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soulmatejunkee) wrote2012-06-10 10:14 pm
soulmatejunkee) wrote2012-06-10 10:14 pm
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Back from Cologne and OMG...
...I am so flashed, I expect a breakdown this evening. I don't know what to say, I don't know what to think, it was so much, it was so amazing, it was so chaotic, I am so fucking tired and I can't even describe you how much my feet hurt.
I don't think I'll be able to give you the full report yet, it's just too much. I try.
Friday way chaotic! We arrived at Cologne with the car, totally in time and then we drove around for 90 (!) minutes just to find a place to park the fucking car. My sweet Eli![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
santa_elidan tried to help me, but Cologne really didn't give us a nicely welcome. Pfff...! In the end I was so annoyed that I decided to park anywhere, and risked to get a ticket. I got one, but what the fuck... I don't care!
Then I walked to the Maritim Hotel and thank god I was found bypam81 and manueladb immediately, so that I hadn't to wait alone in the line (Number 1). We were waiting there for 3,5 hours to get our ticket accreditation - which didn't need more than 2 minutes for each of us. Later we've heard that there was a computer problem and that this was the reason why we had to wait so long. Of course that wasn't very helpful for the mood... but whatever! We got our tickets during 5 PM and so we still had 2 hours before we had to be that the "Pub (Club)".
With Susi (honey, you're not on my f-list, I forgot your name, please friend me), who we met there, too, I went to subway and later we met Pam and Manu and their friend (oooops, forgot her name! Sooo sorry...) again and took a taxi to the club (Line number 2!).
Our feet hurt already from standing around more than 4 hours that day, and we had a so called VIP place (only for Loft- and Diner-Tickets) with some (!) places to sit down. Okay... later the Loft-People went to their special VIP place, close to ours, but of course the better one. And then the actors came.
I'm sorry that I can't show you any pictures, but I left my camera at the hotel on friday *sigh*. I have no doubt that there will be tons and tons of pictures from that night.
Michelle arrived, Harris followed her - I barely recognized him, they were so fast. Hal came with his girlfriend, then Thea and Robert, and Peter, Scott (who got an amazing welcome!), Randy and then Sharon. They went to the Loft-VIP-Area, but... they came back, at least for a while.
First Scott and what can I tell you? That man is so fucking incredible, so amazing, so lovely and so sweet. He had absolutely no fear of contact, he took our hands, he hugged and he kissed some of us (aspam81 never got tired to tell us that night: "I kissed Scott!").
After Scott, Robert came back to where we were and what can I say about that man? Actually only that I had no idea how incredible he is. He's so sweet, he's so nice, he's smiling all the time and he gave us a little (!) dance-show. Not as much hugging and touching as with Scott, but anyway... a real real Sweetheart. That man is one of my beautifulest memories of this Convention (and not only because he is fucking beautiful!).
Scott brought us Peter Paige in the front. He seemed a little shy at the beginning, but that changed after a while. He was also very lovely, gave us his brightest smile and where ever you saw Scott and Peter together, you had fun and Entertainment. These two together are absolutely stunning and funny!
The girls - Thea and Michelle - came up to us, too, for a short moment and gave us a little dance show. No contact here. It seemed as if most of them where overwhelmed. Except for Randy, no one had been on a Convention before - as much as I know.
Randy... yeah well *LOL* - first of all let me say, he's so beautiful. He looks sooo much better in real than on pictures or even onscreen. Amazing! Of course we were all waiting for him and of course he let us wait and when he finally came and went to the bar he managed to sit down right beside us, we could've touched him easily (what we didn't do of course), but didn't turn around to us to give us at least one little chance to get a good picture of him. (There are tons of beautiful pictures of him from that night. Some were lucks enough to be closer to the stage so they saw the actors at the VIP Lounge all night and took thousands of pictures!)
Sharon left pretty fast, it was said she didn't feel well. That woman is 69... it's totally okay for me. She was there, she was so lovely, so nice and so obviously overwhelmed (as she later also told us!). Hal followed her a few minutes later, he told us the next day that he was tired because of jet lag and was already tired during their press conference in the afternoon.
In the Harris and Randy where the only ones left. The evening ended at 11.30 PM, when they left.
Next morning we met at 7.30 AM (short night!) for breakfast, since the whole program was supposed to start at 9 AM. Okay, waiting for the actors (Line number 3!). We tried to do the best out of it, our feet still hurt, didn't get better! So, here arepam81 and me!
When we finally got in we had really good places in the second line on the chairs. And it got full! There where a lot of people and a lot more than the day before!
So I was thankful for my Diner Ticket. One hour too late the program started. We had moderators - sorry, don't remember their names - and they introduced the cast. Mh, nice... yeah, but honestly, we know who they are, don't we? First of all Scott got his applause for being the one who made this Convention possible, together with Elkereiselust161 and practically everyone got their standing ovations when they came in.
(Sharon, Randy, Thea, Michelle, Hal, Robert, Peter, Harris, Scott)
There were ... I don't know, 4-5 questions from the audience, nothing I remember now, before they told us that they have to stop the questions because we got late for the autographs - one hour too late. And honestly, now the chaos started - and also line number 4!
