A5 - Slightly less epic but three times as surreal
Had a nice lie-in as I had nowhere to be until Misha's coffee lounge. Incidentally starting the day with Misha and a cup of tea is a good way to start a Sunday ;)
He was actually running pretty late but the crew let us go into the room and get sat down and settled. At first I was sat a couple of seats across from where Misha was supposed to be sitting but after a few minutes I decided to move as I didn't want to be leaning around to see him all the time. There just happened to be a free seat right opposite Misha so I went and sat there. Really glad I moved in the end as I wound up sitting next to two lovely Irish girls who I got chatting to while we waited for Misha to arrive. It was their first convention too (I do seem to draw in the newbies. LOL) so we chatted about the con experience and they both said they would definitely do another one.
Misha finally arrived and damn! He was wearing a suit with a blue shirt and he looked HOT! I've kind of mostly gone beyond seeing Misha as an object of lust now (Castiel is a totally different matter) but he was looking fine. He helped himself to a cup of tea and took a seat.
'You're looking very smart' I said as soon as he was settled. He smiled. 'Thank you. You always look smart.'
Immediately I was a lot more relaxed and in the mood to engage than I had been at the coffee lounge on the Saturday. There were still moments of silence where no one seemed to really know what to say but on the whole I thought it was a lot more chilled out. Sadly, again, I can't remember a lot of what we talked about. I did tell him I loved the tea party video he posted the night before and he asked if we understood the whole tea party thing (and paused to gripe about Sarah Palin again. He really does not like that woman). I asked him if he had anything else in the works (hoping he would mention the short about the TSA that he mentioned in Chicago) but he said there were things in the works and left it at that.
Someone asked him if he was still writing poetry and he said most of what he's writing at the moment is really cheesey stuff about babies. Aww!
I asked him when Castiel was going to be back (apart from next week) and he didn't really know. They film the episodes out of order so he had no idea what airs when. He did ask which episode had just aired and a whole group of people said they hadn't seen it yet. That didn't stop this one girl describing the episode in great detail even though people were telling her to shut up. God, I hate the lack of consideration some people have. I mean I'd seen the ep but if someone told be they hadn't I'd have just shut up about it.
I asked Misha if he found it confusing filming the episodes out of order and he said he finds the whole job confusing. LOL.
There was a woman with us who was really interested in swords and wanted to know if Misha would be up for working with something bigger than an angel killing knife. Misha started talking about the expert they have on set for when they're choreographing knife fights and he is trained with pretty much every kind of sword. Apparently he used to be a stunt man but shattered both his legs when a shoot didn't have the right kind of mat for him to fall on. They stopped his pay as soon as he got hurt. Wow, the industry is brutal :-s
Amusing language barrier issue when someone asked Misha about Castiel's mac. He thought she was talking about a computer and I had to explain she meant the trenchcoat. She asked if he'd got to choose what kind of coat it was and he said he'd tried a few on but obviously he had no idea at the time that he'd wind up wearing it for years. He also said that the suit underneath the coat is a really cheap synthetic one and is not nice.
He said he'd really love to have a Sex and the City type montage where Dean takes Castiel shopping for new clothes. Hehe!
We talked about Castiel's hair and why it changes all the time. Misha started off by saying that the stylist girls don't really pay much attention to his hair and just style it however they feel like on the day which is why it changes all the time. One of the girls cracked that maybe Castiel keeps changing his hair to get Dean's attention. Misha ran with it and said that of course Castiel spends hours in front of the mirror experimenting with his hair just so that he can say 'Dean, who's your prettiest friend?' LOL
When asked about Jimmy Misha said that when Castiel leaves Jimmy's body he leaves him in an arcade with a pocket full of quarters and instructions to go and get a haircut ;)
Uh, I think that's about all really. It's all I can remember anyway.
Oh, wait. I know. Someone asked about his name. I can't remember why but his dad was in the room at this point so he joined in and said that Misha was actually a nickname and (I hope I'm remembering this right) initially he was supposed to be called Dmitri Misha rather than the other way around.
We also got onto UK politics for a while. Oh, that's right. Someone asked Misha how things would be different if he interned at the White House under the Obama administration. He talked a bit about the changes Obama is making but then turned it around and said that we were due an election soon. I pointed out that we'd only just had one and Misha said he didn't think our government was stable enough to last through to the next scheduled general election. A woman in the group who knew more about it than me said it would last that long.
