just how unbelievably hilarious they were. They make SUCH a great double act! Even when they were being serious we were still all grinning! I'll try to come up with some highlights but I REALLY recommend you try to find some good videos, or, better yet, buy the DVD when it comes out!
- Gabe was telling us about how great his superpower (mind control) is, and that he and his friend had an argument about it, his friend trying to argue that teleportation was MUCH better. Apparently his friend had said that if he was on a plane which was about to crash, the power of mind control wouldn't help him, but that teleportation would. He told us that when he'd told that story at a previous convention a fan had suggested to him that he ask his friend why someone who could teleport would be on a plane!
- Malik was pretty much hilarious the whole time, and kept taking the micky our of Gabe for feeling sad (I have no idea what he thought Gabe felt sad about... it was pretty much just funny banter really) but at one point he stood up behind him and gave him a hug from behind (Gabe looked amused and a tiny bit nervous) and then told him to just say "Hakuna Matata". He then kept leaning over and patting his knee through the course of the talk in a 'comforting' kind of gesture, and every time Gabe said something that he realised sounded like he was saying it was bad he'd say "No, wait! Hakuna Matata!"
- A running joke throughout the talk was Malik refusing to accept his character being dead! HE DIDN'T EVEN SEEM TO WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HE'D COME BACK AS A GHOST!
- Gabe told the story about the driver who, when Gabe told him Andy had been killed off, said "If they didn't burn your body and salt your bones you can still come back!"
- Someone asked the both of them how they felt about being killed by little girls and I CANNOT BEGIN to get across just how funny everything that followed was. I was laughing so much my RIBS HURT. L's baby was getting pretty annoyed with her for laughing so much (kicking like mad apparently!). Malik said he'd taken to punching little kids if he couldn't see a parent with them (and would therefore assume said child must be evil and/or demonic), and mentioned how he'd definitely choke any little kid who turned up near him and demanded "I want Ice Cream!" (Presumably he's watched The Kids Are Alright?), and how it's all the parent's fault etc. It was HILARIOUS x a MILLION.
- And THEN, someone asked them a bit later if they thought Demons were evil or just misunderstood and Malik launched into another skit about how it's the parent's fault and that those kids should have been nurtured and how whenever he sees an evil kid he looks around saying "Where's the Mamma???" and by this point I could barely even BREATH. AND THEN... HE SAID (in a sing-song voice) "I BELIEVE..." AND THEN HE STARTED SINGING "I BELIVE THE CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE" AND GABE JOINED IN AND THAT RIGHT THERE WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY AND MADE ME FALL HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE WITH BOTH OF THEM.
I can't remember anything else in detail, cause I was laughing too much!
End of Part One (Lunch Break Time!!!)
Coming up in Part Two...
Sam, Amy and Matthew are adorable; Misha is very funny but I missed most of his talk for JARED!!!!!! And then JARED (!!!) does his talk and then we lose our marbles a bit in the restaurant and accidentally steal someone else's dessert...
Overall, a very good day (apart from my sister getting a bit ill at lunchtime, it's hard work making people you know!) and Jared and Jensen were both WONDERFUL. The undisputed star of the day, however, has to be Malik, whom I now LOVE.
Right, where were we? Oh yeah... not sleeping...
I got maybe a maximum of two hours sleep on Friday night. That made my total since Tuesday night about six or seven hours. I was TIRED on Saturday morning! L and I had decided we couldn't deal with the stress of queuing all weekend just for seats near the front (especially since L wouldn't actually be able to queue with me), so we went down for brekkie at about 7.30 with the plan being for me to get in the queue at about 8 (we were assuming the doors would open well before the 9am start time). Anyhoo, we had a very nice breakfast (although L couldn't eat much - she needs to monitor her blood sugar and there wasn't a lot of suitable stuff there!) and then wandered round to the queue for the main hall. Which was HUGE (the queue I mean, not the hall) and was doubling back on itself... I told L to just sit down and wait until she saw me getting somewhere near the front but she was worried about getting in people's way so she went over to a group of Red Shirts in front of the door to ask where would be a good place for her to wait.
Now, I couldn't hear the conversation from where I was (and I can't remember exactly what L told me was said) but the Red Shirt she was talking to looked at her, looked over at me (L and had pointed me out) looked back at L and presumably said something along the lines of 'What the hell are you queuing for you dopey woman? You're heavily pregnant!' she beckoned me over and told us to go straight in and go sit in the disabled/staff section at the front. I asked them if they were sure if it was OK for me to go too (I didn't want L to be on her own, but I didn't want to take the piss either), and they said of course. As we got to the front of the room I hoped the guy at the front would believe us we'd been told to come to the front but I needn't have worried - he took one look at L and said "You two, sit here" and pointed to where he wanted us (I can't remember his name but it wasn't Doug or Paul or Wayne. That's actually going to bug me now... what was his friggin name??).