First the Loft-Tickets got their autographs, then the Diner's - so me too. And what can I say? They were really lovely and so patiently. Everyone of them asked for our names and some of them asked us where we were from, we all (!!) got personal inscriptions and lovely smiles or even handshakes or hugs. So of course, with 500 people in the room, they weren't done in time! And at 1.45 PM (when they already should've been done for 45 minutes) they told us that the actors needed a break and that they would finish the autographs for everyone later. But later also the photo-sessions started...
Okay, anyway, the break. We had Diner Tickets and so we were done, happy and satisfied with our autographs and we went for lunch. You can say we entertained the entire restaurant *LOL*
Here you have Susi, Jemma (a girl from Australia) andpam81:
And then alsomanueladb and me:
We went back, the autographs were still going on and after a while they told us, that Randy would now leave the autographs for doing his pictures. So some people missed him for the autograph, but they had been told they would get it later. Randy got upstairs for the Single-pictures some had booked with him.
All the other actors were still there to write their autographs.
When they were done, Randy was still gone and the Panels started. It was absolutely okay to still watch the panels when you had to go take a picture (line number 5; definitely the fastest line) (and Randy wasn't the only one up there to take pictures after they were done signing), because the room we were on had a balcony. The problem was that for some reason you had to wait in a line (number 6) to give them your ticket number and they searched for your picture on the computer to associate it with your number. And this line was the worst line, because so many people waited there for more than 2 hours and so missed half of the panels!
And honestly that sucks! Because the panels were great! All of them. Peter and Scott were hilarious and funny and cute! Hal, Robert and Harris were lovely (Hal loves to talk *LOL*). The girls were sweet and wow, Thea has power and a real passion when it comes to women sexuality. Some questions from fans were really good and we got some nice answers. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't really go into details very deep here.
Peter and Scott talked about their work together and especially about the Ted-Story in Season 3 and about Drugs and Crystal Meth and how they loved to work together and that Ted and Emmett originally were planed to be just Michaels best friends, but because of their real life friendship, the writers wrote storylines for these two. And Peter was really sweet when someone asked him about Drew and Emmet and why they didn't end up together and he said, that the writers didn't want everybody to be in a happily ever after ending (YEAH; WE KNOW!), but that he's sure that Drew and Emmett got back together after a year! Yay!
Hal, Robert and Harris talked about their time together, how close they were - especially Hal and Harris were really close during their time in Canada - and about the HIV/AIDS storyline and how to play it. To the question what they think about the future for Ben/Michael/Hunter, since they ended up as happy family, they were concur that "Ben got 110 years old" (Robert) and "...he's the healthiest of the 3" (Hal), since "Michael gained at least 10 pound" (Hal).
The girls talked mostly about the sexuality of women and then the question came up about Sam and Lindsay and Thea told us how she was the character of Lindsay. She got really passionate about being free to live your life the way you have to, to be happy. Both women are very active in working for equal rights and as I said, they had a passion for it.
Then they had a panel about homophobia. Thea, Peter and Robert, the moderators and some other people discussed it. A great discussion. During that time I got my picture with Sharon done and also ended up in that horrible line! But after Pam was already so pissed because she had missed 2 Panels because of it, I stayed close to the door to make sure that I wouldn't miss the Randy/Sharon Panel.
Anyway, here's my picture with Sharon Gless (klick to enlarge):
She's such a lovely lady, so sweet, so nice. When she saw me she said "Wow, you look like me when I was younger". Okay, I so disagree here, but who am I to object Sharon Gless? She even told the photographer "Look at her, doesn't she look like me - a lot younger of course". I was the last picture for her. During that time, Randy was already done and down to give the rest of his autographs (they really shooed him! Autographs, pictures, autographs, pictures again, panel... up, down, up down...).
I was supposed to also get a picture with Randy, Robert and Peter; but they were so fucking late because of the autographs, that they told us we would get the rest of the pictures done the next day. Mh... ooookay. I didn't like that. I wanted my pictures to be done. But I couldn't change it.
They left out the Panel with Robert, Randy & Peter - without saying a word. WTF!
Sharon and Randy were the last Panel for that day. The day was supposed to end at 7 PM... it ended at 8!
When they came on stage and sat down Sharon said "I'm Gale Harold"! *LOL*
Of course Randy was asked about Justin (and Brian) and of course a lot of people already knew his latest interview for the German magazine, but I have to say he was very polite. He tried to avoid the answer, said "Whatever I'm going to say, it's all fiction". *LOL* Poor boy, he probably never finds a fan who agrees with him! Anyway, it was Sharon (!) who then asked him if he thinks that Justin would ever fall out of love with Brian. Isn't she just great? Now he had to answer and said, that if Justin would stay in New York - as Randy wants for him, because he wants Justin to become successful, with every kind of art ever, since the boy was doing practically everything - their relationship would change. Actually, I think this isn't a bad answer, but of course he got the disagreement from the audience and sort of gave up (in a funny way). He seemed a little helpless, he knew how we would react and we knew we wouldn't get the answer we wanted to have. He really tried to avoid that theme *LOOL*. He was so cute.