It ended when one of the girls gave Misha her hoodie that said 'assbutt' across the back of it. Apparently Misha had been saying he wanted it (possibly in jest, I don't know) so she gave it to him. He was very appreciative and said 'I can't believe you just gave me the shirt off your back'
And that was it.
Next up was my Mark photo shoot and it is the only photo from this weekend (apart from the group shot) that I am reasonably happy with. The poor photographer had to take it about four times and kept getting me to move my head and my glasses to avoid the glare
Apocajacket and unicorn pin present!
Next up Mark and Aldis did a joint panel which was hilarious. The bounce really well off each other. Most of the questions were for Mark and it became a bit of a joke.
Aldis did say he was going to try and get Christian Kane on Supernatural though. Although to be fair I think if he wanted to do it Jensen would have talked him into it already, surely.
Mark said the scene where Eliot punches Sterling was because his son told the writers it was a good idea. When they came to film it Christian actually put Mark through a real table, not a breakaway one. Everyone was freaked and Mark said he was just on the floor grinning and saying he was fine.
Mark blames Alan Rickman for British actors always being cast as the villain and Aldis added that everything just sounds more evil with an english accent.
I sadly missed Mark showing off his tattoos and Aldis showing off his abs. But apparently it happened ;)
Aldis decided that Hardison is Jake's cousin and Mark said that Sterling and Crowley were actually the same person.
Someone asked if Hardison and Crowley had to fight Sam and Dean who would win. I think they decided Hardison and Crowley just because they've got more brains *g*
After a break we then had a solo Aldis panel which was a lot of fun. The first person to ask a question had a broken microphone so Aldis went over and wrapped his arm around her so she could use his. Then the next girl said 'if I pretend my microphone is broken can I have a hug too'. Aldis wound up running back and forth across the stage for every question so he could hug whoever was asking. He's pretty damn awesome.
My main lingering memory of this panel is someone asked Aldis if there's anything he can't do (he acts, paints, designs watches, writes, plays violin and it later turned out he can sing too). As the list of everything he can do was being reeled off (apparently he can cook too) someone shouted out 'marry me, Aldis'. He got her down on stage and did this fully overblown proposal where he got down on one knee. It was hilarious.
Jake's panel was next and littlehollyleaf told him what Aldis had been doing with the hugs so of course he had to do the same thing. She said her question was for katie_f_thomas who was too shy to ask herself. Well, Jake wasn't having any of that so he asked where Kate was. I pointed at her and she pointed at me. LOL. I think since Jake and I had already met at the meet and greet he knew I wasn't the sort to be shy so he sat down next to Kate and made her ask her question. It was 'what's your favourite word' and he said 'double-entendre'.
As an aside Misha's favourite word (until he discovered orgiastic) was abacination which is where you hold a burning hot poker in front of someone's eyes to blind them. Kate said to Jake 'how he's not a seriel killer I'll never know' and it's a fair point. LOL. Trust Misha to choose a method of medieval torture as his favourite word. Apparently he didn't even think about it when he was asked.
So Misha's panel was next and I have to say I have never been to a more surreal con panel IN MY LIFE. I don't have any pics or video as I was in line most of the time waiting to ask a question but here's what I remember happening.
littlehollyleaf asked Misha for his version of events at the strip club in Australia that Rob told us about last month. He said that Julie really wanted to go to a strip club as she'd never been in one before. Misha bought her a lap dance. He also bought her finacee (now husband) one but Julie wanted that one for herself too.
Holly asked if it was true that Misha talked a topless dancer into going full-frontal for them and Misha denied everything, but said that if it was true they were strippers so getting naked was kind of their thing. He moved on but before the next girl could ask her question he went back to Holly and asked her how much it would cost for her to strip. Said said that for him it wouldn't cost anything (!). There was a pause and then Misha moved on again. LOL.
takadainmate asked about Balthazar (urgh!). Misha commended her on her pronounciation of Sebastian Roche's name. A lot of people groaned because obviously S6 hasn't aired in the UK yet. Misha told them that if they cared about the show they'd have seen it already. LOL.
He said that yes, there is a new angel called Balthazar and he took Castiel's virginity. He then went on to say that actually it makes perfect sense. Castiel is a two thousand year old virgin and that maybe he's been looking in all the wrong places. He then wanted a scene of Castiel coming out to Dean (which would be hilarious btw, even from a non D/C perspective).
