Supanova Saturday full report - the adventure begins
Saturday, what can I tell you about our Saturday adventures? Apparently over 7,00 words, all below and under the relevant cuts. There might even been some pictures!
clarrisani, her sister StalkerofShadows (SoS) and myself headed in to the Melbourne showgrounds at not the brightest of times. While we were still on the train we noted that James Marsters talk had started. A little bit of angst, but oh well these things happen when you have three girls and then the Melbourne public transport system that has still not managed to work out how to plan the train and the tram times in conjunction with each other. Don't attempt to throw buses into that mix either. :p
Waiting for the tram and my god Melbourne weather with not a cloud in the sky, I have traveled to an alternative universe, obviously.
I was a little unsure of what the reaction would be from people going about their normal business while we were dressed up. I should never have feared as those dressed up on the tram outnumbered the 'normal' people. There were the two guys who had their cans of drink that looked more alcoholic than a soft drink with them and a demeanor that suggested possibly that it was not their first drink of the day on the train though. A couple of minutes into the journey, one of them leaned over to ask if we were trekkies. An affirmative reply was given and then they and us went back to the normal public transport commuter behaviour. Pretending that no one else on the train existed, apart from your own little circle.
We arrived at the showgrounds and happily walked past the line that was already almost at the gate. Going the night before to pick up our passes was a great idea. We wandered into the main hall to pick up our 'package' which included our tickets for the autographs and photos. In actuality that was all it included, but really that is all that was needed. The price for our VIP tickets included 4 tickets and 2 photos. I already had 6 items that needed to get signed, so I knew I would have to fork out a little bit of extra cash. We walked past the huge line up, where everyone else was, to stand at a space bye the end table. It was here that we got our first taste of the power of the pass. When the woman looked at us and motioned at the line we held up our passes. Her demeanor changed pretty quick. She asked if we were ok to wait until she had finished with the people she was currently serving. We said sure and just stood and waited patiently; getting practice in for the rest of the weekend.
Then it was our turn. We informed her who we wanted autographs of and photos with. The bonus is that James Marsters' photos and autographs are $10 dearer than anyone elses' but included in our package if we so wanted at no extra cost. I made sure that the one auto I needed for James was included. I had been doing multiple counting on my fingers as to what I needed and mental calculations of all the goodies loaded up in the blue trolley of godsend. I then checked about getting extra and she arranged for those as well. Other VIPS started to roll in at this stage and wandered around looking lost. They noticed our badges and we started a VIP line. Trust an Adelaide girl to start a line. One of these days we will get a 'flash line' group going in Adelaide. We are world class at lining up for things and not actually knowing why. An Adelaidian will see a line and automatically just join on without checking that it is the right one. We like lines.
Off I went to select my pics, back to get them validated, little tickets handed over and then off to pay for the extra stuff, again moving to the head of the line. Once these are all sorted we see that most of the lines for the autos are pretty short, so it's off to pull all the presents and sundries out of the bag. clarrisani took the opportunity to get Mary McDonnell's autograph for her significant other who had declined to join us for the weekend. For me it was over to James Marsters' first to get the calendar signed by Pat.
James completely geeked out over my outfit and the tricorder, revealing himself to be a trekkie. He was very lovely in the short time that I chatted to him. He had been told that he had this calendar to sign and he did remember about it. He very much wanted to play with the tricorder, and said he wanted one. I kept a strong grip on it. It's mine, dagnabbit! :) I can't speak highly enough of the way he interacts with fans.
I then collected my little pile and headed over to Karl's line right a few over from James. There were only 4 people in the line and the volunteer who saw my badge went to wave me forward. I said I was happy to wait as I had a bit for him to sign. clarrisani had the same situation and she also opted to wait in line. Mary had noticed clarrisani do this and when she came forward told her how lovely that was.
While waiting in my line, I noticed that Gareth had nobody wanting his autograph. He looked over in my direction and I mouthed to him that, "nobody loves you?" with a little pout. He laughed and nodded and pouted back.
Finally someone wanted his attention and he was very happy about it!
Eventually I was at the front and time to talk to Karl.
Much flailing was occurring inside and of course out started to come my nervous babbles. I apologised to him for having a few things but they were not all for me. With each item I told him who it was for and where it was going to. He called me a lovely friend for doing this as I explained most of them didn't know I was going to do it or if they did what I was getting him to sign. The man is attentive and listens to idiots who have verbal diarrhea in his presence. I told him I had something I needed to play to him and lifted up the tricorder. I had made sure to cycle through all the sayings until it got to the one before, "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!" before I came over to see him. I told him this was the medical tricorder that was released last year and he leaned forward to listen. He put his ear right next to it and when I pressed the button his reaction was priceless.
His head snapped up, his eyes wide and he demanded that I, "play that again!" Who am I to deny Karl?
I laughed and started pressing the button again, cycling through all the sayings. All the while he was leaning as close as possible on my hand to hear DeForrest speak many of his classic lines. I was flailing away inside to have his cheek pressed up tight on my fingers. For the record, nice and soft. He then looked over the tricoder and I showed him the little medical scanner that takes some serious dexterity to wield. He said that he must have it. I told him the name of the company I had gotten it from but that they had only done a limited run. He went back to signing things and of course on one of them he put the "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer" but he ran out of room and the edge of the photo finished just as he got to the 'e', so the poor little 'r' ended up on the next line down. He looked at me when that happened and in his best inflection said "bricklay-errrrrr". All I could do at this stage was laugh at him, most of my nerves gone with the knowledge that in the best aussie vernacular he is a 'bit a of dag', a complete dork for the rest of you.
It was at this stage I built up the courage to ask something I have always wanted to know, about the tattoo on his ring finger and if it was ok if I took a photo of it? He said sure and laid his hand out flat but then got a better idea and held it up in front of his face and pointed at it. I asked him if he had it done due to his profession, that an indentation of a ring is hard to hide but a tattoo can be covered with makeup. He said yes and then added, "also it's permanent, ain't coming off!" I told him that I thought it was gorgeous and it really is to see that he thinks that much of his wife that he had something so permanent done. He also told me that Dave Grohl has one as well.
He was still signing stuff by this stage, poor bugger, but right towards the end of all my lot. We had to write down our names on the ticket so he could spell them correctly. Well I wrote Nikki on the ticket for the 12" McCoy doll I was getting signed. This was the first and not the last time that he decided that my name should be spelled "Niki". :p When I said, two k's he looked up, did the little frown with his eyebrows and carefully fixed it up, very carefully, which made me laugh at him again. My time was over and he was heading to the photo booth we had heard after he finished signing our stuff. So we decided why not join in the fun over there.
Again the power of the VIP pass came to the fore. Once all our signed bits and pieces are back in the TARDIS blue trolley (I swear it is bigger on the inside considering how we used to pack stuff into that thing!) we joined the line, at the front. Again there was a bit of a standing around and waiting. Instead of bringing him straight over as they had intended to, who ever was in there doing photos still had a few more people to go through.
Chatting away to others around us and then we found ourselves in conversation with two ladies who we had 'cut' in front of with the power of the pass. They had come all the way from Spain to see Karl! So, me coming from Adelaide pales in insignificance compared to their dedication. Only one of them spoke any english so there was a fun conversation of a question being asked in spanish, repeated in english, answered in english and then translated into spanish and of course vice versa! They run a site in Spain dedicated to Karl and wanted to know if we were fans of the old series or the new film. Our answer was of course, both!
Finally it seemed that they were getting Karl and it was time to fuss, a quick check to see if I had raccoon eyes, which I often have a problem with mascara, but this new stuff seemed to be doing the trick and behaving. I decide that the VIP pass and lanyard were coming off as I didn't need that in the photo. I mean, you have to attempt to look half way decent even though you know that everyone else looking at the end result of the photo will not notice you at all. Of course you have to decide if your hair is to be allowed to hand forward over your shoulders or down your back. All these things are vitally important!