Anyhoo, gist is, we got to sit right at the front (to the side) and even though I did feel a bit bad for the people who'd had to queue, the amount of health trouble L had even with being able to get out to the bathroom really easily and not having to stand up for too long made me immeasurably glad that we got to sit there. Also, it meant we could sit with C, J & C2 for a lot of the talks, which was great!
The first half of the Saturday schedule (they moved everyone out at lunchtime in an effort to be fair, there was a fair bit of complaining about that I think but I didn't really hear much about it). Anyhoo, on Saturday morning I was sitting next to one of the Red Shirts Who Weren't Wearing Red Shirts (a lot of people got asked to work who weren't expecting to, and all of them were great). Anyway, I'm very embarrassed to say I can't remember the name of the girl I was sitting next to but she was very friendly and every time she saw me over the rest of the weekend she asked after L (who got a bit ill Saturday lunchtime cause of the delays meaning she ate lunch WAY too late). She also made sure L didn't have to stand in queues if she was around to prevent it. (If you're reading this and recognise yourself, thanks so much!).
So. They did the intro bit and it occurred to us we were sitting on the side they'd be coming from! Everyone ran out on to the stage right past us! Including at least 3 bodyguards (there might have even be four?) when Jared and Jensen came out!
I'm not going to say a massive amount about the first talk because there's not much to say - the mic got high jacked by people who apparently just wanted to talk about themselves rather than ask questions, the few questions that were asked were pretty good though but Jensen had to keep helping Jared out cause he was so Jetlagged! He wasn't understanding half of what he was being asked which was (in my humble Jared!Girl opinion) one of the best and funniest parts of the weekend - he kept getting this really confused look on his face and then laughing, he obviously felt bad about how much trouble he was having understanding people, and every now and then he just had to answer the question he assumed was being asked! It was so cute...
Jensen was helping him out though, which was an adorable (and very interesting) twist on previous cons where it's been the other way round!
At one point early on, Jared said he'd had a bath that day for the first time in about 10 years, there was a bit of banter which ended with Jensen explaining how Jared couldn't fit in normal baths and would be all folded up (he did a mini demonstration) and I giggled my head off at the fact that he'd just explained to us what Jared looks like in the bath... he OBVIOUSLY was just making a joke, but all I could think was 'you kind of ASK for a lot of those silly rumours, don't you?'
Also, while Jared was telling us all about his bath, Jensen eventually interrupted and said "We'll get onto the story of my morning shower in a minute" *G* (not a direct quote, just my memory of it).
Someone mentioned the bloody Yellow friggin Fever thing with Eye of the bollocking Tiger and I did the biggest eye roll I could muster and thought to myself "why can't people just get over this?" - about 5 minutes later, Jensen said the same thing. Finally.
People were goading him trying to talk him into doing it and he kept saying (VERY politely and being nothing but nice about it) no. So then a couple of people actually started booing! Now, the impression I got was that it was in a funny 'we're not booing YOU, we're just trying to get you to change your mind' kind of way, but still. Fucking Rude. So Jensen said "Oh get over it!" (Again, he didn't say it in a shitty way, but he was being firm about it, and I and the people all around me all said "Yes!!"
Overall, Jensen was so charming and funny and engaging during the J2 talk that I didn't mind so much about the inane questions and silly booing etc. And, shallow and pathetic though it may be, Jared being so FUCKING GORGEOUS and sat TWLEVE FEET AWAY FROM ME made me not care in the slightest that he wasn't being quite as chatty as normal.
Highlights (apart from "Get over it") were the DIY conversation (if you see vids of Jared referring to DOI, it's cause it took the two of them so long to understand the term 'DIY' that they'd gone through quite a few variations before someone eventually told them what it meant (we were actually all shouting out various things like 'putting up shelves!' and 'decorating!' but it didn't really help...).
In case you wondered (although you've probably already read it a million other places), the last DIY Jensen did was to assemble the gym equipment in Jared's house, which he has subsequently never used. They also both said they never cook and hardly ever drive (Cliff does it all!).
Oh, I forgot! The FUNNIEST thing happened just before the J2 talk! Doug was reading out the raffle ticket numbers for the people who'd won coffee lounges and Jared and Jensen were both pissing about behind him and looking REALLY confused as to why the FUCK he was reading out a long list of numbers (they hadn't been there when he'd said what he was doing), eventually Jensen took out his phone and started miming typing the numbers in, and then when Doug (quite wisely) gave up, Jensen said "That is the LONGEST European phone number I have EVER heard!". We all laughed. Mind you, we were all already laughing quite a lot. Poor Doug, he really was trying very hard to get through it but with every new number came a new funny look from Jared and Jensen and it was just cracking us all up!
