the boys are back in tooo-ooo-ooown
BIG POST OF AWESOME REGARDING THE ENTIRE TRIP TO NEW YORK CITY which may or may not include mentions of ZQ's dick.
The whole premise of the trip to NYC was to see Angels in America at the Signature Theatre, featuring a shitload of talented actors but most notably a Vulcan (Star Trek), Juliet's sister (Lost), and that one guy on the navy ship where there's a threat of an airborne disease (NCIS). The play is in two parts of three-ish hours each, and we only had tickets to the second part.
That being said...
I left Montreal a little past midnight on Wednesday, ready for a nice little 8-hours bus ride all the way to New York (with the mandatory stop in the Land of Deserted Bus Stations, by which I mean Albany, NY) where I was meeting the lovely-as-ever Pascale, who had spent the previous day seeing Wicked on Broadway and carrying The Backpack of Death. We met up in the morning at the hotel, conveniently located near a subway station (or 'inconveniently' if you're not into reenacting the train scene from Inception every morning when you open the window.) I liked it, it was a tiny functional room and there was Wolverine on tv the last morning.
DAY 1
Because wearing a hipster scarf (in Pascale's case) and a Johnny Cupcakes shirt (in my case) wasn't nearly hipster enough, we started the day by grabbing Starbucks coffee in SoHo. We walked around SoHo, then walked all the way to Greenwich and the general Bleecker Street area. (Stupid purchase #1: Old photograph of David Bowie, found at the Rebel Rebel store.) What's the equivalent of 'window shopping' for apartments? Lawn shopping? Anyway, we did that because the houses in Greenwich Village are incredible. Then we had lunch at Red Bamboo, which is a vegan restaurant meaning I CAN EAT ANYTHING ON THE MENU!! and I had my first dumplings. Happiness. We walked around Chelsea (sup overpriced thrift stores) and I got to see the Chelsea Hotel again. Finally we headed for the Rockerfeller Center, specifically the NBC store. (Stupid [yet oh so awesome] purchase #2: Star Trek 2011 calendar.) Pascale practiced 'the eyebrow' in the meantime - it's incredibly intimidating, as it should be.
Angels in America, part one
Pascale knew there was a 'waiting line' to get in the AiA play without tickets. Meaning, if we got there early enough, they'd write down our names and call us until the steps (16 of them) in the theatre were filled. So we did just that, and waited in the oh-shit-was-that-a-raindrop weather until we got on the aforementioned list. We walked past several actors on the way there, and while we waited we saw ZQ walk right by us. My "mature and responsible" facade went out the window and I was on strict incoherent nervous mode right there. Cute anecdote: At some point I went inside the theatre to see if I could use the bathroom. I asked a guy working there (Usher) - he glanced at the open doors, and was like, "These doors aren't supposed to be open. You can sneak in. GO. NOW. RUN BEFORE THEY SEE YOU." Which I did. When I exited the building again I told him I was in the waiting line and he said he hoped I could get in.
And then, well. We did get in.
I don't know how to sum up the first part without being absolutely incoherent and fangirly about it, but I'll say this: It wasn't a Zach thing. It was a thing thing. A "this entire cast and play and everything was fucking amazing" thing. It was funny but dramatic but mostly touching and damn there's only been one other play that had my full attention + appreciation like that before (the fact that it was a Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane can be disregarded...please?) and the three hours went by so fast.
I could write paragraphs on every single little thing that was absolutely perfect about this part of the play but uh, that's too geeky, even for me, so I'll immediately skip to fangirl mode:
HOLY FUCK, DO I LOVE MEN KISSING. I was rendered absolutely incoherent by Louis (Zachary Quinto) and Joe (Bill Heck) kissing, and I think we can all agree that I've seen my fair share of gay kissing in my life. (For visual reference, these guys are Joe & Louis.) I think it was mostly the physical chemistry, how everyone was all over everyone and it was more sensual than sexual, in a "I'm holding my breath as I watch this" kind of way. There was also The Absolute Best Monologue Ever delivered by Quinto, with Billy Porter (Belize) being pure win the entire time, and that was probably my favorite part. The "You know what I think? You hate me because I'm a Jew" line was so perfect, haha. And there was also. Well. THAT. There's a scene were Louis has sex with a stranger in Central Park. So basically, somehow, I ended up watching a half-naked (by which I mean bottom half) Zachary Quinto being fucked by a leather daddy. It was kind of ridiculous, I mean hey, it's not every day that you get to see ZQ naked in the same room right? So I was trying really hard not to smile at the absurdity of the whole thing, or worse, fucking giggle because I seem to be doing a lot of that lately, and the guy sitting behind me may or may not have been the stage director and he may or may not have seen my attempt to suppress an awkward laugh by biting my lip. Oh the shame. But yeah - hot damn, ZQ.
