The World of Lovejames

Some pictures for January 2010

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:41:35 GMT

No snow yet... i'm off down to London on Thursday to see the afternoon show of 'Varekai' Cirque du Soleil, so hope we don't get masses before that - it's too expensive to miss! So pictures for you...
Next picture is Rigel witch, can you see her on the left? and the Andromeda Nebula. Wonderful Hubble pics

The next is a meteor shower with the Aurora, then Hurricane Ivan from the Space Shuttle... wow...

gorgeous little hummingbird by Aat Benner and one of the more unusual villas in Venice

Topical picture of Venice gondolas, not only snowed but the Aqua Alta too! And one of those beautiful little hidden courtyards... so pretty. Finally, yeah, think i'm gonna be a bear... :D

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LISA!!

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:50:13 GMT

Many Happy Returns for tomorrow, babe - what does that mean?? Hope you get lots of goodies, nice food and have a great day!
i'm out and about a bit tomorrow, weather permitting, so i thought i get in now... isn't he sweet?
*mucho smooches*

Happy New Year, everyone!

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:00:57 GMT

Too Fast by James & Sullivan

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 11:05:56 GMT

Sullivan's hair is longer than James, but only just! Not my favourite song but i love the look at the end, who loves yah, baby?

Christmas 2009 and my review of 'Avatar'

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:44:36 GMT

There is something strange about having Christmas Day on a Friday. Oh, it's a nice long weekend, if you don't have to work Saturday, but that's the odd bit... Lots of shops open pretty much as usual today, inspite of being Boxing Day. i did forget that there wouldn't be any buses today and by the time i was half way to the bus stop, it kinda hit me on the head that it was Boxing Day. So i had to get on the mobile and call up a cab. i wouldn't have bothered but i had to go pick up my pills.

It's been quiet as usual and a bit of a swings & roundabouts kinda week, starting last Monday when i went up to Argos to take advantage of the Christmas sale. i'd been on the lookout for a new microwave with a grill and they had one half-price just under £40, just about perfect, as even with product insurance and a taxi there and back, the whole shebang only cost me about £60. Merry Christmas to me! My old one is still working even if it is getting a little noisy, so offered it to one of my neighbours. He had no hesitation saying yes.
My birthday present to me was a ticket to see Cirque du Soleil's 'Varekai' in a couple of weeks and that cost me a LOT more, go figure!
*pets microwave*
But as i said to Ditto, on Christmas Day, being a quiet time, it actually gave free rein on our shared laundry! i did a humungous 3 load wash, so that pleased me... small things please small minds obviously :) i even had a present to open - i have a parcel in the post from Char that we have no idea when it will get here!
My sweet friend Jan & husband Ed send me something for my birthday [blue dangly earrings, lovely black dragon pendant & pretty scarf] and Christmas every year, bless 'em and this year was no exception. This years Chritmas gift was the most beautiful beaded red heart, about 4" across with a long beaded tail, just gorgeous. i've hung it up next to my Chinese temple bell in the doorway into the kitchen, so i can see it every time i go in there. *hugs & kisses to you guys* Isn't it lovely?

Oh yes, i almost forgot i had a present from the IRS too, a bill for £83 income tax; pay by end of Jan, please! Nothing has changed from my end since last year when i didn't pay anything, being under the limit allowed. i rang up to find out what had changed and why the short notice and the guy said it was something to do with how the Govt is paying my pension. No, i had no idea either and no, i hadn't seen it say i had to pay anything when i did the assessment online. But the good news, he said like i'd come into money, i would only have to pay it for another 3 years! The Age limit would kick in at 65, he said. That's good news?? i said. Um, rock on... Well, at least i made someone laugh that day!
Someone also generously shared their cold with me. Not a horrid head cold luckily but one that is making me wheeze as it hits my chest... oh joy.

i had intended to go see 'Avatar' when i hit my local cineworld as i had two free tickets courtesy of my Tesco clubcard points. i had intended to go earlier in the week but the weather with all the icy pavements had delayed my outing. i figured with my bus pass and the ticket, it would cost me nothing for a day out, even if i did have to get two buses there and back. However, i really didn't want to see 'Avatar' in 3D - i didn't like it back in 50's-60's. It always made me feel slightly seasick and gave me a headache. Luckily for me, they were showing it in normal 2D as well - hooray!   They had been showing it in 3D in two cinemas, giving lots of times to see it but only three times a day in 2D. Picked the 4pm showing, figuring that a] the anklebiters would really only want 3D and it was a good time being close to going home for dinner. i had to watch out for early bus stoppage and checked it carefully with their Customer Service, a very helpful young lady btw. We figured that getting there, no problem but while the last bus out of the centre, would get me down to my switch point, the one going up wasn't going to connect in time. i could be stranded. So what the hell, i'd take a taxi home from the Leisure Centre, when i was ready. It also meant i could go have some celebratory Chinese after the film, no bad thing!
All not only went to plan, but rolled on wheels, pun intended! It's only when you get off the main roads, that trouble really sets in. i'd left plenty of time for swap-over timing and had enough time to go buy myself an icecream before settling in to watch the film. The usual adverts and film trailers, more of the former than the latter and half-an-hours-worth now. It's always the same stuff you see on TV, never anything new, so doubly boring. They were pushing the game that inevitably came out at the same time, and a couple of others too, even more boring for a non-gamer. But eventually, we're good to go.   If you don't want spoliers, STOP READING NOW!!

It is always interesting to see someone's idea of a new world and James Cameron's Pandora doesn't disappoint. First, it is really a beautiful film, of a beautiful planet. A planet, or was it an attendant moon? not that easy to work out, that is totally toxic to humans, although the gravity appears to be the same as Earth's. Inhabited by 10 foot tall blue humanoids called the Na'vi, with ears and tail like a cat. But what a tail! The Na'vi are only at the bows & arrows stage on a level with the native North American Indians, whom they resemble very closely in manner. But they have some mystical yet real connection to their planet that the investigating scientists have only guessed about before the film begins.
They wear some modesty gear around genital areas but we are never permitted even a discreet bulge on our hero, due to his loincloth. You get glimpses of female breasts and although none of them are exactly generously endowed, none of them were overly modest either or made any overt references to sex or any sexual taboos. Both were warriors when needed and a female is instructed to teach our main character the ways of the Na'vi, not a male,but rather as punishment for taking him into their home camp.
i read one review that blandly stated that there were no gentialia or vaginas, but i fail to see how he came to that conclusion. Children were well represented in the society and there was no mention of a common nursery, no suggestion of any other way of giving birth from what we consider normal.   Also if the Na'vi had no genitals, there would have been a lot reference to it from the Marines, in the usual way of soldiers, but there is none.
Jake Sully is a paraplegic from a war injury while in the Marines, who is given an opportunity to take his identical twin brother's place on the Pandora mission, when his brother dies. Naturally, he jumps at the chance and nearly six years in suspended animation later, he arrives on Pandora. The main mission is to protect and aid the mining company there - shades of 'Aliens' and if the computer had been called Mother, i would have headed for the hills myself! It was close enough with Sigourney Weaver being the head scientific honcho, complete with her own Avatar, as it was. There thankfully, the resemblance ends and very few of the other actors will be known by name to most of the audience, including me - though i recognised the names of a couple who appear only as Avatars, Wes Studi [think 'Last of the Mohicans'] and CCH Pounder [way too many roles to mention!]. These Aliens are peaceful and non-hostile as long as they are left to themselves. They allowed contact and even a school to learn the mutual languages, until they realise very few of the visitors are really interested in what they think and they suspend contact as much as they can.
i found it unbelievable that the Na'vi allowed the visitors to start mining at all, as it is so counter to what they believe in, never mind when the strip mining gets much bigger. The Na'vi don't appreciate just how much we/they are going to strip out of the planet for sure or that they're going to be forced out of their main home, if they won't move peacefully.
What is really worth price of admission, are the visual details of Pandora. Totally alien plants and animals, rather resembling our era of dinosauers and some fantastic frond plants, with some of the most spectacular flying sequences it has been my pleasure to watch. i'm damned glad i didn't see it in 3D, as a couple of the scences made me feel slightly seasick as it was!! It's always the same, if i drive i'm fine but if i'm being driven, it's quite another story. i loved the 'horses' and the flying animals. There's lots of colour and so much movement sometimes it's almost a blur but there are plenty of quieter parts.
Two thirds of the way through, i found myself thinking, what is Jake going to do at the end of this? Will he die being noble in a good cause and solve the problem of having to leave the Avatar body and go on in his crippled state or will they figure out a way to meld or merge the two. That would really only be the way to a happy ending, even if the Na'vi win the war.