So it was my turn and in I went; I have no idea what was said before or after. I can tell you that the man holds on nice and tight for the photo.
I am pretty sure I remembered by manners and said thank you and I was out again. We were then standing just off to the side, near the photog girls, the fabulously pink haired mishka_jayne and the multicoloured jk_rockin and they asked if we were coming back to have both our photo with Karl, together.
I was all, well I have another ticket but I was going to save that for tomorrow when I looked slightly normal. We were told that we HAD to have a photo with Karl, together, so my arm was twisted. Can you see that I resisted very hard here? Really, really hard I resisted. They also noted that Karl did smell very nice, I had to agree. Later on in the day he still smelled quite good. The conclusion jk_rockin and I have since come to is that Karl is a Sekrit Orion, which explains many things.
By this time coming out from the photo booth was the nu!girl!Spock who looked awesome. She asked if we could have a pic together, so all three of us posed with her for a photo. I quickly grabbed my camera and asked if her friend could take a pic of us too.
was sorting something out, so it just ended up being a pic of Spock and Bones instead. It's the quick and the dead around there.
Hopefully I can track down her photo of the three of us. There must be Kirk, Spock and Bones, it isn't Star Trek without those three together! She told us that Karl had said to her that, "Star Trek fans are the sexiest!" Truer words have never been spoken. :D
Also in the line to have a photo with Karl was the most awesome Xena. When her photo was over we also nabbed her for a pic, weapons presented.
Then it was off to the trading hall to case the joint! *waggles brows*
So many people and most of them in costume. I no longer felt a little silly, I felt right at home. First things first was to sign the petition that the Game stall had about Australia needing an 18+ classification for games. As it was my states former Attorney General that had caused so much hassle about this in the first place, I thought it was only right that I sign it and apologise for his idiocy.
Next up we came across a stall, BJD lovers. I must say the dolls looked sensational but even better was we got to talking to one of the ladies at the stall who asked us about our dresses etc and revealed herself to be a trekkie too. We are everywhere, even in the most gorgeous red, edwardian, 150 steel band, hand made corset in the best steampunk style. One of the dolls they had was a Zombie red shirt that was just awesome.
Off on our wanders again, checking out prices etc. We stopped over at the Auztrek stand and had a nice chat there, I was invited to join but it's a little hard for me to get to their meetings, seeing as how I am about only 8 hours away, as the crow flies...
Checking out more stalls and clarrisani managed to find, hidden under some others, a 12" Kirk doll. I decide to come back later and get it. Another chat with the Doctor Who fan club of Victoria who clarrisani is a member of. A good natured bunch and they had some Eleven stuff out on the table already. This weekend the new episode was due to air in Australia, perfect timing all up.
Back to wandering along the aisles and alternating between people watching and eyeing off the goodies in the stalls. So much geekdom all in one place! Heaven.
At the back of the trading hall there was an amazing group of Star Wars Cosplayers. They actually go out to hospitals and other places and in their dressing up they raise money for charity. Such a great idea. Geek out, dress up, have a great time, make people smile and all for good causes. They had a working R2D2, but more on him later. He had a future date with some Starfleet officers. In the meantime we had to be satisfied with stunning Obi Wan Kenobi.
Now came the first time where we were stopped and asked about our dresses. They wanted to know where we got them from, so we gave them the information, had a nice quick trekkie chat and off again. It wasn't long before we were stopped again and asked if they could take our photo. ihateyourshirt took a great photo.
Then we found the Borders stall and the author Jennifer Fallon, who clarrisani knows. Jennifer is a very funny and talented woman and we had a nice chat debating the merits of fan fiction but she extolled that I should be working more on my original stuff. She knows that clarrisani and I are working on a book together. Well, if things go right it should end up as three books.
Jennifer has presented, over the past couple of years, some very popular courses on World Building at Supanova. The price is extra on top of your normal ticket, but we found out that next year she is going to change it up and do one on characterisation and believable dialogue which should be even better and more up our alley. I might have to come back and do that one next year. We chatted and laughed for a while and Jennifer let us know that she would be at the Cocktail party that night and she had bought a new top especially. A sparkly one.
She had gone to the DFO in melbourne central and decided to treat herself. In one store she found a gorgeous jacket and tried it on. It was a $4,000 armani jacket. It was reduced in price quite reasonably to just over $1,000 and even though she loved the jacket she thought that 4 grand was a little steep just for a jacket. I shall not reveal the price she paid for her top instead, but it was not $4,000 or $1,000. In fact it came close to the price I paid for the dress that I wore to the cocktail party later. :D
We looked at our watches and realised that we had missed the start of Gareth's talk, whoops. Time flies when you are having fun. So we worked our way out of the building and over to the JB Hi Fi Seminar room. Now there should have been seats available for us when we wandered in fashionably late. That is what the passes were supposed to guarantee. When we made it up to the front though it was to discover that the seats had been given instead, by the volunteers, to some visually impaired people. This included a poodle as a seeing eye dog with a Torchwood jacket on! We were told we had to sit on the floor. This is a problem for clarrisani as she has to use a walking stick to assist her in walking and sitting on the floor was not an option. When we explained that she is actually disabled they said they would bring a chair down the front for her. One of the other attendees actually got up out of his chair and offered it to her and he took a place on the floor. That was a really lovely thing to do.
So she sat in the chair and I plonked myself down on the floor to listen to the last half of Gareth's talk. I can't remember too much but there was a bit of angling from questioner's trying to get the answers they wanted, specifically about Ianto and Jack being soul mates. Gareth has all the answers pretty much down pat and knows how to play to a crowd. He also knew that the majority of the crowd were the Save Ianto group, so I think that the answers were adjusted accordingly.
After Gareth's talk it was back over to the trading hall to seek out lunch and some possible purchases, with a slight detour to buy our extra tickets for our joint Karl photo. We made a pact that each would get the photo that we looked our best in. It was the only fair way. We grabbed lunch and went outside to find a place to sit down and rest for a bit, before heading in to Karl's talk. We knew we wanted to sit on the right side for the talk so had to line up a little bit early.
Back we headed inside to wait for the talk to start. At the start of the line we discovered some Redshirts that were rankless at this stage. They were the amusing sparkyqueen and themadramblings.
There was much comparision of the TOS vs Wrath of Khan phasers, playing with communicators and tricorders and sparkyqueen has a great ST sound effect on her phone, the communicator whistle for messages. Also around them were some other fun girls with white lab coats on that had McCoy sayings that they had gotten Karl to sign.
miss-m-cricket even made a brief bouncy appearance before she was bouncing, almost literally, back into the her spot in the line. The volunteers then let us VIP's know that we could head in first, so off we did seeking out the good spot. We found a space in front of the table on the raised dais and tested out the cameras. Then it was Karl time.
Mr Karl Urban, brought to us by Red Bull,as he admitted
The talk started off on the right foot when David, the MC used "fush and chups" at Karl. Karl responded by telling us that he almost didn't make it into the country as when he got to customs and they asked if he had a criminal record, he replied that he didn't know that you still needed one to get in. "One to me!" he claims towards David. Boom! Tish! and we have the same jokes he warns from Brisbane. I think these are the same jokes he used in Sydney last year :p.
He has a stack of caps from the Gifts for Geek, I believe it was, that he has signed and he promises to give them out to the best questions or the hottest cadets. Damn that counts me out as I am not dressed as a cadet ;) In in the end it was more for the people who amused him the most I think.
He talks about how he has just finished filming Red with John Malcovich, Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis... as he explains they couldn't get any "names" for that film. He also mentions that he will be at San Diego Comic Con to help promote it.
