Rosie Goes to See James at the Vampire Ball
here is the first part of the Rosie ramble from last weekends Vampire Ball - l've written up Friday and Saturday - hopefully Sunday should be up fairly soon...
FRIDAY
For the Vampire Ball, I had invited con newbie and James virgin Becky from my work along for the ride. She has only been working with me since June, but I quickly discovered she was a big geek like me and so, despite the age gap (she is 19) we get on well. She was pretty excited and was perfectly willing to dress up in costume so I knew we were going to be fine. A complicated start to the trip as parking was so expensive in the hotel, I took my car and left it where I normally park when I go to Heathrow and caught the bus back. That worked out just right for us timing-wise to walk the 10 minutes or so down the road to the Renaissance hotel, where the con was, and arrive just after registration opened. It was lovely to see lots of people I hadn't seen since last December and some who I hadn't seen for even longer than that. Much delighted squeeing all round and I was very grateful to Jules who immediately befriended Becky whilst I was shooting about saying hello to everybody. Registration was easy, photo ops bought (and I bought an extra one so that Becky and I could have a picture with James together) and then I rather got distracted by the huge range of 10 x 8 photographs that Starfury were selling for all the guests. There were quite a few ones of James I'd not seen before as photographs and I couldn't resist buying the really hot one of him in Hawaii 5-0 and also one from Caprica where he is wearing the vest, shirt and jeans that I currently own!
Then it was time to go get ready for the evening, so Becky and I made our way back to our hotel and got dressed up into all our finery - her in her vamp outfit and me in my number-one steampunk costume. I quite enjoyed walking back down the road all dressed up - it's fun seeing what reaction you get from people. There was nobody much about in the foyer to begin with but then more and more people were arriving and quite a lot in costume. Some people really pull out all stops. There was a lot of photographing and admiring and not unexpectedly the opening ceremony was late starting! I went in with Jill so was sitting at the front but over to one side though still had a great view. It wasn't very long anyway, just Sean Harry giving a brief introduction to the con and introducing each of the guests. There was Brody Hutzler who was in Angel as Lorne’s cousin; Julia Lee from Buffy and Angel; Allan Hyde and Mariana Klaveno from True Blood; Ksenia Solo from Lost Girl; and of course Juliet Landau. I think some people were wondering if James would even be there for this, as he wasn't doing the meet and greet afterwards but I was pretty sure he was going to put in an appearance - and I was right! He was on last, as the headline guest along with Juliet, and as ever, just before my first view of him, when I knew I would see him in just a few more moments, I got butterflies and felt a little bit nervous and excited - somehow that makes the first sight all the more sweet. And there he was, making a typical James entrance, striding onto the stage to much yelling and whooping - that man knows how to work a room! And he looked really good in his "love conquers hate" T-shirt and with his hair having a bit of curl in it. Can't remember exactly what he said, mostly it was looking forward to meeting everybody. I got a couple of photographs but each of them was only on stage for about 30 seconds. It didn't really matter because he was here and that was the main thing.
From there all the gold ticket holders went to the meet and greet in another room. Here everyone got to sit round tables and the guests were brought to the tables in turn. It was a bit sad there was no James but it was still quite fun, even though I didn't actually know who any of them really were apart from Juliet. Brody proved to be quite flirty which was fun, Allan was a total sweetie and Julia and Ksenia admired my costume. We had some rather long gaps in between guests, and then like buses we got two at once! Though we filled in the gaps having a hilarious time remembering all the details from the sitcom “’Allo ‘Allo” for some reason and quoting all the classic lines.
It ended up going on very late as Juliet was taking her time with each table and so we didn't get her until gone 11 PM, but then she stayed twice as long as any of the others, ignoring her handlers signs to move on! We ended up talking about flying and airlines, just fun conversation. She is so lovely!
Getting back out into the foyer I found Becky and she was okay, though a bit fed up as everybody seemed to be hitting on her, and not just the guys! She had made friends but wasn't that bothered about going into the party. We did go in, as I do like to have a bit of a dance, but they seem to have got onto the con dances, and when the Macarena came on, it was definitely time to quit!
SATURDAY
Saturday was a leisurely start as we didn't need to be at the con until 10.45 for the photo ops with James. But we set off in reasonable time and walked on the sunny side of the road which took us past the Radisson hotel. Just as we got by it a car was coming out and there was Juliet in it waving to us, so I waved back (Becky didn't see her) as they drove out. That was a good start to the day, but then it got all that much better!