Also, at one point early on, Jensen went to lean forward slightly and his whole chair went with him, he put his foot out in time but looked really sheepish and said into the mic "well that was graceful!”
Jensen said he'd been hanging out with Jeffery Dean Morgan and that he sent his love! He also apparently said he was gutted he wasn't able to come with them!
There were probably a million other things said but I don't remember everything in detail I'm afraid and there are probably a tonne of videos by now!
Jensen made a crack about wanting to be a security guard (he actually had quite a bit of fun referring to his security guard throughout the weekend - him and his guard were quite the double act at one point). I would actually be really curious to know what those guys (the security guards) thought of us all!
Anyhoo, from where we were sitting it actually looked like Jared and Jensen were sitting a lot closer to each other than they actually were (I've seen a couple of pictures today), and from where I was sitting they looked like they were having so much fun with each other, it was really sweet!
My abiding memory from this first talk is that both of the guys were on very good form (even though Jared was clearly a bit out of it) and they both looked bloody STUNNING. Jared was sitting closest to us and every time someone on our side asked a question it seemed like he was looking right at me and I couldn't stop grinning!
Once they were out of the room things calmed down slightly (although me and L and everyone sitting around us were all a bit disappointed by the questions, I feel pretty sure everyone had enjoyed it overall), due to all of the delays in the morning (things kicked off about an hour late for some reason) they moved right to Richard's talk after the J2 one and I was a bit worried I might miss the end for my photo-op (I was number 200 and something but they were moving pretty fast!), but in the end I didn't so \o/
Richard was very cute and interesting, he told a couple of stories about Band Of Brothers and his previous trips to the UK and Europe (he made the same point as everyone else about how cool it is that there are so many countries over here so close together) and he got us all to say 'Hi' to his wife while he filmed it. He also told the story about Jared's dogs again - he apologised to anyone who'd heard it before but since he was asked I think he thought it'd be rude not to tell it. And even though I HAVE heard it, I was glad he told it again cause it's much funnier in person! He said he's never actually told Jared about it and hopes he doesn't know (although I'm pretty sure he does by now!).
He also mentioned that he's started watching the show - apparently he got told off for not watching it at a previous convention and figured that if he was going to keep doing cons he should probably brush up on his knowledge. A fan from a previous con apparently works for one of his neighbours so she knows him and went round to his house with the DVD's (he did a funny little joke about her stalking him). He's still on season one but said he's loving it so far (although, what else is he gonna say at a Supernatural Convention??). Every time someone asked him a question relating to the show after that (e.g. which other monster from the show would you have liked to have played) he'd say "Well, I only know season one...." He actually did get asked that question and I can't for the life of me remember the answer! I'm pretty sure he mentioned a couple and then settled on Demon.
He did tell a very funny story about how he's afraid of flying and how he was watching a few episodes on a plane recently (we all started reacting before he got to the punch line, cause it was pretty clear when it was going!), Phantom Traveller is apparently NOT a good episode to watch on a plane, if you're already afraid of flying...
Again, I can't remember every single detail (until something happens to jog my memory) but my overall impression of Richard was that he was genuinely happy to be doing the con, that he really does enjoy chatting to us all, and that he's happy to be a part of the con tradition.
He also looks very cool with the big beard. Although apparently people kept telling him during the autographs that they didn't like it! He did a little straw poll and I think it came out 50/50...
Fred was on after Richard but I missed most of his talk cause my number came up for my Jensen photo op! L's number was right before mine so I suggested she go first and ask the person at the door if she could sit somewhere to wait - they told her to come inside and wait (sitting down) but then eventually changed their minds and told her that she didn't have to wait at all and that she wouldn't for the other photo-ops either (very good news as it was only Saturday morning and she was already getting very tired and her blood sugar was all over the place!). She got out just as I went in so I couldn't find out how hers went before I started queuing (she didn't look very happy...). Anyhoo, the queue was LONG and went into the corner of the hallway and then back again, meaning you got much hotter in the middle of the queue (when you were further away from the external doors). I found myself feeling a bit sorry for Jensen having to sit next to so many sweaty people all morning!