He fondly refers to us as the "West Island". New Zealand has a North and a South Island so he is attempting to claim Australia as a part of New Zealand. Pity that they have measured that New Zealand is creeping closer to Australia by a centimetre each year. In about a million years they will actually bump into us. So I think we have a bit of an attraction for the Kiwi's ;)
A questioner asks about the role of Bones. That we are aware that he is a Star Trek fan and when he auditioned, did he have any of the characters in mind for who he wanted to play.
He said that he knew they were looking for actors and he got his name put forward to be involved. He didn't care about any character in particular, he just wanted to be involved. He was then invited to audition for Bones, which he gave a lovely description of. He said that McCoy is such a contradiction as a character and he that any actor would jump at the chance to play that type of role. He is irascible, cantankerous but with a heart of gold and the worst beside manner ever. Bones would do anything for his friends, even die for them. Like when he gets Kirk on the Enterprise. He was looking out for his friend, he grumbled and bitched the whole way but was doing what he thought was right for a friend. Apparently JJ called him the grumpiest young man he has ever known.
He also said that when he was doing the audition that there was this complete silence and then he looked up, it was to see JJ laughing away at the back of the room.
He was asked about pranks on the set of Star Trek. He thinks for a bit, obviously trying to figure out what he could tell us.
He settles on how one day JJ is giving direction to himself and Chris when Zach creeps up behind JJ with a bottle of water. Zach pretends to sneeze and sprays the water over the back of JJ's neck. He also tells us about the one late night of filming where they are all having too much fun and laughing and JJ had to just walk away from them.
With Leonard Nimoy on the set, Karl says that he used to sneak onto the set just to watch him and he remembers the very first time JJ realised what was about to happen. He gets up out of his chair to demonstrate this to us. He mimes JJ walking up to Nimoy, doing an immediate about face and walking away quickly before circling back. As he says, 'it's Nimoy, I don't need to direct'.
He was asked if he had to go to a costume party, what would be his costume of choice? He is up for costume parties we discover. I can't remember which costume he decided on in the end. There was a bit of discussion about costumes and things he has 'souvenired' from his roles. He mentions that he stole the Academy ring and his Science badge from Star Trek. From Bourne he has the leather coat. Here he tells us that when you are filming you think about how cool some of the costumes are and that you would so wear it after wards. You then get them and they are still packed away somewhere, not worn at all. He says that they gave him Eomer's helmet.
The LoTR costume was described as being "heavy-itchy" so not the most fun thing to wear.
He was asked which of his characters would win in a death match. He asked the audience for their opinions. Reaper and Vaako seemed to be the audiences preferences, but he settled on Kirill.
Then came a very amusing moment. He was asked which were his favourite TOS episodes, he admitted that he didn't really like the Tribbles. The crowd expressed their disappointment, so he changed his mind and said that he loved the Tribbles. anntarot sitting next to me said, "liar" in response to this about face and Karl heard it! He asked her if she had called him a liar, she smiled and said yes, so Karl gave her one of the hats. :D If you amuse Karl, you get a hat!
Next silly question was if it is true that you can see your reflection in Vin Diesel's head? Karl did a little double take at the question before answering it with that you can see your reflection in his eyes. He then said that Vin is a very intelligent guy and he had a great time filming with him. He learned a lot from him about keeping up moral on set and that he is very professional.
He was asked about how odd it was to have figurines or dolls of himself. Karl being the clean minded Kiwi he is asks if they prefer the six or the ten inch. I can't help myself and point out that there is a twelve inch version. I get a look and Karl receives a cheeky smile and a reminder that there is a twelve inch. He says he knows where my mind is going and I tell him I am talking about dolls. He admits that he has a collection of the dolls but that he wouldn't admit it publicly. :D Obviously we are not the public... Someone else in the crowd then calls out if he obviously enjoys playing with himself. Much mirth ensures. I do believe that person got a hat too.
Next question was that someone recently watched his performance in Comanche Moon and asked what it was like to play an "emotional retard"? He laughs and says he had always wanted to do that.
He was asked if he can tell any stories from that set. He thinks about it and then tells us one that he thinks he shouldn't.
All I shall say is that it involves a present of Vodka, a hospital and a missing car...
The questions then move onto his time on Xena and which did he prefer, Caesar or Cupid? He says that the dress was good and then he talks about the wings and how restrictive they were. What happened next was the instance where he told me off. :D
He pulls the chair around to demonstrate how once those wings were on he couldn't even sit down. He demonstrates kneeling on the chair and gobbling away at his food which was apparently how he had to eat his lunch while filming. I think from there they decided to cast him later as a caveman, if his eating habits were anything to go by this demonstration. This is an opportunity I couldn't miss and it might have taken a little blurry photo.
Karl then gets off the chair, looks right at me and declares, "You took that picture, didn't you?" My answer was a definite, "yep!" There might have possibly been a smug smile as well.
This picture is from anntarot who managed to capture that moment.
There was an odd question about if he could play a female role what would it be? This stumped him and so he named some of his favourite female performances instead, such as Meryl Streep and that watching Hilary Swank getting beaten up was hard to watch but good.
That is most of what I can remember from the talk. He ended on the joke he told up in Brisbane. It has to be said that he charmed us so much that we happily let him insult us.
More pictures from this talk can be found here.
After we finished up in the talk we decided to get our joint picture with Karl. Back into the line we go to wait our turn. Tickets are handed over and in we go, phasers in hand. Karl takes one look at the Phasers and asks where his is. I offer up the Tricorder, but no he wants a Phaser. He then does the most dastardly move.
He pouts at me.
Dammit!
I hand over my Phaser and take my place at his side. Two photos are taken and I detect a slightly bigger smirk on his face in the end result. I do manage to get my Phaser back though.
There was only a smallish line that time, so he heads back to his auto table. When the photo comes out, the second one, we discover that clarrisani has managed to cover her face with her hand, so that one is mine. She claims the other photo, of course, as per our agreement. It is too good a photo though and she asks if they are able to do a reprint and at what cost. I get a copy.
The photo people love the photo and I am told to go and show it to him, so I head over to the table, wait a little bit for others to go through and then tell him I was told to show it to him as it turned out pretty good. He agrees and then says, do you want me to sign it? I haven't paid extra but who am I to resist? I say sure, he asks my name again and her we go on the being re-named by Karl. He spells it 'niki' but I let it go, chuckling inside. I hadn't paid for it, so if he wants to spell my name that way he can.
We laugh our way out of the room and wander back over to the trading hall again to grab some food that was not red licorice. The Domino's stall was very good at running out of food continually. We manage to get some and go off for another wander around. This time I get the opportunity to have a photo with the lovely misskikkikat and her fab corset, that I would have loved to steal if it wasn't made specifically for her.
Next up was a date with a certain droid...
Finally we managed to get some food, claim the 12 inch Kirk as mine and head over to hear Jennifer Fallon and Rob Kaay speak on "Literary Worlds", writing and what ever else took their fancy. There were told the title of their talk and then happily just started chatting, letting questions dictate their talk.
Jennifer has published fourteen novels so far and Rob has two, so it was nice to hear their experiences from the opposite ends of the spectrum. He used to be a musician and was signed at a young age to a label. He spent most of his youth touring and living in New York working on his music but each night he would write in his journal. Eventually he developed this into a book and got it published, (there was a bit more to it, but you get the idea). Once he had the first book out he started to think, well maybe I need to write another, he thought back to his moments where he and others would not have memories of the night before and an idea took spread of a race of beings that take control of humans at their most vulnerable moments.