The climatic battle is a doosey and while 'Star Wars' was modeled on WWII aerial dogfights to make it authentic, Avatar makes it's own rules in the air and on the ground. i recommend you try go see it in a real cinema as i did, so you appreciate the scale and sound of this film - don't wait for TV or DVD, it really won't do it justice. Do watch it again when you get either, but as a reminder of what you saw before and to savour the delights of Pandora.

later, guys!

Small clip of James singing 'Fall Down'

Sat, 26 Dec 2009 13:34:03 GMT

not sure if this will post properly since they'd messed about with recording from YouTube

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:21:33 GMT

It's here... Hope you all have a wonderful time!

If you keep clicking, you'll get a big picture and the snow will fall :D

Some winter fashion comments

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 21:42:35 GMT

i've had my usual look at some of the stuff that's presented for our delectation... Toms shoes donate a pair for every one you buy, sweet... Adore the fire boots! More studs on bags.. Great leather pig, not that i'd one but another animal, maybe. Some interesting bags, i like the 'Box' bag from Anya Hindmarch and the multicoloured ringed one from ASOS. Interesting shoes but the only ones i'd consider are the jagged-edge Manolo Blahnik sandals. The only ones i've ever been interested in, oddly enough. The final one is a Seasonal Smile... :D

Hallowhedon October 2009 - Part 3

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:35:46 GMT

Sorry it has taken me so long to finish this... been distracted on several counts, mental, physical and financial - never a good combi! But this is the last.

Sunday

I did go start breakfast without Sue but she came and joined me about the time I was finishing, the reverse of the previous morning! I waved to various people and hoofed it to James’ photo line. Inspite of being told which groups were going in first, people were still queuing. Not listening. The stewards wound up going up and down the lines, calling the group numbers.

My James photo session was my first of the day. I saw Taira sitting at the front of the line, on the stairs going down to the photo area and i went and joined her. She waved me in first, getting herself together and i dumped my bags and went in. Himber came bounding forward with a big grin and said 'NO TOUCHING' - i said a little sourly, we already got that, Steve! As we'd had it pounded into us all Saturday.. Himber had said 'if you hug him, you'll kill him', the pain anyway.

i was waved in close enough to James to be able to talk to him, while Malcolm was getting ready. James ran a hand over his still damp curls, said 'oh hi, darlin'. Did you enjoy yourself last night?' and i said i did, thank you, did you? He said he had and asked me if his eyes looked okay. He'd put some of those drops in that help make your eyes look clear and was needing to know they'd worked. i assured him he looked just fine [fine? He looked frickin amazing!] and then Malcolm was ready.

I checked the area for wildebeests and stepped up, put my hands firmly together and said ‘we've got four today, James’. i had no idea what we'd do but let him set the pace. For the first shot he draped himself over my shoulders from the side, muttering to himself & me, 'let's try this first', then pretended to kiss my cheek. I simply closed my eyes and had James’ sweet breath on my face… Malcolm took so long to take the shot, James was starting to peek round at him to see what he was doing and making a little huffing sound. It's still a good shot. I went with the flow and just enjoyed it. For the life of me, i couldn't remember what the third shot was - he moved round to the other side and did a drape over from the back. Last one and he said, 'Bitey or Titanic?' He was still slightly behind me.

Too much hair and collar for a bite [though i will one day] and i was curious what he'd do, so said 'Titanic?' And he pushed my arms up in the air and said loudly in my ear, 'Top of the world, baby!' and i just cracked up. i was still laughing as he squeezed my hand and i said see you later. i got the usual 'Right on!' and a grin and floated out on my own little cloud.. I did miss the Hug though…

Y’know what? I don’t remember seeing or hearing Malcolm at all… Isn’t that odd? Usually I greet him in some way and say thanks but not this time, I was totally focussed on James and was talking & listening to him and he was focussed on me. Maybe that was why he looked like he was in such a snit when I saw him at the party… He does have a massive ego though. Nah, can’t be – my opinion would weigh less than sunlight, I’m sure… Equally he would never bother read this or even know of it. I feel his placement was a bit off, we could have been a little more central and not so far away. Some of the other photos had the same problem.

Dunno if you heard, but there was a hiccup with the new stewards when the photos came back later and an unfamiliar/familiar face appeared on a small pile of photos – James had had some taken with Patricia. The stewards missed it and put them out! We had a quick discussion and the girls rescued them off the table but not before some sharp-eyed girl with a BIG camera had seen them and taken a photo of them!! Lise did keep an eye out for her but I’m not sure if she was seen again… nice photos btw

I collected my bags and put my glasses back on. Some of Team Brit were coming in and I must admit we chattered a bit – until we heard a bellow of ‘tell them to keep the noise down!’ from inside… We whispered, ‘see you later’ and I left.

I had to wait until 11.45am for James’ signings, so I went off to have photo taken with Jimmy Leary at 9.30am and Mark Lutz at 11am. Pretty quick in and out of there, only one of each, natch!

I had Mark sign the programme inbetween. Steward was good this time.

Quite curious some of the stewards would have let you queue until doomsday. Only one or two waved you to the front of the line. I’ll be generous and figure they thought if you couldn’t do the line, you’d go up and ask to go in fast. Yeah, right…like we’re all so frickin pushy. I got to the point of asking them to mark where I would have been queuing in the line, and would they call me when to go to the desk? Oh sorry, I forgot, I’m a selfish bullying bitch, of course I was pushing in everywhere…

I don’t think I really like Mark Lutz a whole lot. He’s pleasant enough on the surface and pretty full of himself, of course, but there’s something... My feeling was intensified later when he shared a talk with James – and what kind of crazy idea was that?? They had been in the same series but never at the same time. Mark’s ‘Groo’ had been long gone by Season 5 on ‘Angel’, when Spike came in. Still Mark had done some theatre, so he had something in common with James. He had no hesitation about jumping right in there and taking over from James. He got away with it as James spent most of the time leaning on his chair; hell, for all I know they had arranged it beforehand. It must have been obvious even to him though that he was a back-up to James.

Anyway, after the photos, I had ¾ of an hour until I could get in for my autos with James. I already knew he was lying down on a T-shape of tables, with his head at the top of the T, supported by a couple of pillow under his chest. He had a bit of difficulty getting on the table, I believe but once he was down, he looked relatively comfortable. I mean he wasn’t obviously in pain or wincing when he wrote.

Eventually we got in and I ‘marked’ my space with the steward and went over to where Himber, Lisa & Patricia were sitting behind the small photo & merchandise desk. Having heard about Patricia coming forward and talking to the Gold fans, I wasn’t super surprised to see her there but it was a change that’s for sure.

Himber was talking to someone when I gave the photos the once over, just checking to see if there were any new ones, no. I barely spoke more than a dozen words to him the whole weekend, but no biggie, I’m sure he wouldn’t care once way or the other. Anyway, Lisa & Miss P were selling badges and the dog-tag. Patricia was trying to see me some and I was saying, ‘no thanks, darling, got them already’ and she said ‘you could wear them like this’ and showed me her wrist band with all the badges attached. I laughed and said ‘nice one, I’ll have to give that some thought!’. She laughed too and we smiled at each other. I said ‘bye’ to them and went and sat until I could go up & see James.

Didn’t take too long and I was slotted in behind two girls who had obviously come together, holding each other’s bags etc. Then my turn. James said ‘Hi darlin, how’re you doing?’

‘Fine, how’re you holding up?’ I replied and he said ‘oh, I have breaks and move around a li’bit’ and we smiled at each other. No handshake as my hands were full. I gave him my programme and the special edition Capt John Hart to sign. When he saw the Captain, he said, ‘Hey, that’s different – how come I don’t have one of these?’ I explained that it was the special one released for when he was at the Union Chapel last time, with Gareth. Only 1000 were done for that and have the black/orange packaging, so different to the later grey/white. James said, ‘I didn’t see that one, I want one – how do I get one of these?’ I said I wasn’t sure if they were still available, though I know some were kept back for the online & postal orders, maybe they still had some? I wasn’t going to linger but I’d have liked to… Also there was even less than the normal lack of privacy – he still had another hour to do [12 groups to sign and I was in the 8^th]. Anyway, he squeezed my hand, as I said it was great to see him and please to take care going home and we smiled at each other.

I didn’t take notes for that afternoon, so I’m a bit scrambled. I know we were all going back & forth to check the photo tables for the rest of the day and they had the usual scramble with getting them back to us – ho hum, again?? They really do need to get better organisation, specially on Sundays. Some of the girls I knew were getting anxious as they were running out of time; some had planes to catch either that night or early the next day… *waves at Silvie* Ciao, bella! They did eventually all come back but I think some had to have them posted. The Golds got an extra group shot posted out to them too, I believe.

