Weekend of the LB

[lonelybrit]

It's been a good bank holiday weekend for me, I hope it's been the same for everyone else. Balmy sunshine, fantastic company, and gratuitous oggling of pretty people - colour me content :)

Breaking it down into specifics.

x. I finally got to watch the second part of Sontaron arc (SPOILERS in comments). My main reactions were 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' about 20mins in (*sob*); 'Dammit why does Donna's gramps always make me cry', and 'Oooh'... Looking forward to next week!

x. Collectormania. I hooked up with princess_s and friends for the Sunday, and it left me knackered but generally full of love. We rolled up just before nine, and quickly spotted Barrowman's queue as being the one wrapped around the building. Apparently folks had been queuing since 3am. DUDE. Anyway, folks I met included mainly the Torchwood crowd, but as often happens in fandom the real highlights for me were the unexpected:

- John Barrowman. My highlight with him would be the photoshoot. He be so big, he has such huge hands and is so very very warm. Being effectively squidged against him for all of 2 seconds for the photoshoot was a very pleasant experience. Yes I am shallow :) Also hats off to him. By the time we left, he was signing for tickets up to 1400. When I went for my autograph he was at 750 - he looked up and smiled at folks and apologised to them for the wait and thanked them for hanging around. Yes, he wasn't personalising by that stage but I wasn't surprised, and I appreciated that he did smile and make eye contact for everyone. Even later I went to retrieve the photo itself - he seems to be one of those men whose loveliness rubs off on those around him; I am typically paranoid in that it takes a lot for me to be genuinely happy with a photo of me, but he looked gorgeous and somehow I actually looked, if I do say so myself, OK :) The rest of the photos I did see? I wouldn't say there was a 'bad one' amongst them.

- Eve Myles. SO SO SO BLOODY LOVELY!! Yes, no personalisations, but she smiled and made eye contact and thanked you for coming along. And she looked stunning in the photoshoot. I can't really add much about her that hasn't already been reported last week for the Rift - she is pure loveliness :)

- Kai Owen. So chuffed for him, he had a very good turn-out. Originally he was put as 'open queue' but it quickly became apparent that more people than the organisers anticipated were after his scrawl. So barely an hour after things opened, you needed a virtual ticket to get his autograph. My impression is that many folks have told him that his impromptu stand-up at The Rift last weekend was the highlight of the day, in any case he laughed when I said that, yes, the vids and pics were still all over the internets.

- Matt Rippy - never showed up. Mew. But it did leave me with some free time to prowl the rest of the hall and see who else was around, which led to...

- David Prowse - DUDES IT'S DARTH VADAR!! *geeks out* He was wearing a bugs bunny tie and was absolutely lovely. He signed in perfect handwriting, and when I commented on this he went into a small spiel about how he thought it wrong how other actors just signed so it was just a squiggle and he thought you should be able to tell who had signed. Aww bless *geeks out again*

- Mark Ryan - AKA BUMBLE BEE. In case you didn't catch that - BUMBLE BEE!!! *flails* So so lovely too :) I had no idea what to say so just commented that it looked like he'd had a busy/tiring day. Which he agreed about, and said it was kind of unexpected and overwhelming and he was really touched that so many folks just wanted to meet him. Did I mention he was lovely? ♥♥

x. Returned to princess_s's where we planned to have an early night, and instead stayed up to the early hours discussing crack!fic, trying to fix the internet connection, and then watching Desperado. It was the first time I've seen it, and I liked it muchly :)

x. Returning home, catching up on 3 days worth of LJ history *collapses* I'd heard that GDL's gig up in Cardiff had overall gone well if not swimmingly for his own band's set. I blithely swanned onto OG and smack into what I think, with a few more threads under its belt, could qualify as wank. Brilliant stuff. I backed right out, had a cider, and then returned to reread the various flailings. Oh Gareth. Oh fandom. Oh life. Right now I'm in a mellow mood, so I'm just amused and happy to move on and contemplate deep issues such as when I can go watch the new Indy movie =)

Comments

[sweet-exile.livejournal.com]

Collectormania sounds like fun.

Donna's gramps made me cry too. Ross! Poor Ross. We liked Ross. Not sure about next week though. Though having Peter Davison's daughter in Doctor Who is pretty cool.

[lonelybrit]

Collectormania was fun but bloody knackering. All the guests I did see were on sterling form, though, so well worth the tired feet :)

Ross! *sobs* Wee Ross with his humour and his red cap and that final act trying to at least be helpful... *sniffle* I'm happy about next week purely because I'm delighted we've got Donna and Martha at the same time, I really love the dynamic they've got going between the two of them so far. Hopefully this 'daughter' tale will turn out well :)

[sweet-exile.livejournal.com]

Donna and Martha are lots of fun. Fingers crossed that next week turns out well.

It's probably a good thing I can't register with OG. It objects to my Yahoo! address. Tough I say it's the only one I have.

[lonelybrit]

Oh yes, fingers crossed for next week; considering the premise, it's either one of those plots that will either work really fabulously well or be flat as a pancake, obviously the former would be better :)

I used to have the problem with hotmail - when I first tried to register it wouldn't accept it, but now it does, possibly worth keeping your eye on it in case they update their policy yet again.

[londinensa.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I posted on OG *facepalm* Anyway, moving swiftly on...

Collectormania? Good. I adore Kai and Barrowman, and Eve and Gareth too although that was the night before *lol*

[lonelybrit]

Ooh, did you? Brave you :) I basically went in for a simple report and hopefully a few (worksafe) pics - I'd heard a general gist i.e. hissy fit and arse, in the Barrowman queue - but instead I found myself reading increasingly long posts about acting and fandom and cons and music and etc etc. At times like that you can only pour yourself a drink and giggle :)

Was Eve there at the gig too then, or just Gareth? In any case, yes, I thought all the Torchwood guys were on good form at Collectormania, I had a great time!

[londinensa.livejournal.com]

First and possibly only ever post *lol* Seriously they need to get a grip he flashed his arse it were nice. Didn't seem to mind getting whipped either though I didn't see that one.

Pointed out he was a big boy and very capable of letting people know if he was unhappy about/didn't want to do something ;p

No just Gareth at the gig, Eve at collectormania ;)

[lonelybrit]

I've just accepted that he is a young male, and when you put a bunch of them together at a gig and add alcohol, pretty much anything can happen :)

I have to say, another thing I did like at Collectormania was just chatting to the folks in the queues and hearing them say 'Of course I've brought my Hub Ticket' - it's lovely when I get to be somewhere where being a sci-fi nerd is actually the norm! =)

[macphista.livejournal.com]

EEE! that sounds like a lovely weekend. And I'm going to have to ask for your pics with JB and EM! I'm sure they're lovely.

And wank? On OG? Surely you jest. ;)

[lonelybrit]

It was a fab weekend - and it turned out that Rippy's absence was due to him being told the wrong day, apparently he was a bit miffed that folks thought he was the sort to just not turn up, awww *pets him* So from the sounds of it all the TW crowd did good that weekend.

I would put up my pics if I had a way to scan them in, though I suppose I could try and sneak a go at the work one *ponders* And yes, I know, wank on OG, who would have thought it'd come to this... ;)