He said that his theme song (Misha Collins not Castiel) would be the My Little Pony theme
At one point during the panel a phone started ringing. Misha answered it and put it on speaker. Turns out a guy wanted to propose to his girlfriend and had got Misha involved in the plan. Misha got the girl up on stage and held his microphone to the phone so we could all hear. He proposed and then Misha gave her the ring. It was all really moving and even Misha said he was a bit teary. She said yes of course. Does anyone say no to public proposals? LOL.
Then later on during the panel Jake and Julie crashed with their coffee lounges. They all ran across the stage (because Misha told them to even though the stewards were saying no) and then ran back again. It was random and strange.
Oh, and btw, I can confirm that turnip is disgusting. LOL. After Misha announced the winner of the largest turnip contest (my friend Sarina and her two year old neice Yvie won) Misha brought out bowls of turnip that had been turned into chips (fries, Americans). He distributed them around the room and they all got passed around so everyone could try it. Yeah, it was gross.
So this is how bad my memory of the panels is. I can't even remember exactly what Misha replied in answer to my question. I asked him that in her own personal biography of Castiel is there anything in there that hasn't been filmed that he would like to see. Misha said he wanted to see more of Heaven and what an angel's true form really looks like (I think he also said he wanted to see what angels having sex outside of the vessels looked like) but said that the budget wouldn't allow it. Apparently just the scene of Dean in Hell with the hooks through his body cost WAY too much.
Apparently before meeting Dean Castiel's past was all military stuff and him just being a soldier.
Oh, but apparently when I got up to the microphone Misha took his jacket off. I didn't even notice! Only knew it happened when I spotted a tweet about it. So,yeah, I have Misha stripper powers or something ;)
When asked about his son Misha said that since becoming a father he spends a lot more time naked. Apparently babies like skin to skin contact so he and his wife use that as an excuse to just not bother getting dressed ;)
He also said his son is like a Rubix Cube because everything is a puzzle like trying to work out why he's crying.
He went on to say that West has a condition where when his penis is exposed to air it makes him really need to pee (God, imagine when this kid grows up. It's like having all your baby photos aired to 700 strangers) so when Misha has to change the diaper it's like a race.
He added that as his apartment is rented and fully furnished he would recommend anyone living in such a place to buy a new matress when they move in because the sheer amount of bodily fluids on his is horrifying.
After the panel I headed off to get my Mark autograph. I'm not normally one to give actors presents (I imagine most of the stuff they get given gets donated to charity anyway) but after he devoured our table decoration at Chicon I figured it would be nice to give him some more.
So I got to Mark and said hello and that I had something for him. Mark's eyes instantly narrowed in suspicion 'Why?' So I explained that since he was clearly a fan having eaten our entire supply in Chicago I had bought him a bag of Fantales. Well, instantly his face changed and he beamed with delight. 'Oh, my god, these are fantastic!' He took the bag from me and showed them to the PA who was sitting with him. 'These are so delicious they should be Scottish'
I said that I hoped he enjoyed them and he thanked me again. He really did seem genuinely pleased. So I'm glad my one and only experience of giving an actor a gift paid off. YAY. I bet he's eaten them all already ;)
After that it was time for the closing ceremony. All the actors got up on stage and thanked everyone (I've posted the video of this already) and Misha and Aldis got the other guests chanting 'fans!' which they had obviously pre-planned. 'Feels good, doesn't it?' Misha asked. Yes, it does.
And that was the end of the con. It was supposed to be my last one until I get a job but oddlyfamiliar bought me a ticket for A7 so she had someone to go with. Now I just have to hope for Misha (or Jared *g*) but honestly most of the time it's the smaller guests who are the most fun. I really enjoyed talking to Fred and Jason especially this weekend. But of course tweeting on Misha's phone will forever be the crowning moment.
After I'd said my goodbyes (*sniff*) I headed off with oddlyfamiliar, Holly and Gabs to the hotel I was staying in that night. We ordered pizza, they had epic amounts of booze and we settled down to watch stuff and just chill out
First of all we watched The Third Man. I most most appreciative of Sam's abs as well as Dean and Castiel's profound bond. When Blathazar came on screen I muttered under my breath ;)
Then we watched STONEHENGE APOCALYPSE and it was epic and glorious. I'd hit the wine by that point so it was all good. oddlyfamiliar and I amused ourselves tweeting our favourite lines and generally taking the piss. Oh, and I finally decided I ship Jacob/Joseph and immediately started plotting my Santapocalypse fic *g*
We ended with You Can't Handle The Truth and by this time I was chatting on IM with hsapiens again. I wasn't really ready for a second viewing.
And after that we went to bed. Con over *sadface*