Jason Guest Encounter
Well, what can I say? I was lucky enough this weekend to take part in Jason Momoa’s first ever guest encounter. My participation in the bidding for the guest encounter stems from our signing with him early on the Saturday morning; without which, I probably wouldn’t have bid (and kept on bidding!) for him. In the morning, I had a wee chat with him about the season 2 DVD’s (which I got signed [disc one, Runner]) design and stuff. He had a flick through it saying how he’d never seen them - he doesn’t have them so, really why would he have? I laughed a little and thanked him, at which he replied “No, thank you very much” and gave me a swift once over. Grinning I walked away, a little flushed and grinned to myself. But, I didn’t walk far as my dear Carolyn (CazzBlade) was behind me, now getting a signing with Jason and when I turned back around, he was looking at me again, gave me another swift once over which I readily returned with a quirked eyebrow. Now, I know if I read this somewhere I wouldn’t believe it but you can ask Carolyn and San, too! They saw it - in fact, Cazz’s response was “He seemed pretty taken by you!”
So, the bidding frenzy began. It started at thirty five and I told them to not allow me to bid any higher than sixty for the auction. Thankfully, they didn’t listen and I sneaked away upping my bid to £100 (or was it £80? I can’t remember if I changed it after that) but in the end I only had to pay £70 for it. Thankfully, I had bid more than sixty because the guest encounter was the best part of the weekend.
When he came in, he was eating a small bowl of salad and, coincidentally (or not) the only two seats left for him to sit at were on either side of me. He came in, asked if he could sit on one and I shook my head then laughed and nodded and he joked around a bit saying “Are you sure? Really?” He seemed quite uncomfortable to start with, even saying “All you guys are just staring at me.” Me, I was too busy trying not to die because someone else came into the room and I had to move my chair even closer to Jason’s so the person could take their seat on the other side of me. I was so close I could smell him.
He was munching away and asked if it was okay if he told a funny story (like we would say no, eh?) so he began telling us a story about the shower in his hotel room. He had been so confused by it that the poor man scalded his feet and to blame that for his imbalance when walking and not anything else (the fact he’d walked into the opening ceremony with an almost drained pint glass while Joe’s was still mostly full led us to believe he’d enjoyed a few sociable drinks the night before). I can’t remember his words but he did say, during the conversation “You know, everything works differently in different countries-“ to which I responded “Really?” Now, I had warned Cazz not to tell me do stuff like that but, out of their jurisdiction, my mouth ran riot lol. But, he seemed to appreciate it cause I got a sideways glance, then he smiled, looked back at me and pushed my arm off the arm rest of my chair as he said to me “Smart ass,” laughing.
Right then, I could have died. It took all of my energy not to squee into a pool of goo at his feet right then.
Anyway, what else did he talk about?
He asked where everyone is from, saying “Is everyone here English?” and I turned to him and said “No, I’m Scottish,” and he held up his hands, laughing as he winced and said “Ooh, sorry.” It was quite funny. He asked if I knew who Gerard Butler (who he is really good friends with apparently :D) was and asked about Scotland. He said he’d always wanted to go there, and how he’d heard it was all purple and yellow. I told him that it was the heather on the moors and he was like “Heather?... Wow,” like he was trying the word out. He muttered “moors” a couple of times too, and I couldn’t help but squee with delight. Someone mentioned that they’d gone to Scotland to study, that she hadn’t understood what an “Orange” pub was and Jason was equally confused. I explained briefly (heh, I gave Jason Momoa a history lesson *grins*) about William of Orange, his help in emancipating Protestant Scotland from Catholic rule and that Orange was the name of his house in the Netherlands and it was a great divide still, the Catholic/Protestant divide in Scotland. We talked a bit about that and the woman was like “Yeah, they ask whether you're Protestant or Catholic.” And I said, “No, in Glasgow it’s a bit more subtle: they ask what football team you support.” Another brief explanation to Jason about Celtic being Catholic and Irish, Rangers being Protestant; he asked which I was and I could have melted right there. He seemed genuinely interested in the topic, surprised that it was still such a big issue in Scotland because he’d thought it was just confined to Ireland/Northern Ireland. He asked about the geography of Scotland, where the Highlands started and stuff, which was nice. Almost offered to give him the guided tour, lol. So I’m hoping he does come to Scotland one day - even if just for a holiday with the wife and kids.