Just a bit further down the road Becky suddenly said "isn’t that....?” and waved her arm at the group of people crossing the road a bit further ahead of us. I looked, and yes it was. I recognised Steve first and then just dropped my eyes down and right behind him, there was James. They were obviously walking to the con from the Radisson, along with Mark and Helen. Trying to remain calm I said "Yes, that is James" and then "Come on!" We hurried down to the crossing and went over the road and so we were about 30 yards behind them, with quite a way to go to the hotel. Both Becky and I walk fairly fast so we were gradually catching up with them. I was admiring the view - James was in a black T-shirt and very tight jeans that clung in all the right places and accentuated certain parts of his anatomy as he moved with that very distinctive walk. (Becky said that it was his walk that she noticed first and gave him away.) As we got closer I was also able to admire the back of his neck where his hair curls to a stop. For some reason I really love it!
We caught up with them on the corner and James was at the back so I just said "Morning James" and he turned saying "morning" in reply and then saw it was me. His face lit up with a big smile and he exclaimed "Rosie! Good to see you!" and waited a few moments for us to draw level, then with a naughty grin "You were just watching me wiggle my ass" and I gave a little shrug and admitted okay, yeah I was, which earned me one of those James giggles!
I said hi to Steve, Mark and Helen, then James was asking me "how are you love?" And I think I just replied fine. Mark who was now walking on the other side of me with his arms wrapped round himself said "it's a bit chilly isn't it?" at which I laughed unsympathetically and gave him a gentle slap on the arm saying "You Californian wuss! James is just wearing a T-shirt” which got me another James giggle.
Becky had been walking behind us, but now I turned towards her and said "James, this is my friend Becky. It's her first con" He immediately held out his hand and said "hello love" and they shook hands whereupon Becky was immediately struck dumb! First James fog! He then told her she shouldn't believe anything that I said about him, it was all lies and that I was atrocious, all whilst dancing slightly on his toes and grinning mockingly at me!
We were approaching the doors of the hotel now and the car that had Juliet in drew up to drop her off whereupon James broke off to point at her, calling "we beat you, we beat you!" like a big kid and then, walking backwards through the doors so he could still address us both, he smiled and said "I'm joking" and then said nice things about me, none of which either I or Becky can remember because we were both suffering from James fog by now! But I do remember him saying "it's always good when Rosie's here" as he went through the doors.
Mark lingered so I could give him a big hug and then followed James in, and Becky and I peeled off to the side, making for the nearest seat and then looked at each other and squeed madly! What a great start to the day!
It was photo ops first up, so we went to line up as James and Juliet were the first ones. It was all in one room and we got to line up in the room so we could all watch the photos being done. James seemed to be doing the standard side by side shot mostly but was posing if asked. I did see someone put their hand low on James’s hip in a picture with him and Juliet - not quite on his ass but below his belt and he very quickly and firmly moved it up to his waist. Bloody idiot - luckily it didn’t seem to put him out any. With everyone watching like that, it’s not at all conducive to gropers thank goodness - and Starfury had signs up that said any inappropriate behaviour including groping would be dealt with by the police, which was great!
It was a bit complicated - if you had more than one shot they took one, then took you out to one side and let a couple more people go first and them put you back in again, so the shots weren’t next to each other. So James was consequently treating each person as a new one and tending to go for the handshake and standard pose. I had one of my solo ones first and as I walked forward James saw it was me “Hey Rosie!” and we high-fived rather than shook hands. James put his arm round my shoulders and I asked if we could do the one where we made a heart shape with our hands - so we did - though it came out more shield shaped really. James wasn’t talking really, though the photos weren’t rushed. He was just being professional about it. Becky then came in to join me - James saying “hello love” as she came across to his other side and we just had our arms round each other. James was doing his sort of sexy face not smiling, though both Becky and I were grinning like idiots! Then I had to step out for a few people (Becky was doing her solo photos the following day) before stepping back in and I was happy to do standard pose as its easiest for him - as long as James is happy - but I said he didn’t have to do Spike face for me - so he smiled his lovely smile instead!