Jennifer pointed out that the average age of the Nobel Literature winners are 51. She has been told by her agent, who also represents a few of those winners that she will never win, as her books have plot. Both her and Rob agree that you can write before the age of 35 but that is when you should really start to work on it. By then you should have enough life experience. She pointed out that the writer of Eragon got published because his parents bought the publishing company. Any time you hear of a young writer being published, check out their connections we were advised.
It was a great chat and there were discussions about plot holes and that if you find one, go back and put in hints and they become foreshadowing!
I think the best moment though was when Jennifer was telling us about how she has recently just finished a story for Disney in the Zorro universe. She was sent a 40 page double sided set of guidelines that she had to abide by. Things like Zorro is not allowed to wantonly kill people, there must be a legitimate reason etc. The best one though was the very last one. No stories are to be told from the point of view of a Tornado...
It does make you wonder which stories have been submitted to Disney that were from that particular point of view. They must have had enough that they felt obliged to warn against it!
Jennifer has made the move from Alice Springs to New Zealand and bought a former pub that she will now run as a writers retreat in a very popular small town near Christchurch. She has an excellent ghost that is remarkably good at finding lost items.
From there we were pretty much done for the day and decided to change out of our uniforms and into 'cocktail' dress so we could head to the souper sekrit location. The blue trolley of TARDIS came in much use now as we changed, refreshed ourselves and bid farewell to SoS who was taking all the rest of our gear back to the house, her red shirt duties for the day done.
On the way into Melbourne we exited the train at Melbourne Central, which I still call Daimaru in my head as that is what it used to be referred to as. Inside the glass pyramid is the old shot tower.
Off to Chinatown we head, past the Library and smelling that unique smell that all big cities have. You know the one, lazy boys smell. Where they haven't been able to hold it in, so any old wall/post/car/pavement will do. When the overriding smell is that, you know you are in a big city.
The club is found, and clarrisani looks at the steep set of stairs in consideration. She asks if there is a lift, the answer from the bouncer boys is that it's only one flight of stairs. Obviously she carries a walking stick for fun and doesn't really need it! The club is decorated in a chinoiserie style. We find the other VIPS, sitting in a section together and join them. I discover later that I managed to pick the chair with an 'adjustable' back. I don't think it was supposed to do that though! They were also so close to the ground that even my knees were at a level they normally aren't.
A great, fun night was had. Diana and David looked after us well. Asking our opinion on how things that been going so far and if there had been any issues. A few teething problems were reported, but over all we had all felt pretty positive about our time. Two stools get pulled over in front of us and we later dub these the 'stools of revolving americans'. They mostly get sat upon by all the american guests who come over at various stages to have a chat with us.
George Lopez is a lovely man who is devoted and very proud of his wife. Not only can he draw the most amazingly beautiful strong women, but he really does appreciate beauty in all forms, especially his wife. Marv Wolfmann is equally as delightful.
I think the most fun was had with Liam O'Brien (Nightcrawler) who was ticking along very nicely and who stole my seat at one stage and his two other fellow voice actors, who are married to each other, Tara Platt and Yuri Lowenthal (the voice of Ben 10). anntarot, her sister and I had discovered earlier that night that we were all from the same town which is often derided by Melburnians.
When the little voicey actor group asked where we were all from, some disparaging remarks were made about how we came from the city with the highest number of serial killers. We proudly admitted that this is true and then proceeded to inform them about the rest of the things that made Adelaide nice and unique. Churches, Pubs, food, wine, chocolate (mmmm Haighs), Chocolate Bilbies instead of Bunnies, the ability to stand and point in any direction, head that way and find a winery, . Our spruiking obviously worked as they decided that next time when they do the Sydney to Perth leg of Supanova they will definitely stop over in Adelaide. Oh and also out of the 10 deadliest snakes in the world, 8 are from Australia and 6 specifically from our State. We like our little corner of the world and make it so that most people wonder why you would go there. We know better. :D
We chatted about anything and everything and nothing to do with their careers. We also compared the anti-counterfeit properties of our currencies and how the American public is incredibly resistant to change their currency from one where all the notes look the same and you have to open your wallet and reveal to all around you just how much cash you are carrying around. They were very impressed that you could shrink our notes in an oven or microwave. It is no longer legal tender if you do that but when they first came in banks would accept the teeny versions. Liam was most amusing in that he would take the time to tell each of us our names. Halfway through a conversation he would stop and point to each of us and name us. He was very good. We had such a great time with them.
The main organisers were also having a fun time letting their hair down, which apparently is a tradition of every Supanova on the Saturday night. Makes things interesting for them for the Sunday. :D Keep an eye out for the bleary eyed workers on the Sunday wearing sunnies inside when you attend a future Supanova.
Corin Nemec wandered in, stopped for a brief hello and to see how we were doing before he was heading over to the bar and his free drinks. We had to pay, but that was fine as I and others were being offered many a drink by the guests who had the magic wristbands if we so chose.
Karl wandered in a bit later. He also stopped and asked if we were having a nice time, before he too was whisked off the back section of the bar for some relaxation. anntarot and I might have pointed him in the direction of the bar. The man is a Kiwi after all and this was the nation that raised money to head down to Antarctica to dig up some whiskey that had been frozen in ice for about a hundred years! Did they care about the other stuff that was buried by those adventurers? Nope, just the whiskey apparently.
We were told that we were not to take "posed" photos and such with the guests, actually we asked what was and wasn't allowed. We could take photos where they might be *whistles innocently* randomly in the background. We were all pretty ok with abiding by this, as it was a chance for them to have a bit of r & r. It was just the polite thing to do.
David also let us know that Karl is a big family man and he agreed to do Brisbane and Melbourne this year as it gave him an opportunity to spend a little bit of holiday time with his boys taking them to Movie World and Dream World on the Gold Coast in between. He almost hadn't made it though as filming looked like it might still have been continuing on Red, he managed to wrangle it and I for one am very glad.
Jennifer Fallon was wearing her very sparkly new top and I stopped to admire it and said, "hello sparkly!" She retaliated by calling me "shiny". I do believe she can highly recommend the chocolate thingys that were being ordered for her. She had no idea what was in them, apart from chocolate and that they were yummy!
In trying to get to one side of the bar to order a drink, there was a lot of shots being downed and considerable noise. I headed down the back section to get a drink from the other side. Now there might have been certain people there, but I decided to just mind my own business and order my drink. As I was waiting, a guy in a suit ordered a water as part of his order. The bar staff told him that they had run out of bottled and was tap ok. He agreed to that and a glass was put in front of him with tap water inside. He picked it up and looked at in disgust, he then asked me to feel the glass. I took the glass from his hand and it was quite warm. The glass had obviously only recently come out of the dishwasher. I used to be a glassy in a nightclub so I know that those glasses can retain the heat for a fair while. I agreed but pointed out would he prefer a dirty cold glass or a clean warm one. He conceded the point and handed over the water behind him with an apology, of course my attention was drawn that way and well I discovered who the water was for. That cheeky kiwi. The clever man was drinking water alongside his beer. No hangover tomorrow for him! I ordered my drink and headed back to our table.
Our little corner of fun.
Gareth was ticking over very nicely and later on in the night somehow arranged for his CD to be put on. The pout on his face was hilarious when the music got turned down. We would all like to continue talking Gareth, sorry. :)
The last train left Central at 12.30pm and trying to get a cab in Melbourne on a Saturday night is not really an option, so we made our way out to head home and sleep. A little misshap was had in that the barrier decided that clarrisani had not moved quick enough for it's liking. They are supposed to have sensors so that they don't close on you. Seems that one hadn't been fitted with them. We chatted all the way home, still bubbling in excitement from the day. I put up a quick little cliffs note version and finally drift off to sleep.