Sharon talked about Debbie and how she read the script and wanted to play that woman and always kept touching Randy and called him "Sunshine" all the time and always said "Look at him" (we did!). They were adorable. Look at that sweet handkiss:
They talked about their first scene together and Sharon told us that this had been her first scene for the show and Randy said, he had been very nervous to work with Sharon Gless. Someone asked for their favorite scene together. We all agreed it would be the scene on the stairs when they talked about the divorce of Justin's parents and the Art school.
They had a lot of fun and so had we, they were incredible. They were ALL incredible that day. Very lovely, very nice and very patient.
We had 2 hours time before we had to be at the "Gallery" Club! (Line number... 7)! Mh, okay. For me this club was quite a let down, honestly. It wasn't that bad as a location, but it was not a good location for a crowd like ours and there was only one VIP area - for the Loft's. And that was not what we - the Diners - had booked. Our ticket promised us a VIP space, too. Free sight to the actors. We hadn't that. HUGE disappointment. The Club was full (!) and it would've been half as disappointing if they would've at least had played better music. But this BUMM BUMM BUMM thing was... no!
Anyway... Robert, Scott, Randy, Peter and Michelle came to the Club. Somewhere in the crowd (not really a place where Randy feels very comfortable, right?) we could "see" them when they crossed the club. And that was it... at least we thought so and now we're coming to the part about Robert Gant being one of my most beautifulest memories of this weekend:
He came back to our area and crawled into the cage and danced for us. During that time another D.J. arrived and gave some less BUMM BUMM BUMM music and some good old "Babylon" music. Even the glitter fell down.
And it got better: From the cage he went to a balcony above our area and danced there - together with Michelle. Then we saw Peter and Scott above, too and when Michelle left the balcony, Peter joined Robert for a while before he danced there alone. And really girls, they were dancing. It was cool - it saved the night for me. Scott and Peter gave us another "show" on the balcony, these two could easily go on tour as comedians! So funny! *LOL*
So, I got over the fact that this was so not what I expected it to be. And there was not enough Babylon Music. After what seemed to be an eternity we FINALLY got "Proud" but it was so short. Too short! But okay, we got it, we got a show, we got fun and what can say other than Scott, Peter and Robert made this weekend even more wonderful and incredible and unforgettable. :)
Okay, my feet were almost killing me and it got even worse when I came to my hotel at 2.15 AM and went to bed. OUCH! "Rise in lines" ... Susi came up with it! *LOL*
So, very very short night! We met at 7.30 AM again for breakfast because there were still pictures to do and then the Meet & Greets and the City Walk and the Flashmop they had planed and the Panel and the goodbye...
We were there, we got in - Line number 8 - and JESUS! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to do any pictures so I can only tell you what was going on: We were sitting there and Elke told us that we had to do pictures pretty fast because we hadn't much time and no space for that day. Okay, we knew that. But then it got really weird, it felt like military school:
Sit down
Be silent, if you're not you all have to wait outside!
No fotos! If we see you making fotos this will be done!
Mh! Hello?! It wasn't our fault that the timetable went out of control on Saturday, was it? Okay, they started with the couples and threesomes they had left out the last day. I was excited, finally I would get my pic with Randy, Peter and Robert. At least I thought so. I was sitting there with Manu (and all the others who had booked an "ALL-Cast Picture" and it was all the time like: "Be SILENT" "NO FOTOS" "FAST FAST FAST" - People ran through the room.
Scott and Peter made a little fun on the stage, we laughed. OMG, I thought she might kill us for that!
Strange.
And then she said that they had to stop now and that the people who hadn't gotten their pictures would get it in the late afternoon because they had to do the ALL Cast pictures now, because of the timetable.
Mpf! Fuck you! I slept like 2 hours that night, got up at 5.45 AM to be in time for the picture, I was willing to do it FAST FAST FAST and now I had to wait another 7 hours?! Lord was I pissed!
You should've seen how they did the ALL Cast pictures. Actually most of that pics turned out really good in the end, but people were practically RUNNING over the stage, sat down in the middle of the cast, smiled and jumped up again so that the next one could start RUNNING. *LOOL*
Now I can laugh about it, because it was just funny to watch, but this morning it hadn't been funny, not at all.
Okay, Elke told us to leave the room if we're not in the ALL Cast group and so I left - pissed - and went to get my picture with Sharon from the day before. (Line number 9)
We hurried up to be in time for the Meet & Greets, that were supposed to start at 10.30 (11.00/11.30/12.00) and guess what? It started 20 minutes later. (But I got Line 10, 11 and 12 out of it) And so of course we hadn't our 25 minutes with each group. Should've been a let down, I'm sure some people complain about it. The only M&G I would've enjoyed for longer was the one with Peter and Scott, for the others the time was enough.
I started with Hal, Harris and Robert. Again, all about Ben and Michael and a little bit about Hunter. Nice, it was nice. They were nice, very lovely.
The second one was Randy and Sharon... *LOL* Can you imagine 20 speechless girls? Yes! Barely anyone asked something. Sharon asked us, if we would feel uncomfortable. I'm absolutely sure we all wanted to ask Mr. Harrison the same things, but no one did because we also knew that we wouldn't get the answer we wanted to hear! But, we got something else. They talked about doing auditions, Randy told us how he learned his texts and it was very nice and interesting and funny, both of them were very comfortable and relaxed (no pictures allowed, sorry).