Steve and Mark were over to the side on the way out so I got to stop and talk to Mark for a while (and give them both their gifts) about this and that and have a hug which was lovely. Then I met up with Becky outside again and she was all giggly and James-fogged which was delightful - and made our way to the main hall as my plan was to score a good seat and the stay there right through so I was in a good position for James and Juliet’s Q and A which was on last. And score I good one I did - right on the front near the centre, so that was me sorted! Brody was on first with additional guest Neil Roberts. I didn’t know him or anything he has been in (he seems to have been in a lot of things including Charmed and Coronation Street!) but apparently he is a firm favourite at Starfury cons and as he is appearing in Mama Mia in the West End, he was only able to be there for the morning. I now have a bit of a crush on him because he proved to be hysterically funny, random, very naughty and just plain adorable. (He looks sort of like Alexis Denizof and he has great hair!) He was never lost for words, kept shooting off at tangents and leaping about and having us all in fits of laughter. It was thoroughly enjoyable and he was going to be back again for Sunday morning and promised to bring his guitar...!
Julia Lee was on next and it took me a while to click who she had been Chanterelle on Buffy in Lie To Me (didn’t Spike bite her??) and then Anne and then again under another name in Angel. This was her first ever con and she coped pretty well doing a Q and A on her own. She should have been on with Jonathan Woodward (another Starfury regular) but he had had to cancel at the last minute. Then it was Ksenia from Lost Girl. I know nothing about it, but from what was discussed it sounds like something worth checking out! She is sooo thin though - really tiny little legs.
Then it was Allan and Mariana from True Blood - another show I have never seen but am now going to check out after hearing about it. They were fun together, Allan is very sweet (and very young!) and Mariana is pretty ballsy! Had a lot of laughs in that, even when I didn’t always know what they were talking about!
And then it was the important one - James and Juliet and it was good. James sat on my side of the stage so that when he looked at Juliet whilst she was talking he was in profile to me a lot but I still got a load of fabulous photos as there was no table, just the two of them on chairs. James was very smiley and laughing a lot - him and Juliet seem to really enjoy doing Q and A’s together. First up - Dee Dee asked if they would recreate the iconic Spike and Dru pose when they roll their heads around to the camera - so they stood up and did it for us which was brilliant. Nothing new got asked and it was a lot of Spike and Buffy questions of course (with some Dresden thrown in!) and yes the JB question did come up and as ever James dealt with it in the normal way, making it sound like he had never been asked that before. But we did have Juliet’s stalker (anyone who was in Chicago may remember him from there, long rambling story with no question that the moderator had to cut off? He wrote a book about Juliet?) and he was up doing some long rambling monologues before finally getting to a question (he did bring her some flowers!) He was also doing long rambling prologues to questions for all the other guests too. Becky talked to him at one point during the weekend and said that he said he had Aspergers, which would explain a lot, and his writing seems to basically be Drusilla fan fic, but every time he got to the mic everyone’s heads went down and you could hear a collective groan and an audible mutter of “get on with it!” Juliet was unfailingly polite to him.
James did burst into song at one point - I think he was asked to sing Rest In Peace (I’d kind of tuned out the questions to a certain extent and was just enjoying the pretty man) but instead sang the first few lines of One Love, One Exception which was really cool - especially as he doesn’t sing it on the album! And when someone said that the leather wrist strap he was wearing looked like a bit like a vortex manipulator, he said no, it was jewellery for men who didn’t want to look like they were wearing jewellery (this from the man wearing a heavy silver chain round his neck!) It was a thoroughly enjoyable hour, lots of laughs and lots of lovely James!
Then it was autographs for me as a Gold ticket holder. Becky would get hers the following day. Everyone was in the one room (the same one as used for photos) and you went round to each guest and got an autograph - I got them all to sign the group photo we were given. Except for James of course - I had a different picture for him!
It was a long, slow line and on the way in the volunteers were checking what people were having signed to make sure there was nothing inappropriate. When I showed her the photo I had for James to sign she wanted to know where I had got it (one of my own from the Calgary concert) and said that it was fine but to be aware that some guests didn’t like signing some things that weren’t official. I just grinned and said “It’ll be fine - it’s James - he has signed so many weird things!”
James was the first guest you came too which explained the long line. At this con a lot of people were in it for the autographs whereas for me it’s merely incidental - it’s a chance to talk with him. As I got closer, I just admired him and he was being quite chatty if people talked to him, but quite a lot weren’t so it was unusually silent. I was determined to liven things up a bit...!