James’ last Q&A was with Mark at 2.15pm as I said earlier. I took my stuff back to the room, except my folder for the photos and pretty much had the same seat as yesterday. 45 minutes, James answered questions and so on and moved around the stage a bit – I was severely hampered by that damned camera again! When the guys were stood in the middle, I had to resort to the screens to watch them. Good session but I think James was getting a bit tired by then.

Two more Encounters with James that afternoon but I didn’t bid on those – trying not to be greedy [difficult!] but I was about tapped out on the money anyway. Hell, I’d overspent almost £200 the previous day! Let some of the girls have a bid and one or two got in; they’ll tell their own stories. Not sure if Sue did again or not. Very scrambled afternoon with not a lot of contact and we were constantly passing each other going the other way!

I caught most of Nick Brandon’s Q&A – he did the Snoopy dance again. J And after hanging out with the girls, caught some of Mercedes & Jimmy’s – glad I didn’t get much of that!!

Anyway, eventually it was 5.15pm and the final Talk/Q&A with all the Guests. James was flagging visibly and I hope he was compensated by the huge welcome and even more massive thank-you at the end – we gave him a hero’s farewell that’s for sure, whooping and hollering like maniacs. See you next year – but not with this lot again.

I knew Sue was meeting up with Alan and found both of them in short order. Alan met some of the other girls when we went back to our room and Sue finished packing up. I suggested that they chuck everything in the car and just chuff off. I was staying overnight and booked to go home Monday morning, so not to worry. Alan was tired from his flight and quite happy to be going home, so they did.

I sorted out all my gear, repacked my bags and decided I would go check out the cheap buffet. Big table with gals I knew, including Rosie, DeeDee, Caro and Sheila. They were well into their dinner so I sat next to them and we chatted some. Dinner was pretty unremarkable but filling and Rosie and I went down to check out what was happening with the Sunday night chill-out theme. Still way too early for that but I wanted to see if all the photos had been collected. Rosie shot off to do, something… Couldn’t see much but by the time I got back over to the Hotel, she was sitting in the reception area on her own. I said ‘want some company?’ and she came back to my room for a goss. I really wasn’t interested in yet another of their weird idea parties, or wandering around yet again like a fart in a fog…

Well, Rosie & I got to talking and before we knew it, it was nearly 1am! So we said goodnight and see you in February.

I was up in good time on Monday, rang National Express and advised which one I would be catching home. Left my bags with Reception while I had breakfast, said goodbye to all the girls I saw and finished checking out. Went outside to wait for the Hoppa bus – fine luckily, as it had been raining on and off the whole weekend. Damn thing was late and late… and I was beginning to wonder if I would miss my connection. It finally arrived and I scooted across to the NE stand – bus was loading and I just made it. Uneventful trip back to Cambs but the traffic across the city was horrendous. I called a taxi and in 15 minutes was home, sweet home.

And that my dears, is that... i look forward to seeing some of you in February!

Hallowhedon October 2009 - Part 2

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:52:59 GMT

Part Two begins...

I saw Sue, who didn’t bid on the first Encounter and said 'see you after', and Rosie and I hurried over to the Hotel.

We were in a room at the top of the stairs off Reception, leading to restaurant where we had breakfast, and a steward was there to take the money. We all duly paid [except for the raffle girls] and went to sit down at the table [two pushed together]. I knew six of the others; all female at this session.

Coffee was provided, tea? and some fizzy water but no still. I asked if I could have ordinary water, as I was gagging by then and the steward said he would bring some [he didn’t]. So I took a glass to the table with me.

I was just about to go ask again but James, Himber & the rest arrived and after dumping all his gear with them, he came over to the table and joined us. He greeted us and walking round the table, knelt down between the first two ladies on my left, which I really liked as I could look at him easily close to. Gods, I had forgotten just how compelling he is when you are close enough to see the colour of his eyes. He has such a presence, quite took my breath away.

We asked if we could take a few photos and he was totally cool with it. I tried a couple but the light did not sit well on my camera. I took just one with flash to get one with some focus, so I had a reminder of the event, then I put my camera away. Rosie didn’t need her flash and took a few. Flash is too intrusive.

I was totally parched by this time and looked towards the guy on the door again, trying to get his attention and James noticed, asking ‘you okay?’ Yeah, just wanted a drink of water. As Rosie said “Jill was still waiting to get some still water to drink as they hadn’t supplied any, and James immediately said “here – have some of mine” and despite Jill protesting she was fine, he took her glass and insisted that she have some and poured her some water straight from his bottle. So sweet. Jill said it went straight into the vein and she was buzzing with it!!”

Naughty of her to tell my story but I wasn’t really upset, just surprised. She just couldn’t resist it. Needless to say I drank every drop and the steward was shamed into getting me a small bottle of water for myself. Pity it took James to do that.

When the subject turned to ‘Moonshot’, Rosie said that she & I had been to the BFI screening, when Richard Dale, the director came to talk about it and answer questions. So I told James I had asked RD how he picked the actors to play the astronauts – I wanted him to talk about James! He talked about the characters of the astronauts but said he’d picked James because he felt he was most like Buzz’s feisty personality, in that James wouldn’t hesitate to tell him if something was crap, pretty much as Buzz would!

i heard later that there was a short bit on YouTube of one of the coffee mornings in America, where someone had told James that a ‘jmfan’ had asked the director of ‘Moonshot’ the question. [ I’ve put the clip on here too 5/11/09] That fan was me of course and she didn’t get the quote right, saying it was because Dale thought James was as like Buzz as it was possible to be and was just as likely to blow-up!. Rosie piped up and said she? thought it was because James was ‘eccentric’ and thought he’d said ‘electric’.

Not sure how we got around to music, someone asking if holding a guitar was painful, I think. Anyway, I waited for a break in the traffic and said I’d brought him a CD that I thought he might enjoy – The Longest Day, an up-and-coming young rock band who write their own stuff and who I thought were pretty good. They have their own Facebook and MySpace pages and are worth a listen if you like some pretty solid rock. James looked at the 3-tune CD, a taster for the CD they hope to get out soon, and said, ‘Right on’ the way he does!

*I told Ross the bass guitar player later and he was quite pleased, I think*.

Some of the fans there have been to quite a few of these Encounters [or Coffee mornings as they call them in US for obvious reasons] but these of course were late afternoon. But it was the first one I had managed to get on and if you give James a small prompt, he chats away happily and I was able to just sit and listen for much of the time.

Everyone was getting up to go, picking up bags and things, and we drew James’ attention to our two raffle winners, both James-virgins and much in awe of him and he was very nice to them.

I took a moment of distraction to ask if I could give him a present. He immediately said, ‘Of course you can’ and I gave him a small gift in tissue paper and when he took it, I said ‘look at it later but i want you put this on your key ring and when you feel down or crappy in the morning, I want you to look at it and believe it’. He put it in his pocket and squeezing my hand, said ‘thank you’ with a sweet intensity that almost made me blush. It was a small metal heart with ‘you are loved’ engraved on it. I think he needs to be reminded on a regular basis that people do care about him.

I’ve been following James for nearly 8 years now – and he still doesn’t know my name!! Maybe I need to dye my hair too, even if I can’t go to the American cons anymore.. :D No, not really! Seriously there are many of us in the same boat and none of us expects that, there’s just too many of us.

We let James out first and then hoofed it back over to the Centre to check on the second encounter – and Yes! We’d both got in that too, slightly more this time at £101. Sue had decided to bid and also got in, and I was well pleased. So we went back over and we were in another other room at the top of the same stairs. Paid our fee and took our seats. I sat at one end of the table with Sue on my left, then Rosie. Next to her a young couple, then a couple of fans I knew but no idea on the rest.

When James joined us this time, he’d brought a couple of pillows to kneel on and just came to the end of the table and knelt down next to me, I shuffled left a bit to let him in. He brought a glass of milk and a plate of carrot sticks and what looked like humous which he used as a dip – why did I think this was his dinner? Although he had one scheduled later with one lucky winner [for £900!! Told you it’d be an eye bleed!].

A lot of the same sort of questions, some Buffy from the newbies, music, I steered him onto Caprica and when the conversation lagged, which wasn’t often as many of them asked questions, one of us would pop up and set him off again. I spent a lot of that time looking at the side & back of James’ head, as the lady teacher? on his right had several questions for him. That’s why I’d rather sit further away, so I can see him – I mean, it’s not like I can sit and hold his hand, is it?

I could have listened to him all night but 30 minutes passed all too quickly and he was leaving first, with a hand on Stuart’s shoulder.

