Long Weekend

[fairyd123]

Why is it that whenever we get a long weekend, which should be an opportunity for a nice rest I always end up completely knackered at the end of it?

Got up insanely early on Saturday in order to drag myself to the Collectormania signing event in Milton Keynes. Travel was a bit of a nightmare. Firstly the ticket machines at Euston weren't worling so I ended missing the train I wanted to get because I was stuck in a long ass queue and then my train decided it didn't want to go any further than Bletchley because some inconsiderate bastard had thrown himself in front of a train just north of Milton Keynes Central. One merry bus ride later and I ended up in Milton Keynes at about 10:00 a.m. which was very annoying when we should have been there at about 8:50.

Completely underestimated Brandon Routh's popularity. I knew he'd be busy but I didn't realise how busy. Our ticket number was in the 700's! Thankfully it pays to know the people who work at these events and we finagled our way into the queue or we would never have met him! He was very cute in real life and extremely pleasant.

Then had to wait around forever to get Grace Park's autograph - she seemed nice if incredibly vacuous. She just sort of smiled and blinked a lot - making conversation was a little like pulling teeth.

Made my way back in time (just!) for Doctor Who. The CGI monster didn't particularly inspire me but I thought Mark Gatiss did a really nice job. He had some lovely monologues.

And the trailer at the end of the episode was completely awesome. The family of blood, scary scarecrows, Derek Jacobi, lots of space suited malarkey, John Simm looking particularly unsettling and Jack, lots and lots of pretty Captain Jack!

Have finally gotten rid of the parents (who decided to spring a surprise visit) and am now off to see John Simm in a play called Elling.

Comments

[krazykipper.livejournal.com]

Grace Park was really nice to me. Possibly because Kim told her I'd been to every Cm and never got an autograph before and she was flattered.

I of course stuttered nervously and made an idiot out of myself.

You ended up in Bletchley? But nobody ever wants to go there. Cos it's...well, worse than the rest of MK.

Talking to the Stewards, apparently Brandon Rough got through over 900 autographs on Saturday. Which is seriously iompressive.

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

Grace was sweet but she came across as a teeny bit air-headed but to be fair that could have been a combination of jet lag and people fatigue. I got the impression that people were mostly talking at her - she wasn't contributing much. She definitely needs to learn to balance the chatting with signing though. I think on all three days she barely got through 300 autographs a day. I know lots of people left disappointed at not getting to see her.

I'm sure she was incredibly flattered if she was the first autograph you ever got. That's a really lovely thing to be told and I'm sure you din't make an idiot out of yourself at all.

Yes Brandon Routh signed a crazy number of autos. My friend was running his queue and his agent made sure that he kept it moving like the wind. He was a really nice guy too.

Yup we got turfed out at Bletchley which wasn't fun. There were no cabs waiting and not much indicatation that any would be arriving any time soon so we ended up going on a mini-adventure to find a bus full of chavs to take us to the shopping centre - which thankfully it did!

[krazykipper.livejournal.com]

Granted, she didn't seem like she'd be winning any Brain of Britain awards she didn't seem that much of an airhead Sun afternoon.

Did they? I feel lucky then. I was kinda glad she did talk to me (and walked me through the autograph process, yes I am that incompetent) cos if I'd just seen Brandon I'd have probably been a fraction disappointed at the amount of time. But it does suck not everyone got to see her.

Hehe, probably not as much as some people do. And tis true. (Though probably because I'm amazingly indecisive and Kim stayed to make sure that I actually went through with it and didn't bottle out).

It was impressive the number.

I used to have swimming lessons in Bletchley (in a school where they used to have stabbings that like). As a general rule, avoid Bletchley. Driving there is the worst.

[astrothsknot.livejournal.com]

I don't know who i admire most - the fans dedicated eough to queue for hours for 30 seconds of conversation or the actors themselves for the long day.

[fairyd123.livejournal.com]

The fans! The actors (at the Collectormania events anyway) are getting paid substantial amounts to be there. It's not a venue I would choose as an actor - it's quite cramped and the London Film and Comic Con set up is much better. If you meet one of the quieter actors at these events you can normally have quite a lengthy conversation with them but the bigger guests will always be 30 seconds or less.

[tatiana-baa.livejournal.com]

yep, sounds like it's just as well I overslept! Given the lousy weather on Monday, I decided not to bother at all.

I'm glad you got the signatures you wanted. I must confess I'm surprised Routh was that popular. I didn't dislike the film, but it could have been so much better, and I thought that was the general reaction. Though he did look the part, didn't he?