And then someone asked them if they would do QAF again and BOTH (!) said "Yes, if the script would be a good one, why not?" Okay, honestly, did anyone expect Randy Harrison to say that he WOULD be willing to play Justin Taylor again? (Not that it will ever happen!) Randy said that a Reunion, as good as the script could be, would definitely disappoint the fans. And he's right.
The third M&G were Peter and Scott - these two, I already told you... pure Entertainment, so adorable, so funny, so cute. They told us some "Insiders" about doing some scenes. Peter told us how he was doing a scene with Sharon once and that they had to wait up the stairs (which didn't lead them anywhere so they were pressed at the wall) and then Sharon burped and nodded "Big Girl" and he fell down the stairs laughing and it was almost impossible for them to do the scene after that.
Scott told us to try to listen to the "background"-sounds/talks of Emmett and Ted when they were in the back of a scene, because some of these conversations were hilarious. He told us that he had re-watched the entire show for the Con and found a lot of the background-scenes with Ted and Emmett. We have to check that out *LOL*!
Being asked how funny the rest of the Cast was, they told us that they were all really funny. "Randy is a very funny guy, you wouldn't believe that", Peter told us.
And last but not least, the girls. Very quiet, both of them. Their voices were so quietly. Michelle was really funny talking about Melanie and sexuality and Lindsay and Brian, she had a very sarcastic way to talk about it, it was really nice.
And that was it, they started their city walk and we went for lunch! I wanted to get my picture done!
The Flashmop turned out to be a picture on the stairs at the Kölner Dom with flags from every country.
Then we went back to the hotel and waited - no line this time - for the pictures to be done. And then they came up and told us that the actors agreed in 30 minutes for the last pictures and the pics that wouldn't be done in that time wouldn't be done at all. HUH?!
They had a list with all the constellations that had to be done. It was... dramatic. So to say. We had to stand in a line and of course my constellation wasn't on that fucking list and that guy told me that I had to take Picture with Randy, Peter, Robert and Scott, because he wouldn't be able to "remove" Scott for my picture (as if I would ask for that).
But ... this whole FAST FAST FAST and "DO A LINE" and panic they made was so not productive for the whole thing! Were we supposed to be scared to not getting a picture we paid for?! We were getting nervous and annoyed!
It was funny - well, NOW I can say it's kinda funny. Back then it wasn't so much. They changed the actors for almost every picture. In/Out, In/Out... Scott and Sharon had some fun (and so did we while watching them)! *LOL*
The actors seemed totally relaxed - but very very tired! Especially Robert almost fell asleep while standing on stage. Poor guys, really. And we all knew that, we were tired too, our nights hadn't been any longer either, so it's not that we wanted to torture them, but again - it wasn't our fault that the timetable was such a mess and that they sold so many pictures and hadn't planed enough time to do them.
Whatever... all I wanted was a picture with a smiling Randy. And look what I got:
I have no idea why it's b/w, I have to scan it again. Something's wrong. But then, my face was really red because of all the panic they made us and it's probably better in b/w. *LOL* But come on, aren't they just beautiful? Totally tired, but as soon as someone came up for a picture they all smiled to give us some beautiful memories.
Scott said "Hi" and when we were done Randy looked at me and said "Thank you" and I thought I'm willing to fall on my knees right in front of you to thank you for doing that fucking picture, but I just answered "I thank you" - I want to keep him. He's really adorable. They were all so sweet.
Okay, I got my picture and was happy and we watched them doing all their pics and their little show and had some fun and relaxed and in the end, every picture was done.
So, the Sunday had been a little weird. Unnecessary, IMO. But okay.
It was a huge Event and so it was pretty clear that not everything would turn out perfectly and in the end, we all got what we ordered and wanted to have. We had a lot of fun together and as I said, the actors were all very very nice.
We got a last Panel with all of them and we were allowed to ask every actor one question. I think I will never ever get over that guy who got the last question for Randy asked him "Do you like tall guys?". Really? Last possible question of that event for Randy Harrison and that's it? Randy was happy about that *LOL* - he was totally cute when he realized he was done after answering with "Yes" *LOL*. But we were not very amused about that idiot. If you don't have a good question, don't raise your hand. *sigh*
The others got better questions. I don't remember all of them, but hey, there sure will be up some videos, soon.
For the goodbye every actor was supposed to tell us one moment of the Convention he liked a lot. Of course that didn't work with "one moment" *LOL*. They all gave us beautiful answers with a lot of "Thank you" and they all said that it was also so wonderful to see each other again and how overwhelmed they were because of all the love they got from their fans all around the world (people came from 40 different countries). Sharon and Michelle cried and in the end, Scott cried, too.
They got Standing Ovations and then they left and came back and Scott got down from the stage to us and now, I can sing as loud as Pam: I KISSED SCOTT LOWELL. He's such a sweetheart, such a great guy.