I asked Sue later why she hadn’t asked anything or made any comments and she said she thought we had it covered. I said, ‘Silly girl, you could have just jumped in there; what did you want to ask him?’ She didn’t actually have a question to ask him… but said maybe if she’d had more time to think about it, she might have come up with something. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t feel she resented our asking questions exactly but I think it is fairly symptomatic of many fans, who would like to ask but are either are tongue-tied in the Presence or simply can’t come up with one at the time. James did look round at us when he talked but you do need to ask or contribute in some way if you want him to look at you directly, if you know what i mean.

We didn’t have anything more that was scheduled, so we followed more slowly. We joined a group in the Centre and were discussing dinner and wound up in the Hotel restaurant, checking out the discount buffet they were putting on for the convenioneers. Sue & I weren’t very impressed but went for the ordinary menu. Happily Lisa & Dawn joined us and although we had problems with Dawn’s half cooked potato, the staff rose to the occasion and made amends, and we had a nice time.

We all retired to get ready for the Halloween Ball and Sue had a beautiful jacket, with a cheeky zip and I put on my Salem witch outfit, with the collar & apron. I bought the apron but made the collar myself, as it was impossible to buy. I was going to try and make my hair stand up but I’d forgotten some hair spray, so contented myself with lots of make-up instead. We had a text from Lise, who’d bagged a table and we strolled over when we were done. This time at least the organisers had made an effort with the tables, even if we were still shrouded in stygian gloom! We had pumpkins and orange & black balloons and in among the tablecloth folds, we found bits of skeletons – shin bones, a little foot, skulls and we set about trying to make a whole one but I don’t thing we managed. We might have done better if we’d had more light… Various friends came and sat, talked, took breaks, went to dance [not much of that though, the music was terrible again – where do they find the DJs?], visited on other tables and tried to take some photos. In my case I had to just aim in the general direction, as I couldn’t see anything in my viewfinder. I took some more when I went out to the bar.

I saw Jimmy Leary and Mark Lutz visiting in the bar and I was told Mercedes came for an extremely short time. Nick Brendon rose to the occasion and popped in and out. Jimmy had photos taken with some people and I knew Sue had had an Encounter with him, so I asked for one of him and her – no problem! Mark made himself scarce, whenever a camera appeared but there really weren’t that many.

I’d bought Mark a pint earlier as we were given a discount by the Hotel and the bar staff were giving him a ‘humorous’ run-around. He stood to chat for a couple of moments and Cally & her Mum were not far from us, so I asked him if he’d go and say hello. He said, ‘you bought me a beer, it’s the least I can do’ and ambled over. *grins* He didn’t come back, mind you, and continued on to wherever he’d been going to.

At the end of the Bar room, where the karaoke had been, they had a new wrinkle on the bull-ride in keeping with Halloween theme – a pumpkin!! It was a lot harder to ride than the demented sheep at Hub3, being circular and only having a tiny handle to hold on to.

But I saw a lot of guys and some very game girls giving it a go, not just the lads & Nick Brendon. The smaller girls had to use the bouncy base like a trampoline to get on, which was a hoot but I took my hat off to them for giving it a go.

I met up with many people I’d not seen for a while and we took lots of photos – thanks, girls! – and some drinks. I was amazed how many girls came and said hello, from other Cons but knew very few of them.

I did see Nietze – if you went to Halloween with James & David Boreanaz, you could not have forgotten her; she was the one who turned the tables on David, when she was invited up on stage to be him and he went down to the microphone and pretended to be her. She was telling me how she wound up going to Uni to do forensic science, got her degree and qualified to work for the Police! Am I proud of her? You betcha!!

I kept loosing the smokers, as you do! and went out occasionally to touch base if I hadn’t seen them for a while. Sue had her own catching up to do, of course. These do’s are kinda like lots of circles overlapping and reforming all the time.

Eventually, I’d had enough and didn’t need to be late. So I found Sue and let her know I was going back to the room and toddled off. I did have my photos first thing the next morning after all.

By the time I’d got out of my gear and removed make-up, got my clothes etc organised for Sunday and was sitting on the bed jotting down some notes, I was surprised to hear Sue come in. But she’d had the same idea, not too late rising in the morning. We chatted for a while and I drifted off…

Part Three follows

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:35:29 GMT

Good review of 'Moonshot' from Edge NYC

Moonshot [Bluray]
by Jim Halterman
EDGE Contributor
Monday Nov 30, 2009

"If you think the new History Channel Blu-Ray release of Moonshot is just another documentary about the infamous Apollo 11 landing on the moon, think again. With a script taken from real transcripts from the missing as well as contemporary documents, books and interviews with those involved, Moonshot plays like more of a real-life enactment with top notch acting, direction and dialogue.

Moonshot is a production that effortlessly feels produced with a sense of reality in mind. Using actual footage from any event can often feel contrived or forced to give an illusion of reality but because the History Channel made this film wanting to preserve the realism of the events leading up to (and including) the July 20, 1969 moon landing, the film succeeds.

While most of the actors are unfamiliar, Buzz Aldrin is played by television actor James Marsters who has appeared as the omnisexual love interest to John Barrowman’s Captain Jack on the BBC’s Torchwood and vampire Spike on the long-departed Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Marsters channels the right tone as the leader of the space mission and brings a strong, yet admirable, caricature to this real life figure.

That said, the rest of the cast gives strong performances that, again, come off as more natural than overly acted biopics of historic events. It also lends itself to the film that this obviously isn’t a huge-budget project instead of an over-produced Hollywood production.

The Blu-Ray edition of the isn’t much different from the DVD version but the space footage, while older and shot before the advent of modern camera technology, is still sharper in the Blu-Ray edition.

Bonus features on the Blu-Ray edition include galleries of the Apollo, Gemini and Mercury space missions as well as biographies of the key Apollo personal. There are also five complete tracks from the music score from the film.

However familiar the viewer may be with the actual Apollo 11 event, this film gives background into the principals on the mission including early NASA days right up to the moment where Neil Armstrong (played by Daniel Lapaine) and Aldrin (Marsters) step on the moon.

While not as dramatically overwrought as the Ron Howard-directed film on the Apollo 13 mission, realists who want to get as close to actually being there for the Apollo 11 will want to rush out and add the History Channel’s Moonshot to their home video collection."

The bonus features are the same on all the DVDs.

James' Sunday Q&A Monster Mania

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:12:45 GMT

Pieces of the Sunday Q&A and the bit to the kids

http://www.youtube.com/user/ChillerTheatreFiend#p/u/8/gseEEZ-FYmE

http://www.youtube.com/user/ChillerTheatreFiend#p/u/7/l5Vr3HlAqyo

http://www.youtube.com/user/ChillerTheatreFiend#p/u/6/7X9o0Hxnq0A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4MWMLgjEy4

Hallowhedon October 2009 - Part 1

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:45:28 GMT

It is taking me an inordinate amount of time to write this damned report, so i'll post what i've done so far and again when i'm done - or it will be next year before i'm done!

Hallowhedon

It has taken me so long to get this report underway, you have to wonder if anyone is interested in what you have to say! *snorts*

So what the hell, I’m going to.

I’ve had a lot of things to do and cope with this last two weeks, from problems with where I’m living, to wondering how I’m going to prune the committees I sit on, arranging the SSRA Christmas social, bawl out the bank for being fuckwits and not the least, having a tight chest and a couple of twinges. This makes my doctors nervous enough to take my blood pressure, do an ECG and bloodwork before having me schedule a workout at the Cardiology Clinic next week. They twitch a bit ‘cos Dad died from angina. *shrugs* Like as not it won’t show anything, unless muscle strain shows up. Your heart never does the arrhythmic thing or skips a beat when they listen! It’s stress mostly…

Anyway! I’d decided to go on the National Express bus direct to Heathrow on Friday afternoon, as it’s cheaper than the two trains, takes about the same time and you can hook up with the Hoppa buses that go right into the forecourts of most of the major local hotels for £4 a trip. We only hit problems when we got to the M25, slowing right down and I text’d everyone I could that I knew was coming. The Hoppa bus stands took a bit of finding and we had a fair wait but eventually one came and I got to the Hotel about 3.45pm-ish.

This con was being held at the Thistle Hotel, not exactly luxurious, a bit sparse on the accessories again and has some of the longest corridors I’ve had the misfortune to lurch through. Even ringing Reservations to ask for a room close to reception – no problem, madam – didn’t actually get me one. But it was clean enough and we weren’t going to be dancing in it!

By the time I arrived, Sue had judged the time nicely and I joined her in the queue to register. We were standing with Lise & Jade and the rest of Team Brit stopped briefly to greet us before going to find their rooms. It took us some time to reach the Reception desk – then it took the Receptionist some time to get our room sorted. Not sure what the hold up was to start with but I told her I’d rung up to try and get a closer room and she vanished into the office. Many, many minutes later, she came back and after some discussion on how we were paying, we got our room keys.