The lady in front of me had a very unusual name and James checked the spelling with her and told her it was beautiful, which kind of struck her dumb so again, it was pretty quiet just before I got there. I had no post-it on my picture (James was reading the name quickly as he was handed each photo so he could call everyone by name as he shook hands - he is so good!) so he looked up and saw it was me, grinned broadly and reached out to do the sort of shake and squeeze thing that we do calling “Hey Rosie!” as I said “Hi James” and we both laughed. I put in “It was all rather quiet and now you’re thinking “Oh no! Here comes Rosie!””
“No man!” replied James in protest, still smiling as he started to write on my picture. I quickly put in “please don’t write ‘bite me’ on it, please don’t!” (he was writing it on everyone else’s) and so he paused to look at the photo for a moment saying “You got it” and then giggled as he took in the picture of himself (it was when he was very curly at the concert!) I said “that was when you were really curly in Calgary” and he giggled some more looking at it and then said “Love it!” and I cracked up with laughter when that’s what he wrote on it.
Falling over my words like I normally do in James’s presence I asked “Its been mentioned about GOTR doing a concert - is it going to be just a concert one or more than one - at sort of Christmas/New year time?”
James nodded “yes. Yes there should be but it’ll be on the West Coast”
“Yeah - because you’re kind of limited, yes?”
“Yup” James agreed “Yeah - Sacramento”
That’s exactly what I thought it would be. Good!” James was nodding along with me “I’ll do my best” and then as I started to make moving away noises he added “Right before Christmas actually... yeah right before” and nodded to me in confirmation. Another of our squeezy handshakes “Good to see you Rosie” and he gave me that gorgeous smile and kept looking at me as I reluctantly turned away murmuring “I’ll see you later” (and then was cussing to myself a bit as I joined Juliet’s line about before Christmas meaning more expensive air fare!) (of course since then GOTR have pretty well confirmed it will actually be at the beginning on January...!)
Steve and Mark then came up to see how things were going in James’s line, and so I was able to grab Mark for a big cuddle. Steve frowned at us and said “Hands off the merchandise!” to which I protested that I wasn’t charging him at all...! Then as Steve turned away, Mark and I sneaked in another hug!
I then stood and admired James from the other side whilst I waited in Juliet’s line - I didn’t mind a bit that it was very slow moving - I had a really lovely view...! Juliet was as lovely as ever and then I went on to the others Told Julia Lee that she was really pretty, and having learned about the ‘head twisting’ scene in True Blood told Allan and Mariana that I really would have to check it out!
By now it was about 7pm ish and the plan had been to go back to the hotel and get changed in to costume whilst watching Doctor Who, but instead we ended up in McDonalds with DeeDee and Sheila (I only had chicken nuggets!) and it was good to spend some time with them. We did go back and get changed into costume number two and walked back again and we were still in time to watch the costume contest as it was running late. Both Erykah and Monika had entered - and looked amazing! - all the costumes were really good and it was hotly debated by the guests (minus James of course!) who were judging it, and eventually it was announced that Erykah had won it (her costume was a character from a video game that Juliet voices - Bio Shock?)
We then repaired to the foyer again as there was much more space for taking photos and basically we hung about there talking with everybody. It was a great time for catching up and seeing what everyone had done costume wise. There were at least 3 others in steampunk so we made a fine group together. There was an Indian wedding going on in another part of the hotel and two couples came over to see what we were about and were so pleased when they asked if they could take photos and I said yes. They thought it was brilliant when we explained what it was all about and took lots of photos (and the guys seemed rather enamoured of mine and Jules’ impressive cleavages and seemed to be pointing their cameras that way a lot...!) Later on we also had a Japanese couple who thought it was all amazing and wonderful and took loads of photos - the girl even wanted to wear my hat for one (and then exclaimed over my hair colour when I took it off!) It was great fun all round, although I never did get on the dance floor - every time I looked in, it was con dances again...! Juliet came past with her husband and stopped briefly to admire our costumes - she looked pretty stunning herself in a short black jersey dress showing off miles of leg!
We didn't stay that late as I knew I was going to have to get up and go fetch the car before we went back to the con, but on the way back we found a side street that had free parking on Sundays. And we felt much better about walking around in our costumes as we passed two girls from the con in full furry animal costumes, complete with wings and carrying their heads under their arms! Then we felt quite under-dressed...!