New friends had been made and great times had been had. I feel asleep thinking that the day could not be topped and that if Sunday was half as good I would be very happy with my experience. Sunday turned out alright in the end too. ;)
clarrisani, her sister StalkerofShadows (SoS) and myself headed in to the Melbourne showgrounds at not the brightest of times. While we were still on the train we noted that James Marsters talk had started. A little bit of angst, but oh well these things happen when you have three girls and then the Melbourne public transport system that has still not managed to work out how to plan the train and the tram times in conjunction with each other. Don't attempt to throw buses into that mix either. :p
Waiting for the tram and my god Melbourne weather with not a cloud in the sky, I have traveled to an alternative universe, obviously.
I was a little unsure of what the reaction would be from people going about their normal business while we were dressed up. I should never have feared as those dressed up on the tram outnumbered the 'normal' people. There were the two guys who had their cans of drink that looked more alcoholic than a soft drink with them and a demeanor that suggested possibly that it was not their first drink of the day on the train though. A couple of minutes into the journey, one of them leaned over to ask if we were trekkies. An affirmative reply was given and then they and us went back to the normal public transport commuter behaviour. Pretending that no one else on the train existed, apart from your own little circle.
We arrived at the showgrounds and happily walked past the line that was already almost at the gate. Going the night before to pick up our passes was a great idea. We wandered into the main hall to pick up our 'package' which included our tickets for the autographs and photos. In actuality that was all it included, but really that is all that was needed. The price for our VIP tickets included 4 tickets and 2 photos. I already had 6 items that needed to get signed, so I knew I would have to fork out a little bit of extra cash. We walked past the huge line up, where everyone else was, to stand at a space bye the end table. It was here that we got our first taste of the power of the pass. When the woman looked at us and motioned at the line we held up our passes. Her demeanor changed pretty quick. She asked if we were ok to wait until she had finished with the people she was currently serving. We said sure and just stood and waited patiently; getting practice in for the rest of the weekend.
Then it was our turn. We informed her who we wanted autographs of and photos with. The bonus is that James Marsters' photos and autographs are $10 dearer than anyone elses' but included in our package if we so wanted at no extra cost. I made sure that the one auto I needed for James was included. I had been doing multiple counting on my fingers as to what I needed and mental calculations of all the goodies loaded up in the blue trolley of godsend. I then checked about getting extra and she arranged for those as well. Other VIPS started to roll in at this stage and wandered around looking lost. They noticed our badges and we started a VIP line. Trust an Adelaide girl to start a line. One of these days we will get a 'flash line' group going in Adelaide. We are world class at lining up for things and not actually knowing why. An Adelaidian will see a line and automatically just join on without checking that it is the right one. We like lines.
Off I went to select my pics, back to get them validated, little tickets handed over and then off to pay for the extra stuff, again moving to the head of the line. Once these are all sorted we see that most of the lines for the autos are pretty short, so it's off to pull all the presents and sundries out of the bag. clarrisani took the opportunity to get Mary McDonnell's autograph for her significant other who had declined to join us for the weekend. For me it was over to James Marsters' first to get the calendar signed by Pat.
James completely geeked out over my outfit and the tricorder, revealing himself to be a trekkie. He was very lovely in the short time that I chatted to him. He had been told that he had this calendar to sign and he did remember about it. He very much wanted to play with the tricorder, and said he wanted one. I kept a strong grip on it. It's mine, dagnabbit! :) I can't speak highly enough of the way he interacts with fans.
I then collected my little pile and headed over to Karl's line right a few over from James. There were only 4 people in the line and the volunteer who saw my badge went to wave me forward. I said I was happy to wait as I had a bit for him to sign. clarrisani had the same situation and she also opted to wait in line. Mary had noticed clarrisani do this and when she came forward told her how lovely that was.
While waiting in my line, I noticed that Gareth had nobody wanting his autograph. He looked over in my direction and I mouthed to him that, "nobody loves you?" with a little pout. He laughed and nodded and pouted back.
Finally someone wanted his attention and he was very happy about it!
Eventually I was at the front and time to talk to Karl.
Much flailing was occurring inside and of course out started to come my nervous babbles. I apologised to him for having a few things but they were not all for me. With each item I told him who it was for and where it was going to. He called me a lovely friend for doing this as I explained most of them didn't know I was going to do it or if they did what I was getting him to sign. The man is attentive and listens to idiots who have verbal diarrhea in his presence. I told him I had something I needed to play to him and lifted up the tricorder. I had made sure to cycle through all the sayings until it got to the one before, "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer!" before I came over to see him. I told him this was the medical tricorder that was released last year and he leaned forward to listen. He put his ear right next to it and when I pressed the button his reaction was priceless.
His head snapped up, his eyes wide and he demanded that I, "play that again!" Who am I to deny Karl?
I laughed and started pressing the button again, cycling through all the sayings. All the while he was leaning as close as possible on my hand to hear DeForrest speak many of his classic lines. I was flailing away inside to have his cheek pressed up tight on my fingers. For the record, nice and soft. He then looked over the tricoder and I showed him the little medical scanner that takes some serious dexterity to wield. He said that he must have it. I told him the name of the company I had gotten it from but that they had only done a limited run. He went back to signing things and of course on one of them he put the "I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer" but he ran out of room and the edge of the photo finished just as he got to the 'e', so the poor little 'r' ended up on the next line down. He looked at me when that happened and in his best inflection said "bricklay-errrrrr". All I could do at this stage was laugh at him, most of my nerves gone with the knowledge that in the best aussie vernacular he is a 'bit a of dag', a complete dork for the rest of you.
It was at this stage I built up the courage to ask something I have always wanted to know, about the tattoo on his ring finger and if it was ok if I took a photo of it? He said sure and laid his hand out flat but then got a better idea and held it up in front of his face and pointed at it. I asked him if he had it done due to his profession, that an indentation of a ring is hard to hide but a tattoo can be covered with makeup. He said yes and then added, "also it's permanent, ain't coming off!" I told him that I thought it was gorgeous and it really is to see that he thinks that much of his wife that he had something so permanent done. He also told me that Dave Grohl has one as well.
He was still signing stuff by this stage, poor bugger, but right towards the end of all my lot. We had to write down our names on the ticket so he could spell them correctly. Well I wrote Nikki on the ticket for the 12" McCoy doll I was getting signed. This was the first and not the last time that he decided that my name should be spelled "Niki". :p When I said, two k's he looked up, did the little frown with his eyebrows and carefully fixed it up, very carefully, which made me laugh at him again. My time was over and he was heading to the photo booth we had heard after he finished signing our stuff. So we decided why not join in the fun over there.
Again the power of the VIP pass came to the fore. Once all our signed bits and pieces are back in the TARDIS blue trolley (I swear it is bigger on the inside considering how we used to pack stuff into that thing!) we joined the line, at the front. Again there was a bit of a standing around and waiting. Instead of bringing him straight over as they had intended to, who ever was in there doing photos still had a few more people to go through.
Chatting away to others around us and then we found ourselves in conversation with two ladies who we had 'cut' in front of with the power of the pass. They had come all the way from Spain to see Karl! So, me coming from Adelaide pales in insignificance compared to their dedication. Only one of them spoke any english so there was a fun conversation of a question being asked in spanish, repeated in english, answered in english and then translated into spanish and of course vice versa! They run a site in Spain dedicated to Karl and wanted to know if we were fans of the old series or the new film. Our answer was of course, both!
Finally it seemed that they were getting Karl and it was time to fuss, a quick check to see if I had raccoon eyes, which I often have a problem with mascara, but this new stuff seemed to be doing the trick and behaving. I decide that the VIP pass and lanyard were coming off as I didn't need that in the photo. I mean, you have to attempt to look half way decent even though you know that everyone else looking at the end result of the photo will not notice you at all. Of course you have to decide if your hair is to be allowed to hand forward over your shoulders or down your back. All these things are vitally important!