So... this weekend was amazing. It was wonderful. It hadn't been perfect and my feet are still almost killing me ... but WTF, it was so worth it. This will (likely) never happen again. And I met so many lovely people there - including the actors. It was wonderful.
So I needed 3 hours to get this post done.
I don't think I'll be able to give you the full report yet, it's just too much. I try.
Friday way chaotic! We arrived at Cologne with the car, totally in time and then we drove around for 90 (!) minutes just to find a place to park the fucking car. My sweet Eli
santa_elidan tried to help me, but Cologne really didn't give us a nicely welcome. Pfff...! In the end I was so annoyed that I decided to park anywhere, and risked to get a ticket. I got one, but what the fuck... I don't care!Then I walked to the Maritim Hotel and thank god I was found by
pam81 and manueladb immediately, so that I hadn't to wait alone in the line (Number 1). We were waiting there for 3,5 hours to get our ticket accreditation - which didn't need more than 2 minutes for each of us. Later we've heard that there was a computer problem and that this was the reason why we had to wait so long. Of course that wasn't very helpful for the mood... but whatever! We got our tickets during 5 PM and so we still had 2 hours before we had to be that the "Pub (Club)".With Susi (honey, you're not on my f-list, I forgot your name, please friend me), who we met there, too, I went to subway and later we met Pam and Manu and their friend (oooops, forgot her name! Sooo sorry...) again and took a taxi to the club (Line number 2!).
Our feet hurt already from standing around more than 4 hours that day, and we had a so called VIP place (only for Loft- and Diner-Tickets) with some (!) places to sit down. Okay... later the Loft-People went to their special VIP place, close to ours, but of course the better one. And then the actors came.
I'm sorry that I can't show you any pictures, but I left my camera at the hotel on friday *sigh*. I have no doubt that there will be tons and tons of pictures from that night.
Michelle arrived, Harris followed her - I barely recognized him, they were so fast. Hal came with his girlfriend, then Thea and Robert, and Peter, Scott (who got an amazing welcome!), Randy and then Sharon. They went to the Loft-VIP-Area, but... they came back, at least for a while.
First Scott and what can I tell you? That man is so fucking incredible, so amazing, so lovely and so sweet. He had absolutely no fear of contact, he took our hands, he hugged and he kissed some of us (as
pam81 never got tired to tell us that night: "I kissed Scott!").After Scott, Robert came back to where we were and what can I say about that man? Actually only that I had no idea how incredible he is. He's so sweet, he's so nice, he's smiling all the time and he gave us a little (!) dance-show. Not as much hugging and touching as with Scott, but anyway... a real real Sweetheart. That man is one of my beautifulest memories of this Convention (and not only because he is fucking beautiful!).
Scott brought us Peter Paige in the front. He seemed a little shy at the beginning, but that changed after a while. He was also very lovely, gave us his brightest smile and where ever you saw Scott and Peter together, you had fun and Entertainment. These two together are absolutely stunning and funny!
The girls - Thea and Michelle - came up to us, too, for a short moment and gave us a little dance show. No contact here. It seemed as if most of them where overwhelmed. Except for Randy, no one had been on a Convention before - as much as I know.
Randy... yeah well *LOL* - first of all let me say, he's so beautiful. He looks sooo much better in real than on pictures or even onscreen. Amazing! Of course we were all waiting for him and of course he let us wait and when he finally came and went to the bar he managed to sit down right beside us, we could've touched him easily (what we didn't do of course), but didn't turn around to us to give us at least one little chance to get a good picture of him. (There are tons of beautiful pictures of him from that night. Some were lucks enough to be closer to the stage so they saw the actors at the VIP Lounge all night and took thousands of pictures!)
Sharon left pretty fast, it was said she didn't feel well. That woman is 69... it's totally okay for me. She was there, she was so lovely, so nice and so obviously overwhelmed (as she later also told us!). Hal followed her a few minutes later, he told us the next day that he was tired because of jet lag and was already tired during their press conference in the afternoon.
In the Harris and Randy where the only ones left. The evening ended at 11.30 PM, when they left.
Next morning we met at 7.30 AM (short night!) for breakfast, since the whole program was supposed to start at 9 AM. Okay, waiting for the actors (Line number 3!). We tried to do the best out of it, our feet still hurt, didn't get better! So, here are
pam81 and me!When we finally got in we had really good places in the second line on the chairs. And it got full! There where a lot of people and a lot more than the day before!
So I was thankful for my Diner Ticket. One hour too late the program started. We had moderators - sorry, don't remember their names - and they introduced the cast. Mh, nice... yeah, but honestly, we know who they are, don't we? First of all Scott got his applause for being the one who made this Convention possible, together with Elke
reiselust161 and practically everyone got their standing ovations when they came in.(Sharon, Randy, Thea, Michelle, Hal, Robert, Peter, Harris, Scott)
There were ... I don't know, 4-5 questions from the audience, nothing I remember now, before they told us that they have to stop the questions because we got late for the autographs - one hour too late. And honestly, now the chaos started - and also line number 4!