FRIDAY
For the Vampire Ball, I had invited con newbie and James virgin Becky from my work along for the ride. She has only been working with me since June, but I quickly discovered she was a big geek like me and so, despite the age gap (she is 19) we get on well. She was pretty excited and was perfectly willing to dress up in costume so I knew we were going to be fine. A complicated start to the trip as parking was so expensive in the hotel, I took my car and left it where I normally park when I go to Heathrow and caught the bus back. That worked out just right for us timing-wise to walk the 10 minutes or so down the road to the Renaissance hotel, where the con was, and arrive just after registration opened. It was lovely to see lots of people I hadn't seen since last December and some who I hadn't seen for even longer than that. Much delighted squeeing all round and I was very grateful to Jules who immediately befriended Becky whilst I was shooting about saying hello to everybody. Registration was easy, photo ops bought (and I bought an extra one so that Becky and I could have a picture with James together) and then I rather got distracted by the huge range of 10 x 8 photographs that Starfury were selling for all the guests. There were quite a few ones of James I'd not seen before as photographs and I couldn't resist buying the really hot one of him in Hawaii 5-0 and also one from Caprica where he is wearing the vest, shirt and jeans that I currently own!
Then it was time to go get ready for the evening, so Becky and I made our way back to our hotel and got dressed up into all our finery - her in her vamp outfit and me in my number-one steampunk costume. I quite enjoyed walking back down the road all dressed up - it's fun seeing what reaction you get from people. There was nobody much about in the foyer to begin with but then more and more people were arriving and quite a lot in costume. Some people really pull out all stops. There was a lot of photographing and admiring and not unexpectedly the opening ceremony was late starting! I went in with Jill so was sitting at the front but over to one side though still had a great view. It wasn't very long anyway, just Sean Harry giving a brief introduction to the con and introducing each of the guests. There was Brody Hutzler who was in Angel as Lorne’s cousin; Julia Lee from Buffy and Angel; Allan Hyde and Mariana Klaveno from True Blood; Ksenia Solo from Lost Girl; and of course Juliet Landau. I think some people were wondering if James would even be there for this, as he wasn't doing the meet and greet afterwards but I was pretty sure he was going to put in an appearance - and I was right! He was on last, as the headline guest along with Juliet, and as ever, just before my first view of him, when I knew I would see him in just a few more moments, I got butterflies and felt a little bit nervous and excited - somehow that makes the first sight all the more sweet. And there he was, making a typical James entrance, striding onto the stage to much yelling and whooping - that man knows how to work a room! And he looked really good in his "love conquers hate" T-shirt and with his hair having a bit of curl in it. Can't remember exactly what he said, mostly it was looking forward to meeting everybody. I got a couple of photographs but each of them was only on stage for about 30 seconds. It didn't really matter because he was here and that was the main thing.
From there all the gold ticket holders went to the meet and greet in another room. Here everyone got to sit round tables and the guests were brought to the tables in turn. It was a bit sad there was no James but it was still quite fun, even though I didn't actually know who any of them really were apart from Juliet. Brody proved to be quite flirty which was fun, Allan was a total sweetie and Julia and Ksenia admired my costume. We had some rather long gaps in between guests, and then like buses we got two at once! Though we filled in the gaps having a hilarious time remembering all the details from the sitcom “’Allo ‘Allo” for some reason and quoting all the classic lines.
It ended up going on very late as Juliet was taking her time with each table and so we didn't get her until gone 11 PM, but then she stayed twice as long as any of the others, ignoring her handlers signs to move on! We ended up talking about flying and airlines, just fun conversation. She is so lovely!
Getting back out into the foyer I found Becky and she was okay, though a bit fed up as everybody seemed to be hitting on her, and not just the guys! She had made friends but wasn't that bothered about going into the party. We did go in, as I do like to have a bit of a dance, but they seem to have got onto the con dances, and when the Macarena came on, it was definitely time to quit!
SATURDAY
Saturday was a leisurely start as we didn't need to be at the con until 10.45 for the photo ops with James. But we set off in reasonable time and walked on the sunny side of the road which took us past the Radisson hotel. Just as we got by it a car was coming out and there was Juliet in it waving to us, so I waved back (Becky didn't see her) as they drove out. That was a good start to the day, but then it got all that much better!