We set off to find the room and I was rather taken aback to see just how far our room actually was, quite a hike. But we settled in, then went to get coffee for Sue and me to pick up my pack for the Con. I saw some of the good long-term stewards and we swapped greetings during the weekend – nice to see you, guys!

Sue had bought a Gold ticket but I simply could not afford one and bought a Standard. SM/ME won’t let you trade-up, swap, sell or do anything with your ticket, so even when I could have tried for a Silver, I wasn’t allowed to – even though I hadn’t got my ticket at that time. It also meant that Sue had all her photos and a lot of her autos on Saturday and all mine on Sunday. This did mean that I didn’t see as much of her as I’d have liked but you can’t have everything, can you?

Luckily the schedule had been posted online the day before [again, typical!] and I printed it off – one day on each side, so I was able to throw away the tiny printed one in the con reg pack, thank heavens! Very hard on the eyes.. I had to smile how many people had a look at my printout over the weekend, ‘cos they had trouble reading theirs… :D

We gathered for the Welcoming ceremony about 7pm; I saw James & entourage arrive and called greetings but James was more interested in greeting Stuart, the security guy. Himber at least managed a very quick smile in my direction.

I was running late and almost missed out on a seat but luckily one of the Stewards was watching out for me and found me one. *blows kiss*

After the usual ego-preening from the organisers [Bluebottle: ‘pause for audience applause, not a sausage!’], the guests were announced and we were told in no uncertain terms that James had hurt his back to the extent that he couldn’t sit down at all and ‘NO TOUCHING’. If he made contact fine but do NOT try and hug him. There were the usual couple of course to whom normal speech does not penetrate but he managed to sidestep them, thankfully.

James duly came out, walking carefully but all smiles to the huge welcome he got and said that one of the arc lights and ‘sail’, the reflector had come down and hit him on the head, knocking him onto the concrete and he blacked out. It had also aggravated the same disc injury he had sustained years ago on Buffy and had almost slipped a disc again.

James never failed to smile or greet us in his usual sweet manner and we loved him for it. He was in huge amount of pain all weekend but he never missed a photo-op or an auto or a talk – what a pro! He got a rock star’s welcome for every talk and a massive farewell on Sunday.

[Which is more than can be said for an over-imbibing Jimmy Leary, leaving some of his autos in the lurch the following day. Later in his talk with Mercedes, he mentioned working for charity – one male fan called out “For AA?” and he wasn’t very happy about that. It served him right.]

There were a lot of new fans there and everyone I spoke to or overheard were hugely in awe of him – what a terrific effort this was and it was greatly appreciated. Everyone was very impressed with him. Nick, Jimmy, Mark Lutz [pronounced Loots] & Mercedes joined him and most of them stood and kept him company!

After that we went over to McDonalds for a quick & cheap dinner – I’ve nothing against McD’s, it’s cheap and filling – and I love the thick milkshakes. Rose came & joined us and we waved to some of the other girls who came in later.

We went back to the Hotel to get ready for the party and I decided on my cowboy outfit. I have a serious cowboy black hat, twin holstered gun rig with handcuffs tucked into it and my Sheriff’s badge. I wore that with my black waistcoat and jeans. I took along a black shrug in case I got chilly, which only happened when I went out to talk to the girls out on a fag-break.

We didn’t manage to get a table in the Ballroom but having listened to some of the music, I didn’t really care – but again, serious lack of seating. It was nice to be able to get out of the Ballroom as the ONLY lights in there were the disco ones and you were pretty much groping around in the dark. The bar area was crowded for most of the time and I played musical chairs for a while, meeting and greeting old friends and acquaintances, as you do and I really enjoyed that.

There was a karaoke area set up at the furthest end away from the bar and also a casino theme to this party with blackjack [couldn’t get near the table all night!], roulette wheel – was there a craps table? Can’t remember but it beat the hell out of bingo. This was outside the Ballroom.

It’s a pity some of this activity couldn’t have been on during the day and help fill some of the boring gap hours when we sat around waiting for the next spasm of activity, way too long. Thank the gods & little fishes, we had the all girls to talk to… bit of a case of physician, heal thyself and make you own amusements while you’re at it.

Saturday

We went for breakfast fairly early as Sue had all her photos and wanted to get ready. I wasn’t in such a hurry as I had nothing but 3 autos in the entire morning and only one James’ item ALL DAY, his talk at 3pm in the afternoon, a seriously crap arrangement.

Oh and the advertising announcing “at least 6 guests”? Wrong…only five…and it took them two years to set this up?? Coulda fooled me; they had more at Hub3 without headliners. No, I’m sorry, you can’t count Gareth as a headliner. Nobody flew in to see him.

I did want to see Jimmy Leary as I hadn’t seen him since Oakland and Nick Brendon looked to be doing pretty good; I didn’t have an auto from Mercedes already [not that I really cared but I was curious to see if she really was the airhead she appeared to be – answer, yes], and decided to have them all sign the programme, as I usually do. Jimmy was his usually cheerful self and signed his little Clem face under his name. Mercedes just managed to smile but look bored for most of the Con, even in the guest talks. Nick was the last auto and was wearing his sunglasses. He said I like your face, meaning my tattoo and I smiled, saying thank you, I like yours too but I’m sure you’re prettier without the sunnies. He said they are prescription and help keep the glare down – which he probably needed after the night before too...

I had this huge gap from 11.30am – 3.00pm with zip. It wasn’t uncommon throughout the two days, to see groups of people just sitting where they could around the Conference centre, chairs at a severe premium again, and at least as many on the floor as there wasn’t anywhere else. There was a coffee bar by Reception but it was packed most of the time, even when the drinks part of it was closed from late afternoon.

The only hope I had to rescue Saturday from a one-stop turkey shoot were James’ two late-afternoon Encounters – they’d stopped calling them ‘Intimate’ by then and went with ‘Guest’ ! The first was at 4.00pm and the second at 5.00pm, half an hour each. They were sold on this weird bidding system, where the top 10 bidders got tickets but they all paid whatever the 10th one was, whether it was £9 or £90. You had to balance what you were prepared to pay with the amount of bids offered, most peculiar. It was a counting game that you had to keep an eye on as the bidding closed half an hour before the Encounter – then you had about 10 minutes to dash over to the main body of the Hotel to find the room they were using, pay your money to the steward on the door [I’d already checked that we could use credit cards, thank heavens!] and take a seat.

I decided to put my name down for both, as I wasn’t certain if I would get in or what they would go for. I had to think quickly about the amounts. If I got the first one and it left me with very little cash, I’d have to bow out of the second and cancel my bid – just pin my hope on the two raffle ticket prizes [strip of 5 for £5]. As I NEVER win raffles, I went with £100 for the 1^st one to try and make sure I was in the top 10. Various of us went and checked out the lists from time to time but I had to leave it to the gods for James’ talk at 3.00pm as it ran over the end of the bidding time.

I went in with rest of the Walking Wounded for James – *waves at the guys!* – and got a seat on the middle aisle, so I could stretch my knee, only to find that most of my view [and that of some of the Gold seats] was blocked by the SM/ME steward and a damned camera!! This was my seat for the afternoon and I was stuck with it. Thank heavens James moves around the stage! I was reduced to watching the screen several times. Luckily I could hear him pretty well. There’s been a fair amount of reportage on what was said, so I won’t repeat it here. But I will say this crap method of asking question through a moderator didn’t work very well, they never do. It’s total ‘talking-heads’. You can submit questions someone else will read out, you can’t even do that yourself. Oh, Paul managed to read them out well enough most of the time but there’s no joy in it for the fans being able to read their own.

During some of the other talks, so few people had bothered to submit them that they even ran out of the obviously Showmasters-stock-questions too [they were so lame and the same for each talk], that Paul was forced to throw it open to the audience and go around with a mike and drum up some. We didn’t have that problem with James’ one but there were still some that sounded like the stock ones towards the end. Paul also failed miserably to organise James and people taking photos but James set him right.

What most of us are never going to forget is James getting into his story and stamping his foot – OUCH! It hurt so much, he stopped in mid-word, bit his lip and just hung on looking at the floor, until the pain started to settle down. Then he stuck up his thumb to let us know he’d be with us in a minute, took a breath and pretty much took up where he left off. My hero! What a guy!

The 45 minutes passed way too fast and all too soon, James was waving goodbye. I shot outside to check the auction list and as soon as I got there, Rosie called “We’re in!” Price £95. Bargain.

Part 2 follows

Taking a break...

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:09:17 GMT

Taking a break for writing reports...

My take on some of the fashions i've seen recently in Marie Claire & Glamour - an amazing selection of designer hooker-looks from schoolgirl to Versace and Valentino with an equally ugy bag. Followed by some Tartan overkill...then from demented fairies to two foxy ladies in red (even if they have legs like pipecleaners... A cheeky outfit and some foxy but dangerous shoes! Don't they make the tendons in her ankles look AWFUL! i've seen nicer claws!