First the Loft-Tickets got their autographs, then the Diner's - so me too. And what can I say? They were really lovely and so patiently. Everyone of them asked for our names and some of them asked us where we were from, we all (!!) got personal inscriptions and lovely smiles or even handshakes or hugs. So of course, with 500 people in the room, they weren't done in time! And at 1.45 PM (when they already should've been done for 45 minutes) they told us that the actors needed a break and that they would finish the autographs for everyone later. But later also the photo-sessions started...
Okay, anyway, the break. We had Diner Tickets and so we were done, happy and satisfied with our autographs and we went for lunch. You can say we entertained the entire restaurant *LOL*
Here you have Susi, Jemma (a girl from Australia) and
pam81:And then also
manueladb and me:We went back, the autographs were still going on and after a while they told us, that Randy would now leave the autographs for doing his pictures. So some people missed him for the autograph, but they had been told they would get it later. Randy got upstairs for the Single-pictures some had booked with him.
All the other actors were still there to write their autographs.
When they were done, Randy was still gone and the Panels started. It was absolutely okay to still watch the panels when you had to go take a picture (line number 5; definitely the fastest line) (and Randy wasn't the only one up there to take pictures after they were done signing), because the room we were on had a balcony. The problem was that for some reason you had to wait in a line (number 6) to give them your ticket number and they searched for your picture on the computer to associate it with your number. And this line was the worst line, because so many people waited there for more than 2 hours and so missed half of the panels!
And honestly that sucks! Because the panels were great! All of them. Peter and Scott were hilarious and funny and cute! Hal, Robert and Harris were lovely (Hal loves to talk *LOL*). The girls were sweet and wow, Thea has power and a real passion when it comes to women sexuality. Some questions from fans were really good and we got some nice answers. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I can't really go into details very deep here.
Peter and Scott talked about their work together and especially about the Ted-Story in Season 3 and about Drugs and Crystal Meth and how they loved to work together and that Ted and Emmett originally were planed to be just Michaels best friends, but because of their real life friendship, the writers wrote storylines for these two. And Peter was really sweet when someone asked him about Drew and Emmet and why they didn't end up together and he said, that the writers didn't want everybody to be in a happily ever after ending (YEAH; WE KNOW!), but that he's sure that Drew and Emmett got back together after a year! Yay!
Hal, Robert and Harris talked about their time together, how close they were - especially Hal and Harris were really close during their time in Canada - and about the HIV/AIDS storyline and how to play it. To the question what they think about the future for Ben/Michael/Hunter, since they ended up as happy family, they were concur that "Ben got 110 years old" (Robert) and "...he's the healthiest of the 3" (Hal), since "Michael gained at least 10 pound" (Hal).
The girls talked mostly about the sexuality of women and then the question came up about Sam and Lindsay and Thea told us how she was the character of Lindsay. She got really passionate about being free to live your life the way you have to, to be happy. Both women are very active in working for equal rights and as I said, they had a passion for it.
Then they had a panel about homophobia. Thea, Peter and Robert, the moderators and some other people discussed it. A great discussion. During that time I got my picture with Sharon done and also ended up in that horrible line! But after Pam was already so pissed because she had missed 2 Panels because of it, I stayed close to the door to make sure that I wouldn't miss the Randy/Sharon Panel.
Anyway, here's my picture with Sharon Gless (klick to enlarge):
She's such a lovely lady, so sweet, so nice. When she saw me she said "Wow, you look like me when I was younger". Okay, I so disagree here, but who am I to object Sharon Gless? She even told the photographer "Look at her, doesn't she look like me - a lot younger of course". I was the last picture for her. During that time, Randy was already done and down to give the rest of his autographs (they really shooed him! Autographs, pictures, autographs, pictures again, panel... up, down, up down...).
I was supposed to also get a picture with Randy, Robert and Peter; but they were so fucking late because of the autographs, that they told us we would get the rest of the pictures done the next day. Mh... ooookay. I didn't like that. I wanted my pictures to be done. But I couldn't change it.
They left out the Panel with Robert, Randy & Peter - without saying a word. WTF!
Sharon and Randy were the last Panel for that day. The day was supposed to end at 7 PM... it ended at 8!
When they came on stage and sat down Sharon said "I'm Gale Harold"! *LOL*
Of course Randy was asked about Justin (and Brian) and of course a lot of people already knew his latest interview for the German magazine, but I have to say he was very polite. He tried to avoid the answer, said "Whatever I'm going to say, it's all fiction". *LOL* Poor boy, he probably never finds a fan who agrees with him! Anyway, it was Sharon (!) who then asked him if he thinks that Justin would ever fall out of love with Brian. Isn't she just great? Now he had to answer and said, that if Justin would stay in New York - as Randy wants for him, because he wants Justin to become successful, with every kind of art ever, since the boy was doing practically everything - their relationship would change. Actually, I think this isn't a bad answer, but of course he got the disagreement from the audience and sort of gave up (in a funny way). He seemed a little helpless, he knew how we would react and we knew we wouldn't get the answer we wanted to have. He really tried to avoid that theme *LOOL*. He was so cute.
