FX Extrvaganza Pics!
This has definitely been one of the Best Weeks Ever! First we went to see the Dancing with the Stars Tour, and then we went to the FX Extravaganza. Here are my pics and some comments.
This was the cover of the pamphlet/booklet thing they gave us.
The Orange County Convention Center.
There are actually two buildings and they are not that close to each other.
Of course, we went to the wrong one first and it took us about 45 minutes to finally walk to the correct building from the parking garage.
But we figured Kristen Bell was worth it.
The line to get in was pretty long, but only took like 20 minutes to get through.
My twin sister, Samantha, and our roommate, Kaitlyn.
Kaitlyn wasn't too excited right here (she only came for us), but she ended up having a blast.
We're going to try to go to the TWoP TARCon and Comic Con next.
The huge room where everything was set up. It was a little overwhelming.
We rushed right to Kristen's and Hayden's lines first to get tickets (which told you when to come back, according to your ticket number, so that you weren't standing in line for hours and hours).
Kristen, signing away. She's so pretty in person, but so very tiny. Not too thin or anything, just a small person in general. It wasn't our time to get in line yet, so we nipped over to her Fanboys castmates lines.
(At this point, my sister and I start to bounce on our toes in anticipation and nerves. Our roommate looks at us like we're crazy.)
Sam Huntington and Chris Marquette, of Fanboys.
Chris had no one in his line, which we didn't get because he was one of the main reasons we went. We adored him on Joan of Arcadia.
However, because he was the first person we were going to meet (we'd never been to anything like this before), I had myself a little dither and had to calm down and breathe normally before approaching him. It wasn't easy with Sammie hissing at me to hurry, either.
By the time we got up there, he was signing another girl's stuff, so we had to wait a minute. Sam and I must've been bouncing a lot because he actually looked up and laughed at us and waved. When we walked up to him and shook his hand, we were acting like such fangirls that he laughed at us the whole time.
Okay, this picture doesn't do his cuteness any justice. Just believe when I say that he was so cute and nice that all three of us crushed out on him instantly. He climbed over the table to take this with us and while we waited for Kait to take the picture, we told him how much we loved him on JoA, but that we were bummed that it ended before Joan and Adam got back together. He agreed with us.
Sam then told him that she hated him a little bit when Adam cheated on Joan. He got very animated at this part, and assured us that him and Amber Tamblyn fought that plotline for quite some time. He said it wasn't a fun way to end the show for him. Then, my loudmouth sister admitted that she was over-identifying with the whole cheating thing, which made him say, "awwww."
Then she boldly asked for a hug and he obliged by giving her quite the tight squeeze. He's definitely a good hugger. He seemed very excited that we were so excited to see him. It couldn't have been fun for him to go most of the day without much of a line. He was just very sweet and conversational and called us by our names multiple times.
Here's the autograph. He laughed when he saw which picture we brought and said something like, "oh la la." Then he drew little lips and a "mwah." Again, so cute!
We moved right from him to Sam Huntington, who was sitting right next to Chris and also didn't have a line at the time.
(We were again baffled. I mean, Sam was in Superman. wtf??)
He was nice, as well. Also quite funny. We tried to gush over him like we did with Chris, because when we introduced ourselves, he said something like, "Chris is a great guy, isn't he?" He shook our hands and asked if we were twins (Chris had asked too). We told him yes and he told us about twins that he'd known in high school and that they had also done their hair differently.
We told him that we loved him on VMars but that Superman was abviously very cool too. He seemed surprised that VMars was the first thing we mentioned. Then he asked if we wanted him to be cool like Chris and hop over the table for the picture. We of course said yes.
We also got them both to sign a Fanboys picture:
See what I mean about Sam being funny??
It was at this point that an announcer said that the Fanboys screening would be starting in ten minutes. Sure enough, the boys tell us it was nice meeting us and start to head out back through the curtains. We of course decided to go check out. But we had no idea where it was.