Cheeky but i kinda like. i do love the materials next, however, the peacock print and the McQueen. Eye-popping make-up and a weird neck-ruffle

There are two dresses i love - first one with the thinest heels i have ever seen (they must be made out of titanium!) and the second one inspite of the damn melon! The next one is a modern version of fairy tales. Then it goes downhill again, starting well at the top but disintegrating into awful pants and ugly boots... The next is a truly stupid thing, is it even a dress? Maybe it is a thalidomide-victim band aid... and yes, studs on everything seems to be the rage just now, see the shoes above.

*sighs* Ok, back to our scheduled programme... Can i go watch some more of Donald Sutherland in 'Bear Island' now??

Have a great weekend, y'all...

Writer's Block: Time in a bottle

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:23:38 GMT

Imagine that you have a time machine. Which deceased musician would you most want to travel back in time to watch perform live?

Submitted By crazyprotein

View 1507 Answers

Interesting question.. i think i'd go for Kurt Cobain...

First report from Rosie in Boston

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:40:18 GMT

Hi y'all! i've just had a text from Rosie - "James still has curls! Looking great. Q&A was really intimate, James in my lap nearly! xx"

Makes me wonder if he is still filming on 'Caprica'...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAR!!

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:34:41 GMT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAR!!

The Hub3 Report - Part 1

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:33:42 GMT

This is my report on The Hub3, strong language and stronger sentiments - you have been warned.

Well now, let me see… There is no disguising Showmasters/Massive Events are a pretty crap set-up, led by two self-confessed nerds, Mark & Jason. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind nerds but they make lousy business men. Good business men do not insult paying customers, especially when they are anonymously online – and you already have their money – that’s gross. If you attack someone online, you really do need to know who you are talking to. I’m not anyone ‘important’ or well known, a little infamous on speaking my mind occasionally yes, but just one of the paying public – are you starting to get the message, little man?

There are only two reasons they are still in business – one, we still want to see some of the guests they invite. Two, they have enough really good stewards to make it work on the ground, [inspite of some who could stand to take the sticks out of their collective ass and buy bigger hats for their swollen heads], who manage to scramble and keep it together when Plan A goes wrong, as it is bound to do at public events. There rarely seems to be a Plan B and we usually find ourselves having to slog from one place to another to fit in what we need to do. Exhausting at London Film & Comic Con or any of the Collectormania shows, of which I have been to many. You need to have stamina and a LOT of patience to get what you want – in my case, a mobility scooter or a wheelchair because there are never enough seats and it’s brutal on the disabled.

Those good stewards – you know who you are! – look out for us and help when they can. Some of the new ones either haven’t been told to help or simply don’t care and try to ignore us but there are one or two new exceptional ones. We go back inspite of the cock-ups, not because they are good. I really had to want to see someone before I go. But I will not be going again. I don’t care if James is going or not.

Many people will probably disagree with me about Showmasters, but that has never stopped me from saying what I think, nor should it, ever. Most of those will be new conventioneers with nothing to compare it to, Con-junkies who go mostly for the parties, the plainly sycophantic who always think they’ll get something more and those who don’t know enough about the business to judge a good Con from a bad one. Don’t get me wrong, they can be lovely people and are entitled to their opinion. I simply do not share it.

Before I begin, I’m going to start with the bit of nastiness from Showmasters that coloured my weekends at The Hub3 & Hallowhedon and showed the ‘Management’ in their true colours - there’s no way round it and may explain to some why I judge them as hard as I do. They had put me off-side before I even got there.

I had posted online with dozens of others in multiple threads for The Hub3 and Hallowhedon on the Showmasters Forum, requesting names of people going to the events and if we could buy photo-ops etc online. I could not believe the sheer arrogance of expecting people to buy tickets to a weekend with barely any information or facilities. If James Marsters had not been going, I would not have been either. No schedules, precious little information, other than the ‘it’ll-be-like-last-year’ kind, totally useless to anyone who hadn’t been to one before.

Hub3 did have guests announced some weeks before – Hallowhedon had 2 - TWO!! – until a couple of days before the damn weekend! And actually only had another three guests. Astonishing. Hallowhedon Ops with James went on sale fairly quickly however, and I bought the photos and autos I wanted. He was a Supplementary Guest at Hub3, which meant you had to pay for anything with him – that must have pleased the Golds! Not. But as it turned out, they didn’t have to pay a cent.

Hub3, however, did not sell any major photo-ops before the event, except three of the female co-stars, who hardly anyone had heard of outside of one episode or the last 5-day series of ‘Torchwood’ - no offence to them, but hardly great pulling material! Give the amount of people manning this post, it’s not really surprising and from what I hear, having to buy said ops at the actual cons is getting more and more frequent. S/ME have so many events on the go at one time now, they are spread far too thinly and cannot give anything like a decent online service any more. No offence to Jola, she does her frantic best but the system is antediluvian and hardly state-of-the-art.

At the end of September, I posted the following - which you won’t find online now, nor will you find his snotty, unpleasant response either. The cowardly little twat has had them removed – I mean, you can’t leave a post that shows you at your petty worst, can you??

But guess what? I copied them. Funny that…

My post,

(Lovejames @ Sep 20 2009, 04:16 PM)

”Wanna know what's pissing me off? No, of course you don't but i'm gonna tell you anyway!
Even if they get the photo prices and online sales going this week, will they have time to post the vouchers out to us?
If we don't get to buy online beforehand, we'll have to queue to buy them at the Con and man, i hate long queues [i can't stand up for long]. If there's not enough time to post out, we're still going to have to queue to pick them up!!
Isn't it about time more than one person was allocated to sort this out?????? ”

*not a happy bunny*

Tubby Twat responded by blocking my previous 33 posts [since 2006], so nobody could check on what I said, including me. Most of them would have been asking for information, including the latest 5/6? On these conventions. He only picked this up because I said ‘pissing’ and he then threw a hissy fit. He is not a person with much education and let me apologise in advance for his bad spelling, bad grammar, total lack of punctuation, excruciating syntax and incredible ego.

“i just reread your posts Lovejames
if you do not stop your attitude which can be seen in nearly all the 30 x Posts you have made sins you Joined December 06 will refund both your tickets and you will not be going to any events OK , stop being so selfish and pushy, we will not tolerate it anymore OK

we do a great job and have proved our selfs every time and if we had not then why the hell do you keep coming back and buying tickets ? , why because you know we do a great job so stop with the attitude.
there is no place for bullying on here or at the event if you are not going to enjoy the show maybe you should not come
i will let this lie now as we do not hold a grudge at all but please stop this and start to just enjoy the events as we run them Jason”

Doesn’t that sound just like him? He is his own fan club and truly up himself. This incidentally from the man who was all over me like a bad rash at the last Collectormania in the half completed Dons Stadium, saying how much he appreciated the long term fans…

Luckily for both of us and my blood pressure, the subscription wasn’t working and I didn’t see this for a long time. I was alerted by a friend in the week before Hub3 that he had gone off on one and I held back replying on financial grounds alone.

Having already laid out substantial money by this time, not just tickets, travel costs etc but clothes and supplies, I exercised some considerable self-control, ignored the incredible ego and resisted the desire to rip his throat out, equally as publicly and nastily.

How bloody dare he THREATEN me??? Who does he think he is? Via private message would be bad enough but on a public forum? How gross is that… You feel free to speak to paying customers like that? For shame.

If it hadn’t been for James, I would have told him to ban away and shove it up his arse. It would have cost them quite a few quid in refunds. I just kept repeating my mantra – ‘Think of James… It’s only two days on two weekends’…

Ok, Hub3 weekend dawned and I took the cross-country train to Birmingham, lots of stops but I took my lunch and watched the flat, flat landscape out of the Fens. No wonder the Bastard never conquered them, must have been a nightmare just trying to cross them, with Hereward snapping at his heels.

I had to change at New Street for Birm International and the Hilton courtesy bus. BI is an Esher painting of lifts, corridors and platforms and I felt like the White Rabbit by the time I found the right platform – train just about to take off! Got aboard and put my suitcase in the doors space with a load of others, sat down in the nearest seat with a grateful sigh – and was regaled with a loud mobile phone conversation from a squaddy, just returned from overseas, arranging a meet-up with his sergeant and some of his mates. When ‘fuck’ increased to become every second word, I caught his eye and putting my finger to my lips, I went ‘shush!’. He terminated the call immediately and spent the remaining 10 minutes apologising! He was still at it as he lifted my bags off the train for me, bless him. I wished him well.