Sharon talked about Debbie and how she read the script and wanted to play that woman and always kept touching Randy and called him "Sunshine" all the time and always said "Look at him" (we did!). They were adorable. Look at that sweet handkiss:
They talked about their first scene together and Sharon told us that this had been her first scene for the show and Randy said, he had been very nervous to work with Sharon Gless. Someone asked for their favorite scene together. We all agreed it would be the scene on the stairs when they talked about the divorce of Justin's parents and the Art school.
They had a lot of fun and so had we, they were incredible. They were ALL incredible that day. Very lovely, very nice and very patient.
We had 2 hours time before we had to be at the "Gallery" Club! (Line number... 7)! Mh, okay. For me this club was quite a let down, honestly. It wasn't that bad as a location, but it was not a good location for a crowd like ours and there was only one VIP area - for the Loft's. And that was not what we - the Diners - had booked. Our ticket promised us a VIP space, too. Free sight to the actors. We hadn't that. HUGE disappointment. The Club was full (!) and it would've been half as disappointing if they would've at least had played better music. But this BUMM BUMM BUMM thing was... no!
Anyway... Robert, Scott, Randy, Peter and Michelle came to the Club. Somewhere in the crowd (not really a place where Randy feels very comfortable, right?) we could "see" them when they crossed the club. And that was it... at least we thought so and now we're coming to the part about Robert Gant being one of my most beautifulest memories of this weekend:
He came back to our area and crawled into the cage and danced for us. During that time another D.J. arrived and gave some less BUMM BUMM BUMM music and some good old "Babylon" music. Even the glitter fell down.
And it got better: From the cage he went to a balcony above our area and danced there - together with Michelle. Then we saw Peter and Scott above, too and when Michelle left the balcony, Peter joined Robert for a while before he danced there alone. And really girls, they were dancing. It was cool - it saved the night for me. Scott and Peter gave us another "show" on the balcony, these two could easily go on tour as comedians! So funny! *LOL*
So, I got over the fact that this was so not what I expected it to be. And there was not enough Babylon Music. After what seemed to be an eternity we FINALLY got "Proud" but it was so short. Too short! But okay, we got it, we got a show, we got fun and what can say other than Scott, Peter and Robert made this weekend even more wonderful and incredible and unforgettable. :)
Okay, my feet were almost killing me and it got even worse when I came to my hotel at 2.15 AM and went to bed. OUCH! "Rise in lines" ... Susi came up with it! *LOL*
So, very very short night! We met at 7.30 AM again for breakfast because there were still pictures to do and then the Meet & Greets and the City Walk and the Flashmop they had planed and the Panel and the goodbye...
We were there, we got in - Line number 8 - and JESUS! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to do any pictures so I can only tell you what was going on: We were sitting there and Elke told us that we had to do pictures pretty fast because we hadn't much time and no space for that day. Okay, we knew that. But then it got really weird, it felt like military school:
Sit down
Be silent, if you're not you all have to wait outside!
No fotos! If we see you making fotos this will be done!
Mh! Hello?! It wasn't our fault that the timetable went out of control on Saturday, was it? Okay, they started with the couples and threesomes they had left out the last day. I was excited, finally I would get my pic with Randy, Peter and Robert. At least I thought so. I was sitting there with Manu (and all the others who had booked an "ALL-Cast Picture" and it was all the time like: "Be SILENT" "NO FOTOS" "FAST FAST FAST" - People ran through the room.
Scott and Peter made a little fun on the stage, we laughed. OMG, I thought she might kill us for that!
Strange.
And then she said that they had to stop now and that the people who hadn't gotten their pictures would get it in the late afternoon because they had to do the ALL Cast pictures now, because of the timetable.
Mpf! Fuck you! I slept like 2 hours that night, got up at 5.45 AM to be in time for the picture, I was willing to do it FAST FAST FAST and now I had to wait another 7 hours?! Lord was I pissed!
You should've seen how they did the ALL Cast pictures. Actually most of that pics turned out really good in the end, but people were practically RUNNING over the stage, sat down in the middle of the cast, smiled and jumped up again so that the next one could start RUNNING. *LOOL*
Now I can laugh about it, because it was just funny to watch, but this morning it hadn't been funny, not at all.
Okay, Elke told us to leave the room if we're not in the ALL Cast group and so I left - pissed - and went to get my picture with Sharon from the day before. (Line number 9)
We hurried up to be in time for the Meet & Greets, that were supposed to start at 10.30 (11.00/11.30/12.00) and guess what? It started 20 minutes later. (But I got Line 10, 11 and 12 out of it) And so of course we hadn't our 25 minutes with each group. Should've been a let down, I'm sure some people complain about it. The only M&G I would've enjoyed for longer was the one with Peter and Scott, for the others the time was enough.
I started with Hal, Harris and Robert. Again, all about Ben and Michael and a little bit about Hunter. Nice, it was nice. They were nice, very lovely.
The second one was Randy and Sharon... *LOL* Can you imagine 20 speechless girls? Yes! Barely anyone asked something. Sharon asked us, if we would feel uncomfortable. I'm absolutely sure we all wanted to ask Mr. Harrison the same things, but no one did because we also knew that we wouldn't get the answer we wanted to hear! But, we got something else. They talked about doing auditions, Randy told us how he learned his texts and it was very nice and interesting and funny, both of them were very comfortable and relaxed (no pictures allowed, sorry).