When we left we were tired and really, really unable to say anything that made any sense (other than "ZQ. NAKED. OH GOD." that is) so we didn't try to talk to him after the play, even though we did see him. Instead we headed for the Hard Rock Café at 11-something and shared a nice big platter of potato skins with cheese & bacon. It was a ~magical night, all things considered.
DAY 2
In the morning we went to grab stuff at Babycakes, the vegan bakery in the Lower East Side. I went a bit crazy with the purchases but OH. MY. GOD. I had cupcakes for breakfast. How is that not the best way to start a day, ever? We walked around East Village; I found zebra-printed duct tape to sort-of kind-of repair my bag (because of course I have to break/rip/kill something on every trip, what's new?) Then we had lunch in a tiny Japanese restaurant were I got ramen soup with pork and unidentified components and it was REALLY good. After that we went to Search & Destroy and I found Star Trek tie [stupid purchase #3]. We went to the Kinokuniya Bookstore, which is as great as it's always been, still so full of yaoi...erm. Then we went to a comic book store and I went a bit crazy with the purchases. (Stupid purchases #4, 5 & 6: Star Trek lunchbox, Star Trek wall decals, Star Trek plastic cup-thermos.) I ate vegan donuts, Pascale ate fries, she practiced 'the eyebrow' some more, I lip-synced to 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' (gotta love bus station music), etc.
We met up with two Beans from MA, Stephanie and Shelby, at their hotel. Then we went all the way to the theatre to grab our tickets, and Stephanie had a moment of epic fail by not seeing ZQ walking right behind her while she was creeping around and trying to see who was inside the place. We had dinner in a deli a street away from there. They served poutine (excuse me, disco fries) but I had a quesadilla instead, and I was once again reminded that you Americans serve portions twice my size.
Clockwise from bottom-left: Shelby, Stephanie, Pascale & I.
Angels in America, part two
Before the play we were all a bit (or uhm, a lot) nervous about meeting ZQ for very obvious reasons. I wasn't sure how to engage conversation between "it takes a lot of balls to play a role like that" and "you went to great lengths to deliver such a great performance" before I realized that a) no chance conversation would actually be engaged, and b) those were horribly inappropriate lines.
Then there was the play and we stopped freaking out (at least only during the intermissions? during one of which I talked to Usher, who recognized me from the night before and we briefly talked about how great the play was) and just enjoyed it. First - the Louis/Joe makeout scene. I. Uhm. What. Hey. Hi. Nice. Appreciated it very much. Okay no, seriously, it was impressive, and I mean impressively distracting. Another distracting thing was how Joe was fully 100% naked RIGHT in front of Steph an Shelby, who were sitting in the first row. Wow, uhm. Then there was this really really REALLY emotional scene where they fight and fuck was it intense. It felt very voyeuristic to watch a scene like that, I mean you couldn't help but feel bad. And at the end of the play, well, I almost cried, which felt super weird because I haven't done any real crying in months and I was starting to think I had a tear duct handicap of some sort, but I blinked like a strobe light until it passed. I was super shaken though, when we walked out I was in a "holy fuck I can't believe I watched all of that" mood.
Which was worsened times twenty when the actors started coming out. Because semi-lethargic "this was soooo awesooome" mood mixed with hyperventilating "oh shit oh shit oh shit he's got his adorable glasses on" mood means ZERO COHERENCY, especially since my spoken English is shit when I'm not focused.