Then we started talking about traffic and roundabouts, lol. He was talking about their drive to Milton Keynes the night before and how roundabouts are put in the weirdest places here. He said he and Joe were sitting in their car like “Woaw! Another one!” He was genuinely enthusiastic about that, which I thought was so unbelievably cute, lol. Like he was on a rollercoaster or something. He talked about how there was hardly any roundabouts in America and where there was some, they were just for show in the big cities, or out in the middle of nowhere where no one is going to use them anyway. He also talked about the fact they went to Milton Keynes; they’d wanted to stay in the “quaint little village” (of Bedford) but they’d been whisked away, that he wanted fish and chips for dinner and not KFC. We were talking, too, about traffic in different countries and he was like “Yeah, I’ve driven in Australia.” We talked about the Arc de Triomph in Paris but he didn’t understand what I meant about the crazy-no-lane-driving so I demonstrated using my bottle of water as the Arc and my fingers as cars. He still looked confused so I sat back, looked at him and said “You do know what the Arc de Triomph is, don’t you?” (I know, I was cheeky, but I said it jokingly and he did seem to appreciate it) and he was like “Yeaaahhhh,” laughing at me. Talked about the spaghetti junctions all over England/London and America and how he’d never known anything like it.
He was asked if he ever read anything about himself on the internet to which he admitted he was computer illiterate. The first time he’d went onto Amazon, he’d been looking for some CD’s and drinking a bottle of wine. When he was adding things to his cart, it came up saying “You may also like this... and this...” and was like “This shit knows me man! This is great!” and kept clicking away, adding things to his list. He was waiting for his wife’s friend to leave/get off the phone and by the time she had, he’d finished the bottle of wine and he clicked buy items. The next day, his wife came up to him like “Jason, why do I have 77 e-mails from Amazon!?” He said he’s been banned ever since and is still getting stuff sent through the post from then. Someone commented “Wait ‘til you try eBay” and he got really excited, shifting about (more than usual) in his chair. He’d seen some British bike on eBay to buy but being the computer illiterate that he is, he asked some woman at the studios to bid for it. He’d initially offered the guy $13,000 for it but the guy had refused, saying he wanted to auction it off and Jason was like “Right, fair enough.” So, this woman at the studios sat up until 2am for him, bidding on the bike and he ended up getting it for like six and a half grand. He was very pleased, grinning smugly to himself at the thought. I think he said something like “That’s what he gets.” That Jason had pretty much stolen the bike from him because there was only one other person bidding for it. He was asked about his bikes and he said he doesn’t really go them anymore because of the kids; before it had been easy, if anything happened it didn’t matter but now he had to think of the kids so he still had loads of bikes and cars but pretty much just drove his right-hand-drive Range/Land Rover. He says he bought his pink Cadillac because he loves Elvis and because it always rains in Vancouver and the Cadillac cheers him up.
He talked, too, about first meeting Joe but I only have vague memories of this. I remember him saying he was thinking “Who is this guy?” about him and laughing but he said he had been serious in his thoughts. He was like “Damn, I could have waited and got Robert Carlyle. Who is Joe Flanigan?” But he was laughing and shaking his head saying “No, he’s my best buddy.” He was talking about the first time he went to Joe’s house, how mental it was with the three boys running around chasing after/being chased by the four dogs. He was laughing as he said he turned around and never went back. He talked (briefly, I think) about living with Joe in Vancouver and how hard it is now that filming has finished that they don’t see one another. He said “You know, it’s a half hour drive there and back and when you’ve got the kids in the back of the car it doesn’t seem worth it.” Someone in the group said “Try driving two and a half hours with kids in your car, two ways, just to see your mother”. He was like “Yeah but that’s your mother, not your bud.” He said he used to wind Joe up when he was shooting; Jason would stand off screen and let out big farts hoping that Joe would crack up - most of the time, he admitted, it worked.
Despite this, he said, he and Joe are hammering out details of a project. He didn’t go into it in the talk with Joe but he did mention it in the group talk. I really do think it’s something that will go ahead if they get the green light from a network because they both seem really into it. It’s a cop show but it sounded quite funny too, as though they weren’t taking themselves too seriously in it (though with those two I can imagine production would be hilarious). They really want to shoot it in LA because that’s where they both live and that’s where their families are and they know how hard it is being away from them for such a long time as it takes to film a show, possibly for four/five years. He’s just finished filming four episodes of a sitcom called “Game” and he said it was the funniest thing he’s ever shot. He couldn’t stop laughing the whole time.