And then someone asked them if they would do QAF again and BOTH (!) said "Yes, if the script would be a good one, why not?" Okay, honestly, did anyone expect Randy Harrison to say that he WOULD be willing to play Justin Taylor again? (Not that it will ever happen!) Randy said that a Reunion, as good as the script could be, would definitely disappoint the fans. And he's right.
The third M&G were Peter and Scott - these two, I already told you... pure Entertainment, so adorable, so funny, so cute. They told us some "Insiders" about doing some scenes. Peter told us how he was doing a scene with Sharon once and that they had to wait up the stairs (which didn't lead them anywhere so they were pressed at the wall) and then Sharon burped and nodded "Big Girl" and he fell down the stairs laughing and it was almost impossible for them to do the scene after that.
Scott told us to try to listen to the "background"-sounds/talks of Emmett and Ted when they were in the back of a scene, because some of these conversations were hilarious. He told us that he had re-watched the entire show for the Con and found a lot of the background-scenes with Ted and Emmett. We have to check that out *LOL*!
Being asked how funny the rest of the Cast was, they told us that they were all really funny. "Randy is a very funny guy, you wouldn't believe that", Peter told us.
And last but not least, the girls. Very quiet, both of them. Their voices were so quietly. Michelle was really funny talking about Melanie and sexuality and Lindsay and Brian, she had a very sarcastic way to talk about it, it was really nice.
And that was it, they started their city walk and we went for lunch! I wanted to get my picture done!
The Flashmop turned out to be a picture on the stairs at the Kölner Dom with flags from every country.
Then we went back to the hotel and waited - no line this time - for the pictures to be done. And then they came up and told us that the actors agreed in 30 minutes for the last pictures and the pics that wouldn't be done in that time wouldn't be done at all. HUH?!
They had a list with all the constellations that had to be done. It was... dramatic. So to say. We had to stand in a line and of course my constellation wasn't on that fucking list and that guy told me that I had to take Picture with Randy, Peter, Robert and Scott, because he wouldn't be able to "remove" Scott for my picture (as if I would ask for that).
But ... this whole FAST FAST FAST and "DO A LINE" and panic they made was so not productive for the whole thing! Were we supposed to be scared to not getting a picture we paid for?! We were getting nervous and annoyed!
It was funny - well, NOW I can say it's kinda funny. Back then it wasn't so much. They changed the actors for almost every picture. In/Out, In/Out... Scott and Sharon had some fun (and so did we while watching them)! *LOL*
The actors seemed totally relaxed - but very very tired! Especially Robert almost fell asleep while standing on stage. Poor guys, really. And we all knew that, we were tired too, our nights hadn't been any longer either, so it's not that we wanted to torture them, but again - it wasn't our fault that the timetable was such a mess and that they sold so many pictures and hadn't planed enough time to do them.
Whatever... all I wanted was a picture with a smiling Randy. And look what I got:
I have no idea why it's b/w, I have to scan it again. Something's wrong. But then, my face was really red because of all the panic they made us and it's probably better in b/w. *LOL* But come on, aren't they just beautiful? Totally tired, but as soon as someone came up for a picture they all smiled to give us some beautiful memories.
Scott said "Hi" and when we were done Randy looked at me and said "Thank you" and I thought I'm willing to fall on my knees right in front of you to thank you for doing that fucking picture, but I just answered "I thank you" - I want to keep him. He's really adorable. They were all so sweet.
Okay, I got my picture and was happy and we watched them doing all their pics and their little show and had some fun and relaxed and in the end, every picture was done.
So, the Sunday had been a little weird. Unnecessary, IMO. But okay.
It was a huge Event and so it was pretty clear that not everything would turn out perfectly and in the end, we all got what we ordered and wanted to have. We had a lot of fun together and as I said, the actors were all very very nice.
We got a last Panel with all of them and we were allowed to ask every actor one question. I think I will never ever get over that guy who got the last question for Randy asked him "Do you like tall guys?". Really? Last possible question of that event for Randy Harrison and that's it? Randy was happy about that *LOL* - he was totally cute when he realized he was done after answering with "Yes" *LOL*. But we were not very amused about that idiot. If you don't have a good question, don't raise your hand. *sigh*
The others got better questions. I don't remember all of them, but hey, there sure will be up some videos, soon.
For the goodbye every actor was supposed to tell us one moment of the Convention he liked a lot. Of course that didn't work with "one moment" *LOL*. They all gave us beautiful answers with a lot of "Thank you" and they all said that it was also so wonderful to see each other again and how overwhelmed they were because of all the love they got from their fans all around the world (people came from 40 different countries). Sharon and Michelle cried and in the end, Scott cried, too.
They got Standing Ovations and then they left and came back and Scott got down from the stage to us and now, I can sing as loud as Pam: I KISSED SCOTT LOWELL. He's such a sweetheart, such a great guy.
So... this weekend was amazing. It was wonderful. It hadn't been perfect and my feet are still almost killing me ... but WTF, it was so worth it. This will (likely) never happen again. And I met so many lovely people there - including the actors. It was wonderful.
So I needed 3 hours to get this post done.