Films, Fandom and Fannish things
First things first. Thor :The Dark World.
I can hardly wait. I booked for tomorrow night instead of tonight (don't ask me why) so we're off to see it then. I am so looking forward to this and have only seen two trailers. I've avoided all the extra TV spots, behind the scenes, extra scenes etc etc as best I can, so there is some film left to see anew. I have a good feeling about this one. But I do know I am easy to please so there is that. I shall probably see it once more on my own after the shock wears off.
Secondly my short trip to London was super fun. The weather held out and both 'events' were fabulous. I only wish I had time for more.
I spent the late morning in Borough Market, London Bridge with my niece drooling over all the delicious foods and cheeses before schlepping over to Regent Street to scope out the Apple Store where the event was being held. The Apple site did say seats were limited (I had reserved so I would get in) and that is a master of understatement. Tiny theatre of only 3 rows of seats probably no more than about 50? the rest of the fans had to stand behind. I got there 4 hours early but to my dismay, they were queuing for seats already so I stuck around. On my own meant I caught a stray seat in the front row although the angle of view was a bit of 'profile' But so close to the stage, soo close..... Tom seems taller and thinner in person but very charming and pleasant. The talk flew by, Alan Taylor is very funny and Kevin Feige was interesting too. Tom is just how you imagine. Funny, charming, articulate and shit at mental arithmetic, which some fan thought it was amusing to illustrate by asking a question knowing he would be courteous and try answer. But I guess you're going to get this. An opportunity to ask about Shakespeare projects or something interesting and you want to score points. *shakes head *
Low light meant my camera struggled. I do need to look at taking raws rather than jpegs and converting them later. I understand you can clear up the yellow lighting quite well with raws. Here's a few photos. The rest are here on my site.
Full video podcast is here on youtube. It's worth watching.
The only slightly disappointing aspect was there was no opportunity to say hello personally and get autographs. I'd brought along a stunning Marvel Artwork book for Kevin & Alan to sign and grabbed my Loki sketch and my vintage copy of Henry V for Tom, should I be able to do so. But they were gone before you could blink. Another time then.
And then with J to the London Film Festival Cult Gala to see
I've not been to a Red Carpet screening before. As I was with J I thought it best not to stand behind the barrier to try and take photos of Tom's arrival - it was manic and J didn't appreciate the screaming. All the ticket holders had to queue round the block to wait to go in to the theatre. We heard Tom arrive, late but he did show up. Eventually we got to our seats and settled in. Tom and a Producer appeared on stage and introduced the film. I am not familiar with Jim Jarmusch's work. I knew to expect something different and not mainstream. Non Spoilery comments follow..... I loved it. It was far funnier than I expected. The casting was superb, Tilda and Tom portray Adam and Eve as ancient vampiric embodiment of yin and yang, she all white, he in black but physically similar (Tilda must be quite tall) to the point that they really did look as if they were two halves of the same entity. It was visually stunning, with beautifully shot transitions and cinematography, interesting locations and the vidder in me became all excited as the film progressed. The sound track was certainly a key feature (the character Adam is a rock musician, amongst other things) and apart from one small part which felt to me, a little indulgent (not surprising as Jarmusch is in a band) worked very well. I think it is on general release in the UK in February 2014.
Some blurry bird on the red carpet.
After the film Tom & the Producer held a brief Q&A which was cool and then we dashed off to try and get the last train back to East Croydon. It was only the next day that I discovered that Joss Whedon was there and a couple of fans talked to him in the bar and tweeted photos. Apparently he was dancing all night at the after party but I guess my invite to that was lost in the post.
And if that wasn't enough this weekend I was in Birmingham for Hallowhedon 5 - A fun time was had by all. I'm going to save that for another post but in the meantime here's a teaser or two
I am just sifting through the remaining photos and I will be back with a post.
I can hardly wait. I booked for tomorrow night instead of tonight (don't ask me why) so we're off to see it then. I am so looking forward to this and have only seen two trailers. I've avoided all the extra TV spots, behind the scenes, extra scenes etc etc as best I can, so there is some film left to see anew. I have a good feeling about this one. But I do know I am easy to please so there is that. I shall probably see it once more on my own after the shock wears off.
Secondly my short trip to London was super fun. The weather held out and both 'events' were fabulous. I only wish I had time for more.
I spent the late morning in Borough Market, London Bridge with my niece drooling over all the delicious foods and cheeses before schlepping over to Regent Street to scope out the Apple Store where the event was being held. The Apple site did say seats were limited (I had reserved so I would get in) and that is a master of understatement. Tiny theatre of only 3 rows of seats probably no more than about 50? the rest of the fans had to stand behind. I got there 4 hours early but to my dismay, they were queuing for seats already so I stuck around. On my own meant I caught a stray seat in the front row although the angle of view was a bit of 'profile' But so close to the stage, soo close..... Tom seems taller and thinner in person but very charming and pleasant. The talk flew by, Alan Taylor is very funny and Kevin Feige was interesting too. Tom is just how you imagine. Funny, charming, articulate and shit at mental arithmetic, which some fan thought it was amusing to illustrate by asking a question knowing he would be courteous and try answer. But I guess you're going to get this. An opportunity to ask about Shakespeare projects or something interesting and you want to score points. *shakes head *
Low light meant my camera struggled. I do need to look at taking raws rather than jpegs and converting them later. I understand you can clear up the yellow lighting quite well with raws. Here's a few photos. The rest are here on my site.
Full video podcast is here on youtube. It's worth watching.
The only slightly disappointing aspect was there was no opportunity to say hello personally and get autographs. I'd brought along a stunning Marvel Artwork book for Kevin & Alan to sign and grabbed my Loki sketch and my vintage copy of Henry V for Tom, should I be able to do so. But they were gone before you could blink. Another time then.
And then with J to the London Film Festival Cult Gala to see
I've not been to a Red Carpet screening before. As I was with J I thought it best not to stand behind the barrier to try and take photos of Tom's arrival - it was manic and J didn't appreciate the screaming. All the ticket holders had to queue round the block to wait to go in to the theatre. We heard Tom arrive, late but he did show up. Eventually we got to our seats and settled in. Tom and a Producer appeared on stage and introduced the film. I am not familiar with Jim Jarmusch's work. I knew to expect something different and not mainstream. Non Spoilery comments follow..... I loved it. It was far funnier than I expected. The casting was superb, Tilda and Tom portray Adam and Eve as ancient vampiric embodiment of yin and yang, she all white, he in black but physically similar (Tilda must be quite tall) to the point that they really did look as if they were two halves of the same entity. It was visually stunning, with beautifully shot transitions and cinematography, interesting locations and the vidder in me became all excited as the film progressed. The sound track was certainly a key feature (the character Adam is a rock musician, amongst other things) and apart from one small part which felt to me, a little indulgent (not surprising as Jarmusch is in a band) worked very well. I think it is on general release in the UK in February 2014.
Some blurry bird on the red carpet.
After the film Tom & the Producer held a brief Q&A which was cool and then we dashed off to try and get the last train back to East Croydon. It was only the next day that I discovered that Joss Whedon was there and a couple of fans talked to him in the bar and tweeted photos. Apparently he was dancing all night at the after party but I guess my invite to that was lost in the post.
And if that wasn't enough this weekend I was in Birmingham for Hallowhedon 5 - A fun time was had by all. I'm going to save that for another post but in the meantime here's a teaser or two
I am just sifting through the remaining photos and I will be back with a post.