In short: I talked to Bill Heck (Joe). He's got a ridiculously attractive voice. I got a picture with Zachary Quinto. His side is really comfortable - okay I know this sounds creepy but HEY I'M SORRY I tend to notice when people are soft and comfy and I'd bet my wolf hat that the guy's amazing at cuddling. Also, he had his hand on my back. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, typical fangirl talk, but I love when I take a pic with someone and they're tall enough (but not too tall) to stand like that. I got a picture with Christian Borle (Prior). He's super nice and smiley.
Mandatory pictures:
So uh yeah. Basically I MET ZACHARY QUINTO~*~*~ and it was awesome.
Then all four of us hung out in Times Square, sat in the Stairs of Awesome (the red stairs in the middle of everything that light up) and talked for a while. Coolest chicks ever. On the way to their hotel Stephanie put band stickers on nearly every imaginable surface [where it's not legal to stick stuff], and Pascale spotted a rat. Or, "a big mouse".
DAY 3
We went to Central Park, first to the zoo (I fell madly in love with a dwarf mongoose, but bawww we didn't see snow leopards) then to the Bethesda Fountain, where we sat for a while and watched people blow bubbles. The weather was great, the setting was great, the place was great, and I totally had one of those "everything is great" moments of flawless optimism.
We went back to the theatre to buy posters, and we noticed that there was a screen in the lobby. We ended up watching Louis kiss Joe all over again (because the play was happening while we were there - yes, it was timed) and now my goal in life is to ensure it's not only filmed but also recorded. Then we headed for the bus station, and we were almost late and I panicked a bit (what's new?) and ate pizza-flavored pretzels. On the way home I alternated between sleeping and talking about all things Pinto-related; then the nanosecond we crossed the Canadian border I did all I could to get an Internet connection so Pascale and I could see the pics.
To sum it up: It was amazing, maybe my best NYC trip to date, actually I'm pretty sure it was. I'm probably forgetting a lot of stuff but I'm exhausted and hungry and mostly just exhausted and oh god I saw Zachary Quinto and lived to write about it.
Now if you'd excuse me, I have a fic to beta before I reply to the MOUNTAIN of emails I got. Then I'll start my three assignments due next week.
The whole premise of the trip to NYC was to see Angels in America at the Signature Theatre, featuring a shitload of talented actors but most notably a Vulcan (Star Trek), Juliet's sister (Lost), and that one guy on the navy ship where there's a threat of an airborne disease (NCIS). The play is in two parts of three-ish hours each, and we only had tickets to the second part.
That being said...
I left Montreal a little past midnight on Wednesday, ready for a nice little 8-hours bus ride all the way to New York (with the mandatory stop in the Land of Deserted Bus Stations, by which I mean Albany, NY) where I was meeting the lovely-as-ever Pascale, who had spent the previous day seeing Wicked on Broadway and carrying The Backpack of Death. We met up in the morning at the hotel, conveniently located near a subway station (or 'inconveniently' if you're not into reenacting the train scene from Inception every morning when you open the window.) I liked it, it was a tiny functional room and there was Wolverine on tv the last morning.
DAY 1
Because wearing a hipster scarf (in Pascale's case) and a Johnny Cupcakes shirt (in my case) wasn't nearly hipster enough, we started the day by grabbing Starbucks coffee in SoHo. We walked around SoHo, then walked all the way to Greenwich and the general Bleecker Street area. (Stupid purchase #1: Old photograph of David Bowie, found at the Rebel Rebel store.) What's the equivalent of 'window shopping' for apartments? Lawn shopping? Anyway, we did that because the houses in Greenwich Village are incredible. Then we had lunch at Red Bamboo, which is a vegan restaurant meaning I CAN EAT ANYTHING ON THE MENU!! and I had my first dumplings. Happiness. We walked around Chelsea (sup overpriced thrift stores) and I got to see the Chelsea Hotel again. Finally we headed for the Rockerfeller Center, specifically the NBC store. (Stupid [yet oh so awesome] purchase #2: Star Trek 2011 calendar.) Pascale practiced 'the eyebrow' in the meantime - it's incredibly intimidating, as it should be.