Awesomely, right as we got to the exit of the Big Room, who do we see? Why Sam and Chris, heading out, as well. So, we decide to follow them, figuring that it's not stalking so much as a reasonable and rational course of action, seeing as they would obviously lead us right to the screening. And, again awesomely, Sam held the door open for us, which we thanked him for and he was all, "No problem, ladies."
*swoon*
Here's them walking toward the screening room:
The screening room fit maybe 100-150 people and it filled up fairly quickly. Chris was standing right inside the door when we walked in, and he gave us a big smile and waved and said something along the lines of, "You guys again?" He was laughing at us again and by this time, we started to think that he was genuinely baffled that we liked him so much.
It was also at this point that the day sort of became about Chris Marquette. We'd already seen Kristen and seen Hayden from a distance, and it was cool and awesome. But, it wasn't like they were going to stand there and have a conversation with us, you know? Let alone recognize us every time they saw us for the rest of the day. It was like Chris, and Sam to an extent, was the only one who seemed reachable and even remotely approachable outside of him signing an autograph.
Anyway. The first ppl to walk on stage were Kyle Newman (director), Kevin Mann (exec producer), and Matt Perniciaro (producer). Then the cast was introduced, starting with Jaime King, who got a fair amount of applause. Kristen came on next, to much louder applasue and screams. And then Chris and Sam, who seemed to both get more applause than even Kristen, but a lot of it was "whhhooooos" and cat calls. heee.
The screening was very good. It was a bunch of little scenes, with three longer scenes spread out. The three main scenes were one where Sam and Chris' characters get in an argument about Chris being too obsessed with Star Wars and then they argue about the whole Luke-Leia-sibling thing, ending with Chris apparently ad-libbing something along the lines of, "They were siblings, you sick bastard!"
The next scene was the showdown between our fanboys and a group of Treckers. Some of the arguments were whether the Borg were more kickass than Darth Vadar and whether or not Capt. Picard was gay.
The third lengthy scene was the one of the boys and Kristen in the garbage disposal thing and they think the walls are closing in on them. It was hysterical.
After the screening, they just asked the audience if anyone had any questions. It was mostly basic stuff, like what kind of pranks were pulled, what was their favorite scene to film, what's the difference between filming for tv versus film (Kristen and Chris answered), etc. They all seemed to get along well and Sm said that this was the one movie that he'd made the most close friends while filming. At this point, Chris threw himself at Sam and they just sat there holding and stroking each other for at least 20 or 30 seconds, while everyone else died of laughter. Unfortunately, Samantha was not quick enough with the camera to capture that Kodak moment on film.
There was also a point where Sam Huntington admitted that he was passionate about porn. The others jumped in and insisted that he has boxes full of vintage Penthouses, which he had shipped to New Mexico for filming. He was very good-natured and played right along. New Mexico was also mentioned often and how there was absolutely nothing to do there, so it was shocking that they all had so much fun.
When we left, we were following Chris again (not stalking!) when we realized that tiny, tiny Kristen was posing with some fans right in front of us. However, when some youngish dude tried to ask her for a picture, her bodyguard-type guy said no and rushed her away. She looked very apologetic and a little flustered.
It was at this point that I decide I need to use the restroom before heading back into the Big Room. It took us a few minutes to realize that Kristen, who was a few feet in front of us, seemed to be heading in the same direction. Sure enough, she walked into the bathroom and we hesitated outside, not wanting to seem like we were following her (can you say ew?), but since I was going to go anyway, we decided to go for it.
Samantha purposely went into the stall right next to hers (and then talked about peeing next to Veronica Mars the rest of the day --- ewww) and we tried not to stare when she was washing her hands, re-applying makeup, etc. No one in the bathroom approached her, which I thought was pretty cool. Samantha did say, "Kristen, you are so cute." She smiled and said thank you. We considered asking for a picture when we got outside, but since we were scheduled to get her autograph in like 10 minutes anway, we decided not to bother her. Again, she seemed very uncomfortable, but I guess that happens when you can probably tell that everyone in the bathroom was looking at you out of the corner of their eye.
So, we finally get in line to see Kristen, and Jaime King was sitting right next to her, so we snapped some photos of her.