Just a bit further down the road Becky suddenly said "isn’t that....?” and waved her arm at the group of people crossing the road a bit further ahead of us. I looked, and yes it was. I recognised Steve first and then just dropped my eyes down and right behind him, there was James. They were obviously walking to the con from the Radisson, along with Mark and Helen. Trying to remain calm I said "Yes, that is James" and then "Come on!" We hurried down to the crossing and went over the road and so we were about 30 yards behind them, with quite a way to go to the hotel. Both Becky and I walk fairly fast so we were gradually catching up with them. I was admiring the view - James was in a black T-shirt and very tight jeans that clung in all the right places and accentuated certain parts of his anatomy as he moved with that very distinctive walk. (Becky said that it was his walk that she noticed first and gave him away.) As we got closer I was also able to admire the back of his neck where his hair curls to a stop. For some reason I really love it!
We caught up with them on the corner and James was at the back so I just said "Morning James" and he turned saying "morning" in reply and then saw it was me. His face lit up with a big smile and he exclaimed "Rosie! Good to see you!" and waited a few moments for us to draw level, then with a naughty grin "You were just watching me wiggle my ass" and I gave a little shrug and admitted okay, yeah I was, which earned me one of those James giggles!
I said hi to Steve, Mark and Helen, then James was asking me "how are you love?" And I think I just replied fine. Mark who was now walking on the other side of me with his arms wrapped round himself said "it's a bit chilly isn't it?" at which I laughed unsympathetically and gave him a gentle slap on the arm saying "You Californian wuss! James is just wearing a T-shirt” which got me another James giggle.
Becky had been walking behind us, but now I turned towards her and said "James, this is my friend Becky. It's her first con" He immediately held out his hand and said "hello love" and they shook hands whereupon Becky was immediately struck dumb! First James fog! He then told her she shouldn't believe anything that I said about him, it was all lies and that I was atrocious, all whilst dancing slightly on his toes and grinning mockingly at me!
We were approaching the doors of the hotel now and the car that had Juliet in drew up to drop her off whereupon James broke off to point at her, calling "we beat you, we beat you!" like a big kid and then, walking backwards through the doors so he could still address us both, he smiled and said "I'm joking" and then said nice things about me, none of which either I or Becky can remember because we were both suffering from James fog by now! But I do remember him saying "it's always good when Rosie's here" as he went through the doors.
Mark lingered so I could give him a big hug and then followed James in, and Becky and I peeled off to the side, making for the nearest seat and then looked at each other and squeed madly! What a great start to the day!
It was photo ops first up, so we went to line up as James and Juliet were the first ones. It was all in one room and we got to line up in the room so we could all watch the photos being done. James seemed to be doing the standard side by side shot mostly but was posing if asked. I did see someone put their hand low on James’s hip in a picture with him and Juliet - not quite on his ass but below his belt and he very quickly and firmly moved it up to his waist. Bloody idiot - luckily it didn’t seem to put him out any. With everyone watching like that, it’s not at all conducive to gropers thank goodness - and Starfury had signs up that said any inappropriate behaviour including groping would be dealt with by the police, which was great!
It was a bit complicated - if you had more than one shot they took one, then took you out to one side and let a couple more people go first and them put you back in again, so the shots weren’t next to each other. So James was consequently treating each person as a new one and tending to go for the handshake and standard pose. I had one of my solo ones first and as I walked forward James saw it was me “Hey Rosie!” and we high-fived rather than shook hands. James put his arm round my shoulders and I asked if we could do the one where we made a heart shape with our hands - so we did - though it came out more shield shaped really. James wasn’t talking really, though the photos weren’t rushed. He was just being professional about it. Becky then came in to join me - James saying “hello love” as she came across to his other side and we just had our arms round each other. James was doing his sort of sexy face not smiling, though both Becky and I were grinning like idiots! Then I had to step out for a few people (Becky was doing her solo photos the following day) before stepping back in and I was happy to do standard pose as its easiest for him - as long as James is happy - but I said he didn’t have to do Spike face for me - so he smiled his lovely smile instead!