Angels in America, part one
Pascale knew there was a 'waiting line' to get in the AiA play without tickets. Meaning, if we got there early enough, they'd write down our names and call us until the steps (16 of them) in the theatre were filled. So we did just that, and waited in the oh-shit-was-that-a-raindrop weather until we got on the aforementioned list. We walked past several actors on the way there, and while we waited we saw ZQ walk right by us. My "mature and responsible" facade went out the window and I was on strict incoherent nervous mode right there. Cute anecdote: At some point I went inside the theatre to see if I could use the bathroom. I asked a guy working there (Usher) - he glanced at the open doors, and was like, "These doors aren't supposed to be open. You can sneak in. GO. NOW. RUN BEFORE THEY SEE YOU." Which I did. When I exited the building again I told him I was in the waiting line and he said he hoped I could get in.
And then, well. We did get in.
I don't know how to sum up the first part without being absolutely incoherent and fangirly about it, but I'll say this: It wasn't a Zach thing. It was a thing thing. A "this entire cast and play and everything was fucking amazing" thing. It was funny but dramatic but mostly touching and damn there's only been one other play that had my full attention + appreciation like that before (the fact that it was a Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane can be disregarded...please?) and the three hours went by so fast.
I could write paragraphs on every single little thing that was absolutely perfect about this part of the play but uh, that's too geeky, even for me, so I'll immediately skip to fangirl mode:
HOLY FUCK, DO I LOVE MEN KISSING. I was rendered absolutely incoherent by Louis (Zachary Quinto) and Joe (Bill Heck) kissing, and I think we can all agree that I've seen my fair share of gay kissing in my life. (For visual reference, these guys are Joe & Louis.) I think it was mostly the physical chemistry, how everyone was all over everyone and it was more sensual than sexual, in a "I'm holding my breath as I watch this" kind of way. There was also The Absolute Best Monologue Ever delivered by Quinto, with Billy Porter (Belize) being pure win the entire time, and that was probably my favorite part. The "You know what I think? You hate me because I'm a Jew" line was so perfect, haha. And there was also. Well. THAT. There's a scene were Louis has sex with a stranger in Central Park. So basically, somehow, I ended up watching a half-naked (by which I mean bottom half) Zachary Quinto being fucked by a leather daddy. It was kind of ridiculous, I mean hey, it's not every day that you get to see ZQ naked in the same room right? So I was trying really hard not to smile at the absurdity of the whole thing, or worse, fucking giggle because I seem to be doing a lot of that lately, and the guy sitting behind me may or may not have been the stage director and he may or may not have seen my attempt to suppress an awkward laugh by biting my lip. Oh the shame. But yeah - hot damn, ZQ.
When we left we were tired and really, really unable to say anything that made any sense (other than "ZQ. NAKED. OH GOD." that is) so we didn't try to talk to him after the play, even though we did see him. Instead we headed for the Hard Rock Café at 11-something and shared a nice big platter of potato skins with cheese & bacon. It was a ~magical night, all things considered.
DAY 2
In the morning we went to grab stuff at Babycakes, the vegan bakery in the Lower East Side. I went a bit crazy with the purchases but OH. MY. GOD. I had cupcakes for breakfast. How is that not the best way to start a day, ever? We walked around East Village; I found zebra-printed duct tape to sort-of kind-of repair my bag (because of course I have to break/rip/kill something on every trip, what's new?) Then we had lunch in a tiny Japanese restaurant were I got ramen soup with pork and unidentified components and it was REALLY good. After that we went to Search & Destroy and I found Star Trek tie [stupid purchase #3]. We went to the Kinokuniya Bookstore, which is as great as it's always been, still so full of yaoi...erm. Then we went to a comic book store and I went a bit crazy with the purchases. (Stupid purchases #4, 5 & 6: Star Trek lunchbox, Star Trek wall decals, Star Trek plastic cup-thermos.) I ate vegan donuts, Pascale ate fries, she practiced 'the eyebrow' some more, I lip-synced to 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' (gotta love bus station music), etc.