So it was my turn and in I went; I have no idea what was said before or after. I can tell you that the man holds on nice and tight for the photo.
I am pretty sure I remembered by manners and said thank you and I was out again. We were then standing just off to the side, near the photog girls, the fabulously pink haired mishka_jayne and the multicoloured jk_rockin and they asked if we were coming back to have both our photo with Karl, together.
I was all, well I have another ticket but I was going to save that for tomorrow when I looked slightly normal. We were told that we HAD to have a photo with Karl, together, so my arm was twisted. Can you see that I resisted very hard here? Really, really hard I resisted. They also noted that Karl did smell very nice, I had to agree. Later on in the day he still smelled quite good. The conclusion jk_rockin and I have since come to is that Karl is a Sekrit Orion, which explains many things.
By this time coming out from the photo booth was the nu!girl!Spock who looked awesome. She asked if we could have a pic together, so all three of us posed with her for a photo. I quickly grabbed my camera and asked if her friend could take a pic of us too.
was sorting something out, so it just ended up being a pic of Spock and Bones instead. It's the quick and the dead around there.
Hopefully I can track down her photo of the three of us. There must be Kirk, Spock and Bones, it isn't Star Trek without those three together! She told us that Karl had said to her that, "Star Trek fans are the sexiest!" Truer words have never been spoken. :D
Also in the line to have a photo with Karl was the most awesome Xena. When her photo was over we also nabbed her for a pic, weapons presented.
Then it was off to the trading hall to case the joint! *waggles brows*
So many people and most of them in costume. I no longer felt a little silly, I felt right at home. First things first was to sign the petition that the Game stall had about Australia needing an 18+ classification for games. As it was my states former Attorney General that had caused so much hassle about this in the first place, I thought it was only right that I sign it and apologise for his idiocy.
Next up we came across a stall, BJD lovers. I must say the dolls looked sensational but even better was we got to talking to one of the ladies at the stall who asked us about our dresses etc and revealed herself to be a trekkie too. We are everywhere, even in the most gorgeous red, edwardian, 150 steel band, hand made corset in the best steampunk style. One of the dolls they had was a Zombie red shirt that was just awesome.
Off on our wanders again, checking out prices etc. We stopped over at the Auztrek stand and had a nice chat there, I was invited to join but it's a little hard for me to get to their meetings, seeing as how I am about only 8 hours away, as the crow flies...
Checking out more stalls and clarrisani managed to find, hidden under some others, a 12" Kirk doll. I decide to come back later and get it. Another chat with the Doctor Who fan club of Victoria who clarrisani is a member of. A good natured bunch and they had some Eleven stuff out on the table already. This weekend the new episode was due to air in Australia, perfect timing all up.
Back to wandering along the aisles and alternating between people watching and eyeing off the goodies in the stalls. So much geekdom all in one place! Heaven.
At the back of the trading hall there was an amazing group of Star Wars Cosplayers. They actually go out to hospitals and other places and in their dressing up they raise money for charity. Such a great idea. Geek out, dress up, have a great time, make people smile and all for good causes. They had a working R2D2, but more on him later. He had a future date with some Starfleet officers. In the meantime we had to be satisfied with stunning Obi Wan Kenobi.
Now came the first time where we were stopped and asked about our dresses. They wanted to know where we got them from, so we gave them the information, had a nice quick trekkie chat and off again. It wasn't long before we were stopped again and asked if they could take our photo. ihateyourshirt took a great photo.
Then we found the Borders stall and the author Jennifer Fallon, who clarrisani knows. Jennifer is a very funny and talented woman and we had a nice chat debating the merits of fan fiction but she extolled that I should be working more on my original stuff. She knows that clarrisani and I are working on a book together. Well, if things go right it should end up as three books.
Jennifer has presented, over the past couple of years, some very popular courses on World Building at Supanova. The price is extra on top of your normal ticket, but we found out that next year she is going to change it up and do one on characterisation and believable dialogue which should be even better and more up our alley. I might have to come back and do that one next year. We chatted and laughed for a while and Jennifer let us know that she would be at the Cocktail party that night and she had bought a new top especially. A sparkly one.
She had gone to the DFO in melbourne central and decided to treat herself. In one store she found a gorgeous jacket and tried it on. It was a $4,000 armani jacket. It was reduced in price quite reasonably to just over $1,000 and even though she loved the jacket she thought that 4 grand was a little steep just for a jacket. I shall not reveal the price she paid for her top instead, but it was not $4,000 or $1,000. In fact it came close to the price I paid for the dress that I wore to the cocktail party later. :D
We looked at our watches and realised that we had missed the start of Gareth's talk, whoops. Time flies when you are having fun. So we worked our way out of the building and over to the JB Hi Fi Seminar room. Now there should have been seats available for us when we wandered in fashionably late. That is what the passes were supposed to guarantee. When we made it up to the front though it was to discover that the seats had been given instead, by the volunteers, to some visually impaired people. This included a poodle as a seeing eye dog with a Torchwood jacket on! We were told we had to sit on the floor. This is a problem for clarrisani as she has to use a walking stick to assist her in walking and sitting on the floor was not an option. When we explained that she is actually disabled they said they would bring a chair down the front for her. One of the other attendees actually got up out of his chair and offered it to her and he took a place on the floor. That was a really lovely thing to do.
So she sat in the chair and I plonked myself down on the floor to listen to the last half of Gareth's talk. I can't remember too much but there was a bit of angling from questioner's trying to get the answers they wanted, specifically about Ianto and Jack being soul mates. Gareth has all the answers pretty much down pat and knows how to play to a crowd. He also knew that the majority of the crowd were the Save Ianto group, so I think that the answers were adjusted accordingly.
After Gareth's talk it was back over to the trading hall to seek out lunch and some possible purchases, with a slight detour to buy our extra tickets for our joint Karl photo. We made a pact that each would get the photo that we looked our best in. It was the only fair way. We grabbed lunch and went outside to find a place to sit down and rest for a bit, before heading in to Karl's talk. We knew we wanted to sit on the right side for the talk so had to line up a little bit early.
Back we headed inside to wait for the talk to start. At the start of the line we discovered some Redshirts that were rankless at this stage. They were the amusing sparkyqueen and themadramblings.
There was much comparision of the TOS vs Wrath of Khan phasers, playing with communicators and tricorders and sparkyqueen has a great ST sound effect on her phone, the communicator whistle for messages. Also around them were some other fun girls with white lab coats on that had McCoy sayings that they had gotten Karl to sign.
miss-m-cricket even made a brief bouncy appearance before she was bouncing, almost literally, back into the her spot in the line. The volunteers then let us VIP's know that we could head in first, so off we did seeking out the good spot. We found a space in front of the table on the raised dais and tested out the cameras. Then it was Karl time.
Mr Karl Urban, brought to us by Red Bull,as he admitted
The talk started off on the right foot when David, the MC used "fush and chups" at Karl. Karl responded by telling us that he almost didn't make it into the country as when he got to customs and they asked if he had a criminal record, he replied that he didn't know that you still needed one to get in. "One to me!" he claims towards David. Boom! Tish! and we have the same jokes he warns from Brisbane. I think these are the same jokes he used in Sydney last year :p.
He has a stack of caps from the Gifts for Geek, I believe it was, that he has signed and he promises to give them out to the best questions or the hottest cadets. Damn that counts me out as I am not dressed as a cadet ;) In in the end it was more for the people who amused him the most I think.
He talks about how he has just finished filming Red with John Malcovich, Helen Mirren, Bruce Willis... as he explains they couldn't get any "names" for that film. He also mentions that he will be at San Diego Comic Con to help promote it.