It was a lot easier getting out of the station and I only asked a couple of times where I should go. I rang the free Hotel phone to say I was there, especially as I was an hour early [my mistake]. I was soon sitting outside waiting for the bus, which came quickly and was driven by a helpful & courteous man! Quick transition and I went inside to check out the Hilton.

I knew I’d have to wait a while before I could register but I hadn’t anticipated having to wait until nearly four o’clock!

I managed to find where the Hub registration was - no signs anywhere, shame on the Hotel, but I heard a couple of girls telling their friends where it was. It was quite a hike down to area and they were operating out of a broom closet, sorry, cloakroom! How appropriate. They were close to the ballroom they used for Q&A’s, the parties and whatever. They were not selling any photo-ops or anything else – later, they said, about 5.30pm.

I returned with my envelope, Con badge etc and attempted to peer at the Schedule, surely the tiniest print I’ve ever seen – could they not have printed one day on each side of the paper? As I did on the night before Hallowhedon [yet another well-delayed schedule]. I found my Group number and was horrified to see how truly regimented the schedule was. Their system works for them, breaking us up into groups but it doesn’t work very well for us. Unless you had a Gold or Silver ticket, you had far too much time to spare – and even they sat around in clumps waiting for things to do, like the rest of us plebs.

I don’t like cattle markets or being treated like a herd. It might be efficient but you are whistled through with as much speed as possible and have so little time with the person/s you have come such a long way to see, you have to ask yourself if it is worth it. If you come just for the whole experience, maybe. But I have to say ‘no, not any more’ – even for James!

Very little provision was made for the disabled yet again and if you weren’t brave enough to go to the front and join the walking wounded or ask for help, you were left to queue like everyone else. You really have to shift for yourself if you don’t have a strong carer.

I met a young American, who came on her own and I invited her to join us but I only saw her twice, going the other way! Her room was ready before mine and I simply sat in the bar, then one of the reception chairs until ours was ready. Lots of the girls arrived while I was there and I was able to greet them before our room finally was done.

I went up to the room and left my bags there, used the facilities and went downstairs again. I left a key card for Sue and trekked back to the Ballroom. Next door was a room for the dealers – my dear, there were three dealers. I kid you not. There was nothing else to do but wait. Nothing to watch, nowhere to go – thank heavens for your mates.

Anyway, we were just standing around waiting for 5.30pm and the photo-ops, I managed to sit on a table edge – when this bloke came round with a sign he put on the wall, saying James had cancelled!! He’d had an accident, when one of the arc light reflector panels had fallen down and knocked him out, onto concrete. Ouch! And Arrgh! He had concussion and his doctors had forbidden him to fly.

Well, we thought the steward was joking but no, he was not. I felt like someone had punched me in the gut and my brain simply stopped working. I felt quite stunned. It didn’t surprise me to see girls in tears over the next few hours and the following day. I text’d everyone I could think of and waited for Sue.

She said let’s stay the night, do some of the Con tomorrow and then she would take me home to Cambridge if I wanted. She’d been intending to catch an up-and-coming young band called The Longest Day, who were playing in my home town on Saturday night. She planned to drive over and see them anyway and return to the Con. It is about an hour and a half by car.

That was fine by me and I went to the Desk to see if I could cancel Sat & Sun nights. He was very obliging and agreed immediately but said ‘Do you mind if I ask you why?’ So I told him the two headliners for the Con had now cancelled – John Barrowman to do ‘La Cage aux Folles’ a couple of weeks ago and now James that night due to accident. “Ah”, he said, “I’ve just had 8 people do the same. Thank you.” I told him he could expect more. Lots will go home tomorrow either way, as that really left Gareth on his own to carry the can. Even his fans agree, he’s not up to that yet.

There were those who wanted to go home but having come from Italy, USA, Hungary, France, Germany and points north & south, most decided to stay and make the best of it, I think. My heart went out to them. Most of the rest of James’ fans left at various times during Saturday but as you can see from above, some didn’t even wait for that.

Rosie went online and sent an email to Himber from all of us sitting around her, sending our commiserations and best wishes for James’ speedy recovery. It wasn’t until some time afterwards that we discovered the accident had another nasty surprise and the spinal disc he had damaged on Buffy had been damaged again. He couldn’t sit down, could barely walk and wasn’t going anywhere for a while. Ouch!! Himber had sent a message, saying James would be there for Hallowhedon however, not to worry.

By the way, I have to mention one steward, Michelle, who was truly outstanding and who always found me a seat on both weekends. *blows kiss*

We duly trooped down to the opening ceremony at 7pm and they were letting us in by Group… After waiting around for far too long for this to start, eventually Jason & Mark came on stage and said none of the guests had arrived [Gareth arrived just after this, I was told], so there wouldn’t be an opening ceremony that night and the drinks party for the Golds would be held on Saturday night! Man, I wouldn’t have been happy with that. Having said that, they left the stage – basically, you can all bugger off now… Needless to say, we were not impressed.

Sue & I looked at each other and went off and had dinner at Millers in the Hotel. Food was pretty good but pricey, of course, this is the Hilton. We just had a main course each and a couple of drinks, £31, but what the hell. After that, we went and got glammed up for the ‘Hen Night’ theme [bit lame; all the party themes were very general, for both weekends] and went back down to the Ballroom.

Man, what a dismal do! The minimal lighting didn’t help - Disco lights and some over the bar in the corner. A bare handful of tables & chairs, with some chairs lining parts of the walls, nowhere enough seating and some came and sat where they could or on the floor. More looked in and left.

There were what I was told was the apparently obligatory ‘Con’ dances, what Rosie called Line-dancing 101! *snorts* The DJ was awful and the music was pretty dire [I heard later the same music was played on Both the next nights, until even the ‘Regulars’ were fed up – I didn’t miss much I was told. They tried to get the DJ to play something different without much luck.

We had brought our own booze, hotel prices being what they are, and just bought soft drinks to go with them. The main amusement of the night was Gareth coming down, in a cloud of minders, hangers-on and Punch & Judy, of course. He attempted to ride the bucking, er, sheep! It was funny watching the room surge towards the bar & Gareth, then slowly move back again. They were mercifully well behaved. I got horribly bored and hit the sack fairly early.

Our room was okay but very light on supplies – one minute bar of soap. I had pre-ordered online, at their prompting, some extra towels and pillows. None of which were there on arrival and I had to phone for more towels. As I was only going to be there overnight, I made do with the pillows [Sue gave me one of hers]. Bit shabby – this is a HILTON for heavens sake! Nicky would be spinning in his grave.

We took our time going into breakfast, greeting friends coming and going, literally, as soon as they’d eaten. You had to get everything yourself, make your own toast and cups of coffee, one at a time. Forget any staff actually smiling at you. Talk about minimal! There could not have been more difference to a Hilton in America. This was pretty bad.

Having peered at my schedule again, I had three possible autos and two possible photo-ops in the morning and two more auto in the afternoon; pretty slim pickings! The little girl didn’t draw me, nor photos with the ‘lesser lights’ – nice people but I’d rather have been photographed with my friends frankly. I only wanted three autos. Such a shame, no Eve [who’s just had a baby girl; congrats, honey!], no Burn [having a well deserved break], no Naoko or the lad who plays Constable Andy – what is his name? Or the gorgeous Matt Rippy… This Con just fell flat on it’s face and should have been re-scheduled to another date when John bowed out.

The timings for my group were pretty crap and widely spaced in time; more time spent milling about with nothing to do. I went for Katy Wix at 10.15am and by delaying my slot for Nicholas Farrell, managed to get him and Nikki Amuka-Bird at one go at 2.30pm – see what I mean about the times? Huge gaps, even with 7 guests. I had a photo-op with Daniela Denby-Ashe the next day but it wasn’t enough to make me want to stay. The only other auto I wanted was Gareth - he’d signed the marker I left in my magazine at the Rift, instead of the page I’d marked, twit! He’d been pissed, mind you, having been asked to leave the pub and come and fill in with Kai for James! One of the stewards had taken it for me to him to do, as I’d missed out earlier before he left, bless her heart.

I left my mag with Sue and she got it done for me the next day. She’d gone back to keep the other party-junkies happy – just kidding, girls!

Pretty much all agreed it was the worst Con and the only fun they had, they made themselves.

We spent our time hanging out with the other James fans and saying goodbye as more and more of them left. We finally pushed off about 4ish and had a good drive back home. I ordered some Chinese and as soon as we’d eaten, we went to listen to The Longest Day. They’d been scheduled to play with two other bands – neither of whom turned up or let anyone know they weren’t coming, what bad manners!!

The guys were good though and well worth effort. We went and congratulated them as they packed up outside and I called a cab. Sue went back to Birmingham and I gratefully called it a day.