Steve and Mark were over to the side on the way out so I got to stop and talk to Mark for a while (and give them both their gifts) about this and that and have a hug which was lovely. Then I met up with Becky outside again and she was all giggly and James-fogged which was delightful - and made our way to the main hall as my plan was to score a good seat and the stay there right through so I was in a good position for James and Juliet’s Q and A which was on last. And score I good one I did - right on the front near the centre, so that was me sorted! Brody was on first with additional guest Neil Roberts. I didn’t know him or anything he has been in (he seems to have been in a lot of things including Charmed and Coronation Street!) but apparently he is a firm favourite at Starfury cons and as he is appearing in Mama Mia in the West End, he was only able to be there for the morning. I now have a bit of a crush on him because he proved to be hysterically funny, random, very naughty and just plain adorable. (He looks sort of like Alexis Denizof and he has great hair!) He was never lost for words, kept shooting off at tangents and leaping about and having us all in fits of laughter. It was thoroughly enjoyable and he was going to be back again for Sunday morning and promised to bring his guitar...!
Julia Lee was on next and it took me a while to click who she had been Chanterelle on Buffy in Lie To Me (didn’t Spike bite her??) and then Anne and then again under another name in Angel. This was her first ever con and she coped pretty well doing a Q and A on her own. She should have been on with Jonathan Woodward (another Starfury regular) but he had had to cancel at the last minute. Then it was Ksenia from Lost Girl. I know nothing about it, but from what was discussed it sounds like something worth checking out! She is sooo thin though - really tiny little legs.
Then it was Allan and Mariana from True Blood - another show I have never seen but am now going to check out after hearing about it. They were fun together, Allan is very sweet (and very young!) and Mariana is pretty ballsy! Had a lot of laughs in that, even when I didn’t always know what they were talking about!
And then it was the important one - James and Juliet and it was good. James sat on my side of the stage so that when he looked at Juliet whilst she was talking he was in profile to me a lot but I still got a load of fabulous photos as there was no table, just the two of them on chairs. James was very smiley and laughing a lot - him and Juliet seem to really enjoy doing Q and A’s together. First up - Dee Dee asked if they would recreate the iconic Spike and Dru pose when they roll their heads around to the camera - so they stood up and did it for us which was brilliant. Nothing new got asked and it was a lot of Spike and Buffy questions of course (with some Dresden thrown in!) and yes the JB question did come up and as ever James dealt with it in the normal way, making it sound like he had never been asked that before. But we did have Juliet’s stalker (anyone who was in Chicago may remember him from there, long rambling story with no question that the moderator had to cut off? He wrote a book about Juliet?) and he was up doing some long rambling monologues before finally getting to a question (he did bring her some flowers!) He was also doing long rambling prologues to questions for all the other guests too. Becky talked to him at one point during the weekend and said that he said he had Aspergers, which would explain a lot, and his writing seems to basically be Drusilla fan fic, but every time he got to the mic everyone’s heads went down and you could hear a collective groan and an audible mutter of “get on with it!” Juliet was unfailingly polite to him.
James did burst into song at one point - I think he was asked to sing Rest In Peace (I’d kind of tuned out the questions to a certain extent and was just enjoying the pretty man) but instead sang the first few lines of One Love, One Exception which was really cool - especially as he doesn’t sing it on the album! And when someone said that the leather wrist strap he was wearing looked like a bit like a vortex manipulator, he said no, it was jewellery for men who didn’t want to look like they were wearing jewellery (this from the man wearing a heavy silver chain round his neck!) It was a thoroughly enjoyable hour, lots of laughs and lots of lovely James!
Then it was autographs for me as a Gold ticket holder. Becky would get hers the following day. Everyone was in the one room (the same one as used for photos) and you went round to each guest and got an autograph - I got them all to sign the group photo we were given. Except for James of course - I had a different picture for him!
It was a long, slow line and on the way in the volunteers were checking what people were having signed to make sure there was nothing inappropriate. When I showed her the photo I had for James to sign she wanted to know where I had got it (one of my own from the Calgary concert) and said that it was fine but to be aware that some guests didn’t like signing some things that weren’t official. I just grinned and said “It’ll be fine - it’s James - he has signed so many weird things!”
James was the first guest you came too which explained the long line. At this con a lot of people were in it for the autographs whereas for me it’s merely incidental - it’s a chance to talk with him. As I got closer, I just admired him and he was being quite chatty if people talked to him, but quite a lot weren’t so it was unusually silent. I was determined to liven things up a bit...!