I think she looks really cute in this picture -- laughing at something.
And now, time for Kristen!
Kristen and Sam.
Kristen and me.
She was very friendly, if seeming a little nervous and/or uncomfortable at the thought of ppl wanting her autograph and picture. Like she still hasn't quite wrapped her head around it. We were very excited to see her, so we were bouncing again, and she noticed just like Chris did. She gave us a very warm smile and waved enthusiastically, even though she was with another fan and she knew we'd be up there in a few seconds. It's like she could tell we were really anxious to see her, and she didn't want to make us wait.
We shook her hand and gave her a picture that we had printed out (we wanted to make sure it was very "Veronica Mars"), which she liked and said was a very good choice. She also asked if we were sisters and seemed to think it was cool that we were twins. We told her that we loved her on the show and that we admired her and thought she was such a good role model. She got embarrassed at that and looked down and smiled. She said, very sincerely, that it was great to hear things like that. We thanked her profusely and moved on our way.
Of course, when we walked by Chris, we had to say hello again and giggle like the fangirls that we are.
At this point, Hayden was off doing professional 8x10 photos with fans , which we passed up on ($30, not including an autograph). We had some lunch and took the time while waiting for our turn to see her by walking around and checking out some other ppl I'd wanted to see. Because autographs were $20-$25, we decided that Hayden's would be the only other one we'd get. However, if you just wanted to take a picture with someone, it didn't cost anythig.
So, we saw Michael Biehn, but were kind of scared to approach him (he terrified us in The Abyss when we were little). So, we just took a picture from afar.
But then we worked up the nerve.
We told him he used to scare us, and he agreed that his character in The Abyss was not very nice. He even looks kinda scary in the picture.
Next, we walked over to see the Buffy people. Bianca Lawson was just about to leave, but I ran up and asked her if she'd mind taking a picture real quick. She was very nice, but I didn't want to hold her up, so I just told her that I really like her in Buffy and that the sexy pictures she had available for signing looked great.
I think she looks reeeallly different. Of course, she was on Buffy a long time ago -- almost ten years, I think.
Sitting right next to her was Andy Hallet, looking fabulous in a white suit. He was much younger looking than I was expecting, but verrry good-looking. He was super nice and let us take a picture with him. We told him that we really appreciated him coming out to things like this so many years later, and he said that that's what it's all about -- meeting fans and whatnot. He was very down to earth and friendly. We told him that we didn't want to tke up too much of his time, and he said that that was nonsense. hee.
As we were heading back to go see Hayden, Samantha and Kaitlyn both look at this guy walking by, then at each other, then they both say, "Was that Joey Fatone??" And sure enough, it was. So, we gave chase. We ran after him through almost the whole place, but then he started talking to the director from Fanboys. He was also with his family, so we ultimately decided not to bother him. But we did snag some pictures.
Then, we saw that Ray Park (Toad in Xmen, Darth Maul in Star Wars) didn't have a line, so I was going to go and take a picture with him, but he was apparently just headed out for lunch. So, we politely hang back and take a picture from a distance, whereas some other people just went up to him anyway, even though he was trying to leave.
At this point, Samantha decides that she'd like her own Kristen autograph, so she whips out her Logan/Veronica poster that she brought with her, hoping that Kristen could sign more than one thing, which she only could do if you paid another $20. So, Sam decides to fork over the money. We go and get back in Kristen's line (the guy taking the tickets just laughs and shakes his head at us), and when she sees us, she must've recognized us because she said, "What's up, girls?" We explained to her that we actually had a poster we'd like her to sign, as well, and we showed it to her.
She was thrilled. She gasped and said it was so cool. She asked what OMGSway was, and we explained that OMG = Oh my god, and that sway was the song they danced to. Then, she said that Jason (Dohring!) would love it. So, we told her we got it from CafePress and she said she'd tell him all about it. Samantha then said that she loved Logan, so she should defineitely tell Jason about it. This made Kristen laugh. She wrote on it, "Logan and Veronica Forever!"