He fondly refers to us as the "West Island". New Zealand has a North and a South Island so he is attempting to claim Australia as a part of New Zealand. Pity that they have measured that New Zealand is creeping closer to Australia by a centimetre each year. In about a million years they will actually bump into us. So I think we have a bit of an attraction for the Kiwi's ;)
A questioner asks about the role of Bones. That we are aware that he is a Star Trek fan and when he auditioned, did he have any of the characters in mind for who he wanted to play.
He said that he knew they were looking for actors and he got his name put forward to be involved. He didn't care about any character in particular, he just wanted to be involved. He was then invited to audition for Bones, which he gave a lovely description of. He said that McCoy is such a contradiction as a character and he that any actor would jump at the chance to play that type of role. He is irascible, cantankerous but with a heart of gold and the worst beside manner ever. Bones would do anything for his friends, even die for them. Like when he gets Kirk on the Enterprise. He was looking out for his friend, he grumbled and bitched the whole way but was doing what he thought was right for a friend. Apparently JJ called him the grumpiest young man he has ever known.
He also said that when he was doing the audition that there was this complete silence and then he looked up, it was to see JJ laughing away at the back of the room.
He was asked about pranks on the set of Star Trek. He thinks for a bit, obviously trying to figure out what he could tell us.
He settles on how one day JJ is giving direction to himself and Chris when Zach creeps up behind JJ with a bottle of water. Zach pretends to sneeze and sprays the water over the back of JJ's neck. He also tells us about the one late night of filming where they are all having too much fun and laughing and JJ had to just walk away from them.
With Leonard Nimoy on the set, Karl says that he used to sneak onto the set just to watch him and he remembers the very first time JJ realised what was about to happen. He gets up out of his chair to demonstrate this to us. He mimes JJ walking up to Nimoy, doing an immediate about face and walking away quickly before circling back. As he says, 'it's Nimoy, I don't need to direct'.
He was asked if he had to go to a costume party, what would be his costume of choice? He is up for costume parties we discover. I can't remember which costume he decided on in the end. There was a bit of discussion about costumes and things he has 'souvenired' from his roles. He mentions that he stole the Academy ring and his Science badge from Star Trek. From Bourne he has the leather coat. Here he tells us that when you are filming you think about how cool some of the costumes are and that you would so wear it after wards. You then get them and they are still packed away somewhere, not worn at all. He says that they gave him Eomer's helmet.
The LoTR costume was described as being "heavy-itchy" so not the most fun thing to wear.
He was asked which of his characters would win in a death match. He asked the audience for their opinions. Reaper and Vaako seemed to be the audiences preferences, but he settled on Kirill.
Then came a very amusing moment. He was asked which were his favourite TOS episodes, he admitted that he didn't really like the Tribbles. The crowd expressed their disappointment, so he changed his mind and said that he loved the Tribbles. anntarot sitting next to me said, "liar" in response to this about face and Karl heard it! He asked her if she had called him a liar, she smiled and said yes, so Karl gave her one of the hats. :D If you amuse Karl, you get a hat!
Next silly question was if it is true that you can see your reflection in Vin Diesel's head? Karl did a little double take at the question before answering it with that you can see your reflection in his eyes. He then said that Vin is a very intelligent guy and he had a great time filming with him. He learned a lot from him about keeping up moral on set and that he is very professional.
He was asked about how odd it was to have figurines or dolls of himself. Karl being the clean minded Kiwi he is asks if they prefer the six or the ten inch. I can't help myself and point out that there is a twelve inch version. I get a look and Karl receives a cheeky smile and a reminder that there is a twelve inch. He says he knows where my mind is going and I tell him I am talking about dolls. He admits that he has a collection of the dolls but that he wouldn't admit it publicly. :D Obviously we are not the public... Someone else in the crowd then calls out if he obviously enjoys playing with himself. Much mirth ensures. I do believe that person got a hat too.
Next question was that someone recently watched his performance in Comanche Moon and asked what it was like to play an "emotional retard"? He laughs and says he had always wanted to do that.
He was asked if he can tell any stories from that set. He thinks about it and then tells us one that he thinks he shouldn't.
All I shall say is that it involves a present of Vodka, a hospital and a missing car...
The questions then move onto his time on Xena and which did he prefer, Caesar or Cupid? He says that the dress was good and then he talks about the wings and how restrictive they were. What happened next was the instance where he told me off. :D
He pulls the chair around to demonstrate how once those wings were on he couldn't even sit down. He demonstrates kneeling on the chair and gobbling away at his food which was apparently how he had to eat his lunch while filming. I think from there they decided to cast him later as a caveman, if his eating habits were anything to go by this demonstration. This is an opportunity I couldn't miss and it might have taken a little blurry photo.
Karl then gets off the chair, looks right at me and declares, "You took that picture, didn't you?" My answer was a definite, "yep!" There might have possibly been a smug smile as well.
This picture is from anntarot who managed to capture that moment.
There was an odd question about if he could play a female role what would it be? This stumped him and so he named some of his favourite female performances instead, such as Meryl Streep and that watching Hilary Swank getting beaten up was hard to watch but good.
That is most of what I can remember from the talk. He ended on the joke he told up in Brisbane. It has to be said that he charmed us so much that we happily let him insult us.
More pictures from this talk can be found here.
After we finished up in the talk we decided to get our joint picture with Karl. Back into the line we go to wait our turn. Tickets are handed over and in we go, phasers in hand. Karl takes one look at the Phasers and asks where his is. I offer up the Tricorder, but no he wants a Phaser. He then does the most dastardly move.
He pouts at me.
Dammit!
I hand over my Phaser and take my place at his side. Two photos are taken and I detect a slightly bigger smirk on his face in the end result. I do manage to get my Phaser back though.
There was only a smallish line that time, so he heads back to his auto table. When the photo comes out, the second one, we discover that clarrisani has managed to cover her face with her hand, so that one is mine. She claims the other photo, of course, as per our agreement. It is too good a photo though and she asks if they are able to do a reprint and at what cost. I get a copy.
The photo people love the photo and I am told to go and show it to him, so I head over to the table, wait a little bit for others to go through and then tell him I was told to show it to him as it turned out pretty good. He agrees and then says, do you want me to sign it? I haven't paid extra but who am I to resist? I say sure, he asks my name again and her we go on the being re-named by Karl. He spells it 'niki' but I let it go, chuckling inside. I hadn't paid for it, so if he wants to spell my name that way he can.
We laugh our way out of the room and wander back over to the trading hall again to grab some food that was not red licorice. The Domino's stall was very good at running out of food continually. We manage to get some and go off for another wander around. This time I get the opportunity to have a photo with the lovely misskikkikat and her fab corset, that I would have loved to steal if it wasn't made specifically for her.
Next up was a date with a certain droid...
Finally we managed to get some food, claim the 12 inch Kirk as mine and head over to hear Jennifer Fallon and Rob Kaay speak on "Literary Worlds", writing and what ever else took their fancy. There were told the title of their talk and then happily just started chatting, letting questions dictate their talk.
Jennifer has published fourteen novels so far and Rob has two, so it was nice to hear their experiences from the opposite ends of the spectrum. He used to be a musician and was signed at a young age to a label. He spent most of his youth touring and living in New York working on his music but each night he would write in his journal. Eventually he developed this into a book and got it published, (there was a bit more to it, but you get the idea). Once he had the first book out he started to think, well maybe I need to write another, he thought back to his moments where he and others would not have memories of the night before and an idea took spread of a race of beings that take control of humans at their most vulnerable moments.