The lady in front of me had a very unusual name and James checked the spelling with her and told her it was beautiful, which kind of struck her dumb so again, it was pretty quiet just before I got there. I had no post-it on my picture (James was reading the name quickly as he was handed each photo so he could call everyone by name as he shook hands - he is so good!) so he looked up and saw it was me, grinned broadly and reached out to do the sort of shake and squeeze thing that we do calling “Hey Rosie!” as I said “Hi James” and we both laughed. I put in “It was all rather quiet and now you’re thinking “Oh no! Here comes Rosie!””
“No man!” replied James in protest, still smiling as he started to write on my picture. I quickly put in “please don’t write ‘bite me’ on it, please don’t!” (he was writing it on everyone else’s) and so he paused to look at the photo for a moment saying “You got it” and then giggled as he took in the picture of himself (it was when he was very curly at the concert!) I said “that was when you were really curly in Calgary” and he giggled some more looking at it and then said “Love it!” and I cracked up with laughter when that’s what he wrote on it.
Falling over my words like I normally do in James’s presence I asked “Its been mentioned about GOTR doing a concert - is it going to be just a concert one or more than one - at sort of Christmas/New year time?”
James nodded “yes. Yes there should be but it’ll be on the West Coast”
“Yeah - because you’re kind of limited, yes?”
“Yup” James agreed “Yeah - Sacramento”
That’s exactly what I thought it would be. Good!” James was nodding along with me “I’ll do my best” and then as I started to make moving away noises he added “Right before Christmas actually... yeah right before” and nodded to me in confirmation. Another of our squeezy handshakes “Good to see you Rosie” and he gave me that gorgeous smile and kept looking at me as I reluctantly turned away murmuring “I’ll see you later” (and then was cussing to myself a bit as I joined Juliet’s line about before Christmas meaning more expensive air fare!) (of course since then GOTR have pretty well confirmed it will actually be at the beginning on January...!)
Steve and Mark then came up to see how things were going in James’s line, and so I was able to grab Mark for a big cuddle. Steve frowned at us and said “Hands off the merchandise!” to which I protested that I wasn’t charging him at all...! Then as Steve turned away, Mark and I sneaked in another hug!
I then stood and admired James from the other side whilst I waited in Juliet’s line - I didn’t mind a bit that it was very slow moving - I had a really lovely view...! Juliet was as lovely as ever and then I went on to the others Told Julia Lee that she was really pretty, and having learned about the ‘head twisting’ scene in True Blood told Allan and Mariana that I really would have to check it out!
By now it was about 7pm ish and the plan had been to go back to the hotel and get changed in to costume whilst watching Doctor Who, but instead we ended up in McDonalds with DeeDee and Sheila (I only had chicken nuggets!) and it was good to spend some time with them. We did go back and get changed into costume number two and walked back again and we were still in time to watch the costume contest as it was running late. Both Erykah and Monika had entered - and looked amazing! - all the costumes were really good and it was hotly debated by the guests (minus James of course!) who were judging it, and eventually it was announced that Erykah had won it (her costume was a character from a video game that Juliet voices - Bio Shock?)
We then repaired to the foyer again as there was much more space for taking photos and basically we hung about there talking with everybody. It was a great time for catching up and seeing what everyone had done costume wise. There were at least 3 others in steampunk so we made a fine group together. There was an Indian wedding going on in another part of the hotel and two couples came over to see what we were about and were so pleased when they asked if they could take photos and I said yes. They thought it was brilliant when we explained what it was all about and took lots of photos (and the guys seemed rather enamoured of mine and Jules’ impressive cleavages and seemed to be pointing their cameras that way a lot...!) Later on we also had a Japanese couple who thought it was all amazing and wonderful and took loads of photos - the girl even wanted to wear my hat for one (and then exclaimed over my hair colour when I took it off!) It was great fun all round, although I never did get on the dance floor - every time I looked in, it was con dances again...! Juliet came past with her husband and stopped briefly to admire our costumes - she looked pretty stunning herself in a short black jersey dress showing off miles of leg!
We didn't stay that late as I knew I was going to have to get up and go fetch the car before we went back to the con, but on the way back we found a side street that had free parking on Sundays. And we felt much better about walking around in our costumes as we passed two girls from the con in full furry animal costumes, complete with wings and carrying their heads under their arms! Then we felt quite under-dressed...!