I was worried about James and had some of the weirdest dreams. We’d heard by then about the back injury too and I wasn’t at all sure he would be fit for Hallowhedon. I was sure that James would come if he could, as I could not see him cancelling two cons in a row, without being totally incapacitated.

During the week, I read that James had indeed made the trip and arrived before the weekend. I relaxed somewhat and continued to prepare for the next one.

Spike says 'Cio'

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:55:38 GMT

Dunno how long this will be up for but it's cute - there's a Spike Calvin Kline ad up on You Tube - saying Cio with Drusilla

love this...

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:43:32 GMT

love this man...

'Lie to Me' - James' part

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:58:05 GMT

Courtesy of Civilized James - This is all of James' performance from the episode that will play next week.

Saturday 3rd October 09

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 17:13:12 GMT

i've been busy, then slack and trying to sort what i want to do with my time. Anyway, my mate Caz is here from Aussie and i'm going to see her beginning of this week, then i'm off on a two day course, so i will be off the air for a bit. Take care, y'all!

love these paper shoes - the child-size ones are maps and the stilettoes are a cookery book.... Clever

Pretty masking tape and beautiful Indian things

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:23:40 GMT

Nice piece from Laissezfaire, coloured and patterned masking tape opening up endless possibilities...
http://www.masking-tape.jp/newProduct/pattern.php

Indian Summer came up with these wonderful things, find the link on Laissezfaire too

and this lovely little sexy fish by Rijuta Rishi and pictures by Sonal Nathwani

Ah, Mondays...never did like them... Got out and about early today; morning meeting, some shopping and dropped into the Fed office to get some petty cash refunded & have a goss. Got home about 2.30pm but it's going to be a long busy day tomorrow...
Tenants meeting here mid-morning, our long-overdue-for-opening Central Library finally does, my old mate Caz arrives from Brisbane to house-sit in London, for friends getting married and there's a Council meeting i want to sit in at 5.30pm... Caz will do some sightseeing too, catch-up on what she missed last time she was here and i hope to spend a bit of time with her, if we can co-ordinate something, during the 3 weeks she will be here.
i'm looking forward to going to 'Hub3' and 'Hallowhedon' at the end of October; James at both but John Barrowman has bowed out of Hub3 as he's doing La Cage now. Caz leaves as i arrive in Birmingham for Hub3. i won't be there to greet her or see her off but i didn't get to do that last time either, though i'd like to. She's a seasoned traveller now and it will be good to see her again.
i've a two-day course in Chester starting 8th Oct first and the following week will be pretty busy, so earlier would be better than later but she has the wedding and house-sitting first. i'm hoping to see her during her house-sitting but we shall see what we can co-ordinate, when she rings me.
My sleep patterns are out of wack again, insomnia mixed with shoulder pains...
Did you all catch that awful but compelling 'Wounded' programme shown on BBC1, soldiers horribly maimed by landmines & booby traps in ? It pulled no punches and packed quite a wallop, no sentimentality was allowed and the two guys they followed didn't want pity or babying. i didn't want to watch it and hadn't meant to, but having stopped for a look, i couldn't look away. Such honesty and bravery was truly humbling and made me glad i only had mild disability to cope with. i was so proud of them.
It's being repeated here and there, watch out for it if you can, nobody should miss it, not even kids old enough to understand. This is the reality of war - not glamourous, sexy, clever or Hollywood but dirt in wounds, noise and horrible mutilated flesh. Don't you dare say 'i can't watch that' - if they could bear it, so can we.

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 12:22:17 GMT

From James' Facebook page

Thank you to all my good friends who came to Atlanta. I had a wonderful time at Dragon Con – especially loved the storm trooper outfit, which many people came together to give me. Next time you see a storm trooper it might be me! I look forward to seeing you all in London [the next event] and other future events.

-James

Thanks to Steve Himber, who took the photos *blows kiss*

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS???

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:41:24 GMT

could not belive my eyes!

Broadband tax 'to be law' by next election

Stephen Timms, the minister for Digital Britain, said the tax would be presented to Parliament as part of the Digital Economy Bill.

By Claudine Beaumont, Technology Editor
Published: 3:38PM BST 23 Sep 2009

Stephen Timms hopes to make the £6 per year 'broadband tax' law before the next general election Photo: PA

The £6 annual fee will be levied against every home phone line, regardless of whether or not the owner is already connected to a broadband internet service, and the £175 million raised will be used to pay for the next generation of super-fast broadband services.

The government has pledged universal broadband for all, at speeds of at least two megabits per second, by 2012.

Mr Timms said that the tax should be made law in the next few months. "We want to make high speed networks nationally available," he told an audience at a debate organised by the BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT. "The next-generation fund will help that and we will legislate for it this side of a general election."

The broadband tax was one of a number of recommendations outlined by Mr Timm's predecessor, Lord Carter, in the recent Digital Britain report, which set out the government's plans for encouraging innovation, growth and participation in the internet age.

The government has reiterated its commitment to implementing the report's key recommendations, despite Conservative opposition to some measures.

John Whittingdale, a Conservative MP who chairs the Department for Culture, Media and Sport select committee, said his party was almost certain to vote against the broadband tax. "I object to it on the basis that it is another tax, and is aimed at people who are using old technology."

Others have questioned whether the levy will cover the true cost of a brodband upgrade. “Our concern is that the upgrading of the
UK’s broadband infrastructure is a mammoth undertaking and this unpopular tax will barely make a dent in the likely total cost," said Michael Phillips, product director for comparison site BroadbandChoices.co.uk

The tax could feature in the Digital Economy Bill, which is due before the House in November.

The World of Lovejames

Some pictures for January 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LISA!!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Too Fast by James & Sullivan

Christmas 2009 and my review of 'Avatar'

Small clip of James singing 'Fall Down'

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Some winter fashion comments

Hallowhedon October 2009 - Part 3

Sunday

Hallowhedon October 2009 - Part 2

James' Sunday Q&A Monster Mania

Hallowhedon October 2009 - Part 1

Taking a break...

Writer's Block: Time in a bottle

First report from Rosie in Boston

Hi y'all! i've just had a text from Rosie - "James still has curls! Looking great. Q&A was really intimate, James in my lap nearly! xx"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAR!!

The Hub3 Report - Part 1

Spike says 'Cio'

love this...

'Lie to Me' - James' part

Saturday 3rd October 09

i've been busy, then slack and trying to sort what i want to do with my time. Anyway, my mate Caz is here from Aussie and i'm going to see her beginning of this week, then i'm off on a two day course, so i will be off the air for a bit. Take care, y'all!

Pretty masking tape and beautiful Indian things

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS???

could not belive my eyes!

Broadband tax 'to be law' by next election

Stephen Timms, the minister for Digital Britain, said the tax would be presented to Parliament as part of the Digital Economy Bill.

Related Articles http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6223239/Broadband-tax-to-be-law-by-next-election.html

Digital Britain: 2mbps broadband plans not enough for countryside, says CRC

BBC Trust "arrogant", says MPs' report

Government lifts TV product placement ban

'Let's back our digital industries'

Rural broadband 'notspots' plan

Britain is lagging behind Europe in broadband

The World of Lovejames

Some pictures for January 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LISA!!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Too Fast by James & Sullivan

Christmas 2009 and my review of 'Avatar'

Small clip of James singing 'Fall Down'

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Some winter fashion comments

Hallowhedon October 2009 - Part 3

Sunday

Hallowhedon October 2009 - Part 2

James' Sunday Q&A Monster Mania

Hallowhedon October 2009 - Part 1

Taking a break...

Writer's Block: Time in a bottle

First report from Rosie in Boston

Hi y'all! i've just had a text from Rosie - "James still has curls! Looking great. Q&A was really intimate, James in my lap nearly! xx"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAR!!

The Hub3 Report - Part 1

Spike says 'Cio'

love this...

'Lie to Me' - James' part

Saturday 3rd October 09

i've been busy, then slack and trying to sort what i want to do with my time. Anyway, my mate Caz is here from Aussie and i'm going to see her beginning of this week, then i'm off on a two day course, so i will be off the air for a bit. Take care, y'all!

Pretty masking tape and beautiful Indian things

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS???

could not belive my eyes!Broadband tax 'to be law' by next election

Stephen Timms, the minister for Digital Britain, said the tax would be presented to Parliament as part of the Digital Economy Bill.

Related Articles http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6223239/Broadband-tax-to-be-law-by-next-election.html

Digital Britain: 2mbps broadband plans not enough for countryside, says CRC

BBC Trust "arrogant", says MPs' report

Government lifts TV product placement ban

'Let's back our digital industries'

Rural broadband 'notspots' plan

Britain is lagging behind Europe in broadband

could not belive my eyes!

Broadband tax 'to be law' by next election