Jennifer pointed out that the average age of the Nobel Literature winners are 51. She has been told by her agent, who also represents a few of those winners that she will never win, as her books have plot. Both her and Rob agree that you can write before the age of 35 but that is when you should really start to work on it. By then you should have enough life experience. She pointed out that the writer of Eragon got published because his parents bought the publishing company. Any time you hear of a young writer being published, check out their connections we were advised.
It was a great chat and there were discussions about plot holes and that if you find one, go back and put in hints and they become foreshadowing!
I think the best moment though was when Jennifer was telling us about how she has recently just finished a story for Disney in the Zorro universe. She was sent a 40 page double sided set of guidelines that she had to abide by. Things like Zorro is not allowed to wantonly kill people, there must be a legitimate reason etc. The best one though was the very last one. No stories are to be told from the point of view of a Tornado...
It does make you wonder which stories have been submitted to Disney that were from that particular point of view. They must have had enough that they felt obliged to warn against it!
Jennifer has made the move from Alice Springs to New Zealand and bought a former pub that she will now run as a writers retreat in a very popular small town near Christchurch. She has an excellent ghost that is remarkably good at finding lost items.
From there we were pretty much done for the day and decided to change out of our uniforms and into 'cocktail' dress so we could head to the souper sekrit location. The blue trolley of TARDIS came in much use now as we changed, refreshed ourselves and bid farewell to SoS who was taking all the rest of our gear back to the house, her red shirt duties for the day done.
On the way into Melbourne we exited the train at Melbourne Central, which I still call Daimaru in my head as that is what it used to be referred to as. Inside the glass pyramid is the old shot tower.
Off to Chinatown we head, past the Library and smelling that unique smell that all big cities have. You know the one, lazy boys smell. Where they haven't been able to hold it in, so any old wall/post/car/pavement will do. When the overriding smell is that, you know you are in a big city.
The club is found, and clarrisani looks at the steep set of stairs in consideration. She asks if there is a lift, the answer from the bouncer boys is that it's only one flight of stairs. Obviously she carries a walking stick for fun and doesn't really need it! The club is decorated in a chinoiserie style. We find the other VIPS, sitting in a section together and join them. I discover later that I managed to pick the chair with an 'adjustable' back. I don't think it was supposed to do that though! They were also so close to the ground that even my knees were at a level they normally aren't.
A great, fun night was had. Diana and David looked after us well. Asking our opinion on how things that been going so far and if there had been any issues. A few teething problems were reported, but over all we had all felt pretty positive about our time. Two stools get pulled over in front of us and we later dub these the 'stools of revolving americans'. They mostly get sat upon by all the american guests who come over at various stages to have a chat with us.
George Lopez is a lovely man who is devoted and very proud of his wife. Not only can he draw the most amazingly beautiful strong women, but he really does appreciate beauty in all forms, especially his wife. Marv Wolfmann is equally as delightful.
I think the most fun was had with Liam O'Brien (Nightcrawler) who was ticking along very nicely and who stole my seat at one stage and his two other fellow voice actors, who are married to each other, Tara Platt and Yuri Lowenthal (the voice of Ben 10). anntarot, her sister and I had discovered earlier that night that we were all from the same town which is often derided by Melburnians.
When the little voicey actor group asked where we were all from, some disparaging remarks were made about how we came from the city with the highest number of serial killers. We proudly admitted that this is true and then proceeded to inform them about the rest of the things that made Adelaide nice and unique. Churches, Pubs, food, wine, chocolate (mmmm Haighs), Chocolate Bilbies instead of Bunnies, the ability to stand and point in any direction, head that way and find a winery, . Our spruiking obviously worked as they decided that next time when they do the Sydney to Perth leg of Supanova they will definitely stop over in Adelaide. Oh and also out of the 10 deadliest snakes in the world, 8 are from Australia and 6 specifically from our State. We like our little corner of the world and make it so that most people wonder why you would go there. We know better. :D
We chatted about anything and everything and nothing to do with their careers. We also compared the anti-counterfeit properties of our currencies and how the American public is incredibly resistant to change their currency from one where all the notes look the same and you have to open your wallet and reveal to all around you just how much cash you are carrying around. They were very impressed that you could shrink our notes in an oven or microwave. It is no longer legal tender if you do that but when they first came in banks would accept the teeny versions. Liam was most amusing in that he would take the time to tell each of us our names. Halfway through a conversation he would stop and point to each of us and name us. He was very good. We had such a great time with them.
The main organisers were also having a fun time letting their hair down, which apparently is a tradition of every Supanova on the Saturday night. Makes things interesting for them for the Sunday. :D Keep an eye out for the bleary eyed workers on the Sunday wearing sunnies inside when you attend a future Supanova.
Corin Nemec wandered in, stopped for a brief hello and to see how we were doing before he was heading over to the bar and his free drinks. We had to pay, but that was fine as I and others were being offered many a drink by the guests who had the magic wristbands if we so chose.
Karl wandered in a bit later. He also stopped and asked if we were having a nice time, before he too was whisked off the back section of the bar for some relaxation. anntarot and I might have pointed him in the direction of the bar. The man is a Kiwi after all and this was the nation that raised money to head down to Antarctica to dig up some whiskey that had been frozen in ice for about a hundred years! Did they care about the other stuff that was buried by those adventurers? Nope, just the whiskey apparently.
We were told that we were not to take "posed" photos and such with the guests, actually we asked what was and wasn't allowed. We could take photos where they might be *whistles innocently* randomly in the background. We were all pretty ok with abiding by this, as it was a chance for them to have a bit of r & r. It was just the polite thing to do.
David also let us know that Karl is a big family man and he agreed to do Brisbane and Melbourne this year as it gave him an opportunity to spend a little bit of holiday time with his boys taking them to Movie World and Dream World on the Gold Coast in between. He almost hadn't made it though as filming looked like it might still have been continuing on Red, he managed to wrangle it and I for one am very glad.
Jennifer Fallon was wearing her very sparkly new top and I stopped to admire it and said, "hello sparkly!" She retaliated by calling me "shiny". I do believe she can highly recommend the chocolate thingys that were being ordered for her. She had no idea what was in them, apart from chocolate and that they were yummy!
In trying to get to one side of the bar to order a drink, there was a lot of shots being downed and considerable noise. I headed down the back section to get a drink from the other side. Now there might have been certain people there, but I decided to just mind my own business and order my drink. As I was waiting, a guy in a suit ordered a water as part of his order. The bar staff told him that they had run out of bottled and was tap ok. He agreed to that and a glass was put in front of him with tap water inside. He picked it up and looked at in disgust, he then asked me to feel the glass. I took the glass from his hand and it was quite warm. The glass had obviously only recently come out of the dishwasher. I used to be a glassy in a nightclub so I know that those glasses can retain the heat for a fair while. I agreed but pointed out would he prefer a dirty cold glass or a clean warm one. He conceded the point and handed over the water behind him with an apology, of course my attention was drawn that way and well I discovered who the water was for. That cheeky kiwi. The clever man was drinking water alongside his beer. No hangover tomorrow for him! I ordered my drink and headed back to our table.
Our little corner of fun.
Gareth was ticking over very nicely and later on in the night somehow arranged for his CD to be put on. The pout on his face was hilarious when the music got turned down. We would all like to continue talking Gareth, sorry. :)
The last train left Central at 12.30pm and trying to get a cab in Melbourne on a Saturday night is not really an option, so we made our way out to head home and sleep. A little misshap was had in that the barrier decided that clarrisani had not moved quick enough for it's liking. They are supposed to have sensors so that they don't close on you. Seems that one hadn't been fitted with them. We chatted all the way home, still bubbling in excitement from the day. I put up a quick little cliffs note version and finally drift off to sleep.
New friends had been made and great times had been had. I feel asleep thinking that the day could not be topped and that if Sunday was half as good I would be very happy with my experience. Sunday turned out alright in the end too. ;)