He talked, too, about his kids being born and his ‘girl’ (wife). He said he grabbed his son by the balls when he was born and shouted “Yeah! I don’t have to do this anymore!” because his wife really wanted a boy. He said he’s been treating the boy as though he’s a teenager, saying to him when he’s crawling about the floor “What are you doing down there, man, get up!” and playing football with him. He said he wishes he’d had children sooner because it’s the best thing to ever happen to him. He was positively glowing when he was talking about it and I was just like... “awww”. It was so lovely to see him speak like that, so openly - especially considering how shy he is.
Now, the good stuff. Someone asked about the SGA movie and he shook his head. He doesn’t think there will be one. At least that’s what he said, so maybe if there is one he won’t be a part of it? He did say in the talk that he had wanted Ronon to die at the end of Enemy at the Gate but the writers were like “Uh, no.” He talked, too, about the cancellation and he really did seemed quite bummed about it still. I think they were all very surprised. He explained it like this:
Brad had created SG-1 and Atlantis but after season 1 of Atlantis, he’d taken a step back and given Joe Mallozzi and Paul Mullie the reigns. The two have been running it ever since. But, in season 5 (towards the end, I think he said) Brad stepped back in and started changing things and that’s when they realised something was wrong. He said Joe Mallozzi took it the hardest, probably, because he’d been running the show for four years and then when Brad decided he’d had enough he stepped back in and took over, cancelling the show even though the ratings were still good. He said that they couldn’t have afforded the two shows but Brad wanted SGU, rather than season 6 of Atlantis - even though all the lead actors were contracted for the sixth season. He said when it’s the show runners, not the network, that want it cancelled there really is nothing you can do about it. He mentioned Martin Gero leaving and commended him for getting out because he’d become a producer and Brad wasn’t going to let him produce anything on SGU. He said something about Joe Mallozzi doing SGU and I got the impression that he was surprised Paul and Joe had signed up to SGU and that he didn’t think the two would stay for long. I can’t remember the exact words but that was the interpretation/hint that I got from what he did say. He also said not to blame Carlyle because it’s not his fault he was cast for a part.
Oh and part way through, they brought in a burger for him to eat and he just looked at it. I mean, I’m not a fussy eater but even I wouldn’t have eaten it. The bun was dry, he’d asked for the meat to be medium and it was like a slab of charcoal on his plate, there was a tiny dish of relish on the side, some chips and some salad. He ate the salad, and offered the burger to everyone else saying that he “could eat anything but even I wouldn’t eat that.” The crew member that was there was like “What’s wrong with it?” and he just said it looked “scary”. Lol. He also ran out of water and asked the woman to get him some and she poured some from the dispenser in the corner. He took a sip and was like “What is this?” *made face* “Taste this,” and tried to pass it off to us but none of us would take it. He was like “it’s fizzy” and I said “Maybe it’s sparkling” and he said “it’s definitely somethin’”. The woman tasted it and said jokingly to him as he took a sip “This is where I tell you it’s something they use to clean the whole system” and he spat it back out, half missing the cup and it landed a little on my seat and he apologised, laughing slightly. Too cute. The woman ended up going to get him water/figured out how to make it not sparkly.
I gave him a gift... I know, cheesy, eh? It was a “Mr Men” book... can you guess? Mr Strong, lol. Hannah had drawn a little cartoon Ronon on the inside and a couple of us had signed it with love. He laughed, looked at the cartoon and flicked through the book, smiling. I also gave him a cream egg, which he eyed suspiciously, lol but he did take both of them with him when he left, lol.
There’s more, I’m sure of it and some stuff that he said that I don’t want to repost for everyone on the net to read (About filming Search and Rescue). If other people want to post about it, that’s fine but he did say not to bring it up and seemed hesitant to tell us so I’m going to give him that privacy. If I remember more, I’ll add to it and update you all in the different threads. If there’s things I told you he said that I forgot to mention, let me know cause I’ve probably just forgotten.
Hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed being there... actually... I don’t think that’s possible. The sentiment is the same though!
Edit1.0: We talked a bit at the start about accidents; I said I fell down the stair in my house just over a year ago and broke my eblow and since then, I keep falling down them. He laughed and said it was a sign I should move.
Edit2.0: I commented on his hat and he took it off, showing us the big hole burned into the back. He said he liked things with dents in them, like cars and clothes... then he gestured to himself and said "I'm just one big dent." *queue squeeeing*
Edit3.0: When asked if he would cameo in Universe, Jason replied (confusedly) "No." Why, we asked. "Because it's a prequel."