So, to all those ppl that complain that Kristen doesn't support LoVe, here's your proof that she does.
Finally, we got in line for Hayden, who is soooo pretty in real life. I couldn't stop staring at her. Apparently, though, they were running behind with their number system, so the line was actually really long. Becasue they were behind, they said that she wouldn't be posing for pictures, which sucked, but that we could take pictures of her while she signed. Also, they made you write your name down on a piece of paper, so that when it was your turn, they'd just hand her the paper and your picture so she could sign it as quickly as possible. It really sucked. She was friendly, but she barely glanced at us. I know it was probably her people's decision to do it that way and not hers, but it was still very disappointing. It was almost not worth the $25.
She did, however, comment on the picture that we brought. She said it was one she hadn't seen there yet, and when we told her that we brought our own, she seemed to think that was cool. Then she did look up at us and tell us that if we wanted to help an animal shelter, we could buy one of her t-shirts. Of course, only$5 of the $15 was going toward charity, and we'd already had to go to the ATM once, so we decided to pass. It was a pretty ugly shirt, too, with a picture that did not really look anything like Hayden.
Fortunately, we got to see Zachary Quinto, who was sitting right next to Hayden. They seemed to get along well and were talking whenever they had a chance and went on breaks and things together. While we were toward the front of the line for Hayden, a little boy in a wheelchair was with his family and getting an autograph from Zach. Anyway, when he saw Zach, he just freaked out -- he was so excited! You'd think he'd be afraid of him, but no. He was thrilled.
Zach was so sweet and cute with him. He leaned way over the table so that he could talk to him directly and he talked to him and his family for well over five minutes. Then, he was asking the kid if he'd met Hayden yet, and he already had. I think he reached out and held the kid's hand, too. It was just too cute.
On a side note, he also looks like my good friend, Shane, when he's dressed like a normal person.
Edit:
I actually got an email from a guy named Robb, who identified the kid in these pictures as his son, Shane. The other boy is his other son, Max. He asked me to modify some of the comments I made, but also filled me in on another cute story invovling Shane and Hayden. The reason he was so jumpy and excited around Zach was actually due to Hayden. He had met her earlier in the day and got embarrassed becasue she was "flirting" with him and teasing him about how he liked her and wanted to kiss her. How cute is that?? So, when he went to go see Zachary, he saw Hayden again and she waved at him and told him she wanted him to be her boyfriend. hee.
Here's a picture of Hayden and Shane that Robb sent for me to post:
*squee* I <3 this pic!
He also told me that they go to a lot of conventions and that some of Shane's other "girlfriends" include Julie Benz (Darla) and Mercedes Mcnab (Harmony) from Buffy and Angel, and Jewel Staite Kaylee from Firefly.
Also, his other son, Max, was most excited to see Kristen Bell and even sang "We Used to be Friends" to her. So adorable! Robb was super sweet in his email and the whole family just seems lovely.
I just had to add those little tidbits! Anyway!
At this point, Samantha has to get back home to make sure she can get ready for work on time. But, we decide to nip over and say goodbye to Chris (who still had no one in line, though it had picked up after the screening). We walk up to his table and he says, "Hey ladies, you back again?" We tell him that we just wanted to say goodbye, and then -- get this. He stands up and reaches out and gives all three of us hugs, thanking us for coming to see him and saying that it was great to get to know us. And then he points at Sam and I and says, "Samantha and Courtney, right?" Not only did he remember our names like four hours later, but he knew which was which. AND, he remembered Kaitlyn's name, even though she barely spoke to him and he hadn't written it down for an autograph. How awesome is he?? We thanked him profusely for being so kind and told him that people like him make these things worth while. He was very appreciative and told us again how wonderful it was to see us.
Seriously??
He gives the best hugs. Even over a table. All of us walked away giddy and giggling and swearing our love for him. We decided that form now until August, when Fanboys comes out, we actually will stalk him and try to make it to the other events he'll be doing for the movie. Because he was that amazing.
Okay. That's it. Hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to ask my any questions that you may have.