We met up with two Beans from MA, Stephanie and Shelby, at their hotel. Then we went all the way to the theatre to grab our tickets, and Stephanie had a moment of epic fail by not seeing ZQ walking right behind her while she was creeping around and trying to see who was inside the place. We had dinner in a deli a street away from there. They served poutine (excuse me, disco fries) but I had a quesadilla instead, and I was once again reminded that you Americans serve portions twice my size.
Clockwise from bottom-left: Shelby, Stephanie, Pascale & I.
Angels in America, part two
Before the play we were all a bit (or uhm, a lot) nervous about meeting ZQ for very obvious reasons. I wasn't sure how to engage conversation between "it takes a lot of balls to play a role like that" and "you went to great lengths to deliver such a great performance" before I realized that a) no chance conversation would actually be engaged, and b) those were horribly inappropriate lines.
Then there was the play and we stopped freaking out (at least only during the intermissions? during one of which I talked to Usher, who recognized me from the night before and we briefly talked about how great the play was) and just enjoyed it. First - the Louis/Joe makeout scene. I. Uhm. What. Hey. Hi. Nice. Appreciated it very much. Okay no, seriously, it was impressive, and I mean impressively distracting. Another distracting thing was how Joe was fully 100% naked RIGHT in front of Steph an Shelby, who were sitting in the first row. Wow, uhm. Then there was this really really REALLY emotional scene where they fight and fuck was it intense. It felt very voyeuristic to watch a scene like that, I mean you couldn't help but feel bad. And at the end of the play, well, I almost cried, which felt super weird because I haven't done any real crying in months and I was starting to think I had a tear duct handicap of some sort, but I blinked like a strobe light until it passed. I was super shaken though, when we walked out I was in a "holy fuck I can't believe I watched all of that" mood.
Which was worsened times twenty when the actors started coming out. Because semi-lethargic "this was soooo awesooome" mood mixed with hyperventilating "oh shit oh shit oh shit he's got his adorable glasses on" mood means ZERO COHERENCY, especially since my spoken English is shit when I'm not focused.
In short: I talked to Bill Heck (Joe). He's got a ridiculously attractive voice. I got a picture with Zachary Quinto. His side is really comfortable - okay I know this sounds creepy but HEY I'M SORRY I tend to notice when people are soft and comfy and I'd bet my wolf hat that the guy's amazing at cuddling. Also, he had his hand on my back. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, typical fangirl talk, but I love when I take a pic with someone and they're tall enough (but not too tall) to stand like that. I got a picture with Christian Borle (Prior). He's super nice and smiley.
Mandatory pictures:
So uh yeah. Basically I MET ZACHARY QUINTO~*~*~ and it was awesome.
Then all four of us hung out in Times Square, sat in the Stairs of Awesome (the red stairs in the middle of everything that light up) and talked for a while. Coolest chicks ever. On the way to their hotel Stephanie put band stickers on nearly every imaginable surface [where it's not legal to stick stuff], and Pascale spotted a rat. Or, "a big mouse".
DAY 3
We went to Central Park, first to the zoo (I fell madly in love with a dwarf mongoose, but bawww we didn't see snow leopards) then to the Bethesda Fountain, where we sat for a while and watched people blow bubbles. The weather was great, the setting was great, the place was great, and I totally had one of those "everything is great" moments of flawless optimism.
We went back to the theatre to buy posters, and we noticed that there was a screen in the lobby. We ended up watching Louis kiss Joe all over again (because the play was happening while we were there - yes, it was timed) and now my goal in life is to ensure it's not only filmed but also recorded. Then we headed for the bus station, and we were almost late and I panicked a bit (what's new?) and ate pizza-flavored pretzels. On the way home I alternated between sleeping and talking about all things Pinto-related; then the nanosecond we crossed the Canadian border I did all I could to get an Internet connection so Pascale and I could see the pics.
To sum it up: It was amazing, maybe my best NYC trip to date, actually I'm pretty sure it was. I'm probably forgetting a lot of stuff but I'm exhausted and hungry and mostly just exhausted and oh god I saw Zachary Quinto and lived to write about it.
Now if you'd excuse me, I have a fic to beta before I reply to the MOUNTAIN of emails I got. Then I'll start my three assignments due next week.