By the time I got into the room I was so tired (I'd only had 2 hours sleep after all) that I'd forgotten to be nervous! That all changed once I got in the room of course! The queue was moving VERY fast (alas, by the time they called my number they'd got VERY strict about no hugging or posing etc.) so it was literally a case of 'jump in the shot' 'jump out of the shot'. I'm not going to let people rush me into being rude though so I made sure to say 'hello' as I walked up to him (he looked RIGHT AT ME and SMILED said 'hiya') then after the picture (which is awful by the way. The ME part anyway... :D) I made sure to say 'have a good day' as I walked away. He smiled again and said 'Thanks. You too!' Again, I have to say, Jensen was wonderful all weekend, he really was. I know some other people are reporting different and it's true that everyone's experience won't be the same, but the whole time I was in that room I was watching him (duh) and he was nice and engaging with EVERYONE.
So, I stumbled out of the room. Finally managed to take a loo break (since we weren't allowed to save seats, even in the disabled/staff bit, we hadn't actually got out of our seats since about 8.15am and this was about 1pm!) and then got back to the room to discover the reason L had seemed a bit weird when I passed her in the hallway was that she was star struck. BIG TIME.
It took her a couple of goes to tell me what had happened! Apparently, as she was walked up to the front, Jensen looked over to her and smiled and then as she walked towards him he saw her T-Shirt...
Saturday's one was the slogan I came up with, black T-Shirt with red block print across the baby bump saying '"IN PRODUCTION: ONE NEW SUPERNATURAL FAN" and when he read it he CRACKED UP! In fact, you can see he's still laughing a bit in her photo! He told her it was great and was nice and chatty and by the time she got out of the room she'd lost her marbles a bit :o)
For the record, there's also a follow up slogan on the back (thought up by her hubby), which says "APPEARING SOON IN A BUGGY NEAR YOU" *G*
Anyhoo...
Last on stage before lunch were Gabriel and Malik. I had no idea what to expect from either as I haven't really watched all that many videos of them at cons before. I cannot even BEGIN to relate to you just how unbelievably hilarious they were. They make SUCH a great double act! Even when they were being serious we were still all grinning! I'll try to come up with some highlights but I REALLY recommend you try to find some good videos, or, better yet, buy the DVD when it comes out!
- Gabe was telling us about how great his superpower (mind control) is, and that he and his friend had an argument about it, his friend trying to argue that teleportation was MUCH better. Apparently his friend had said that if he was on a plane which was about to crash, the power of mind control wouldn't help him, but that teleportation would. He told us that when he'd told that story at a previous convention a fan had suggested to him that he ask his friend why someone who could teleport would be on a plane!
- Malik was pretty much hilarious the whole time, and kept taking the micky our of Gabe for feeling sad (I have no idea what he thought Gabe felt sad about... it was pretty much just funny banter really) but at one point he stood up behind him and gave him a hug from behind (Gabe looked amused and a tiny bit nervous) and then told him to just say "Hakuna Matata". He then kept leaning over and patting his knee through the course of the talk in a 'comforting' kind of gesture, and every time Gabe said something that he realised sounded like he was saying it was bad he'd say "No, wait! Hakuna Matata!"
- A running joke throughout the talk was Malik refusing to accept his character being dead! HE DIDN'T EVEN SEEM TO WANT TO ACKNOWLEDGE THAT HE'D COME BACK AS A GHOST!
- Gabe told the story about the driver who, when Gabe told him Andy had been killed off, said "If they didn't burn your body and salt your bones you can still come back!"
- Someone asked the both of them how they felt about being killed by little girls and I CANNOT BEGIN to get across just how funny everything that followed was. I was laughing so much my RIBS HURT. L's baby was getting pretty annoyed with her for laughing so much (kicking like mad apparently!). Malik said he'd taken to punching little kids if he couldn't see a parent with them (and would therefore assume said child must be evil and/or demonic), and mentioned how he'd definitely choke any little kid who turned up near him and demanded "I want Ice Cream!" (Presumably he's watched The Kids Are Alright?), and how it's all the parent's fault etc. It was HILARIOUS x a MILLION.
- And THEN, someone asked them a bit later if they thought Demons were evil or just misunderstood and Malik launched into another skit about how it's the parent's fault and that those kids should have been nurtured and how whenever he sees an evil kid he looks around saying "Where's the Mamma???" and by this point I could barely even BREATH. AND THEN... HE SAID (in a sing-song voice) "I BELIEVE..." AND THEN HE STARTED SINGING "I BELIVE THE CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE" AND GABE JOINED IN AND THAT RIGHT THERE WAS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY AND MADE ME FALL HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE WITH BOTH OF THEM.
I can't remember anything else in detail, cause I was laughing too much!
End of Part One (Lunch Break Time!!!)
Coming up in Part Two...
Sam, Amy and Matthew are adorable; Misha is very funny but I missed most of his talk for JARED!!!!!! And then JARED (!!!) does his talk and then we lose our marbles a bit in the restaurant and accidentally steal someone else's dessert...